#he loves the digital world. so much that he willingly gave his life to repair and protect it

[galionne-diging]

Would love to hear everyone's opinions and reasons why!

[mikahorror]

Original Fiction Fest Days 1-6

I was going to make posts for Original Fiction Fest but I didn’t think to schedule posts and was too lazy to try to find the original prompt post before, so here’s this massive fucking thing 

(I was going to do Frozen Rose as well, but I didn’t even get through the day one prompt before I was like fuck. that LOL)

@originalficfest

Day 1 : Character Day

I’m going to be using characters from The Samiyah Hayden Series

Samiyah is a known as the “only human witch” at the start of the series but humans are capable of knowing magic, supernatural creatures just aren’t supposed to teach them anymore. And that’s a whole thing but my WIP list is a thousand years long okay? She’s an aromantic asexual and I feel like maybe I should tie that into her powers but I’m not aromantic so don’t know if I can do that in a non wtf way. She can manipulate all elements like any witch, but her strongest element is fire.

Jaegar Richter is a werewolf and her “alpha”. He kinda unofficially adopted her at some point. I wanted to go for a chosen family theme in this series because Samiyah’s biological family is actually terrible  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Jaegar is the head of the police force on Seven Bays that’s just meant to placate humanity and present authority in a way that people will accept but The Council ™ actually creates all laws and sends their own enforcement if someone needs to be arrested.

(Ya’ll i’m already fucking tired)

Oliver Linwood (that’s subject to change honestly) is a werewolf alpha that’s introduced in Ever’s Gate. He is bonded to Samiyah but they aren’t in a romantic relationship because I wanted to use the bond in a platonic way. He’s ollllllllld English lol and there’s a reason he ends up in Florida but my WIP list ya’ll, my WIP list! But it’s definitely tied to Delfina and Marceau, two wolves in his pack. 

Katherine Hayden a.k.a the fUCKING WOrST sister you could ever have, but she’s so fun to write. She’s Samiyah’s “baby” sister who is completely spoiled and that never really changes. She is still very willing to do shady shit but now it’s just to protect family

She’s introduced to magic in a very different way than her sister and she also doesn’t learn about the council until she massively fucks up 😅 Also, fun fact, she has the potential to be equally strong in all elements.....

My husband when I told him this:

And last but not least SANTIAGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I clearly have no favorites.....)

Santiago is a primordial werewolf, so he’s never been human but he has a human name because the human Iohan Santiago was a friend who had no family to carry on his name. And yes, that’s a whole thing..... Anyway, he trained Samiyah in magic even though it’s illegal because he feels since he’s older than The Council ™ he shouldn’t have to listen to them. Also he killed one of their members so he just gets a stern talking to lol And that’s actually in Seven Bays because some times I write a thing. Also I made him too strong because he’s ancient and able to use magic unlike werewolves who were turned so I can’t ever really use him because he’d just end everything right there....What have I done!

Day 2 : Romantic Relationships

There are two romantic relationships in this series and they both involve side characters; Katherine and Atian Crowe. Their relationship develops in the main series while the other, Marceau and Delfina, takes place in the short story I linked above and this poem because I didn’t see them as a couple when I originally wrote Hayden Spells Trouble. 

Kat’s romance does not start off good. It literally starts because she wants someone to think of her as a victim and she makes him feel sorry for her. She tries to be good because now she has to maintain that image she created and she’s been raised with that mentality of “appearance is everything”. So right now Atian believes in her 100% and I’m not sure how I want this to go since he has to find out what she did in Ever’s Gate (very willingly too) eventually.

Marceau and Delfina have a fluffier start to their relationship. They meet when she’s running away from the noble lord who captured her and I was going to write the typical historical romance plot because he’s not a noble but he’s wealthy....and French while she’s Spanish, so there would be obstacles to them being together (like her being sent away to another country), but don’t think I will.

Day 3: Nonromantic Relationships

The nonromantic relationships is pretty much everyone else. Like I said, I wanted to focus more on family dynamics and friendships more than anything else. Of course not everyone gets along. Samiyah is pretty much the only one that has a talking relationship with everyone else for most of the series and I realize that kinda falls into the perfect protag that everyone loves trope. But in the current story I’m working on, she has to work on repairing all of them. 

As for everyone else:

Jaeger doesn’t like Santiago because none of his past has been revealed to anyone in the actual story and he doesn’t think Samiyah should trust him. His relationship with Oliver starts off rocky and he doesn’t completely trust him either but is willing to back off unless Oliver shows that he’s a threat to Samiyah. 

Santiago is as protective of Samiyah as Jaegar is and he doesn’t really care that Jaegar doesn’t trust him, but he doesn’t go out of his way to antagonize him usually. He’s willing to stay on the peripheral of Sam’s life and only interfere if no one else can help. The only person he truly, truly hates is Kat but until Sam completely turns her back on her sister he’s not going to do anything to her.

Oliver is weary of both Jaegar and Santiago because Jaegar’s pack is stronger and his is struggling to survive. And pretty much everyone fears Santiago because the guardians are supposed to be impossible to kill because they’re practically gods themselves. And of course he dislikes Kat because not only did she almost get Sam, Jaegar and his pack, as well as himself killed but also a lot of innocent people. Because of that she got his pack exposed. Magical creatures are still being reintroduced to most of humanity so people aren’t aware just how close they really are. 

Needless to say the only person Kat is close to his Atian who marries her. She’s pretty disrespectful to everyone else but realizes pretty quickly Sam is the only thing keeping her alive. So she takes a pretty extreme step to gain access to the power she glimpsed in the Fae world.

Day 4: Quote Day

Here’s a scene that may or may not end up in the final version of The Price of Family, the fifth story in the series but the first full novel length book:

Samiyah stood with her head pressed against the bathroom door. She remembered reaching for the handle and then she'd just...stood there. All her bravado drained instantly as she realized she was right back where she didn't want to be. A different witch asking her to solve the same problem with a different name. So she just stood there, trying to breathe evenly. Eventually she noticed her phone ringing. Just as she opened the door, it stopped. Samiyah made her way into the living room to see her message machine was full. The first was a formal message from Jaegar telling her he noticed her absence and he expected a call whenever she finished doing whatever she'd done. The second, third, fourth, and fifth were still reasonably polite but he was starting to growl his words. After that his words became quiet, menacing, while still repeating the formal words. Was he really that mad at her? Or was the promise of violence for anyone else who might be listening?  

How long was I gone? Samiyah ran to her room and looked at the digital clock on her bedside table. Holy shit! It's midnight! She picked up her jeans from where she'd tossed them on the floor, glad she hadn't thrown them in the hamper yet as she fervently looked for her cellphone. Just as her hand closed around it, the floor tilted towards her and intense grief slammed into her. Samiyah clutched her cell phone and squeezed her eyes shut. She hadn't talked to Jaegar in two years. And they were about to have an argument. It wasn't even her fault! But...there was something else, another layer. Samiyah shook her head to clear it, wiped her eyes and called Jaegar. She still had his number on speed dial.  

And he still had her number in his phone because he picked up instantly. "Get to my office. Now." That was his dad voice, alpha voice, and bad cop voice all rolled into one. It sent a shiver of fear down Samiyah's spine. Jaegar didn't give her a chance to answer before hanging up.  

She sighed and ended the call on her end. With mechanical motions she bounced into her jeans and found the closest pair of sneakers, before leaving the apartment. Samiyah was barely out of the door before she was blinded and someone tried to  wrap their arms around her chest.

"Witch! You're back! You're back! Where did you go? Why?" Lyric bombarded her with questions and she could only wait for it to take a breath.

"Yes, yes, I'm back. Calm down. This is important. I'm going to see a very mad werewolf. Stay here." She gave it a tight hug and opened her apartment door so it could fly by. Lyric stopped to look back at her and she waved it on. Samiyah wanted to go with it, snuggle up and watch some stupid show it was obsessed with or fall into bed. Instead she steeled herself for wherever this night was leading.

Samiyah closed the door to Jaegar's office. No one had stopped her but she could feel the tension. Jaegar sat on the corner of his desk with one arm casually draped over his right knee, and the other hanging at his side.

"Do you know what you did, Samiyah?"

She tried hard not to flinch but failed. "I didn't do it on purpose...."

Jaegar stood and Samiyah immediately dropped into one of the leather chairs.  

"I don't even know how to transport myself!"

Jaegar's eyebrows raised in curiosity, but his anger quickly returned. "That's not what I meant," he snapped. "Oliver called. Did you know that? He called me, nearly unintelligible. He needed to hear you were okay."  

Samiyah started to speak but Jaegar stopped her by stepping forward.  

"Have you spoken to him?"

"I didn't get a chance to do anything," Samiyah said indignantly. "I came back to a full answering machine and you demanding I come see you."

"You haven't spoken to him." Jaegar's voice was soft and there was an emotion, almost despair, that Samiyah had never heard from him before.  

"It's not my fault he thought I was missing!"

"He thinks you're dead." Jaegar paused suddenly. His anger was still there but it was fading. He sat down in the chair next to Samiyah. "No one could feel you. Sam. You've been gone for several hours."  

Samiyah only nodded. She searched for her link to Oliver. Fighting back a cry when it slipped away from her. That damn...whatever he is! Samiyah "grabbed" the link and yanked, reaching into the darkness she felt from Oliver. She felt him...growl? 

Did you- You! Oliver Linwood, I'm trying to apologize.

There was no answer at first, but how many people knew Oliver's last name? He'd told her only because she'd made up the most ridiculous names she could think of. And threatened to keep whichever one annoyed him the most. Samiyah still wasn't sure Oliver was his real first name, but she didn't care. It got his attention and that was all that mattered.

Sam....

Yep. It's me. I didn't know this would happen.  

Just tell me you're okay. Really okay.The resignation in his voice made Samiyah's hands curl into fists. I don't care about the rest.  

I'm okay. Get some rest, we'll talk later.  

Samiyah felt his desperation welling in her chest. She lost count of how many times she promised to stay safe. Ignoring the guilt because she knew she couldn't do that. Finally, looking at Jaegar, Samiyah said, "I got a job. Sorta."

Day 5: Music

I used to have playlists for The Samiyah Hayden Series and Jaded Princess (a short story from Kat’s POV), so here’s some of the songs that was on them.

Kelly Rowland - I’m Dat Chick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxwqk9UJI-0

(I wonder who this could possibly be about LOL)

Jasmine Sullivan - Stupid Girls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to8e-3aZmhg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiU886XiSX4 Imani Chyle - Warrioress

 Benedictum - Within The Solace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b3acQMoF5w

Day 6 - Pictures

Besides the aesthetic mood boards I already posted I’ve only attempted drawing my own characters twice and I did not do them justice.

I tried to draw Sam but I don’t know how to draw curly hair 🤦

WHO’S MANS IS THIS??!!?!! (he’s Sam’s) I made Oliver look like Gaston but he doesn’t, I swear. It’s more like the long hair dude with brown hair in the moodboard. I just can’t draw worth a crap......

If you read all this (holy shit, first of all) and you’re interested in the series, you can get The Samiyah Hayden Series Vol. 1 for 99¢. It includes edited versions of Seven Bays and Ever’s Gate.