moemachina

[moemachina]

Monochord (Jeanne d'Arc PSP)

Whenever Jeanne walked through the camp, the soldiers whispered jeers just inside the range of hearing. Her gender, her parentage, her country accent, even her height appeared in mocking rhymes and obscene suggestions.

Liane, if walking alongside Jeanne, would flush and tremble. Roger grew stiff and fierce.

If Gilles was there, he did not react at all.

Jeanne thought that he simply could not hear the low voices of the foot soldiers. It did not occur to her that he was following her lead: her unchanging expression, her flat gaze, her unruffled indifference as she stalked through the camp.

[moemachina]

Spilled Milk (Genshin Impact)

She should have known better, it was stupid, stupid, stupid to glide at such a low height, but she was distracted and--

"All right, all right." Eula does not care for all this dramatic self-flagellation. "It's just a sprain."

Amber flops against the grass. "Just a sprain? Just a sprain? How am I going to make my rounds? How will I--"

"You won't," Eula says briskly. "Fourth Company can cover your territory while you're healing. It's not the end of the world."

"But--"

"Enough whining," Eula says. Her hands on Amber's ankle are gentle. "No use crying over spilled milk."

[moemachina]

Apple Seeds (Genshin Impact)

Albedo eats an apple. There are black seeds inside its core. Albedo eats all of it. When he is done, nothing is left.

Klee watches this disapprovingly. "You shouldn't swallow the seeds," she says. "They're bad for you."

He smiles. "Yes, that's true. They're poisonous."

"No, that's not it. You're gonna get an apple tree growing in your stomach."

Albedo considers this idea -- a pain in his midsection, a branch bursting out, pink blossoms all along his ribs and roots drinking up his blood, everything about him transformed into a sturdy tree heavy with sweet fruit -- and he smiles again.

[moemachina]

A Nursery of Raccoons (Final Fantasy VI)

He is alone, and then he is not.

He eats their food, and then he plays with them. He headbutts the golden man and bears him to the ground. They roll around in the dirt.

The other man regards this with confusion but no real concern.

The golden man unwinds himself from Gau's grip. He is stronger. Gau abruptly surrenders, wilting like an old flower. He writhes free and rolls on his back and exposes his vulnerable stomach.

Panting, the golden man stands and extends his hand.

"Come on, get up," he says, and thereafter Gau is no longer alone.

[moemachina]

The Port of Albrook (Final Fantasy VI)

Terra sits on the deck and watches sailors climb the rigging. There is a black dog next to her. She strokes the fur along his neck tentatively, not sure if she is doing it correctly. She has seen other people pet dogs. She cannot remember petting one herself.

The dog huffs and closes his eyes in contentment.

She cannot see the dog's owner, but he must be somewhere nearby. He must be watching. She waits for a whistle calling the dog away from her.

None comes. The dog stays with her, even after the first stars begin to appear overhead.

[moemachina]

Dragon's Neck (Final Fantasy VI)

Shadow can hear the crowds outside roaring. The dog whines, and he scratches behind one ear.

It is a hot day. When he steps out, the air shimmers over the coliseum's sands. He watches his opponent approach.

It is a hot day, but Shadow feels cold.

"Why are you here?"

Terra says, "I'm here for you."

Shadow is still. "No. I'm good for killing. Not for anything else."

"They said you'd say that." She draws her sword. "I don't agree."

Shadow stares at her. In the distance, over the screams of the spectators, he can hear the dog barking ecstatically.

[moemachina]

Greasepaint and Spirit Gum (Final Fantasy VI)

"It's a little early for a celebratory drink, isn't it?"

Edgar gave his brother a sharp look as he uncorked the bottle. "Don't be an ass. It's for removing the spirit gum."

Sabin smiled unapologetically. The castle's machinery rumbled around them.

"It was quite a disguise," Celes said slowly.

Using a brandy-soaked handkerchief, Edgar scrubbed at his face. "You should have seen the earlier versions. Much more elaborate. Monocles. Eye patches. Red hair. Sideburns. A truly dashing scar."

Celes nodded, suspiciously solemn. "The fake nose was a nice touch."

Edgar stopped scrubbing. "What? The nose wasn't fake. What?"

Sabin laughed.

[moemachina]

The Floating Continent (Final Fantasy VI)

Up here, everything is vertiginously strange. The ground is soft, fleshy, and its holes open onto the sky. She sometimes catches a glimpse of Setzer's airship below.

The man named Shadow is with them. He has been injured in some profound way; Terra can tell by the way he walks.

She does not ask, she does not pry, but her expression gives her away, because Shadow abruptly says, "It's nothing. I've been hurt worse. Don't waste your pity."

Terra thinks about a dog, wounded and growling at anyone who approaches. She says nothing. He turns away from her unrelenting gaze.

[moemachina]

In The Family Way (Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis)

She comes that night, despite the half-hearted barricade he left against the inside of the door.

Elrik opens his eyes in the dark. He cannot see her, but he can smell her: rotting meat with an edge of sweetness.

"Hello, husband."

He squeezes his eyes shut again, and he hears her laugh.

"Shall I join you, husband? Have you kept the sheets warm for me after all this time?"

A small, cold hand touches his face. Elrik shudders, but he does not pull back as she climbs into bed and lies beside him.

The next morning, he flees Blete forever.

[moemachina]

Dungeon Crawling (Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia)

"There's nothing dangerous down there," Celica said firmly. "The Mother would not permit desecration to her holy places." 

Boey glanced at the bones scattered across the ground. "Uh huh." 

"Come on," Celica said. The flame floating by her shoulder flickered determinedly. "There is no time to lose." 

They had only gone a short distance when the sloping tunnel broke apart in three different directions. There were no signs or markings on the tunnel walls.  

"Um," Mae said. "Which way should we go?" 

They all looked toward Celica, who said loftily, "We will split up." 

"Under no fucking circumstances," Saber said.

[moemachina]

Butterfly (Genshin Impact)

There was a butterfly on his way to work. Zhongli stopped to watch it.

When he arrived, the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor was silent. He found Director Hu asleep at her desk. Her bare head rested against unpaid bills.

In the margins of the topmost sheet, Zhongli could see the scribbled words smoke rises to the stars, where Hu Tao had started to write a poem.

Smiling, the dead god in the guise of a man picked her hat off the floor and placed it beside her on the desk.

Life is sweet. Who can blame one for tasting it twice?

[moemachina]

Ghost Stories (Genshin Impact)

The new storyteller was telling an old ghost story. Midway through, Hu Tao and Zhongli went downstairs to eat roasted walnuts and argue about the storyteller's technique. They knew the ending; there was no need to stay.

"Life is sweet, even with its aches and pains," Hu Tao said. "Who can blame his ghost for tasting it twice?"

"That ghost was never content. He was driven by terrible urges, obsessions, not by life's small pleasures." Zhongli smiled a strange smile, though Hu Tao was too busy cracking a walnut to notice. "But perhaps that's just another failing of the storyteller."

[moemachina]

Dumplings (Genshin Impact)

Zhongli regarded the basket of dumplings thrust before him. "What's the occasion, Director?"

"No occasion! You're working late, and I thought you needed some dinner."

"Well, thank y--"

"Also, I have a teeny-tiny favor to ask."

Zhongli, reaching for the basket, paused. "Oh?"

"There's a poetry competition tomorrow. I am dying to go, but I need someone reliable here. Someone like you!"

"Director, I thought you had forbidden me from interacting directly with potential clients."

Hu Tao gave a silvery laugh. "Consider that prohibition lifted, Zhongli! Unless you start promising free funerals again, in which case it will be reinstated!"

[moemachina]

Steamed Buns (Genshin Impact)

They worked all night preparing the bodies of a family dead from fever. It was a large family; it had included all four grandparents.

As the sky overhead turned gray with dawn-light, Zhongli steered the stumbling Hu Tao to a steamed-bun stand on the corner doing a brisk business for the last drunkards of the evening. They sat together on stools and ate warm pork buns.

Hu Tao talked flippantly about trivial things: rhymes, pranks, coupons. Zhongli silently listened. 

Neither mentioned the row of stiff bodies, including two infants less than a year old, waiting back at the funeral parlor.

[moemachina]

Blisters (Genshin Impact)

As the funeral pyre blazed, the dead man's family whispered amongst themselves with satisfaction: The funeral director! So regal, so solemn! And that consultant! So…tall!

They did not know the director's new shoes were killing her, and that her mournful expression was not strictly due to her office.

Nor did they see her an hour later, after the ashes were raked and the family had gone home. She was barefoot by then, and her consultant was frowning.

"It's a long walk back, Director."

"Then I guess you'll have to give me a piggy-back ride, Zhongli."

He sighed. He knelt.

[moemachina]

Back Window (Genshin Impact)

The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor was old and respected. Thus, when creditors banged on its front doors, they never thought to post a nephew at the back of the building to prevent the 77th director from climbing out a window.

"See what you can do," Hu Tao said as she swung her leg over the sill. "Fob them off or something."

"How do you expect me to do that?" Zhongli asked. "They seem determined, Director."

"Just tell them your most boring story! The one about irrigation techniques; they'll be begging to leave. That's a guaranteed reprieve of at least a month!"

[moemachina]

Hub and Spoke (Honkai Star Rail)

They missed the last spider-bus back to the transit hub, which meant they spent the night huddled together outside the bus station.

There were no benches. Nothing indigenous to this planet existed in the form of a hominid.

"Well, this could be worse," March 7th said, leaning her head sleepily against Dan Heng's shoulder. "I mean, it's not like Himeko will let the Express leave without us. It'll be fine. There will be another bus in the morning."

Dan Heng, craning his head up to watch the station's ticket-seller weaving a web in the eaves overhead, said nothing to this.