a-table-of-fics

[a-table-of-fics]

The Man from Utah, Chapter 9, Draft 1, Part 7

“That was easy,” laughed Fletcher. “Let the others see us! We’ll take ‘em all down!”

Dan let out a mighty bellow, and Doto whooped as she floored it. They rocketed forward, heedless of any danger.

Liam, meanwhile, looked back nervously. That monster was nothing more than a pile of green sludge with grey chunks inside. It was enough to make him want to puke, but to his shock, the knots in his stomach weren’t just from the gory display. There was pity and guilt as he saw the last hand raise towards them before collapsing. They had shot first, and it didn’t even make any hostile moves until they attacked it.

Of course, there was the normal nausea from the mass of flesh to contend with, too, especially as another stony creature leapt down and opened its torso. Flat, gear-like teeth effortlessly scooped the pieces into a sideways maw. It was hard to tell as they raced away, but Liam could have sworn the thing was also growing wheels as it grew in general.

At least his friends were more chipper. They were humming contentedly and chatting about efficient weaponry. It was good to see them in high spirits, so it took a minute for him to realize they were driving back to Nevada.

“Um, hey,” Liam asked, “why are we heading back now?”

But even as he got no response, he knew the answer. He could see the way they occasionally grabbed their head, and Dan was using phrases like “ooh-rah!” Whatever intrusive thoughts were infecting him before were trying to call the Nevadeans back home.

“You want to be dropped off?” asked Doto, not doing anything to make that possible for Liam. “I won’t stop anyone from heading out the door.”

Liam took the hint. Even if it wasn’t a lethal prospect, he’d rather have his allies with him anyway. He just hoped he could find a way to snap them out of this stupor they were in.

#draft 1 #the man from utah #madness combat #mc #madness combat fic #madness #chapter 9

[a-table-of-fics]

Cull to Adventure, Chapter 18, Draft 1, Part 5

“…ease don’t be dead, Agent 4…”

Cull groaned, slowly opening his eyes. Blinding light was not helping his throbbing head. Well, if his aching body was anything to go by, this wasn’t a heavenly light.

“Agent 4?” Marie asked, sounding less shaky. “Is that you?”

His eyes adjusted, and out of the ink, he could see the Zapfish directly above, staring at the ink nervously. By some miracle, he wasn’t buried in rubble, and he was able to kidform slowly, to not startle the Zapfish. He had no idea what he would have done to get out otherwise.

“Y-yeah – ugh,” Cull winced at the pain, “I-it’s me…”

He gently patted the Zapfish as she tried to nuzzle against him. She was illuminating the walls of debris around him. Concrete and steel conspired to keep him in a small dome, but they couldn’t agree on how to make the ceiling. With a bit of wriggling, the two of them could easily get out. Probably.

“Oh, thank Cod,” Marie said. “Hang on, kid; Sheldon’s trying to find a way to get you out of there safely.”

“N-no need. I see a way out of the rubble.”

“You’re buried too?! Okay, just stay calm, and we can get out of this… did any of them notice you?”

“W-what?”

“You’re in Octo territory, Agent 4! Who knows what they’ll do to you if you’re caught?!”

#draft 1 #cull to adventure #cull goes to octo canyon #Splatoon #splatoon 2 #splatoon 2 fic #chapter 18

[a-table-of-fics]

Well, This Happens Next, I Guess: Important Information!

Hello! This is a Slay The Princess AU/Post-Canon fic written by @mecchantheotaku!

Before you read, here's some important information about the AU to know.

---

The fic takes place after the "What Happens Next?" ending, and the path leading up to it in the fic's canon is Beast -> Stranger -> Prisoner -> Witch -> Razor.

The fic takes place in modern day.

The fic is mainly Voices-centric, though literally every character in the game appears, and the first chapter focuses on the protagonist and the Princess. Them, the Chapter 2 Vessels and even the Narrator become recurring characters throughout the fic. Occasionally, they even get chapters focusing on them and not the Voices for a change.

The protagonist goes by they/them pronouns in the fic. The reason for this is rather personal and relates to my first playthrough of the game. If you know anything about that playthrough from my posts on my main blog, you know exactly what I'm talking about. They also get a name, which you will be seeing once I post the first chapter.

There is no consistent tone for the fic. Each chapter has its own tone. Some are funny. Some are heartwarming. Some are sad. Some are terrifying. However, they are all still connected.

Trigger warnings for chapters with darker themes will be provided before the cut. In general though, pretty much everything from canon will at least briefly make a reappearance or be referenced in the fic. Consider this your first warning.

The Voices and Vessels gradually become more deep as the fic goes on. Yes, even Smitten and Damsel. The reason for this will make sense once you read it.

The fic was meant to be read by a specific person, but I was convinced to post it to the public thanks to the kind community reacting to my posts. I apologise in advance if this disappoints any of you as a result.

This does contain ships. The ships are listed below the cut.

Protagonist/Princess

Smitten/Damsel

Stubborn/Adversary

Broken/Tower (not as bad as it sounds btw)

Contrarian/Stranger

eventual Opportunist/Witch (in a comical, mutually tsundere way)

The reason I don't ship any of the Voices with each other is because of the same reason I like them so much. they feel like brothers to me. There are some definite platonic bonds between some of them, however, especially Hunted and Stubborn, who quickly become an odd best friends duo.

#promo #fic promo #Please do give a look!

[a-table-of-fics]

Oddworld: Conar’s Ambition, Chapter 13, Draft 1, Part 27

There was chatter, and others running to find rope or reach out with clubs of their own, but their friend was slipping away too quickly.

Conar was aghast. He wasn’t hoping to kill the guy; just scare him and the others off for a second. Without thinking, he dove back into the water.

The Mudokon was spending more time below the surface now. Every breach was a desperate gasp and several splashes straight downwards. Conar swam ahead, trying to find a good way to grab him. Flailing hands batted against him as he tried to wrap his arms around the torso. The weight threatened to keep both of them down; Conar couldn’t hope to lift him up back to shore.

Perhaps he didn’t have to; flashes of green swam into his vision. Some Ratz had dove in as well, surrounding him. What were they telling him now?

There! An opening in their glares; a thick tree root! Conar desperately paddled his tail, trying to push his assailant and himself to this anchor. His already-aching muscles were threatening to tear him to pieces, and his lungs screamed for air as the Mudokon limply weighed him down.

C’mon, just a little more…

With ever inch that brought them closer to salvation, their vision was blurring. Each paddle forward became more of a lurch, and things were feeling grim as his vision started to darken.

#oddworld #oddworld fic #oddworld conar's ambition #draft 1 #chapter 13

[a-table-of-fics]

The Man from Utah, Chapter 9, Draft 1, Part 6

“Brace yourselves!” Doto shouted, dropping her Uzi to take the wheel.

As she floored it, Dan slid to the back doors, dragging his sword with him.

“What’re you doing?!” Liam demanded. “You can’t go out and face it like that!”

“I am to vanquish threats to mine allies and mine domain,” Dan replied calmly.

“Sure,” Doto called, over the cacophony of Fletcher’s occasional potshots. “But check that huge case by you! You can stay with us when defending.”

Dan didn’t bother with the keypad, instead tearing the mechanical lid off in a shower of wires and scrap. Inside was a minigun, with a belt already fed into it. Dan understood, immediately using it to bash through the rear window. Keeping the barrel out, he opened fire, the roar of the spinning barrels almost drowning out the bellow of the beast.

Liam bounced around helplessly. Between the gunfire, being crowded in a van, and the unfamiliar terrain, he wasn’t sure what he could do. Whenever he glanced back, he tried to consider what it might have emulated from him. It didn’t look like it copied any of him, which was somehow worse. What was this thing?

Boom!

The flash of distant lightning shook him from his stupor. This was no time for hangups, not when they were getting so close to a peaceful home. Especially not when they were out of cover; if the other creatures didn’t know they were here before, they sure as hell knew now.

Finally, their pursuer had its skin divided enough between rolling ahead and blindly firing its fleshy bullets. Dan’s hail of bullets was stretching everything just thin enough for Fletcher to finally land a piercing shell right through the thing’s neck. Green blood thick enough to be relish poured out, and the eye widened and twitched. Its skin fell into so many pebbles, its guns and wheels sputtering as the monster as a whole began to melt into a freakish geological sludge.

#draft 1 #the man from utah #madness combat #mc #madness combat fic #madness #chapter 9

[a-table-of-fics]

Cull to Adventure, Chapter 18, Draft 1, Part 4

“Get out of there!” Marie called on the headset, but it was too late. Cull couldn’t see a way to Super Jump to that exit with the debris falling in his way. He clung to a nearby beam, wrapping himself around the Zapfish.

“Agent 4, get out of there!” Marie yelled. “Do you read me? Are you jumping out of there!?”

“I can’t!” Cull shouted back.

Realizing the beam he was clinging to was creaking, he let go. Instinct took over, and he inked the floor while he still could. Grabbing the Zapfish and squidforming, he tried to dive in, but the Zapfish could not join him. His half-chopped tentacles gripped her for dear life, but she couldn’t sink into the ink the same way he could.

“Agent 4! Agent 4!” Marie called, getting frantic.

The two made eye contact, and the Zapfish made a small nod before trying to shake him off. Cull’s naturally strong grip held true, but he could see he was weighing her down. Unlike him, she could swim to safety, after all.

With a last sorrowful look, he let go, submerging himself as he watched the Zapfish dodge the collapsing structures around them. Just in time for him, too; everything was falling and would have pulverized the both of them. His vision was steel and concrete, a gnarled mess he couldn’t hope to leave without being cut open or crushed entirely.

He couldn’t focus on the claustrophobia, though, as he felt his body lurch to the edge of the puddle, his head hitting against a slab of concrete. His core, especially, felt the g’s on him before everything went black.

#draft 1 #cull to adventure #cull goes to octo canyon #Splatoon #splatoon 2 #splatoon 2 fic #chapter 18

[a-table-of-fics]

Oddworld: Conar’s Ambition, Chapter 13, Draft 1, Part 26

“Aw,” a Mudokon voice said, “you got ‘im already?”

“Hang on,” a somewhat deeper voice admonished, most likely the clubber. “I still gotta do my finishing move!”

“The Nosepicker Noogie?”

Laughter, and deafening silence from Conar’s assailant.

“Aw, c’mon, you know I’ve been practicin’; don’t ruin this for me, Raul!”

As the Mudokons continued to chatter and banter around him, Conar slowly rolled onto his stomach. He tried not to acknowledge the nerves screaming at him from just under his skin and just managed to push himself onto his hands.

“Shaddup!” his assailant finally snapped. “I’m about to do my Zeke Grand Slam!”

“Really?” Conar groaned, spending the last of his bravado. “I… prefer Conar’s Cutup, myself!”

He spin around and lunged, one claw pointed upwards. Anyone paying attention may have noticed he wasn’t pointing his claws towards Zeke, or even poising to swipe, but Zeke wasn’t one of them.

Zeke stumbled backwards, into the deep river. A violent splash, a club lost, and he was flailing.

“Help! I can’t—” he managed, before sinking under again, hands sailing above to the grate.

#oddworld #oddworld fic #oddworld conar's ambition #draft 1 #chapter 13

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[a-table-of-fics]

The Man from Utah, Chapter 9, Draft 1, Part 5

Still, he wasn’t sure what else he could do. Fleeing was out of the question; even if he didn’t care about his allies, where would he go without a van? Waltzing up and talking to the monster wasn’t really a good idea, either. With a sigh, he picked the revolver up, trying to steady his sudden trembling.

The creature kept approaching slowly, either not noticing or not taking heed of the noises of metal rattling from the idling van. Once it was close enough for them to see every stone-like crack in its body, the head rumbled. The front shifted into twenty pieces, moving aside to reveal a massive green eye. A glowing pupil rolled to glare at the van.

Liam felt something that made him shiver. The cold, neutral viewing of his core, beyond any and all memories, hangups, or distractions. Somehow, there was also a vague warmth of familiarity. Along with this was a green grid that wrapped himself, his allies, and everything within the van. Were they all getting scanned? Why was he the only one who seemed bothered by this?

“Nice of it to give us an easy target!” Doto laughed, rapidly rolling her and her passengers’ windows down. “Open fire!”

The head of the thing reeled back, quickly shutting its eye. It trembled with each bullet hitting its stony skin before raising a shaky hand. Pieces of its skin shifted, floating off its skin to its hand. There, they arranged before forming a rifle strikingly similar to the one Fletcher was blasting it with. Its lower half shifted, forming something similar to the van’s undercarriage while also creating Doto’s Uzi in its other hand.

“What the…?” Doto gaped, still firing in a vain attempt to bring it down.

“C’mon!” Fletcher called, moving from his gun to shake Doto’s seat. “We need to retreat, now!”

“Hang on, I see more green under that crap! It’s all exposed—”

And then the monster began to grow, bellowing as it revved up to charge.

#draft 1 #the man from utah #madness combat #mc #madness combat fic #madness #chapter 9

[a-table-of-fics]

Cull to Adventure, Chapter 18, Draft 1, Part 3

He gulped.

There was no way past the massive Octoballer; the lane was too narrow, and inking had no effect on the ball’s trajectory. That glass windshield was, of course, impervious to Cull’s Splattershot. The only thing around, the Great Crane only knew why, was another of those ink cannons. If the ground didn’t feel so unsteady, maybe Cull would have thought about that a bit more, but as it was, any opportunity to advance was a good one.

He opened fire, soon blasting through the windshield and vehicle alike, reaching yet another Launchpad.

He landed to a series of Gushers, Octoballers, and the ricketiest of moving platforms he had ever seen. It took a moment of watching those platforms wobble without incident before he trusted himself to run ahead, using the force from the compressed ink to block Octoballers as he ran and occasionally swam ahead.

Soon enough, he reached a Zapfish, this one with massive whiskers. All this time, and Miffens was still out of reach, and Flow would still be missing him.

To say nothing of how Marie must be feeling about Callie…

Nothing for it but to break the bulb and get this baby out. The Zapfish immediately relaxed, but she swam up to Cull the instant the alarms blared. Lights flickered, the entire alley shook, and Octoballers were rolling off-course.

They were going down.

#draft 1 #cull to adventure #cull goes to octo canyon #Splatoon #splatoon 2 #splatoon 2 fic #chapter 18

[a-table-of-fics]

Oddworld: Conar’s Ambition, Chapter 13, Draft 1, Part 25

He just hoped he could hold his breath long enough for the chatter above to die down. But then, what would he do? As far as he knew, the Mudokons weren’t under the same kinds of rigorous patrol demands that Sligs had.

The water was clearing around him, and he heard a splash above. Something poked at his back. It didn’t feel much like skin; it was too smooth and glass-like. He risked a look, only to find the blurry visage of one of the guard Muds glaring at him, poking with his club. The pokes quickly turned to sharp jabs as the Mudokon’s face darkened.

Conar could have swum away. He could have regrouped, found the Slogs, or tried to find some nearby shelter to wait for Slim.

But he had had enough of that; he was a Slig of action. He reached up, scratching against the club before his claws finally found purchase. He tried to pull the weapon down, but that Mudokon was strong. Conar found himself struggling to keep his grip on both the club and the muddy stones that made the river’s wall. He could feel himself turn… whatever color Sligs were supposed to turn when running out of air.

He let himself get pulled up. He soared through the surface and into the air, his arm screaming as it was being pulled by centrifugal force, claw well-embedded into the anchor that was the club. He fell limply with a grunt of pain onto the ground, seeing upside-down spectators with their feet rooted on the ceiling.

Even if he had his legs or his Slog, he would be too exhausted to strike. What he wouldn’t have done for a nice, cool patch of concrete, one less foul-smelling than the rest, away from security Suppressors and his co-workers… alas, there was no such thing. Here, there was only cold stone barely covered with mud. He groaned.

#oddworld #oddworld fic #oddworld conar's ambition #draft 1 #chapter 13

[a-table-of-fics]

The Man from Utah, Chapter 9, Draft 1, Part 4

“You guys okay?” Liam dared to ask.

“Peachy,” Doto grumbled. “Why did I even drive out here? There were plenty of places to hide out by home. And here I am, driving into monster-filled territory on what? A made-up name?”

“It’s real, I—”

“How do I know those aren’t weird scars,” Fletcher interjected, “or a cloning defect?”

“I take umbrage with thine mockeries of oddities,” Dan grumbled.

“Thanks, I guess,” Liam sighed.

“All the same, maybaps this hath been an unworthy crusade. Methinks we might turn around and regroup. Here be dragons, after all.”

There was no more time for remorse, though, as Fletcher saw one of the creatures fall from above, landing a distance away with a massive thud! It looked around, head bobbing as it sniffed the air, slowly coming closer to their location.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any rocket launchers in this coffin, would ya?” asked Fletcher.

“Not when I ferry you, that’s for sure,” Doto scoffed.

Like clockwork, the three Nevadeans searched for weapons and readied for a fight. The preparations left Liam dumbfounded; it was like the threat of violence was what kept them all normal.

Was it a threat, or a promise? He didn’t want to mull over that. He was just glad there wasn’t infighting anymore.

He reached for a revolver, but stopped. He had killed plenty of times over the past few days, but that was in Nevada, under the duress of something far greater and more terrible than self-defense. Here, he wasn’t feeling any sort of compulsion to fight.

Why did it feel so wrong to him now? He shook his head; he had spent too long in Nevada.

#draft 1 #the man from utah #madness combat #mc #madness combat fic #madness #chapter 9

[a-table-of-fics]

Cull to Adventure, Chapter 18, Draft 1, Part 2

Cull couldn’t answer that, but he was noticing the endless line of Octoballers emerging from a return chute at the other end. Rotund, one-eyed cores sailed from somewhere below into a vent on the side, and there was a splash of pink as another bowling ball was spat out, with the same stubs of tentacles riding in them.

They hadn’t seen Cull, apparently, being too busy barreling forward and watching for the ground to do anything resembling recon. Even better for Cull, there wasn’t just a slim lane; the way forward had two Octoballers with enough space between them to easily zig-zag past. Even better, he wasn’t shackled to the Blaster’s poor rate of fire!

“Stay in your lane, Agent 4.”

Cull chuckled after a moment. Bowling wasn’t his forte, but that was a good one.

As he was using the next ones as cover, he realized how much the platforms he was on were shaking. There was a slight rumble whenever an Octoballer landed, and even as they rolled and fell off the edge, Cull could swear he felt the floor wobble slightly. He didn’t think these bowling balls were a legal weight, but this didn’t seem to concern any of the Octarians, so he let it slide and rushed forward.

As soon as he landed on another section of the base, however, the rumble became too much to ignore. The reason soon became apparent; atop the polished wooden boards and the vast swathe of Octo ink was a gargantuan Octoballer slowly tumbling its way forward. There were three of those one-eyed guys, one for each glass-protected cockpit.

Cull stepped back as it came barreling down, and much to his alarm, he saw it crash into a set of giant pins. They all sported a tentacle style like a bowl cut, but messier, with light-up headphones draped with a rope-like tentacle on each side. A twisted, wall-eyed grin greeted him for a moment before bouncing off the floor into the abyss.

#draft 1 #cull to adventure #cull goes to octo canyon #Splatoon #splatoon 2 #splatoon 2 fic #chapter 18

[a-table-of-fics]

Oddworld: Conar’s Ambition, Chapter 13, Draft 1, Part 24

“Hey, what’s that red?”

Shit. How could he forget the glow from his visor? He saw the red eyes every day back at the Sloghut, both before and after the Pilot models. The Magog’s finest in intimidation, filtration, and allegedly night vision, and it was about to be his undoing.

No time to think of a clever escape. He was already crawling away, barely hearing the sounds of racing footsteps over his racing heart.

“Slig! Get ‘im!”

“Kick his booty!”

Conar’s tail started to slide from side to side. Muscles he didn’t realize he even had were pulling and twisting, searching for any way to speed him up. He found himself kicking forward in ways that gave his crawls very short bursts of speed, finally getting him to the river before the Mudokon… Bouncers…?... could clobber him into a fine paste. Not even thinking twice, he dove in, letting the dirt washing off him obscure his escape.

He swam away, hearing their muffled cries above. No way was he heading back to the wall, though; he’d wasted too much time. Instead, he elected to swim forward some more. He at least had the presence of mind to keep close to the bank, so his pursuers wouldn’t see him so easily through the water. He wondered if he could shut his visor’s glow down, but he knew he’d be blind as a Boombat if he deactivated the whole thing. Still, for now he could bury his face into the wall and wait.

#oddworld #oddworld fic #oddworld conar's ambition #draft 1 #chapter 13

[a-table-of-fics]

Fic is back up starting April. I was hoping to have more queue, but I realized if I don't start queuing now, I might never. So, let's see how long this lasts.

#author’s note #sorry everyone for the delays

[a-table-of-fics]

Perhaps it’s just because the stressful bits have just passed, but I’m frustrated at being unable to come back to my ongoing creative works, both here and elsewhere.

Does anyone have any advice on returning to works after an extended hiatus?

#author’s note

[a-table-of-fics]

Is there a cutscene of 4 and 8 kissing?

no but you can close ur eyes and imagine it and all is right in the world

#:3