A/N: ...if you can see this, do let me know.

I've made up my mind; with the site being broken AGAIN -no notifications for ANYTHING- and short of a miracle, I'm placing a pause on updates for the big stories. Which is a shame; because I had a bunch of them raring to go but I'm not sure if anyone can see them, and that fear is holding me back like nothing else.

Sure, reviews appear on the site just fine, but not in any of our inboxes. Meaning I have to look all over just to find them. Its driving me up a wall and into the ceiling.

As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes. They're tributes to legends far greater than I.

I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild, wacky world, one word at a time.

Time and feedback will determine what remains a story and what doesn't. Simple as that.

In other words...the fate of this is up to YOU, the reader. Doooo let me know~!

You may consider this a teaser. Should be obvious for what.

"MINE!"

~?

A Lovely Day

So much blood.

It was everywhere she looked, everything she saw...and everyone. It soaked into the stones inch of the temple; ran from piles of corpses to pool in puddles at her feet. The was slaughter at its finest, murder on a scale so savage that Bhaal himself would have wept tears of joy.

But the Lord of Murder was silent; he whispered no words to her.

Everyone was silent too, come to think of it; because they were dead. Dead, deader, deadest. Was that last one a word?

Oh gods, she was going into shock.

Though she was but a child, the Girl was not afraid of blood; yet she did fear the man who had shed it. The man who stood in it, the monster who bathed it, the entity who even now ran a clawed hand through his golden hair and glared about himself with red eyes, grumbling at his ruined coat.

".

The man Grandfather had summoned.

"Damn cultists." he turned his head aside and spat. "I liked being dead. Why'd they bring me back?"

The girl was young, just a child really, so she didn't understand the specifics. She only knew what she knew. She had displeased Grandfather- Sarevok!- somehow, and he had punished her horribly. There had been a ritual of some sort. She was to be the sacrifice; the bait to lure a powerful being to this plane of existence, her soul the dying spark that would set off a wave of murder.

And it had. Just not the sort they had expected.

He had killed them all; yet she alone had been spared.

Why? No, why didn't matter, only how she would survive the next seven seconds.

She must be very, very quiet. Maybe if she didn't speak, he wouldn't notice her. Perhaps then she could escape.

Whimpering under her breath, she tried to crawl backward despite her bound limbs. Slowly. Carefully. Inch by inch, slipping in the blood...

Her chains rattled against the floor.

"...!"

The man rounded on her with eyes of bloody balefire.

.

..

...a tiny hiccup escaped little Orin's lips. "W-Wait! Please don't kill me, lord Bhaal! I'll be a good girl!"

"Bhaal...?" the man tilted his head.

Wasn't he Bhaal?

"Ah, jeez." Incredibly, that baleful gaze softened as took her in. "Were they really going to sacrifice a kid to me...?"

Orin didn't know what to say to that; in the end, she never had a chance to. The Bloody Man crouched down before her, ignorant of just how terrifying he looked in that moment. Blue eyes met her pale white, searching for something. Whatever it was, From there he swept her up, tucked her into his arms...and did the unthinkable. Not to stab or staunch or strangle her, but...

.

..

...He patted her head. "C'mon, lets get you outta here. This ain't no place for a kid...

Utterly baffled, Orin could only blink as he held her close.

What a lovely day.

A/N: Little!Orin gets a better start.

Aaaaaand scene.

Well? Should this become a story? Yay or nay, what say you? Not much else to say this time 'round. Reviews keep me writing, and without them, my inspiration falls flat. Ever bit of feedback helps. Pain hurts. Pain hurts a loooot. But silence from readers and reviewers? That hurts even more. As ever, reviews keep this old man alive during these dark and crazy times.

Seriously, we're all locked away anyways these days, feedback is all that sustains me.

So in the Immortal Words of Atlas... Review...Would You Kindly?

May the make you smile~!

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

PLOT DETAILS AHOY!

YE BE WARNED!

Read at your own risk!

(Previews)

"They tried to kill us." Orin raised a hand. "May I murder them?"

Naruto swept her up onto his shoulder with a sigh. "Nope!

"Not even a little?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Orin, no.

"Please, please?"

"Oi!"

"Please, please, please~!"

Gortash choked on his own spit as a crimson hand clenched around his throat. Behind him, Zariel did the same, albeit with more gusto, clutching at him with her good hand.

He swung them into one another, bashed their heads together and snarled. "Give me one reason to let EITHER of you live!"

Karlach looked up at him quiet awe, clutching her heart, the heart she'd nearly lost. "Who in the hells is he?!"

Orin cooed and clapped happily. "Go, daddy!"

The battle that followed was glorious.

Ketheric Thorm prayed at his dying wife's bedside, prayed for hope, prayed for a miracle.

The Moonmaiden did not answer. A man cloaked in golden fire did, appearing in a rush of flame. "Hello, there! Orin and I are bit lost-oh, hey! Is that your wife? She doesn't look so good. Want me to heal her?"

Heal her he did.

Naruto Uzumaki would never have a more devoted follower.

EDIT: Hope these made you smile~! May you have a great day and lots of luck! Peace~!

k

EDIT: Hey, you made it! Thanks for reading!