Make that 8 side story chapters + Teaser · 1:29pm May 16th, 2021
Though the latest two are a bit of a cheat as I realized it would be better to break up a couple earlier chapters. In one case, I did it to bookend it around an important and very adult three-chapter arc regarding our surprise first human/griffon pairing. That involved fleshing out the broken-off chapter a bit more, as I'm trying to keep individual chapters to no more than around 5k-6k words. I then also decided to break up an early chapter that was well over 8000 words, putting some initially mild adult action in the trailing half into its own chapter.
This thing has truly taken on a life of its own. It genuinely wants to be written, and trust me, that's not always something you can say as an author! Regardless, what this means is, I'll have plenty of horsewerds griffiewerds available for readers both at the start, and an ongoing basis. I'll be able to release four chapters right away, and keep the rest in reserve to publish daily after. If I can get two more chapters finished before next Monday, then you can make that five initial chapters with five to spare.
While you're waiting, have another teaser, this time told from Tara's point of view:
“Figures…” Tara heard Marco growl as he paused the movie barely sixteen seconds in and the sound of a knock, going down the short hall of their Inn suite to open the door. “Oh! Hey, Robbie!” she then heard Marco call.
“Hey, guys,” they heard the voice of Sergeant Robert Reyes, their Marine security detachment liaison, call out. “Just checking on everybody, as promised. And maybe hoping to grab some of that greasy goodness we can smell you cooked all the way from the fucking dining hall!” he said as he entered, his nose twitching. “There better be some left for me!”
“Hey, we wouldn’t neglect the needs of our favorite leatherneck, Robbie,” Marco teased, leading him over the platter of freshly fried chicken they’d saved him, being kept warm over the fading embers of the cooking fire. “Here ya go. And have some hot Equestrian cider, too.”
“Hard cider?” Reyes raised an eyebrow at him. “You know I’m on duty.”
“Nope. It’s as soft as Tara’s backside,” Marco promised with a teasing tone, causing Tara to look up, noticing Chris facepalm and Fortrakt blush while she exchanged a glance and eyeroll with Gilda—for some reason, Marco had been teasing her over their onetime fling a year earlier quite heavily that evening, though in fairness, she’d not only allowed but encouraged it for reasons she still wasn’t clear on. “Want to try some, Sergeant?”
“So, is Marco always like this?” Gilda asked as she swallowed her first beakful of popcorn, watching as Reyes accepted the mug and took a long swig, his eyes noticeably widening in surprise as the taste hit him. “Seems really dweeby, even for him.”
“Actually, he’s in rare form,” Tara replied under her breath as she took a handful of popcorn of her own to eat from. “He usually doesn’t push it this hard.”
“Just say the word, and I’ll push back,” Gilda offered with a wink and an evil gleam in her blue eyes. “Verbally, or otherwise.” She flexed her claws before spearing a single piece of popcorn on a talon and popping it in her beak
“It’s okay, Gilda, really,” Tara assured her, finding Marco’s attention more flattering than annoying at that moment. And it’s not like I didn’t tease him just as hard, earlier. Sorry, Chris, but I guess we never really got over sleeping together that one time, after all… she mentally apologized to him, given he’d had to clean up after them as after they got sick from inebriation and then later try to heal their friendship when both realized they’d made a mistake the next day.
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah. I know how he seems sometimes, but he’s a good guy. And take it from me, he’s a good lay,” she felt compelled to add, only to blink. Huh? Why in the HELL did I just say that?
“I’ll take your word for it.” Gilda smirked, setting aside her empty cider bowl. “I didn’t think I’d ever say this a couple days ago, but I’ll grant he’s got plenty of good qualities to go with his bad. Then again, so does Fortrakt over there,” she added with a nod over to where her junior partner sat on a floor pillow chatting with Chris; Tara caught his gaze drift towards them for a moment before it was quickly averted when he noticed her looking back. “I may tease him. I may even embarrass him. But it’s only because I like him.”
“Then you’re a true friend,” she told the eagless, refilling her cider bowl. “And someone I’d like to know better.”
Gilda glanced at her. She looked for a moment like she was trying to find a way to say something, but she couldn’t before a second knock was heard on the suite door. And this time, it wasn’t Reyes, but First Lieutenant Jason Nantz, commander of the U.S. Ambassador’s Marine security detachment, who marched in.
“Okay, where’s the fried chicken?” he demanded to know in feigned anger, his nose twitching and hands on his hips. He was wearing a hungry expression as well as his camo fatigues and weapons belt which mounted both a pistol and more nonlethal options like a baton and taser, though there was also an interested and very striking young eagless who looked to be in her mid or late teens at his side; her fur and feathers almost completely white except for a spattering a barely darker spots on her feathered area, all offset by brilliant blue eyes.
That was her guess anyway, given Tara noted the young eagless still had a few of the fluffier down feathers she’d seen on griffon cubs. “It’s been in my nostrils for the last hour! Do you know how distracting that is? We can smell it from all the way from the second floor!”
“Right here, sir!” A grinning Reyes offered him the platter with the remaining pieces. “Of course, I saved some greasy goodness for our stern but benevolent bastard of a C.O.”
“By which he means I saved some, sir,” Marco offered helpfully with a tip of his mug, earning a glower back from Reyes.
Nantz then pinned Reyes with a mock glare. “Flattery gets you nowhere with me, Sergeant—only fried chicken does. Now hand it over! I have to make sure it’s up to Marine standards, after all…”
“Sir, yes sir!” He immediately put two pieces on a plate and passed it to his superior, giving him an exaggerated bow as he presented it.
“Save the royal bow, Sergeant! I’m not your King, I’m your commander! So let’s see…” Nantz picked up a piece and inhaled the odor deeply before biting into it, then he closed his eyes and smiled, wearing an expression of pure bliss as he chewed. “Damn, that’s good… and you made this, Chris? My compliments! I admit I never thought I’d miss fried food so much after spending a couple of months in Equestria and the Kingdom!”
“You’re welcome, sir—we just figured Dana’s expulsion called for something special in celebration. But who’s your griffon guest?” he asked, glancing over to where the young griffon female stood on all fours at Nantz’s side expectantly, her head coming nearly up to his navel.
“Oh! My apologies. This is Merlina Marcus, the daughter of the Inn’s owner. She’s been giving me Aeric language lessons after my duty shifts, and she was curious what the smell was. Here, try some fried chicken, Merlina…” he offered the young eagless the second piece from the plate.
“Oh! Uh, thank you, Jason,” the young and petite griffon female replied politely in excellent Equish with a bared throat, earning a smirk from Reyes at what Tara guessed was her use of Nantz’s first name. She watched closely as the young eagless sniffed at the crispy meat before taking a tentative bite, wishing to see her reaction, noting Gilda was doing the same beside her.
The newest arrival did not disappoint. Her face and eyes lit up as she stared down at the oddly-cooked chicken in astonishment. “By my Ancestors, that’s really good…” she decided as she started tearing off additional pieces of meat and crispy skin with her beak and chewing on them happily. “I never knew chicken could taste so… so fatty and juicy!”
“Well, that’s three griffon votes in favor of opening a fried chicken franchise in Arnau!” Chris proclaimed as he poured the Lieutenant a mug of cider next. “You know, we should tell Strenus and Goldberg that they should be part of any trade agreement!”
“Fine, but just not KFC,” Tara noted with a chuckle as Gilda listened in some bemusement. “I’ll have you know I’m a Church’s Fried Chicken girl.”
“Then you obviously haven’t experienced the sweet tea and Cajun spices of Bojangles,” Reyes rejoined as chowed down happily on a chicken leg. “They’re enormously addictive.”
“Forget those. Gimmie Popeyes any day,” Chris responded.
“You guys are idiots. If you want fried chicken, you have to come to the Philippines. We’ve got a chain called Jollibee that puts them all to shame!” Marco boasted, at which point Tara noted the boys all started to argue, to which Nantz rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“You know, maybe I better get out of here before I get blamed for starting a shooting war over the best fried chicken franchises...”
Current word count is over 40,000 on the side story in 8 chapters. By the time the story goes live, that's likely to be up over 45 or even 50,000 in 9 or 10 chapters. So get hyped, folks. Feathered Hearts: Eros is on the way!
Poor, poor Colonel Sanders...
Popcorn style chicken for the gold medal!
Off to a good start.
Arnau fried chicken is going to be a hit with the local meat eaters.
"Shooting war" . . . oh my what a slip of tongue
...Goddamn I could go for some fried chicken right about now...