Haylock

59 - Best Friend

Theo’s entire face lit up.

“I love fishing!”

“I—wait, you what?”

“I love fishing!” he repeated, half yell, half whisper. “I’ve never come acr...

58 - Divine Intervention

My eyes went wide as the reel and rod transformed.

A rushing of power came from my core, along with an almost unnoticeable nudge from the System, no doubt trying to spew incoherent nonsense a...

57 - She's Awake

“No...”

Unbidden, my hand shot out, discarding my almost-empty cup and catching the full cup of coffee with a single lightning-fast movement.

“No...” Maria sai...

56 - Interrogation

Theo stared the man down, waiting for a response.

George cleared his throat.

“Well, you see, the thing is...”

George gesticulated, searching for the correct word or phrase; Th...

55 - Crema

George closed his door behind him, letting out a sigh of relief.

Geraldine rushed him from behind, wrapping her meaty arms around him.

“That was wonderful, George—absolutely perfect...

54 - Eccentric

The sun was midway through the morning sky, its warm touch and a cool breeze highlighted by the silence that spread over the crowd.

George cleared his throat once more, closing his eyes to co...

53 - Fielday

Corporal Claws felt more than saw the changes to her body.

Her entire being expanded, shifting her perspective as it did so. Her claws grew, teeth sharpened, and muscles bulged, filling her w...

52 - Transformation

In a room long since abandoned by the god that created it, something miraculous occurred.

A construct whirred to life.

For centuries, this creation had lain dormant, lacking both the en...

51 - Willpower

The air thickened around me.

The chill morning breeze stilled, and the warmth from the sun seemed to vanish as if a cloud obscured it. I glanced up, seeing not a single cloud in the sky, then...

50 - Lobster

I’d seen Snips excited before, especially when waking me up, but the fervor with which she woke me this morning was at a previously unseen level.

She and Claws both led me toward the saltwa...

49 - Medicine

“W-what?” I asked, rather dumbly, by my estimation.

Corporal Claws and Sergeant Snips both turned to me, their eyes going wide.

They had excavated the pond further. It was twice aga...

48 - Confrontation

Sergeant Snips, first chosen of master Fischer, sentinel of these lands, and de facto leader of the local Rock Crab population, collected some rather lovely looking rocks.

She’d picked them...

47 - Confrontation

“No, Fischer—you lost!” Barry called back, exulting in the relief of knowing the fields wouldn’t wash away.

He bent down, picked up the single stalk of sugarcane that had been lifted ...

46 - Flood

I woke from a wonderful dream, one in which I was surrounded by a veritable sanctuary of animals.

My legs were inexplicably warm, and I opened sleepy eyes, glancing down toward them.

Co...

45 - Taproot

Sergeant Snips scuttled beneath the waves surrounding Tropica, searching.

The moon high above shone its light down atop her, brightening the sea floor.

Despite the myriad benefits of he...

44 - The Plan

Barry’s face scrunched in obvious disgust as the oyster’s flavor and texture hit him.

He bit down a single time, and his disappointment only deepened.

He swallowed it whole, his who...

43 - Lemons

In a long abandoned room, high in the capital city of Gormona’s castle, a construct sat among a sea of similarly forgotten relics.

Despite there being no-one present, not a single pair of e...

42 - Pulse

I removed the hanger from the forge when it glowed red, just as Fergus had suggested.

He passed his pliers, and I started shaping it.

I started with a smaller hanger, not wanting to was...

41 - Another Task

With Sergeant Snips and Corporal Claws napping peacefully in the sun, I made my way toward the fields.

Those two really did a number on themselves by working all night.

As soon...

40 - Claws

Barry sat straight-backed, his legs crossed before him as the sun started to peek over the eastern horizon.

“This was such a good idea, Barry,” Maria said.

Roger harrumphed from the...

39 - Approval

I stopped my hand before it got too close to the otter as I realized what I was doing.

Noticing my outreached hand from the corner of its eye, the otter turned from the crab, giving me a ques...

38 - Soft Fur

“A pond?” Roger spat the word, turning it into a curse.

“That’s right—a pond.”

Maria peered down at the hole, curiosity etched on her features.

“What d...

37 - Neighbors

Maria’s body struck mine, whisking my thoughts away.

I hadn't realized how much I’d been missing physical touch, and my heart seemed to jump at the impromptu embrace.

Her toned form...

36 - Solution

As was becoming a welcome part of my morning routine, I woke up to a crab looming over me.

Sergeant Snips tapped my nose delicately with her claw, blowing bubbles that were instantly recogniz...

35 - Insufficient Power

Sergeant Snips, best friend and protector of Fischer, huffed on the shore as she glared at where the otter had disappeared, daring it to show its face once more.

The otter seemed different, a...

34 - Fun

As I took one last sweeping stroke with the file, the reel seemed to transform.

It shrunk and smoothed out infinitesimally, the change so minute that I hoped the brothers wouldn’t notice. 2023-07-18 10:57:21 +0000 UTC View Post

33 - Collar

“What in Apollo’s delicate lute are you planning behind that toe-like face, Trent?”

Trent, first-in-line to the throne, and only marginally resembling a toe by his reckoning, closed his...

32 - Fischer's Cooking

Trent, the first-in-line to the throne of Gormona, wiped his sweaty palms on his velvet pants.

It didn’t help.

He sat in a waiting room, his slow brain churning at an entirely unusual...

31 - Extraordinary

With the midday sun beaming down, I held on for dear life.

The fish on the other end of my rod swam away in a straight line, the momentum of its body gliding away above the ocean floor. Its w...

30 - Hubris

I crouched, creeping across the sands as I approached my quarry.

The morning was the coldest yet, an icy breeze kicking up and petering out in the pre-dawn light, but I barely felt the chill,...