Regina got into her kimono slowly and carefully, checked her hair no less than twenty times to ensure that it wasn’t falling out, and then went to find her knight in matte chestplate.
Kakashi was standing in the hall when she left her room in his nice, new Jounin uniform. His body language was somehow both grumpy and pleased with himself, which put her slightly on edge. His hand was ove...
2021-08-19 16:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Lilli came to, she was crumpled up on the floor. Her body ached.
She looked around, and saw Igni slumped against what remained of a wall. Lilli crawled to Igni and pressed a hand to Igni’s chest. There was no heartbeat. Of course.
‘I don’t know why I expected to feel anything.’
“Igni.” She whispered. “Are you alright?”
Igni groaned. Then their eyes o...
2021-08-01 03:00:28 +0000 UTC View PostSuna was the obvious answer. Konoha would turn to their longest ally for support in this. Kiri also had a decent hand in relations with Sunagakure for the time, given that she had custody of Gaara, but they would be wary about the possibility that she was a warmonger.
She considered it for a while. Would the Hokage have turned to the smaller villages for this? ...
2021-08-01 02:56:56 +0000 UTC View PostLilli peeked above the table to survey the room. Benk and Lorit were chopping away at the stinger, and it didn’t seem to be doing anything. They were bloody, and she could see where acid had dissolved some of their clothes in the joints of their armor.
‘Yikes. This is maybe not my fight. I have no metal to wear.’
Igni came charging in, with Ser Alcuin close behind. It was hard...
2021-08-01 02:55:31 +0000 UTC View Post“Elathor! Ser Alcuin! Lorit! BENK!” Lilli screamed, hearing the desert wind swallow her voice whole. Her heart and feet were pounding, and she pushed herself forward in sheer panic.
They didn’t seem to hear her, none of them turned around. Elathor slipped out of view, closely followed by Lorit and Ser Alcuin, who at least had the sense to be holding up their shields defensively.
... 2021-08-01 02:54:27 +0000 UTC View PostThe castle itself wasn’t quite what she had expected. “It isn’t very tall, is it,” Lilli said, disappointed.
”It isn’t a castle, it’s a palace,” Lorit pointed out. “A palace isn’t a defensive structure, so it doesn’t need the characteristic architecture you’re probably thinking of.”
She eyed him sideways.
Benk eyed it with a distinct lack of admiratio...
2021-08-01 02:51:20 +0000 UTC View Post"For a place called 'The Wastes', it is a little bit of a letdown." Igni looked around sadly. "I was expecting so much more."
"You had high expectations for a place called The Wastes?" Lilli frowned. "I had no frame of reference."
"I have high expectations for all of you, and I am continually disappointed."
“I don’t think i...
2021-07-01 01:41:59 +0000 UTC View PostThis is how rich people live,’ Lilli thought bitterly. She looked around, marveling at the unnaturally level grass, the rich greenery in between tall stone buildings. Cheery sunlight caught glittering details, like a colored glass window over what had to be an important room.
“It would be so difficult to burn this down,” Elathor mused.
Knight Alcuin...
2021-07-01 01:38:08 +0000 UTC View PostThey hauled ass to the gate. Lilli climbed over a sticky corpse in her haste to bang on the wooden part of the structure. “Open up, let us out,” she bellowed.
“All is well, there is no cause for alarm,” Elathor added, kicking the gate. “So make haste and immediately release us.”
There was a pause. “I don’t think I believe you,” came the bemused reply from a guard.<...
2021-07-01 01:29:49 +0000 UTC View PostIt was very quiet inside the shrine. She sat down at a long table in a stiff silence. The younger priest left through a door to the left and came back with a bleak-smelling tea balanced on a humble tray. She took a cup and wondered if shrines were on the list of things she was meant to be funding.
“You seem to have a particular connection to death,” the senior priest said. There were ...
2021-06-30 14:26:06 +0000 UTC View PostIt was pitch black except for the stars.
Imile was silhouetted at the far end. Her voice carried faintly. Brianna couldn’t make out the conversation.
“Imile,” she called. “Red Lady.” Her whole body hurt.
They turned. She could see that Imile was crying. “She’s sorry,” Imile said, and it really was Imile. She didn’t mean to take so much from you. You should be...
2021-06-01 01:59:39 +0000 UTC View PostShe woke up to a restless feeling. It brought her down to the locker area. She fished her phone out, mildly surprised she could still message until she realized that her phone was certainly turned off by the provider but able to use the wifi.
Brianna blinked at the screen. It seemed brighter than she remembered. A few seconds after being on, a missed call alert showed up. A smile spread a...
2021-06-01 01:58:48 +0000 UTC View PostLilli cut down monsters over and over again, but there seemed to be no end in sight. Every time she chanced to look up, the sky seemed just as black with them as it had when she’d started fighting.
“Are there more, somehow?” Elathor asked, sounding exhausted. They rattled off a spell, but Lilli could tell the power was waning in them.
‘Magic takes a lot.’ She noted, even a...
2021-02-28 11:34:41 +0000 UTC View PostSomething told her “MOVE!!!”
Lilli dodged and rolled, just before hearing a screech and a sickening crunch on the wall behind her.
She was surprised she wasn’t shaking. That her knees weren’t buckling under her, and surrendering. But something about this level of fear made her hands and fingers steady as they swiftly pulled out her daggers, without her even seeming to will i...
2021-02-28 10:31:23 +0000 UTC View PostThis is from a concept I didn't end up pursuing, wherein Aiko goes to see where her family came from while she and Utakata are in a holding pattern with Kakashi, waiting for the shoe to drop.
.................
The fabric was soft and thin against her fingertips. Aiko’s hand tightened. She watched how the movement changed the play of shadows on aged red, gold, and blue thread...
Lilli slunk behind, on high alert. She couldn’t help but feel that this had been a massive mistake.
Meanwhile, Elathor was near strutting while they muttered to themselves and made notes of things Lilli would rather not think about too much.
“Oh, interesting!” Elathor poked a protruding rib bone and wiped congealed blood onto a wall in a fluid motion. “It seems that the hatc...
2021-01-31 15:58:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe path they had chosen took them through several satellite towns. They were headed towards a forest that apparently was not well-traveled and marked the boundary of the known world. Nunya irritably acknowledged that she had experience in the forest and that it was not odd for the peasantry to venture in to forage or trap small game. She had pursed her lips and grudgingly admitted that not eve...
2020-12-31 14:40:25 +0000 UTC View Post“By the order of the Esteemed Queen Freilye, this district is quarantined and no one can enter. Citizen, what are you doing here?” The guard stated, in the kind of monotonous tone that made Lilli suspect they’d been turning people away for hours straight.
‘Maybe not really going to be workable to try and charm them, then.’ She swallowed.
“I was curious about why...
2020-12-31 14:06:57 +0000 UTC View PostTavia had nearly finished a nice, luxurious inner scream when a wild-eyed maidservant knocked on the door to tell her that she was invited to the parlour to speak with some guests.
That was not a room she had been in yet, so she had to follow. She tried to be as dignified as possible in her filthy socks.
She could not shake the distinct feeling that she was in trouble. It was hard n...
2020-12-31 09:04:31 +0000 UTC View PostSo I finally did some things- if you've been with us since the beginning of the Patreon, you are cordially invited to join our Discord server with a special "long time enabler" role that gives you VIP access. Every year, patrons who have stayed with us for more than two years will receive this invite. Alternatively, if you don't want to wait that long, you can become a VIP by joinin...
2020-12-31 08:13:59 +0000 UTC View PostSorry for the lateness, I am disconnected from the plane of existence.
But Electra and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all well. We hope that you are all staying safe, warm, and as happy as possible during this holiday season. If you are spending this season by yourself or in less than ideal situations, please feel free to remember that we care about you and ...
2020-12-27 09:52:20 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER ONE
After eating, she was ushered to what must have been the Moida's family home. It was a two story structure made of wood and tile. Heralda seemed very grateful to be able to leave her in the guest room. She came back after not too long, though, flanked by two servant women carrying fabric.
"For now, may I lend you some of my clothing?" Heralda asked. Her voice was s...
2020-11-30 14:52:43 +0000 UTC View PostINTRODUCTION
Tavia woke up as she always did, except with the irritating awareness that the sun was glaring into her room. The curtain must be open again. She scrunched her eyes further shut and flexed her feet, jostling French Fry in the process.
He let out a displeased little "mrrr" and stretched as well. She felt claws glance over her calf without breaking skin.
"It's your ...
2020-11-30 14:43:10 +0000 UTC View PostMy brain is leaking like a sieve still but heyyyy here's something because I, Maehem, love you. Happy Belated Turkey.
She got into her kimono slowly and carefully, and then went to find her knight in matte chestplate.
Kakashi was standing in the hall when she left her room in his nice Jounin uniform. His body language was somehow bot...
2020-11-27 05:01:12 +0000 UTC View PostHi, this is Maehem.
So, the past year has been.... a time, hasn't it? I'm sorry that we haven't really written anything in about a year. Coronavirus kind of set off a chain reaction that kicked both mine and Electa's asses.
BUT. BUT.
This month, we actually did start talking about story elements again. Hopefully this month you...
2020-11-26 08:58:48 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm taking a class on videogame design, and I reworked the first scenes of The Lilliad for a class assignment. What do you think?
The player as Lilli climbs into one of the sewer entrances, provided by the map in game. Once in, the player navigates the tunnels to make it to the slums on the edge of the city, fingering the new daggers she has just stolen fr...
2020-08-01 13:09:37 +0000 UTC View PostHey!
We hope that you're enjoying everything on the site, and that all of you are staying safe and healthy. We *may* go back to posting paid content (and free content) soon, because we need the funds for to live.
I don't know if you all want life updates on us, but Houseki passed away this month and I'm taking it pretty hard, so if you have cute pictures of dogs (or...
2020-06-30 05:29:33 +0000 UTC View Post“Konoha is whining again,” Mei said. She dropped a letter on Aiko’s desk. “Something about ‘please stop making positive diplomatic connections with Wave, it makes us feel sad and like we might not be your best friends.”
“Did they really say that,” Aiko said absently. She initialed a section she had just finished reading, deep into a report regarding the upcoming...
2020-03-25 00:51:22 +0000 UTC View Post“I’m invited to an idyllic retreat,” Aiko said. She put the letter down. “We’re going to have a chat about our feelings, leader to leader, and see if we can express mutual concerns and come to agreement.” Her tone was bland.
“Better you than me,” Mei said, despite that very clearly being a lie.
-----------
Guess which alre...
2020-03-24 06:13:32 +0000 UTC View PostThe team talked about what’s going on right now and we decided we don’t want to risk putting any financial strain on any patrons right now, particularly since now would be a good time to produce entertainment for people who are stuck inside. So while we will be posting, there won‘t be any paid posts this month period.
We know all this sucks. So we just wanted to mak...
2020-03-23 11:03:57 +0000 UTC View Post