《Druidification》Chapter 139
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Natalie shot awake as soon as the fade to black ended, and sat straight up. While the dream itself felt like it took no more than ten minutes, the sun was already rising and shining through the open door of the tent. Every night, she set the tent up with an opening facing east. It was a habit she picked up from her parents, who always rose and slept with the sun. Their whole family treated it as an alarm clock of sorts, and that was a difficult habit to break in university, since she had to wake up before the sun most days in the winter to be able to get to class on time. As she remembered these memories, she was suddenly greatly worried for the child in her dream. If they did exist, then their memories from this event would probably stick with them for the rest of their life. Instead of going and sitting with the coyotes, she sat on a chair that was set up beside the now extinguished fire pit.
Lucille and Edwin both saw her come out, but were surprised that she did not come straight over to them as she always had. Worried, Edwin started to make his way over before his mate put her hand on his shoulder. Turning his head, he saw that she was shaking her head, implying not to go over. As he took one last look at their Alpha, he noticed that she seemed to be deep in thought and worried, but it was almost entirely undirected. She spent most of the time just staring north, a distant look filling her eyes. Understanding most of what his mate was trying to tell him, he turned back and continued the watch while the three of them worked through their finishing stretches.
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They kept going until Shannon stumbled out of the tent, groggy as ever. She was not a morning person, nor had she gone to sleep early either. This had left the coyotes doing their stretches for almost two hours like the group had done last night. However, the three of them actually planned for that. They saw how Shannon made everyone stretch for that long and that thoroughly, and figured she must have a decent reason as to why. After all, Lucille observed every decision that their Alpha's mate made, and checked to see whether or not they were helpful. So far, except for the couple times where she was just doing it to tease Nat, everything she had gotten others to do had worked out to their benefit. There was not blind trust though, and probably never will be. But what was there between the two was a willingness to communicate and understand both what the other person was saying and what they were trying to achieve.
Instead of sitting down beside her lost in thought partner, Shannon instead went over to talk with the coyotes. They first talked about what they did, what they felt was working, what they did not find to be helpful as of yet. Then they started going through and planning the next exercise plan for them to go through. Comparatively to the rest of the pack, the three of them were currently falling behind physically, but it was hard to just dedicate their time to training. After all, there were only the three of them that were currently available to keep watch. Going forward, they were going to try and split the night into shifts, minimizing all of their time keeping vigilant while at the same time maximizing the time that they would spend improving. Edwin would take the first of the three shifts, followed by Copper and then Lucille.
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This plan got shifted though when Tin came out of the Soulscape in her shifted form and embraced her mate. Thanks to the exercising and watch duties, as well as nursing their pups, they had not had much time to spend together. However, last night she had apparently fed them only meat and there were no issues. She had checked with Nat, and they all got a green bill of health, allowing her to move about and help out as she had been. However, like all of the other mothers who had been nursing, she was clumsy and had difficulty walking around. None of them had experienced the shifted forms before, and were only able to pay attention to the exercises and advice only some of the time they were inside the Soulscape. Thus, until she caught up with the other three who kept watch at night, she would be spending the time working out entirely without having to pull a shift herself.
During this discussion, Nat came over and wrapped her arms around her lover, cuddling up together as they stood and talked. She only butted in when they were talking about what to do with the coyote pups that were now able to walk, roam, and explore. "Train them out here with all of you. As far as teaching and educating young canines, this time period in their growth is when they are the most receptive to outside stimuli, as well as willing to try anything. Get them started now, and they will continue with it easily, though that goes for both good and bad habits." Copper, Tin and Shannon looked at her skeptically, but when Edwin and Lucille backed her up, they all accepted her idea. It just meant that night watch was about to get a hell of a lot more lively compared to how it had been. Trying to teach six coyote pups on how to walk, stand and work out while keeping them on task would not be a pleasant time, but with two sets of adults, one who had already experienced pups, it was an obtainable goal.
As everyone woke up and breakfast was brought out, today was a carb heavy meal for breakfast. For the past bit, the main focus had been on protein, but there had to be balance. Blueberry pancakes were made over top of the flame, alongside bits of bacon and sausage. It was well received though, and over a hundred flapjacks disappeared into the guts of the pack. As everyone started to clean up and get things packed, Nat pulled Shannon aside. Before she could be asked what was up, Nat blurted out, "I had another one of those dreams. And it involved a kid."
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Where It All Began
On the eve of the apocalypse, Eva finds herself confined to a clearing in the woods with only her clothes on her back. Staring her down is a goblin armed and ready to fight. Eva will have to survive not only the goblin, but also gain enough strength to confront the aliens responsible for bringing mana to Earth in the first place!
8 142Lonely Witch and Abandoned Child
Anindhita, seorang penyihir yang menguasai berbagai sihir, memutuskan untuk tinggal di hutan di akhir misinya. Bertahun-tahun kemudian Anindhita memutuskan untuk merawat seorang anak yang diserang di tengah jalan. Anindhita berusaha untuk merawatnya menyerahkan dan menyerahkannya kepada orang tua, namun kelucuan anak tersebut menjadi seorang ibu. Ikuti kisah petualangan Anindhita dan putrinya.
8 131Fallen Kingdom
An experiment. Alone. Will this continue? maybe? This can end if I want. In the ruins of an fallen empire, someone awakes.
8 174The Infinite Resurrections of Ray Mc'Lore
[You died from taking a poison dart] [Skill ‘???’ activates] [You have stolen +2 AGI; +5 STR; +10 PHY from your killer] [You obtained Poison Resistance] [Ressurecting to your last check point] One day, strange monoliths appeared all over the world, creating gateways to pocket spaces filled with monsters. These monoliths were later named dungeons. Those who touched these monoliths gained supernatural powers and also access to stats and attributes. It was called System. Within a year, society collapsed as a new one stood from its ashes. Several years later, in a remote dungeon, a young man sees a bunch of weird texts floating before his eyes just before death claimed him, thereby changing his life forever. --- AN: inspirations are taken from a few Korean novels. It is my firts time writing so please go easy on me.
8 167Yin-Yang
Mages in North America seem to have it all – typically from well-off families, and able to manipulate their environment in ways most of the world would never believe. They don’t even have to bother with the mundane details of life like housework, thanks to their sensitives, who also make a useful source for extra magical energy. After all, sensitives have no use for it themselves, and if mages weren’t meant to make use of it, then the sensitives would obviously have some way to prevent that. That a mage can transform a sensitive physically, with no restrictions beyond overall mass and basic biological viability, whereas magic tends not to work directly on any other living thing, is only further proof. And look at the way they live on their own, barely a step above animals. It’s better for them to belong to a mage. Sensitives in North America live on the edge of society and survival – typically so paranoid they avoid hospitals and anything else that could lead to being tracked, many of them with little or no education and no legal identity or existence. Mages exist, and mages want sensitives for some reason, but no one ever comes back to explain what that reason is. Waiting every day for the hunters to notice them doesn’t lead to much motivation or hope for the future. And once they’re captured, they’re the property of someone with a terrifying amount of power over them. Anything is better than capture. Mages are born to be the masters, and sensitives are born victims. Or are they? Jax’s life is turned upside-down when he’s caught by the hunters and sold to a mage. Andreas is still mourning for his previous sensitive, though, unconsciously creating a difficult standard for Jax to live up to, all the more so while still struggling to come to terms with this new reality as Andreas’ sensitive. A runaway sensitive isn’t what Van expects at the mental health centre. Is this a hunter trap, set for him and the rest of the Donovan family by the hunters? The hunters would, after all, love to see them cross the line openly and finally do something they can be charged with. Either way, Miranda’s genuinely in trouble, and he can’t just abandon her to it. Snatching a sensitive out from under the hunters and hiding her is odd behaviour for a mage – but then, Catherine is an odd mage, living in disgrace in the old servants’ quarters of her grandmother’s house, responsible for cooking and housework. Lila owes Catherine her freedom; is there a way to help Catherine achieve her own, and at what price? Tension is building between traditionally-minded mages and those advocating change, and something has to break. *** Yin-Yang includes a small amount of profanity and no graphic sex or on-screen physical violence. However, sex and gender roles and relationships within the mage/sensitive subculture are non-traditional in mainstream North American terms. The key criterion in a primary relationship is not relative sex or gender, but the pairing of mage and sensitive; given the transformation of sensitives by their mages, physical sex is non-absolute for a sensitive, and gender identity can vary as in anyone else. *** *** The way mages treat sensitives is extremely varied and, in some cases is outright abusive. The struggle against that is pretty much the point of the book. It is NOT grimdark or misery-porn! However, if you will be triggered by this, please, don't read Yin-Yang! *** Complete stand-alone novel, 153K words! Also available on Scribble Hub and as a free ebook.
8 151Random Book 5
What the tiles said
8 194