#Before you come at me with the Gem thing I raise you the “Scott is playing his own game” | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jellieland · 1 year

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Gem Cleo watches Scott leave. He's throwing wary glances over his shoulder at the tower that has what looks to her like a big red curly moustache on it.

It's always nice to see him, and this is a bit different to their usual encounters, which is really refreshing every now and then.

She pulls out the pufferfish he gave her and smiles at it brightly. "Hey there little guy!" She says. It stares back at her with unblinking black eyes.

"Dunno if you can call me a little guy when you're on a team with Bdubs, but sure, hey Cleo!"

She startles slightly. It's Martyn. He's not actively stabbing her, and apparently they're allies, so she turns to face him without much concern. "Hello Martyn!"

He's leaning against the rocky wall of the clock tower. He grins at her, and for a split second, his gaze flashes over to where Scott is disappearing into the trees across the river. "You still remember that thing I told you about last time, right?" He asks, giving her a meaningful look.

"Oh, yes, of course, absolutely!" She nods enthusiastically. "How could I forget!" It's funny, no-one else has really prodded at the details of Cleo's, uh, "amnesia cold", as much Martyn, although he's for sure just completely making things up to ask her about.

He looks highly amused. "Right, right, good. Just checking."

He glances over at the treeline again.

"So!" He says, and it's so very casual that it's a little bit concerning, "Don't suppose you'd let me know if Cleo's listening along or not?"

"Martyn!" She exclaims. "I'm-"

"Yeah, you are Cleo, I know, I know. Just." He pauses.

There's something in his eyes, suddenly, that gives Gem the impression that if she says the wrong thing here, something will be lost. She can't tell what, or why, or how. But it's a feeling she can't quite ignore.

After a second, Martyn shakes himself slightly and continues. "Actually, you know what, it doesn't matter. I-"

"No. She's not." Gem watches curiously as he goes very still. "I'm gonna tell her about it later, though."

"Huh." He says. It sounds very nonchalant. "Right. Well. Don't suppose I could tell you a secret, then?" He gives her a conspiratorial look. "Just you, I mean."

Gem leans in a little, intrigued despite herself. "I shouldn't..."

"Oh come on, you know you want to."

"Weeeeell..." She jumps in place a couple of times, and then nods quickly. "Alright, go on then!" He opens his mouth, and she quickly raises a finger to point at him, narrowing her eyes. "But! If it's something Cleo would want to know, I do have to tell them. It wouldn't be fair otherwise."

He considers for a moment, and nods. "Sure, seems fair enough to me. Trust me, though, Cleo would not want to be bothered by this. They have better things to worry about."

"I'll be the judge of that!" She pauses for a moment. "Because that's me." Another beat. "Because I'm Cleo."

He chuckles. "Well, Cleo, I just wanted you to know that I get it now." He says, lightly.

A few seconds pass.

"Um. Ok?" She says, because he seems to be waiting for her to respond. "Uh, I mean." She goes back to her perfect and beyond reproach Cleo impression. "Right. I understand what you're saying completely, Martyn."

He raises an eyebrow, grinning. "Well that's impressive. And here I thought I was being pretty cryptic."

"Oh. Um, I mean, what are you talking about? Explain yourself!"

He laughs, expression almost nostalgic. "Ah, I just meant I get why you chose him, last time." Once more, he looks over at where Scott disappeared from view. This time, he doesn't look back.

Gem frowns a bit, and stays silent. It feels wrong to speak.

"I wondered about that a lot, you know." He sounds vaguely wistful. "But I get it, now."

There is quiet for few more seconds before Martyn looks back at her, and the spell is broken.

He looks cheerful. There's nothing in his expression to suggest that he isn't.

"I think it's mostly that you and him are the only two on the server who have the slightest bit of common sense, honestly." He says. Something suddenly seems to occur to him, and he snorts. "Pretty sure he's alright at math, too."

"Oh, really?"

"...You know, I'm not sure actually."

He meets her eyes. His are just starting to turn the bright red of danger, the colour creeping in at the edges of the blue.

"He keeps his allies alive." He says. "For as long as he can. Even when it hurts him. Wasn't even a choice for you, really, when you consider that."

There's obviously something here she doesn't understand, but what exactly it is she doesn't know. "Good for him." She says awkwardly.

"It's not, really." He says.

"Oh. Um. Bad for him?"

He laughs at that. "Sort of, yeah." He looks down at the pufferfish she's still holding. "Alright for you though, right?" Before she's decided how to respond, he continues. "I just thought you'd like to know that if I were you, I would've chosen him too."

Gem frowns at him. There's something here. There's something here, but while she can certainly guess, she just doesn't have the context to know what that something is.

She listens to the noises of the river for a while before she speaks.

"Are you sure Cleo wouldn't want to know that?" She asks softly.

To his credit, he does appear to consider it, staring out over the river and frowning slightly.

After a minute, though, he looks back at Gem and shrugs. It almost looks resigned.

"Cleo already knows." He says.

She opens her mouth, but he keeps talking.

"Plus she would not appreciate being reminded of how similar we are." He grins, his expression suddenly sly. "And anyway, I completely made all that up. That was a test to see how good you were at being Cleo, and you failed."

"Hey!" She yells indignantly. "What! No! That's so rude!" She draws her sword and he cackles, dancing back.

"Ha, you should've seen your face!"

She glares at him. "Why are you so good at acting, huh?"

He raises an eyebrow. "Aren't we all?"

"No!"

He snorts. "Yeah, I guess not. Just pure skill on my part, then."

Gem shakes her head at him, exasperated. How much of that was true, she has no clue. But if that's how he wants to play it, that's ok. "How about this: I won't tell Cleo about any of that so long as you don't try and mess with me again."

"What?" He gasps and claps a hand to his heart. "I thought you were Cleo!"

She narrows her eyes and raises her sword, and he hurries to continue, holding up his hands in surrender.

"By which I mean yeah, sure, sounds good to me am I right?"

"Good." She nods firmly. "That's what I thought you meant."

He nods back at her a couple of times, then starts to retreat towards the river, still facing her. "Well. See you, Cleo!"

"Bye! If you see Etho tell him to be afraid!" She shouts after him.

"Will do!"

And he disappears into the trees after Scott.

What an odd man.

She wonders if he knows that she wouldn't have told Cleo if he'd just genuinely asked her not to, without the deal or the confusion or the trickery. She's genuinely not sure if he realizes that.

She still doesn't know how much of all that was genuine.

She wonders if he does.

For some reason, she suspects not.

#limited life smp #double life smp #martyn inthelittlewood #zombiecleo #geminitay #scott i don't think is QUITE present enough to tag #but yeah i just find it interesting how he's teamed up with the person who his soulmate chose over him last season.#my writing

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slashmagpie · 5 months

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It’s… strange. After. The quiet, the lack of bloodshed, the lack of terror. Cleo’s bloodstained fingers press down the succeed button, and Grian and Etho and Scott cheer. The rest are quiet. Grumbling. Bdubs shoots Etho a dirty look.

“Okay,” Grian calls into the crowd. “Session’s over, button’s pressed, everyone head home! Go on!”

Martyn is the first to go, turning and disappearing in the direction of the mesa. Cleo watches him go, an unspoken goodbye on her lips, before her attention is drawn elsewhere.

“Time to go lick our wounds, I guess,” says Gem with a sigh, jumping down from where she’s perched on the rock and heading towards the stairs up to the cherry grove. Impulse follows her. Scott hesitates.

Cleo calls out, “Scott. Do you need a place?”

Scott glances back at her. Glances forward at Gem and Impulse, who are standing waiting for him.

“I think I’ll be okay,” he says at last. “For now.”

Cleo nods. “If you ever need a place…”

He relaxes slightly, nodding back. “Thanks, Cleo,” he says, and then he’s scurrying after his allies.

“You guys can stay in the Backrooms,” says BigB to Skizz and Tango. “Since the Heart Foundation is…”

“Uhh, I’m not sure…”

“It won’t hurt you. Promise.”

“See, that’s not reassuring. You know that’s not reassuring, right?”

“Well, where else are you guys gonna go? It’s cold out.”

“…It is cold out,” says Skizz. “Come on, Top. Big Bopper’s not gonna hurt us.”

“Right. And you guys aren’t gonna hurt me, either, right? ...Right?”

“...Right.”

The three of them wander off. Cleo makes her way towards her own allies, Etho and Grian standing together, passing the Mounders on her way.

“Joel,” Pearl is saying, “come stay with us tonight.”

“I mean, I do have my own base—”

“But you’re outside the walls!”

Hesitation, then a sigh. “Fine, okay, I’ll crash at Mumbo’s. But just for one night, okay?”

Pearl cheers. Then turns to yell, “Bdubs, hurry up, mate!”

“One moment!” Bdubs calls back. Then, he turns to the three of them remaining by the Secret Keeper, crossing his arms and glaring at Etho. “I know what you did, you know.”

Etho does that thing he does, when he knows exactly what you’re talking about, but wants to pretend he doesn’t. “What did I do?” he asks, voice shaking slightly with incredulous laughter, even as he leans away.

Bdubs doesn’t dignify that with a response. He just stares, for a moment longer, then sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. “Well, you got what you want!” he says. “Was it worth it? Are you happy?”

“...I am,” Etho says after a too-long pause, voice quiet. “Are you?”

Bdubs rocks back onto his heels. Glances over his shoulder, to where Joel and Pearl are waiting at the entrance to the Mounders’ base, watching them. “I guess we’ll see,” he says at last.

“Bdubs, I—” Etho reaches out, stepping forward, then stops. Closes his mouth.

“What?” Bdubs raises an eyebrow at him. “Oh, for God’s—don’t tell me you’re sorry!"

Etho swallows. “I am, though.”

“Well, I’m not.” Bdubs huffs. Turns on his heel. “Have a good night, Etho,” he says, and stalks away to join his allies.

“...Well then!” says Cleo.

“What was that about?” asks Grian, glancing at Etho.

Etho turns away quickly. He’s embarrassed, Cleo thinks, though she’s not sure if Grian picks up on that. He doesn’t know Etho as well as she does. “Nothing,” he says quickly. “Well, let’s get home, shall we?”

“Sure,” says Cleo. Her bones ache. “God, what a day.” She laughs. It comes out just a little hysterical. “I never want to do that again.”

She will, she knows. For as long as she plays these games, for as long as the game hurtles towards its inevitable conclusion, she will. The game’s not even over, and so, next session, she will—

“God, yeah,” Grian says. “I need some sleep.”

...But that’s next session. For now, Cleo can relax, and breathe, and rest. God knows she needs it.

“Come on, then,” she says, striding forward to catch up with Etho, several steps ahead. She glances at him. He glances back. Neither of them say anything about it. “Let’s go home.”

#secret life #spoilers #fanfiction #magpie feather quill #i'm. not sure what this is actually. not what i intended to write when i opened the doc i'm sure.#all my thoughts about this session are deeply incoherent this is what i managed to squeeze out of them i hope you enjoy

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umbrify · 6 months

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So @liloinkoink tagged me in a little game where I post about all my wips, so people can see them and ask questions about them. I realized that I uh. I have twenty different AU concepts (all made with my beloved friend @made-nondescript ), so I’m gonna pick a few:

Merfolk AU (fWhimmy): in which Jimmy, sheriff to a small coastal town, realizes there’s something— or, someone— living right near their shores. fWhimmy mer au where fWhip is the merperson, and they have to figure out how to make it work, despite… everything.

And… is he sure about this? Joel’s gonna laugh at him— Jimmy’s certain he is. He can’t even blame him, really. What a ridiculous thing to say: I found a rock at the rock beach and I think there was a guy in the water— yeah, right. But… it feels important. It feels important enough to try. He has to try.

“I think… I think I met someone in the ocean, two nights ago,” Jimmy murmurs.

This AU does have one posted work already— [We Will See Tomorrow], which is like a prologue of sorts!

Vamp AU (WRA siblings, future fWhimmy): One mistake is all it takes to change the course of your life forever, as fWhip and Gem find out the hard way. Roseblings become vampires the messy way, and find it quite hard to come to terms with.

“Well, hello there!” The man calls brightly, perhaps just a touch too loud for the occasion at hand. fWhip bites back a flinch at the sound.

“Uh— hi,” he calls back, “I take it you have what I’m looking for?”

The man chuckles slightly, an easy smile stretching across his scarred face, and fWhip raises an eyebrow. The man steps closer, positioning himself next to fWhip. “You’re after some really valuable stuff here, you know.” The man leans down slightly, looking into fWhip’s eyes. “You sure you’re willing to pay the price?”

(If he were more observant, perhaps fWhip would’ve noticed the way the man’s too-sharp teeth flashed in the sickly orange light— his first, and only, warning.)

This one has lots of art, which can be found under [#esmp vamp au]!

Space AU (fWhimmy— sorta): They’ve landed on this planet, and too late, they’ve realized they can’t leave it. How do you come to terms with the fact you’re definitely doomed? Jimmy and fWhip are co pilots of a spacecraft sent to check on a planet that sent out a strangled distress signal, and now they’ve got plenty of time to get acquainted before the end— if fWhip could stop making things worse, that is.

“Commander Jimmy, transmission regarding the emergency distress signal received from planet ANC-19.”

“This planet is lost, and so are we. Do not send a rescue mission. This planet is sick, it cannot be saved. I repeat, do not send anyone else here. They will die. There are no survivors. There is nothing of value left here.”

Snowpocalypse AU— or, hey what if Xornoth kidnapped Scott and used his ice powers to cause eternal winter? Wouldn’t that be fucked up? Scott’s absence is noticed very quickly by Gem, who drags fWhip and Jimmy to his house to check on him

“Oh—“ Gem turns the handle, the door swinging open slightly. “Scott! I’m coming in!!”

The lights are on as the step inside— fWhip knew they were, of course, but…

Well. He didn’t expect this.

The house is completely trashed— the coffee table is turned on its side, a mug of what might’ve been coffee or tea has shattered on the ground, the liquid partially stained into the rug. The pillows from the couch are strewn all around the room, and half the cabinets are thrown open, as if someone was looking for… something.

“…Scott?” fWhip calls, hesitantly.

Something is definitely wrong.

(More quick ones below the cut!)

fWhimmy Apocalypse AU (also featuring lots of fWhip & Pix): In which fWhip and Pix make the hardest trip of their lives to Jimmy’s house, with fWhip determined to see Jimmy again, against all odds. Apocalypse, but not in the zombie sense— think more like if sculk was a bit more fucked up. This one has all of its current writing posted [here!]

Superhero AU: You know the trope of “villain goes to superhero’s doorstep, super injured, and is like ‘I didn’t know where else to go’?” That, but it’s Jimmy going to fWhip, and fWhip is more of a vigilante than a hero, and Jimmy doesn’t necessarily… like… get redeemed. I remember this one had a long section in the notes about how Jimmy is a villain by choice, not because he was forced to be.

Antique shop AU: Nondescript and I went off for a While about this one, which created [this post]— basically, Pix runs an antique shop in a college town, and he hears about the lives of fWhip and Jimmy when they visit his shop

Android fWhip AU— or, hey what if the reason empires one fWhip survived the blast was because he wasn’t human at all, and nobody knew until Gem finds him in the wreckage? And then there’s the whole situation with— well, how do you just not notice that your brother is an android? This one had a whole scene where Gem takes a mangled fWhip over to Mezalea, as one of the last standing empires, and Joel tries to help them repair fWhip. I made [art] for this one, which is the only thing this AU has so far

There are a lot more, but I think that’ll do for now! I’d be happy to answer any questions about any of these, or any of my other writing :D !!

(As for tagging folks, I don’t wanna bother too many people, but if @blocksruinedme or @stitchthesewords wanna share any AU’s, go wild my friends!)

#umbrify talks #umbrify writes #thanks for the tag Lew I have spent Hours on this post #counted all my AU’s and I have Twenty. so.#I’m not cramming twenty AU’s into this post <3

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regaliasonata · 4 months

Note

Also character ask ZIGGY

Character Ask: Ziggy Grover

First Impression

-Definitely falling under the average green ranger stereotype of being the silly but less engaged member of the team, though that is quite alright cause he'll probably give some positivity to the team due to the state they are in via the season

How I Feel About The Character/Impression Now

-.....I love this twink and honestly me and everyone else should love him, the fact that he was in a mafia, managed to escape, gave medicine and supplies from said group to orphans in needed AND GOT OFF SCOT FREE WITH HIS TOASTER BOYFRIEND speaks volumes.

Favorite Moment

-So far has to be that scene between him and the cartel where he's got that serious face, I'll have to go back and fully complete RPM but seeing Ziggy look so cold is amazing.

Idea For A Story

-okay think of this....Ziggy as a Peter Pan type character who was reborn in another world that raises orphans or children who've passed early and they live in this alternate world with magic, at the same time he's an assassin that's teaming up with Dillon and Tenaya(who also have powers based on fairy tales) to steal ancient treasure from a tyrant king in order to rule the rule, Once Upon A Time walked so this can run.

Relationships

OTPs

-Ziggy/Dillon....obviously, can't have a happy twig without his grumpy muscular emo boyfriend.

-Ziggy/Scott, Ziggy/Flynn. Both these work really well in my opinion.

-Crackship idea if this crossover was ever a thing...Ziggy/Jarrod/Dillon/Casey, imagine all that chaos together with those four like(I'd pay to see a one shot of this tbh). Heck not even a crossover needed because JKP exists in the RPMverse and assuming the entire team is alive then this could fly, crazy twinks and the emo duo.

BROTPs

-Ziggy/Dr.K, honestly feel like he understands Dr.K and they are really close when it comes to hearing each other out, plus Ziggy might actually get her to enjoy some hobbies.

-Ziggy/Casey...seriously Disney fucked us over from ever getting this interaction, be happy with marvel I guess but imagine the send off you could've had.

-Ziggy/Tenaya, she needs earplugs every time he talks about Dillon...

Unpopular Opinion

-Kinda wish we got even more of a backstory for him or seen Ziggy encountering other green rangers. I feel like both him and Trip would get along quite well to be honest.

One thing I wish would/had happened in the show

-....We serious? That Jungle Fury/RPM crossover obviously because ALL THOSE INTERACTIONS AND SUCH WOULD'VE BE LEGENDARY.

-Even if he didn't end up with Dillon we should've had Ziggy kissing some guy.

-Imagine a scene of Ziggy hacking Venjix down with his axe after he found out the program's intention for Dillon, or if Venjix succeeded and Dillon died...it would've been brutal like Ziggy would be shown Venjix why the cartel kept him around🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡

Headcanons

-The RPM team technically has sentient zords because in reality they hold secret Engine Souls like their Go-Onger counterparts. This is actually a result of humanity evolving and without the vitality from Earth's nature so their animal spirits evolved into Engine Souls, thing is the team hasn't unlocked them but when they do the zords will be able to talk(a little fib of my JFAU movie arc idea with RPM cause we deserve that crossover).

-Ziggy's fingernails can turn dark green because of Venjix exposure, some humans after being exposed to the virus during their apocalypse developed small traits via their survival(Scott having sharper canines, Summer being able to detect metals for tools, Flynn when growing out his hair has white highlights and can absorb radiation, Gem and Gemma can see people's dreams and Dillon can purify dirty food and water).

-Ziggy sleeps with a huge dolphin as a pillow or just something to hold whenever he's sad. If he can't morph then he'll fill it with rocks and beat down venjix monsters with it.

-Sometimes when he would leave the dome(before the world began to return to normal) he'd walk miles until making it to the ocean since it wasn't fully destroyed and enjoyed watching the waves. Plus that spot is the only one in the world where the stars in the sky are still viewable.

-After RPM Dillon, Tenaya and Ziggy ventured out into the world to see what needed to be fixed, they built a railroad and it oddly began to glow with energy. This led to the team getting powers via trains and soul power with imagination, humanity's will to keep going(ToQger adaption), villains born from the deceased malice of humanity aim to take advantage of this world and others leading to the team having bigger stakes than last time.

#power rangers #mmpr #mighty morphin power rangers #power rangers rpm #rpm #ziggy grover #green ranger #mutual asks #send me asks #character asks #ask me!#ask answered

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siriannatan · 1 year

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Impatience Waltz -ScottfWhipJimmy

I was out shopping. Had an idea. Came back home. Got distracted. And then remembered the idea. So here is the idea :}

"This isn't exactly what I imagined when you asked me to come over," Scott huffed and wrapped fWhip's coat tighter around himself. The count didn't need it at the moment, seeing that he dragged Scott to the main fishing area of Grimlands to check the fishing nets. "Can't your fishermen check the damn nets themselves? And why this hour?" It was nearly midnight.

"Well, I can't really go and do stuff like this during the day, can I?" the vampire shot him an unamused look. "And Jimmy's been gone almost a month at this point and knowing him he'll come to ruin my nets long before saying he's back," he reasoned and Scott sighed even more. "Don't lie, you like the view," he chuckled and bent over to check another section of nets.

Scott only huffed. Yes, he did like to see fWhip bend over without his dumb, warm, coat. With his pants rolled up to his knees. For the moment it did a good enough job keeping them dry. fWhip was one handsome bastard as much as Scott didn't once want to admit it. He still wouldn't say it to his face. "It's too bad he missed Katherine's spring ball, you looked nice," he might as well use that he as fWhip not distracted by tinkering and chat about more amusing topics than fishing nets and fish wars...

"It was... a thing," fWhip shrugged, moving to a different section of nets. Scott followed along the bank of the river.

"I would think a properly raised noble like you would be more excited about a big fancy ball," fWhip might usually not look it with how much soot and dust there was on his clothes but he was Sausage's younger brother. A noble by birth and raised like one.

"You might have noticed by now that I prefer my workshop, fields and fishing nets more than 'proper noble stuff'. That suit was so uncomfortable," fWhip's retort formed into a whine. "And Gem and Sausage forced me to practice dancing... And then were angry when I didn't, as I told them I would."

"What?" that was news to Scott. He simply assumed fWhip knew how to dance and just didn't like to.

"Well, more like remind me how to... Gem lend us her ballroom since if we were in Mythland we'd be interrupted every five seconds. She even enchanted a piano to play on its own when I said I was not having anyone see it..." fWhip continued to complain in a way that made dance lessons sound like the worst thing that has ever happened to him.

"Would you have danced with me if I asked you?" Scott was really regretting not at least trying and asking fWhip for even one dance.

"I might have, especially since Jimmy wouldn't be there to make fun of me," fWhip chuckled.

Scott hummed. "Would you dance with me after you're done with these damned nets? YOu owe me for not just going home the moment you said that's what you're doing," he asked with a grin.

"You're a menace, and I do not have a ballroom," fWhip instantly turned to give him a flat stare. "Besides, the magic piano as at Gem's and..."

"I don't need some piano, I have this, and we can dance here, I'm not picky," Scott was not giving up and pulled out a rune stone. "It has only one song on it but that should be enough."

fWhip sighed and slowly left the river. Scott wordlessly passed his shoes to him. "Fine, I'll dance with you, the nets are all fine... You will not mention it to Jimmy though," he might have tried to sound annoyed but was smiling. Scott smiled back and as fWhip finished pulling his shoes back on turned the run on. It played a slow waltz. "*cough* Might I have this dance?" fWhip asked with a proper bow, extending a hand towards the elf.

Scott was not expecting it in the slightest and a blush managed to spread across his face. "I... um... and you call me a menace... Of course you can you idiot," he stammered and accepted fWhip's hand.

The vampire just chuckled. "I hope my ability to lead is not too rusty, Sausage did not practice it with me," he hummed and Scott could not help but giggle as he imagined it.

fWhip's ability to lead in a waltz was at all not rusty. In truth, he was annoyingly good at dancing. And damn handsome up close. Not something that happened too often with how busy both of them usually were...

But before he could voice his annoyance a familiar voice both of them have been missing nearly a month suddenly startled them. "Shouldn't you two be sleeping?"

When they looked to the source of it there was a Jimmy. A whole lot taller than they remembered and much more mature-looking Jimmy who was apparently done with his weird fish-demi-god puberty and glaring at them with crossed arms. His toothy smile betrayed how happy he was to see them.

"I don't have to sleep, and Scott was free to leave whenever he wanted," fWhip huffed and dipped Scott, resuming their dance. Scott suddenly had the urge to kiss him. It was an urge he had quite often but couldn't always act upon. Now wasn't one of those moments so he grabbed fWhip's face and kissed him.

"I was up because I wanted to sleep with at least one of my boyfriends," he grinned and escaped fWhip's hands to snatch and deactivate the rune stone. "So? Does either one of you want to sleep with me?"

"Yes," Jimmy and fWhip said at once. "And never show that rock to Gem. She was so proud of her piano," fWhip sighed.

"What piano?" Jimmy asked, easily picking both fWhip and Scott up.

"I'll explain another time," fWhip waved it off.

"Sausage was teaching him to dance." Scott giggled and earned himself a weak glare.

fWhip ignored the rest of the conversation. Even vampires got tired eventually and he barely rested the last week, too busy missing a certain merling ruler. "You're stupid tall now," he huffed, very displeased with said fact.

#my stuff #my stories #fanfic #fanfiction #empires smp #empiresshipping #empires scott #empires fwhip #empires jimmy #scfwhimmy #empires s1 #vampire fwhip

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thetomorrowshow · 2 years

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poisoned rats in a pot of grain - ch. 8

Masterlist - Previous - Next

IM SORRY BUT THEY'RE FILMING LAST LIFE S2??? MAYBE???? BRB CRYING

anyway i've been fairly busy!! main draft for this fic is just about completed; the next part of the trust au is ready for posting later this week; i can post the next chapter of scott's backstory any time i want as long as i edit it lol. much love!

cw: implied/referenced torture, onscreen murder (of unnamed character), blood, dehumanization

“The plan,” Scott says, hitting the convoluted stringboard with a ruler, “is simple.”

The plan is anything but simple.

In the past seventy-two hours, Mythics has been moved into what solely Scott refers to as ‘witness protection’ (actually into the care of the hero Pearl, who had taken him quite willingly); fWhip has sent out drones that found the precise location of Xornoth’s base rather than vague directions from Mythics (a manor on the edge of the city); and Xornoth has somehow, through entirely illegal and frankly impossible means, become an elected senator. None of them can figure out exactly how that happened.

“fWhip is on bed rest,” Joel pipes up before Scott can properly begin. He waves his phone. “He just texted me. Surgery went well, but he shouldn’t be up for a week at least.”

That’s fine, Scott had expected that. He taps a photo of a hero on the board. “That is why I planned ahead. Lady and gentleman, Blossom.”

“No,” Blossom says, smiling apologetically. “I’m a pacifist, Major, you know this. I don’t seek out fights. I just want everyone to get along.”

She shuts the door in his face.

“And that is where Pearl comes in,” Scott says, tapping the stringboard.

“Yeah, I’ve kinda got my super-hands full?” Pearl says, grimacing. “Mythics isn’t exactly easy to entertain. I’d love to, don’t get me wrong, but he’ll definitely wreak havoc if I leave.”

“And that is why we depend on and trust one another,” Scott says, tapping the stringboard. He eyes his two compatriots seriously. “If any of us proves to be a traitor to our cause, we fail.”

“We literally know the plan,” Lizzie deadpans, arms crossed. “We helped make it.”

“It’s still best that we go over this, just to make sure we have it memorized.”

“We wrote it down?” Lizzie pulls a slip of paper out of her pocket, waves it.

Joel sighs, leans over to her. “Lizzie, let him have his action movie moment. He built a whole stringboard and everything.” “First step,” Scott forges on, “is to sneak into the manor. Our best bet for getting us in is Joel—he can make the guards think they heard a sound or something, I don’t really care. He does something to get any guards away, and then we’re in without an alarm being immediately raised.”

“Unless there’s a security system.”

Scott nods to Lizzie. “Unless there’s a security system—and they don’t disable it. That’s why I’m going in first—if I see anything that looks like an alarm or a camera, I freeze it. It’s not foolproof, but hopefully it can keep them off our tail for a couple of minutes so that we can find Gem.”

“Are we sure that Gem’s in the house?” Joel brings up, hand slightly raised. “Like, she could be anywhere in the city. She could be dead. If she’s the fourth member of our party and we can’t find her, what are we gonna do?”

And when I have your little friends, that Gem and that Blossom and the mayor, I will make you watch me torture them.

“She’s alive,” Scott says, shaking off the memory. “Xornoth isn’t interested in killing anyone at the moment. She’ll probably be locked up somewhere, though. Maybe a basement of sorts?” He scribbles basement? onto a sticky note, throws it onto the board under a cut-out of a photo of Gem. “This is probably where we’ll split up—Joel heading off to find Gem, while Lizzie and I look for Xornoth and Solidarity. Of course, things could change once we get there. In the heat of the moment, there’s a million things that could go wrong.”

“Right. What if Xornoth kills us?”

Scott glares at Joel.

“What if we kill Xornoth?” Lizzie asks. “I know the goal is just to lock them up, but what if something unexpected happens?”

“Nothing unexpected will happen,” Scott says resolutely. “Not in this case. Xornoth isn’t going to go down like that, they’re too powerful. But they won’t want to give up Solidarity.”

Lizzie shrugs. “Not my problem. I’m just here to kill him.”

Scott sighs, taps a corner of the board that reads RULE NUMBER 1: DON’T KILL SOLIDARITY.

“I mean, I’m just here to . . . not kill him. Right.”

Oh boy.

“Right, you all know the rest of the plan,” Scott concludes, rubbing his forehead. “Just . . . no more casualties than necessary, okay?”

“You got it.”

“I’ll try my best, Major.”

This isn’t going to go well.

There’s screams coming from the basement.

He can only hear them occasionally, when the door to the meeting room opens for lackeys or official-looking businessmen to bustle through. His master is in constant meetings and conversations now, several seats around the table always occupied by a rotating door of people.

Jimmy’s been here for hours, he thinks, maybe even an entire day. He hasn’t moved from Xornoth’s side, cheek pressed to their leg like the obedient dog he is. When Xornoth stands, leaves the room, Jimmy stays, eyes demurely on the floor, not even processing what others say. The only words worth hearing are his master’s.

He’s been staring at the ground for some time now while waiting for Xornoth, perhaps longer than an hour, when his master finally returns, angry words spewing from their mouth.

“You think you can defy me? This is my city, fool!”

“And—and someone has to stand up to you!”

“Pet,” his master hisses, pulling Jimmy up by the hair. They unclip the leash from his collar, point him in the direction of a rather scared-looking man in a too-tight button-up. “Kill.”

Jimmy dives at him without hesitation, long nails tearing into his face and pulling at his hair. The man screams under him, and Jimmy lets the adrenaline flow as he grips the man’s throat—he doesn’t have enough physical strength to snap his neck, but an accident—

There’s an awful crack and the man crumples, eyes rolling up. Jimmy releases his neck, watches dispassionately as his body hits the ground. Then he turns back to Xornoth, waiting for their next command.

His master is smiling. “Good job, darling,” they purr, beckoning Jimmy close. There’s other people still around the table, Jimmy notices, people now silent, people looking anywhere but at the body behind Jimmy.

Xornoth fixes the leash back onto Jimmy’s collar and he relaxes into the familiar weight, rolling his shoulders back. This is good. He’s done good.

There’s a bit of blood under his fingernails and staining the pads of his fingers. Nothing abnormal. Nothing that should make him want to shake apart.

Xornoth leads him back to their seat, where Jimmy obediently drops to his knees, uncaring of the sharp pain that shoots through his bad hip. He doesn’t feel anything for the body just meters away. He doesn’t look at it. He doesn’t think about it.

He just killed someone. He just killed someone who did nothing to deserve it. He just killed someone because his master told him to.

He’s spent so long not letting his brain catch up to his actions. He can’t start thinking about what he’s done now.

Xornoth’s hand cards through his hair as his master begins speaking, and Jimmy does nothing but lean into it. He rubs the hem of his shorts under his fingernails, clears out some of the blood.

The door opens again, another distant scream echoing through the room. Jimmy chews on his tongue. He’s glad that whatever is happening to whoever that is, it’s not happening to him. He’s good. He’s a good pet. He does what his master tells him to do.

“Pet—”

Jimmy hears the word in the middle of the conversation, glances up a little to see that while his master isn’t talking to him, they’re smirking down at him, something almost . . . triumphant in their gaze. Jimmy rests his head against their lap, stays still even though his hip screams for him to shift just a little bit to the side. He’s a good pet.

His eyes wander out to the side, where only the shoes of the dead man are visible. Why has nobody removed the body? Why is it still here? His first ever intentional kill, committed thoughtlessly, automatically, and now a man is gone like he’d never even been here.

He’s losing his grip, Jimmy realizes, his tremulous hold on the compartmentalization that keeps him sane beginning to slip. He can’t have that, that’s very bad news, he can’t let emotion leak into this part of himself because he’s a good boy. He’s a good pet. He’s good for his master.

He twitches his head, just slightly, as if trying to scare off a fly on his nose. His master doesn’t notice, doesn’t notice that Jimmy’s carefully-crafted delusion of control is crumbling before his very eyes. He hadn’t wanted to kill anyone. He hadn’t thought that would be required of him. He doesn’t want to be here.

You’re fine, he tells himself, careful not to let his lips make any noise. You’re a pet. You can’t do anything that master doesn’t command. You can’t risk the cage.

Because that’s all it really ever boils down to, isn’t it? He’s not a pet because his resistance will hurt others. He doesn’t warn away the heroes of the city out of any actual care for their wellbeing. He only cares about not getting put in that cage ever again.

People file in and out. He doesn’t hear any more screams. His master holds a meeting, then another, then another, and Jimmy sits at his side and doesn’t doze for once, stares at what is left of the blood from the scratches he made down that man’s face.

When he’s finally alone, Jimmy rinses his hands in the too-cold water from the broken sink in the corner of his cell.

There’s still dark red crusted under two fingernails.

He leaves it.

A stakeout reveals that, likely due to Xornoth’s new political position, cars go to and from the manor frequently, a mix of classic kidnapper vans and government vehicles. It might be as easy as driving to the front door, Joel pulling a Jedi mind trick, and then walking right in.

That’s what Scott hopes, at least, jostling on the floor of the white electrician van that Lizzie had somehow acquired.

Joel’s up front in the driver’s seat. Even through the small grate window, Scott can see his knuckles turning white around the steering wheel. Lizzie’s across from Scott, staring determinedly at the floor.

This doesn’t feel like Scott’s typical base-busting. This feels like a shady, villainous operation. Which is sort of what it is, with Lizzie involved.

There’s a huge chance that everything will go wrong. They’re only three people, after all. One of whom certainly wants Solidarity dead, and is therefore untrustworthy. But Scott has to rely on them. He can’t do this alone.

The van jolts to a stop and Scott swallows, balls his hands into fists. This is it.

“This is it,” Joel calls back to them, voice filled with false cheer. “If this doesn’t work out—”

“Please—”

“Lizzie, I love you,” Joel continues, undeterred. “And Major, you’re a prick.”

Scott rears back. “Unprovoked?” he sputters, before Lizzie shushes him and suddenly Joel is rolling the window down.

Scott ducks down, Lizzie following barely a half second later. “Cargo?” an unfamiliar voice requests, and Scott can feel his heart pounding. They’ve done absolutely nothing to protect themselves here. If there’s anyone examining the van with some sort of x-ray vision there’s no way to get out in time. Even if they do, the alarm will be raised and Xornoth will be conscious of their efforts. There isn’t a second try here. They’ve pinned everything on this.

There’s a moment of quiet, too long, a moment only filled with the sound of the idle engine and Lizzie’s breaths. Then Joel’s seat creaks, and the voice says, “All in order. Go ahead.”

The van jerks forward and they’re moving. Scott dares to raise his head a little, catches Joel’s cheeky grin in the rearview mirror.

“Headed to the garage!” he calls back, and Scott bites his lip, his stomach flipping. The first checkpoint has been passed—they’ve gotten in without detection. He ought to be celebrating, ought to be excited. He can’t help that everything feels like it’s about to go horribly wrong.

He hasn’t been this nervous in years. It’s just another fight, he tries to tell himself. You’ve busted tons of bases in your time, including Xornoth’s. It’s just another fight.

It’s not just another fight. This is Solidarity’s life on the line. This is Gem’s life on the line. This is the entire city on the line.

And then they’re pulling into a garage, and Scott has to suck it all up and clamber out of the van.

There’s nobody else in this garage. A black van is parked beside them. There’s a screen door leading into the main part of the house. Shelves of typical garage items line the back wall—spare tires, jacks, rope. Nothing out of the ordinary.

It’s quiet. Not too quiet, not eerily quiet. Quiet like a church on a weekday. An accustomed quiet. A not-to-be-disturbed quiet.

Joel behind him has fixed his mask onto his face, and Lizzie behind him is climbing out of the van, smoothing down her hair. She’s got a canteen strapped to her hip, ready to spit out a stream of water just in case.

“Should we head to the door?” Scott whispers, nodding toward it, but Joel points instead to the opposite corner of the garage. There, Scott notices, set into the floor, is a trapdoor.

A basement.

That’s their first place to check for any prisoners—and somehow, it seems safer to come in through a trapdoor rather than the main one into the house.

Joel takes point, stealing toward the trapdoor and easing it open. Scott follows Lizzie down the ladder, glancing around behind them. This is too easy. A door straight to the cellar? Through the garage? There’s no way they’re this lucky.

It appears that they are, though, because when, unhindered by non-existent guards they begin going through the rooms, the third room they check in the dark basement (which is eerily quiet, quiet in the unnerving way rather than the natural way) houses Gem.

She’s not in the worst shape of anyone Scott’s ever seen, but he rushes to her side as soon as they spot her. She’s chained to the wall, a flickering purple force around her, hair tangled and face bruised. Her eyes are closed, bags beneath them deep and dark.

Even asleep, just by looking at her Scott can tell that she won’t be up to accompanying them for the rest of the mission. He’s not sure what they can do for her, though—she can’t take the van home, seeing as it’s their current escape plan and would alert the manor to their presence. They can’t abandon the mission to help her, that would be consigning Solidarity to his fate. They can’t just leave her here—they can’t do anything, it seems, and Scott’s starting to panic which he can’t afford to do—

“Gem,” Scott whisper-shouts, stuck outside her shields. Gem starts awake instantly, raising her arms to cover her face—until she sees Scott.

“Major,” she breathes, and her entire body visibly relaxes. The force flickers once more, then disappears. Scott shoves himself forward on his knees, pulls Gem onto his lap.

“Gem, it’s so insanely good to see you,” he tells her, trying not to betray any actual emotion. They’re still in the middle of a mission, after all. He doesn’t have the time to let down any defenses.

Gem mouths something. Scott leans forward, ear over her mouth, and she tries again.

“Get out,” she croaks. “Scott, it’s—he’ll come back any moment—they know you’re here—”

Oh no.

Things had been going too well, hadn’t they?

“We’ve been made,” Scott hisses to his companions. Lizzie curses, Joel spins around to face the door.

Gem’s stirring, fruitlessly pulling at the chains around her wrists. Scott takes a link, applies tighter and tighter ice, he doesn’t know the physics behind this move but he’s broken metal by freezing it far too many times—

The first chain snaps, and he makes quick work of the other one, pulling Gem up to her feet. She can stand, surprisingly, shakes out her arms with a pained grunt.

“I’m fine,” she mutters when Scott tries to help her. “I just wanna get out of here.”

Everything is suspicious, everything including how injured Gem had seemed at first to how capable she seems now—how she warned them, but there’s no one nearby—but Scott pushes aside the prickling in the back of his brain and nods to her, continues on his way out.

He’s barely turned his back on her when something heavy slams into him from behind, sending him flying into Lizzie with a loud crash.

The air is totally knocked out of him and it’s a few seconds before he can even see, let alone breathe. When he does manage to suck in some air, he blinks his eyes open—he and Lizzie are on the floor, Lizzie shoves him off of her and rolls to her feet—Scott pushes his aching body up, gasping, only to see Lizzie dive at Gem and take her to the floor.

He cries out, pain forgotten in adrenaline as he sprints forward—he has to protect Gem, he has to save her—but Gem’s hands go loose from where they’re pulling at Lizzie’s hair as Lizzie slams her head into the concrete floor.

Gem’s unconscious before Scott can get there, and he goes to shove Lizzie away—that’s Gem, that’s his friend, how could she—but a hold on his cape stops him. He whips around; Joel is there, face white, holding him back.

“Major, Gem—she just tried to kill you,” he says, and Scott doesn’t need to be able to read minds to know that Joel isn’t lying. He glances back to Gem’s lax face, Lizzie dusting her hands off as she stands.

“Thank me later,” she bites out, stepping over Gem to stare Scott down. Scott looks between Gem and Lizzie, trying to work out—why would Gem—?

Joel groans at the same moment that Scott connects the dots. “The other telepath,” Joel grumbles. “They must be here.”

And Scott, still looking down at Gem, knows exactly what’s about to happen. He almost doesn’t want to turn around, as if not looking will make it not happen. But he sighs, pushes a hand through his hair, and turns around.

Joey Graceffa waves from the doorway.

Graceffa seems put out, almost, when he gets no reaction from the group. “C’mon, nothing for the richest man in the country?” he pouts, slipping out of his expensive suit jacket. Scott’s lip curls.

He can take Graceffa, easy. He’s known for years that there was something up with him, that he wasn’t just corrupt in that all-billionaires-are-evil way, but in more pressing ways as well. He’d never had sufficient evidence to go after him, though.

Right now, evidence doesn’t matter.

But once again, Joel pulls him back by his cape. “Don’t,” he says lowly, and Scott can feel the power in his voice. It’s not directed at him, not right now, but Scott hasn’t been on the other end of a telepath’s powers in a long time and he certainly doesn’t want to break that streak now. He backs down, lets Joel approach Graceffa.

“So,” says Joel, gesturing toward Gem. “Your work?”

Graceffa shrugs. “Quick and dirty,” he says. “Nothing near what I had going with Mythics. I suppose you would know what happened to him?”

Joel barks out a laugh. “It’s not gonna be that easy, mate,” he says confidently, pressing closer to Graceffa.

And then they both go silent, staring into each others’ eyes.

An entire minute passes.

Scott exchanges a look with Lizzie. She shrugs.

“Is this a straight man thing, or. . . ?”

Graceffa slaps Joel across the face, points at Scott. “How dare you accuse me of being straight!” he gasps dramatically, and there’s something pushing at Scott’s brain, behind his eyes, and he doesn’t like this, he doesn’t like this at all—

Then Joel is slamming Graceffa into a wall. “Both of you, head out and find Solidarity! I’ll catch up!” he shouts, as Graceffa wriggles free of his hold and kicks him in the knee.

Scott doesn’t need to be told twice. He runs, Lizzie on his heels, further down the basement. The basement isn’t too large, quite a bit smaller than Scott expected for a manor of this size, and within sight of the room Gem was in is another staircase. Scott freezes just before it, holds an arm out to stop Lizzie.

“Joey Graceffa knew we were here,” he whispers. “He could’ve alerted anyone.”

“Who even was that guy?”

“Classic billionaire type, and apparently a telepath?” That part is still fuzzy, but Scott’s pretty sure they’ve just left Joel and Graceffa having some sort of telepath showdown. So Joey Graceffa is the telepath, and for some reason, he’s been hanging out in Xornoth’s basement. Scott entertains the idea that Graceffa is Xornoth for about .2 seconds, before dismissing it entirely. Laughable.

Scott leads the way up the stairs, slow and careful. Something still isn’t right about this.

It’s the middle of the day. Sure, they sort of hoped people would be out to lunch, but there’s got to be some sort of staff here, right? And they know for a fact that Xornoth employs some basic muscle, so theoretically there should be any number of thugs around the building.

It’s not right that Joey Graceffa of all people is the only one to notice that they’re here.

But when Scott pushes open the door at the top of the stairs, there’s no one there.

It’s just him and Lizzie, alone in a grand, painting-lined hallway.

The prickling in the back of Scott’s brain has grown to a roar of dread, because this just isn’t right. They shouldn’t be alone in a building that constantly has vehicles shipping to and fro, a building where Xornoth and presumably all of their thugs reside, a building where Solidarity by all rights ought to be.

But it’s just the two of them, and the quiet that had been unnerving earlier is downright oppressive now.

There’s an open doorway to Scott’s right, light spilling onto the polished wooden floor beyond it. Scott looks to Lizzie, who shrugs.

It’s the first sign of proper life that they’ve seen. And if Gem is to be believed, it’s not a secret that they’re here.

Xornoth is most certainly there. It’s also most certainly a trap. But Scott’s not a hero for nothing, and Lizzie’s not a villain for nothing. Both kinds are quite notorious for getting out of traps.

Scott stretches, rolls his neck out, then leads the way into the room.

It’s a ballroom, large and grand, all sorts of intricacies decorating the walls and ceiling, but Scott only has eyes for the two figures on the dais at the opposite end of the room.

Xornoth in all their dark glory, resting back in a jewel-encrusted throne. The Canary in full costume (glider wings and musketeer hat included), kneeling at their feet. A chain connects the Canary’s collar to Xornoth.

Xornoth raises a hand, and Scott suddenly realizes that it isn’t just the two of them in the room. There’s a small guard made up of eight or so thugs standing by the door, and it’s barely a second before two of them have Scott by the forearms and two others have Lizzie. Scott struggles, but only for a moment—they’re not attacking him, just pulling him forward to meet Xornoth. He was already planning on heading that way, anyhow.

“Well,” Xornoth says once both Scott and Lizzie are before them. “Here to destroy me?”

And Scott’s seething, because he is here to destroy them. Because Solidarity is right there, chin on Xornoth’s lap. Because they’re finally here, and Xornoth is still acting like they have the upperhand.

When Xornoth removes Solidarity’s musketeer hat and glides a hand through his golden hair, Scott can’t help but yank one of his arms free. A shard of ice shoots down his arm and into the thigh of someone holding him. That person curses, smacks Scott over the head.

Scott curses as well. He needs to calm down. He can’t lose control here, in front of his nemesis, with an innocent’s life at stake. He stares up at Solidarity, searching the little bit of visible skin for any signs of recent injuries, trying to catch the man’s eye. Solidarity isn’t even looking at him, eyes fixed on . . . on Lizzie.

Lizzie’s staring back at Solidarity, face tight. Her hands, restrained as they are, are clenched in fists, knuckles turning white.

What’s visible of Solidarity’s face is expressionless, even as he leans into Xornoth’s hand.

“Nothing to say to me, Major?” drawls Xornoth, lip curled. Scott returns his attention to the villain. “Nothing to say to your . . . brother?”

Brother?

In what? Being powered?

Maybe it’s some sort of tax bracket thing, Xornoth pleading to his anti-establishment spirit. Even so, it’s weird. Confusing. Probably meant to throw him off. Scott doesn’t like it at all.

“We’re not brothers,” he spits out, “and we never will be. Anything else cryptic to say to me, or should we skip to the part where I kick your demonic butt?”

Xornoth laughs, strange and echo-y in this space. It sends a chill running up Scott’s spine, one that he tries fruitlessly to shake. “Why, why, Major—or should I say, Scott,” they say, and the chill spreads to all of Scott’s body, stealing the air from his lungs.

There’s only two people on earth who know Scott’s secret identity, and neither of them have taken up supervillain activities in the last ten years—unless his therapist has something to tell him. And his therapist is a middle-aged woman named Nora, so it would be more than a little concerning for Xornoth to remove their mask right now and reveal themself to be her.

“How do you—?”

“Brothers, Scott,” Xornoth tells him, one finger idly wrapping a lock of Solidarity’s hair around it and pulling hard. Solidarity doesn’t move. “You’ve forgotten your poor, lonely brother, cast from the home at just fourteen? Surely you remember something of me, you at least stood taller than a toddler.”

No way. There’s literally no possible way that’s true. Scott was an only child. He hates to think of the people who raised him, the place he grew up, but now he casts his mind back, tries to recall any evidence of such a sibling.

There’s nothing. Not even a faint echo of a teenager occupying the house when he was young. No photos, no possessions, no memories.

Xornoth’s probably lying. They’re probably just trying to shake him before the battle, give themself the upper hand. But the fact that they know his name is scary. Incredibly scary.

If they know Scott’s name, who else does?

He’ll just have to make sure to bring Xornoth in alive. He needs answers about this, but right now they’re going to have to wait.

Scott sighs, tugs himself free from the guards easily. “We fighting or no?” he asks, then doesn’t wait before sending an icicle flying at Xornoth. The villain dodges it easily, stands, unclips the chain from Solidarity’s collar (Scott’s blood boils at the sight of it) and places the man’s hat back on his head.

“Pet,” says Xornoth casually. Solidarity’s eyes instantly leave Lizzie, turning instead to Xornoth. “I have some business to take care of with my long-lost brother. Keep her—” they point at Lizzie— “out of my way.”

Scott barely has time to process the words before the Canary leaps at Lizzie, and Xornoth flies toward him.

54 notes · View notes

nach0 · 2 years

Text

Trust Me Not

Summary:

One day while Scott and Gem are being held in Mythland’s dungeons, a sleeping potion is thrown into his cell. When he wakes, she refuses to tell him what happened, only promising that he wasn’t hurt.

When they escape and finally see the sun again, her eyes glint red in the light.

Words: 1656

AO3 Link

The first thing Scott and Gem did when Jimmy opened their cells was hug each other. They hung on tightly, tears falling as they reassured each other that they were safe. It was a long time before they let go again.

Scott paused as soon as they stepped outside, closing his eyes and tilting his head up to soak in the sun. A faint breeze ruffled through his hair and feathers, and he knew neither him nor Gem would be spending much time indoors anymore.

She still seemed tense, glancing back every so often, and he reached over to gently grab her hand. It had been the only comfort either of them had been able to offer through the bars, and it seemed to work again.

He wrapped a wing around her, and she leaned into him with a soft smile. There would be time to deal with the repercussions of this later.

They were free. And for now, that was enough.

“I don’t want to do this,” Gem whispered, hands twisting around her staff as she led Sausage through a secret passageway in the Grimlands.

He frowned, tilting his head. “If you had a problem with the plan, why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

“I did. Xornoth called me a sentimental idiot and told me to shut up.”

“Oh.”

They walked in silence until Gem reluctantly pushed open a door, revealing Fwhip’s gunpowder stash. A wide grin spread across Sausage’s face and he eagerly opened a chest, shoving as much of it into a shulker box as he could. She hovered nervously, unsure of what to do.

On one hand, if she helped take some now, it meant more weapons would make their way into Xornoth’s claws.

On the other, there would be a smaller explosion with less in there to combust.

Sausage made the decision for her, handing her a box as he motioned her over.

“Come on Gem, lighten up a little!” He laughed, nudging her. “This is fun, just think of it like a prank!”

“A prank?” She echoed doubtfully, raising an eyebrow. “This is a bit more than a prank, Sausage.”

He shrugged and waved a dismissive hand. “It��s no worse than what we did to Jimmy, it’s fine!” The joking dropped from his tone, and he turned to look her in the eye. “It’ll be ok. I know you have doubts now, but Xornoth knows what he’s doing. Besides, we mess with each other all the time. Fwhip will laugh once it’s over, like always.”

Gem wanted to protest that it wasn’t like always, that this was wrong, but the words got stuck in her throat. Eventually she just nodded, waiting until he was done to raise her staff high and murmur a spell.

They escaped as the explosion started, and she forced a smile on her face to match Sausage’s.

She didn’t have a choice in this, why not let herself believe the lie?

That night, she held Fwhip as he despaired over his ruined trade deals. The gunpowder hadn’t been kept near anything important, a precaution implemented long ago, but it was his main export.

Gem just looked at him through sympathetic green eyes, promising to do all she could to help.

(The back of her mind screamed to tell him, but it was soon drowned out by the steady thrum of the corruption.)

Gem sat in a meeting with the other rulers as they all discussed plans for taking down Xornoth, fidgeting anxiously with the end of her braid. She couldn’t stay silent, she had to warn someone, anyone, that things weren’t as they seemed.

It would be so easy. She just needed to say two little words. I’m corrupted. Or even just one.

Help.

Her gaze drifted across the table, eventually meeting Scott’s worried eyes. He tilted his head in question, not wanting to interrupt Katherine as she was talking, concern clear in his expression.

Determination suddenly filled her as she sat up straighter, trying to force the words out of her throat. They would know what to do, they would be able to help her.

“I-”

“-Scott and Gem, I have something I need to talk to you two about.” Katherine didn’t seem to notice the interruption, turning to them. “Can you stay behind after please?”

They both nodded, but Gem felt like she was going to be sick. The corruption roared to the front of her mind, smothering out the weak resistance she had managed to build up.

Scott frowned, coming up to her everyone else started to file out.

“Are you ok? You looked like you had something you wanted to say.”

She shook her head, smiling softly at him. “It’s nothing important. Come on, let’s see what Katherine wants.”

Gem trembled as she knelt before a throne of obsidian and corruption, the heat pressing down on her in ways only the nether could hope to match.

She’d thought not being able to voice her pleas for help had been bad.

That had nothing on being unable to stop herself from spilling every secret she knew.

“They have a plan to take you down. There’s a ritual, one Scott translated from an ancient library, that’s meant to seal your power away. No one suspects me, so I’ve been asked to perform it.”

Xornoth hummed in consideration, and Gem waited nervously for her orders. She didn’t have a hope of resisting them, not in a place so full of the corruption like this.

“Continue as normal. As long as they do not suspect you are to remain as my spy, and when the time comes for this... ritual, I shall show up myself to stop it. Dismissed.”

Gladly rushing out of the room, Gem’s heart pounded in her chest as tears formed in her eyes. She needed a way out, to be free of this nightmare. And then, as she flew further and further away from the corruption, an idea formed.

They wanted her to continue as normal? She would play her part to perfection.

Including setting up the ritual exactly right to trap them.

The time came sooner than expected when Gem received news that Shrub had been kidnapped. She gathered up her eight items, flying over to Katherine’s where Scott, Pearl, and Fwhip were waiting.

All five of them flew over, and dread slowly started to build in Gem’s chest, but she pushed it down. She had a plan. She couldn’t afford to fail.

The first part of the battle was a blur, Sausage taunting them as Joey summoned hordes of mobs to keep them away from Xornoth. Gem fought with the group before she was urged to go set up the spell, keeping one eye on where Scott was fighting his brother.

She quickly freed Shelby, urging her to go join the fight. It’s what she would have done while uncorrupted. She was playing her part.

Replacing the items on the pillars wouldn’t have taken as long as it did if Gem wasn’t trying to avoid detection. She couldn’t draw Xornoth’s attention too soon, not when he could force her to stop at any moment.

Before long, Scott had lured them into the spell circle where they couldn’t escape. Gem felt her hope rise as her friends came to stand behind her, crown removed from Joey and Sausage knocked out. She could finally be free.

But then Xornoth smirked, letting out a small chuckle.

“Did you really think you could defeat me? I’ve been preparing for the rare possibility of you lot doing something competent for a long time.”

Pearl scowled, rolling her eyes. “Bold talk for someone so clearly trapped.”

“Oh, but I won’t be for long. It’s time to reveal yourself, my hidden loyal one.”

Everyone looked wildly at each other, trying to figure out who the traitor was, but no one suspected Gem. At least, no one except Scott.

“They got to you that day in the dungeons, when I was unconscious, didn’t they?” Fwhip immediately tried to protest that it wasn’t Gem, only to be cut off when she nodded. The green faded from her eyes to reveal a bright red, and she looked at him apologetically.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, casting her gaze to the ground. “I never had a choice.”

Xornoth huffed at her, snapping their fingers impatiently. “Come now Wizard, I don’t like to be kept waiting. Free me.”

Gem nodded again, slowly moving towards the pillars, only for a hand to catch her arm.

“You’re stronger than this, Gem, you can fight them.” Scott’s eyes were full of hope as he looked at her, moving his grip to squeeze her hand gently.

“You’ve been protecting me my whole life. Just hold out a little longer, and then it’ll be my turn.” Fwhip stepped up beside her, wrapping a wing around her shoulders.

“I believe in you.” The rest of her friends echoed the statement, standing behind her.

Xornoth scoffed. “Please, do you really think that you’ll be able to undo my corruption that easily? Wizard, release me. Now.”

Gem took a step forward and cries echoed out, begging her to stop, but she payed them no mind. She kept walking until she was right on the edge of the barrier, looking directly at Xornoth’s smug face as she echoed what they had told her in the cell all those months ago.

“This will hurt, and I’m going to enjoy every second of it.”

She revelled in their shocked expression for a moment before raising her staff, shouting the incantation. Her eyes forced shut as a bright light shone through the area, and when it faded she collapsed to the ground and started to sob.

Not of grief, or any kind of sadness that Xornoth was gone, but relief.

Finally, she was free.

And as her friends swarmed her with hugs and support, she knew she would never have to go through it again.

#empires smp #geminitay #scott smajor #mythicalsausage #xornoth #fwhip #Gem gets to be a spy but with more angst #a happy ending for once #very unlike me i know #i actually have Many thoughts on this au so pspsps if people wanna talk to me about what happens after anon is on #writing #nach0 writing

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tvseries-writings · 3 years

Text

Your destiny has already been written

TW: death of a minor character, mention of suicidal thoughts

Wandanat x reader

Prompt: Hi, I have a request idea if you are still making those ^^’ so it’s a wandanat x reader. Reader goes with Nat and Clint to vormir and she stops Natasha from jumping. And when everyone come back Natasha’s like extremely mad at her because for reader’s decision Laura has to take care of the kids alone and reader doesn’t know what to do, and wanda’s like trying to sort everything out but nat ends up breaking with reader and yeah… probably with a happy ending but whatever you would want xD

Thanos had snapped his fingers five years ago taking half of your heart away from you. Wanda had disappeared as half of Universe's population and you and Natasha had been trying to move on in hopes of seeing the Sokovian again someday. And that day finally came when Scott Lang, better known as Ant-Man, had "knocked on your door."

And here's how you are all together now again after five years. The Avengers complete with a suit that you find particularly uncomfortable and ridiculous as you are about to bring back Wanda and half the universe.

You take Natasha's hand as the circular platform you're all on begins to spin, the protective helmet materializes around your head and you turn to the former Russian spy looking at her with a smile.

"For Wanda"

"For Wanda." Natasha nods and shakes your hand.

You close your eyes as the quantum portal opens.

You didn't think it would work and instead you, Natasha and Clint find yourself with your ass on the ground on what you believe to be Vormir. You deactivate the helmets and look around you.

A large mountain completely made of rock stands out in front of you and you begin to climb.

Each step you take makes your heart beat a little faster. Wanda is the only thing you can think about and as you watch Natasha you realize that the Russian is also thinking about her.

When you get to the top, a voice that you seem to have already heard startles you.

Red Skull, the Nazi asshole, had briefly explained how to get the soul stone and obviously the solution was clear to you right away.

You are about to speak but Red Skull stops you.

«Y / n, daughter of Diego; your destiny has already been written. You are not the soul through which you will get the gem. "

You don't have time to protest that Red Skull disappears as he appeared. In nothing.

"We already know who to expect to do it," Natasha says and Clint nods.

"We do"

Natasha stands towards you and smiles at you.

“I love you y / n and tell Wanda I love her; this is my way to atone for all my sins "

As soon as her words leave her lips, the Russian begins to run towards the precipice.

"NATASHA, NO !!" your heart suddenly stops when you see it jump.

Clint recovers from the shock and manages to shoot an arrow. The arrow gets stuck in the rock and the archer throws himself, grabbing Natasha's arm with a steel grip.

You lean towards them and anxiety rises when you see them talking.

You vaguely hear a few words, including Natasha's "okay" and your eyes go wide. You know what she's going to do and you can't afford to lose her too, you'd rather die than live without her too.

The years you were a Hydra guinea pig had paid off. The power of telekinesis, similar to Wanda's but much more powerful, had been injected into you thanks to some type of WhiteHall serum that had now been destroyed.

There was a small problem though: the nosebleed ran like hell when you used it, especially if in large quantities.

You see Natasha let go of her and before you know it your hands are raised towards her as you bring her body to the ground next to you and pin her to the ground.

"Y / n, so- let me go !!" Natasha struggles and screams trying to escape the constraints of your powers to no avail.

You and Clint exchange a look, he gives you a small smile and mimes with his lips "tell Laura I love her and say bye to the children".

Tears begin to flow down your cheeks mixing with the blood coming out of your nose from the effort you are making to hold back Natasha and Clint lets go and falls into the void.

Natasha's scream is the last thing you hear before collapsing to the ground, passed out.

You wake up in your room at the complex, completely alone. You get up as soon as your eyes open to go to the common room.

You hear voices coming from the room and as soon as you enter everyone's eyes contract on you. But one. Natasha's.

"You finally woke up." Steve comes over and gives you a squeeze on the shoulder. You give him a small smile but your gaze continues to land on Natasha who doesn't even deserve a glance.

"The glove is almost ready, once Barner puts it on we can get everyone back with a snap." Tony smirks.

A small smile comes out spontaneously at the thought of finally being about to see Wanda again.

"You can rest now, it will take another hour for the glove and we all need rest"

They all leave the room and only you and Natasha remain. She is about to leave too but you reach her quickly and stop her by taking her wrist.

"Nat ..."

"Don't touch me," she hisses and when she withdraws her hand a pang of pain from her goes through your body but you don't let it show.

«Nat come on ... I couldn't let you die, you know» you try to meet her gaze in vain.

«I deserved it y / n! Clint has a family, a wife, two children ... how am I going to tell him their beloved dad is dead? How?!!"

You've never heard Natasha raise her voice, neither with you nor with Wanda and she makes you wince.

«You too have a family Natasha» you say, finally managing to look into her eyes: «what should I have said to Wanda? That I made you commit suicide because you still believe you have not atoned for your sins ?! " your tone of voice rises too but her mask continues to stay up.

“Clint has children !! I will never be able to have them, he was more important! "

As soon as you hear those words, you get pissed.

"His life was no more worth than your Natalia!" Saying it offends people who love you; have you thought of me or Wanda or Yelena? What was I supposed to tell your sister or Melina? Don't fucking say your life wasn't as good as Clint's !! "

Natasha is silent for a few minutes before approaching the door.

"I wish you had disappeared instead of Wanda, she would have understood"

Her tone of voice is angry and you know those words don't think 100 percent of them but they hurt anyway.

"I'd like that too, Nat," you just whisper as she walks out of the common room.

You collapse on the ground, tears stream from your cheeks and sobs hit your body. You have never fought so hard and you are really afraid that this is the end of your relationship. With or without Wanda.

You do not think that between you two will ever be like before.

You killed Clint but you couldn't let Nat die, right?

You don't know how long you sit there but suddenly J.A.R.V.I.S. speak out.

"The security system is activated Mr. Stark"

You immediately jump to your feet and head towards the laboratories. They are all in a circle next to Bruce who is holding the glove.

"It's time," Tony says and you nod. You have been waiting for that moment for five years and you don't want to waste any more time.

Bruce takes the glove and puts it on. Screams of pain echo in the complex as lights of every color expand into space from the glove.

Bruce snaps his fingers before collapsing to the ground and it's like the universe stops.

Tony cools Bruce's injured arm while Steve helps him up.

"It worked?"

"I think so, I feel it in the air"

The tingling in your fingers intensifies and you turn to the laboratory door.

Wanda is standing there, red magic slipping through her fingers as she smiles at you. Tears immediately rise to your eyes and begin to run down your cheeks. You take a couple of steps slowly before running into the Sokovian's arms.

Your tears don't stop, as does the joy of finally seeing her again after five years.

"I missed you so much Wands" you hide your head in the hollow of her redhead's neck, wetting her shirt with your tears.

"I missed you too moya lyubov’ (my love) "

Wanda leaves you a kiss on her lips continuing to hold you close to her as she turns her gaze to Natasha and gives her a smirk.

"Aren't you going to say hello to me, Nat?"

As soon as she says those words, Natasha sings herself into the arms of the Sokoviana with tears in her eyes. She obviously won't cry in front of the team but nothing about her prevents her from holding on to her love of her life that she hasn't seen for five years.

You move away from her embrace, leaving all the space for Natasha. Wanda gives you a confused look before focusing on holding Nat.

"I was so afraid of losing you ..." Natasha whispers and you can barely hear him.

“Oh Nat, you won't get rid of me that easily. None of the two."

Once the greetings are over, even with the rest of the team, the others leave and only the three of you remain.

"How it was? I mean ... where have you been for five years? " you whispers breaking the silence in the laboratory.

Wanda gives you a small smile with a shrug.

“Five years have not passed for me; after the snap it is as if I had gone to sleep, closed my eyes and a moment later I found myself here, five years later without having perceived the years that have passed "

You nod, you're glad Wanda didn't realize how much time had passed wherever she was because you and Natasha did it and she almost destroyed you.

"You instead…? What has happened in these five years and why do you two not even look at each other? "

Naturally Wanda noticed it, the Sokovian notices everything but you don't say anything and then the alarm goes off.

You don't talk to each other until after the fight with Thanos and then only after Tony's funeral is over.

Laura and the children were there too and Nat's mood had dropped dramatically when she saw them, not that it was much better before.

So when you went back to the compound, in your room, all the tension and anger that you had accumulated in the last few days had exploded.

"Laura was destroyed," Natasha whispers and you stiffen as you sit on the bed.

Wanda looks at you from the door, you haven't told her what happened and she doesn't want to look into yours head but seeing you so detached is making her suffer.

"Nat I-" you place your hand on her shoulder and she dodges as if you have burned her. It hurts but you don't show it.

“It's your fault he's dead; if you had let me jump he would be close to Laura, he would raise her children! He would teach him to shoot with a bow and to be a hero !! " Natasha points her finger at her as she stands up.

you bite your lip trying not to cry; Natasha is looking at you with disappointment and anger painted on her face and you can't stand it.

"I wish I had died instead of him Nat, I wish I had jumped and not been there at the moment even though we would not have obtained the soul gem. Because if I had known what Clint's sacrifice, who wanted nothing more than his best friend to stay alive because she had already atoned for her sins billions of times as an Avengers, I would have done this I would have thrown myself off that fucking cliff even without getting the gem! "

As soon as the words leave your lips you realize what you said and would like to take it back. You've tried to take your own life before, many years ago, and admitting that the situation with Natasha made you want to try again was like dropping a bomb in the midtown of Manhattan.

Wanda no longer holds back, not after what you just confessed and she reads your head.

"You really thought about it," the Sokovian whispers and she leans against the door jamb as she looks at you with pain and concern.

"I'm sorry, I ... you weren't there and- and Clint died because of me and-"

Natasha approaches and holds you in a hug. You freeze for a few seconds when you hear her sobbing and squeeze her a little tighter than her trying to make her understand that you are there with her.

«I'm so sorry detka (baby), I know you were in pain but I kept blaming you even though I knew it wasn't your fault. I love you so much and I could never live without you, it wouldn't have been better if you had been in Clint's post ... it would have been worse "Natasha kisses your temple continuing to hold you before Wanda joins her embrace.

“We love you y / n and now we're both here. We will help Laura with the children "Wanda turns to Natasha but talks to both of them:" this is what Clint would have wanted and we will go on together "

By now you are all three in tears, still close to each other.

"And don't think about going somewhere without us, okay?"

You laugh through tears looking Wanda in her eyes.

«I'm so sorry darling, I won't leave you anymore» Natasha apologizes again s about to continue but you kiss her.

The pain and the guilt in her eyes disappear and are replaced by the love she feels for you two.

When the kiss is over, you make them lie down on the bed and you slip between them enjoying their squeeze.

A little involuntary laugh escapes your lips.

"I love you so fucking much"

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and leave a comment if you want, it's always nice <3

Marvel Masterlist

@tati3001

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empiressmpheadcanons · 2 years

Note

Tfw you’re thinking about emails and then suddenly have a new angsty af au

The au has nothing to do with emails at all I could name the exact train of thought that led me to this but it will likely not make any sense at all

Anyway here’s some more corrupted Gem (eventually) because it’s me >;3

Writing this has already spawned two seperate (but very similar) aus I’m only on the second paragraph help

It’s the final battle with Xornoth. Gem’s setting up the ritual to seal them away, and everything seems to be going as planned. Sure, she got an arrow to the shoulder before the others managed to cover her and sure, she can’t move it as well as she’s tracing the runes in the sky with her staff, but she’s sure it’s fine. Right?

Xornoth is trapped in the circle, Gem’s chanting and the others are holding off Joey. A flash of light. The corruption recedes and a crystal rests on the ground. They’ve done it.

Then laughter rings out, distorted and cruel.

Then the crystal rises off the ground, shaking slightly.

Then it explodes, and Xornoth is free.

They say two words before vanishing.

“You failed.”

They all stand in shock and fear before Scott whirls around and turns on Gem.

“What did you do? You promised it would work!”

“I thought it would! I don’t know what happened!” She raises her hands in surrender before letting out a hiss of pain as the wound on her shoulder opens again.

He doesn’t believe her, stepping forward and fixing her with an icy glare.

“How do we know that you aren’t working for them? That you didn’t fail the spell on purpose?” Gem opens her mouth to respond but he cuts her off with a scoff. “Save it. I don’t want to hear your lies.”

He shoves past her, ignoring her yelp as he slams into her injury, and flies off. One after the other, everyone follows close behind, and Gem is left alone.

Word spreads quickly, and soon all empires bar one have turned their backs on the Crystal Cliffs. Fwhip still visits her, still cares about her, still defends her to anyone who will listen, but she can see how it wears on him.

He won’t abandon her, so she’ll push him away herself.

When he next comes over she tells him to leave, saying she doesn’t need his pity. He tries to figure out what’s going on, but in doing so he says the worst thing for her to hear in that moment.

“Is Xornoth making you do this? Making you isolate yourself?”

And then her anger becomes real.

“You’re just like all the others, thinking the worst of me. Get out, Count, before I make you. And don’t bother coming back.”

As he leaves both twins have tears in their eyes, and Gem is left alone.

“Oh little wizard, how far you’ve fallen.”

Two weeks later, when Xornoth next shows up, Gem is standing behind him with her head bowed.

Scott sneers that she’s finally revealing her true allegiances and asks what took her so long, causing Xornoth to laugh.

“Oh brother, she wasn’t mine until very recently. In fact, I should thank you, you pushed her right to me! She still fought through, right up until she couldn’t anymore. But she wouldn’t dare fight back now, isn’t that right?”

Silently, Gem shakes her head. Though none can see, she trembles slightly with every word they speak.

“So eager to please, but pushed away by those she once called friends. All she wanted to do was help, and you shunned her for it. Well, I simply redirected that eagerness. Wizard, time to prove yourself. They’ve all hurt you and your brother, don’t you want to take your revenge?”

“Yes, sir,” she whispers, standing up straight and pulling out her staff. The once purple crystal is now a bright red, and corruption snakes up the wood.

Even still she’s apologetic as she meets their eyes, and everyone is hit with the weight of what they’ve done. But it’s too late for apologies now.

If you say a lie enough, it becomes the truth. But what happens when you never thought you were lying?

Woop woop more corrupted Gem

Every day is a battle between the “everything is an oc concept actually” and “everything is corrupted Gem” actually parts of my brain

Send help

-🦊

“Every day is a battle between the “everything is an oc concept actually” and “everything is corrupted Gem” actually parts of my brain” YEAH ME TOO.

ALSO FYCK THIS IS JUST ONE BIG PAIN SOUP

tjem hding back Joey :((( and gem just wanting help so bad but not being able to ask for it :(((,,,,, there are so many little details aauhh :((((

#Geminitay #not a headcanon #empires smp #🦊 anon #My phone auto corrected Joey to Jimmy I’m mad.

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dynamicduoofstackie · 3 years

Text

I’m curious why SamBucky is so rare-ish in these streets when it comes to pairing Bucky with an MCU character? I get it, I get it, with the Stucky ‘end of the line’; we been teaming up since the comic book days spiel. I personally see Bucky and Steve as brothers after Captain America: The Winter Soldier cause it felt like Bucky was ready to adopt Steve after his mother, who was his only remaining family, died.

That’s me. I know everyone not going to see it in that light. But Bucky gives me big brother vibes whenever he has to save pipsqueak Steve in the MCU. Plus the original comics had Bucky as an adorable, little sidekick that would make you think reverse big brother and little brother, with Steve being the big brother and Bucky the little brother. I don’t read the comics so it might just me. No offense.

Is it really about the, Steve knew him longer thing? I mean other than possibly Natasha in the comics, Bucky has no clearly defined MCU love interests. Bucky was a flirt before he met Sarah Wilson, so him being able to flirt, just proves he’s coming into his own. I’m not saying he doesn’t like Sarah that way. But he also flirted with Peggy in the first Captain America movie because he’s a lady killer and was more than willing to take the two girls off Steve’s hand at the Stark Expo when Steve floundered. Steve/Tony I sorta get with the enemies to lover trope. The Bucky x Clint thing is really mind-boggling to me because there were no interaction between them in the MCU; so something must have happened in the comics. So okay... But the fact that Sam had more interaction with Bucky in the MCU and had a whole comic book series with him and Bucky shouldn’t have the ships OF SamBucky and Sam x Clint at a 700+ fanfic difference. Fandoms are so weird sometimes... anyway...

Sam and Steve are the only ones in the MCU who really interact with Bucky outside the strong and beautiful people of Wakanda. None of the Wakandians seem interested in Bucky, except in maybe a familial way. Like they found a stray cat, nursed and raised it; but the cat is still an outdoor cat that might visit from time to time, but is mostly out there doing its on thing. Just the feeling I get with how comfortable Bucky was interacting with Princess Shuri and/or the Dora Milaje. They respect him, fixed him, and let Bucky roam free.

Steve is somewhere on the moon or wherever, in The Falcon and Winter Soldier tv series and Sam is the only one willing to stay in contact with Bucky. Shoot in Endgame only Sam and Steve were Bucky’s only people because Steve protecting Bucky caused a rift between the Avengers. It was repaired, but Team Iron Man doesn’t know Bucky at all, and/or don’t seem interested. Team Captain America are either dead (Natasha), being with their family (Clint and Scott), or dealing with their own shit (Steve and Wanda). So that leaves Sam. That’s really no coincidence even though I’ll admit, Steve going to a support group to more Peggy instead of his two best friends that were recently missing was kind of shitty.

So again, getting back on track, why isn’t their more Sambucky love? We already know Stucky is default most popular in the fandom for Bucky pairing. But Sam, who has the enemies turn friends aspect about him and has been the only one, besides Steve, who openly tried to find Bucky. I mean what better love story is it for a man who went from thinking Bucky would be better off dead, to suddenly sacrificing his 9 to 5 and freedom to search for Bucky and help him escape the airport in Germany?

I mean SamBucky is one of the few ships that has a foundation of amazing content from Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan’s interactions with each other. Mackie and Sebastian literally went from play pretending like they couldn’t stand each other, to damn near needing someone to chaperone them in their interviews because they so random shit, flirt and love to be close. Sebastian has talked about Mackie more than any costar and Mackie has a wonderful knack for finding Sebastian on any red carpet event to compliment the hell out of him. They literally had a show created for the two characters because of that amazing chemistry and Sebastian even co-signed on it with this gem below.

The MCU was throwing Bucky and Sam together over and over again, way before they got their own tv series. They argued together, fought each other, tried to one up each other by ripping wings and dropkicking from the air. Even in the television show big-hearted Sam willingly allows Bucky to go on a top secret government mission with him. Checks in on him constantly to make sure he’s okay. The only one that defends Bucky against people like Zemo, Sharon and John Walker.

Sam really was the one person that helped put most of Bucky’s demons to rest in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. He gave him the tough love he needed in the end. He gave him purpose. He teased him like he was a normal person and not a former, brain-washed assassin. Sam watched over Bucky because he wanted to. Steve never asked him to check on Bucky. Steve never asked Sam to help him find Bucky. Steve never asked for Sam to sacrifice his freedom and go to the raft just so Bucky and Steve could escape in the airport. Sam volunteered to do that all on his own because he saw how worthy Bucky was.

Why else would Sam have him on a top government mission? Why else would he try to bail out Bucky from jail or follow Steve and Bucky against his Avenger allies? Why else would he let Bucky talk him into let Zemo go? Or any of the other insane things they did together, unless he didn’t care?

And that’s what Bucky needs, someone to give a damn about him. Someone to text him and chase after him. Someone to defend him and remind him that he’s not the Winter Soldier anymore. Someone to offer him a place to stay and normalcy. Someone who isn’t afraid to introduce to his family or watch his six in a battle. Someone touch him because he knows Bucky’s been touch-starved or tease him because he’s not afraid to be next to him.

Sam knows this Bucky. The Bucky who was determined to give the Shield to Sam. The Bucky who dangled kids off his arm while talking to Sam’s sister. The Bucky who has trouble sleeping at night because he still has demons. The Bucky who tried to kill him because he didn’t have control of his own body The Bucky who was just as broken as Sam when Steve just Peggy over them. The Bucky who is trying to find purpose in a world that has forgotten about him. He doesn’t have to remake himself into the old Bucky for Steve because Sam only knows this Bucky. Bucky doesn’t have to be anybody, but himself around Sam and he is.

I mean maybe people don’t care to pair Bucky with Sam because he was against saving Bucky the first time; or didn’t pull up the car seat; or didn’t want to jump in believing Bucky after he threw him across the room by his chin; or maybe because Sam’s black... WHO KNOWS.

I just thought it was odd that the fandom doesn’t respect Anthony Mackie as a whole, too. Like the poor man has to insert himself into interviews with his white costars just to not be pretty arm candy. But that’s another rant for another post.

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storytellerofuntoldlegends · 3 years

Text

an icarus and his sun: chapter 13

A/N: ayyyy, lucky number 13! a lot of stuff goes down in this chapter, but you guys will be getting part of the resolution!! this isn’t the end though, there are two chapters left in the story! Oh also my pal Jack made a spotify playlist for this series, and all the songs on it work so well and absolutely slap!!

Warnings: possession, manipulation, swordfight, self-worth issues, violence, choking (not in the *wink* way stop it it’s meant to be angsty), kissing, hugs

AO3 Link - Tumblr Masterpost

Scott didn’t know where he was. It was like he was standing in the Void, but there was something more off about the pitch black landscape than usual. It was tinted red, somehow. There was a deep crimson color that permeated the air, a thick fog that threatened to choke Scott- and then he saw him. It was- it was himself, sort of. The figure before him looked exactly like Scott, but something was definitely off. First was the color scheme of his clothing- red and black instead of the cyan and white of his empire. Then, most glaringly, was his eyes. Deep red, just like the corruption in Scott’s arm. And when he put a hand on the hilt of the dark blade strapped to his side and grinned, Scott saw far too sharp teeth.

“Who are you?!” Scott demanded, instinctively reaching for his sword and pleasantly surprised to find it sheathed at his side- he hadn’t remembered it being there before. The red version himself somehow managed to grin wider.

“A small part of a larger plan. He will be pleased to know I have you under my control,” the red Scott taunted. Scott’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“He? What plan, what are you talking about?” Scott asked, and the red version of himself laughed.

“So you don’t remember yet… that explains why you were so easy to defeat,” he taunted. Scott grit his teeth and drew his sword.

“You haven’t defeated me yet,” Scott growled. The red Scott only laughed, before lunging at Scott faster than he thought was possible. He blocked the incoming blow just in time, trying to push the red version of himself back.

“I won’t be as easy to defeat as your pathetic little fish boy,” the red Scott sneered.

“He isn’t mine,” Scott protested through gritted teeth before managing to push his other self back. He slashed at the red Scott, who easily sidestepped the attack.

“Oh you definitely made sure of that, didn’t you?” the red Scott scoffed. Scott’s attacks faltered, and his other self took the opening. Scott managed to evade most of the blow, but he was stumbling and unsteady now, and the edge of the red Scott’s blade ended up cutting his arm.

“This- this isn’t even about him,” Scott protested, but his voice came out weaker than he meant it to.

“But you can’t resist thinking about him anyway, can’t you? I’ve been in your head, Scott. No matter how hard you try, that fool in a cod head can’t escape your attention. But you ruined everything you could have had with him before it had barely begun,” the red Scott taunted, continuing to strike at Scott, and he could barely block the blows as he continued to speak.

“Stop,” Scott managed to get out, choking back a sob as he tried to continue fighting his other self.

“He was an Icarus, and you were his sun. He got too close and you burned him, Scott. Everything that you touch crashes and burns, so why not give in? Why not let me take the reins- certainly things would be better without you,” the red Scott crooned, and he didn’t even need to raise a sword to send Scott reeling. Before he knew what he was doing, he lowered his sword, and the red fog started closing in, becoming tangible and wrapping around Scott, pinning his arms to his sides.

“Wait- no!” Scott cried, trying to struggle against the strange red substance, but it was too late. It had Scott firmly in its clutches, and the red Scott grinned.

“Goodbye, Scott,” he said with a cackle, and the last thing Scott saw was a blade slashing towards him.

It had at most been a few hours since they had locked Jimmy away with Scott when he woke up. Scott sat bolt upright in bed, chest heaving as he accidentally dislodged Jimmy’s hand from his own. Jimmy reached out for his hand again, but froze when he saw Scott’s eyes. They were red. Jimmy knew what he had to do- he had to tell the others that Scott had lost to the corruption. But Jimmy still couldn’t find it in himself to give up on Scott. So he sat there, frozen as he watched Scott catch his breath, eyes blood red and the corruption visibly pulsing beneath his skin.

“Scott?” Jimmy asked softly, still foolishly clinging to hope. Scott’s head snapped to him, and with a growl he lunged at Jimmy. He successfully tackled him to the ground, hands around his throat. A horrible choked noise escaped Jimmy’s lips as he clawed at Scott’s hands, struggling to breathe. He couldn’t even call out to his friends if he wanted to, and he felt his vision already darkening at the edges. His friends had been right, and all Jimmy could think about was how he would never see Scott’s brilliant icy blue eyes again.

Suddenly there was a bright purple flash between them. Gem’s crystal! It seemed to have worked, causing Scott to scramble off of Jimmy and hiss in pain. Jimmy rubbed at his throat, his other hand up placatingly as he gave Scott a pleading expression. But there was no recognition in Scott’s now crimson eyes, just fiery anger. He lunged at Jimmy again, despite the crystal around his neck, and the two of them grappled for control. The crystal still glowed brightly, causing Scott to hiss in pain, but he still kept coming after Jimmy, trying to pin him down and get a grip on his throat again. Jimmy had to get away, he had to call for help. He managed to shove Scott off of him, and scramble to his feet- but Scott got up just as quickly. There was a brief moment of stillness, of both of them catching their breath. But the second Jimmy tried to make a break for the hidden door, Scott’s wings suddenly drew back and snapped closed on Jimmy’s head, causing his ears to ring and his vision to blur from the blow. He fell to his knees, blinking rapidly to try and get his vision to clear. He vaguely registered a blur of white and blue lunging at him and fully tackling him down to the ground. He tried to push Scott off of him again, but his wrists were snatched up and forcefully pinned on either side of his head.

The ringing in Jimmy’s ears finally ceased and his vision cleared to see Scott above him with a manic, victorious grin on his face. And well… Jimmy got an idea. Maybe it wasn't the smartest idea- but Scott had him pinned, and his face was inches away from Jimmy. He couldn’t help but think of the first time they fought like this- and that felt like centuries ago, now. Except that time Jimmy didn’t think either of them wanted the other to die. But here Scott was, trying to kill Jimmy… and there was only thing Jimmy could think of to maybe unbalance Scott. So he lunged up, eyes squeezed shut as he crushed his lips against Scott’s. If he had kept his eyes open, he would have seen the red in Scott’s eyes flicker before they fluttered shut, and the corruption slowly seep out of his skin. But Jimmy was too focused on the way Scott kissed him back, hands releasing his wrists to instead cup his face and run through his hair. Jimmy almost got lost in the kiss- in Scott's small gasp paired with a pleasant shiver as Jimmy’s hands brushed the base of his wings when his arms wrapped around him, in how Scott kissed him as desperate as a man fighting not to drown- but then Jimmy remembered the reason he had kissed Scott in the first place. He neatly flipped them over, breaking the kiss and grabbing Scott’s hands, intending to pin him like he had done to Jimmy- but then he saw Scott’s eyes. They were confused and disorientated, but were the icy blue shade that Jimmy knew so well.

"You could at least take me out to dinner first before you pin me like that," he joked weakly. Jimmy let out a mildly hysterical laugh. He scrambled off of Scott to instead pull him into his lap and hug him tightly.

"You're okay!" he said in a gasp. Scott slowly hugged him back, expression twisted with confusion and disbelief.

“I- you- did you- but I thought I was dead... so- what? How?” Scott asked, looking like his brain was going a million miles a minute.

“That corruption in your skin- we did everything to try and stop it or remove it, but nothing was working- and it was up to you to fight it off and you almost didn’t- but of course you did in the end, you’re- you’re you…” Jimmy trailed off, pausing for only a brief moment before gently cradling Scott’s jaw and pulling him into a kiss. Scott kissed him back for half a second, before pulling back with wide eyes. Jimmy’s stomach started turning nervously, and he drew his hand back from Scott’s face.

“Why are you- you kissed me? And still want to kiss me? Why?” he asked in disbelief. Jimmy laughed nervously.

“I uh. I got carried away, huh? I just- I was so relieved you were alive, and that you were… you. And the first time I was just trying to throw you off, but I guess that was the final push you needed to fight back,” Jimmy explained sheepishly. Scott still looked hopelessly lost.

“But- but I betrayed you. And I just tried to kill you!” he protested.

“You weren’t yourself,” Jimmy said softly.

“But I was when I was working with Fwhip! You- you shouldn’t want to do anything to do with me- you said so yourself!” he continued, tears gathering in his eyes. Jimmy took Scott’s hands, squeezing them gently as he looked at Scott right in the eyes.

“Scott. I should have listened to you when you tried to tell me that you cared, and I should have believed you when you told me that you were only trying to protect me. I’m sorry for pushing you away, Scott,” Jimmy said firmly. Scott still looked like he was on the verge of tears, but he didn’t pull away from Jimmy.

“But- but I wouldn’t have even gotten feelings for you if Fwhip hadn’t told me to keep an eye on you,” Scott protested weakly. Jimmy pondered this for a moment, gaze darting away before looking back to Scott with a softly determined expression.

“When did you first realize you had feelings for me?” he asked. Scott blinked in surprise at the question, and he swallowed nervously before answering.

“It was the day I had stolen the slimeball from you. You- you chased after me, grinning like an idiot and the scales on your stupid cod head were glinting like bronze in the sunlight… you- you were irrevocably radiant, and I realized I didn’t want a world without your smile or laugh in it,” Scott confessed softly. Jimmy grinned, heart soaring.

“That was when I realized it too. And if we’ve both cared about each other for that long… then what’s the point in getting fussed over the reason why?” Jimmy replied. Scott let out a sound that was half laugh, half sob as he abruptly leaned forward and hugged Jimmy tightly. Jimmy hugged him back, running a hand through rustled feathers and smoothing them out.

“I’m so sorry for everything, I know it wasn’t all my fault- but the explosion, everything before that…” Scott trailed off into sobs. Jimmy shifted, pressing a kiss to his hair.

“It’s alright, I promise you it’s alright- that you’re alright, and that we’re alright. I forgive you, it wasn’t your fault,” Jimmy murmured, holding Scott as he cried. Eventually the tears subsided, and Scott’s breathing evened out. Jimmy shifted slightly so that he could look Scott in the eyes- even if at first, that movement earned him a slight pout. Jimmy chuckled at the sight of it.

“Can we try that first kiss again? It keeps getting interrupted by silly things like trying to save each others’ lives and self-doubt,” he asked with a cocky grin. Scott laughed.

“I think I kind of like having you alive, Jimmy,” Scott said between laughs.

“Could’ve fooled me,” Jimmy teased with a grin, easily falling back into their playful banter. Scott smirked, leaning in until he was a mere breath away from Jimmy. Jimmy’s heart rate spiked very quickly, and at this rate maybe Scott was still trying to kill him. Not that Jimmy was exactly complaining if this was the way he went out, a handsome winged elf in his lap looking at him like he was the world.

“Shut up and kiss me, you idiot,” Scott murmured.

“Gladly,” Jimmy breathed out, before closing the little distance between them. It was fireworks behind Jimmy’s eyes, flowers blooming in his chest, it was sunlight and glittering gold- but most importantly it was Scott, alive and himself, safe in Jimmy’s arms.

Taglists below! Let me know if you wanna be added/removed!

MCYT General Fic Taglist: @corazon10000 @damiensaidno @franticfandomfanatic @gattonero17 @hetapeep41 @space-ace123 @vyeoh

AIAHS Taglist: @anty-kreatywna @beepa99 @devilwoodkitty18 @riobug

#empires smp #scott smajor #jimmy solidarity #flower husbands #mcyt #aiahs #sage writes

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archaxwii · 3 years

Text

The Tiny Fox Thief

Warnings: This story contains soft, safe, vore. Scott catches Fundy trying to steal his stuff for the 100th time and decides to punish him to deter him from doing it again.

I promise I didn’t stop wanting to write these, I originally wrote this like two months ago but works been rough recently and killing my motivation and time to write, but hey at least I got this out in time for Origins to come back? I’m hoping the next one won’t take as long but I can’t make any promises. Despite the long wait I hope you enjoy!

A tiny fox man was rummaging through his things.

Again.

Scott had causally walked into his house to get some payment for Ranboo and Tubbo for a trade they were doing for his new build, and he was greeted with a familiar sight.

He opened one of his chests to grab some gold and out of the corner of his eye he spotted a tiny ball of orange fluff hiding behind a diamond that was suspiciously not with the other diamonds.

Scott rolled his eyes, he grabbed the gold he needed and safely stored it away from the greedy fox before plucking Fundy up from behind the diamond.

Said fox yelped a little at being caught and now being so close to the giant.

Scott shifted his grip so Fundy was gently held in his hands instead of dangling by the fingers. Even if he was a little thief Scott didn't want to hurt his friend.

Scott raised an eyebrow at him." This is the fifth time this month Fundy, don't you ever get tired of gong through people's things?" He questioned flatly.

Fundy gave Scott a sheepish look." Uh, heyyy, Scott...I uhh, don't know what you're talking about, I was just looking at your pretty gems, they're uhh, very shiny from down here, you know?" His eyes darted around, trying not to make eye contact with the agitated giant.

Scott didn't seem convinced.

"You know, you'd have your own shiny diamonds to look at if you went and got them yourself instead of stealing from other people." He deadpanned.

"Pshh, what's the fun in that?" A look of fear crossed his face as he realized his mistake." Uhh, not that I was stealing, cause, uh, heh I was totally not doing that, I promise haha." His ears flattened against the back of his head as he grinned nervously.

" What am I gonna do with you? You know I could blow you to smithereens right?" Scott shook his head. He was obviously joking, but a little intimidation never hurt anybody.

"Ahah, but you'd never do that right?" In the back of his mind he knew Scott wouldn't do that, but Fundy did shrink a little further into Scott's hand nonetheless.

"Hmm, maybe I should, teach you a lesson to quit stealin' from everyone." Scott threatened.

At first it was an empty threat, but a small rumble from his stomach gave him a different idea.

It wasn't uncommon for someone to go missing for a little while due to being tucked away in a persons belly. Most of the giants in this server had the ability to protect their prey and keep them safe for as long as they wanted, and for the ones who didn't have those powers there were potions that could easily help keep prey safe as well.

That's why Fundy knew as soon as he heard that growl, with the look that crossed Scott's face, that it was time to bolt. He immediately panicked and started trying to squirm out of the hand he was trapped in.

"I think I know a good place I can put you for tonight, maybe it'll teach you a lesson." Scott himself had never eaten anyone before, but he knew he had a control over his own digestive system, so he wouldn't actually hurt Fundy.

"P-please, Scott! I-I promise I won't steal again, I've changed, I've mended my ways and all that!" He stuttered frantically.

Now, Fundy has spent a fair few nights in the belly of one of his friends, especially after he'd been caught stealing from them, but just because he knew it was safe didn't mean he liked it. It was just so humiliating.

And I mean do you know how long it takes to get saliva out of fur?

In a stroke of luck, Fundy managed to squirm out of Scott's grip and he leapt off of Scott's hand onto the floor.

Fundy was speedier than the average tiny, fast enough to almost make it to the little hole the tinies used to get into Scott's house.

Key word there is almost.

Right as he got to the entrance, as the scent of the outside hit his muzzle...he was swept right back up into Scott's hands.

He whined as Scott's grinning face looked down at him." So close, yet so far Fundy." He petted Fundy's head with his thumb." I promise it's just for tonight, it'll be a good nights sleep and I'll let you out in the morning." Scott tried to reassure.

It was quite warm inside, it was soft and it was easy to fall asleep knowing he was safe.

Fundy huffed. That didn't mean he liked it! It was slimy and gross, it was so loud, and being eaten was so just embarrassing, and don't even get started on the trip down! No, he most certainly did not want to get eaten.

Scott kept a firm grip on him as he lifted Fundy above his head. Fundy yelped as Scott opened his mouth and unceremoniously dropped him in.

To Fundy this was a familiar hell. To Scott this was an unfamiliar heaven.

He hummed as he felt squirming around. Fundy battered his tiny paws at his teeth, trying to get him to open his mouth.

Scott didn't relent and instead started licking the little fox. He had a very salty taste that made his mouth water.

After Scott figured Fundy had been covered in enough saliva, he tilted his head back so Fundy knew what was coming. It was strange to feel Fundy physically tense, and after a couple seconds he swallowed him down.

Fundy yelped as he was shoved into the dark tunnel.

This was always his least favorite part. Not that he liked any of it, mind you. But this always left him dizzy and disoriented and feeling a bit sick.

He squirmed at the painful crushing that slowly pulled him down. He could tell Scott had never eaten someone before, it was much more painful than usual.

After a few more swallows his feet were pressed against something, he whined as he was squeezed through something much tighter and then unceremoniously dropped into a shallow pool of liquid.

Tired as the decent down left him, Fundy didn't hesitate to scramble up and start battering at the walls. He didn't want to actually hurt Scott, but he was still upset, it was so disgusting and humiliating. Why did they always do this to him?

Scott stumbled a bit, leaning against the chest at the unexpected assault on his stomach.

He didn't expect to be able to feel everything so strongly, and it felt kinda nice, despite the attack inside.

He hummed, pressing a hand to his stomach." You doing alright in there Fundy?" He inquired. He wanted to make sure he wasn't gonna actually hurt him.

"No, Scott, you just ate me!" He growled, trying to jump and climb up the slick walls to no avail." Please let me out, it's really gross in here!" He whined.

Scott chuckled, rubbing circles on his belly." Well I didn't exactly swallow you for your enjoyment, this is meant to be a punishment after all." He lowered his voice, tone more serious." Are you actually ok in there? I'm not hurting you, right?"

"...If I said yes would you let me out?"

"Fundy."

"Ok, ok, yeah I'm not dying or whatever." Fundy huffed, slumping against the wall with his arms over his chest.

"It's just for the night Fundy, I promise I'll let you out in the morning." He reassured.

Fundy remained grumpily silent, until Scott heard the thumping of footsteps and a figure appeared in the doorway.

"Scott?" Inquired the dark, imposing figure of Ranboo. The poor ender hybrid had to duck to see into the door.

Caught up in catching Fundy, Scott had forgotten his original goal when coming in here.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ranboo, I was trying to grab the gold for you guys and found a certain someone rummaging through my things again, so I had to deal with that." He quickly explained, sliding off the chest.

At the mention of Ranboo, Fundy scrambled up trying to claw at the walls again." Ranboo! Help me! I don't want to stay in here please!" He cried.

Unfortunately for Fundy, Ranboo couldn't hear him from the inside, but from the slight glance to Scott's belly he seemed to be able to figure out what happened.

Regardless of whether he knew or not Ranboo only lightly chuckled." You'd think he'd get tired of stealing one day." He stepped into the house, shaking his head." Well, do you have our stuff?"

Scott did a little "Oh yeah!" jump before turning around to dig in his chests. Fundy was still fiercely trying to get Ranboo's attention, which Scott blithely ignored.

After a couple seconds Ranboo was in the possession of 3 stacks of Redstone, a couple gold blocks, and some obsidian, and Scott now owned several stacks of concrete that he couldn't be bothered to harvest himself for a new build he was working on.

After saying their goodbye's Ranboo wandered off to...wherever he and Tubbo wandered off to, and Scott was left alone with Fundy, who was now grumpily sulking against the stomach wall.

After shifting his spades of concrete into his chests Scott retired to his room, flopping backwards onto his bed, trying not to jostle Fundy around too much.

He curled up around his middle, wrapping his arms around his stomach and allowing himself to revel in the sensation of Fundy being in there. Fundy wasn't moving much anymore but Scott could feel his weight, like a warm stone sat in the center of his belly. If he concentrated enough he could even feel the fox's soft breathing.

As much as Scott wanted to punish Fundy he did still feel bad for trapping him all night." You gonna be alright in there?" He softly asked.

Fundy huffed tiredly. It wasn't...that bad. It could actually be quite calming if he had wanted this to happen. It was much warmer than his cave and softer than the bed he slept on. The deep sounds of Scott's lungs and organs working around him did much better to soothe him than the dead silence he slept in at home. It wasn't really that bad in here if you ignored the disgusting amounts of slime...it's just that he hated feeling like food. And he knew nobody on the server felt like that towards him, but it didn't stop his brain from thinking about it that way.

He curled up tighter in a ball." I don't like being food for you guys." He mumbled, Scott could barely even hear the fox.

Scott pressed a hand to his belly, surprised at the sudden vulnerability. He didn't know Fundy felt that way about being eaten. Scott had assumed it was a fun game to him like it was everyone else." Fundy...none of us think like that about you, any of you, we like to have fun and mess with you guys but I-none of us- would ever think of you as food." He reassured. He'd never taken much consideration into how tinies really felt about being eaten, since people like Tubbo, Tommy, and Niki seemed to enjoy it (most of the time) and with the knowledge that it was safe, he didn't consider how negative it could be for some tinies.

He rubbed circles into his belly, feeling regretful." Do you actually want me to let you out? I don't want you to be in there if it upsets you."

Fundy sighed, licking at the few stray salty tears on his face."...No, there's no point when I'm already in here. And it isn't...that bad, I just...hate being reminded of where I am."

Scott chuckled lightly." Just think of it like a really weird waterbed, except with more slime." He offered.

Fundy snorted. It was like a waterbed of sorts, except it felt more like you were inside it than on top of it.

He laid his head down on his arms, closing his eyes. He didn't fall asleep immediately, but Scott's words soothed his nerves enough to where he found the stomach much less distressing than it had previously been. With Scott gently rubbing him and the sound of his heartbeat filling his ears and drowning out his thoughts, Fundy drifted to sleep.

Scott wasn't tired just yet. Being a Starborne, he much preferred being out at night and as such he was mostly nocturnal. He didn't mind staying awake anyway. He didn't know the next time he would be able to do something like this and wanted to enjoy himself as much as possible.

For now, Scott was content to just settle down and comfort Fundy. He'd had a rough couple hours thanks to him so he wanted to make him feel better as much as possible. He hadn't eaten tonight, but Fundy filled his belly enough where he didn't need to, a nice comfortable weight to keep the hunger at bay. He softly rubbed circles into his belly around Fundy, who seemed to slowly be drifting off. He was happy to lay like that for another few hours, enjoying the feeling of Fundy inside, as close and safe to him as a friend could be.

#tw vore #mcyt g/t #mcyt gt #soft vore #ember's writing #feel free to give any feedback if you want

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c0ttonberries · 2 years

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[grabs you] scott snowgrave au

@choco-drops asked: Omg you raise such a good point about xornoth being fire themed as a posed to ice themed and it would therefor make sense for it to be aeor omg. Do you have more to say about the snowgrave route thing cuz I am thunking rn

OKAY SO HEAR ME OUT FELLAS (this turned into a half-fanfic oops)

Scott gets his ice powers right, but instead of hide away with it Aeor urges him to "test them out" so he goes all over the empires, spreading the ice and snow and cold and getting colder himself (which is why I draw him with a large fluffy jacket of which he stole from Shrub but I'm getting to that)

He visits the Undergrove and goes "hey Shrub watch this" and does an Ice Thing and fucking freezes one of her wolves and instantly she's like "ummmmmm actually what the fuck" and this is where Aeor starts to get creepy and pushy and tells Scott to proceed with making himself stronger and more in tune with his magic. It comes down to Scott using his ice to freeze the actual emperors, like Ice Shock in Deltarune does.

So he walks away from the Undergrove, leaving behind frozen statues of wolves and wood-carved villagers... and a single statue of a terrified gnome. Aeor takes the pelt of Mother Wolf to make Scott a jacket, since he's looking rather flushed and cold.

He visits the other empires on Aeor's command, and the snow has made him numb (physically, not emotionally quite yet). He freezes The Lost Empire, Mythland, The Grimlands, House Blossom (that one hurt him a lot because Katherine was begging so loudly to not hurt The Spring), The Cod Empire (that one hurt him the most because it was Jimmy and he didn't even fight back), and then Aeor knew he had to get Lizzie out of the picture before she realized what happened to her brother, so it was to The Ocean Empire and then Mezalea. Pixandria was quite a flight, and a true exercise of his utmost potential, since it's pretty hard to freeze a sweltering desert.

By the time he gets to the Crystal Cliffs, he's fallen into the rhythm. Visit, freeze, leave. He has his hands up, ready to cast his magic, when Gem finds him and asks what he's doing.

(At this point Aeor would tell him to ignore her and proceed. But he hasn't.)

So Scott explains, "I'm just... getting stronger."

Gem is perplexed (she doesn't know what Scott has been doing over the course of the past day. The sun is setting.) "Stronger... how?"

Proceed, says Aeor.

Gem can hear Him. "Proceed where?"

Scott falters. Ice crawls up his fingers. Aeor is standing right behind him, in all the glory and ancient god has.

Gem pieces together whats going on with Scott's silence as an answer. She readies her staff in one hand and sword in the other. She's ready to fight, but Scott knows you can't just kill God.

Gem takes petty shots at Aeor, hardly scraping Him. Meanwhile, Scott is letting the ice build up on his hands, up his wrists, up his arms.

Aeor tells him to cast a new spell.

"Snowgrave?" Scott is confused as he looks at his frostbitten hands. "I don't know that spell." The name alone made him not want to learn it.

Snowgrave.

"I don't know that spell, Aeor. Can you teach me?"

Snowgrave.

"I... I told you, Aeor, I don't know that spell! I can't cast a spell without knowing it!"

Snowgrave.

Gem is just standing there (she isn't running away. Why isn't she running away).

Snowgrave.

Scott is growing frustrated– his first emotion all day. "Stop telling me to cast a spell I don't know! I can't do it!"

Snowgrave.

Scott growls, and magic flares under the ice on his fingers. "Fine," he spits. "For you, my will, Aeor!"

He puts his hands out, and what follows is an excruciating pain in his arms and a furious blizzard clouding his vision. He wants to scream, but everything is drowned out by the snow. All he sees is snow, and two piercing yellow eyes staring right into his.

When he drops to his knees, it's quiet. Far, far too quiet.

He doesn't feel good about the large chunk of ice standing where Gem was.

He doesn't feel good at all.

He's going home.

#asks #mcyt #empires smp #smajor #snowgrave scott au #just ror tagging purposes bc this is so fucking great you guys #thank you for enabling me

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hermits-that-craft · 3 years

Text

In My Dreams (Will You Remember Me?)

Flower Husbands Fic - Chapter Two - Can You Hear The Bumblebees Swarm?

Ao3 in the comments

Jimmy’s late. He doesn’t mean to be late to the meeting, and he knows that he won't be the latest to the meeting - he just prefers to be slightly early so that there's no chance for him to be late.

Landing roughly in The Overgrown, Jimmy dusts off his pants before walking inside Katherine’s meeting hall. Katherine smiles brightly at him, and Lizzie sits with Pearl, laughing.

“Early again, Codfather?” Katherine teases, and Lizzie turns her head.

“I honestly thought I was late, Lizzie told me you changed the time?”

“Lizzie!” Katherine gasps, scandalised. “Why would you do that?”

“I remember growing up with him, it would take centuries to get him out of bed.” Lizzie smiles lightly, and Jimmy’s thankful for his mask, hiding the flush of his face.

“And it took longer to get you away from your window when Joel was pegging rocks at it.” Jimmy says lightly.

“Sleep well, Codfather?” Pearl asks, weaving herself a new sunflower crown.

“I could fall asleep for a while, but afterwards it was fine.” Jimmy lies easily, and Lizzie glares at him suspiciously.

“Oh! Any dreams?” Katherine asks. “We could try and work out if you’re an oracle.”

“Nothing important, just a dance in a flower field.” Jimmy pointedly ignores Lizzie as the other rulers slowly walk into the hall.

LDShadowLady whispers to you: Why didn’t you tell me? You whisper to LDShadowLady: Didn’t want to wake you, it wasn’t a nightmare anyways. LDShadowLady whispers to you: You promised me that you would. You whisper to LDShadowLady: I’m going to talk to Gem about it. I’m sick of being tired all the time LDShadowLady whispers to you: Thank goodness. I don’t want to have to worry about you anymore. You whisper to LDShadowLady: You won't anymore, I promise.

“Great, now that everyone’s here, let's start the meeting!” Katherine says. “Does anyone have any news to share?”

“Did you really call a meeting without any news to share?” Shubble asks, standing on her chair in order to see over the table. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that, its just that we’ve all got empires to run and we’re kind of busy-”

“No, I do have news. I just wanted to open discussion to the table. If anyone else has anything to say.” Katherine smiles, and Jimmy watches Sausage and Fwip from the corner of his eyes. They seem off, smiling to themselves as though they have something to say, though their mouths are firmly closed.

“Well, Rivendell’s alchemists are working on a way to reverse the corruption,” Scott says, and Jimmy looks at the elven king. He’s tall, with soft blue hair and sapphire blue eyes and Jimmy has to tear his eyes away before he’s drowning in them. “If you all would allow it, I would like to send my alchemists to your kingdoms to observe and take samples of the corruption.”

“That sounds wonderful, I’d like to take you up on that offer.” Jimmy surprises the whole room, including himself, as he accepts Scott’s proposal. The aid will be necessary in order to protect his kingdom, and Joel did say that Scott might want to be allies.

He should find Scott after the meeting.

“I will also take you up on that offer.” Katherine agrees, giving Fwip and Sausage a warning look. “Is there any other topic to be brought up?”

“I don’t believe so.” Fwip says, and Jimmy winces under his mask. The steady voice, even and unsettling. Jimmy’s overthinking.

An even voice, carefully calculating, offering them an alliance, knowing full well that his husband will end up on the altar, to be sacrificed. Burning the banner, loosing his love before dying himself-

“-A ball, in honour of House Blossom’s continued strong alliances!” Katherine’s words shake Jimmy out of him stupor. “I would like to invite some of you to help in the building of a public hall so that we can all attend in luxury.”

“I can help.” Pearl agrees immediately.

“I’d love to help as well.” Gem agrees. “The Crystal Cliffs can offer some amethyst for the roof!”

“I’ll follow your instructions, if you’ll have me.” Jimmy offers with a polite smile, not believing that Katherine will take him up on the offer.

“Oh Jimmy, that’ll be such a great help!” Katherine accepts his offer, pointedly ignoring Fwip’s snort with a large smile.

Oh no, Jimmy smiles. “No problem, Katherine. Anything for an ally.”

This was a horrid idea.

“Is there anything else we need to discuss?” Sausage asks. “My advisors are getting cross at my absence.”

“No, nothing.” Katherine says. “You’re all free to go.”

“Oh!” Jimmy says, as people begin to leave. “Gem, could I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” The wizard says, walking besides him as they head out of the meeting hall, “What can I help you with?”

“I was wondering what dreams mean?” Jimmy says.

“I’m sorry?”

And Jimmy spills. He tells her everything, the recurring nightmares, the screaming, the glowing, the shadow husband and the war and the dying in a way thats permanent, the green-yellow-red lives.

“I had one last night. But it was different this time. It wasn’t a nightmare, but it was the same place. Like something that happened only a few days before.” Jimmy says, wringing his hands.

“Oh my.” Gem says, concern lacing her expression. “I haven’t really experienced anything like this before, I’ll have to research it for you. Tell me if you have one again.”

“You sound like Lizzie.” Jimmy jokes. “But I will. Let me know what you discover?”

“Of course, it’s your health.” Gem says. “I have to get going, but I hope you sleep well tonight.”

“Thanks Gem.” Jimmy waves to her before she flies away.

He needs to get home, and pen a letter to Scott about their alliance.

----

Lizzie and Joel laugh as they sit in Joel’s dinning room, eating lunch and joking about snotty old advisors. The room is quiet, a cool breeze coming through the windows, high ceilings trapping the hot air above them, making the palace livable.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you, your highnesses,” a soldier says, her voice slightly panicked. “But the King of Rivendell is here to speak with you both.”

Lizzie and Joel exchange nervous looks. She knows that Scott is allied with Sausage and Fwip, is this a declaration of war? Or perhaps a warning, since those two always were cowards? But he seems to be courting Jimmy, could it be an ask to marry her brother? After only a day?

Lizzie, admittedly, doesn’t know much about life on land, much less about elven culture.

“Of course, we’ll see him in the parlor.” Joel says, standing slowly. The young guard nods, rushing out of the room with an air of panic to her steps. “Are you alright, love?”

“If he’s here for war-”

“He wouldn’t be. You saw how he looked at Jimmy during Katherine’s meeting.” Joel says. “He’s probably just going to ask to court him.”

“That’s worse. You understand how thats worse, right?”

“Why is it worse?”

“Because Scott is allied with our enemies, with Jimmy’s enemies.”

“It's not official.” Joel reminder her quietly. “Rivendell remains firmly neutral in all conflicts, allying itself with only those closest for trade, Lizzie. Not for aid in war.”

“But-”

“Let’s hear him out.” Joel says. “And in the end, it’s Jimmy's decision.”

“Okay, fair enough.” Lizzie grumbles, playfully hitting her husband.

“Abuse! Abuse! Oh, how the love of my life wounds me.” Joel dramatisies as they walk to the parlor.

They enter the room, watching as Scott stops nervously pacing. His wings twitch and puff out, which confuses Lizzie to no end. He looks either aggressive or scared - she could never tell the difference, since seagulls are only arrogant.

“Hello, your highnesses.” Scott bows.

“King Scott.” Lizzie says, bowing back to the man.

“Why do we earn the pleasure of having you here?” Joel asks, sitting down at a soft recliner, the one that Lizzie claims normally - how dare he?

“I would like to court Jimmy.” Scott says, as though he were announcing the end of the world. “And I have come to seek Lizzie’s permission specifically, as his elder sister.”

Joel and Lizzie exchange a look, both wearing the same ‘I told you so’ expression. However, this only seems to make Scott more nervous. He’ll need to adapt to their silent conversations if he wants to court Jimmy, Lizzie thinks quietly.

“I’m an excellent builder, having completely rebuilt Rivendell. My people can attest that I am both a wise and kind ruler, and I can provide Jimmy and the cod empire with years of prosperity.” Scott rambles, tugging nervously at his cape. “I’ll aid him in wars, and I’ll never raise a hand against him, no matter the circumstances.”

“Is this what you felt like when you asked my parents to court me?” Lizzie mumbles to Joel, and Scott continues on.

“Honestly, asking Jimmy was harder.” Joel replies. “He interrogated me when I asked him if I could marry you.”

“All bark, no bite my brother is.” Lizzie rolls her eyes. “Scott, how long have you been seeing Jimmy for?”

“I beg your pardon?” Scott says, blinking feverishly.

“How long have you and Jimmy been dating?” Lizzie asks again. “I’m not going to be mad.”

“We haven’t seen each other..” Scott says. “That’s immoral, I couldn’t ask him out without your permission.”

“Is that an elf thing?” Lizzie asks Joel, semi loudly. “Or a land thing?”

“I believe it’s an elven culture.” Joel says, “Correct, Scott?”

“How do your people court?” Scott asks, eyebrows frowning ever so slightly.

“Well,” Lizzie begins, “We see each other for a while, then ask the others family to begin courting. Most civilians date for a few months, then begin courting, but us royals have to take it slowly.”

“Oh.” Scott winces.

“How do elves court?” Lizzie asks, cocking her head to the side.

“We ask a potential suitor’s family if we could begin courting, and then we court for a few months before we begin dating properly.” Scott says slowly.

“Well, I have a few questions for you.” Lizzie says. “Before I can pass judgement on your potential relationship!”

“Lizzie, be nice.” Joel warns, before turning to a book he had left on the coffee table.

“I will, now, does Jimmy know that you like him?”

“No, thats why we court for a few months first.” Scott says. “To prove to our potential suitor that we are worthy of spending the rest of our life with them.”

“Interesting.” Lizzie nods, frowning at the window. “And you promise to stop if you make him uncomfortable?”

“The second he tells me to, I will stop all advances.” Scott promises.

“And you swear that you will never lay a hand on him?” Lizzie asks.

“I swear it.” Scott says. “I swear it on Aoer.”

“Final question.” Lizzie smiles at Scott. “Why do you like Jimmy?”

“He’s like the sun.” Scott says. “It’s like the world is in an eternal night without him around, even when he’s fighting my allies and he believes that I’m going to join them. Just standing near him is like seeing a sunset for the first time.”

“Damn, you have it bad for him.” Joel says, ignoring Lizzie as she slaps his arm. “Darling, I think you have to let him try his luck with Jimmy.”

“You are unreasonably in love with Jimmy.” Lizzie says, smiling softly. “You should court him, Scott. Don’t you dare hurt him, but may I be honest with you?”

“Thank you,” Scott gasps, flushed red with slight embarrassment. “And sure, what would you like to tell me?”

“I think you aren’t physically able to hurt Jimmy.” Lizzie says. “I think you’re too in love to even look him in the eye. Good luck, land boy.”

And Scott leaves the room, Joel openly laughing as he hears Scott whoop for joy as he flies off. It’s a lovely day, and the married couple can’t help but think that they secured Jimmy someone who would go to war for him. Perfect husband material.

They don’t notice the red eyes watching from the servants corridors. Why would they? Lizzie’s allowed Scott to try and win Jimmy’s heart.

#imd(wyrm)#in my dreams (will you remember me)#empires smp #empires jimmy #empires scott #empires smp fic

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