#Lados

[marcia-stronger]

[doctor-desi]

Modern AU Part 2!

This is the second part of the Modern AU I am writing for the campaign going on between @meteorito618 and I. I don't know how many parts it will be, but so far it's going to be at least 3! Enjoy!

As Blaine steps through… whatever it is she steps through, she finds her senses assaulted with tons of new information. The first thing she sees is the group of four that went ahead of her. The half-elf, Darjo, stands prominently with their hands on their hips, smiling widely. Next to them is the halfling, Gwen, who looks amusedly at Blaine. Then there are the two tieflings, yet to be introduced, who stand to the side still looking rather excited. Then there is, well, what Darjo referred to as Bjarga. 

Differing wildly from the abandoned building she was just in, she stands in a fairly modern looking building. There are computers and monitors everywhere with all sorts of information on them ranging from what looks like news, to spreadsheets, to body cam videos. There are people at every one of these monitors ranging vastly in races. And the sound, well considering how quiet it was in the abandoned building, she almost wants to cover her ears with the cacophony of noise she hears now. 

After making her first assessment of this Bjarga, Blaine stumbles forward another step in, asking, “What… exactly is this place? Who are all of you?”

Darjo looks like they want to speak, but Gwen places a hand on their own and gives them a small look before stepping forward, “Well, this is our home base, or one of them at least. This is where we find and assign missions. As for who we are, well…”

She’s cut off by one of the tieflings excitedly running forwards and sticking their hand out over Gwen’s head, “I’m Lados and this here is Anakis,” she points to the other tiefling who had come up beside her, “we’re twins, and super excited to have you with us! Darjo here told us all about the night you came to their rescue,” Darjo makes a sputtering noise and tries to interject, but Lados continues, “ and how you might be good material for Bjarga here. What a surprise when we ran into you, took us a second to realize that you might be you, but we were pretty sure from the description Darjo gave. And now you’re here! Oh, I’m so excited for you to get involved, you’re going to love it!” And she opens her mouth to continue on, but Anakis covers her mouth, looking down at the halfling below them. Gwen looks up at them a bit disapprovingly, but also fond. She gives Anakis an appreciative nod.

Then, she continues on as she was before, “We are a group of citizens, concerned ones about some of the things going on in our world,” she gestures all around her, “We know there are threats out there, and we work to combat those threats the best we can with the knowledge and power we have available to us. There are two main branches of our little operation and we both work in tandem to determine threats and take them out. A threat that we are currently facing is the Gindilian Gang. Not only are they a bunch of troublemakers, but there’s word going around that they have a secret operation underway to bring about some great evil in our world. We are unsure what entirely this entails, but we are trying our best to find out and put a stop to it. But there are some things that we do know,” she pauses at this as a phone starts ringing, Gwen pulls out her phone and sighs at what it displays, “Well, that would be Sindri, he is currently trying to find a way to infiltrate the Gang, I should see what he says. Darjo, could you take over?” she gestures at the half-elf next to her. 

Darjo nods, crossing their arms and watching for a moment as Gwen steps deeper into Bjarga to answer the call. Then, they begin, “Like Gwen said we do know some things, one such thing is that there have been a bunch of attacks. The people who are attacked don’t remember much besides the color purple, and the effects of magic being used on them to lure them into a dreamlike state.”

Blaine perks up at this, “Oh, I’ve heard of those attacks on the news. In fact I’ve been teaching some of my students how to be prepared for one of those same attacks. However, I’ve never heard anything about a gang being involved, how do you know for sure it’s them?”

Darjo frowns a little at that, then looks a little sheepish, “Well, we don’t for sure actually. We suspect that this is part of that whole ‘evil scheme’, " they use their fingers to make quotes, “that they got going on. Some of the Gang have bragged about it when they don’t know one of our members is around, so we have reason to believe it is them.”

Blaine nods at this, then smiles and claps her hands, startling the group of three others, “Well then, what can I do to help?”

Darjo smiles, then laughs, “I just knew you’d be up for it,” they walk forward and clap Blaine on the shoulder, “Well first things first, we have to get you all initiated, and then we can talk plans.”

The next little while is a blur to Blaine. She gets passed around between different people doing different things. She has her photo taken and put into some data archive, her phone gets taken at some point, she’s introduced to so many different people who have all types of professions and roles within the group, and she has to give her information to some of these people. At the end of all of it, she ends up in a small room that connects to the main room with the monitors and computers. This room is devoid of such electronics, and simply has a table with chairs on either side of it. Blaine sits in one of these chairs, now waiting. 

Darjo walks into the room holding several things. They sit down in the chair opposite Blaine and lay the items out on the table. The first of which they slide over to Blaine is her phone. Blaine boots it up and sees there is a new app on her homescreen, it simply reads, ‘Cornucopia of Life’.

Blaine looks up at Darjo with a raised brow, questioning. Darjo simply smiles, “We can’t just give away our positions so simply. That app gives you access to a whole slew of stuff involved with Bjarga. It’ll tell you current missions, maps and other resources, and it’s a group chat messaging system that is encrypted so others can’t access our data.”

Blaine nods along, “Sounds useful. So, do I just pick a mission that is on here, or…” she trails off looking back down to the phone and scrolling on it for a moment. 

Darjo reaches across the table and pushes the phone down a little, “No, no. Not right now at least. We want you for something special.” Blaine’s eyes light up at this, her first day, or well night, and she was already getting a special mission. “We want you, well, to continue as you normally do,” Blaine’s shoulders slump and her face falls slightly in disappointment. Darjo laughs a little, “Hey, chin up. I wasn’t done,” Blaine perks up again, “We want you to be bait. We have some others doing the same, but you already know how to handle yourself. So, for these attacks, we want you to try to be the quote unquote victim of one of them.”

Blaine nods again, “Okay… I suppose that makes sense. So, how do I go about doing this, and what happens if I do get attacked?”

Darjo smiles, “Well, we’ve built in a new system to the app. It’s a sort of deadswitch where you press it when you’re safe and the second you stop pressing it, either willingly or not, it will send us your location and we can come to help out!”

Blaine scrolls through the app a few moments humming to herself at the things she finds, before she finds what she is looking for. It's simply a screen with a cornucopia in the middle of it, but it was named, SWITCH. She holds up the phone so Darjo can see, “This then?”

Darjo nods and smiles, “Yup that’s it. So, to recap, we want you to go about your daily life, except maybe try to hang around a few more alleys, act a bit more… well, vulnerable. Have that app open,” they point to the app still on Blaine’s screen, “press it while you are safe. Make sure to disarm it once you get home or something by pressing this secondary button,” they point to a smaller x in the corner of the screen, “and if you get attacked or feel like you are about to just stop pressing the button and we will be on our way!” They lean back in their chair and spread their arms out, “So, how’s that sound?”

Blaine pulls her phone back towards herself, looking down at the app open and grins, “Sounds like we got ourselves a plan to catch some evildoers then.” She looks back up to Darjo who grins right back, then asks, “Is that it then, should I get going?”

Darjo holds up finger and moves the other things they were holding, a few manilla envelopes which seem to be pretty full. “First,” they begin, “Let’s get you up to date on some of the Gindilian Gang business as well as some of our other information so your not out there running completely blind hm?”

Both of them lean into the table as they begin to go over years of information that Bjarga has collected about different cities, different gangs, and their plans to stop all of the crimes and wrong-doings that they can. 

~~~~~~~~~~

It’s a few hours later when Blaine steps out of the abandoned building. Well, what looks like an abandoned building for sure. By now, the sky is slowly lightening as the sun begins to peak barely above the horizon. Blaine covers her mouth as she yawns, not used to having such late or early hours. She checks her phone, the app for Bjarga now closed, and goes to her calendar app. There she sighs as she sees she indeed does have a class to teach today, but she needs to stop by her apartment to change first. ‘At least it is an early class’ she thinks, ‘that way I can get home and rest sooner’. And with that, she starts heading in the direction of her apartment. 

Another couple of hours later, and caffeinated tea in hand, Blaine steps into the building which houses her studio. There she sees an empty front desk, and a blue lamia unlocking the door to her own shop. Blaine flushes slightly as the lamia turns to give her a wide smile, “Good morning Blaine! You have an early class this morning?”

Blaine gives a bit of a lopsided grin back, “Yeah, yeah. Gotta get that early start y’know? Plus it’s better to have a variety of classes for different people so that they can work either before or after class. Some people have told me they prefer one over the other so I’ve been sure to do a bit of both so that everyone can end up happy! Ahaha, I’m rambling again aren’t I?” Blaine’s smile turns a bit sheepish as she looks away from Glacia. 

Glacia laughs shortly and replies, “Well, I think it’s cute. Have a good class!” Blaine’s neck almost hurts with how fast she turns to look back at the lamia, but Glacia is already headed into her shop. When the door closes behind Glacia, Blaine slumps and sighs, covering her face as a wild blush envelops it. 

Way to go Blaine, she thinks moving towards the door to her studio, fantastic job with that one. She takes the keys out of her bag and opens the studio door, flipping on the lights as she moves further into the space. Directly to the front of her and to towards her left are wall-to-wall glass windows. The wall that the door opens into is layered with bricks, and the wall to her right is wall-to-wall mirrors, so that those in the studio can see their own progress. 

Blaine moves through the process of setting up her studio for one of her sessions. Among those tasks include making sure all the mats have been wiped down and are prepared for her clients to use, checking on the level of the refillable water station, running through a list of which clients will be coming in today and how to adjust the lesson for their needs. 

She does this for about half an hour before she goes to prop open the door for her clients to start coming, and in they do come! Blaine knows most of the faces that enter her door, though a few are new to her. Those include a half-elf man who is dressed in purples and blacks who is accompanied by a large rock creature (she is glad that they adjusted the entryways a while back), and a genasi with fire-red hair… literally. 

Blaine goes through the motions of greeting everyone that she can and introducing herself to the newcomers. Though for most it is not much more than a simple hello and asking a few specific questions based on what she knows about them, she does spend some more time on the newcomers, especially since they all arrived early as she asked. She begins her introductions with the fiery genasi.

“Hello there, welcome in!” Blaine says as she walks up to the genasi who is wringing their hands together and looking around the room. They have secluded themselves into a corner of the room away from the windows, and from everyone else.  

In return to her greeting, Blaine gets a nervous smile and a little wave along with, “Ah h-hello there. Um, you are Blaine correct, I believe we… well we spoke over the phone?” Their voice goes a little higher at the end indicating their question. Blaine nods and gives a comforting smile to which the genasi sighs and drops their hands, “So, you understand then, my um.. situation?”

Blaine slowly reaches out, giving them moments to pull away, when they don’t, she lays her hand gently on their shoulder, “Yes Aldrid, I do. You went through a very traumatic experience. I just want to let you know what you learn here will not erase what you went through, but I do hope it will help prepare you in case anything like it were to happen again which I pray to the gods it won’t.” Blaine gives their shoulder a small squeeze and offers another smile. 

Aldrid gives a shaky smile in return, covering Blaine’s hand with their own, “Y-yes you are right. And, well, nothing can put this fire out!” they give a shaky laugh and their eyes sparkle with a previously lacking mirth. 

Blaine gives a bright smile and pats Aldrid’s shoulder once more, “That is right! Good spirit! Now, if you don’t mind, I have one more introduction to make before starting class.” The genasi gives a short nod and turns to their own bag, likely to prepare for the class. Blaine then turns away and heads towards her other couple of new clients.

“Ah, hello you two,  Ilifir and Igneous, correct? My name is Blaine, welcome into the studio!” She gives a bright smile as she walks up to the half-elf who was addressed as Ilifir and the rock creature addressed as Igneous.

“Yes, yes. Hello to you as well. It’s a pleasure,” Ilifir says, giving a slight nod of his head, Igneous follows suit, nodding his head, but not saying anything. “I hope to learn a lot here, maybe even a reason for my situation.”

Blaine hums, frowning slightly, “Yes, well like I mentioned over the phone, I really think you should see a cleric for that if you wish to find out anything specific, but if it is someone causing it maybe I could help a little. And, well, self defense is always a good thing to learn regardless!” She gives a smile to both of them and says, “Well, unless you have any questions, I think it’s about time to start class.” Ilifir shakes his head and motions for her to move on, Igneous simply stands there, and Blaine assumes with the lack of any words he has no qualms about her moving on either. 

With that, she claps once, and slowly the room falls silent, the regulars knowing that is Blaine’s way of calling attention, and the newcomers following the other’s guide. Blaine walks to the front of the studio as she begins talking, “Good morning everyone! I hope you all have been well. My name is Blaine and today I will be your instructor.” She reaches the front of the room and stops in front of the mirrored wall. She turns around to face the studio, looking out to the streets. 

Blaine smiles for a moment before her face falls into something more serious, “Now, I am sure you have all heard of the tragic events that have been going on lately. People have been found attacked in the city.” She pauses to gauge the effects of her words. Most people’s faces light up in recognition and many frown in empathy, Aldrid goes still and trembles slightly. Blaine chooses to move on quickly once she notices that, “Well, today I hope to teach something that will help lessen any fears you may have. This lesson will have parts which are meant to help both those magically gifted as well as those who are not. Now then,” she claps once more, a more calming smile on her face, as she sees some of the clients start to relax, “Let’s get started.”

And with that, Blaine starts her lesson. First, she teaches her spell for the day, it is a first level spell called Shield. It has both vocal and somatic requirements which she makes sure to tell her clients. She goes through making sure that everyone knows what they are doing with the spell, and even having them practice bringing it up as well as attacking her with a magic missile so they can see how it works. Once she is sure that the clients with magic have had enough practice with the spell, they move onto the non-magical portion of the class. This just teaches normal self-defense moves that anyone can do regardless of skill level. Some people practice old moves with partners they have had in class before, while others follow along with Blaine to learn new moves. It’s not too long before class ends. 

Blaine claps once more, smiling at the front of the studio, “Well done everyone! It seems you all have learned a lot today, and I hope you will go out into the world feeling a bit more confident in yourselves and your skills. With that, I hope you all have a good day, and as always if you have any questions about today’s class you can reach out to me via text or call and I will explain more as best I can. See you all next time!” With that, people start to clean up, they wipe down any equipment they may have used and mingle a little as they drink water and pack up. Blaine talks to as many people as she can, though she notices Aldrid talking adamantly with another client and it appears as if Ilifir and Igneous snuck out when she wasn’t looking. How they did that, she wonders, thinking of how big Igneous was, I am not sure. Slowly but surely, her clients wander out, giving their goodbyes and well to do’s until only Blaine is left. She closes her studio door behind the last client and goes to work cleaning up her studio in preparation for the next class. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Hours pass and Blaine finds herself again in her office as the night closes in. She had gone to a closeby market place for lunch and had snuck a quick nap in at her office before her evening class, and now she finds herself here going over some of her client’s paperwork as she waits to leave. Finally, an alarm goes off on her phone. Blaine turns it off and stretches in her chair before getting up and grabbing her bag. She makes her way into the studio which has the lights turned off for the night. She checks to make sure everything is in place for the morning before she heads to the door. Blaine closes and locks the door behind her, then heads for the main doors, the lobby is dark already and it seems everyone has gone home for the night. She wishes that were the case for her. 

Blaine steps out of the building into the night. The streetlamps are on, and few people are out and about. She takes a deep breath and pulls out her phone. She opens up the app, ‘Cornucopia of Life’, and presses down on the designated button Darjo had shown her earlier that day, and with that set up she starts to walk.

She is unsure of how long she walks for, up and down various alleyways, across streets. Then, it happens. Blaine is in an unknown alley, coming up towards the brick wall that marks the end. When all of a sudden she hears footsteps coming up behind her. They are quiet, but Blaine has been teaching self defense for a while, and she knows when an attacker is on the move. She moves a couple more steps hoping to get some type of reaction and it seems she does. 

“So, you think you can help, do you?” The voice sounds like someone talking on an old radio, Blaine desperately wants to turn around but she waits, hoping to get more before the inevitable happens. The voice hums, “Well, you weren’t what I was searching for, but for tonight, you will have to do.” At that, Blaine’s eyes widen and she spins around. But the voice was too fast, spitting out a spell that leaves Blaine’s vision growing quickly foggier and darker each second. All she catches before she falls is a sharp smile and a flash of purple.  

[oknews]

El invento millonario que está en todos lados y podría rodear hasta 165 veces el planeta tierra

Algunos inventos revolucionan el mercado y se vuelven indispensables en múltiples ámbitos, generando millones en ganancias a lo largo del tiempo. Entre estos se encuentra la cinta adhesiva Scotch, un producto presente en oficinas, hogares y fábricas, utilizado en todo tipo de reparaciones y proyectos. Este sencillo pero ingenioso invento alcanzó una popularidad mundial que ya cumplió más de 90…

[esvaziese]

Para toda história existe três lados. Lado A, lado B e a VERDADE. Cada um vai contar sua versão se favorecendo, a verdade está no meio dos dois pontos.

[4deprimariaanpe]

Clasificación de los triángulos según sus lados y ángulos

En este apartado veremos cómo se pueden clasificar los triángulos según sus lados y ángulos. A continuación os dejaré un video explicándolo.

También os añado herramientas interactivas para trabajar estos contenidos.

[realidadposts]

[yo-espero-que-me-leas]

[ruyelcid]

ruyelcid: Al otro lado

Sobre las perspectivas de la vida, sobre tu postura, sobre las posibles visiones que incluye una misma situación.

[frasesenespa-ol]

Había polvo por todos lados, y de pronto eso importaba. Era culpa de ella.

Mujeres Audaces (Jennifer Crusie)

[dioosblog]

[mmyashas]

do not stand at my grave and weep

[doctor-desi]

A rewritten version of a Modern!AU of a campaign between @meteorito618​ and I (PS go check them out they’re cool!). This is only Part 1. Hoping to do Part 2 soon. Not too much has changed from the first version just an addition of a new character and I think better writing, so enjoy!

“... and that is how we create a fireball,” a green dragonborn dressed in a loose tank top and yoga pants states. She walks towards the front of a group of around a dozen people of all different races and skill levels, absentmindedly transferring a small fireball from hand to hand. Once she gets to the front, standing in front of some wall-length mirrors, she addresses the group again, “Now, a few things to remember about this spell. While you can control it and create these small bursts of flame, they can also grow into enormous fires, so you have to be careful and keep your concentration up. Also, this spell requires verbal commands, specific movement, and materials so you’ll have to be prepared if you want to use it.” She pauses and waits for nods from the group, some of whom have already followed suit and created their own fireballs, then she smiles and begins again, “Now, the number one rule of self-defense is always just that, defense. What I teach you should never be used for plain harm or in ill-thought of another person.” She pauses again, waiting for agreement, and continues, “As I said before, fireballs can become much bigger than this,” she holds up her own baseball sized fireball, “but for our purposes and to use against any potential threat, this should be enough. In addition to this, we have also learned some disarming strikes, which can be used in addition or in place of, for those without the same magical capabilities. Now,” she shifts on her feet to stand up straighter, she cups the fireball in both of her hands and closes her eyes, “to get rid of the fireball so you don't have to carry it around with you all day,” this earns a few small, some perhaps nervous laughs which makes the dragonborn smile, “just like how we brought forth our magic from our being to form a shape, so we shall release it to where it will wait for our call again.” She removes her hands from around the fireball and it drops for a moment before dissipating in an orange glow. She breathes out a moment before opening her eyes. She claps her hands together and smiles at the group in front of her, ”Now, it is your turn.” 

With that, the dragonborn goes around, helping those who cannot quite get their magic to dissipate, or answering questions from those practicing some other defense moves. Eventually, everyone in the room is empty handed and the dragonborn returns to the front of the room. She claps again and smiles, “Great work today everyone. I hope you have a great rest of your days and I hope to see you all again soon. Remember if you need anything from me, my email or text are always open!” With that dismissal, everyone moves to collect their personal belongings before heading to the door leading out of the small studio. The dragonborn holds the door for her students, saying her more personal goodbyes and receiving some in turn many along the lines of, “Thank you for your help today Blaine!” and, “Have a good evening!” With the final person heading out, the dragonborn, Blaine, goes over to a chair which holds a backpack. She reaches in absently and pulls out an envelope as well as a smartphone. She ignores the former for a moment as she powers on her device and sees several messages. The first she clicks on is a group chat with the title “Dbl Trbl”:

[Image ID: A group text between three members: Jil, Mil, and Blaine. The conversation is titled Dbl Trbl with a smiling devil emoji and reads as follows:

Jil: Mom wants to know when you’ll be coming home. She’s been freaking out!

Jil: Also, Ms. A would like to know, she’s alright tho since… y’know you actually said bye to her (angry emoji)

Mil: Yeah, not like we needed to know or anything…

Mil: Just kidding, we know you had your reasons B. Anyways, we told them that you’re fine, living 

your own life. 

Jil: But you know them B.

Mil: Not to mention we’d love to have you home to hear about your travels and life.

Jil: All about it and who you might’ve met (smirking emoji)]

Blaine’s scales darken a little as she blushes before she scoffs and types a quick response:

[Image ID: The same group text as before now with a new message:

Blaine: Yeah, thanks for showing you care (rolling eyes emoji)

Blaine: Anyways, I’ll think about it, just finished a class and I gotta head home.]

She hits send and backs out of that conversation. She has one more notification which she clicks on leading to a chat titled “Boss Lady”:

[Image ID: A text message chat between two members: Mari and Blaine. The conversation is titled “Boss Lady” and reads as follows:

Mari: Dearie, just wanted to let you know I let a couple of other patrons know about your classes. You might get some new students soon :)

Mari: Payment is due soon! Don’t forget to drop it off!

Blaine: Hey, just wanted to let you know I won’t be in today. Caught something and had to cancel classes.

Mari: Okay, take care of yourself or I’ll lose another paying customer >:(

Mari: Don’t forget to turn in your payment soon. I should be here until the end of the day, but if not just give it to me the next chance you get :D]

Blaine smiles and laughs a little to herself, shutting off her phone’s screen and putting it back in the bag, she grabs a set of keys from inside before slipping the backpack onto her back. Holding the envelope, she heads out the door of her studio. She quickly turns around and locks the door before swinging her bag around and putting the keys away. Then, she walks into the main lobby on the first floor of this building. She walks towards a desk that sits in the middle of the room, just in front of some stairs and facing towards wide windows that lead to a fairly empty street. It was dark outside by now, and it seems that most people were home. Sitting at the desk is a slightly older gnome typing away on an older model desktop. 

The gnome looks up as she hears the door lock and smiles as Blaine approaches, “Ah, I see I did not have to remind you about paying. Never really do, but I have to keep up my reputation of a good building owner somehow,” the older gnome, Mari, says with a slight laugh. Blaine hands over the envelope, which Mari inspects for a moment, before her grin grows, “My, my Ms. Copinhaven, I did not know you and Ms. Azuris were on a first name basis now?” she questions with a teasing lilt in her voice. Blaine’s scales darken once again as she leans over to grab the envelope, however Mari pushes her chair back to remain just out of reach. She chuckles and says, “Now humor an old lady will you, what is this?”

Blaine sighs and droops against the counter she was reaching over, giving up defeat on getting it back for now. She stays there a moment looking mournfully at the envelope before looking at Mari and saying, “It’s nothing really, just… what I might want to say to her… but I'm too nervous to.”

Mari studies her for a moment before slowly rising from her chair, “Well if you’re too nervous and you’ve got it all written out already why don’t we just…” she makes a gesture towards a door opposite of Blaine’s studio which has “Azuris Books” written in swooping letters on the front of it. 

Blaine reacts immediately, “No, no, no, no, no!” she says moving to the opposite end of the counter to stand in front of the other door with her arms outspread, “I’m… I’m not ready for that yet!”

Mari’s smile turns into a softer version of itself as she lowers herself back into the chair and holds the letter out towards Blaine, “Oh you know I’m only teasing hun. But really, such a nice young lamia and a nice young dragonborn, why don’t you take the chance, especially when I am sure,” she says that word in a decisive tone, “that she likes you as well?”

Blaine relaxes, and reaches out to take the envelope back. She looks at it wistfully for a moment, running her thumb over the lettering, “To Glacia'', before looking back up at Mari, “I don’t know it’s just… She’s such a great friend! And, I don’t want to ruin that if she doesn’t like me back. And, and!” she exclaims, “Have you seen her! I just… how could I even begin to try to approach this I just,” she buries her head in her hands, still holding the envelope, and just groans. 

Mari chuckles lightly and replies, “Ah, the troubles of young love. Well, I am sure that you two will figure it out eventually. As for now, I believe you came here for another purpose?” she holds out her hand, waiting. 

Blaine peeks out from under her hands, and sighs. She brings her backpack around front and digs into it for a moment, replacing one envelope with another. She deposits the new envelope into Mari’s awaiting hands who opens it and examines what is inside. She nods seeing the amount on the check inside and says, “Perfect as always, Ms. Copinhaven,” she smiles.

Blaine returns the smile and quickly recloses her bag and swings it around her back. She starts backing towards the exit to the place saying, “Y’know I don’t mind your texts, just don’t hound me like some of the other clients and I’ll be fine. There could be a day where I don’t remember, who knows, though I’ll try to stop that from happening.” She reaches the door, and puts a hand on it, turning back to Mari, “Well it is getting late and I know you would like to probably head home soon, so I wish you a goodbye and a goodnight…” she turns to push the door open, but before she does she turns her head to look at the older gnome one last time with a mischievous smirk on her face, “... Mrs. Gildenbloom.” Blaine makes a hasty exit, hearing a bark of laughter resound behind her and a returned goodnight.

As Blaine steps outside, she is met with the slightly cold night of winter, she breathes out and watches her breath fog up slightly before disappearing. Looking around she sees one other person on the street, heading in the other direction. A lone half-orc who when they see Blaine, nods. Blaine nods back before turning and walking towards her apartment nearby. As she walks, her path is lit by tall lamps that hold magical lights that flickered, but would not go out, even with the breeze. Blaine zones out as she walks, going over in her head the progress of her regular clients, and who might need more help as well as what she should teach in her next class. She walks past stores, apartments and homes. No one is really out and if they are they seem to be seeking to get inside away from the colder weather. Few places are open at this time, some that are open 24/7, others who just normally hold late hours, the lights of these places melding with that already coming from the street lamps. 

A few minutes into her walk, Blaine comes up on an alley and hears a shout and a grunt of pain. She slows, heading to the entrance and making sure that she does not make any noise before peeking around the corner and into the alleyway.  There, she sees the backs of three people. It seems as if they are confronting something past them, and are struggling with whoever or whatever is at the end of the alleyway. The one in the center seems to especially be struggling, and when they move enough, Blaine can see that it looks like they are trying to cover the mouth of a person they are trying to hold down. What Blaine can see from this person they are holding is that they appear to be mostly covered by a dark green hoodie. 

Another of this group held a dagger which appeared to have a glow to it. The final member of the group stood taller than the others and hissed in a low voice at the hooded figure that was struggling, “Cut it out, gooder. We just wanna know who you work for, and where you all work.” They grab at the hood and the figure’s hair and pull their head up, revealing a set of mismatched eyes to Blaine. The third member continues, “You all have taken out too many of my people lately, you and your crew.  I just want some payment for my misfortunes, now ain’t that fair?” The figure in the hood struggles again and manages to kick at the person holding them, allowing them to be dropped for a moment by all members of the group. 

Blaine manages to hear shouting from the figure whose mouth is no longer covered by a hand and which shows a handkerchief covering their mouth with the insignia of a cornacopia on it, “Fuck you and your crew! We’ll clean up your dirty acts soon you!...” and that is all the figure manages before the member of the group that held them is able to get a good grip on them and covers their mouth again. The member of the three that was previously talking, who Blaine now assumes is the one taking point, punches the hooded figure. This causes Blaine to stiffen and almost without thinking, she summons a fireball in her palm which steadily grows as she watches the scene in front of her. 

“Shut it gooder!” the boss member hisses, “Why don’t we show you we are serious? Maybe your dead body will finally encourage this little campaign you got going to step forward and actually confront me.” With this, they step back and nod towards the member that holds the glowing dagger. This member nods in turn and steps towards the once again struggling hooded figure, before raising the dagger. 

Blaine cannot take anymore, “Hey!” she yells, stepping fully into the entrance of the alley. The large fireball now sitting in her hands lights her face in a dramatic way and shows her anger. “Catch!” she calls out as she chucks the ball towards the three members of the group and the hooded figure. The one holding the figure yelps and drops them, leaping out of the way. This knocks the one with the dagger into the giant fireball’s path which hits them head on. They yell as it comes into contact with them, burning their clothes and charring a portion of their chest. They take large, pained breaths for a few moments until they finally drop their dagger and fall unconscious. The boss member looks towards Blaine who already has another fireball at the ready. “If I were you,” she starts, bouncing the fireball between her hands, “I would grab your friends and leave while you still can.”

The leader of the three hisses a quick command at the one that was previously holding the hooded figure. Together, they pick up their fallen partner before heading towards the entrance of the alley. Blaine moves to the side as they approach, giving them room to leave, but still holding her summoned fireball between herself and the three of them. As they finally reach the street, the boss turns back to Blaine and growls out, “You’ll regret this. You just made a bad enemy today, dragonborn.” The three hurry away into the night. Blaine sighs and releases the tension she held in her body. She drops the fireball which dissipates mid-air, as she turns back into the alley to see if the hooded figure needed any help. 

Instead, she turns around to see two different colored eyes staring straight at her, studying her. She sees green-toned skin and dark hair streaked with white. And most prominently, a large flaming sword in this person’s grasp that was pointed straight at her:

[Image ID: An image of a person with a green hoodie on. They have one blue and one green eye. Their skin is light green in tone. They have long dark hair with white running through it and a braid on one side. They have pointed ears, and a slit in one eyebrow. They wear a handkerchief with a symbol of a cornucopia on it. They wear a teal colored necklace. They are holding a sword which is covered in fire.]

Blaine automatically puts up her hands, taking in a sharp breath and looking over this figure. The person wore dark colored jeans that were a loose fit, hiking boots, a dark green hoodie, and a lighter green bandana with a cornucopia that covered the bottom half of their face. Their dark hair streaked with white tumbled out of their hood and had a braid on one side. The two stood looking at each other for a long time, before Blaine decides to break the silence. 

“Hey… um, sorry for scaring you if I did. I just heard a shout? And thought maybe I could help. Didn’t really want anyone to get hurt, y’know I actually work with people to prevent that on a day to day basis, kinda a self-made job really…” she lets her sentence fade with a nervous and awkward laugh. The person in front of her blinks a few times, their hold on the sword shifting but not lowering at all. 

The person finally speaks, their eyes narrowing, “You’re telling me you weren’t with those thugs? You aren’t part of the Gindilian Gang?” they question, sword moving slightly closer to where Blaine is worried the fire might burn her. 

“What? What… no?! I don’t even…” she pauses and thinks a moment before continuing, “I think maybe I heard about them on the news? They’ve been more of a nuisance and… more active lately right?” she questions, the person in front of her giving her a slight nod but still looking suspicious. “But… but no! I do the complete opposite of being in a gang, I run a self-defense course not far from here actually! You don’t have to trust me, I mean, I doubt we’ll meet again, and it’s not like I’m planning to go to the cops or anything, but can you at least believe me enough to not hurt me with that?” she gestures with her head towards the still alight blade practically in her face. The person stares at Blaine some more, trying to judge her intent. Eventually they seem to find their answer and opens their hand, allowing the blade to drop slightly before it dissipates, much as Blaine does with her fireballs. Blaine lets out a short sigh, before stuttering out a startled response as the person moves past them to leave the alley, “Wait! You… you’re okay right? And you’re just going to leave that there?” she gestures to the dagger still glowing faintly on the ground.

The person glances back with a smile that shows in their eyes, “You seem smart, why don’t you keep that. Just know that if you do anything bad with it, and word reaches me, I will come find you. As for me?” they shrug, a playful lilt in their voice, “I’ll be okay. See you around… pal.” They slip off onto the street and quickly moves away from sight as Blaine stands a bit shocked. As she recovers, she glances down at the dagger which has a slight green glow. She bends down and picks it up, testing the weight in her hands. She does a few quick moves with it, before smiling. She swings her backpack around and opens it, finding her spare change of clothing, she wraps her new dagger up before replacing it in the bag and closing it. She shifts the bag back onto her back before heading back out of the alley and heading home as she intended to before. She can’t help but think of the events that happened as she falls asleep that night. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blaine kept the encounter she had in the alley in her mind as weeks passed by. She expressed the importance of self-defense in her classes even more, never revealing exactly what she had experienced, but alluding to it when some of her clients would not take the classes very seriously. She was more alert than ever when traveling around town, especially at night, wondering whether she may run into something like what happened in the alley again. Mira took notice of her caution, asking if she was alright. Blaine would always give a quick answer before all but running out of the door. 

Now, it was a little after two months after the events in the alley, and Blaine was in her office in the back of the studio where she held classes. She sighs, her head held in her hand and clicks on her phone. She scowls as she sees it is now past midnight. Blaine shuffles the papers she was working on regarding finances and customers and puts them neatly away in her desk before gathering her things and stepping into the main lobby area of the building. Mari wasn’t there and it was dark, which made sense considering how late it was. Blaine locked her own studio’s door before heading to the main entrance, pulling out the main door’s keys that Mari gave her for such circumstances. She locked the door behind her, and nodded to herself when she checked to be sure it was for sure locked. Her eyes fell shut slightly as she walked, having not slept too well the night before with nightmares of enchanted daggers and death consuming her sleep. However, just as she was beginning to fall asleep on her feet, she is startled awake by a loud noise. 

Her eyes snap open to see two people darting towards her with lights flashing behind them. Yells and shouts sound from a group behind the two as they run. Blaine froze, not knowing what was going on, but as the two got closer, she recognized something that made her realize that this situation may be more familiar than she first believed. These two people in dark clothes, wore light green handkerchiefs with a cornucopia on them, which covered the bottom halves of their faces. 

Much too quickly, they were upon Blaine, both of them splitting to be on either side of her, and both grabbing one of her arms, dragging Blaine back a couple steps in surprise. Blaine quickly got to her senses and pulled herself away, spinning to face the two. They halt for a second in their running, turning to face Blaine. She quickly notices a few features regarding the two. They both were around the same height and had a bright red tone to their skin. They had dark black hair and horns curling behind their heads which were brightly decorated with jewelry. Their eyes were a deep purple, and they had tails which lagged behind them.

One of them shouts, in a more masculine voice, “We can’t explain, but you must run, now!”

The other chimes in with a more feminine voice, “Yes, unless you wish to be dead, come on!”

They both turn and begin running again. Blaine, looking behind her, did as well as the other group with the lights did not seem too far behind. She managed to catch up to the two dark-clothed people, just managing to keep up with them as they turned down alleys, jumped fences, and hid behind corners until finally they ran into an abandoned building. All was quiet for a few moments, save the breaths the three took, before a pounding of footsteps and shouting of threats passed by. After waiting a few minutes that seemed to stretch far too long, the two people Blaine was following let out twin sighs, signaling that the chase was apparently done. The two looked over to Blaine who was bent over catching her breath, and thinking about what she was once again caught up in. The two were whispering, Blaine not able to make out what it was they were saying. As she straightened, she caught the two looking further into the building, seemingly at nothing, before they look back at her in thought. 

Before any of them could say anything, a person appeared. To Blaine at least, that is entirely what it looked like. A halfling woman with orange hair and patches of different colored skin stood before the three. She looked at the two hooded figures and scolded, “You two not only got found by the Gindilian Gang, almost got caught, but you also managed to bring an un-inducted person to our base?”

One of the two, the one with the slightly more feminine voice, responded, “Well, they probably didn’t know it was our base until you said so Gwen!”

The one with the slightly more masculine voice chimed in, “Yeah, if anything YOU just revealed our base. What a leader, huh?”

The woman took a deep breath in, shutting her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. She was just about to retort, but before she could, another person appeared from halfway into the building. Blaine straightened at the appearance of this new person. Well not new to her. A half-elf stood who had a lighter green skin tone, and had one thing that Blaine would not have forgotten… two different colored eyes. They stared at Blaine for a few moments, before a smile twitched onto their face and they placed their hand on Gwen’s shoulder. Gwen stopped and looked up, ready to snap at whoever interrupted her before realizing who it was. She relaxed, but raised a brow at the half-elf who was looking solely at Blaine.

“Well pal,” they begin, “never truly thought I’d see you around again.” This draws a startled laugh out of Blaine which draws the attention of the other three in the room. 

One of the hooded figures, with a masculine voice, questions, “You know them?” not indicating who they were asking the question to. 

The half-elf ignores the question, stepping forward and offering a hand to Blaine who hesitantly takes it. They squeeze her hand and give it a firm shake before smiling, “Well, maybe it is time to induct some more new people. Especially since this one saved my hide and already knows where the base is.” They look to the people around the room who look slightly shocked but also encouraged at the news. Then, they turn back to Blaine with a wide grin, “So, what do you say, pal. Want to become a ‘gooder’?” Blaine’s eyes widen as she looks at the others. Gwen seems slightly shocked, but smiles at Blaine appreciatively , though Blaine does not understand why. The two figures remove their hoods and handkerchiefs revealing similar looking tieflings, one having part of their head shaved to mark a difference. Both are smiling at Blaine in excitement. 

Blaine looks back to the half-elf and gives her answer. “Well… I suppose why not? But first, what’s your name… pal?” She says this with a growing smile as she gets excited and intrigued by the events happening around her. 

The half-elf looks giddy before turning and motioning for them all to follow. They say over their shoulder, “The name’s Darjo, and more introductions can be made later. For now though… welcome to Bjarga.” Darjo steps further into the building and disappears. Gwen and the other two do as well. Blaine stares at where they all disappeared, before taking a deep breath, and plunging into the unknown.

[notninani]

Sir, your husband is a genius

[loveryoons]

El truco es volverse fuerte de corazón sin perder la ternura del alma

-Julio Cortázar

[octkipper]

OS CINCO!!!

[realidadposts]