Halloween Ask! Have You Ever Made A Major Change To A Character's Personality While Editing?

Uninvited Pest

Thanks for the prompt @flashfictionfridayofficial

Description: A new father struggles with insomnia and is visited by an unwanted acquaintance. 

Warnings: Reference to violence

 “Hey Obi, you’re looking oddly cognitive today. Did the brat finally exhaust itself?”

Oberon reflexively raised a hand to protect Poppy from Solomon. 

“Quiet jester.” He hissed out the words in a hushed tone while the mischievous creature rocked his head back and forth quietly, having finally replaced those blasted bells he was so fond of. 

“Oh you don’t mean that Obi, I know you missed me.” Oberon tried to put some distance between them, but Solomon quickly closed the gap and pressed the back of his hand against Oberon’s burning throat. 

“Tsk… Tsk… I knew the misses was out of commission but how long have you been caring for her little hell spawn?” Uninterested in discussing his wife at the moment, Oberon bit back.

“Didn’t you get executed yesterday?” Solomon straitened suddenly and pulled back as though appearing to be offended. 

“And I thought you couldn’t make it to the event.” His smiling jester mask shifted to a frown and a blob of black ink ran from the corner of his eye. Oberon shook his head in disgust gently lifting Poppy from her sling and setting her down in a small crib with star drops dancing overhead. It took him a moment of effort, but before he’d even pulled away, Oberon had resigned himself to the trickster’s company, at least for the evening. 

“Next time they should dig a bit deeper.”

“They don’t have the patience for it, but by all means I commission you to persuade them.” Oberon rolled his eyes and grabbed one of Solomon’s tassels to drag him from the room. 

The Jester put up a mock struggle, pulling fruitlessly against Oberon’s light hold until they had made it to the wine cellar. 

“So what do you want Solomon? I doubt you came all this way for my company.” The frown disappeared from his face, replaced once more with his devious smile. 

“Nothing so grand as last time Obi, just the world?” Oberon almost dropped the bottle he’d pulled free of the dust covered shelf. Instead he flipped it in his hand and almost instinctively finished the executioners work. 

Hide and Seek

@flashfictionfridayofficial Thanks for the prompt!

Summary: A rather intense game of hide and seek preformed every fifty years. Each game spans over a five year period and involves about 300 active participants. The goal of the game is survival, but from what? Most involved only have a notion of their pursuer.

Warnings: Horror, blood, some eldritch elements

A pungent mix of rusted iron and raw meat woke Gordon suddenly from a dead sleep. Quickly glancing at the band bolted to his wrist he should have had another three hours before his next move, but the calculation must have been wrong. Adapting quickly, Gordon pulled out his hunting knife, and began pruning back a collection of tissue that had begun to grow, producing a thick pool of blood. The work was fowl and tedious, but a necessary step to buy more time. 

As he lingered the ceiling began to groan, warning of an impending collapse. Packing up the large mostly cleaned vertebra, Gordon inspected it for any additional growths before loading it on his back and quickly grabbed some extra supplies. There was no telling how long he’d have to be on the move before reaching another shelter, but delaying any longer would be dangerous. 

Inserting his data card, Gordon quickly switched his status to targeted. Looking back to the shower, he almost regretted not taking a bath before crashing, but sleep had been a better investment. He could worry about feeling clean when he could afford it.  

Stalking down one of the many dim corridors, dread simmered in his veins. Up until last year he’d been given alerts when his turn was drawing near, but lately he hadn’t even run into wanderers making him fear for the network. Reaching a good distance through the tunnels, the solitary echo of his boots was interrupted by the sound of dripping blood, as tissue continued to form around his burden at an alarming rate. A shiver ran down Gordon’s spine as he recalled his last encounter with the creature. If he could escape the tunnels and get to the lake he could use the current to outpace it, or he at least hoped that he could. 

It could smell him like this, and the chase would be easier that way wouldn’t it? The creature would take time to collect its fallen flesh, but the time it stalled varied significantly from case to case, making the tactic risky to use often. He’d avoided it for the most part, but today the scars on his left arm began to ache making him pause to glance over his shoulder. It wasn’t as overgrown as before, so maybe he was putting enough distance between them? That hope carried him a little faster, pushing him to the surface minutes before he’d anticipated.

Stepping out into the forest, a dock sat only a couple hundred feet away. The sight filled his bones with a surge of anticipation that died in his throat at the sound of twisting wood. Plastering himself against the far wall of the building, Gordon held his breath and listened as the trees were bent out of place. It was here. Silence followed for half a minute, forcing Gordon to sneak a small gasp of air, as his heart began to beat wildly. A low sallow hum called for him to cry out along with the rest of the forest, to make himself known, but he resisted. 

Among those that answered the call, a Starling perched on a nearby branch sang out and was instantly bathed in a red light that crept past the corner of his hiding place. Gordon saw the starlings eyes grow wide, and its muscles stiffen up as it lost balance and fell into the grass mere feet away from him.  

The wood once more creaked and strained as it was bent out of form. The red light passed over the top of the building, lingering just where he was hiding. It was taunting him, and he needed to move. The boat was so close but his legs seemed frozen, knowing what would happen if the creature laid eyes on him. The little Starling twitched and writhed, its eyes seeming to plead for an escape that Gordon couldn't provide. He could only make sure that the creature was occupied, and keep the game going until the timer ran out. Clenching his teeth, Gordon forced himself to move. 

As he took his first step, the sounds of the forest cut out suddenly, making his movements feel impossibly loud. The creature crooned in a twisted mockery, the light remaining in place, eerily still, and perfectly obstructed, goading him to flee. Swallowing back his fear, Gordon accepted the challenge and ran, ripping through the trees faster than he’d ever managed before. 

Even as his racing heartbeat rang through his ears, Gordon could hear the trees behind him, snapping at their bases to make room for the hunter. It would have its fun, but if Gordon could help it, the creature wouldn’t have its prize today.

@flashfictionfridayofficial prompt

A Bad Time to Remember the Past

I wasn't planning on putting this guys perspective up yet, but it seemed to fit for the prompt, so I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: Discriptions of medical procedures, violence, blood, burning skin, laceration, and dismemberment.

@wyked-ao3 (a bit more on the villain of my story. He now has a proper name! Albrecht)

Glossary:

(In case you are curious about any of the terms in the medical procedure)

Topical Benzocaine: a gel spread on skin to numb before injections.

Articaine: a type of numbing agent injected locally in tissue to numb an area.

Epinephrine: used in local anesthesia to increase the duration of numbness by constricting blood vessels in the area and preventing the local anesthesia from being absorbed by the blood stream as quickly.

Buccal: the gum tissue covering the outer side of teeth.

Palatal: tissue over the top of the mouth on the inner side of the teeth.

Maxila: upper jaw

Nerve block: an injection that targets higher on a nerve branch to numb more tissue at once.

Infiltrations: injections that target a specific area and numbs the nerves directly adjacent to the injection by targeting the approximate location.

Now, back to the story.

Topical benzocaine followed a minute after by 2 carpules of Articaine HCI 4% 1:100,000 epi. Infiltrations for the buccal and a nerve block for the palatal side of the right maxila. Within minutes he’d watched as the surgeon took out a scalpel and carefully cut gum tissue down to the bone and gently peeled it back as the patient lay, mouth open, not even flinching. Then the drill had come, and with a whir of mechanical power, the bone was carefully bored down to expose the gaping sinus.

Of all the things that Albrecht had been forced to observe in his mandatory job placement hours, this was the one that really stood out to him. It was fascinating what a little chemical compound could do to dull the senses. He’d even been able to hold a mundane conversation with the man about his line of work while the surgeon scurried off to attend some other matters.

Another wave of explosions rocked by him. Albrecht’s head screamed in pain as that long forgotten memory snapped back into the recesses of his mind where it belonged. With both armies cowering in the darkness, he should have been on the cusp of his victory, the whole world bathed in beautiful darkness by his machines. Yet here he stood, recalling the memories of a child, a fool who didn’t understand the meaning of his own destiny.

Looking about him in confusion Albrecht’s teeth gnashed at the husks of his elite soldiers, boiled in their own skin at the shine of an artificial sun. Ever calculating, he could already see that what remained of his force wouldn’t last long after such a devastating attack. Ten blasted years of preparation… all for something like this? The fangs under his mask ached as he fought for control of his raging mind. His careful planning should have seen him to the end, in the way that it always had.

The power coursing through his veins spiked as the pieces of his strength once gifted to his thralls all began to converge back into him in a wave of sickening pressure. The feeling blinded him, and for the first time in his long life, Major Albrecht lost his ever firm grip on reason. Head snapping towards the source of his misfortune, he narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists.

Using his powers, the Major smoothly dropped into the shadows and quickly traveled in their protection until he came upon the small vehicle, still driving away at a speed far beyond its natural means. There were four, no five of them, as far as he could tell, but it made no difference. They would all be dead soon enough.

With an enraged roar, Albrecht materialized in the shadow of the car and dug his teeth into the little warlock at greatest fault for this downfall. The man yelped in pain and raised one hand to secure the hat on his head before using another to push Albrecht away so he could stop the bleeding. He had no intention of letting him live.

A glimmer of something shiny peaked out from underneath, but he had little time to dwell on it as a stake was driven almost into his heart. Whirling around on the would-be attacker, the Major sunk his claws deep into their forearm, tearing through it with a growl of surprise at the strangely wooden texture. He grinned in satisfaction as a sharp hiss of pain rang out from whatever the thing was. It still felt pain, so even if it wasn’t human, he could still break it.

Half drunk on this strange ecstasy, he almost missed the smell of steel. His mind suddenly flared with a sense of danger, and he pulled away as a shot rang out, hitting the side of his helmet and exposing part of his face to the blasted false sun.

Like a bucket of boiling water, the pain brought him back into focus, and Albrecht immediately retreated into the shadows, taking the limb he’d managed to sever with him. With his armor damaged even this much, he wasn’t fool enough to risk an end to his plans even with his spiked blood lust.

Note: The procedure mentioned at the beginning of the chapter is for a sinus lift to increase the bone level enough to place a dental implant.

Thanks for the tag @kuebiko-writing

Song: We will all go together when we go (Tom Lehrer)

I don't even know how this thing came onto my radar, but it needs to start paying rent if it keeps hanging out in my brain.

No pressure tagging: @renasdoodles @davycoquette @flurrysahin @creatrackers ,

@somethingclevermahogony @literally-just-zay

ATTENTION

If you see this you are OBLIGATED to reblog w/ the song currently stuck in your head :)

What can you tell me about Luis?

Thank you for the ask!

He’s definitely one of my favorites from this story, so I might have gone a bit overboard with the explanation...

Luis is one of the first blood mages to ever be made and serves as a kind of side antagonist in the (Bloodmage) story. His main power has to do with disrupting other blood mage’s control, but he is also able to manipulate blood into various explosive constructs as well.

Due to the unstable mental state of blood mages, he spent a good portion of his early days indiscriminately killing to try to feed the bottomless desire for blood and violence that plagues his species. After growing sick of the conflict but unable to stop himself, Luis resolved to end his suffering but found the task more difficult than he had anticipated. In his lowest point, he was confronted by a tree spirit named Jade, who he instinctively formed an attachment with, creating the first tether. A process by which a bloodmage is able to reign in their violent and bloodthirsty nature by grounding themselves with another living being. This tether does not have to be a romantic connection, but in their case, it certainly developed into one.

With his mind restored, Luis reigned in his race, instructing them on the proper methods to prevent rampant destruction and insanity. As their leader, he acts as the primary representative of blood mages on the cryptid council, a group founded to help regulate supernatural creatures. Of the other council members, he particularly dislikes the fairy king and will regularly keep a pair of brass knuckles made from high-quality iron for his inevitable clashes with the fairy king’s bodyguard (Alasdair).

After his wife is killed by tech witches, Luis informs the council of his intent to wipe out her killers. Refusing to attach himself to another tether, Luis has resolved to get his revenge by any means necessary, even if it is costing him his sanity.

Given her nature as a forest spirit, even if her body is dead, as long as part of her core remains intact there is a chance for her to be saved, but with the teck witches bent on expanding their power he is left wil little choice but to take a more aggressive stance on the matter.

They are a really cute couple, in my opinion, and I love getting to write/draw little blurbs of them being happy together, so thanks again for the ask 😊

Empty

Random writing??? Who knows where it came from.

How was it that when he looked into his memories, all that stared back at him were blurred fragments?

He felt that there should have been something concrete there, something to cement him down as whatever creature he happened to be. Shouldn't all creatures capable of thought at least have that much?

Gripping the side of his head in frustration, he stood from the cold ground and stumbled along in the darkness, his vision just as blurred as his memories. A part of him knew this was wrong, that he should know something specific, but like a shadow dancing at the very corner of one's vision, the thing seemed to fade whenever he tried to bring it into focus.

Did he even want to know what he was? The idea bored into his mind like a worm making him question the only purpose he had managed to latch onto. Like some cruel tyrant it seemed determined to smother his confidence in the matter, making him all the more egar to pursue what he was.

There was something in that he supposed, some drive that he hadn't been aware of the moment before. It appeared that for whatever else he might be, stubborn was a part of it.

Character Profile Tag: Billy

Thanks for the tag @creatrackers I had a lot of fun with this one. Sorry I'm so late getting it finished.

Full name: Billy, Shepard of the Blue Moon

Age: 4045 yrs

Gender: male

Species: Forest Guardian

Appearance: Standing at around 5'10 when fully upright, Billy is a mass of foliage and wood in the shape of a man, he appears to have a large beard made of ferns and wears a bone mask over the top of his face showing a pair of deep purple eyes.

Occupation: (Formerly) Shepard of the Blue Moon Valley. (Current) An initially reluctant member of a certain rogue squad of misfits.

Family: Forest guardian's are formed when a prior guardian is about to die or reaches their 4th millennia. In the first and much rarer case, when a forest guardian is about to die through unnatural means, they can split their core and send it into the ground for a 100 years to preserve the natural power. After the time elapses another forest guardian is formed from the core which has by this point re-fused. In Billy's case his predecessors' core did not fuze back and formed two separate Forest Guardian's. So he has one sibling named Jade, but they had their own paths and did not meet often after reaching adulthood. As for found family he has been adopted into the main squad by MA who isn't one to take no for an answer when it comes to strays.

Best friend: He gets along with most of the main squad fairly well (baring Ember), but he has a stronger connection to Hati since the mechanic was instrumental in making his more effective means of re-vitalizing nature. In turn he helps to keep Hati's unstable inventions from falling apart.

Pets: He has no pets and he prefers the company of plants.

Describe their room: (Former) A thick forest with lush foliage and a balanced echo system, it was his pride and joy. (Current) The back of a 6 passenger roofless (Stollen) military vehicle that is one bump away from falling to pieces, the one perk being a flood light that he can use to help get some 'sun' on the smog covered battlefields.

Items in their bag/purse: Assorted seeds and a copy of a half burned political thriller that he picked up somewhere along the road.

Hobbies: horticulture, reading, and hunting down particularly noteworthy offenders to the natural order.

Favorite sport: shooting

Abilities/talents/powers: As a forest guardian he has the ability to accelerate the natural progression and evolution of plants and animals. He is also able to levi an amount of control over natural things even partially extending to the human body unlike most of his species that mainly have this power over plants or animals. He is a skilled marksmen, and amateur engineer thanks to his friendship with Hati.

Relationships: He isn't and has not been in a romantic relationship before. As a Forest Guardian he doesn't particularly have any dive for connection. He does enjoy his friendships with most of the squad more than he had expected he would, but never felt the need to pursue anything further.

Fears: burning alive, watching his forests burn, fire, not being a worthy predecessor, and his squad dying unnaturally.

Faults: He is Stubborn, and doesn't tell people about his problems usually leading to avoidable consequences.

Good points: He is loyal and considerate.

What they want more than anything else: To re-establish the forests that were devastated and to watch over his squad so that they can live full and happy lives (Even Ember).

No pressure tagging:

@renasdoodles @kuebiko-writing @davycoquette ,

@wyked-ao3 @somethingclevermahogony @boomiburst @lyutenw ,

+Open Tag

Questions to copy:

Full name: Age: Gender: Species: Appearance: Occupation: Family: Best friend: Pets: Describe their room: Items in their bag/purse: Hobbies: Favourite sport: Abilities/talents/powers: Relationships: Fears: Faults: Good points: What they want more than anything else:

Talking to someone about monster ideas and came up with this one.

Krow's Abomination

This creature was a madman's failed attempt to artificially produce sentient life. The creature burrows under cities and primarily infiltrates children's dreams at night, replacing their dreams with its nightmares in order to offset the pain of its existence.

If left unchecked, the dreams steadily get darker and begin to twist the victim's minds under the control of the abomination, which then uses its victims to draw in others for it to feed on.

The best time to attack the creature is when it is trying to feed, but be warned that it's victims can and will alert the creature of any danger, even going so far as to sacrifice themselves for the creature to escape.

There have only been a handful of sightings since they were released into the world, but recently, a city suffered from an earthquake that drove a fifteen meter specimen to the surface. It proceeded to devoure the city's residence before succumbing to its injuries.

This incident indicates a level of patience and cunning that was not previously attributed to the creatures.

The most frustrating experience as a writer is having a clear vision in your mind of the story you want to tell but being too afraid to put pen to paper for fear of failing to do the story justice. I’m so scared that my actual execution will fail to meet my expectations that I’m paralysed to even start.

@flashfictionfridayofficial Thanks for the prompt!

This little thing just popped up out of nowhere, and I decided to roll with it.

Ripples on a Pond

Leaning forward, Lan gently brushed his fingertips against the surface of the water. The glassy plain distorted under his touch, sending ripples cascading over the entire pond. Lily pads shifted, disturbing the creatures that had managed to find some comfort on the green tiles that littered the water. It wasn’t enough to disrupt them much, but their small black eyes fixed him with silent accusations all the same.

“Do you have to do this every day Lan?”

The disappointing tone wasn’t lost on him even as he kept his focus on the surface, watching it with trained focus. Rue did understand what he saw in the pond, and that wasn’t about to change if he explained it to her for the hundredth time.

“Yes. It pays to practice focusing control on things now and again. Who knows, you might even improve your craft.”

He earned a slap on the back for that one, sending another set of ripples cascading into the first as his finger once more pressed into the water with more force than he liked. The returning waves crashed with the new ones creating spikes in the surface and causing the small frogs to quickly abandon their resting places with croaks of protest.

“I don’t need that from you.”

A small smile flashed across his cold features before quickly returning to the stone mask that he preferred. Ripples of various strength and size continued to clash, throwing the once gentle surface into chaos. Standing slowly to his feet, Lan watched the chaos with disappointment. No matter how calm they started out, neither of them could help themselves in the end, could they? Entropy’s pull was too strong.

“Fine, no lecture tonight. What do they want from me today?”

Looking down at his comrade, Lan couldn’t help but notice the extra care that she had taken with her makeup today, prompting him to raise an eyebrow.

“A show of course, what else would they want from you?”

He scoffed at that. Seems that a certain someone was on the way, and the collective was looking to make a better impression than last year. Classics were good when used in proper moderation, but to have him perform twice in five years was a bit much for his taste. Rue’s tense expression betrayed the nerves that she had tried to smother with bluster.

“I’ll be there then. You’d best get yourself ready dear, wouldn’t want the captain to think that you had eyes for someone else, would we?”

Her face became beat red at that, and she stormed off in a huff, her shoulders far less bunched than they had been moments ago. Lan could feel another smile creeping back onto his face, but he surpassed it this time. It wasn’t something that he was planning on pressing further. She’d already made her intentions clear, and he could respect that. Turning to his workshop, Lan ran one hand through his unruly mane of hair. Now the question was, which performance would net him the most interesting waves?