Yes, after 5 or so months of not drawing, bunny!Rainer is all I could come up with. You’re welcome.

Unchibi’ing ftw? I dunno, I was sketching.

“There’s Something in this Basket…”

Rainer and Caspian finally get a chance to have a nice meal, and what does Bit do? Perches himself in the bread bowl, of course! Where else is a drakeling to find a little warmth? Honestly. They just can’t take him anywhere.

Cas is hoping nobody looks over and screams about the ‘lizard’ chillin’ in their bread basket. Rainer is more concerned with the lack of tiny dragon crying, however. Those breadsticks are stale anyway.

(Original photo is not mine. xD I meant to snap one the last time were at Olive Garden but I forgot. <3)

“That’s a Dragon?”

Very few knights have even faced a dragon (and lived), but Rainer is luckier than most—he has his own. :D The gray-green lump on his gorget is a drakeling that found its way into his pack. All attempts to get rid of it have failed; it either bites the person reaching for it or, better still, burns their hand. (Ten or so burns later, Rainer is still trying to misplace the thing.) Milady theorizes that his being tall and armored had convinced the drakeling that the knight is his mummy. He is strangely underwhelmed by the prospect.

The very poisonous and somewhat whiny little pyromaniac is nicknamed Little Bit—because it isn’t dangerous. (Or if it is, “it’s just a little bit”. XD) Bit likes Rainer more than Rainer likes him.

“What is this?”

The boy in the stall turned terribly white. Perhaps I was too forceful in asking. “Nothing illegal, Milord,” he sputtered. I noticed him nudging something under the counter. (And I chose to ignore it.) He smiled tensely up at me. “They’re all my master’s work—he’s a licensed Enchanter. I just sell them, I swear!”

I rubbed my eyes. It was the plate; it always set people scrambling. “I’m not witch-hunting,” I sighed, pointing to the stones framed and mounted on that side. “I’m making an inquiry.”

He relaxed, and leaned to inspect them. Of all the charms and trinkets dangling from the many hooks and frames, they were the least impressive; plain flat stones, engraved with winding shapes. “You mean these ward runes?”

“…What is a ‘ward’?”

“It’s spell-protection for travelers, to guard from misadventure. Water-repellants to protect armor from rusting, wind-buffs to banish the cold—”

“So they ‘ward off’ the elements.”

“Mostly…”

“‘Mostly’?”

“Er—that is, if you fall in a lake, a water-ward won’t keep you dry. But rain won’t soak through warded armor. Protection from limited sources, you see.”

I fingered a stone, contemplating. Useful for travelers, to be sure. And yet… “Do they guard against spells?”

He blinked. “Elemental magic, certainly, provided they’re direct. Ice, fire—”

Fire? I glanced over my shoulder at Caspian’s back. Tempting. But— “—Lightning?”

“Of course, Milord! No one wants to be struck by lightning!”

I shuddered. No truer words. The memory of that spell crackling over my skin was all I needed to fetch out my purse. “A lightning-ward, then.” True enough, I might never have crossed that witch again—if the Powers were merciful—but I was not willing to gamble it. And foresight was a virtue I could afford to practice.

—Rainer’s rationalization on 6 Sols lost to a charm-peddler

[A part of the 30 Days of Writing drabble project]
Also See: The Edge of Reason

xandra-sama:

Topic: Various bits and pieces from the Unnamed Story.
Goal: to complete and stay under 300 words for all prompts.

Instead of writing parts of the story itself, I’m going to try to show different perspectives and situations, both of and about its characters. Those that are NSFW or feature yaoi content will be posted to Panda After Dark and linked back. Updated prompt and drabble list below.

PROMPTS:

beginning. - The Flower - A lost journal page. 199 words.

accusation. - The Word - A single syllable. 300 words.

restless. - Haunted - Of power and fear. [Yaoi content.] 294 words.

snowflake. - Frigid - A witch attack documented. 290 words.

haze. - The Edge of Reason - A man speaks of death. 239 words.

flame. - The Phoenix - Without mercy. [Violent imagery.] 299 words.

formal. - A Scandal! - A solemn event infiltrated! 160 words.

companion. - On Belonging - Freedom can be hollow. 285 words.

Read More

Still on it! Completed drabble list so far!

There is something to be said for being alone. You haven’t to care for anyone but yourself, and all decisions can be made on a whim. You can travel as far as you like, and rest whenever you please, be hasty, and reckless, and no one of substance will suffer. You can be free.

But there is a certain emptiness to that sort of freedom. I never realized how much until I was no longer free—and no longer empty.

Until then, I could not find comfort with people. I could adapt to their quirks for a time and become, under pretense, the person they would best respond to. But I never truly connected with them. Never really belonged anywhere. Even traveling with the others, I felt out of place…but it wasn’t as out of place as I usually felt. Perhaps it’s because none of us belong anywhere.

A knight with no confidence, and no cruelty, and no pride.

A noblewoman with no wealth, and no selfish intentions.

A warrior with no master, no qualms, and no fear.

And a witch with no memory, no place, and no future.

I didn’t set out looking for friends; I’m not even certain I know what friends are. But as we travel down the road, and Milady regales us with her innocent fancies, Reece leading Evangeline guardedly by the reins, and Rainer casting his monstrous shadow over my back—I find myself not quite at home, but at peace all the same.

I am incomplete…a man with no fate. No name. But here, among those cast out, broken and lost, I find that I belong. And there is something to be said for that, too.

—A page from a leather-bound journal, etched with a Flame rune

[A part of the 30 Days of Writing drabble project]

The Binding of Lady Seniya Dalmaros and Lord Thamos Alraan was disrupted today by a band of vagrants, masquerading as relatives to gain entry to the proceedings. While nothing of value was lost, the families hold this intrusion as an affront, and have offered a reward for their capture.

The imposters are described as a red-haired girl wearing ribbons, a dark male witch with facial markings, a matronly Alderon wardame, and a tall knight with prominent scars along his jaw. Family patriarch, Grandmaster Nephrim Alraan, encourages any who have seen these bandits to report their movements to the Temple, so that they might be apprehended.

The Bound, however, spoke kindly on the interlopers’ behalves. Lady Seniya herself admitted to knowledge of the seeming deceit, but “played along” out of sympathy for the band. The Arcane Guard is investigating.

Merida and Raksil Dalmaros—whom the girl and witch impersonated—were not in attendance. No word on their feelings regarding the event.

—Ras’tal Major-Cryer Barmeritus, on the Dalmaros-Alraan Binding Ceremony

[A part of the 30 Days of Writing drabble project]

The Grand Lunastice: that night, every decade, when the Moon draws closest to the earth. The night when the barrier between worlds grows thin, and the gifts of Her children—the Touched—reach greatest focus. The night when those who’ve left us return from the Otherworld…and those who fear suffer their horrors in crystalline clarity.

Read More…

[A part of the 30 Days of Writing drabble project]