inventrix | Entries tagged with faepoc

Leofric clicked off the television and stretched, the motion gently dislodging a protesting Sayuri from his shoulder. "Sorry, neko-chan," he said, scratching his cat behind her indignant white ears. "I can't spend the whole day watching anime with you, you know?" Summer vacation was nearing an end, but it wasn't over yet. Even if he had finished all of his preparation for upcoming classes and was left with nothing to do except watch anime.

Sayuri purred in response, rubbing her head against his hand before hopping onto the floor and sauntering away.

Ten minutes later, he closed the door behind him and stepped out into the street, heading for Doomsday and the dojo. ( Read more... )

Leo strolled down the street, humming cheerfully to himself as he headed for the city pastures. It was a beautiful late spring evening; perfect for taking a long walk outside. Cya was still busy managing city things and he had nothing much to do most of the day (what with school being out of session) - and he was always up for doing her a favor. Plus, he hadn't actually met her new Kept, yet. He'd heard about him... despite Cya's best efforts, it seemed. He was being difficult; Luke owed her big time; stuff like that.

All of which just made him more curious. Stepping through the archway to the pasture area, he looked over towards the sheep flock. Cya said he'd be... aha. Tall, blonde, and from the set of his shoulders, resentful. That looked about right.

( Read more... )

( for Lyn )

TW: self-harm, thought of suicide

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The trader hadn't been to the town before, but they were friendly to strangers - friendly enough, at least, to consider his goods. He had plenty to trade, and plenty of interest in what they had to offer, and was completely willing to overlook any overtones of wariness in their treatment of him.

"And if you want, I'll pay for these with real currency." The trader waved a handful of colorful slips of paper. Money was a rarity and in most places, unless it was their own money, worthless. But Cloverleaf - the city whose money the trader was waving around - was growing, in size, trade and influence, and some places were starting to take clovers as payment. It was convenient, and the city merchants and residents all took it...

This town was skeptical, but the mayor (who greeted all their visitors) took a few of the bills to look at. And as she looked at the faces printed in colored ink on the papers, she suddenly went very still, her face going a shade paler.

"This." She held out a single clover bill. "Who is this?"

"Who?" The trader was surprised at the question. "I don't know, I heard they're all the founders of the city."

"I see." She stared at the money a moment longer. "Maybe this will come in useful, after all."

( it's a Leo thing )

Leo looked at his oldest Students, kneeling patiently across from him, and took a moment further to collect his thoughts.

"As you know," he finally began, "the 'games' between us and the other schools are coming up. It's safe to assume this will be your first experience in real combat."

The students just barely avoided glancing at each other at that.

Leo smiled faintly. "Go ahead, you don't have to be formal today."

"I thought this was supposed to be some kind of sports competition?" Edie asked.

"A competition, yes," Leo answered slowly. "But the other schools have a different idea of what 'sports' means. You're safest assuming it's going to be a real battle."

"But in real battles they're trying to kill you," Blair protested, ignoring her neighboring cy'ra's elbow and muttered "hush".

"As I said." Leo looked solemnly at them all. "The other schools aren't going to play nice or fight fair. This is not the time to worry about good sportsmanship."

"But..." She frowned. "But surely killing another student would at least mean their team would lose. They wouldn't--"

Leo cut her off with a curt gesture. "There are lots of ways you can fight with murderous intent without the risk of actually killing anyone. Knowing your opponent is skilled or tough enough to survive, for example. Or being ordered by your Keeper not to kill anyone. They might not kill you, but they can hurt you - and your teammates - very badly. So again. Assume this is going to be a real battle."

This time, they all nodded, looking various degrees of apprehensive.

It was a good start, Leo decided.

"Sir."

Dr. Stein looked up from his desk without putting down his pen. Merce, along with the rest of his Students, were standing in front of his desk - had been, in fact, for almost half a minute before Merce had spoken. They were attentive, respectful, and for the most part, a little nervous. Nothing of note there.

"Yes?"

"The inter-school games are coming up, sir." Merce seemed to have been appointed cy'ree spokesperson today. "We were hoping you might have some advice."

Dr. Stein sat back, placing the pen down on top of his papers. "Of course I have advice," he said matter-of-factly, flicking a brief glance over his Students and waiting.

It took disappointingly long - almost three seconds - before any of them got past blank confusion. "Um, actually," Kevan said, "we were hoping you might give us some advice."

"Very good." The corners of Dr. Stein's mouth turned up in the faintest suggestion of a smile. "You remember my advice, 'know your team'?"

His Students nodded.

"Good. That is still my first piece of advice: know your team. Know how they think, how they feel, how they act and react. Where their metaphorical buttons are and how hard they need to be pushed. Know what strategies and responses your teammates will give before they know themselves."

He paused, glancing over them again to be sure they were still paying attention.

"My second piece of advice is: know your enemy, like you know your team. If you do - if you know them better than they know themselves - you are virtually guaranteed to win."

"But sir." Kevan spoke up again. "How are we supposed to know all that? We aren't going to meet them at all until the games."

Dr. Stein looked at him and smiled. (To their credit, only one of his Students visibly cringed.) "Well then, you'll need to learn very quickly."

a brief sketch (no not the drawing kind)

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After Celebrity

Leo didn't trust that asshole vampire at all. He didn't know if Cya did – why she'd allowed him to wander freely around the city – but he didn't. Thus, as soon as he'd met the asshole in the street (being friendly, because it never hurts to have your enemies underestimate you) he'd taken what he considered to be appropriate measures.

So when a young woman visited one of the city doctors, complaining of tiredness and I must have blacked out, I don't remember, the doctor immediately sent for the guards. And the guards immediately sent for Leo. And once the young woman confirmed in some confusion that yes, she had met a man meeting that description, he'd seemed charming, Leo went to find Dysmas.

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response to this

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Written as a thematically similar partner to this in appreciation of her most recent Patreon story.

“I know who I want for a Mentor,” Helda announced with the adamant confidence of a thirteen-year-old as she danced into the room.

( Read more... )

( for Lyn )

( For Lyn )

Leofric stared down his blade at his opponent, ignoring the rain water dripping down his hair and into his eyes. He had managed to chase it down to this dead-end alley and had it backed into a corner. The tip of his sword was mere inches from its nose; as he knew well, creatures - and people - were most dangerous when cornered. A distant peal of thunder rumbled faintly through the air.

His opponent stared back, unblinking, and mewed.

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The sign changed again, adding the number sixty-nine to the bottom of the list. Leofric glanced down at the piece of paper in his hand: seventy-two, exactly the same as the last six times he'd looked.

Buying a car had seemed like a great idea at the time. He and Zita couldn't keep relying on Cya or her car being available to drive places, so he'd checked craigslist periodically for a few weeks until he found the perfect car (it was red!) for a few thousand, and bought it. That had all gone perfectly: it checked out as described, the transaction went effortlessly, and they made it back home in one piece.

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- - - - -

I wrote this, uh... two years ago, almost exactly, and always meant to keep going with it and never did. So yeah.

bit of a scene involving some NPCs from an RP

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Matt kicked the apartment door shut behind him, arms occupied by several bags of groceries. "Maybe someday, someone'll get the damn door when I knock."

"You got back just in time." Ben, his roommate, completely ignored the complaint and pointed at the television from his spot on the couch. "Look at this."

Matt put the bags on the kitchen counter and wandered back into the living room to see what was so exciting. The local news was on, showing aerial footage of what looked like a bunch of houses or a small town, completely covered in leafy green vines. "Kudzu moving north again?"

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Amaranth hissed quietly in frustration, folding her arms over her chest as the bidding continued going up. The slim, chestnut-haired woman looked wistfully at the current auction item: a pretty young man, with clear dark skin and darker hair, much too skinny but otherwise healthy. He would have been a perfect addition; she had so few boys. But, well, she couldn't be too surprised. Someone as pretty and docile as him was sure to be in high demand at this sort of thing, and her House wasn't exactly the wealthiest.

But this was the third time her limit had been outbid. Allowing herself another sigh, she looked past him at the last few people on the line-up. A man and two women. The man was out; he looked like an angry lumberjack, with the beard and muscles. Good for heavy manual labor. One of the women was also out; pretty and blonde with a figure that would be attractively curvy once she wasn't underfed, and trying very hard not to look terrified. Amaranth already had Delorah, who filled a similar niche - and what with the bidding wars today, she likely couldn't afford her.

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