Clone’s Best Friend
“Cute dog!” the girl says. “What breed is he?”
“Uh,” blinks Kon. "Are you asking what breed Superdog is?"
“Uh, duh?”
Well. She’ll have to forgive him his stunned expression, ‘cause he doesn’t usually run into other dog walkers on this path. This is, of course, because “path” is used in the loosest sense, the one that connotates direction and not tread ground, and the “walk” bit is entirely inapplicable, with all of them currently flying one thousand feet above sea level.
“Cujo’s a rescue,” she continues, swinging her feet in the sky, “so we don’t know for sure, but my sister thinks part husky, part shar pei. Half-and-half, like me!”
Cujo is also, apparently, half green and half glowing. He wiggles happily in a play-bow. It’s very cute, except for the way he’s the size of a small house.
Krypto’s tough, though. He barks and chases his new friend through cloud cover. Gamely, Cujo flees. They frolic in the chilly condensation, occasionally poking a head out before diving back in, like a fox in a snowdrift.
Neither of them see anything surprising about this. It’s all good fun. And, well. Krypto’s always been a good judge of character.
Kon turns back to the girl and gives her a megawatt smile.
“He’s Kryptonian. Like me. But he looks like a white lab!”
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"I should've seen the signs" I feel like Stoick was basically reliving the way he lost Valka.
To him, after a lifetime of wanting nothing but to kill a dragon, Hiccup's suddenly and inexplicably changed his mind. To him, Hiccup saying he can't kill them is just like when Valka refused to and tried convincing others as well, then as a result was 'killed' by one herself.
To him, way Hiccup tossed his weapon and shield to the side then approached Hookfang while speaking about how dragons aren't what people think they are probably bares an uncomfortable resemblance to the way Valka put down her weapon and stared a dragon in the eyes and as a result was taken.
To him, attempting to do anything but preemptively defend yourself against a dragon will only end in tragedy, so he has to do anything he can to stop Hiccup before it's too late.
(And just like with Valka, he unintentionally escalated the situation by trying to protect Hiccup but only agitated the dragon, causing it to panic and react, inadvertently putting someone he loves in danger. again)
Stoick of course, wasn't acting rationally, but it makes sense when you think about how traumatizing Valka's 'death' must've been for him (and how much Hiccup reminss him of her); he watched her get taken, presumably killed, and couldn't do anything about it.
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pick a card, any card
"Pick a card," Celia Facilier demands. "Let my friends tell your future."
Mal, crammed in the backseat of the limo on Ben's other side, laughs. "Don't do it, Ben. She's just trying to scam you out of your money."
Celia's mouth drops open, theatrically scandalized at the accusation. "Moi? I would never, ever try to scam anyone, and I'm hurt you'd say such a thing."
She's so small. Her hands, on the cards she's fanning out in Ben's face, are bony. She's handling them well, but Ben remembers the feeling of cards too big and too stiff for his childhood hands to manage, and even though Celia is more comfortable with her cards than he's ever been, the strain shows in the way she tilts her hand to manage them all.
"Sure," Ben says, instead of listening to Mal. His beloved fiancee is wonderful and all, but sometimes she forget that he is, in fact, an adult who is more than capable of making his own decisions. He loves her so much, and so deeply that it scares him sometimes, but the blind spots that come from growing up on the Isle are weird, and the issues that Mal has with trusting people aren't one of her best qualities, and definitely aren't ones that Ben wants to fall victim to himself. "I'll take one reading of my future, please."
Celia laughs.
She's so young.
"Tell me what you want to know," the kid in front of him says, reshuffling her cards quicker than the naked eye can follow. "Love advice? Money? Fame and fortune? What's your poison, King of Auradon?"
"No poison. The drought of love should be sweet." Ben says firmly. "I want to hear about my future love life."
"Ah." The cards fan out again, and Celia giggles. She sounds like Freddie when she does it, which is weirdly sweet. Not many of the Isle kids will admit to having family, so it's sort of nice when sisters or brothers do something, and they reveal that they're not so different after all. "Sweet it might be, but love can go sour at any moment. Pull one card."
Ben smiles. "Any card?"
"Not that one!" Celia squawks, wobbling the cards like she's going to jerk her hand back. "Just kidding. You can pull any card you want, but you have to feel it. Let my friends guide you."
Ben stops. "Feel the cards," he repeats. "Okay. I feel….” He lets his hand hang still for a moment. The cards are worn, or possibly painted to look worn. They look stiff and solid, not like they’re soft and crumbling on the edges despite their worn backs. They don’t feel like much of anything to him, but he’s always been empty of magic. It’s the one thing that his father has always been proud of.
Magic feeling and the lack thereof thoroughly investigated, Ben wiggles his fingers. One of the cards on the left is sticking out of alignment a bit, so he moves toward that one, and then rests his finger on the card before it. Any changes always have a root cause, so it feels right to pick the card before the odd one out. “This one?”
Celia lets him pull the card.
The rest of her deck snaps back together like a fan, and Celia’s hand shoots out, palm up. “Now hand it over. And also, that'll be five dollars, no refunds or exchanges if you don't like my advice after."
"A wise business practice," Ben agrees, shifting so he can pull out his wallet. Five dollars might be a scam on the isle, but it won't get her far in Auradon, and for showmanship and card control alone, she deserves at least double that. "Here you are."
Celia takes the fifty-dollar note between two fingers, and there's a half-second of hesitation where Ben can see her eyes flickering over the number on the folded bill. They're supposed to be taking her off the isle because of her potential for goodness. Scamming the king out of fifty dollars isn't a very good thing to do, but Ben is remembering right, the isle kids are too proud to ask for money when they need it. And she will need it, because coming over with nothing but the clothes and personal items she can fit in her suitcase isn’t going to be enough. Giving money to the isle kids outright is awkward, and Ben still has a scar on his shoulder from where Mal pulled a knife on him after he tried to buy her a car, but making Celia feel like she’s cheating him for it might be too much of a risk in this case, with her so brand new and unsure of how to fit it.
So.
"I don't carry anything less than fifty," Ben lies, smiling. "You can give me another reading later, if you're up for it. Call it fair?"
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Say hello to my elden ring oc who i've been thinking a lot, his name is Takara and he's a dragon knight 😌 D's been my favorite elden ring character since day 1 and i will not ever change so he gets to kiss my custom made church boy as a treat
infodump under cut, some stuff still vague/up to change:
- Takara is from the Land of Reeds & left to escape the civil war tearing his homeland apart. he was so captivated by the Erdtree (and dragons) that he would join the ranks of Leyndell as a knight, becoming a devoted member of the capital's dragon cult
- he was friends with Darian prior to the game events. they only realized they Love™ each other once Takara came back as a tarnished bc a bit of death is always what you need to kickstart a relationship between emotionally stunted paladins
- (pre game) Takara was sent on a mission away from Leyndell and died during that time, leaving D alone for an undetermined amount of time but probably a year or two. he was meant to be gone for just a season or two but D waited for him & didn’t know Takara died for a while
- bonus pain; Takara gifted D a gravel stone as a token before he left. it was useless bc D had no use turning it into a seal but that token means a lot from Takara so he kept it. can be looted when D dies & given back to Takara
- Takara as a npc, following the game canon; D still dies and Takara’s questline is p much him losing the guidance of grace following that.
He sets off to find a purpose & either 1. dies if ignored by the player bc he tries to take over D’s duties and succumbs to deathblight in a "(cutely dies the same way my bf did)" fashion or 2. joins Goldmask & Brother Corhyn in their questline to have his crisis of faith in the background. if the questline is fully done he’ll swear his loyalty to the would be Elden Lord, assuming they go with the Age of Order ending + 3. he turns on the player if they claim the Flame of Frenzy
trivia dump;
- Takara is trans
- he uses a greatshield/reaper combo with incantations. he’s proficient at using swords and halberds but bro got his hands on a halo scythe and hasn’t been the same since
- can tank ridiculous hits that would kill a regular person and it’s actually p concerning
- like other Leyndell knights he possesses an unnatural physical strength
- his right eye is totally blind and he can’t keep it fully open
- i still need to design his outfit don’t look at me :(
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*downs coffee like a shot* Before we go back to our regularly scheduled Linktober/Linktober Shadow (because I don't leave things unfinished if I can help it), I gotta get the idea of Revenant First out of my system and y'all get to suffer with me until it eventually ceases being an idea and it turns into an actual story. For some reason we talk a lot about First already being alive or already a ghost by the time the Chain meets him, but I don't think I've ever heard someone talk about him actually coming back to life and so y'all get to suffer with my insane ramblings like I'm an 1800's psychic ward patient who believes themselves to be a witch.
Can be x Reader or not idk just an idea that won't leave my mind.
Might expand on this later so Part out of I/?
Revenant First, who died for his people and in the name of his Goddess. All alone on the surface, fighting, fighting, fighting, always fighting. Just to make the land a little safer before the next hero arrives, just to contain the Imprisoned for a little while longer with likely nothing than a ordinary, common sword to his name and a slowly rusting armor.
Always giving so so so much for his people, always doing his best to protect them, though they scorned him, loathed him, didn't believe or support him, rejected him.
With a spirit so strong and lovely that a Goddess fell for him, hated herself for having to manipulate and put him through such horrid experiences just to save the many, just to turn the diamond of his soul into an unbreakable lonsdaleite blade agaisnt a mad deity.
Someone whose will would be enough to keep him going, just one more fight right? Just one more kill right? Forward, forward, ever onward, it doesn't matter if the flesh decays, if the blood drips drips drips until he is dry of it, if the liver doesn't process nutrients, if the lungs don't draw air, if the nerves feel nothing but the cold cold numbness of the winter of his final years, if the heart doesn't beat. If the armor rusts or the sword breaks. He must keep going, he must keep fighting.
To keep them safe he must have faith, faith that he can keep going, to grasp onto that one.single.thread of purpose until the day that fiery, indomitable, determined will finally burns out. Even if his Goddess may have forsaken him knowingly or unknowingly, even if his people have rejected him to the point he isn't even human anymore, even though they reviled him, even if that rejection should by all intents and purposes chained his spirit to the land or ground the jewel of his unbreakable soul into dust, he still loves them, still adores them, still wants to protect them.
No matter how long he must keep going for it. He wishes to see those he holds dear happy, though they cursed and imprisoned him once.
The Chain getting dropped into a completely empty, desolated and undeniably dead version of Sky's Hyrule, only to find the only living thing besides monster is a single man, with rusted gold armor and an old sword, a faded tunic of green with a long, crimson scarf like a bloody banner. With hair and eyes like theirs, undeniably a Link. But so very frigid, so very silent they almost didn't notice him, that they can't help but wonder just how many years he has spent there, eroding away, ruined but still kind, kind, so very gentle. A shadow of his former self, yes, but still himself, still so so so good, doing all he can until Sky's Era comes and maybe, just maybe, he can finally rest.
Or maybe not, after all, someone has to keep the land safe until the Hero after Sky comes around, no?
Just Revenant First in general.
Or maybe we give him the House in Fata Morgana treatment, the House in Fata Hylia Au if you will- *collapses from sleep deprivation*
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