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dru-plays-starbound · 1 year

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Tales of the Starbound: The Old-Timer's Tale

Universe: Starbound CW: Alcohol, Fantasy religion Words: 1,616 Context: This was written during NaNoWriMo 2015, part of a collection of short stories called "Tales of the Starbound". I decided to re-write each story individually. Note: I'm using "Deosil" (towards the sun) to mean the left-hand side of the screen, since cardinal directions don't work in-game. Or read on AO3

Warm sunlight filtered down from a lavender sky filled with puffy pale clouds. The old avian shook out his yellow plumage before settling onto the worn bench, listening to the market traders as they hawked their wares to passing customers. A bracing breeze caused the banners above him to flutter and snap, but the bench was a lovely little suntrap – warm and sheltered on this clear spring day. The avian gave a contented sigh, his eyes fluttering shut. Far better for his aching bones, he mused, than the wintry chill and drenching rain.

"Quihui! Warm greetingsss, birdman." The avian cracked an eye to see a floran grinning broadly down at him. He smiled back. "Wandangi. A pleasure to see you, dear. You're looking wonderfully bushy today." The floran crinkled xir eyes, preening at xir brown and blue leaves. "Thank you. Many floran in bloom right now. Is good season." "Indeed. The sun is kind to all of us today. Would you like to sit and photosynthesise a little?" Wandangi's grin faded, and xe shook xir head. "Ah! Floran too restless. Another day we will contemplate growth together, yes? Today, floran take Ulf on hunt – feel the wind in our leaves." Quihui cooed in disappointment. "Another day then. Good hunting." Wandangi stroked over xir head growth, collecting pollen on xir hand to smear on Quihui's beak. "Floran will ssstab many things in your honour!" xe crowed.

Quihui felt heat flood his feet as Wandangi wandered off, sing-songing, "Stabby, shabby, stabby!" Had Wandangi, Quihui wondered, discovered his feelings for xem? Was xe making xir intentions known by dedicating xir hunt to him? He ducked his head, preening at his arm feathers. No – it was too fanciful. There was no way Wandangi could know that painting an avian's beak was a declaration of intent… At the sound of more greetings being called, he pushed away his fancifulness, raising a hand to Minera, the barkeep of the Diamond and Pear, as the cyan novakid crossed paths with Chef Zyanitl.

The hustle and bustle of the market hardly slowed as the sun reached the zenith of its slow pendulum. Quihui rose and hobbled over to Devon Dyson's stall, selecting a bowl of curried beakseed and carrot juice as he chatted to Devon about her business. Over lunch, he was joined by the alpaca, Caden the Axe, and Nuttrace, one of Lord Brasscrank's guards. After the two guards had said their farewells, Quihui pulled out a book and relaxed back to read.

As the golden pendulum fell, turning lilac to mauve, the market traders began to pack up their stalls. The shouts and calls of the market folk nearly drowned out a soft cough, as a dark figure slid onto the bench next to Quihui. "What have your keen eyes seen this day, revered flightless?" "Good day, Aly," Quihui said to the red lenses glinting from under the shroud. "It's been busy. Lots of traders from 'Tahnt Rise, many browsing faces I don't recognise." "Indeed, exalted watcher. I have heard tell of more construction work happening deosil of Lady Caseswing's great home." Quihui stroked down his blue chest piece, gazing out at the softly rolling hills, dotted with sweet meadow flowers. "Her ladyship has been more planet-side of late. Perhaps she has grown weary of adventure and wishes to settle instead." "Mayhaps she is also making good on a promise; many of those newest to Virla come claiming her Ladyship offered them a home here. With such an offering, she needs must back it up with production." Quihui murmured in agreement. "Our Lady is gaining quite the generous reputation across the stars." The calls of the traders trailed off as they filtered away, back to their homes. "A pleasant eve to you, exalted watcher," Aly said when only a few traders lingered. The shadowed figure stood, brushing down their robes. "Light of Kluex guide your way," Quihui murmured as Aly disappeared into the encroaching darkness.

With a pained grunt, the old avian gained his feet and followed the general stream of traffic up the terraces, heading towards Minera's bar.

~~~

It was early still as Quihui shuffled into the Diamond and Pear, with only the regular barflies hovering around. Minera – stood behind the glossy chrome counter – raised a hand in greeting, her pale cyan glow winking in the glass of the old saloon cabinet behind her. From the back corridor, the heavy thud of workboots reverberated as the bouncer, Morgan, kept everything in check.

"Qui!" came a fluting coo from the corner of the bar. Quihui sighed as he approached the counter, nodding to the rotund human nursing a small tumbler of root liquor as he waited for Minera to finish up with another drink. "Hadley." "Mister Quihui," the man replied, running a hand over his bald pate. "Qui, don't ignore me." "C'mon now, Min," Minera said, as she poured fizzing cerise liquid into a crystal glass. "Give the man a chance to wet his throat, wontcha?" Quihui turned, dipping his head to greet the citrus-yellow avian behind him. "Good evening, Bloodsoother Minoch." The hen cooed again as she flitted onto the stool next to him. "It's rude to ignore people, you know." "Apologies," Quihui said, "You'll have to forgive me – my hearing is not as it was." "Pah." Minoch rolled her eyes with a smile. "You can't keep giving that excuse forever." Minera cocked her head at Quihui as she slid the glass over the counter. "There you go, Hadley. You can tell herself it's a 2744 vintage." "Thank you. Miss Ami will appreciate that." He slid off his stool and exchanged the glass for a handful of pixels, carrying both drinks carefully up to the mezzanine. Quihui followed Hadley's path as he made jet-trails for the sage and bubblegum-coloured hylotl drumming the pads of her fingers against the metal tabletop. "What'll it be?" Minera asked Quihui. "An OilSlick, if you'd be so kind." As Minera turned to the cabinet, Minoch slid some pixels on the counter. "Let me get this one, Qui." "I have the pix-" "I know. But I insist. Let a lady buy a gent a drink, huh? Could I get another glass of Cyanider, too?" "Sure thing, little miss," Minera said. She placed the bottle of OilSlick and a wide glass on the counter, then reached into a bucket of ice for the bottle of cerise bubbly.

Once the two had their drinks, they made trails to the corner that Minoch had already claimed. Quihui lent against the wall as he settled into the chair, only to have the wall squelch under his hand. "Ugh," he muttered, wiping his hand on the table. "You know, for such a recent addition, I do wonder why this place is, well," he lowered his voice, "rather a dump." Minoch cooed her disapproval. "That's not a nice thing to say, Qui." "It's true, though. The floors are mining girders, the walls are a mess of scrap and junk. I think that bit was radioactive…" "You're hardly one to talk, Quihui. I've seen your dusty, rickety furniture, all tied together with straw and hope." "I took what I was given when I came here, all those years ago. I happily accepted what the Princess could spare – which wasn't much at all!" Quihui ground his beak. "Nothing but trackless forests, wild pearlpeas, and monsters in those days. Not like it is now at all." "Metish says it is still like that. Outside the walls, anyway. She says the floran wouldn't have anything to hunt if it was all built up." "Maybe so, maybe so." Quihui sipped his beer. "And my house wasn't always so rickety, you know. Not back when the planet was empty of anyone but the six of us." "So ask the Princess to get you new furniture. I'm sure she could spare it." "Oh, but it's comfortable now. And Wandangi wouldn't come by so often if there wasn't something to repair." Minoch murmured; a disapproving sound, Quihui thought, as he sipped his drink.

"She does seem to be building a lot these days," he said. "Princess Caseswing, I mean. Aly said there's a new building going up on the deosil side." "Is that the tower?" "They didn't say." Minoch rested her chin on a hand, gazing into the middle distance with a wistful sigh. "Can you imagine? How amazing would it be to live in such a tower, so close to the heavens that you could reach out and touch Kluex as if you had wings." Quihui gave his drinking companion a slow blink. "Ah, maybe for you, young hen. My talons are firmly on the ground forever." He shuddered at the thought of being so far off the ground again, within reach of the god who'd wanted his mortal life. Minoch had no such qualms, having never been in such a position – she'd still been searching the stars for the erstwhile realm of the Winged when Caseswing found her.

"Maybe when it's built, and Minera's teleporter is working again, I'll go over and take a look." Minoch's eyes shone. "Meet all those new faces. Touch the stars." "New faces, new faces," Quihui said with humour. "Every day, more and more." "New stories too," Minoch grinned at him. "Don't tell me you're not curious." Quihui glanced out of the window at the last stains of sunlight. "Indeed I am. You should become a scribe, Mini. Write the stories down for me, write them down so they don't get lost." "Maybe I'll do that." Minoch raised her glass. "Good," Quihui said, tapping his own against it. "We all have our reasons for being here. And everyone deserves to have their story told."

#cw alcohol #starbound #starbound fanfic #starbound fanfiction #wandering words #oc Quihui #oc Wandangi Wilibind #oc Aly Shostak #oc Minera Lamine #oc Hadley Scobie #oc Bloodsoother Minoch

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druidx · 2 years

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WIP Intro - Tales of the Starbound

~SYNOPSIS~

Beta61 Vir 4657Ia, called Virla by its residents, is a microcosm of the universe. Filled with people of many races, varied in their paths and backgrounds, each has arrived on Virla for their own reasons. Come and listen as a select few tell your their tales.

~DETAILS~

Genre: Predominantly soft Sci Fi. Hints of Romance, Crime, and Epistolary. Type: An anthology of 5 short stories, 1 drabble, 1 novelette POV: Varied; 4 are in First, and 3 are in Third Limited Themes: Finding where you belong; The past doesn't control you Status: Editing; 2 have already been rewritten; the rest are still todo

~MAIN CHARACTERS~

Princess Caseswing (F, Novakid), Starbounder & Landlady

Lynx Head (F, Novakid), Owner and bartender of the Desert Rose

Paris Currie (M, Human), Owner of Currie's Cafe & Trade

Devon Parker (M, Human), Mine guard

Quihui (M, Avian), Gentleman of leisure

Dr Ekatally Dorosh (F, Apex), Researcher

Ironcatch, (M, Glitch), Personal Guard of Caseswing's domicile

Wynne Grechko (M, Human), Stim dealer on the run

~OTHER STUFF~

This is a fanfiction of the game Starbound, from when it was in Beta and the Tenant system was first introduced. I wrote this for NaNoWriMo 2014 because I was fascinated by the way the procedurally generated NPCs ran around on their own little missions, fell in love and interacted with their environment.

As this is an anthology, I'm working on the stories one by one to make it easier for editing, and publishing them to Tumblr and AO3.

The Barkeep's Tale can be found here; and The Miner's Tale can be found here.

~EXCERPT~

It's taken me a long time to get where I am now - from almost crashing above Cor Caroli Prime in my rented Wren-Class ship, to owning the sleek Condon-class that I write this from, hovering above the planet I've made my home in the Beta 61 Vir 4657 system - but I think it's worth it. Not least, because my home has become home to so many others...

#writing #WIP intro #starbound #starbound fanfic #starbound fanfiction #wip 'tales of the starbound'#wandering words #oc princess caseswing #oc lynx #oc paris currie #oc devon parker #oc quihui #oc ekatally dorosh #oc ironcatch #oc wynne grechko

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dru-plays-starbound · 2 years

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As I'm currently trying to rewrite The Old Timer's Tale, part of my Tales of the Starbound anthology, I thought I'd take some time to introduce y'all to the main featured characters. Procrastinating? Me? Never...

The Old Timer's Tale takes place in Vertex Village, one of my first colony builds on our Beta server:

Quihui is the star of this tale, a middle-aged avian who was one of Princess Caseswing's first-ever tenants, using the modern system of colony deeds. He's an apostate of Kluex, likes people watching, and dislikes all the steps between him and the market.

Wandangi Wilibind is one of Quihui's closest neighbours. Xe likes hunting, dislikes the cold, and longs to explore all of Beta 61 Vir 4657Ia.

Aly Shostak is an enigma wrapped in a riddle occasionally smothered in... ketchup (we hope). They like being mysterious and dislike early mornings.

Bloodsoother Minoch, aka Mini, is a loquacious and vivacious ex-starbounder. She likes having fun and dislikes thinking of the past.

#starbound #starbound fanart #heroforge #meta wandering words #starbound build #Dru builds #oc Quihui #oc Wandangi Wilibind #oc Aly Shostak #OC Bloodsoother Minoch #I wish this story had more meat to it when I wrote it originally and it didn't just amount to 'old man yells at cloud'#also idk what's wrong with the pictures. the editor is so janky atm :(#Dru's sb ocs #oc princess caseswing

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druidx · 2 years

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Last Line Tag

Tagged by corkythewriteblr, forever ago

Tagging back: @strosmkai-rum @spacetimewraithwrites @wildswrites @tetrodotoxincs @odysseywritings @ayzrules @morganwriteblr @my-writblr @bexminx @writingingraves @dreamwishing @aalinaaaaaa @wardenoftheabyss @pleaseloathemyveryexistence @jaguarthecat @catharticallysarcastic

This is from The Old-Timer's Tale, one of the stories from my anthology Tales of the Starbound, that I'm currently trying to re-write.

Quihui followed Hadley's path, as he made jet-trails for the sage and bubblegum-coloured hylotl drumming the pads of her fingers against the metal table-top.

#writing #tag game #last line tag #starbound #starbound fanfiction #wip 'tales of the starbound'#OC - Quihui #OC - Hadley Scobie #wandering words #this has been in my drafts so long

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druidx · 4 months

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A Year of Writing - 2023 Writing Wrap-up

➼ Quick Stats

Total words Written in 2023: 75,022

Average Words/Work (published): 2501

Started in 2023: 24 works

Finished in 2023 (started anytime): 22 works

Published in 2023 (started anytime): 22 works

Number of Works still in Progress (started anytime): 77

Mostly wrote in: February (8 works edited, 5 published)

Longest work completed or added to in 2023: The Ruby Falls (179,282)

Shortest work completed or added to in 2023: It's Fashion, Boss (357)

Top Genres: Sci-Fi (13 - just pinching out Fantasy at 12)

Top WIP(s): The Ruby Falls and Young Dagger, False Dream (previously named Alexis Dalliance vs the Evil of Titan)

Top OC(s): Aderyn, Mio (10 fics each)

Below the cut: Review of 2023's Plans, Work I'm proud of, Work that shows I'm still learning, Breakdown of 2023, Plans for 2024, ICYMI

➼ What were my writing plans for 2023?

❌ Post The Ruby Falls Nope. I'm closer, but still no cigar. I've edited 1.75 sections, bringing the total complete-&-almost-ready-to-post sections to 5/15.

✅ Finish stuff Yes! I completed 7 works this year which were started before 2023, the oldest of which was Tales of the Starbound - The Old-Timer's Tale from 2015.

❌ Post more 'For Posterity' items Nope. Forgot + no time + burn out/ no energy

❌ Study Romance? Nope. Forgot this was a goal TBH

❌ Read more Nope. Last year I read 10 books, this year I've only read 5 (not counting fanfics). I did try, but yeah. (My Storygraph if you're interested)

✅ IDK, everything beyond The Ruby Falls is flexible currently. Technically, this one is complete! 😅️

➼ Work I'm most proud of

Home That Our Feet May Leave, But Not Our Hearts (Starbound) This was an experiment in writing a time loop, and also changing tenses through a story. It may not have been 100% perfect, but I feel like I learnt a lot writing it and I'm really happy how it came out.

Greetings After a Long Departure (TESIV:Oblivion) I thought long and hard about how it must feel to touch the statue and gain the Blessing of Akatosh, and I'm pleased that the description really came off as well as it did.

➼ Work that shows I'm still learning

I think maybe I'm stuck in the 'taste vs ability' trough. Aside from the two above, and maybe Two Foxes (TESIV:Oblivion), I feel like there's been some je ne sais quoi missing from my writing this year. I joined Writeblr to learn and grow as a writer, so if anyone has any tips or ConCrit I'd love to hear it. I really don't want to plateau again.

➼ Breakdown of 2023

I traveled a lot this year. Denmark, Albania, Scotland, Denmark again, and off again to Denmark for Christmas. It's for sure been inspiring, but it's also been exhausting and hasn't left me much brain-space for writing. Not to mention that 2nd day of holiday in Scotland I got "bitten by a Haggis", and spent the next 3 months healing a hole in my shin, and I'm still recovering from that. With all the traveling, maybe this year should have been a 'feed the well' year instead of struggling to finish works I didn't have the energy for. Ah well.

That said, I did quite well with my PodFic project. 50 Fics were recorded and ~80 still remain.

➼ What are my writing plans for 2024?

IDK. The future is a foreign country (to paraphrase L. P. Hartley).

Continue hacking away at The Ruby Falls and whatever else catches my fancy.

Eat more red meat/ protein. Can't write if your brain doesn't function.

Figure out what je ne sais quoi missing from my writing.

Pick up abandoned projects. To whit, 'For Posterity' items and Podfics.

➼ In Case You Missed It

Starbound

Tales of the Starbound - The Old-Timer's Tale - 1,616 words. A day in the life of Quihui & contemplation of Caseswing's building regime. Tumblr or AO3

Home That Our Feet May Leave, But Not Our Hearts - 3,212. Mio, the Last Protector, attends her graduation. The only problem? Earth no longer exists. Tumblr or AO3

You Never Forget Your First - 712. In the dead of night, Kata finds her Captain alone on the bridge, singing a mournful tune... Tumblr or AO3

Crasberry Saviour - 761. During a trip to buy ship parts, Yuudai reveals how she lost her leg. Tumblr or AO3

An Ancient Vault - 389. Mio falls down a hole and discovers an Ancient vault. Tumblr

Look Back, by Looking Forwards - 1,653. Mio helps one of her crew celebrate a religious event. Tumblr or AO3

Aurorabee - 406. Mio goes clothes shopping with her mother. Tumblr or AO3

Original Works

Mouth of Silver - 781. A courier comes across some unsavory creatures while making his way through the woods. Tumblr

A Cryptid Files Short - 404. A hedge witch provides potions of safety. Tumblr

TESIV: Oblivion - Vanilla

Greetings After a Long Departure - 1,014. Rowan gets a sweet surprise when xe finally returns to the Temple of the One. Tumblr or AO3

Two Foxes - 500. The new Grey Fox goes a-visiting to Castle Anvil for some advice. Tumblr or AO3

A Light in the Darkness - 619. Travelogue writer Arkved of Cheydinhal describes another local Cyrodilic festival. Tumblr or AO3

TESIV: Oblivion - Modern AU

It's Fashion, Boss - 357. Aderyn arrives to an event in a snit with the Grey Fox over his time management skills; he teases her about her fashion sense. Tumblr or AO3

A Little Something-Something - 1,459. Aderyn brings Jena to a GFS charity 'meeting'. Tumblr or AO3

A Floral Surprise - 728. On the morning of Martin & Baurus' Anniversary, Aderyn and Belisarius lay out flowers and gifts, conscripted by their respective friends. Tumblr or AO3

Night Exercises - 2,407. Fortis runs a training exercise for Aderyn at night. Tumblr or AO3

Get up - 1,016. Martin and Baurus sneak away from a gala event, only for a detonation to rock their world… Tumblr or AO3

Self Indulgent AU - 18,102. HoK is adamant she knows who her parents are. The Mythic Dawn thinks differently. Who is right? Tumblr or AO3

#meta writing #meta wandering words #end of year review #ayearofwriting2023 #writing review #Post scheduled on 10 Dec - some stats may be out of date #CW unreality - Haggis aren't real. I'm just not going to tell you how I was injured because it's stupid.

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