#Wyvern Designs Jewelry | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bookish-whore · 2 years

Text

Falling Part IV

Azriel x Reader

Words: 4.6k

Warnings: Angst

A/N: This is a rollercoaster of a chapter (so buckle in) and is one of the first big ideas I had for where to take this story and I love how it came out. Thank you all for reading and showing me so much support for this story it means the world. See if you can spot the ToG references. I also feel like I should release some headcannons about this little universe I’ve created. As always requests are open <3

Part I, Part II, Part III,

--------------------------------------------------

Winter Solstice was tonight, and the preparations were in full swing. I had arrived at the River House a few hours early to help with decorating, and because Feyre was anxious, it would be the first solstice party here and she wanted to make sure it was perfect (which was driving Rhysand insane) hence why the high lord had mind spoke to me earlier asking if I could help her delegate tasks and set up for the party. After showing me to the designated dressing room, I quickly stashed my gifts along with my dress for later, I joined Feyre in the kitchen where I found her laughing with Nuala and Cerridwen about pastry fillings as they confirmed the menu. While the three of them spoke, I couldn’t help but be nervous for later, so I let my mind wander into a recent memory.

+++

A few days after my outing with Feyre, I had returned to the Velaris markets to finish my shopping. I needed to pick up gifts for the remaining members of the inner circle and the trip turned out to be successful. I got watercolors for Feyre, a crystal decanter for Rhysand, A mobile for little Nyx, it had stars and wyverns and Illyrians that spun to a lovely melody. I got Lucien a new quiver for his arrows, and I had gotten a selection of Cassian’s favorite sweets, but it was the shadowsingers gift that made me tense. After walking for what seemed like an eternity, I had been ready to give up on a gift for Az. I mean what gift would be suitable for your mate who has no idea you are his mate?

I was ready to call it when I passed this small shop, it was hidden out of the way so much so that you wouldn’t know it was there unless you were seeking it out. For some reason, I felt a pull to enter and found a strange amalgamation of items. The shop was dark, only lit by candles placed on random tables and at the front counter. As I looked around, I could see that there were weapons, jewelry, and books, there were so many stacks of books along the walls and other miscellaneous items. The shopkeeper perked up as I entered giving me a sweet greeting before explaining that most of the items in the shop were charmed and imbued with magic of some kind. I stumbled across a pair of fingerless leather gloves, the shop keeper told me they were that the leather was woven with spidersilk so they couldn't be torn, ripped, or cut with any blade and that they were charmed to fit the wearer and could withstand all of the elements, including fire. I quickly purchased them and left the shop promising to return to peruse the book selection. I also stopped in the Velaris apothecary shop for a backup gift in the event that I lost my nerve in giving him something so personal.

+++

“y/n?” I was quickly pulled out of my thoughts as I registered my name being spoken by the high lady

“Hmmm?” I finally met her gaze “I’m sorry did you ask me something I must have been lost in thought”

“I could tell” she joked “Will you grab these trays and bring them to the sitting room?” she asked

“of course!” I picked up the silver trays of glasses and followed Feyre through the house. When we reached the sitting room, I was surprised to find Cassian and Nesta putting pine garlands decorated with ornaments on the mantle of the fireplace. They both greeted me warmly; Cassian pulling me into a bear hug and spinning me in a circle, while Nesta kissed my cheek pulling me into a sweet embrace. After briefly catching up I decided to tell them, since Feyre, Nesta and Cassian were already here, and they had been such a huge part of my journey so far, I figured they deserved a heads up about what was going to happen at the festivities later.

“So…” they looked at me expectantly “I’m going to tell Az. I’m going to tell him about the bond tonight”

“That’s huge y/n” Nesta says “are you sure you’re ready for that?”

“Absolutely not but…he deserves to know” I said giving Feyre a small smile.

“You owe me 20 gold marks” Cassian says holding his hand out to Feyre, the high lady lets out a hearty laugh as Rhysand walks into the room.

Nesta slaps him on the arm. “What?!” Cassian says “We had a bet, and clearly I know y/n because I just won”

“Technically” the high lord begins “The bet was that she tells him by the end of the year, so if she tells him before midnight then you win… but if it’s after that then we win” he gives his mate a sly wink.

“I cannot believe you are placing bets on this” I say, a smile blooming on my lips as I look at them. “My life could fall apart so if anyone is going to win those marks it is me.” We all look at each other and laugh, it was a nice break from the thoughts that had been eating away at me all day, the rock that had settled in my stomach at the thought of telling Azriel about the bond.

“It will be alright y/n” the high lord says placing a comforting hand on my shoulder “Now, I may not be the best at giving this kind of advice, because well you know.” He smiles looking over at his mate “but if I know anything, it’s that this was the best thing to happen to me. I think Az will feel that way too”

I look around the room and smile at them, my friends who were trying to offer me some kind of comfort, trying to lighten my mood before tonight.

“Now” Feyre says clapping her hands together “It’s time to get ready!”

The high lady led Nesta and I to the designated dressing room to prepare for the evening. She had three soaking tubs placed in the bathing room side by side so we could talk while we took in the sweet smells of the various soaps and oils in the water. Once we were satisfied, and the water had become tepid we put on our robes and moved around the room in tandem; drying our hair, applying simple makeup, and continuing to chat about nothing and about everything. A soft knock at the door halted our conversation; I could tell by the scent that it was Cassian holding Nyx who needed his mother. I opened the door, motioning for the Illyrian general to enter and as he did, I took Nyx from him, cooing to him while I took him to his mothers waiting arms.

Cassian had made his way over to his mate, whispering something in her ear as he pressed a kiss to her shoulder. Based on the quick shift in their scents I gathered that it was all the things he planned to do to her later, when they were alone. Nesta gave him one of her signature smirks as she told him to leave the room, that we would meet them downstairs briefly. Cassian pressed a kiss to her lips, gave Feyre and I a wave and promptly left the room.

After a quick feeding, Feyre handed Nyx to me so she could get dressed and head downstairs to make sure everything was ready for our gathering. The little prince was a dream, he looked up at me with those piercing blue eyes and smiled, before slowly falling asleep as I rocked him in my arms. The high lady emerged in a light blue outfit, it was in signature night court fashion, a pair of high waisted pants loose and billowing with velvet cuffs of silver around her ankles paired with a matching top with long sleeves that were made of sheer material that also featured cuffs of the same silver fabric on her wrists. The top ended just above her navel revealing a sliver of skin as she walked across the room to where I sat with a now sleeping Nyx.

“I’ll take him” Feyre whispered, and I gently shifted the sleeping babe into his mothers’ arms “you two need to finish getting ready and I’ll meet you downstairs” she said walking towards the door, as she opened it, she used her daemati gifts to wish me luck telling Azriel tonight, and that she felt it would all work out in my favor. I smiled at her as she left the room with Nyx.

Nesta and I continued talking, mostly about her sexual endeavors with Cassian. I have to admit I was happy to listen, I was living vicariously through her at this point. I helped her zip up her dress, it was elegant but simple, a floor length A-line black dress with long sleeves, the interesting part being the deep v neckline that I’m sure Cassian would love, while she put on her jewelry I got into my own dress. For tonight I had chosen a long burgundy dress, it was sleeveless and had a high neckline with a keyhole cutout, so I could show a little cleavage. After putting on simple earrings, and a few rings I looked to Nesta who gave me her nod of approval.

“You ready” she asked

“As I’ll ever be” I replied and with that we made our way to the party downstairs.

--------------------------------------------------

The party is in full swing, Amren and Varian were the last to arrive, fashionably late as expected. I managed to get a drink before I made my way around the room and found Lucien who introduced me to Vassa and Jurian or the band of exiles as they call themselves. I also found Helion engaged in conversation with Mor, Emerie, Gwyn, Cassian and Nesta. Helion gave me a wink as I walked past. I also saw Feyre and Rhys on opposite couches talking with Vivienne, her mate Kallias and Tarquin, the high lord of the Summer Court.

I took another look around the room and finally spotted Azriel, who was standing alone in the doorway. I decided to make my way over before I lost my nerve.

“Enjoying the party spymaster?” I say with a sly smile

“Much more now that you’re here” he takes a look at my outfit for the night, raking his eyes from the floor back up to meet my eyes “You look beautiful tonight y/n”

“Stop it” I playfully hit his arm but can’t stop the blush that spreads to my face at the compliment. I see Elain beginning to make her way over and decide now is the time to ask.

“So, I need to talk to you about something, when you have a minute” I managed to say, surprised at myself for how calm and collected I sounded.

“Of course, anything for you” he replies “I’ll find you after gifts and we can go to the roof, away from prying fae ears.” I give him a nod and a smile as Elain makes it to us.

“Enjoying the party y/n?” she asks

“I am so far, and you?” I decide to make polite conversation with the female.

“I prefer the quiet, all the people and the noise. I’m still getting acclimated to having fae senses, so I find it a bit overwhelming to focus” Azriel puts a protective arm around her, and she rests her head against his shoulder.

“There is an apothecary in Velaris and they sell this tonic, usually it’s meant for babes with ear infections but it dulls the sensitivity of your ears. You should try it; you know for events like this” I say

“Thanks for the tip, we should go investigate” she says more to Azriel than myself, he gives her a nod. Pulling her hand to his mouth to press a gentle kiss there. I was proud of myself for remaining there when only a few weeks ago the display of affection would have sent me into an episode.

“Well, you two enjoy your evening” I say scanning the room for Lucien

“You too y/n” they both reply.

I spot the red hair and make my way over; he was now talking with Helion. As I made my way over, I could make out they were planning his move to the Day Court. Since the revelation that Helion was Lucien’s biological father they have been building their relationship and part of that was Lucien learning about the Day Court, since he would one day be its high lord.

“y/n my dear” Helion said grasping my hands in his and making me do a turn “You are an absolute vision”

“And you, are an absolute menace” I say back “But back to the conversation at hand, when am I losing my dear friend to the Day Court”

“I’ll officially be there in a months’ time” Lucien says

“But you my dear, are welcome any time; day or night” the high lord says with a wink

“I may have to take you up on that Helion, I’ll miss my dear Lucien far too much to stay away”

Lucien pulls me into a side hug, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and presses a kiss to my temple “You will be welcome anytime” he says

Our conversation is interrupted as Feyre and Rhysand announce that they will be exchanging gifts for those that wish to. I make my way to the circle forming in the room and seat myself between Mor and Gwyn on one of the sofas as we start passing gifts around. I was overwhelmed at the beautiful gifts I received. I had gotten books from Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie so I could join their smutty book club. Feyre had painted my fondest memory of myself and the Valkyries after the blood rite atop Ramiel. Rhysand had gotten me a gorgeous pair of Illyrian leathers, along that theme Cassian had gotten me a set of throwing knives. Mor got me lingerie “for educational purposes” she claimed, and Lucien gave me a beautiful necklace, it was gold with an emerald set in the center surrounded by smaller stones. I had immediately lifted my hair from my neck and turned around so he could place it on me. Everyone had loved the gifts I had gotten them, all except Azriel because I had opted to give him his privately as he was quite a reserved person. A few people were still exchanging gifts as I got up to go across the room for another drink when I heard Azriel make an announcement.

“I have one more” he says pulling a small box out of his shadows as he makes his way across the room to where Elain is standing.

“Elain Archeron” he says slowly

“These last months with you have been the happiest of my life” he said as he dropped to one knee, and I felt my heart stop and an overwhelming sense of dread settle in my stomach.

“Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife”

Time had slowed. Everything was happening in slow motion. I could hear the applause, and I saw when he slipped that ring onto her finger, and she leapt into his arms their mouths meeting for a hurried kiss. I was vaguely aware of champagne glasses being handed out, but everything seemed like it was happening in slow motion. Was I even breathing? Were my legs still under me? Was my heart still beating? I was aware that the answer to all the above was yes.

Yes.

The thoughts all rushed though my head at once, and I was quickly spiraling; my breathing becoming uneven, my heart beating rapidly.

She had said yes.

They were engaged.

My mate was engaged.

Where was Lucien?

Was he alright?

Was he still breathing?

I was going to tell him.

I can’t tell him now.

They are going to get married.

I felt someone come up behind me, the smell of crackling flames and cinnamon flooding my senses. “breathe” he said softly into my ear. “Take a deep breath, you are going to be alright. I’m here- I am here with you” I feel his hand rubbing small circles on my back. I managed to lock eyes with Feyre who gave me a sad look, the same look was plastered on Nesta’s face, and on Cassian’s and if I looked at Rhysand, I could guarantee that his face would have the same look of sympathy. All I can focus on is the soft presence of Lucien’s hand on my back, and the gentleness of his voice as he attempts to ground me.

“I’m alright” I whisper back to him “I’m okay” I don’t know if it’s to calm Lucien of myself, I grasp his hand in mine a silent offering of support as this must be just as hard for him to witness. Lucien leans in again “I am so sorry y/n, but the bond makes males incredibly territorial, and I can’t watch this without wanting to kill him. I have to go” I give him a solemn nod “I’ll write to you” he promises before disappearing completely.

--------------------------------------------------

I don’t really remember getting up here, I just knew I needed to leave that room. The congratulations and the joy was beginning to suffocate me. I grabbed the small gift I had intended to give him and I made my way to the one place that felt grounding: the roof.

I made my way to the edge, seating myself on the railing as I let the events of the evening replay in my mind. Engaged. Cauldron boil me what was I going to do, if I tell him, he will probably resent me for ruining his happiness with Elain but if I don’t and the bond snaps for him what will he think then? Would he tell me? I am so lost in thought that I don’t notice the swirling darkness making its way to me until I feel the gentle caress of Azriel’s shadows on my arms. Fuck me. In my haste to get away I had completely forgotten about our meeting up here after gifts. I decided I needed to be the first to speak.

“Well, I guess a congratulations are in order” I say plastering a smile on my face and hoping that he can’t tell it doesn’t reach my eyes as I turn to face him.

“Thanks, y/n” he says bringing a hand to rub the back of his neck

“I’m happy for you both Az. Elain is…great”

“I wasn’t expecting this thing between us to become so real, it just came out of nowhere” the smile on his face doesn’t falter once as he talks about her. I can’t help but wonder what that must be like. “I never thought I would marry, unless I found my mate, but after the war and after what almost happened to Feyre with Nyx, I realized that life was meant to be lived, that maybe I was holding back.”

“You deserve all the happiness in the world Az” I say, “but can I ask you something?”

“Anything y/n”

“What if one day you did find your mate? What if one day out of the blue the mating bond just snapped into place? What would you do then?”

“I guess in that scenario, I would want to know her. I think I would owe her at least that. I would hope that she would want to know me before making any decisions. I mean mates are rare to have a mating bond is supposed to be unlike any experience in this world” he said

He had no idea. I thought to myself.

“What about Elain in this hypothetical situation”

“I would tell Elain about her and hope that she would understand and respect my decision. After all, I would never object to her getting to know Lucien and have tried pushing her to spend time with him, to make sure she has explored all her options before just rejecting the bond”

“What happens if the bond is rejected?” I ask

“Why the sudden curiosity about all this y/n?”

“I guess I just never learned about all of this, it’s all still so new to me. I mean I was raised in a temple remember? and while the priestesses were in no means celibate. Mates and mating bonds were not a part of the curriculum.”

“Point taken” he raises his hands in a playful surrender as he continues “Well, from my understanding if the bond is rejected. The male will go mad, and the female doesn’t come out of it unscathed either. There isn’t much known really about rejected bonds because we hold mates to such a high standard. It’s the most precious thing to us besides children. I mean from what I have seen and read about it; mates are your perfect equal in every way. The other half of your soul. Some tales even attribute them to the beginning of time, believing that when the mother spilled the contents of the cauldron to create our world and when she created us, the fae and the Illyrians, she made them of the same soul splitting it in two thus forever giving us the gift of finding our other half.”

“Do you believe that?” I asked

“I did…for a long time.” He replied

“What happened to make you stop believing?”

“I guess it was Cassian and Rhys. Seeing them, my brothers, find their mates who turned out to be sisters was so unbelievable. Then to find out there was a third sister, I must admit I had hoped that Elain would turn out to be my mate. I mean three sisters for three brothers; it made sense to me. I guess the cauldron had other plans.” He took a breath before continuing “When Elain came out of the cauldron in Hybern and Lucien- when Lucien realized that she was his mate. It was when I knew, that finding my mate was never going to happen for me.”

I nodded along as he spoke, suddenly not trusting myself to not reveal the bond. Especially when he was looking at me like that, it was like his hazel eyes were peering into my soul melting me from the inside out.

“By the way, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

I suddenly feel a pang of panic in my chest. “Oh! Right! I just wanted to” I quickly run through the things I can say before settling on “to give you your solstice gift in private. I know how you can be with people” I said summoning the package from behind me.

He gently took it from my hands, tearing the festive paper and opening the box that contained the gloves I had gotten from the strange hidden shop. He gave them a quizzical look for a moment before slowly folding them over in his hands studying the material.

“They are woven with spidersilk” I said, “so they can’t be torn, ripped, or cut with any blade, and they are charmed to not only fit the wearer perfectly but also to withstand the elements.”

He remained silent, just looking at them. I began to feel nauseous the longer he remained quiet. “I know how you feel about your hands, about your- about your scars and I thought that new gloves might help. Also, they would keep you safe because apparently spidersilk is rare and the most protective material in existence and they won’t be slick when it rains, and they are fireproof so-”

“I got you something too” he said cutting off my rambling by summoning a box from his shadows. I was frozen for a moment, before reaching out and delicately taking the box from his hands. I slowly untie the bow closing the box as I remove the decorative paper. I open the box to reveal a dagger. A beautiful dagger. It was simple steel, but the blade seemed to glow like it was made of the moonlight, the pommel had a dark purple crystal set inside of it and the grip felt perfect in my hand like it was made for me. “I had Nesta help as it was being forged, so it is a sister to Ataraxia and imbued with her magic, you’ll have to give it a name all powerful weapons have names” he said as I stared at the gift, silver lining my eyes at the generosity from the male beside me.

“I’ll have to think of one suitable for it” I said softly “Thank you Az, I don’t- I don’t know what to say”

He pulls me into a gentle embrace, I can’t help but feel calm as his familiar scent of night-chilled mist and cedar envelops me. “I should get back downstairs” he says softly “Mor wants to go to Rita’s for celebratory drinks and dancing” I nod at his words “Thank you for the gift y/n, it means more to me than I can express” His shadows envelop him as he winnows back to the party, back to his fiancée.

After taking a moment to compose myself, I make my way back downstairs to the party. As I enter Feyre’s eyes meet mine and I shake my head gesturing “no” to the high lady. She gives me a shallow nod understanding that I couldn’t tell Az. Mor pulls me into an enthusiastic hug and announces they are leaving to Rita’s and invites me along. I gave her a poor excuse that I had too much to drink and had a headache. She gave me a sad look but didn’t push me to join them, perhaps she too knew all about my predicament and like the others was giving me space to process the night.

Once they left and the house was quiet, I returned to my bedroom closing the door softly behind me and press my back against it; my legs gave out and I slide down the door, pulling my knees to my chest and stare at the dagger Az had gifted me.

“What am I going to name you” I mutter to the dagger running through various words in the old language and suddenly remember one that means to be calm and unworried, to have a sense of quietness, and to be still. All things that I need in my life right now.

“Iremia” I say to the dagger, it seems to glow in the light at its new name. “I'll name you Iremia”

Next Chapter ->

--------------------------------------------------

If you want to be added to my taglist let me know!

--------------------------------------------------

Taglist: @moonfawnx @we-were-beautiful @96jnie @frgman-sins @fromdelos @qtljs @goldentournesol @ruler-of-hades @mrs-azriel @feyretopia @starlit-terror @daily-dose-of-sass @mulansaucey @owllover123 @redbleedingrose @hollyismentallyillhelp @famousbasementpainter @luna-1-3-5 @marigold-morelli @topaz125 @aelinismyqueen @elizarikaallen @clueless-gold @starrstrucked @em---r @snoopythemaincoon @satellitesunshine @bankerfrog @strawbwebbie @morks-watermelon @kristalhi @lolabell0556 @intrxde @aubreylovesthegames @xxoverthinkerxx @caosfanblr @mis-lil-red @haswellington @wolfyland07 @answer-the-sirens @kaz-2y567 @marsssaturn @judig92

#azriel x reader #azriel x y/n #lucien x reader #cassian x nesta #feyre x rhysand #acotar fanfiction #elain x azriel #acotar fanfic #acotar series #helion #bookish-whore

774 notes · View notes

bewilderedbunny · 1 year

Text

Yourname

Eddie x reader fluffy blurb based on this post by @newlips (hope you enjoy this Cece 💖)

Cw: this blog is 18+ only, mdni. gender neutral reader, allusions to sex and hickeys.

Eddie loves decorating himself. Whether it's with patches and pins adorning his clothes or the silver jewelry on his hands. He also likes to garnish his skin with tattoos. It started off with a few pieces done in exchange for weed by a friend of a friend throughout high school. He'd come by their poorly lit basement with a bag of pot and a slightly wrinkled sheet of line paper with his newest design.

When you first met Eddie, he had already finished most of the sleeve on his right arm and the rest of his body was sprinkled with individual pieces. He's just so fun to look at. A beautiful boy, covered in art.

One of the first nights you spent together, he had his face nuzzled into your chest with his arms wrapped around your waist. You ran your fingers over the back of his arm while inspecting his tattoo and asked,

"What's the story behind the dragon?"

Without moving his head he murmured,

"There's a dragon in here?"

"No, the one on your arm." He took a second to figure out what you meant, then sat up to speak.

"Babe, that's not any dragon. It's a wyvern." He proceeded to tell you all of the lore behind wyverns, excited to teach his favorite person about the mythological creature (although he tells you, "Just because we haven't found real-life evidence of them, yet, that doesn't mean they don't exist. They're out there. I can feel it in my bones.")

As the years go on, he adds more and more pieces to his collection. He's mostly covered, save for a few spots.

One night, you're fast asleep in bed from a long day at work. Eddie told you not to wait up for him since the new campaign he's running could go late into the night.

You stir in your sleep when you feel the mattress dip beside you, then a hand rubs along your back.

"Sorry to wake you, sweetheart. You can go back to sleep."

"It's okay" you rub your eyes and turn over to bury your face into his neck like you usually do. He winces and stops you.

"Careful there, it's tender."

You frown and ask, "Why's your neck tender, mister? What have you been getting up to?"

He grins and reaches over you to turn on the lamp on the bedside table. Warm light fills the room and you see it. On the left side of his neck in between a somewhat faded spiderweb and an ornate dagger, lies your name in swirly, beautiful script lettering. His skin is still red and raw, the ink is fresh and shiny.

You gasp. You can't take your eyes off of your name on him. It has never looked prettier.

"Eddie! What did you do?!"

A big, goofy grin stretches across his face.

"Do you like it?"

"It- it's my name!"

He laughs, "Sure is." He tries looking down at his neck to inspect it with you, but obviously he fails.

"Been waiting to get something for you for a while now. I saved this spot since you left that massive hickey there on our first date, ya little vampire."

Your eyes water and your heart swells. You grab his face and plant a big, fat kiss on him. He giggles and holds you. You break the kiss and ask,

"You remember what I did to your dick that night? What are you gonna put there?"

#eddie x you #eddie x reader #eddie x gn!reader #eddie x y/n #eddie munson #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fluff

201 notes · View notes

suspicious-whumping-egg · 11 months

Text

Rock Bottom, A Moneymakers AU: Part 7

This is a fanfic series based on the Moneymakers series by @coldresolve. Masterlist for Moneymakers is here, masterlist (and content warnings) for Rock Bottom is here. The inspo for the “piercing” in this chapter is here. Enjoy!

Despite the threats, Corbin relented and gave him a break— of course, contingent to his obedience. But Renee was in far too much pain to even think about fighting back. As Corbin carefully bandaged the lash marks, he fought to stay still but for the involuntary flinches and hisses that overtook him when a particularly deep mark was prodded.

He wasn’t given anything for the pain, of course. But at least he was no longer helplessly bleeding out.

Corbin paced the room for a moment, flipping through drawers and shelves until he found what he was looking for. And he returned with a thick, curved barbell, beginning to screw off one end as he approached Renee.

“I’ve never tried this before, but I thought it’d be fun to give it a shot,” he smirked. “Now hold out your hand.”

Renee winced, curling his tattered hand to his chest on instinct. The wound already throbbed unbelievably, the last thing he needed was a piercing through it.

Yet Corbin snatched his hand brutally, forcing his fingers to splay out against the cement with a carefully placed blow to his fist. Agony lanced up his arm, white-hot and furious, and he let out a strangled cry.

“Don’t you wanna wait and do this in front of the camera?” He choked out bitterly. It was a pitiful excuse to put it off, even if he knew Corbin would certainly make an extra buck streaming this cruel and unusual torture. If he wanted to stream it, he would already be doing so.

Corbin flashed a grin, the same dazzling expression as he used introducing a stream.

“Aww, how thoughtful to think of lining my pockets, doll,” he simpered, his hold on Renee’s hand shifting to a grip on his wrist. “But I’m all good. This, I’d rather just keep all for myself.”

As he held the barbell up to the throbbing wound, Renee noticed it wasn’t a normal, albeit oversized barbell at all. Thicker, of course, and on either end of the screw there was a ring attached.

“I had it custom made,” Corbin said proudly. “The concept already exists, a kink thing or something, but nothing nearly big enough for a whole piercing through the hand. Alright, deep breath, doll. Shouldn’t be too bad, but it’s still gonna irritate the burn.”

And before Renee could uselessly try and plead his case one last time, Corbin slid the contraption through the bloodstained hole he’d made in his hand. He hissed in pain, the burns along the wound flaring, but even more, the touch was unnatural and sickening, sending nausea stabbing throguh his gut. Nothing was supposed to be in the inside of his hand, let alone going through it.

He couldn’t help but try to jerk away, but Corbin’s grip on the barbell meant the movement only flashed fresh agony through his hand, forcing a whimper from his lips. He held begrudgingly still as Corbin finished screwing the second ring end back onto the barbell, the ringed ends resting at the joint of his pinkie finger. The weight of the metal grating against the wound was enough to bring tears to his eyes, its pressure alighting the site with fresh agony.

Yet Corbin went back to the drawers rather than backing away in satisfaction, and returned with a short length of chain and a padlock.

“We’re almost done for the night, love, don’t worry,” he said condescendingly. “This part shouldn’t hurt a bit.”

He seized Renee’s hand again, fiddling with the rings on the barbell to line them up.

“This was Wyvern’s idea, as a matter of fact. I commissioned them to design this little piece of jewelry, as a matter of fact. They offered to come weld it onto you themself, but we can’t have your ownership questioned like that. So thank me that it’s not permanent.” He winked deviously, then threaded the chain through both rings, lining up either end of the links and securing the lock so a loop of chain dangled from the device piercing through his hand.

“It’ll be nice to have such easy access,” Corbin mused, tugging the chain until Renee gasped in pain.

“But I digress,” he continued. “Off you go, now.”

He gestured towards an open, sparsely furnished cell.

“I need my beauty sleep, doll, my daily vices, all that. Maybe I’ll spare a shot or two for you, or a cigarette, if you’re good tomorrow.”

Renee hated that he already knew he’d get on his knees just for a drop of alcohol. He hated that the mere mention of a cigarette had his hands trembling with need. He hated that he’d cut himself open if it meant getting the high of cocaine.

He hated that he hadn’t suffered the withdrawals in his parents’ summer home, stewed in his anger and plotted his rage. His own impulse made him sick.

And when the cell door closed in his face, he hated the pang of loneliness that hit him like a bullet.

Taglist: Taglist: @coyotehusk @befuddled-calico-whump @just-horrible-things

#rock bottom: a moneymakers au #red room whump

13 notes · View notes

wyverndesignsstuff · 3 years

Link

#jewelry #rings #love #stamped ring #adjustable ring #Wyvern Designs Jewelry

2 notes · View notes

love-and-monsters · 4 years

Text

Wyvern Prince 15

And we’re back! Thanks for being patient while I finished up college; I’ll post something else tomorrow to make up for the wait. But for now, here’s our favorite wyvern!

Male wyvern X female reader, 3013 words

Keeping your relationship a secret was a concept Davrakoss seemed to only understand in theory. He hadn’t attempted anything as obvious as kissing you in public, which was something of a relief, but that seemed to be the limit he understood. Instead of avoiding you in public and ensuring your relationship at least looked professional, he often sought you out or tried to stay around you. Every time he stood near you or engaged in conversation with you, you could feel eyes turning to you. The soft murmurs of conversation became jagged whispers as people frowned disapprovingly.

The fact that there was a ball coming up was only increasing the amount of stress on your shoulders.

Balls were done twice yearly, a highly formal one on the winter solstice and a much less formal one on the summer solstice. The formal one was designed to allow nobles from surrounding kingdoms to come together and, as far as you could tell, show off. Wearing increasingly elaborate dresses, showing off ostentatious wealth, and subtle bragging about exactly how well their kingdom was doing seemed to be the main focuses of the evening.

You really couldn’t see Davrakoss at such an event. Subtle politics had never been his strong suit and you couldn’t spend as much time as you wanted preparing him because you had to spend your time making sure the castle was prepared for the ball.

Preparing for the ball was the worst part of the year for every servant. Not only was there a lot of extra work, but nobles tended to become shorter and shorter of temper as the date approached. One of the particularly bratty noble girls had nearly pushed a servant down a flight of stairs when he had failed to bring her a particularly expensive bolt of fabric for a dress.

The pressure at least didn’t seem to be getting to Davrakoss, which was a relief. “Stay with me tonight,” he insisted as you made to head back to your quarters. “It would be simpler. And you wouldn’t have to get up as early tomorrow.”

He had been making the proposition every day since you had officially become a couple. Not once had you taken him up on it, but there was something to be said for his tenacity.

“It would be suspicious,” you said. “People could notice that I don’t return and if I start appearing in your room every morning, they’re going to find out.”

“I don’t care what people think,” Davrakoss crooned, but he wasn’t terribly insistent. “Just stay a little longer, at least?” He gave you a pleading look. It was impressive how much he managed to make his reptilian eyes look like a puppy dog’s.

“Only a little longer,” you said. “I really do need to get some sleep before tomorrow.”

Davrakoss wrapped himself around you, twining his tail around your legs and putting his arms around your shoulders. His cool nose pressed into the crook of your neck and you had to strangle a squeak. “You’re tense,” he said, kneading his fingertips into the muscles near your neck.

“It’s the ball. I hate these things,” you said. Davrakoss lifted his head from your shoulders and pulled you securely against his chest.

“I’m not all that excited for it either,” he said. “I’m not certain what I’m supposed to do.”

“Your part shouldn’t be too difficult,” you said. “Just stand around and make nice with the other nobles. Be polite to anyone who talks to you, smile a lot, and please try not to threaten anyone in any way.”

“I threaten one queen once and you never let it go,” Dravrakoss chuckled into the top of your head. “I won’t threaten anyone.” He rubbed your back, scratching gently with the tips of his fingers. “The other nobles have been talking about bringing dates.”

“Oh, yeah.” There was an unsettling drop in the pit of your stomach. “A lot of them use the ball as an opportunity to declare intent to court. Or to show off their partner. And those who don’t bring partners will usually be trying to get a partner at the ball.”

“I wish I could bring you,” Davrakoss said.

“I’ll be there,” you said.

“Not as my date,” Davrakoss snorted. “As a servant. It’s not the same.”

“Well, I’ll still be there if you need help,” you said. Davrakoss sighed, fluffing your hair with a hand.

“I don’t need you there for help. I want you to be able to go to a human party with me. You deserve a break. You’ve been working so hard for this and you don’t even get to enjoy it.”

“I’ll enjoy having the next day off,” you said. “Trust me, it’s better to work the night of the party than it is to have to care for all the hungover nobles the next morning.”

“And I think you’d look nice all dressed up,” Davrakoss said.

“It doesn’t matter because I can’t go.” You yawned and slowly untangled yourself from Davrakoss. “I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Wait,” Davrakoss said. When you turned back toward him, he took your face gently in his hands and pressed a kiss to your lips. He wasn’t a great kisser, which you mostly attributed to having spent most of his life without lips. Generally, though, his lack of technique was made up for with his enthusiasm. After a moment, he broke away, fingertips brushing along the lines of your face. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said reluctantly.

“See you then,” you said. His hands dropped away from you and you hurried out the door before his sad expression changed your mind.

The next day was spent rushing back and forth between preparing Davrakoss for the ball and making sure that everything else was ready. His clothes were, as was usual for the ball, incredibly elaborate and many-layered. His hair was also done up in an elaborate, twisting braid around his head, and jewelry hung from almost every part of his body. Typically, other servants took care of the clothing and hairstyling for the ball, but Davrakoss made others nervous enough that they kept calling you in for help.

“Ow.” You ran a comb through his hair, tugging on a particularly stubborn knot. The servant next to you drew back, as if frightened he would bite. Instead, he just gave his head a small shake and settled back into his seat.

“What did you do to your hair?” you muttered. You were terribly aware that the other servants in the room were staring at you with wide eyes. You would have to be careful to not be overly familiar with him. But at the same time, it was hard to be overly cool to him. He was already bristling with discomfort from all the people fussing over him and your comforting presence seemed to soothe him.

“I didn’t do anything. Ow!” You gave a sharp tug to one of the knots in his hair and his clawed fingertips dug into the arms of his chair. “Be careful!”

The servant next to you stared with wide eyes, but you just gave her a reassuring smile. “He’s more bark than bite,” you reassured her. Davrakoss’ expression didn’t change, but his tail tapped against your ankle for a moment, an acknowledgement of your teasing.

You gestured for one of the servants to come closer and, with her help, began to twist his hair into an elaborate crown around his horns. It took quite a while. Davrakoss sank back in his seat, eyes closed. The only sign that he wasn’t sleeping was that he twitched slightly whenever you pulled on his hair a little too hard.

Finally, once his hair was all done up and pretty, you managed to shoo the other servants out of the room. Davrakoss peered at himself in a full-length mirror, shifting a little to get a better look at himself. He was wearing a long, greenish-blue robe with a large cape that covered much of his tail. His horns were half hidden under his hair, and mostly covered in long, hanging jewels and metal. Gems and jewels, mostly blue, white, and silver, adorned him all over.

“You look good,” you said. The colors and flowing material made him look almost ethereal. It made your mouth go dry and your palms go clammy just to look at him.

He turned toward you, looking a little dazed. “Thank you.” He reached up to touch one of his horns, but dropped his hand halfway through the action. There was a strange sadness in his face.

“What’s the matter?” you asked, stepping up to his side. He leaned into your touch, eyes drifting shut for a second.

“You did a very good job at making me look human,” he said, leaning away from your again. You gaped, startled, but looking again, you could see he was right. The most obvious marks that he was a wyvern had been hidden away. If you only glanced at him for a moment, you could mistake him for a human. Your stomach twisted.

“That wasn’t what I wanted to-” you started, but Davrakoss stopped you with a sad smile.

“I know this isn’t your fault,” he said gently. “You didn’t design this outfit. I expect it was requested by the royal family to make me look less intimidating.” He sighed, disappointment etching itself across his face. “I am disappointed that I am able to predict human politics to that extent.”

“Don’t be. You’re better than all of them,” you said, drawing close to his side. He smiled down at you.

“Hearing you say that means a lot.” He pressed a kiss to your forehead. “Do you have to leave now?” he asked, still holding you close.

“I should get going,” you said, though you didn’t move. He tilted your head back and kissed you. It was a surprisingly delicate and gentle kiss, but you couldn’t keep your mind on it. Half your thoughts were focused on trying to hear if there was anything outside the door. There was a soft clunk and you broke away, heart pounding. Davrakoss didn’t say anything. He had gotten used to your jumpiness.

“No one’s there,” he said, guiding your attention back toward him. “I would tell you.” He pressed his forehead against yours. “Trust me.”

“I do trust you. I just…” You trailed off, swallowing against the anxiety that swelled up into your throat. “I should go.”

Davrakoss stepped back with a sigh. “I will see you later, then.” He hesitated, then swooped in for another quick kiss. You had the urge to grab onto him, but you were pretty sure that even the smallest errant movement would ruin all the hard work you’d put into his outfit. Instead, you gave his hand a squeeze and left the room.

By the time the ball was ready to begin, you were thoroughly tired of the pale blue and white decorations that covered the ballroom. You were also physically exhausted from the effort of putting up all the decorations. Unfortunately, servants were also required to attend the ball as servers, which meant walking around with a tray and usually getting yelled at by drunken nobles. It was the lesser of two evils, really.

Nobles filtered in as soon as the sun dipped beneath the horizon. Most of them were lesser nobles who were unimportant enough to simply attend without announcement. However, many of the royalty from other kingdoms needed formal introductions.

It was a long, boring ceremony, but you paused in your slow rotation of the ballroom floor when Davrakoss’ name was announced. “Prince of the Wyverns, Davrakoss.” A low murmur swept through the room as he descended into the ballroom proper.

The low light made the jewels on his robe glitter and gleam and his expression was aloof and ethereal. Despite the efforts to make him more human, he looked greater and more terrible than any person you’d seen before. His eyes almost glowed with fire. You couldn’t tear your eyes away from him.

A few of the other members of royalty gathered around him as he stepped into the ballroom, blocking him from view. You continued circling the room, gradually shifting closer to Davrakoss in the most nonchalant way you could.

He was amidst a throng of chattering royalty, looking blessedly aloof rather than uncomfortable. Still, when he saw you, his expression relaxed a little. He moved closer to you, under the pretense of grabbing a glass of wine. He couldn’t speak to you without drawing attention, but he managed to convey both a sort of pained irritation and happiness at the sight of you. His fingers brushed yours as he took a glass.

You retreated again and Davrakoss returned to the crowd of royals. You caught sight of him a few more times as you rotated through the ballroom. He was nearly always surrounded by other royals. Once, late into the night, you saw him out on the dance floor. He was swaying in a slow circle with a princess you vaguely recognized as the third daughter of a northern king. Despite his little practice, he was able to hold his own. At the very least, the princess seemed happy and he wasn’t stepping on her feet.

They stepped off the dance floor and another princess approached him. He took her hand and graciously returned to the dance. Your stomach knotted. It was strange. You had never been jealous of nobles before, not in this way. But watching Davrakoss smile down at the woman in his arms made you feel a little sick.

You left the ballroom to refill your drink tray. Jealousy and exhaustion mingled in an emotional combination that made your eyes sting.

There was a rustling noise behind you and you straightened, wiping off your eyes. Before you could pretend to be getting more drinks, the person who had entered the room walked over to you.

“Are you all right?” You jumped a little. Davrakoss was leaning over you, eyes gentle.

“What are you doing back here?” you hissed. “This area is only for servants.” Davrakoss grinned.

“Yes, so hopefully no one will think to look for me back here.” He slipped an arm around your waist and tugged you into a shaded and secluded corner. “You look lovely.”

“It’s nothing fancy,” you said. You were wearing servants clothing, but it was dark blue instead of its usual black to fit with the ballroom aesthetic.

“It still looks nice on you,” he said. “And it’s probably more comfortable than this getup.” He gestured to his own outfit with a sour expression.

“Probably,” you admitted. “You really should go back out there. You’re going to be disappointing so many of those noblewomen that were hanging onto you.”

Davrakoss laughed quietly. “There is only one woman I care about disappointing,” he said, ducking his face close to yours. “They’re nice, but I don’t think for a second that they care more about me than about my title.” He looked at you with gleaming, reverent eyes. “You, on the other hand…”

“You’re very sweet,” you said, accepting a kiss, “but we really should be getting back to the ball.”

He wrinkled his nose a little and gave you another kiss before sweeping back out to the dance floor. You took a few minutes to allay suspicion and refill your drinks before following him back out into the fray.

The night stretched on and on until finally the sun started to rise. You were nearly dead on your feet at that point. Still, you managed to smile as you herded several very drunk nobles out of the ballroom and toward their carriages.

Davrakoss approached you as you returned to the ballroom. “I am requesting that my servant attend me,” he said in a pretty passable impression of a snooty noble. You smothered a yawn and nodded. He led you out of the ballroom, toward his room.

As soon as you were in the secluded staircase that led to Davrakoss’ room, he seized you and lifted you into his arms. You yelped, automatically putting your arms around his neck. “You’re exhausted,” he said. “You need to go to bed.”

“I’ve got my own room,” you protested weakly.

“And you look exhausted enough to collapse before you even made it halfway,” Davrakoss said. “I am entirely capable of sleeping on the floor.” He shifted you carefully in his arms so he could open the door to his room.

“You don’t have to,” you mumbled, but you weren’t looking forward to actually walking all the way back to the servant’s quarters. “At least let me help you out of your clothes first.”

Davrakoss lifted his brows, but you were too tired to even protest against the implication. With fumbling fingers, you undid the buttons and straps of his robes until he was wearing nothing but his underclothes. Then you had to take several minutes to fully unpin and unravel his hair, sending it cascading down his back.

“Let me,” he said when you finally started to pull off your own gown. His fingers tickled against your back as he undid each button and you wriggled free from the dress. It should have been embarrassing to stand in front of him in nothing but your underdress, but you were too tired. You swayed slightly just standing still.

“Lie down,” Davrakoss said, half carrying you over to his bed. You fell into it and he pulled the covers up around you. It was ridiculously comfortable even when you weren’t tired. Getting to rest in it when solid stone would have made a nice bed felt ridiculously luxuriant. You felt it sink slightly as Davrakoss sat next to you. His fingertips trailed through your hair and along your back. “Get some rest, love,” he said. You couldn’t even lift your eyelids again, but you managed to find his hand with yours. His fingers squeezing yours was the last thing you felt before you slipped into unconsciousness.

#exophilia #wyvern prince #wyvern #wyvern boyfriend #monster boyfriend #monster lover

122 notes · View notes

idonthavefriends-ihaveone · 4 years

Text

I am shook, y'all.

I watched The Witcher last weekend while I was sewing masks because why not and I was really weirded out by the dragon in Rare Species (ep 6). I knew right away that I didn't like the design, but just something about it was Not Dragon and it took me a bit to put my finger on it but IT'S NOT A FREAKING DRAGON - IT'S A WYVERN! (It's only got two legs instead of four) Now, that being said, I still think the thing just looks Wrong™ in general - it's just a really awkward looking design - I mean look at it

it's awful - fuck that shit. Also, here's a handy dandy guide if you're not sure wtf I'm on about so that you can enjoy(?) my ranting more. It’s actually a kind of shitty image of a dragon compared to the rest of them, but whatever, we all know what a dragon’s supposed to look like - 4 legs, wings, tail, etc. Good? Good.

Anyway, so then I started thinking about what other things I've seen that have dragons in them because I thought that surely this isn't a Thing. So I'm thinking of shows I watch that have dragons, and I’m like okay Merlin and The Dragon Prince both have actual dragons, so that's good, that's a good sign there - what else have I seen dragons in? And then I'm like oh yea right, Harry Potter, and THOSE AREN'T DRAGONS. And I was sad and disappointed because magical creatures are a Thing and they even go into detail of like how a basilisk is made and it's got lore about hippogriffs vs manticores vs cocatrices and so on. idk - I mostly forgive myself for not noticing because they aren't honestly a very large part of the story and still are designed well and aren't awkward looking af, but whatever, still mad, still disappointed

Then I look other media I haven't personally watched/played/whatever like GoT (wyverns) and Skyrim (also wyverns) and I'm like huh, I guess this is more of a widespread issue than I realized. (As a side note, How To Train Your Dragon has both dragons and wyverns, but them seem to just call them dragons, so like half credit I guess maybe?). And it's the same with a lot of dragon imagery you see in jewelry too - that's got a mix of about anything large with wings. You'll have your actual dragons, but you also see a lot a wyverns too. Also though, you get amphiteres (or amphipteres or amphitheres), mostly if it's a kind of crest you're looking at - like the one below - that's usually the position you'll see them in.

I feel like those are only really depicted in jewelry or crests/logos though rather than appearing in shows or whatnot.

Back to my betrayal though. I was talking to my partner about how I'd love to be in a fantasy show/movie/whatever where a "dragon" (read: wyvern) attacks or is in the story however else so I could be annoyingly pedantic about it and lecture the group about it while we're trying to run away/find the thing/whatever. And somehow, that got me thinking about Merlin again and how there are wyverns in that too (most notably when they go to find the fisher king I think?). And I just had a sinking feeling so I looked up the wyverns and (you may know where this is going but) they're Not. Freaking. Wyverns. And I am just so betrayed by this other show that has tons of magical creatures and I believed in them to make sure they got them right and ugh - fucking four legs.

#anyway if you want me ill just be sulking in the corner #rant #dragons #wyverns #dragons vs wyverns #swearing #bbc merlin #merlin #the dragon prince #tdp #harry potter #game of thrones #got #skyrim #how to train your dragon #httyd #my post

63 notes · View notes

softrockstar · 5 years

Text

An Analysis on the Ethnic Coding of Petra [Fire Emblem Three Houses]

So Fire Emblem Three Houses is officially one month old now and since that time, I’ve been taking notes on anything Petra, Brigid, Shamir or Dagda related on most of my playthroughs because I’m genuinely curious as to what their real world counterparts are meant to be. And finally I have come to the conclusion that the countries of Brigid and Dagda are based off pre-Columbian Caribbean/Latin America making it plausible to conclude that both Petra and Shamir are Indigenous Latina coded!! Below the cut I have compiled all the references I noticed either from research or just from personal knowledge of mine because I thought some of y’all would interested in this since it hasn’t been talked about as far as I know.

(BEWARE OF MINOR SPOILERS)

First thing’s first, I wanted to point out that although the Adrestrian Empire is heavily based off Germany, it also has Iberian themes (most notably names (see Mercedes and Manuela) and geography.) This connects with the fact that Adrestria is the only known country in Fódlan to have had direct contact with Brigid/Dagda so in the real world, this would be Spanish/Portuguese contact with the Caribbean/Latin America

Attire

Pre-timeskip, Petra’s design doesn’t speak much about her homeland. She wears a standard uniform where the only notable difference between her and the other students are her tan complexion, braided hair and of course, her iconic tattoo on her cheek. Post-timeskip, however, we get much more insight on what Brigid culture is like since she does explain that sometime during the five years Byleth was gone, she returned to Brigid. (albeit, for a short amount of time) This is where we finally get a good taste of Brigid culture and makes it way easier to point out the references between her attire and the real world inspirations it takes.

[just a disclaimer, but none of Petra’s canon classes (Thief, Assassin and Wyvern Rider) really incorporate its way into her war attire with the exception of the one legged leggings and garter from the generic female thief outfit]

From my personal knowledge on the topic, I noticed that Petra’s outfit takes a lot of inspiration from the Kuna people of Panama and Colombia, most notably her jewelry, the patterns and the colour palette.

[most Incan armour were made out of metals and her shoulder guard/chest plate seem to be made out of leather (noted by the seams/colour) so in the image above I was mainly pointing out the theme of fringe/tassels]

The persistent theme of gold accessories in her outfit is reminiscent of many different ancient Latin American civilizations valuing gold so much.

Beliefs

Petra establishes early on that she doesn’t really believe in the Church of Seiros (same for Shamir) and instead explains in Brigid, they believe every living thing has a spirit within. In her C-Support with Byleth, she explains the origin of her tattoo as a prayer to the forest spirits to protect her.

In many Latin American/Caribbean cultures, there are forest spirits referred to as duendes and are to help guide lost people out of the forest.

Once Byleth’s hair changes colour, Petra acknowledges it and gives insight on more of Brigid’s spiritual beliefs.

Hair is very sacred in many Indigenous cultures. It’s believed that if your hair were to change colours naturally, you were enlightened by a god which coincides well with Petra’s reaction to Byleth’s new appearance.

Geography

Brigid is an archipelago with a tropical climate and is located to the southwest of Fódlan (Europe) so it should go without saying much that the location of Brigid is based off the West Indies/Caribbean and Central America.

However something that should be noted is that Brigid and Dagda are very closely tied together, sharing parts of their cultures. Dagda’s real world counterpart is very vague to say the least since Shamir doesn’t share much about it but going off the in-game description of a tomato and a paragraph from one of the books in the library, it’s safe to say that Dagda is most likely supposed to be South America.

- - -

And that’s that on that! I’m sure there’s many things that I’ve missed (such as the significance of Petra’s braids, more on spirits that Petra mentions, Shamir’s animal bone dice, etc.) but for now that’s all I can gather accurate information on. Maybe in the future I will make some edits to this but for now I’m satisfied with the result.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk!!

#fire emblem three houses #petra macneary #shamir nevrand #fe16 #good god this took forever to make and theres still so much more i didnt cover #if this is all completely 100% wrong please feel free to correct me #i dont see anybody else talking about this so i didnt even have a lead to go off of #anyways now y'all can hopefully stop calling sylvain latino now #like hdsjhgh idk where that even started but .. girl he's francophone #like point blank period

64 notes · View notes

windup-dragoon · 4 years

Text

Guess who’s at it again? Me. A stupid drabble of Aymeric x Kirishimi. I’m not really sure when it takes place, probably a little bit after Heavensward. It features the Fantasy Squad; Illya, Shuri, and Laurelis. Really wish I could have written it better but I feel as if I’m forcing myself to write more than writing out of inspiration. Hopefully it isn’t too godawful to read. Anyway, enjoy.

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕄𝕒𝕤𝕜

ᴬʸᵐᵉʳⁱᶜ ˣ ᴷⁱʳⁱˢʰⁱᵐⁱ

ᵂᵒʳᵈ ᶜᵒᵘⁿᵗ: ¹,⁷⁰⁷

“That woman is insufferable!” An angry Estinien howled into the corridor of Fortemps manor. His heels stamped the polished floors with heavy footfalls as he marched himself back to the parlor.

Alphinaud, Alisaie, and Haurchefant all but dropped their tea at such ferocity that bellowed. What war had they stumbled upon while enjoying fine pastries beside the fire?

“... Do we dare ask?” Alisaie spoke in chosen quiet so only those among her could hear.

Haurchefant, all smiles even in such turmoil, stifled a laugh. From over the back of the lounging chair the young man waved an encouraging gesture for his fellow to join them. “Pray, tell us what ails you!” Haurchefant grinned and eagerly patted the open seat at his side for Estinien.

Before the former azure dragoon could decide his next course of action, however, another set of footfalls padded hastily behind. Estinien whirled on his heel, nearly stumbling into the parlor as his pursuer marched forth, lance in hand.

“Insufferable? Yer the asinine bloke who walked in on me dressin’!” It was Kirishimi, radiating with annoyance and spitting venom. Her lance was raised above one shoulder, poised to be thrown like a javelin at the man before her.

An audible gasp came from the audience.

Estinien could do naught but duck behind a pedestal of arranged flowers to give her reason to hesitate. “Bah! I knocked, you daft girl! Moreover, you were fully clothed!”

“I thought you were the maid comin’ back with that curtain of a dress!” Kiri hissed, “And under armor is just the same as bein’ undressed!”

The trio at the hearth all sighed in relief. A misunderstanding at best. Everyone in attendance was aware of Kirishimi’s disinterest in wearing anything but armor. She likened it to a state of undress, no matter the layers she wore. Even now, standing at the mouth of the corridor in a woolen tunic and pants, Kirishimi held an arm around herself as if preserving herself.

“Enough.” At last a voice of reason emerged. Count Edmont, standing at the Warrior of Lights side, dared to take hold of the lance she brandished. “If you must argue like barbarian children, then have the courtesy to do it outside.” Edmont sounded exhausted but wore a smile nevertheless. Such challenging interactions changed the pace in his life; a bit of excitement he hadn’t endured since his sons were but babes.

“Aye!” Estinien roused to his full height, straightening his suit as if dust had suddenly accumulated.

“Estinien, if I may?” Alphinaud set his tea aside before raising blue eyes to the dragoons. “Did you not say you came to deliver something? You made it sound urgent.”

“...Yes.” Sighed the man, abruptly remembering his composure. “Although I wouldn’t call it urgent.” From the depths of his breast pocket he produced the trinket he had been tasked to deliver. A golden partial mask of lace and blue hued jewels. Its design was simple enough but likened to that of a dragon.

“Since this is a masquerade you will be attending, I thought it only suitable to have one made custom.” Edmont announced with a touch of pride.

Kirishimi, having long since lowered her weapon, found herself staring blankly at the object in question. The curves the mask made to match cheekbones held sharp edges, layered with small golden metals that looked like scales.

Such a small but precious thing. Her fingertips gingerly held it once Estinien handed it over outright, examining the small embedded sapphires that made it spark with radiance by light of the fire. A gift... for her. Already was Edmont having a dress tailored for her and now this? It all felt too much. She had done nothing to be so deserving of such lavished luxuries.

“You have my thanks, Ser Estinien.” Edmont continued on while Kirishimi admired the craftsmanship of her gift.

In return, Estinien gave a nod.

“Now that no one has a desire to harm the other, perhaps we should continue to ready ourselves?” Alisaie, rising from the couch aside Alphinaud, smiled. “It won’t be long now before we will have to make our leave. And if you have no objections, I can help assist you, Kirishimi. Although such stately parties perplex me, I am no stranger to it nonetheless.”

---

Kirishimi felt like a painted doll that evening. Her cheeks weighted down with a dusting of powder, lips sticky with a tasteless paint. Despite the hours they had spent deciding the fate of her hair, they had settled to leave it down, quicksilver locks cascading over the bare slopes of her shoulders. At least little, if anyone, took notice of the way she pouted with puffed cheeks beneath her dragon inspired mask.

Before her was a landscape of vivid colored fabric and sparkling gilded jewelry. Not a single mask among the crowd was the same as another. She spotted some as chocobo in design, another a coeurl and even a behemoth with pearls to represent the gnashing fangs of such beasts. Beautiful and striking. But was it necessary? Did any of these party goers know the reality behind their masks inspiration? What a terrifying sound a behemoth could make? How ferocious a coeurl? Though when it came to the chocobo mask that Haurchefant adorned, Kirishimi could only smile. It seemed befitting of him. At least a chocobo could not maim.

“You have the look of a leashed wolf.” A voice at her side startled Kirishimi out of thought. She had been sitting alone upon a bench beneath a window for some time, until now. Estinien now occupied a spot beside her, a mask with a wyverns aspect in ebony obscuring his own unamused features.

“I feel foolish.” Kiri admitted in a sigh. She had been absently picking at the sparkles that dusted her midnight blue dress, her golden mesh clad fingertips looking as if she had touched the wings of a butterfly.

“Indeed, you do.” He mused, chuckling lightly when Kirishimi nearly hissed. “How is it that your friends can enjoy themselves yet you sit alone sulking?” Estinien gestured to the crowd.

Here and there she could spot them. Her beloved friends, chatting and dancing, drinking in the elegance of the night. Illya and Alphinaud having a bashful conversation beside an overflowing bouquet of lively flowers. Kirishimi could practically hear Illya praising the plants for producing such exquisite petals. Shuri had struck up a conversation with Alisaie, both so lively and bursting with laughter. Laurelis being swept cheerfully away by Lord Haurchefant, eagerly occupying the floor with their dance.

But this setting was more attuned for them. The others were well versed in such affairs as parties. They all looked so stunning in their gowns and attire; beautiful and enchanting. Comfortable. Kirishimi, meanwhile, had to enlist Alphinaud and Alisaie’s help just to attend.

“They’re better adapted, I’m afraid.” Kirishimi closed her eyes and blew out a sigh.

“Who is better adapted?” A familiar tone struck her ears. Warm and almost melodious. She would recognize it even in the midst of a thunderstorm.

Immediately her eyes opened, revealing to her a recognizable face smiling down at her. Onyx hair curled at his cheeks and over his brow, his aquamarine eyes shimmering beneath a mask of painted sapphire and dusted in gold. The mask another dragon aspect, with horns that were lost in the curl of his hair. His smile, that damnable smile that made her heart flutter as if a bird, filled his features with warmth and delight.

Quickly she glanced away, to Estinien at her side, only to discover the dragoon had long since vacated. That sly fox.

“Estinien made mention that you were alone. I apologize for not seeking you out sooner, Kirishimi.” Aymeric made an apologetic face, truly regretful.

“No... Don’t be. I’m sure your time at social events is always spoken for.” She could see it now. The crowd of lords and ladies around him, beckoning for his attention over political or personal conversations. It had occurred to her that seeking him out was an option upon arrival, but hesitation made her falter. Instead she found herself visiting the table of decorated pastries and glittering glasses of crimson wine.

Aymeric suddenly took to his knee, eye level with the woman before him. His gloved hand embraced hers, holding hers as if he had captured a firefly. Delicately.

“There was not a moment I hadn’t searched the crowd for you. Imagine my fear when I thought perhaps you were not in attendance.” If anyone else had spoken such fanciful words, Kirishimi would have assumed it a lie. No one wants to spend a lavish party like this with a woman of her standard. But Aymeric had such a way about him. Every word whispered was heartfelt, true, and meaningful. She was compelled to believe him which made her heart drum beneath her chest. Such an elated feeling... To be wanted.

“Then do you care to sit beside me?” She offered with a shy smile tugging at her painted lips.

“No.” His answer was immediate, just as pronounced as he rose to his feet once more, her hands still clasped in his. “Rather, I have a better idea in mind. If you will indulge me?”

Before she knew it, Aymeric had pried her from the bench. He spirited her through the throngs of people who whispered beneath decorated masks. Briskly walking hand-in-hand beside party goers who all froze mid sentence.

The silence was deafening. All the life had faded from the crowd, even the music having hushed. She could only hear the hum of her heart and the clicks of her heels against the polished floors while trailing behind Aymeric.

But soon they came to a stop. Lord Haurchefant and Laurelis, having had stopped mid dance, smiled brightly now that the two had joined them on the dance floor.

Music once again started. Soft at first, a whisper over the murmur of the crowd. Aymeric whirled on his heel to again face Kirishimi, his fingers laced with hers while his other arm fastened around her waist, drawing her close.

“Dance with me?”

Kirishimi, feeling the sensation of a blush burning her cheeks, could only smile at such an innocent request. “Of course.”

#|| Untold Stories #ffxiv writing #aymeric x wol #ser aymeric #aymeric de borel #it's really lame #my b #kiri and estinien are like brother and sister #they just argue #but they watch out for one another #kind of #aymeric plz waltz with kiri into the sunset #also Haurchefant doesn't die in this #:^)

9 notes · View notes

sleepywyverns · 6 years

Text

WYVERN’S FAERY FAVS (ETSY)

Here is a list of some of my favorite etsy shops! In parentheses on the side I will put what the shop specializes in. Whether it be jewelry, crochet work, or just pixie style clothing, enjoy ~

↠ GekkoBoHotique ( Good pixie skirts / tops / dresses )

↠ Curvy Wench ( Bodices / Corsets / Crochet Work )

↠ Gone Away Designs ( Comfy waist cinchers / other ren faire clothing )

↠ StasyaJewlery ( Beautiful Elven Headpieces / Ear cuffs )

↠ Lykos Leather ( Great quality leather goods and drinking horns )

↠ Dajana Heremic ( The most BEAUTIFUL wool collars )

↠ Forever Wanderingg ( Great crochet style faery tops with a ton of texture! )

↠ FolkOwl ( Whimsical felted accesories from bags, arm cuffs, to hats! )

↠ MidnightsMeadow ( Renaissance Wear, Comfortable Waist Cinchers )

↠ Bone Dust Tower ( Primitive Bone, Metal Jewelry )

↠ Abstractika Crafts ( Pretty and comfy pixie clothing )

↠ LUGH & AISLING CELTIC ART ( Beatiful Celtic Jewelry )

↠ Wolftea ( Bone jewelry and oddities )

↠ Vespermoth ( Beautiful and hauntingly dark handmade jewelry )

↠ Bat's Woodland Wares ( The best magical crochet work ! )

↠ AghartaJewellry ( Beautiful jewelry fit for a fairytale )

↠ SalamanderEtsy ( Pixie Style Clothing )

↠ PsyFireUK ( Pixie Style Clothing )

↠ Gombaek ( Pixie Style Clothing )

↠ LunaDesignn ( Pixie Style Clothing )

↠ Primitive Tribal Craft ( Pixie / Boho Style Clothing )

↠ Ren Fan Designs ( Afforable Ren Faire Wear )

↠ FutureNomad ( THE BEST PIXIE SLIT LEGGINGS, UR WELCOME )

That is all i have for now, I may be adding on to things as i discover shops and remember them lol, I will have my thrifting tips up in another post soon :)

54 notes · View notes

dominionleathershop · 7 years

Text

Dominion Leather Status Update - 10/13/2017

Its been a bit since I posted one of these. Since the last update alot of things have happened, and not MUCH of it was Dominion Leather related.

We had Hurricane Harvey which flooded a HUGE part of Houston. Luckily I was not affected but I tell you this, my attitude and emotional state was affected by it a bit. I worked thru it.

I got a new Truck as some of those know who have been here for over a few months. My hope is that one day I might be able to hook up a travel trailer to it and tour the US a bit, and possibly sell my wares while on the road. (dream).

My wife got a new job...and is now resigning as the company that she got hired from is dishonest and screws its employees (and no...I don’t means standard dishonesty, but much worse). So as I write this, she had sent her resignation letter for a last day of Thursday (I anticipate them telling her never to come back). But she has a series of Temp Jobs lined up it looks like as she looks for a more perm job. *yay*

My primary job itself is looking spotty in the future so alas, I may have to start brushing my own resume up again....I hate looking for a job. I SHOULD be ok as the market for me is usually pretty good.

NOW...to Leather....

Experiment of the Month I have completely screwed this up...and failed to meet my “monthly” timelines I arbitrarily made. I was going to try to make an armbinder with rivets, but frankly, I do not like how it will be done. Probably would hurt the wearer on the edges, so its being shelved as not a good idea with rivets only.

Christmas 2017 Contest I am working on this now :)

Events I have applied for South Plains Leather Fest in Dallas Texas in March. Will see if I am approved as a vendor again. (Again, if you have a suggestion for an event that is a weekend long type event within about 300-500 minutes of Houston I wanna hear about you)

Harnesses/GarterBelts I am now starting to get into the Harnesses aspect a bit more. I am looking to try my hand at making more of these! For many purposes, etc. Just for looks, erotic fun, and for bondage/bdsm purposes. Also some garter belts that I have been contacted about as well. I am now starting to investigate those as well.

Ball Gag Harness I made two of these...and I will try to take some bad pictures to show and possible sell on Etsy.

Chain I have two new tools on their way to my residence to allow me to start trying to incorporate chains into my designs. Not heavy duty chains that are used to lock a gate...but smaller chain that I cannot open myself from opening (hence the tools). With this chain, thicker and stronger then any jewelry chain, and CAN be used in bondage situations (but not something like suspension, etc... Strong but not that strong.

Two Tone Colors You might have seen the two-toned colors I did as a test. I used the Wyvern leather (the leather print that looks like reptile scales). I dyed the whole thing first in a color like red or yellow. Then I applied black to a sponge and ran the sponge on top, not getting enough on it to get in the cracks. This left a black top with yellow or red in the depressions. Now this is only using the Wyvern leather...

First EBay Sale Well, I tried my hand at EBay for the first time. It worked well, and it seems two people actually bid on my items *yay* I will probably be doing this again...and I might try it in the next 24-48 hours. Now I priced it originally at like $30 which is roughly 50% off. I ended up selling it for something like $42 or so. Alot less then my Etsy store, but it is there and meant to give those that cant afford to buy something normally a chance to buy it cheaper.

Local Photographer and Models I am looking for local Photographer(s) and Model(s). Now I am exploring using fetlife and will look around from there. I have gotten some good stuff from Darkwood Photography, but I am needing help in the local department with photos and the like, let alone some models. I am looking to be able to see the events and make adjustments, something I cant really do after its shipped off elsewhere.

Finances and Sales Now most probably don;t care too much but some do :) I thought I would give you a little update on how Dominion Leather is doing financially and how my sales are going. This year I have had a 76% increase from this time last year. Pretty good :) Revenue is about 176% above what I have done last year at this time as well Things are going well, Dominion Leather is still poor, but not having any money issues. I can actually afford unique pieces of leather and hardware nowadays.

I hope this was interesting and informative for you all! If you have any comments, please leave a reply for me!

10 notes · View notes

wyvernworkshop · 7 years

Photo

https://www.etsy.com/listing/539161164/red-and-silver-box-weave-anodized #chainmaille #bracelet #boxweave #handmade #chainmaille #red #redandsilver #braceletforsale #jewelry #jewelryforsale #handmadejewelry #chainmaillejewelry #chain #chainbracelet #create #design #jewelrydesigner #handcrafted #metalandchain #metal #wyvern

0 notes

iamcrimelord · 5 years

Text

Story Time/RP Prompt: What goes around, comes around....

Daigo could feel hot air rushing by him like a hurricane......he slowly opened his eyes to find out what was going on...he did not remember much............bits here and there.........but the last thing he remembered was his head being sliced off by someone. Once his eyes were fully opened and focused...he realized that he was in fact falling. He quickly looked around as he did so, below him was a swirling sea of red clouds that had clear signs of thunder in them....around him he could see an angry red sky but then right above him....rock and stone....and he was falling away from it? His hearing started to return to him and suddenly he knew what was happening. He looked around him harder and realized that he was not the only one falling. All around him people were screaming as they fell. He saw them vanish into red clouds before him and where they entered the "lightning" he had seen before was in fact the souls hitting the surface of what awaited below.....the 9 circles of hell!

“No...NO!!!! I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!!!!” he shouted “I STILL HAVE WORK TO DO ON EARTH!!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!”

As he fell his screams echoed across the skies of Hell. He then passed through the red cloud, suddenly finding himself suffocating on the billows of hot sand that made up the clouds that broiled around him, As he fell, his clothes slowly burnt off and his flesh caught fire, his hair burnt off as well, layers of skin began to peel, and as he passed through the clouds he looked below him at the nine circles. The immediate planes around were lush and green, there were even townships as well. But in the middle of this large green valley lay the nine circles themselves like a spiral of madness that trailed from the first circle all the way to the last one. It was shaped like an inverted spiral with one long road that went on and on till it reached the center, which shone like a pale blue eye in the sea of red. The path itself was roughly ten miles wide and continued to spiral downward into the abyss.

As he continued to fall he passed the first level, seeing many, many souls striking the area around the top of the inverted spiral, and as he passed each succeeding circle less and less people fell with him as they struck the area designated for their torment, until at last, Daigo found himself striking the very center of the nine circles......the one left for the worst of sinners........the one where all who fell here........were sentenced to be forever tormented by the great Boar....Morokai the Devourer.

He fell head first into a hole at the very bottom of the nine circles that led to the pit where the beast waited. He had landed on his back....shattering the ice beneath him that made up the floor of the circle he found himself in now. He groaned in pain. The world spun around him like a tornado. He slowly sat up and cracked his neck. “....tsh......I...I've gotta get out of here.......” He said hoarsely. Suddenly a deep and powerful voice spoke. This voice called out to him from the very air of the prison he now found himself in. It was deep....and sounded like gravel being dragged over more gravel. “Oh no my friend......you're not going anywhere.....not this time.”

Daigo got to his feet and looked around quickly “...I know that voice......” He said in a panic.

“Yeeeessss..........you and I are old friends Daigo......I am the partner by which you sent so many people into this very place......I am also the one whom you have cheated time and time again....but you cant evade me anymore Daigo....the bill has come due. And now you will suffer in the deepest circle of hell for all eternity!” the voice said.

Daigo’s eyes widened further in horror “No...NO!!!....I NEED TO GO BACK DAMN YOU, EVIL STILL..” The Voice cut him off. “Walks the earth? oh yes...I know Daigo.......and it was YOU who planted the seeds that grew into that forest of darkness and Damnation!”

Daigo shouted in protest to the voice, “They did it to themselves!!!!! DEEP DOWN THEY..”

The Voice used a force smashed Daigo onto his back again and from the invisible air came a giant skull adorned with a crown, gold jewelry decorated the skull and in each socket was a blaze of fire, each one a beacon of judgement gazing down upon Daigo in infernal heat.

“THEY WERE INNOCENT UNTIL YOU POISONED THEIR SOULS WITH GOLD, YOU WANTED THEM TO TURN EVIL SO YOU COULD SATISFY YOUR OWN PERVERTED SENSE OF JUSTICE BY KILLING THEM WITHOUT REMORSE, AND NOW THANKS TO YOU THEY ARE CHILDREN OF HELL AS ARE YOU!” The Voice shouted back.

Daigo protested once again. “BUT THE ONLY THING KEEPING THEM FROM EVIL WAS OPPORTUNITY...ONCE IT WAS PRESENTED THEY DIDDNT EVEN TRY TO FIGHT IT!!!”

“That was by design. Mortals are weak, and prone to wickedness. But you went out of your way to lure them down that path.....had you not corrupted them as you did many would have lived and died honorably. But YOU sought to corrupt all of mortal kind to lift yourself up above them by dragging them all down into this mire. Many tried to warn you Daigo...but you did not listen...your stubborn pride has led you to the point where divine intervention was needed. And so you were struck DOWN”

Daigo’s eyes went wide in horror.....for he could not deny what Death was telling him. “NO... NO.....THAT WASN’T!!” he began to breath raggedly as the terrible realization came over him.

“How many innocent people were enslaved.....how many innocent people were beaten....tortured....exploited.......violated.......by the ones whom you corrupted? .....their deeds are their own Daigo but it was YOU who made them so...their sins are heaped upon you as are your own Daigo Belfir......and from now till the end of time you shall be tormented and CONDEMNED FOR WHAT YOU DID!!”

The skull that was death vanished. Daigo quickly sat up...and heard a large foot step in the shadows away from him. A cloven hoof with tentacles coming out of its sides stepped into view...and then another......and a boar the size of a wyvern appeared. It roared at Daigo, he stepped back...trying to reach for one of his weapons...but they were all gone...burnt up in the sandy blaze above the circles. He looked in horror as the boar came more fully into view. Its head was covered in eyes that looked squished together in a moist clump, its lower mandible opened to reveal it could split in two, and tons of small tentacles dotted its body.

The beast roared at Daigo and charged. Daigo quickly leaped out of the way and rolls to the side...but the ice was not smooth, and the coarse surface grates his skin like sanding paper, causing him to bleed badly. To add to that, it felt as though salt were in the ice as well, causing his wounds to burn like acid. “AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!” Daigo cried out.

Morokai. the hell spawn Boar charged at Daigo again, this time catching him in his mouth, and as he tried to break free, the beast bit down on his torso and he screamed in agony as his body was grounded to red pulp in the beasts maw.

He tried to escape but the teeth closed around him...biting off an arm. He screamed again as his head was crushed...and then swallowed...sliding down the beasts throat into its gullet as a half head, scorched, bleeding, and now burning in the acid of the beasts stomach. As the darkness overtook him...he suddenly found himself out on the ice again...he looked at himself.......he had clear scars and signs of having been eaten...but he was whole...but how?

His thoughts were dashed though as the boar clamped down behind him...and devoured him again.............and again.....and again…….

#Daigo Belfir #The Pyromancer #The Fallen One #The Infernal Tormentor #Short Story #Writing #Dark Fantasy #Fantasy #RP prompt #Daigo #Crusader #Templar #Knight #Warrior #Redemption #The Nine Circles of Hell #The Inferno #Death #Escape

0 notes

wyverndesignsstuff · 4 years

Link

Never lose your keys in the bottom of your purse again, with this neon yellow paracord Monkey Fist Knot Key Fob

#key chain #key ring #paracord key chain #neon yellow key chain #Wyvern Designs Jewelry

1 note · View note

cherokeegal1975 · 5 years

Text

Eden Symbiotic Ch. 1

The arrival of the explorers July 26, 2625 I was sweeping off my porch when we heard engine noise in the sky. I assumed it was just one of the few old jets that some of the rich people liked to fly for fun and ignored it. Instead I listened absently to the ssst-ssst-ssst of my broom as it brushed the smooth stones of my porch. It was an ordinary morning for us, as most mornings go. Wake up, get dressed, feed the animals, make breakfast, eat and then do the rest of the morning chores around the house. Soon after that’s done, we would go to our work shop in Mostly Human Town where we make arts and crafts for a living. My husband and I co-own a small but profitable family business selling various handcrafts. We do our part by making carvings, ceramic sculptures, pottery, baskets, jewelry and paintings in colored pencil. My children, grandchildren, and any other blood kin or even any of my in-laws who happen to be talented in profitable skills such as cooking, management, arts and crafts can also find employment at our shop. For those who have no useful talents, there are employment opportunities for dealers, janitors, waitresses, cashiers, table bussers, and stock people who are also needed. So no one in my family is left out when they need to seek employment with us. Many of my kin folk do not work directly in the shop itself. Instead, they make or grow their products at home and deliver them to the store and later receive a commission when their items have been sold. This morning I wanted to finish off a ceramic sculpture of a wyvern. I had just finished firing it yesterday and now I needed to sand it down and paint it. I thought I would like to paint it gold with copper tips on its feathers. I am sure that it would fetch a good profit; the statue was beautiful even unpainted as it is now. The noise of the engines was steadily getting louder, and I could now hear it echoing off of the mountains. We lived away from the cities to avoid the crowding, the noise pollution, and the ugly scenery. Now this unpleasant roar from the sky was disrupting the peace of our forest lands. Louder and louder it came. My beloved symbiote, Beauty, thought the old jet would fly over us and shake the very foundations of our cabin. I also sensed her hope that the persons flying that thing were being careful. The People of the Third Clan and the People of the Fourth Clan lived in Paradise Valley as we did. They were winged humanoids that frequented the skies here. Also there were dragons and shape shifters that soared in the same heavens as this bothersome jet. I was sure the noise would give them enough warning to get away in time. Yet, I did agree with Beauty that it wouldn’t hurt for them to be extra careful while flying that dratted machine so low. And still the engine’s roar grew louder. By now it was beginning to vibrate the windows of our house. My husband came out and joined us on the small porch and looked up through the lodge pole pines to see if he could spot the source of the awful racket. “I think that jet is flying too low, he could hit someone,” he commented with his voice full of concern as he continued to stare up through the trees. Beauty could hear him thinking about the people that couldn't teleport, for they would be the ones likely not able to move fast enough to get out of the speeding jet’s way. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the ever increasing racket. “And he has to know this is a no fly zone! Why is that ass breaking the safety law? ” “I'm worried about that too,” I replied as I raised my own voice above the steadily growing roar. We spoke to each other in a mix of English and Cherokee. Having grown up in bilingual homes, we tended to speak both languages at random, sticking mostly to Cherokee when we were by ourselves and then switching back to English when we were in the company of others outside our family. “I’ll warn him off and ask him to go back to where he belongs,” he said as he walked purposefully around me and started off for the clearing that is in front of our house a few yards away. I placed my broom against the side of the house and followed him. As soon as we came out of the trees and entered the clearing, I looked up at the growing con trail coming from the north. It was then I noticed that the jet flying in the bright blue sky that something about its shape didn’t look quite right and I couldn’t figure out why it looked wrong. It was still too far away to make out clearly even to my symbiont enhanced eyes. “It is close isn’t it?” Rising Sun, my husband’s symbiont, thought to us in surprise. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that it was heading straight for us, almost as if it meant to land in our clearing.” “It does look like that,” I agreed as I continued to watch the craft with an odd sense of unease. “We obviously aren’t an airport so he won’t land here. Besides, there’s not enough runway.” That last bit was meant as a joke, all be it a lame one. I sometimes used humor as a way to deal with stress. My husband nodded in agreement. None of us really believed the craft would land here, the old jet planes required a good deal more runway to take off and land. We did use the clearing as our own personal landing field and kept it maintained so the forest would not reclaim it. Our clearing was just big enough to accommodate two large dragons at a time. If that blasted old jet were to land here, it would crash into the trees demolishing our house before coming to rest. We would be fortunate if it didn’t explode as well. No, we had no reason to expect the craft to land here. Louder and closer it came, and amazingly fast! By now I could feel the sound of it vibrating my rib cage; none of us had ever seen an old jet move so quick. In seconds it would zoom over us and out of sight in a blink of an eye, or so we thought. Before Rising Sun could help my husband telepath his warning to be careful of other flyers in the area, it quickly slowed to a stop like a hover craft. Then a moment later it descended, its landing struts extending as it did so. It blasted us with hot wind, dirt and grass kicked up from its thrusters. My husband and I covered our ears with our hands to protect them from the painful roar of its engines, at the same time, Beauty and Rising Sun shielded us via telekinesis from the flying debris. Then the blast stopped and the engine’s roar died down. As we uncovered our ears, we looked at this intruding machine in astonishment. We could now see it was not an old jet plane as we had first thought. Instead, it was a large craft that strongly resembled the space shuttles that we used to hear about on the news on another world and life times ago. Only this one was larger and sleeker in design and all in shining silver. The shuttle craft popped and ticked like an old hot car as the hatch opened up from the underside of its nose. A set of stairs lowered to the ground and landed solidly in place. Then a man in a black military like uniform came into view as he descended the steps. He appeared to be roughly in his late twenties to his early thirties and about five feet nine inches in height. He was a handsome man of Mexican descent, clean shaven, his black hair short and neatly swept back. He was holding up a small device in his right hand as he looked interestedly about, as if the world around him was all new and undiscovered territory. “What the hell?!” my husband swore in stunned amazement. “Is that a Terran?” I asked him in equal astonishment. I thought he must be. It was the only logical conclusion I could come up with. Only and off-worlder would land a shuttle craft in our front yard and act as this man did. The man heard us talking to each other and looked up, finally noticing us watching him. A look of mild surprise crossed his features, then he smiled in greeting, causing his black eyes to twinkle. My husband stepped forward a few paces to greet him, and I followed beside him by his side as he did so. “Hello,” my husband greeted politely in English. “Hello,” the stranger said as he stepped forward to greet us as well with his free left hand extended. “My name is Santiago Gomez. I am a Terran emissary and I and my crew have come to make peaceful contact. Please don’t be afraid, we mean no harm.” “Well, he’s telling the truth about that,” Beauty thought to us privately as she and Rising Sun warily monitored his thoughts. Caution seemed prudent in this strange situation and our symbionts were listening to his mind intently. Thanks to them, he really couldn’t do any harm to us even if he wanted too. “It’s okay,” I said in my most reassuring and friendliest manner. “We are not easily frightened.” Mike and I were doing our best not to look as taken aback by all this as we felt. We hoped that projecting an aura of confidence would be helpful in this unexpected situation. Mike smiled and confidently grasped Santiago’s proffered hand by the wrist in typical Cherokee fashion. He opened his mouth to politely introduce us in turn, but was abruptly distracted by the next person that came out of the shuttle. She was dressed in the same kind of black uniform as Gomez, but that was where her similarity ended. We were hard pressed not to gape rudely at her as she came down the shuttle’s stairs. She was green, and she was also the first alien we had ever met that was not native to this world. She had a graceful sweep of boney ridges on her head. One part of it stared in a single small bump just above her forehead and then it rose to a three inch high crest as it swept back along the middle of her skull then back down into a small bump. Then several small ridges swept back from the sides of her head and gradually up. Both the crest and the ridges met at the back and center line of her head in a small and gracefully up turned point. Her eyes are large and almond shaped a deep blue-green, with no visible irises or pupils. Her ears are elfin and her nose broad and flat with a hint of nostrils on both sides of its base. Her mouth is a horizontal slit that didn’t look at all unattractive with the rest of her features. Her body is proportionally a little longer in the torso that I had ever seen in a humanoid before. Her limbs were long, graceful and well muscled. Beauty and I thought she is a lovely creature to behold. We watched her approach, all of us fascinated to see such a creature and very much impressed by her beauty. She caught sight of us as she came down the stair way and stopped dead in her tracks half way down. She also looked a little surprised, but she also recovered quickly and gave us a polite little bow and said in a friendly and musical voice, “Hello.” “Osiyo-um-hello,” I replied as I remembered to stop gaping rudely at her and almost forgetting to speak English. Then remembering our manners, I added politely, “Why don’t you two and whoever is still in your space ship come in for some coffee?” “Hey, good idea,” my husband agreed with me in Cherokee. Then he switched back to English and said as he too fell back on courtesy as the next and safest course of action to take in this most unlikely and surprising situation, “My wife makes excellent coffee and we are more than happy to share.” Then he added after a moment’s thought, “I know this sounds a bit cliché, but am guessing you want to talk to our leaders? We have a few in-laws that work in the Main Council. We can call them to make the introductions and answer each other’s questions.” Santiago blinked, looking somewhat taken aback by that bit of information. Before he could reply another of his crew came down the steps just behind the green woman. “We have everything ready to be locked up, sir,” said another Terran man in a black uniform as he came into view. This one was a mix of African and Caucasian decent, with medium dark skin, a fine nose and large black eyes. He saw us and stopped dead in his tracks behind the green creature. “Um, hello.” He looked as if he didn’t quite know what to make of us. “Why do they keep reacting to us like that?” I thought to Beauty curiously. “They think that you two are members of a lost colony,” Beauty thought back to me and let Rising Sun listen in too so my husband would know what we were thinking to each other about. She was reading their minds as easily as breathing, “They have encountered them before…hmmm…lost human colonies are quite rare. When they are discovered, most still remember something about their origins, but a few don’t remember anything about where they came from. Often their first contact with such members of colonies that have forgotten is a fight or flight response. Even the lost colonies that have at least some memory of their origins will sometimes have the same reaction. A lot of facts can get twisted up into ugly shapes after a long time apart from the rest of humanity.” “They are surprised that you two are so calm and confident,” Rising Sun added. “Your attitude is totally opposite to what they have learned to expect from members of a lost colony.” “Hey! Why are you blocking the stairwell?” complained a voluptuous blonde woman dressed in a black uniform like the others just a moment after the brief mental conversation we shared. She was fair skinned and had sky-blue eyes that sparked with sharp intelligence. Her features were well made and pretty but not extraordinarily so. She also had an unusually high and mousey voice. “Hello,” my husband and I hailed her in near unison. She saw us and blinked a few times in surprise then said, “Oh! Um-hello.” “Do you like coffee?” I asked as I pointed a thumb in the general direction of our house behind us. “We have a fresh pot. I’m sure we have enough for everyone here.” Then my husband added, “We don’t know how long it will be for the Main Council to show up after we call them. It could be five minutes to and hour. Likely they will just send someone to bring you back the Main Capitol just north-west of here. Until we find out what they intend to do, you might as well come in and make yourselves comfortable. My wife’s name is Molly and mine is Mike Langley.” “Thank you,” Santiago replied looking a bit taken aback. Beauty and Rising Sun sensed that he was surprised by the rapidity of his first meeting with the locals. They expected to take months and even years before they could establish the trust they needed to create the working relationship as they attempted to reintroduce the lost colonists back into mainstream society. Then he remembered to finish the introductions and said to us as he pointed out each of his remaining members, “I am the team leader and anthropologist as well as the lead emissary. This is Zillga of Esha-goh. She’s my second in command and team botanist. Celeste Malone is our pilot and geologist. George Jones is her co-pilot and our team biologist.” “Nice to meet all of you,” I replied with a small and genuinely friendly smile. I noticed that our tactic of falling back on the familiar routine of common courtesy was indeed working. The off-worlders were calming down and becoming more professional in their demeanor and minds. Heck, it was making us feel a little less disoriented. It’s true that we Edens had been hoping, waiting and expecting a visit from Earth for centuries. But never in our much extended lifetime did we expect them to come to land in our front yard and incidentally make us ambassadors of Eden. Beauty and Rising Sun refused to ‘path to them as they continued to observe the unusual events unfolding before us. They were just as surprised as we were and they were also hiding from our visitors because we weren’t supposed to tell about them just yet. As far as the off-worlders were supposed to be concerned, we were just ordinary humans living where no human should be. “Nice to meet you too,” Santiago replied with automatic politeness. Then he said, “If you would lead us back to you house, we would like to take up your offer of coffee and a meeting this Main Council of yours.” “Sure,” I said with a nod and beckoned them all to follow us back into the trees were our home resided. The other three team members finally descended the stairs and joined Santiago on the ground. Santiago then pulled out a small device from his right pants pocket and pointed it at the ship. He pressed a small button on its top with his thumb, the stairway rose back up into the ship’s hatchway and the hatch closed up tight behind it. After he replaced the device back into his pocket, he turned his attention briefly to the larger device he had been holding in his hand. It was the size of a miniature television set, grey in color and had a small key pad as far as I could tell from where Mike and I were standing. I guessed it had a small monitor on the upper portion of it as well. Beauty confirmed that my guess was correct. She was still peeking into his mind without his knowing about it. He punched something in, pointed it this way and that, and looked into the screen as his did so. When he seemed satisfied that the thing was working correctly, he walked towards us so he could follow us back to our house. Beauty and Rising Sun were still keeping an “ear” tuned into the minds of the others and helping us listen in. If any of them thought of doing anything wrong, we would know about it before they would have time to act. We were being polite and cheerful, but underneath that was a cautious reserve, a sort of wait and see attitude. Shifting their own small carrying cases and setting up their own little devices, the other three followed Santiago as we led them out of the clearing. It was then we noted that they did not appear to be armed at all. Beauty informed me that they were, but their weapons were concealed. She also sensed that they had no intention of using their weapons unless they had no other choice. We didn’t like that they were armed, but we decided with a brief wordless thought and a shared glance that we would tolerate the weapons. They were useless to them anyway and we had no plans of provoking them. “We are coming.” thought a familiar mental voice in our minds. “We will meet with them in your home shortly.” Without missing a step or even giving any indication to our guests that the Representative Speaker of the People of the First Clan had just contacted us telepathically, we led them to our cabin door and let them in. “Why did you take so long to tell us that you were aware of them?” I asked her mentally, switching back to Cherokee as I did so. “We were curious to see what they would do when they saw you,” she thought back in Cherokee also. “So the Council voted to watch and judge their reaction to meeting you when it was discovered where they planned to land. Obviously they would not be able to hurt you should they turn out to be hostile, so we permitted them to go where they wanted.” “May we show ourselves to them now Ithe?” asked Rising Sun. Ithe meant ‘mother’ in Cherokee (pronounced “ith-ee”). He was her son after all and like her, he too was telepathic. In fact, that was just about the only way he could communicate with anyone. “Not now, Love,” his mother and Councilor replied mentally. Then she reminded us (unnecessarily, I thought to myself with mild irritation), “You all need to wait until after the Council has spoken to them first. You should know that I will not release any of you from your oaths until then.” “We will keep our promise to you Madame Councilor,” Mike thought back obediently with a wordless question if he was right to be so formal. “Yes, please do call us by our formal titles while they are here,” the Councilor confirmed. “It would help if you could bring a few extra chairs and some refreshments,” I thought to her. “I have just enough coffee in our pot for one cup per off-worlder. Also, I have nothing as far as fast food that will look fancy enough for a formal meeting. The best I can do is sliced fruit, cheese and crackers. I believe some of the formality you want will be destroyed if I serve that and have some of us sitting on the floor.” “There will be no need of that,” the Councilor replied mentally. “We plan to only come long enough to introduce ourselves, answer a few questions, then teleport ourselves and them back to the Capitol.” “I will still need chairs,” I insisted mentally. “I will arrange for some when we get there,” she replied. “Okay, Wado,” I thought back and she broke contact. (‘Wado’ was Cherokee for ‘Thank you.) “Do you think they decided to come here for first contact or for other reasons than she told us?” Mike ‘pathed wonderingly to me in Cherokee with Rising Sun’s help. “They’re coming here is very odd in spite of what she said.” With Beauty’s help I ‘pathed back in the same language, “Well I guess it would be a rude shock to be suddenly teleported elsewhere. Especially when they don’t know such a thing can be done.” By the time they all came into the living room and I shut the door behind them, the telepathic communication between the Councilor and us had ended. The off-worlders were totally unaware we were ‘talking’ to anyone. The explorers looked about with interest at our living room. “Wow,” Santiago commented with obvious appreciation. Zillga’s skin deepened in color to a richer emerald green in reaction to her emotions. As far as I could tell, she looked impressed by our collection and Beauty confirmed my guess. Fascinated and delighted by Zillga’s ability to change color with her mood, I was hard pressed not to stare rudely at her with wide eyes. Mike slightly lifted an eye brow in surprise at the sight of her pretty color shift. Our cabin is of relatively modern build. Meaning the logs on the outside of our house were strictly decorative. Inside the house the walls were just smooth sheet rock that had been painted white. Bare wooden floors were in every room for the sake of convenience. We often had animals and children living with us, and bare floors were easier to maintain than carpets. We had a large living room, large kitchen, three bed rooms and an even more spacious master bedroom for Mike and me. Currently we had no children with us to fill those extra bedrooms. They were all grown up and had children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of their own, too many for us to even bother to count any more. All twenty-five of our children were still living as well as most of the twelve or fourteen generations after them. Thank God for the Shining Ones and the symbiotic relationship they have with us. When our guests came in the first things they noticed was how familiar things looked to them. Also the surprising collection of various artifacts we had on the shelves lining the wall and the fire place mantel. The shelves were full of paperback books, old magazines, even more stories on audio disks, nick-knacks, small statues, baskets, sea shells, shed dragon scales, a few skulls, teeth, fossils of many kinds, horns, and tusks (the animal parts came from animals that died of natural causes only). Also, bug specimens, and enormous well preserved Galapagos tortoise shell, and lapidary samples of many sizes and kinds (most of fine quality). Whole or only slightly damaged egg shells from various oviparous creatures including our symbiotes’ egg shells they had hatched from so long ago set in with the rest of the hodgepodge. There was also quite a collection of ancient Native American pots, bowls, ladles arrow heads, baskets, wood and bone flutes and ceramic ocarinas. Many of the bare spots on the walls were covered by various paintings, prints, and drawings. All of the originals were done by my husband, myself or by our children or grandchildren. No family pictures though, we never liked them enough to hang them on our walls. There were two plush blue reclining rocker chairs in front of the large bay window that looked out through the trees towards the clearing. A small elegant wooden coffee table with a small and lovely antique Tiffany reading lamp on it stood between the two chairs. Strait across the living room in front of the two chairs was a large entertainment center. It contained a medium large electronic system that worked as a television set, a computer, vid-disk player, and stereo system all in one. The largest component being the monitor, the rest was quite compact and streamlined and extremely easy to use. Most of its functions were voice activated or one could use the touch screen on the monitor. Every available shelf and surface was filled with more books, audio disks, vid-disks, and even a couple of nice house plants. The only other available seating in the living room was a large plump couch that matched the reclining chairs. It was placed to the left of the chair closest to the front door and parallel to the shelf lined wall behind it, several feet away from both the chairs and the wall. In the facing wall across from the couch is a fire place. It contained no fire yet, but we often did light it in the evening for the beautiful light the fire cast. Just to break up the floor space, we had a large oriental rug in the middle of the living room that was otherwise devoid of anything else. True, the carpet was often at risk of being soiled by animal or child traffic when they were in here. But the living room would not look right without it. “You have a little of everything in here,” Zillga commented with pleasure. “What are those teeth from over there?” George asked with interest. “The large ones next to those clear crystals.” “Those crystals look like quartz,” Celeste commented as she noticed the sample on the mantel George had indicated. “They are quite lovely. Where did you get them?” “From a shop a while back,” I replied tactfully while trying to look relaxed. It didn’t occur to us that our living room would give rise to so many awkward questions. If they were observant enough, they would notice much of what we had was Terran in origin. We had promise to tell them nothing, yet our collection told much of our history. George approached the mantel and picked up a fossilized shark tooth the size of his hand. He stared at in wonder. “This is a Melodeon tooth! Where did you get this?” “Bought it in a gem and mineral show some years ago,” Mike answered. “Yeah, like five hundred and a half centuries ago in Tucson, Arizona,” Beauty mentally commented uncomfortably to me in private. “I hope Ithe won’t be upset with us. Our collection is bending our promise to the breaking point.” “Really?” George said as he turned his curious gaze toward us. “How did the dealer get it?” “Likely from another dealer,” I said evasively. We wouldn’t lie to any of them; honor prevented us from doing so. Also, for me there was another reason for sticking to the truth. I am no good at lying, so holding back information is the best I could do. “Why are you being so evasive?” Celeste asked curiously from where she stood next to George. She looked and sounded like the stereotypical dumb blonde, but everything in her demeanor and the way she looked at everything all but screamed of high intelligence. I had never seen someone have that look of excellent smarts dance in one’s eyes so much and I found myself being fascinated by it. “The Main Council bid us not to tell you anything until they got here,” Mike answered. “They are preparing to come here and introduce themselves as we speak.” “And they know you’re here,” I added helpfully. “They’ve been watching you ever since you came into orbit.” “How do you know that?” Santiago asked. He looked as if he suspected we might be lying to him or playing a joke. “Sorry, we can’t tell you that either,” Mike replied apologetically. “The Council will tell you everything when they get here,” I added with mild reassurance. Zillga asked politely, “When will this Main Council of yours arrive?” Before we could answer, there was a loud knock at the door. “About now, I suspect,” I replied as we watched Mike cross the living room and open the door. “Hello?” Mike said to an unfamiliar man holding an electronic clip-board. “Hullo,” he answered in a thick English accent. He wore an expensive three piece suit with highly polished black shoes. He glanced at his electronic clip-board then asked, “Mr. Langley I presume?” “Yes.” “I am Mr. John Stuart,” the black haired, brown eyed man said. “The Main Council sent me ahead. They will be along in a moment. May I come in?” “Yes, of course.” Mike stood aside so Mr. Stuart could enter. Mr. Stuart came in and stood at attention in front of the curio cabinet to the left of the door. Mike, seeing no one outside at present, closed the door behind him and rejoined us. There was a loud, ‘knock-knock-knock!’ Mr. Stuart unnecessarily straitened his black suit coat, opened the door and announced formally, “All rise for the Main Council.” We were already standing, so we waited quietly as the first of the Councilors stepped through our front door. “Councilor Eloyis,” Mr. Stuart introduced formally, “Representative Speaker for the People of the First Clan.” Eloyis, both our kinswoman in Joining and Main Councilor, which is a sort of president here on Eden, is one of the most beautiful creatures in existence. Her body in its true form is humanoid and well proportioned, curved and slender in all the right places. Her unusually large eyes (by human standards anyway) were a solid black, with an Asian slant and almond shaped. The rest of her facial features were fine and very human like. Her silver hair shone beautifully with its own matching halo of bioluminescent light as it cascaded from her head nearly to her feet. Her pure white skin also glowed with its own white light where the thick cloth of her dress didn’t cover her body. Her dress is elegant silver that matched her hair and sensible dress flats also in metallic silver. No jewelry adorned her person. She didn’t need it; jewelry would have only detracted from her beauty instead of enhancing it. She is just that kind of stunning. The off-worlders stood in silent awe as she regally took her place in the nearest rocker recliner. “Councilor Ian Malcolm,” Mr. Stuart announced as the next V.I.P. walked sedately through our front door, “Representative Speaker for the People of the Second Clan.” Ian Malcolm is a middle aged human man. He is a little heavy set, eyes the color of lapis, thinning red hair going grey at the temples, clean shaven, fair skinned and unjoined. He wore a steel grey business suit and black dress shoes that shone like polished obsidian. He crossed the living room and took the other rocker recliner. “Councilor Red Bird, Representative Speaker for the People of the Third Clan,” Mr. Stuart announced. With a brief glance and a polite nod at the door man, Councilor Red Bird took the nearest seat on the couch. Then she waited silently for the ceremony of formal introductions to finish. Red is a Joined One like me, her symbiote’s name is Star Jamison. It’s normally considered rude not to introduce one’s symbiote as if they were nonexistent, but someone must have told Mr. Stuart not to mention the unseen entities just yet. Just looking at Councilor Red Bird, one would not know that she is not human. In fact she is a Harpy, named after the Greek myth they strongly resembled in avian form. Her species talent is the ability to shape shift at will into a human headed, half bird-half humanoid creature. Now she looked completely human except for the ever so faint feather like markings just under her skin, and a short feather tufted tail that stuck out of her slacks. The fine hair-like feathers were colored red like a scarlet macaw’s feathers. She is small boned, with hard wiry muscles and only four feet and five inches tall, emerald eyes and fine reddish brown eyebrows. Her rich red hair is so dark that it is almost brown. She wore her shining locks in an elegant bun. She wore low heeled pumps, black slacks, silk blouse of a rich violet, black dress coat long enough to hide her tail and white pearl ear rings. She smiled kindly at the off-worlders as she took her seat and the next Councilor was announced by John Stuart. “Councilor Silvia Lloyd, Representative Speaker for the People of the Fourth Clan.” Councilor Silvia Lloyd is a beautiful woman to behold. She wore a professional black business suit (the kind with the knee length black skirt), white blouse, nude panty hose, a black low heeled pumps. Her hair is long and golden like honey and held back neatly in place by a fancy hair clasp. She has a face and body that would have easily wound up on a cover of a fashion magazine; if that is, the photographers didn’t mind her being only three feet six inches tall. She is not a midget however, her small stature is normal for her species. What is most remarkable about her appearance is her huge silver multi-spared butterfly like wings. They were held back and open to both display them and enable her to pass through the front door. Her wings are so large that the tops of them nearly touched the top of the door way and she had to keep the bottom parts of her wings partially folded up to keep them from dragging on the ground. As she headed for the middle of the couch, her wings and a hump of muscles that went all the way down her back began to shrink. In seconds, her wings were reduced to four fin-like structures to either side of her back, and the hump of extra muscle mass had been reduced to smaller, more human proportions. She folded what remained of her wings flat as she hopped up onto the couch. Feet hanging inches off of the floor and her back well away from the back of the couch, she still managed to project all the dignity and authority a Council woman should in spite of her child sized appearance. She was young for the position of Main Councilor, only about thirty. Yet she apparently had all the right stuff to make it to such a lofty position in Eden’s government. The off-worlders could not help but gape at Councilor Lloyd’s display of her species talent. For them, she was a legend come to life. How could this be? “Councilor Keto, Representative Speaker for the People of the Fifth Clan,” John Stuart announced as a huge and magnificent lion stepped through the door. Celeste let out a barely stifled, “Eeek!” when she saw him. Santiago quietly demanded of me, “Is this some kind of joke? Why is a lion on the Council? How did it get here for that matter?” “Watch,” I whispered back to him. Then I thought to Keto, “Show off!” Councilor Keto is not a true lion at all. Well, that isn’t quite accurate. He is a cat - sort of. All one had to do to know this is to notice the visibly darker diamond shaped patch of fur on his fore head. Like Red Bird, Mike and I, Keto is Joined. His symbiote’s name is Timothy, son of Governor Amoitoy and Councilor Eloyis. This made him one of our in-laws. Keto had ignored my playful telepathic remark. We were friends, but he is all business today. He paused before the third and final seat on the couch before demonstrating his species talent. His muzzle became shorter and the place where his spine attached to his skull changed so his head could be comfortably held upright. His chest changed from cat to a well muscled humanoid torso. Shoulders, arms and hands metamorphosed from paws and forelegs. Hips flattened out and broadened into human like hips. Male feline genitals became humanoid, he was quite well endowed. His hind legs lengthened and rounded out as the distance between his hind toes and his hocks became smaller. He settled down on his newly formed heels as his tufted tail shrank up and out of the way between his well formed buttocks. The entire transformation took only about five seconds. Stunned, the off-worlders could only stare at him as he took his seat next to Silvia. Mr. Stuart announced the Sixth and final Council member before shutting the door behind them. “Councilor Shardan, Representative Speaker of the People of the Sixth Clan.” Shardan’s name is actually two human names stuck together, a common tradition among the Sirens. Her name came from the two names ‘Shar’ from Sharron and ‘Dan’ from Danny. Shardan had long silver antennae that resembled dense ostrich plumes on top of her head. Or his head if one preferred. For Shardan was both male and female. Though most preferred to be referred to as female, it made things simpler that way. Her antennae shimmered in the indirect sunlight coming through the bay window’s lace curtains. This shimmering effect is caused by the cilia on the hair like fronds of her antennae and moved inward as they waved in the air in their dense multitudes to generate a small air current to bring even the slightest smells to them. She has a rounded, triangular shaped head and strong jaws. Small nostrils were set close to the end of her small blunt ended snout, one on each side. Large dark grey eyes protected by boney eye ridges that were set on either side of her head. In spite of the arrangement, of her eyes, Shardan had stereo vision like predatory birds. Just three finger spaces behind Shardan’s eyes are where the pinky finger thick bases of her antennae were attached. Slightly before and three finger spaces down below her antennae were the small lizard like openings to her ear canals. The Sixth Clanner’s body is well muscled with elements of both male and female. From the waist up, Shardan resembled broad shouldered man. From the waist down, she resembled a woman with well defined hips. Shardan, like most of her kind wore no clothing, so her very human like male sex organs were easily visible while her female sex organs remained hidden just behind them. Her hands and feet had only four digits on each of them and were broad and powerful looking, tipped with shiny black claws. Except for the tips of her dark nipples, the foot pads and the undersides of her fingers and the palms of her hands, Shardan is covered in a sleek horse like fur coat. It shone silver grey as she sat in the rocking chair nearest to the one Ian occupied. As she sat down, she squinted and blinked her eyes a few times before shutting her inner lids. Sixth Clanners had excellent vision, especially at night or in dark places. Though able to see well enough in lighted areas, they were a bit photophobic. The entrance way must have been dark enough for to open her inner lids. Then it became too bright for her by the window. The photosensitive inner lids quickly darkened like prescription sun glasses, making them appear solid black. Mike had Rising Sun teleport the rocking chair from our bedroom when he noticed only five of the six Councilors had places to sit. Shardan had taken her seat with quiet dignity as the off-worlders tried to figure out where the chair had come from. Distracted by her entrance, they had not seen its sudden appearance nor had they noticed the slight breeze from the displaced air when it appeared. Eloyis eyed Mike reproachfully at his and Rising Sun’s nearly breaking their oath of secrecy. Mike just smiled serenely. Eloyis sighed quietly and gave in. With a slight outward breeze of displaced air, six folding chairs appeared in a semicircle in the open space in our living room. “Sa-rrru Cha!” swore Zillga as she paled to a faded yellow green, an expression of what could we could only take as shock and wonderment. The others gasped and stared in confusion and wonder, apparently lost for words unlike Zillga. Mike took the chair next to Shardan’s left, and I sat to Mike’s left. “Do not be afraid,” Keto rumbled in his deep growling voice. “Councilor Eloyis teleported chairs for all of you. Please, be seated.” “It’s okay,” I added encouragingly as I kindly gestured for them to take their seats. The off-worlders looked at each other, and then Santiago shrugged and took the seat next me. Zillga, Celeste and George took the other three chairs. “On behalf of the entire Main Council, welcome to Eden,” Eloyis intoned formally in her lovely alto. She smiled radiantly, quite literally. Her glow momentarily brightened as she smiled, and no, the inside of her mouth doesn’t glow. “Why make first contact here?” I thought to her. I wanted to know if the Council really had any other motives for coming to my house for this historic event. “We decided it was only fair that we hold it here at least in part because we did let them land right in your front yard after all,” Eloyis mentally replied. “Very thoughtful of you,” I thought back appreciatively. “We will answer your questions now,” Eloyis said to the off-worlders. “How did you make these chairs appear?” Santiago asked. “We First Clanners are telekinetic,” Eloyis answered. “That’s quite a talent,” Santiago said, looking impressed. “Do you know who we are already?” George asked. “Yes,” Eloyis answered. “We have been monitoring your activities ever since the Nova was detected by one of our lunar stations.” “We voted to simply to observe you for a time to see what you would do,” Silvia said in her sweet, almost musical voice. “From the moment of our agreement,” Keto rumbled in his rich bass, “the Council has been closely monitoring you telepathically.” “Telepathy?” Santiago said skeptically. “Yes,” Eloyis thought loudly to everyone. We could not help but notice that her mouth was completely shut and not moving when she answered Santiago. There was no doubting that she was thinking at us and not speaking. Unlike the television shows and movies, in real life, people who can telepath don’t make funny expressions and their mental voices sound just like someone speaking. There is no echo or hearing words inside one’s head, one “hears” thoughts with their ears. It is just the way the brain perceives telepathy. The receivers also sense feelings and emotions ‘pathed to them almost as if it were their own. Ian spoke in his unremarkable baritone, “We watched you because you were a potential threat and we needed to know what you intentions were.” Santiago nodded with understanding. He and his companions obviously did not like the First Clanner’s method of spying on his people. Yet they seemed to except their motives were reasonable enough. “Thanks to the First Clanners, we have learned that your intentions are peaceful.” Shardan said in her pleasant and sexually neutral voice. “And we know you only wish to exchange knowledge and trade with us,” Ian added. “We will allow this once it is established that making contact with what you call ‘the known universe’ will cause no great harm to our world,” Red said as she regarded the off-worlders with her emerald eyes. “We are especially wary of off-world humans,” Eloyis said. “Our history is strange and intimately intertwined with Earth’s history. Some of our history is rather unpleasant and frightening. Mostly it’s our power and physical needs that tend to frighten people the most. Many have rejected us before, often violently.” “Like the ability to spy on us telepathically,” Santiago said suggested. “That is one reason,” Eloyis agreed, “though I can promise you that it is not our usual habit to spy on others minds.” “I am glad to hear that,” Santiago replied. “Is it your people that are responsible for the presence of humans on this planet?” Zillga asked. “Or is it the other Clans that are responsible?” “It is we Shining Ones that is responsible for the presence of everything on this planet, including humans,” Eloyis answered. “You mean your people terra formed this planet?” Zillga said with impressed amazement. “Not many races can do that, and rarely can they do it as well as we have seen so far.” “Thank you,” Eloyis said graciously. “You also mentioned something about your physical needs as well as your powers may cause our people to reject Eden,” George said with wary curiosity. “What do you mean by that? How is Earth’s history and Eden’s history connected?” This is a potential can of worms, I thought. Then I prayed that things would be all right. “Amen to that,” Eloyis thought back to me privately. Then out loud she spoke the off-worlders, “Those are some good questions, and it will take time to fully explain.” “We got time,” Celeste piped up. “And nobody’s perfect. I for one am willing to keep an open mind. So I see no reason to fear you.” Eloyis sighed grimly. “You may yet find reason, even though we have no intent in causing you to fear us.” Then she continued, “The beginning of Eden’s history is a strange and tragically violent one…” Eloyis recounted Eden’s history from the passage of the colonial ships to present day Eden. She had always been a good story teller and she was bluntly candid and completely honest in her recount. The off-world visitors were alternatively fascinated and horrified by the violent beginnings of the Shining Ones. Eloyis concluded, “We have not completely discontinued contact from Earth, even though we have all moved away. None had the heart to cut the Second Clanners off completely from their home world. Many had left family and friends behind, especially in the beginning, so small and strictly regulated visits by tourists and journalists are permitted to go to Earth in secret. We are kept informed on the goings on at Earth as a distance.

#sci-fi #novel chapter #fantasy

0 notes