#fff61

A/N: here’s a tale featuring Titanrin, master and savvy pirate! How they did something no pirate would do and they are not sorry for it.

Word Count: 990

TW: None

***

A ship positions itself near a docks, it's black sail waving in a quick wind. It opens up as some members of a crew carry boxes while crossing it, putting them down on the wooden floor. It would go to a market, where it bustles with excitement from customers and sellers obtaining something new with money.

The rowdy group in the corner was debating whether to order the Flaming Mango shots. The oldest of the group—blonde hair, worry lines already forming—was nodding along, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. The one in the red space jacket got up, slapping the other on the shoulder, and headed for the bar. He inadvertently dragged the rest of the group along with him, leaving the kid clutching the drinks menu. As the others trailed out of sight, his knuckles turned white and he let out a few shaky breaths before waking himself in the face with the plastic menu.  

The old man at the bar ordered another whiskey and tried to ignore that tingle in his spine. He’d felt the nudge.

“I’m not getting involved,” he muttered to his whiskey. The bartender kept wiping down the bar, well used to the old geezer’s speeches to his drinks. “It’s not my problem.”

He glanced over at the kid who was in a vicious cycle of trying not to hyperventilate, and then trying not to be obvious about it, which just caused him to hyperventilate more.

The old man sighed into his whiskey. “Jason, get me a beer.”

Prompt by  @flashfictionfridayofficial​ ☾

This week’s prompt was really inspiring, and I must admit it was very hard for me to not write more than 1000 words! 

This time I decided to write about my d&d monk, he’s one of my favourite original characters ever.

What does the word “freedom” mean to him? Let’s find out together!

Word Count: 985

The wind was howling, blowing through the trees and through his hair.

Is this what Freedom sounds like?

Drest, sitting on one of the stone walls of the monastery's cloister, was wondering what the correct answer to that question was.

Of course, his brothers had always protected him, since they found him, still a baby, on their doorstep.

But... was that enough?

Everyday he speculated about his parents' identity, and the fact that they might not be human at all: he had two horns growing out of his head and scales on his skin, after all. So it was highly possible that at least one of them was some sort of dragon-like creature.

Maybe there was a place, out there, waiting for him, full of people of his own kind... whatever that meant. He didn't like thinking of the monastery as a cage, it wouldn't have been fair. It was, indeed, his home, and he didn't want to leave it. But, deep down, he just wanted to find himself.

"Hello, brother Kilyan. How are you feeling today?"

The boy, lost in thought, jumped a little bit, as he was brought back to reality.

It took a second to realize the man was talking to him. Kilyan was the name Drest had chosen for himself once he became a monk, but no one really called him by that name, only the other monks did.

"Good morning, brother Herion" he greeted him, cheerful as always, "I'm feeling great. I was just... thinking."

"Thinking about what?" he asked, a genuine curiosity in the tone of his voice.

"You know..." he shrugged " life, and its true meaning: what does it mean to be alive? Is this all we're destined to do, or is there more but we just don't know it yet? You know, normal things we all think about every day. Monk stuff."

Herion couldn't help it: he started laughing quite loudly.

"Yeah, sure... monk stuff."

"What's so funny?" Drest tilted his head in visible confusion.

"Nothing. I like the way you see the world. Like it has in store for you a big, beautiful new surprise each morning. Don't ever lose that" he tapped on the boy's nose with his index finger, turning around and leaving not long after.

The monk's words filled his heart with joy and hope, and he didn't even know why.

Suddenly, a dull, metallic sound: the gate had just been opened, and he knew what that implied.

He stood up immediately, starting to run towards that direction.

"Hey! Good morning!" he yelled, waving his arms in the air.

Her hair was of such a vivid red that anyone would have recognized her even from a mile away.

"Good morning, Elizabeth dear" as he heard one of his elder brothers greeting her, he didn't stop running and waving his arms in order to draw her attention.

She replied to the man with a smile, and then she finally turned to Drest.

"Oh" she giggled "hello, there!"

Her smile could light up a whole room- no, the whole monastery.

"Hi! How are you feeling? How's the city today? What brings you here?" he kept talking and asking questions, hoping that his embarrassment wouldn't be noticed.

"You sure have a lot of questions, don't you?" she looked at him with soft, sweet eyes, not even a hint of malice nor annoyance in her words.

"I'm just... curious" he was definitely blushing "and I really want to know what it's like out there" he pointed at the horizon, where the city was, just down the road that runs along the hill.

"Trust me, you're not missing much" she shook her head "anyway, I was sent here just for a small delivery. One of your elders, I can't remember his name, brother... Heren? Hiron? Oh, gods, it's right here, on the tip of my tongue, and yet I can't seem to remember..." she kept staring at the ground, twisting a strand of hair around her fingers.

"Herion! His name is Herion" the boy muttered.

"Exactly! Thank you! Brother Herion asked us to bring him some more apples, so I just picked some from the tree next to our house and brought them here. Nothing special, really."

"Sounds delicious! So, now what? Are you going back home right away?"

"No, not yet. There's something I have to do, first. Would you mind joining me?" she winked.

"Of course I'll join you, whatever that is!"

They both laughed.

"Just follow me, then."

She exited the monastery, and kept on walking into the woods. It was not a scary place, though, on the contrary: it was very welcoming and calm.

"This is where I come when I want to spend some time alone" she stopped at a particular tree, which Drest recognized to be an oak.

She proceeded to sit down in its shade, pulling out a couple of books from the basket she always carried around.

"Oh, so there's more than flowers in there!" Drest teased her.

"Yes, but don't tell anyone" she put her finger on her mouth "my father cannot know I'm stealing these books from his library."

"No worries. Your secret is safe with me."

As they were talking, he sat down next to her: his bare feet touched the grass, and he could see all the bugs and the tiny animals of the forest moving, getting closer to them. He observed them and embraced all the life forms that lived on the same planet as him. Just like someone that thought about "monk stuff" would do, without any doubt.

There, in the wild woods, alone with her, he felt whole.

To love and be loved, to immerse oneself in nature, holding hands with the most special person in the world, hoping that, someday, life would be made entirely of this, the purest kind of happiness.

It's always a pleasure to write with your prompts! Here's for this week: Wild and Free

That's my first attempt at verse (english isn't my first language) so I'd like to have your opinion!

In the wood in the dark

Word count: 111

How does it feel in the wood in the night,

When the wind is howling and the moon shines bright?

One way to know: go run among the trees

That whisper and shake through the chilling breeze.

Follow the bending branches and the fireflies.

Through your midnight journey they will be your guides.

You will see the shadows that flicker on the leaves,

Beware of the faes on their territories.

You will feel like the loir, sleeping in his hole

Safe and sound in the dark, away from the howl

And as strong as the bear that meander so near,

As swift as the wolf, as silent as the deer.

A whole hidden world has opened before you,

Go and taste the secrets revealed to so few!

But if you go running in the wood in the dark

“Don’t touch that.”

My hand stilled, hovering above the heap of dry twigs. “It’s getting colder. I just—”

“The fire will start itself,” said Hex. He did not look up from the cloak he was mending.

I scoffed, but did not argue. Sure enough, as soon as the false sun dipped out of the false sky, the false stars went on like a light switch...and so did our false little campfire.

I’d never get used to it, the way Hex could predict the ways of this strange place. Though to call it a place was hardly accurate. Places are things you can leave when you want to. But moments? Those are trickier.

I cast my eyes across the half-imagined setting around us. It would be a clearing, if time were a forest. It would be an island, if time were a sea. To my eyes, it looked like a jagged knife of rock poking out the middle of a vast desert. I had no idea what it looked like to Hex—only that what the two of us saw was never the same.

(Written for @flashfictionfridayofficial​‘s prompt: FFF61: Wild and Free. Set in the small offshoot of superheroverse. Enjoy!)

The threads in Kosi’s loom snapped to a halt. Kosi did not look up, but the embroidery across her shoulders started to shift, moving lower and thickening, going from delicate flowers to unbreakable coverage over her ribs.

 When Kosi finally speaks, she still doesn’t look Siren in the eye. “I trust you have figured out who Nekoma Kohari is.”

Siren shrugs and sits down. “It wasn’t that hard to guess.”

           “Reso says I can come home?” Kosi’s voice is tinged with sadness and her fingers twitch once.

           “He says you can go back to where you once lived, yes.” Siren says, leaning back to watch the shifting threads across Kosi’s back. They note the goosebumps fluttering along Kosi’s neck where her hair doesn’t cover. “He said specifically that he came because he didn’t really believe you died in the fire.”

           “They wouldn’t have found a body, that’s true.” Kosi whispers. They sit in silence for a while and when Kosi next moves, the loom starts moving again, it’s rhythmic thuds more subdued than usual.

           “You know, once I would have given anything to be able to go back there.” Kosi says, not looking up from her loom. The pattern forming across the loom has changed, colours darkening. Siren doesn’t look at Kosi’s face.

           “You don’t have to. You realise. You can stay and Aniko and Nocte can provide whatever other aid that Reso is seeking.” Siren keeps their voice soft and gentle. “As far as anyone is concerned, Nekoma Kohari died in that fire. None of us know a Nekoma Kohari. We can help Reso and then send him on his merry way.”

           “Is it weird that I want to take you up on that?” Kosi looks up and her eyes are wet with tears. “I just- I want to be free. I want to leave Nekoma Kohari dead. Like-“

           Kosi puts the loom down gently, then throws her hands across her eyes. “As Kosi- as Kosi, I can do more. I can weave things that have meaning and that make a difference and protect people. I can make things pretty and I can- I don’t know it’s like the entire House of Night right, like I can make beautiful things because they’re beautiful? Because I want to experiment with thread and I know that what I’m doing helps other people? And all in a way that I never could, not as Nekoma. Because I believe in what the House tries to fight for and I like to see how everything I make makes a difference. And it means more, and Nekoma. Past Nekoma would hate that I’m leaving Reso behind. That I’m leaving the rest of my family behind because hey, we all got hurt and scared and just. I don’t know.”

           Siren looks at Kosi with the grace of someone who has also had to grow up too fast.

             “It’s the difference between surviving and living, huh?” Siren says when Kosi finally stops and just throws her hands up.

             “Yeah.” Kosi says after a long pause.

             “I’ll tell Reso that we wish him luck in finding Nekoma then.” Siren stands up. Kosi turns to stare at them.

           “But I’m right here.”

           Siren quirks an eyebrow. “I only see Kosi.”

             They tuck their staff back into their coat with one smooth motion and leap off the railing to land below the balcony on their own balcony.

             Kosi sits there for a while before she shakes her head and starts laughing.

             Where dead people live, indeed.

Eyyy so idk why @flashfictionfridayofficial but you havent noticed my past few submissions. its probably bc i post them pretty late but idk :p

word count: 356

***

The twilight was radiant and stunning, just like it had always been.

He flapped his wings and headed toward the blinding sunset, his black feathers basking in its warmth. The bustle passing below him faded away as he soared faster through the dim sky. Seeing the horizon underneath his gaze, soaring around the towering buildings and the small spots of trees; feeling the chilly wind against him—it was something he could never get tired of.