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#7 called for "the coyote," and when it comes to coyotes in urban fantasy, I immediately think of Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series, where the female main character has the ability to shift into a coyote. I didn't want to do the same thing or use skinwalkers or anything like that, so for my version of "the coyote," I decided to go with a straight-up coyote god, Huehuecoyotl (y'all know how I love me some ancient gods in modern settings). Huehuecoyotl is an Aztec deity who is known to be a trickster, a mentor, and the patron of music, dance, song, mischief, and uninhibited sexuality. He was also associated with luck, storytelling, and death. While he does usually appear as male, he can appear female, too. He is neither good nor evil - he just is.

One of the interesting things pointed out in the Wikipedia article is that he was often shown as being accompanied by humans who seemed more like friendly companions instead of worshipful underlings, which suggests he likes being among humans instead of reigning above them. Among them tends to be a drummer...

So, how does he end up in Mo's world?

Well, her family runs estate sales, so the story that popped into my head is that at some point, Huehuecoyotl made friends with a human in her area, probably a good 50 years ago, and gave the guy a magic drum- specifically a huehuetl, which was often covered with the skin of an ocelot. Once the guy passes away, his estate gets Mo's family to run the estate sale, which includes the drum. So when Huehuecoyotl comes to collect the magic drum, he runs into Mo, who is manning the sales table right then.

I'm sure things won't go smoothly with his quest to retrieve the drum. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a story!

For more about what I'm doing for Inktober 2020, see my journal: Inktober 2020

Description
#7 called for "the coyote," and when it comes to coyotes in urban fantasy, I immediately think of Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series, where the female main character has the ability to shift into a coyote. I didn't want to do the same thing or use skinwalkers or anything like that, so for my version of "the coyote," I decided to go with a straight-up coyote god, Huehuecoyotl (y'all know how I love me some ancient gods in modern settings). Huehuecoyotl is an Aztec deity who is known to be a trickster, a mentor, and the patron of music, dance, song, mischief, and uninhibited sexuality. He was also associated with luck, storytelling, and death. While he does usually appear as male, he can appear female, too. He is neither good nor evil - he just is.

One of the interesting things pointed out in the Wikipedia article is that he was often shown as being accompanied by humans who seemed more like friendly companions instead of worshipful underlings, which suggests he likes being among humans instead of reigning above them. Among them tends to be a drummer...

So, how does he end up in Mo's world?

Well, her family runs estate sales, so the story that popped into my head is that at some point, Huehuecoyotl made friends with a human in her area, probably a good 50 years ago, and gave the guy a magic drum- specifically a huehuetl, which was often covered with the skin of an ocelot. Once the guy passes away, his estate gets Mo's family to run the estate sale, which includes the drum. So when Huehuecoyotl comes to collect the magic drum, he runs into Mo, who is manning the sales table right then.

I'm sure things won't go smoothly with his quest to retrieve the drum. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a story!

For more about what I'm doing for Inktober 2020, see my journal: Inktober 2020