#And I love rescue missions

[sophieswundergarten]

Still obsessed with a Magic Creature/Cursed AU, but thinking about what if instead of the (relative) safety of the orphanages and stuff, the kids are captured/exploited for their unique abilities and Mr. B and co get to mount a rescue and save them

[rakkuntoast]

everyone is talking about bolas reunion in purgatory but all im thinking about is qmalewife duo reunion. qsneeg wandering around the wastelands of purgatory lost and feeling that itch to search something... or someone but not quite knowing what or why, his mind long lost from the radiaton that overpowers his body

he can feel that he's closer to whatever he's looking for until he sees it, he doesnt know why but the avian in front of him resembles someone he feels like he knew somewhere, and it just somehow everything made more sense to him, like suddenly everything is more clear now

(debatable if qphil will recognize qsneeg but just the familiarity of a long lost friend in need of help is what lets qsneeg stick with him on his search for his teammates)

[shannonsketches]

Thinking about how Toriyama wrote an Entire Plot centering around how Vegeta has spent the last seven years learning how to be happy and comfortable with his family on Earth and how he loves his wife so much that being Gently Reminded that he loves his wife was enough to pull him out of a violent midlife crisis and made him such a powerful guardian of Earth that Heaven broke its own rules just to put him back in that position

and Toei was like 'okay but in the sequel to that plot their marriage is terrible and he's never home'

[sholmeser]

so like it’s 1999 and solid snake is in zanzibar land and gray fox tells you that all he can do is fight. it’s all he has and it’s probably all you’re ever going to have, too, because deep down you know your father is right, you know he is right as you click the lighter and burn the flesh off his skin, you know he is right when he tells you, this will never go away. i am always going to be a part of you. it’s 2005 and solid snake is in shadow moses island, alaska and gray fox tells you that’s good, snake. hit me harder. do it more. that’s good. when you meet meryl you kill the guards, and then snake thinks he loves her, so you kill psycho mantis for her, ocelot tortures you and you withstand it for her, you beat liquid to a pulp for her and while his blood is on your fists he smiles and tells you that you two, you’ll always be the same. gray fox means violence means meryl means violence, so what’s love if not that? what is it if not the feeling of broken bones under your knuckles, if not the smell of your father’s burnt flesh? but she's too young, she doesn’t understand you and she couldn’t if she tried, because she’s eighteen years old and doesn’t know any better and doesn’t understand that after you sleep with her you’re going to get up and let the pillow grow cold, she thinks you’ll tell her everything and when you don’t, because you can’t, she’ll leave you. you kill him with your fists and for her you destroy shadow moses and you hear him say to you again that’s good, snake, that feels good, do it harder. but it isn’t a coincidence that in mgs1 you meet otacon at the same time you meet gray fox. otacon who is so scared of battle he pisses his pants and otacon who cries over a woman who could never love him back and otacon who thinks good people like dogs, kind people like dogs, otacon who passed you a meal, ready-to-eat and a bottle of ketchup across the bars of your cell and when you ask him why the fuck are you here if you cant help me he says to you, i thought you might be hungry. otacon who gives you her handkerchief that was once her mother's and will be hers once again when she dies, when you rest it atop her glazed-over irises, a cycle of love. she was a good person, snake, and so are you. she liked the wolves and you do too. otacon who cries over his baby sister’s little body, who blames himself for being seventeen years old under the touch of the woman who should have been his mother. otacon who when it's 2014 will make you the solid eye and the octocamo suit and the mk. ii to keep you safe and say to you, don't hurt anyone, snake. will say to you: i'll follow you wherever you go, like this. otacon who blubbers like a baby and cries too much and who, when it's 2009 in new york city, you have to say to, go rescue the hostages, because if you don’t he’s going to crumple in on himself, a dying star. this is how you love, you don’t say to him, and how i love, because you showed me how. wrap your arms around his shoulders and hope it’s enough.

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Congrats on the followers Skye! :D You said you still had slots open for writing prompts, so can I ask for either something with dad squad, or your au which I forget the name of but Link’s dog’s name is Friend? Maybe some kind of hurt/comfort :)

-Sky Floor

Link knew better than to say things can't get much worse, but the thought tried to cross his mind.

With the amount of times he'd faced his mortality, he'd hardly ever feared death anymore. Sometimes he wondered if it would be a relief to actually die. Not that he'd actively pursue it, of course, but it seemed a passive companion he sometimes longed for and other times pushed away.

But either way - he certainly felt closer to it now than he had for many years.

Gritting his teeth, the former hero dragged himself up by a low reaching tree branch, gripping his sword with all the strength he could muster. The iron knuckle he was fighting marched towards him, enough weight in each step that he could hear its armor clanging across the field. The good thing about these cursed monsters was that they were slow, but after fighting a veritable army of stalfos, lizalfos, wizzrobes, and a boss fight against the corrupted wind dragon, he was reaching the end of his abilities. Honestly, the fact that this behemoth was so slow just made it seem like death was taking its time to claim him. It wasn't as if he could just flee - they were too close to a village, and this thing would kill everyone.

Not that it wouldn't kill them if he died, but... still.

Think, idiot! This isn't the time!

Link managed to roll just as the iron knuckle swung its heavy axe at him, allowing him to get close and chink away at its armor. He got behind it, bashing its helmet with his shield before his leg finally gave out, making him fall to the ground with a grunt.

The iron knuckle turned, its helmet half off, armor damaged, but axe still at the ready.

Link closed his eyes, overwhelmed with pain, bracing for the hit as he feebly held up his shield.

Instead, he heard a snarl and a crash. Opening his eyes, startled, he saw the iron knuckle on its side, having been hit at full speed by Friend, who had torn a path across the field, teeth bared. She gripped wherever her powerful jaw could clamp down, grasping at one of the iron knuckle's arms and tearing it off.

Letting out a relieved breath, he rolled over to get to the enemy and reached weakly for its axe so it couldn't retaliate. Friend beat him to it, ripping off the beast's other arm, growling the entire time as her fur stood on end.

The iron knuckle stopped moving, its armor crumbling to ash and malicious smoke, its helmet remaining.

Link let himself collapse entirely, gasping for air. Friend was in his face in an instant, licking him and whining. He didn't have the energy to reassure her, and she barked at him in protest of it.

Before he could do anything, his sweet companion was nuzzling at his pouch, grabbing it and bringing it to his hand. He smiled tiredly at her, feeling blood seeping out of multiple wounds as she moved to try and nurse them. He hissed when she licked at his leg, but he couldn't shoo her away. Instead, he sifted through his pouch, trying to find anything that could help. He wasn't entirely sure he was stocked up for a fight like this or not.

Eventually, his trembling hand found a cool bottle, and he pulled it out, seeing a red liquid inside. That was promising. He struggled to uncork it, so Friend moved up to him and pulled at the cork with her mouth, letting him get to the contents. After nearly choking down the potion, he let out a sigh of relief, smiling at her. "Thanks, girl."

Friend panted happily, tail wagging as she licked his face once more. Then she nipped gently at his tunic, pulling him along the field as he spluttered. "Friend, what are you—stop it—"

The chonk didn't listen, dragging him as he hissed over every rock and stick he ran over. Eventually he tried to right himself to at least crawl out of the open area, and Friend crawled under him whenever he was about to collapse, supporting him. By the time he reached the edge of the forest he was exhausted, huddling in on himself under a tree. Friend barked at him and then took off running, though he had no idea what she was up to. He glanced around blearily, but he saw no other signs of monsters.

That was good enough for him for now. He closed his eyes, trying to save his energy. He didn't realize he'd fallen asleep until he blinked his eyes open to see that it was dark. And entirely too quiet.

"F-Friend...?" he asked shakily, shivering and trying to sit up.

Where was she? Was she okay? What had happened?

"Oh my gosh, there he is!"

Link squinted, seeing Friend charging towards him with two people following her. They were both immediately recognizable, what with the girl's fancier fashion style and the boy's large stature.

Oh, great.

"'M fine," he immediately insisted. "Taking a nap. Go away."

"You're not fine, look at you!" Princess Zelda argued as she knelt down beside him. "Fancy Hands, pick him up, we have to get him to the village!"

Link glared at Friend while the Gerudo teenager sighed and complied. Traitor.

Friend wagged her tail happily in reply.

"Put. Me. Down." he immediately growled when the other Link tried to haul him over his shoulders.

"Well, you heard him, Princess," the Gerudo quickly said.

"My orders supersede his, pick him up!"

"I will gut you."

"Princess, he doesn't sound like he wants to be carried."

"I don't care what he wants! He's bleeding, he could be delirious!"

"I'm fine."

"He says he's fine."

"I heard him, knucklehead, I don't care!"

Link groaned as his world started spinning. This was getting tedious, and he was in pain. "Just leave me alone."

"Look," the masseur said. "If you don't want to be carried into town, at least let us help you here. I could go back and get supplies from the healer."

Link bit his lip. He didn't like it, but it was a far better option than letting himself be hauled around. "Fine."

The Gerudo nodded, rising, leaving the princess and the pup. Zelda looked him over carefully. "You really did take on that entire army by yourself, didn't you?"

Link stared at her uncertainly.

"That's... incredibly brave of you," Zelda continued. "A mark of a true Hero."

Oh, for Farore's sake. "No. I'm not the Hero."

"Oh, come on!" Zelda argued, putting her hands on her hips. "You definitely are!"

"They owed me money," Link grumbled in reply.

"That's a lie and you know it!"

The argument went back and forth for a few more minutes before Friend finally finished it by laying her entire head over Link's face, silencing him. He tried to protest, his voice muffled in her throat, making the princess laugh and exciting Friend. She licked his face, whining a little, pawing at him.

"I'm okay, Cupcake," he whispered tiredly. The edges of his vision were fading to black. Friend whined again.

"Don't worry, girl," Princess Zelda said gently, petting the dog. "We'll take good care of him."

Link found that he couldn't be annoyed anymore, snuggling close to his sweet dog and falling asleep as they awaited the Gerudo teenager's return.

[fumiko-matsubara]

A warm-up portrait of Princess Lea 💜✨

When the no-nonsense perfect honour student Gakushuu Asano went on a whole side quest to prove to you that he is NOT, in fact, a boring person like you told him he was, and that he can certainly act like a normal middle schooler... by cracking jokes and making puns 😭

[everyneji]

[markantonys]

okay, so say hypothetically we lose The Great Cauthor Roadtrip: Desert Edition in s3 by mat going to tanchico instead, and say the s3 tanchico trip absorbs ebou dar as well and mat will have no need to return to that area again later. mat still needs to form the band of the red hand and become rand's/the light's general, so it would make sense to send him back into rand's plotline for s4 to do that, and if he doesn't have to leave again to go to ebou dar............then WHAT IF we get mat leading the band as part of the rand rescue mission at dumai's wells???? the ROMANCE!!!!!

[cutechickdgaming]

The three horsemen of animal rescue children’s shows (also beloved by older people <3). Most of the Octonauts and WK descriptions came from that one post comparing the crews.

I grew up with all of these, though two of these are far more well-known than the other. Idk if all of the statements are accurate, but at least that’s how I describe the shows.

Bird Squad is so wack (committing grand theft blimp for frick’s sake), it deserves more acknowledgement and a second season. Yeah, it predated the other two shows (tho not the OG Octonauts books). Let me know if you recognize the show, because I’d like the fandom to grow. (We’re a little lonely)

Octonauts do be getting it’s 8th season (please I need the rest of Season 5, too) and Wild Kratts with 7th and they’re all fun.

Also have birb

And this

[promptsforyourwhumpfic]

Whump Prompt #1130

Submitted by @dollopheadedmerlin - thanks!

Whumpee is put under some sort of obedience spell (potion, curse, drug, etc.) And is used against their team to do horrible things. When rescued, they are unable to undo the effects, having them remain obedient to every command. After undoing commands that hinder the whumpee ("you are to sleep when you please" to counter "you shall only sleep when I tell you to" for example) the whumpee still drones around like they have tasks to keep track of. 

When asked why they don't feel more free, whumpee admits that even neutral commands meant to fee them of obedience plague their mind, as they are just as obligated to follow them as they are harmless ones, leaving them in a dazed state most of the time, unable to think normally. 

[pompomqt]

Journey to the West Chapter 34

Sun Wukong trapped in the gourd:

This chapter of Journey to the West with @journeythroughjourneytothewest we continue to follow Sun Wukong on his mission to collect all five sacred treasures. Oh, and rescue Tripitaka and the others to I guess. So let's get into it shall we?

We start where we left off last time, with the two minion demon's eager to test out their new gourd. They try bottling up heaven for practice only to find that it doesn't work and the vase is a fake. Once they start suspecting it's a fake, Monkey transforms it back into one of his hairs and takes it back, leaving the two demon's empty handed.

The Demon's are freaking out thinking that they are going to be beaten to death for failing their mission of capturing Sun Wukong and losing the sacred treasures, but they bravely head back to tell their bosses anyways with Monkey transforming into a fly to tail them. We also learn the answer to a question I wouldn't have thought to ask, what happened to the vase and gourd when he transformed into such a small size? Well apparently the two items share something in common with his staff and can shrink or grow as the plot commands. I can only assume his clothes work the same way.

Anyways the minion demon's report to their bosses about the mistake they made and tell them what happened. The two bosses of course immediately pinpoint Sun Wukong for being at fault, and let the two minion demons go without beating them to death. Which kind of makes them nicer then Wukong since he's constantly threatening to beat people to death, especially his allies. Anyways the demon's still have three of the main treasures left, including a fan and a sword, but they decide the last one is best suited towards capturing Sun Wukong, a yellow gold rope which is currently in the care of their mother.

So the demon's decide to send two new minions out to invite their mother over for a monk meat dinner, and also to tell her to bring her rope so they can capture Sun Wukong. So the two demon's leave and Monkey follows them out. He decides not to kill them right away since he doesn't know where the mother lives, and he really wants that rope. So instead he transforms into a minion demon and catches up with them, telling them that he's a member of their clan and he was sent to make sure they hurry along.

So the minion demons start hauling ass with Monkey going with them. After they travel a little while longer, Monkey asks them how much further they have to go and where they are going, once Monkey figures out where the mother lives, he kills the two minion demons and drags their bodies to the side of the road. With that done Monkey transforms one of his hairs into one of the demons while he takes the form of the other.

So Monkey arrives at the mothers house and is invited inside only to unexpectedly start crying once he see's her. And no it's not because he's afraid of her, don't be ridiculous! It's because he has to knowtow to her. See, Sun Wukong is someone who has only every knowtowed to three people in his entire life- the Bhudda, Guanyin and Tripitaka. He doesn't even bother to bow to the Jade Emperor whenever he goes up to pester heaven, so having to bow to some random demon or risk being discovered is a real hit to his ego.

Eventually Monkey sucks it up and gives her a bow and explains to her that he's here because her sons are inviting her to a dinner party. So the mother calls for her sedan chair and two attendants to carry her and has Monkey clear the way ahead of her. Monkey of course isn't to pleased to be treated like a servant by this random demon, so of course he takes the first opportunity to murder them all by calling for a lunch break and killing them while they are distracted.

Also it turns out that the mother was actually a nine tailed fox, which I've always thought of as being a top tier monster, but I guess any monster is nothing much to Sun Wukong because he just shoves her dead body to the side and takes her rope and sedan chair. After that with a little more hair clone action the procession gets a move on again. Monkey now has three out of the five treasures so he's feeling pretty confident to go up against the two demon bosses again. Hopefully without getting another mountain dropped on him this time.

Monkey is also in an excellent mood for another reason, now that he's disguised as the matriarch it's his turn to receive some bows. So Monkey arrives back at the demon layer and receives his bows from the two demons only for Pigsy to burst out laughing. Turns out he was able to recognize Sun Wukong by his monkey tail, surely he will use this knowledge wisely and not do anything that could compromise the rescue mission right? Of course not. So when the demons offer their 'mother' some fresh Tripitaka flesh, Monkey says he'd rather have Pigsy's ears. This of course causes Pigsy to freak out and blow Monkey's cover. To make matters worse, some minion demons choose that moment to return to tell the Demon sons that they found their mother dead on the side of the road.

Upon hearing this the Golden Demon uses the sword sacred treasure to take a swipe at Monkey's face, only for Monkey to vanish in a flash of light. The oldest brother is clearly the smarter of the to since he knows when to cut his losses. He suggests that they just give Sun Wukong his companions and luggage back. The dumber younger brother however is against this plan and asks to be allowed to fight Sun Wukong for three rounds in order to at least try and defeat him first. If he wins great, if not, then they'll still have time to just return his friends to get him off their backs.

So the Demon gets dressed in his fancy armor and demands that Sun Wukong return their treasures and mother in exchange they'll give him back Tripitaka. Sun Wukong offers a new deal where they give him back all his stuff and companions as well as some money in exchange for him not beating the hell out of them. Unable to reach a compromise the two of them begin to fight. So they fight for a while before Monkey gets the bright idea of using one of the treasures to capture him. He decides to use the golden rope that he has no idea how to use. Unfortunately the demon does know how to use the rope, so when Monkey throws it at him, the demon uno reverses the move and ties up Monkey instead.

Now that he has him captured the demon tries to finish him off with several blows to the head, only to fail to leave so much as a dent. Since that won't work he uses his fancy gold leash to drag Monkey back to the cave and tie him to a pillar. Unfortunately for Monkey he gets tied up where Pigsy can see him and heckles him. So much for eating his ears now, how is he supposed to save them if he can't even save himself? Luckily for Monkey however, while the demon took all of their treasures back, they failed to take Monkey's treasure- his staff. So he turns it into a file and simply files the rope off him, and with a little duplicate and replace action he leaves a clone in his place.

Pigsy of course can't do anything right and immediately tries to blow his cover again yelling that Sun Wukong is escaping. Luckily the demons have just learned to ignore Pigsy at this point. Anyways Sun Wukong has the rope back but he still wants the other treasures so he decides to run a little experiment. He leaves the cave only to knock on the front door and introduce himself as 'Grimpil Sun', brother of Sun Wukong, assuming that answering to a fake name won't get him sucked into the gourd. Unfortunately the gourd doesn't actually care if the name is real or not, so when the demon calls 'Grimpil Sun' and Monkey answers he is sucked into the gourd.

So Monkey is trapped in the vase but he isn't particularly concerned about being dissolved, after all heaven tried this trick on him before and it didn't work. Still in order to make the demon open the gourd again so he can escape he at least needs to make the demons think he is being dissolved. So Sun Wukong starts crying out that 'he's melting, melting! Oh what a world what a world!' The Demon's figure he should be about done melting at this point so they decide to crack the lid open to check on his progress. Wukong takes this opportunity to make a half melted clone, while he himself transforms into a little flies out. He then transforms himself into one of the minion demons and when the boss demon passes him the gourd to hold onto for a second, Wukong takes the opportunity to slip it into his sleeves and make a duplicate to give back to them.

Current Sun Wukong Stats: Names/Titles: Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong (Monkey awakened to the void), Bimawen (Banhorseplague), The Great Sage Equal To Heaven and Pilgrim Sun. Immortality: 5 + 94,000 years. Weapon: The Compliant Golden Hooped Rod Abilities: 72 Transformations, Cloud-Somersault, Ability to transform his individual hairs, super strength, Ability to Summon Wind, Water restriction charm, and the ability to change into a huge war form, ability to duplicate his staff, ability to immobilize others, the ability to put others to sleep, and the Fiery eyes and Diamond Pupils, intimidating horses, churning large bodies of water, sleeplessness, seizing the wind, enhanced smell, discerning good and evil within a thousand miles, Spirit Summoning, lock picking, object transformation, distance reduction and vanishing in a flash of light. Demon Kill Count: 10+ Unknown Number of Minions Human Kill Count: 1006 God's Defeated: 20 + Unknown number Defeats: 4 Crime List: Robbery, Murder, Mass Murder, Arson, Theft, Coercion, Threatening a Government Official, Resisting Arrest, Assault, Forgery, Employee Theft, False Imprisonment, Impersonating a Government Official, Treason, attempted murder, failure to control or report a dangerous fire, desecrating a corpse, breaking and entering, trespassing, violating Tree Law, looting corpses and trading counterfeit goods. Cry Count: 6 + 2 fake cries Mountains Trapped Under: 4

Current Tang Sanzang stats: Names/Titles: River Float, Xuanzang, Tang Sanzang, Tripitaka Abilities: Curing Blindness, making branches point a certain direction (allegedly), reciting sutras, pretty privilege, memorization and Heart Sutra. Cry Count: 16 Tight Fillet Spell Uses: 27 Paralyzed by fear: 5 Bandit Problems: 2 Kidnapped by demons: 4 Falling Off Horses: 6

Current Bai Long Ma Stats: Names/Titles: Bai Long Ma (White Dragon Horse), Prince of the Western Ocean, and third prince jade dragon of the dragon king Aorun Abilities: Transforming into a human, a water snake, and a horse, eating a horse in one bite, flight, Magic of Water Restriction, Singing, and Sword Dancing. Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Arson, and Grave Disobedience. Contributions to the plot: 2

Current Zhu Wuneng Stats: Names/Titles: The Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds, Zhu Wuneng (Pig who is aware of ability), Zhu Ganglie, Pigsy, Idiot and Eight Rules. Weapon: Rake Abilities: 36 Transformations, parting water, fighting underwater, cloud soaring and size enhancement Demon Kill Count/Kill steals: 1 Kidnapped by Demons: 1 Human Kill Count: 1 Failed Flirtation/romances Attempts: 3 Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Sexual Harassment, Murder, Kidnapping and arson.

Current Sha Wujing Stats: Names/Titles: The Curtain-Raising General, Sha Wujing (Sand Aware of Purity), Sandy and Sha Monk Weapon: Monster Taming Staff Abilities: Fighting underwater and Cloud soaring. Kidnapped by Demons: 2 Human Kill Count: 1 Crime List: Breaking a Crystal Cup, murder, and desecration of a human corpse.

[fountainpenguin]

"I'm trying to keep up as best I can! I wanna be there if you need a hand... I'm looking, looking- Looking for you!" (x)

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New Criminal Experience chapter today!

Chapter 5 - “Tracked”

❤️ Read on AO3

💙 Start from Chapter 1

💚 More Pixels Imperfect fics

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Mumbo and Skizz split up to find the lost allay eggs, llama respawn blankets, and Impulse. Mumbo takes a good look around Evernight: city of ever-changing blocks.

(First 1,000 words under the cut)

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One teleport later…

Operation Llama Blanket and Allay Egg Recovery requires stealth, precision, and snap-second judgments on how many of the enderspawn hybrids can be trusted not to turn them in. In a whirlwind of shadow blots, Skizz poofs them in behind a row of composters tucked down an alley of colorful, mismatched blocks. Skizz is in a crouch; Mumbo drops to mirror him. Endermen and endermites shuffle around not far away. Every breath betrays him as a wanted man.

And any one of these chaps could heel-turn out me.

The paths out of the city glow faintly on his mental map, as they always do. Leaving sounds lovely, but not when Double-U and Buzz are missing their spawn blankets. It's not just about his girls, either. The allay eggs are his responsibility.

The last two allay eggs in the world.

So where are they? It's not about the money. It's never been about that, regardless of what his species and experience in smuggling and trading may lead you to believe. He took this job because Doc asked him to. Said he was researching; he'd give the newbies a start on Education and send them to the building when his work was done. Not unusual, and Mumbo trusts Doc more than most.

Does he know? It's the question coursing like a river through his hands, up his shaking arms, and down his back in tiny flash floods. But he can't ask - not here, not now - because Doc still lives so far away. He'll crash when he gets to Tintopia. He is going to reach Tintopia, with his llamas' spawn blankets in hand.

Okay. We can do this. Just breathe.

Mumbo shifts his eyes to Skizz, then remembers why you don't look at endermen directly and drops his gaze. "I'll have a nip around. Thanks for the drop-off. It means the world to me, mate."

The blue eyes peering back at him (carefully, off-center) don't look at all like the eyes of a man who meant to do the Allay Dragon harm. Perhaps it's foolish and maybe he's being played, but Mumbo can't help but believe it. "Without me or Impulse, you've got no escort. I'll see if I can follow from a distance, maybe along the rooftops, but if someone sees me-"

"I know. Skizz, I know what I'm getting into- It's not my first brush with the anarchy lifestyle. If someone attacks me, you don't have to get involved. There's difficult people after you." Neutral. Non-specific. Skizz shifts, tugging his jumper sleeve. Mumbo can read that stinging, shameful silence and almost wishes that he can't. He says, "I won't rat you out, but I'd rather not see you fight." BigB's got his arrows and clones. Vee's an evoker; she's got her vex. They're both spellcasters armed with magic. And Skizz is layered with unknown mods. Both sides of this fight could easily get hurt.

"I… Yeah, sorry. Yeah."

Mumbo reaches a hand through his robes. He grips the handle of his modded scythe - still sitting there in his soul slot, as it always is - and withdraws it in a crackle of blue sparks. Skizz's wings flare out behind his torso, flapping once. They scrape the composters and the back alley wall. Not much of a wall with several blocks plucked out of it, leaving holes, but that's not the point. Mumbo keeps his eye contact locked on the scythe. He doesn't give any sort of demo swipe, though that's quite tempting, actually. Skizz is halfway to flying off as it is. Can he fly with those angel wings?

"I'm all right," he tells Skizz. "I'm Mumbo Killsalot Jumbo; I can handle myself a bit."

"Ah- That's… Uh, you've got a modded weapon?"

"I transported a bit of slime and some otter spawn eggs to a vulture once." That's non-specific enough, yes. Skizz keeps his eyes away, but for the briefest moment, they flicker over. Mumbo can feel them graze his forehead.

"Are you kidding me right now, homie? Otter spawn eggs are real? I thought those were just a myth!"

"Well, you and most of Between, yes."

"So you've found the Invisible Hub?"

At that, Mumbo chuckles and tucks the scythe away again. Bad move, wandering with that on full display. "I said I traded him slime, mate. I never said I've found wherever slimes spawn." Scythe gone, he lays a hand against a composter lid, ready to swing himself to the other side of the little wall. "You find Impulse. He and Coldsnap can't still be going at it." And if they're lucky, Impulse is still alive. There wasn't a death message on the comm. He must be all right, unless Mumbo made a total spoon move and forgot to toggle the settings on. They pause in sync, fingers curling, hearts beating. IS Impulse okay?

Surely he must be. Skizz asks the same question, then, but not about Impulse. "Will you be okay?"

"I haven't got a choice." But he does have a plan.

Step 1: Get the spawn blankets. It might sound harsh, but those rank above the allay eggs as far as he's concerned. Until a new account syncs to an egg, they're effectively unfertilized; they might even get broken in a scuffle tonight and he won't feel any shame. There will be other jobs with other spawn eggs. But there won't be another Buzz and Double-U, sitting sweetly in their shed as he cleans between their toes.

I can do this. Gah, if only I wasn't down to my last invisibility potion. Since he had Impulse watching his back, he didn't stock up. Gets expensive in modern times with modern shortages, y'know? Takes up space.

And at the moment, that's as far as the plan goes. He'll leave the safety of the composter wall. Find the blankets- someone must have picked them up. Take them back somehow. Barter. He's got a few things on hand that might draw the eye. He'll surrender the scythe if he absolutely must. It's quite simple, really. 'Simple' is key if you don't want analysis to morph into paralysis and chain you to the ground. Mumbo crouches to go for the leap and swing.

"Mumbles? Do you have another skin to change into?" When Mumbo turns his head, blinking and wondering how filthy he must be for a question like that, Skizz gestures at his travel robes. "You, uh… might blend in better if you're not wearing bright blue and yellow. If someone took your llama blankets, they'll probably be watching for you."

"I might want them to, if it makes it easier to find and return them to me."

Skizz hesitates, the noise skating across his teeth. That betrays the answer even before his words: "Evernight's anarchy, man. And you know how endermen are about taking stuff just because it's there."

Mumbo shrugs. "I don't have a choice. They're my llamas, dude. And if I can save the allays too, all the better."

[Full chapter on AO3 - Link at top]

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Emotionally, I still haven't recovered from Antoine being very touched that Fit remembered Kameto, and Antoine describing Kameto as "the best of us."

[the-woman-upstairs]

Challengers, but for middle-aged spies:

[andorerso]

another top tier m/f dynamic is the woman as the knight in shining armour and the man as the damsel in distress

[iamshame]

Chapter Seventeen. In which Astarion finds himself in the Kennel, at Godey's mercy.

Even before he opened his eyes, Astarion knew from the musty, stinking air in his nostrils that he was in the Kennel.

For a moment, he had the horrifying thought that maybe his entire escape and adventures had all been some kind of hallucination, just the fevered fantasies of a tortured mind. Maybe he had never left this rancid cell.

Then, he realised that no. The reality was worse. He had been free. He’d felt the sunlight on his skin. He’d laughed, and smiled, and the touch of others had brought him genuine comfort and joy. He’d known hope and happiness and maybe even love, and now it had all been snatched away from his desperate, grasping hands. 

Hurt/comfort, 2000 words (this chapter).