Art, Stories, Screenshots, Dolls, and Stuff

Zalera: - My main is the larger image, my secondary main is the top left. - I have nine characters on this server. I didn't make a mistake. I have a second account. The catgirl at the bottom is the main on the second account.

#1 - "It's not too late, let's go."

Original Fiction/Knights of Naren

Rated G

He couldn’t believe his bad luck lately. Yesterday, it had rained hard enough that the ditch that ran through the slums had overflowed, putting his shack and his neighbors in thick, putrid water that ran out from the sewer system from the city proper. And the city certainly wasn’t going to help with that. Then today, he and his neighbors worked to modify the ditch and set up sandbags to keep the water out of their living space, leaving him covered in thick, slimy, stinky mud by mid-afternoon. It was slick enough that he had slipped and - trying to catch his fall - had landed in a way that hurt his wrist.

“Stop fidgeting.”

Alinash’s ear twitched at the command and his brows drew down. “I’m missing out on work tonight, Angel.”

The woman binding his wrist looked him up and down. “It’ll take a week to get all the mud off you. Sitting still while I try to heal you isn’t going to make you miss any more work than you would have already.” She humphed and added, “Speak to me about missing work tonight. I had to cancel my 6 o’clock for you. If it weren’t for Sirena calling in a favor I owed her, you’d be on your own.”

She was right on both counts. He wasn’t going to fool any of the city people with the way he looked and smelled right now. To make things worse, the wastewater had contaminated their clean water so he was going to have to make a trek out to the river path to truly get clean. And his mother had been the one to get him in to see Angel. While there were a fair amount of rogue mages in the slums, Angel was one of the few who knew anything about healing magic. He tried to hold still as she finished binding his wrist.

The healing itself was the fast part. She said a few words and her hands glowed a warm light yellow as she moved them around his wrist. The pain subsided gradually, and her hands dimmed.

“That’s all I can do for now. It isn’t fully healed, and I recommend leaving it wrapped up for a few days and not doing anything too strenuous. Got it?”

“Yeah, I got it. I can bath with this on, right?”

She paused, taking a moment to give him a pointed look. “I really hope you do. The binding will get wet, but it’ll dry. Just don’t take it off for a few days. You can leave now. I need to air out the stench so my 7 o’clock doesn’t get ill from the smell.”

He twitched an ear again, sure that Angel, a human, probably didn’t pick up on obvious signs of elf irritation but did it anyway as it made him feel better. He got up and left without saying another word.

His next stop would have to be the river, but as the river went directly through the middle of the city, he had to take the path around to a spot outside the city. The sun was already dipping low in the sky, and he had to hurry. His daughter, Ruby, was old enough to take care of herself, but he wasn’t comfortable leaving her alone at night yet, especially not after the past two days. She was supposed to be working on cleaning up the sleeping areas in the shack. If she hadn’t finished, he’d be stuck doing that tonight.

And with that thought, he figured a shortcut through the city would be in his favor. It would involve climbing a wall and staying out of sight by moving across the rooftops. There was an added benefit of possibly being able to find clean clothes along the way so he’d be able to walk back in something dry. He glanced down at his wrist. It felt fine. He started climbing.

As he moved from one roof to the next, he lamented the fact that it absolutely was going to cut into his work time for a second day in a row and tonight had the potential to be especially lucrative. He and Ruby had been watching a few houses in one of the well-off areas of the city, and with it being a religious holiday, many of those homes would be empty tonight while the occupants attended services at the temple.

He paused when he noticed some clothing put out to dry on a balcony railing nearby. It looked to be about his size. He made his way closer, listening for a moment before dropping down quietly from the roof to the balcony. He paused again, waiting to hear any noise from inside. Nothing. He moved quickly, grabbing a pair of pants and a shirt before scrambling back up to the roof. He folded them under his arm and continued.

He reached the river just as the sun was setting. He bathed quickly and washed his old dirty clothes as well as he could in the dimming light before donning his freshly stolen shirt and pants and heading back.

It was dark when he finally arrived home. Ruby sat on a clean, dry crate next to another larger clean dry crate, eating some bread and cheese she must have found while she was out — all of which was a pleasant surprise.

She spoke first, “How’s your wrist?”

“Healed. Are the beds done?” he asked as he took a seat on one of the other two clean, dry crates and helped himself to some of the bread.

“Yeah, Tinman and Slink got some palettes from one of the farms a few miles out. I had managed to steal some extra food from the market earlier so I traded some of it. I couldn’t find any blankets though, so we’ll have to do with the ones we had. I washed them this morning using some water Sirena had left over from washing her things. She said she got it from the river. They should be dry by the time we go to bed, but I think they still smell a bit. We’ll probably have to find replacements. Maybe we can find some tonight.” She took another bite of her bread.

“It’s too late. By the time we get there, the services at the temples will be ending, and people will be headed back home.”

“But you said they had parties after.”

He had told her that - mostly because she still worried about getting caught. The services were usually only an hour long. He knew an hour was plenty of time to break in and snag a few valuables from a house, but Ruby was still learning. He had planned on getting her there and out with plenty of time to spare. The last thing he needed was her fretting about how much time they had left.

And they did have parties, but— He frowned and looked at Ruby, “There’s no way to tell who’s going to the parties and who isn’t.”

“What if we leave right now? We can still make it. They’ll still be doing their holiday worship thing. It’s not too late! Let’s go!” She put down her bread and started getting up.