--Monday donation bonus (Page 3/3)--
“Ah... sorry. My name is Hector Goffe. I’m from a country called Atreya.”
“Where is that?” Ramira asked.
“It’s, uh... to the southwest of here.”
“Why did you come to Sair, then? To help us?”
“Er... s-sorta...”
“And why are you helping us, huh?”
“Oh, um, because my reaper is the brother of Emiliana’s reaper.”
Ramira squinted at him. “So you’re the servant... of the brother... of the reaper of my sister?”
“Y-yes... I think.”
“That’s really hard to remember.”
“Y-yeah...”
Emiliana decided to pitch in. “Perhaps it would be easier to think of Lord Hector as a very distant cousin.”
“Ah--” He raised a hand slightly. “Lord--um--you don’t have to--I mean, I’m not really a... er...”
“Oh, I am sorry,” she said. “Was I mistaken? I thought you were an Atreyan Lord.”
“Well... I am, technically.”
Emiliana tilted her masked head at him. “Then what is the problem?”
“Ah, uh, sorry.” He could feel himself losing what little composure he had. He needed to concentrate and find his footing again. “I’m just, er--I’m just not a-accustomed to it, I guess. Because I wasn’t born into it, I mean. So, um, please, um. Please j-just call me Hector. Please.” There were way too many pleases in there, he realized.
Emiliana just stared at him a moment. “Very well...”
Ramira eyed him another time. “Cousin Hector, huh? Mmkay.”
And he was abruptly reminded of having that same thought when he first saw their pictures. Cousins. The memory made him blush, and he had to hide it by rubbing his face, as if out of exhaustion. Thankfully, he actually was exhausted, so that wasn’t too much of a stretch.
He could hardly believe they’d said that. And agreed about it. Cousins. Family. When the thought had been his own, he’d chalked it up to wishful thinking and dismissed it, but now... now, it actually had a sense of legitimacy. Of reality.
But maybe he was overreacting. In fact, he definitely was, he decided. These were Rainlords. They probably had more distant relatives than they could keep track of. One more cousin wouldn’t be a big deal to them, surely, so he shouldn’t let it be a big deal to him, either.
But it was. In spite of himself, it was. And he had no idea what to do about it, because it embarrassed the living shit out of him.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
Random number just chilling there: "'Er... s-sorta...'[1]"
ReplyDeleteI wonder when will Hector achieve the master level of his shyness skill?
ReplyDeleteHis awkwardness was already on max level.
Ahahahahahaha
Tch, I was hoping I got it before anyone else noticed... I LITERALLY POSTED THE PAGE LIKE TWO MINUTES AGO. HOW ARE YOU SO FAST, HUH?
ReplyDeleteOf reality[.] out of him.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it looks right.
Hector makes my heart clench every time when we are reminded how lonely he actually is..
PSYCHIC POWERS THAT DONT HELP ME AT ALL WHEN I PLAY THE LOTTO!!!
ReplyDeleteHeh, seriously though, I was checking for a new page like every 10 minutes or so...for the past 2 hours lol
Ah, got it, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThat's his real superpower. The soul-synching with Garovel is just a coincidence. His iron and regeneration are actually byproducts of anxiety that has grown strong enough to distort reality.
ReplyDeleteSeems legit
ReplyDeleteLord Hector ? Using the first name is the local title custom?
ReplyDelete?? That's pretty normal, you know. Take the much-missed Wor Sir Bobby (Robson). :)
ReplyDelete"it actually had [a] sense of legitimacy"
ReplyDeleteNot sure about this:
"Emiliana just stared at him [for] a moment."
Leaving the "for" out sounds kind of wrong.
Got the first one, thank you. Second isn't really a mistake. The "for" is optional.
ReplyDeleteIf Lynnette ever gave him a hug it would probably give him the power to take on all four emperors at once.
ReplyDeleteThe narrative talks about it embarrassing Hector almost as though there are things that don't embarrass him. Except fighting bad guys, and I suppose getting hugs doesn't so much embarrass as terrify him.
ReplyDeleteRemember the last time Lynn cornered Hector?
ReplyDeleteActually even if Lynn wanted to give him a hug, Hector won't allow it.
Hector would put an iron wall between them.
Ahahahahahaha
FROST. THE MAP OF THE CONTINENT. I LOOKED AND THERE IS NO SNIDER. BUT THAT'S WHERE COLT SAID HE WAS GOING WITH THE LITTLE GOBL- I MEAN BABIES. IS IT ON THE OTHER CONTINENT?! THAT'D BE SSSOOO FFFAAARRRR
ReplyDeleteNevermind, I found it. It's so tiny! But what are the black areas?
ReplyDeleteNevermind again, they're just the countries that are already accounted fully for on the maps page.
ReplyDeleteHaha. Colt did say that Snider is a tiny country out west. And seeing as Atreya is already pretty small, that would mean Snider is even smaller.
ReplyDelete