Tiefling story, rough notes/WIP extract (Patreon)

As promised, work in progress snippets will begin popping up here and there. This one is for a former-commission that fell through, through no fault of the customer, and I've been slowly working on it in the background. I adore tieflings, and this modern setting has a huge cast of additional characters too. Since the scope is so big, I'm tempted to make this story the weekly episode one, but I'll put it to the vote. 

Lansel is a paediatric doctor, and he and the female reader have an angsty backstory which I won’t reveal just yet. They were high school sweethearts, and were practically engaged, until... well... I'll save that for the story. At the time of the start of the story, however, they have not seen each other for six years. The reader has a young child, a half vampire, by the name of Lily, and the reader's best friend is a hawk-like tengu, as yet unnamed...  

Here are just some of my notes and scribblings for you to peruse and hopefully enjoy!

The reader works at a plant centre/garden centre, but really wants to be a garden designer. One day, Lansel comes to the garden centre with his little sister, looking for a plant for her bedroom, and reader drops a glass vase in the homeware section when she sees him. It goes everywhere, she cuts her hand, and faints at the sight of the blood. 

Misses falling on any glass, but he tends to her and wraps her hand up. She wakes and he just has this dead expression on his face that makes her go cold inside. “Come on Relani, let’s go.” he says to the young tiefling girl at his side when the reader is all patched up.

She looks just like him, so the reader assumes she’s his daughter. 

Her best friend – who she met working at the garden centre about three years ago – comes over and checks she’s ok. Reader tells them who that was, and they’re like ‘oh sweetie, oh it’s ok’, and holds her. 

She’s crying hysterically into Tengu’s feathers, sobbing and gasping, unable to breathe, when Tengu goes stiff and she looks up to see Lansel standing there a little way off while Relani goes to pick up her teddy bear that she dropped. He’s staring at her, shocked at her display. 

“Lansel?” you sob. “Lan, I’m so sorry.” His tail coils around his ankle. “Tell me something?” you ask.

“What?” His voice is clipped and hoarse. 

“Did you make it to surgeon?”

His eyes go dark. “No.”

You sob. “No?”

“I’m a paediatric doctor though,” he adds, looking a little puzzled. 

“Oh. That’s good. Do you enjoy it? Is it… Is it enough?”

His eyes narrow, his brows furrowing. He’s reading something else into this, but he’s wary and hurt. “Of course it is,” he snarls. “Relani, let’s go.”

“That’s good,” you choke. “I’m glad. That’s good.”

Tengu gets you to your feet and tells you to go clean up. They’ll take care of the mess. 

You walk unsteadily past him, Relani on your left, Lansel on your right, and as you glance from the little girl to him, Relani gasps. 

“Selli!” she cries, running over to him and yanking his tail. “Selli!”

“What?”

“She’s the one from that photograph!”

Your feet stop dead and you stare at him. 

Lansel looks down at the little girl, and you’re too shocked to notice at that point that she called him by the most adorable nickname ever, and not ‘daddy’ or ‘papa’ or something. 

“She is, isn’t she?” Relani presses. 

“Relani don’t,” he snaps. 

“Well, isn’t she –?”

“Relani!” he hisses through clenched teeth, taking a step towards her. 

She turns her massive golden eyes up at him, clearly startled by the tone of his voice. Lansel clearly never speaks to her like that. Ever.

“We’re leaving.” He turns to you, still rooted to the spot like a frightened cervitaur, and says quietly, “Keep that dry til the cut heals. And go to a doctor if it goes bad.”

A single tear dribbles silently down your face as you just stare at him and watch him take the little girl by the hand and lead her away. You can just see the little nubs of what will be black horns poking through her dark hair. She’s really beautiful. 

Stay tuned for more, and please let me know if you're keen for this to be the ongoing story. Like I said in my Tumblr post with this story's aesthetic, it's got a minotaur and werewolf EMT team, a naga babysitter, a tengu best friend, a gnoll family with THE most adorable kiddo gnoll boy, and an orc gang…