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[strongbreweddandywriting-blog]

Monsters N' Stuff

Prologue https://1drv.ms/b/s!AiTYg5uQI8evgSjqaj66S2cqbAAZ *Loads of lore pertaining to this story contained in this link, it will make more sense with it than without it. I make monsters. Not the conventional kind with all sorts of creepy crawlies, fingers on the bottoms of their feet, and all that shit. I can make those easily, in fact I do, but that's not what I'm talking about. I make the kind of monsters that want to hurt me any way they can: physically, emotionally, it doesn't matter. The monsters I make are monsters that come from me being an even bigger fucking monster, I make them by taking everything they want, everything they have, all the shit that makes them who they are. I jam it all into fucking my powerful grasp and I crush it. I make them squirm and feel all the pain they possibly can. I suppose I should say why I do this. I make these fucking abominations under some guise that they are already monsters, so it's okay. Though that's not really a reason why, is it? I do it because it makes me feel great, and making monsters out of monsters is the only way I can justify it. I wait until some fuck makes things shitty for other people and then I jump in and save the day in the most fucking morbid way I can. I make monsters. I make disgusting fucking monsters that hate my guts so they don't bother other people. I make monsters. Monsters n' Stuff I created my first monster when I was young; not when I was a kid or some shit, this isn't one of those stories, I'm not old either, I am certainly not old for what I am. My first monster came about a few years ago when I first started the work I do now. I hate when people work around a point but it looks like I'm going to have to start at the beginning with this one or I'm gonna seem like a bigger bitch than I've probably already made myself out to be. Not that I'm not, but I can't have you thinking I'm a different kind of bitch than I actually am. This all resulted from a few events, the first being when I first ran into some fucking blowhards called Gjallarhorn. "Keep the peace! Do no wrong! Suck off all our expensive horses on a daily basis!" and all that shit those sorts of groups all live by. Moral codes to justify slitting some poor sod's throat because he contradicted their ideals. I'm just as bad but at least I'm fucking up front with that shit. My first run-in with them was back a day before I got into this work. At the time I actually wanted to be one of them, not that I was the right type to be one of those fucks. I trained myself to use a sword and I know for a fact that I don't do shit right in a fight; not to mention I'm not actually good with a sword, I'm more likely to throw it or swing it than stab with it. I curse more than a fucking sailor, I always have and always will. The all-mighty members of Gjallarhorn are more likely to say duck than fuck, the soft little boys and girls they are. To the story though, the first time I met members of Gjallarhorn was in my home town, by that point I was already living on my own, I had my own house, and I made a half decent living for myself. I worked on a farm, people think farmers don't make much but they could not be more wrong, farms produce everything. Nothing would happen without them. Meaning I could get paid a fair amount as a farm hand. That's beside the point, what I want to get to is the Gjallarhorn fucks that showed up in town. These holier-than-thou, ignorant, asshats came into town to recruit, which, to any self-respecting faction would mean preforming various tests and getting an actual fucking evaluation. But for Gjallarhorn, oh, but for Gjallarhorn they use magic, some sort of medical magic. Rather than look at your actual potential and skill they look at your body with medical magic, then they use some mind magic to look and see your personality based on some little chart they carry up their asses. So the moment I heard that they were in my little shit city in the middle of nowhere with their worst little tavern they had, that was still somehow the normal Gjallarhorn-grand-hall-motif, I instantly got out of work and rushed downtown just as fast as my legs would go. When I got there they sent me to some stuck up prick in the typical Gjallarhorn Warlock Captain garb, some white robe with a gold trim. It had too much fabric for any sort of movement in combat, but that was beside the point, the guy was tall and he had his nose to the sky as I walked up, he had this stupid little pointy moustache that just screamed "I'm sure not evil no way not me." He had a narrow face and oh gods the nose on the guy, he could lay on his back in water and look like a fucking shark. And on that stupid fucking nose he had these square glasses without a rim on them, the ear pieces and nose pieces were just on the edges of the glasses. They screamed of pretentiousness. The first thing he did was lean down to me and say, "Hello, little girl." His voice only emphasised the size of his nose. I wanted to tell him that I'm not some little fucking girl but at the time I still had a little bit of respect for Gjallarhorn and the way they operate, so instead I respectfully greeted him with, "Hello, sir, I'm here to inquire about joining Gjallarhorn." Then he got fucking snippy, "Of course you are, why else would you be here?" Before I could even go to bite back at him he shouted, "Hawksworth!" A big changeling man with long hair in a braided ponytail and a bushy beard lumbered up. He was in the same uniform but white with a black trim, which just meant that he was close to becoming a captain himself, he also had those same stupid fucking glasses. He had less exaggerated features than the Warlock aside from the fact that he was pretty plump for a changeling, and he had a round nose. Changelings normally don't have round noses, nor are they usually plump. What was more odd was that he was walking around in his base form, they normally don't do that. But being ignorant of the world as I was I didn't really see that. The man leaned down to me, I hate when people lean down to me, it feels condescending, but I was too excited to be upset about it for the moment. Not to say I didn't notice it, I wouldn't be talking about it if I hadn't noticed. He looked me over and then turned around while motioning for me to follow, and of course like a good little girl I did just that. The changeling man lead me to an office-type room in the back. There were two guards on either side of the outside of the door but not the inside. I know this sounds like a setup for him to do something really bad to me and though it be easy to spin that tale that would be stupid and generic. Rather than do something horrible by normal standards he turned around a chair that was facing the front of the desk and had me sit down. Then he did something I had never seen any sort of magic user do, not that I had seen many magic users at the time. He reached out his arms to either side and gave his fingers a waggle and as he did some wisps of blue light coagulated around his fingertips. It was absolutely fucking unnecessary, he was trying to awe me. At this point in my life I would have told him to just fucking get on with it, but then it worked, I was completely entranced. Once he had my attention he brought his hands down to either side of my head, which was necessary, and touched his glowing, wispy fingertips to the sides of my head. For me things went blue, which is what's odd about the particular spell Gjallarhorn uses, normally things go black or white, but never blue. That aside, after a brief period of blueness I came to, of course I couldn't see the process but having seen it from the outside since I can say more than likely I had three ribbons of light coming from between my eyes back to the back of my head at the same spot, but given the length of my hair it more than likely just disappeared, and despite what one might think my eyes were more than likely their normal brown. They were brown at the time, they very much are not now. When I came back about the changeling man was gone and the other asswipe was in his place. I had been long enough that they were able to change places, and the moment I came back he greeted me with the worst thing I could have heard. All he said was, "You aren't Gjallarhorn material. Better luck next time." He said that as if there could be a next time. Once you are rejected from Gjallarhorn there is no going back and trying again, you are just done. I don't remember much what happened after that, my emotions ignited, I could feel a searing heat from my head down to my hands and my stomach boiled. My thoughts were clouded by the relentless hammering in my skull, my heart was more battering than beating, so much so that I could swear I felt my blood running through my veins. All I know from that time was that I walked out of the building without a word and at some point after that when I was starting to see clearly enough to know where I was I wandered my way into a field owned by the farmer I worked for. He didn't use it anymore so it was safe to be there. I remember coming down from that slowly, the pounding didn't stop until then end but gradually the heat faded away from all but my head and the boiling in my stomach stopped. My ears had the worst of it and my eyes burned like they were dry, but I hadn't been crying. I was too upset to occupy myself with crying. Instead I just laid there with a feeling like there was a devil on either side of me pressing their assholes to my ears. When it finally did stopped I felt tired, I hadn't done anything for hours though it felt like I had been running for hours, I was even all sweaty as hell and fucking disgusting. But the grass felt nice, it felt cool and comforting, as did the air, and by this point night had fallen. I had spent all day doing who knows what only to end up laying in the fields for a few hours, and the only reason I knew it had been hours was the fact that it had been day when I got there. I felt fucking drained, before I could feel every drop of blood and now it felt like I had none at all. With the emotions finally burned away I could think clearly, I thought about what had happened and I didn't know what I wanted anymore. Gjallarhorn was my only aspiration and it had left me in a fucking ditch. I didn't want to just go and settle for some other fucking faction, I didn't want to fucking settle. From an outward view it may have seemed immature but factions aren't just some company you belong to or some job you have to those who are a part of them. Factions are what decides what guides you in life, what jobs you take on, who pays you, who you're friends with when you see your family, factions aren't just something you can switch whenever you feel like. Losing your faction leaves you fucked with nowhere to go. Though I had a place to go back to, I just lost out on joining, I could go be a farmer in buttfuck nowhere for the rest of my life and then get married and have a few kids and grow old with my spouse and die at the ripe old age of fucking dirt. But the thing is, like most people who grow up in buttfuck nowhere, I fucking loathed the idea of staying where I was. I ended up laying there all night just thinking, I tried to think of what I would do now that I had lost the hope of joining Gjallarhorn. I thought about why I wasn't right for Gjallarhorn, why I might have failed their test. By morning I had realised that Gjallarhorn had never been the fit for me. I realised that mercenary work, the thing that Gjallarhorn and the other factions try to brand as frowned upon may have been what I was looking for. Gjallarhorn was closed in what they did and their workers had to do things their way, the way that I now realised I didn't like so much. I wanted to handle things my way. I found out later that their morals didn't line up with mine either, but that doesn't pertain to what I thought then. Then I didn't hate them, then I thought they were right to reject me, I thought that it was better for me, which I now see was true. Once I reached my revelation I finally sat up for the first time since I entered the field, in fact it was the first time I moved at all aside from breathing. My body hurt all over, again it felt like I had been running for hours. But I managed to get myself up and make my way into town, I first stopped by a blacksmith. I thought that some armour might be nice if I was going to go about doing mercenary work. I tried some different armours and ended up only getting a pair of bracers with gold plating and a wooden piece that had a picture of a leaf on them as well as a stupidly decorative sword. The sword was black with all sorts of marble-like patterns, it ended up being all I picked up while I was there. Since that didn't work out I decided to go to a tanner and pick up some leather to take to a tailor which I had made into leather pants and a pair of knee-high leather boots and a vest with four buckles on the front. I wore that with a black shirt under it and I first had on gloves but they got frustrating to the point of me having to take them off and put them in my bag that I also had made, it was on a belt that sat at my hip and sits there to this day. The next step was supplies, which wasn't hard at all, I knew what I needed and all of the stores provided, but something caught my eye. In recent years guns had come to be, which meant vendors selling them, I was walking past a vendor with guns of all shapes and sizes with all sorts of carving and made of all sorts of materials when one in particular stood out to me. It was made of cast iron on all but the handle which was wood with a little silver dome on the end. In my moment of weakness I picked it up, it was probably the simplest gun there and I adored it. It wasn't overkill and it wasn't some useless decoration, and the vendor practically gave it to me. It has reliably sat in a holster on my hip since, even if it meant buying the holster for it. Next came the hardest part, actually starting mercenary work, people didn't necessarily talk about how to become a mercenary with the way factions looked at them. Until then my ignorant little mind held the thought that you had to obtain a license or some shit, but as it turned out it wasn't nearly as difficult as that. I quickly learned that factions posted the jobs they didn't take for a fee to those who post them, that meant going to Gjallarhorn or The Golden Horn. There were other methods of getting jobs, but I didn't know them at the time. Either way The Golden Horn was and still is a cheap imitation Gjallarhorn, even as someone who hates Gjallarhorn I look down on them, I did then too. Since my choices were limited I forced myself to swallow my pride and head into the Gjallarhorn tavern again. I expected to see the two men that I had been tested by, or be heckled by those poor deluded fucks who made it through. But that's hardly Gjallarhorn's way, and the two men turned out to just not be around or busy or some shit, point was I didn't see them. When I got to the board I must have looked it over a thousand times for a job I liked, one I thought was interesting. Most of them were mundane shit that no one would bother with, I wanted something interesting, which may have been asking too much but I lucked the fuck out. Someone was having trouble with storms, specifically some sort of lightning storms that kept coming about. Sure storms are just a part of nature, but not storms with green lightning, and not during a dry season in the area they were in. I knew for a fact that Gjallarhorn hadn't even bothered to look at this job, not in the town it was from, they didn't have the money to afford Gjallarhorn having a tavern there. I picked up the information for the job the moment I saw it and with that I set out on the road for this little town. I thought about picking up a horse before I left, but I knew for a fact that I would be a useless caretaker for a horse, so I just gathered up any further supplies I needed, which wasn't much and headed out of town. The journey wasn't any difficult, nor very interesting, just really fucking long and boring. It wasn't while I was traveling, I was too focused on the travel to be bored. It took me a few days to get there and when I did oh fucking boy had shit hit the fan. The only way I can describe the way the sky looked is by saying that it looked like a glowing darkness with streaks of green light every now and again when lightning would strike. Each time it did strike the sky would just absolutely fucking envelop the light immediately and it would look like a glowing black spire shot out of the sky just to catch the lightning, then it would fade back into the sky. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before, I had to just stand a moment in awe of it before walking any closer. Though eventually the moment passed and I headed into town to ask whoever was in charge about what was going on. Once I got near the town things began to distort, not in my head, physically. Trees were warped into weird shapes that absolutely don't occur naturally, in one spot the grass was little cubes, something were just curled and distorted, while other things were uniform and shaped. Then things got stranger, lumps of flesh and bone and anything you could think of composing a body just lying on the ground, some writhing and churning, some not, all were much like the trees and other plant life, some uniform, others just distorted lumps. None looked like they had been cut or mangled anything of the sort, this wasn't done by any particularly sadistic person. This had to have been the storm and nothing else. I was sure the lumps had to be people, maybe animals, which meant I had to be careful or there was a good chance I could have very well ended up like one of them too. I avoided the grotesque people lumps and carried on my way, a few that actually had eyes looked at me and made some gross fucking squelching noises as I walked by, I did my best to ignore them. Much to my favour not everyone was turned into living mounds of disgusting fuck, so I went to the nearest person and thad them direct me to the leader of the town. The man in charge was actually the mayor, which in my mind is odd because normally authority figures are the first to die or they cause the incident or something, but this man was fine. He was a creepy fuck, but otherwise pretty all right. When I met this man I was probably most shocked by the fact that he was so happy seeming. He was fairly short with black hair that curled up at the ends, it was nearly down to his shoulders but not quite. I can't remember for the life of me what the fuck he was wearing I just know it certainly wasn't fucking mayoral. He greeted me with the biggest fucking grin I have ever seen, it may have just been the stark contrast to the landscape outside, I mean, people that have turned into living piles of disgusting fuck offer a good bit of contrast to any kind of hospitality. Anyway, when he greeted me he didn't open his eyes but greeted me with, "Hello there! Are you the one here about the lightning?" He still didn't open his fucking eyes. I replied with, "Was it the gear or the fact that I am the only one who has entered the town alive since it started that gave it away?" I was only assuming that fact, but I figured it was a pretty good assumption. I was a bit off, because right after that he told me, "On the contrary, there are two men from Gjallarhorn also here to check things out, they were originally recruiting but now they are looking into things too! Maybe you should consult together!" I just gave a little nod, "Where are these two?" He just pointed me towards a door in the back. This seemed to be a trend. When I got back to the room it was the very two people I didn't want to see for my first job. The asswipe and the big guy. The jackass wasn't looking too hot, his hair was a bit frizzy and he had these huge fucking bags under his eyes. I think they both saw the look on my face rather than who I was at the moment, but whether did or not the first words out of my mouth were, "What the hell hit you?" The jackass glared at me a moment before speaking with his nose upturned as he did, "It's simply the weather. All the static in the air isn't good for my hair." I ignored his bullshit excuse and turned to the big guy, "So what do you guys have on this?" He pulled out a book that I assumed was a notebook and looked it over as he spoke as though he didn't remember the points in it very well, "We think that it's angry weather spiritfolk just based off of what we have seen so far. Either that or a large group of them." Something bugged me, "And the blobs of human sludge outside the town?" Asswipe interjected before the big guy could talk, "They may be working with a reincarnation spiritfolk, which would be why they have gotten so strong and why they are warping and manipulating things as they are." I responded only with a simple, "Right." I then considered the thing they hadn't mentioned, "Where is the source? Are they in the sky or in some shitty little hole in the side of a rock manipulating things?" I didn't know much about spiritfolk at the time so I was only shooting in the dark. "We can't investigate any further, it will result in a negative outcome from our higher-ups." The asswipe was getting to me with cutting into the conversation. Once again I gave a simple, "Right." The funny thing there isn't much of anythign above a Warlock Captain. Since they were giving me absolutely nothing I decided to look into this myself and see what people who weren't them specifically knew. So I told them I was leaving to do things on my own and then started to ask around the town. Most people didn't know anything and directed me towards a house on the outskirts that an older woman lived in. It all seemed a bit clichéd, but I went along with it and headed out to the little house. It what was could be expected of a little old lady that was more than likely a witch. Kind of messy, herbs and such all over the place. I was absolutely enthused. Rather than go over that whole conversation and waste time I'll summarise what she told me for you. She told me that the Gjallarhorn guys were full of shit and that the sky spiritfolk were in fact missing from the sky as if they had been driven off. She suspected that the Gjallarhorn guys were either a part of some fishy shit or idiots that had nothing to do with the matter at hand. Being the McGuffin I assumed her to be, she sent me to some mountain to check on the nearest reincarnation spiritfolk. Witches know these things. They are witches and you shouldn't expect otherwise of them. On the way to the cave I ran into the Gjallarhorn recruiters, asswipe was looking a bit pale, and this time he didn't have much of anything to say, he was also twitching some. The big guy said that they were off to the next town and would send help if they could, which in Gjallarhorn speak meant "We can't help but here's a little hope in place of help." So we said short goodbyes and headed off in separate directions. When I got to the cave what I found was a little ball of light with what is best described as light smoke coming from it. Smoke made from fucking light, the first time you see that it's pretty fucking amazing. After slowly approaching it I tried to reach out and touch it very very carefully. It was cold and my hand went right through the light source; I somewhat expected my hand to be a little wet when I pulled it back or have sort of residue on it, but there ended up being nothing. After a bit of thinking once the awe had passed I considered what I was there for. The reincarnation spirit, from what I knew reincarnation spirits normally took very noticeable and humanoid forms. This closer resembled a wisp which I was always told was a reincarnating spiritfolk and not to mess with because it could influence how the spiritfolk turns out. Up until then I hadn't been that close to one. Given that there was a wisp here I could assume the spiritfolk had either died on its own and started reincarnating or had been killed, either way that ruled it out as being the cause of the clouds. I couldn't exactly check on the weather spiritfolk but I assumed that I would find they were a good bit uninvolved as well. So all I needed to do was find out what cheeky fuck was being a cheeky fuck. This meant looking for more information, but this time time focused on finding the source. On my way back to town, though, it hit me, or rather it just me, a lightning strike hit right next to me. It scared the living fuck out of me and launched me a good few feet, and when I looked back over there was a huge green spike sticking out of the ground. I could practically see the malice coming off of it. It was very clearly directed at me, and after that quick thought I figured it was time to book it. So I scrumbled to my feet and did just that, I started sprinting as hard as I could, which was still pretty damn fast with how light my gear was. A few more strikes hit near me on the way in, but none close enough to launch me again. I made it into town choking for air and in a half panic, I hoped to the gods that it was safe in town and that they didn't just have really fucking good cleanup crews. Thankfully I was right, no more lightning. This got me thinking again, something I doubt the cheeky fuck controlling the lightning wanted. If the lightning wasn't hitting in the town that may have meant that the source of the clouds and the lightning was in the town. This meant cheeky fuck searching. I went around and asked people if they had seen anything or anyone strange aside from myself and the clouds in town as of late. The general consensus was no aside from the clouds. But just as I was about to give up I ran into someone who told me about a trap door that had recently showed up behind the town hall. Granted the person that told me this was homeless, drunk, and crazy looking, but my standards were pretty low on trustworthiness so I went along with it and looked into the trap door. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a trap door where I was drunkenly told it would be. It was, in fact, brand new and it seemed like it was recently cleaned. There was a padlock that I wedged my sword into and broke off with ease, after that I lifted the hatch and climbed down a ladder into the room below. The room was well lit with white walls and filled with all sorts of tubes and such, and at the back of the room was a big glass window, or at least what I presumed was glass. On this side of the glass there was a green orb on a stand that looked like a humanoid hand; on the other side of the window there was a vortex of the glowing blackness, it was emanating the same lightning as outside, but far more frequently and far more sporadically. These bolts weren't being swallowed each time they struck, in fact they seemed bigger and far brighter than the ones outside. Then I saw it, a stone hand reached out of the blackness and grasped at nothing, the hand was fucking massive, big enough to sweep a good half a building away and there it was. Just there, reaching out of the glowing blackness. Something about that jarred me. But I at least knew one thing, this was the source, this was it. I could see it right in front of me, and all that mattered was that I stopped it and got out alive, which may not have seemed hard on the surface, but when it comes to magic, and I wasn't even sure if this was magic, things were alway dangerous. I was still standing at the ladder. I didn't want to move because I didn't know what to do. I was unsure of myself. But in a gradual heave with my own mind I slowly made my way over to one of the pipes running along the wall and just looked at it. I reached down and put my hand on my sword's hilt, ready to draw. I cautiously looked around, there wasn't even furniture in the room. Just pipes and an orb. I figured it was either destroy the pipes or the orb, but chances are the pipes would pump in something deadly, so I walked over to the orb and just looked at it. The green swirled like the blackness out past the window. I heard something behind me, I whirled around to see the last people I wanted to see. The Gjallarhorn goons. All I had to say was, "shit." The big guy started chuckling once he was down on the floor, the asswipe was hunched over and shaking slightly. The big guy still chuckled, he waggled his finger at me slowly, "Oh ho ho, girl, you are certainly difficult to get rid of, couldn't just leave this little town rot." Right after he spoke I didn't even answer, I drew my sword and swung it. I swung it fucking hard and lodged it in the orb. Then a bolt ran up my sword and I didn't even have time to panic as it hit me, the big guy didn't have time to react either. Everything went black, that seemed right, I could feel myself convulsing and warping but I couldn't see anything. I thought I was going to end up one of the gobs of fuck but when everything came back I looked down and everything was the same. I thought. I could see my sword still lodged in the orb and my arm leading up to the handle. I looked down at my body, it was the same, everything was intact, my body, my hair, my clothing. Nothing seemed different. Aside from one thing, the way I could see, I could see every fibre of myself and the men in front of my, I could see the structure of the clothing we were wearing, I could see everything like I never had before. Something was off about the jackass, his body was functioning but no one was home; he was dead. I could see links of the green lightning between him and the big guy. The big guy was very much alive, and boy howdy was he fucking livid. I couldn't even tell what he was shouting, I wasn't paying attention, something to do with siphoning off a spiritfolk for almost a year and me ruining his big plan to become a half-spirit. Most of this probably doesn't make sense to you, so allow me to just throw exposition at you. The big well of the glowing darkness was some sort of thing this guy had cooked up just for the sake of creating a mindless spiritfolk, one that needs a sort of symbiosis in order to do anything other than be a thrashing mess. Think of it like this, it's like a gun that can pull its own trigger but has no direction. In the midst of its creation it had manifested powers not unlike those of a reincarnation spiritfolk, but rather than reincarnate living things it would distort and manipulate them. Its creation was creating the clouds above and below ground, and it was creating the lightning, as the analogy went, it was a gun pulling its own trigger. The big guy had been slowly absorbing the spiritfolk in an attempt to become a half-spirit and the whole take over the world shtick, or maybe he wanted to go live in a cave alone forever, or get glory and rise through the ranks of Gjallarhorn. Truthfully, I neither listened nor cared. As it turns out when you wedge a sword in the device used to slowly absorb a spiritfolk you absorb the entire thing at once, including taking what the big guy had already absorbed. It took me but a moment to figure out that the asswipe was a long dead body that the big guy had been using the spiritfolk's powers to control and make seem alive, he probably killed him for finding out about this shady shit. Since I was taking what he absorbed the body began to droop and fall over and rot rapidly, I nearly vomited at the smell, the look of the rotting body didn't bother me, if anything I took a bit of sick pleasure in the guy who rejected me from Gjallarhorn rotting right in front of me. Then there was the big guy, the big guy was charging a blast of some sort of raw magic to toss at me, when he did I held up an arm to guard it and as I did a giant, clawed skeletal hand made out of metal manifested in front of me to block the blast. I gotta say I was pretty fucking caught off guard by that, but I didn't exactly have time to take in what was going on. He threw another blast, then another, out of panic I swiped forward, the hand did the same, swinging and smacking him into the wall behind him. I didn't kill the guy, but I did knock him out, right before the smell of the rotting corpse caused me to vomit and pass out myself. I still had a weak stomach then. When I woke up I was in a bed in some sort of infirmary with people surrounding me, I had to regale them with the tale of what happened. Then a bunch of boring court shit happened and I had to take the guy to trial and la de da now he is rotting in some prison just like his friend was rotting in front of us, and I know for a fact that he hates me with a passion, which is fine, because if I met him again I wouldn't let him live, even if I have him to thank for being a half-spirit. He was my first monster.

[strongbreweddandywriting-blog]

Pilot

Pilot: Stuck Together Now Mika - Mika is a bit on the shorter side with a tanned skin tone from spending days in the sun, she has very long, very curly hair that is nearly black, but not quite. Her eyes are amber-yellow and glow slightly, but she can't see in the dark, despite that people ask her anyway. She wears a brown light armour vest that is tight fitting with four buckles. Under the vest is a black, long sleeve shirt. She has light armour leather pants and boots of the same type as her vest. Her bracers are made of a dark wood with a gold trim and a leaf design at her wrists that is painted bright green. On the back of her belt is a sheathed short-sword, the handle is to her left, on the right is a holstered flintlock pistol of a simple design. The barrel, hammer, and trigger are made of cast iron, and there is a small, silver dome on the bottom of the handle of the pistol. Menodora - Menodora is average height and slim with a darker skin tone than Mika, it is very clearly naturally dark as apposed to Mika's suntan. Her hair is shoulder-blade length and all white, and also has bright yellow eyes. Both her eyes and odd hair colour are more than likely a result of magic damage, it can have strange effects depending on the type. Her attire consists of a leather armour shirt with a high collar and long sleeves covered by a long chainmail shirt that reaches halfway down her thighs and has a split in the middle on the front and with sleeves down to her elbows. Over that she has a heavy leather vest with a high collar that has a leather spaulder on the right shoulder. Around the waist of the vest is a black leather belt with a silver buckle. On her back at her waist is a quiver that is held by one belt just above her normal belt, and another that hangs somewhat loose from her upper hip down to her upper thigh, it sits at an angle, the fletchings at an easy angle to grab, much easier than her back. Her pants are a loose leather and on her forearms she is wearing thick leather bracers with a silver trim on the top and bottom. On either hand she wears leather gloves and on each foot she wears leather boots with steel covers over the top of her feet, and has thick leather greaves. In this scene Menodora's hair is tied back in a braid. Mayor - The mayor is an average sized man who is always smiling with eyes closed. He has long, brown, curly hair that doesn't pass his collar. He wears a white, long-sleeved shirt with baggy sleeves, and a vest that is made up of a checkered pattern of light blue and dark blue diamonds. For pants he wears simple brown pants and simple black shoes. Around his waist he wears a black belt with a simple silver buckle. Tempest - Tempest is Menodora in body in facial structure, but when she takes over whatever Menodora is wearing is replaced with a very intricate outfit, her skin colour becomes paler, and her hair changes. The hair of the spiritfolk is very long and braided on one side, the braid is kept at the front and reaches down to her belt. On her head she has two very rage horns that reach downward and back, nod curve up so that the ends are near a pair of small, oval-lensed glasses. On her either cheek at her jawline she has a mark that goes up an inch or two, the marks resemble scars in shape, but are simply darker flesh Extending from her lower back is a long, thick pale blue tail that is black at its end. On her torso she wears a leather almost military-looking jacket that reaches only to her lower back, it is accented with a pale blue interior that shows at the collar. Under the jacket are two vests, one the same blue as the inside of her jacket with a gold outline and it is held to her with a belt, the vest is made of an unknown thick, shiny material. Under the blue vest is a tight-fitting leather armour vest with a pale blue shirt of an unknown shiny material underneath to keep her from being exposed. On either hand she wears thick, leather gloves that have the top folded over, and the portion over her hands is separate from the part extending up her arms, over her hands the gloves are much thinner. The portion folded over the pale blue is lined with gold on the top and bottom edges and there is a gold ring around her wrist. On the outer layer the gloves are black like the jacket. The portion on her hands is a simple brown leather. At her midsection she wears a brown belt with a gold trim and a thick gold buckle. Around her tail she wears a gold band with a design that resembles waves. On her legs she wears tight pants made of a very thick leather. Her boots are very similar to her gloves, they have the same blue folds with gold lining and the same two sections, the portion on her foot is made of the same material as the rest of the boot, thick back leather with gold lining. The bottom of the boots is a simple low boot with two straps. Always summoned with her is a very long, thin, curved sword in its sheath. At her side she normal has a very unnecessary rifle with carved wood and a carved barrel and a telescope strapped to it with two metal straps. Cultists/Cultist Leader - They were wearing some sort of cloak, not the ones you normally see cults wearing, really colourful. It had hues of pink and blue and purple, all very light colours. They also had these masks on, I assume it was their god. It looked like a lizard, but grey and the scales around the edges at the top and bottom were darker. The Dragon/The Drake - A brazier of flames the same colour as the robes of the cultists, or a being of fire. As a beast it resembles a human shape with a lizard body and a tail, it also has big, curly horns and flaps of skin on its neck that bunch up and seem to form something of a roll of flesh. It could also be a collar of a very tight suit that for some reason has a turtleneck, but nothing else on the body resembles clothing. It has a human face with a patchy beard. there are enough colours circulating in the flame to show these features. Its eyes are extremely large. (By this point two days has passed since Menodora's Zero Scene and it is now roughly midday, Menodora is walking down a dirt road, despite what had occurred only a few days before she seems fairly together. She has a rather large bag on her back, and her bow is with her, she is looking down some as she walks. A short ways in the distance there are some shouts of children. The shouting is mostly nonsense until there is something about a dead body, at which Menodora looks up for a moment and then begins walking towards the source of the shouting. Gradually she makes her way off the path and into the woods, she moves downhill some. There is a group of four children gathered around the body of Mika, poking at her with sticks and chattering. The focus is mainly on Menodora and the children's voices are slightly drowned out. As she approaches the children they spot her and run off. She kneels at the body, looking her over before touching a hand to Mika's head, the focus is on her hand for a moment. The focus then pans up to show Tempest in Menodora's place, and the bag that was on her back is on the ground next to her.) SCENE 1 Tempest: (to herself out loud) Well would you looky what I found. I think it would benefit us to wake this girl up. You don't exactly need me to do that. (Tempest stands, as the focus pans with her she is replaced with Menodora.) Menodora: (out loud) How am I supposed to wake her? Tempest: (in Menodora's head) I have been in a book for many many years and you expect me to know how humans work? Menodora: (putting hands on hips) You knew enough to make us into a half-spirit. Tempest: Just kick her I don't fucking know. Menodora: I am not kicking her! Tempest: Then just nudge her, you dim human! (Menodora, visibly frustrated, puts a hand on her face and drags it downward while venting air out her mouth before kneeling down to the Mika and giving her a shake. Small bolts of pale green lightning come to life around Mika's head and she begins to stir, she starts to go to get up but the moment she moves her right arm she just puts her face back in the dirt.) Mika: Nope. Fuck that, I preferred being out, send me back, I don't feel like dealing with this right now. Menodora: (taking a step back from her, seeming a bit shocked) I-.. Excuse me? Mika: Oh, hey, a person, gonna help me or did you just intend to watch me squirm? Jokes aside, the arrows, pull them out, preferably quick. Menodora: You do know that if the arrows aren't holding the blood flow then you'll bleed out and die, right? Mika: That's what you think, now either put me out of my fucking misery or yank out the damn pointy sticks. Menodora: If you say so. (Menodora leans down and gives the top arrow a tug and pulls it out with some crusted blood and small spurts of blood, Mika digs her fingers into the ground and grits her teeth as the arrow is ripped out. she sets aside the bloody arrow and goes to pull out the other one but stops just as she's about to grab it. As she goes to pull out the other one the first arrow hole begins to produce stitches made of the lighting and pull itself back together, as they pull the wound closed the flesh seals and the stitches disappear before the same happens to the vest and clothing underneath) Menodora: This one is elemental, it's frozen in to you. Mika: Shit. Fucking shit. Gods fucking damn it. All I wanted to fucking do was beat some asshole at fucking cards and this is how I'm rewarded. I should have crushed their god damn heads when I had the fucking chance. Well, ever preformed combat surgery before? We gotta cut this fucker out and it is not gonna be fun for either of us. Menodora: (Seeming rather unfazed) Well, I've used elemental arrows like this before and have been in battles where- Mika: (snapping her fingers) Reality to archer lady, question, answer it. Menodora: Yes. Mika: Thank you, now what I need you to do is cut my armour- Menodora: (cutting her off) You call that leg armour- Mika: Shut up. Listen. I need you to cut the gods damned leather. Jam that knife of yours into my leg, and cut out the frozen bits nice and quick. Fucking do it. Right now. (With that Menodora does as she's told and begins cutting the leather before she moves to cutting anything else she reaches out of scene and picks up a chunk of wood, then sticks it in Mika's mouth sideways.) Menodora: To bite down on, this is gonna hurt like all hells. (The focus pans out beyond the trees and there is a muffled scream that causes birds to fly out of them, then the focus comes back to a heavily sweating Mika with chunks of broken wood in her mouth, there is a flash of light behind her, it takes far longer than the shoulder, but she seems to calm is the light dims, then she spits the wood chunks out. She rolls over onto her back and places a hand on her abdomen, just breathing as Menodora looks down at her; arrow with a large chunk of frozen flesh still in her hand.) Mika: (panting) Well, that could have gone worse. Menodora: (tossing the arrow with the flesh aside) I've seen worse. I've done worse. What dumbass hit you in the leg with an ice arrow? Even more than that, why'd they just leave you here? Mika: (getting up so she's resting against her hands, crossing her legs as she does) Oh you know, tried to cheat some small time faction boss, he sent his little cronies after me. They just kinda assumed I was dead. Fucking dumbasses. Menodora: You're lucky you didn't break your neck. Mika: (uncrossing her legs and starting to get up) Oh that couldn't have happened. Menodora: And why is that? Mika: Well that's just my little secret. Menodora: You know, just because you're still young doesn't mean nothing can kill you. Mika: Oh I realise that, I realise that full well. Where do you get off telling me that anyway? You're clearly a young changeling yourself. Speaking of secrets, what's a changeling doing in her natural form? Menodora: (looking herself over a moment, then back at Mika) I'm... Not a changeling, I'm human. Mika: Oh. Well. that's embarrassing. I'm really sorry, I should have noticed with the ears and all. Tempest: (in Menodora's head) I could cause some trouble here and take over~ But I choose not to. I like this girl. We're keeping her. Tempest: (speaking through Menodora, causing Menodora to sound slightly different) It's fine, so where do you plan to go from here? Mika: I'd call you nosey if it were anywhere important, but I'm headed to some little shit town for some little shit job. Wanna come? Menodora: (speaking as herself) Why would you want me to come along? Mika: Well, it gets boring alone, not to mention you just helped me, and I gotta keep you around until I can repay you, and I really don't feel like following you around. Not to mention, given your state, I'd say you could use a job or two. Tempest: (through Menodora) Be glad I've nowhere to go, girlie~ I'll go with you, it may be a bit of fun. Mika: (raising a brow for a moment, but only a moment) All right, in that case, let's get going, I don't exactly have supplies or anything, so we're going with what's on our backs. Menodora: (finally getting up herself and picking up her bag, Mika makes a slight face as she notices the bag) Right. So how far exactly are we going? Mika: (already starting to walk) Beats the hell outta me, never been there, just going off directions. we gotta get back to the main road before we do anything though. Menodora: (following behind Mika) Do you at least know who hired you? Mika: Oh of course, I need to know who's paying me. (Before she gets a chance to walk off, Menodora places her hands on Mika's shoulders and turns her in the direction of the road and the two walk off together.) CAMPFIRE TALK (It has been some time since the events in the forest, it is night time and Mika and Menodora are around a campfire, two shelters have been made and two large logs have been pulled up by the fire, Mika is laying on her side on top of a blanket across from the logs, and Menodora is sitting on one of the logs, cleaning the arrow that was in Mika, and was not caked in frozen flesh. The arrow noticeably has different cloth fletchings as apposed to her black feather fletchings.) Mika: So.. Why are you in the state you're in? In deep shit? Running from an arranged marriage? Running off to meet with a lady lover? I hear that's a thing that happens. Personally I say why run off? There's no reason to run off just because of who you wanna fuck. Menodora: (blank faced for a moment) You are.. Incredibly crude. Mika: No no, hush your face, it's story time, not talk time, tell me your story. Menodora: And if I don't want to? Mika: Well then you can be like that. Come to think of it, I don't even know your name! You don't even know my name! We've been walking together all fucking day and we don't even know each other's names! Menodora: Well, my name is Menodora. Mika: And I'm Mika. Now, story time. Come on, give it up. Lay it on me. Give me the juicy, delicious details. Menodora: Fine, fine, you win, I'll tell you what happened. (Mika stares intently, much like a child) Tempest: (in Menodora's head) She's probably not going to believe you. Menodora: (ignoring Tempest) So it's a long story. I used to be a captain in Gjallarhorn, and everything was all well and good until two days ago. I was living just fine, people respected me. I could command troops! Troops! Mika: Go on, what happened? Menodora: Well- (pauses, seeming to realise something) I can't exactly tell you everything, but I got into something I shouldn't have, people got hurt, and now I can't exactly show my face around Gjallarhorn. Tempest: (in Menodora's head) Loyal to the end, little soldier girl. Mika: Ooo~ Mysterious lady~ I'll squeeze the whole story out of you eventually, more than likely in a dire situation or a heart-to-heart after we have been travelling together awhile due to some sort of circumstances lining up for us to be friends and continue travelling as a pair. Menodora: Oddly specific.. Mika: I have been travelling a long time and heard a lot of stories, believe me, it's not odd. Menodora: If you say so. So what about you? Mika: I told you what happened to me, aside from that, I'm just a mercenary. I tend to try to keep my work to strictly weird shit, you know, lots of undead gathering in an area, crazed spiritfolk, things like that. Menodora: You seem to be a bit more complex than you let on. Mika: Nah, every merc- well really everyone, wants to be at least a bit special, this is my. Menodora: I suppose you're not wrong- Mika: (nearly cutting her off) Speaking of uniqueness, you got any unique abilities? Just anything you do that no one else can do. Menodora: (raising a brow) Why do you ask? Mika: Oh well I've got this thing I do with everyone I travel with. If they have something particular that they can do, something no one else can do, we name them. It's weird shit, but it passes the time, y'know? And you seem like someone who has some unique abilities. Menodora: (cocking her head to the side) What do you mean by give them names? Mika: Well, for example, I have this ability that enhances the body, and it has a name, but then it changes depending on how I use it. Someone called it a charge because of what it looks like. (Mika holds up a hand and sparks of pale green form and circulated around it) Mika: I like to call it Rhapsody when I use it to enhance the body or heal, then I can also use it to just look at the structure of something, and when I use it like that I call it Ripple. I can also use it to change things and just generally fuck shit up, and when I use it like that I call it Super Creeps because I can really fucking mess shit up with it. Menodora: So if I were to name a short range teleport? Mika: Run Girl Run? Menodora: How about Smooth Escape instead? Mika: See? You've got this shit! Menodora: I think that I understand, but shouldn't we save them and only do a few at a time? We only have so many abilities. Mika: (getting up) Fair enough, I'm really fucking tired anyway. Let's get to bed, I expect you to be up really fucking early to get going. Menodora: (nods and starts to get up) How much farther do you think we have to go? Mika: (having a seat under a shelter) No more than a few miles, we should be there by tomorrow night at most. Provided shit doesn't go awry, that tends to happen on the road. Menodora: (nods, walking over to her bag) That doesn't seem like it will be bad. Maybe we should pick up horses in the town? They may make the trip easier. Mika: (on her back now) Nah, horses are too much work, they are a liability in a fight and in the end take more work than just caring for yourself. Easier to travel light, keep things simple. Less shit to deal with. (Menodora begins to go about getting out of the heavier parts of her armour, when she gets down to the heavy shirt under the chain mail the scene fades out) SCENE 2 (Menodora and Mika walk in an empty field of grass, a few flowers here and there, a few bugs here and there, in the distance there is a tree line, surrounded by the grassland is a small town. It is roughly mid day, Menodora is looking a little irritated, Mika looks to be ignoring it.) Menodora: You said a few miles, it has been at least six hours, there is absolutely no way that it takes six hours to go a few miles. Mika: I misjudged, so what? A little walking never hurt anyway, but now yours see why I leave so fucking early, its a gods damned hassle to get to a job late. Menodora: Do you always travel like this? Do you always compensate for being horrid at distance calculation? Mika: Absolutely, it gives me an edge too Menodora: What could that possibly be? Mika: Well, because I'm like this, I've trained myself to be wide awake the moment I get up. Unlike you, taking fucking forever to wake up and get her gods damned armour on. Why wear so fucking much? It's such an inconvenience. For a gods damned archer even. Menodora: My armour is more than adequate for the way I use my bow. Why is your armour so light? You fight with a sword and a gun. Mika: You don't "fight" with a gun, you end a fight with a gun and nothing more. Single shot with that much power behind it should be used to finish a fight. I wear so little because it's more convenient, what's the point of fighting close range when you can't fucking move? (By this point the two have reached the small town and are walking through it towards a large building at the centre.) Menodora: You know where we're going, right? You established a meeting point? Mika: Hush, oh ye of little faith, how fucking daft do ye take me to be? Menodora: You don't need to be condescending about it, it was just a question Mika: Just up here, this big-ass building. Menodora: Is that what you were told? Mika: No, but I like calling it that much more. (The two approach the "big-ass building," better known as the town hall, and proceed inside. Inside it looks just like any other town hall, some marble here and there, well kept, a big, shiny front desk in the main hall. Waiting to greet them is the mayor, he approaches and holds out his hand to shake hands with Mika. Also in the room are various townspeople and a few children. The townspeople seem to be various working folk, none seem to be poor, but they certainly not rich at all. Everything surrounding the girls is simple and modest.) Mayor: You are no doubt the one we hired, the description of that hair is unmistakable Mika: (reaching out and shaking the mayor's hand) You flatter me~ Though something has come up, nothing that should keep me from the job, provided everything works out. I've brought a second person, and I expect her to be paid just as I am. Will that be a problem? Mayor: I don't think it will be a problem, as long as she helps you get the job done. Mika: Oh of course, she is more than reliable. With her helping it should go twice as fast as it would have originally. Mayor: (clasps hands together and grins) Wonderful! I hope to see our town as safe as it once was! Menodora: I don't mean to just intrude on the conversation, but what exactly are you having us do? Mayor: (looking to Mika) You didn't tell her? Mika: I suppose it slipped my mind. Well, Arrows, we're gonna investigate some creepy types out in the woods. People going missing, creepy guys skulking around, you know the deal, yeah? Menodora: Wait, shouldn't you have a faction look into this rather than some mercenary? Mayor: (maintaining a wide grin) Well, Miss, you see, we can't afford to have a faction here, they charge a lot of money to maintain a constant presence. Not only that but they charge far too much to hire for one job, and we would prefer to keep large groups of combatants, such as troops, out of our town. Menodora: But factions like Gjallarhorn aren't violent, and are far from the most expensive of factions! Mayor: Though that may be true, Gjallarhorn would still put our little town in debt, and more often than not we don't need them. Mika: Menodora~ I think it's time to shut your fucking face before you get us in trouble. Mayor: Miss mercenary, could you kindly watch your language? There are children present. Mika: My apologies, I'll keep it in mind. Now I hope you'll excuse the ignorance of my companion, she's an incredibly child sheltered. (Menodora has stepped back and is sort of skulking on her own. The mayor has yet to stop grinning) Mayor: Oh of course, I understand entirely. Now, I assume you will need boarding for the night, as well as a place to put your mounts. We have an inn that is more than willing to accommodate your needs provided that they aren't too outrageous. Mika: Oh, we don't have mounts, we came on foot. But as far as rooms to stay, we will do our best to make the most of your hospitality and leave things as we came. Mayor: In any case, the inn is just down the main road, you'll know it when you see the sign. Mika: Wonderful, we'll go get settled in and then start on our hunt for these suspicious characters. Sound good to you? Mayor: That's wonderful, the sooner the better! Though you should know, they are typically seen around the tree lines. They are usually not in bigger groups than two. Mika: We'll keep that in mind, thank you for your help, we'll see you if we have any problems or we finish the job, whichever comes first. (The mayor nods, and at once her and Menodora both look over to the mayor, both looking suddenly a little nervous.) Mayor: (cocking his head to the side) Is something the matter, girls? Mika: (starting to back out, waving her hand to gesture no) O-Oh no no, we should be going, actually! Lots of preparing to do and such! Mayor: Oh. Well, I will be seeing you later, good luck! (The girls exit, and as they do there is some mention of his smile, but it is near too hushed to hear. The scene changes to later, it is night, Mika and Menodora are out in the fields together, Mika is crouched below the grass, and Menodora is crouched at a tree, the two glance around, then at each other, then around again. There is some silent signalling between the two, then Mika crawls on her stomach in a certain direction, staying along the tree line, Menodora changes to a different tree, headed in the same direction as Mika. There is a pan out to a more distant view, only Menodora can be seen because of angle. The night sky gets darker as time passes a bit more quickly, Menodora can bee seen in a different location than before. The view pans back to the two, Mika puts up a hand as someone appears out of the bushes, it is a cultist. There is a flash of pale green light and a gust of wind, and suddenly Mika is standing over the cultist with her foot on his chest, she is in her Iron Sabbath form for only a split second.) Mika: Now, Menodora, you see why I don't wear a fuckton of Menodora: (taking a moment to realise where Mika is) Are you still on about that?- Oh. You got him. Mika: (leaning down over the man, he is clearly terrified) Hey, buddy, tell me where your little cult is and maybe I won't turn you to paste. (The man goes to speak but is cut off, he keeps being cut off each time he goes to talk) Menodora: But you have no confirmation that he's a part of a cult. Mika: (turning to Menodora) Trust me, he's part of a cult, look at him, he could not be more of a fucking cultist Menodora: I think we should be sure before we go just guessing. Mika: Fine. (Turning back to the cultist on the ground) Tell me where the fuck your "not cult" is, my temper is short and I am in a hurry. (The man, struggling to speak out of fear and doing his best to worm his way out from under Mika's foot just points in a direction.) Mika: (takes foot off and gives him a swift kick in the side) That's for being you and dressing like that, now get the fuck away from me and go be a better person. (Menodora looks somewhat irritated as Mika kicks the man, she walks over and smacks her on the back of the head. The cultist has scrambled off in a random direction.) Menodora: What in the hells was that?! He gave us the information we wanted, you didn't have to do that! Mika: I had every reason to, he was one of the scum kidnapping people, in fact, I should have made his face look like a gods damned ass' ass. Menodora: I can't believe you. You are ridiculous. He may have done wrong but we should have gone through the proper channels to punish him! Not break his ribs! (Mika simply turns and begins to walk, gesturing for Menodora to follow) Mika: Come on, we have not cultists to look into. (With that Menodora just lets out a loud huff and follows like she has no choice, and at that the scene fades out) SCENE 3 (The scene comes into view with Mika and Menodora standing outside an old church, they are just staring at the huge doors for a moment, Mika forms a grin on her face. The church is massive, but clearly a ruin, it is run down, with huge stained glass windows, some are broken, one or two are not, the wood on the building is all grey with age, and the stone has marks from rain and age.) Mika: So, still think it isn't a cult? Because I think you're fucking wrong. This is so obviously a cult. You could not be more wrong! Menodora: I'll believe it when I see it. They may not even be here, this is just the first building in this direction that we've seen. Mika: You are so stubborn. Menodora: So are you. Mika: You're not wrong. But either way, let's just get inside. (Menodora gives a nod and the two push open the doors together, the door opening up into a massive hall. Inside is a huge, very decorated door, the two approach the door within the massive hall, each with a weapon drawn at their side.) Mika: This is the door. This is always the door. It's too big and in too good of shape Menodora: The door to what? Mika: You know how I said it was fucking cultists? Just step inside that door and we'll stay to the back of the crowd -- There will be a crowd -- and listen real close and we'll see if you get it. (The two step inside the room, there is a massive crowd of cloaked figures all focused on a man in a mask at the front of the room. The focus of the stage shifts to him.) Leader: Look now, my followers, upon those so privileged to become one with the mighty drake, those who have been chosen by the drake to sustain us until his coming! (The focus momentarily shifts back to the two mercenaries now imbedded in the crowd.) Mika: Odd. They normally only go for one of those. ( The focus directs back to the man on stage.) Leader: You among us will now witness as these blessed souls transcend from our meagre plain of existence and are enveloped by the merciful flames of our god. Let us look on as they are released from their flesh that shackles them here. (From off stage is produced a massive brazier that holds a flame which burns the same colours as the robes the crowd and the leader are wearing. Various hues of red, blue, pink, purple, all in bright colours. ) Leader: And now, you two, witness the glory of the mighty Drake! (In that moment the focus of the entire room shifts to the two who have worked their way to the centre of the room and were watching near silently, several hands grab them and hold them in place.) Mika: Shit. Fucking shit. I should have expected exactly this shit. (Where Mika does not struggle at all but rather crosses her arms, Menodora squirms and jerks around and tries to go for her weapons.) Mika: Oh for the love of the gods, child, fucking hold still, if they're going to kill us it's not going to be right away, they'll want us to see what their god can do first. Leader: You are a smart one, now look on as w- Mika: Oh just fucking get on with it, we heard the rhetoric. Leader: Fine then, if that's what you want, we will let you see just h- Mika: No, not more rhetoric, I said get on with it, we're on a schedule. Leader: As you wish. (The leader of the cult walks over to a lever, as he pulls it a wall opens up and a large cage with multiple colours scorched onto it comes out, it is hanging from a chain and several frightened looking people are inside, huddled together. In the crowed Mika's arms are beginning to generate the pale green lightning from her fingers up to her shoulders. She looks at the cultists on either side of her.) Mika: Let go of me or your hands are going to melt. (She looks back up at the fire and one of the cultists lets out a pained squeal, his hands are melting, not badly, the skin is just melting some, the others near instantly notice and release her. The next moment she is no longer there, and there is a loud crash as she is seen face planting into the stage in her full Iron Sabbath form. Everyone in the room looks towards the noise, Menodora uses it as an opportunity to teleport out of the grasp of the cultists. The focus shifts to her just behind the crowd now.) Menodora: Tempest! I need your help! We're in a bad situation! Tempest: (in her head) I noticed. It woke me up. I believe your friend has this all figured out. Just put an arrow in that guy by the lever, he's in control of all this. Aim for his throat. I have a plan. It'll be fun. Menodora: Do I have a say in it? Tempest: Would you prefer I use my gun? Menodora: You have a gun?! Tempest: Just do what I told you. Menodora: Fine, fine! (Menodora pulls three arrows out of her quiver between her fingers and her bow along with them, she quickly levels the bow and quickly draws back the bow and fires all three arrows off in rapid succession, they glow as she fires them off, the first hits the cultist leader in the chest, the second in the throat, and the third grazes the side of his neck and embeds itself in the wall behind him. Each arrow glows brightly and generates an explosion, the one in his throat causing his head to launch off into the wall behind him, the one in the wall causes it to launch forward, and the one in his chest just causes an explosion of viscera. Mika pulls her head away from the stage just to get a shower of blood and gore. The cultists right away begin searching for the one who shot the arrows, Menodora ducks down behind one of the pews that is still there. The cultists aren't being very mobile in their search. The fire next to the lever has been soaked in gore, as well as the already terrified people who are now making plenty of noise. Mika looks up at the stage, irritated, she jumps up with ease and rather than cut the people down, she moves the brazier aside. In the midst of the fire a voice echoes outward.) Drake: Who dares move me before I am fed the sacrifices? (Mika jumps back from the brazier) Mika: Wh-?! Nope! Fuck! Gods fucking- It was exactly what I thought, why did it have to be what I thought it was. (The flame takes the shape of a creature on the tapestry of the room, it is the god of the cultists, the Drake.) Mika: (with shock, but clearly sarcasm) Well hello there, gorgeous (The focus pans to Menodora and she glances over the pew she is behind, then sits back down, nearly gagging.) Menodora: Oh gods, what the FUCK is that?! Tempest: (starting to laugh, in Menodora's head) Holy shit, that's some kind of fucking fire beast trying to be a phobia beast. Menodora: It's so sickening Tempest: It is gods damned hilarious! (The focus pans back to Mika and her Iron Sabbath disappears, then portals burst into existence on either side of her and massive skeletal hands come out and grab the fire, holding it in place somehow. There is grunting from the fire, the form squirms.) Mika: You sick fuck! You just sit up here in this little castle of ruin and think no one will come get you?! Just what the fuck were you thinking? You stupid fucking spiritfolk! (The cultists stare on as their god is held in place by giant hands, Menodora stands up, her form changing to Tempest as she stands.) Tempest: The girl is right, you spiritfolk that try to be worshiped are always so shocked when you're stomped into he ground or turned to a little wisp. Of course, if it were left up to any human, you'd be free as a wisp to go about your reincarnation and just start another damned religion where you kill humans or just get pampered. Mika: (focus shifting entirely to Tempest) Who the fuck- Drake: No.. NO NO NO NO NO! GET HER AWAY FROM ME! DON'T LET THAT MONSTER NEAR ME! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! I WILL STOP! I WILL BE PEACEFUL! I WILL END THE CULT JUST GET HER AWAY FROM ME!- (One of the stone hands shifts slightly and the thumb covers the face of the spirit) Mika: Shut up a sec. Just who the fuck are you, lady? And why is he so scared of you? Tempest: And why are you so sure he's afraid of me? Mika: Look at you, you're wearing so much clothing, you have a gun on your back, a long, curved sword, you're way too confident in this situation where as I just yelled at him and had to use an incredibly strong ability to hold him still because I knew it would be a hard fight if not. The only thing you could possibly be is a spiritfolk. Only spiritfolk are that cocky. Tempest: Fair enough. You're right, half spirit girl. I am a spiritfolk, not only that but a spirit eater. He is so scared because he can more than likely see all those spiritfolk that did wrong swirling around in me. So in short, he's scared shitless because he thinks I'm gonna eat him. By the way, you may call me Tempest. Mika: Are you? Tempest: No, I'm watching you handle him, though if you can't I might, though I already have a fire spirit. Just squeeze him a bit, he'll probably be a good boy after that, he's clearly too pathetic to really fight back. This is no real god of a spiritfolk. I doubt he even has a land to reside in, probably why he became "the great Dragon." Gods, man, you could have at least become something more original. Mika: Better yet, he probably was a fire god run out of his nation or some shit. (The hands clench around "the great Drake"and Mika leans in some) Mika: So, gonna behave yourself? Or I'll be back to squeeze you into a wisp and feed you to her. Tempest: That sounds like a plan~ Drake: YES, I PROMISE, JUST PLEASE LET ME GO! Mika: On that note, I think I will punish you before I let you go about your way, you deserve something a little worse than a squeeze and a slap on the wrist. (The skeletal hands clamp down on the flame and there is a sound of crunching and flames begin to spurt out from between the fingers of the hands, screams emanate along with the crunching and spurts, then it stops al at once and the hands open to show a small wisp peacefully floating in the air. Mika quickly opens a portal to who knows where and reaches in, she pulls out a bag and takes a jar out of it, then quickly scoops up the wisp in the jar and puts a lid on it.) Mika: there we go, you shouldn't be able to reincarnate in there. I'll let you out at some point. (Mika stuffs the jar back into the bag, and the bag back into the portal before closing it. She turns to the crowd of cultists still staring, some with gaping maws.) Mika: Now, for you assholes. (A good most of the cultists turn tail and begin to scramble out of the room, while a few others stay, drawing weapons. Mika gets a wide grin on her face the moment she sees that some are staying.) Mika: Tempest, I'm going to have to ask you to stay out of this, I was somewhat hoping for a fight. That spiritfolk was pretty disappointing, but I think these guys will be fun if I don't actually use any more powerful abilities. But by all means, stick around. (Before there is any real time to answer, Mika draws her sword and throws it hard at one of the cultists remaining, it lodges itself in his face and he falls to the ground. Mika jumps off the stage with her bolts of lightning swirling around her arms. She runs over to a cultist and grabs him by the face, the moment she does his entire head contorts and disconnects from the body, becoming a ball of flesh in her hand. The balling is joined by squelching and gurgling noises. The remaining living cultists begin to run away, as they do, spikes of bone form on the outside of the ball of flesh and she chucks it at a cultist's back, it sticks to him and he runs off, leaving a trail of blood, the cultists are screaming something about a monster. Mika pouts like a child as they run off, but ends up walking over and wrenching her sword out of a cultist's skull with a "shunk" noise.) Mika: Well, there goes that fun. So- (She turns to tempest) Mika: Are you Menodora, or- (drawing out the "or", not finishing the sentence) Tempest: Oh! Right! Menodora is a sort of half spirit, I tried to take over her body and things went bad, blah blah blah, here we are. Mika: Ah. That explains the explosion and such. So are you going to kill me eventually or something? Tempest: Nope, I like you and Menodora here, so I think that I will simply keep on existing as her and come out when I feel like. Just like now. Mika: Too bad, may have been a good fight. Well, regardless, may want to let her go or whatever so she can get paid, I doubt the mayor will believe that she turned into some Tiefling-looking-goddess-lady. (Tempest just nods and in a puff of flame she becomes Menodora again) Mika: Flashy. Menodora: Did you have to kill those two - potentially three - people? Mika: They kidnapped and killed people willingly, that's just as bad as the spiritfolk that talked them into it. Menodora: They didn't know what they were doing, clearly, the spirit tricked them! (Mika begins to walk out of the building, Menodora trails along) Mika: Ignorance is no excuse. If someone claiming to be a god or goddess told you to go out wanton killing random fucking people, would you just blindly follow? Menodora: Well no, but- Mika: (cutting her off) No. No fucking buts. That's as simple as it gets. If it is wrong then it is wrong for everyone, if it is not wrong, it is not wrong for anyone. If you make an exception for the one that was tricked, then you have to make an exception for the one who did it out of boredom, because they were bored, what were they supposed to do? The only exception is possession. That is through no power of the one possessed. Menodora: Then how are you any better than them? Mika: I'm not. But the least I can do is drag those fucks through every hell on my way through. Now come on. We don't have time to bicker, let's just get back to the town. (Menodora just nods, looking a bit less than satisfied with the answer. The two walk off and the scene ends.)

[strongbreweddandywriting-blog]

Zero Scenes

Pilot Zero Scene: Mika Mika - Mika is a bit on the shorter side with a tanned skin tone from spending days in the sun, she has very long, very curly hair that is nearly black, but not quite. Her eyes are amber-yellow and glow slightly, but she can't see in the dark, despite that people ask her anyway. She wears a brown light armour vest that is tight fitting with four buckles. Under the vest is a black, long sleeve shirt. She has light armour leather pants and boots of the same type as her vest. Her bracers are made of a dark wood with a gold trim and a leaf design at her wrists that is painted bright green. On the back of her belt is a sheathed short-sword, the handle is to her left, on the right is a holstered flintlock pistol of a simple design. The barrel, hammer, and trigger are made of cast iron, and there is a small, silver dome on the bottom of the handle of the pistol. Rangers - Rangers are a generic sort that use bows, they wear brown light armour and caps, they are various races, human, elf, etc. Ranger One - A Ranger with very dark skin that somewhat resembles and elf, he has long, white hair. Ranger Two - A human ranger with a short, well-kept beard. Ranger Three - Unspecific Ranger. Faction Leader - A man who was a knight as a young man, he is not old, but clearly no longer a knight. He tries to look and act like he still is one. Bartender - A young, fairly good looking man with blonde hair.(I have named him Chauncey on a whim, but this is of no note) ( Mika walks into a wooden building, it has several round, wooden tables with generic thugs seated around each one. Every thug is laughing, drinking, gambling. She walks to the bar where a bartender, who is much more cleaned up than the rest. He is idly cleaning a glass for the time being. ) Mika: Oi, you there, I need to see your boss. Bartender: (Raising a brow) Lots of people do, what makes you so important? Mika: What makes me important? Well I'm glad you asked, I happen to have something that none of these other dumbasses have. (Pauses, crossing arms and staring at the bartender) Bartender: (Setting glass down) I have better things to do, just tell me already. Mika: You're no fun, you need to have more fun. Look at you, you're a pretty boy go- Bartender: Get on with it. Mika: I~ (drawing out the "I" while getting a bag from her belt) Have money. Bartender: And? Do you know how many people come here with money? Mika: Go get him and I won't hit you with the bag of money to prove it's money. Bartender: Fine, but it's on you how he acts once I do. (Walks out from behind the bar and walks off screen) Mika: (sticks out tongue as the bartender walks off, talking under her breath) Bite me, fuckwad. You're no fun. ( As Mika turns around the bartender walks over to a very big man in armour that is mostly iron, the man has a beard that hasn't been shaven in a few days, and a big, curled moustache. He looks like he used to be a knight, but now only emulates it. He approaches Mika while adjusting his belt. ) Mika: Well, well, well, if it isn't the leader of~... The greatest faction in the entire gods damned city! ( looks around nervously ) Faction Leader: What do we have here? What is a little woman like you doing in place like this? Mika: (smiling sweetly) Oh you know, I hear you like gambling and I thought I might try my hand at it? How about it? (Holding up her bag and shaking it slightly) Humour me? Faction Leader: Well, I don't normally gamble with those I don't know, but I suppose I'll make an exception for a pretty little thing like you. I'll show you to the table. (Begins walking towards the back of the tavern, they go to a large table by a window) Mika: Lead the way, dear sir~ (an irritated look shows up on her face as he turns around) (As they reach the table time seems to speed up some and throughout the time Mika seems to look gradually more and distressed until eventually things come to an abrupt halt and the faction leader bursts out at her) Faction Leader: (throwing her bag back at her) You sneaky bitch! You not only come in here expecting to beat me at what I do best but you also intend to trick me with gods damned stones! Mika: (catching the bag and quickly hooking it to her belt) In my defence I gave you a good fucking run. I am a damn good gambler myself. Faction Leader: If you think you are getting out of here with your fucking life- Mika: Joke's on you, shit-fuck, I'm already out of here! (jumps over the table, causing a mess of cards and catapulting out the window) (The scene changes to outdoors, the time is night and there are buildings that are all made from wood and stone and have wooden roofs, the roads between and among them are all completely dirt. There are small cuts on Mika here and there as she lands her jump out the window, she pays no mind and begins to dust herself off. Just as something crackles to life at her fingertips and hands, something that seems like a pale green lightning, the audio focus shifts slightly to the man inside screaming something about rangers, at the audio focus shifts back to Mika whose eyes go wide for a moment and she bolts, just as she gets past the tavern front several rangers spill out with bows in hand, she immediately heads towards a woodland area at the edge of town, it isn't very far. As she runs various arrows whirl past her and plant themselves in trees and the ground at her feet. Gradually she hits the tree line and her pace picks up. The focus shifts to the rangers chasing her ) Ranger One: (at the front) Is this the one the guys from Gjallarhorn were talking about? Ranger Two: (maintaining speed with Ranger One) The one that makes things explode or- Ranger One: Could be any of them, only those sort would be cocky enough to go up against an entire faction, let alone piss off multiple Ranger Three: (moving up to speed with the other two) Maybe we should get her alive and take her to the boss? He probably has a bone to pick with her! Ranger One: Sounds good (shouting to all) Go for her legs! We're taking her alive! (In the moments after the call the arrows flying by begin to target a specific location on Mika, her legs. All miss until one hits her in the right shoulder.) Mika: (focus shifting to her for only a moment, faltering some on contact with the arrow) Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! Oh horse shit! Fuck rangers! Fuck them with big, pointy, serrated sticks! Ranger One: (shouting) Who is the eyeless fool who just hit her shoulder?! (The focus shifts more to Ranger 2, who is drawing back his bow, at the tip of the arrowhead a ball of light forms and touches against the arrowhead, as it does it breaks and streams of steam and ice swirl behind it. The ranger releases the arrow, focus following the arrow which hits Mika in the right thigh, no blood emerging from the impact and ice forming around it. The focus shifts outward to Mika as she plants her foot on the ground and immediately falls forward, landing face first a little lower than her foot landed, there being a large dip in the ground where she hits. After the hit her lower half keeps going and she is launched into the air only to land on her front half again, this time landing flat and staying down at the bottom of a ditch, unconscious. The focus then shifts to the rangers as they stop at the edge.) Ranger One: (hitting Ranger Two hard on the back of the head, shouting) You gods damned idiot! We were going to stop her not kill her! What in the hells were you thinking? Ranger Two: (holding back of head) It was just meant to knock her over! Ranger One: It was an elemental arrow what did you think would happen?! There is not a single chance in the world that she didn't break her neck! You are telling the boss about this, this is on you! (Turning around, starting to charge off) Gods damned idiots! (The rangers follow Ranger One, one mumbling something about it having been their idea to keep her alive, not the boss', aside from that they are silent, Ranger One continues yelling. Mika is left in the ditch where she landed.) Pilot Zero Scene: Menodora Menodora - Menodora is average height and slim with a darker skin tone than Mika, it is very clearly naturally dark as apposed to Mika's suntan. Her hair is shoulder-blade length and all white, and also has bright yellow eyes. Both her eyes and odd hair colour are more than likely a result of magic damage, it can have strange effects depending on the type. Her attire consists of a leather armour shirt with a high collar and long sleeves covered by a long chainmail shirt that reaches halfway down her thighs and has a split in the middle on the front and with sleeves down to her elbows. Over that she has a heavy leather vest with a high collar that has a leather spaulder on the right shoulder. Around the waist of the vest is a black leather belt with a silver buckle. On her back at her waist is a quiver that is held by one belt just above her normal belt, and another that hangs somewhat loose from her upper hip down to her upper thigh, it sits at an angle, the fletchings at an easy angle to grab, much easier than her back. Her pants are a loose leather and on her forearms she is wearing thick leather bracers with a silver trim on the top and bottom. On either hand she wears leather gloves and on each foot she wears leather boots with steel covers over the top of her feet, and has thick leather greaves. Until the book comes into contact with her, her hair is black for this scene. Advisor - A young, fairly good looking man with blonde hair. Gjallarhorn Guard - Men and women of various races that wear shiny armour of an unknown alloy, it closely resembles heavy steel armour, but it is not near as heavy. Gjallarhorn Leader - An average height woman with moderately tanned skin and black, straight hair. She has a thin scar that goes from just above her right eye, across the ridge of her nose, and down to under her left eye. Her eyes are a bright green and she is typically in heavy armour made of the same alloy as her guards. Her armour consists of metal bracers with leather gloves, her arms are covered by chain mail made with the alloy that the rest of the armour is, it is fit to her arms so it isn't baggy and in the way. On her right shoulder she has a very large metal spaulder that nearly covers her entire upper arm, the top portion is rounded to cup her shoulder. Her chest plate has four sections, the front top, which has the Gjallarhorn symbol towards the top of it, and a collar that is higher in the front and pointed at its peak, two the left and right of the centre crease of the collar are small symbols that denote rank, and to the back of the one on the right is engraved in cursive "Ward." The back top of her armour has a much bigger version of the Gjallarhorn symbol on it, and the front and back are connected by leather buckles. The bottom front is a simple set of plates, made to curve with her body, the bottom back is a simple two plates, like the top the sections are linked by leather straps. Below her torso plating is a set of tassets that start at a leather belt on her waist, there is one set on the front, one on either of her sides, and a set on her rear; the tassets on her sides are slightly longer than the ones at her front and rear. On her legs she has chain mail similar to the chain mail on her arms, but with knee cops. On her lower legs, connected to the cops, she has metal greaves that are connected to sabatons that cover her thick leather boots. For a helmet she has a helmet with a low back, a long metal piece in front of each of her ears, a very large, blue fur plume, and a metal visor with two slats at her eyes. At any given time she is carrying a massive battle axe with a metal pole and engravings on the head and more often than not she does not wear her helm. (Menodora steps into a massive hall full of soldiers in medium armour, there is a massive bar to the left of the door, various tables exclusively for gambling, and the building itself is made of carved and cut stone, on the back wall is a large, metal shield with a symbol on it, and swords crossed below it. She takes a seat at the bar, sizing up the bartender. He is idly cleaning a glass.) Menodora: So just what is this I hear about Gjallarhorn finding a tome? Bartender: Is it really smart to be asking about that at the tavern of the faction that supposedly found it? Looks a little suspicious. Menodora: Do I honestly look like the sort that could steal from a giant faction like Gjallarhorn? If you guys had it, I'd figure it would at least be guarded by your strongest members and more. I mean from what I hear it contains a strong enough spell to tear apart the entire tavern! Bartender: Where exactly are you getting that info from? Because it's not true. Some low rank member found a low power flame tome and thought it was some grand spell. He was a non magic user. Menodora: (pulling a medallion out of her shirt that has a symbol on it that matches the symbol on the giant shield, on the back, which is clearly visible, is engraved a different symbol and the name "Ashdown") Well done. Bartender: (leaning down to look over the medallion, then leans back up, looking unamused) Captain Ashdown, what was the purpose of this cute little act? Menodora: (returning the medallion to where it was) I wanted to be sure no one was leaking information. Bartender: (raising a brow) Really now? Or did you just really want to see it? This isn't exactly uncommon for you, I hear. Menodora: Okay, I admit it, I wanted to see it. I didn't think you-know-who would let me, y'know? Being so strict on security and all, I didn't think I'd get to see it. Bartender: Uh-huh. Well then I might as well take you to see it. Menodora: (looking mildly shocked) You have access? But aren't you just- Bartender: (beginning to exit the bar) An advisor. Do you seriously think a simple bartender would look this good? I mean look at how I dress. Menodora: (clearly not quite sure how to react to the statement) I suppose you're right, my apologies. (The two walk off to the back of the building and through a door directly under the giant shield, inside it is a small dark room with Gjallarhorn guards to all sides, each one has a sword and shield as well as a flintlock rifle. The room is dark, in the middle there is a pedestal with a large book on top of it. The advisor picks it up and opens it for Menodora to see the contents.) Menodora: (leaning down and looking at the book with a look of astonishment) Oh gods, I can't believe we actually found it.. (holding out her hands some to take the book, but hesitates) May I? Advisor: (holding it out to her some) By all means. (The moment Menodora lays a hand on the book to take it there is a reaction, sparks run along her hands where she touches the book. She gets a look of shock and drops it, stepping back and touching the chest plate of the guard behind her just because it is the nearest surface. Just after she touches it the chest plate starts glowing, then there is an explosion that causes her, two guards, and the advisor to fly back. On the wall and floor is left bent and smoking armour pieces and a splatter of blood and gore paste where the guard used to be. The chest plate is intact, laying on the ground. Everyone stares there, then their gaze directs to Menodora, who is at the back of the room, up against the wall, still reeling from the blast. A guard goes to grab her hand and his glove starts to glow, he tosses it off and jumps back, the blast this time knocks Menodora to the side of the room where she catches herself on the wall with her hand. The glow forms again, it forms over a large radius around her hand. She tries to get back. All the while the guards and advisor in the background try to get up. The explosion goes off, blowing out a section of the wall. The focus shifts to the room outside where Menodora and the Advisor are, there is a view of the whole room as the explosion replays, the massive shield at the back shakes, then falls to the ground, shaking the entire building. The view goes to Menodora, who is picking herself up off the ground and staring at the gaping hole in the building through her hair, which is majorly covering her face at this point and bleeding from black to white from the roots down. ) Menodora's Mind: Oh dear gods, what just happened? (Looking to the now viscous guard and putting a hand over her mouth, nearly gagging, eyes wide) Oh gods, did I do that? Oh shit, if anyone sees this I'll be killed! Rank or not this looks really fucking bad for me, I have to run. Now. Here's hoping my legs work. (The internal thought ends and Menodora slowly makes her way to her feet, cautious to not touch anything on her way up, it's at that point when the focus pans over the room and it becomes apparent the last blast knocked out or killed the guards and advisor. The focus shifts back to only Menodora as she unsteadily walks out of the room and into the open air. It is day, and there are already people crowding the hole in the giant building. Menodora pays no heed and does a short range teleport past them, walking off into the distance unnoticed as far as she knows.) Zero Scene: Menodora's Aftermath (At least a day or more after Menodora's incident, in a different city. The Gjallarhorn Leader is sitting in large throne room with a banner behind her bearing Gjallarhorn's symbol. A guard walks into the room and kneels with one arm at his side, and his left over his stomach.) Gjallarhorn Leader: What is it? Guard: It's our Saurel tavern, there's been an incident. Gjallarhorn Leader: Why tell me that before the story? Just get to the point. Guard: There were several explosions reported, and a white-haired woman walked out from the crowd near a hole in the building and nearby guards said that she was wearing the armour of Captain Ashdown. Neither the Captain nor the Advisor visiting that branch were found, the guards around the object remain incoherent. One guard's armour was found among the viscer- (The leader did not seem to be paying much attention, but she gets a look of surprise and puts a hand up, the noise from her armour shifting causes the guard to stop and look up.) Gjallarhorn Leader: Back up, did you say it involved the object? Where is it? Was it stolen? Guard: No, it was found on the floor of the room intact. Gjallarhorn Leader: I want you to alert the surrounding taverns, towns, and cities. I want that woman found and I want to know what she was doing there. But before that, finish what you were saying. Guard: (giving a single, quick nod) Sir. (Continuing) The Captain and Advisor, due to their lack of presence, were suspected to be among the viscera. Gjallarhorn Leader: Unfortunate. Arrange a sending off for them. The loss of that advisor won't be good for Gjallarhorn. Anyway, is that all? Guard: (nodding once) For now. Gjallarhorn Leader: Right. Well, off with you. (The guard exits and the room and everything fades out) Between(Introduction of Tempest) Menodora - For this scene Menodora does not have her bow or her arrows, but does have her knives. Tempest - Tempest is Menodora in body in facial structure, but when she takes over whatever Menodora is wearing is replaced with a very intricate outfit, her skin colour becomes paler, her hair changes, and her eyes turn green. The hair of the spiritfolk is very long and braided on one side, the braid is kept at the front and reaches down to her belt. On her head she has two very rage horns that reach downward and back, nod curve up so that the ends are near a pair of small, oval-lensed glasses. On her either cheek at her jawline she has a mark that goes up an inch or two, the marks resemble scars in shape, but are simply darker flesh Extending from her lower back is a long, thick pale blue tail that is black at its end. On her torso she wears a leather almost military-looking jacket that reaches only to her lower back, it is accented with a pale blue interior that shows at the collar. Under the jacket are two vests, one the same blue as the inside of her jacket with a gold outline and it is held to her with a belt, the vest is made of an unknown thick, shiny material. Under the blue vest is a tight-fitting leather armour vest with a pale blue shirt of an unknown shiny material underneath to keep her from being exposed. On either hand she wears thick, leather gloves that have the top folded over, and the portion over her hands is separate from the part extending up her arms, over her hands the gloves are much thinner. The portion folded over the pale blue is lined with gold on the top and bottom edges and there is a gold ring around her wrist. On the outer layer the gloves are black like the jacket. The portion on her hands is a simple brown leather. At her midsection she wears a brown belt with a gold trim and a thick gold buckle. Around her tail she wears a gold band with a design that resembles waves. On her legs she wears tight pants made of a very thick leather. Her boots are very similar to her gloves, they have the same blue folds with gold lining and the same two sections, the portion on her foot is made of the same material as the rest of the boot, thick back leather with gold lining. The bottom of the boots is a simple low boot with two straps. Always summoned with her is a very long, thin, curved sword in its sheath. At her side she normal has a very unnecessary rifle with carved wood and a carved barrel and a telescope strapped to it with two metal straps. (It is not even hours after Menodora's Zero Scene, she has made her way to a large home made of stone and with a better made roof than any houses so far. She is in a large bedroom with a canopy bed on the second floor and is sitting at a vanity just staring at her new appearance.) Menodora: (to herself, fairly blank-faced, and fairly blank in tone) Whose face is this? This isn't my face.. It is, it is my face but it's not. This hair certainly isn't mine... At least things stopped exploding. That, more than anything wasn't me. That was you. In the mirror. Whoever the hell you are. (While Tempest is talking Menodora just stares at the mirror with wide eyes.) Tempest: (in Menodora's head) Dear gods, child, what are you on about? I picked you out because you seemed the most level headed out of those dim faction goons. Now act like a big girl and pull yourself together. Menodora: Who are you?! What did you do to me?! Why were things expl-?! Tempest: (causing Menodora's mouth to shut rather than just cutting her off) Hush for a moment, let me explain. Now, where to start? Right. So since it seems you aren't the sort who know much about magic beyond your elemental arrows, I will tell you just what I am. I'm a spiritfolk. Or a goddess, but you're not the most holy sort, are you? I was all locked up in that book for a good however many years for "crimes against spiritfolk and humanity." I figured a way out a good bit ago, I just needed someone to touch the book, and it had to be the right person. So when you touched the book you seemed like a decent person to take the body of. Well I was a little wrong, instead we formed a bond of sorts. So congrats, you're a half-spirit now, and immortal, cope with that how you will but we're stuck like this now. Menodora: (being allowed control of her jaw back) What about the explosions?! Do you know what you've done?! Tempest: Yes yes, calm down. I didn't expect the explosions either. That was just magic feedback, I don't know why it was that ability in particular, but that's what happened. I was just as surprised as you were. I certainly didn't expect to be sharing a body with you. (In the mirror Menodora can see Tempest touching her hair, sitting on a chair behind her that isn't there and beginning to braid her hair. Tempest is not wearing gloves in the mirror. Behind Menodora there are only a pair of translucent hands braiding her hair. Menodora does not object.) Tempest: I could just take your body from you and be in control all the time, but I'm giving you a chance. I've seen what's in that pretty little head of yours and I think I may enjoy you if I let you do as you please. What I'm saying is that I'll just stay in the background unless you need me or I think my input is required. Until then, that explosive ability is at your disposal. It won't be as strong as before, and it will be a bit more in control. To answer your questions, this is your face, and this is your hair, you are still you, just with some extra tacked on. Now once I'm done here I want you to go get your things and we'll be off on the road. You said it yourself, things do not look good for you. I know you, much better than anyone now, and I know that we'll be just fine. we'll just let things die down. If you want, we can even rejoin that little faction of yours, work our way up. Menodora: (seeming a bit more than a little out of it, she just nods, and Between comes to an end.)

[strongbreweddandywriting-blog]

Words to replace said, except this actually helps

I got pretty fed up with looking for words to replace said because they weren’t sorted in a way I could easily use/find them for the right time. So I did some myself.

IN RESPONSE TO Acknowledged Answered Protested

INPUT/JOIN CONVERSATION/ASK Added Implored Inquired Insisted Proposed Queried Questioned Recommended Testified

GUILTY/RELUCTANCE/SORRY Admitted Apologized Conceded Confessed Professed

FOR SOMEONE ELSE Advised Criticized Suggested

JUST CHECKING Affirmed Agreed Alleged Confirmed

LOUD Announced Chanted Crowed

LEWD/CUTE/SECRET SPY FEEL Appealed Disclosed Moaned

ANGRY FUCK OFF MATE WANNA FIGHT Argued Barked Challenged Cursed Fumed Growled Hissed Roared Swore

SMARTASS Articulated Asserted Assured Avowed Claimed Commanded Cross-examined Demanded Digressed Directed Foretold Instructed Interrupted Predicted Proclaimed Quoted Theorized

ASSHOLE Bellowed Boasted Bragged

NERVOUS TRAINWRECK Babbled Bawled Mumbled Sputtered Stammered Stuttered

SUAVE MOTHERFUCKER Bargained Divulged Disclosed Exhorted

FIRST OFF Began

LASTLY Concluded Concurred

WEAK PUSY Begged Blurted Complained Cried Faltered Fretted

HAPPY/LOL Cajoled Exclaimed Gushed Jested Joked Laughed

WEIRDLY HAPPY/EXCITED Extolled Jabbered Raved

BRUH, CHILL Cautioned Warned

ACTUALLY, YOU’RE WRONG Chided Contended Corrected Countered Debated Elaborated Objected Ranted Retorted

CHILL SAVAGE Commented Continued Observed Surmised

LISTEN BUDDY Enunciated Explained Elaborated Hinted Implied Lectured Reiterated Recited Reminded Stressed

BRUH I NEED U AND U NEED ME Confided Offered Urged

FINE Consented Decided

TOO EMO FULL OF EMOTIONS Croaked Lamented Pledged Sobbed Sympathized Wailed Whimpered

JUST SAYING Declared Decreed Mentioned Noted Pointed out Postulated Speculated Stated Told Vouched

WASN’T ME Denied Lied

EVIL SMARTASS Dictated Equivocated Ordered Reprimanded Threatened

BORED Droned Sighed

SHHHH IT’S QUIET TIME Echoed Mumbled Murmured Muttered Uttered Whispered

DRAMA QUEEN Exaggerated Panted Pleaded Prayed Preached

OH SHIT Gasped Marveled Screamed Screeched Shouted Shrieked Yelped Yelled

ANNOYED Grumbled Grunted Jeered Quipped Scolded Snapped Snarled Sneered

ANNOYING Nagged

I DON’T REALLY CARE BUT WHATEVER Guessed Ventured

I’M DRUNK OR JUST BEING WEIRDLY EXPRESSIVE FOR A POINT/SARCASM Hooted Howled Yowled

I WONDER Pondered Voiced Wondered

OH, YEAH, WHOOPS Recalled Recited Remembered

SURPRISE BITCH Revealed

IT SEEMS FAKE BUT OKAY/HA ACTUALLY FUNNY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD Scoffed Snickered Snorted

BITCHY Tattled Taunted Teased

[strongbreweddandywriting-blog]

Pilot Zero Scene: Mika

Mika - Mika is a bit on the shorter side with a tanned skin tone from spending days in the sun, she has very long, very curly hair that is nearly black, but not quite. Her eyes are amber-yellow and glow slightly, but she can't see in the dark, despite that people ask her anyway. She wears a brown light armour vest that is tight fitting with four buckles. Under the vest is a black, long sleeve shirt. She has light armour leather pants and boots of the same type as her vest. Her bracers are made of a dark wood with a gold trim and a leaf design at her wrists that is painted bright green. On the back of her belt is a sheathed short-sword, the handle is to her left, on the right is a holstered flintlock pistol of a simple design. The barrel, hammer, and trigger are made of cast iron, and there is a small, silver dome on the bottom of the handle of the pistol. Rangers - Rangers are a generic sort that use bows, they wear brown light armour and caps, they are various races, human, elf, etc. Ranger One - A Ranger with very dark skin that somewhat resembles and elf, he has long, white hair. Ranger Two - A human ranger with a short, well-kept beard. Ranger Three - Unspecific Ranger. Faction Leader - A man who was a knight as a young man, he is not old, but clearly no longer a knight. He tries to look and act like he still is one. Bartender - A young, fairly good looking man with blonde hair.(I have named him Chauncey on a whim, but this is of no note) ( Mika walks into a wooden building, it has several round, wooden tables with generic thugs seated around each one. Every thug is laughing, drinking, gambling. She walks to the bar where a bartender, who is much more cleaned up than the rest. He is idly cleaning a glass for the time being. ) Mika: Oi, you there, I need to see your boss. Bartender: (Raising a brow) Lots of people do, what makes you so important? Mika: What makes me important? Well I'm glad you asked, I happen to have something that none of these other dumbasses have. (Pauses, crossing arms and staring at the bartender) Bartender: (Setting glass down) I have better things to do, just tell me already. Mika: You're no fun, you need to have more fun. Look at you, you're a pretty boy go- Bartender: Get on with it. Mika: I~ (drawing out the "I" while getting a bag from her belt) Have money. Bartender: And? Do you know how many people come here with money? Mika: Go get him and I won't hit you with the bag of money to prove it's money. Bartender: Fine, but it's on you how he acts once I do. (Walks out from behind the bar and walks off screen) Mika: (sticks out tongue as the bartender walks off, talking under her breath) Bite me, fuckwad. You're no fun. ( As Mika turns around the bartender walks over to a very big man in armour that is mostly iron, the man has a beard that hasn't been shaven in a few days, and a big, curled moustache. He looks like he used to be a knight, but now only emulates it. He approaches Mika while adjusting his belt. ) Mika: Well, well, well, if it isn't the leader of~... The greatest faction in the entire gods damned city! ( looks around nervously ) Faction Leader: What do we have here? What is a little woman like you doing in place like this? Mika: (smiling sweetly) Oh you know, I hear you like gambling and I thought I might try my hand at it? How about it? (Holding up her bag and shaking it slightly) Humour me? Faction Leader: Well, I don't normally gamble with those I don't know, but I suppose I'll make an exception for a pretty little thing like you. I'll show you to the table. (Begins walking towards the back of the tavern, they go to a large table by a window) Mika: Lead the way, dear sir~ (an irritated look shows up on her face as he turns around) (As they reach the table time seems to speed up some and throughout the time Mika seems to look gradually more and distressed until eventually things come to an abrupt halt and the faction leader bursts out at her) Faction Leader: (throwing her bag back at her) You sneaky bitch! You not only come in here expecting to beat me at what I do best but you also intend to trick me with gods damned stones! Mika: (catching the bag and quickly hooking it to her belt) In my defence I gave you a good fucking run. I am a damn good gambler myself. Faction Leader: If you think you are getting out of here with your fucking life- Mika: Joke's on you, shit-fuck, I'm already out of here! (jumps over the table, causing a mess of cards and catapulting out the window) (The scene changes to outdoors, the time is night and there are buildings that are all made from wood and stone and have wooden roofs, the roads between and among them are all completely dirt. There are small cuts on Mika here and there as she lands her jump out the window, she pays no mind and begins to dust herself off. Just as something crackles to life at her fingertips and hands, something that seems like a pale green lightning, the audio focus shifts slightly to the man inside screaming something about rangers, at the audio focus shifts back to Mika whose eyes go wide for a moment and she bolts, just as she gets past the tavern front several rangers spill out with bows in hand, she immediately heads towards a woodland area at the edge of town, it isn't very far. As she runs various arrows whirl past her and plant themselves in trees and the ground at her feet. Gradually she hits the tree line and her pace picks up. The focus shifts to the rangers chasing her ) Ranger One: (at the front) Is this the one the guys from Gjallarhorn were talking about? Ranger Two: (maintaining speed with Ranger One) The one that makes things explode or- Ranger One: Could be any of them, only those sort would be cocky enough to go up against an entire faction, let alone piss off multiple Ranger Three: (moving up to speed with the other two) Maybe we should get her alive and take her to the boss? He probably has a bone to pick with her! Ranger One: Sounds good (shouting to all) Go for her legs! We're taking her alive! (In the moments after the call the arrows flying by begin to target a specific location on Mika, her legs. All miss until one hits her in the shoulder.) Mika: (focus shifting to her for only a moment, faltering some on contact with the arrow) Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! Oh horse shit! Fuck rangers! Fuck them with big, pointy, serrated sticks! Ranger One: (shouting) Who is the eyeless fool who just hit her shoulder?! (The focus shifts more to Ranger 2, who is drawing back his bow, at the tip of the arrowhead a ball of light forms and touches against the arrowhead, as it does it breaks and streams of steam and ice swirl behind it. The ranger releases the arrow, focus following the arrow which hits Mika in the thigh, no blood emerging from the impact and ice forming around it. The focus shifts outward to Mika as she plants her foot on the ground and immediately falls forward, landing face first a little lower than her foot landed, there being a large dip in the ground where she hits. After the hit her lower half keeps going and she is launched into the air only to land on her front half again, this time landing flat and staying down at the bottom of a ditch, unconscious. The focus then shifts to the rangers as they stop at the edge.) Ranger One: (hitting Ranger Two hard on the back of the head, shouting) You gods damned idiot! We were going to stop her not kill her! What in the hells were you thinking? Ranger Two: (holding back of head) It was just meant to knock her over! Ranger One: It was an elemental arrow what did you think would happen?! There is not a single chance in the world that she didn't break her neck! You are telling the boss about this, this is on you! (Turning around, starting to charge off) Gods damned idiots! (The rangers follow Ranger One, one mumbling something about it having been their idea to keep her alive, not the boss', aside from that they are silent, Ranger One continues yelling. Mika is left in the ditch where she landed.)

[strongbreweddandywriting-blog]

Something to Know

Great title, yeah? Anywho, something someone has to know before reading what I write is what a zero scene is. It's really just an intro to a character, and two or more zero scenes can link up somehow, or they can link up in the intro to the story itself. It will make more sense once I post them. Right now I only have the zero scenes of my two main characters.

[strongbreweddandywriting-blog]

An Introduction

I'll try to keep this to the point. I am your normal, average, basic high school student in your normal, average, basic creative writing class. I am absolute trash at book format writing, but I'm lovely at scripts apparently. So by not very popular demand I'll post them here for people who want to read them to read them and such.