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brutal-nemesis · 5 months

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E&T: A Truly Slothful Start

*points at Erebus* Bro is NOT built for this lmao (btw I drew the sloth demon a v long time ago enjoy)

Suggested battle music: Grandma (Destruction) from NieR: Automata (spotify | youtube)

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Ingredients: combat whump we fight monster, amputation hehe (not gory tho!), slight drowning, undescribed eye whump

PART III: Untitled World

The things that hit him first were the suffocating darkness and the awful chill in the air.

Erebus knew he didn’t belong here. All around him, strange rock formations jutted out every which way, no sign of life among them. There didn’t seem to be any source of light, and yet everything was clearly visible, casting hardly any shadow. The silence was nearly absolute, pressing in on his ears. The only thing he could hear was the freakishly loud sound of his own heartbeat, amplified by the collar around his neck.

Wait, the collar-he reached up for it, fingers closing around the awful strip of leather that he’d been forced to wear since the start of his captivity. He had a sword, he had claws, and N...no one would make him wear another one if he broke it. So he should take it off, right? He should destroy it. He’d always hated it, the way it meant he was owned, how it let-let people put leashes on him and lead him around like a dog. She...she’d said it herself, that he had to wear it so he wouldn’t forget that he belonged to her, but now they were...not together. So it shouldn’t matter.

But he couldn’t stop thinking about when she’d taken it off for the procedure with the envy demon, about how utterly, embarrassingly exposed he’d felt without that stupid collar. Maybe the feeling would pass, and he would just have to get used to being without it. He hadn’t worn one for the vast majority of his life, so it should be easy to adjust back, right? Besides, it was more than just a collar, it was a way for her to know if someone other than her was touching him, and that was violating, it was...it was a way for her to know he was alive. Assuming it worked, assuming whatever signal it was could be sent to another world.

Erebus lowered his hands, still chained together, as he blinked away tears. He-he was really here, in this other world with only a slim chance of ever going back. He’d take every tie to his old life he could get, no matter how painful. And if the spell on the collar worked, then…he owed it to her to let her know he was still alive. He could wear the collar for a little while longer. The muzzle, on the other hand...he didn’t mind tearing that off and throwing it away in the slightest.

Shakily, he stood, grabbing the sheathed sword in front of him. Being expected to fight was…strange. But, looking at himself now, he was practically designed for this, almost every modification giving him some sort of advantage. It made his blood run cold to think about how this had been the plan from the start, how obvious it seemed now. He wanted to lay down and sob and process what had happened, but everything was so different and strange that he didn’t feel safe enough to let his guard down like that. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he buckled the sword belt around his waist and began looking around.

Behind where he’d appeared, there was a bag lying on the ground. Inside was a cloak with holes for his wings, a knife, and a bedroll. Well, better than nothing, but he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do about food and water or lighting a fire. Maybe that demon tongue would be coming in handy, after all. He put on the cloak, grateful to have something to help him keep warm in this place, along with the shoes he still had on from their trip to the desert.

Nothing else here, he began carefully making his way along one of the stone cliffs, leaning on it since there had never been a chance to fully heal the gash in his leg. Progress was slow, and maybe it would have been a good time to think things through, but he couldn’t stop tears from forming in his eyes at the mere thought of what had happened, so instead he just focused on the pain in his leg, flaring up brighter with every step.

Time felt impossible to grasp, as if this place was outside of it entirely, but at some point Erebus reached the end of the maze of stone. He was greeted with what looked like a vast ocean, but the water was unnaturally calm, not a single ripple on the glass-like surface. Had there been stars above, it would have been beautiful, but under the canopy of uniform blackness, it just looked like a cold, empty void.

Erebus hesitated to step out in the open, no walls to protect him, but the silence was so absolute that he couldn’t imagine there was another living thing anywhere near him. His leg didn’t hurt quite as much anymore despite how much he’d been walking, so he was able to hobble to the water’s edge and investigate, setting the pack down to make moving around a little easier. The sword, however, still hung at his side, just in case.

The water was clear, and as far as he could tell, there was no sign of life in it whatsoever. It was jarringly different from the seaside at home, where you could hardly take a step without spotting a shellfish or aquatic plant. Here, it was just pebbles, no broken shells or bits of dead coral among them. He crouched and dipped a finger in, finding the water both cold and salty. The ripples created by his finger traveled far, seeming to get bigger as they traveled along. Suddenly, even bigger ripples rushed to meet them from farther out, and Erebus’s stomach knotted in terror as he bolted upright, pulling out the sword, having to hold it with both hands since they were still chained.

He strained his eyes in the darkness, looking for whatever had caused the disturbance. Was that...there was something in the water out there, he was sure of it. He took a few steps back, sword still held in front of him, watching the strange shape grow larger and larger as it approached. The moment the tip of its nose emerged, the surface of the water erupted, spraying Erebus with cold mist and shooting tendrils out into the open air that coalesced into a large sort of web. Arches of water now crisscrossed all throughout the space, severely limiting how much he could fly around, especially since he never had a chance to practice it much. In the middle of the watery network was a large bubble, and when he saw what was inside it, Erebus’s jaw dropped.

The creature was enormous, big enough to swallow him whole in one bite. Its pale gray body was long, with two pairs of flippers that were almost as big as Erebus and a webbed, spiny ridge going down its back. A cruel, curved hook jutted out from the end of its tail, almost as sharp-looking as its conical teeth. As Erebus looked at it in horror, it turned its gaze to him, its blank white eyes staring into his own identical pair. So this…this must be a sloth demon. He was supposed to fight that?

He could leave, just run and hide, this thing couldn’t follow him through those rocky canyons, he could stop and take a moment to think, but this was an enemy right in front of him, and no matter how terrifying, it had revealed itself, no more surprises. Erebus tightened his grip. If he could-could beat this thing then he could really rest. It would be safe here. He would be that much closer to going h…somewhere that wasn’t here. He could do this. He had to.

Despite how much he was shaking, Erebus took flight and approached, finding it difficult to do so while he was holding the sword, but not enough for him to fall out of the air. The demon just watched as he flew past the jets of water, and Erebus hated those blank white eyes boring into him, which just made him loathe his own all that much more. How…how exactly was he supposed to attack it? It was so huge and he couldn’t see any kind of obvious weakness, not to mention that it was surrounded by a sphere of water. While he knew his eyes worked underwater, he could only imagine his wings would be a hindrance, not to mention the heavy sword.

Maybe…maybe he should just retreat for now. Come up with a plan and come back. This was just…it was too much. Reassuring himself that the demon couldn’t follow him, he cautiously turned around and started to weave his way through the tendrils of-there was a sharp jerk on his wing, and suddenly Erebus was being dragged through the air, crashing into pillars of water as he went, barely registering the splash of his sword hitting the sea below as he scrambled to get his wing free of-of-it was that hook it was pierced through the top of Erebus’s wing he couldn’t get it out his fingers were slippery and freezing and useless he had to do something kick his legs flap his wings anything-

Just as those awful teeth came into view, Erebus managed to swing himself back, but the chain on his wrists was caught, wrapped around a tooth, his fall jerked to a halt, he was hanging by his wrists, the hook was gone but his wing wouldn’t work, he had to do something, that eye was so big and so close, watching him struggle, the beast’s throat humming with an ancient growl, hungry, he couldn’t just let this happen, he grabbed the tooth with his left hand and the chain with his right, he could do this, pull himself up enough to-

The great jaws snapped shut, and Erebus tumbled into the water below.

Cold shocked his system, despite the fact that his left arm felt like it was on fire.

He couldn’t stay down here. He had to get to the surface.

But, down there, a faint glint. Metal. His sword. His only hope of winning.

He swam towards it, progress slow and painful and-

His left hand was gone.

There wasn’t time to mourn it.

His remaining hand wrapped around the hilt of the sword. It was heavy, too heavy for him to swim up with.

He was running out of air. He had to try. This couldn’t be the end. Not here. Not so soon after-

The hook pierced through his wing again, and it was all he could do to hold onto his sword this time around.

The sloth demon pulled him up and out of the water with its tail, tossing him high into the air as it opened its great jaws to swallow him whole. His wings torn and useless, all Erebus could do was flap them desperately and hope it would be enough, hope he could at least-his foot landed on one of those teeth, holding him for just a moment before he slipped, but it was enough to aim his sword hold it steady launch himself down drive that point right down into the demon’s eye paint that awful soulless white with red hear the roar of agony so loud he could feel it in his bones and now the water was collapsing falling back down the great corpse falling with it he had to get away wrench the sword out jump back splash into the water struggle to the surface to the shore drag himself out of the water collapse on the shore and breathe.

He-he’d won, but just barely, and the losses were-Erebus bit back tears, looking away from the ragged stump at the end of his left arm. There was no way he could survive six more fights like that.

This horrible, hostile place was going to destroy him, and there would be nothing left of him to go back home.

Tags: @dramaticcollapse @thehopelessopus @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @galaxywhump @as-a-matter-of-whump @mnmlover2002 @tears-and-lilies @yet-another-heathen @rippedjeansandfadeddreams @starnight-whump @unicornscotty @thebewilderer @kixngiggles @itallstartedwithharry @inky-whump @redstainedsocks @lonesome--hunter @his-unspoken-words @susiequaz12 @its-mysweetlittlesecret-blog @whumpasaurus101 @patheticlittleguy @jadeocean46910 @whumpinggrounds @pumpkin-spice-whump @suspicious-whumping-egg @befuddled-calico-whump @whump-in-the-closet @pumpkinsncoffee @aryreads

#i wrote something #erebus & terror #erebus #somiaken #combat whump #amputation #suggested music is just there for you to listen to during the fight sequence if you wish!! it has been selected as Fitting #yeah he was uh. he was sizzling in the frying pan like bacon for the last while but i have since dumped him into my giant campfire #delightful isn't it #IT'S THE MOMENT WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR: MAN DECIDES TO KEEP HIS COLLAR ON LMAOOOO #trauma and attachment to neteri go crazy #he will cry so much later dont worry but right now he is running on adrenaline and fear. terror if you will #he needs a cozy little safe place to do the sobbing #so let's go beat up the giant aquatic dinosaur demon im sure that will end well-oh no #his ass lucked out i sure hope that's not a trend 🤪 almost like he wasn't ready for this or something #hopefully the funky water bullshit was described well enough just a bunch of random arches of water basically #so it's more Water but the fight isn't totally underwater hooray #ah finally the handcuff chain wrapped around tooth incident i have been waiting for so long <3333 #listen i cant say anything about sloth without saying TRULY SLOTHFUL rezero activity confirmed

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softquietsteadylove · 1 year

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3rd- Kro has been keeping his eyes on Gil and noticed Gil on the market, he told Gil that he saw her with a lady— Gil said that it was her sister Sersi. But Kro insisted and described the lady with a blonde hair, pale skin, every detail that made Gil clench his fist. He said that although he was using his binoculars he could see how beautiful that lady is. Kro also described to him the treasure he caught days ago and it happens that how he described it is the same how he described the lady he said was with Gil and that made Gil even more mad.

Gilgamesh tried to mess with him asking if the treasure he caught was a human because he describes it very humanly, but Kro just laughed cornering Gil with the question where is the lady that he's with days ago. And then Thena suddenly submerging walking through Gil's back, she cameback and she went with the plan Gil instructed to her earlier ago (you decide what plan that is and reveal it here). Luckily Gil and Thena had manage to stay with the plan without getting suspicious. Kro walked through Gilgamesh and Thena tried hissing at him but Gil managed to soothe her for Kro not to notice something unusual with her. Kro said that he'll keep an eye on him but he's looking at Thena, and then they left.

I THINK IT'S A LOT, SO SORRY😭 AND THANK YOU!✨♥️

"Gil."

"Kro."

Gil grunted as Kro shoved him aside, marching into the house again. He wasn't here to dance around the subject, though. He had a wire in hand already, "where is she?"

Gil shut the door, keeping an eye on the muscleheads Kro had brought with him. "This again?"

"Nice try, Gil," Kro snarled at him, not waiting to get in his face this time. "I saw you."

"You're seeing me now, aren't you?" Gil sighed. He really didn't have any fight left in him.

Kro grabbed the front of Gil's shirt, shaking him, "at the market. I know it was you and your little catch, Gil--my catch."

Gil just looked at Kro.

Kro released him, taking up that same, sickening grin that made Gil's skin crawl the last time they had talked. "She is quite a catch, too, isn't she?"

Gil remained silent, watching as Kro walked around the kitchen. Just like before, nothing was out of place; Gil had made sure to put away any extras of anything. There wasn't another plate at the table, there wasn't another mug in the sink. Nothing that would give him the impression that someone else was there.

"Quite a beautiful thing, she is," Kro chuckled to himself. He ran his fingers along the wire looped around into the shape of a noose. "You can see why I'm looking for her, can't you? I don't see why you're fighting so hard when you clearly haven't sold her anywhere, either."

"Sold her?"

"Waiting for the right offer?" Kro postulated, skipping right over the horrific implication he was making. "I thought about calling some aquariums for it, but they would probably just pull the 'animal cruelty' card. But some of those water parks with the whale shows are still up and running. Maybe the big one in Florida would pay the right amount for her."

Gil gripped his fists so tight they ached. "You...were going to sell her?--to an amusement park?"

"Oh, did I hurt your feelings?" Kro laughed in his face. "Come now, Gil--a catch like her could make us billionaires!"

"Us?" Gil raised a brow at him.

"Look," Kro raised his hands to him, although the wire noose stayed around his elbow. "I know you're hiding her. I'm willing to make a deal. You surrender her to me, and I'll split the money for her with you. I'll even give you the five hundred thousand reward; consider it a deposit."

"I don't want your money."

"Everyone says that before they have it," Kro shrugged, still convinced that Gil had a price, all he had to do was find it. "You're telling me you're happy to drag yourself out to sea everyday of your life?"

"What I'm telling you-" Gil moved forward, grasping Kro's shirt this time. "Is that I'm not going to let you hunt down Thena for sport."

"Oh," Kro's eyes sparked in amusement. "You've fallen for the fish?"

"She's not a fish."

"A whale, then?" Kro cackled. "Or is she more like a dolphin?"

"She's a person, Kro," Gil released him, his eyes darting out the window towards his dock. "And she's back from work."

"What?"

Gil walked out of the house, freely ignoring the wall of muscle Kro had brought as backup. He continued his easy pace, even as Kro shot out of the house and ran ahead of him.

Sersi guided Gil's dinghy to the dock at a gentle pace. She secured its knot easily, although she had to grip the sides as Thena shot to her feet and scrambled out of the boat and onto the dock, "careful!"

Kro's jaw dropped as he watched Thena walk over to them, a dress floating around her legs, her feet bare and plain to see. "How-"

"Hey, Sweetheart," Gil smiled, although Kro would never be able to perceive the tentative nature of it. He breathed out a shaky sigh as Thena ran to him, allowing him to fold his arms around her. He buried his nose in her hair, "I missed you."

"This is impossible!" Kro snarled at them. He raised a hand to inspect the mirage before him but Gil pulled her closer to him.

"Hey man, you can't just touch women you don't know," Gil chided as he would if they were in a petty squabble in the pub. He grasped Thena's shoulder.

"Kro," Sersi greeted rather dryly as she also walked up the dock towards them. "I see you've beaten yet another illegal poaching charge."

"What did you do?" Kro turned on her, ready to tower over her as he pleased.

"Hey!" Gil moved to block his sister from the monster of a man, only for Thena to beat him to it.

Sersi smiled as the blonde planted herself next to her. "I see you've met my colleague, Thena. She works at one of the marine wildlife posts in the Bering Sea. It's awfully lonely out there, but her year long outpost is finally over."

"Her what?"

Sersi held Thena's hands in hers. "I was so happy to be able to visit her and Gil here. I even met her friends."

"Friends?"

"Oi!"

Kro leaned over the side of the dock, further aghast at the two people seated in Gil's dinghy. One was a lithe little woman, her legs stretched out at odd angles in soft looking yoga pants, and a menacing grin on her face. The other was a man, with a blanket over his legs but with boots and a heavy jacket on. "Wh-"

Ikaris glared up at him, "you givin' my sister a hard time up 'ere?"

Kro looked from the two in the boat back to Thena, whose legs were also undeniably there and functional. "This is impossible."

"What is?" Thena tilted her head at him (worsening Gil and Sersi's underlying anxiety about the whole thing).

Kro stood, walking back over to them. Gil and Sersi flanked her but Thena held his eyes. "I know it was you. You looked at me just like this when you were in that net."

Gil's fist tightened at Thena's back.

Thena tipped her chin up, though, a far ways away from cowering from him. She withheld herself from hissing at him, though. "Are you in the habit of stringing up human women in nets?"

"That sounds awfully suspicious, Kro," Sersi asserted as firmly as she could. "I would hate to have to tell people that you're an entirely different kind of predator."

"I wouldn't," Gil added.

Kro backed up just a step, but it was a step in the right direction. "I will get you for this. I don't know how you did it, but I will find you again, and you won't get away next time."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Gil shook his head at him, "don't say stuff like that to people!"

Kro turned, storming back up the hill and towards the far side of the island where he had parked his own motorboat. The wall of muscle followed him, seeing they wouldn't be transporting anything.

Gil and Sersi both let out positively gut-deep sighs of relief. Thena blinked at both of them.

Sersi held onto Thena, her knees wobbling, "that's enough excitement for one lifetime."

"I can't take this," Gil gasped on Thena's other shoulder.

"Is he gone?!"

Thena smiled letting the fretful siblings lean on each other and ride out the adrenaline in their systems. She leaned over to look down at her own fretful sibling. "He's gone."

Ikaris threw himself in the water without a second of hesitation. They never did manage to get pants on him, since his legs were just barely formed enough anyway. He had protested that he wasn't exactly given much time to learn and practice!

Makkari also descended back to the water and let her legs form back into her red scaled tail. She resurfaced, looking around her at the remains of the yoga pants Thena had wrestled onto her. Sorry.

Sersi rejoined Thena, waving, "don't worry, they served their purpose. Thank you for all your help."

Makkari smiled and waved at the rather funny and agreeable human. She had enjoyed the boat ride over chatting with Sersi. She looked at Ikaris, well, Loverboy?

He hissed at her. Thena raised her brows as he looked at Sersi in a peculiar way. "Thank you for helping to protect my sister. I am indebted to you."

Ikaris and Makkari both swam off, not particularly eager to stick around.

Sersi waved until they disappeared from view. She looked at Thena, "he seems rather nice."

Thena gave her a positively baffled look, "Ikaris?"

Gil rolled his eyes behind her, "speaking of rather nice, how is Dane?"

"Oh!" Sersi shot to her feet, dusting off her knees with a sheepish smile, "h-he's good--asked me to say hello."

"Hm," Gil smirked at his flustered sister, although she swatted at him for it. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, forcing her to endure a side hug from him, "thanks for coming, Serse."

Sersi sighed from within the coil of his arm, "of course I would! I can't believe you didn't tell me about this sooner!"

"Thinks he can handle everything by himself."

Sersi grinned at Gil's look of devastation at Thena's jab. She pulled Thena into a hug, "he does, doesn't he?"

"Stick around, join us for dinner," Gil gave his sister's shoulder a little pat. He nodded behind him at the house.

Sersi looked between the two and nodded, heading up to the cabin by herself.

Gil, finally alone with Thena, sighed. He tilted his head, trying to get a look at her, "Angelfish?"

She looked down at her feet, wiggling her toes. "Your plan worked."

"Well," he sighed, daring to stretch out a hand to her. She let him take hers, and immediately she felt some of his muscles loosen. "Bringing Sersi with you was what really made it work."

Thena accepted the truth of it silently, waiting for more.

Gil moved closer, "I'm so sorry, Thena. I should have asked you from the beginning what you wanted to do. Neither of us would have had to go through this."

Thena swayed on the spot. She had been waiting to hear those words, but her chest tightened, like after she would let Ikaris swim into a particularly dangerous set of caves. "I...understand why you did what you did."

Gil pulled her closer by the waist, fully holding her in his arms. She sighed into his chest, having missed the warmth of him, the scent of his shirt, the solidity of his arms around her. "Still, you were right, and I won't forget that."

Thena happily melted into him, having gotten the apology she wanted. "I missed you too."

Gil nuzzled into her, "Angelfish, you have no idea how much I missed you. It's so lonely here; I don't know how I lived out here before you."

Thena soaked up his affectionate words like a happy little seasponge. She purred, "poor, lonely Mister Human."

"I know, I know," he chuckled, not separating from her much to look at her as he spoke. "No more, though. I want you here, with me."

Thena dashed her eyes to the end of the dock coyly, "what if I rather liked being able to swim freely again?"

"Then you can," Gil rushed to promise, burying his face in her neck again. "I'll keep a light at the end of the dock and I'll keep your safe box stocked for you, always. But-"

"Gil," Thena laughed, tipping his head up again. He looked frightened, "I want to be here, too--with you."

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, and she inhaled at the sensation she had been dreaming of feeling for the last few days. She blinked as he moved his lips from her forehead to her cheek. It felt different, but in kind of a nice way.

"Come on," he said gently, holding her hand ever so delicately in his, like when she was first getting used to being on land. "I'm making your favourites, and there are plenty of sardine snacks."

Thena happily joined him in walking up the hill, hand in hand. She caught Sersi's head - clearly watching them from the kitchen window - ducking down to avoid them. She felt her cheeks warm.

"I was going to go get some mangoes," Gil started, and she immediately looked at him with excitement. He offered a sheepish shrug, "but I thought...maybe you could come with me to get them?"

"Go to the market again?" Thena bounced on her toes (she had come a long way in her balance on land).

"Yep," he grinned at her enthusiasm, pulling her hand up to his lips. "We can take our time and enjoy the day in town, I can show you some more of the sights. What do you think?"

Thena leaned up, mimicking what Gil had done previously and touched her lips to his cheek. It turned a charming pink colour; maybe the nerves in the body could tell when lips touched different parts? "It sounds perfect!"

#Thenamesh Mermaid AU #pt 3 #the happy resolution!#because we all know I wasn't going to break them up #thank you so much for this amazing set of asks!!!!#but man did writing that part two hurt...#things work out though!!!#as soon as Thena left with Makkari and Ikaris #well immediately she went and curled up and lamented her dumb human boy troubles #then she immediately went out to find Sersi #poor Sersi just trying to have lunch at the aquatic centre where she works #gets scared to death by a familiar head of hair swimming up to the edge of the rockwall #Thena tells her about everything and Sersi is like my brother is dumb #here's what we're going to do #to his credit Gil is blind with worry okay?#anyway Sersi is like can you show Ikaris and Makkari how to make legs?#THena's like they might not be good but we can try #Sersi is the one who brings the clothes from the lost and found for them to wear #she throws a blanket over Ikaris since his legs aren't right and jesus he has to wear something #anyway she gets to visit with her brother and arguably one of her best friends and practically her sister-in-law #he's so happy now that Thena is back #it's a little manic at first but the more he can feel Thena settling back into their shared routine at home the more he relaxes #Sersi and her salad witness the whole thing

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