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anotherhawk · 2 years

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Play At War Chapter 3 - The Mechanisms fanfic

This chapter has not been cooperating and I've been trying to stay offline until I wrestled it into submission. Seem to have got somewhere. Also please note that while Jonnh is a reliable Narrator he is not necessarily a reliable narrator.

Whole story on AO3

The moonbeast was slain; the checkpoint recaptured, and in exchange for their sacrifices and violent efforts they got left to man it for the next three months. Twelve weeks with no fresh supplies, no running water, constantly under attack and with every second spent in constant darkness; their time was spent between long periods of mind-devouring boredom and welcome bloody violence.

Tim was sure he'd hated the fighting when they'd first been shipped out, all those months ago. It had been a struggle to pull the trigger knowing that there were people out there in the darkness, not just cardboard cutouts like in basic. Now he took a gun into the latrine, and kept a running tally of the deaths Lenny owed him on the butt of his favourite rifle.

One good thing came out of their posting; by the time a couple of weeks had gone by the new guys were firmly entrenched in the unit. Like a verruca maybe.

They were all a bit fucking weird, that’s what the war did. Tim had his songs, his death tally, his memory problems and his screaming nightmares. Bertie’s practical jokes had slowly moved from swapping the salt and the sugar around, to stealing a Lunar tank and driving it through the officer's showers. Amir punched officers in the dark and talked to their dead lover when he thought no one could hear him. Lamont stockpiled grenades like they were going out of style and had a necklace made of human ears.

So, sure, Jonny had no idea who the queen was and allegedly had never set foot on Earth, let alone England.

(“It can’t be that unusual,” he said, when Tim expressed incredulity. “We’re the Starborn Infantry, after all. I would have thought most people were offworlders.”

Tim had stared into the dark as though he would be able to make out Jonny’s face and see if he was joking. “Starborne. StarBORNE. Like airborne. We’re supposed to fight among the stars, not come from them!”

Jonny had struck a match, oblivious to all protests, and studied the patch on his tunic with an expression of incredulity. “Huh. You’re right. Well, fuck me.”

“In your dreams,” Tim said automatically, but their conversation was cut off by a sniper firing at the matchlight and incidentally hitting the Toy Soldier in its wooden arm.

“Jonny,” it said in a tone of great reproach. “There Is A Hole In My Coat.”

Jonny blew out the match. “Quit your fucking complaining and I’ll mend it for you.”)

And yes, the Toy Soldier apparently didn’t have a real name, and had at least two partially wooden limbs, along with whatever was going on with its face…but prosthetics were impressive these days, so maybe that was nothing to kick up a fuss over.

(“How did you lose your leg?” Bertie had dared to ask, late one night when no one could sleep through the artillery storm, drunk on alcohol made from fermented ration bars.

“I Did Not Lose It!” the Toy Soldier said, with a clink of teacup and saucer. “I Am Pleased To Report That All My Legs Are Present And Correct!”

“Um, yes, but I meant your flesh leg.”

“I Am Proud To Say I Have Never Lost Any Flesh Legs That Have Been In My Possession! Jonny Can Tell You That I Have Always Handed Them Over When Asked.”

“Except for that one time that you gave it to the Doc.”

“She Ordered Me To! I Did Not Lose It!”)

So, yes. Weird. But Jonny was the first to volunteer for any dangerous mission that passed their way, and the Toy Solder was always enthusiastic and happy to make tea, build up the barricades or anything else, and they were both always ready to join in for a singsong at the drop of a tin helmet. And they knew a lot of songs, and made up even more.

One night, with their sole respirator broken, and the pump broken they’d all had to manually pump their air supply if they wanted to keep breathing. It was exhausting, dirty work, and Tim didn’t think that they’d have made it if Jonny hadn’t started singing.

"A wiser man than I once spoke

That life at heart is all a joke

But he was not embroiled in smoke

So it's pump, me boys, before we choke

Pump, me boys, let her fly

Down to hell and up to the sky

Bend your backs and break your bones

We're a quarter million miles from home."

They went around and around, taking it in turns to improvise another verse. He had no idea how many they sang; hundreds, probably, each more ridiculous than the last, as night faded into day and back into night, as muscles tore and throats bled raw, until at last the all clear sounded and they could rest.

They’d pulled the bolsters from their cots and lain on the floor, tangled together, and with Bertie pressed against his back, the Toy Soldier curled in against his stomach and Jonny lying across their thighs, Tim had felt…something. Not ‘safe'. Not ‘happy’. Not even love, not yet, but something. Something that he wanted to hold onto. Something that made sleep come easy.

"You are fighting a war you cannot win in the name of an empire that will suck you dry and throw you away.

Your officers do not care for you.

You are going to die without ever seeing your homes again.

Your families have forgotten you.

You are lions led by donkeys. Your leaders will get you killed and replace you without a second thought.

You are trespassing on Lunar soil. You are being made criminals by a cruel imperialist power."

The Moon Kaiser's voice rang through the tunnels, domineering and sincere by turns. It had been five days now, and Tim wasn't even sure whether the broadcast was still being transmitted or if it was just echoing endlessly through his skull.

No one had been able to get more than a few minutes sleep in a three mile radius and tempers - minds - were beginning to fray. Lamont had taken to screaming ceaselessly at the mouth of the tunnel. At first they'd tried to talk him down, but more and more Tim was thinking about joining in.

"Would You Like Tea?" The Toy Soldier had come up unnoticed - easily done with all the noise.

He reached out and took the proffered mug. "Thanks." He took a sip. Pulled a face. "Is this really tea?"

"No! We Are Out Of Tea! But I Filled A Teabag With Moondust And Now We Can Pretend!"

Fuck it; moondust covered everything they ever ate or drank anyway, did it really make a difference? He took another sip. "Right then. I'll pretend it's good. Make sure Lamont drinks some okay?" All that screaming had to be killing his throat.

"Right-o, Corporal Gunpowder Tim, Sir!"

He felt it moving past him, and then a second later Lamont's screaming cut out and was replaced by a gurgling, choking sound. Ah. Fuck. Sounded like the Toy Soldier had taken his order a little too literally. Well, whatever worked.

He pressed his fingers against his eyelids, digging in, trying to push his headache back by force.

"You are going to die without ever seeing your homes again."

The Toy Soldier moved past him again and he heard its cheerful tones echoing deeper in the tunnel. "Private First Mate Jonny, Would You Like Some Moondust Tea?"

There was a dull thud, followed by the sound of a scuffle. "Fuck off and take your fucking tea with you. Actually? Go find the Kaiser and shove your teapot down his fucking throat."

"Right-o!" It started marching back in Tim's direction.

"Wait, no." Bertie sounded panicked and Tim automatically got to his feet, always alert to that tone. "Don't do that! Ignore Jonny!"

"Right-o!" it said in that same overly cheery tone and this was doing nothing to help with Tim's headache.

"You are fighting a war you cannot win in the name of an empire that will suck you dry and throw you away."

"Fuck it," he said loudly. "Let's go shut that noise up."

Jonny and the Toy Soldier cheered. Bertie laughed. Lamont continued to scream. Only Amir seemed concerned. "You're joking, right Corp? You know that thing's a trap. It's going to be surrounded by mines and snipers - Lennys just waiting for someone to come near it. And we were ordered to stay put."

"Don't care," he said cheerfully, gathering his guns, the tremor in his hands barely noticeable as he was finally doing something. "I'm going. You stay here and look after Lamont. Everyone else can make up their own minds."

"I Would Like To Be Involved!" the Toy Soldier said at once.

"What it said," Jonny added, a wild grin curled through his voice.

Bertie's hand found his. "You know I'm with you."

Two hours later found them slogging through the under-tunnels, the ones where there wasn't enough room to stand, and they had to inch forwards on their bellies, heads and rifles scraping off the rock above. It was a good thing none of them were especially large; as it was, judging by the noise of sandpaper scraping over wood he heard on occasion, he was pretty sure the Toy Soldier had needed to make adjustments to its limbs.

"You are trespassing on Lunar soil," the Kaiser's voice declared, the rocks around them reverberatingwith every word. "You are being made criminals by a cruel imperialist power."

"Fuck that," Bertie muttered from immediately behind him. "I'm a criminal out of choice, thank you."

"Yeah," Tim grunted as he struggled forwards, pretty sure that blood was now leaking out his ears. "Scrumping for apples and stealing penny sweets. My rebel."

"Oh, right, because carving 'Fuck the Queen' on the neck of your guitar is just the height of subversion," Bertie scoffed.

He flushed. It had felt that way at the time, as school children playing banned music on battered instruments. But that was a thousand years ago.

"Huh." Jonny's voice carried from up ahead. "I thought you were all gung ho for the crown."

"Never said that. Fuck the empire. No offense, TS."

"None Taken, Old Chap!"

"Oh, don't worry about offending it. It has no respect for authority, only orders. Mmm. I can smell blood from up ahead."

Tim groaned. "I wish that made the top ten of weirdest things you've said. Or even the top fifty."

But Jonny was right, as he generally was when it came to matters of blood and death. They found the remains of another squad up near the exit, torn apart by machine gun fire.

"Fuck. Poor bastards." Tim sighed. "Alright, let's get their dogtags, at least we can give them that."

"I've Got Their Tea!"

"I've got their cigarettes."

" I've got their hooch."

He sighed again. "You're all wankers...make sure to grab their ration chips too. We can sell them if we ever get back to Fort Thames."

"And this is why you're the one with the stripes, luv," Bertie said admiringly.

They were just about done with their looting when, above the sound of the Kaiser's voice, they heard boots crunching over the Lunar dust above them.

Tim reached out with both hands, drumming the same coded message onto Bertie and the Toy Soldier's arms. WAIT.

Jonny didn't wait. Jonny burst out from the tunnel with the exalted cry of a maniac who hadn't had any really good violence in almost thirty six hours. Gunshots and terrified Lunar cries rang out while Jonny laughed, chasing the Lennies down the tunnels.

Tim swore and ran after, the others on his heels. Muzzle flashes lit up the scene ahead of him; the half dozen lunarmen in their pointed helmets, Jonny a few steps behind, tin helmet gone, revolver in hand, shooting and laughing.

He'd always had good eyes. He saw the glint of metal peeking through the tunnel dust an instant before the lunarman's boot made contact with it. Just enough warning for him to turn round and throw himself desperately towards Bertie. "Get down!" he roared, and a second later everything went white as the moon exploded.

Time passed. He didn't know how much. But then Bertie was shaking him, shouting something that he couldn't grasp past the violent ringing in his ears.

"What…?" he mouthed, or maybe shouted. It didn't seem to make a difference.

The tunnel was lit by low burning fire. There was blood trickling down Bertie's face. Fear in his eyes. Tim reached up a shaky hand, trying to smooth away the concern, but then he managed to make out what Bertie was saying.

"Where are the others?"

Fuck.

He scrambled to his feet, or tried to; Bertie had to grab him round the waist to keep him from pitching over. The others. Where were the others? Jonny had been up ahead, close to the explosion (too close; he was probably...he had to be…) but the Toy Soldier had been right behind them, it should be here.

"Soldier!" he yelled out into the smoke, his voice hoarse and cracking. "Where are you?" His eyes were stinging as he screwed his eyes up, peering through the smog for that distinctive silhouette, the pointy helmet on top. "Toy Soldier!"

There was no response.

Deeper in the tunnels there was more movement. More shouting. It was safe to say that Lenny knew they were there.

"We need to get out of here," Bertie said, stumbling beside him, but he was searching too, pulling aside rubble, looking for their friends.

"You are going to die without ever seeing your homes again."

"I know," he said, bleeding hands scrabbling through rocks and splinters of wood and bone.

He could hear the Lunar soldiers shouting, voices coming closer.

"This way!"

"Watch your feet."

"You there! Quick! With us!"

"Those Tommies are still here somewhere."

"Here!" Bertie exclaimed, and Tim scrambled over, finding Bertie tugging at a boot with a belt strapped around it. Jonny.

They pulled him clear, and for a moment Tim was sure he was dead, the shadows making it look like his head was half caved in, blood all down his face. But then his eyes snapped open and he took a long, shuddering breath. "Fuck," he said with feeling.

Bertie and Tim reached out as one, hauling him to his feet, and they should be considering his injuries, but as soon as he was on his feet he was running along with them, as lasers fired all around.

He looked back. He looked everywhere. The Toy Soldier was nowhere to be found.

They made their way to the ridge overlooking the transmitter, a trail of dead bodies in their wake, and as one they drew their weapons of choice - Jonny's pistol, Tim's rifle, Bertie's railgun - and they shot up the transmitter and cut down the lunarmen who guarded it.

The Kaiser's voice crackled and squawked and died, and at long last there was silence.

The Toy Soldier was still gone.

"Maybe…" Bertie began breathlessly. "Maybe it just got lost in the confusion. Maybe when we get back to the checkpoint we'll find it waiting for us. And it'll have put the kettle on, and we can all drink whatever tea it got off the stiffs. Maybe it's fine and we can all laugh about this later."

Jonny laughed then, short and ugly. "Of course it's fine. It'll turn up, just the same as always. Trust me, there's no getting rid of it."

Filled with rage, Tim reached out and grabbed Jonny by the shirt front, slamming him back against the rock with all his strength. "Shut up! Just shut up, for once, you bastard! This was your fault. Why couldn't you just stay put?" His fingers were digging hard into Jonny's arms, and he shoved him down again. "We lost a good soldier while we were chasing after you. Don't you care?"

Beneath him, Jonny shrugged, but there was an edge to his tone. "Not really. Now get off me before I do something you'll regret."

"Tim…" Bertie sounded troubled, but Tim knew whose side he was on.

"Oh, you're so tough," he mocked. "Too tough to have friends, right? What the fuck is your problem?"

The punch shouldn't have taken him by surprise, but somehow it did, and he found himself stumbling back, the taste of blood on his lips. He threw his hands up, ready, but shockingly Jonny didn't follow up on his attack.

"The Toy Soldier is not my friend," Jonny growled. "It's my replacement."

Tim blinked. "What?"

He could hear Jonny's footsteps stalking past, back towards the tunnels. "My replacement. My sister bought it to replace me." The footsteps paused for a second. "I suppose she has more in common with our Mum than I'd previously assumed."

"Your sister bought a person?" Bertie's voice was choked. "That's terrible."

"Yes," Jonny agreed, walking on and leaving them to follow. "I have no idea why she didn't just steal it. But now here it is, and it won't leave, but it knows all the words, has the literal voice of an angel, plays half a dozen instruments and it can whistle. I can't fucking whistle, Bertie."

Tim really didn't think that was the problem here. "Jonny -"

" - and it's always happy. It's nice to people, a lot of the time anyway, and it makes the crew tea and asks how they're doing and people like it. It doesn't lash out randomly. It doesn't try to drown itself in whisky. It doesn't hole itself up in its room for decades at a time because the words won't work and they still won't stop."

He had no idea what the fuck Jonny was talking about, but he didn't care. It was all about the tone and the bitterness and he took a few quick steps, conscious of Bertie doing the same thing on Jonny's other side, and they leaned in, shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip and Jonny was shaking but he didn't push them away.

"The Toy Soldier will be fine," he said.

Tim nodded, and in the dark he could picture Bertie doing the same. "Right," he agreed. "Maybe it's already made it back go the checkpoint."

It was a slow, bloody journey back to Checkpoint Bakerloo, and when they finally arrived there was no sign of the Toy Soldier. They settled in silence.

Bertie put the kettle on.

Tim carved another notch on his rifle.

Jonny lit a new cigarette from the embers of the last. "It'll be fine," he said. "It always turns up. You'll see."

#the mechanisms #gunpowder tim vs the moon kaiser #gunpowder tim #the toy soldier #jonny d'ville #my writing #the mechs #tw war #tw death

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cheddertm · 3 years

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You know what, fuck it. ROTBTD BOARD GAME AU

That’s right the Big Four are now random board games that Jamie and Sophie have in their house. Each game can interact with each other, but they do it during certain days. This is call ‘Game Night’!

Game Night can happen every week to once a month. It depends a lot on the schedules of The Bennetts. Not everyone has to participate in it of course, but it’s recommended!

When they play their games, it’s more realistic. Battleship? Slapped onto a ship in the ocean. Clue? Entering a mansion with a whole new outfit for the party. The person(s) of the game can’t change the rules or layout, but can stop the game in emergencies.

Merida (Exploding Kittens)

-Has been in the Bennett household the shortest, around two years now. Her game was bought for Jamie on his 12th birthday to play with his friends. So sometimes her box is out in the living room instead if the closet w/everyone else

-Definitely a very competitive person, but is working on cooling down when needed. She loves playing with friends. Especially with her and Jack making bets, Rapunzel has a small tally of who’s winning overall! (It’s Jack by one)

-Since Merida was the newest game in the house, she was pretty awkward when meeting the other games for the first time. Definitely has opened up over time, but is the most comfortable with her little group

-In her belts have little pockets where tiny grenades are stored. They can’t hurt anyone badly as they’re very small compared to the bombs used in game. But they do hurt for a bit if you get hit by one

Jack (Uno)

-Besides Hiccup, definitely one of the oldest games in the household. They family’s had the game for around seven years. Jack’s box and cards are still in really good condition!

-Viewed a lot as an older brother to other games, especially when they first come to the house. Everyone is basically family to him

-Definitely brags a lot, light heartedly, how much the family plays his game. Especially during family reunions where there’s even more chaos his card game can cause

-Being the very colorful boy he is, Jack can change his hair color to the main UNO colors. He keeps it mostly white as it’s his natural hair and it contrasts his very colorful hoodie when he’s wearing it

Rapunzel (Candyland)

-The family bought her game before Sophie was born, so she’s been in the family for four years. But because Jamie was never really interested in her, Rapunzel spent most of her time waiting in the closet

-Absolutely ADORES Sophie and loves when she plays because of that child imagination. Aka Sophie made her own character to walk through Candyland once and she loves it

-Rapunzel somehow gets both treated highly yet like a child. It’s a weird thing as she’s Queen of her game, but also aimed for a younger audience. That’s why she loves how her friends do neither of those things, though it helps Hiccup is also royalty

-Makes a lot of things in her spare time. From outfits to buildings in her kingdom. Rapunzel is great at making nick nacks with the help of her little marshmallow pet, Pascal. But even with all that, she refuses to make shoes to wear for herself. Both her and Jack have an anti-shoe policy for themselves

Hiccup (Chess)

-The oldest game out of his friends at around ten years. He already expected neither of the kids playing his game because of others. But he does get pulled out of the closet a few times by parents or Jamie trying his best to understand Chess

-Doesn’t want to be bias on which side he plays as so every Game Night, Hiccup changes who he’s King for. The other chess pieces like that :]

-Hiccup still doesn’t know how to act when people treat him like a king, as he is one, or like a big brother because of how he’s the oldest. He’s getting better at conversations, but he’s pretty awkward without his main group

-Hiccup lost his left leg when Sophie dropped the king piece once. Luckily only a small piece chipped off and easily was attached back with hot glue. But for him, Rapunzel made a prosthetic leg out of candy. He’s still trying to make it up to her

#rise of the brave tangled dragons #rotbtd #board game au #rapunzel #jack frost #merida dunbroch #hiccup haddock #ask questions :D #it’ll be fun to answer them

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cannedloafs · 3 years

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Whats up(sorry these are just some messy sketches), here's my lil funky au concept/headcannons???:

With Tori running the red army it was necessary for her to get an assistant/personal manager. And the perfect little spitfire was captured by the army after years of causing havoc around the same time. So, Tamara was given two choices by the devil herself: either d*e due to war crimes tallied up by her council, or become her personal assistant and help around the base. Since Tamara is practically a trophy in war with her shapeshifting abilities It would be a waste to k*ll her anyway. So the choice of life is opted for and through the years they become close friends.

Once the war had started to settle down they'd go to parties, clubs and other fun activities that responsible (of which they are totally not) adults attend. Through the years Tori starts to form romantic feelings for her. But on one fateful day, Tamara discovers that she's pregnant with some random man's child (it was a one night stand and they're out of the picture). This comes as a shock to the both of them, but Tori acts as a stable support system, both financially, physically and mentally.

Because of the constant help from her once enemy, the romantic feelings soon become mutually accepted and they secretly become a couple. Since young children aren't allowed in the military base, Tori buys a small apartment for Tamara to raise the child in and takes care of rent for her. She occasionally visits, but because work is taxing without an assistant around, Tori usually has to work extra hours handling everything. Tamara eventually has the child (idk what it'll be gender wise) safely in the army's medical center and takes a 7 month vacation from work to visit her Father and relax while raising the child.

Random facts/Headcannons:

Tori wears hearing aids because of foolish activities in the past (such as shooting guns without ear plugs, being in close proximity to explosions, etc) that exacerbated her hearing

Tamara is blind and has to wear some visors that Tori made for her

Tori eventually stops smoking for her and Tamara's health

Tori also wears glasses and contacts for a single eye

Ell and Matilda visit Tamara at her apartment in secret since they're still up for bounty by the Red army for starting a resistance

Tamara's shapeshifting abilities become harder to control with older age, so its pretty often that you see her fully shifted while sleeping

Later on Matilda gets arrested and starts working as a replacement assistant for Tori while Tamara is absent.

Tori is BUFF. And she has a prosthetic leg (different accident than the arm) that matches her prosthetic arm.

In the past the two of them had a few one night stands but they never talked about it and kept the favors as a secret

Tamara had a crush on Tori when they first moved in together (they were around the age of 20 and lived with matti and ell) but eventually ignored her feelings towards her

The character's ages are:

Tori- 38 (lol milf)

Tamara-36

Ell-37

Matilda-35

Paula-43

Patti-40

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kireiryuusei · 3 years

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Of course right as I finished Nyssa, this lady came a banging to be made. And now finally done. The template comes from @genshin-impact-ocs quick profile. Kudos again.

• Name, Age, Birthdate and Birthplace

Vasilissa, 20-22, December 7th, Snezhnaya

• Constellation

Grus Vespira (Evening star Crane)

• Elemental Magic

Pyro

• Weapon

Sword - most commonly straight one-handed swords

• Occupation (Merchant, Adventurer, Knight of Favonius, Librarian, Member of the Fatui, etc)

Vasilissa is a mercenary by trade. She is not affiliated with the Treasure Hoarders but does frequent similar haunts such as ruins. This is due to her being a reliable person for scholars to hire for the heavy lifting they cannot do. She gets bored looking at old ruins though and likes running into ruin guards, elementals and Treasure Hoarders.

• Description of physical appearance

Vasilissa stands tall for a young woman and her presence makes her seem larger. She has olive skin with a myriad of scars from her mercenary status. She has a metal prosthetic arm that is normally concealed by her sleeves gloves. The arm itself can be described as ‘sharp’ with its extensions. She has peach colored hair with very loose ringlets she wears down. Her eyes are a bright red.

• Backstory

Vasilissa was born to a Snezhnayan mother and Natlan father. They were a strange compliment to each other that Vasilissa adored. She grew up around the children of her parents’ coworkers and neighbors. One in particular was rather large family compared to hers and she often was with the child closest to her age, Ajax.

Their relation was that of competitiveness. From who could get to the house first to who could catch the most fish to, worryingly, who could take the cold the longest. Their favorite things to do were racing the top of a small ‘mountain’ near their homes and enacting sword fights with each other. They even had a tally for their win-loss record. They were a rambunctious pair into their adolescence.

This changed when Ajax when missing. When he returned, any could tell that something happened. Vasilissa was never able to learn what this was other than ‘it’s been more than this.’ She knew there was an dangerous edge to him when their sword fights became one-sided. However Vasilissa was stubborn. This was her rival! They were supposed to be on even ground! She couldn’t see three days of ‘camping’ making such a difference.

Continuing with her stubbornness, she went with Ajax on his increasing dangerous endeavors. This led to a Mitachurl catching her off-guard and it nearly cleaving her. It instead gouged her arm. The damage and the cold left no choice but for her left arm to be amputated.

In recovery, Ajax had come to essentially tell her he would not take her with him any further. He would not take someone that would become a liability, he told her. Those words dug deep to Vasilissa and she was left to her throughs. What would it be like to no longer stand on par with her friend? How could she move forward? Could she accept things as they were? These questions stormed her head.

One morning, her parents awoke to find a letter informing of her intention to seek her own treatment to not burden them and the promise she would return a stronger woman. Ajax awoke to an old play sword at the foot of his bed and a simple message:

Race you to the top.

Her search was to get strong first and worry about her arm second. It wasn’t easy to have anyone teach her however her tenacity and ferocity made up for any doubt. She was making progress when she came to Sumeru, where scholars found the challenge of a replacement interesting. Especially to channel a Vision through. This led to the arm Vasilissa has now and she spent months if not a couple years to train herself for delicate usage.

To pay for this, Vasilissa serves as ‘hired muscle’ or ‘a pair of legs’ for Sumeru Academia. It seemed like she was always running somewhere and she ignored any heckling of her rather laborious job. But because of her constant activity, she quickly repaid her debts and left. She went traveling and it gained her a reputation as the Blazing Claw or the Scarlet Wraith. The former for the channeling of her Vision in her arm. And the other being her ability to suddenly lose presence and strike like an assassin and disappear. While she was confident in her strength, she isn’t sure she’s caught up. Thus she hasn’t returned to Snezhnaya.

• Their most precious possessions

Vasilissa doesn’t have anything physical she considers precious. Although she acknowledges that her arm is quite useful and it might be a pain without it. Her real treasure is a secret that she has regarding that day that ‘opened her eyes.’

• Role in the Traveler’s adventure

She is a guide to the Traveler when they travel to Sumeru, being quite familiar with the area and happening to need to reach Sumeru Academia too.

• Side Quests associated with them

Vasilissa comes up in a side quest involving beating Treasure Hoarders to an expedition site. However the employer just wanted a quick clear of the ruins with no intention to pay either side. The disruption while inside causes the activation of Ruin Guards, which the Treasure Hoarders flee and the employer is injured. Vasilissa lets the Traveler keep the spoils since ‘this sorry sack sure doesn’t need it’ and supposedly drags them off for discipline at Sumeru Academia (but there is implication she didn’t do this).

• How they earned their Vision (if applicable)

It was Vasilissa’s decision to leave. And this decision wasn’t easy as she was weakened from her injury and she was not accustomed to her shift in balance. But she was driven. All she could think through hunger and fever was how she wanted to be the first to the top. To be one of the greats. To triumph over anyone or anything that’s in her way. And it was this drive that brought her her Vision, a blessing from the Pyro Archon.

• Favorite member of the party

Probably Beidou, they seem a lot alike.

• Least favorite member of the party

It looks like Childe, just based on how they seem to be close to a fight all the time. But, honestly, they’re both just Like That. In reality, it’s probably DIluc or Jean. Too uppity for her (although for Jean might be some ‘she’s cute and I don’t know what to do’)

• Their thoughts on Teyvat

Teyvat is quite beautiful. It is rife with its own conflicts and troubles. Yet it is from these troubles she can see the efforts to endure and see beyond what is there. She is ambivalent about the Archons that control the lands as she feels she has no real stake with them. She does want to challenge one for kicks eventually. But overall, she feels the winds of change and is willing to go along with it as change is always more exciting...not always for the best...but exciting nevertheless.

• Voice Actors

Not very good with this section...but I guess

English - Avalon Penrose

Japanese - Youka Wao

Chinese - ???

Korean - ???

#genshin impact #genshin impact oc

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green-fangirlism · 3 years

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Crow kid chapter 1: the escape

The floor was cold, light from the outside world came through a little window way up high. I never looked through it, and I couldn’t remember what it ever looked like. The outside world was unknown to me. The scientist told me its dangerous out there for somebody as precious as me.

Yeah... precious. If I was so dear to him, why would he torture me with his curious experiments. Everytime after the experiment, he told me I ‘was his good lil’ birdie’ .The thought about made me shiver. As if his appearance wasn’t creepy enough, his personality was aswell. I sat down on the hard concrete floor, hugging my legs close. I looked through the bars of my ‘room’ door.

A faint light of a single lightbulb in the hall way illuminated the neglected walls. Paint was peeling, and the floor was filthy. My room wasn’t any better. Tally marks drawn with a pencil covered the walls, counting the nights I’ve been here since my 8th birthday. Today, ive been here 3 years, 3 months and 5 days. That particular birthday was the first birthday the scientist celebrated with me. On that day he gave me somewhat more fancy food, or so he said. It was just some extra sweets from decades ago he found in a broke down store. He sang a song as he gave them. Bastard.

I couldn’t remember what my live was before this punishment. I don’t know how he inflicted amnesia on me aswell, wouldn’t be surprised if he brainwashed me in my sleep. As I sat sulking like i always do, drowning in my own thoughts, I heard a loud bang above the ceiling, or perhaps in the ceiling? My head shot up, adrenaline entered my veins.

I stumbled quickly to the back of my room. This wasn’t the scientist. I could hear a thud in front of my door, and I cautiously scooted a little forward. A bright yellow figure layed in front, motionless. I crouched toward my door, trying to see if it was still breathing, if it was alive to begin with. Faint steps could be heard a few hallways away. The figure slowly sat up, their back turned to me. ”you might wanna get out of here, quickly” I whispered urgently. The being turned their head to look at me. I was never more mesmorized. Black locks of hair hung in front of their eyes, only a small nose and their mouth could be seen. They had a fair white skin, their face framed by a yellow hood which didn’t seem to reveal much. They nodded, and without a word, they ran for the sake of their safety. I was alone again. This was the first time seeing a creature like me again in the flesh since Eye knows when. The clatter of iron prosthetics filled the empty hallway. In the blink of a eye the scientist stood in front of me. Their ugly face hung down, looking at me with a agitated look, although only his mouth was visible, it was very clear. His thin white hair on his balding head a little wet due to the sweat.

The long labcoat was stained with some sort of chemical he was probably just working with. His feed where dangling as the iron prosthetics on his back carried him wherever he was going. He pushed up his goggles a little bit to sit on the little bit of nose bridge he had left. “It did sound like you had a little visitor huh kid?” he asked, a little bit of fury could be heard in his voice. I whispered no. He shot forward and stood almost against my door, quite intimidating. I took a few steps back. “Don’t lie to me my precious, I know they are walking around here somewhere” I gulped, fearing for the stranger. ”You stay here, Im gonna look for them, I wouldnt want you to get hurt my sweet birdie” he said and quickly ran further through the halls with his long appendages, making alot of noise.

I heard something fall to the ground, I got close to the door and looked at the direction he went. The key. The key to my room just laid there on the floor, he lost it. But it was just out of my reach, damnit. I looked around my room, to see if I had something to get it with. A single fork, maybe, just maybe I can reach it. I walked to the door, and reached my arm through the bars to the key. Just a inch, my arms where just a inch too short to grab it. I was devastated. But then again, what the heck would I do. I couldn’t reach out the door to unlock it, even if I tried.

I walked back to my bed, climbed on and hugged my legs close again. This has been one of the more eventful days, and much better than the other ones. The only days I’m not bored out of my mind, I’m actually in deep fear, terrified of what he will pull me through again. Overtime, he gave me these appendages on my back, like he has. But mine are soft, and I can’t walk with them like he does. I can move them, and it seems I can just jump a little higher with them then I could before. The scientist called them wings, and calls me a birdie because of my wings. Wouldn’t know what that means. They might be black, which is far from my favourite color, but they are still pretty. Whenever I feel sad, i’ll just fold them around me. I pressed my forehead to my knees, burying my face in my legs. The dark started to fall into the room again, maybe it was time to sleep.

Just before I fell asleep on my rock hard bed,I heard a soft sound. “psst”. I looked up from my bed slowly. “hey” the person in front of my door whisper yelled. It was the person in the yellow cloth. I ran to my door, overly excited to see them again ”ssshh, be quiet, he might still be around here” they said in a soft but high voice. “Its you again, are you gonna safe me?” I asked. “ I only came back here because I might need your help getting out of here” they said. I nodded. “okay, how am I gonna get you out”. I started to smile, finally. “ the key to my room is behind you, he dropped it when he chased you earlier” I said with a smirk. The person looked around and saw the key.

They picked it up and came back to me. “ okay, so what I need you to do is grab my hand through the bars and fly me up to the lock” the person said. I stared at them with a questioning look. ”fly?” I said hesitantly while I tilted my head slighty sideways. They looked at me dumbfounded. “ yeah, you got wings moron, you can fly with those, just flap them around and get up” they said, slightly irritated by my unknowingness. “ what like this “ I asked as I jumped just a little higher, flapping my wings. “yes exactly”. They reached out their hand. I looked at it, uncertain. “what are you waiting for, hurry up before he finds out” I grabbed their hand cautiously and jumped up, flying to the lock. They grabbed onto the lock and put the key in. “I can’t twist it” I grabbed the lock from the other side “grab onto the lock” I said. They grabbed on and I did as well, now I had a free hand, I reached through the bars and grabbed the key. Together with them I twisted the key of the lock.

As the lock fell , we fell to the ground as well, I could break my fall with flapping my wings, but the fell harshly to the tiled ground. A loud clang could be heard from the lock. Footsteps in the hall. I pushed against the door with all the power I could muster as the person pulled on the other side. It was open, but I wasn’t free yet. I grabbed their hand and we ran the other way. I heard the sound of his prosthetics getting closer, he was very fast. We entered the experimentation room and I slid with them under one of the many cabinets with cruel tools and gooey substances in jars. “stay still” I whispered. The scientist came hurrying into the room, looking around with a rage ridden face. “ where’s that little girl in the raincoat, that little shit stole my precious” he said in an agitated voice. My heart was in my throat, and I felt ‘the girls’ hand trembling in mine as well. Oh god, I was still holding their hand. Well it had to do. I looked at them, their face was shook. I put my finger against my lips, signalling her to keep quiet.

I lead them under the cabinets, crouching forward. The scientist rapidly paced around the room, looking for me and the girl. He clumsily moved a few jars around, which didn’t help much, since he couldn’t see anything to begin with. He’s blind and only has a great sense of hearing.

We were almost on the other side of the room, and then she accidentally kicked a jar that was on the ground. The scientist looked around, confused about where the sound came from. We stood as still as a pole, waiting for him to turn around again. He walked away, still searching.

We huddled forward, and reached yet another hallway, but this one was filled with high shelves, which reached form the floor up to the ceiling. At the end of the hallway there was a hole in the wall way up high, and a few boxes layed around it, probably enough for us to jump through. ”lets get outta here” I said without thinking, Shit. The girl started running towards the hole, letting go of my hand. I turned around and stood face to face with my biggest fear. Him. He scurried forward, and I froze up in panic. Behind me I could hear them calling out “hurry!” .

It was to late. His big hand picked me up and he brought me to his face. His mouth opened wide open, I’ve never seen him like this. He revealed his long pointy teeth and a long tongue, licking his fangs. “don’t leave me precious, you know you need me. we aren’t finished yet, you’ll be perfect once I’m done with your project. A perfect human bird hybrid, with talons, a tail and beak. You’ll get so much greater”. I struggled in his hand, trying to break free “ I don’t wanna be perfect, I just want to be me!” I screamed. He got irritated with me. “ don’t you want to be my pretty birdie?” he said in a frustrated tone. I kept pushing and beating my wings, but with no result.” I’m not your birdie!” I yelled and bit one of his fingers. He groaned and let me go in shock. I stayed airborne, due to me flying. Adrenaline was rushing through my veins. Without a thought, I shot to the hole, where the girl was waiting for me.

Before I could realize I was actually flying now, I got to the hole and stumbled in over the girl. We hurried through the tunnel to where a light was shining. Outside light. We reached the end and jumped down in a pile of trash outside. Everything was hurting and my heart was going faster than the speed of light. I looked over to them, and they slowly got up, clearly hurt as well. We didn’t have much time to catch our breath, the door next to us opened. He made it to here. Without any hesitation I grabbed the young girl by the arm and jumped of the cliff where the lab was. We dived down and in unfolded my wings, beating them furiously.

We shot up just before we hit the ground. she was heavier than I thought. I set us onto the ground beneath, and I collapsed, everything went black.

#Eeeeeee #It's here!#The 1st chapter of crow kids bg #I'm so happy #Already posted to amino too #Crow kid #Oc #little nightmares 2 #little nightmares #Sorry long post

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dissidia-writeblr · 4 years

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Dissidia September 2020 Week 4!

Here’s the next prompt!

Tagging: @tcstu

@ratracechronicler: When a man walks up and gestures for the Chikara to follow him as he urgently whispers to them, Lily is able to sneak in and free the girl. She isn’t able to walk well, and her face looks paler than it should be. Once they get far away from the Chikara, Lily asks her questions. The girl looks hesitant, but she speaks.

“There’s more to this world than most anyone knows. The Chikara live on the biggest moon surrounding this planet. The moon is called Tallis. They know all about the magic of this world. They even know that there has to be balance, or the magic will go out of control as it is doing right now.” She hesitates again, wringing her hands. “The way to keep the magic balanced is for the Chikara to give ten people magic, five with light magic and five with darkness magic. Then those ten people have to fight each other until one side is killed. The Chikara take all of those people to Tallis and revive the dead ones and heal the ones who are still alive. And then they’re tortured until it is time to keep the balance again. The cycle continues forever. I...I am one of those people they forced to fight. And...the last time we were sent down to keep the balance, we decided to run away instead. The Chikara tortured us, forced us to kill each other when we had come to care for each other. We couldn’t take it anymore. It had been hundreds of years.” Tears streak down her cheeks as she looks away from Lily. “I’m so sorry that you were dragged into this. Me and my friends are the reason that someone was so desperate to perform the summoning spell. I understand if you hate me. You can let the Chikara capture me again. They already took away my magic so I couldn’t fight against them.”

What will Lily do?

@onmywaytobe: Tess and the other girl (she introduces herself as Kyra) lead Owen and Cam out of the city and toward where an airship is hovering. Kyra looks back at them with a frown.

“We’ll let you come with us and...help, I guess.” She exchanges a glance with Tess. “But only because we want to make sure you’re safe from the labs. The people within are a little...possessive of the summoned ones.” She waves up at the airship, and a ladder falls down so that they can climb onto the ship. Five other people are on the ship: a woman with only one arm and one eye, a guy with ginger hair, a guy with black hair who’s talking to the ginger haired guy, and a guy and a girl both with long silver hair and multi-colored eyes. The woman walks up to Tess and Kyra as the others stare at Owen and Cam.

“We have one more stop before we head to Velaris.” She smiles to herself. “This is the second time I’m headed there in a couple days.”

Kyra grins. “Thanks, Zerith.” She looks over at the others and laughs. “They’re okay. They’re just people who have been summoned here. We didn’t want to leave them to the labs.” The others nod and turn back to talking quietly to themselves. Tess goes over to talk to them too, but Kyra lingers. She grins at Owen and Cam. “You’re safe now. We have some business to take care of. One of our friends is missing. I’ll introduce you to everyone.” She points at the guy with ginger hair. “That’s Zero. His real name is Zerion, but we all call him Zero.” She points to the guy with black hair. “That’s Will. His real name is Wilson, but he’s too embarrassed to admit that himself.” She points to the guy with silver hair. “That’s Kalen.” And to the girl with silver hair. “And that’s Selia.”

They hang out on the ship until they stop, and two other people climb on board: a girl with ginger hair and another guy with black hair. Kyra whispers that the girl is Kali, and the guy is Wayne.

When Will asks where Kaito is, Wayne speaks. “He has a job to do, so he regrets that he can’t come with us.”

The airship gets moving again, and after a while, it stops over a continent that seems to have different ecosystems. The others climb down, but Kyra lingers and glances at Owen and Cam. “You can stay safe on this ship. You don’t have to come with us.”

What will Owen and Cam do? (also @onmywaytobe, Owen and Cam can interact with the others on this airship ride. If you have any questions about how these characters will respond, please message me!)

@maple-writes: Sitara starts working on studying Richard. She makes sure to stay away from the back of his head. She mutters while she works, scribbling notes on stray pieces of paper.

After half a day, she sits back with a grin. “I love the technology! It’s so interesting and intricate! I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s fun learning more about it!” She cocks her head. “So, I noticed that some of your machines don’t work properly. Would you like me to fix them for you?”

Before Richard or Volt can respond, a woman slams open the door. She’s buff, and she has prosthetic legs. “Sitara, they realized that you found people who were summoned here. They’re coming.”

“Actually, they’re already here.” The woman backs off but falls into a defensive position as a man walks in. He’s staring at Richard and Volt.

Sitara stomps forward. “I found them, so they don’t belong to you. Back off.”

He sniffs and circles Richard and Volt as Sitara and the other woman glares at him. “We are currently being threatened with war. We need anyone we can get to fight.”

Sitara crosses her arms. “I do not give you permission to be here. You have no legitimate reasons to be here. Get out.”

He glares at her, but he doesn’t argue. He just whirls on his heel and leaves. Sitara turns back to Richard and Volt. “The leaders of Torr can’t actually force non-citizens to fight, so they have no power to take you away, no matter what they try to say.” She sighs and glances at the woman. “This is Zeth. She’s a friend who is helping me out. I can keep you safe from the leaders of Torr, but I understand if you’d like to leave. The leaders will be more aggressive in trying to recruit you. I’ll help you get out of Torr, if that’s what you’d rather do.”

What will Richard and Volt do?

@sheabutterskyes and @ravens-and-rivers: Marea calls two people into the office. One is a man with black hair, and the other is a man with short, blond hair and scars on his face. Marea nods at them and gestures at the man with black hair. “This is Wayne. He is the mercenary who will take you to Chial. And this is Kaito. He is the guard who will protect you from Chial.” They both nod with smiles.

Marea sighs. “Tomorrow morning, Wayne will bring you to Chial, and Kaito will be part of her guards to watch over you. I will have some accomodations made for you tonight.”

The next morning, Wayne shows up and grins at Scarlette and Pier. “Let’s get going!” Even with the smile, he seems to be more strained and nervous.

He leads them to a huge building to another office where an older woman is sitting behind a desk. She looks up at them with an intense gaze. Wayne bows. “These two were summoned here, and I found them trying to escape from Marea. I helped them and told them about you, and they’re interested in your cause.”

Chial smirks and nods. “Thank you. You are dismissed.” Wayne bows again and leaves quickly.

She leans back, still smirking. “So, you have realized how horrible Marea is. And you have realized how important my cause is. Good. Let’s go somewhere more private.”

She leads them to an inner room, where a few guards are watching, and Kaito is among them. She gestures for them to sit on one of the couches, and she sits on the other. “We are facing an apocalypse, and my fellow leaders are still insisting on being soft. I believe that if we don’t make the hard choices, we will all fall. I am glad to see that you agree. So, I must ask. What magic do you have, and what technology do you have?” She pauses a little bit, but then she shakes her head. “Never mind. I’ve been lied to too many times. I’ll just test you myself and take what I can.” She reaches for a button, but before she can hit it, Kaito clears his throat.

“Ma'am, I apologize for interrupting, but the leader of Torr is willing to meet with you very soon.” He walks up and hands her a sheet of paper. “I wanted to tell you sooner, but you were busy. However, since this meeting with the summoned ones was going longer than I thought it would, I felt it necessary to tell you now.”

She glares at him. “You should have told me this sooner! Take them to their quarters!” She rushes out of the room, and Kaito takes Scarlette and Pier’s arms lightly as the other guards lead them down some stairs to a room with machines displaying information about different magic and people kept in cages.

Kaito leans close so he can whisper in their ears as his hand inches down to his gun. “Are you ready to get started? Please gather information before you destroy the machines. We need to know exactly what she’s doing.”

(I’m sorry. This is more of a cliffhanger than a question. Could you continue this? And if you have any questions, please let me know!)

#dissidia writeblr #writeblr #this one's a long one

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littlekatleaf · 4 years

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Buried in a burning flame is love and its decisive pain (part 3)

Part One

Part Two

“Did ya see that shit,” Junkrat said as he squeezed close to the door to let Roadhog have room next to him. “Bloody fuckin’ bonzer, mate. Blasted those dipsticks back to the scrap heap. An’ the fire, what a beaut.” Only had to blink to feel it again. The weightlessness of flying. The OR14 exploding into scrap. The whooshing rush as air filled the explosion’s vacuum. The flames. The burn. The acrid stench of sulfur and potassium. “Fuckin’ did it. Fuckin’ won!”

“For the love of God, shut up.” Roadhog interrupted and only then did the silence of the others register.

Tracer’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel, her jaw clenched. Mei stared out the window, pointedly ignoring him. Even Lucio and D.Va were quiet.

He frowned. Missed something, somewhere. Cast his thoughts back. “No one hurt?” Assumed someone woulda said immediately, or just gone without waiting for him and Roadhog.

“None of us,” Mei said shortly, emphasizing the ‘us’.

“Someone else?” Flash of Emily and Tracer forehead to forehead.

“Don’t know. Tracer can’t reach them on her com.”

Junkrat sat back. “Shit. Didn’t think...”

“Of course not! You never do. An idea crosses what passes for your mind and you’re off doing something on your own - something incredibly insane and dangerous - and paying no attention to what you’re supposed to be doing. What you were ordered to do.”

“Coulda left me.” Came out a little more defensive than he meant it, but hell, was true.

“And the team’d be two men short because Roadhog was trying to keep your stupid, scrawny ass alive.”

“What if you’d gotten hurt? Or Roadhog? We wouldn’t have known or been able to help you,” Lucio added, quietly.

“Been fine on our own plenty of times.” Swallowed hard as he said it - hadn’t really thought about Roadie gettin’ hurt. Mei’s right - you never think. Rubbed his forehead, as if he’d get rid of the voice that way.

“It’s not how we do it, Junkrat. You know that,” Hana said. The disappointment in her expression was a kick in the teeth. Rather have Mei yellin’ at him.

He did know that. He’d just forgotten. Or maybe not really understood. Made no sense. Sure Roadhog saved his ass any number of times even when it put him in the line of fire - but that was a job. Doing shit for dosh, made sense. This? This made none. Mei didn’t like him, Tracer didn’t seem to have an opinion either way - he sure as shit wasn’t as important as her Emily. An’ while he reckoned Hana and Lucio liked him fine enough, they’d known Emily and Satya far longer. Just stood to reason they’d add it up and let him ‘n Roadie fend for themselves. Simple matter of maths. Apparently he’d missed something in the calculation. Mei tallied it for you - six necessary to succeed. Subtract two and you fail. Really, Jamison - must you be so stupid?

Tracer parked the ute where it would be hidden by the Orca. The brilliant blue sky glared down at them; sun reflected off the metal of the ship and the snow covered trees and into Junkrat’s eyes. His head throbbed and he squinted against it. Adrenaline still fizzed through him, making his teeth want to chatter and his hands shake. Or maybe it was the cold again? The sweat of the fight had cooled in the winter wind. Shoved fists into his pockets, followed Roadhog and the others, head down.

Silence. No sign of bots; no sign of Emily or Satya neither. Least the traps hadn’t been tripped. Tracer reached out and rapped a pattern on the door. No more than a second passed before it was yanked wide and Emily fell into Tracer’s arms.

“You’re all right!” Emily said, breathlessly.

Was like Tracer faded into Lena as he watched. The tension bled from her body as she held Emily close. “So are you,” she murmured into Emily’s hair.

“What happened,” Satya asked, putting an arm around Mei and drawing her inside. They all followed.

“There was an attack, like Morrison warned. But the settlement was deserted. No one’d been there in weeks. Lena thought it meant they’d be coming for you and Emily. You are okay?” Mei studied her carefully, like she might be hiding something.

Satya nodded. “We are. It has been quiet.”

“So much for a relaxing vacation.” Mei gusted out a breath, laughed, and just like that the tension dissipated. Lena and Emily disappeared to their room, likely to have a naughty. Satya and Mei lingered for only a second before disappearing as well. Hana and Lucio took over the vid screen for a game. Roadhog picked up his book, but Junkrat could tell he was watching Hana play more than actually reading.

Suddenly feeling like a puppet with its strings cut, Junkrat slumped. Adrenaline’d been the only thing keeping him going and now that it was gone he needed to crash. Made his slightly unsteady way to the bedroom, stripped off his shirt and pants - reeked of sweat and explosives - and flopped onto the cot without taking off his prosthetics. Waking up so early after late night whiskey was kicking his ass. He’d just rest a minute, til the headache fucked off.

“Junkrat? … Hey, Junkrat?”

“Mmf…?” He surfaced from sleep like he’d been underwater, disoriented. Where…? He squinted at the sunlight streaming in the window, then discovered Emily hovering in the doorway, looking uncomfortable. Right - Taos. Vacation. And, if the way he felt at the moment was any indication, a burgeoning case of the wog. Just fucking aces. He resisted the urge to sniffle and raised a brow at Emily. “Needed somethin’, mate?”

“Um. Roadhog asked me to wake you - food’s ready, if you’re hungry.” Her gaze skittered over him, and he realized somewhat belatedly that the sheet’d slipped low over his hips. Least his bits were still covered.

“Be there in a tick,” Junkrat said. He sat up, snagged a t-shirt and yanked it over his head. “Tell him not to be such a bloody bludger next time.”

“Might, if I had the first clue what that means.”

Junkrat laughed. “Just sayin’ he’s a lazy bastard, making ya do his dirty work.”

“Not a big deal,” Emily shrugged. “He’s in the middle of a game with Hana.”

Soon as she was gone, he let himself slump back on the pillow again. His head felt heavy, thoughts slow and muddy. Truth was, he wasn’t hungry. Would really rather go back to sleep, but then they’d figure out something was wrong. He was always hungry. So he pushed himself to stand, tugged on a relatively clean pair of pants, raked a hand through his hair and headed for the stairs.

Unfortunately, standing up seemed to redistribute the congestion in his head and his nose prickled. Tried a small sniff, but it didn’t help, the sensation only increased. He hunched his shoulders, pinched his nose and squelched the sneeze into silence. Fuck it hurt, always felt like he was exploding his brain when he did that. But was better than anyone suspecting. He knuckled his nose roughly, and the itch faded.

Someone’d made brekkie for… well, whatever meal it was. Maybe scrambled eggs and toast wouldn’t kill him. And coffee. Needed fuckin’ loads of coffee. Snagged a chair between Roadie and Lucio.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Hana said, toasting him with her coffee cup, then narrowed her eyes. “Mostly, that is.”

“Yeah, you look rough, man. You okay?” Lucio asked.

“’M fine. Little too much ta drink last night, reckon.” Felt Roadie giving him a look behind the mask. Ignored him.

Lena laughed. “I’ve seen you drink way more than that. Sure you didn’t get hurt blowing yourself up?”

“Fuck no. Done that millions a times. Worked up mines special. Wanna try it?”

“Fuck no,” she echoed and he laughed.

“It’s a rush. All that power… Closest thing ta flyin’.”

“I’ll stick to the Orca, thanks.”

Waved away her concern. “Ah, it’s safe as houses.”

Lena looked meaningfully at his mech arm and he faked an expression of affront.

“That ain’t got nothin’ to do with me own work. How could you even think it?”

“How did it happen, then,” Mei asked, like she didn’t believe him.

Yes, Jamison. Tell them how it happened. Mouth went dry and it took him a second to swallow the bite of eggs he’d taken without choking. Cleared his throat. “Not really a story for dinner table convo,” he managed and took a long drink of coffee.

“A better story is how he got the gold tooth,” Roadhog said and launched into a woefully unembellished tale of the bar fight and subsequent need for a replacement tooth. Somehow this led to other stories about heists gone wrong in various ways … your fault… and the others were laughing and sure he’d laughed at his own cock ups plenty of times but there was an odd echoing edge of this laughter and it scraped against his skin like sandpaper. Rubbed a hand through his hair. Leg started jittering. Got up, took his unfinished plate and Roadhog’s empty one and left them in the sink, trying not to notice that his hand was shaking.

Listen to them laughing. You think you can trust them? In the joke, you’re the punchline. Ain’t the way it is. No? Wait until they see how weak you really are. See if they keep you around then - or if it’s just Roadhog they want. But we’re a…

A what, Jamison? What are you and Roadhog?

... A duo. Where I go, he goes. He’s my… my bodyguard. And when he gets a better offer? One where he won’t have to put up with you? Suddenly a hand touched his arm and he jumped.

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” Lucio said apologetically. “You sure you’re okay?” He frowned, reached toward Junkrat’s forehead. “You feel a little warm.”

Junkrat stepped back, out of reach. “I’m f…” but even as he was saying it, he realized he was about to sneeze. Shit. He just managed to twist to the side, ducking away from Lucio. “Ah’Riiish!”

“Santinho,” Lucio said.

Only a second for a breath before another hit. “Ah’Riiish-iish!”

“Deus te ajude.”

Another breath, another sneeze. “Ah’Riiish-uh!”

“Deus, te faça feliz.” Lucio handed him a tissue.

Junkrat blew his nose. “What ya sayin’, mate?”

Lucio shrugged. “Just what my grandma used to say when I was a kid. Don’t usually get to say all three, though.”

“Aww, you got Roadhog’s cold,” Hana said. “How’d that happen?” Her tone was teasing, insinuating. “No, ‘m fine,” Junkrat said, but spoiled it by sneezing again. Least this time he had tissues.

“Gross, you’re like a plague rat,” Mei said and Hana actually laughed. See?

“Rack off,” Junkrat said. Hadn’t thought Hana would laugh at him. Not really.

“She didn’t mean anything by it.” Satya looked at him flatly.

“Fuck you.”

“Rat.” Roadhog’s voice was low, warning.

“Nah, fuck this.” Out out out. Had to get out. Get away. He turned and, yanking his jacket from the peg by the door, slammed out.

#snezfic #oversnez #constitutionally incapable of writing shortfic #finally got there #rat what is you doin #haha messed up my own title

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lablass-2882 · 1 year

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The daughter’s of Clones.

Part one of my crazy ass Clone Kids au that has fully taken over my brain. Anyway, here are the daughters of the 10+ person group I am working on.

Why did I do this to myself again?

I’m calling it Clone Kids Au or Clone Squad Au.

First things first, most of them are the biological offspring of Clone soldiers. The rest are adopted, children or Foundlings. And honestly, some of the kids just so up. The clones rarely make a fuss about this. Most of the kids that come to them have nowhere else to go, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Meh, free kid.

The surviving clones have made up their own unit in the Rebellion, and for the most part, they just do their own thing. Several Rebel units are wary of working with the Clones, which also extends to their kids. But they make it work. The different squads have proven to be effective strike units, scouting teams, and recovery groups. So the Rebellion isn’t complaining.

These are also some of the characters I am writing in the crack fic. I’ll link it below.

Characters. (Left to Right.)

Capt. Taliyah (Tally) Fett. Code name: Tally-Mark. Tally is the daughter of Clone from the 212th and an Infernal Woman (aka Space Tieflings.). She was adopted by Commander Cody after her parents were killed in an Imperial attack. This event was also when she lost her legs (she has prosthetic ones now), broke her horn, and earned her nickname of Tally-Mark. She has a running tally of near-death experiences. Tally is second in command for her unit and is one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the Rebellion.

Quirks

Multilingual

Short tempered.

Very good at paperwork.

Commander Aurora Fett. Code name: Frost. Aurora is the daughter of a Clone from the Coruscant Guard and a Pantorans woman. Her father’s dying breath was to tell Fox about his secret daughter. Fox finds her two days later and had three million panic attacks about being responsible for a small child. He loops Thorn into the mess, and the three of them start planning to desert the GAR. Several poorly times plans later, all three end up in the Clone Rebellion. Aurora is currently in charge of the Squad and desperately needs a nap.

Quirks

Tea and Coffee snob.

Is actually kind of shy

Hates paperwork with a passion.

Nyx Rime. Code name: Night. Nyx is half Nautolan and Clone. Like Tally, her father was a part of the 212th. Nyx never knew who her father was until the Rebel unit came to her home world, but once she found out, she was all in. Her mother’s family was less than thrilled but reasoned that they could stop her from running off. She is one of the older kids in the Squad, but you wouldn’t know it by how she acts. Nyx currently works for the Fulcrum unit alongside Fae.

Quirks

Is a major flirt.

Scary good at reading people.

Loves sweets.

Faelynn Kin. Code name: Stripes. Fae isn’t biologically related to a clone but was raised alongside the other kids in the Rebellion. Not that any of the kids really care about that distinction. Everyone gets treated like a sibling in the different squads, regardless of genetics. Fae is a Lasat who was found abandoned by a Clone soldier from the 501st and taken to the Clone Rebellion. She is deeply grateful for this act of kindness and wants to pay that kindness forward. She is currently working for the Fulcrum unit with Nyx. Fae isn’t happy about it, but she doesn’t want Nyx to be working on her own, so she sticks around the team anyway.

Quirks

Team Mom

Is protective of her family.

Gets drunk super easily.

Sev'eere'nuruodo or Sparks. Code name: Glitter. Strap in cause Sparks has a very fun backstory. For starters, Sparks is the daughter of either Comet, Sinks, or Boost, but no one who did the deed. Sparks’ mother was a Chiss courtesan on some outer rim planet and had “relations” with all three clones. When the Wolfpack returned to the planet, Spark’s mum just sorta…. dropped Sparks off with them and left. Que, one very understandable freakout and one very frantic call to Woffle for advice. Sparks is aware of all of this but just doesn’t care. She has her dads, her siblings, and her inventions. What else does she need?

Quirks

Causer of problems.

Is actually very smart.

Is the baby of the group.

Branch Fett. Code name: Duo 1. Branch is the Twin sister to Twig and is the daughter of a Trooper from 501st. She is half Twi’lek and is very proud of her heritage. She and Twig were brought into the Rebellion by Numa when the Empire attacked their home. The two were later placed within the Squad. Branch can be a bit of a loudmouth and shit disrupter when bored. Branch is a pilot /mechanic for the Squad and is one of the best. She is a Hera fan girl, btw.

Quirks

Gossip Girl.

Only trust her twin to co-pilot.

Runs a not-so-secret betting ring.

And that is all for now.

Here is the link to crack fic.

The guys are up next and then probably a round-up of any loose characters that are in my head for this crazy AU that my brain is building up. Hopefully, I will be able to draw them some more.

Anyway, have a good week y’all.

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lostonehero · 4 years

Text

Snapshots

Remus was rebandaging Deceit's stump of a leg. The poor preteen was looking dead. "Come on I know Wrath was...." he cut himself off looking at Deceit start to shake. "Ok no tally how about I cook something for you."

Deceit got up with his crutch. "Not hungry." He leaves back to his room shutting his door and the soft click of a lock is heard.

Remus sighed, he really fucked up. Laz- Deceit just wanted freedom and well he was too scared to let Virgil approach him so he let him explore the other parts. Wrath wasn't suppose to be there, he was suppose to be in his room like he normally is. Why can't Deceit stay little he was such a cute kid.

While deep in stressful thought Remus was stress cooking to the extreme. Soon the counters were filled with food and wonderful smells were filling the dark side.

Remus didn't see Deceit again that day, but in the morning he found a note about thanking him for the food.

That was enough.

.........

Deceit was bouncing on his heels nervously that trial was a disaster, and now it was Remus's birthday after being torn down after showing himself to Thomas. Deceit needed to make it up to Remus. He needed to make it up to him for everything.

Deceit was hold up in his room for days trying to perfect this gift and he was up first early in the morning before Remus would make breakfast. He sat nervously with the wrapped box in his hand waiting for Remus to come in. He was exhausted to the point he couldn't hide his extra arms or tail.

Remus came in rubbing his eyes but awake and bushy tailed. "Oh you're up early Laz you should be asleep I know you're more nocturnal."

"Didn't sleep here." He mumbles handing over a box. "Its your birthday need to make it better."

Remus frowns and crouches in front of Lazarus. "Oh Laz you're ok. I revealed myself for me to reconnect with Roman. Its not your fault." He takes the box and opens it and gasps it was a metal crested version of his logo with a happy birthday card all handmade.

"Its perfect Lazarus I love it."

Deceit is asleep in his chair.

Remus shakes his head picking up Deceit and putting him to bed in his room. He removes the prosthetic leg and covers him in a warm blanket. "Rest well I'll make you your favorite."

Remus closes the door and begins to prepare dick shaped country fried steaks.

.......

The small snake child was babbling and drooling all over the two headed snake plush while being carried in a vest being worn by Remus. "Alright little Lazarus I'm gonna show you around my half of the imagination. While I don't have control over the whole imgination I still have my half."

Lazarus looks up flailing the arms that aren't holding the plush two headed snake.

"You're gross because you're adorable snake child." Remus snickers traveling through his half all the monsters and abominations cower in fear of Remus after what he did before he thought it was safe enoigh for him to bring Lazarus inside.

The large dark castle stood tall that was there destination, and the dragon witch was waiting. She would be the best to help with Lazarus since he isn't all human.

Approaching the castle she greeted them. "You weren't kidding Remus the new side is a monster." She smiles puffing out her wings making Lazarus giggle.

"I know he is disgustly cute." Remus smiles.

"Yes he appears to be. Its not often you ask for help Remus, but I have to admit I do enjoy this more then dealing with your brother." The dragon witch says letting the pair inside.

........

"When I agreed to babysitting I wasn't expecting Roman to get involved." Victoria growled casting her minions to stop Roman from actually getting inside her home where Lazarus was taking a nap. She needed to distract him long enough in order to alert Remus to pick up Laz before something bad happened

Sadly that didn't happen.

"DRAGON WITCH I HAVE COME TO STOP YOU." Roman shouted entering the cave.

This woke up Lazarus who started crying which alerted Roman who say the six armed snake child flailing in a warm nest by a fire.

"You woke him up." Victoria growled. "Do you have any idea how long it took to put him asleep the poor boy has been sick." She says picking up the crying child.

Roman backed away holding his arms up dropping his sword. "I was just trying to..."

"Look can we just do this next week. I know I screwed with your kingdom or whatever but I'm trying to take care of him because we're both coldblooded creatures and I know for the most part how to handle him while he is sick." Victoria sighed.

Roman frowns and nods. "I'm sorry is didn't know you had a child. Yeah yeah I'll leave." He steps back

Victoria looks away as Lazarus cries turn to whimpers. "You're lucky I like you kid."

Roman pretends he didn't see or hear anything when the dragon witch began to sing a lullaby to calm her child. He quickly left.

.......

Remus giggled again when Lazarus jumped out of trash shaped pillows trying to scare Remus. "Oh no it's a snake whatever shall I do."

Lazarus giggles and jumps on to Remus's leg.

"Oh no I'm dying." Remus falls to the ground.

Lazarus gasps as Remus sticks his tongue out. "Dad no wake up."

"No I'm dead. Bleh." Remus splays out.

Lazarus giggles "dad stop."

Remus jolts up pulling Lazarus into a hug. "I caught myself a snake."

Lazarus squeals and giggles.

#ts remus #sympathetic remus #duke remus #remus sanders #deceit sanders #sympathetic deceit #deceit is a jazzy boy #ts deceit #soft deceit #sanders sides #thomas sanders #logan sanders #logic sanders #creativity sanders #duke sanders

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sheithfictioncatalogue · 5 years

Note

Any more mermaid aus? I’ve blasted through your tag already....

Happy MerMay! Have a masterlist!

Stars shine bright above you, the ocean whispers below you - captainhurricane @aarnivalkeaa

16k. (Teen).

Keith keeps looking up at the stars, when he could be looking down at the ocean.

Baby I’m preying on you - reetsu

ongoing, 5/? chapters, 9k. (Explicit). Contains: rape/non-con, abo dynamics.

“Why are you doing this?”“Because Shiro loves you. That’s why I’m going to ruin you for him.”

[mermaid au where Kuro does something very terrible to Keith]

when freedom called my name - psyraah @shiroganedefencesquad

3k. (General).

Keith saves a merman. In the process, he saves himself.

“Let him drown!”

Keith winced. That voice was unmistakably Sendak’s. No one went against Sendak and, well, that was going to be that.

Deciding not to think about how much longer he had before they tossed him over the side of the ship, Keith peered through the hole in the hull to the wide expanse of the ocean outside, chains scraping on the damp floor as he shifted. He wondered where the mer had gone. Had he been able to find his family? Keith could only hope so—it had never felt right for the creature to be held captive. Keith had seen many atrocities in his years on the ship, but there had been something so wrong about holding the mer. The pained defiance in the creature’s eyes, the deep sorrow it held. It had been without its family.

Keith knew that feeling all too well.

So in the end, it had been an easy decision to make. An easy decision to choose freedom and life, even if it meant he condemned his own.

Stolen Fishes & Eggcellent Wishes - SuccubustyKisses

4k. (Explicit). Contains: NSFW content, oviposition.

“Keith, you know if I do something you don’t like all you have to do is say so and I will never do it again. I would never pressure you into anything.” Shiro lets out the same sentence he’s said many times before in many different ways.

The pufferfish drops into its new tank and Keith turns to Shiro, confusion knitting his brow as he holds the plastic bag to his chest. “I know that, Shiro. Why would you think you did something wrong?”

“Because every time I try to get intimate with you, you run away like I lit your ass on fire.” Shiro tries to not sound dejected, but he knows he fails as he looks up into Keith’s guilty face.

Sighing loudly Keith steps down from the stool. “I know, Shiro. I promise, it will all make sense soon. Just… please bear with me a little bit longer.”

Of Two Worlds - teicakes

16k. (Teen).

Shiro had always loved the stars.

He’d spent countless nights watching them twinkle overhead, spinning slowly around his head like a great distant halo. He’d tracked their patterns, followed his favourite constellations over the horizon and greeted them when the reemerged seasons later. Shiro had counted every falling star he’d seen, a running tally etched in the soft stones that made up his home. Some of them would spin around the horizon out of sight, or others would burn out in the middle of their path. No matter his best efforts, he’d never managed to find one that made it down to Earth.

Star 143 was different though.

Star 143 brought Keith.

Or else, Galra Keith crashes down to Earth only to befriend a stargazing merman who can’t take his eyes off him.

The Mermaid of Lake Altea - flukeloops @shiroisthenewblack

24k. (Mature). Contains: NSFW content.

The Mermaid of Lake Altea has been a story passed from camper to camper for almost ten years. It’s the tale of a lonely young mermaid who gets rejected by her crush when they find out she has fins. When camp counselor Keith hears it, he becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth. While projecting his own loneliness on the mermaid, he also tries to uncover his handsome, co-counselor, Shiro. Keith has fallen hard and fast for him, but there’s something mysterious about Shiro as well. What’s his connection to the mermaid? Will Keith’s quest for a mythical creature sabotage his quest to get with Shiro?

The Alien at Camp Marmora - flukeloops @shiroisthenewblack

ongoing, 6/10 chapters, 19k. (Mature).

Shiro and Keith are back at Camp Arus and madly in love. Alfor has to take a week off to tend to personal matters and has left his friend Kolivan in charge. Kolivan presents the staff and campers with Camp Marmora: a grueling 5-day challenge that tests their bodies and maybe even their minds. Will Shiro and Keith’s fairy tale romance stand through it all? What will the challenge reveal about both of them?On top of it all, the longer Shiro stays in human form, the worse his legs hurt. He’s afraid that he and Keith’s worlds will drift too far apart if he has to live in the water.[SEQUEL to The Mermaid of Lake Altea]

The Aquamarine Oath - gingayellow

584 words. (Teen).

Keith is rescued from the ocean by a stranger who seems friendly, but won’t leave his spot by the rocks.

Siren Song - TheAnxiousAce

ongoing, 6/? chapters, 6k. (Teen).

A Mer’s rite of passage, their transition into adulthood, is simple: choose a human, captivate them with song, and drown them.

What’s not so simple is what happens when a Mer chooses not to. And slowly falls in love.

Or: The Mer!AU nobody asked for.

no luck in swordfishing - shoutz @shoutzwastaken

6k. (Mature). Contains: graphic violence.

There are giants out there in the canyons, and a good captain can’t fall asleep.

“Hello? Are you okay?” Shiro calls as he sets foot on land. This island, unlike the bigger coast, is covered in sand from years of waves lapping against the shores. Shiro can see drag marks in it from where the stranger must have pulled himself onto land, disappearing where the tide has washed the indentations flat.

Shiro doesn’t think about why he had to drag himself onto shore until he gets a better look at his legs.

What he had thought were shiny or wet pants of some sort aren’t actually pants at all. He steps closer, and freezes. The guy doesn’t even seem to have legs, instead sporting one long appendage where two should reside. Tail is the first word that comes to mind, but it’s a ridiculous thought. Right? Mermaids aren’t real.

Right?

in the deep, deep blue i found you - captainhurricane @aarnivalkeaa

2k. (Explicit). Contains: fem Sheith, NSFW content.

Keith has been a diver all her life. She’s never found anything or anyone quite like Shiro.

series: Ocean of Storms - radiofreekerberos @radiofreekerberos

ongoing, 4/? works, 17k. (Teen).

When Shiro was ten-years-old, he lost his right arm in a boating accident and found a mystery. Part one of the Ocean of Storms series.

A light rain began to fall and the sea turned choppy, dark waves sloshing over the sides of the boat. Shiro barely noticed, his eyes cast unseeing at a fixed point on the horizon until something suddenly caught his eye, a luminous spot in the water. His brow knit as he watched it slowly gliding towards him; a lavender glow just below the choppy surface. It veered off at the last minute to glide alongside the boat, and Shiro tracked its movements with fascination. Whatever if was, it wasn’t very big. Maybe roughly his size, though most of its length seemed to be made up of a long and powerful tail.

series: Land and Sea - Angelicat2 @iamstuckinfandom

ongoing, 2/? works, 8k. (Teen). Contains: graphic violence.

When Shiro almost drowns in the ocean, he remembers waking up to the person who saved him. Months later, he finds him again.

“Thank you,” Shiro muttered as he grinned, feeling relief flood through his body, “For saving me. What’s your name?”

“Keith,” Keith stated with a somewhat raspy voice as he watched Shiro, “What’s yours?”

“I’m Takashi Shirogane, but everyone calls me Shiro,” he felt his cheeks warm up at the look Keith gave him, “But you might know that already.”

“I guessed,” the boy shrugged as he glanced away, “Heard…rumors.”

“Are they bad or good rumors?”

“Not sure,” Keith raised a brow, but Shiro could see the slight grin on his lips, “But the one about you being a damsel-in-distress was right.”

Cold Corners - catpoop @swummeng-geys

1k. (General).

Sheith Month ‘17 - 10/8: Prosthetic

(Merpeople!AU) Keith remembers Shiro’s capture like it was yesterday

Indigo - LittleKazoo

5k. (Explicit). Contains: NSFW content.

Shiro’s world was literally turned upside down when he was saved from drowning by a certain ocean beauty.

A Hidden Treasure in the Sea - TheNightOwls

2k. (General).

Nothing ever goes as planned, does it?In which Shiro is met with a mysterious figure when going out for his early morning jog.

Waters Of Red And Black (Sheith Positivity Week 2k17) - bisexualinspace

6k. (General).

Everything I wrote for Sheith Positivity Week 2k17!MerKeith and MerShiro.

every breath you take - arahir @arahir

ongoing, 4/6 chapters, 25k. (Explicit). Contains: NSFW content.

Keith takes a swim, gains a secret admirer, and finds something to live for.

There’s a cut on his bottom lip, a row of tiny lacerations that smart when he pulls at them to get a better look.

He doesn’t notice the bruise on his upper arm until the next day. He catches the edge of it at the corner of his eye when he’s pulling on a fresh shirt: blue lines, like stripes, but when he turns and twists to see how they ring his arm, he realizes what they look like.

The lines are like fingers. It’s a handprint.

#anonymous #mermaid #mermaidkeith #mermaidshiro #masterlist #mermay #rape #abo #abodynamics #violence #recs

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missfay49 · 4 years

Text

Secret Santa 2019: fan fic

Preface: this excerpt is from a story I’m working on with the Sides in a fantasy setting with the working title of, “Right Time, Wrong Vision”. They did not all grow up together. Creativity never split in twain. Team Survival consists of Deceit the Charlatan, Virgil the elf Rogue, and Wrath the Monk. Team Dreamers is Romulus the Conjurer, Patton the lizardfolk Healer, and Logan the Inventor.

Content Warnings: battle, violence, explosions, injury, blood, crying, gore, body horror, sympathetic Deceit, singular Creativity, buried creature, deformed creatures, burns, cursing, conjured creature death, hurt/no comfort

Ships: none, all relationships are platonic

Set-up: Romulus is an owl aarakocra seer who has convinced everyone that he is blind, a common stereotype among seers. His unusual-looking eyes helped to sell it, but that lie is about to be revealed…

Story below the cut vvv

Bonus: Mood Board!

We’re losing the war. Virgil squinted, glancing around the battlefield and tallying the chaos. Bricks were still sliding in miniature avalanches down the side of the building hit by the last explosion. Bystanders ran through the streets, ducking behind awnings and door frames only to burst out again to run to the next house.

There was Deceit, trying to guide a few terrified people around the more dangerous bits of terrain. Virgil called over the debris.

“Do you see him?”

Deceit shook his head, turning to look farther down the street and pointing. Wrath was two blocks down, throwing another of the crime syndicate’s mercenaries through a window. A shrill scream followed and a woman dragging her child leapt out the door together. Wrath’s face turned to embarrassment and he waved awkwardly at them before moving on to the next merc, who promptly squeaked in a very undignified manner and fled. The trio regrouped.

“Literally, your one job was to keep track of the bad guy,” Virgil accused Deceit. The three of them stood in the middle of the home’s small garden as the dust settled.

“Well, I literally am not as fast as a horse-drawn carriage, so-”

“Where’s your horse-”

“Kindly go fu-”

“Heeeeey!” A familiar shout interrupted their bickering.

“Do you guys need heeeelp?” Just down a side street, Patton was running toward them, waving a dark leather bag in the air with one scaley-green arm. Logan jogged behind, trying to keep up but sorely out of shape and weighed down by a lumpy package on his back. Bits of glinting metal stuck out in several directions.

“What are they doing here?” Virgil hissed. “It’s too dangerous!” Wrath just shrugged, smiling. Virgil raised his voice to reach them, only just then spotting that infernal blind seer even farther back, meandering through the wreckage.

“Get out of the road!” He started running to meet them, the others close behind. As if on cue, movement on the rooftops caught his eye. Robes… a blue light… that’s- He drew in a breath and leaned into a full sprint. He could feel electricity building in the air.

~~~

Logan watched as the rogue dashing full speed right at them glanced up. Following Virgil’s line of sight, he spotted the danger above them. He jerked his head back to Patton who was happily clambering over a large rock, oblivious.

Virgil was still paces away. Too far. Suddenly full of energy, Logan took two more bounding steps and dove over the boulder, tackling Patton and throwing them both to the ground as a crackling sound was joined by strange words chanting in the breeze.

~~~

Seeing the pair fall into a pile of rubble ahead of him, Virgil slowed and turned to the others. Deceit slammed into him, not expecting the change. Virgil grabbed his shoulders, shouting-

“We need cover, now!” Wrath scooped them both up and kept running, veering toward a gap under a slab of concrete, but-

The last thing Virgil saw was Romulus, still some twenty feet away. He faced them head-on, unmoving, eyes like circles. With a blink, the owl dropped to the ground and slammed both taloned hands on the cobbles. The earth began to shake and churn, adding its own roar to the crackling just as a flash of light blinded them all.

~~~

Darkness.

Romulus found himself laying in the street. Fatigue hit like a truck and he blinked the dust out of his eyes. A metal cylinder with knobs protruding at right angles stared back at him, water gushing out three sides.

“Oh, no.”

Artificial rain fell. He looked up at the building where the attacker had stood. Or, he would have if that building were still up there. Now, it was all around them in pieces, wood timbers cracked and leaning out of the structure like spears. Something large must have hit it. Or, many smaller somethings...

In fact, unnamed items were still pouring out of the ground, covering the area around them. The angle pointed them to where the roof had once been, but they were quickly losing the energy needed to go that high. They fell back to the earth. In seconds, the stream came to a stop and all was quiet.

Gravel flying, a hand shot straight up. Wrath was climbing out of the rubble, then reaching back to drag Virgil and Deceit out after him. A little dinged up, but nothing too bad. From their shelter, Logan cautiously lifted his head followed by Patton asking, “Is it safe?”

Logan wordlessly helped Patton to his feet, getting their balance on the uneven terrain together. His bag had ripped and the equipment for the prosthetics scattered. He didn’t notice it, everyone’s safety was more important. There was a loud ringing in his ears.

While Deceit was preoccupied in a futile effort to remove all dust from his clothing, Virgil tried to find something that looked familiar to get his bearings on. But nothing here looked familiar.

Where once there had been a residential side street of dirt and cobbles, was now completely littered with stuff. Several of the items were charred and smoking. Pillows of all shapes and sizes and colors, a few chairs, whole couches even! Maybe they had come from inside the building, but they all seemed too… new.

There were even things he had never seen before. Like, what was that discus-shaped contraption and why did it have so many metal legs?

But most fascinating were the cubes. There was no better word for them; they were perfect cubes, strewn about at random. They must have been heavy. Where other items tumbled down the side of the rubble, they stayed put and let the debris flow around them. Moving images flashed across each side. Virgil moved closer, watching one cube carefully as images of the attacker flashed across it over and over. Could he still be near?

A muffled sound below him made Virgil jump. Leaning back in, he could hear scraping within the rubble.

“Wrath, gimme a hand.” The pair starting digging and the sounds immediately got louder. Deceit picked his way over to peer between their shoulders. A few painfully long seconds of digging revealed a struggling arm covered in a dull black shirt-sleeve. Deceit squinted as Wrath hurried to get the person out.

“Wha…” Virgil breathed out, pulling away from the hole.

“What is it?” Deceit didn’t register that Virgil never responded, catching sight of the thing as he moved out of the way. Wrath had uncovered another arm, smaller and just under the first. A third even smaller arm, this time without so much as an elbow. The body they were attached to was covered in blood. A pure white rib cage existed partially outside of the body, as if it had grown that way. The person struggled to free themselves.

With one more helpful push from Wrath, the person reared up, falling backward onto the debris. Deceit stumbled back with a gasp. Even Wrath stood up, but Virgil appeared to be frozen in place. Dirty-blonde hair straggled over a burnt, soot-covered scalp. It gurgled up at them, features melting into each other.

“Patton, he-aarGH!” Deceit turned to get the healer but stopped short. Another deformed creature laid between them, moving toward Deceit. Familiar green scales were its only recognizable trait. Bones were just a memory for this one, as it inched worm-like across the cobbles and left a dark trail in its wake.

~~~

Hearing a scream, Romulus pulled himself up. Deceit and Patton were staring at something on the ground.

“Oh, don’t- don’t touch that. Hang on!"

He made to move closer to see, but a groan gave him pause. Cowering behind another cube, an orange and yellow pattern swirled on a hidden creature.

“Shit, shit, shit,” he whispered as he crouched by the being, putting both hands on one psychedelic limb and willing the creation back into the realm of nightmares. It mewled, drawing Patton’s attention just before it vanished into the earth.

“Wait! We can fix it, you said-” Patton cried out to the seer.

"Sorry!” Romulus interrupted him. Just gotta take care of this real quick.”

Deceit looked between them, speechless for once, then back to the monstrosity on the ground. His thoughts seemed to move in slow motion. The creatures… they’re dressed like us.

Behind him, Virgil continued to stare transfixed at the being crawling out of the rubble. Wrath had stopped digging and, seeing the reaction his oldest friend was having to it, he stood up and started tugging on Virgil’s arm to pull him up. The rogue seemed to shake off the stupor then but refused to get up. His eyes remained locked on the creature.

Patton pulled out of Logan’s grip and chased after Romulus, begging him.

“You said you wouldn’t do it again! You said you wouldn’t! You can’t kill them! I can help them, heal them!” He tried to grab the seer, but the man threw him off.

“They shouldn’t even exist! I-” Romulus stood still for only a moment. It was enough time for Patton to see the fear on his face. Romulus raced away to the nearest abomination.

"Stop it..." Patton cried again, softly this time. He'd come to a stop, squeezing his eyes shut and just standing in the debris. The rain from that… thing was slowly soaking through his clothes. He put both his hands over his mouth and his whole body shook. A chill ran through him.

"Don’t look!" Romulus pushed himself in front of Patton, trying to shield him from what getting ‘rid’ of it would look like. He knelt and put a hand on the thing. The creation screeched as it sank out of existence.

Deceit blinked.

"How... did you know we were looking at it?" He asked over the sobs still coming from Patton, over the gasps escaping the seer. Patton blinked up at Deceit through his claws, then back to Romulus’ shuddering back, confused.

"Uh-" Romulus’ speckled eyes darted around. He dramatically turned to face very definitively not in Deceit's direction, brow furrowed. Something dripped from his talons. "I saw it in a vision, of course!"

His voice was trembling. Tears rolled off his cheek feathers. His head twitched this way and that, almost as if...

"No, you didn't," Deceit said. A strangled sound escaped Romulus as he finally spotted the creation half buried in front of Virgil struggling to crawl through the debris.

"Just a second, dear, " he called back to Deceit, running over to disapparate the pitiful thing.

Patton was muttering to himself, the same thing over and over. "You can't. You can't. You just-"

"You're looking at it right now!" Deceit shouted. "You're looking at things!"

"Aaagh, I'm-" Romulus sniffled, "kinda busy here, Dee." Again, he glanced around the chaos, falling to his knees beside the creation. He reached out both hands. "Maybe we can, hhhng-"

A sob cut him off. He choked, trying to hold in another as he pushed gently on the creation, pushing it out of reality. This one was sticky. It looked up at him with too many eyes.

Wrath stared at each of them in turn, then back at the ground where Virgil continued to grasp fistfuls of rocks. A low whine was coming out of him.

Logan was still just standing there taking in his surroundings, hands stretched out like another earthquake might strike at any moment. What was Deceit yelling? Were they still in danger? He felt something warm at his hip. Pulling aside his jacket, the fabric caught on something. He looked down and saw one of the steel rods from his kit sticking at a rather unexpected angle out of his right side just above the belt. A dark circle was spreading across the material around it.

“Oops,” he gasped softly. No one heard him.

“I'm sorry,” cried Romulus. Tears fell into the mud where the last creation had been. His talons pressed hard on the ground, and he leaned down until his face touched the stone, shaking. He whispered into it.

“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.”

~~~

Sneak Preview:

Virgil placed another stick on the fire and leaned back. The rest of the party was dotted around the campfire, fast-asleep deep in their various accoutrements.

“One o-clock and aaall’s weeell,” he sang quietly to himself into the clear night. His breath made a tiny cloud of vapor in the chill.

With a deep breath, Romulus awoke, eyes fluttering open on some instinct. Virgil hadn't realized he'd been staring at the man while he waited out his shift. He tilted his head, whispering.

"Another nightmare?"

"A vision," Romulus murmured, or thought he did. "I dreamt of a goddess. She wept for centuries, and cast herself upon the Rock, dying so she could try again." His words tumbled out haphazardly, galaxy eyes wide and searching, as if he could still see it all in his mind. “The pieces fell from the sky, they… where did they go?”

Virgil tried to keep the skepticism from showing up in his voice.

"Huh. Okay, well... try to get some rest. We've still got days of travel left to..." He trailed off. Further explanation was apparently unnecessary as Romulus gave the smallest of quick nods and burrowed back into the blankets without another word.

~~~

Virgil recalled that night now, as relentless winds swirled through the mountains, pelting them with hail and debris. Logan and Deceit were taking shelter beneath a tree, leaves already ripped away, the whole thing threatening to uproot. Wrath hung on to Patton’s petite lizard frame, little claws digging into his arm; he’d nearly been carried away by the sudden storm.

Virgil, eyes locked on the dangerous sky, shouted over the gale, "You never said "VISION"!"

#the team names are arbitrary and just how I categorize them in my head #everyone is human unless stated otherwise #right time wrong vision #sanders sides au #secret santa 2019 #violence tw #gore tw #injury tw #body horror tw #sympathetic deceit #singular creativity #cursing tw #creature death #death tw #angst tw #buried tw #burns tw

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amythecinnabunny · 4 years

Text

Apartment 42 -- A BuckyNat AU

Master and rival assassins unknowingly live together for almost a year, making sure their real jobs remain a secret from each other and everyone around them.

Chapter 7

"You are stalling, Soldier. You've grown too close to the civilian. You must eliminate her. If you do not remove her from the equation, we will take action."

"She is my key to Stark Manor," James blurted. "She works close with the inhabitants of Stark Manor. She will get me inside. Patience, Karpov, you will get what's coming your way."

Karpov wagged a finger at James. "Do not get snappy with me, Soldier. There are others who can carry out this mission. You were chosen for stealth. But if it takes this long, we will have to reconsider."

James set his jaw and narrowed his eyes. He almost growled. He would have to stay on the mission if he wanted to protect Natalia.

Protect Natalia?! Is that what he had become? From hating the Black Widow to wanting to protect her? All because of the side she portrayed to civilians. Absurd, to say the least.

"You will cause chaos, Karpov. You said you preferred if it looked like an accident. You must leave it to me if you wish it to be a silent affair. You will have to keep a safe distance from the civilian if you don't want me to take even longer."

"Well then," Karpov said, "you'd best get on your way. You don't want Josef to cause a scene, do you?"

James did growl this time as he snatched the gun from beside Karpov and left, not bothering with his mask. He would be punished for it, but that was another problem for another time.

///////////////

Natalia yanked the hat off and dropped the sunglasses in the bowl of the hat.

"Why do you wear that?" Anthony asked as he watched her pull pins from her hair and let her curls free.

"What? The hat and glasses?" Anthony nodded. "R2S believes that the man after your father is a very powerful and skilled assassin. If he ever finds out who your father's bodyguard is, I'm done for. It's simple, but quite effective."

"Oh, so then, I probably shouldn't call you 'Aunt Tal' when we're out with my father, huh?"

Natalia smiled. "Probably."

"But won't this assassin guy figure it out if he sees you with us and in the manor?"

"It's unlikely that he would. I've actually genuinely made friends with Peggy, Ana and your mother -- and Jarvis. It's not unusual for someone to want to spend time with her friends. Even if I stayed longer to watch you father and not sit with your mother and aunts, excuses are plenty."

Anthony nodded as he followed behind Natalia. "Will you teach me the leg lock you were talking to Aunt Peg about?"

"What leg lock, Anthony?"

"You know, the one with the --" Anthony waved his hands around, unable to explain what he meant "-- the one you told Aunt Peg about. You know what I mean!"

Natalia laughed. "That's not for self-defence, Anthony. That, if done correctly and with enough strength, could kill someone easily."

Anthony's eyes lit up.

"No, I am not neaching it to you. I will consider teaching you how to flip people over even if they're twice your size, though. Tomorrow, maybe."

"Yes!"

Natalia smiled as Anthony skipped a step, pumping his fist into the air and scrunching up his face in delight. Shaking her head slightly, she opened the door to Howard's study. She wanted to let him know she would be across the courtyard, should he want to go out before she really left for the night.

It was brief, but through the window, she caught the glint of moonlight on metal.

"Get down!"

///////////////

James sprinted through the trees. Free of the photostatic veil, his prosthetic caught and reflected the light brilliantly. He knew she would see it. She wasn't the Black Widow for nothing. If the Red Room made her their face even after she failed to bring in the scientist alive, she had to be the best. She would notice him.

He found Josef immediately and he attacked the man just as he fired. He could only hope he'd thrown the shot far enough.

"She's mine," he said, low and soft, glaring at Josef with burning fury in his eyes. "She is mine alone. You kill her, I kill you, understand?"

Josef scoffed. "The great Winter Soldier, attached to a bodyguard."

An animal growled at Josef, hissing and bearing fangs he didn't have. "I don't expect you to understand, but I have missed exactly one target in all my time with Hydra and it has been to her." James pointed with his prosthetic to the manor in the distance. "I could have killed her years ago. I should have killed her years ago. She is the only person to ever survive and I will not let you or anyone else have her. She is mine to kill."

Josef's eyebrows lifted ever so slightly, but he knew James had noticed. "The Black Widow? She's the bodyguard? It's really her?"

Stiffly, James nodded. "Pack up and get lost. If I see you near my target again, I'll bury your own bullet in your skull. Stay away from Stark and stay away from the Widow."

"You don't tell me what to do, Soldier."

"Do you really want to be the Hydra pet that threw the Winter Soldier off balance? Because I know how not to take my own fall. Listen carefully, Josef, she -- is -- mine -- and I won't let you get away with bringing her down. Now back -- off."

Josef smirked. "If I didn't know any better, Soldier, I'd think you have some ulterior motives. Let me warn you, when you return to Hydra empty handed, my face will be the first that you see once Karpov is done with you. Then we will see how you've handled the Widow."

James hissed as Josef picked up his sniper and left, annoying smirk plastered to his face. James knew Natalia and he knew the Black Widow. He knew, had he not thrown Josef's shot far enough, she would not let anyone know she'd been shot. She would go straight home. James had to get there before her.

"Aunt Tal!"

Natalia hissed and squeezed her eyes shut. "It's just a flesh wound," she lied, trying to control her breathing.

Peggy almost knocked the door down as she stumbled in, quickly followed by Maria and Ana. They'd been waiting three rooms over for Natalia -- they would head over to Ana's house together -- when they heard the shout, the soft bang, and Anthony.

"What happened?" Jarvis asked, having just arrived too.

"Aunt Tal got shot!"

"I'm fine, just a flesh wound."

"Anthony," Ana said, holding her arm out, "come with me, dear."

"Where's the bullet?" Peggy asked.

"What?"

"The bullet. You said it's a flesh wound. Where's the bullet, then?"

Natalia hesitated.

"See?!" Anthony cried, "Aunt Tal got shot!"

Peggy took charge of the situation as she walked over to Natalia and grabbed her uninjured arm. "Ana, take Anthony to your house. He'll sleep there tonight. Maria, get the phone. Jarvis, ready the car --"

"No," Natalia said, "no doctors."

"What. . . No, you need to--"

"I can't go to the hospital again," Natalia said, clutching Peggy's hand tight. She stared into Peggy's eyes, silently pleading. "I can't," she whispered.

Jarvis hesitated in the doorway.

Peggy's eyes never left Natalia as she spoke in a level voice. "Howard, please stay behind your desk. Mr Jarvis, please go to the pharmacy near my home and get me painkillers, gauze, medical thread, needles, and a morphine drip. When the woman behind the counter asks you what ails you, tell her you wish to see Dr Armum."

"Doctor Ar--what?"

"Maria, I need towels. As many as you can get. Lay them out on the bed in the spare room. Howard, you're going to stay low and in front of Tallie and I. Once you're out the door, don't go into any of the rooms whose windows face the property boundary. Stay near the kitchens, the living room, the dining hall. Does everyone understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Tallie, walk with me. Slowly, dear."

As they left the room slowly, Peggy called out to Howard to tell Ana to call Natalia's apartment and let James know.

"Now tell me," Peggy said when they were alone, slowly walking down the hallway, "why?"

"I work for a very . . . underhand organisation. We can be guardians or we can be killers. It's really up to the task we're given. Captain America was an inspiration to a lot of people, even around the world. Some people were inspired in a very . . . wrong way."

Peggy stopped walking. "What's in your blood, Tallie?"

Natalia did not stop walking. "Something that shouldn't be. Something that will be found in a hospital."

"They'd do blood tests," Peggy said, catching on as she fell into step beside Natalia, "you'd be found out. Rouge Royale . . . operates on the wrong side of the law."

Natalia did not correct Peggy, telling her she was a Red Room agent. She knew from records that Peggy was all too familiar with the Red Room. "We're very versatile. Like I said, we can be guardians or we can be killers. Some of us can be both."

"Are you -- have you --?"

"Yes. But I can't let myself be known. If word gets out that there's someone with traces of a warped serum in their blood, the Winter Soldier would sniff me out and snuff me out."

"The Winter Soldier?"

"A ghost story. He's a master assassin, better than almost anyone I've ever known. He's hunting me down like prey, all because I've survived him. If he ever finds me, I don't know if I'll live."

"But you've been to the hospital before."

Natalia shrugged. "I have no real records. They'll never find me. I'll be a Jane Doe in their system forever."

Peggy didn't push further. "Come on, let's get you fixed up. Don't worry, I've done this before."

///////////////

James held the phone carefully with his prosthetic and twisted the cord around his other hand. First, Natalia still had not come and now he found himself on the phone with Ana?

"Jamie, is that you?"

"Yes." He had to pretend like he had no idea. "What happened? You sound terrified."

"Tallie -- it -- you know she works with us?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Tallie's Mr Stark's bodyguard and . . . and someone tried to kill him today. Tallie, she . . . she -- I'll send Edwin to get you."

James nearly crushed the phone. In focusing on controlling the strength of his prosthetic, James forced himself to think rationally. "Okay. Okay, I'll wait for him. Which hospital are you taking her to?"

Ana hesitated. "Edwin will bring you to Tallie," she said before ending the call.

James took a deep breath, carefully putting the phone down. As he did, he caught sight if his arm. The photostatic veil. He could not be seen without it. His arm was an identifying factor to Natalia. She could not know who he was. It wouldn't end well.

Why? Why did it matter to him? Why did she matter to him? She was the Widow. He'd been after her for years. He'd dreamt of finally finding her, of finally making that shot.

He dreamt vividly of her for years. Standing on a deserted street, gun to her head. She was helpless. She had nowhere to go. She could either stand there and take the shot, or run and die fleeing. He knew the Red Room. He knew they didn't raise cowards. She would stand defiant and dare him to fire. He would fire and the Black Widow would be no more.

But last night, he had dreamt once more of killing the Widow. But it wasn't her veiled face he saw, it wasn't her bright emerald eyes filled with defiance and rage. It wasn't wisps of red strands escaping her hood.

No, last night he had seen Natalia. She had stood firm, head held high. Her mouth had been set in a firm line. Wind whipped her curls around. She knew what was coming. Her eyes didn't shine with mischief. They didn't smile at him the way they always did. They shone with unshed tears for a story ended too soon. They stared into his own, filled with sadness and despair. She could not run. She would not run. She knew what was coming.

James had woken in a cold sweat to the sound of his gun firing, which he later learned was Natalia dropping her shampoo bottle in the shower. His heart had threatened to burt from his chest. James could never remember his pulse being so high or his hair so matted and stuck to his scalp, or his breathing so heavy.

Clearly, it had been a nightmare.

It was all he could do not to tear the apartment apart while he waited for Jarvis to arrive.

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Masterpost

#apartment 42 #fanfiction #marvel #90s #au #buckynat #tony stark #peggy carter #bucky barnes #natasha romanoff

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qinghe-nie · 5 years

Text

79. Act 19: Worried, Part 1

Blood-soaked Nightless City. Rumor has it that the Yiling Patriarch Wei WuXian slaughtered three thousand cultivator attendees at the Assembly of Vows all by himself in a bloody battle.

And some rumors say it was five thousand people. No matter if it was three thousand or five thousand, one thing never changed – that he changed the ruins of the Nightless City into a blood-covered hellscape.

Absolutely abhorrent was the fact that the murderer Wei WuXian actually escaped unscathed and returned to Luanzang Mound. No one knows how he was able to accomplish it.

Since every clan had suffered massive hits to their forces, they spent almost three years honing their strength and planning their attack before the Four Great Clans finally succeeded in besieging the nest of devils known as Luanzang Mound. They returned the ‘slaughter’ to the remnants of the Wen sect and the demented Yiling Patriarch Wei WuXian.

Wei WuXian stared at the cultivators in front of Fumo Temple. Their expressions were exactly the same as the cultivators from the Assembly of Vows who had poured out cups of wine in an oath to scatter the ashes of Wei WuXian and the destroyed remnants of the Wen sect. Some were survivors of that night, some were the children of those cultivators, but the vast majority of them were ‘righteous cultivators’ who shared the same beliefs as the previous two groups.

The cultivator who said that Wei WuXian had broken his legs, who had no choice but to rely on wooden prosthetics, shouted, “You’ll never be able to clear the blood debt of three thousand people, even if you die ten thousand times!”

Wei WuXian interrupted him. “Three thousand people? There were indeed three thousand or so cultivators who had shown up that night at the Nightless City, but so had the leaders of several big clans and their famous, cream-of-the-crop cultivators. You think I really could have killed all three thousand people with them there? You either think too highly of me, or think too lowly of them.”

He had only declared the facts in a non-confrontational way, yet that cultivator felt like he had received a great humiliation. He angrily replied, “You think I’m having a discussion with you? That blood debts can be haggled over?”

“I’m not really trying to haggle with you over this. I just don’t want my criminal charges to double just like that because some outsider decided to open his mouth. Also, I didn’t do it, so I’d rather not carry the burden.”

Someone said, “You didn’t do it? Just what haven’t you done?”

“For example, I didn’t cut Chifeng-zun into pieces. I also didn’t force Lady Jin – Qin Su – into killing herself at Jinlin Tower. The same way that I’m not controlling those walking corpses and fierce corpses that you guys encountered on the way up here.”

Su She laughed. “Yiling Patriarch, I had heard that you liked to brag, but I never anticipated that you liked to quibble. Other than you, I can’t think of anyone in this world who can control this many walking corpses and fierce corpses, to the point where we’re too exhausted to fight them.”

“What’s there to be baffled by? Anyone can do it as long as they have the Yin Tiger Tally.”

“Isn’t the Yin Tiger Tally your magic weapon?”

“That’s something you’ll have to ask the people who love it too much to part with it. It’s just like Wen Ning – some clans were so obviously scared of the Ghost General that they kept talking about how they would attack and kill him. And yet, they secretly hid him for more than ten years. How strange – just who said that they had already ground his bones to dust and spread his ashes all those years ago?”

Everyone couldn’t help but stare at the LanlingJin sect disciples present at the scene. The person who had been in complete charge of the matter, who had made a solemn vow that he had already cremated the two leaders of the Wen sect remnants, and had led the charge by scattering their ashes at the Nightless City, was the leader of the LanlingJin sect.

Su She immediately said, “You don’t have to turn people against each other.”

Lan WangJi, in a very cold voice, said, “The only one who’s turning people against each other here is you.”

Su She stopped dead.

Although Lan WangJi had only been standing wordlessly next to Wei WuXian, but his mere presence there was enough to make the others think twice about rushing up there.

Ever since he had been a small, non-main-family disciple in the GusuLan sect, Su She could never raise his head in Lan WangJi’s presence for whatever reason. When he had set up the MolingSu sect with himself as clan leader, he was secretly joyful: he had already started a new cultivation sect, while Lan WangJi was still ‘Second Young Master Lan.’ He was also looking forward to their next meeting, thinking that Lan WangJi would change his ways and be more reverent of him, maybe even see him as a brother. They had very similar approaches to things, so he believed that it was very possible.

However, when they met again, Su She realized that even though he had become a clan leader, he still couldn’t raise his head in front of this ‘Second Young Master.’ So much so that when Lan WangJi would say anything important, like he was doing right now, Su She wouldn’t dare reply back for a while!

Right at this time, strange rustling and gurgling sounds began to ring out again from within the forest.

Lan QiRen said, “Another wave of fierce corpses has arrived!”

Upon hearing this, half the crowd turned around to face the coming corpses, while the other half were still vigilantly watching the ‘mob’ in front of Fumo Temple, their swords pointed straight at them. Wei WuXian responded, “I already told you that these fierce corpses are not under my control. If you have the time to stare at me, you’d be better off staring at them instead.”

Since there were many famous cultivators here, along with several clan leaders and senior clan members, battling a bunch of fierce corpses was a pretty easy task. Once the swords and zither sounds began to fly through the air, no one had the time to pay much attention to Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi. As Jiang Cheng split three fierce corpses into six halves with his whip, he turned around and yelled at Jin Ling, “Jin Ling! Do you still want your legs?!”

The idea was that he would break Jin Ling’s legs if he didn’t go over there, but since Jin Ling had heard this type of threat many times before in the past, it had no effect. Jin Ling merely narrowed his eyes at Jiang Cheng and refused to move. Jiang Cheng swore, then rotated his wrist and whipped Zidian around in preparation of wrapping it around Jin Ling and forcibly dragging him over. However, Zidian’s purple lightning suddenly dimmed, only disappeared soon after.

The long whip changed back to a silver ring on Jiang Cheng’s finger, causing him to immediately stop. He had never encountered a situation where Zidian had automatically retracted itself. He was still staring at his own hand when suddenly, two drops of blood fell on top of his palm.

Jiang Cheng raised his hand to wipe his face, only for his hand to come back covered in blood.

Jin Ling involuntarily yelled, “Uncle!”

The group of cultivators who were in the middle of fighting that group of corpses also let out cries of alarm one after the other. As far as the eye could see, the lights from 80-90% of the cultivators’ swords had dimmed, and almost half of the cultivators’ faces had two streaks of red dripping down their faces. They were nosebleeds. Not only that, some cultivators were bleeding from both their noses and their mouths!

One sword-wielding cultivator said in panic, “What’s going on?!”

“My… my spiritual power is gone!”

“Help me! Help me!”

Bichen automatically came out of its scabbard and flew towards the cultivator that was begging for help. It pursed the two fierce corpses that were bothering him and cut them into four pieces. However, the cries for help were coming more and more frequently as time went on – as soon as one stopped, another would arise. The crowd was also getting more and more packed as they were pushed towards Fumo Temple.

Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi’s eyes met as they finally confirmed their suspicions.

All these cultivators who had climbed up Luanzang Mound, ready to have a huge fight, suddenly lost their spiritual powers all at the same time!

Not only were the lights from their swords gone, their talismans were all nonfunctional. Even the disciples from the GusuLan sect and the MolingSu sect’s zithers and xiaos couldn’t make any noise, losing their ability to repel magic.

The situation had suddenly flipped!

There was chaos and turmoil all around as everything went to shit. Lan SiZhui, who had been behind Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi, suddenly pulled them apart and shouted out from the space between them, “Everyone, over here, into Fumo Temple! There’s a giant arcane sigil on the ground inside the temple. A few parts are missing, but it should be usable once we fix it! We can use it to defend ourselves for a bit!”

Upon hearing this, Wei WuXian immediately pulled Lan WangJi to his side so they weren’t blocking the entrance to Fumo Temple. Su She, upon seeing that some muddle-headed cultivators looked like they wanted to go inside, loudly and quickly shouted, “We cannot go inside! This is clearly a catching-turtles-in-a-jar tactic! There’s definitely an even worse danger waiting for us inside!”

Hearing his shout caused everyone’s heads to immediately clear. Wei WuXian responded, “Dying outside is still dying. Dying inside is still dying. There’s death everywhere, but at least you can delay it for a while if you go inside. The hell’s your problem, wanting everyone to urgently die at the same time?”

Even though his words made a lot of sense, everyone became more afraid of entering because those words were spoken by Wei WuXian. They hesitated and continued to painstakingly battle against the fierce corpses. Despite not having much spiritual energy left, the others could still force themselves to put up a fight, but Nie HuaiSang could wait no further. Everyone already knew that he was timid slacker with little to no talent who never took his cultivating seriously, so it came as no surprise that the sudden change in circumstances made him flustered and desperate. The only reason he hadn’t received any injuries was because his bodyguards, who stuck to him like skin, were doing all they could to protect him. Upon seeing that the number of corpses was continuing to increase without end, he quickly shouted, “Ladies and gentlemen! Are you going in or not? Aiyah, it doesn’t matter, if you guys won’t go in, I’ll go in first. Excuse me, sorry (in an embarrassed, ‘sorry I’m getting in your way’ sort of tone). Let’s go go go! Everyone hurry inside!”

Upon saying this, Nie HuaiSang began leading the group of QingheNie sect disciples on a mad rush towards Fumo Temple. They really looked as desperate as stray dogs and as alarmed as fish who had escaped a net. The onlookers were quite dumbstruck by his bluntness.

Lan WangJi took his zither off his back and began to play, the sounds so loud they seemingly shook the heavens. But no matter how perfected and fine his Pozhang (po = broken or to break, zhang = obstruction) Sound was, he was still just one person. Seeing this, Wen Ning leapt down from Fumo Temple and began to help him in driving away the fierce corpses while silently enduring the cultivators’ stabs, slices, kicks, and punches. Good thing he didn’t have any sense of pain – it was the only reason he was unaffected by any of it.

At this time, one of the youths who had been liberated earlier shouted, “Daddy, stop killing them! Believe me, go inside! We just came out from that giant temple and there’s no traps inside!”

The other youths also began to shout, “Yeah! And there’s really a giant arcane sigil on the floor!”

Jin Ling shouted, “Uncle, come inside already!”

Jiang Cheng stabbed a corpse with a lightless Sandu and fiercely glared at Jin Ling. “Shut the hell up!”

After he was done swearing, more blood came dripping out of his nose and mouth. Jin Ling rushed down the stairs and began pulling him in the direction of Fumo Temple. Jiang Cheng, having lost so much of his spiritual energy that a teenage boy was stronger than him, was thusly dragged inside by Jin Ling. The jiang sect cultivators quickly followed their leader inside. Right at this time, Nie HuaiSang’s voice echoed from the inside of the large, empty temple. He joyfully exclaimed, “Everyone! Come inside, quick! This place can fit several thousand people inside, no problem! Can a senior come in and help repair the giant sigil on the floor? I don’t know how to!”

Upon hearing his last sentence, everyone had the same thought in their heads: “Worthless piece of trash!”

Lan WangJi refused to leave his instrument. He raised his head and said, “Uncle.”

Lan QiRen originally did not want to enter the temple; he would have preferred to fight outside until the very end. However, it wasn’t just him right now. There were countless other Lan clan cultivators and Jin clan cultivators with him. He wasn’t doing the bulk of the fighting. He didn’t want to throw away these disciples’ lives, so when the opportunity to escape with their lives intact was presented to him, he took it.

He didn’t look at Lan WangJi as he held up his sword and shouted, “Carefully enter the temple!”

At this point, the LanlingJin sect, the GusuLan sect, the QingheNie sect, and the YunmengJiang sect – all four of the Four Great Clans – had entered the temple. With them setting an example, the remaining cultivators immediately stopped resisting. Even if there were a hundred thousand dangerous beasts or evil demons inside the temple, there were four greats ahead to protect them, so they flocked inside.

In the end, only the MolingSu sect’s group refused to show any indication of going inside. Wei WuXian said, “Eh? Clan Leader Su, are you not coming? Very good, stay outside then. Although, everyone’s out of spiritual energy already. If you stay outside, aren’t you throwing away your life? I commend you for your courage.”

Their gazes once again fell on Wei WuXian’s body.

Su She’s gaze swept across Wei WuXian. His lips pursed, and he finally led his disciples inside the temple.

Fumo Temple easily accommodated the thousand cultivators. Everyone was panting, their urgent and anxious words echoing endlessly in the large, empty space. Lan QiRen walked inside, heading towards Nie HuaiSang while inspecting the damaged parts of the sigil with earnest eagerness. The sigil was actually quite ancient, so he immediately cut open his palm and began to repair the sigil using his blood.

Wen Ning stood guard at the top of the stairs, tossing away the fierce corpses that got too close. Once the sigil had been repaired, a seemingly invisible barrier appeared and blocked them from entering for the time being.

Wei WuXian waited until Lan WangJi had put away his zither before they slowly walked inside the temple. The cultivators inside, who had just started to relax, immediately raised their guards again upon seeing the black-and-white pair appearing over the stairs.

No one had anticipated that this was how it was going to go down. They had clearly shown up to encircle and annihilate the Yiling Patriarch, and yet they ended up being the ones who were encircled and besieged. Not only that, they had to hide inside the Yiling Patriarch’s home temple (like temple on his home turf) while they struggled at death’s door.

Lan QiRen, done with the sigil, stood in front of the group of cultivators and obstructed Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian’s way. He had his head held high and his chest out, though he didn’t have his arms extended outward to stop them. He had an ‘if you dare to destroy the sigil I just repaired, I will throw away my life to take you down’ type of attitude towards Wei WuXian.

Lan WangJi said, “…Uncle.”

The disappointment in Lan QiRen’s heart had yet to disappear. A long time passed and yet he still refused to look at Lan WangJi, who had been his favorite pupil ever since he was a child. He only looked at Wei WuXian as he coldly said, “Just what are your intentions?”

Wei WuXian, who had sat down at the top of the steps, said, “Nothing. Since you’re all inside, why don’t we have a little chat?”

Upon hearing Wei WuXian using his relaxed, not-in-the-least-bit respectful tone of voice in this type of situation, Lan WangJi shook his head. However, he joined Wei WuXian in sitting down, then placed his zither on his legs and began to slowly play a song.

Upon seeing Lan WangJi playing his zither to add to the sigil’s power, Lan QiRen felt somewhat consoled and thought, “WangJi, this child… He still has some manners, at least…”

Only then did he finally look at Lan WangJi and see his current state. Lan WangJi was still as calm as he usually was, not having lost any of his elegant bearing. There were no specks of dust anywhere on his white clothes and his forehead ribbon was as straight as could be. Lan QiRen couldn’t help but be inwardly proud of him, as usual. However, upon looking at Wei WuXian, dressed in some especially unsightly black robes and sitting just a bit too close to Lan WangJi, almost like he was going to sully Lan WangJi’s white robes, Lan QiRen’s pride immediately turned into anger. He shouted at Wei WuXian, “We have nothing to chat about with you!”

Wei WuXian replied, “Why wouldn’t we have anything to chat about? I just don’t believe that none of you are interested in knowing why you lost all your spiritual energy just then – hey, don’t give me that look, I know you guys want to blame it on me. To tell you the truth, yours truly doesn’t have that great of an ability. There’s no way I could secretly set a trap like that and lure you all into it.”

Although none of them wanted to accept it, some people were thinking, “…He’s not lying.”

As everyone looked in each other in dismay, Wei WuXian continued, “I guess you guys didn’t get together and eat the same food before coming here, so it shouldn’t be any type of poison.”

Of course, no one had ever heard of any sort of poison that could suddenly rob a person of their spiritual energy, otherwise this type of poison would have already been sought out by cultivators with a lot of money and used as a tool of terror. There were a lot of doctors within this group of cultivators, who grabbed a few others and began to talk amongst themselves in low whispers. “Well? Well? Is this loss of spiritual energy temporary or permanent?!”

This question immediately attracted the attention of many people, now too busy to be on the alert for whatever Wei WuXian was going to do. If their spiritual energy was gone for good, never to return, then they might as well be worthless invalids. That thought of such a fate was scarier and more painful that the thought of dying here today. After a quick discussion, the group of doctors said, “Don’t worry, everyone’s cores should be alright and undamaged! The effect should be temporary.”

Only after hearing that the effects were temporary did Jiang Cheng finally release the breath he had been holding. He took the offered handkerchief from Jin Ling and wiped his face free of blood. “Temporary? For how long? When can we recover?”

One doctor said, “…I’m afraid… It’ll take at least two hours…”

Two hours?

Everyone raised their heads one after another to stare at the impenetrable fierce corpse horde outside the temple. There were just as many of them as there were living people. Every single one of them were jumping while staring at the people inside with fixed eyes. The yang energies from inside Fumo Temple were so high that the corpses couldn’t bear to be a step away from it. They pushed up against each other as they wiggled and writhed outside, almost like they could rush in at any time.

Two hours before their spiritual power returns? Who knew if this ancient, destroyed sigil on the temple floor that had been temporarily repaired would be able to hold out for that long!

Besides, the Yiling Patriarch was in the same area as them right now. Although they didn’t know why he hadn’t made a move yet – maybe he was like a cat who wasn’t done playing with his mice and wanted to scare them half to death before killing them – but no one could guarantee that he wouldn’t suddenly snap.

#mod nie translations #mo dao zu shi

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augujerdeer · 5 years

Note

🍎👠🎃🌆👂😱💬!!! Feel free to not answer any of them!

IM CRYING BECAUSE YOU ACTUALLY SENT INE THANK YOU jnsjshdjhsdjh

🍎what are yall’s favourite foods?

I think this is gonna be a long post now that I think about it, but i’m asking everyone what their favourite food would be if they could only pick one or two (not everyone answered or can but >:0)

Mine (Jamie) would be pancakes! or grilled salmon! OR SPICY TUNA SASHIMI!!!!

Kris, Chara and Matthew immediately just have chocolate as their answer dicenksfvjk but kris says “anything” and he lives up to it sometimes

Jaiden says gummy bears and gummy worms (all he eats is CANDY)

Kobe says flowers,,,,

Sal is picking between pizza and cheesecake smoothies

Peter says he doesn’t have one yet ;;

👠how difficult is it for y'all to agree on one cohesive outfit?

So this kind of depends on how many people are out, but I usually follow whoever wants to wear something if only one person is requesting something (Like when Kris would screech and ask for me/us to wear the pink hoodie or his sequins sneakers)

But if there’s multiple people, (usually Kris, Chara, or Matthew) it might take a while ksjskjskjs but generally everyone would go rock-paper-scissors or let the other person have us wear what they want! Usually because they deserve this turn or we take turns :0

🎃how many head mates could be considered scary?

HMM,,, I guess I would say Severous first. He’s a 8+ foot werewolf man, he is a BEAR

his fur is PITCH BLACK especially at night and his eyes and drool glow white (so he has no pupils, that’s his entire eyes), so if you’re in the forest in Providence in the middle of the night, you’ll just see a scary OwO face in the dark

HE DOESNT DO THE OWO FACE BUT ITS NOT LIKE I CAN COPY IT IN TEXT FORM

he always stands on two legs unless he’s SPRINTING , but honestly??? HES BABY and we all love him, Kobe calls him “PUPPY” and even drew him a few times while fronting ;;;;;;;; He’s actually a dad to one of our littles Penny and is gay and dates someone from one of my partners’ system

Also he doesn’t speak very well? He used to speak fluently but overtime and he was recovering from being a persecutor, his ability to speak was kind of, disintegrating? So he only speaks in SUPER SHORT and almost broken english sentences. if you visit him you can catch him reading children’s books and practicing to read and speak again,,, he’s baby,,,,

Chara (from undertale) could be considered scary inspace becaus ethey can go goopy- they’re not a scary person but if they want to scare you, (especially if you don’t know who they are i mean), they will be intimidating and stuff ;; when i first met them, they did spook me, and their eyes are very bright red

Sal (from Sally Face) I guess could be considered spooky because i was drawing him in class one time (prosthetic ON of course) and my friend said he looked scary ;;;? poor sal;;; he’s not scary at all

🌆what does your headspace look like?

*clasps hands together* goodness it’s a good thing i made this map. it’s VERY OLD but it’s still the same except imagine everything is WAAAAAY more spaced Out!

honestly i need to move the teleporters and mansion higher up (and the main tree closer to them) but this is it!!!

The most common places people go to is The Mansion, The Bunker, The Farmhouse, and The Picnic Ground! People when going for walks in the forest usually stick around the Picnic Grounds-Cave Pool-Farmhouse Triangle but usually can go anywhere- the forest is SO big though (alven took me flying once and it stretches to the horizon)

The Mansion is where most of us live! Here you can find Jaiden and the kids (Kobe, Aco, and Penny– and Carla (Carla is an NPC [who is aware of the outside?] but we don’t care she is family). Alven is also here with his lab, so is Joseph and Louise!! (and their dog, Troy). On the outside, you can’t see the mansion, only two giant doors (nobody ever uses kdndckdocsl we honestly just use the teleporters to go anywhere– Also, everything you see INSIDE the meadow excluding the bunker was what our headspace FIRST looked like!!! it was the start of everything ;; Jaiden made the mansion. The mansion has two main rooms- The Main Hall, and The Tall Corridor. There’s a looooot of history here

The Farmhouse is where I (Jamie) live! But i’m not inspace a lot so it’s honestly empty until i meditate there ;;

The bunker existed and is a place some people permanently moved to because we started having some Bad Refuses To Do Good Persecutors, or just bad people. They were VERY violent so half of us went to hide- and eventually the entire system actually moved to the bunker for almost a year and a half before moving out- and then some people stayed- mainly Matthew. People who live in the bunker are Matthew, Kris, Peter, Jade, Chara, Liam, and Sal! Icari should be here somewhere but i think she’s still hiding ;;

Most of the time if we have a new person, they move to the bunker right away. There’s a teleport system almost all over the frequent spots in the headspace so they can easily leave and enter! Matthew lives one the second ground below the 1st ground below because of some bad things that happened- he never leave the bunker because being outside scares him a lot- especially with the entire headspace being a forest :( you need special access to get down there

The Picnic grounds isn’t very special to me personally but Jaiden made it so people can have picnics!! It’s honestly SUPER pretty oh goodness, and no matter what time of day (unless it’s night) the sun is always shining nicely and it’s so pretty there, and people actually go there!!

The only people that don’t go there are Joseph and Louise because we had one bad person hurt them badly in that area,

Also the Ruined City i didn’t mention because– no one goes there- but we all know it exists. Basically it’s a purely grey/monotone/greyscale land? Like the moment you enter, the world transitions to black and white (not your body but the environment) and the only things that have colour are the miss and greenery in the background (mostly grass and parks, not a lot of trees). all the buildings are collapsed or destroyed in some way- so imagine a big area with degree and rubble and standing building but there’s so many destroyed parts like one building is missing an entire second floor and another has a giant gaping hole not eh side, etc.

we also don’t go there because it’s dangerous- there are giant SPIDER robots that patrol the area- we still don’t know why, but they shook lasers! (come back to this post later because I WILL add a picture of what i’m talking about!! i just don’t have my phone on me)

ANYWAY THERES MORE BUT ITS TOO MUCH TO PUT HERE

WE ALSO HAVE ANOTHER PLANET

👂What kind of music do y'all like?

Jamie - what do you mean people have favourite music? i’m just kidding uksdeijfdkj i like indie and broadway!!! pop is pretty cool but it’s not my first choice at all ;;; rock and metal hurts my ears

Chara - they have 4 playlists on spotify! One playlist is called Soft Knives for calm music (it’s usually happy but there could be some sad ones there- but no angst songs- imagine songs you can sleep to or calm down with). Blunt Knives is for angsty or apathetic moods- and Angry Knives is for ANGRY LOUD music. The have a 4th playlist called Chara’s Classical Collection. Chara can range from Classical music to indie music death metal and rock. They usually hate pop

Kris - he loves rap and r&b! though he loves a lot of music besides those! He loves tally hall and kid bloom :0 mostly chill or music that makes you go aW YEAH (his words) he also has Classic Songs in his playlist. So if you have it one shuffle, you’re listening to some sick bops and then all of a sudden Rockefeller Street Nightcore comes on and you get whiplash. doesn’t like metal or rock. He has a second playlist called “it’s Saturday Morning” for stuff like heo soul or “music you can dissociate to but not in a bad way” (Listen to Sugarcoat by Kid Bloom or Different State of Mind (some artist) for a general idea)

Matthew - rock and stuff similar to chemical romance and panic! at the disco. they like metal and rock but he says Sal’s and Chara’s are too aggressive for his taste- and hen you find out he sometimes listens to screamo

Sal - honestly i find his playlist super weird ? Some music sounds weird to me but otherwise his playlist is full over a lot of genres ! It’s kind of wack and funky- not the genre- but the amount of variety he has. And in his 2nd playlist is death/metal and rock- a bunch of loud music that can be fast sometimes too- is not afraid to head bang in public and do air guitar

Peter - We’re not sure yet but he likes music from his time- plus old music- specifically New Wave for now!his playlist is super new and he hasn’t been here a while so we’re not sure o>o

Jade - Soft calm or upbeat and happy music

Kobe and Aco - they are babies- Kobe still sings the ABC’s everyday so

😱do your headmates have any phobias?

i don’t think any of us has phobias- because it’s defined as “irrational fear” actually wikipedia says it can be CAUSED so nevermind dkjjkfd

Honestly these feel like triggers more than phobias butnit first thendescription of a phobia so;; i’m putting POSSIBLE because we’re not sure

Chara - Possible Nyctophobia (fear of the dark, but specifically extreme pitch blackness for Chara), Possible Ecclesiophobia (fear of the church -either building or what it represents])

Matthew - Agoraphobia most probably (fear of going outdoors/leaving the house, some say wide open spaces)

Sal - somewhat Cynophobia but wants to overcome it (fear of dogs) ((likes dogs but is afraid of them honestly))

Kris - Monophobia/Autophobia (Fear of isolation and abandonment) ((this is a big one))

That’s all i can think of for now

💬free space! one cool fact!

uuHHH,,,,,, i can’t think of any, but i know one thing: i love our system and i can see everyone’s trying really hard to take care of each other or are doing a lot to process their own memories and feelings ;;;

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