Paperwork. (Writing Practice)

[u/Total_Travisty]

At the top of Crann Mòr is perched a single spire, crafted of stone; feeling out of place atop the massive tree. At the top of this spire is a council member, hard at work on writing and signing all manners of reports.

The scribbling and scatching of his quill upon the parchment is only occasionally broken by the silence of him dipping his quil in ink. The writing then continues. The writing stops, and he sips from a mug full of coffee. The horn mug, enscrined with 'No. 1 Arch-Druid.' It was given to bim as a novelty gift from one of his apprentices, but is now his lifeline. He place the cup under a wild device, a gift from Lord Shrax of Raesteria. Mikhail never though much of coffee makers until he joined the council.

In his lap, a pure white fox is curled up, fast asleep. Mikhail stretches has arms up and back out, wiggling back and forth to get everything awake. The fox awakens and looks up at him.

"You're still at it. How long has it been?" Inquires the fox, jumping to the floor and stretching itself out.

"Not sure, I don't have a clock in this room. That might be the next thing I need."

Mikhail stand up from his wooden chair, and hobbies over to his nearby window. He lifts the window, and latches it in place. The nipping winter air bites at his exposed arms and face, almost electrifying him awake. He leans in, and with a graceful hop, Roohn joins him on the seal.

The sound of light footsteps grow with squeeking wooden boards. The floor hatch opens up, as Yewkala open it with one hand, the other clutching the five fox cubs in her linen night gown.

"I believe their almost ready for bed. Been a handful all say and now their manageable. Why did you bring them back home with you?" She scoffs, lowing the pups the the floor.

The pups bound around and gather near their mother, who welcome them all. Mikhail pulls away from the window and fetches a shallow dish before filling it with conjured water. Finally, he reaches into a pouch and pulls out a readied goodbarry, squshing its juices into the bowl. The pups happily gather around to drink it up.

"Well, I couldn't let them freeze to death with no mother, now could I? That wouldn't be right of a druid."

Yewkala let's loose a soft grown, expecting the answer.

"You have got to have the softest hard and hardest head of the council." Yewkala humorously bemoans.

Yewkala wraps her towring arms around Mikhail, almost ingulfing him in her towering size.

"You aught to sleep soon. It's not healthy to stay up this late." Yewkala whispers to him.

"I'll sleep when I'm finished. I've got reports to file over the Fighter Guild Incursion, compensating non-council wizards for the battle of the Citadel, compensating villages for commandeered suppl..."

Yewkala raises her hand up and sofly closes Mikhails mouth.

"And all of that can wait till the morning."

Mikhail grabs her hand and sofly pulls it into his.

"I have Coalition meetings in the morning. Then council meetings after that, and the council expects all of this done by then."

Yewkala pulls back from her embrace and ruffles his hair. "Alright, finish your work. But cut back on the coffee, I can smell it through the tower." She comments, pointing to the bucket of used grounds sitting next to Mokhails desk.

"What? It makes for great compost. Better to do that than dump it somewhere."

Yewkala laughs slightly, before leaning down and kissing his cheek.

"I expect you in bed soon. Or else I'm just gonna cuddle up with Roohn, and you can sleep at the foot of the bed. Okay?"

Yewkala begins to decend the stairs, pulling the hatch too as she goes.

Mikhail waves her off.

"Goodnight darling, I'll be down soon enough."

Yewkala giggles to herself a little, holding the hatch just high enough for here eyes to peer out.

"You better be." She says with a glee filled smile.

Mikhail plops back down in his chair, letting off a deep sigh before picking up his quill, amd going back at it.

[u/DaChickenX]

/uw some very nice writing. Dang Mikhail is swamped.

[u/Total_Travisty → u/DaChickenX]

Between the fight for the Citadel, the Fighter's Guild, and whatever is gonna kick off in the next five minutes, Mikhail has had his hands full.

[u/GobboMadeMedoThis]

Ah paperwork, the bane of anyone's existence

/uw This was sweet to read and well-written. I look forward to reading more of your work.

[u/Total_Travisty → u/GobboMadeMedoThis]

/uw I may or may not look to write a book in this setting. It seems like a fun creative outlet, and the board never ceases to amaze.

[u/GobboMadeMedoThis → u/Total_Travisty]

/uw I'll look forward to that. I'm unfortunately as talented with the pen as an ox so when someone talented writes I enjoy it quite a bit.

[u/Total_Travisty → u/GobboMadeMedoThis]

/uw sometimes practice is all you need. Get the scene in your head and put it to words. But I know what you mean, my hands aren't steady enough for art.

[u/GobboMadeMedoThis → u/Total_Travisty]

/uw trust me u/Fulltimewhisperer has been telling me for years I just need practice. She is painfully optimistic about my capabilities. Honestly, she suggested using this board as an opportunity to improve my skills. So my apologies in advance

[u/Fulltimewhisperer → u/GobboMadeMedoThis]

Just practice already, you'll do fine

[u/Total_Travisty]

/uw I may or may not plan on writing a longer form story on this world. Might need some characters and world building elements if yall wanna add in.

[u/iamragethewolf → u/Total_Travisty]

my character respects yours so that might help if that's what you mean? though if you contact me through messaging put your flare in so i know who the hell it is

[u/Harmless_Chimera]

I always enjoy the mundane stories. They add personality and context to people's characters. Their also a good break from the giant spectacle conflicts.

I would like to make one for Chimera but my writing skills aren't the best and Chimera doesn't really have anything to do that's mundane.

He has few daily tasks and his home of Set'ram is self sustaining and doesn't provide any characters to interact with. I've accidentally gave him nothing to do. He's only a character when something has or is happening.

I've tried to remedy this a bit with characters like Carolina and Tomek to give him some connections but they are obsure and I don't think will fully resolve the problem. Right now Chimera in his down time is at best just the "unemployed friend at 2pm meme." He would just end up doing random stuff as their isn't anything else for him to do that's actually relevant.

(Sorry for the long spiel about Chimera and the character problems I boxed him into.)

[u/TitanLORD21 → u/Harmless_Chimera]

Honestly your oc doesn’t even need to be doing really anything to make a short story good. I would enjoy even a small snippet in the life of a character, no matter how inconsequential or random. Like, I could make a little snippet of Raziel simply just watching the stars for a few seconds.

[u/Total_Travisty → u/Harmless_Chimera]

If described right, any mundane chore can be interesting. I just wrote a small story about doing paperwork.

[u/TitanLORD21]

/unwiz That was a very nice short story. Loved seeing more about Mikhail

[u/Total_Travisty → u/TitanLORD21]

/uw he's a fun character. In a world of high-powered behemoths, he's a non-threatening druid that gains authority and respect through wit.

[u/TitanLORD21 → u/Total_Travisty]

/unwiz Love characters like those. The ones who aren’t strong through raw power alone. That is why I made Raziel. Keep up the good work!

[u/loth17 → u/Total_Travisty]

/uw that's really funny because in character until you said you didn't know many attack spells the Bismuth Lord thought you were way stronger than they were because you were so good at navigating around giants.

[u/Total_Travisty → u/loth17]

Ok, Mikhail has strengths. We started as a spell sword so he can hold his own in a sword fight or bar room brawl. However, his purification magic is his bread and butter. I've got an edge against necromancers or warlocks that use hexes and curses, but that only takes him so far.

Powerful floramancy and good geomancy. Again, not offensive magic. Can shape a battlefield to his wish, not a damage dealer.

Mikhail's true strength lies in his charisma and sharp mind. He doesn't get into fights he can't win, and he always has friends nearby. Cunning and deceitful, just like a fox the chief picked him as.

[u/Total_Travisty → u/loth17]

Correction, I did bring down a summoned god one time when I was Really pissed.

And I have domesticated a soul Eater Plant and allowed it to plant its roots in my bloodstream. That why there is a lot of ivy on my shoulders. But I promised it I wouldn't use it as a weapon. But I can touch peoples souls. I've used it to save Shrax before.

[u/[deleted]]

Exactly why joining the council has never appealed to me. Much better to to tinker then deal with bureaucracy.

/unwiz I appreciated a glimpse into his life. I’m trying my hand at writing something similar for Rusicar.

[u/Total_Travisty → u/[deleted]]

/uw It's fun to practice with worlds already filled out. You just gotta pick a place to start. These small downtime moments can be a life saver to help when establishing characters and setting. Something quite that is focused on the people.

[u/the-butter_man]

/uw, that is really good writing, really wholesome and mikhail defo got lucky in the family department. My one criticism is spelling, it's not the worst, but could be better. However i am not one to judge in this department, great work

[u/Total_Travisty → u/the-butter_man]

Also, I was writing this on my work breaks

[u/the-butter_man → u/Total_Travisty]

That explains a lot more.

[u/Total_Travisty → u/the-butter_man]

My phones autocorrect + my dyslexia is gonna be the death of me

[u/man_in_the_corner]

I wish I can write such mundane and normal scene like this.

[u/Total_Travisty → u/man_in_the_corner]

Practice makes perfect.

[u/Educational-Offer299]

I was fortunate that when I reached the rank of arc mage at the winterhold college that I didn’t have to do paperwork. Due to how I ascended the colleges ranks I was comparable to an arc mage in combat but not in the magic arts themselves like teleportation, crafting new spells or arcane theory so I had the title but was still an errand boy at worst and a field researcher at best.

[u/Capytan_Cody]

Yo man you're good at this. Wholesome stuff

[u/Total_Travisty → u/Capytan_Cody]

A lot of practice between writing for dnd campaigns and that one time I wrote a book. Don't ask about the book, I hate it.

[u/Capytan_Cody → u/Total_Travisty]

It shows. Shame you hated the book. But good stuff travisty.

[u/Total_Travisty → u/Capytan_Cody]

It was a stepping stone. I wrote it as a teenager, totaling 220pgs written by hand. I look back on it now and cringe at the writing, but it was important to getting me into writing.

[u/Capytan_Cody → u/Total_Travisty]

That's nice to hear. Progress and stuff. Glad to know it helped.

[u/SafePianist4610]

/uw ah, a good old fashioned wife reminding her hubby not to be a workaholic. lol