I put it to a poll and you decided, here's a sneak peak at the first sketch of Zef's bust. I'm holding off on a full-body illustration purely because she doesn't have a full "set of gear" the way Zelsys does just yet.
A/N: I'm merging my two daily chapters into one, since this is the same format I'm already posting my daily Patreon updates in.
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The more he cross-referenced, the more discrepancies he noticed between the handwriting in this journal and the other material on the writing desk. Not only was it noticeably different, much of what was on the table seemed to have been written by someone entirely different wh...
2020-10-13 12:36:20 +0000 UTC View PostIf and when I commission more artwork, what would you like it to be? I'm keeping this poll Patron-only since it's your money funding these.
2020-10-12 14:39:56 +0000 UTC View PostShe turned towards Zef when she put the cotton ball down to try and soak another one in disinfectant.
“C’mon, it’ll be easier if you just get in the bath with me.”
The cyclops gave a nod and a token sigh of resignation. “Alright,” she relented, pulling her shirt over her head before she began to unbuckle her trousers. Zel made no attempt to stay her gaze, leaning on the edge of the tub as she took in all that alabaster skin. She’d seen more than enough yesterday, but...
2020-10-12 14:34:17 +0000 UTC View PostHe quickly ran out of paper, and digging through the writing desk’s many drawers led him to use a spare clear journal he found therein for his decoding efforts.
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Therefore, I believe that the contemporary understanding of Azoth as a concept is flawed. The primordial mercury of life occurs naturally contained within gemstones because the bodies and souls of its bearers are incapable of truly becom...
2020-10-11 13:43:17 +0000 UTC View PostHe was fully aware of the childishness of his visceral discomfort with the implication of a sapphic relationship between one of his comrades and the person who got them across the border. But that was Makhus the man, Makhus the Alchemist. The source of such insecurity was far deeper than his conscious self, it was an insufferable little boy that couldn’t get over his inability to woo a woman into bed, it was a mental vestige of his past self that he had done all he could to exterminate.
... 2020-10-10 12:27:30 +0000 UTC View PostIt had been almost an hour since she began cleaning the store alongside her comrades, and Zef’s mind continued to wander while her body did all the hard work. Of all lessons she had learned in the military, it was the ability to mentally check out for long stretches of menial labor that she valued most. Her marksmanship was her pride and joy, but it was something she had cultivated since long before she got snatched up in the cogs of industrialized warfare.
She liked the street perfor...
2020-10-09 14:04:13 +0000 UTC View PostBoth because of her payment, and because it had turned out Quincy was not quite as guilty as she had thought.
Had he sent people to their deaths at the maneater’s talons? Yes.
Had he done it with the intention of their deaths? No, if his word was to be believed, and Zel’s gut told her he was telling the truth. There was clearly more nuance to his relationship with the beast, but she wasn’t so curious as to pry into such private matters.
With the money safely in
The street performer was gone from his previous spot, but his belting still echoed through the streets as she walked them, approaching the inn.
It wasn’t all legible, the lines she could pick out were just as charged as those of the previous song.
“We could have never won this!” the singer’s sonorous voice thundered from afar.
“So hate us and see if we mind!” he challenged.
Zel decided to give the man a couple coins once she wrung her payment ou...
2020-10-07 11:09:30 +0000 UTC View PostA kick to the chest to knock its confused, headless form even further back, to give her enough time to take another breath.
She had enough time to align the cleaver’s cutting edge for an upward swing, but by then it was already at her throat again, swiping and stabbing with its claws as blood gushed from its stump neck in a pattern of frantic pulses.
A left side kick, empowered only by a small exhalation. Its freakishly long arms allowed its talons to dig deeply into her b...
2020-10-06 13:15:52 +0000 UTC View PostFrom deep in her chest there rumbled a hearty laugh, gouts of Fog spilling forth with each bark. She pushed the trigger lever far enough to hear the first click whilst she excused her outburst, “I apologize for laughing, but… Surely you understand why I find it rich when a cannibalistic beast questions my humanity.”
Another slow nod, “Yes, I do. I also understand that only one of us can leave this field. If I am to be honest…”
The creature sat, crossing its legs ...
2020-10-05 17:17:15 +0000 UTC View PostSmall gaps in the corn led into two other clearings such as this, and after briefly considering walking straight into the corn, she chose to follow the one to the right. Her gut told her it would be unwise to step into the thick of the maize.
A smaller clearing, barely five meters across, bone fragments strewn about on the ground. In the center there sat a large flat-topped rock, upon which there sat a large bone, picked free of flesh. Zelsys didn’t have much knowledge of human anatom...
2020-10-04 13:58:31 +0000 UTC View PostThere was a brief break in the singing after that, his strange eye-ornament’s glow dimming as he muttered some sort of prayer. Another breath. Another roar-sung verse. The foreign soldiers were becoming visibly upset, as were some of the other audience members. In the former case, they were visibly angry and yelling, while in the latter, they seemed merely shocked by the raw intensity of the performance, or perhaps the performer’s sheer audacity.
He wasn’t saying it outright, but ...
2020-10-03 09:25:14 +0000 UTC View PostA knock on the counter and a call of “Ey, barkeep!” was all it took to call the humanoid manifestation of positivity out of the kitchen, his smile shifting ever so slightly at the sight of her.
“Late sleeper, huh? I take it you want to have breakfast ‘fore you deal with the beastie,” he accurately predicted as he dusted his hands off on his apron.
Zelsys gave a nod, asking, “What’s on offer?”
“I’ve got meat pie and mashed potatoes with gravy s...
2020-10-02 16:11:22 +0000 UTC View Post“United by one wise man, an Independent State. This was much against the wishes of certain governments, whose leaders tried to break us down and make us all repent…”
Eventually, the steam that filled the bathroom and his own lack of focus on maintaining the technique allowed it to fade away much faster than it otherwise would, and he continued scrubbing away while quietly humming the melody of that song, just in case something loud enough to be heard by the naked ear happened. Som...
2020-10-01 11:32:20 +0000 UTC View PostHer hand came to a stop when Zefaris approached, making no attempt to hide her intentions as crawled onto the bed. “I’m no coward,” she uttered.
“Oh really?” came a laughing response. “Prove it, coward.”
The Tablet landed on the ground beside the bed with a thud, its projection flickering away just like both their pretensions of restraint. At first, it was no more than Zefaris acting out in an attempt to regain some sort of control, perhaps to try and establish domin...
2020-09-30 10:33:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe towel nearly slipped off when she bent down to pick up the holster of her cleaver and the arm-harness of her gun, both of which she had previously discarded in front of the bathroom door.
“All yours,” Zelsys said as she sat on the other bed, shedding her towel to use it as little more than a sitting mat while she nonchalantly took to rolling up the bandages she had used to wrap her chest.
Zefaris just mumbled an absent-minded “Uh-huh…” as she continued to star...
2020-09-29 15:36:49 +0000 UTC View Post“Oh yeah…” she sighed, relaxing near every muscle she could. The filth and tension of gods knew how many miles walked and two fights were melting away, and before she knew it, the tub was nearly full.
She absent-mindedly closed the valve with her foot, and returned to soaking in the water. It reminded her of the liquid nothingness she woke from, as long ago as it felt, yet as recent as it really was.
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2020-09-28 14:17:29 +0000 UTC View PostHe handed her one, assuring her that, “I’ll make sure your lady friend gets the other key to number four. The rooms are just up the stairs and down the hall, can’t miss it. The bath has its own heating crystal and water transmuter, so all you’ve got to do is adjust the temperature dial. Now if you don’t mind, I’ve got an inn to run.”
Zelsys smiled back at him and walked off, having just now realized something. There were no workers in the kitchen. In fact, as she walked ou...
2020-09-27 12:54:38 +0000 UTC View PostIn fact, she noticed an even further detail by focusing on her peripheral vision to sneakily get a glimpse of their table. Zefaris wasn’t just ogling her, she was using the Homunculus Eye to surpass a normal human’s ability to stare at another’s ass.
Zelsys found this endlessly entertaining for some reason, to the point where she went out of her way to lean on the bar in an exaggerated manner, propping herself up on her elbows whilst holding her head in her palms. She passed the m...
2020-09-26 11:19:15 +0000 UTC View PostStanding over his crumpled form, she ducked and reached for his face. She turned his head, opened one of his eyes, even slapped him a couple times and made sure he was breathing. “He’ll be fine,” she remarked, standing back up as she looked to his companions. “All yours.”
A reluctant, stunned nod from the one with a mustache, and an equally reluctant step forward. He seemed… Afraid to approach her. Zelsys quickly noticed this, and turned away to return to her companio...
2020-09-25 11:59:06 +0000 UTC View Post“Forfeit or your knee goes,” he seethed, taking hold of her kneecap. As if an addendum, he muttered “Cloud-scattering Sacred Breath…” to himself, taking in another sharp inhalation. She knew he would be able to maim her well before she could take a proper breath, that feeling of impending danger screeched in the back of her head like a wild beast. The world briefly slowed to a crawl as her mind rushed, her eyes locked to his.
Zelsys dug as deep as she could, exhaling eve...
2020-09-24 10:35:04 +0000 UTC View Post“Make me, bitch,” he spat.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time, cur,” she spat right back, smiling.
The barkeep yelled at them, “Don’t even think of fighting in my goddamn inn, you hear me?!”
“Want to take this outside, little boy?” Zelsys asked Halxian.
“Wherever you wish, hag,” he grinned. “No lethal weapons or techniques, first one to be incapacitated or submit loses.”
“So be it.”
None of the three Ikesians sai...
2020-09-23 08:44:50 +0000 UTC View PostIt was far from full, as far as she could tell from where she sat.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, rising from her seat and making her way towards the notice board. It chiefly held a number of smaller requests and advertisements, from trade offers for goods and services to simple jobs, universally written in simple writing on vaguely rectangular scraps of paper. Among these scraps, there stood out three proper missives, meticulously calligraphed on parchment in writing so clean it...
2020-09-22 09:52:01 +0000 UTC View PostWhile she spoke, she touched her cleaver’s handle with one hand, retrieved the Tablet with the other, and set it down on the table. She went to her traits list, turning the device upside-down so Makhus could read.
“First, second, fifth and sixth trait from the top. I’ve had them since I woke up.”
Makhus looked them over, and his befuddlement became only more visible. A strange twinkle in his eyes, the ex-soldier looked her in the eye and said, “Deal. Just keep quie...
2020-09-21 12:13:49 +0000 UTC View PostAbout a minute of haggling later, she was dragged into full awareness when they came to an agreement, “A’ight, so that’s one large bottle and two small ones.”
Thinking quickly, she reached for her cleaver’s handle to loosen the holster, the merchant’s apparent alarm at this quickly quelled when she retrieved the Tablet and let go of the weapon. In fact, it turned to intrigue that bordered on wonder, the man’s beady eyes focused on the tablet’s projection as Zelsys quickl...
2020-09-20 08:32:33 +0000 UTC View Post“What do you plan to do when you get to that gate, huh? Assault some grunt and play into their nation’s propaganda?!” she questioned, assuming that at least part of the apparent prejudice against Ikesians had to have come from wartime propaganda.
To her surprise, he blinked a couple times and seemingly snapped back to his senses. She could almost see him mentally putting the mask of stoicism back on. “A’ight,” he rumbled calmly. “You’re right. Now get off me ‘fore you ...
2020-09-19 11:20:10 +0000 UTC View PostThe bearded historian nodded, “Exactly. Next thing they know, they’re getting pounded into the dirt with rolling thunder artillery and an army of peasants is fighting and winning against their trained martial artists using mundane blades and glorified muskets. No wonder they pulled out all the stops, to them it must’ve been like Ikesia climbed onto the table of international affairs and pissed on it to claim it as territory.”
Makhus chuckled spitefully at that. “And they’ll ...
2020-09-18 09:27:07 +0000 UTC View Post“I’d grind the solid shell into a fine powder, use it as the base for ink. Then, I’d distill the mercurial solution into an elixir, which I’d imbibe while tattooing an appropriate sigil onto myself,” he continued, the veneer of stoicism vanishing from his eyes to reveal a mad glint. A smile formed on his face, but he was snapped back into his usual attitude by the prod of the seal-bottle against his arm. He took a swig and passed it, leaning back and returning to his usual, laid-bac...
2020-09-17 17:38:48 +0000 UTC View Post