"Tell a Tale" Theme Series (Back Again!)

How do you feel about doing TaT knowing our names are listed in the museum now?

I like that people can know which entries go together	33.3%	[ 33 ]
I don't really care	35.4%	[ 35 ]
I'd rather it was anonymous (until the end)	20.2%	[ 20 ]
Other (in comments)	11.1%	[ 11 ]
Total Votes:			[ 99 ]

[The Dread Wolf]

I never finished entering all the looks I did for my last OC here....but that won't stop me making another post for this TaT round!


Rough Sketch - Show off an early version of one of your OCs!

Ashton Quinn, brother of Arthur Quinn, half-brother to Teagan, and an enemy to Malek Shepard.
He is the big bad, who gets badder the longer he his around.
Here though!! In his rough draft, he was just a baddie I needed. I already knew that somebody had murdered Malek's family and terrorizes Teagan, but I needed to create that person.
Arthur was already around and I thought it would be spicy if he had a brother who was evil.
So, in this lovely round of TaT.... I will be digging deep into just who Ashton Quinn is.

Chapter One - Introduce your protagonist!

Ashton chilling in his library with the skulls of his servants. (；′⌒`)
He is not a nice man, but in his own self-centered way...he is his own protagonist.
Ashton was only doing what he needed to do! That is, he needed to end the lives of some of his servants because they did not understand what their master (Ashton) truly needed.
Also they were fresh blood so...uh... why not drain them of blood?
Do not bend the knee, it is a trap.

The Mentor - What character acts as your guide or counsel?

Take 2 or 3 for my evil book spirit lady. ╮(╯-╰)╭
She is evil and is the one who grants Ashton his evil vampire powers & look.
She was stuck in a book for centuries until the bookworm Ashton stumbled upon the lovely book.
She guided his way to power. He needed a large sacrifice in order to gain power, so he preyed upon the neighboring wolf kingdom. With the aid of the book spirit, Ashton destroyed the royal wolf line (or so he believes).
The bloodshed sealed the deal for the spirit & she grants Ashton his power.
She becomes absorbed into Ashton & his blood lust continues.

Friends and Allies - Who helps you on the path to your goal?

Bless you suf.
I can not take full credit for the creation of Ashton's ally.
Ashton does not have any friends, personally. However, neighboring kingdoms certainly do not like Ashton's own enemies so.
The elimination of the wolf kingdom was really liked by the deer kingdom.
Here a mysterious deer royal is lurking in the shadows, waiting for their moment to stick their antlers into Ashton and/or to take over the ruins of the wolf kingdom.
But...for now...temporarily... they are an ally of Ashton's.
With a couple surviving wolves lurking about.... this deer would love for Ashton's wild reign to continue.

Obstacles - Who or what stands in your way?

Arthur is always in Ashton's way.
Arthur is Ashton's brother.
Arthur often calls Ashton, Asston.
Ashton hates Arthur, but uses him from time to time.
Arthur is the only one who can manage to not be in Ashton's line of anger.

Despite Ashton not loving Arthur, when Arthur stands by Teagan and Malek, Ashton is hurt.
When Arthur talks softly to Ashton, trying to figure out what is wrong...Ashton gets angry about the coddling. Everything is fine.
Ashton is relieved to find his brother defend him, while his own allies (Teagan and Malek) demand for Ashton's head.
Arthur runs away with Ashton, which was comforting. But in a new and unknown land....Arthur is always trying to get Ashton to confess to things he feels no remorse about.
Arthur is seemingly always in Ashton's way.
Nothing Ashton has done has been wrong. u __ u
Therefore....Arthur must go. The better brother shall prevail.

Missteps - What goes wrong, or distracts you from your goal?

The constant distraction for Ashton.
Teagan....

Ashton first see's her when returning to his kingdom after slaughtering wolves.
She was stunning.
Ashton wanted to have her. So he picked her up and took her to his castle.
She protested.
This made Ashton unhappy.
She escaped her marriage to him, by slashing at him with a knife.
Ashton lashed out at her. A major regret of his.

While away from her.... the image of her picking sunflowers nearby his kingdom will forever stay in his mind and drive him to get to her.
The wolves are dangerous and need to be eliminated, she can't be safe with them.

Sidestory - There's more going on than Point A to Point B, right?

After being beaten by Teagan, Arthur, Malek, and Raevyn....Ashton loses his book spirit and the powers that were bestowed upon him.
As a result, his skin color returned to normal. His hair does too....mostly.
Escaping persecution, Ashton flees east with his brother.

The desire for power does not leave Ashton.
While Arthur is distracted, Ashton explores the new land he's in. Searching for a way to gain power once more.
Through sacrifices, more books, and an elaborate ritual... Ashton may just get what he wants.
But it takes a lot of sneaking around & back stabbing.

Culmination - Do you find something? Learn something? Fight someone?

After denying he did anything wrong & escaping to another kingdom, Ashton looked more power! This is his culmination.

Just as before, getting to this point meant a lot of sacrifice.
Ashton is powerful once more, but he's a bit corrupted. Losing his man-self to his beast-self he loses control and is just a huge mess.

In a seriously bloody battle...he battles Arthur and his boyfriend, he grapples with Malek, he attacks Yuki, he fights Raevyn, but is finally stopped by Teagan.

Epilogue - What fate awaits your hero, villain, or land?

The heroes won the day!
They took down the big bad!

After being taken down by Teagan, Ashton snarls that he is guilty of no wrong doing.
The lack of confession meant that the only way the heroes could feel safe was the execution of Ashton.
In what some called: too much and others called: a long time coming.... Ashton was executed and his head was put on a spike.

Opposite End - Show us an alternate ending to your TaT story!

Ashton has a really big change of heart!
He can be good, he can be nice! But he never really found any fun in that....
Until someone dared him he couldn't be nice and good.

So he's here now! Being good! And nice! And amazingly people don't hate him anymore.

[Alicorne137]

It's that time again! Yay!!

I've done the same characters the past couple times, so I'm going to do a storyline with someone different this time around.

Rough Draft

Bridget Connelly
I've used Bridget in a few different story lines - from a Victorian setting to a modern city to a futuristic Australian setting with magic.
A few things remain constant though. She's always been a red-head. She's always been from Ireland. She's always traveled alongside her older brother, Colum, who practically raised her. Colum has always driven her a little bit batty. And she's always been a huge flirt with a quick temper and just a lot of emotions in general.

Chapter One

Bridget and Colum Connolly
Bridget and Colum are siblings, originally from Belfast, Ireland. After being orphaned at a young age, and then their grandmother dying a few years later, they were left in the guardianship of an uncle who was ... well ... not the most responsible of persons, shall we say. So Colum has practically raised Bridget since he was a young teen. They're very close, but they also kind of hate being around each other. Siblings, you know? Someone they have known since they were kids brings them to America, where they eventually end up in a little rural farming community.
Colum is soft-spoken and painfully shy, and he's doing his best to just fly under the radar and not be noticed by people (a challenge in a small town). At one point, he wanted to become a priest, but, well ... life happens. I'm pretty sure his goal in life is to just get through it while speaking as few words as possible. This drives his sister absolutely bonkers.
Bridget is out-spoken and has quite a temper. She's pretty and knows it and is not afraid to use that to her advantage. She loves to flirt. She sometimes finds it difficult making friends with other girls. She's not heartbroken about getting out of Ireland, but she is not happy to be planted in the middle of nowhere. If she had her way, they would be back in New York, where they started out when they first came to America.

Mentor

Brandon O'Neill
(Also known as "Bran," though no one but Bridget and his mother call him that.)
To the ordinary person, O'Neill's job is operating a garage in New York City with the help of a couple mechanics (Rory and Corrigan). To those who know better, he is a kind of shapeshifter whose main focus is as a sort of supernatural social worker (and occasional hunter when Rory and Corrigan need his assistance with that sort of thing).
O'Neill met Bridget and Column when the were just kids. He was just starting out in the field, and he worked the case of their parents' death. He's looked after them ever since and tried to help them as much as possible. This is all part of the reason he brought them to America, and then sent them to the most boring place he could find.

Side note: He plays a mean fiddle.

Friends and Allies

James Barlean
James is one of the locals in the small town where Bridget and Colum are staying, and he and Colum are working the harvest together. James is a polite, laid back sort of guy who befriends the two of them right away. While Colum is silently grateful to have a possible ally, Bridget responds to James with badly concealed hostility. She has no intention of making friends with some small-town boy in a place she has no intention of staying, even if she does find him the tiniest bit attractive. However, when she runs into trouble doing things she is absolutely not supposed to be doing, she reluctantly calls James in to help.

Obstacles

Colt and friends
Bridget is invited to a party, and she's bored so she figures ... why not? I mean, parties are parties, so it's got to be more fun than just sitting around at home, right? Her brother would absolutely not approve, so she makes up some story about staying with a waitress friend in town for a girls' night or something.
She regrets this almost immediately. Her ride disappears. She almost immediately falls afoul of the mean girls. Then this college dude is being overly attentive and giving her some really bad vibes. And then she catches a glimpse of what looks suspiciously like large amounts of blood in one of the bathrooms. Since she doesn't want to call her brother, she enlists the help of James, who shows up to give her a ride. Only she's followed by the skeevy college dude (otherwise known as Colt).

Missteps

And ... it turns out skeevy college dude is a vampire!
With the use of the holy water Bridget just happens to have on her and the machete James just happens to have in his truck, they manage to kill Colt. Neither Bridget nor James seems particularly shocked that, hey, vampires exist and they just killed one! But Bridget, at least, is not ready to go into her entire back story with some cowboy she barely knows (even if he did just rescue her from the party from hell). James agrees to forgo the explanations and instead focus on the situation at hand: disposing of dead vampire before any potential friends of said vampire notice he's been killed. James also agrees, reluctantly, not to breath a word of any of this to Bridget's brother.
Things become more complicated, however, when James starts to put together the pieces of some recent missing persons cases and they realize Colt did, indeed, have friends.

Side Story

OK, it's hard enough trying to get by in a strange location while looking out for a rebellious younger sibling, and all the while struggling to stay under the radar when friendly locals always want to invite you to dinner or make small talk. Not to mention your sister's friend asking prying question about any potential girlfriend you might have, which you think might be an attempt at flirting, and in any case it's not something you've trained for. On top of all that, Colum has to deal with being a werewolf as well. Though sometimes, when Bridget is being especially difficult, it's possible he considers the whole werewolf thing to be easier to manage than her. You know, at least until vampires show up on his doorstep...

Culmination

When Colum gets snatched by vampires, Bridget looks up a holy water recipe on Pinterest and calls in O'Neill to help get her brother back. James helps them with their plan and manages to win Bridget over when she sees him defending her brother from vampires armed only with his charming personality and a water gun.

Epilogue

The situation with the vampires is resolved. They explain Colum's injuries as being the result of a car crash, so he sulks over all the well wishers and get well casseroles and social interaction that ensues. James takes Bridget out to see the countryside, and now that the vampires are gone, she grudgingly admits that maybe this place isn't completely awful.

Alternate Ending

Colum is killed and Bridget is turned. She would make a really bad vampire ... or maybe a good vampire? Anyway, she will kill lots of people. First order of business, however, would be to take note of every single vampire responsible for her brother's death and killing them one by one. And then she would find O'Neill, because he didn't take her seriously enough the first time she called to say, "Hey, we have a vampire problem here," to kill him as well. By that time, she's probably made it to his desk as someone who has to be taken out. Since he still thinks of her as the adorable and frightened little girl he rescued after a werewolf attack when she was 5, that's maybe top of the list of things he absolutely does not want to do, but ... well, he doesn't have much of a choice. Which of them survives the encounter? ... I don't know.

Last updated: May 2

[Spacebabie76]

Thanks for including Fanfic because Ive been working on one but Ill be making avatars for my OC's in the story.

My story is for a small fandom that has been around since the 80's...oh fine I'll just say it. It's a Gremlins fanfic. There call me a nerd. I wear that title proudly. The story is set in a small town that was recently created and mostly inside the mall in the town and the 8 story medical research building that is attached to the mall, and is set in 1998 and that means it includes stores that no longer exist like the Discovery Store and the Warner Brothers Store.

Rough Sketch

Doctor Helix is the main human badguy and he had lead the team in the genetic research lab on the 8th floor in making all kinds of genetic projects and he had cloned a mogwai and named it Gene and several other mogwai came from Gene including Razor who is the reincarnation of both Mohawk and Stripe, but Helix has a bad and dark secret. He has a secret lab way down in the basement and has kidnapped some people (Including Billy Peltzer) and mutated them into half mogway half human creatures and forced them to eat after midnight by shoving the food in their mouths and later gathering the DNA and even used the gremlin serum on himself.

And a lot of that has changed including his name and the other figure is his assistant Henrich who also had a name change.

Chapter One

Charles "Chuck" Penderghast is in his early 20's and works at the Clamp Corners Mall as a mall cop. He doesn't mind his job and only gets made fun of by tween and teens but most people don't even notice him. He thinks about going back to college and wants to be a writer and has written fanfiction for X-files and Star Wars and puts them on his tripod site along with a few original fics.
He loves science fiction is a bit of a conspiracy nut. He doesn't trust that genecis lab on the eighth floor of the medical research building and often lingers around the entrance of the pharmacy on the first floor of the building(it opens into the mall) and feels like they are doing some kind of experiments like creating new species or cloning stuff and his fellow mall security officers and his boss keep telling him to keep his head out of the clouds.
He also has a crush on a young female scientist who works in the building and wished he had the courage to say hello to her.
The more I write him the more I picture Joe Keery in the role

The Mentor

Doctor James Friedrich and he was originally called doctor Helix but changed both in appearance and his name. No longer in the need of a cane or balding but still gray hair and older. He leads a team of genetic scientists on the 8th floor of the medical research building that is attached to the mall. He is a mentor figure to the young Doctor Valerie Cordova and is pleased with her ideas and progress. Years ago he acquired mogwai DNa and cloned one and from the clone who accidently got wet came more mogwai including a clever leader with spiky white hair that he named Razor...after Occam's Razor and assigned a mogwai to each of the six scientists working for him...little does the research team knew that had another mogwai clone that he used human dna on and created a hybrid named Darwin and he had abducted two human men and used mogwai dna to mutate them into hybrids. He wants to create adaptable creatures that could be genetically altered but still have the intelligence and able to reason with like humans and sell them to the army...so mentor turned bad guy

Friends and Allies

Doctor Valerie Cordova is a young geneticist. She skipped some grade and graduated young and now works in the genetics lab on the 8th floor and views Doctor Friedrich as her mentor. While Friedrich had grown to love Razor, Valerie had become in charge of the original cloned mogwai and named him Gene who she loves. She also has bit of a crush on this one young security guard who works for the mall. One day she and the rest of the team came to the labs to discover the mogwai have disappeared and while searching for them she and one of her colleagues came across some strange creatures in her lab.

Later when she discovered that Friedrich had both kidnapped and mutated two innocent men she was crushed and grew disgusted and vowed not to rest until she could find a way to change them back...after she and the others take care of the gremlin invasion.

Obstacles

Razor was once doctor Friedrich's mogwai and led most of those in the lab(except Gene and Brody) and after they became gremlins used the shower in the mammography area on the second floor to spawn many more. He wants to lead his army out of the mall once the sun has set and have his revenge on Gizmo since he is both the reincarnation of Stripe and Mohawk. He also wants revenge on Billy Peltzer and felt insulted that his own DNA was used mutate Billy into a human/mogway hybrid and even more annoyed when he found out the mogmen had also eaten past midnight and were loose in the mall, however he noticed that Billy was allowing his new dark nature to take control and was growing to like his "Blood brother" More and more so they used the car in front of Saks as a Throne and wore a crown and a tiara from build a bear and towels as cloaks, because they gremlin king and goblin king are ready to rule

Missteps -

The plan is working! Billy has led the little imps into the sublevel of the hotel and they are all jumping into the pool, meanwhile Chuck and the others are hooking up various electronics to extension chords and are ready toss them into the gremlin filled pool. Chuck looks up and sees that Billy for some reason was on the diving board and ready to jump in. Chuck vaults over the edge of the tiki bar where and the others were hiding and pulls Billy to safety but the goblin lashes at him and growls out "Stupid human." Has his friend gone to the dark side?

Sidestory -

This also happened before the missteps. While waiting for Clamp and Forster to get weapons and supplies Chuck, Valerie, Darwin and Brody hung out in the Hallmark story and while they also couldn't find Helix Chuck and Valerie talked about what was going to happen next and how they bonded over the fact that they both loved the same geeky stuff like Transformers and their feelings for each other developed and they also decided to try and clean up.

Culmination -

The nightmare is almost over but the two mogwai went missing and there is a possibility they went after some stragglers. The heroes split up into three groups to look for them and Chuck's group looked into the cinema where they discovered a theater full of gremlins watching the new animated movie Mulan. They work together to stop the movie and convince the little monsters there is a fire and Chuck will lead them through the employees only door to the back hallways and lead them towards the loading dock of the Limited where they plan on opening the garage and frying them with the sun.

Epilogue -

The Threat is over. The monsters have been killed, Billy and Gerald have been cured(sort of) and everyone else had their injuries taken care of. Months went by and the mall was cleaned up and restored right in time for back to school shopping. Chuck and Valerie are dating and they even dress up as Mulder and Scully for Halloween at the mall where everyone met up. New friends were made and so far everything seems good

Opposite End -

In this case the uh heroes lost(for now) and the humans have been mutated into hybrids. Chuck now a half gremlin creature is forced to be a guard for the leaders but his crazy prepared conspiracy loving self kept him from being brainwashed and is now a mole for those that escaped and of course the army and hopefully this time the will succeed.

and here is a link to the fic
Fanfic

[MrTwinklehead]

-

Another TaT, another attempt. Kekeke! I wasn't really planning to do, but I got cyberbullied* to do it.

* = no I didn't ACTUALLY get bullied, it's just a silly playful between-friends-inside -joke


The story I'll be attempting to cover this is called Scarlet, or at least it was when I tried to write it for my one NaNoWriMo attempt back in 2014. It did not go well lmao.

Rough Sketch - Show off an early version of one of your OCs!

Inspired by a drawing of the main character from 2006, before the character had a name or a story attached to her. No, I'm not linking the drawing, gross.

Chapter One - Introduce your protagonist!

Waking up in a dark chamber with plenty of other people suspended just like herself, the lady escapes with nothing but a coat over her into a bustling city she knows nothing about. Lost, confused and scared, she gets cornered by a man who the moment she shows distrust attacks her and harms her, revealing that she isn't human. Or is she? She don't know. All she knows is the numbers 010 and that she's scared.

The Mentor - What character acts as your guide or counsel?

Hearing some concerning ruckus, Thomas takes a peek into the alleyway to find this robot girl being assaulted. When the man attempt to attack him though, he reveals a hidden taser and subdues the man and reassures the lady she's alright. He's worried her being alone could get her into trouble, so he invites her to follow him, even giving her the taser just so she could feel safer. She follows and learns more about herself from him.

Friends and Allies - Who helps you on the path to your goal?

The first stop of the duo is a small hardware store owned by a woman named Rosa. Thomas tells the woman they're old buds and he initially asks for Rosa to help fix the broken skin, but upon inspecting the woman closer, he comes to realise something. He asks for just the item in question and the two leaves. While Rose doesn't know, and won't for a long time, what Thomas is all about all of a sudden, she trusts him.

Obstacles - Who or what stands in your way?

When the two gets to settle down in Thomas' apartment and the lady gets some time to finally calm down, Thomas simply tells her that her secret is safe with him. What secret? Simply put, that she's a cyborg. She feel so lost, after all, she doesn't even know her name. Thomas then asks if he can give her a name, to give her a new identity to create from now on. With her bright red hair he suggests the name Scarlet, it clicks with her and feeling like a person reborn she takes the name.
Though the initial shock to find out she's a cyborg was one thing, the later reveal of the destructive weapons she apparently carries as well only brought up more questions than answers. What was the place she was kept in all about? What did they want to do?

Missteps - What goes wrong, or distracts you from your goal?

There had been a nagging suspicion, that whatever Scarlet's past was, was eventually going to come after her and those around her. Though of course that doesn't make it less terrifying when Thomas is approached and swiftly kidnapped by another cyborg woman, going by the digits of 006. Scarlet only learns of Thomas' predicament when she's later approached and mocked by 006 herself.

Sidestory - There's more going on than Point A to Point B, right?

BUT BEFORE THAT! This really should have come before missteps, but ah well, TaT tradition. Since Scarlet's past is nothing but a void, she doesn't have an idea of what to do and what she wants to do. After some testing around and Thomas' connections, Scarlet gets the chance to work at a book cafe with their own bakery. Something about the mixing and decorating clicks with Scarlet and over time, she comes to love the activity.

Culmination - Do you find something? Learn something? Fight someone?

Thomas' kidnapping forces Scarlet to return to the place she first woke up in, it had been many months since then and Scarlet still had nightmares of that place on occasion. With the things these people had done to her, erasing her memories and her past, she was not going to let them do the same to Thomas! He gave her a name, one she had grown to see as her own. On that day, he saved her. This time, she was going to save him in more ways than one.

Epilogue - What fate awaits your hero, villain, or land?

The rescue was a success, Scarlet managed to rescue Thomas and he himself managed to plant the ideas of claiming ones own identity to his kidnapper, making her question what she has been told to do. After escaping, with some help of a slightly changed 006 (surely, a small step towards the start of her own liberation), Scarlet and Thomas makes the decision that they need to leave, start over in a new location, for both their safeties. At the new place, where nobody knew them, the two gets to enjoy life together as she continues her growth as Scarlet, shaping her identity the way she wants it to be.

Opposite End - Show us an alternate ending to your TaT story!

But... What if Scarlet couldn't save Thomas? What if she lost and got recaptured? Her memories would be wiped clean and Scarlet would cease to exist. And Thomas? Well he knows too much, he can't be running around out there in the world any more. So what fate awaits him? The very same as Scarlet's; Thomas shall be no more.
Welcome to the crew, 017.

-

[sufjan stebens]

^_^

rough draft

this year i'm going to be telling the story of this guy, my main gaia-based oc! i made this avatar of him ^^^ for a runway i think for... people with wings? which is funny because he does not have wings at all anymore. you'll see an updated version of him in the next theme >:^3c

after i started reusing this look (d skin tone, brown eyes, ivory hair -- usually reussolelle givre specifically (god help me that item's name is impossible to spell) -- and slutty most of the time) i eventually gave this character the nickname "mansome." he had no purpose but to look handsome! but soon we'll all discover that there's much more to him...

chapter one

here he is!!! sebastián manuel! my beautiful son... all grown up..

well the basic story here is that sebastián was born on earth, in our world (possibly even in america but i haven't decided 100% yet) but when he was very young he was ~mysteriously thrust through a portal into another world. this new world still has queens and kings and knights, but also ~magic~ altho sebastián can't use it bc magical power is either inherited genetically or gained from a mystical source (like, say, an artifact imbued with arcane power, something he's never managed to find).

sebastián's hair turned white when he went through the portal and he arrived in the kingdom (name is currently ursa major but i don't know if that'll stick, insert complicated explanations about alternate dimensions and astronomy that no one really wants to read) on a very important day. astrology isn't the same in this alternate dimension -- for one thing, it's possible to actually divine the future from the stars if you're skilled enough in reading them. and these aren't vague prophecies, they're complete records of events that haven't yet happened with times and places specified, up there for anyone to read -- as long as you've been trained to interpret astrologue, also known as "the dialect of the stars."

anyway i'm already off topic. sebastián arrived in ursa major on the night of the festival of divining and the astrologers predicted that he would bring great fortune to the kingdom. he was adopted, sort of, by the royal family, and raised alongside the prince and princess. he was meant to become the watchdog of the future king, and so he was trained in combat and taught to be loyal and defend the royal family no matter what the cost.

mentor

this is the woman who was in charge of sebastián's training for basically his entire life. she's the captain of the royal guard. when things start to go haywire (as they inevitably do) she's one of the few people sebastián feels he can trust. he ends up relying on her guidance in more than just swordsmanship.

friends and allies

prince orion, only son of the king, brother to orianna, and the man who was meant to inherit the throne. orion never wanted to rule, though. and when it's discovered that he's inherited a recessive gene that gives him immense aptitude for magic he abdicates the throne. he leaves the capital city against his parents' wishes to seek tutelage from other magic users. he disappears for over a decade.

when he comes back he's different. thin, pale, and sickly-looking, orion looks like he's been through hell and back. he was always quiet and reserved, but now it's more like he's shut himself off from the world. his eyes are no longer the dark brown colour he once shared with his sister; they're now amber.

but even though orion is different from the person sebastián used to know, he can't rid himself of his instinct to protect the man his destiny was once intertwined with. not to mention the fact that orion is an extremely powerful mage, and sebastián could use some firepower when he's unexpectedly accused of treason and forced to flee for his life with the newly-exiled prince.

obstacle

orianna. she was never meant to be anything, really. some kind of political marriage would have been arranged for her, and she'd live her life in a gilded cage. she would have luxury, but she would never be free.

instead, in the aftermath of orion abdicating, she suddenly became the heir to the throne. she'd barely started preparing for this monumental burden when her parents were both killed and she was suddenly the queen of ursa major. she was only 16.

the surrounding kingdoms mistakenly assumed that she was weak and that ursa major would now be vulnerable to attack. they hadn't counted on orianna's vicious tenacity -- her willingness to survive and prosper no matter the cost. she draws on old allegiances and arranges her own political marriage: to king iren, leader of the wildmen, the druidic people of the forest. they are legendary and dreaded across the continent. suddenly the surrounding kingdoms aren't so keen to attack.

but it doesn't end there. orianna is not satisfied with peace. she raises two daughters and builds for them an empire that soon overshadows each of the neighbouring kingdoms. she is ruthless. she is unstoppable.

when her brother makes an unexpected return from his self-imposed exile, she sees it as a threat to her power. she makes the exile official. and when sebastián speaks in defense of orion, she begins to see him as a threat, too. she orders that he be executed; he escapes.

[ii is Aquaxox]

Hopefully this time I'll actually participate more, especially with this whole plague going on

Introduce your protagonist


When I made my amaranth look I got an idea to make a princess of some kind, so I did the entire ice queen route with it. She doesn't have a name yet but I'll certainly be telling a story with her.

Mentor



While the princess is traveling through the woods, she comes upon a cabin with an out there witch living in it.

Obstacle



A swamp witch stops her in her path and tries to drain her magic.

[Grape Sprite]

This is a direct sequel to my last TaT, which I left hanging because I went into hiatus.

First book ended with the Mentor/Frenemy joining the gang after finding her boss' lab with a live, sentient alien who’d been taught english and was being experimented on. The twin sisters, the vampire, the frenemy and the alien fight the Villain who dies mid-fight in a freak accident. Villain was not Last Boss so now all of them are being hunted down. Alien hid their ship when they crashed on Earth and after the engineer twin fixes it Alien offers to help them escape Earth since they helped them escape prison. All say yes because space.

This is now supernatural sci-fi lmao.

I missed the Rough Sketch

Chapter One

So this being a sequel, I actually have five protagonists:
Bethany Miller, last book's protagonist, a mechanic engineer. Oldest twin.
Violet Phelps, hunter/assassin of all things supernatural. Youngest twin.
Barnaby Willoughby, pacifist vampire. Violet's boyfriend.
Nadya Bellamonte, hunter/assassin of all things supernatural and Violet's former coworker.
Fred, formerly imprisoned and experimented on alien.

I thought about going with Fred since they didn’t get a chance to shine last TaT but Barnaby won because a vampire in a spacesuit cracks me up.

So Barnaby is a rare kind of vampire that needs UV light to convert blood to energy. Everyone is too excited about space, including Barnaby, to think of this. They do once they’re away from Earth and Barnaby’s getting awful cramps after drinking from his girlfriend. Everyone terran panics because he’s gonna starve until Alien points out UV light is not exclusive to Earth, there's lots of stars around. Poor Barnaby gets burned a lot while Beth and Fred experiment with UV filtering.

The Mentor

This is f̴̡̑h̵̲͑ȑ̷̘r̷͇̚'̷͕͌e̷͙̍d̴̤͝. Humans don't have the vocal cords needed to pronounce their name, so the gang nicknames them Fred, which is the closest they can get. Fred soon discovers that within the gang they, a just-graduated linguist who crashed their ship after too much stimulant ingestion, are the maximum authority in all matters of space. Their guests are good at their specialized skills but by i̶̻̔ì̴͍ṷ̴̎i̵̢͆l̸̖͊ not a single one of them knows the innate stuff. Do terran’s neural interfaces not absorb their colony’s data spores when they hatch? Fred is ridiculously unprepared to be these terrans’ teacher. Fred is also very anxious because Fred just found out their math is wrong and the ship does not have enough resources to reach their planet (Fred has just broken out of their own personal hell, cut them some slack). They’re having a hard time trying to tell the terrans this.

Do note that you are seeing a clothed Fred, here is a naked Fred:

Friends and Allies

Fred finally admits their mistake. The spaceship has maps and it decides that a planet whose name sounds a lot like ‘strawberries’ is their best choice, and indeed it is as the strawberrians are a happy, laid back folk. Fred doesn’t speak strawberrish but they speak some other language that a lot of strawberrians speak as well.

The strawberrians agree to trade goods but not for free. The gang doesn’t have strawberry coin nor goods to trade, but Fred knows several tongues, Violet and Nadya can kill anything, Beth can fix anything and Barnaby can, well, can turn into a crow and run very fast? So maybe they can trade their skills?

As it turns out, there is something they can do to pay for what they need.

(All strawberrians have 9 tentacles and are all in varying shades of green.)

Obstacles

Several red moons ago, the Strawberry planet was invaded. The Great Matriarch sacrificed her life to tie her will and her essence to the foundations and walls of their main palace and the palace became a living thing. The invaders were annihilated as soon as they stepped inside it and the invasion ended soon after. The Great Matriarch’s will was too strong, though, and it untied itself from the palace’s stone. Except it had no living body to return to and it became a ghost. This ghost has been calling out to their spirits, say the strawberrians, taking them sooner from life and stealing valuables as offerings. They would like to live to old age again and get back the treasure the ghost has been accumulating.

So all the gang has to do is take care of the Great Matriarch’s ghost. Violet and Nadya grin at each other; ghost hunting was the fun work at their old job. This is going to be a piece of cake.

(All strawberrians are shades of green, she’s blue because she’s a ghost :D)

Missteps

Nothing goes right in this insane mission. Strawberrian ghosts are not at all like Earth ghosts. Neither Nadya nor Violet (the one in my entry) take kindly to this. They were the best hunters of Still Unnamed Organization, damn it, and after lots of failed plans both end up incredibly frustrated and their attempts more and more desperate. Then they accidentally discover the ghosts are actually holograms set by a second invasion right after the first ended: an opportunistic alien race that sneaked in as the Great Matriarch’s essence dissolved from the castle walls and they posed as her ghost while slowly siphoning strawberrians’ life energy and resources.

(You have no idea how happy I was to find that lil jellyfish that looked a lot like a tiny matriarch ghost, I think I used up my remaining quota of luck for this year)

Side story

So I actually wanted to enter Nadya either being all nosy and intrusive asking if the earth things about alien tentacles are true, or her arm wrestling some strawberrian's either arm or tentacle but I had no idea how put that in avatar form, so I made my entry on her discovering that space travel is not as fancy as she thought would be and that dry space food sucks.

Culmination

The alien parasites feeding off strawberrians’ lifeforce have a kind of hive mind so the gang has to get aboard their mother spaceship and destroy it. The fight is hard and Barnaby gets about twenty years of his life sucked out of him. Violet is so furious she ditches the gang to go hunting for the parasite who harmed her boyfriend. Nadya is left to handle the assault pretty much on her own and then Violet comes back, alien parasite as her prisoner. Fred, who is a nerd and knows a lot of languages, interrogates the parasite and the gang luck out: the hive mind means they are susceptible to manipulation. Nadya and Violet, using Fred as their translator, trick them into their deaths.

[I’d like to direct your attention to the fact that Fred clothing style is very bold and frisky, since they favor clothes that do almost nothing to cover fins that ought to be covered.]

Epilogue

Beth, who had been taking ship driving classes from Fred before they arrived at Planet Strawberry, takes command of Fred’s ship while Fred takes the parasites’ ship. Beth is living the dream, like, absolutely peaking in life. She’s incredibly ecstatic to be steering the ship by herself (neither Beth nor Fred know it yet but Beth’s just bonded with the ship, it will never be Fred’s ship again. In this universe, ships are kinda like cats and this ship has decided it likes a driver that is actually behaving like driving it is a privilege). Both Fred and Beth take the ships back to Strawberry, where they pimp up formerly-Fred’s ship with the nice and cool parts from the parasite's ship. The strawberrians help them do it as part of their deal and the gang sets off for Fred’s home planet.

[Deep inside now-Beth’s ship, a beautifully carved box rests. It was loot from the parasite ship that was highly protected and everyone thought was probably too valuable to throw away and so was taken in as a souvenir of sorts. Beth, still an amateur driver, ******** up a bit when exiting the Strawberry atmosphere and the ship rocks like a turbulent plane. The box crashes to the floor and cracks. The blue-ish smoke that escapes from it coalesce into the ghost of the Great Matriarch. She's incredibly confused and very, very angry.]

Opposite End

In this alternate universe, the fight with the parasites started out wrong and kept on being wrong. Barnaby doesn't lose 20 years of his lifespan, he loses it all. He can feel himself fading away, the exhaustion creeping in and he know he's not going to make it. When a parasite latches on to him, he knows that's it. He turns to Violet and he tells her one last time that he loves her. Then he dies.

[Sianserais]

Rough Sketch

Notes: Missed that this theme was even up, so failed to enter.

Chapter One

Notes: I wish I could have gotten rid of the glow from the hidden window, since it's kind of obscuring other elements, but ah well. Jastian needed that table.

The Mentor

Notes: I don't really think Ceruas is one to leave books lying around on the floor, but I wanted to link him to the texts somehow...

Friends and Allies

Notes: Hmm... wonder why this design looks familiar. I knew unusual skins and no limb-mods were hurting my chances, but it's the closest I could get to Niziantai's racial characteristics.

Obstacles

Notes: I had to enter Sjan's unfinished at literally the last minute, so here's a slightly improved version. Still not happy with the color balance, but it'll do. And yes, the chain/collar pose is there for a symbolic reason.

Missteps

Notes: The concept here is that part of the building is collapsing in on itself - ideally, he shouldn't be on top of the rubble, or at least not while he still had the staff.

Sidestory

Notes: Not quite the hair color I wanted to use, but it's appropriate for her anyway. lol This is less an actual side-story and more of a what-happened-in-the-meantime.

Culmination

Notes: I think perhaps I should have left the sword out. It's mostly included to indicate that this was a deliberate assault, and in essence an act of war. It kind of detracts from the intended focus on the destruction, though. And no, that's not a dragon in the background. You must be seeing things. >.> <.<

Epilogue

Notes: With apologies for the use of the Buddhist staff, because I absolutely couldn't for the life of me find anything else that worked half as well. Though if you take it as an analogous statement of faith, instead of a specific one, it's appropriate. (Also, ravens don't exist on their world, but they fit the concept.)

Opposite End

Notes: Another rush job, but I think it gets the idea across anyway. And yeah, I ended up using that mouth more than I'd intended.

And on the off-chance anyone wants to know who these characters are:

So... this is the backstory of what happened during The Reclamation, and how Jastian/Jaishyer ended up with a broken Spectrus (soul).

When the Days of Despair came, and The Five (gods) failed to return to their peoples, few had any idea what had actually occurred. Wild speculations sparked fear and anger, and in the Kemiri heartland, the resentment that had been rising against the (non-Kemiri ministers) Voices of Ceruas for years soon boiled over into accusations and violence.

Quietly, a number of the Original Spectra brought by Ceruas to this world began to gather to determine what they should do. Almost by default, they chose among them Sjan Vinstrom as their representative leader, as he had been blessed by Ceruas himself. But Sjan was young and naive, and easily manipulated by those more experienced than he.

As a lesser scholar and teacher-of-children in the temple, Jastian had very little authority. However, as one of the Original Spectra, he was still deemed important enough (or shall we say, potentially disruptive enough) to take an interest in, especially due to his friendship with one of the Voices of Ceruas, Niziantai. When he and a few others objected to the changes in doctrine (and authority) some wanted to make, certain individuals took note.

One early morning, Jastian and the other dissenters received a message that Sjan was threatening to use the Kiristantai (a mysterious and powerful "staff" supposedly given to Sjan by their god, more like a writhing bolt of lightning than a pole) against the temple itself and solve the matter that way. The note also revealed the location the staff was being kept. After warning Niziantai to make preparations in case they failed, the dissenters made a plan to steal the staff that night.

What they didn't know is that they were walking into a trap.

The attempted theft of the staff and supposed attack on the plotters' headquarters was just the excuse needed to justify the destruction of the Voices and current hierarchy of power as a whole.

In the aftermath, those loyalists who refused to submit to the new order were publicly branded and exiled to the lands beyond the Tidal Wastes to the North. (Sound familiar?)

[Empress Azula]

My first OC ever! I'm not a writer-type so it's a challenge coming up with a backstory and plot but I need the distractions so here goes nothing!
Rough Sketch
I didn't make an entry, but when I decided to participate I wanted to do a "tribal" OC as a challenge because gaia has almost no tribal/indigenous items, originally I wanted to do an Amazonian OC but gaia doesn't recognize the existence of south america aside from the alpacas/llamas, so I went with Aztec since gaia has a few aztec inspired items.

Chapter 1

I didn't have a chance to enter, but I plan on introducing both my OC and her companion/friend in the Friends and Allies theme! But I made a quick "childhood" version of my OC to introduce her here!

Her name is Citlali (pronounced Seet-La-Lee). She is the only daughter of the ruler of Iztapan. She is shy and introverted, so she doesn't have any human friends and spends most of her time interacting with the animals in the nearby jungle. Her favorite thing to do as a child was to sneak out at night and climb a tree to play with the parrots that lived there. Sadly her parents passed away when she was only 10, but thankfully her grandmother took over as Iztapan's presiding ruler until Citlali comes of age at 18.

Mentor

This is Citlali's grandmother, Zaniyah. She is an elder priestess and current presiding ruler of Iztapan. She loves Citlali dearly and it was important to her that Citlali have a proper childhood. So, she took on the burden of ruling Iztapan while also helping prepare Citlali to become ruler at age 18. Zaniyah's tonal (spirit animal) is a fire bird. Fire birds are considered to be mythical creatures, no one in the village has seen one in person, but Zaniyah claims that the feathers in her headdress come from a fire bird's tail. She refuses to wear the royal headdress, because she considers Citlali the true ruler, and that the headdress should only touch Citlali's head (when she ascends the throne).

Friends and Allies

I'm sad this entry flopped immensely emo This is my OC Citlali, she's 17 and is here with her best friend, a Quetzal bird named Cualli. Her grandmother gifted her the bird and they've been inseparable ever since! Cualli may only be a bird but he's very receptive and intelligent and helps Citlali out whenever she gets into trouble(as much as a bird can help). You'll learn more about Cualli in the "side story" theme. Fun fact: Quetzals are considered sacred in Aztec culture, their feathers were used to adorn royal headdresses, but they were not killed for their feathers, killing a Quetzal warranted a death penalty..

ahh i've been procrastinating!
Obstacles

This is Tlaxcalli. He is a nahual, a sorcerer who has the power to shapeshift into an animal. He used to be a priest who served under Zaniyah but he went behind her back to practice dark magic and made a pact with the devil for his powers. His golden staff holds all of his power. He shapeshifts into a snake at night to drink the blood of villagers, and kill their livestock. The more blood he drinks, the more powerful he becomes and the villagers of Iztapan fear him. Tlaxcalli wants to use this fear to control them and become the ruler of Iztapan.

Missteps

its long sry sweatdrop but i'm proud of it!
Zaniyah had known Tlaxcalli since he was a young boy, she believed that there was still good in him, that his soul had not been fully corrupted. While the other villagers were too terrified to even go near the temple where he resided, Zaniyah went up there by herself, hoping to talk some sense into Tlaxcalli, to try to save his soul. Zaniyah had a loving heart, but she was no fool, she knew this was extremely dangerous.

Before going to the temple she told her granddaughter that if she did not come out of the temple alive, Citlali would have to run to the deepest part of the jungle and go into hiding, because Tlaxcalli would try to kill her too soon after. Citlali cried and begged her grandmother not to go, but Zaniyah was unyielding. Zaniyah went in to face Tlaxcalli, but she would not bow to him. She tried to remind him of how sweet he was as a young boy, how hardworking he was when he helped her take care of the temple. In a fit of rage Tlaxcalli killed Zaniyah and threw her body down the steps of the temple, as a sacrifice to the demon he worshipped. Terrified, Citlali grabbed her only remaining family, Cualli, and ran and ran to the deepest part of the jungle, without looking back. And when her legs went numb and her lungs burned too much to continue, she just stood there and cried. While she was mourning her grandmother, a stunning firebird with plums of molten gold appeared in front of her, in its beak it held Zaniyah's necklace and precious jade belt. Stunned at seeing a mythical creature, Citlali could not speak at first, but when she realized that the firebird was her grandmother's spirit, she tearfully put on the necklace and belt, and held out her hand and whispered "Zaniyah" ("Always" in the Aztec Language). The firebird disappeared as soon as it came, and Citlali knew that her grandmother would always be with her, and that things would be okay.

Side Story

Soon it was nightfall, and Citlali started a fire in a clearing. The jungle is even more terrifying at night, and Citlali wanted the comfort of a campfire. She left her bird Cualli in the campsite, while she went to scavenge for food nearby. When she came back to the clearing, she saw that Cualli had magically transformed into a boy about her age! Cualli explains that he is a nahual(shapeshifter), like Tlaxcalli, but he is not evil or corrupted. He tells her that he worked in the temple under Zaniyah and she knew of his power. One day she asked him if he could be Citlali's guardian and he agreed. He would stay in his quetzal bird form around Citlali and would change back when she was away or sleeping. He decides to finally confess to Citlali because she is in a dire situation, and needs his help. To take down a nahual, you need the help of another nahual!

Culmination

Cualli came up with a plan to take down Tlaxcalli. He would trick him into turning into a snake at day time, when a nagual's power is at its weakest,. Once he is in his serpent form, Citlali has to steal his staff and stab him with a spear, for a nagual can only be killed in it's animal form. Cualli finds a large piece of obsidian and fashions a spear himself.The next morning they both sneak back into Iztapan. Tlaxcalli is drawn to blood and weakness, so to lure him out and trick him into turning into his snake form, Cualli cuts his leg with the spear and limps toward the temple, calling for help. Sensing his prey,Tlaxcalli turns into a serpent and slithers towards Cualli, right before he sinks his fangs into him, Cualli turns into his bird for and flies away. Tlaxcalli is frozen in shock and does not realize that Citlali is behind him, with his staff and an obsidian spear in her hands. Before he has time to transform, she stabs him, killing him once and for all.

Epilogue

note: I like this BG better than the one I used in my entry
With Tlaxcalli vanquished the villagers do not have to live in fear anymore, Citlali takes her rightful place on the throne. She still wears her grandmother's jade belt and she carries Tlaxcalli's staff as a token of her victory. She is a full realized chief, and Cualli
tells her that she does not need his protection anymore, but he gives her some of his valuable tail feathers to adorn her skirt as a token of their friendship.

Alternate End

Citlali still manages to kill Tlaxcalli and steal his staff, but the dark power the staff holds consumes her and corrupts her soul. She becomes a serpent nagual and a terrifying ruler of Iztapan.

End notes;
This was my first TaT and it was really fun! making the avatars was much funner than writing a story to go along with it tho lol which is why I procrastinated updating. Coming up with OCs and naming them was cool, Citlali means star in Nahuatl(aztec), I named her that because shes the *star* of my story heh. Zaniyah means "always". Cualli means "a good man". At this point I grew tired of researching Nahuatl names and named Tlaxcalli after the Aztec word for Tortilla lol. Maybe that's why he's so evil, I would be too if my parents named me Tortilla. If anyone is interested in Tonalli (aztec spirit animal/zodiac sign) and wants to find out their tonal, enter your birthdate here and look under "tonalli". Also not all signs are animals! Some are signs like "star" and "water" My number is 13 and I'm a jaguar (yess Jaguars make the most power nagual shapeshifters twisted )

[Nanzzy-chan]

”Tell me why am I still here when it’s all gone; I’m living with the ghost of yesterday
Tell me why am I still trying to hold on; I’ve got to tear it down to let it go”

This time around I'll be focusing on Sam, a bab who doesn't nearly get enough love from me, despite how central of a character he is... which is in part because of how central a character he is, it's hard to go too much in depth about him without spoiling too much And also Gaia's aversion to making items that suit his style and/or surroundings I have the hardest time putting together new looks for him bc "modern businessman" is not something Gaia cares about clearly

Rough Draft - They weren't that perfect to begin with!

tab ---> tab
Okay, so I've mentioned before how a lot of my babs really didn't change much from their inception, but in the case of Sam, he at least got a fairly major face makeover, and thank god for that lol
Also some small changes in fashion - you won't catch him in dark colours anymore generally, he sticks to blues, whites and greys for the most part; also when I originally brought him into existence, he p much had the 90s boy band look going from the start - bc of story-related reasons it made more sense for him to start out looking much more formal and business-y and only start relaxing his style over time

Personality-wise... I guess you could say he changed a lot, but it ain't hard to do that when the starting point is a completely blank slate, he was such a ******** boring guy plot device lol In some ways, he's still a very "plain" character, but that's always been kind of the point, he doesn't have much agency at the start, but now at least he has his own goals and ideas, and a growing sense of self as the story goes on~

Chapter One - Introduce your protagonist!

As he stepped into the small trattoria, he mentally prepared himself for another disappointment; it was starting to look like this trail was yet another dead end. He was greeted by a man with a rather impressive mustache (a stark contrast to his otherwise bald head) who was standing behind the bar.
"Buongiorno, amico mio, benvenuto! Haven't seen your face 'round these parts before; but if you're looking for some good food and drink, you've come to the right place. What can I get ya?"
Sam took a seat at the bar, already overwhelmed by the man's energy. "Y-yeah, I, err... I just moved here for work, so I don't really know the town yet. Could I get a black coffee, please?"
"You're in luck, friend, we've got the best coffee in town; and I would know, I own this place. Name's David, by the way." The man shot him a conspiratory wink as he shook his hand; it was the sort of talk he'd heard in pretty much any place he'd visited in the past week, and yet there was something about the way he said it that made it totally believable.
As his new friend David turned around to make him a coffee, Sam contemplated how to bring up the real reason he was here - perhaps an old friend in the area he was looking to reconnect with? - when one of the posters behind the bar caught his eye. The paper had become somewhat faded with age, but even so, he'd know that face anywhere. His mind was going a million miles a minute all of a sudden; for a moment he was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice when David returned, placing his coffee on the bar.
"Quite the beauty, isn't she?" Instantly, he snapped back to reality, making a desparate attempt to keep his cool - good heavens, was I that obvious - he quickly took a sip of his drink, praying the cup would hide his red face. "W-who is she?"
"Oh, she's performed here on occasion, always a real crowd pleaser~" As the man went back to cleaning the bar, there was a strange sort of knowing smile on his face that Sam didn't quite understand. "If you're gonna be staying here for a while, I'm sure you'll see her around at some point; she still pops in whenever she's in town."
He wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, so instead he just nodded and quietly drank his coffee, inwardly taking note to come back here more often.

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

He walked out into the warm afternoon sun, halting for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the light. Around him was the usual bustle of people going about their day, but he barely noticed as he made his way back home, absorbed as he was in his thoughts. Through a sheer stroke of luck, he'd finally stumbled on a lead; and though it was such a tiny thing, it still felt like he was one step closer at least.
Maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to get some answers after all this time.

Meet Sam, the [redacted] who [redacted] by [redacted] in order to [redacted]
Who is this mysterious person he's looking for? Why is he looking for them? Why is David such a nice guy? Are they speaking mostly in English, or did Nanz just "forget" to translate certain phrases for the reader in order to add flavour? Tune in the rest of the month to (maybe) find out more...

Mentor - Whether they be a wizard, sage, healer, or teacher, this character guides or protects your main protagonist throughout their journey.

"So what's going on with you two?" He was shaken out of his thoughts by Cora, who'd brought him his coffee, and was now looking at him with a curious expression.
"... I don't know what you mean."
"Sure you don't. You two have been practically inseparable lately, and now all of a sudden she's saying she needs to take care of some business out of town, and you're sitting here with a face like a sad puppy in the rain; and you're gonna tell me there's nothing the matter?"
He groaned, resting his head on his arms as if it would help him hide from her piercing gaze. "We kind of had a bit of an argument; it's a long story, I'm sure you're busy--"
He could feel the table shift a bit; when he peeked out over his arm, she'd taken a seat across from him. "Would you make me some coffee, caro mio?" she yelled at David, who was standing at the bar, before turning back to face him, a clear look of concern on her face. "I've got time... so talk to me, Sam."

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

He slowly spun the cup around in his hands, watching the grounds at the bottom drift around lazily from side to side; he still felt too embarrassed to look up and meet her gaze, afraid of the judgement he might find there. To his surprise, she hadn't laughed at him, hadn't chewed him out, or anything like that - she'd just listened quietly as he tried to explain.
"I just... I feel bad for overreacting, I guess, but at the same time--"
"I think you were well within your right to react the way you did." He looked up, surprised; her expression was unusually serious, frustrated even. "Regardless of how you feel about it right now; at that moment, she crossed a boundary, and your feelings at the time were just as valid as the ones you feel now."
He didn't quite understand the burning feeling behind his eyes, or why he felt so tired all of a sudden, but all the same, it felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders at that moment. "What do I do now though? What if she doesn't want anything to do with me anymore?"
"Honestly, I'm surprised you still want anything to do with her."
Again, he was shocked by the intensity of her look. Is she angry on my behalf? But why? "... Aren't you her friend? Why are you siding with me like this?"
She sighed as she leant forward, resting a hand on his arm. "It's because I'm her friend, Sam. I know she's better than... than this." There was a short pause as she considered her next words carefully. "Don't get me wrong, I'd be happy to see you two make up. But... you're my friend too, and I don't want you getting hurt in the process. You need to do what you think is best for you."
Sam's shoulders slumped as he thought it over. Do I really have a choice? Even outside of his original reasons for being here, it felt wrong to just throw everything away so easily. Maybe that was a naive way of thinking, but... He couldn't just let it go like that.
"I... I'd like to think that everyone deserves a second chance. And... she did apologise, so..." He felt a sudden pang of guilt, quickly breaking eye contact as he turned away slightly, trying to hide the shame he felt. Again, there was that burning sensation in his eyes; he furiously rubbed them with the back of his hand to try and get rid of it. "I don't know what to do, Cora."
"Just talk to her whenever she gets back; you'll both have had some time to calm down and reflect. I'm sure she'll hear you out, if she really is sorry." She gave him a gentle pat on the hand and smiled as she got up. "And in the meantime, try not to worry too much; it wasn't your fault."

This lovely lady is Cora, co-owner, cook, and waitress at the little trattoria we were introduced to in Chapter One; she's been married to David for ages, and though the two of them do not have any children of their own, in a lot of ways, she acts like a mother hen towards the regulars, including Sam~

As for who this mysterious "her" they're talking about is...
I mean do I really need to say it at this point
it's the lady who shan't be named
like literally
bc she still doesn't have an actual name
you know who I'm talking about

Friends & Allies - Who helps you on the path to your goal?

Sam was shaken out of his thoughts by David, who'd taken a seat at the bar next to him and was now elbowing his side with that teasing grin he wore so well. "So, you two have made up then, I take it?"
He looked over at the small stage, where she was chatting with Bill and the rest of the band, going over the details of the show later that night; he couldn't help the blush that spread across his cheeks when he looked at her, immediately reminded of their talk from earlier that day. Of course, David noticed as well - Sam was wise enough to his teasing by now to understand what he was implying with the s**t-eating grin. He gave his friend a playful shove, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Not like that, sheesh, get your head out of the gutter. We just had a good talk, that's all."
David burst into that boisterous laugh of his, patting him on the shoulder. "Just teasin' ya, lad. I'm glad to see you're feelin' better." Still chuckling softly, he poured himself a gin, nodding to Sam. "I'd offer you a drink as congrats, but..."
"Yeahhh, maybe not, heh." Sam quickly turned away, feeling his cheeks get flush with embarrassment again; at the same time, he was reminded of something.
"Speaking of which... It kind of slipped my mind at the time, but... I still need to pay--"
"Don't worry 'bout it, laddie; that's all taken care of."
"But I can't just let you--"
"Wasn't me - she covered it for ya, to make up for the trouble; so really, don't worry. You can duke it out with her if you want, I guess, but as far as I'm concerned everything's paid and done."
He sighed softly, covering his face with one hand as he massaged his temples; the headache had mostly subsided by now but much of last night was still a bit of a blur. "I'm sorry for causing you all that trouble, man... I feel like a proper fool."
"We were all a bit worried about ya, to be honest - 's why I called her to come get ya; sorry 'bout that, maybe not the best idea in hindsight. Though I guess it worked out in the end~" Ah, there was that familiar teasing smirk again. "Really though, I'm glad you're okay, son. Ya gotta look after yourself better, alright? Just try to enjoy the time you're given, instead of wastin' away like that just because things aren't goin' quite the way you expected."
Sam just nodded, putting on a reassuring smile. It was strange, knowing that people were concerned for his well-being - strange, but certainly not unwelcome. I could get used to this.

And here, at last, we actually get to see David, who co-owns the restaurant with his wife Cora, and is also the manager and (during the slow afternoon hours) bartender
His patrons are basically family to him, and he'll always make time for a little chat with anyone no matter how busy it gets; he's taken a bit of a shine to Sam in particular, perhaps because he reminds him a bit of himself when he was younger~

Obstacles - Who or what stands in your way?

"I take it you've settled in alright?"
Sam froze when he heard his brother's voice - when did he get here? He didn't bother with an answer, knowing full well that Nathanael wasn't really looking for one in the first place; instead he just looked down at his feet, and tried to hide his unease.
His brother circled him slowly, as if trying to assess him; Sam kept his gaze locked on the floor. Don't make eye contact. Don't show any weakness. Just stay calm. In the tense silence that seemed to drag on, he became vaguely aware of his other brothers, who'd also entered the room. Of course; where Nathanael went, they followed. Like a pack of rabid attack dogs, just waiting for a command.
"... You know what to do, yes? Find her, and observe from a distance. If our information is correct, she should be in this town somewhere - if not yet, then I suspect she will arrive soon." Sam simply nodded. "And remember: don't make contact, whatever you do. She's too dangerous."
"But why me? Don't we have people who'd be much better suited for this?"
Nathanael's expression shifted slightly, and immediately he regretted speaking up. There was a cold chill in his brother's eyes that sent shivers down his spine; Sam had to resist every urge that was screaming at him to run right then as the other man leant in closer, his voice dangerously calm.
"Don't forget your role in all this, you worm... You still owe a great debt, and until it's repaid, you'll do as we say, without question."

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

As he closed the door behind him, throwing his coat on the hall table with a tired sigh, an uncomfortable feeling crept over him. Something was off. He stepped into the living room and reached for the light switch, but before he could do anything, he was grappled from two sides, both his arms twisted painfully behind his back as he was forced down on his knees. In front of him, eerily backlit by the light of the full moon that was coming through the window, was Nathanael, looking down on him with a face that spelled trouble. Oh no.
There were a million apologies and excuses running through Sam's head, but before he could even say a word, he was immediately shut up by a knee to the face. Nathanael grabbed a fistful of his hair, yanking his head back violently; his expression was as even as always, and yet the way he looked at Sam chilled him to the bone.
"So, little brother... What part of 'keeping your distance' was so hard to understand?"
It was hard to keep the frustration that was building inside him at bay, but he had a feeling that if he didn't keep his cool now, things were about to get a whole lot worse for him; so instead he bit his tongue and looked up at his brother with a carefully neutral expression. "She approached me; what else was I supposed to do, brush her off and then keep following her around like some kind of creep? I didn't have a choice. Besides, it's a lot easier to get those answers you're looking for if I can get closer."
"Hmm, right... Do tell, how's that working out for you? Now that she's disappeared again? Which I'm sure is not at all your fault, even though she was last seen near this very building?"
He took a deep breath, cold sweat running down his temples as he tried desperately to stay calm. "Just a temporary setback; she had to take care of some business out of town, but she'll be back soon. I'm getting closer to the truth, I know it - please just give me a little more time..."
Nathanael signalled his brothers to release him; he couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped him when the pressure on his shoulders disappeared. As soon as he was back on his feet, however, he was thrown back against the wall, knocking the wind out of him - Nathanael was immediately on him again, squeezing his throat shut. His brother's voice was barely above a whisper now, and yet the threat in his words sounded through loud and clear.
"You were already given a second chance, even after betraying the family like that... You better pray you can fix this, because there won't be a third."

This delightful bundle of sunshine is Nathanael, Sam's older brother (along with some of his other brothers lurking in the back); he's just wonderful, a real joy to be around, truly~ Sam's family is a constant presence in his life, helping him develop his moral compass and supporting him as he grows into his own person by trying to keep him on the right path, all while juggling all the work that comes with their definitely-not-shady family business... they're practically saints, really
"But how can the ones who seem to be pushing Sam towards his goal be an obstacle?" I hear you thinking... As it turns out over time, his family's goals may not align as well with Sam's own goal as he originally thought

The story bit to go with this entry didn't quite fit in chronologically with the rest of the entries; the first part is set a little while before Chapter One, a few weeks or so, while the second part is set around the same time as the story from the Mentor entry o3o They do show up repeatedly after that as well, but I decided to go with the earlier moments for... escalate-y reasons, make of that what you will

Missteps - What goes wrong or distracts you from your goal?

A million thoughts were racing through his head as he lay on the floor, clutching his chest. No doubt there were some pretty bruises forming around his ribs already. The pain wasn't anything new - though, like many things these days, he seemed to feel it more intensely than before - the worst part was the sense of dread. The feeling that things were just going to keep getting worse if he wasn't able to show any results soon.
And yet... The closer it seemed he was getting to the truth, the more it was starting to look like "getting results" would end up hurting her, and he wasn't so sure he was okay with that anymore.
Sure, Nathanael had said she was dangerous - and in a way, she was; he'd seen that firsthand. But the more he got to know her, the more it seemed like she wasn't the real issue. There were bigger things going on behind the scenes, things he didn't quite understand yet; all he knew was that she was somehow at the center of it all. Maybe they were wrong about her. It certainly was starting to look like they were wrong about a lot of things, lately. Should he trust that his brothers knew best, or should he try to do what he felt was the right thing - even if that meant going against the family's wishes and putting himself at risk?
His train of thought screeched to a halt when he felt a sudden pain in his chest, different from the dull ache of the bruises; it was a sharp pain that quickly increased in intensity, making it hard to breathe. He tried to sit up straight in order to catch his breath, but all it did was make him incredibly dizzy. What is happening to me? Whatever it was, it wasn't anything good - he needed help. With some effort, he managed to drag himself over to the table where the phone was, and dialed a number, almost on auto-pilot.
"Hello?"
Her voice when she answered sounded tired - crap, of course she's tired, it's the middle of the night. I probably woke her up. He tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come out right. The pain in his chest just intensified as immediate regret set in - you shouldn't be bothering her like this; what are you doing, you don't even know if you can trust her - he couldn't stop shaking, a cold sweat covering his skin despite how feverish he was feeling.
"Sam?"
"I-I'm... I'm sorry, I shouldn't... have called--"
With the last of his strength, he threw the horn back on the hook, curling up into a ball on the floor as he tried desperately to think of anything else, anything that could take his mind off this pain - he wondered if he was just going to die there, right as his vision went black completely.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been on the floor like that, when a sudden noise at his door shook him back to reality. She was standing in the doorway, a motorcycle helmet under one arm and a worried expression on her face; the moment she saw him, she rushed to his side. Gently, she helped him into an upright position, grabbing him by the shoulders as she looked him over.
"Hey, what's going on, Sam? Talk to me." A warm glow enveloped her hand as she placed it against his chest, and relief washed over him as the pain subsided just a bit. He tried to answer, but his head was still spinning; so instead, he just pulled her close, holding on for dear life as he tried to catch his breath. Her hands ran slow circles across his back, her voice warm and soothing as she talked again.
"I know you're scared right now, big guy, but it's gonna be okay, I promise. I'm here for you. Just breathe with me, okay? Deep breaths."

Hey look, we've come full circle to my Detour entry from the very first TaT, but from another perspective this time
This is less of a literal misstep since it's not like sweet baby boi can help any of this, but y'know, it's still something that goes wrong and is also very distracting And depending on who you ask, trusting our friendly neighbourhood demon could be considered a misstep as well lol

Sidestory - Something else happened on our way from Point A to Point B.

As he finished eating his breakfast, he couldn't help sneaking looks at her from across the table every so often; her attention was elsewhere, looking at some flyers that were hanging on the wall nearby. "... Do you have anything important to do today?"
Her question took him by surprise, and for a moment he had to think hard - work was just about the last thing on his mind right now. "... N-no, I don't think so? Why?"
"Let's go do something fun, then~" His confusion must've been visible on his face, because she laughed softly as she grabbed one of his hands. "It seems to me like you need a bit of a distraction, so... let's go somewhere. Have a day off, enjoy ourselves, help take your mind off whatever's bringing you down." She pointed at one of the flyers; on it was a picture of a ferris wheel, surrounded by bold, colourful lettering. "There's a funfair in town right now, we could check that out if you want~"
He still felt quite exhausted from last night, but admittedly, he didn't really want to go back home right now - and spending the day with her certainly sounded better than being alone. "I've... never actually been to a fair before." She didn't even pretend to be surprised anymore; instead she just flashed that irresistible, teasing little smile and wink. "Sounds like it's about time you get to experience one - it's decided then."
He hesitated for a moment. "Are you... are you sure it's alright? I mean - you already stayed with me all night even though you were busy... Don't you have any important business to take care of?"
She smiled, her small hands squeezing his gently. "I do, Sam... Right now I have something very important to do, and that's making sure that my friend is alright."
She got up from the small booth, extending a hand to help him up. "I'm just gonna go pay for the food, then we'll go, alright? It'll be fun~" Can't argue with that, he thought to himself with a smile.

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

He leaned back on the bench, enjoying the feeling of the cool breeze, and the small rays of sun filtering through the leaves overhead; through the crowd, he could see her returning from the cart with something that looked like a pink cloud on a stick. He looked it over curiously; a tentative touch revealed that it was quite sticky. "So this is... candy floss, right?"
She nodded and laughed, pulling off a small piece of cloud and holding it up to him. "Here you go, have a taste~" It tasted as fluffy as it looked; it was quite sugary, but also delicious.
"Well?"
"Very sweet."
"I know I am, but what do you think of the candy floss?" He rolled his eyes as he took another bite, a mischievous smile on his lips. "Almost as sweet as you... almost."
She threw her head back in laughter, and again he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked when she smiled; the way her eyes lit up with genuine joy over even small, silly things like this. Until now he had only seen glimpses of this more carefree side, and every time it made him feel like he wanted to spend more time with her, to see her smile like that every day. It was infectious. If someone like her could still find moments of happiness despite everything, then so could he, right? At least it certainly felt that way right at that moment, sitting there next to her, enjoying the warm afternoon sun... and candy floss. She offered him another bite, and he leant in closer, holding her hand for maybe a bit longer than needed. He wasn't quite sure why he felt a strange tingle in his stomach when she looked up at him with that sweet smile, or why his heart seemed to beat a little faster all of a sudden; maybe the heat was getting to him.

"So, the ferris wheel next, right?"
She got up, about to head that way, but he grabbed her hand, suddenly serious. "Hey, wait. I, err..." He scratched his head nervously, trying to think of the right words.
"... Seriously, thank you for spending today with me, I've really enjoyed it. You were right, I did need it; I feel a lot better now. So... thank you."
Her expression softened. "Of course, big guy - that's what friends are for." There was a mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she got up on her tip-toes and planted a kiss on his cheek; he could feel his face heating up as she dragged him towards the next ride. Must be the sun. Yeah, that's probably it.

Hey, look who finally shows her face in this TaT after being referenced in literally every story bit so far :3c This is basically a direct follow-up to Missteps (and that very first Detour entry), just two nerds having fun together to forget about their respective misery for a bit~

Culmination - Do you find something? Learn something? Fight someone?

Another punch hit him in the stomach, and the pain almost made him fall to his knees; but he managed to keep his balance. There was the distinct taste of iron in his mouth, and he could feel blood running down the side of his face, as well. One arm hung uselessly by his side, the sharp pain in his shoulder making it hard to focus. And it was about to get so much worse - but strangely, he wasn't scared anymore. He felt... alive. For the first time, it felt like he was in charge of his own decisions, and he wasn't going to back down anymore.
"I'm done playing by your rules. You're nothing but a bunch of self-important cowards, building your empire on the backs of dead men who were just as bad as you. Except they actually had the guts to get their own hands dirty, even if nothing good ever came out of that. You're just pathetic shadows of what they were, using their legacy to bully people into submission. [******** you."
Nathanael's hand connected with his face, with enough force to make his vision go black for a moment; his brother's stare was as icy and collected as ever, but Sam didn't back down, locking his gaze with the other man.
"... We should've intervened sooner - this is her doing, isn't it? Planting silly ideas in your head... I should've known you were too weak to withstand her."
Sam spit out some blood, shaking his head as he wiped his mouth, still not breaking eye contact. "... No. I've just opened my eyes and seen reality, at last. I've found my answers... thanks to her, not you. I'm done lying to her. She deserves to know the truth."
He braced himself for another hit, but it never came. Instead, his brother just looked at him with a strange expression that seemed almost... amused.
"Fine then. Go ahead, go pour your heart out to her. But you had better be ready to beg on your knees for mercy when you're back on our doorstep in a few days, because she rejected you." Nathanael grabbed him by the chin, his lips curling up into a cruel smirk; it was clear to see that, behind the cool facade, he was absolutely furious. "... That is, if she doesn't outright kill you, when she finds out what you did."
Sam slapped his hand away, backing up towards the exit.
"See, that's where you're wrong about her... she's not like you people."
And with that, he quickly disappeared into the night, feeling exhausted, a bit confused, but thankful to still be alive; and most importantly... free.

A fairly lowkey climax, all things considered, but Sam isn't really the eye-for-an-eye type, he doesn't want to stoop to their level It's also not the real climax of his full arc, but I decided to cut things off midway through in order to avoid spoilers, so instead we get an earlier climactic moment :3c

Epilogue - What fate awaits your hero, villain, or land?

"You love her, don't you?"
Sam looked up at Cora, surprised; as her words started to sink in, suddenly everything clicked. Of course. Realisation quickly made way for panic, however, when he remembered the promise he'd made. He dropped his head back in his hands, cursing inwardly. "This wasn't supposed to happen... We promised each other we'd keep feelings out of it."
Cora gave him a look that could only be described as a mix of sympathy and scathing pity. "Oh, Sam... che sciocco che sei. Love isn't something you can control - if it happens to you, you can't just will it away. You can't, and neither can she."
"Wait, what?"
She cast her eyes upwards with a loud sigh, gesturing in exasperation. "Porco dio, sei un coglione. Why do you think she left like that?" Before Sam could retort, she continued, pointing at the letter on the table. "Her disappearing for weeks, even months on end is nothing new, sure... But in all the time I've known her, she's never bothered leaving anyone a farewell note. She cares about you, you dummy."
He shot her a bewildered look, trying to wrap his head around everything. "But... if that's true, why leave at all? Why would she tell me to forget her and move on with my life?"
"I'm sure she's told you about her 'curse', yes?"
Sam nodded, slowly putting the pieces together in his head. Subconsciously, he touched the necklace she'd given him, remembering what she'd told him.

"If you're ever in trouble, and I'm not around, this will help you. It's something that only my most trusted friends possess, so those who know what it means know they can trust you... My name will open many doors."

All this time, she was protecting me... while I couldn't even tell her the truth. He laid his head on his arms, groaning in frustration - and now I may never get the chance.
"What do I do, Cora? If I go after her, she may get mad at me, for going against her wishes... but what if she really is doing this to protect me? That means she's in danger, and she may need help... But then again, even if it's all true - what if I tell her the truth and she ends up hating me for it?" He let out a long sigh. David, who'd walked up at some point during their conversation, was standing beside Cora, his hand resting on her shoulder, which made Sam think of something.
"Is it always this complicated? Love, I mean? You two make it look so easy..."
Cora looked up at her husband, a soft smile on her face; she gestured him to sit down, then turned back to Sam. "I suppose it's time to tell you a little story~"

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

He sat in silence, contemplating everything Cora had just told him; as if she knew what was going through his head right then, she answered his unspoken question.
"If it weren't for a certain little demon who believed that our love was worth fighting for, neither of us would be sitting here with you right now... I can't say that I know her true feelings for sure - hell, I doubt that even she knows - but I've seen the lengths she will go to, even while claiming she doesn't care."
David and Cora looked at each other again, their fingers intertwining as they leant closer together; Sam couldn't help the twinge of sadness he felt, wishing he could have her by his side, holding hands like that. "So... you think I should take the risk?"
She gave him a reassuring smile, patting his arm. "I'm not saying you should just throw away your life all willy-nilly... But sometimes, in order to find happiness, you have to throw caution to the wind and take a leap into the unknown. Otherwise you'll forever be left wondering what if."
Sam thought for a moment longer. Oh, what the heck. With renewed resolve, he stood up and made for the door, suddenly in a hurry. "Thank you both - I'm gonna go find her."
And with that, he took off into the late afternoon sun, the door slamming closed behind him.

David looked at his wife curiously. "Do you really think he can do it?"
"I think... if there's anyone who can save her from herself, it's gonna be him."
"Even though he's just a human?" He couldn't help the bemusement that sounded through in his voice; Cora just looked at him with a strange, knowing smile that only further puzzled him.
"Oh, caro mio... you haven't figured it out? You really are hopeless." She laughed softly to herself as she got up, planting a kiss on the top of his head. "Remember, you were 'just a human' too... Life can be full of surprises~ It isn't gonna be easy, but he's got the determination at least."
He finished his coffee, getting up as well to get everything ready for the evening rush. "Do you think we'll see him again?"
"I'm sure we will, in time... And hopefully, she'll be with him the next time we do."

An ending in a way, but not really much closure unfortunately - as mentioned in the previous entry, we're ending things kind of midway through his arc ninja
At least he figured some stuff out finally, though~ :3c

Opposite End - All stories could've ended a different way if characters had done different things.

We got ourselves a multiple-choice alt end here~ :3c
- If set before Missteps/Sidestory: Sam's family orders him to kill her > Sam obliges after a lot bit of "convincing", and life goes back to "normal" > Sam spends the rest of his life essentially a mindless puppet
- If set after Missteps/Sidestory, but before Culmination/Epilogue: Sam's family orders him to kill her > Sam can't do it, so his family takes care of things themselves, forcing him to watch > Sam spends the rest of his life a broken mess
- If set after Culmination/Epilogue: Sam's family is not pleased with his "betrayal" > they kill her in retaliation, forcing him to watch > Sam pulls a Nanz and decides they all just need to ******** die cause he doesn't want anyone else to get hurt by them ever again

... Not a great ending no matter which option you pick My favourite is option 3 though :3c

[vvitchy vvoman]

*slides in* So I've never done any "Tell a Tale" themes until this round, and slowly but surely I started getting invested in it. So here are my three OCs! They're unrelated characters bc I definitely missed that memo, but next time I am ABSOLUTELY WORLDBUILDING. (i apologize for the copious amount of old irish names, i kind of went wild with them for a while there. they just sound so fantastical)

Missteps: What goes wrong, or distracts you from your goal?

Captain Bernard S. Beaumont (Eggy to his friends, as he has been bald since he was a wee one) at your service, ladies and gentlemen. What a predicament he has found himself in! Our dear captain is fighting to keep control of his ship's wheel in the midst of a raging storm because Slink, his helsman, ate a bit of bad salted pork and came down with some nasty food poisoning. As did most of the crew, which is why one of the unmanned sails has nearly been torn in two by the high winds. Eggy has luckily avoided the nasty stomach bug because he is a prescetarian, and as such, does not eat meat. At this point, Eggy has consumed more saltwater than alcohol, and that is saying something. His pants are never going to be dry again. Keep him in your prayers, please. For the love of God.

Culmination: Do you find something? Learn something? Fight someone?

He goes by many names - Silver Fox, Den Sídhe, The Bloody Hand, Mistwalker. To his soldiers and followers, he is The Rebel King. To his family and friends, he is Fionn mac Ibormeith, a man true of heart and pure of spirit. He is born into a country torn apart and ravaged with war, brimming with famine and poverty and desperation. Their country has a king, though there is little to show for it. The king has never shown his face to the people, and stays behind his walls. His men roam the villages and towns, free to act as men do with too much power and too little consequences. When he is sixteen years old, his world ends. His parents are slaughtered like animals in front of him, defending him. The last thing his father says to him is run before the blade comes down. This is the moment when Fionn becomes The Rebel King. At the age of twenty, Fionn is the leader of The Rebellion - a ragtag group of men and women desperate for change. Here is the thing about desperate people: they will do anything. And in this case, they truly do. The Rebellion goes on and on, for years and years. It is slow and full of loss and blood and more loss, but they never. Stop. Fionn, who has spent his whole life fighting for his people, is the one who puts his sword through the old king, driving his blade until there is a dead man on the other end of his weapon. He cuts the head off and displays it out front. Fionn is known by many names, but at this moment he is the boy that watched his parents die in front of him. He is a king killer sitting on a stolen throne. He is the son of the man who died fighting for his family. At the heart of it, Fionn mac Ibormeith is a part of his land and his people, and they are a part of him.

Epilogue: What fate awaits your hero, villain, or land?

After the dust has settled and the war has been won, Queen Aoibheann returns to her beloved kingdom, An Síochánta. The Fomorians have been defeated and driven back underground, and the gateway to their realm has been sealed. The Queen returns home triumphant, but in mourning - she will come home to an empty throne with her husband's ashes in hand. He died like a warrior. Aoibheann held him as he took his last breath. Her name was the last thing he said before he left this plane of existence. The kingdom they worked so hard to build together is all she has left of him, along with their baby daughter, Ciara. Their is a bittersweetness to her return. When she holds Ciara all she can see is her husband's dark eyes, his auburn hair. She will grow up to be the very image of him, and that both destroys and comforts her. On the very day of her return, Aoibheann vows to live on and carry her husband's legacy. This is how it will go: she will mourn her husband for years to come. She will never re-marry. She will return their kingdom to it's full former glory, and very few will dare to breach their walls. She will raise Ciara to be a great queen, powerful and fair and well loved. She will die as well, one day, peacefully, with her daughter by her side. The last word she will say is Ciara's name before she leaves this plane of existence. And then, she will see her husband again.

Updated: 4/30

[Sianserais]

Just a reminder in case people want to continue updating!

(Does anyone else have a problem of not wanting to delete their TaT entries from their outfit slots...? Just me?)

[Nanzzy-chan]

”Tell me why am I still here when it’s all gone; I’m living with the ghost of yesterday
Tell me why am I still trying to hold on; I’ve got to tear it down to let it go”

Sianserais

(Does anyone else have a problem of not wanting to delete their TaT entries from their outfit slots...? Just me?)

I kinda have to since I'm always out of slots dfsjklsdfj;sfs
That's why I always save everything to my faves though, and also a pic of the av + item list to my hard drive ;v;

Also I noticed you forgot to link the April 2019 in the first post, this should be the start of that ninja

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

Got my post all finished up~ whee (aside from Alternate End of course, I'll add that in once the theme's done but there won't be a full story bit for that)
I gotta leave for work now but I can't wait to go back and read through everyone else's posts tomorrow

[Grape Sprite]

Sianserais

(Does anyone else have a problem of not wanting to delete their TaT entries from their outfit slots...? Just me?)

I still have the ones from the last TaT D: