Today I had fun pitting Elias’ very lax attitude against the sort of super-serious high stakes that a lot of epic fantasy likes to have in its plotlines. Naturally, Elias breaks a lot of the molds no matter the urgency in a given situation. It’s way too much fun.
Word count: 4,261 / 15,000
Excerpt:
The billowing hair was a deep green hue, while the skin was such a dark shade of brown it could almost be black. The long tail stayed as black as before, but Elias caught shimmers of iridescence that she hadn’t noticed before. Broad shoulders and a rounder frame were wrapped haphazardly in layers and layers of fishnets fashioned into a shawl. Gold trinkets tangled quite purposefully into the garment, twinkling over the mermaid’s ample chest and stomach alike.
“Hi,” Elias tried again. “Not to sound cliche, but I’m not from around here. What’s going on?”
The mermaid almost smirked. Almost. The full lips twitched, and then turned downward in a distrusting frown. The angry glare from before returned to those deep green eyes, and suddenly her hands surged up and grabbed Elias’ face.
“You reek,” the mermaid muttered, now that their faces were mere inches away from each other. Confusion finally broke through the anger and distrust. “You reek of her but you are not completely taken,” she said.
Elias’ cheeks were slightly smushed in the mermaid’s grasp but she tried to smile anyway. She shrugged, which felt strange when upside down and under water. “Definitely not taken,” she admitted. “And also, respectfully, not looking right now, not to break any hearts.”
Writerly Things 