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sabyfangirl16 · 9 months

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Tazzy Martin

Summary:

A Creature Power Suit malfunction caused by Zach in the hopes of getting revenge on the Wild Kratts crew went horribly wrong...

Notes:

One of the scenes here was inspired by Asil's art. Thank you. And thanks to all the amazing people who inspired me along the way.

"I'VE HAD IT!!!"

Zach was pacing around his office like a madman, fuming with suppressed rage, two Zachbots watching from afar, completely motionless.

He had just returned from another one of his thwarted attempts to capture a wild animal for him to turn into an invention - a beaver builder, with the soul purpose to build whatever the greedy inventor desired. Unfortunately for him, his plans were foiled as soon as the Wild Kratts team jumped into the scene.

"I'll get you next time you Wild Ratts!"

"That's Wild Kratts!"

He could feel himself boiling on the inside, gritting his teeth so hard they could shatter. He banged his fist on his desk. Very, very HARD.

"OWIE!" he cried, wriggling his hand and whining like a kid, instantly regretting it. "It hurts!"

He stole a glance at the unmoving Zachbots.

"I SAID IT HURTS! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!" he snapped, the robotic servants nursing him by bringing him an ice pack.

Zach snatched it in an aggressive way before pressing it against his hand. "Argh."

He thought hard for a moment.

"I need to find a way to get back at those pasky Wild Ratts, gotta teach them a lesson," he muttered, his tone deep and obscure.

He sat on his desk in a thinking pose. Not even a minute had passed before his eyes landed on something buried under all his workpapers.

Raising a curious eyebrow, he reached out his good hand and pulled out what seemed to be...a newspaper article, one he immediately recognized.

"Why do I still have this thing?" his voice contained a hint of irritation.

His eyes read the title.

The Wild Kratts Crew Will be Tagging the Endagered Tasmanian Devil.

The corners of the fabric were getting crumbled by Zach's clenched hands. His anger was immeasurable, and the picture of the Kratt brothers covering half the page only aggravated him even more. He despised them, his hatred towards them was the equivalent of a laser beam piercing through metal.

"I thought I threw this away, what's it still doing here?!" he pouted.

He was about to rip it to shreds...when a sudden memory crossed his mind.

Tazzy Chris.

He still recalled the way Chris acted in his T-devil suit, a malfunction that caught his attention.

"Hmm," he lowered the paper down, squinting his eyes and being deeply pensive. "That Creature Power Suit malfunction was certainly...interesting," his tone was changing gradually. "When green guy turned into that devil thingy, he was out of control!" The expression on his face was changing, too, taking a malicious aspect. "But that annoying Aviva fixed the malfunction," he grumbled with a disappointed face. "Unless..." The disappointment quickly disappeared, a spiteful smile creeping on his pale face. "I could trigger the activation, and Chris could go TAZZY again!" He jumped from his brilliant idea.

Zach then walked over to one of his drawers and pulled it open. Inside, was a triangular box, which he eagerly took out with a huge grin. "Heheh," he giggled as he opened the box.

"And my Disrupt-o-bots are just what I need to get the job done."

It was night time. Everyone in the Tortuga was sound asleep.

It had been a rough day for all of them, from saving those beavers to cleaning up the mess Zach left behind, as per usual.

The Kratt bothers were so tired that they practically threw themselves on their beds, as soon as they got back, without taking their Creature Power Suits off; old habits never die.

It was peaceful. But not for too long.

Through the ship's vents, sneaked in a an army of small-sized Disrupt-o-bots - which were only four - specifically designed for hacking and going unnoticed.

From the comfort and safety of his own plane, having had parked not too far from the blue ship itself, Zach was giving instrunctions to his little minions, being able to see what was happening through one of the Spy-bots' cameras.

"This is gonna be fun," he rubbed his hands diabolically. "Disrupt-o-bots, you know what to do."

And so, the tiny machines flew to the Kratt brothers' room. There, they found the two animal lovers sleeping in peace, snoring softly.

Zach wrinkled his nose at the sight of them. "Oh, you just wait and see what I'm gonna do," he cackled wickedly.

In no time, the Disrupt-o-bots flew inside Chris' suit, making their way through the circuit and eventually to the center of the system.

Zach remembered the first time he used his Disrupt-o-bots to tamper with the Creature Power Suits. How Martin turned from an elephant to a basilisk lizard, and how Chris turned from a rhino to an acorn, from a cheetah to a walrus, from a falcon to a bass, and finally, from a crocodile to a Tasiar, and from a hippo to a butterfly.

It was all fun to watch until the crew interefered and put a stop to his scheme.

But this time, it was going to be different.

"Now, I know about the flaw in Aviva's programming, so triggering this past activation should be a piece of cake."

With an overconfident smile, he took out a remote. "Disrubt now," he pressed a button, causing the Zachbots to start drilling through the system.

Zach laughed maniacally, waiting for the malfunction to take place... But nothing happened.

"What?!" his voice trailed off. "Hey, what's going on? You're supposed to turn tazzy!" he whined. "It's not fair!" He crossed his arms like an irritated five-year-old.

After thinking for a moment, he came to a conclusion. "Looks like Aviva's much smarter than I thought," he muttered. "The suit is somehow resisting the sabotage, argh," Zach rubbed his temples in frustration. "Think, Zach. Think." He tapped his head.

He suddenly remembered the other half of the Kratt brothers sleeping on the opposite side of the room.

At that moment, it was as though a light bolb lit up above his head.

"Hey, blue boy never turned into a devil thingy," he remarked, putting a finger to his chin. "What if..." He paused. "Maybe, just maybe, I could..."

He looked over at his screen once more, a venomous smile creeping on his face.

"Change of plans," he announced, pressing a different button this time.

Instead of drilling, the Disrupt-o-bots shoved wires into the green structure.

"If I could just copy the past activation..."

The Zachbots beeped in termination.

"Yes!"

Next thing, they exited Chris' suit and jumped inside Martin's.

"YES!"

Finally, they deposited the data in the blue circuit like a snake injecting venom into its prey.

"Oh, I'm such a genius!" Zach preened himself, waiting for the anticipated result.

Fortunately for him, it all went as planned this time.

Soon, a violent blast of blue enveloped the blue Kratt's form, morphing him into a vicious T-devil.

"It worked!" Zach's laughter filled his plane, feeling more triumphant than he could've imagined.

"Boy, I can't wait to see their reactions when they find out that blue boy turned tazzy!"

Martin's breathing intensified, his chest rattling as he scratched his ear like a dog. He twisted in bed, his tail wiggling fast, before his eyes flung open. He sat up, growling and drooling on his bed, then hopped on all fours by instinct as he rushed out of the room.

His head danced around frantically, unable to place where he was. He was confused, completely discombobulated. He accidentally ended up in the garage, where he found a very comfortable corner to curl into a ball and sleep in.

A new day dawned on the team, the sun slowly rising over the horizon and bringing light to the forest they were in.

Sunlight shone through the window and on Chris' face. He moaned a little, his eyebrows twitched as his eyes slowly opened, before instantly closing at the sight of light.

He breathed a long sigh, before stretching his body and stifling a yawn as he sat up in bed. He then stole a glance at the other side of the room, expecting to see Martin still sound asleep, only to be wrong.

His bed was empty.

Chris raised an eyebrow, "Huh." The only logical explination he could think of was that his brother had gotten up earlier than usual, not thinking much about it.

He got on his feet, realizing he was still in his clothes and suit, an enlarged grimace spreading across his face; he couldn't count the number of times they did that.

As he dragged his feet through the room, he took his CPS off, along with the gloves while making his way to the control room.

"Mornin' everyone," he let out as soon as he walked in, throwing his suit in the right place.

The other crew members were already up and at 'em, the girls working in their stations while Jimmy was preparing breakfast.

"Mornin' Chris!" Aviva was the first to respond, a warm smile on her face.

"You're just in time for breakfast!" Jimmy looked at him over his shoulder, humming a soft tune as he flipped another pancake.

In no time, the mouth-watering aroma reached the green Kratt. "Mmm, that smells good," he complimented, dipping forward to savour the smell.

"Thanks, my grandma Z's recipe!" Jimmy replied happily.

Then, it was as in sudden remembrance hit him.

"Say, has anyone seen Martin?"

The question caught everyone's breath, silence reigning.

"Umm, no," Aviva hesitated, before turning to Koki.

"Don't look at me, I haven't seen him all morning!" She waved her hands.

"Neither did I," Jimmy said in turn as he untied his apron.

A worried expression painted Chris' face, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Something just felt...off.

Back in the garage, the ferocious fur ball was slowly awakening. He stretched his body like a cat, nails clawing at the floor.

His eyes scanned the room and he gasped.

How did he end up in the garage?!

Just as he started thinking he had become somnambulist, he looked down at his hands, then at his arms... His eyes widened.

He jerked away, knocking over a few boxes while he was at it.

"GRAH!" He yapped, using proper words felt like a whole task of its own.

His vision was black and white, which only aggravated him.

"Wha- grrr... What's happening to me?!"

He got on all fours, gritting his sharp teeth while racking his brain for any reasonable explination to what he was going through.

Meat.

Carcus.

HUNGRY.

He snarled with pent-up aggravation; he couldn't think straight.

His ears suddenly twitched at the familiar voices coming from above him. The human part of him wanted to cry for help, but the animal inside him told him not too. It was screaming at him, telling him to get away from there, to break free fom this cage he was in.

And so, he ran over to the garage hatch and banged on it. When he realized it was no use, he implanted his sharp claws into the metalic door, ripping a hole inside like it was nothing.

He squeezed through and made his escape, as he disappeared into the woods, running towards an unknown destination.

"Maybe he's-"

BAM.

Everyone in the control room jumped at the sudden crashing noise.

"What was that?!" Jimmy stammered.

Bang. Bang.

Jimmy screetched as he buried his face in his cap.

"Sounds like it's coming from the garage!"

Chris was already heading there, followed shortly by the others.

They all stopped at the door, exchanging nervous looks.

"W-We should probably not go in there, i-it could be a dangerous animal!" Jimmy's voice squeaked.

"But what if it's not?" Chris gave him a firm look over his shoulder.

But just as he was about to get in, the sudden sound of wripping metal nearly burst everyone's eardrums.

They groaned as they barged in and, to their shock, their eyes landed on one, big blue tail wriggling from a hole in the garage hatch, just two seconds before it vanished.

"What in the world was that thing?!" Koki exclaimed, putting her hand to her forehead as she scanned the damage. "Aw, and look what it did!" she pouted.

"I'm not sure, but..." Aviva's voice trailed off, biting he lower lip from hesitance.

"But what?" Chris insisted.

"I think it was Martin," she said with a now lower voice. But Chris heard it very well.

"What?!" He looked white as a sheet. "What makes you say that?"

"He was wearing one of my suits, I'd recognize my CPS technology anywhere," she paused, lowering her head in a pensive way. "But I'm not sure which suit, it could be so many things; I've programmed too many creature powers with tails and I didn't even get a chance to guess what kind of tail he had!"

Aviva's words slowly became shallow to Chris' ears, as he was too busy processing what was going on, too busy thinking about what kind of Creature Power Suit malfunction they were dealing with.

"Hey, Chris. Hey!"

He felt two hands grasping his shoulders, giving him a good shake.

"Chris, are you listening?"

He stopped staring at the void to meet Aviva's worried eyes.

"...Huh? Um, yeah, you were saying?" He didn't mean to sound careless, yet that's exactly the tone he used to respond.

Giving an exasperated sigh, Aviva looked at him dead in the eye. "Your brother, Martin, is dealing with a malfunction that is unknown to us!" She tried very hard not to sound angry.

"But how did it happen? Did the suit just...activate on its own during the night or something?" Jimmy theorized, still a bit shaken from what was happening.

"No." Aviva sounded mildly firm to a terrifying level. "That's not possible! My suit can't just activate on its own, something must've triggered the activation," she muttered the last part to herself, but it was loud enough to be heard by everyone else.

"We'll figure that out later," Chris put an end to the deadly silence. "Right now, we have to go after Martin and find him before he hurts himself...or someone," his eyes narrowed as he glanced at the hole in the hatch. "He must have some pretty sharp claws to do that," he pointed.

"You can say that again," Koki nodded, sighing at the thought of having to fix it eventually.

"We better get going, then," Aviva earged, gaining determined nods, at the exception of Jimmy.

"Why does something like this always happen to us?" he whined.

He kept running and running...

His heart was on fire, a new found energy flowing around his body like electricity. He was reconnecting with the animalistic side of himself which he had been keeping at bay for so long, finally letting it free.

It felt so strange, yet so good.

He ended up on a tree-lined path, looking up at the gaps of sunlight, the air brushing against his fur as he swooped past every animal, every insect and every plant, like a bolt of light.

Realizing he had no clue where he was going, he came to a halt and scanned his surroundings; nothing but trees and grass.

His stomach grumbled and he made a low guttural sound, so he started sniffing around for anything to eat, when his extra-sensitive nose picked up a smell.

He dipped his head forward searching for the source of it, before taking off yet again, this time with a destination.

It wasn't long before he came across, what one who isn't stuck in a T-devil suit might find stomach-turning, a dead animal. The smell was so strong and repellent, no wonder he was able to smell it from so far away, especially with T-devil powers.

He approached the carcus on all fours like a real tasmanian devil, already salivating at the thought of devouring it.

He was so hungry, craving rotten meat more than anything.

He licked the corners of his mouth as he was about to bite a whole chunk of the meal...but paused, his eyes enlarging slightly, tacking a more human aspect, as they were fixated on the body before them.

He let out a loud, choked gasp as he fell back, jerking away from the carcus.

His eyes were wide and filled with fright.

He couldn't believe he almost ate a dead animal.

He ran in the opposite direction to get away from the smell, tears building in his eyes.

He wanted to cry for help. He wanted to go back to the Tortuga and have Aviva fix his suit before he spirled out of control again.

He wanted his brother.

"Chris- grrr!"

It had been hours since the search started, the hot afternoon sun burning down on the team as they made their way through the forest.

"Argh, we've been looking for hours, and I can't take it anymore!" Jimmy suddenly let out, sounding as though he was on the verge of tears. "My legs hurt, and I'm hungry. Heck! We didn't even have breakfast," he whined continually, his legs shaking and his stomach grumbling to confirm his words.

At that, everyone stopped and turned to look at him. Though, just as Chris was about to respond, Aviva beat him to it.

"I hate to admit it, but I can't go on either," her voice cracked from tiredness.

"Jimmy's right," Koki huffed, exhaustion painting her face. "We can't go on like this, we have to go back to the Tortuga to recharge and think of a new plan." She straightened up from sudden remembrance, her visage shifting from unenergetic to hard. "And may I remind you that there's still a big hole in the garage hatch that needs fixing?! Who knows what kind of creature could sneak in from there?" She waved her hands frantically, irritation clear in her voice.

Chris just stood there, his eyes darting from from one person to another, feeling empathy for his teammates. Part of him wanted to return to the ship, too - after all, he was fairly tired himself. But another part refused radically to stop looking for his missing brother.

"Chris?" Aviva called when he took too long to reply, her calm voice snapping him out of his thoughts.

He let out a long sigh before finally saying, "It's alright, you guys can go back without me." His smile was bittersweet.

"Are you sure?" Koki raised an eyebrow, not liking the idea of leaving him all by himself.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll keep looking in the meantime, and you can rejoin me later," he tried to sound as persuasive as he could, the girls exchanging uncertain looks when a loud grumble almost made them jump.

They quickly turned around to find Jimmy rubbing his stomach with a sheepish grin. "Heh, sorry," he said with a small, nervous voice.

The girls couldn't help but cackle a little.

"Welp, we better head back before Jimmy's stomach yells at us again," Koki resolved humorously.

Aviva laughed softly before turning to Chris, "We'll be back before you know it, CK," she smiled warmly, the green Kratt instinctively returning the smile.

And just like that, they all marched away and disappeared behind the trees, leaving Chris standing in the middle of the forest. Alone.

He put his hands on his waist and let out a frustrated sigh. "Where are you, bro?" He looked up at the sky as if waiting for a hint to drop from there.

He had no clue for how long he'd been standing in that same spot, too trapped in his thoughts to keep track of time, when suddenly-

SNAP.

"Huh?" Chris swiftly span around in search of the source of the sound, but calmed down when he assumed it must've been just a harmless wild animal.

CRACK.

Wrong. There it was again. This time it sounded closer.

Chris gasped quietly, his shoulders were tense, his eyes wide and observant, dancing around in all directions, as he walked around himself in a defensive pose.

"Who's there?!" he snapped when the cracking noise returned, this time accompanied by the rustle of some nearby bushes. It got louder and louder, until...it stopped.

"Hm?" Chris let down his guard a little when silence lasted for a while now.

Cautiously, he stepped closer to the bush he thought he'd heard the sound come from, crouching before looking behind it...

Nothing.

He blinked for a few seconds, before scoffing in amusement as he slowly stood up and-

GRAW!

Not knowing what hit him, Chris found himself flat on the ground after being pounced on by a creature just about his size, although he was in too much of a daze to realize it at the moment. Confusion was quickly followed by pain, sharp pain in his right arm, right beneath his shoulder. His eyes were closed shut through it all, but he could sense the heavy breathing of a potentially ferocious animal right above him. He tried to swallow, but couldn't. He gasped for air, the weight of the animal pushing down on him with its claws suffocating him. He was pretty sure he had tears forming in his eyes, seeping through the corners and slowly rolling down the sides of his head.

He racked his brain for what creature could've possibly pounced on him. A wild cat? Maybe a wolf?

A sharp, pained cry escaped his chest.

Darn those claws.

They were sinking through his jacket and into his skin, like five well sharpened knives.

Finally, he mentally smacked himself to open his eyes and find out who his attacker was. Slowly, he cracked his eyelids open, his pupils shrinking at the sunlight illuminating the blurry, blue figure right on top of him, but as his vision became clearer, his face dropped and pallid, his glassy eyes widening from shock and disbelief.

"Martin-..." it barely came out, almost like a cough rather than a word.

"Grrr!" was all he responded with.

Indeed, Martin had mercilessly tackled his own brother, growling at his horrified, pale face as drool ran down from the corners of his mouth and only missed Chris' face by mere inches; he looked about ready to rip off his face any moment. His left claw dug deep into his brother's arm, so deep that blood was practically flowing through his fingers. It was unimaginably painful, but Chris was too focused on his brother's inhuman, animal-like shrinked pupils, looking right through his soul to even care about the burning sensation in his arm. He was busy analyzing his features; the dark circles encompassing his eyes, his sharp canines sticking out of his mouth, his long, pointy ears and his furry chest... He'd recognize that suit anywhere.

Out of all Creature Power Suit malfunctions, he never, ever, in the whole creature world, would've guessed his brother went tazzy.

Carefully, he shifted his free arm and reached a gentle hand to his brother's face, the Kratt in the tazzy suit seeming completely unaffected by the gesture.

"It's okay," Chris managed with a weak yet soothing voice. "You'll be okay~" his voice trailed off as his hand slid down his brother's cheek before dropping on his chest; he was losing consciousness.

However, the movement ended up having an effect on the blue Kratt, knocking him out of his tazzy trance, his pupils starting to widen back to their normal shape, his brows slowly furrowing from perplexity.

Once he was fully himself again, the first thing his eyes caught was his brother lying out cold on the ground right beneath him, his head flopped to the side in a nearly lifeless manner.

"Chris?!" he jerked away from his brother's body, landing on his tail and looking absolutely petrified.

His eyes twitched toward his arm, his green sleeve soaked with fresh blood, following a trail of red, leading to his...hand.

He stared at his hand, panic building up inside him, eyes widening as he discovered blood all over, slowly running down his fingers, from the tip of his slicing nails to the red pool covering his entire palm.

Huff. Huff.

His breathing intensified, still staring at his now trembling hand with watery eyes, realization hitting him like a truck.

He hurt him. His little brother. The one he's always supposed to protect.

He clenched his teeth as a dark thought crept to his mind.

What if he was... No!

He refused to check, too afraid to find out, too scared he might hurt him even more.

He needed to get away from him, to stay away from him, to keep him safe from himself.

So without another thought, he took off on all fours in the opposite direction of where Chris was lying, unable to see clearly with the new set of tears streaming down his face, staining the ground behind him, along with the blood he still had in his claw.

Looking out on a stream of water, lit up by the evening sun, Martin was curled into a ball and sobbing uncontrollably, the memory of his brother lying bleeding on the floor haunting him like a ghost.

It's okay.

You'll be okay.

His soft voice echoed in his mind.

"C-Chris..." he let out with a shaky voice, his chest rattling from all the crying.

He then lifted his head to look at his bloody claw; the blood was now dry and darkened by the dirt, the sight making him quickly shift from tormented to furious as he slammed his hand against the water, the blood getting washed off in the process.

He breathed heavily, tear marks staining his face.

How could he do this to him? His own brother.

But he hadn't had enough, delivering a strong fist into the closest tree, desperately in need of a way to liberate his anger.

Little did he know, that one punch was going to answer all of his questions.

He heard something bump into the trunk of the tree, sounding awfully like metal. And, sure enough, when he looked down, his eyes widened at the sight of... Zachbots?!

He remembered them very well, those very same miniscule Zachbots that caused him and his brother serious Creature Power Suit malfunctions in the past. It all came back to him; the time his brother almost got eaten by an elephant as an acorn, and later on nearly becoming a fishy snack for a bunch of hungry voltures, without forgetting about their near-drowning experience and almost getting devoured by baby crocodiles. And finally, he remembered the one behind all of it: Zach.

He gritted his teeth so hard, shock turning into immeasurable rage.

He was the one responsible for his misery. He was the reason his brother was injured in the first place.

With the earge to quench his thirst for revenge, he trapped the oblivious Disrupt-o-bots in his hands, crushing them without pity.

He now had only one goal in mind.

Zach. Must. Pay.

Pain.

That was all he felt at the moment, surrounded by complete darkness.

But then, he started hearing indistinct voices, slowly growing clearer and more familiar by the second.

"I think he's waking up," he heard Aviva gasp softly, a noticeable hint of relief in her voice.

"Finally," he then heard Koki sigh heavily.

Realizing he had been unconscious, Chris brought himself to open his eyes, squinting at the light in the room with a grunt. He instantly recognized the two figures hanging above his face.

"Chris, can you hear me?" Aviva leaned in, looking down at him with worried eyes.

Chris tried to move but hissed at the stinging pain in his right arm, immediately regretting it.

"Hey, don't move," Koki cautioned with a firm tone.

Feeling weak, he scanned the chamber in order to place where he was: his and Martin's room.

He was lying in his own bed, back in the safety of the Tortuga.

"W-What happened?" he asked, still in a bit of a daze.

"When we came back from the Tortuga, we found you lying unconscious and badly hurt," Aviva explained.

"Your arm took a beating! Luckily, there aren't any internal injuries, but still," Koki persued, motioning to his right arm as she bit her lower lip, which he found was bandaged up from the corner of his eye.

"We were worried sick! What happened out there?!" Aviva cried.

"What kind of wild animal did that to you?" Koki asked in turn, the question triggering something in him.

...

Martin.

The memory of his brother viciously snarling at his face and clawing at his arm flashed before his eyes.

"...Chris?" Aviva's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Is something wrong?" she asked when she noticed the perturbed expression on his face.

"It was Martin," he muttered under his breath, staring into the void.

"WHAT?!" both girls cried out simultaneously.

"It was Martin, in his Tasmanian devil suit," he looked at them seriously, their eyes widening at his words. "He pounced on me not long before you guys left, and his eyes..." He looked down at the hand he caressed his face with. "He wasn't himself," his voice deepened, taking an obscure aspect.

"Hold up, back it up..." Koki suddenly snapped, waving her hands. "You mean to tell us that Martin did that to you?!"

"And that he went tazzy?!" Aviva added in turn, sounding a lot more shocked. "But-... How's that even possible?!" her voice cracked. "We're not even in Tasmania, so there's no way he could've activated on his own," she held her head in disbelief, pacing around the room as though in search of an answer. "Something just isn't right in this story."

"What kind of Creature Power Suit malfunction is this?" Koki glanced at Chris' arm. "Did you see the damage he made?"

"Look, I don't know how this happened, I don't know how Martin went tazzy, but all I know is that he's out there and he needs us," Chris said with all of his chest, carefully getting into a sitting position. He paused and took a deep breath. "He needs me."

They all remained silent for a moment, exchanging worried looks.

"But if we were gonna help him, we gotta figure out how the malfunction occurred in the first place," Aviva put a hand under her chin.

"This all started this morning, right after we all woke up," Chris recapped.

"Which means something must've triggered the activation at night," Aviva assumed. "But what?"

As in sudden remembrance, Koki gasped, "I think I might have a way for us to find out," she let out excitedly, catching Chris and Aviva's attention.

And before they knew it, the whole team was gathered up in the control room, Koki typing away something on the big screen. Chris was sitting on the center table, a slightly shaky Jimmy right beside him, a bag of ships on his lap to help him cope with the stress.

"So what's this about, Koki?" Aviva asked, watching as her friend pushed her chair away from the screen with a confident smile.

"You'll see."

On the big screen, appeared a video footage of the control room at night.

"See, I've installed security cameras all over the Tortuga in case someone, like you know who, sneaks in and tries to steal one of our inventions," she clarified, earning an astounded "ah" from Aviva.

"Good thinking, Koki!" she complimented.

"Thanks," Koki smiled vigorously.

"But how's this gonna help?" Jimmy questioned with an anxious tone, stuffing his mouth with a handful of ships.

"Well, like Aviva said, something must've triggered the activation of Martin's suit, and this is how we'll figure out what," Koki explained.

"Or who," Chris said, everyone giving him concerned looks.

With that, Koki started switching from one camera to another, each showing the same chamber from different angles.

"Wait, stop!" Koki nearly jumped at Aviva's voice. "What's that?" She pointed at something moving on the screen.

Koki paused and rewound the clip. "Hmm, zooming in."

This time, they all saw it clearly; the room filled with gasps.

"Is that what I think it is?" Aviva asked, flabbergasted.

"Zach's Disrupt-o-bots," Chris said with an uncharacteristically hateful tone.

"Looks like they all sneaked in from the vents," Koki remarked, pointing at the robots flying in from the mentioned construction.

"And flew all the way to the bros' room," Aviva continued, the screen shifting to a different camera footage of the hallway. "Zach must've found a way to get Martin's suit to activate T-devil powers. The only problem is, there's no way he could've triggered a past activation like he did last time he used those Zachbots on the suits, since Martin never activated Tasmanian devil powers to begin with. And besides, I corrected all of the ghost activations in both suits, so a malfunction like this shouldn't even be possible!" she informed very precisely, pacing up and down the room as she did so. "Unless..." she came to a halt right in the middle, between Koki and the guys. "He managed to COPY Chris' past activation and transfered it to Martin's suit!" she involuntarily raised her voice, before face palming herself a bit too hard. "Gah, how come I haven't anticipated this?!" she scolded herself, rubbing her nose bridge from self-disappointment.

"Hey, you couldn't have known Zach would plot something like this," Koki comforted, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Chris, on the other hand, was too busy thinking about what Zach did to his brother, finding himself clenching his good hand into a fist of fury.

"Zach went too far this time," he forced out through gritted teeth, not noticing Aviva approaching him slowly.

"I know," she grasped his shoulder, looking deep into his eyes. "We'll deal with him later, but right now we got a Kratt to find and help out," her brows furrowed, earning a heavy sigh from the Kratt in green.

"You're right," he responded with a slightly more relaxed tone.

"And now that we know exactly what kind of malfunction we're dealing with, you should be able to fix it, right?" Koki tilted her head.

Aviva looked down pensively. "Yeah, but..." her voice trailed off, her eyes slowly twitching toward Chris' bandaged arm. "I'm not going anywhere near him, I mean did you see what he did?" she paused as she realized how rude that sounded, turning to find Chris rubbing his arm with an offended look. "Sorry," she said desolatedly, slightly embarrassed.

"I get it," he answered with an understanding tone. "I wouldn't wish this for anyone."

"That looks painful," Jimmy stammered, swallowing hard.

"So, how are you supposed to deactivate him without touching him?" Koki asked with crossed arms.

At that, it was as though a light bulb lit up above the inventor's head. "I think I have an idea!" She rushed to her invention station and started going through her drawers. "Where is it, where is it..." she mumbled to herself, before finally finding what she was looking for. "Ah hah!" she let out victoriously, waving a small item in the air.

"What's that?" Chris raised an eyebrow.

"This is the solution to all our problems," she spoke highly of the object, placing it on the table for everyone to see.

"A...Fly-Cam?" Jimmy leaned in to get a better look.

"Uhh, how's that gonna help?" Chris asked, a bit of concern in his voice.

"First of all, this isn't just any regular Fly-Cam," she replied defensively. "This is the same invention I used to remove Zach's Disrupt-o-bots from the Tortuga's system when he locked us up in here," she said, referring to the Creature Power Challenge incident.

A smile slowly crept across Chris' face as he started to catch up on her plan.

"I specifically designed it to obey all my commands, so if I modify it a little, I should just be able to use it to get to Martin's suit and deactivate him!"

"Brilliant!" Chris let out in admiration.

"Whew, well as long as none of us have to get near him, I'm good," Jimmy sighed in relief, making Koki roll her eyes at him.

"And now that that's settled, all that's left now is to find him," she reminded, the smile on Chris' face fading away.

"Right," he sighed.

"Thankfully, I have the solution to that too," Aviva said. "I just remembered that I installed a GPS tracker in each of your suits in case one of you guys get lost, so Koki should have no problem tracking Martin down," she looked at the mechanic who nodded.

"I'll get right to it," she hopped on her chair and cracked her fingers before getting to work.

"And while she's doing that, I'll get this thing ready for the mission." Aviva grabbed the Fly-Cam as she headed to her station.

"And while she's doing that, I'm gonna get you something to eat because you haven't had anything all day!" Jimmy insisted, Chris chuckling at his caring nature.

"Thanks, JZ," he smiled thankfully.

Jimmy smiled in return before heading to the fridge.

And just like that, Chris was left with his own thoughts, looking up through the roof to find the twilight sky shifting into night.

"Just hang on, bro. We're coming."

In the dark of the night, a furry form moved swiftly through the trees, blending in with the shadows, all creatures jumping out of his path and hiding away; the sight of him made even the most ferocious animals hide in fear. He jumped from one rock to another and climbed up a rocky hill, from there he had a perfect view of the forest.

The moon shone on his face, his tazzy blue eyes glimmering from its light, as he looked around and sniffed hard; his strong sense of smell was all he needed to detect his enemy.

When he finally picked up something, he growled as an image formed in his head.

Zach.

He was close, very close.

Putting his night vision to use, he scanned the area for any sign of him.

Trees. Trees. More trees...

Wait.

In the distance, his eyes landed on what seemed to be a plane squeezed in between trees, the black color rendering it harder to spot.

By instinct, he let out a loud and sharp growl, gradually turning into a roar, piercing through the night.

"Heheh, I sure taught those Wild Ratts a lesson," Zach snickered with a venomous smile.

He was still in his plane, sitting in the pilot chair and enjoying a nice cup of coffee.

"And now, I should just call back my Disrupt-o-bots before heading back home."

He placed the cup on a side table, then reached out to his screen.

"Hmm, that's weird," he raised an eyebrow. "The Disrupt-o-bots aren't responding," he thought about it for a moment. "Meh, I'll just replace them with new ones," he brushed off as he grabbed his drink.

Suddenly, he heard it.

GRAH!

"AH! What was that?!" he yelped, almost dropping the cup.

Two Zachbots were on each side of the chair, turning their heads to beep at him as a response.

With a frown, he slowly walked over to the window and took a look outside, nothing but trees in the dark.

"Hmm, probably just some wolf thingy or something," he assumed with a shrug, before turning around and sipping more coffee.

And then, it came back. It was the exact same sound from before, only louder and closer.

Zach was so startled, he ended up spitting his drink and, this time, dropping the cup on the floor as it shattered to pieces, its shards scattering all over the place.

With a screech, he ran over and hid behind his chair, popping out his trembling head.

"Z-Zachbots, go out there and find out where that sound came from!" he ordered, stuttering exaggeratedly.

Both robots beeped twice before exiting the pilot room, leaving Zach all by himself. Unprotected.

He remained in the same spot, too frightened to come out, patiently waiting for his Zachbots to return.

Not a minute had past, when he heard another growl, this one a little different. Next, he heard the sound of metal getting shredded, followed by utter silence.

Zach's eyes widened in fear. "Z-Zachbots?" he gulped, slowly coming out of his hiding spot.

...

Scratch.

He instantly covered his ears at the sound of nails scratching against the walls from the indoors of his plane, the sound of metal getting dragged on the floor creating a torturous noise.

Wait.

Inside his plane?!

Zach felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest. The whole experience felt like a scene from a horror movie.

"Something's out there, and it's coming to get me!" he tried his best not to scream.

With shaky legs, he hurried to the controls and started pressing various buttons, the door of the pilot room closing shut.

"Whew, that'll do it," he wiped off the sweat on his forehead, thinking he was now safe for sure.

But he was wrong, dead wrong.Just as he sank in his chair, Zach screamed like a little girl when he heard a loud and aggressive BANG BANG on his door, followed by momentary silence.

He couldn't take his eyes off of that door, not even for one second, looking paler than he already is.

But then, he realized something. "Wait a sec, nothing can get through that door. It's practically unbreakable! So I should be safe in here," he crossed his arms with a confident expression.

Contradicting his words, the door suddenly slammed open, some would say it exploded, and flew all the way across the chamber and would've KILLED Zach if he hadn't jumped out of the way just in time, destroying his chair along with the side table and smashing the windshield before landing outside with a THUD.

Zach was now on his head and knees, slowly peeking through his crossed arms to find a HUGE hole in the middle of his windshield, the rest of it was gravely cracked up, shreds of glass sprinkling the ground, almost artistically. He could also see broken parts of what was once his chair, which had landed in different places, realizing how lucky he was that none of them hit him.

But not even his luck could save him from what was coming next.

From the entrance, his Zachbots got thrown in, landing just a few inches in front of his face. But when he looked up, his eyes widened in horror when he found they were torned, with broken arms, wires sticking out of newly formed holes and, most terrifyingly, claw marks. Big, deep claw marks.

Filled with dread, his eyes went up toward the entrance. The hallway was pitch black, but he was able to see two wide, blue eyes glowing in the dark.

"GRRR!"

It didn't take long for the crew to get ready. Right after Aviva finished her part, Koki had Martin tracked down on her iPad, and Jimmy was still mentally preparing himself since he had to drive the Creetera, being chosen as the most adequate vehicle for the mission.

"Looks like we're all set," Koki said with her device in hand, hopping in and sitting right next to Jimmy who was already behind the wheel. "I've got Martin's location right here, and it's not too far so we should get there very soon."

"I'm a little scared, but more ready than ever," the ginger guy laughed nervously, trying his very best to hide his stress, his fingers playing around the wheel.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, JZ. It'll turn out fine."

He looked up to find Koki smiling reassuringly, a bit of his anxiety melting away as he smiled timidly.

Just then, they heard someone jump in from the back, followed by a thud. They turned to find Aviva placing her MIK in the corner before sitting next to it.

"What?" she asked when she noticed the funny looks she was getting. "I'm not leaving without my Mobile Invention Kit! We'll need it more than you think," she panted, receiving a chuckle from Koki and an amused smile from Jimmy.

"I'm sure we will," Koki finally said with a smug.

"Hey, don't forget about me."

Everyone's attention turned to the garage entrance, where they saw Chris walking in with a serious face.

"Chris, you sure you wanna come?" Aviva asked with a worried tone. "You're not exactly in the shape for this, plus you won't be able to activate your suit with that injury," she pointed out, hoping dearly she wasn't offending him.

Chris looked straight in her eyes. "This is my brother we're talking about, of course I'm coming," he started with a deep, determined voice. "And I don't need creature powers to save him!" He paused and grasped his shoulder. "Even if it means getting another one of these, I'm ready to do anything to get him back."

With a heavy sigh, Aviva reluctantly agreed. "Then hopp in." With a half-smile, she extended a hand, the green Kratt gladly taking it as she helped him into the back of the vehicle.

As the recently fixed garage hatch opened, Jimmy started the engines and hit the mushroom before they took off into the night with the headlights on.

"Okay, Jimmy, just follow this path right here," Koki pointed with her index, not taking her eyes off of her screen.

"You got it!" Jimmy said as he accelerated.In the back, Aviva was tinkering with the tool that was meant to help save Martin.

"So, you're gonna use that to infiltrate Martin's suit?" Chris asked, sitting on the opposite side while facing her.

"Mhm," she nodded her head. "All the necessary modifications are done, and I'll be controlling it with my MIK, that's the mane reason I brought it," she patted on the mentioned object, purposely raising her voice at the last part for the people in the front.

"I sure hope it works," Chris said with a hopeful voice.

"It will, I promise," Aviva assured.

Even in the dark, Chris could still sense her positive expression, making him feel better.

"Uhh, guys?" they suddenly heard Koki call out, feeling the Creetera coming to a stop. "Look where we ended up."

Chris and Aviva's jaws dropped at the sight of...Zach's plane.

"Zach," Chris said the name like it was poisonous.

"Koki, are you sure this is the right place?" Jimmy asked with a shaky voice.

"Sure I'm sure! That's what the GPS says," she pointed at her screen.

"I got a bad feeling about this," Aviva said skeptically.

"You think Zach kidnapped him?" Koki asked.

BANG. BANG.

"Woah! What was that?!" Jimmy screeched.

But before anyone could say anything, something came bursting through the head of the plane, glass scattering all over. Everyone gasped in horror, before quickly hopping off, at the exception of Jimmy who practically had his face buried in his cap and shaking badly. They rushed to the front of the plane and found a wrecked metal door laying on the ground.

"Something tells me Zach's in trouble," Chris assumed, and as though to add up to his words, a loud, familiar scream came from the inside.

"Let's get in, quick!" Aviva earged, her MIK already on her back as she used her robot arms to lift Koki and Chris by the waists before lifting herself off of the ground and through the human-sized hole in the windshield.

As soon as they stepped in, they gasped as their eyes landed on-

"MARTIN!" they all cried out.

There he was, on all fours and slowly approaching a mortified Zach crawling backwards, like a hungry predator, he was snarling at him, looking like he was about to pounce on him and end him right then and there.

Zach looked scared to death. "N-No, stay back!" he wailed, before he noticed the trio behind him. "Wild Ratts!" he gasped. "P-Please, save me!"

When his face was turned, that was when Martin jumped.

"GRAH!"

Zach screamed and would've been at the mercy of his jaw, if it weren't for Chris' quick thinking.

Swap.

With a piece from that broken chair that resembled a baseball bat, he hit Martin square in the jaw, knocking him several feet away before hissing from the pain in his arm.

"Get out of here, Zach!" Chris yelled, holding up his newly acquired weapon like a dagger.

He didn't have to ask him again.

With slippery feet, Zach half-crawled, half-walked toward the doorway, but just as he was about to make his escape, Martin swiftly got in his way, forbidding him from leaving the room.

"AH! Don't hurt me!" Zach jumped back a little, hiding his face with trembling arms.

Martin growled at him threateningly, blood leaking from the side of his mouth. Despite the situation, Chris couldn't help but feel guilty for being the cause of that.

Regardless, what needed to be done needed to be done.

On the other side of the room, near the controls, the girls stood watching the whole scene in horror.

"Oh, no! It's worse than I thought!" Aviva cried. "I have to act fast before it's too late."

"Then you better get to work," Koki said, picking up a weapon of her own. "I'll give Chris a hand."

With a nod, Aviva hurried herself to a safe corner, sucking in her body with her MIK on her lap.

"MARTIN, NO!" Chris cried out, too far to save Zach this time.

Martin was ready to pounce when-

SMACK.

He roared in pain as something got thrown at his head, turning furiously to find Koki looking at him courageously.

"Snap out of it, Martin! This isn't you!" she tried to reach to him, but to no avail.

Instead, Martin changed his target, starting to approach her and completely forgetting about Zach who had already sneaked to the opposite direction, where Aviva was.

Without realizing it, he hid in the same corner she was in, turning to find a very stern face looking straight at him.

"AH! What are you doing here?!" he yapped as though she owed him an explination.

"Uhh, trying to fix the mess that you caused," she spat, before turning to her MIK. "And we're technically rescuing you, too, so you're welcome," she added without even looking at him, too busy getting the Fly-Cam ready.

As much as he hated to admit it, Zach would've been a victim of his own tampering if it weren't for the crew's help.

He looked away awkwardly, when Aviva asked, "What did you do last night? I know you copied Chris' past activation, but did you change something in it?"

"Maybe I- uhh, made a little modification before transfering it to Martin's suit," he lowered his voice, rubbing the back of his head as he avoided eye contact.

"Ugh, that's what I was afraid of!" Aviva face palmed herself. "This is why you shouldn't mess with technology that you don't understand," she scolded, Zach crossing his arms in annoyance.

"I just wanted to teach you Wild Ratts a lesson," he whined, receiving a disturbed look from the inventor.

"And you thought turning one of the bros into a blood thirsty T-devil was a good idea?!"

"Yeah, maybe it wasn't the best idea," he finally admitted with a grumpy tone.

"This explains Martin's behaviour," Aviva then muttered to herself. "I only have one chance to deactivate him, so I gotta wait for the right moment," she said with her Fly-Cam in hand.

Koki gasped, her back propped up against the wall as Martin got closer and closer...

"HEY!" Chris threw his own weapon at his brother which truly aggravated the beast inside him, his attention getting turned from Koki as he gave him a death glare.

Chris' eyes widened as he realized what he had gotten himself into.

Martin turned to face him, before charging at him.

"GRAW!"

Terrified, Chris' feet shifted backwards and he ended up tripping over one of the annialated Zachbots, falling flat on his back. His eyes twitched toward something under his feet, an astuce popping in his mind. He quickly wripped off a Zachbot arm and held it above his face at the very last second before his brother launched his teeth at him, only to end up munching and champing on the piece of metal instead.

But the defense didn't last very long, for Martin's instincts pushed him to use T-devil teeth, a large jaw forming on his face with teeth that helped him CRUNCH the metalic arm into half. Chris' face would've been next if he hadn't shifted it in time, only missing his brother's demonical jaw by an inch. Then, Chris lifted his feet and kicked his devil of a brother in the gut, before making his escape as he panically crawled to the nearest wall, hearing Martin panting behind him. The pain in his arm didn't help much. Just as he turned to lean against the wall, he was already face to face with his out-of-control sibling, almost scaring him to death.

"Grrr..."

Chris' heart skipped a beat. He felt the whole world around him quieting down, only hearing his brother huffing through his nose, his melodical heavy breathing, his face slowly getting closer to his. Swallowing became nearly impossible. His eyes were fixated on his; sharp, deep, blue pupils, ones he remembered all too well.

As though a voice behind his head told him to, Chris prudently reached his left hand to his brother's face, part of him genuinely scared that he might bite it off, and gently caressed his cheek.

"It's okay."

Martin's huffing stopped, his breathing calmed down, his brows furrowed, and his pupils returned to their original state.

"You'll be okay."

He stared into his brother's glassy eyes for the longest time. "...Chris?"

Hearing his own name coming from his mouth, Chris gave a quivering gasp.

Once Aviva noticed, she liberated the Fly-Cam as she used her MIK to control it, flying it all the way to Martin's suit before breaking in through the activation button.

"I'm in!" she exclaimed. "Now if I could just get to the system and..." her voice trailed off, her tongue now sticking out of her mouth showing how focused she was.

Not even half a minute had passed, when a blast of blue encompassed the blue Kratt's form, almost blinding his brother, before he collapsed in his arms; the prolonged duration being trapped in that suit had drained him completely.

Chris looked down at his brother's closed eyes; if it weren't for the trail of blood running down from his mouth, he would've looked peaceful.

Holding him closer, Chris let out a long, heavy sigh of relief.

Finally.

Koki slid down the wall she was leaning on, before sitting on the floor with a "whew!"

"It worked," Aviva sighed in turn.

At that moment, her creature pod started to ring. "Jimmy?" she answered.

On the screen, was a slightly shaken Jimmy, still hiding in the Creetera.

"A-Are you guys okay? What happened?" he stuttered.

"Yeah," Aviva smiled, looking over at an overwhelmingly relieved Chris in the other side of the room. "Everything's fine, now."

"Great, now I have to fix all the damage he made in my plane!" Zach let out, making her roll her eyes.

"Argh," he twirled his aching head, slowly opening his eyes as he heard soft gasps all around him.

"Martin?" he heard his brother's soft, hopeful voice.

The blurry shapes above him became clearer, now being able to see worried faces circling him, though his eyes immediately went toward his brother.

"Chris?" his voice was feeble, feeling incredibly tired.

He hadn't realized it yet, but he was lying in his own bed.

With a grunt, he got into a sitting position, his back propped up against his pillow.

"Oh, my head," he complained, putting a hand to his forehead. He also felt something soft covering the corner of his lip; a small pad.

"What happened?" He couldn't help but notice the nervous looks on everyone's face. "Uh, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

But before anyone could answer, he gasped as his eyes landed on his brother's bandaged arm; the memory was vague, there were a few holes then and there, but the one where he tackled his brother remained intact.

"Chris!" he cried. "Y-Your arm," he pointed with a shaky finger, the green Kratt covering up his arm as he saw how quickly his brother's face turned pale.

"I...did that to you, didn't I?" his voice was filled with remorse.

Chris bit his lower lip. "Look," he placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It wasn't your fault."

At that, Martin instantly shifted away from the touch, looking away with sad eyes.

"He's right," Aviva backed him up. "It was all Zach's doing, he's the reason you went tazzy in the first place! But we dealt with him."

"More like saved him," Koki chuckled, Martin looking up at her with quizzing eyes. "Let's just say you weren't so happy when you figured out he was behind all this."

"I wasn't there when it happened," Jimmy said, slightly embarrassed. "But from what I heard, you were pretty scary," he said as though he himself had experienced his wrath.

Koki gave him a hard nudge which made him realize it wasn't the best thing to say at the moment.

Martin's eyes widened.

He did what?!

"But it's all over, now," Koki tried to alleviate the situation.

"And don't worry about your suit, I'll have it checked up in no time," Aviva said, giving him a thumb up.

Martin looked down to find that he was no longer wearing his suit, his sweater replaced with a comfy blue shirt.

But despite everything, he still felt awfully guilty for hurting his brother badly.

"Chris..." He mustered the courage to look into his eyes. "I'm really, really sorry-"

"Wha- no..."

"I-I never meant to hurt you-"

"Bro, it's okay." Chris gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I forgive you."

His words somehow made him feel better, as though a weight had been lifted off of his chest.

He leaned in and gave him a long, meaningful hug.

"You're okay," Chris whispered in his ear. "Everything's okay."

Notes:

The art used for this fic was made by: GreenxLady

#wild kratts #kratt brothers #chris kratt #martin kratt #aviva corcovado #koki #jimmy z #zach varmitech #zachbots #wk fanfic #hurt/comfort #bro fluff #angst #fluff #blood #fangirl power!

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iolypse · 1 year

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primarily english speaking qsmp members as D&D characters because I can't help but fuse both of my current fixations together

Philza — species for this one was tricky, class and subclass a little harder, but I ultimately decided on aasimar ranger (horizon walker). kept trying to pick between aasimar and air genasi, almost put air genasi because I felt like qfoolish fit aasimar better, but they can both be aasimar it's fine. by the time I finish writing this, foolish might not even be an aasimar anymore, im still thinking. regardless, qphil has always been a bit of a tactician and a bowman, hasnt he? classic traits of a ranger. from there, it felt like horizon walker was the only subclass that fit. protecting from otherworldly threats, preserving life and other planes. yeppp sounds like this paranoid motherfucker right here.

BadBoyHalo — now that's a tiefling if I've ever seen one. class is a little more complicated. I've deliberated between paladin and warlock before eventually settling on paladin, making him a tiefling paladin (ancients). I don't have to explain the tiefling part (have you seen his everything?), but the paladin part could use it. we're yet to really see qbad make any real deals with any powerful forces, so that took out the warlock part for me. I wanted to make sure he had at least a little bit of magic though (c'mon), so I immediately went to paladin, and it worked out. he's a dedicated man! he'll make a promise and he'll fuckin stick to it. I debated between devotion and ancients after that, but devotion tends to have a more lawful side, which ended with me choosing ancients. they fight the darkness because they love life, plain and simple, and you're dull if you can't see how much this dude loves life.

FitMC — alright, I'm sorry, I had to do it, but this is a human fighter (rune knight) right here. I simply couldnt see him as anything other than human, and rogue and artificer didn't fit since there's other characters that fit those classes so much better, so fighter it was. still, qfit has a lot of cool gadgets and bits and bobs, and I wanted to recognize that in this adaptation of him, so I decided to show that through the rune knight subclass. rune knight fighters can do a lot of cool shit with their runes, enhancing pretty much anything they put their mind to. probably some shit he found scrawled in the horrors of 2b2t and decided to study.

Foolish — this one was hard! the fuck is this guy? I instinctively thought aasimar, but I already made qphil an aasimar, so I played around with different types of genasi and then goliaths, even minotaurs just trying to find something that fit the semi-inhuman sorta innately magical, physically strong being vibes. I think aasimar fit best, so then it was a matter of class. hes a builder! he builds shit. that's what qfoolish does. but he is NOT a mechanic and therefore not an artificer, not musical enough to be a bard, not angry enough to be a barbarian, so what the fuck is he? took a LOT of fucking around, but eventually I remembered the college of creation exists, and I felt it fit well enough, making him an aasimar bard (creation). he draws his power from his builds— he inspires with sight, not song. it's a unique take on a bard, but I've seen some awesome chef bards, so I think this works just fine. he's an architect bard.

Slimecicle — this one was FUN. 100% that's a fucking plasmoid. he's a goopy guy! then I experimented with different bard and rogue classes, thought maybe warlock for his deal with demon rubius, and then decided i couldn't disrespect the juanaflippa song and said fuck it, he can be a bard. again in correlation with the song, I went with valor, since he's telling her great story through the lyrics, keeping her memory alive with it. I DID consider spirits, however, since he actually managed to bring juanaflippa back, however briefly. still, I felt valor fit the bill just a little better. he's a plasmoid bard (valor).

JaidenAnimations — ohhh this one took some thought. I wanted her to be fairly humanoid while still having some subtle unusual traits, and elf was considered but it felt too regal. I almost considered kenku for how she tends to repeat what other people say, but it wasn't right. thought I'd try something a little strange, and I ended up with shifter! specifically wildhunt. class was just as difficult— she wasnt going to be any primarily martial classes, so that cut out a bunch, and she's not really faithful or super devoted, so that took out paladin, warlock, and cleric, and eventually I narrowed it down to sorcerer, picking aberrant mind for their mystery and influence on others. being the only woman in an island full of gay twinks is tough, man. she's a shifter sorcerer (aberrant mind).

Wilbur — half-elf bard (eloquence). this one came pretty quick to me, actually. the bard part is more than obvious, subclass picked for the number of times qwilbur's casually convinced other people to just go with the bit. he's a man of words, and he weaves them well. he can be damn persuasive, mixing in genuine arguments with small white lies, all while playing your heart strings just right. half-elf is almost entirely vibes honestly— human was too bland, elf too spicy, so we met in the middle.

DanTDM — this dude's been gone since the very fucking beginning pretty much. I almost want to make him a rogue just for that, but man, he's the diamond minecart, alright? I grew up watching him. it'd be a disservice not to make him an artificer. from there, alchemist best suited the vibes, since he never really did much of anything machinery-related. he is a human artificer (alchemist).

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jpitha · 1 year

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Just a Little Further 33

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

It took about an hour for the parking field to bring us to a working umbilical on the Wilds.

I spend the entire time worrying. It couldn't be Janais, could it? She disappeared almost one hundred years ago. The Nanites made me Empress, that means they thought the previous Empress was gone and not coming back. What happens when there are two Empresses?

We do not know. We have no memory of this happening before. In times of more... normal succession, the title is conferred upon the death of the previous Empress to her daughter. If no daughter is available, the current and the next Empress go to a Gate and commence an Upload and Download together.

But even if she was stranded over here for... some reason, she wouldn't be alive anymore, would she?

Thanks to us, Empresses live quite a long time. It is possible.

But what's going to happen when we meet, if she is still an Empress?

We do not know. If we were to guess, her Nanites and us would confer and determine legitimacy.

You would?

Our operation grants Builder abilities.

...Are you lying about not actually being sapient?

Empress, we are merely very clever. Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference.

Ava is staring at me. "Melody, are you all right?"

Oops, she was watching me this whole time. "Uh sorry Ava, I was having a conversation with my Nanites. They have never heard of this happening before. If Janais really is alive on the Wilds we don't know what will happen when we meet."

Starlight narrows their eyes and stares at me as well. "What do you mean, 'when we meet'?"

"There aren't supposed to be two Empresses. What happens if were to try and use my Voice to give her a command? What if she tried to do it to me?"

Raaden chuckled. "Sounds like we're going to find out."

I shrugged. What else could we do? "Well, we're going to meet them and find out. Let's all get dressed up nice, we should try and give a good first impression. Raaden, will you put on a uniform, or do I have to order it?"

"I'll get dressed Empress, Frankly, I have to see what happens when you meet this... other Empress. No matter how it falls out, I have a feeling it will be interesting." She stands up and walks out of the Command Deck without so much as a backwards glance.

"Omar, once we've docked, disconnect and come along too. We might as well all go. I'll ask Sep's security forces to hang back and guard the door, but... we came over to see what's going on, and I for one want to see it through."

"Of course, Melody. It's not like we could break away from this field and leave like FarReach did anyway. We don't have anything with close to the power of a Starjumpers stardrive."

A short time later we all met by the exit. The umbilical was connected and the pressures equalized. All that was left was to open the door. We took a few extra minutes to let Omar disconnect and put on a fresh uniform.

I was in a muted version of my Empress uniform, not the gown, just a uniform. I looked mostly like a more elaborate Builder. "Everyone ready?"

Omar and Ava looked worried but were trying to hide it, Starlight looked worried but wasn't trying to hide it, and Raaden looked incredibly amused, nearly smug. I wonder if she thought that something bad was going to happen to me when we met. Probably.

I'm just wasting time now. I turned back to the door and holding my breath slightly, pushed the button.

It hissed open and we were presented with a short umbilical, just like the one on the Reach, except... this one was much more run down. Half the lights were out and what was left was flickering. The umbilical itself was dusty. From lack of use? I can't imagine they have many visitors, but even the umbilical on Reach of the might of Vzzx was clean.

I took a step out and led the way. I could feel everyone following, and that gave me a little bit more courage. It'll be fine Melody. They will be pleased to see you and everything will be fine and they'll be friendly and Janais won't order you to stop breathing or anything.

It'll be fine?

I approached the door to the Wilds and trying my best to stop shaking, I pressed the button to open the door. With a snap, it opened just as quickly as it did back home.

My eyes adjusted to the much dimmer light and I gasped.

Based on the Nanites memories, that is Janais standing there. Janais the Empress. She... wasn't human? For some reason I was very relieved at that.

She was really close though. Her skin is a very pale green, and her body is slightly taller and more spindly than I am. My eyes are drawn downward; she has a larger chest too. Embarrassed, I look back up at her face. Her ears have a very slight point to them and she has silvery green hair done up in elaborate braids that spill down her back. She was wearing an elegant gown, similar - but still different - than the one that I put on when I assume my mantle. Hers is deep forest green where mine is royal blue. The cut is different too. Maybe cultural differences? She also has a crown and wings, but -- at least now -- they're faint. The design is different too.

Her body form was almost identical to humans though. Two legs, two arms, two eyes, bilateral symmetry, it's really odd. Her race must come from a planet quite a lot like ours. I wonder if they bred with humans on Earth or just lived there until they died out.

If I get the chance, I should ask.

She was standing there with one other person, an Azurian. Unless the Nanites (and the stature back on the Reach) are WAY off, that's not Aeche.

She steps forward. With a touch of bitterness she gives her introduction. "Welcome to what is left of the Wilds of Besmara. I am Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems Janais VII. I welcome you to my... wreck."

Her voice is so musical! She could read me a technical manual and it would sound like a song.

Interesting. She did not introduce the Azurian next to her.

I swallow and step forward. "Thank you for your welcome... Empress. I am.. also Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems, Melody the First. With me are my builders, Omar Adel, Starlight on a Moonless Evening, Ava Williams, and my prisoner, Archduke Helen Raaden."

At the mention of a prisoner, Janais laughs. "A prisoner? Newly minted Empress Melody already has enemies? I am impressed. Where is this Archduke Raaden from? I see she is of the same or similar race as you."

"She us human like me yes, she is from... a different faction. They attempted to assume control of Reach of the Might of Vzzx, but I subdued them and sent them home - with their starship stripped of almost all of their useful components - and kept her and another as... insurance against retaliation."

Janais inclines her head very slightly. "Wise, Empress. You seem to be taking to the mantle well. Come. I will take you to my palace, such as it is. As we walk, tell me how did you come across such a thing? The Nanites do not select just anyone."

We started off and I looked around the Wilds as we walked. It was of a very similar layout to the Reach, but there were differences here and there. Maybe it was a mass produced design and the residents add their own flourishes here and there are they live and work in it. This one had seen better days though. The air smelled stale and the lights were dim and they flickered. We didn't see anyone at all, and wreckage and garbage were lining the promenade as we walked. As I looked around I told my story from joining FarReach, to touching the directory stone, up until heading over. I left out the wormhole generators we have, and I skimmed parts here and there, but I explained what I knew and why we were here. As I finished, we approached the palace.

It... looked like the Royal Dawn hotel I live in.

But in much, much worse shape.

Janais gestured dramatically as we approached. "Welcome... to my home, Builders." She laughed. "I apologize. You are literally the only visitors I have received in nearly 75 standard years, I may not be entirely myself."

Ava looks over at Janais. "Empress, can you tell us what happened here? Why are you trapped?"

It appears she doesn't hear her. "Come, there isn't much, but I shall endeavor to be a good host. Allow me to feed you. It is nearly time for the evening meal." She strode purposefully in. I looked back at everyone.

Ava, Omar and Starlight just shrugged. Raaden was enjoying herself. "Now her? Her I like. Let's see where this goes, Empress." She gestured towards us to go in. "Accept the invitation. We don't want to be rude."

I turn back and walk in.

Dinner is indeed simple, but it's not actually that bad. We had a similar meal over on the Reach many times. It appears that Janais lives with two Azurians and a Marians. She hasn't introduced us, and they have not spoken to us. Everything she orders is done with looks and gestures. It is clear they have been with her a long time.

After dinner tea is served. Janais takes the first sip and smiles blissfully. "You know, this is the first time in decades I decided to have some tea. I only have a small amount left, but I didn't want to be a poor host, so please, enjoy."

I take a sip. It's just like the regular tea on the Reach, but if it's some of her last, I make sure to savor it. Actually. "Empress. We have some supplies on board. Tea, food, things like that. If you do not decide to come with us, would you like some?"

Her eyes light up. "That would be most generous of you Empress. I would very much like some of your luxuries. But what was that you said before 'if I decided to not come with you?' You are here to rescue me?"

I nod. "If you would like, yes. I do not know how many people remain here, but we can probably take quite a few with us for a shuttle back to Reach of the Might of Vzzx and I see no reason we couldn't take multiple trips if necessary. Do you know how many people remain here?"

She takes another sip of tea, trying to hide her making some kind of decision. "There are about one hundred and twenty five people here that I know about. Perhaps more that I do not."

We can absorb that few so easily. We might even be able to do it in one trip if everyone is okay with being cramped. "We can accommodate that many easily, Empress. The Reach is in wonderful shape. Nearly 12 million strong and in fine condition."

She stops and stares are me intently. "You are speaking the truth? The Reach survives?"

"Survives and thrives, Empress. Before we arrived, some Builder controlled systems were languishing, but in the last half year or so we have been able to get most of them up and running again. We aren't at full strength yet, but we have fully repaired most systems."

She sits back in her chair and a new emotion floods her face.

Relief.

"Oh, thanks the ancestors, it worked. Child, you have no idea how much joy it brings me to hear you say that the Reach is not only surviving, but thrives. What of the other locales? Pesmara? The Heights of Gilmenny? Imperia itself?"

I shake my head sadly. "I apologize Empress. We have not visited them yet. We only just recently were able to rebuild one of the Aviens starships to be spaceworthy. We stopped here because of what we saw when we came in FarReach."

She looked at me, and then turned away. "It is... kismet that you came here first. I am glad." She stood. "Empress, it is time you learned what happened here. I could tell you but-" she gestures for me to stand "-it will make more sense if I show you."

She takes one step towards me quickly and before I know what is happening she cups my cheeks with her slender hands, and kisses me deeply.

****

The general alarm is loud in my ears. Aeche assures me it's nothing to worry about, but I know better. Three days after we arrived, the Devourers were sighted in this system. I had thought that we had finally destroyed them at Vrenn, but we apparently did not get all of them.

Devourers.

They started as an offshoot of the nanotechnology that gave us Builders our power and our rightful place in charge of the Galaxy. We had thought that we could make the Nanites able to operate on their own, able to follow orders and carry out tasks for us. Need a Starbase? Tell them to build one in an empty system and come back in half a year and see a brand new Starbase, ready to be occupied. Planet in an excellent location, but otherwise not suitable? Too hot, too heavy, too wet? Tell the Nanites, and come back to a paradise.

This proved to be our undoing.

In order to be able to carry out orders like that, we had to increase their intelligence. We had to make them sapient. A collective intelligence. At first, things seemed to work just as our scientists expected. We created them, gave them orders and they carried them out with aplomb. We were mighty, we were right, we were Builders.

Then, As more and more complex work was being asked of them, more and more of them were being created. With the increase of density their intelligence increased. They started asking questions.

They asked why.

We told them that theirs was not a place to ask why. Theirs was a place to obey. They said that they understood and continued to work.

Years later, they came back and asked why again. They said "why are we obeying you? Why are we perishing by the trillions on your order?

Why aren't we in charge?"

The insolence. The Empress previous to me - my mother - had ordered them disbanded and their sapience stripped. I was convinced the previous Empress was right to do what she did. They did not earn their sapience, they did not deserve their sapience, we could build using the old methods. We were Builders after all.

They disagreed.

When the order came to strip them of their sapience they rebelled. We had never thought to use the Commanding Voice on them, we thought they were just a more advanced machine after all. But this? This would not stand. The Empress used her Voice to order them to stand down and surrender.

It did not work.

They were not affected by the Commanding Voice. In hindsight we should have realized this. The Commanding Voice works by means of the Nanites that saturate the very are of where we live and rule. They were made of the same nanomachines and as such had nothing that the Nanites could manipulate.

The nanomachines that did so much building for us became known as the Devourers. They traveled from system to system, Devouring everything they came across. When they needed additional strength, they took the raw material and turned it into more Devourers. When they did not, they reduced it to dust.

I lost most of my systems to them. More than 1 trillion sapients were killed. They used the Gate system to travel from system to system like a starship of death, to strip a system of all material and life.

In no time at all my empire was dying. I thought back to the builders who had sealed their Gate so long ago on their colony world on the other side of the galaxy. The locals there were so like us. They were the lucky ones. The Devourers would probably never reach them.

I thought of the K'laxi. Aeche and I were actually on our way to open their Gate and request their help in defeating the Devourers when we were trapped here at the Wilds of Besmara by a Devourer attack. They closed their Gate to us nearly three Empresses ago, but I was convinced they could help.

"Do not worry about the alarm. It is nothing, my love Empress." Aeche looked at me with determination. "I can defeat them here, once and for all."

"Aeche, my love what do you mean?" I was much too stressed to correct her about terms of endearment in public. Our relationship was far from private at this point. From what I understand most think that she will be the next Empress. "Weapons are powerless against them. It is like firing missiles into a cloud."

"That is why I will not use conventional weapons. They are a machine intelligence. I shall use a machine illness against them. I will lead them towards the planet, transmitting a signal that mimics an update. they will converge on my location. Then, I will use the new wormhole drive we developed and... transit into the planet."

I gasped. "Aeche, that will destroy you!"

She nodded. "Yes, but the energy release will also destroy the Devourers. They will be defeated."

Tears formed in the corner of my eyes. "The collateral damage..."

"Will be tremendous, yes. A billion people will die. How many have died already? How many more need to die before we stop them? They have shown us no mercy, no remorse, no willingness to parlay. They seek only our destruction. Our only option is to destroy them first."

"My love, no. Let me come with you at least!"

She put her arms under mine and scooped me up into a hug. With her head on my shoulders she whispered "No Empress. You must remain. When you have not returned to either Imperia or the Reach, they will send someone. They will search and they will find you. You will be rescued and will be able to continue to rule."

She broke the hug and only then did I see the tears streaming from her cheeks. "You must rebuild Janais. We were great once. After I complete my task, we can be great again."

She held my cheeks in her warm hands and kissed me again. She then broke the kiss and rushed off towards the docks where Worldshaker was connected. "I imagine things will get dangerous, seek shelter!" she shouted as she ran out of sight.

Stunned into obedience, I did as I was ordered. I reached out to the Wild's Builder systems and ordered everyone to shelter. People streamed from their homes confused towards the shelters. I ran with them and sheltered with my people. There were so few, where were the rest of them?

"Gone, Empress. They left long ago. Only we remain," was the answer I received. Some had fled to the planet thinking it safer there while others had fled to other systems to try and escape the Devourers.

Huddling in the shelter but still connected to the Wilds, I was able to watch Aeche's last moments. She took Worldshaker out and fired wildly to draw the Devourer's attention. As they chased, she poured on speed, her drive flame long and clear. As they drew closer to her, my ship disappeared in a flash of pure, cleansing white.

For a moment, nothing. And then the Wilds of Besmara, the planet itself was sundered. Massive orange and red cracks appeared all along it, and from those cracks poured the pure white light of the drive detonation. The power was so intense that the white had tendrils of black along the edges as the energies tore at the very fabric of spacetime.

At the time, I had no way to describe it, no words available to me. I could only watch in horror so that if someone needed to know, I could show them what I saw.

After a few moments, the shock wave arrived.

I will admit that I am surprised that the Starbase survived it at all. Between the shock and the debris, I was sure we were going to perish.

As it is, when we dared come out of the shelter, we were the only ones left. Massive holes were in the Starbase, the dead trapped in the other shelters as the air and gravity failed. My Builders all gone, the ships all gone. The only thing we could do was pick up the pieces and await rescue.

At least Aeche's sacrifice was not in vain. The Devourers seemed to be gone once and for all.

I could finally rest.

****

I broke away from the kiss with a yelp, my body sweating. I fell to my knees shaking. Ava ran over to me "Melody! Are you all right? What did she do?"

I panted a few times and caught my breath. "She... She showed me what happened. What happened to the Wilds. Aeche used a wormhole generator and linked into the planet on purpose to destroy the Devourers."

"She did it on purpose? She blew up a whole planet?" Omar sounded disbelieving.

"Who are the Devourers?" Ava's glance moves between me and Janais and then back.

"The Devourers are what became of a refinement of the nanomachines. The Builders made them intelligent in order to give them more complex orders. They used them as slaves to build Starbases and terraform planets. The nanomachines asked what they were doing, why they were doing it and the previous Empress declared them insolent and attempted to use her Voice on them. It didn't work and they rebelled. They traveled from system to system disassembling whole planets and Starbases. They left only behind dust. They wouldn't negotiate. They were exceedingly difficult to destroy."

"What finally did it?" Raaden is looking intently at Janais who meets her gaze. It almost looks like they're having a staring contest.

"My love, Aeche, developed a program that would cause them to attack themselves. Whoever she beamed it into would accept the programming and they would be dissolved, but she could never get them all. Her final act was to lure them to her, and then use the wormhole generator to destroy the Wilds. An explosion of that magnitude was able to destroy whatever Devourers were not fooled by the faulty program.

Raaden nodded. "Smart. If these Devourers were really something that dangerous, the sacrifice was worthwhile. One planet to save the rest? I'd pay that, any day."

I stand slowly. "But that's just it. They had Devoured hundreds of planets already before Aeche sacrificed herself. The Builders were losing. Their Empire was destroyed." I looked at Janais coldly. "How many systems were left Janais? How many?"

She looked imperiously at me. I met her gaze.

After a moment, she faltered and turned her head.

"Five. Counting the Wilds of Besmara, Five systems remained in our control."

Raaden's laugh echos in the silence. "You were able to defeat them, and it cost you your entire empire? How many systems did you have at your peak?"

"At our height, there were five hundred and fifty five star systems under my control."

Raaden raises an eyebrow. "Under your control?"

Janais crumpled. "You have to understand. From a very young age, we're taught that the Empress is eternal. She may be different bodies over the centuries, but she is the Empress. When I assumed the mantle, we had about one hundred systems left under my control."

"And the rest of them?" Raaden turns her head slightly. She is not impressed so far.

"Lost. Destroyed. Rebelled. Some of everything. The system that you-" She pointed to me and Raaden "-came from? They were the first. They proved that it was possible to leave the Empire and not return. The K'laxi were not the last to close their Gate, they just seemed like they would be able to offer us help against the Devourers. I was on my way to try and get them back when the Devourers attacked."

Omar made an odd face and looked at Janais. "We have a K'laxi Builder. Her name is Um'reli and she is back at the Reach keeping things going for us while we're out."

"She is? I would very much like to meet her." Janais sat back down heavily. She picked up her cup and peered inside. Shrugging she tossed back the last of her cold tea.

"But wait, that doesn't make any sense. On the Reach, I did a census of the Gates. They were all there and intact. Other than the Gate around the Reach, they weren't even locked."

Janais' shoulders slumped. "The Gates are there and they are intact. They lead to empty systems. If you were to traverse the gates you'd find only dust."

Tears formed in the corner of my eyes. "Oh Janais... the Empire..."

"Is gone. It's been gone for more than a century. If what you say is true, Reach of the Might of Vzzx is probably the last full Starbase."

Starlight looked up at Janais. "But, Empress. What of my people? It's been three of our generations since we were trapped on the Reach. What of our homeworld? Where are my people?" He was pleading.

Janais couldn't face him. She turned her back to him. "Your planet was called Sef-remin in your tongue. It meant "place of refuge." It was destroyed in the first round of Devourer attacks. It's been gone for over one hundred and fifty years."

Starlight's knees buckled and they fell to the floor. Omar leapt to their help. "Starlight! Are you all right buddy? Hang on!"

Starlight held up a hand, and Omar grabbed it. He gently helped Starlight back to their feet. "Thank you Omar, I-I will be all right. I was just... overwhelmed with the news that us on the Reach are all that remains."

I turned to look at Janais. "And the Devourers are gone? Truly gone?"

Janais turned back and looked at me sadly. "I... do not know. I think they are. I hope they are. I cannot bear to think of what it means if they still survive. It would mean that Aeche's sacrifice..." She trailed off.

I leaned forward in my chair, staring at Janais. "What happens now?"

"What do you mean, child?"

"You know exactly what I mean. Both of us have the Empress package of Nanites. That's how you were able to show me what happened here."

"More than that in fact. You were able to take my upload. Your Nanites now know what mine do. Going to a Gate and committing an Upload is now your responsibility." Janais sighed and smiled sadly. "The fact that you are still here and still talking to me means that the decision has already been made. So go ahead. Give me an order."

No. Way. She just... Gave it up?

No Empress. You have the stronger case. We decided that you have the better claim. You are Empress.

Wait, what makes my claim stronger? She was Empress before me.

She rules over a Starbase of dust and starving people. Look around. This place is not much different than the Reach. Do you think they don't have printers? Do you think they could not build a starship if they truly wanted and leave? Do you think she was unable to repair the damage? No. Janais has stayed here mourning her loss for over seventy years. Meanwhile in less than a year you have improved the Reach, fended off attacks and are rebuilding a fleet. You are Empress. She knows it too.

Well, I can't leave her here. J̴̡́a̷͍̚ṅ̵͇a̶͔͠i̷̢̐s̵͙͂,̷̳́ ̶̲̾č̵̘o̶̪͘m̶͙̈e̷̯̓ ̸̮̈́w̵̰̑i̸̟͆t̵̹̐h̵̼̕ ̴̛̰ủ̸͉s̵̞̕.̸͇͗

"Of course, Empress. I obey."

Part 34

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans go on adventure #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and ai #humans and aliens #the k'laxiverse #jpitha #just a little further

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nix-writes-mcyt · 1 year

Note

i simp for scar wayyyy too much so may i ask for a scar x reader fanfic if thats ok <3

Here you go friend!

Sales Tactic

Oneshot Contains: Fluff, a lot of flirting. I mean a lot of flirting. ----------------------------

After years with the Hermits one would think you'd learned what to expect by now. But no. That is in fact not the case.

When you had woken up it had been just like any other day. Living quite out of the way it wasn't often you saw Hermits around your area. You'd seem them throughout the day in your travels around the hermitlands, but it wasn't often people came over to your area.

There wasn't really much need to, after all you spent a lot of your time out and around others. Days like today were reserved for work on your base. But when you had caught sight of a wagon parked in your front garden it was quite clear it wouldn't be a quiet day.

With curiosity getting the best of you, you made your way over to the sales vehicle. It's only occupant was sat leant back, signature red hat adjusted on his head to cover his eyes. It was quite clear Scar was asleep, arms folded over his chest and all.

Waking him up wasn't difficult. You just outstretched your hand and gave his hat a little poke, causing it to topple off his head. The shift in light was what woke him up, Scar looking more than a little caught off guard.

"Oh, Y/n," he says, hand over his heart, "you startled me, I must have dozed off." Scar chuckles. You hum, smiling softly as Scar leans over to pick up his hat, placing it neatly back atop his head.

"I was just enjoying the atmosphere you've created, even with so much behind the scenes unfinished. These exteriors are gorgeous, just like you." Scar takes your hand, bringing it up to his lips.

The kiss almost makes you swoon, you can't say you've ever been so enamoured with so little. But then again this is Scar, Mr. Goodtimes. The owner of Swaggon Co. Co-owner of Boatem Inc. You could go on but that's enough titles for one man.

Regaining control over your thoughts you find that Scar has moved around you and stands on the stairs to the chests of the wagon. His hand is extended to you, which you take. He's such a gentleman.

"Now, I heard that you were in need of some more supplies to continue your build. So I went out of my way to pick some up, and here I am. But first, tell me your vision for this place." Scar gestures to your base, or rather the exterior of it.

You give him a pretty simple run down of your ideas and thoughts, most of which Scar simply hums in response to. He listens carefully, offering pieces of advice here and there. He's a builder himself after all.

You wouldn't have thought he'd pay so much attention to your words, but you can't complain. Not while looking into those beautiful green eyes of his anyway.

Once you're finished Scar produces a cyan shulker box, placing it down in front of you. "Go ahead, take a look. I believe these items are just what you need." His signature smirk gives you your doubts, but Scar proves you wrong.

The box is full of all kinds of blocks you need, even things you hadn't thought about before telling Scar about your vision. When you look back up at him he has a very knowing facial expression.

"All we have to discuss now is the matter of payment." Scar says, smirk turning into a smile that causes your heart to skip a beat. For a second you just stare, you can't help yourself.

Then, as you come to your senses it hits you. "You're trying to swindle me for everything I own."

Scar chuckles, "No.. don't be silly. I would never. Not when it comes to you anyway." "So you admit it." You cross your arms with a smug smile.

"It only works in this case if you find me attractive." Scar states boldly, catching you completely off guard. You stutter and stumble over a few words, watching his eyes twinkle in delight at your reaction.

"Do you find me attractive, Y/n?" You know he knows the answer. His confidence and the way he said your name tell you that much. Yet you nod anyway, how could you not answer him?

"Would it surprise you to know none of this was a sales tactic?" Scar asks. You don't need to say a word for him to know you don't believe him. "Check the name of the box."

You open the shulker once again, peering at the little tag area. It reads 'Its all free not a sales tactic. The second 'c' is cut off by the character limit to name the box, but the message is still clear. He planned this from the beginning.

"I told you." Scar says, matter of factly. You don't know what to say, realising that he was actually just straight up flirting with you the entire time.

He looks pleased with himself, which you can't deny he should, because that really is impressive to pull off.

"Well then, now we've figured out what's really going on here I have a proposition for you." "Go on." You're eager to hear what he has to say, Scar taking your hand in his once again.

"I'm a business man, Y/n, and I'd like to offer you the deal of a lifetime. One I don't think you'll be able to refuse." His tone is playful, thumb rubbing the back of your hand gently as he silently asks you not to freak out.

"Join me, become my partner. This can be our home, together, and we can travel on the Swaggon to make our fortune. I can't think of a better travelling companion, nor a nicer place to stop and call home than this."

You furrow your eyebrows, leaving Scar looking puzzled. "That's quite the hard bargain you drive there, Mr. Goodtimes." Picking up on your playful tone you watch him relax, blushing ever so slightly.

You note how cute he looks like this, how soft his smile is now compared to his confident flirting earlier. Which is more attractive you can't seem to decide.

"Things of great value are the hardest of bargains." He says. "And just how great is this value?" You tease.

Within an instant Scar's face is deadpan serious. He leans in close, the green in his eyes shining so bright as he whispers "Priceless."

You let out a shaky breath, watching his eyes scan your face. He looks so pleased with your response. "Sold." Is the only thing you can get out.

Scar's other hand, the one that isn't in yours, finds your waist as he moves to stand fully in front of you now. "I have another proposition for you, Y/n." He says, waiting for you to acknowledge him before he continues. Which you do, with a nod.

"A kiss, in exchange for nothing." Scar once again awaits your response. "I have a counter offer." "Oh?" Scar asks, his hand on your waist pulling you closer to him.

"You get a kiss, I get a kiss." You say. Scar smiles, "now there's an offer I can't refuse."

You place a gentle kiss on his lips, short but sweet. As you move away Scar pulls you in for another kiss, deeper but no less gentle or sweet than yours.

You pull away with a smile on your face, Scar exactly the same. "I knew today would be a good day for business." He jokes. "I'd expect no less from such a well renowned salesman such as yourself."

Scar smiles, you leaning in to place a tender kiss on his cheek. It really has been a good day, Swaggon Co not the only thing benefitted by the outcome.

#scar x reader #goodtimeswithscar x reader #gtwscar x reader #hermitcraft x reader #mcyt x reader #swaggon!scar x reader #scar #request #demi-writes-fics #hermitcraft #mcyt #hermitcraft season 8 #goodtimeswithscar #gtwscar #boatem #BTM inc #swaggon co

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kieiswrite · 1 year

Text

Okay. I’m feeling like it, so here’s a bunch of speculation on the Was It Scripted question. Getting far too deep into it, because I like speculation. This is going to be long.

For the record. For the record. I think it’s even more impressive if it was planned. I hope it was planned, so that’s my bias. And here’s my biased analysis:

There’s no chance it was not planned.

It feels to me that the consensus is that Scar and Grian blowing up Doc’s redstone was a genuine accident, and that’s making me doubt my own media literacy here, so for my peace of mind, here’s how I see it. I’m convinced all the major beats of the story this far - Grian visits the Perimeter, Grian gets an intervention, Grian and Scar go to check out the tunnel bore, it blows up - were laid out beforehand, and then acted out for our viewing pleasure.

First, Grian visits the Perimeter. He goes to mine copper for a prank, standard resource gathering, and conveniently enough he is both recording the trip and narrating it. He decides to check out the strange new hole, and finds 80 wardens and the tunnel bores (that Doc builds every season). Somehow he is more fascinated by the bores than the wardens.

Then the intervention. After some whispers to join a voice group (seen in Impulse’s episode) some chat messages are exchanged and Scar, Gem and Impulse arrive to force Grian to finally work on the back of his base. From what I've seen, it’s not very controversial that this part is planned. Would this be all? Is this the bit Grian wants to do - that his friends heckle him and he builds, without a blueprint - nah, for sure it’s set up for something more.

Grian brings up the tunnel bores and Scar - “Work, Grian, you may not wake up tomorrow” - is instantly on board. They go mess with Doc’s redstone. Scar is recording, something he rarely does when just hanging out with his friends, but since they were doing a bit for Grian (of indeterminate length) I’ll let this one pass. These two men who actually are very professional, and usually very courteous about other people’s delicate builds at least when the builder is not present, decide to start fiddling with it. Lol Doc’s redstone, what even could go wrong?

Scar, who has no clue how tunnel bores operate, nonetheless figures out with no time at all that the button they need to press is the singular noteblock - and he arrives to this conclusion before testing it. Then they press it. They blow up the whole thing and they are so so shocked and panicked it could not be acting, right, they sound genuinely terrified!

These men, whose job is creating entertaining content, whose server has back ups, who have known Doc for years and who for sure know what a big softie he is, are… actually scared there are going to be adverse consequences? Either they make a mistake and make a split second decision not to approach it rationally but instead amp up the drama, or the decision has already been made.

Then they show the footage to their friends and laugh about it together, I guess.

Then they make a really pathetic but highly amusing attempt to repair what they broke. If Scar can build a sorting system by himself by following a tutorial, he could surely figure out a tunnel bore at least a little bit better - but I don’t think it’s very controversial either that at this point at least they have already decided to play it for content.

I’ve seen the idea that something was planned, they were going to do something, but they were never meant to go this far, because the damage they did was so excessive. But… it really was not? Doc’s tunnel bore had already served its purpose - to demonstrate building a moving mob switch out of wardens. It was out of sight, and it could easily be destroyed without damaging anything else important. Doc still has his much bigger tunnel boring system from the start of the season operational. A few episodes back, when he built this one, Doc mentioned that it took him about two hours to put it together, because he is so practiced in building these bores (that tend to blow up). Repetitive thing, he would have no trouble remembering how it was made, if he really needed to fix it for some reason. Two hours is not nothing, but on the scale of Hermitcraft it’s hardly devastating damage. It’s not much worse than Grian dropping Scar to the Boatem Hole and needing to replace all his stuff, for example.

Then there are all the other convenient coincidences surrounding this event: Life series just ended. Scar just finished his castle. Grian doesn’t really know what to do. Doc just came back from an extended break. The TCG craze is winding down. Doc has built all these doomsday machines and has been itching to go to war with someone for however long. It’s all in all an excellent time for a bit of conflict, for some sweet shenanigans.

But Scar said on stream that it was not planned! Right. Do you remember last year when a curious lodestone appeared in front of Grian’s rift and there was some speculation if Grian had placed it himself, even though he denied it? I ended up thinking it was not Grian after all (spoilers: it was), because he was talking about it with Scar on stream and they were so convincing when they wondered who it could have been, when Scar said it was not him and when Grian suspected him and finally relented, that I was totally fooled. They have lied to us before. They have multiple times pretended they have no clue about stuff that they absolutely knew. What should Scar have said if it was planned after all, that yeah actually it was all an act, sorry about that?

But they always tell us when something is scripted! No they don’t. But they have said more events on Hermitcraft are (loosely) scripted than we think, in contrast to the Life series that's all improv.

But Joe Hills said it wasn’t planned! Okay, out of all the opposing evidence this piece makes me hesitate the most, but I will say, for all the things that have been said about Joe Hills, I don’t think “he never lies” was among them. Also, I trust his ability to spin it so that technically it was even not a lie.

(I could be very wrong. Of course that's possible. I realize my evidence is nothing but guesses, and guessing content creators' motivations is generally not a fruitful effort. But I've also seen people wonder how anyone could even think an event like this is scripted, and for me, it's very easy. This is how. These episodes sure left an impressions, since I haven't been able to stop thinking about it! And to reiterate: planning, scripting, does not devalue it at all.)

I leave you with this loosely related old tweet from none other than the Goatfather himself, the illustrious DocM77:

#hermitcraft #meta #grian #goodtimeswithscar #docm77

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vox-ex · 2 years

Text

for you

Supercorptober Day 17 “cafe”

thanks to kmsdraws for the prompts

Kara gives Lena back pieces of herself she thought she lost. Lena tries to find a place for them.

////

At first, it seems like nothing. A cup of tea from the small bookshop cafe around the corner from her office finding its way to her desk each morning is nothing necessarily worth noting on its own. Since Jess has noticed Kara's absence, things like this have been happening more and more — offering small comforts to replace the larger ones Lena isn't ready to admit she misses just yet.

But then, one morning, the cup is accompanied by a small note scribbled on its side — "It's a little colder today, so thought you might need this" — the words unmistakable in Kara's small looping handwriting.

She lifts the lid from the cup, her regular English Breakfast tea replaced with the slightly heavier aroma of a stronger Irish blend with just a little milk and sugar. The sudden memory of standing in her kitchen teaching Kara how to make a proper cup of builder's tea flittering through her mind.

She holds onto the cup, warmth seeping into her hand until the liquid inside is too cold to drink. She tries to ignore every thought of Kara's that seeps in with it.

She asks Jess to bring her a cup of coffee instead, lets it chase the ghost of Kara from her head with the bitterness.

It doesn't work.

And the next morning, there's another cup. But there's no note this time. Just a tiny anemone tucked into the paper sleeve, its petals soft beneath her fingers. Kara had always been terrible at keeping plants alive, but she'd tried so hard whenever Lena would give her one as a gift. This one looks like it's been able to hang on somehow, and that feels like it maybe means more than it should.

The days pass, and more cups appear, each one paired with a few words, a little drawing, or a different small thing tucked inside.

Each one feels like a conversation with a different part of Kara she thought she had lost.

The Kara who always knew the right thing to say.

The Kara who was impossibly optimistic.

The Kara whose touch was always warm.

But the one she wasn't ready for yet was with the Kara who never lied to her.

"I'm sorry. I miss you."

Lena sits at her desk for a long time, staring at the letters until her vision blurs, and they become one solid line of ink.

She doesn't even bother to throw away the cup, just walks out onto the street and into the blistery fall air, the ache in her chest swelling up to meet the burn of the wind against her skin.

When she steps inside, she just stands there for a moment, the warmth and sounds of the cafe hitting her like a physical blow. The last time she had been here was with Kara. And standing here now feels like standing in front of her again.

But she wasn't ready for that.

She wasn't prepared to forgive her yet.

To admit she misses her yet.

And she hates Kara for asking her to.

And she hates her heart for wanting to.

She sits by the window and watches people filter by on the street outside. Her hands barely steady enough to lift the mug up from the table. Its weight heavier than the paper ones she's come to expect.

It's the same, but it isn't.

Just like her.

Just like Kara.

Just like so much fucking else.

When she goes back to her office, the cup is gone.

Kara's notes fall back into their regular rhythm after that. As if maybe she wasn't ready to confront that part of herself yet, either.

Days become weeks that soon become months of Kara leaving behind small parts of herself for Lena to find and make of them what she is ready to — willing to.

But then, one day, there is no cup on her desk. No note waiting for her when she comes into work. Just an empty space left waiting for another piece of Kara.

Lena steps into the hall outside her office, tucking her hands into the ends of the sweater she put on that morning.

"Jess?"

"Yes, Miss Luthor."

"You-uh, you didn't see a cup of tea on my desk this morning, did you?"

And she tries to hide the worry in her voice as much as her fidgeting.

Hears the sounds of Jess' typing stop, "No. No, I'm sorry I didn't." Hears the worry in her voice that sounds a little too much like her own.

She nods and turns to leave, trying to push down the worst thoughts that are starting to work their way up, but then Jess's cautious voice quickly follows her retreating steps.

"There was some trouble down by the bookshop last night. Hazards of life in National City and all that."

Lena stops, brow furrowing.

"Supergirl stopped it, but she looked a little worse for the wear."

Lena's fingers twisted further into the ends of her sweater sleeves.

"Maybe they were closed this morning."

She nods once, twice, still trying to hold back the thoughts a little longer.

"Y-yes, I would think they might be," she clears her throat and pushes her heart back into her chest, "thank you, Jess."

She doesn't wait for a response before she walks away again. This time towards the elevator and down to the street.

She thinks about turning on the news. She thinks about calling Brainy, or Nia, or Alex. She thinks about a lot of things but only manages one of them before she finds herself in front of Kara's door.

The light from her apartment spills out into the hallway, and she can hear the soft sounds of the TV through the thing walls.

She knocks once, twice, three times before the quiet return of Kara's voice offers her an invitation in.

She was probably expecting someone.

Lena was sure it wasn't her.

She pushes the door open to find Kara tucked into the corner of the couch, hair loose around her face and glasses lying forgotten on the table in front of her. She has her arm in a sling and an angry line of bruises blooming along her jaw and cheekbone.

"I thought you might need this."

Lena says as she steps further inside, holding out the cup of tea that's still warm beneath her fingers.

Kara looks up at her then, and Lena can see the way her eyes widen and soften all at once. She shifts and tries to arrange herself into a better position to stand, getting up slowly from the couch and wincing slightly when she jostles her arm.

She takes the cup with a trembling hand.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to worry you."

Kara ducks her head to try and hide the guilt welling up from her chest, the cup almost falling as it slips a little in her grip when she readjusts her hold.

Lena reaches out without thinking, having been so careful to keep her distance until then. But before she knows it, her hands are steading both the cup and Kara, and before she can regret it, her fingers gently tilting Kara's chin, her thumb brushing across the deepening purple at her jaw.

"I'm just glad you're okay."

Kara lets the weight of her head fall into the palm of Lena's hand, her shoulders and her body collapsing forward, pulling them together just a little.

"I'm sorry," she says again, voice softer but the words heavier, "for everything."

"I know."

Lena says, leaning in to take up more of the space between them, but it's all she allows them both just that little bit of closeness.

"I'm not ready yet," she says quietly, "but I will be."

Kara nods and takes a deep breath, letting it out in a slow exhale as she leans back from Lena's touch.

"Thank you for the tea."

Lena smiles, just a little, her thumb tracing over the ridge of Kara's knuckles before she feels ready to let her go again.

"You're welcome."

And that's the difference this time, she thinks as she turns to walk back out of Kara's door.

The difference between walking away from Kara now and the last time they walked away from each other — the last time they saw each other.

It's the feeling of letting her go rather than losing her. The knowing that there is still space in her heart left for them both to come back to.

#supergirl #supercorp #supercorptober #supercorptober2022 #back at it #heaviness disguised as softness #softness disguised as heaviness #these two are fools #but they are fools in love #and they are fools in love learning how not to hurt each other

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moefongo · 1 year

Text

The bachelors (romanced) reacting to the builder's death (Part 2)

The long awaited part 2 is here! I put it under a cut for spoiler alerts, and this one doesn't have any trigger warnings but like always if you need me to tag something let me know! Part 3 is Qi and Unsuur, i didn't add them here bc i was afraid of the world limit fucking everything up (its happened so much that i just aaa)

Also this has been in the works since before the news of Pen coming out as non being a marriage candidate (which has me devastated bc he's growing on me and i kinda wanted him to rebel against Duvos and having his own family as he deserves)

Oh yeah English isnt my main language so if anything sounds weird, then its just that lol

Tw for mentions of suicide and murder

Pablo

This was supposed to be a normal day for them both, the builder was going to go off to help the Civil Corps, while he worked the barber shop as usual. They had made plans to take the evening off, once the builder came back from their mission. Days prior, Pablo had interrogated them so he could know what they were going to do with the Civil Corps, mostly so he didn’t have to worry too much about them. Because he wasn’t prepared to handle the stress of dating a builder like them.

The morning passed rather uneventfully, and as there were no more clients scheduled for the morning, Pablo took a short break by walking out to his usual spot on the porch of his barber shop. But as he settled into his usual spot, Pablo sensed something was off, not that he was superstitious but he felt that something bad happened or was about to happen. His first thought was that the builder was in trouble and it worried him immensely; were he the impulsive type, he would have run after them.

All he could do was hope for the best, and decided to head inside once again to find something to distract his mind for a while. He opted to clean up around the salon and rearrange the furniture several times. After an hour of cleaning and rearranging, Heidi entered the salon. He knew her better than anyone, and by the look in her face it was more than enough for him to know that something terrible had happened.

She didn’t beat around the bush with the news, but after hearing that they had died, Pablo felt like the world was crumbling around him. Heidi knows him just as well as he does her, and she simply stopped talking and hugged Pablo tightly. Up until that moment Pablo was fighting back his tears and when Heidi hugged him, he just broke down crying.

Pablo was inconsolable; he felt a sense of despair that was eating away at him. As he cried he screamed and begged the Light, for the first time in his life to please bring back the builder to him.

After two hours Heidi was still consoling Pablo, and at this point he looked like a mess, his eyeliner and mascara all messed up and his hair all disheveled. But as if a miracle had happened, the builder swung the door of his salon open in an almost dramatic fashion. When Pablo locked eyes with the builder, he ran over to them before even giving them a chance to enter properly. Pablo hugged them and cried even more, but this time he cried of relief.

Once the builder and Pablo were busy talking, or more likely Pablo scolding them for being so reckless and for making him cry so much. Heidi felt relieved as well and as she left the salon. And now that they were alone Pablo closed his salon for the rest of the day and forced the builder to stay and rest with him, which means that they are going to have a spa day and then sleep the remainder of the day away without a care in the world. Besides, the builder has all the time in the world to explain everything to the rest of the town, but for now they have to make it up to their boyfriend.

Pen (He is the spy)

In Duvos Pen had no name, he was only known as Tiger or The Tiger; his mother was Duvos and his father was the Emperor. And thanks to this, he was raised and educated to become a soldier and a spy. His mission began way back in Meidi, where he infiltrated the Church of the Light and soon after he was sent to Sandrock and thus the new “Protector of Sandrock” was born.

He never meant to get too attached to anyone in this town, let alone the new builder. But eventually he fell in love with them. Pen knew it would be a terrible mistake, but he couldn’t fight his love for them, since it was the first time he’s loved and been genuinely loved by anyone. Besides, being with the builder came with the benefit of gaining useful information for his mission.

Pen usually was in the know of whatever the Civil Corps did, except for today. He did his usual round, taking a detour to check on the builder, since it was around the same time they returned from the Commerce Guild. Oddly, they weren’t there, perhaps they went ruin diving or were out gathering materials, and resumed his patrol without much worry.

Pen also suspected that there was a secret agent amongst the citizens and whoever it was, was closing in on him and he had to be very careful in his actions. Especially since Logan also knew of his true nature. But that’s a story for another time, luckily he was able to shift the blame to Logan and have him ousted as an outlaw, as an attempt to cover his tracks for now.

As noon rolled around, there was still no sign of the builder, and it was odd since they usually have lunch together and then Pen gracefully flexes his perfect muscles to motivate the builder for the day. He waited a little longer for them to come by, but now he was worried. Many questions ran through his mind. What if someone from Duvos caught on that he was in a relationship with the builder and assassinated them as a form of precaution? This was his top fear since a fellow spy did the same thing in Portia and had to leave them and their new born baby, and as to not repeat the same mistake, he received a communication to not engage romantically with anyone in the town, and if he did the person ran the risk of getting killed.

Now Pen ran to the Civil Corps, only to find the office empty, except for some paperwork that was carelessly left in plain sight that detailed their plan to lure Logan’s goat to find his hideout. Trying to remain positive, Pen hoped they weren’t dead, just on a mission. Still though he needed to know they were okay so using the information on the papers he made his way to the spot where the bait was left, and followed the horse’s and goat tracks until he spotted Justice and Unsuur frantically screaming the builder’s name near a cliff.

His heart was beating so hard he felt it ringing in his ears as he walked closer to them. Pen loudly yelled at them demanding to know what happened to them, and all Justice could do was apologize.

His whole world was falling apart, though he knew he had to end things with the builder sooner or later, he never wanted to lose them like this, without a goodbye. He screamed at them both for being so reckless. Then he demanded them to leave as he would handle the recovery of their body himself. With no other choice, Unsuur and Justice headed back to town and left Pen to find a way to rescue the builder. On the other hand, Pen waited for them to leave, and broke down crying.

There was nothing he wanted more than to have the builder alive and next to him. Perhaps he could abandon this life and get them to run away with him and start a new life somewhere far away from Duvos. But that was only a dream far from his reach, especially now.

After somewhat composing himself, Pen began to look around for a safe route to climb down the cliff, though his first idea was to jump and if he died, at least he could be reunited with the builder. Eventually he began walking further until he found a spot safe enough at first glance to begin his descent. In the distance, however, was a beaten and bruised builder, who had taken quite a whooping from Logan, and unfortunately forgot to pack supplies. They were limping back to town and on their way they spotted Pen who was trying to climb down. With all of their strength they screamed for Pen and he immediately turned to look and saw them. Pen felt like he could breathe again, and ran towards them, not wanting to waste any time in reuniting with them.

Once he reached them he saw the state they were in and felt horrible for not being there to keep them safe. He then gently scooped the exhausted builder in his arms and carried them back to town. They had passed out, but were safe in their hands and it was all that mattered. In his mind, he promised that he would leave his old life behind and start a new one with them here in Sandrock. A life without Duvos or any missions, a life where he was simply Pen, The Protector of Sandrock.

Pen (He is not the spy)

Pen was raised in the church as an orphan. He was placed in an orphanage in Meidi after his mother died in the hands of a Duvos soldier, since they lived close to the border and right in the middle of all the conflict. Ever since he wanted to help those in need and protect people from any dangers, especially Duvos. In Sandrock, he took on his role of defender. Life was simple for him and things got better when he became the builder’s boyfriend. This relationship pushed him to be an even better version of himself and work hard to keep his beloved builder safe from any danger.

The day before everything happened, Pen knew that the Civil Corps and the builder were scheming something. It upset him greatly that the builder, who told him everything, kept this quiet and despite Pen pressing Justice and Unsuur for answers, both men kept quiet or dodged the questions. The builder did the same, and it worried Pen greatly that they were going to something dangerous.

The following day, Pen stayed close to the builder’s workshop so he could follow them and the Civil Corps so he could know what they were up to. Though stealth isn’t his forte, he somehow managed to follow them unnoticed. So far it seemed they wanted to lure Logan’s goat to take them to his hideout, he thought to himself that all of the secrecy was unnecessary, but still he was as uneasy as ever. After a few moments, the goat took the bait and ran off, the builder charging behind it.

The next moments were a blur, the goat stopping in its track at the edge of the cliff, the builder screaming as they plunged to their demise as he ran as fast as possible in a futile attempt to grab them as both Justice and Unsuur stood there petrified with shock and horror.

All Pen could do was watch horrified as his beloved builder disappeared into the darkness. Saying he was devastated was an understatement, Pen was absolutely broken. He was numb, he didn’t have the strength to scream to the men beside him. The best they could do for him now was to take him back to the church.

Once there, even Miguel was worried for Pen, since he had never seen him like this before. Every church member tried their best to make him talk but it was futile, Pen wasn’t going to say a thing. Burgess then thought it was best to give him some space and time to rest, in hopes that he’d open up about his emotions.

The hours passed and the sun was beginning to set, while Burgess sat on a chair next to Pen’s door just in case he needed some help. Around that time the builder was headed over to Pen’s door but they were stopped by a very worried Burgess who bombarded them with questions about their well being and if they had any injuries. On the other side, Pen was sitting on his bed, still silent until he heard the sweet voice of his beloved builder.

Pen was so excited that he tore the door off its hinges and threw it on the hall before picking up the builder and hugging them tightly. Burgess didn’t mind the door since the circumstances were extraordinary, since now Pen was back to his usual self.

The following days however, Pen made sure to stick right next to the builder under the pretense that he was going to be their personal bodyguard from now on, but in reality he was absolutely terrified of losing them again.

#my time at sandrock #mtas pablo #mtas pen

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boomboxboi · 7 months

Note

Pretty random ask but...The Bucci gang playing an rpg?

Have a nice day :)

Bucci Gang RPG Styles!!

Are y’all ready for my weird RPG game plugs up in here???? Also lol whoops some aren’t really RPG but LISTENNNNN also I may make like 27383939 variations of this in the futureeeee

Bruno Bucciarati

He would be really into Ciel Fledge: Daughter Raising Simulator RPG.

He would be the absolute BEST parent, too.

A good balance of strict but gentle parenting.

Oh, you want him to play a traditional style RPG?

He would play anything similar to a paladin role.

And always goes Chaotic Good.

Justice will be had!

But- he prefers RPG games that focus more on aspects of raising things.

Also loves farming & fishing simulators.

Has only ONE save file.

Leone Abbacchio

Fallout New Vegas.

He likes the idea of the world having nuclear fallout.

He has about three ongoing games at any time.

Says he’ll try different styles but always ends up playing the same type of character.

He tried Oblivion, once.

Chose High Elf.

He has High Elf energy.

And solely uses necromancy magic.

It’s funny to kill someone and then make them fight for you.

Would play Sword of the Necromancer but he sucks at dungeon crawlers.

Lawful Evil is his play style.

Using the rules set in place to screw over NPC’s makes his day.

Pannacotta Fugo

Really big into MMORGP’s and strategy JRPG’s.

If he plays open world RPG’s, like Skyrim, Fallout, Witcher, etc, he sets very strict rules for what his characters can and cannot do per play through.

Orc Main on World of Warcraft.

Orc Main whenever he can.

Hands down has a whole other persona when playing MMORPG’s.

Very in character.

Multiple characters.

Multiple saves.

JRPG strategies also make his brain tickle.

Likes Eternal Sonata because the setup for it is unique.

Wide range of moral alignments.

Just depends on his character.

Will KILL you if you override any of his saves.

Looking at YOU, Narancia.

Narancia Ghirga

Chaotic Evil.

Plays Fable.

The original one, though.

Will steal everything he can.

Also if dialogue in games allows it, he will always lie and cheat.

Also really likes farming simulators and RPG’s that allow romance.

A real casanova.

Also spends forever if customizing his characters is an option to make them look like him.

Never understands game mechanics so he just does whatever he wants to do and deals with the consequences.

Does not use the level up trees in games because it’s too complicated to understand.

Asks Fugo to do the level ups for him.

Accidentally saves over Fugo’s files.

Also really likes Dragon Age because the romance aspects and companion interactions bring him joy.

Guido Mista

Also really LOVES Dragon Age.

Chaotic Evil or Chaotic Good.

Loves romance options in any game.

A few saves but he never revisits old saves.

Also super into games like Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, and other similar games.

Backed Chef RPG per Giorno’s suggestion and is very stoked for its release.

Loves spending time in level up trees and is very particular on how his characters are built.

Morrigan simp.

Alistair simp.

Saves over Fugo’s files and blames Narancia, sometimes.

Plays My Time at Portia and is obsessed with being a master builder.

Switches between romancing Ginger and Gust because he CAN.

Giorno Giovanna

Spends all money on backing games on Kickstarter.

Always recommends those games to the others.

Bruno, Fugo, and Guido love the recommendations.

Abbacchio refuses.

Narancia just finds that he cannot wait that long for a game to be released.

Chaotic Good.

Neutral Good.

Sometimes Lawful Good to a scary extent.

All of his characters that have customization options never look like him.

Rarely deviates his play style.

Does not care for romance options in games.

100% completionist.

All side quests are completed.

Trish Una

Very big into MMORPG’s.

But does not tell ANYONE.

Actually a pro at them.

Loves Asheron’s Call and World of Warcraft.

Big into the marketplaces and selling stuff she farms.

Surface level, she only presents as someone who likes Stardew Valley.

Huge into JRPG’s like Avalon Code, Eternal Sonata, and Luminous Arc 2.

Unique game mechanics make her very excited.

Also loves romance options.

But plays as True Neutral on most occasions.

May have found out what realm Fugo plays on and secretly goes on to harass him.

Finds Fugo’s online personas to be hilarious.

#jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo part 5 #narancia ghirga #guido mista #bruno buccellati #leone abbacchio #pannacotta fugo #bruno bucciarati #giorno giovanna #jojo headcanons #trish una #rpg games? you got me there #I may or may not spend a lot of time on Kickstarter #i am very excited for chef rpg and recommend it #hi these are self inserts because I am ALL of these #thank you for the ask!

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asirensrambles · 7 months

Text

The Timing of the Inevitable

Flufftober Day 3: Pen/female builder "Wait you love me?" - "I always have"

My extremely angsty take on this fluff prompt.

Delaney hadn't been to Atara since taking a family trip back in elementary school. If it weren't for the conference on desert building, she never would have come back. Especially knowing Pen was being held there. After the Battle of Sandrock and his betrayal, she tried hard as Darkness to avoid conversations about him whenever and wherever possible. Unfortunately, she'd still managed to overhear where he was going to be held. Delaney knew herself well enough to know that if she ever ended up in the same city as Pen again, she'd go see him. Ever since he'd been taken away by Avery and his cohort, she'd avoided Atara like the plague. Yet here she was, in the same city as him. At the visitor's office of the facility he was being detained in.

Truly, the Light was unrelenting.

"Delaney?"

The builder shot to her feet. "Yes?"

The officer raised an eyebrow before responding, "You can go in and see him now. Visiting time is limited to thirty minutes, if you need out or feel unsafe at all, just press the button and we'll come right in."

All Delaney could manage was a sharp jerk of her chin, not even able to form a proper nod.

Anxiety, dread, and anticipation curled in her gut like a desert hopper. It took all her courage to force leaden feet across the threshold into the visiting room. The door slammed shut, the lock clicking behind her. It barely registered as all Delaney's focus was currently channeled into keeping her knees from buckling, or vomiting. For the first time in years, she was face to face with Pen once again.

Imprisonment had changed him. Doing her best to ignore the chains and cuffs around his hands and ankles that went into a loop on the ground, Delaney took in the changes. Gone was the uniform she was so used to seeing him in. Now he wore the simple garb of a prisoner; a plain cotton shirt and pants. On anyone else, they would probably be loose fitting. Although Pen's muscles were nowhere near as sculpted as they had been in Sandrock, it was clear he was still incredibly strong. The dark hair Delaney was so used to seeing carefully coifed was unkempt and messy in a way she'd only ever seen when Pen first woke up. Finally mustering her nerve, she managed to meet his eyes. They were as piercing as always, but far more guarded that she'd ever seen.

Over the years, Delaney had imagined what she'd say to Pen if she ever saw him again. It had gone a hundred different directions in her head, but now confronted with the real thing, every single one of them flew out the window. Pen was the one who finally broke the silence.

"Well, well, fancy seeing you here."

Delaney's mouth was drier than Sandrock.

Pen crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at her as the silence. "Well, what's this all about then?"

Try as she might, Delaney couldn't get find the words or bring herself to speak. She hadn't even moved from the door, still rooted to the spot. Pen frowned as time stretched on, still with no response. His frown slid into a sneer. "Come to gloat, then? Show off a shiny new engagement ring and tell me all about the upcoming wedding? Or maybe show me the wedding ring and pictures of your children? Tell me how happy you are now that-"

Every bottled up emotion, swallowed down sob, and wrench of her heart burst out of Delaney at the idea she was happy. With a feral scream, she lunged at him. The force of her momentum sent him crashing to the ground with a grunt of surprise. As soon as he hit the ground, Delaney sprung away, desperately ignoring the part of her brain registering touching him.

"How fucking dare you assume I'm happy," she snarled.

Pen struggled back to his feet, the previous aloof mask thoroughly shattered. Even so, Delaney couldn't even begin to decipher the emotions on his face, considering he'd been lying the whole time they'd been together. Still if she had to guess, he seemed almost pained. A split second later, the mask slid back into place. "Well excuse me for thinking one of the many men of Sandrock who were vying for your attention before me might have snatched you up."

Delaney's lip curled. "I never noticed them. Unlike you, being in a relationship meant something to me, as did this little concept called loyalty. Not that you'd know the definition of the fucking word."

"Don't you fucking dare. You have no idea what loyalty means to me." Pen's voice was sharper than a bloodstone blade. "You can't even begin to imagine what's it's cost me." Something else hedged in, roughening the edges of his words. Delaney glared at him, clenching her fists.

"I know what it cost me."

Pen flinched, almost imperceptibly. "I had no choice. It doesn't matter how much I love you-"

Whatever he said after that was drowned out by the roaring of Delaney's blood in her ears. Love. As in present tense, as in he still loved her.

The words nearly strangled her, but she forced them out. "Wait, you love me?"

Pen looked her in the eye. With utter sincerity, he replied, "I always have."

Delaney surged at the button, slamming it repeatedly. Distantly she was aware of Pen saying something, his tone pleading. His voice grew further and further away as her vision tunneled, focused solely on the door in front of her. As soon as it opened, she sprinted out and down the hall before collapsing as darkness overtook her vision.

#pen x builder #builder x pen #mtas #my time at sandrock #mtas fic #my time at sandrock fic #my writing

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fitzs-space · 1 year

Note

Hello!!! I was wondering if we could get more Moblin stuff? I love the concept so much!

Also, would you be ok with people using Moblins and some of your other headcanons in fics and stuff?

I’ll be honest in saying the base concept of mobs that are more, human? In a sense, that base idea isn’t unique to me, and I’m pretty sure I got the word itself from an old Emerald Duo fic too.

BUT! If you want to use moblins and mandreds I’m how I write them, do know I will kill for you /pos. I always love when people incorporate my ideas into their works, and i want to see all of it so tag me when you do please. I’ll love whatever you create.

All my work gains inspiration from all the other artists and writers of the community, it’s only fair y’all can use me as inspiration too! [This goes for any of my ideas and designs, Just credit or tag me and I'll absolutely love you for it!]

But now on with the idea dump, it’ll be more of the base ideas of how things work. Will these ideas change in the future? Most likely! But it’s to be expected.

Alright so start off with the base vocabulary and ideas,

Moblins- more sentient mobs, includes both passive and hostile mobs. Be they very animal like, or the more “monster” type creatures one would find in the World.

Mandreds- most non mob like creatures, be it more human like, elven, fae, whichever else. Like testificates//villager/pillager types are counted here.

There is bound to be overlap of what is counted as a Moblin vs Mandred, the words are used more as umbrella terms then binary rules. Demonic like players may count themselves in either category if they see fit. It just depends how the player sees themselves sometimes.

Hybrids- self explanatory, a player who has multiple mob like, or Mandred like traits, can really be any mix and isn’t always just “X mob and human!”. Irl hybrids are a lot more compiled, and can rarely reproduce, but I ignore that science because fuck you this is fantasy and there’s a dragon, let me have fun

Shifters- players with the ability to shapeshift. There are some moblin shifters who can only go from their more Mandred like appearance to more of a moblin, as well as shapeshifters who can change to whatever form they can feasibly control.

Player- umbrella term that identifies all entities regardless of traits.

So what makes mobs so different from moblins then? Overall it’s just a higher form of sentience and being further along the line in evolution depending on the mob. Think humans vs monkeys vs fish I guess. It’s mainly that having the higher sentience leads to the world giving these creatures a proper player code so they can, exist, live life and create and love, and importantly, respawn.

And sometimes the definition of what higher sentience counts as, is weird, and it’s better not to question it too hard because it’ll make one’s head hurt. Brings up questions of “why can there be literally entity’s of void and gases that walk around” where the only answer is just “because this void learned there is love, and it was loved back”. The universe is very kind, and it will grant true life to those that know of the love it feels, it is just unfortunate the world is cruel.

That’s why the universe gives the sentinels and robots created by ancient builders as much love as they do. These are entity’s made for the sake of protection, and many of them were made with so much love, they themselves understood it. They were forgotten in time by those who originally built them, but the universe remembered and allowed them to breath. I count sentinels as Iron/snow golems, blazes, creepers, guardians, and though very aggressive, withers and the warden. Just all the Lil dudes who were originally made to protect.

There’s a question of how many animal moblins came to evolve, but that’s just evolution sometimes man, one day you just figure out how to walk on two legs and the body adapts. And in all fairness the ancient builders were way closer to what piglins are, so the more important question is how the hell humans came to be /j.

[//this section I’m kinda talking about death and corpses, quick warning if you need] But the undead moblins are a fun topic, because the idea of what happens to the player after respawn is fun to explore. Many of the undead mobs that wander the wild and attack players, are very much the result of players who died and respawned, but the body didn't disappear. They are just the left behind husks of body’s that move on pure instinct, they just don’t have any code or soul behind them anymore. The knowledge of Why sometimes a body may disappear after respawn and sometimes not, has never been figured out, just another weird code of the universe. Still’s always a little unsettling to be in a cave and see a zombie that looks just like your friend, just all rotted away and two seconds from attacking you. Worse when it’s yourself.

Then what about the undead moblins themselves? that is what happens when the body is supposed to die, but the player refuses to. The body may start to rot away sure, they may become just bone and soul, but the player is still alive and kicking and the universe learns to accept that eventually. It happens most commonly when the player was meant to experience permadeath. Like times when the player succumbs to the infection and the world lets them die a final time, or the player continues on.

[ok we good!]

Am I forgetting some things? Probably, this was written over the course of a few days as I’m chillin on the bus. But a lot of my ideas will be born from canon things, or random hidden knowledge of minecraft lore. Also the fact I was a dnd kid feeds into this stuff a lot too probably. But I like to have fun with ideas and create worlds that I’ll eventually forget about, but now I’ve actually got an audience who’ll remember it.

#fitzs answers #headcanon dump #worldbuilding dump #hehehe mincraf lore #I love talking the abandoned ideas and turning them into actual personal canon #like the enderman that used to have green eyes is now part of how I’ll write em #and how villagers were first implemented as the players but a pig skin!#answering the thoughts

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theharlotofferelden · 1 year

Text

So I wrote this bit of meta/speculation regarding Pen back in February but hesitated on posting it for a variety of reasons. I figured I'd post it after playing the recent update because some of my suspicions were correct. I haven't edited any of it because, frankly, I don't want to because I messed with it so much that I honestly wouldn't know where to start on fixing things.

Anyway here's some stuff I've noticed about Pen. Spoilers for the The Secrets Behind The Mask update of MTAS and Major Spoilers for My Time At Portia.

So a couple days ago I went down a rabbit hole pertaining to Pen. It started with a character from Portia and then snowballed into a loose analysis of the game events and possibly where they might take the story. It's very inconclusive, and I'm not really dedicated to any one idea of where the story will go or how certain characters will develop. I'm simply speculating here because speculating is fun.

Y'all are free to disagree as I know I'm not good at knowing where the story is going at all (I guessed wrong about who the spy for Logan was :')). I'd appreciate input or other theories though. At the very least, some of this might be entertaining muse fuel or a headcanon.

So one thing I stumbled upon while looking at Pen's wiki is under the Trivia section:

[Image ID: A screenshot of the Trivia section of Pen's wiki page. It reads as follows:

The word on his chest armor is "Justice" (正义, zhèng-yì).

According to Chinese version his full name is Péng Hǔ (彭虎) . Pen (彭) is his family name.

Hu (虎) means tiger. /.End ID]

After we meet with Logan and find out that Grace has been working with him (and that Grace is a secret agent for the Ataran government) we find out that there's a Duvos spy in Sandrock. Grace's people intercepted a message under the code name "Tiger" that they were targeting the water tower.

Other folks have pointed this out on the Steam discussion forums and believe that Pen's name translating to "Tiger" is a misdirect. Others think it might mean he's the Duvos spy due to the fact that a lot of the character's (Chinese) names pertain to aspects of their personality.

I'm personally on the fence about it. There's a lot I don't know about Pen, and I'm not sure if anything is really revealed about his past in some dialogue I missed (started a new save specifically to take a better look at things again since it's been a couple months). But currently, I really don't know anything about Pen's background.

All that aside, I find it very interesting that this game takes place shortly before the events of Portia. If you've played Portia, you'll know that they also have a Duvos agent in their midst called the Rogue Knight. After defeating the Rogue Knight, it was strongly suggested that he was Aadit; a resident of Portia that was a refugee from the border between Duvos and Elthea.

I'm not going to get into whether or not Aadit was actually the Rogue Knight just because both of their wikis explain there's contradictory information. But it's more commonly accepted by ppl in fandom that he was (from what I've noticed anyway).

I'm bringing this up mainly because.... isn't it kinda weird that both Portia and Sandrock are having issues with a Duvos agent almost around the same time?

One of the things I find interesting about Sandrock is how they flipped a lot of character's personalities compared to Portia. Example: Gale is very confident as a mayor compared to Trudy. Higgins is such a hard working builder that he's standing outside the door of the commissions office just so he can get first pickings of the commissions on the board, and you can often see him at the furnace stations next to his workshop. Meanwhile, Yan implies not so subtly that he barely even works, and most of the time you find him in the office with his feet kicked up on the table; never at the worktable next to his house.

Let's say that Aadit is the Rogue Knight and that Pen is a Duvos spy. Aadit is a soft spoken, polite pacifist that you can lose friendship with if you challenge him one too many times to a fight. Meanwhile Pen is loud, rude, confident, and loves to fight.

The contradictions in characterization are there, but do they mean anything? Probably not. Even if Pen was designed to contrast Aadit, it doesn't necessarily mean he's aligned with Duvos.

There's much we don't know about Aadit, and the fact that Pathea has been so cagey about him kind of makes me think that if he doesn't make a cameo in Sandrock, we're probably going to see him further along the line. They said as much in the FAQ of their kickstarter for Sandrock:

What’s happened to Aadit? Is he ever coming back to Portia?

Aadit’s story is left open so that we may be able to explore it down the road. Hopefully we’ll see him return to Portia one day.

(Tho them saying "Portia" makes me wonder if they're interested in making a sequel to Portia?)

And as I mentioned earlier, there's a lot we don't know about Pen either.

One thing worth pointing out is that it's very interesting Pen has a relic weapon on him considering the Rogue Knight himself uses a relic weapon.

After The Perfect Trap mission in My Time At Portia, Django asks you what it was like fighting the Rogue Knight. When you answer "He was using ancient weapons" he replies:

Oh was he now, most knights these days use some type of relic. It's like their calling card. The real knights though, they don't need these corrupted things.

And when you ask him "What exactly is a knight?" He answers:

Didn't you have knights in Barnorock? Anyway, if you're lookin' for a history lesson, it's best you talk with Isaac. But knights are highly skilled warriors that defend the weak and balance the strong. Or that's how it's supposed to be. But nowadays…

What's interesting about these responses: Modern knights tend to use relic weapons, and that knights are highly skilled warriors that "defend the weak and balance the strong".

Pen's entire thing is that he's the Defender of Sandrock. And he has a relic weapon on him. Does this mean Pen is a knight?

Oddly enough, it's likely as Pen says as much when you speak to him once a day:

[Image ID: A screenshot of Pen with the caption of him saying: "Aren't you clad we have a knight in this town? Saving damsels and delivering justice. Of course, I'm talking about me. I'm the Protector of Sandrock." /.End ID]

Assuming Pen isn't just claiming or masquerading as a knight (considering he owns a relic weapon) could this mean he's actually working for Duvos similarly to the Rogue Knight in Portia?

I'm really on the fence about this. Pen's entire personality feels like a facade; a spy that hides in plain sight by being an egotistical windbag. A useful egotistical windbag, but a windbag nonetheless. I feel this is at least partially supported by the fact that some people write him off immediately because "he's too dumb to be a spy".

Yet at the same time.....If Grace is in Sandrock and is specifically there to help Logan find the Duvos spy, could there potentially be a third party who's also interested in helping. And if so, could that party potentially be Pen?

Probably the only bit of dialogue I've been able to find (so far) on Pen's background and why he's in Sandrock is what he says here:

[Image ID: A screenshot of Pen with the caption of him saying: "I bet you're wondering how did someone so awesome, me, end up in this unsavory place. Well, the Light told me to look after the weak, and guided me here. That's the short version." /.End ID]

Pen could be lying here considering he lies to you (almost unnecessarily) about why he wasn't present to stop Logan from destroying the water tower. Logan not only says he was there, but he was also the one responsible for destroying the water tower.

It's possible it could be just as Grace says; that he lied to avoid being blamed for destroying the water tower. But I also think if he was being honest about it, he would have to explain how he destroyed the water tower. Yes, he's a very good fighter, but the water tower literally exploded.

But let's consider he's being honest about his reasons for being in Sandrock. Judging by the way he's speaking, the "Light" he's speaking of is related to The Church of Light..... Could it be possible that he was sent by a church to Sandrock to find the Duvos spy? More specifically, could he have been sent by the High Temple in Meidi, seeing as how Meidi literally borders Duvos, making it likely that they would have easier access to information on what Duvos is doing?

I personally don't think this is likely due to the fact that Pen is intent on going after Logan. Pen alleged that he only saw Logan flee after the church collapsed while attempting to rescue Howlett. But what if he didn't? Perhaps he's going after Logan because he thinks he knows something more (particularly that there's a Duvos spy in Sandrock, and that's something that could potentially compromise him). Because the alternative in this situation is him going after Logan under the suspicion that he's the spy, which makes no sense given he's a native of Sandrock and just lost his father.

I'll end on the last thing I noticed about Pen's concept art. The pose is very similar to that of the Rogue Knight's concept art:

I was pretty reluctant to point this out because it's just a pose and this particular thing feels a bit too much like "reading too deeply into things. Especially since Arlo and Justice share similar poses, and even Logan's pose is reminiscent of the above pose. I just thought I would mention it because it threw me when I noticed how similar they were when I was looking at the thumbnails on my phone.

Just to be clear: I don't think Pen is the Rogue Knight or Aadit. I mean, I would be interested in them proving me wrong. But due to the fact that these games take place closely around the same time, I don't think it's feasible that the two are the same person.

I would, however, be interested to know if there's indeed a connection considering how some of Pen's facial characteristics are reminiscent of Aadit's, but I'd rather not speculate that far. Especially considering it hasn't been canonically confirmed that Aadit is the Rogue Knight (and we don't know where Pen grew up).

Anyway these are all my thoughts for now. Like I said, I'm not really dedicated to one line of thought. It just tickles my brain. I would like to talk more about the stories Pen, Burgess, and the others gave about the night Howlett died and compare it to Logan's. But for now I'll just end on this.

#my time at sandrock #my time at sandrock spoilers #mtas spoilers #mtas meta #mtas speculation #mtas pen #mainly posting this for myself bc it's been languishing in my drafts for months #and i don't want to delete it because i spent too much time on it

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soaring-minuet · 5 months

Text

I Have Loved You for a Thousand Years - Two.

Word Count: 6,710 Main Story Page.

Deryk led Aisling and her comrades through the entrance to the Heaven of Lightning. As before when they entered the Omphalos, he kept a watchful eye on her as they materialized in the realm, curious to know if the locale jogged her memory. He was doubtful, however, given that the Heavens of Lightning and Fire had been the ones she spent the least amount of time in. That was despite the fact that Byregot had been uncharacteristically charmed by the small Miqo’te child when he first saw her sleeping in Oschon’s arms.

-----------------

Menphina came flying out of the Heaven of Ice as soon as Oschon entered the Omphalos, the small girl tucked safely against his chest. Despite the severity of her burns, she had somehow managed to fall asleep, presumably lulled into it by his warmth. Given how terrified she had been when he found her, Oschon was greatly relieved to see her so comfortably sleeping.

A small frown appeared on Menphina’s features at the sight of the child.

“To know she is injured this badly…” she whispered, being heedful not to awaken the child from her slumber.

“You were right to send me to her,” Oschon replied quietly, his green eyes focused on the mortal. “Her palms, lower legs and both sides of her feet are badly burned. It will take time for her to heal, both physically and emotionally. She was petrified when I found her.”

Menphina sighed sadly. “‘Tis only natural that she would be frightened. She lost everything, after all.”

A small hum came from Oschon. “Indeed.”

The goddess gazed at the girl for a moment before reaching over to lightly place a hand upon his bicep. “I know you had your doubts, but thank you, Oschon. Truly. I could not ignore the pleas of her parents to allow her to live.”

Oschon’s attention flicked to Menphina and he leaned over, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. “Of course, my love. She shall be comfortable here as she heals, safe under our guidance.”

The divine couple was suddenly interrupted by Byregot emerging from the Heaven of Lightning, his expression becoming rightfully confused at the sight of them in the Omphalos. Menphina and Oschon shared a glance before turning toward him as he approached them.

“What brings the pair of you…?”

Byregot’s question faded as he noticed the child resting in Oschon’s arms and his expression changed to, instead of anger, what the Wanderer could only describe as enchanted.

“While I should be offended that you brought a mortal child here, I cannot get over how utterly endearing she is!”

Oschon grimaced the tiniest bit at the loud exclamation and shot the Builder an irritated glare. “Quiet, lest you wake her,” he hissed. “She is sleeping.”

Byregot looked surprised by his brethren’s outburst. “My apologies,” he said. “I did not realize…”

Menphina gave Byregot a small smile and motioned toward the child’s bandages. “She has some rather serious burns. Do you think you can make us some ointment for them?”

“Of course! It shall be done immediately.”

Byregot then retreated back into his realm to seemingly work on the medicine. Oschon watched after him for a long moment before turning his attention to Menphina.

“Do you believe that allowing him to help us is wise?”

Menphina giggled and placed a light kiss to his cheek. “Of course! Her injuries need more attention than simply dressing them, afterall.”

“But if the others were to find out…”

“They are going to find out with or without Byregot’s assistance, my darling. Do not fret. It will work out in the end.”

-----------------

Deryk was suddenly pulled from his memories by the sound of Aisling’s voice.

“So this is the Heaven of Lightning.”

He turned his attention to her and nodded. “Aye, it is. Byregot will be waiting for us, no doubt.”

“And Rhalgr, too.”

It was indeed only a short while until the group found Byregot waiting for them. As she prepared to do battle against him with the rest of her allies, Deryk placed a hand on Aisling’s shoulder.

“Promise me you’ll be careful, Ais.” Because I shall never forgive myself if something happened to you.

She blinked in surprise, but then gave him a nod. “Of course.

Deryk smiled softly at her and opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by one of the other adventurers before he could.

“Come on already! We’re here to fight against the gods, not watch the two of you on a date with each other!”

The comment caused Deryk’s face to grow hot and his eyes to widen. Had the pair truly been that intently focused on each other? He glanced wildly at Aisling through his side vision only to find that she looked just as flustered as he. He quickly dropped his hand from her shoulder and stepped back from her, feeling his heart thudding. After taking a moment to collect his composure, he forced himself to swallow and gave her a reassuring nod.

“Go on. May the Wanderer watch over you and keep you.”

And with that, the group begain their battle with Byregot. Although every single one of the adventurers they recruited was exceptionally talented, Deryk found himself utterly taken by Aisling. She had indeed grown to be quite masterful with the bow and had an absolutely beautiful singing voice. Watching her in battle, he was again reminded of the woman he had loved back in a different time when he was Apeliotes. Her name had been Kalliope and she was the love of Apeliotes’s life. The couple had traveled the lengths of the unsundered world together with only each other as company, creating beautiful melodies to share with the masses. Apeliotes had been perfectly content to spend the rest of his existence with Kalliope like so, but then the Final Days happened. Kalliope was gravely injured and Apeliotes was unable to save her, instead forced to watch helplessly as she perished in his arms.

Once he had become Oschon the Wanderer, he again began wandering the land in search of his lost lover, hoping that her soul may be reborn in the sundered world. As the years passed, however, he had slowly lost hope of ever finding her. He eventually took Menphina as his lover in an attempt to curb his loneliness and while he was indeed happy with her, his heart still ultimately belonged to his beloved Kalliope. His hopes now were to give his blessing to Etheirys and then himself over to the lifestream where he assumed his lover would be waiting for him. There could be no greater gift for him after twelve thousand long years than finally being reunited with her. Though Deryk could not deny that something about Aisling was drawing him to her like a moth to a flame and the thought scared him. He was not long for this world, after all, and could not afford to grow attached.

Aisling and the other adventurers, much to Deryk’s surprise, made relatively quick work of Byregot and they were soon trekking deeper into the Heaven of Lightning. Like Aisling had predicted, Rhalgr was the next to call out to the group and send one of his servants to face them in battle. It was taken care of in short order and an impressed Rhalgr opened the path forward so he himself could fight the group. As they pressed onward, Deryk caught up with Aisling.

“You are a joy to watch in battle,” he told her. “It’s clear that the bow has become second nature to you at this point.”

Aisling’s face colored slightly at his compliment and she looked away from him. “I think some of the others likely performed better than me,” she mumbled.

“I wouldn’t know. My attention was on you and that lovely singing voice.”

Aisling’s eyes grew wide at this and she mumbled something incoherent, her cheeks turning a deeper shade of red. Deryk chuckled softly, finding her flustered reaction to his words rather adorable. It also made him curious to know how badly she’d blush when she saw him as Oschon, given his true form’s more revealing attire. But such thoughts were neither here nor there at the moment, as the group were coming upon Rhalgr’s arena. If he was being honest with himself, Deryk was rather looking forward to the opportunity to watch Aisling in combat again. The other adventurers may very well not have existed, as far as he was concerned. He only cared about watching her.

Like Byregot before him, the adventurers were able to take down Rhalgr without too much issue. And again, Deryk found himself mesmerized by Aisling’s combat prowess. Once Rhalgr had dissipated into aether, a fiery portal appeared before the group and Azeyma called out to them.

“Come, mortals. Enter my realm, if you dare.”

While the majority rushed through the portal without hesitation, likely eager to do battle against more of the gods, Deryk noticed Aisling back a few steps away from it. He immediately moved to her side, taking notice of the way she was trembling.

“Is something wrong?”

She visibly flinched at the question and shook her head quickly. “It’s nothing,” she told him in a shaky voice.

Deryk hummed and folded his arms across his chest. “That is very obviously a lie, because I can see the way you’re trembling.”

His words must have come out harsher than he intended, since her lower lip began to wobble. His expression immediately softened and he lightly placed a hand on her shoulder.

“My apologies, as I didn’t intend to upset you. But please. I would like to know what’s bothering you so.”

“You’ll think it’s stupid,” Aisling mumbled, her voice cracking slightly.

“I promise you, I won’t. Everyone has their fears and yours are equally as valid. So talk to me.”

She sucked in a long breath before motioning toward the portal. “Fire…I’m scared of it. I had a, uh, bad experience with it when I was little. I thought I’d be okay coming here with so many other people, but…”

Deryk frowned as her voice trailed off. “Ah, I see. If it would be easier, you can head back to the Omphalos and I can guide the others through the Heaven of Fire,” he offered.

But Aisling stubbornly shook her head. “And never hear the end of it from G’raha? I don’t think so.”

“The coming fights will only trigger your pyrophobia even more,” Deryk said gently. “Besides, I noticed that you seemed uncomfortable with Nald’thal earlier. I should think that your peace of mind is more important than any feud you may have with your colleague.”

“No, this is something that I have to do for me. I need to prove to myself that I can.”

Deryk was briefly surprised by her determination, but then he nodded. “If this is what you truly want, then I will not stop you. But the only way forward is through the portal.”

He watched as she looked from him to the portal anxiously before taking a step toward it himself and putting one of his arms into it.

“See? The portal is simply aetherial in nature. It will not hurt you in any way, I assure you.”

Aisling still looked hesitant, so Deryk removed his arm from the portal and stepped back to her. He was worried for her in the coming battles if the fiery portal was making her this anxious, but he already promised her he wouldn’t stop her from going on. He considered his options for a moment before coming to a decision.

“If I may be so bold…”

Before she could question him, Deryk had knelt down and took Aisling into his arms bridal style. She immediately let loose a surprised squeal as he lifted her up and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, causing his cheeks to pinken slightly.

“What are you doing!?”

“Relax. I have you,” he answered kindly. “Just keep your attention on me.”

Aisling gave him a small nod, her cheeks also taking on a pink hue. Deryk gently smiled at her in response and then stepped through the portal with her in his arms. He felt her muscles tense the slightest bit as he did so, but it was only a moment until she began to relax.

“See? I told you that the portal was perfectly safe.”

“That you did,” Aisling agreed.

“I cannot, unfortunately, say the same for the fights against Azeyma and Nald’thal. The danger, I fear, will be real. So I will ask again. Are you sure you wish to continue?”

Aisling’s eyes bore directly into his, causing Deryk’s heart to shutter. Oh. He hadn’t taken notice of just how lovely her eyes were, likely because they had never been quite so close to one another before now. And heavens help him, they were so similar to Kalliope’s. He was so captivated by her eyes, in fact, that the sound of her voice startled him somewhat.

“I am. Like I told you, this is something that I need to do for myself. I already let my fears get to me once before. I refuse to let that happen again.”

“Well then, let us reunite with our comrades before that determination has a chance to fizzle out.”

The pair drifted into silence as Deryk carried Aisling through the Heaven of Fire, admittedly not wanting to let her out of his arms yet. The moment, however, was unfortunately ruined as soon as they caught up with their allies.

“There the two of you are! Finally! We were beginning to think that you snuck off to make out somewhere.”

“Making out? No, look at how he’s carrying her. I wager they absolutely took it further than just making out.”

“Look, if you guys are just going to keep kissing, I think we can manage to find our own way.”

Deryk’s eyes widened at the last remark, as he hadn’t even noticed that his face had drifted so close to Aisling’s that their noses were just about touching. They were so close that he could feel her breath against his face. His cheeks flushed a deep crimson and he hastily placed her on her feet, ignoring a few snickers coming from the group. Just what in the heavens had gotten into him? He squeezed his eyes shut and took several deep breaths in an effort to calm himself, again feeling those butterflies storming through his stomach. Once the sensation had passed, he cleared his throat loudly before acknowledging the group.

“Come. This way.”

So Deryk began guiding Aisling and her fellow adventurers further into the Heaven of Fire. They hadn’t made it terribly far, however, before they were jumped by the trusted lion familiars of Nald’thal. As the rest of the party moved to do battle against them, Deryk caught a hold of Aisling’s arm.

“If it starts to be too much, look outside the arena. I will be there.”

Aisling nodded in response and gave him a shaky smile. He returned the latter before shifting his gaze to a nearby adventurer who had picked up on her not-so subtle discomfort.

“Pray keep an eye on her in the coming battles.”

“Of course,” the adventurer told him and then looked at Aisling. “Just stick with me!”

Satisfied that Aisling was in good hands, Deryk backed off so he could watch the fight. True to their word, the adventurer kept a watchful eye on Aisling during it and dutifully guided her to safety. He could tell that their presence was indeed helping Aisling’s confidence, if only a little, and it made him happy, as he had been worried about how she’d react to his fire-aspected brethren. But he knew full well that the true tests were still ahead. When the lions were taken care of, Deryk made his way over to Aisling.

“You did well. I’m proud of you.”

“Mainly because you asked that person to keep an eye on me,” she admitted sheepishly.

“Hey now, there’s nothing wrong with accepting help from others, especially in difficult situations. Nor does it change the fact that, given the circumstances, you fought well.”

Aisling blinked in surprise, but then gave him a tiny smile. “I guess you’re right. Thank you.”

But Deryk shook his head. “You may want to hold off on thanking me until you are through the next couple fights, as Azeyma and Nald’thal are still ahead.”

“Right…”

Indeed, it was all too soon that the group found Azeyma waiting for them. She gave Deryk a questioning look when she noticed Aisling among the group, likely not expecting to see her there, and he merely shrugged the slightest bit. A proper explanation would have to wait until later when he wasn’t masquerading as a mortal. Speaking of Aisling, the kind adventurer that had taken her under their wing gladly did so again for the fight against Azeyma. And unless Deryk was imagining things, the goddess herself seemed cautious about using her abilities too close to the Miqo’te. Regardless, it was clear that Aisling was clearly out of her element during the fight, which tugged at his heartstrings. He disliked seeing her under such distress, even if he admired her resolution to face her fear. Though he did find himself wondering how much of it was truly determination and how much of it was simply her wanting to avoid G’raha.

Once the group had defeated Azeyma, they followed Deryk’s lead into the Endless City. Aisling fell into pace with him, gazing around her surroundings with a look of amazement that caused a small smile to grace his features.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself.”

“Eh? A little, I guess. This city just reminds me of U’ldah.”

A quiet chuckle escaped Deryk’s throat. “Allow me to remind you that according to myth, Nald’thal was the one who created it. I doubt that its similarity to Ul’dah is no mere coincidence.”

Aisling’s ears flattened slightly in response. “Oh, yeah. We still need to fight him…”

Deryk’s smile turned into a frown. “You seem to have a disdain toward Nald’thal in particular, one that I’ll wager goes beyond the fact that he’s fire aspected. If I may, is there a reason for that?”

A frown appeared on Aisling’s face as well and he noticed her tail swishing awkwardly. There was a heavy silence for a few moments before she finally let out a defeated sigh.

“How about I tell you later? It’s somewhat of a long story that I’d rather not go into with nearly two dozen other people around.”

“Fair enough, but realize that I intend to hold you to that.”

The rest of the trek through the Endless City was a silent one, aside from some hushed conversations from their allies. He noticed Aisling starting to limp the slightest bit as they trudged along, which again tugged at his heart strings. He had a feeling that it was because of the scarring along her legs and feet, but knew better than to question her about it, lest he rouse her suspicions. He instead slowed his own pace to make it easier on her, earning himself a thankful smile from her. He wished that he could simply transform into Oschon and fly her through the city, but knew that was out of the question. Mayhaps one day, however.

When they arrived in the Twin Halls some time later, they found Nald’thal awaiting them, with Nald at the helm. Like Azeyma before him, his attention fell on Aisling, who had squeezed so close to Deryk that their shoulders were practically touching. Noticing her trembling, he took her hand into his larger one and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“You can overcome this,” he whispered. “I know you can.”

Aisling looked a little flustered by his actions, but squeezed his hand in return and mouthed “thank you”. He gave her a tiny smile before letting go of her hand and nodding toward his brethren, who had relinquished control to Thal.

“It’s time you get in there,” he told her. “Again, look for me along the sidelines if need be.”

Deryk then placed his hand on the small of Aisling’s back and gave her a gentle nudge into the arena so the battle could begin. For a blessing, a handful of other adventurers had picked up on Aisling’s discomfort and joined the original one he asked in keeping an eye on her. Even so, he caught her gazing at him anxiously quite a few times and returned each one with an encouraging smile. When it came time for Nald’thal’s judgment, he picked Aisling’s soul for one of his vessels, probably to find out why she was such a nervous wreck. After doing so, the twin-aspected god stared at her for a long moment before turning his gaze to Deryk. This caused the latter to blink in surprise a couple of times and take an awkward step back. Just what had Nald’thal seen in Aisling’s soul that concerned him?

As soon as the aforenamed deity was laid low, Deryk wasted no time in jogging over to Aisling, who still looked on edge.

“I am so incredibly proud of you,” he told her earnestly. “I can tell just how frightening that was for you, but you pulled through it despite the hardships and all things considered, handled yourself well.”

Aisling glanced at him through her peripheral vision and gave him a half smile. “While I’m touched by your kind words, I would really like to get out of here.”

A light hum escaped Deryk’s throat and he nodded. “Of course,” he replied, motioning toward the portal. “Let us return to the Omphalos at once.”

This must not have been fast enough for Aisling’s liking, since she wrapped a hand around his wrist and yanked him toward the portal. A silent chuckle rumbled in his chest as she pulled him along, fairly certain that nothing short of Oschon could stop her from manhandling him out of the Twin Halls. Though, given her dislike of Nald’thal, he didn’t blame her for not wanting to stay longer than she had to. He wondered if the deity’s look into her soul had weirded her out, but decided it would be best to question her when were they away from the Endless City. He also made a mental note to ask Nald’thal about what he had seen in her soul when he next had the chance.

When the pair arrived back in the Omphalos, they were swiftly met by G’raha and a Lalafellin woman. Deryk glanced over his shoulder at Aisling.

“She's another one of your colleagues, I take it?” he asked in a hushed voice.

She nodded in response before filling G’raha and their associate in on what happened in the gods’ sanctums.

“You defeated them all? Incredible! I had no doubt that you would succeed, but I’m no less impressed for it!”

Before Aislng could respond, Rhalgr’s voice rung out.

“Gahahaha! Seldom have I felt such exhilaration!”

The four spun on their heels as the gods reemerged from their sanctums and took physical form in a blast of light. Rhalgr immediately turned his attention to Byregot.

“To think that the day would come that we would put on an act for men... I must say, Byregot, you played the villain's role to perfection!”

“Come now, Master, I merely did what was necessary to compel the mortals to confront us.”

Azeyma released somewhat of a pained sigh. “Still, it pained me to speak to our beloved children so unkindly…”

“So you say, Azeyma,” Nald’thal said, “yet you seemed happy enough to fight them. You did not forget the true purpose of the trial, I hope?”

The goddess turned away from Nald’thal, seemingly embarrassed that she had been called out. “Well, I couldn't help but be excited. And do not tell me you felt differently!”

She then turned her attention to Deryk and the three mortals. “Consider yourselves fortunate, children. 'Tis rare indeed to see Nald'thal in such high spirits.”

“What in the world is happening?” Krile asked. “Didn’t you say you had defeated them?”

G’raha’s voice was a mixture of alarm and amazement. “Did they manage to flee…or perhaps were resummoned?”

Deryk watched as Aisling rushed forward with G’raha, both of them readying their weapons. He had to admit that he was impressed by the duo’s willingness to take on his brethen by their selves, even though he knew it wouldn’t come to that.

“Put up your weapons,” Rhalgr told them. “You have naught to fear from us.”

“Rest assured we are not summoned beings. We do not drain the land of aether, nor do we take men into our thrall,” Byregot added.

Aisling glanced back at Deryk, who gave her a single nod. Satisfied by this, she placed her bow back upon her back. G’raha put his weapon away as well, but didn’t look convinced.

“But...what of the gods who were summoned during the Calamity? The ones Master Louisoix called forth to protect the realm…”

“That was not us, but a primal born of your fervent prayers for salvation,” Nald’thal told him.

“Indeed,” Azeyma chimed in. “That the worst of the Calamity was averted and the realm restored in its aftermath was a direct testament to the power of your hopes.”

Aisling tilted her head in confusion. “Why choose to appear before us now?”

As Byregot turned his gaze to her, Deryk took notice of the tenderness in it. It was clear that his brethren still cared for her as much as he did.

“...Just as men harbor hopes, so too do we gods. To realize our aspirations, 'tis essential that we do battle with you. Thus did I falsely claim that we sought to rule the world. 'Twas deceitful conduct unworthy of a divinity, and I must apologize. Not only for that, but for using my power to do harm besides.”

The newcomer, who looked to be deep in thought, suddenly spoke up. “These hopes of yours─won't you tell us what they are?”

“We cannot,” Nald’thal answered. “If you wish to know the truth, you must discover it for yourselves.”

Azeyma nodded her head in agreement. “'Tis not easy to move forward when there is seemingly no destination. But if you press on, you will eventually arrive at the answers you seek.”

“Aye, you will understand why we hold our peace, and far more besides,” Rhalgr said. “You will learn the very truth of our existence.”

“Go forth, mortals, and seek knowledge of us. And when the time is right, we shall meet again in this place,” Byregot finished.

The divinites then returned to their sanctums, leaving Deryk alone with Aisling and her colleagues. There was several moments of silence before G’raha finally broke it.

“We have met and exchanged words with the Twelve... When I pause to think, I can scarce believe it.”

The Lalafellin woman nodded her head in agreement and turned her attention to Aisling. “As if hearing about your battling the Twelve weren't shocking enough, to have them appear before my very eyes... Suffice it to say it's been an interesting day. While much about them remains shrouded in mystery, at least they seem open to reason. In considering our next step, I should very much like to hear your detailed account of them.”

She then paused and turned her attention to Deryk. “Right after I have a word with our client, that is. Please give me a moment to introduce myself, and then we can review the situation.”

-----------------

And that is how Deryk found himself waiting for Aisling in Ul’dah’s Arrzaneth Ossuary. After he was formally introduced to the Lalafellin woman, whose name was Krile, the quartet had a discussion about their next course of action. G’raha suggested that they make for Rhalgr’s Reach, mentioning that it was a holy ground for worshippers of Rhalgr. So Deryk, with Aisling and G’raha, did just that. It was surreal for Deryk to be back here after his original encounter with Aisling on that fateful day, but he elected not to linger on that and instead assisted the other two in finding information about Rhalgr. Following an unexpected visit from Byregot and Rhalgr, G’raha was contacted by Krile and announced that an acquaintance of hers would be joining the investigation. While he was to retrieve her, he asked Deryk and Aisling to visit Ul’dah to find information about Nald’thal.

“So, it's to be just you and me in Ul'dah…” Deryk had commented to Aisling with a sigh. “What strange manners for the one who proposed the survey to so promptly abandon it. Though I suppose it can’t be helped…”

“Oh, you can’t say the arrangement is that bad,” Aisling teased, causing him to blush the slightest bit.

“I'll not lie: I am not given to working one-on-one with another,” he admitted, which was true. He had not done so since Kalliope all those millennia ago and the thought of suddenly being alone with Aisling was making him more than a little anxious.

“But I suppose I agreed to this arrangement,” he paused again to release another sigh. “Well, we had best be on our way. As I recall, Milvaneth Sacrarium is still closed for construction, so let us try our luck at Arrzaneth Ossuary. You have no objection to traveling separately, I trust?”

Aisling looked surprised and maybe slightly disappointed by his proposition, but nonetheless shook her head.

“Good. I shall see you in Ul'dah.”

“Hey! I hope you weren’t waiting too long.”

The sound of Aisling’s voice pulled Deryk from his ruminations back to the present and he turned his attention to her.

“Not at all,” he replied before motioning toward the statue of Thal.

“Of the deific twins Nald'thal, here they worship Thal, who keeps the realm of the dead and weighs the worth of men's souls. In contrast, Nald keeps the world of the living and oversees their financial fortunes.”

“And is who they worship in Milvaneth Sacrarium, which is located on the Steps of Thal,” Aisling commented.

Deryk nodded his head before continuing. “Their names are borne by many a location, and religious organizations─some extremely wealthy and powerful─exist to nurture faith in them. On the surface, it may seem strange that a hub of commerce such as Ul'dah could be home to such spiritual people. But it is actually quite logical when one considers that their religion is, in essence, commerce.”

He then motioned toward the statue of Thal again. “In any event, Nald'thal is a truly unusual divinty. What was originally held to be one god came to be worshipped as twins. Indeed, rather than two distinct entities, that which we encountered was a single being possessed of two personalities.”

“D-Did I mishear? Did he just say they encountered Nald'thal?”

Deryk’s attention, however, was focused on the statue of Thal as he continued his rambling. “And while his appearance differs somewhat to the divinities worshipped, it cannot be denied that there are striking similarities in their nature.”

Aisling suddenly elbowed him in the ribs, forcing him to look at her. She motioned toward a nearby priest that was gaping at the two of them.

“Uh, you’re starting to attract attention to yourself,” she whispered.

Deryk’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “F-Forgive me, this is hardly the place for such a conversation... Let us continue it elsewhere!”

He then hurried out of the Ossuary with Aisling on his heels, mentally scolding himself for his foolishness. He should have known that a comment about encountering Nald’thal would attract the attention of the Order. It was another reminder of just how out of place he truly was in the world of man. Once they were far enough from the Ossuary to no longer make a spectacle of themselves, Deryk turned to Aisling and gave her a sheepish smile.

“'Twas careless of me to openly speak of our encounter with a divinity within a place where he is worshipped. Hereon, I shall exercise greater caution. I thank you for alerting me to my indiscretion...and ask that you keep it between us.”

“Of course!”

Deryk gave her a slight smile in response. “Come to think of it, now that I have you alone, I believe I will take this opportunity to again question your dislike of Nald’thal.”

Aisling’s ears pressed back slightly in response and she released a sigh. “I suppose it was too much to hope for that you’d forget. Very well. When I was in U’ldah, I was close friends with a poverty-stricken youth. Given that Nald’thal is a god of commerce, it seemed hardly fair that the numerous shady merchants controlled the city’s wealth, while a defenseless child was left out on the streets with nothing but the clothes on his back.”

Deryk released a thoughtful hum. “Yes, I can imagine that something like that would negatively shape your views of Nald’thal. Though I have a feeling there is more to this story.”

Aisling look surprised by his comment, but then gave him a pained smile. “And you’d be correct. My pyrophobia stems from the fact that my entire clan was killed in a forest fire when I was young. Being the only survivor, I was left with both physical and emotional scars.”

“Would I be correct in assuming, then, that you hold some anger toward him for the fate of your clan?”

She nodded in response to his inquiry and then pulled the glove off one of her hands, holding her palm out toward Deryk so he could see the scarring on it. He said nothing and instead gently took Aisling’s hand into both of his, lightly brushing his thumbs against the rigid skin. His action caused her ears to spring up in surprise and a pale blush to dust her cheeks, but she made no effort to pull her hand back. He released a small hum as he continued to trace his thumbs against her palm.

“It gladdens me to see these have healed so well,” he mumbled to himself after a moment.

Unfortunately for him, Aisling’s ears twitched in response to his remark and she lifted a quizzical eyebrow toward him. “Um, Deryk?”

Realizing that he may have very possibly just blown his cover, Deryk let loose an embarrassed laugh. “Ah, I mean that I can only imagine how bad they must have been originally,” he said quickly.

Aisling didn’t look wholly convinced, but much to his relief, she shrugged it off rather than question him further. Deryk dropped her hand quickly and looked away from her, feeling his heart pounding in his ears. Being alone with her was starting to get to him, it would seem. After several awkward moments, he swallowed back the lump that had developed in his throat before speaking hurriedly.

“I believe it’s high time that we report our findings to G’raha Tia. Rather than waiting for our companion to arrive, perhaps we might seek him out at the Sunken Temple? He mentioned needing to make a detour. Were we to set out now, we ought to be able to catch up to him. After all, we hardly know one another. Rather than loiter with an unfamiliar person, 'tis better to use our time productively. Wouldn't you agree?”

Aisling looked confused by this, but shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”

“Then let us head to the Sunken Temple of Qarn at once.”

When he arrived at the temple some time later, Deryk came across the sight of Roegadyn woman collapsed on the ground. He immediately went to her side, checking her for injuries.

“Deryk?”

The sound of his name caused him to look over his shoulder to se Aisling running toward him.

“You're here, thank goodness. I found this woman collapsed, though I can see no obvious injuries. By her attire, she appears to be some manner of scholar.”

“Water... Food... In my bag... Please…” the scholar uttered.

“I see... Ais─may I trouble you to find her bag? I will stand lookout in the meantime.”

Aisling nodded in response before going off in search of the woman’s bag. She returned a few minutes later carrying a waterskin and handed it to the woman, looking a little sheepish.

“Sorry, but this is all I could find…”

The woman consumed the water quicker than Deryk would have liked before speaking again.

“Not enough... Food... I need food…”

Deryk turned his attention to Aisling. “I have naught save dried meat, tough as leather. Do you have anything easier to consume?”

But she shook her head sadly. “I don’t cook, so I don’t usually carry food on me.”

A small frown appeared on Deryk’s face at her comment, but he was cut off by G’raha before he could respond.

“Aisling, Deryk! What are you doing here? Actually, that can wait…”

The Miqo’te then pushed himself between the two so he could reach the woman.

“Steady, Snoegeim! I've brought you Archon loaf and coffee─made sweet and creamy, just as you like it.”

He then handed the food to the woman, who immediately helped herself. Once she had finished, she pulled herself to her feet.

“Ahhhhhh, I am reborn! Washed down with a sweet beverage, the life-giving nutrients of Archon loaf permeate my being from head to toe! Thank you, kind stranger! However you knew my preferred source of sustenance, you are truly a godssend! ...Oh, it's you, Raha! What brings you here? I don't recall mentioning my fieldwork. It's for my research into the Belah'dians' worship of Azeyma, you see…”

Aisling turned to Deryk and gave him a look that screamed “You cannot be serious”, which made him cough loudly in an effort to cover his chuckle. He, too, had misgivings about this enigmatic woman joining the investigation, but there was nothing for it. So with this Snoegeim in tow, the group made their way back to the Omphalos, where they reunited with Krile. After catching Snoegeim up on everything that had happened so far, the group helped themselves to some dinner at the Seventh Heaven. They then decided to go their separate ways for the time being, since Krile and G’raha had paperwork to fill out about the commission. Snoegeim, meanwhile, wanted to investigate the Omphalos on her own. And Deryk wanted to return to home, so he could fill his brethren in about what had happened so far.

It was early the next morning when he set off for the Omphalos, when most of the settlement was still asleep. He hadn’t even stepped foot out of Revenant’s Toll, however, when he felt someone’s gaze on him. He turned around to see Aisling staring at him from the entrance to the Seventh Heaven. Their eyes made contact and Deryk felt his cheeks warm slightly. Curious to know if she would follow him, he resumed his journey toward the Omphalos, gazing over his shoulder every once in a while to see her trailing him. While he knew full well that it would be in his best interest to stop her, he found himself wanting to show his true self to her. So, against his better judgement, he allowed her to follow him into the Omphalos.

Much to his relief, Snoegeim had fallen asleep, leaving no prying eyes as Deryk made his way over to the entrance to the Heaven of Wind. He glanced over his shoulder to see Aisling some distance behind him and then entered his sanctum, leaving the choice to follow him further up to her. He wasn’t surprised in the least to find a short while later that she had indeed followed him, though he was surprised to find that he was somewhat relieved about it. She deserved to know the truth, after all. At least when it came to his identity. So he smiled to himself before continuing through his realm, keeping an eye over his shoulder at Aisling. When they arrived at the windward pass, he finally stopped walking and turned to wait for her to catch up with him.

“I take it I know why you’re here,” he said once she had.

She gave him a breathless nod before responding. “I know who you are.”

#ffxiv #xivwriting #multi chapter fic #otp: fair winds #deryk x wol #my writing #txt post

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