[Prompt] Routine Disruption

Lore World's End Tavern: Role-play and Fan Fiction
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Routines are part of everyone’s day. Things and steps you take for a meal, shopping, training, research, bedtime, waking up, cleaning, etc. Today, your usual routines have been disrupted. Whatever routine you decide, whether it is your morning coffee being spilled and decimated by a stampede or your training routine being rained out, or anything else, how do you adapt to this? Do you start over, or move on? Do you dwell on it for the rest of your day, as you try to sleep, into the coming week? Does it bug you incessantly that your routine has been ruined to the point that it impacts your overall performance for the day? Or do you shrug it off and continue as if it was nothing?

Info

This is meant to be a fun exercise, so there aren’t many rules.

Prompts are fun little things meant to inspire. You don’t have to perfectly match the prompt. Just let it inspire a thought.

I’m going to try and post these weekly, sometime between Saturday and Monday probably. Feedback and prompt ideas are welcome, so feel free to post them in the archive thread. Some prompts will be more thought provoking, some more whimsical. Respect your fellow writers.

Disclaimer: I cannot take full credit for every prompt. Some of these I create on my own, some are prompts I’ve seen that I’ve taken a WoW spin to, and some I’ve seen and used in the past, some are ideas spoken in passing between me and coworkers, or guildmates, or some are offered directly from folks on the forums. If I’ve been directly given a prompt from another person, I will credit them unless they do not want to. Otherwise, know some of these are gained through many means.

Archive: Kersia's Prompt Archive and Discussion

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((Had to post one last story, sub runs out tomorrow! Thank you, again, @Kersia for putting these prompts up each week. I always enjoy reading them and coming up with ideas. This game and this world always seems to suck me back in, so i’ll no-doubt be back one day.))

https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/character/us/barthilas/tabbek

Tabbek lay on his hammock, watching the sunrise over the ocean. He was a light sleeper, and an early riser out of habit, so this had become a daily ritual for him before setting out on his fishing boat for the day. Even after he’d finished his catch, he’d then stay out on the water to watch the sunset, every day.

“Jus’ a momen’ longah…” Tabbek thought to himself, before a voice broke his peaceful silence.

“De NERVE o’ dat one…tink’in he can jus’ run off and leave me on me own… he KNEW dat a score o’ younglings was comin’ tru… YOU DERE!” The voice had shouted in Tabbeks direction. “Lazyin’ about when dere’s work tah be done!”

Tabbek groaned as he flipped out of his hammock, and turned to address his accuser. “Give it a rest Nekali, de fish not be goin’ nowhere”.

“Don’ be givin’ me lip Tabbek!” Nekali spat back at him. “I’m coverin’ for Ortezza, Nortet AN’ Legati today, and I woke to find Kortin has run off to the mainland, and said not a word to nobody!!”

“Not me problem, Nek” Tabbek replied, and turned to walk to his boat. He longed to be out on the ocean already, the water was calm, which would make for a good catch and a relaxing day.

“DON’CHA BE TURNIN’ YA BACK ON ME!” Nekali shrieked at him. Tabbek then felt the surge in heat behind him, and only just managed to move aside in-time to avoid the lava-burst that Nekali had just thrown at him.

“YA OUT O’YA MIND, NEK?” Tabbek yelled back at her

“De nex’ one burns yah precious fishin’ boat!” Nekali sneered “Said it yaself, de fish can wait today, now get yourself up to de trainin’ grounds!”

“Dere be no arguin’ wit her…” Tabbek thought to himself, and strode past Nekali, meeting her glares with his own. Before long, the tiki-targets were setup and the newbloods were assembled in front of them, so they set to work.

Admittedly, teaching wasn’t so bad, seeing a young shaman call their first spark to their fingers did put a smile on Tabbeks face. It was approaching noon when Tabbek sat with a couple of young warriors, who were clumsily trying to hold and swing the two-handed training swords.

“Wat ‘ave we got ‘ere” a voice called from over Tabbek’s shoulder. Tabbek glanced over to see Morraki, the Watch-captain standing behind him. Morraki was an old soldier, but had earned his position time and again. But he had a weakness for lecturing on proper technique.

“Dis be me chance…” Tabbek thought to himself. “Well!” he called out “who here wants a demonstration from de Watch-captain ‘imself?” Seeing Morraki’s chest puff out at that, told Tabbek that he had him on the line. He looked over to the other side of the training fields, and saw Nekali was preoccupied, he called over to Morraki again “A simple shaman like me not gonna get in ya way neither” Morraki waved him off and Tabbek made for the shore. He stepped out onto the beach and breathed a sigh of relief. He was home free…

“HELP!”

Tabbek groaned, and turned to see one of the younger raptor trainers with a pale, frightened, expression on her face. “De raptors, dey ‘ave been wild today! I turn me back, an… if dey not safe in dere pens before Kijara gets back…”

Tabbek put a hand on the young trolls shoulder to steady her, he knew Kijara could be meaner than even Nekali. “I be helpin’ you, now show me where dey got out." Tabbek crossed with the young handler to the Bloodtalon shore, to only find chaos. Tabbek asked her where the mother’s pen was and calmly sat in her nest. He summoned a pair of spirit raptors, instead of the wolves that were more common among the Orc or Tauren Shaman, and they set off to lead the younger raptors back. Summoning more than two at a time was taxing, but he felt sorry for the young handler. It was an hour before the first raptor returned to the pens, and the afternoon was late when the last of the Raptors had returned.

Tabbek was tired, but thought the perfect way to end the day would be to watch the sun set from his boat. He stepped out onto the beach “Finally free…” he thought to himself.

“STOP! RIGHT!! DERE!!!”

The shrill sound of Nekali’s voice shattered any remaining longing Tabbek had, for his usual peaceful evening, and he rounded on her.

“I AIN’CHA LACKEY! NEKALI!” Tabbek spat back at the Shaman trainer. Without thinking, he’d called thunder, and a crack of lightning hit the sand behind him. “I AIN’ ONE O’ YA TEACHERS!!” thunder rumbled overhead again “AN I AIN’ NO RAPTOR HANDLER NIETHA’!!!”

“ENOUGH!” lightning cracked again

“IS!!” more thunder

“ENOUGH!!!” more lightning cracked, striking the sand behind him once more.

Tabbek had never stood up to Nekali, nor to anyone like that before. As the realisation of his outburst washed over him, Tabbek felt guilt rising from the pit of his stomach.

He’d been watching Nekali’s face, which had changed from anger, to surprise, and there was now a look of panic on her face. Tabbek held up his hands and moved to apologise, but Nekali lashed out with another lava-burst. Tabbek rolled to the side, and saw that her attack wasn’t directed at him. He turned to see a Naga battalion surfacing, and had to roll again to dodge a trident that had been hurled at him.

Tabbek slammed both hands into the ground, and called for an earth-elemental. A small earthquake was his only answer, he was too-weak! He turned and called out to Nekali “Sound de alarm!” She hesitated for a moment and he yelled at her again “GO! I’ll hold dem off!!" Not seeing if she had ran, he turned back to the naga, calling a pair of spirit-raptors to lunge forward.

A spear struck him on the shoulder, but glanced off his armour. He was lucky he hadn’t removed it after leaving the training grounds earlier. Tabbek took the spear and hurled it at the closest attacker, then used the distraction to call more lightning.

One of the larger myrmidons was calling for another trident, while looking for any weapon he could find. Its eyes latched on to Tabbek’s boat, and before Tabbek could act, the boat flew over his head and smashed into the walls of Darkspear Hold.

“Oh…” Tabbek let out a small cry, and then a roar “YA DON’ IT NOW, MON!!” Tabbek slammed the earth once more. This time a bigger earthquake knocked down the advancing Naga, and an earth-elemental rose before them and began to lash out. It would be days before he could watch another sunset from the water, and they were going to pay for that…

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Tanthelara rolled over in her bed, pulling up the zandalari-woven blankets over her face. After last night, she was not ready for the day to begin so soon. Between the terrible storm that rolled through the port and the subsequent stifling humidity, she had hardly slept a wink. And as if to add insult to injury, as soon as she did finally begin to adjust and get comfortable, someone else in the Spirits Be With You Inn would cough or snore or talk. Then there was Biru the Drunk. He had a tendency to get very angry in his sleep, as the day’s libations began to exit his system. Even with his bed on the other side of the building, everyone knew if you weren’t asleep before Biru was, you’d never rest from his random, sporadic, angry ranting.

Still, maybe there was some way of saving the morning. The faint aroma of roasted meat over a fire pit filled the air, as did the crisp scent of freshly-chopped peppers and melons. She forced herself out of bed and shuffled around her sleeping area, searching for clean clothes and scolding wandering eyes looking for a free show. First order of business for the day would be to procure some coffee. She had first learned of the interesting drink shortly after arriving in and setting up her quarters in Zandalar, and it was unlike anything she had ever experienced before - bitter like the strong ales her late fiancee used to enjoy, but energizing instead of intoxicating! When mixed with a little bit of choral honey, she had learned, it made the beverage even more tasty. Add in a splash of foamed coconut water, and it made for a truly wondrous morning treat.

After getting her morning coffee from Ka’ro, she strolled down the steps of the Grand Bazaar’s southern terrace towards the merchants to procure breakfast. As wonderful as whatever animal was roasting over the firepit smelled, she knew better than to indulge in a meal so heavy at the beginning of the day. Her first stop was with Jadzia - a tol’vir from the distant land of Uldum, who always somehow had the freshest produce. She handed him a couple of silver pieces for a few slices of papaya and made her way to another one of the six-limbed panther people - Ahmos. Though the seafood he carried was indeed delicious, it was the simple baked goods she was after - namely the wheat rolls he kept in stock, that were always slathered in the richest butter she had ever tasted. She made her purchase and moved on to the corner stall of the market where Koatini, a tuskaar who seemed good-natured but slow to speak. However, it was not conversation she was after but rather the poached emperor salmon he carried. It was the cleanest tasting fish she had ever tasted, and was simply a must-have for her daily breakfast.

Her breakfast in tow, she made her way to the beach at the edge of the terrace and slid off her shoes to dip her feet in the cool seawater while she ate. As she opened her bags to begin her breakfast, she was met with a sight that caused her heart to sink and stomach curdle.

That imbecile Jadzia had given her kiwis! She held the fuzzy fruit up in disgust and squished it in her hand. She remembered clearly telling him papaya. How the blazes he got “kiwi” from “papaya”, who knows, but either way her breakfast was ruined - kiwi was too tart to go with the buttery wheat roll, her sweetened tropical coffee, and poached salmon; it simply wouldn’t tie the dishes together like she’s used to and would just cleanse the palate after every mouth-puckering bite. While she sat there imagining how many ways she could smite the tol’vir for his insolence, Tanthelara caught something odd in the corner of her eye - a harbor saurid! While she was distracted with the despair brought by her imperfect breakfast, one of those sneaky devils had snatched her shoes and was darting off into the distance!

Without thinking, she jumped to her feet - spilling her breakfast on the ground beside her. Not even a heartbeat later, as she began to give chase to her rapidly-disappearing shoes, she felt a sickening squish of her breakfast squishing between her toes. Quickly, she focused and beseeched the Light for its aid to smite the devils that had taken her possessions, but no matter how much she tried, they seemed to dodge every bolt of fire she called down from the heavens. Soon thereafter, they vanished into the jungle outside of the troll city.

Frustrated and upset, she stood there, her feet bare and covered in squished salmon and kiwis, and let loose a deluge of profanity in her native tongue that echoed in the distance. The port seemed to grow silent as she ranted, but soon returned to normal. She could feel her face turn red with the ridicule the harbor denizens must be throwing her way for such an emotional outburst. Her head slung low in defeat, she climbed the stairs back to the inn - stumbling and spilling the rest of her coffee - and took a seat at a table near the roasting meal over the firepit. With a sharp whistle she called to the server and just pointed at the roast overhead.

“Why not? It’s not like the day can get any worst”, she thought.

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