“You look awfully happy today,” Papa Rosso says as I sit down for tea. “Usually when you leave a lesson with Maestro, you look a bit more...” he hesitates to continue.
“Pissed off,” Daddy Bianco suggests.
“Like your father?” Mama giggles.
Papa Rosso shoots her a look. “Watch yourself now, dear wife.”
I pour myself a cup of tea while they titter and fuss. ...
2019-10-02 19:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post“That might be nice,” you murmur. “The only thing I’ve really seen is just the downtown area. I’ve not really gotten to shop anywhere save the grocery store.” You then furrow my brow. “I know you’re vegetarian, but why does the super market not carry any meat?”
“Oh,” Daisuke grins. “Because of Adam’s butcher shop!”
You tilt your head to the side. “Whose Adam?”
“Only the coolest,” Daisuke says with a smirk. “He’s one of my best fr...
2019-10-01 21:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
When I was very young, a fortune-teller once told me that I was running on stolen luck. Back then, I never understood what she meant, but looking at my life now that I am older, I think I get her drift.
I was abandoned as a baby, left out in the rain near the stables of the royal palace. I was found by the stable boy, who took me to his parents. The next day, the Queen came out to see the...
2019-10-01 19:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostI hold her again, feeling Clara, smelling Clara. “Yeah, I know,” I whisper.
Clara takes hold of my hand. “You ok, Mr. Edmund?” She asks me. “Did something happen at work today?”
I shake my head a few times then chuckle. “Who are you?”
She looks me over with an inquisitive look. “I think you need to lie down and sleep.” She tugs at my hand. “I just put clean sheets on the bed and took the old duvet down from the closet, so you should feel all cozy.” 2019-09-30 21:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Due to my high levels of anxiety, I have come to enjoy a certain amount of order in my life. I don’t like a lot of things, but when I do I cling to them dearly. There was my cat Cocoa, who I lost a few years ago - I loved her. There are my books. There are the small things I can comfortably take for granted in my everyday routine. Anxiety makes me want to be prepared for most things; if ...
2019-09-30 19:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostI was in a panic, but I couldn’t leave my room. I sat there in the middle of the room sobbing, even when I heard Konni leave his room. He shut his door so quietly, but I could still hear him moving around outside. I cried harder, feeling as if my lungs were going to burst and my ribs were going to shatter. I loved him, so much, and yet I was letting him run away because I was also so terrified of him. I didn’t want to be, I prayed to whoever would listen to take my terror away, but the tr...
2019-09-27 21:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
You should have trusted that death rattle you heard a state or two back, but no, you were determined to get home fast. You should have trusted that old guy at the last gas station you stopped at, he knew what he was talking about. But no! You wanted to get home at a record pace.
Now you’re probably going to be a week late - or that’s what the mechanic says. As you stand in ...
2019-09-27 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post“So,” I say as Rudi serves dinner, “I’ve heard tales about this place for ages. Any of it true?” I ask.
“And just what has Rudolf told you?” Cheslie asks.
“Like the courtship ritual thing,” I shrug. “Did Rudi do that to you?”
“Not really,” Cheslie scrunches up her face. “Rudi and I had been close when he first lived here in Hearthway Hollow with your moms. We traded letters a lot, he told me all about how you got adopted.”
“Not the bucke...
2019-09-26 21:00:59 +0000 UTC View Post
I was asked on Tumblr to list my Hearthway Hollow characters from most puppy to most feral. I decided to go a step above and beyond and made a whole chart! Features every werewolf as well as ones that are yet to come! Can you find the new ones?
2019-09-26 19:03:42 +0000 UTC View Post
There is a tradition in your village that has gone on for generations - each year, the girls of the village make flower crowns and set them adrift in the river. It is said that whoever finds a flower crown and returns it to its maker will be her soulmate. As if fate is decided by the flow of the river and who happens to be fishing that day!
For the past three years, your flower crown...
2019-09-26 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post“Are you nervous?” I ask him.
“I thought I was losing Lewis,” Ludo looks at me with a shy smile. “I’ve already faced the most terrifying thing I could have thought possible. Now, I have happiness in the palm of my hand.
I smirk. “Oh, is that what you call it?”
Ludo strikes me with a pillow. “Sister!” He fusses. “How dare you think in such a way?” A bright smile is still on his face.
“I’m an adult!” I roll my eyes at him, returning a ...
2019-09-25 21:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
I pluck a petal off a flower and let it float down into the well. “He loves me,” I sigh as I pluck another petal. “He loves me not.” The petal falls down into the darkness. “He loves me.” Another petal. “He loves me not.”
The petals are thrust back into my face, smacking me wetly before plopping onto the ground. I grin excitedly as Juneau comes out of the well.
...
2019-09-25 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
There is a magical well that is said to bring balance to the world. The water within can heal, but there is a price to pay for it. The well is usually untouched, but those who wish to use it place a coin on the stone rim. If the coin is accepted as payment, you may retrieve a bucket of water. If not, another price is decided upon. There are also tales that the evil spirit residing in the w...
2019-09-24 19:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
I have worked for Bianco ever since I was a teenager. When I first started painting, he was my first customer, and ever since he has kept me as artist-in-residence on his side of the palace. Growing up, my mother had been an advisor to the King and Queen, a role which my brother now takes for Rosso.
Ever since Bianco and Rosso split the palace, I have stayed with Bianco, and ha...
2019-09-23 19:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostFaustin sighs. “I’m going to go make breakfast.” He replies. “Are you hungry?”
You look back at him, your vision blurry with tears. “What?”
Faustin stands up. “If you need me just shout. The kitchen is right outside the door.” He glances you over again. You notice he’s freshly washed, his hair is still dripping and his white shirt has water on it.
“You brought me here?” You hiccup. “Did you-” You remember the shape of the shadow in the...
2019-09-20 21:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Back when the Kings Rosso and Bianco kept their palaces separate, they each had a rose garden that had been a gift from their father, when he was still alive. The gardens were meant to grow as the young princes grew, eventually tangling together to show the unity between them and how they would rule all of Miror. Unfortunately, the two brothers fought viciously, and that led to a literal separation o...
2019-09-20 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostYou go to move again and you heel slips on the end of the dock. You fall backwards into the water with a loud crack. You struggle, trying to grab hold of anything, but you sink like a stone. Panic takes hold of you and you do things you were taught not to as a child. You thrash and scream, fighting to find anything to grab hold of. Soon your lungs grow heavy, painful. The light comes through the water filtered and opaque, you can barely seen anything at all around you.
Two hands come fr...
2019-09-19 21:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
My grandmother was never my favorite person in the world. I know there are people who believe their grandmother is their world, the best person to be around; but my grandmother was not the kind of person who wanted to be liked. She was tough as nails and just as unforgiving. Her job was the Archive, and that was to be her life. In between her tasks, she would take care of her daughter, who was mostly...
2019-09-19 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostHe pulls himself up, resting so his arms are on the edge. “What’s the much more?” He peeks up at me.
I kiss his cheek. “I won’t tell you all at once, that would be torture.” He slowly eases out more and sits on the edge of the well with me. It’s the first time I have seen his legs. They’re long with tufts of white fur at his hips that trail down to cover below the knee. His feet look like fish tails with a heel. He also has a tail that curls around me.
I place my h...
2019-09-18 21:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
The Sacred Archives of Miror are more than your-run-of-the-mill archive - bigger than any library, and as eternal as you want it to be. It is a place that everyone needs, no matter how big or small. I am visited by the royal family, as well as peasants, beggars, even children. My archives are kept religiously, pristinely, and yes, obsessively. My white rabbits help me to keep everything in order, tra...
2019-09-18 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostI smile again. “I’d rather give you wood.”
Juneau lurches in shock.
“I am a nymph, remember? I can give you wood to prop up your well again.” I say, leaning to the side to match the slope of the stones. “Or, I can create a brace of vines to tilt it back upright.” I stand straight again. “Would that make good payment for my wish?”
Juneau’s stunned expression becomes confused again. “You would fix the well?”
“I would make it lovely,” I reply. ...
2019-09-17 21:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Even a year ago, I never would have imagined I would be standing in Swaene’s Vineyard as anything other than a mercenary. Yet today I am standing here as the head of the guard, brother to the legal heir, and soon to be brother-in-law to a prince. All our lives, my sister and I fought hard to make our lives matter, to do things that were important, and all from the shadows the world cast upon us. We...
2019-09-17 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostMy cheeks grow warm again. “Thank you.” I smile to myself. “Not many people realize that.”
“Shame on them,” Blanchefleur sniffs.
I giggle and beam up at Blanchefleur. “Anyways, has the wedding driven you crazy yet?” I ask them.
“Hmm, no,” they sigh. “Personally, I enjoy a bit of chaos every now and then. Besides, I am excited for all the royal guests to see my garden, especially now that it has joined with Rosenrot’s, it is the garden it is supposed t...
2019-09-16 21:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
I was born from an affair - something considered an utmost crime in my homeland. It wasn’t the act itself that was abhorrent - no, it was me. A child born out of an adulterous affair, out of wedlock, was seen in the eyes of Irina as the greatest besmirching of her honor.
My mother was a widow; her husband had recently died in the war against the centaur Demir, just before Ophirin a...
2019-09-16 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post“Is it words you need?” Rosenrot tilts their head to the side.
“What else have I got?,” I grumble. “I’m an advisor. I’m not a carpenter or artist. I don’t have the skills to be visual. I’m not even a walrus that could tap out messages with my tail.” I grunt and shake my head. “All I have ever had is words, whether in my mouth or on a page.”
“I think you need to give yourself more credit, Sir Yves,” Rosenrot shakes their head. “Like you said, may...
2019-09-13 21:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Ten nights have gone by since my punishment with Behrouz started. Ten long, hot nights, when all I have done is sweat myself into a strange exhaustion. I was never one to deal with bullshit lightly, but these days, my patience has been as thin as spring ice. Behrouz seems to not notice the effect he has on me, and continues about his days as happy as he can possibly be.
My girls have...
2019-09-13 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostVetumnus takes in a deep breath, letting his shoulders lift, then they drop as he lets the breath out slow. “Ok,” he whispers. “I still intend to remain your husband until the day I die, Moneta. I never wanted to end it, I never wanted to leave you, but I was a coward and ran away. So there is a part of me that knows to expect nothing from this at all. But the part of me that wants to stay and fight is still strong. I have no claim to you, no reason to be forgiven, but so desperately do...
2019-09-12 21:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
The Brisomin Mountains of the Polar have always been my home. I’ve lived here since I was young, working in my family’s temple. We have been here for centuries, ever since Czar Parshikov began his religious persecution ages ago. He replaced our temples with cathedrals, the biggest of which still serves the royal family to this day.
We are happy where we are, regardless of that. T...
2019-09-12 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostI turn on my heel to stare him down. He then pushes his hood away from his face, half of which is that of a powerfully handsome man with dark blue skin, white hair, and a mouth like a jack-o-lantern. The other side is skull-like, another cage filled with clockwork and gears. I then see his eye, which was once a clock with many hands, only now, it is cracked with a bullet hole dead in the center.
“Ow,” I whisper.
“Yeah, fucking ow!” Vetumnus snarls at me as his skin goes br...
2019-09-11 21:00:59 +0000 UTC View Post
I just got 18k on tumblr! I’m so freaking amazed. I would have never expected this in the two years I’ve done monster stories.
Also, apparently, next week marks my anniversary here on Patreon. Not exactly sure what to do about that, but I think I will include extra goodies to the mailouts next month! I was already planning something nice for Halloween month, but since it will be...
2019-09-11 20:43:47 +0000 UTC View Post