Aetherial Insights: Council Member Tezcatlipoca

I had a moment to wonder why he cared, why the badass jaguar god was coming to my rescue. I had no ties to Tezca that I was aware of: my history was Asian. If I lived through this, I'd ask my dam. Maybe he was associated with my sire, though that would almost be too easy. Whatever his affiliation, the fact that he was at all interested in me was rather terrifying.
"Release her, Mordred." he purred, his calm, almost careless voice flowing through the darkness, deciding my actions even more certainly than Mordred's hand around my throat. Oh no, there was no way I was moving, not while he was behind me, his commanding aura filling the air, pressing cloyingly around me even at that distance. I couldn't even sense Soren at this point. Hell, I suspected I wouldn't be able to sense Mordred were it not for our rather intimate circumstances.
"And why should I?" the scorned prince was surprisingly unaffected by Tezcat's display, his stance just as rooted as it had been before, If anything, his grip seemed to tighten, his fingers digging cruelly into my skin, eliciting an embarrassingly tender mew from my strained vocal cords.
There was a frighteningly complete silence before I heard the pad of the god's footsteps, his claws clicking as he stepped over the threshold into the softer shag of the room. I felt, rather than heard his sigh as he spoke again, as if speaking to an extremely amusing but rather slow child.
"Chantrelle is necessary for your scion's redemption. We did not receive any notice that she should die in order to accomplish this. She has had such a short time with young Morgan, even as humans measure these things. Release her."

It briefly occurred to me that his reasons were rather too casual for my liking. Then again, I'd never met a cat who could resist playing with a particularly interesting bit of prey. Come to think of it, he'd seemed very intrigued when I'd been brought to Ysephiel's chamber, even suggesting different methods to be tried upon me.

Henaji-ish

          I was so lost after what had happened in that room, so shocked after what Trent and his goons had done to me. There was a fire under my skin: a bright pit of sensation buried deep in my core. The only reason I was at this place right now was because I had to get away, had to leave my friends and seek an easy source of prey.

           I sensed him as soon as I crossed the threshold, my head tilting in his direction, oblivious to the other partygoers: the careening, boisterous frat boys clutching their plastic cup of cheap beer, the women at the party hugging their chosen men close, already lax enough to allow a grope here, a lifted skirt there. I had chosen my entrance well; there would be enough ambient lust to sustain me for a while.

           None of this mattered to me. All I could see was him. His scent came to me, the vulnerability in his eyes drawing me in before he even looked at me. I took but a moment to focus on blending in, knowing what he would expect from our relatively long period of association. Here was the guy I saw in class, in the halls of the college, and he would only be confused if he glimpsed the predator within.

           "Looks like everyone had the same idea." I said as he became aware of my presence. I had drawn close, only allowing him to perceive me just as I stepped within his comfort zone, into that vital zone of intimacy, where the thoughts of men and women alike began to turn to more primal things.

           "Yeah.. This is definitely the place to be tonight." His voice held the weight of his smile as his expression turned from cautious to delighted and warm; he had apparently been ill at ease in such a situation. He drew me into a hug, the gesture seeming almost automatic, and, fool that I was, I let him do it.

           Immediately, I knew what my body had tricked me into. His inherent caution, his naturally shy personality... Here was prey. He was all the more attractive because of his familiarity with me; I would know exactly how to draw him in. It would be easier and more filling than flitting about these strangers for the night.

           "I don't know anyone else here..." I heard myself say, taking the hug and turning it into a caress, my nails catching on the material of his jacket. This was bad. I couldn't force myself to move in that moment, couldn't let go of him even if he'd burst into flames at that instant. I was trapped within myself in a ritual that was older than this society, this plane of existence. I was at the mercy of my need.

            "I came with some friends, but they're off somewhere. I think I'm going to have to play designated driver."

             I wasn't really listening to him at this point. I could feel the warmth emanating from him, could read his body as well as any of my more malevolent colleagues. The artery in his neck was beneath my lips, and that excited me too, though I was no vampire to open it and drink from his lifeblood. I was already deciding how I was going to do this: all I needed now was the opportunity. The party was big enough and loud enough to mask any noise, but even I wasn't good enough to feed deeply in the public eye.

            "Are.. Are you okay?"

I froze as his hands grasped my arms at the elbows, my eyes widening as he drew closer of his own free will, his scent changing subtly from vulnerability to calm, quiet strength. It was as if his entire aura changed, and mine clung to it, drawing from it the means to snap me out of the hunting trance, This had never happened before, not with a human. I backed out of that embrace, and I knew my eyes were wide with shock.

             His were full of questions, and his face held a puzzled expression, his mouth quirked in a very peculiar way. I stared at those lips, and mine almost drew back from my teeth, very nearly sending me back into that trance. The strangeness of his aura surrounded me, and I used that to force myself to step back, even as his hands tried to keep me from leaving him. I couldn't afford to talk to him, not now, not when I still ached. I'd do it later, when I was more in control of myself and the situation.

I fled upstairs, where some guests had entirely left the action downstairs for a party of their own, where I could depend upon young adult vigor and hormones to stave off the worst of my need. Only when I felt that I could face him without being hypnotized by the strength of his aura did I venture back downstairs, praying that he'd have left already.

Continue?

So back to this other thing I go...

I've been thinking about what would happen if I just made Henaji a novel instead of a comic, and I've come to the conclusion that that would be taking the easy way out. There's no way I'm doing that. I do see a compilation of short stories that would be published under the tile, Henaji and basically have to do with the fantastic realm and role of Raven and her minions as they settle into their jobs, and have the missing parts of their memories explained by those they encounter. I'm really starting to lean toward an Asiatic hotel/shrine vibe.  More hotel/restaurant, but yeah, their clientele is going to be interesting. Now as for my situation, because I don't have a home computer, I'll be writing a lot, so you might see novel pages or stuff I can publish via my cell phone. Hope that's enough to tide you guys over for now. For now, here's some of the stuff I read.

Corpse Run Comics

Questionable Content

Two Kinds

My Deviantart Account

Okay, so who found my sketchbook at the Gulf Coast Collesium?

Found the original disk for Animorphs! I'm so happy, but I've got to run through yerkpool.exe and see if it still works. Eyes feel so much better now that my headache is gone. Trying to pace myself,. It's so hard to remain undercover and balance family and work. I admit that sometimes I, too, have to be reminded to eat. It's not like Mr. Stone is here, now is he? Wonder if my tomagatchi is still upstairs. It snowed today, so I am looking forward to staying inside, might set up the Nintendo Wii so we can all play Mario Kart, provided no one has blown on the disks. Maybe I'll get lucky and find Ecco the Dolphin.

Housekeeping

Birthday's Monday. Yay me, another year older. Coolness. Anyway, if you contact me about Henaji without putting Henaji in either your subject or the body of your email, I'm probably not going to respond to you. Nothing personal, just in the age of spam and unwanted solicitations you should understand.

This month has been very hectic, and because my client can't  find another person to back me up, I can't really work on anything besides scripting and drawing. Inking happens when it happens, as does coloring.
College is going very well. I might actually pull good grades for this semester. I don't plan to take any classes during the summer, so I'll adopt my regular Tuesday/Thursday schedule with stuff posted on facebook and my deviantart account. When I update, it'll be on reddit as well as other places.

Until then, feel free to ask me questions about Henaji. If you must gripe about me not updating, that's fine too. Thanks for reading, and check back in the usual places because I will totally be continuing this.

Henaji News

Asking for questions/comments regarding Henaji/the Aether (world of Henaji). Thinking about doing an Ask the Aetherial section. Of course, you can always comment with your questions, and I'll answer them.   First question I'll answer is:


What's with the spotty updates lately?

I've been working a full time job as a medical aide for someone with cerebral palsy and dwarfism. She only has one hip and is permanently confined to a wheelchair. The hours themselves were surprises because one of her aides quit on her (the one who had her most of the day), and so I had to pick up those hours plus some because the other aide is very close to her due date.

Disclaimer: I'm not blaming either of these for anything that may or may not have arisen due to their conditions. Circumstances were just not right. I actually like working the full day with her, but I was not prepared to do so this week. My bad. I've adjusted now, and I find this job to be one of the most enjoyable I've had so far. I'll be working with her until August of this year (2013 for those of you reading the Archives). That doesn't mean I wont' update. I'll update and post that I've updated for people following me on Twitter/Facebook/Reddit/Tumblr. Spare time will be spent drawing extras and the like.

Henaji history

Been getting a lot of emails asking about the nature of Henaji and how it came to be. For those people, I say keep following the story, and all will reveal itself. However, here are some behind the scenes tidbits.

I originally came up with the idea of Henaji when I was in college completing my Animal and Dairy Science degree (yes, there are actual degrees for people who want to raise animals and milk cows for a living). I was in a relationship with two different people, and a lot of people saw this as strange. Being a person whose jealousy isn't triggered by the number of people involved with someone's significant other, I found their monogamy equally strange. So I came up with the concept of the Aether.
The Aether is a fantasy alter-dimension of modern day Earth. They're still mostly in the feudal era, but there are urban cities and rural villages. In the beginning, the Aether and Earth were one and the same, but as time went on, the elder gods saw Aetherials exploiting and harming humans: their pet creations. So they decreed that the two should be separate until such a time as they could coexist again.
Flash forward to Henaji and the current storyline. The elder gods are aware that their children the Aetherials have been very lax in their interpretation of their earlier decree, and as such, decided to open the borders so to speak. They would sponsor institutions such as Henaji in order to foster successful human-Aetherial relations (ignoring tales of such relations going hopelessly awry).
And so we have the present day Henaji, run by Raven and her cohorts.

Comic resumes Tuesday!

 

Aetherial Example