Theo’s entire face lit up.
“I love fishing!”
“I—wait, you what?”
“I love fishing!” he repeated, half yell, half whisper. “I’ve never come across another angler—you’re doing it so openly!”
I blinked rapidly, a smile spreading acro...
2023-07-18 11:18:21 +0000 UTC View PostMy eyes went wide as the reel and rod transformed.
A rushing of power came from my core, along with an almost unnoticeable nudge from the System, no doubt trying to spew incoherent nonsense at me.
The rod seemed to blur, then sharpen.
The bracket, which wasn’t yet properly att...
2023-07-18 11:17:47 +0000 UTC View Post“No...”
Unbidden, my hand shot out, discarding my almost-empty cup and catching the full cup of coffee with a single lightning-fast movement.
“No...” Maria said again, her voice tinged with grief.
Barry looked up at her second utterance, his eyes red wi...
2023-07-18 11:17:24 +0000 UTC View PostTheo stared the man down, waiting for a response.
George cleared his throat.
“Well, you see, the thing is...”
George gesticulated, searching for the correct word or phrase; Theo was happy to let him squirm.
While Theo rarely liked the reputation his profession held—t...
2023-07-18 11:17:05 +0000 UTC View PostGeorge closed his door behind him, letting out a sigh of relief.
Geraldine rushed him from behind, wrapping her meaty arms around him.
“That was wonderful, George—absolutely perfect!”
He kissed her on the forehead, delighting in the way her plump skin pressed back against ...
2023-07-18 11:16:45 +0000 UTC View PostThe sun was midway through the morning sky, its warm touch and a cool breeze highlighted by the silence that spread over the crowd.
George cleared his throat once more, closing his eyes to collect himself.
Poor bloke, I thought. For someone with debilitating soc...
2023-07-18 11:16:12 +0000 UTC View PostCorporal Claws felt more than saw the changes to her body.
Her entire being expanded, shifting her perspective as it did so. Her claws grew, teeth sharpened, and muscles bulged, filling her with new strength.
With a soft pop, her body condensed again, and her vision clea...
2023-07-18 11:15:43 +0000 UTC View PostIn a room long since abandoned by the god that created it, something miraculous occurred.
A construct whirred to life.
For centuries, this creation had lain dormant, lacking both the energy and parameters to perform its tasks. Well, except for a single instance in the recent past, but...
2023-07-18 11:15:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe air thickened around me.
The chill morning breeze stilled, and the warmth from the sun seemed to vanish as if a cloud obscured it. I glanced up, seeing not a single cloud in the sky, then looked back at Barry.
His eyes were fixated on Maria, and she stood like a mouse beneath a pr...
2023-07-18 11:14:47 +0000 UTC View PostI’d seen Snips excited before, especially when waking me up, but the fervor with which she woke me this morning was at a previously unseen level.
She and Claws both led me toward the saltwater pond, running ahead of me on the sand and urging me on with varied noises, gestures, and bubbles...
2023-07-18 11:14:22 +0000 UTC View Post“W-what?” I asked, rather dumbly, by my estimation.
Corporal Claws and Sergeant Snips both turned to me, their eyes going wide.
They had excavated the pond further. It was twice again as deep as the last time I’d seen it, and was lined with dark rocks. Semi-opaque, opalescent st...
2023-07-18 11:13:56 +0000 UTC View PostSergeant Snips, first chosen of master Fischer, sentinel of these lands, and de facto leader of the local Rock Crab population, collected some rather lovely looking rocks.
She’d picked them for their pretty color, and as she inspected the opalescent stones already piled up, she nodded. 2023-07-18 11:09:11 +0000 UTC View Post
“No, Fischer—you lost!” Barry called back, exulting in the relief of knowing the fields wouldn’t wash away.
He bent down, picked up the single stalk of sugarcane that had been lifted from the soil, and pressed it firmly back down.
“You fool!” Roger spat, stomping ...
2023-07-18 11:03:10 +0000 UTC View PostI woke from a wonderful dream, one in which I was surrounded by a veritable sanctuary of animals.
My legs were inexplicably warm, and I opened sleepy eyes, glancing down toward them.
Corporal Claws slept atop my bed, letting out soft snores each time she inhaled.
I stretched my ...
2023-07-18 11:02:49 +0000 UTC View PostSergeant Snips scuttled beneath the waves surrounding Tropica, searching.
The moon high above shone its light down atop her, brightening the sea floor.
Despite the myriad benefits of her new body, it also had its detriments.
She no longer looked like a simple crab, and the momen...
2023-07-18 11:02:28 +0000 UTC View PostBarry’s face scrunched in obvious disgust as the oyster’s flavor and texture hit him.
He bit down a single time, and his disappointment only deepened.
He swallowed it whole, his whole body trembling.
“Yeahhhhhh,” I said, “they can be a bit much for the uninitiated.”<...
2023-07-18 11:01:57 +0000 UTC View PostIn a long abandoned room, high in the capital city of Gormona’s castle, a construct sat among a sea of similarly forgotten relics.
Despite there being no-one present, not a single pair of eyes there to witness its efforts, it sprung to life.
Text typed itself out on the screen, a si...
2023-07-18 11:01:39 +0000 UTC View PostI removed the hanger from the forge when it glowed red, just as Fergus had suggested.
He passed his pliers, and I started shaping it.
I started with a smaller hanger, not wanting to waste any of the smith’s metal if it went poorly.
The metal bent easily, and I turned the round...
2023-07-18 11:00:34 +0000 UTC View PostWith Sergeant Snips and Corporal Claws napping peacefully in the sun, I made my way toward the fields.
Those two really did a number on themselves by working all night.
As soon as the food had settled, they both started falling asleep, and I stroked them until they passed out...
2023-07-18 11:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostBarry sat straight-backed, his legs crossed before him as the sun started to peek over the eastern horizon.
“This was such a good idea, Barry,” Maria said.
Roger harrumphed from the other side of his daughter.
“It’s lovely, but we have fields to work.”
“Dad, yo...
2023-07-18 10:59:51 +0000 UTC View PostI stopped my hand before it got too close to the otter as I realized what I was doing.
Noticing my outreached hand from the corner of its eye, the otter turned from the crab, giving me a questioning chirp.
“Is… is it okay if I pet you?”
It made no move, staring between me ...
2023-07-18 10:59:32 +0000 UTC View Post“A pond?” Roger spat the word, turning it into a curse.
“That’s right—a pond.”
Maria peered down at the hole, curiosity etched on her features.
“What does it have to do with fishing?”
“Well, while you can fish in a pond, I...
2023-07-18 10:59:03 +0000 UTC View PostMaria’s body struck mine, whisking my thoughts away.
I hadn't realized how much I’d been missing physical touch, and my heart seemed to jump at the impromptu embrace.
Her toned form latched onto me like a lost sailor clinging to a life raft, and she buried her face in my chest. 2023-07-18 10:58:40 +0000 UTC View Post
As was becoming a welcome part of my morning routine, I woke up to a crab looming over me.
Sergeant Snips tapped my nose delicately with her claw, blowing bubbles that were instantly recognizable as a mix of excitement and pride.
Her soft touch tickled, and I wiggled my nose.
...
2023-07-18 10:58:17 +0000 UTC View PostSergeant Snips, best friend and protector of Fischer, huffed on the shore as she glared at where the otter had disappeared, daring it to show its face once more.
The otter seemed different, and Snips suspected the creature had experienced some sort of awakening, just as she had.
It wa...
2023-07-18 10:57:57 +0000 UTC View PostAs I took one last sweeping stroke with the file, the reel seemed to transform.
It shrunk and smoothed out infinitesimally, the change so minute that I hoped the brothers wouldn’t notice.
Along with the transformation, the System tried to send me another message that was, thankfully...
2023-07-18 10:57:21 +0000 UTC View Post“What in Apollo’s delicate lute are you planning behind that toe-like face, Trent?”
Trent, first-in-line to the throne, and only marginally resembling a toe by his reckoning, closed his slackened jaw.
He turned away from the parapet he leaned over, facing the speaker.
His ...
2023-07-18 10:56:49 +0000 UTC View PostTrent, the first-in-line to the throne of Gormona, wiped his sweaty palms on his velvet pants.
It didn’t help.
He sat in a waiting room, his slow brain churning at an entirely unusual speed.
There weren’t many things in this world that could unsettle his rock-like intellect,...
2023-07-18 10:56:27 +0000 UTC View PostWith the midday sun beaming down, I held on for dear life.
The fish on the other end of my rod swam away in a straight line, the momentum of its body gliding away above the ocean floor. Its weight felt immense.
Just how big is this thing…?
The line went taut even as I...
2023-07-18 10:56:07 +0000 UTC View PostI crouched, creeping across the sands as I approached my quarry.
The morning was the coldest yet, an icy breeze kicking up and petering out in the pre-dawn light, but I barely felt the chill, focused as I was on the hunt.
One final step, and I was looming over my target.
I reach...
2023-07-18 10:55:41 +0000 UTC View Post