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For Llola's monthy challenge. Becasue horses come in both little and large varieties :D
Friends
A new character. I have no idea who he is, though. He's someone from Ellaira's past, but she so far refuses to talk about him and he, himself, isn't very forthcoming, either.
So for now, he'll be referred to as the Mystery Elf.
And suddenly they decided to tell me more.
Mystery elf from the previous post (with the actual hair colour I had in mind for him, no idea what hapened in that first one) - his name is Khith - and Ellaira, an older character that I didn't use often, because I knew so little about her. Apparently, they were childhood friends and then later, lovers. Before it exploded dramatically. Basically because she is rather.. explosive. Poor Khith. Probably more about that later. For now this little doodle. Yes, posed from scratch.
Edit to add:
Like on so many sunny afternoons, Khith and Ellaira walked along the stream in the forest just outside the village. Taking quietly, they shared a handful of freshly picked berries. When their conversation trailed off into a comfortable silence, Ellaira’s mind wandered off to the odd new feelings that crept up on her when thinking of her friend lately. He occupied her thoughts much more often than he used to. She was glad it didn’t interfere with their easy companionship. She didn’t think he had noticed her looking at him more often, staring at the flecks of green and gold in his mostly blue eyes, touching him a little more often than she used to.. If he had, he had given no sign that it bothered him. If she let herself, she could imagine he did the exact same thing. She shook her head at that idea. Absently, Ellaira reached for Khith’s hand in search for another berry.
“You already had the last one,” he told her, playfully taking her hand in his own. She held it loosely, enjoying the comfortable warmth spreading through her stomach. They walked on in silence until Khith stopped. He let go of Ellaira’s hand to point at something nearby. A bright blue and yellow bird dived into the water and came up with a small silvery fish in its beak.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” her friend asked, letting his hand rest on her shoulder. Ellaira nodded, staring in the bird’s direction, but hardly seeing it, her thoughts were with Khith and how to let him know how he made her feel. When the bird disappeared, she turned around, stepping closer to her friend. “Khith..” She smiled up at him and was met with a warm, if slightly puzzled look. Ellaira felt as if she should feel nervous, but she didn’t. No matter what she decided to say or do, her friend would understand. She stood on her toes, intending to very lightly brush her lips against his, to feel how it would be. Nothing more. A small enough thing to be able to pass off as a joke if it turned out he did not appreciate it. She felt more than heard him take a sharp breath before leaning forward to answer the kiss.
It only took a moment before they parted. As far as she knew, neither of them had kissed anyone before. Except on the cheek to accompany well-wishes on certain occasions. All Ellaira knew about this kind of thing was from stories and only a few at that. Romantic stories were not exactly among her interests. She looked up, wondering why she suddenly felt a hint of nervousness after all. Khith’s expression was difficult to describe. If love had a face, Ellaira decided this had to be what it looked like. She didn’t get much time to wonder at it, for he pulled her close and held her tight, taking a deep breath. “Thank you,” he whispered.
“For what?” she asked. Mildly confused, she took a small step back to meet his eye.
“For..” Khith gave her a warm smile. “For this.” Leaning close to give her another shy kiss. “I.. I love you, Ellaira.”
It was not the first time he said those words you her. She had said them to him more than once before, too. A simple truth between close friends. This time it felt different. Not just because it made everything flutter inside her, but it felt as if there was a whole new meaning to those same few words. Part of her wondered if this wasn’t a bit sudden, a bit soon. She shrugged it off. They were nothing like the folk in that handful of stories. She had been friends with him since they were children. This was only the next logical step in what they already had. There was no need to tell him she felt the same. Smiling brightly, she kissed him again.
Young Love
The horses are fantastic!
And ya, poor Khith, no fun to have things exploding all the time... Very nicely done on the posing as well.
Glad you approve of the horses! That was fun one to make :D
And yeah, poor Khith. He's such a sweet guy, too.
I really love your Horses render!!
You are so talented Mori_mann!!
Aww, thank you so much. Just having fun, though :)
(Also edited the post to adda bit of story :))
Ahem, I'll just leave this here..
She was staring out over the misty lake when a draughty breeze from the corridor behind her lifted up a piece of parchment from the edge of the table and casually dropped it onto the carpet. Ellaira turned around to pick it up and put it back. Standing up, she tossed an offended look in the corridor’s general direction. She gasped when she caught sight of a familiar, but not quite substantial form. “Khith?” She knew he wasn’t really here. It was no more than a memory, taking shape in the residue of strong magic lingering in the air. It mercilessly showed her the last moments before they parted. Their last fight. A moment she had thought she had forgotten.
In her mind, she could hear her own words. Unkind. No.. harsh. Well, no. Cruel. Back then, she had expected they would change his mind. Make him stay. Her threats and accusations, fair or not, always did. But they hadn’t. Not that time. Khith had turned and left, the stunned and hurt look on his face echoing in her mind for days to come. She had let him go, turning back to the window in the tower, listening to his retreating footsteps, furious that he had made his choice to leave her behind.
This time, she followed him, called after him. Like she should have all those decades ago, when her anger and pride wouldn’t let her. Her own memory went no further than his retreat from the tower. Her childhood friend and lover’s ghostly form dissolved before he reached the last step of the stairs.
“Khith.. I’m so sorry.. You deserved better than that. Better than me..”
I so love your stories and the renders as well Mori_mann
Thank you very much :)
A simple portrait of Jerutha, my Moody Ranger. It was going to be a full body shot (yes, I did a pose. From scratch), but then the camera caught this angle and a portrait it was <3 I suppose I needed to do something simple after the last few (and the writing that came with and after those). Not to mention pull out a more familiar charcter. So yep, this came out of it.
In His Element
This is lovely, both the render and the story.
wonderful portrait
Thank you, Sonja :)
And something new:
"There's something up ahead," Yerai said quietly. "Pretend you haven't noticed yet."
Khith didn't have to pretend. Rolling his eyes, he led the front wagon's horse under the bridge. His colleague seemed to expect an ambush behind every tree they encountered. So far, the most noteworthy event had been a startled deer spooking one of the horses.
This time however, there was a shout, followed by something that came crashing though the bushes.
"Told you!" Yerai said cheerfully over his shoulder, completely ignoring the horse bolting and pulling itself free. "Get that bow, let them see what we've got."
Introducing another new character. Yerai, a half-elf rogue. Not the kind of rogue that works quietly and stealthily. Nope, he's the kind that steals the jewellery from your body and then convinces you that it wasn't him, even though he's clearly wearing the very items you're missing.
Naturally, he didn't want to cooperate with a simple portrait as introduction, so here you have him ;)
Oh and yes, the blurry guy in the back is indeed Khith.
Haha Love it! And Yerai sounds like a fun guy for sure :)
I just love your stories and renders Mori!
@Carola: He's a lot of trouble, that's what ;) But yes, loads of fun, too.
@Saphirewild: Thanks :) I like making illustrations for the mess of words in my brain.
This guy, of course, had to be tested in 3DL, too. I liked the result too much to toss it.
Yerai on the Docs
I see he is indeed wearing said jewelry rather blatantly....
LoL, yeah. He can't help himself. Or perhaps he won't, who knows.
Fighting for freedom
Coming up from a deep blackness, T'hayn could hear faint sounds of scattered skirmishes in the distance. The main battle was over then. He remained perfectly still, listening, trying to remember the events that had left him here. There were a few clear flashes of the battle between the red haze clouding most of it. He didn’t care for any of the images, but they helped him realise the battle rage had completely left him. Unusual. That must mean he had been out for a while. As his senses slowly returned, he realized something was lying half on top of him. Left for dead, then. That would explain why no one had come to drag him to his feet. Or to finish him off, depending on which side had decided they won this battle in this senseless and endless war.
The tiefling carefully opened his eyes. His sight was blurry and the muted reddish light of this plane’s perpetual twilight was enough to send a jab of pain through his skull. The memory hit him almost as sharply as the flat of the blade to the side of his head had. That must have been what had knocked him out. He experimentally tried to move. Not much seemed to be wrong. Apart from some stiffness, bruises, scratches and the pounding in his head, anyway, but he could deal with those. With some effort, he pushed the dead weight off himself and sat up. His surroundings were bleak, barren and scattered with corpses that not even the ravens had an interest in. There would be scavengers later, when even the last sounds of fighting were gone. The kind that didn’t care if their meal was dead or only temporarily disabled. It would be a good idea to be away from here by then. But where would he go? As it was, he had no idea where the demonic army he had been part of had gone to. Scattered, and defeated? Regrouping for the next assault? Or even celebrating a victory somewhere. He could look for them, but the risk of getting caught by the enemy was too big. Besides, he’d had more than enough of being an expendable foot soldier that refused to die. Even his talent for teaching new recruits the basics had not given him any privileges. On the contrary. Time to see how far he could get on his own. He knew this area. At least, he had been here before and pretending to sleep, he had overheard some higher ranking soldiers talking about a one-way portal to a different plane in the nearby ruins. That was a good place to start.
With a wry grin, T’hayn gathered himself up from the ground. This wasn’t his first attempt at escaping. None of the previous ones had not gone very well. Once, he hadn’t even gotten away from the camp. On his most successful run to freedom, he had managed to get through a portal, but his pursuers had caught up with him and dragged him right back through. His masters had taught him the meaning of torture then. This time, however, he had a big advantage. No one was aware that he was still alive. Perhaps he would be lucky enough to be counted among the dead so no one would look for him this time. He could only hope.
He looked around for his flail, but the weapon was nowhere to be found. There was a broken spear next to him. A vague memory of fighting with it before it broke, wove itself through his headache. It didn’t explain where his flail was. Figuring that even a broken stick with a sharp point on one end was better than leaving unarmed, the tiefling bent down to pick up the sad weapon up anyway. The movement caused a burst of black and white specs and flashes of lightning in front of his eyes, followed by a dizziness that was almost enough to knock him down again. But there was no time. He had to push through. When his vision had cleared as much as it was going to, his eyes fell on something sticking out from under one of the corpses. He grabbed the thing that looked like a hilt and pulled at it to reveal a sword. “That will do,” he muttered quietly.
His first steps we slow, unsteady, but by the time he reached the cliff rising up from the plain, he had made his legs and body obey him, however reluctantly. Something like hope sprang up inside him when he spotted what looked like a wall in the distance. Could he be that close to the ruins? Careful, still wary of other potential survivors, he climbed onto a ledge, pressing himself against the rocky wall as he moved, occasionally climbing over boulders blocking his path. His caution paid off when he saw a large demon with too many arms and an impressive amount of horns sticking out of various parts of its anatomy. The creature did not seem to expect to meet anyone, patrolling the path below him. The tiefling could not risk being spotted, however. The beast was larger and no doubt several times stronger than he was, himself. Possibly faster, too, at least, in his current condition. The only advantage T’hayn had at this moment, was the element of surprise. He heard the demon sniff, like a dog catching a scent. Knowing this was his only chance to act, the tiefling raised his sword a above his head in a two-handed grip and jumped down.
It was all or nothing.
“Good to be back,” Yerai stated. Sitting down on a barrel, he took something from his pocket and tossed it on a crate that was currently in use as a table.
Khith gave the item a curious look, then turned to the half-elf, confused. “That.. looks like the jewel that woman was looking for.”
“Remarkably so.” Yerai held up a bottle of wine and pointed at the two empty cups on the crate. “Drink?”
“It is her jewel, isn’t it?” The elf tried to catch his colleague’s eye, ignoring the question.
With a small shrug, the rogue filled both cups anyway. “Obviously. Why?”
“Where did you find it?”
“In her pocket. Where else?”
“But.. You helped searching for it.” There was a question in Khith’s voice.
Yerai raised an eyebrow, finally meeting the elf’s eye. “Of course. Best way to avoid suspicion.”
“Did you.. steal it?” Khith asked carefully.
“I did,” I did, Yerai agreed easily.
The elf shook his head, as if he couldn’t make sense of the situation. He sounded angry when he spoke again. “How could you? Especially after she told everyone how much this thing meant to her?”
With a shrug, the half-elf picked the jewel up to examine it. “It’s only a piece of jewellery. She can’t eat it. It won’t keep her warm. It doesn’t even provide protection in battle.” He paused. “Unless it’s magical..” After squinting at it for a moment, he shook his head. “No, definitely not magical. It’s not even worth much. Silver and sapphires are common. The metal is dirty, the stones are scratched. Perhaps if it was repaired and polished - ”
“It is worth a lot to her.” Khith cut in quietly. “It’s a family heirloom. It belonged to - ”
“Yeah, I know, her great, great, great grandma or something.” The rogue flipped the item around. “Like I said, not worth much.”
Khith crossed his arms on his chest. “Then go give it back to her.”
The half-elf took a slow sip of his wine. “No.”
“You’re a bastard.” The elf told him.
Yerai laughed at that. “In more ways than one.” Putting his cup down, he let the hanger dance across his fingers. “Not much is still something.”
“How much is not much?”
“Hmm..” The half-elf thought about it. In this state, about three gold pieces, I’d say. Which means I’m not going to let it go for less than five. Someone who can restore it to something shiny will give me that. Once it’s back to its former glory, it should fetch around eight Perhaps ten if the seller is good at their job.”
Talking, he had not paid attention to what Khith was doing. Yerai looked up at his colleague when some coins landed on the crate’s surface, dancing for a few moments before they settled. “What’s that?”
“Five gold pieces,” the elf told him tartly.
The rogue rolled his eyes. “Education on the streets of Melique and Turima was nothing impressive, but I can count that high. Why did you throw them at me?”
“Shut up and give me that,” Khith said, snatching the jewel from Yerai’s fingers.
“I didn’t know you were a fence,” the half-elf raised an amused eyebrow.
“A what?”
“Seriously? Someone who buys stolen goods.” The coins quickly disappeared into his pocket.
“I am not,” the elf assured him. “I just.. have to give this back to that woman. And apologise for what you did.”
Yerai let him take two steps away from him before speaking. “Best tell her you found it in the street.”
The elf stopped and turned around. “Afraid they will come after you?”
The rogue snorted. “Of course not. I’m a better liar than you are.” More seriously, he added, “We were there together. We talked and had a meal, there’s no way you can deny that you know me. There’s a good chance someone doesn’t get the story straight and before you know you’re a wanted criminal, yourself.”
“But I didn’t do anything wrong.” It was clear the elf had no idea why telling the truth could be a bad idea at all.
“You didn’t. But people don’t care about such details. If you associate with a thief, you might as well be one, yourself.” He filled his cup again. “And I am a better liar.”
Khith sent him a heartfelt glare. “Master Chev will hear about this.”
“Master Chev expects no less,” Yerai declared solemnly, but offered no explanation. Making himself comfortable with his feet on the crate and his back against one of the wagons, he waved Kith off, an amused smile dancing around the corners of his mouth. “Don’t get lost, I’d hate to have to come and find you.”
Back at Camp (for lack of a better title)
A head full of stories and some time on my hand to work with them.. so yeah, I'm spamming, I suppose.
Last morning in Sharwa Bekilah
The streets were never completely abandoned, but at this early hour with only a handful of people quietly going about their business, it was easy to pretend they were. At least in this part of the city. The docks and various markets were likely already bustling with activity.
Yerai stood on the balcony that was attached to the tiny room he had rented for the past few months. With just the narrow bed and a small table in the corner next to the door, it was quite full. There was no window, but with the balcony doors open, light and air could flow in. It wasn’t the worst place he had stayed in and cheaper than keeping a room in an inn.
He let the still cool breeze from the ocean caress his bare skin, listening to the distant sounds of the waves and the seagulls. Today, he would go aboard of the Ocean’s Mistress, the ship that would take him north, to the other side of the desert and whatever excitement lay there.
The half-elf cast a mildly skeptical look at the expanse of water, visible through the buildings, wondering if it really was safe. One thought of the alternative, crossing the desert on horseback or on a camel, was enough to remind him that this really was the better way to travel. How bad could it be?
Looking out over the somewhat familiar rooftops of Sharwa Bekilah one more time, Yerai went back inside to get dressed and gather his belongings. Today was a day of new beginnings and new adventures. Today was a good day.
On Summoning Vines, Volume 6
Not really a story here. Made for a challenge over at dA. Title is a bit of an inevitable joke. Amber's speciality is summoning vines. She probably did a lot of research about the subject :)
Yerai has a very urgent question..
You're not leaving, are you?
Calion does not have a drinking problem. At all. It just so happens that one every few decades, something come up that he needs, but is afraid, to do. In cases like that, he may have a few to, as he calls it, get brave enough to do something stupid. Or stupid enough to be brave. Either works. Of course, he may end up having a few more after that. Especially if the situation may be painful and/or disastrous. Like.. telling a new friend that as far as he's concerned, there are more feelings involved than just friendship. That said feelings could be completely mutual didn't occur to him.
For Llola's challenge. And because I wanted to play around with this guy again :)
After Dark the Party Starts
Another test that turned into an actual image. I wasn't completely happy with Dimi's G8 skin, so I always kept my eyes open for something better. Which popped up today and needed testing :)
At first glance/small size he may look sad, but trust me, he is smiling.
Private Smile
Next Stop
Yerai on a horse, looking at his next stop: Sharwa Bekilah, The last City Before the Desert – which actually lies a good four hours (on horseback, along a kind of road) into the desert Desert – which actually lies a good four hours (on horseback, along a kind of road) into the desert.
Quality Time
It's a cute one :)