#Making castles out of the building blocks canon gave us

[fumifooms]

Thistle & Falin

Just my narrative of Thistle & Falin, collection of shippy thoughts and dynamic analysis. Creating some imagery and threads, etc. What if we both made devotion to our loved ones our purpose, what if we both hadn’t lived for ourselves in a long, long time. Who are we? Beyond who we love and our powers, what are we?

Background info: a short Falin analysis touching on Faligon and Thistle + an old thistlin post, compiling most of their moments. Here I delve into further thoughts but for base analysis of what they have in canon and in potential those are good starts. If you want I also have a full Falin analysis.

Disclaimer: Beyond the nebulous 1000 years I place Thistle as a young adult, and though I agree Falin mothers him to some degree I don’t think it’s unsimilar to the way that Marcille is a mom friend that sometimes mothers Falin and Izutsumi especially. Their relationship has layers like every other one in Dunmeshi, reducing it to being incestuously motherly or age discoursy to justify it being problematic is so funny to me, hello did you miss the mind control. Ah yes I love the 1090 yo with godlike powers being groomed by his chicken slave. You can have your own interpretation but canon is ambiguous enough, and dare I say intentionally ambiguous, that I have no qualms with not infantilizing Thistle, same with Yaad at the end of canon. I do ship Thistle and Falin, and although it’s in a nebulous qpr-or-other third secret thing situationship instead of conventionally romantic way, like, I puke on anything giving them a parental framing so don’t come shitting on my doorstep, kid-Thistle truthers be warned. Only nuance enjoyers allowed on this post. It’s valid if you’re uncomfortable with the ship!! Don’t make your issue others’ problem.

I thankfully finished my Falin analysis before posting this, but besides that I also have an analysis coming on the whole Thistle age thing which I think is interesting, beyond the well being poisoned there are things to explore there, idk in how long that’ll be done though. That’s all for plans that are relevant to this, now let’s get into it.

Part 1

So my favorite Falin things are Faligon + her sense of being like a pawn/misplaced, going on autopilot to follow the wishes of others, a feeling of identity being a burden and sort of fleeing from that, and her not really caring in the way/with the intensity that she’s "supposed" to (as per the points I go over in my Falin analysis). Meanwhile, Thistle has a lot of shit going on already but then there’s also how being a dungeon lord is highly wearing on his mind. As Faligon and as dungeon lord Thistle, the way they’re both so out of touch with reality in different ways holy shit?? They have power imbalance between them and it very much comes from mind control lol, but it’s also not something Thistle is fully aware of himself, because the powers are driving him unstable and he’s not even aware there’s someone in front of him really. He’s so out of it that he can’t even recognize that the dragon has been fused with a human and she’s so out of it we can’t even tell how conscious of her actions she is.

And then the interesting thing is that they’re kind of in it together… Mostly from Falin’s standpoint. We see that he does rely on the dragon increasingly so, hanging out with it, being saved by it and embraced by her etc. When he lets them both fall after breaking the web they were hanging from, he automatically, fully and wordlessly trusts her to catch him, instead of relying on magic or anything, and she does. Falin devotes herself to him but he’s devoted to The Cause which is just chasing ghosts at this point. But despite it all there’s a weird comfort here too… From the guy who in his last moment of lucidity reached out for someone, anyone’s hand, from the guy who hasn’t felt companionship in hundreds of years probably, hasn’t taken it slow and slept and eaten in who knows how long, from the girl who feels compelled to care after him like she’s always done with others… And the beast-ness allows her to have some freedom to figure herself out in a weird way, to simply enjoy being beside someone and doing anything her own whims tell her to.

It’s very destructive and weird and layered but like…. I can see the sliver where it works out. Where her kindness reaches him and he has a moment of lucidity where he sees her and it’s like, wait, who are you, you’re not the dragon?? Where finding someone else who feels just as messed up and devoted as them, like they’re just trudging along life like it’s a dream following their loved one, heals them a bit. Where caring for the other becomes a way to care for themselves too, a dark mirror of each other that shows you, oh, this is how bad it can get and I want to choose something else for myself actually. To grow to see the person standing in front of you, instead of only searching with your eyes in what way they’ll reflect on you. In helping each other, finding some companionship that’s weirdly vulnerable and self-healing. He gets her in touch with herself and her own needs again through the arc and conflict they have, and she gets him in touch with the world and his surroundings again. They have clashing ways to be selfless, very self-sacrificial from Falin meanwhike self-centered with Thistle (he ‘knows best’, ‘everything needs to be left to him’, etc etc, he needs the control, but he does it all for others, meanwhile Falin leaves that control to others and only grabs it for herself in exceptional cases like sacrificing herself to the dragon for Laios).

Like just let yourself be, damn!!! So then them being like, zombie mentally stunted babies kind of enhances that theme in a way too lol. The way they communicate together is very… Instinctive and basic, and I’d love to see how it could develop into a functional dynamic. They’re in ‘learning to be your own person’ kindergarten together to me. Thistle looking at her coloring wildly outside the lines and being like "you’re doing it wrong" and then you look at his and he colored everything a weird color. The precision is scary but then his crayon goes 1 mm out of the lines and he blows up into tears. Ok the metaphor has run its course

So yeah like the ship/brotp is very, them being isolated and against the world together and like… Slowly regaining their minds together. Getting their sense of identity grounded into them again. In my mind they have a 50k words adventure where they hang out and he slowly realizes there’s more to her than just dragon and she encourages him to dawdle around and eventually just play in water and shit and it’s like, starting to see life again beyond the laser focus you limited yourself to… And she’s allowed to just chill out and do whatever she wants besides the whole searching for Delgal thing. You can’t tie down a dragon! They are a duo they are an unit‼️ He’d have been fucked without her and at this point in time he sort of made her and he’s her world. Traumabonded kittens do not separate but it’s onesided in different ways haha. Honestly it’s sort of reflavored mickuro wait fuck…

If nothing else, they’re a very interesting dynamic to ponder. The depths of it all… I want to use them as a social experiment. I want them to stop to smell at the flowers and learn to work together… They’re master and servant they’re owner and pet they’re mothering and mothered (in a guardian hound way, in a mom friend way) they’re both incredibly (emotionally and physically) vulnerable in different ways…… Master and monster if you will. Mostly I see them as guardian & leader. Like I said I ship them but it’s not really romantic atp I think but it’s not quite qpr either it’s truly a weird secret third thing… What if we were sort of coworkers but also ?!!!>??????! You should hate me but you fiercely protect me I should appreciate you but I only see you as a tool WHAT IS GOING ONNN IN THERE

He wants to be protected even if he can’t really admit it. Here the catalyst was emotional distress moreso than physical threat. Notice how he lays there under her wing for a bit as he (refuses to) processes what Mithrun told him about Delgal dying and betraying him. She’s becoming his safety net, his comfort hound. Somehow, the both of them find they’re soothed in each other’s presence.

It kills me. Them being so toxic at the start of it, then somehow ambiguously just hinting towards how things could have went on to be better, could have been headed somewhere nice and healing and healthier, she dies and he dies everyone fucking dies and they forget each other and it ends there they never speak of each other again. Canon wanted me dead specifically. Like remember too that I was there when the last chapters where being released, my ass really was like "Oh I wonder how Falin will react seeing Thistle after being revived!" 🤡 But yess at least that means there’s a lot of Unsaid, a lot of space for speculation, and I want to see what could have been. I want to see it so so bad. It’s so interesting

Post-canon is also so interesting, where they’re sort of recovered but not fully not really, them actually getting to know each other… And she doesn’t remember him but he doesn’t remember her either, in a way they’ve never met even though they have, even though she was the first one on his side since so long, the first hint of companionship he’s had, companionship that he’s so unused to getting that he can’t even recognize it for what it is. He couldn’t even recognize a human standing in front of him!! He is so disconnected from others and the world!! He spoke to ghosts like they had no worries in the world and everyone was ok!! He’s out of touch, tone-deaf af!! Has always been tone-deaf!! Being tone-deaf when he was younger, a stick in the mud, caused him to be more isolated than he already was… Autism4autism, anyways—

It’s them not knowing why or how to express it but being drawn together, a bond forged together by the fire of circumstances and coincidences— or is it only that? No one can know for certain but there’s a grip they have on each other there somehow. Weird distant caring thing. I dont know who you are but I feel like I should know you

It’s like my headcanon that she doesn’t know why, but on her travels she feels something when she comes across wild thistle flowers… There are just faint remnants, whispers of feelings like ghosts.

They should be remnants in each other’s lives. A deja vu of a person in the way Falin hugs small dolls to her chest, or how Thistle reminisces of something when he sees bird feathers discarded on the ground. < This paragraph courtesy of @cabinette’s huge brain

He canonically writes poems btw… Poems would be such a good way for him to get in touch with himself again post-canon, find desires in again and get creative fulfillment. He should make poems about her. To explore and vent and express all the vague feelings and memories he has, both those of during canon and after canon. He doesn’t remember her but he remembers her, slivers of kind eyes and warm gentle hands and healing magic like a blanket…

Yaad, an unlicensed therapist but the best you're gonna get in fantasy land: Maybe you should try journaling.

And too the thing is their relationship with each other in a way is ONLY about themselves, even when Falin is being self-sacrifical it’s less about him and more about how she generally is, that sort of instinct to latch onto someone and just follow along with whatever they do and ask, meanwhile to Thistle she’s only ever been a factor in his plans. Idk idk them getting to that point where they see and know each other, stumbling into that through canon or actively working towards it post-canon, there’s weird beauty in that Like. Thistle cares about her because he’ll take anyone as long as they fit the job description well enough, he’s desperate to find Delgal and will grasp at straws to find him. In a similar way that he’ll reach for someone, anyone’s hand on the verge of death, she seeks to protect someone, anyone. That’s how she centers herself, makes someone her compass and her world. Falin wants to protect someone and Thistle would use anyone, pushed to the states they were in they would latch onto anyone for comfort (caring for him, grabbing Marcille’s hand).

Mirrors truly truly. And Thistle likes to shatter those, and silence anyone who tries to talk to him about reality, so then the option left is to be by him quietly and subtly gradually, gently (her specialty) nudge him in the right direction … Nooo but actually why did he shatter those mirrors. Very interesting to think about. Would seeing himself in others anger him?

I like to call him a ghost of who he was sometimes, a ghost of the past, he’s so haunted, and I think there’s fun imagery there too. The care she offers Thistle somewhat reminds me of the one she offers ghosts. I wonder if part of it is that she sees herself in ghosts, that she wants to offer them freedom and peace of mind she can’t get for herself.

And of course meanwhile on her end, the thistlin arc is also about growing self-respect. I don’t want to see Thistle as a lost cause in saying that her efforts are wasted on him, but being so permissive and invested in him is obviously not healthy for her. She needs to learn when to put her foot down

Oooh, just realized that choosing to eat in this scene was a big character moment all things considered. By eating she faltered in her task, stood up for herself and her needs, was selfish for once (/positive go get your damn food girl). She chose to eat. Anyways

I bet he’s the one who healed her wounds after the Shuro party fight. And on that note— it’s interesting he could change her form from Falin to Faligon without touching her isn’t it? Healing by everyone else like Marcille and Falin always required touch, physical contact between the healer and healee, which some like Chilchuck say is a negative, but… The dungeon lord not needing to touch to heal makes a nice metaphor for how isolating the powers are I think. Truly clinical instead of warm. Theme of community and freely offering affection in Dungeon Meshi etc etc. Like I said, Thistle is out of touch.

The way that he has the powers to change her form and heal and like soo much magic power but he can’t even realize when he’s hurting himself and she’s the one who has to heal him. He’s so fully devoted to the cause even when he acts selfishly that he neglects himself too, and she has to remind him to take care of himself, to eat, etc. That she feeds him. Eating is an act of love to yourself and to life. The berries, the curry, the soup that Thistle refuses to eat—

Do you see the vision. Do you see all the narrative relevance and themes and parallels of their dynamic. To chase ghosts, to cling onto them so they stay with you no matter how warped and ugly they get, and to soothe souls, purifying them and helping them depart for the afterlife… Both magic prodigies whose lives revolve around protecting and caring after their loved ones more than anything else. A family member who looks elsewhere while they are their whole world. They can flee their emotional issues together 🤝 Who are we? Beyond who we love and our power, what are we? I think about the way she cradled him in her arms just before they fell down into the dungeon all the time idk idk

^ End notes from the one fic I wrote about them so far: Slivers, on AO3. For a moment, they were both slivers of themselves, bound together.

Thistle feverishly holding onto ghosts of the past and his source of power, meanwhile Falin cradles the people she can protect in the now with the powers that reside in her… Him cradling his book, her cradling her master……… Parallels

Interlude

And yess it’s important to remember too, Thistle became a mage only after delgal asked… He had innate talent, but moreso than Falin it’s through studies that he learned to actually harness his magic etc. Idk I think it’s an interesting parallel that could have interesting stuff be done on it. People often characterize him as predominantly bratty but. He’s smart and composed he’s mainly smart and composed… He’s unstable and everything during canon was happening all at once with the winged lion being freed and Laios’ party and the canaries and agh </3 He can have a meltdown as a treat he’s smart and cool-headed if it wasn’t for the dungeon wearing on his mind ok… Obvi I love my chars with anger issues but saying he’s overly childish is having tunnel vision I think

Ok so the elephant in the room… First of all how present is Falin in Falugon exactly…… We have no clue. The end sequence does show her in purgatory with a dragon foot holding her down, which can easily be read as it suppressing her personality- with how it’s shown though it feels like she’d be fully suppressed by that? And we know that’s not the case, since not only does she recognize Laios and calls out to him, she hesitates to hurt Kuro because of the dog association, she’s excessively kind towards Thistle, the latter which her Adventurer’s Bible profile confirm to be "her kind nature remaining as the chimera". Maybe it’s a dream-like state? Maybe the dragon is the driving force with the instincts, and it’s only bits of Falin and her personality that show through? A state of mind very primal and not very think-y, even if Falin has enough brains to think of sharing the berries, gesturing and oh- of course, casting magic. No issues with controlling the human half of her body as well. To some degree, her and the dragon are working in tandem. My own preferred interpretation is the driven by instincts one, a state of mind like an actual dragon’s, which in my Falin analysis I delve into the significance of it for other parts of Dunmeshi too. So yeah, dreamlike mindless autopilot… I think exploring her pov as Faligon would go super hard. Aware of her surroundings but sort of disconnected with it, and disconnected from herself too, entirely living in the present… And like with her talking to Laios— the only time she speaks in her chimera form, a simple observation, "Laios, brother", sometimes her human thoughts peek through more sharply, short moments of lucidity… I think it’d be interesting to see an arc where as the chimera, she learns to share the "brainspace" more with the dragon.

It’s also unclear if Thistle had a say in how much of ‘Falin the human’ is in control? He very well might have suppressed her somehow when he changed her form to be more dragonlike. That might also be due to just getting back the dragon meat though— and the dragon meat itself might be why/how the brainspace is shared. There is a lot less of Falin’s body in the chimera than there is of the dragon, body mass wise. Dungeon Meshi is a lot about physicality so I wouldn’t be surprised with this reasoning. But there’s the whole mind control soul bond situation too…

The mind bond is another thing that’s left mostly to interpretation when it comes to the details. She feels compelled to listen to the dungeon lord’s orders as a monster created and owned by it, like the dragons Thistle summoned during the fight at his house, but again like we see with the dragons, if the monster has a "strong will" it can disobey to some level without being punished by the bind or anything. The eyes of the magician, the small wyverns, level-of-control wise can’t be accurate examples because they’re sort of like familiars, Thistle can see through their eyes in real time no matter where they are but it’s only this species as far as we know. So otherwise the mind bond is more subtle… There’s also the question of how much the control is shared between the dungeon lord and the demon, which again Thistle’s situation is exceptional because he managed to seal his demon in a book, presumably all the power goes through Thistle without the intermediate of the winged lion, though we do see he has some reach since he reaches Laios through his dreams. ANYWAYS all that to say. I do really ponder about how a dungeon lord's monsters get their orders, like... For the fight on the first floor, did Falin just feel Thistle's agony in her bones and came clawing and barging her way in desperately and angrily to protect him because of his distress, or did he more directly demand she come, consciously or not?! Idk, since Falin is actively protective of him unlike the dragons who reluctantly listen to him, her being very fast and intense about it doesn’t have to be forced… It’d be interesting if she can sense his feelings, wants or thoughts, bc I don’t think it’s as conscious as like, telepathically communicating "hey you, do this"…? Pondering, pondering. Mind bond <3 Soulbound <3

They’re both very trapped in the past… I wonder if as Faligon a lot of her mind goes back to memories of Laios and such, if she’s in a dreamlike state and not just sort of absent, where would her mind retreat... I don’t think so like I said I think she’s mostly driven by dragonlike mindlessness, but still… Thistle stuck in the search of Delgal, thinking back to everything they’ve shared and where it all went wrong obsessively, and Falin, sort of larping that she’s still beside Laios, not unlike how Thistle treats having the corpses of the royal family at his house like them being safe. Delusions. Idk I just want more character studies.

The metaphors in this truly… It’s not literal, like def not something that happens during canon at no point are they or could be ever atop a mountain of frames and paintings of the Golden Kingdom’s royal family and fine art lmaoo, so then like the meaning behind it all… She offers him reprieve, an outsider from all the Golden Kingdom expectations and drama, just someone warm to lean on, someone who’ll stay…….. I love Faligon pushing him to rest and nap so much. Man has first nap in a thousand years. Feather duvet like a nice warm pillow. The peace she offers him man……. Live in the present bbygirl Unfortunately it doesn't help. Look at them eyebags… Man needs to sleep!!

Part 2

^ This panels drives me crazy It’s the possessivity. It’s the "my". It’s the "stealing".

What if you have fear of abandonment and think you have to prove your worth for people to stay by your side. What if belonging to someone makes you feel like you belong and you feel loved and soothed by it lowkey, feel like it makes things easy. What if I was bought as a slave and servant but I was adopted into a pretty loving family. What if ownership is what love looks like to me. What if that’s why I have no problem rationalizing keeping people against their will in a glorified kingdom-prison, because that’s just what someone with the power who Knows Better does, and… Did he always call her his dragon hello? Feelings

He is not letting it go damn He hates when people mess with what's his. Or Delgal’s.

But imagine. The dragon is like, the last thing he has. The Golden Kingdom has moved on from him, everything is shit, but his dragon is the last thing he still has some realm of like. Ownership over. But that ownership is kinda just his sense of belonging. His role, his duty.  So it’s like "Don’t steal the last thing I have" especially if post-canon… It’s thinking from his time as a jester bought into a loving family that ownership is natural in love and care. It’s thinking that’s the way you get to belong beside someone, beside earning that through achievements and being useful and capable. Everything is being stolen away from him. Control and things and people and even the importance he has to the Golden Kingdom as he becomes part of the background & past history and the kingdom switches into new hands aka Laios’…

My dragon, not the dragon. I do like to imagine especially after the berries he’s starting to feel differently about her. He keeps being like "you’re acting odd, dragon". His dragon is special. She’s not just another regular monster npc to easily replace, there’s human contact in there. His dragon just for him. <3

I do think Falin has some issues with like, asking to be with the people she loves, feeling safe in asking for that, that she’s worth that. She follows them and is quiet and just takes the crumbs of love that they offer, she doesn’t ask Marcille at the academy to spend lunches with her, doesn’t ask anything of her distant busy father and ill anxious mother… The person she did ask things of, Laios, who she always asked to go travel the world with him and whatnot, left her behind. Like how Delgal left Thistle. Theme of leaving </3 theme of family and abandonment issues </3 So she just follows and cares after them and makes herself useful and is grateful she gets to be beside them at all. So yeah what I’m saying is being owned/belonging to someone might feel yeah like, belonging. Being One Person's. He’s seen her at her worst and most bloody and raw, and still wants her? Very comforting And especially post-canon he doesn’t need her to be witty or useful or such, he just needs her love and that’s what she has lots to give.

Do you think Falin wants to be needed… Do you think she’s a little restless if she doesn’t feel like she is, like she thinks just like Laios people might leave you behind and you never see them again.  It’s also because of what she said, that she put others before herself, that she just followed/imprinted on her parents/Laios/Marcille. She avoided conflict, she wanted to be liked and live in peace. The only times she was selfish, she hurt people (left school for Laios, sacrificed herself for them, teleported them out despite possibly hurting people on the surface), so she chooses to be selfless instead. "One of the most selfish things i've ever done was barely even for the sake of myself" - Falin and Toshiro both hah Falin is often told she doesn’t care the right way or not enough, you’re cutting classes Falin, I’m upset you left me and you don’t even seem to think it’s a big deal Falin, you shouldn’t have sacrificed yourself to save me (her not noticing her ostracization in her village wasn’t told to her but I’m including it also). And with Toshiro when considering her proposal, she was worried to accept because yeah it’s have been convenient but she wouldn’t be reciprocating his feelings in the way he wants and expected her to with what he asked of her… And she’s worried it wouldn’t be right… Bc she doesn’t care about the proposal on the same level he does….. I just think that’s neat I think that Falin caring both too little and too much, with laser focus on Laios & Marcille neglecting even herself, is a big part of her. She focuses on others and their emotional needs so so much always, babygirl be selfish for a while…

Thistle’s interaction with Laios is interesting too, especiaoly when Kaios heals him. How he looks at his shoulder, surprised and confused… Guy who's used to not having his personal needs met because he's so busy doing everything for the people he cares about receives care??? Woah that’s crazy Something something being so unused to human contact and affection that you don’t know how to process it and don’t recognize it when it happens/stares you right in the face. Thistle the Toudens are gonna make you open up ur heart to humans again on god…

What if… He doesn’t want to admit she’s not the dragon. If he admits it’s not the dragon that means giving up some control… This was not in his plan, he doesn’t know how well he can control a chimera rather than a dragon, it’s weakness it’s vulnerability it’s feeling like he’s losing his grip on everything again and thus losing his place and purpose. Hmm…

Finding yourself through someone else… Because defining yourself through others is what you’ve always done… Yeah. Yeah.

I do love it tying into Falin’s arc of finding herself. Like, she doesn’t remember her time as a chimera, she just remembers this guy she has conflicted but fond feelings of for some reason, so say if they travel post-canon, traveling with him would also be a way to figure out more how she’s feeling, and then there’s how when looking at him she gets the feeling that it’s been a long time he hasn’t lived for himself either… And like for him traveling is about seeing the world a bit too. Seeing it not as something to control or always dangerous but something to explore, and just enjoy the little things instead of worrying about the court. And just. Aghhhh. He hasn’t had someone on his side for centuries. Sighs. Of course Yaad also becomes that largely but traveling post-canon with Falin… Would love to see that in fancontent

Them growing to SEE each other, with the film in front of their eyes slowly fading away. Both of them coming out of it more genuine than they’d been even before meeting, before becoming warped, growing more comfortable in their skin and with the thought of connecting with others. It’s the mutual care <33 it’s having been on each other’s side at both your ugliest <3 Unconventional caring...

Toshiro saying "you can’t tie down a dragon" is always so good… Someone should so do stuff with that. "But you can tame it" / "I tried to once" / "but she chose to stay with me anyways"… Musical theme of How to Train your Dragon starts playing in the distance

When/after they get together, I feel like their relationship isn’t something they like to label… If anything it’s like. Partner. Or calling each other by name… Him calling her my dragon, except now it’s warm and personal would be so. Aughh <3 But then that just also makes the first time he calls her by name so huge.

Conclusion

They and their relationship is weird and unusual but that’s just how they are, and how they need to accept themselves (again: as they are) and roll with it! And make a place in the world for them anyways!

Magic forced them to be vulnerable in front of each other but it’s them who have to like… Be pushed out of their passivity and do something with that vulnerability.

BROTHERSSS THEY’RE BOTH ALL ABOUT BROTHERS. LEAVING. OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY. OUT OF TOUCH WITH THEMSELVES AND THEIR OWN IDENTITY. In a twisted way only the other would understand what it’s like.

Thistlin is so crazy, in humanizing you it humanizes me, in recognizing you for what you are I get more back in touch with the world again.

Flighted birds have hollow bones. With freedom there are risks and drawbacks. Thistle was Falin’s.

It’s not everyday you can have a ship where both characters are out of touch with reality and others and themselves and have this weird almost innate bond of her being compelled to protect him and care for him and him holding onto that unknowingly… Even if he didn’t need to, keeping her by himself and sitting on her while he plans and has a panic attack….. And also he owns her and robbed her of her freedom & body & full mind but she still wuvs him. Weird intimacy with the guy who horrifically changed you into something else, and yet is not even aware he has done it.

Falin loves nature and Thistle is named after a flower… Her post-canon coming across wild thistles and feeling a rush of fondness and she doesn’t know why… Thistles have thorns, but they taste sweet. Just gotta peel them off and enjoys the sweet taste of it once it’s open <3 Eat it like them honeysuckles

Slice of life 40k words thistlin sitcom I need you. Don’t make me write it myself. Sob

You are so so close sweetie…

wutiwant

I don't know what I want But I know it's not this These words don't mean nothing Once they left my lips More awake inside of my dreams Was that really you, next to me? Give me what I want, who am I supposed to please? Who am I supposed to please? Who am I? Who am I? I? Give me what I want Give me what I want

Some links, since the pair is small enough that finding stuff for them can be hard: Falin & Thistle search on pixiv Falin & Thistle search on danbooru Ao3: Thistle x Falin, Thistle & Falin Ship names: ファリシス / シスファリ. Thistlin

My own spotify playlists: Thistle & Falin, Thistle, Falin

source v

[watatsumiis]

AUUUHHH i don't have a lot of time before I gotta go out for the day but I want in on this Minecraft au soooo bad. so here is a hastily typed list of things my brother does in minecraft that i think dottore would also do

1. minecart race to test the optimum ratio of powered rails to glitched regular rails (several curved rails in a straight line will make your minecart teleport to the center of the next block thereby making the minecart *move* faster BUT its actual momentum and velocity will still decay without powered rails BUT it's still half the distance so there's still an optimum (we found it was about 1 powered per 3 curved regular rails))

2. Unethical Villager Breeding Box In The Sky to generate villagers for experimentation, iron golem farming (which involves isolating the villagers on air beds and frightening them occasionally with a real zombie), and villager trade generation

3. villager experimentation, including causing raids on purpose, intentionally leaving some villagers more vulnerable than others, and dropping many villagers into the ocean by accident, as a side effect of tricking them into walking over holes in the ground

4. flying machines

5. fully automated chicken farm including lava to cook the chicken. the excess eggs are also automatically used to grief other players' front lawns with chickens. he thinks this is very funny, and at first it was an accident but he has no intention of fixing it/refined the system to work better later

6. TNT dupe glitch canons.

7. TNT in general. netherite stripmining using beds

8. never sleeps, has a full hotbar full of crossbows to kill the phantoms with

9. dripstone death machine hovering above common pvp locations and also above other players' houses

10. secret bases and tunnels everywhere but never bothers to make a "house" just like. hidden holes with chests and furnaces lying around. also lots of pistonwork

Ok first of all your brother lowkey sounds like a menace (/lh), but also someone I would love to observe in action

second of all, you're absolutely right in saying that these are things Dottore would do. This man will stop at nothing to break the server, the game, and the other players if his heart so desires.

The idea of netherite stripmining using beds actually lowkey bangs (ha)im gonna be real.

You know Dottore has all the primo gear and is practically invincible. The only people who have killed him have been Yae Miko (she's slaughtered everyone in the server at least once - she uses Ei's account to find ways to enable PvP for those who have it off), then Klee (totally by accident, by hooking up obscene amounts of TNT to some redstone machine he was working on) everyone online lost their collective minds, Dottore was on the warpath for days trying to figure out who did it (literally everyone except him knew the moment the death message popped up on screen). Albedo took the blame in the end because Dottore wouldn't stop cussing people out and Klee was starting to pick up on the bad words. People gave Klee so many rewards for knocking Dottore off of his high horse though.

Some of the 'mods' (read: archons) like to use /kill on him if he's being extra insufferable. (imagine Zhongli saying "i will have order" while clicking the enter key on the /kill command. comedy gold)

The last person who has killed him was Capitano. Dottore was probably being an annoying little snit about something, wandering around outside of Cap's castle and building weird traps and stuff. When Barbara got caught in one that crashed her game while she was trying to bring Cap some new flowers and a banner she made, Capitano just wordlessly went out and beat Dottore to death with a wooden axe. Nobody knows how he won that duel, considering Dottore dons himself with full netherite enchanted gear. Some even joke that Dottore was 'intimidated' into going AFK, since a lot of the harbingers play from the same place.

[powdermelonkeg]

Hyrule Brochure: A Potential for BotW’s Future

Hyrule’s map in BotW is pretty sparse as far as cities go. Yes, it’s got more than any other Zelda game, but it also has like, 90% of its map being pure dead space.

So I decided to play around and make what I imagine Hyrule would look like, as far as cities go, if it were allowed to properly rebuild and not get totally wrecked by Ganon again.

Credit to Eragon2589 on DeviantArt for the free-to-use map icons. I love these little buttons so much.

So, these are the canon towns we get in BotW; Hateno, Lurelin, Tarrey, Zora’s Domain, Goron City, Korok Forest, Rito Village, Yiga Hideout, and Gerudo Town. I’m counting Yiga Hideout as a town because if the Yiga were a little nicer, it WOULD be marked one.

Adding the various stables on makes the place look MUCH less empty, but still; what can we do with this?

Well, I’ve spent the last several days locating all the significant ruins and landmarks, with one or two extra things thrown in, that I think would make this place much more populated.

Maps are free to use if you want them, btw. Have fun!

As a general rule of thumb, I want to make the towers and stables their own cities. The towers are a good landmark and beacon of safety, and the stables have all the building blocks to start building up a village.

If I’m particularly inspired, I’ll give some background on what the town is/does!

Starting off with the Rito! Their village has grown into a town, and the stable at its foothill is its own village now. I called it “fledgeling” because that’s where the Rito and Hylians would intermingle most, so the Rito aren’t exactly flying around here.

Beacon City is built around Tabantha Tower; the Rito have turned it into a sort of lighthouse, reflecting light off into the distance to help guide nighttime fliers home. Because of this, it’s a very popular stop for mail carriers, and where they go, development and cultural mixing follows.

Kaysa Town is built around Great Fairy Kaysa’s fountain; it’s a popular tourist attraction, and she gets plenty of offerings, so win-win!

For the Gorons, we’ve only got two more cities: Silversmith Village and Din’s Spire. Silversmith is built around the culture in the southern mines, and it has down-the-road access to the Goron Hot Springs. Din’s Spire is less of a town and more of a landmark, due to the sheer cliffs all around it, but the huge (and notably not in the burning death zone) hot spring lake makes it a popular rest stop for people on their way through.

I decided not to rebuild the northern mines; they’re pretty busted up and lava soaked, so my assumption is that they were abandoned either due to hazards or due to the ore being stripped out.

Korok Forest wouldn’t change much, besides the Royal Family declaring it a protected area. The Koroks don’t seem to have much interest in expansion, and they, as far as I know, don’t live in houses.

Gerudo Territory is MUCH more expansive than the others so far, and with good reason.

Gerudo Town itself is now Gerudo City, and the Kara Kara Bazaar has grown into a town. Canyon Stable has developed a village (mostly full of Gerudo husbands so they don’t have to travel a million miles just to see their families).

The Gerudo have control of one of the towers in their region, and the town built around it is Overlook Town. It mostly serves as a training grounds for young Gerudo warriors.

The City of the Seven developed when the Seven Heroine statues were recovered and restored; the town around them was built to honor them, and then it got a LOT of foot traffic from those wanting to see the legendary statues.

Tera Town rose up much in the same way Kaysa Town did up in Rito territory, centered around the Great Fairy Fountain.

Mesa Village and West Gerudo Town are both smaller Gerudo settlements; West Gerudo sprung up out of access to snowmelt from the Gerudo Highlands, and Mesa Village, because of its relative safety from Molduga and access to oasis water.

Finally, Gerudo Valley, in reference to Ocarina of Time. This town is a Gerudo-only zone, and is more a fortress than a town. It exists both to keep an eye on the Yiga and to gain control of the mountain pass, making people go through Canyon Village to get to Gerudo instead of avoiding Gerudo customs.

Speaking of the Yiga, they’ve taken two new spots for themselves; Gerudo Tower, which they’ve renamed Kohga Tower in honor of their late Master, and Banana Labyrinth, which serves as their highest security area. Imagine if you’d had to go through the LABYRINTH to get the Thunder Helm back.

Up next we’ve got the Zora. Truthfully, their territory spans as long as Zora river and WELL into the ocean, but these are the only cities that, technically, a Hylian with adequate gear can enter.

Mipha’s Landing is an above-water city built expressly for doing trade. It got its name from the late Mipha; since the tower reaches up into the sky, it was hoped that someday, her spirit would sit atop it for a rest and see all that her people had been able to do thanks to her sacrifice.

Lakebed Village is in Lake Hylia, and it’s actually a slowly-repopulating Lakebed Temple, from Twilight Princess. Meanwhile, Great Bay City is a port town above water and an aquatic metropolis below, full of music and dance and exotic wares.

And finally, Hylians.

Hoo boy.

I’ve split this up region by region but

THIS is how many living spots they’ve got.

Silver stars indicate military towns. Red stars indicate military outposts.

I USE THE TERM MILITARY VERY LOOSELY HERE. Hyrule, since it doesn’t interact with its neighbors, only has the Yiga and the various monsters to fight against. Anything labeled “military” means that it’s staffed by royal employ, meaning knights and Sheikah and the like.

Let’s start with Akkala. The northeast labyrinth has been converted into an emergency bunker, in case Calamity strikes and people need a safe place to hide. Not only is it difficult to break into, it also has a completely empty lower level that’s PERFECT for long-term seige.

City Tempest got its name for being near-constantly wracked by storms. Despite this, though, it remains a popular vacation spot for people who don’t mind a little rain; the Skull Lake and the giant flowers are worth it.

Valley Town rose up out of both East Akkala Stable and Robbie’s workshop. It doesn’t get too much foot traffic, but it doesn’t really need to.

Midna Village, I built where the ruins of Shadow Hamlet are. I figured it was a fitting name, and the area is almost constantly covered in the shadow of Death Mountain.

Four Brothers’ Base is a knight outpost that’s up extremely high, spanning huge bridges between the four Tingle isles.

Then Parapa Palace, in reference to Zelda II: Adventure of Link, was built in place of the Akkala Citadel and functions as a mini Hyrule Castle + Castle Town. In real life, monarchs would have several palaces to go between, kind of like how well-off people nowadays would have a summer home. So, I followed that trend! This is Zel’s summer palace.

And you guys know what Tarrey Town is. Although interestingly, as it expands, it goes vertical into the stone column it was built on.

Onto Central Hyrule.

Camp Rauru is training camp and lodging for new knights. Rebonae Village and Kasuto City were made out of the Wetland and Riverside stables respectively, though Kasuto (also an Adventure of Link reference) gets substantially more foot traffic due to being on the way from Castle Town to Dueling Peaks.

Outset Town got its name, lore-wise, from the fact that it’s the first bit of land Link from BotW visited after leaving the Great Plateau, and meta-wise, because it’s the starting point for Wind Waker Link.

Aquame City surrounds the Coliseum, which is how it grew to be so popular. The grand stage holds sparring matches and various other shows regularly, and it’s a pleasant boat trip from Castle Town to get there.

Saria Town was built out of the old exchange ruins, and it’s in walking distance of the ruined Sage Temple—which, at this point in time, would have been rebuilt—and its existence is both an AoL reference and an OoT one (but mostly AoL, I’ve kind of fallen in love with its map).

New Mabe is where you can find the new Lon Lon Ranch! The ruins there are actually called the Mabe Town Ruins in game, and they’re right by the Ranch Ruins!

Eldin’s pretty sparse as far as Hylian towns go. It’s got Gut Check Camp, where Sheikah train for endurance and elemental resistance, and Windfall Town, a place that sees a LOT of gemstones pass through, freshly mined. That includes rupee ore, mind you!

Faron Province is a little more spaced out, due to the nature of the region. Lurelin’s grown since BotW, becoming a trading bay; meanwhile Cora Lake’s Sheikah Tower has expanded into Parache Town, and the Highland Stable has become Malanya Village. Both of those locations are VERY fond of horses, and they’re a bit competitive, especially during archery season.

Ordona Hamlet is a tiny village tucked away into the middle of Faron. It came about due to the Lakeside Stable, and it’s named that because I am STILL salty that the Zeldevs didn’t put an Ordon Village reference in the game.

Eventide Outpost is more of a testing ground for boats than anything particularly significant, population-wise. The even tides that gave the isle its name make it an ideal location to work out the kinks in new watercraft (and occasionally, the lieutenant in charge of that base demonstrates how to launch a raft into the sky with octo balloons).

Hebra’s the most militarized area of Hyrule, and ideally, it functions as a reserve of men and tech in case Calamity rises again. If there’s anything that BotW’s era learned, it’s to never underprepare for Gann’s return.

Fort Lomei is a converted base, just like the Banana Labyrinth is to the Yiga. This one, though, is patrolled diligently by knights who use daily-changing codes, and it’s impossible to navigate without the locals’ help.

Fort Pikida is situated in that weird stone cavern-y area, and it’s a supply stach and Hebran monster patrol site. It’s the soldiers there’s job to make sure that the Lynels that like to roam the region don’t get too close to residential areas.

Hia Miu Outpost is a training spot for knights sent to the Hebra region; any new soldier to the area has to prove they can handle themselves by going into the Hia Miu shrine and taking on the Major Test of Strength Trial. (Fun fact, did you know that the X-test-of-strength trials reset themselves every blood moon?)

Snowpeak Fortress exists both because it makes a fantastic secondary base for the Hyrulean royals to plan, and because i am once again salty about the lack of Twilight Princess in this game.

Sturnida Resort is built around hot springs! It’s a nice spot for people living around Rito Town and Fledgling Village to take a vacation without having to trek all the way across the country to do it.

Snowfield City came from Snowfield Stable, and it’s the Windfall of Hebra; it sees a LOT of people coming in and out of the region, and the view of the northern lights you can get from there? You’d be hard-pressed to find a Hylian that didn’t have it on their bucket list.

New Tabantha was built on the ruined spot of the original Tabantha Village; you can visit there in-game! It’s a quiet town that raises highland sheep for a living, and its team won the Hebran Triathlon three whole years in a row.

Then, the Tanagar Restricted Zone. If you’ve ever been there, you know EXACTLY why it’s restricted.

Most of the Guardians inside have been dealt with, but the ruined temple remains a hazard testing ground for new tech. It’s off limits to everyone but those with the HIGHEST clearance; I’m talking a direct letter from Zelda herself.

The Thyphlo Secret Camp is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a place for Hyrulean lieutenants to meet for top-secret missions, and it’s one of those places that you need to be SERIOUSLY high rank to even KNOW about.

Over on the edge of Lanayru, we’ve got New Goponga, built where the old Goponga ruins are, and the Crenel Garrison. The Garrison was built to take care of the Lizalfos problems in the waterways, keeping it safe for Hylians and Zora travelers alike. Goponga, on the other hand, is what Lurelin was in game; nice, friendly, and centered around fishery.

In Necluda, we’ve got New Deya where old Deya was ruined (I think BotW Link was born in old Deya!), Watchtower Village built around the lakeside of the Dueling Peaks tower, and then Dueling Peaks City, a HUGE trade hub that was once the Dueling Peaks stable.

Kakariko Village is now a Town, Hateno has grown into a full blown trade harbor, and a tiny village has started to form around the Hateno Tower, making Firly Overlook.

But what I most love is the City of Hylanay.

Back in the game, it was the ruins of the Lanayru Promenade. So I had the promenade rebuilt, then people moved in around it, and now, Hylanay’s basically Hyrulean Venice! I want to visit it.

On the Great Plateau, we’ve got Aboda Town, named after Spirit Tracks’ Aboda Village in reference to the starting point in each game. This Town has access to the original Temple of Time, but because of the nature of the isolated plateau, it doesn’t see a lot of new faces often.

Over around Thundra, we’ve got Tanagar Village overlooking the canyon, built out of the old Tabantha Stable. The village actually builds downwards into the canyon; people have windows carved right out of the cliff face!

Thundra Village is built into the rocky slopes surrounding Thundra Plateau and the Ridgeland Tower. Their houses are built in the shelter of the giant mushroom things that grow so well in the area, and they’re famous for their signature dish of escargot.

The Serenne Exchange is up north, encompassing both the old Serenne Stable and the Maritta exchange ruins. You can buy practically ANYTHING there; if ever there was a supermarket in Hyrule, it would be right there.

The Royal Lab was rebuilt out of its ruins post Calamity, and it’s directed by Purah, who still hasn’t cured her immortality yet. It’s not uncommon to hear explosions as you pass by that place.

And then Camp Rutile is a small observational outpost, meant to keep track of the activity on Satori Mountain. Supposedly, the mountain’s health reflects the state of the rest of the kingdom, so the researchers assigned there are tasked with monitoring it EXTREMELY closely.

And Hyrule Castle. It’s Hyrule Castle.

Now completely bolted into the ground! :D

If we put all these locations together, we get a very nice, very well populated Hyrule, with LOTS to see. This is how I would design the future of BotW’s Hyrule.

Thanks for reading!

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (December 6/2020) - End of Week

What started as a sad but calm day ended with a revolution where morality was questioned and blood was shed. The server’s first canon death since the three lives rule was implemented occurred, and all hell broke loose.

Dream’s motivations have started to be laid bare, but whether or not he’s in the wrong or right remains foggy as ever in a world where everyone’s morals are gray.

Also, the prison’s construction continues and some strange red corruptions called “Blood Vines” have sprouted up on the server.

A short summary of the week’s total events is at the end of the post.

---

- HBomb hosts Niki and Wilbur’s L’Cast

- Fundy continues work on the chess board

- Ranboo is leaving a book with messages to communicate with Tommy

- Fundy and Ranboo visit Tommy and help him through the Nether to find blaze rods. It’s a very...interesting...time... Fundy fills Tommy in on the fact that Dream is officially recognizing L’manburg as a country.

- Tommy falls in lava and loses all his stuff

- Then he burns to death

- Then he falls in lava and loses all his stuff again

- He FINALLY gets an ender chest

- Lazar asks him for help since he’d fallen in lava and needed help getting out. As Tommy does so, Lazar questions why Tommy hasn’t turned against L’manburg. Tommy says it’s because Tubbo is there, but Lazar points out that Tubbo was the one who exiled him.

- Ghostbur comes on and says he has a gift.

- Tommy attempts to rescue Lazar from the depths of the lava pit. Techno starts arguing with him.

- Tommy falls in lava and loses all his stuff again. He gives up on helping Lazar, who is understandably annoyed at him.

- Philza joins the call wondering wtf is happening and why Tommy keeps dying, but Tommy just ends stream

- Psyche! After credits scene. Ghostbur asks Tommy to return to Logstedshire so he dies in lava to fast-travel back. Ghostbur gives Tommy a lodestone compass named “Your Tubbo” that points back to L’manburg at all times. Tommy puts the compass in his ender chest right next to the discs, saying he’ll keep it close to his heart.

- Thunder’s frustrated that Tommy got exiled exiled because the Prank War he was setting up between Dream and Tommy can no longer happen and Thunder’s great villain arc has been cancelled - he is no longer a villain now.

- Now, he wants to do the clay prank to George instead to try and get Dream and George to turn on each other as revenge for Dream burning his house.

- Puffy builds Tommy a second Christmas Tree.

--- Note: From this point on I tried to include more specific details than normal since it’s an important and confusing event ---

- Quackity declares war on the Dream SMP from Mexican L’manburg. He gets George, Sapnap and Karl on to help. He’s rigged TNT under Eret’s castle bridge and wants to invoke the same ideas as the Mexican Revolution. He wants to put M.L. on the map by staging an assassination and using George’s dethronement as an excuse to start a political movement.

- Sapnap wants to take on Technoblade but Quackity tells him that they have to take things step by step and that it’s an extremely bad idea to do it now.

- Eret asks Hbomb to be one of his knights. HBomb agrees.

- George wants his kingship back 

The explosion goes to plan with H and Puffy as witnesses.

--- ---

CANON DEATH: KARL 

Cause: Death by explosion and falling

--- ---

- George distracts Eret while Quackity, Sapnap and Karl steal his throne. Punz joins Eret’s side as one of his other knights.

 - The M.L. side reconvenes in L’manburg and drink invisibility potions. Dream is in Mexican L’manburg. He is tearing the dirt to shreds. Meanwhile, Eret gives a speech to his Knights as they head to Party Island. Dream, alone, is invisible in Boomerville.

- Sapnap gets Dream to log (he says it’s lag). The Dream SMP faction blows up M.L. with TNT. The Mexican L’manburgians kill Puffy. 

- They want to head to the Holy Land. Dream says he wants to talk. They collect at the Church.

- They argue. Dream threatens to kill Quackity permanently and make sure Mexican L’manburg can never rise again. (Also Karl’s acting is genuinely good holy shit)

- Sapnap tells George that he thinks Dream has completely turned against them, and that they’re better off disowning him.

---

Dream: “You’re painting me as this tyrant when I’m just trying to maintain peace.”

He refers to it as his castle, his throne. He calls the people of M.L. “terrorists.”

---

He says that in his eyes, Mexican L’manburg does not even exist, and that he’ll speak to Tubbo about making sure he sees that it doesn’t exist as well.

M.L. argues that putting a human life above a few blocks of gold is more important.

Dream refers to himself as the “ruler” of the Dream SMP, the “leader,” letting it slip that “king” is a meaningless title.

He says that Quackity is causing the most problems, the number one “enemy” of the SMP right now. Similar to how he referred to Tommy defying him.

He says that Quackity is not like Tubbo, who is a “fair, just ruler” and that is why New L’manburg is recognized and Mexican L’manburg is not. Tubbo would never do what Quackity did. Wilbur and Jschlatt and Tommy would. He says that he waited until New L’manburg had a reasonable leader to recognize it.

- “Un-killing” is implied to be a thing, where the person who gave you your canon death can take it back. 

---

 Dream: “The king is a figurehead and he knows that!”

Eret: “I do.”

Quackity: “So that’s what you are Eret -- a puppet--”

Dream: “Yes! -- no he’s not a puppet-- h-he has no power and I have - and - it’s the same thing and--”

(Dream proceeds to deny Eret being a “puppet”)

---

- Quackity decides to dissolve Mexican L’manburg for a clean slate and call it something else. He wants the server to have a precedent of establishing new countries without having to go to Dream for recognition every time.

- Eret agrees to recognize Quackity’s new country if they apologize and return the throne.

--- ---

CANON UNDEATHING: KARL (?)*

* Dream says that the death is still canon later since plot was based around it. I don’t know what Karl considers his death count to be? 

--- ---

- Sapnap declares that he no longer wants to fight Techno but Dream instead. He says he wants to slay Dream in front of everyone.

- Overall, Dream and Eret declare it a “failed coup” and say that the destruction is just a consequence of “what happens when you don’t plan anything” but Quackity is satisfied that his new country has been “put on the map.” 

- Quackity declares the country to be named “El Rapids” in honor of Cedar Rapids.

- Punz no longer wants to be an official Knight.

- Quackity misses Ghostbur and wants to speak with him. He tells Ghostbur about the war. Ghostbur asks if it was a revolution - Quackity says yes! Ghostbur also informs Quackity that he burnt the sacred texts - How to Sex 2 - in lava.

- Karl streams with the intention of rebuilding and preparing for Pokimane’s visit

- Karl steals Eret’s Museum Llamas and gets caught in the act. Fortunately this doesn’t spark up the war again. They take a llama to Party Island.

- They get into trouble at Boomerville and Lazar joins.

- Dream comes online and asks Sam about the prison’s progress. Bad gets annoyed at Sam for destroying the beachfront property value, and he didn’t authorize the seizure of the land. Dream is there helping to shovel but Bad wants him to stop. Bad is angry about the prison being built and starts shouting at Sam.

- Bad tries to negotiate with Dream. Dream refers to the prison as containing a “prisoner.” Singular. And that the prisoner would have nothing, and Bad would be in charge of helping to guard it. There are going to be multiple “layers.”

- The prison will be in the middle of the ocean bit, and Bad would have a terraformed beachfront property. All of the land would be considered property of the Badlands - including the prison.

- People are going to have to go through PORTALS to escape the prison.

- Bad starts to come around to the prison idea. Dream tells Sam he thinks they need more hands to help, potentially Ant and Eret.

- A strange, giant red “egg” has appeared in the corner of Bad’s statue room. He feels a strange aura coming from it, and he’s unable to bring himself to break it.

- Dream says Eret can’t help with the prison but he can help make the beach nicer. Bad says he might want to put Tommy in the prison but Dream says no, Tommy’s already exiled. So the prison isn’t for Tommy.

- Once the prisoner is in there, Dream says they would only be able to be let out “by the server.” It’s got certain secrets that only Dream and Sam know about. Sam says that he could potentially escape from it, but it will be so impenetrable that even if you know the secrets it would still be difficult to escape from.

- Bad shows Dream the Egg. Dream gets creeped out by it.

- Another Red Corruption has appeared near Hutt’s Pizza, and another at the Mansion. Everyone swears that it wasn’t there before, and there wasn’t enough time for someone to place all of it manually in the time that they were down there.

- Bad stabs Dream for trying to “hurt it.” He likes it for some reason.

- Bad asks Dream about who the prison’s for. Dream says “if you can’t kill somebody, you need to lock them up.” He mentions that it’s one of the more powerful people on the server, someone who either provides a threat now or in the future. He has someone in mind.

--- ---

Dream explains to Bad and Sam that the reason he switched sides in the Manberg-Pogtopia War was because Schlatt gave him something.

And that thing is “a card up his sleeve” until he needs it.

A book of great value.

It puts Dream in danger if people know of it, but also gives Dream power.

The “most valuable thing on the server.”

Something pertaining to the prison.

Something where they wouldn’t believe Dream if he told them what he was given.

--- ---

- The corruption grows AGAIN despite Dream, Sam and Bad all being in the middle of the ocean

- Another corruption appears on Tommy’s Power Tower

- The water level in New L’manburg has risen again, covering George and Quackity’s mushroom house

- The prison is going to be as tall as a MOUNTAIN

- Dream proposes the idea of Bad giving him the disc to piss off Tommy. Bad says that Skeppy has it so he’ll have to ask some other time. He might trade some information about Schlatt’s book in return for the disc.

- Bad says he likes the name a dono came up with for the corruption -- “Blood Vines”

- Dream and Sam removed the Blood Vines on the Mansion to Bad’s dismay. Sam burns the Vines and Bad goes on a murderous rampage against him.

- Technoblade got a “Bee our guest” achievement

- Dream burns down the Eiffel Tower again.

- The prison will be reinforced with 15 layers of obsidian, and the guards will have Ender Pearl Stasis Chambers that are alarm-activated.

- The Blood Vines have sprouted up from Schlatt’s Grave.

The prison’s unofficial name as of right now is “Pandora’s Vault,” but it is subject to change.

Upcoming events:

- Karl will be touring Pokimane around soon

Potentially Scrapped:

- Elytra Challenge

- Bad and Skeppy’s plan to burn the disc *

* Bad mentioned it on stream, but it’s unclear if it’ll still happen

END OF WEEK RECAP:

11/30: Fundy bonds with Wilbur, Cursed Lore Day

12/01: Creation of Mexican L’manburg, Girl Dream visits, Mexican Manhunt

Note: not sure what’s up with 12/02. Probably messed up the dates? Whoops.

12/03: Sleepy Bois Family splits in half, dethroning of George

12/04: Day of the Exile, Badlands start to divide

12/05: Tommy’s first full day in Logsted, Sean’s visit

12/06: The Mexican L’manburg Revolution, end of M.L., start of El Rapids

---

!!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!! 

- Wilbur had two special lodestone compasses in his inventory. He didn’t want HBomb to see, but H looked anyway.

[goddamnitkastle]

The Ring

Happy Valentine’s Day!

So I finished my binge watch of the CW’s Nikita and well, I think we all know by now that I just love ripping off scenarios from other media and making Kastle fics. It’s my schtick and I’m gonna run it into the ground.

So here is an unconventional marriage proposal Kastle fic. Honestly this is probably how it would go anyway so it’s not like it’s beyond the realm of reality.

But first I want to give a huge thank you to my beta reader and editor, the amazing @joanofarkansass. This fic was initially, um, rough to put it nicely. But like a fairy godmother, she made it happen with incredible insight and gentle critique. I am literally indebted to you and I cannot thank you enough.

I also want to thank @evilbunnyking for reading the final draft, their awesome support, and catching every misplaced period and comma. Thank you!

And just a heads up, the canon in this is really screwy. Foggy and Karen know that Matt is Daredevil and Daredevil Season 2 is canon but basically just ignore the rest of the Daredevil/The Punisher Netflix/MCU timeline lol. Frank is a free man and clear of all charges here (yes that is unbelievable but just go along with it please and thank you). This is canon divergence borderlining on AU and slightly self indulgent and well, I don’t care ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Enjoy!

Karen pulls up right behind the police cruiser, about a block away from the 15th Precinct. She gets out and knocks on the windshield window, making Detective Sergeant Brett Mahoney jerk his head up at her in fear for a fraction of a second.

But once he sees her he lets out an annoyed sigh and gets out. Karen crosses the front of the cruiser to get out of the street and onto the sidewalk, trying to hide her laughter from scaring Brett.

“What’s got you nervous, Mahoney?” Karen asks as he joins her and pockets his keys.

“What’s got me... oh, you know, about to watch Frank Castle walk out and be a free man. Again.”

“Nelson and Murdock won the case. Unfortunately this was not the sequel to The People vs. Frank Castle that New York City was hoping for.”

“That you were hoping for?” Mahoney cracks, raising an eyebrow at her.

“No. Well, maybe Ellison was hoping for it, but… look I’m just glad he was acquitted and that justice prevailed. It’ll be a more positive ending to write up.”

Mahoney shakes his head and starts walking toward the precinct. Karen follows and falls into his stride.

“Look, I know he didn’t kill that mobster,” Brett starts. “As crazy as that sounds, given his track record. But he gave us a hell of a time when we arrested him…”

“Do you blame him? In the span of two years, he has been charged and put on trial for murder twice,” Karen says pointedly.

“Well, you didn’t hear me say this but… the guys did a great job convincing everyone that Frank Castle was a changed man.”

“He is a changed man, Brett.”

“Believe me Karen, I know. I thought Frank Castle was scary as a man who had nothing to lose. I was wrong. Apparently I needed to deal with Frank Castle when he’s got someone he cares about…”

Now it’s Karen’s turn to jerk her head up at him.

“What did he say?” she asks.

“Nothing incriminating, your reputation is safe... I guess. But it’s all over the man’s face Karen. He really…”

“I know.”

It’s a tense silence but the look Mahoney gives Karen is more perplexed than judgmental.

“Do Nelson and Murdock know?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“Jesus…”

“We kept it quiet for a while but when he was arrested we had to tell them. They’re… slowly coming around to it. Should only take another couple years for them to be sort of okay with us.”

“Yeah I doubt that,” Brett replies sarcastically.

Karen chuckles half heartedly in response.

He quickly sobers up again though. “Well if you’re both happy then… I am glad. You both deserve some happiness after this shit show.”

“Thank you, Brett. That’s really sweet of you.” Karen says, just barely able to hide the emotion in her voice.

“Like I said, you didn’t hear any of this from me. Alright, let’s go get him.”

Just then, the front doors of the precinct building burst open with Matt and Foggy dragging Frank away from a horde of pissed off cops.

“Shit,” Mahoney mutters. He jogs ahead toward the mob with his hands up to stop their hot pursuit.

Karen takes her .380 out of her purse and speed walks toward the commotion. She honestly hopes she’s not gonna have to use it but she’s glad to have the comforting weight of it in her hand. She catches up to Matt and Foggy as they let go of Frank. Matt tilts his head toward her, then lets out a deep sigh.

“Come on Karen, that’s not…” he says as he gestures towards her hand that’s holding her gun.

“It’s just Mahoney, Matt. They’re gonna kill him. We have to help,” Karen insists ardently.

“No, we have to get out of here,” Matt dismisses with a wave of his free hand.

“I’m with Matt on this one, Karen,” Foggy agrees. “You have no idea how lucky we got with this case. And that none of those cops tried to kill him just now.”

“Exactly, because of Brett.” She turns her attention back to Matt, who has his walking stick in a vice grip. “We can’t leave him behind.”

“The cops are just upset. They’d be stupid to try anything. He is their boss, and at the end of the day they have to follow his orders.”

“How can you be sure of that?” Karen argues.

The frustration is palpable between the three of them. Karen just then notices Frank’s silence. She turns to him and takes in his clenched jaw and that trigger finger of his tapping away against his thigh.

“Frank? Are you…”

Just then several loud shouts catch everyone’s attention. Mahoney is on the ground now and a cop has his gun drawn.

“Oh, that’s not…” Foggy gasps.

“Come on Foggy.” Matt grabs Foggy’s arm, leaving Frank and Karen alone.

“Let’s get to the car, Frank. Before this gets a lot worse…”

Frank’s expression had barely changed so when he whips his head toward her she can’t help but take a step back.

“Give me the gun,” Frank commands quickly.

“What? Why?”

“Give me the damn gun, Karen!”

He snatches it from her hands and runs back toward Mahoney and the cops.

“Where are you going?!” Karen shouts incredulously.

“To get your engagement ring!” Frank shouts back.

Karen is stunned and suddenly, the last month comes into focus for her. The jumpiness of his movements whenever she entered a room before he was arrested. His trigger finger tapping away more than usual during the trial. How his bottom lip began to tremble out of nowhere each time she kissed him.

Karen smiles as Frank bolts past Matt and Foggy. He takes on several cops at once, knocking them down like bowling pins. Karen makes her way to the boys as Foggy raises his arms in disbelief while Matt tries to pull him away.

“Unbelievable! Are you kidding me, Castle?!” Foggy yells. “Matt, can’t you do something?”

“I’m in the wrong suit, Foggy.”

“Damn it.”

“Matt is also technically blind Foggy. Do we really want to open that Pandora’s box tonight?” Karen reminds him.

“Come on, let’s get to the car. Looks like we’re gonna have to make an escape. And figure out how we can keep this quiet...” Matt muses.

“We almost got through this damn trial without issue, I swear on the Nelson name…” Foggy groans as he runs his hand over his face.

“Karen, come on,” Matt says as he passes her.

Brett is the last man standing and both men have their guns pointed at each other. Karen is about to join the standoff when Brett holds his hand out and reaches into his back pants pocket. He reveals a ring box. Frank takes it and starts running toward her.

“Go! Go! Go!” Frank hollers at her.

Karen bolts to the car, makes a beeline for the driver’s seat and slams the door shut. Frank joins her a moment later in the passenger seat, flushed pink and his hand wrapped around the ring box.

...

“I’m surprised you didn’t take me to Metro General. Or get us back in that service elevator at the hotel…”

Frank laughs and Karen is relieved that the last 24 hours haven’t deterred Frank.

“Seriously, what was your proposal plan?” She teases as she pokes him in the arm.

“Just... trust me Karen. Okay?”

The Williamsburg Bridge is shadowed by a deep orange sunset as they walk hand in hand. Frank suddenly stops and Karen’s stomach drops. He turns to her, tears in his eyes as he exhales a shaky breath.

Suddenly Karen can’t catch her breath, everything is about to change and she isn’t sure she is ready for it. “Frank, you don’t have to do this…”

“Yes I do. It’s tradition and I’m a traditional man. And the hell I went through to get this ring to you... I want to do this right.”

He gets down on one knee and Karen covers her mouth with her hand. Frank produces the ring box in his hand and opens it. It’s simple; a small, oval diamond on a silver band. It’s perfect.

“Karen. A long time ago now, in some diner, I told you that you had everything with a man that I thought you deserved to be with. I told you to hold onto it, use two hands, and never let go. But the truth was he didn’t deserve you. And I honestly don’t either. But I will spend whatever remaining days I have to be worthy of someone like you. I love you. Karen Page, will you marry me?”

Karen hoists Frank off the ground, holding his face in between her hands. Any doubt she was holding onto is gone now.

“You had me at ‘Give me the damn gun, Karen.’”

They both laugh as Karen holds out her left hand. Frank takes the ring out of the box, caresses her hand before sliding the ring into place. They crash into each other, their hands wrapped around each other’s necks.

“I love you too, Frank Castle,” she says when they finally break apart. She takes his hand as the darkness settles in around them. But the ring doesn’t feel like the weight of her .380. Rather it feels like it has always been there. Like home. And she’ll fight like hell to keep it that way and so will Frank. They’re in this together now.

[dwordza]

Fuck it, lets be gods

Dream: God of Mystery. Controls the enigmas of the mortal realm. Ironically, has close to no power in the pantheon, and is Extremely pissed about it. Minor God of Control, Power, and Thieving. If you and/or a loved one has recently found one of your most prized possessions stolen, there’s a chance the Mystery God has found himself a new plate of meat to play with. Tread with caution, and keep your enemies close. No one likes the God of Mystery.

Schlatt: God of Secrecy. Every whisper you share, he hears. Frequently visits those having affairs, just to fuck with them. Also visits those suffering from addiction. Minor God of alcohol, drug usage, and rams. If you feel as though you’ve become something no one forgives, it’s likely the Secret God has touched your soul with bile. Be not afraid when you die, he welcomes all with a smile and a swig of whiskey.

Techno: God of Trust. Be mindful to never use those around you, he will tear you in twine. Aside from being a God, he also acts as a servant for the Angel. Minor God of loyalty, war, and revenge. The servant of blood is not to be fooled with. A savage beast born from mans greatest ailment: his own dishonesty. Do not lie to a pig, for they will never find your corpse.

Philza: God of Creation. All mountains and streams are made of the same gods tears. Those who follow the Creator are forever under his control, and even in death do they serve him. The Angel of Death, the Blood God, the destructor. Atoms cannot be destroyed or created, and you must get your building blocks from somewhere. Minor God of birds, death, and dreams. Those who hope are often imbued with the spirit of the Blood God. But do not try to escape his afterlife, he’s a firm believer in “You Only Live Once”.

Ranboo: God of Duality. The cost of silken fists is a broken memory. An eye for an eye is what the Dual God lives by, forever in a constant battle with himself. He’s haunted by apparitions of the Mystery God, cursed to have sacred hymns whispered into his psyche. Those touched by his careful hand frequently forget their names. Wrote the 3 Great Tomes, but lost 2. Minor God of memory, cats, and the Sky.

Wilbur: God of Possession. He has his things and you have yours, keep it that way. Those touched by his demanding grasp often hoard and steal. He is defiant towards the pantheon, cast out by his own Father and cursed to roam the earth as a wandering Bard. Minor God of music, explosives, and performance. Any performer or star wears a pendant of the Possessive God on their neck, for good luck. His unfinished symphony lives on in the demigods he raised, and in a siren mistress.

Tommy: Demi-god of Attachment. Before Tommy, the world was very bleak. Only the gods felt connections, and from the Creation God bore a human child capable of caring. He sent him down to be raised by his eldest son, the Possessive God, and to be brought into his godhood by age 16. This did not go as planned. The Possessive God disappeared without a trace, and the Mystery God took Tommy under his wing. Tommy has been cloaked by Mystery, and left to fend for himself with no friends in sight.

Tubbo: Demi-god of Devotion. Tubbo met a lone boy in the forest, and climbed a rickety tower to where a demigod reached for his home. Together they’ve become great soldiers and best friends, working with others to fight back against the tyrants who wish to hurt them. Visited by the Servant of Blood and brought to their knees by the Mystery God, they only wish to find peace alone with themselves. Tubbo has visions of a Secret God, a goat man who leads him to make decisions to favor the very gods he wishes to know. The God of Creation shows distance towards his children, but to Tubbo the most.

Fundy: Demi-god of Trickery. Cursed into a fox body with the brain of a genius, Fundy wanders the mortal world searching for someone who will simply listen to him. Luckily, with the help of the Dual God, Fundy found himself to be a bipedal beast with glowing eyes and great, sharp teeth. He now serves the Dual God and keeps his many tomes in pristine order. Though sometimes, when the Gods sleep and the town dreams, he stares into the sky and longs to find his lost family. Fundy has lately been seen drinking with a man people can only describe as “severely intoxicated, like really man go home.”

Quackity: Bard of Corruption. A humble butcher hellbent on murdering the Servant of Blood, Quackity uses his supernatural qualities to morph his face into another. He frequently takes the mask of the Mystery God, and finds himself the owner of much land simply because he resembles a God. He mocks the Gods, too, creating personas that dirty the Gods names and create propaganda about their intentions. Quackity is very intuitive, extremely smart, and with enough cockiness about him that he can serenade even the coldest hearts with his lovely music. He sold his butcher shop and took himself and his good friend Sapnap on a great journey to find a God willing to fund their operation. And they did.

Karl: God of Prevention. Karl has traveled through time and space trying to stop the terrible things he’s seen, and he’s failed every time he’s tried. Minor God of dance, wealth, and the arts. Karl was so close to resetting again, when a wild bard and an AWOL knight begged him for funding. He... he couldn’t turn them away. He found himself enamored with their jokes and the way they danced around his temple, chasing each other with sticks and small daggers. Karl, for the first time in his eons of living, danced. This timeline wasn’t like the others. In the others, his Bard died. In others, his Knight never left the castle. In the others, he never swung in their embrace and asked them to stay forevermore.

Sapnap: a once loyal knight turned to murder and thieving, Sapnap is a force to be reckoned with. He once dueled the Servant of Blood himself, and would’ve won had it not been for the Servants second wind. For his good fight, the Servant rewarded him with the Axe of Peace, a enchanted weapon created from the Servants very soul. Sapnap sold it to a wandering soldier boy dubbed ‘Theseus’. He followed his fellow Quackity to the temple of Suspension, where they found a lonesome God on the brink of madness. He’s now engaged to said God, along with Quackity, and ferrying him around the world, showing him everything he’s missed cooped up in that temple.

Jack Manifold: The man who escaped the labyrinth, Jack Manifold is as shifty as they come. He was slaughtered by Tommy, and hellbent on revenge he tore his way out of the Creation Gods labyrinth, and started his hunt. Cursed with a capped chain and a broken spirit, even the Servant shakes when he sees Jack Manifold. He’s recently joined the Blood Gods temple, and his triumph in his labyrinth gave him a great deal of leverage. The Blood God himself has given him protection, bidding him to find and kill his youngest son. Jack Manifold plans to do just that, and he’s not going to stop there.

Niki: Niki Nihachu is a woman of great power, protected by the Possessive God and close ally to the Servant. She left her home in ruins and burned the great tree which she had grown to hate, calling upon the Possessive Gods sacred soul to grant her the power of explosion. And grant he did. She now finds herself working with one Jack Manifold and, with the help of the Servant, she’s found the location of the Demi-god Tommy. She plans to assassinate him, becoming the true heiress to the Possessive Gods thrown in the pantheon. She’s had great success, as of late.

Note: in this AU Tommy is one of philzas children, but in a “I created you from nothing” type beat. Tommy isn’t his Blood son, but instead a ball of magic melded into human shape by the Angel. Philza then sent Tommy away to be raised by Wilbur. I came up with this AU when Tommy was still assumed to be Philzas son in canon, and it fits the story well so I’m not gonna change it. Just know: philza is not a “bad dad”, he’s a really cool god who got bored and created a funny little demigod to go and cause problems. He also respectfully bid Jack Manifold, among others, to hunt down his creation bc he’s a Girlboss in this AU lmao.

[obsidianfr3sk]

The Origins (Chapter 3)

Summary: Before the Renegades put an end to the Age of Anarchy, they were six kids trying to survive day by day in a city ruled by chaos and desolation. Is there a space for hope and kindness somewhere in Gatlon City? Maybe.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25123756/chapters/61701934

Now it’s time to see Kasumi’s story. It was difficult to write because I just wasn’t completely satisfied with it, but now I think it’s nice. I liked it. Hope you liked it too. 

I was thinking maybe this fic would be finished before the end of July, but now I kinda want to keep exploring this strange canon I’ve created, and see the six of them interact and actually know each other and became the Renegades and stuff you really sighed up for (? Maybe I’ll do it, I have some ideas in my head. (TONS OF IDEAS actually lol)

Pls reblog!! I really aprecciate it c:

Smiling on a rainy world

Age of Anarchy

Year 6

She had never been to that area of ​​Gatlon City before. All she could see were buildings falling apart, abandoned shops, walking dead wandering the streets... not a single trace of the ocean.

That was a good sign. The ocean could never catch her now.

The car stopped in front of a five-floor building, full of tiny windows and with a two-meter rusty fence around it. There was a group of children playing in the yard, sitting on the neglected grass. Kasumi tried to hide in her seat.

"We’re here," Mr. Holbrook announced, looking at her in the rearview mirror.

"What place is this?" she asked.

"It is the Gatlon City orphanage for prodigy children.”

He carelessly opened the fence, and the group of children ran into the building as if Mr. Holbrook had pointed a gun at them. Instead of being offended, Mr. Holbrook laughed. Her mom used to say he had a very infectious laugh. Kasumi wondered if that's why they became friends.

A robust, dark-haired lady came out to greet them. Her face lit up as soon as she saw them.

"Evan Holbrook," she muttered, rolling her eyes, "what are you doing here? You smell like fish."

Kasumi was surprised; Mr. Holbrook did not smell fishy at all.

"Hello, Bertha."

Bertha turned to look at Kasumi.

"Welcome, Kasumi," she said. "Let's go to my office."

She was so shocked, she didn't ask how she knew her name.

Kasumi clung to Mister Holbrook's hand as they walked through those narrow corridors, filled with curious gazes. Some whispered among themselves, others made funny faces at her, and there were a few who completely ignored her. They all looked similar to the mysterious characters that haunted the city streets. Dirty clothes, thin faces... but there was a sparkle in them.

Had they noticed Kasumi didn't have that spark?

Bertha's office was small. The only decorations were a dusty carpet and a plastic plant. The wind blew freely through the glassless window, swaying the gray curtains that hung from it. Bertha sat in a chair behind her desk as she invited them to take a seat.

There were a bunch of wooden blocks on the desk.

"You can play with the blocks, Kasumi," said Bertha.

Kasumi take her word and began to build a castle with the blocks.

Then Bertha asked Mr. Holbrook:

"Evan, what happened to Amaya?"

Kasumi would never answer a question that she had not been asked. However, she knew the answer better than anyone.

Amaya and Ryo Hasegawa had been betrayed by the ocean. Just like her.

Only they had not lived to tell the tale.

One night, her parents told her they were leaving Gatlon City. She didn't even have time to be sad or ask where they were going. Her father helped her pack, her mother dressed her in a raincoat and, without further ado, they throw her into the boat.

Kasumi had been in the boat before. On her fourth birthday, she and her parents had a fishing day. After she caught her first fish, her mother, to celebrate, took off her dress and launched into the sea. Her father was scandalized, but Kasumi found it so funny that she begged them to teach her how to swim. By her fifth birthday, she already did it "like a pro," according to her mom.

"Are you afraid?" asked her mother.

"A little bit," Kasumi replied. There was no point lying to her mother. She knew everything.

"Good. A little bit of fear reminds us that we are alive."

"Where are we going?"

"Mmm, let me think ..." She stroked her chin. "I know! How about we go to visit Mrs. Moon?"

"To the moon?"

"She prefers to be called Mrs. Moon, right, love?"

"Right," her father replied with a tiny smile.

"We are going to visit Mrs. Moon?" Kasumi asked.

"Sure, it will be fun," her mother replied.

"But it will also be a long journey," added her father. "Try to sleep."

The first hours were calm. The ocean lulled her lovingly while she dozed on her father's chest. In between dreams, she could hear him say things like that the waves were starting to get big or that he couldn't see the stars anymore. At one point, he even told his wife that it would be best to turn around and wait for the morning.

"No, Ryo," the woman replied flatly. "The ocean is our ally. He would never betray us."

At the time, none of the three knew it, but Amaya Hasegawa had just done something terrible. She had made a mistake.

The drizzle turned into a storm and the boat wobbled frantically. Her father was yelling at her mother, completely out of his mind. She tried to ignore his reproaches, but Kasumi could distinguish the tears that soaked her cheeks with the same intensity that the thick drops of rain that fell from the night sky did.

"Stop!" screeched her desperate mother. "Ocean, stop!" 

“Mom?!”

"Kasumi, help me!" she yelled. "Help me ask the ocean to stop!"

"Stop, ocean!" Kasumi yelled with all the strength left in her. "Stop right now!"

The ocean didn’t stop. He just turned angrier.

She and her mother were screaming and her father was crying out loud, clinging to his only daughter like a lifeguard. Kasumi took his hand.

Maybe if they all asked, the ocean will hear them.

"Repeat with me, Dad," she whispered in his ear. "Stop, ocean."

"Stop, ocean ..." her father muttered between sobs. "Stop…"

Kasumi watched her mother approach them, struggling to keep her balance. Her shoes began to fill with water as the woman gave her family a shaky hug. The last thing she heard before the boat capsized, was a thunder breaking into the sky and the sound of three voices pleading, "Stop."

After that, it was as if she had fallen asleep again.

Kasumi did not remember what had gone through her head during all the time she was dead, but she did remember when she woke up in the arms of a stranger. As soon as she opened her eyes, her head began to hurt and all of her body felt as if it had been hit by a train. The stranger screamed and dropped her heavily onto the sand. She heard three voices, including Mr. Holbrook's, asking the stranger what was going on. Kasumi tried to speak, but instead of sound, what came out of her mouth were jets and jets of water.

The only one who did not hesitate to approach was Mr. Holbrook. He tapped her lightly on the back, and as soon as the water stopped flowing from her, he wrapped her in a tight hug. Kasumi was too stunned and wounded to reciprocate.

"Oh, hun, it's a miracle..." he whispered.

"My parents..." Kasumi stammered.

Mr. Holbrook broke the hug.

"The ocean betrayed them," she blurted out.

"I know, hun. I know."

The following days were somewhat blurred. Mr. Holbrook took her home and told his wife about the situation. They put a couple of blankets on the couch for her to sleep on and asked their daughters (whom they called all three of then "hun") not to disturb her at all.

She spent hours sitting on the couch, watching the Holbrooks' youngest daughter color at the coffee table. She never asked if she wanted to color too and Kasumi didn't want to interrupt her. She looked very focused.

However, one day, the Holbrook's youngest daughter did speak to her.

"Are you a prodigy?"

"Me?" She nodded. Kasumi had never been asked that question. "Why do you think that?"

"You were dead. But now you're here. Doesn't that seem very ... prodigious to you?"

And continued coloring, as nothing had happened, leaving Kasumi asking herself the same question.

Are you a prodigy, Kasumi?

During dinner, she felt her left hand soak up. She looked under the table and noticed that tiny drops were coming out of each of her pores. Not knowing very well what she was doing, she placed her right hand above the left and the drops levitated, moving to the rhythm of her fingers.

Later, when Mr. Holbrook was tucking her in, she told him what had happened at dinner. At first, he was silent. Kasumi thought it was because he hadn't believed her, buT after a few seconds, Mr. Holbrook reacted and promised that they would solve it in the morning.

The morning had arrived. This was the solution.

Kasumi did not realize that the conversation between the adults was over. They shook hands and Berta assured Mr. Holbrook that Kasumi would be safe with them.

When Mr. Holbrook turned, he was smiling, but his blue eyes looked glassy. He got down on his knees and took her freezing hands, nothing to do with Mr. Holbrook's, so warm and comforting.

"Hun, here we part ways," he whispered, gently brushing a lock of hair of her face away. "Behave and don't-"

"I don't want to be here," Kasumi blurted out. "I want to go with you."

"I'm afraid that won’t be possible."

"Why not?"

Mr. Holbrook gave her a slight squeeze.

"There are bad people, Kasumi, that if they find out what you can do, they could try to make you bad, like them," he explained.

"But here we will not let that happen," Bertha chimed in. "Here we are all prodigies, we all take care of each other. No one is left behind, ever. Neither are you."

She looked convinced and fierce. A small old medallion hung from her neck. It looked so familiar...

"I'm going to give you something."

Mr. Holbrook took out of his pocket the same medallion Bertha was wearing. Then, Kasumi remembered where she had seen it: her mother wore it all the time.

She had said it was a friendship necklace.

He split the old medallion in two and put one half in the palm of her hand. The last thing that Mr. Holbrook said to Kasumi was:

"Keep that little head in the clouds, Kasumi. But not too much."

Kasumi did not move from her seat, not even to watch him go. Bertha walked him to the door, returned with a cup of tea, and asked if she needed anything else. Kasumi needed to be alone. Bertha understood and left.

The light coming through the window began to dim quickly. A waning Mrs. Moon watched her from above. Kasumi could imagine herself lying on top of her, receiving all the kisses and hugs that Mrs. Moon could offer her.

Slowly, she approached the window. She clasped her hands together, and with all the faith that was left inside her body, she whispered:

"Mrs. Moon, would you be so kind as to kiss me good night?”

Kasumi was sure she was about to accept doing it, when someone slammed the door open, shooing her and shooing Mrs. Moon.

It wasn't Berta. He was a small, red-haired, freckled boy, barefoot, with a bowl of lentils and huge kitchen gloves in his hands.

The two stared at each other, waiting for the other to break the silence first.

After a minute, the red-haired boy raised the bowl as if it was a trophy.

"Dinner is served!" and put it on the desk.

Kasumi looked at Mrs. Moon once more. She hoped she didn't take it personally that she didn't invite her to dinner.

"Give me a moment, Mrs. Moon..." she whispered.

Silently, she began to eat the lentils. They tasted bland and watery, but al least it was food.

She thought the boy was only there to give her the lentils and go. But then, he sat on the desk and took off his kitchen gloves.

"I’m Evander," said the red-haired boy playing with the woodblocks. "I’m this many years old," Evander raised five fingers from his hand. "How old are you? Let me guess. Are you this old?" and held up the five fingers of his other hand. Kasumi shook her head. "No? Are you… this old?" He dropped a finger. Kasumi nodded. "Nine years, then, okay.” She nodded again. "Do you want to know what I can do?"

"Okay."

Evander showed his hands and colored sparks came out of them, like those from the fireworks that Kasumi had only heard of. Her mom said seeing them was like candy for the soul. And now that she had them in front of her, she could confirm it.

“They are fireworks,” he explained.

“They are candy for the soul,” corrected Kasumi.

“What?”

Kasumi’s face went red. Hopefully, he wouldn’t notice.

Why did she say that?

"I saw that your dad left you here," Evander said.

"He wasn't my dad.”

"Oh. Where are your parents?"

"Where are your parents?"

Evander, not noticing the angry tone in which Kasumi had spoken to him, smiled and pointed at the night sky.

"My parents are there."

"On the moon?"

"No, silly," Evander chuckled. "They are in the stars. Where they belong."

"In the stars ..." she whispered thoughtfully. "Oh, that's why you draw colored sparks from your hands. They are stars."

"You think so?" He was missing a pair of teeth. That just made his smile look even more adorable.

"Definitely. And you know, stars are the real candies for the soul.”

“How do you know so much?”

Kasumi shrugged, mysteriously. 

"Where are your parents?" he asked again.

She looked at Mrs. Moon once more and sighed. 

"The ocean betrayed them."

And Mrs. Moon and the stars said, “I know, hun. I know.”

[jbbuckybarnes]

Zerfall - 11/14

Pairing: Bucky x named!Reader (Agent Andromeda) Summary: After Hydra drops virus bombs in 7 major American cities in the height of summer, the team is locked in their emergency bunker for weeks. The virus commonly called the Summer Poison successfully brought the infrastructure to a halt in all big cities. When the virus slowly starts burning itself out SHIELD Agents and Avengers are sent out to bring back order into the cities and the international relationships. Not without hurdles. Warnings for this chapter: Pandemic, crime, canon typical violence, flirting, picturing killing as a positive thing, dorks being dorks, weird grammar. Not beta read.

Zerfall Masterlist || M a s t e r l i s t

Mission: Clean up the rest of Manhattan “A wife,” he mumbled sitting behind a car, you in front of him, about to get back the Shadow Zone in lower Manhattan. “What?” You turned around to him confused. “You’re my work wife. Tried to figure out the right word for it.” He smiled at you. “Well, let’s fuck...this shit up.” You winked and jumped over the cover. You didn’t see the lip bite and stare following behind you before ruining the base that protected the area. Somehow it was easier to ruin this base, nobody was in the building defending it and a few grenades and knives in throats really did it. “This is the same group that fucked up Astoria Park? That’s low.” You grinned throwing an empty mag into the corner. “Don’t jinx it, Ann.” He chuckled and threw you another one and you slammed it into your pistol.

-

“I didn’t do it!” he laughed. “Then why are you laughing?” you grinned at him laying next to you on the rooftop. “Because whoever did it is a freaking genius,” he answered. You were looking at a sign reading, “Fuck Agents. Fuck DTF.” “Fuck Agents. Fuck down to fuck.” He giggled. “You’re an absolute idiot.” you chuckled and boxed him. “The idiot that saved you from some sharp fucking knives in the last base.” He smirked and nudged you back. “Patrol!” you whispered and you both looked down and aimed your grenade throwers at the convoy of whatever they were transporting. “Go,” he mumbled and you shot in sync, hitting them all with the explosions. “Hell, that was great.” you smiled at him and gave him a high five.

-

The days you weren’t taking back the Shadow Zones you were clearing the World Trade Center area of lower Manhattan. The normal areas were so easy by now with the enemies being so weakened by your presence. You got back the One World Trade Center and hacked your way through, saving as much data as possible. There were only a few blocks in the direction of Brooklyn left that weren’t completely safe but nobody would have real problems wandering around there. When you had nothing left to do but finishing the Shadow Zone, you made your way to the center of it. There was a castle of enemies there that you had found on your recon missions. “Doing that without backup? You better stay safe. I’m not carrying you out of here. You’re too heavy for that.” “Hey!” He said offended. “Come on. You have more muscle mass than all my cousin’s gym addicted ex-boyfriends combined.” You eyed him. “Going in?” “Going in,” you answered with a smirk, knowing that you made him blush a little. Killing the guards and getting inside wasn’t the problem. It wasn’t easy but it also wasn’t as hard as you had expected. But once you were inside it got hard. “Hmm, the Agent, finally visiting us.” you both heard as a dark shadowy figure came out of a lit-up room. “I don’t even know who you are, dude!” You said irritated. “The Eye,” he answered and you came up from the cover. “Agent Andromeda.” You introduced yourself annoyed. “What do you want from us?” He asked oddly posh. “You want the short or long answer?” You asked monotone. “Take your time, sweetheart.” “You keep fucking up my people and I don’t have any of that bullshit. All you do is-” “Being Vultures, getting the pieces.” He interrupted you and if there was one thing that made you mad it was people interrupting you. “Don’t interrupt me, asshole.” You hissed. “Of course, the guest always comes first.” He made fun of you. “What do you want to stop fucking up this town?” You asked. “Nothing. We won’t stop.” He chuckled. “Want me to make you?” You challenged him and had Bucky step in front of you in the second his guards got up their weapons. The death glare he had at the guards made them visibly scared. “If you mess with her, you’re dead,” he growled and your heart made an extra jump. “How sweet, The Winter Soldier all protective.” You heard. “Fuck him up,” you whispered so low that only he could hear it. You took out the guards with your two pistols while Bucky went for the leader, grabbing him by his throat. “You won’t have a name in any history book. I’ll make sure of it,” he growled before the man lost consciousness. Once he was on the floor he shot his heart. “Bleed out slowly, as you deserve,” he said in a dark voice that almost shocked you. “Buck?” You whispered. “Hm?” He looked up at you with attentive eyes and an instantly soft expression. “Let’s get out of here and send a crew.” He nodded.

“Let’s get you home and have a nice evening,” you mumbled putting your arm around him. “Getting me home?” He grinned down at you. “You didn’t see your own face in there,” you mumbled. “That bad?” He asked with a frown. “Never saw you that intense. We both could use some downtime after getting that off our list.”

[realm-of-dragons]

Staff App - Yagi Toshinori

Played by Mod Gray

OOC:

Name: Gray

Age: 26

Preferred pronouns: She/her or they/them

Timezone: PST

Discord: bizarrebird#1697

Any topics you want added to the content warning list?: animal abuse

Second choice character?: Eijiro Kirishima

IC:

Name: Toshinori Yagi

Age: 105 (physically, closer to 60)

Gender ID / pronouns: Cismale, he/him

OTPs, BroTPs, or NoTPS?: 

OTP - I primarily ship him with Aizawa

BroTP - With Midoriya of course, I would love them to have a familial relationship. That goes for most of the younger characters too, he’s very prone to adopting anyone who needs a decent parent. 

NoTP - I would rather not ship him with any of the characters who are his students in canon and I’m a little hesitant to see him get involved with villain characters romantically. 

Toshinori is gay and though he’s rather private about his personal life, he doesn’t make a secret of that. There is an endgame ship in mind for him with Shouta Aizawa, so he won’t be actively pursuing romance outside of that.

Race: Human 

Appearance: Toshinori always resembles his skeletal, shrunken form as he does in canon. In his youth, he resembled his more well known All Might form, but after several injuries and magical procedures, he has been reduced to his smaller appearance at all times. His most notable features, apart from his overall nearly bone thing appearance, are his shadowed piercing blue eyes and his wild mane of blond hair. 

Role: Toshinori is the ruler of the human kingdom. His reign has lasted nearly fifty years and he is loyal to his people to a fault. In his younger years, he was a great unifier of the scattered humans, bringing them together and was unanimously selected to lead them. 

Skills:

Toshinori’s greatest skill is his ability to uplift and inspire those around him. He’s always been an excellent public speaker who could bring hope to those who needed it most.

In his younger years, he was a skilled warrior, never losing a fight once he put his mind to it. These skills have fallen away with his weakening from, but, if necessary, he can still hold his own. 

He’s an excellent teacher and has trained many of the greatest heroes of the last several decades, who have gone on to do great things themselves.

Even with his weakened form, Toshinori is still much stronger than he looks and is capable of lifting most full grown adults over his head. He rarely demonstrates this ability, but it is useful in a pinch.

Backstory:

Humans are nothing. They’re scattered, lost, barely holding on. Liege lords lay claims to any land they desired, caring nothing for the smallfolk they force under their thumbs. Farmland is burnt when absurd taxes aren’t paid. Mercenaries terrorize towns barely strong enough to keep standing. 

Toshinori’s home burns. He’s a child as he watches the embers take to the wind. His father leaves, seeking work and a doctor for his mother. The cough came with the fire, it takes her not long after. His father never returns. 

It isn’t fair. It isn’t right. Someone must do something. 

He’s not the only orphan left behind by the blazes that spread across the village. Taking to the woods, he learns to fish, tries (and fails and fails and fails) to hunt. It isn’t much, but it’s enough to keep the children fed, to tide the few parents left over for another day. It’s nearly a month before men in armor approach the town, demanding to know who has been hunting in the lord’s woods. Toshinori steps forward without a thought. The punishment for theft is death at the knight’s sword, life in service, or life in chains. He’s ten years old. Given a choice, he asks for a sword. 

The weight is nearly too much for his hands, but he lifts it as the crowd gasps. He blocks one blow, then two, then the third sends the sword from his hands, skittering across the dirt. Starving, hands aching, he stands tall and waits for the blow to fall. It never comes. A new knight stands before him, calling for an end. Her voice rings out strong as she sends the lords’ men running, tails between their legs. 

Nana Shimura offers her hand and Toshinori takes it. 

They travel together. After a few years, the sword never feels too heavy in his hands. But it isn’t enough. Nana fights for justice, for the little people, but once she’s done, she moves onto the next town and the next. And every time, Toshinori fights to stay. There must be more they can do, there’s so much more that their people need. If the people were to come together, unite under a common banner, they could be so much more. All they need is a force to rally behind. 

Toshinori doesn’t mean to become that force, to be a leader, but when he speaks, people begin to listen. When he tells them they can band together, they do. When he speaks of strength, they find it in themselves, more than they could ever know. When he speaks of a future, they start to see it too. But seeing it alone isn’t enough. 

They need someone who can fight for it, and Toshinori does. He fights until his bones ache, until his fingers are scarred and bloody, until he can barely stay upright. And there are still more battles ahead. His hope has been given to so many and for a time, it nearly abandons him until Nana tells him of a legend. Whispers of a witch who could grant him the power he needs, not just to fight, but to stand firm, to be the symbol that the people need.

Searching through frost and fire, down to a forbidden cave, Toshinori finds not a witch, but a well. The promise of power and long life draw him in, the inscription assuring both, for those who are true of heart. So Toshinori drinks deep. It’s after his rousing speech, when blood creeps up his throat that he learns all magic comes with a price. But he remains strong, stands tall. If he can bring the people together, last long enough for them to be united under one peaceful banner, it will be enough.

His strength grows, as do the people rallying around him. The liege lords are forced out when even their strongest men turn tail and flee. One last white flag rises and Toshinori lifts his hand in victory. They’ve won. Blood fills his lungs and his muscles ache, but his smile remains as he waves and shakes every hand held his way. 

From there, he steps down, or he means to. The people have been brought together, his job is done. But… things are never so easy. Meetings are held and Toshinori insists on a vote. It is for the people to choose who should lead them. He puts forth several names, some of his supporters, some who opposed him, all wise, earnest people worthy of following. Every last one of them votes for him instead. The people follow suit and Toshinori is crowned king of the new kingdom of Unifia. 

For years, he reigns and peace is held. But the pain creeps. Day by day it grows. Still, his people need him, so Toshinori keeps his head held high. A little bit of unpleasant magic can’t hold him back. 

The question rises now and then, who will follow after him once his reign is done? His advisers make casual comments, suggestions, perhaps it’s time you think about finding a wife, your highness. Toshinori lets his laugh echo through the halls as he gently turns their ideas aside. No, that is not what he wants. 

His mind drifts now and then to a man with dark hair, shadows beneath his eyes, something altogether inhuman about his beauty. But Toshinori lets the moment pass. He’s no longer some young, eager adventurer, he is king, and flights of fantasy must be put aside. 

The strength starts to leave him, slowly at first, but it isn’t long before others take notice. Toshinori does what he can, but he can no longer hide the blood that dots his hands with every hacking cough. A healer is brought in, then another then another. Some ease the pain, slow the blood, others bring it back tenfold. Finally, a young mage is summoned. He’s talented and powerful. A great bout of sickness strikes at once and Toshinori knows nothing for nearly a month.

When he awakes, the blood has slowed to a trickle, but the softness of his youth has abandoned him. His arms are thin, brittle, his face sunken and gaunt. It’s truly for the best he never sought out a wife, for who could stand to look upon him with love now. But he lives on, his legs still carrying him, his eyes still sharp, his voice still enough to reach his people. 

It is only now that Toshinori knows what must be done. He needs a successor, one who can carry his people into the world he has given everything to build for them. And with the aid of the elven king and the newly established adventurer’s guild, he has just the place to begin his search. 

Extras:

Toshinori took the throne when he was a little over 50 years old, but due to the magic of the well, he looked quite a bit younger even then. Now his true age is finally starting to catch up with him a bit. 

The magic that gave him strength all those years ago has taken its toll and Toshinori finds himself feeling rather weak. The worst of his coughing fits have passed thanks to his healers, but from time to time, he still coughs up a bit of blood. 

He has his eye on Izuku Midoriya to be his successor, how far their relationship has progressed will be discussed when Midoriya is picked up. 

Writing sample:

The castle’s grand halls are empty and unnecessary. Toshinori has always thought they were far too much, far too grand. But the people insisted. His advisers insisted. A king must have a castle. If it were up to him, he would be content with a cottage in the woods, close to the central city, but far enough away that he could have his privacy. He loves the people, he always has, but even he needs a bit of time for himself now and then.

Especially now. 

He flexes his fingers. The skin feels taut, drawn too tight, like it might begin to crack at any moment. Life is leaking out of him. Everyday a bit more springs free, slowly trailing away. Toshinori doesn’t guess at the number of days. It’s likely to be years still. That hardly matters. He hardly matters in the long run. It’s the kingdom, the people who must live on. 

So he refocuses, attention going to the parchment laid out on the desk before him. More potential successors. He trusts his advisers, of course he does. But… they have different ideas about things, about what it means to be king. They mean well. Toshinori scans the ever growing list. “Strong candidates,” he says, almost gently. “You’ve brought me an excellent list. Thank you.” 

His words are earnest, genuine. They always are. His advisers bow, mumbling platitudes as they make for the door. By now, they know that he prefers to examine the lists on his own. The door shuts behind them and Toshinori finally lets his shoulders slump. He brings a hand to his brow and lets out a slow breath. They all want him to have the gusto, the energy of his youth, but… it isn’t in him anymore. After so long, he’s started to wonder if it ever was. 

Hand falling away, he turns his eyes back to the list. A frown slowly grows. The choices are clever, careful. His advisers have picked children… sons of prominent families. Any would bring their supporters rallying behind them. But none of them are right. Leaning back in his chair, Toshinori lets his eyes fall shut.

At once, he sees them, the jeering faces of the old lords, smells the ever present smoke. Sitting up sharply, he presses a hand to his mouth to stifle a cough. No blood lingers on his hand when he finally draws it away. That’s something at least. As he’s done again and again, he casts the list aside. None of them are right. If this kingdom is to go on, the choice must be his. He trusts his people, of course he does, but they’re young, they’re too optimistic. They haven’t seen the cruelness of people, they haven’t seen the power of hatred and greed. And perhaps that is his own fault. 

He leans forward in his seat, grabbing a fresh piece of parchment. There is a decree to be made. A letter to be sent. It is time to bring the next generation of adventurers, of heroes , into the fold. One of them will be worthy, of that much, he is certain. He must be. 

[rueitae]

Between Rocks and A Hard Place

Summary: Lance and Pidge are caved in and cut off from the team. Pidge is hurt and there are pirates waiting for them.They have some time on their hands.

Read on Ao3

One last hurrah before s8, a canon verse plance fic. Roughly 8100 words. Thanks @sp4c3-0ddity for the usual. :)

~~~~~

“Pidge,” Lance rasped. His throat burned from persistent chatter and he’d lost count how many times he’d said her name, but he had to keep it up. He leaned forward to look down on his teammate’s unconscious and troubled face, tears blurring his vision. It brought sobs to his throat - a poor substitute for the lack of drinking water - seeing her so still, scratched and bloodied.

He gently nudged her shoulder pad. “Pidge, please wake up. This isn’t a good place for a nap,” he said, the weak joke meant more for him than for her. Anything to lighten things up in this dark cave.

Lance heaved a sigh of relief, rocking back on his heels when Pidge finally - finally - stirred and groaned. She opened her eyes blearily.

“Lance?” she asked, still clearly in the fog of sleep. Her eyes lazily scanned the enclosure, brows furrowed. “What happened?”

“Pirates,” Lance explained calmly. The faster she remembered the better. He didn’t have the memory restoration device from the S.P.R.A.W.L incident, so he hoped to jog her brain the old-fashioned way. “We were checking out a smuggling operation? Our leads brought us to a mine. There was an explosion and now we’re stuck. You blacked out for about ten doboshes.”

Pidge slid her forearms back towards her shoulders and pushed her upper body off the ground. Her eyes grew wide, and she let out a sharp yelp of pain, nearly falling onto her back once again.

Lance reached out to cushion her fall, heart racing for Pidge’s condition and his lack of means to do anything about it. Worse, her outburst garnered the attention of the pirates they’d come to investigate. They waited just outside the wall of fallen rock that kept him and Pidge separated from the outside. Lance blocked out their ambient jeers and focus his concern on Pidge.

He lowered her gently back to the ground. Her initial scream had turned into hurried breaths, eyes knit tightly in agony. He gulped; their situation was not good. Lance could see only two choices left to them at this point. Injured as Pidge was, he wondered briefly if the pirates were equipped and honorable enough to treat her should they surrender quietly.

“Don’t even think about it.” Pidge opened her eyes just long enough glare as she gave the order. Sweat dripped from her brow, exhausted from her labored breaths. She wrapped a hand around his arm and squeezed. Lance hissed, the pain of the pinch surprising him.

He let his shoulders slump, not bothering to ask how she’d read his mind. “They might have medical supplies. You need something, Pidge. We have a better chance of getting back to our Lions if you can run.”

“I can wait for rescue,” Pidge insisted. “We can’t count on pirate goodwill.” She gasped for breath, tightening her grip on his arm as much as she could. “Please, Lance.”

“Okay. Okay,” Lance repeated softly, refusing to outright make a promise he couldn’t keep. He sandwiched her hand with his other, offering comfort. His stomach grew ill as Pidge moaned to cope with her pain.

He activated the medical scanner on his gauntlet, able to finally assess her injuries in this quiet moment. “Nothing broken, but there’s a fracture in your right wrist… and your right knee,” he reported. “You probably have a concussion. Where does it hurt the most?”

“Makes sense,” Pidge responded. She took hold of the offending wrist gingerly, poking and stroking it carefully. “I’m a bit better now, but my shoulder is killing me. Knee and wrist are fine if I don’t move.”

“Doesn’t matter anyway. We’re tucked in good.” He lifted his gaze to the wall of rock, stomach twisting. Cracks between different-sized boulders brought light inside, but there was no hole large enough for them to sneak out.

Even if they could, the pirates on the other side would be waiting for them.

Their current prison was a new and incomplete surface mine. The not yet harvested gems reflected what little sun came through, providing a decent amount of light for the enclosure. It couldn’t have been any bigger than their two Castle bedrooms combined.

“Can you help me sit up?” Pidge asked. “I’ll try and get through to the team. Hopefully the dust storm will be over soon.”

Lance lifted Pidge to rest sitting up against the back wall of the mine. “I’ll go check. Last look I think I saw a bit of the sun.”

“Oi - Paladin! Green still alive in there? You ain’t fallen asleep, have ya?”

Lance winced as he recognized the voice of the pirate leader. He wanted to continue filling Pidge in on the situation and try to devise some sort of escape plan, or at the very least comfort each other more before having to deal with this.

“I’m here, Bront,” Lance grumbled - loud enough for them to hear. “She’s fine. What do you want?”

“Good to hear!” the pirate responded jovilly. “Two live Paladins better than one alive and one dead.”

“Oh no,” Pidge whispered blandly, a groan in her voice. “He’s just as peppy as I remember. I was hoping that was a dream.”

Lance patted her good hand and stood. “Take it easy, Pidge; I got this one.” His voice sounded more confident than he felt, but Pidge needed all the rest she could get. He walked over to the wall, stepping up on a few rocks near the bottom of the sloped pile to a hole roughly the size of his head. He braced his arms on either side of it, holding his balance on the loose rubble below him. “What it is?” he asked.

A green face with red markings appeared before him. “Just wanted to let you know we’ve got a digger comin’ in the morning to fish you two out. It’s a long walk to the spaceport, so you’d best get plenty of rest.”

And where their legitimate ride home was, Lance thought with dread building in his heart. Their Unilu contact wasn’t being paid by the hour and would not wait for them. Pidge was not going to be able to handle that fast of a walk. He’d have to carry her, and if he carried her he couldn’t protect her from blaster fire. He wasn’t exactly one hundred percent perfect health himself either.

Between that and the number of pirates just outside, Lance knew the decision was made for them, but he wasn’t about to let Bront know that.

“Why are you telling us this? You planning the evening meal?” he quipped instead.

“Of course we’re eatin’! Far as I can tell it’s roasted coynet. Gives off an especially divine aroma,” he said with the air of an experienced food critic. In an instant his joyful smile twisted into a wicked grin. “If you ever escape I highly recommend you try some.”

Lance’s stomach growled preemptively at the prospect of no food until further notice. He knew his face reflected his fear too. Weakened, they’d be easy pickings to capture. They had nothing but themselves to offer, and unless the team came, the pirates would have them regardless.

“Don’t waste your energy, Lance,” Pidge told him. He turned to acknowledge her, but her focus rested solely on her gauntlet computer.

“You just wait until our buddies get here,” Lance snapped back at the opening. Maybe they could get away with a bluff. “You don’t want to see any of them angry.”

“A chance I am willing to take for a big payout. There are plenty of folks rich enough to buy off two Paladins of Voltron,” Bront said in a far more sinister tone. “Do whatever you need to prepare yourselves. Your freedom is ticking away.” He turned away, a wide grin on his face. “Shevp! Welcome back! Did ya find the herds yet?”

His voice blended into the chatter of the pirate crew at large as he moved further away, leaving the two Paladins in silence aside from the shifting of rubble, still unsettled from the cave-in.

Lance leaned his head against the wall. “Hurry up, guys,” he whispered under his breath.

“They know where we are,” Pidge said. Lance jumped in surprise. “I can hear everything in here,” she teased. “We’ll miss check-in a few varga from now. They might get here before morning.”

“You’re right,” Lance agreed. He stepped down from the ledge and put his hands to his hips. “Look at us, roles reversed.” He gestured between the two of them. “I’m usually the optimistic one. I thought you’d tell us our odds against making it out of here are too low.”

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. Pidge was surely uncomfortable, but her injuries weren’t fatal. She was good company and she was right; the team would come for them.

“I guess we’re rubbing off on each other,” she said as he took a seat next to her. Why did rocks have to be so hard? “‘Something in space is always trying to kill us’?” She snorted, but quickly turned to him with a smile. “You are using your brain more though, preparing for logical eventualities.”

Lance forgot to breathe. The way she smiled softly at him, the light teasing and compliments, he couldn’t find a way to suck in any air.

Like lightning, both instantaneous and illuminating, he saw Pidge in a new light.

And maybe he always had, but now he realized it. Pidge was pretty and one of his very best friends.

He liked her. As in like-liked her.

Pidge was right. They’d been rubbing off and growing on each other for a long time.

“Lance? Are you okay?” Her scrunched face told of confusion and a hint of worry.

“I’m fine,” he said quickly. Was that a squeak? Oh no. Now what? Throw in pick up lines? PIdge always looked so disgusted when he used them on Allura --

Oh.

Perhaps this newfound feeling wasn’t just one way..

Oh quiznak, and they were on the cusp of being captured.

“It looks like your brain broke,” she said flatly, eyes narrowed in annoyance. “I spoke too soon.” She returned her attention to her wrist comm.

“Hey! It is not!” His stomach twisted. Maybe he judged Pidge’s feelings wrong. She probably thought he was still a dumb not-sharpshooter goofball -

He could do something about that.

Lance summoned the red bayard and let it morph into rifle form. “I’ll show you brains. I’ve got a plan. We’ve got time and there’s plenty of openings. I’ll take them out one by one.”

Pidge considered him carefully, more worry in her eyes than anything. “There’s a lot of them out there, Lance. If you don’t they’ll be even more mad at us. If you do, we’ll have to wait on the — "

Lance dropped his bayard as Pidge took a sharp intake of breath, her eyes wide and filled with tears.

“Pidge, what is it? What’s wrong?” He held the back of her head and part of her shoulder. He searched with his eyes but found nothing.

“It - it hurts. My leg.” She leaned into him, shrieking every time she moved.

“You need pain medicine at least,” Lance insisted. His heart raced. What should he do? He had nothing.

“No,” Pidge gasped firmly. “It’s not worth it.”

There was nothing Lance hated more than being useless. He wasn’t a doctor and he had no medical supplies. He couldn’t break them out of this cave and he couldn’t get ahold of the team. Whether they came before the pirates could get in or not he had no way of knowing.

The only thing he could do was offer Pidge comfort...and he could negotiate. But he had to put his full trust in the rest of the team to rescue them.

Decision made, he carefully set her down against the wall. “I’ll be right back, Pidge. Hold on.”

She wanted to respond, the way she looked at him with fury and fear, only for a cycle of coughing, convulsing, and pain to strike her.

Resolve washed over him at the prospect of finally taking action. He took up his bayard and rose to the designated speaking hole.

“Hey, Bront! We need to talk!” he yelled, pounding a fist against the wall.

The pirate leader lifted his head in acknowledgment, then waved casually to dismiss his companions.

“What can I do for you, Red Paladin?” he asked upon approach. Bront grinned in a knowing manner and Lance felt his stomach twist, flinching unintentionally. The man relished having him and Pidge at his mercy.

“My friend needs medical attention,” he said. No sense in wasting time, not when her sobs echoed around the cavern. “She won’t be able to walk tomorrow in her condition. I need something to mend her leg at least.”

Bront laughed. The delight he took in this was sickening. “I think I’ve got enough room on a machine for that tiny one. Unless you have something to make it worth my while?”

“A clean capture,” Lance managed, he hoped, confidently. “If you give me something to help ease her pain, maybe even fix her, then I won’t put up a fight in the morning. None of your crew gets hurt and we all get out of this desert faster.”

Bront made a show of thinking, a long hum on his lips.

Lance sighed. It was just like dealing with the Unilu. “I suppose my word as a Paladin isn’t good enough?”

“I prefer collateral on a physical level. If you’ve got something, I have several vials of panacea we recently acquired from the nearby Galra base. Sounds like Green could use it.”

Lance’s heart leapt in hope. Panaceas were good and legit if it came from a Galra base. He’d seen them work before, essentially a healing pod in a syringe. It could fix her leg or wrist, but not both.

This was worth making the exchange for. If Pidge was in less pain the odds increased that she could help him form a solid escape plan. She’d be able to run if need be. He paused to let the thump of his heart fade from the inside of his ears.

He held his bayard up to the hole, back in its base form. “This is my only weapon. This for panacea.”

“You’re a good man to be so concerned for your teammate,” Bront mused. “Or maybe you’re thinking of other things?”

“What are you talking about?” Lance asked, legitimately confused. “Of course I’m worried about her!”

“Ahhh. I know what desperation sounds like,” he teased. “You have the cry of a lover.”

All warmth drained from Lance’s cheeks. He should be embarrassed to have been called out like this so soon after his heart revealed itself for Pidge, but there was no time, and the lewd expression Bront met him with chilled him to the bone. He had a bad feeling about where this was going.

“Still want to heal her knowing she has a ride tomorrow or”--the devilish grin only grew--“are you planning to engage in a more private activity?”

Lance audibly gasped. He thought… oh Quizn - bad choice of word.

“N-no! Nothing like that!” he finally replied angrily, trying desperately not to seem flustered at the pirate’s implication.

Bront threw his head back and laughed. “I like you,” he roared. “I think I have the perfect client in mind. You will thank me later!”

“Look, are you going to take me up on this or not?” Lance demanded against the second round to laughter.

The pirate shifted and produced a perfectly sealed package with a syringe filled with panacea inside. The color was a perfect shade of blue, not teal like many of the knock-offs he and the team had encountered.

Lance’s brain stalled as he realized the moment of truth was now.

“Take care of the lady tonight - my treat. I won’t even ask for her weapon.”

Lance set his bayard inside the crack, not trusting himself to speak. His cheeks were on fire from embarrassment and he knew that if he said anything it wouldn’t come out threatening or dignified.

Bront set the package in the same area, and Lance took it. He held it tight, as if it would make him safer now that his weapon was with pirates.

“A slick piece of tech you’ve got here,” Bront said, examining the weapon airily as it swung like a pendulum from his finger.

“It’s old so don’t break it,” Lance grumbled. “I’ll be taking it back when our friends get here to rescue us.”

Sobs from Pidge's direction took his attention away from the pirate. Her helmet was off now, lying a few feet away. It was her balled up form shivering in pain that thrust a dagger through his own heart.

"This had better work," Lance threatened, holding up the panacea for emphasis.

Bront flipped the dormant red bayard and caught it expertly with his other hand, rolling it onto a single finger, twirling it around as if it were a toy. "Guess you'll find out soon, Loverboy. Good luck. I'll see you in the morning."

The pirate walked away. Lance refused to watch as the man made light use of his weapon. Attending to Pidge was far more important. He jumped down from the higher rock and jogged back to where he'd left her. Ripping open the bag with his teeth, he knelt at her side.

"Pidge, I've got a dose of that healing pod juice," he said lightly. "I'm going to use it on your leg, okay?"

Pidge hissed, her eyes clenched shut in pain. "You idiot," she managed. "Hurry, I can't - I think i might throw up."

Lance made quick work taking off her boot and shin armor. He needed to inject it directly into her skin. "Just stay still, Pidge. Almost there," he said, making his voice as soothing and comforting as possible. He rolled up the black under suit to her thigh, careful around the knee. He winced when he encountered the deep red gash right on the joint, surrounded by shades of blue.

"Okay, here goes nothing," he said as a warning. He gave the syringe a good shake before injecting it into the side of her knee.

Pidge screamed, sitting up straight in a flash, huffing and gasping as the liquid worked its magic. Lance sat mesmerized as the gash in her knee knitted itself up.

The process was slower than he'd have liked. In a healing pod Pidge would have been asleep and under anesthetic while muscles and bones righted themselves. Right now, she felt and saw it all.

The pain had to be excruciating.

Once the liquid was fully injected, his usefulness playing physician stopped. He scooted over behind Pidge and wrapped both arms around her tightly. "I know it's not much," he said into her ear over her screams and sobs. "Just focus on me, not the pain."

"I'm trying!" Pidge yelled. She grabbed his leg with her good arm and squeezed for all she was worth. "Lance, it’s too much. I can't - " Her coherent sentence went interrupted by more crying, writhing in his arms.

She twisted and turned, kicking both her legs wildly. So far so good; at least she had movement now. "It'll be over soon," Lance promised - he wasn't sure how in the universe he was still so calm - and he hoped he was right. He didn't know how long this would take, but for now he just held her tighter. "I'm not going anywhere. Think about Green; she's probably worried about you, right? Or your projects - whatever you normally think about. Do something crazy - anything. I'm here for you."

Pidge angled her head to face him. She stared, long enough for tears to stream down her face and shiver in pain. But she had stopped screaming. Hopefully the panacea was almost done working and -

His brain stopped when she dragged his face towards her own and locked their lips together.

Her grip on him pinched slightly, but it was hardly a blip on his emotional radar compared to kissing Pidge.

Lance knew he wasn't putting much effort into it. Pidge pressed forward enough for the both of them, but he didn't pull away. The experience was pleasant and warm, and he supported the back of her head and shifted his body to sit at her side to make it easier on her neck.

Surely this answered the question of Pidge having any romantic feelings towards him. Scarcely realizing his own mere minutes ago, he'd not had the time to develop any expectations or fantasies.

He was glad, because Pidge was a great kisser.

Pidge broke off and immediately buried her face in his chest - before he could catch a glimpse of her reaction. She left his mind in a foggy haze from both surprise and how right it felt.

Her breathing steadied, and Lance stole a look to her knee. It looked as if nothing had ever happened to it. Relief overflowed from his chest and he relished in Pidge’s softer and easier breaths. He sighed and nestled his nose into her hair, emboldened by her initiation.

“Feel better?” he mumbled, running a supportive hand up and down her back.

It took Pidge a long moment to reply, and she didn’t bother lifting her head. Lance worried about any adverse effects from the panacea. None of them had actually used it before. They’d assumed it would work just as well on humans, but really who knew?

Pidge groaned; at least it wasn’t a pain-induced one. “Physically? Yes. I might die of embarrassment though. I should have asked you first.”

“The kiss?” Lance let out a sharp laugh. “Well, I did say you could do anything. That’s on me.”

She turned her head up slightly, enough that Lance could almost see one whole eye. “You didn’t mind?”

“I’m still holding you, aren’t I?” he teased. “Besides, this just means I owe you one back, right?”

Pidge didn't respond right away, but her frown and furrowed eyebrows betrayed her sour mood. His heart stilled. Had he said the wrong thing?

He loosened his grip as she gently pushed off from his chest. She stood, shakily at first, and Lance lunged forward to held steady her.

The irony of kneeling before Pidge and holding her hand in this particular moment was not lost on him. His heart beat loud, his ears throbbing.

"Looks like that healing stuff really did the job," he said in an attempt to break the awkwardness.

"Did you mean that?" Pidge asked, voice firm. Her gaze likewise ensnared him and he couldn’t break away. She wasn’t talking about the panacea. "I can say it didn't mean anything, just a distraction from the pain."

She offered an out, but Lance didn't want to take it. Pirate suggestiveness aside, he didn't know what would become of them tomorrow, if their relationship - friendship or otherwise - might somehow be used against them or if they’d be separated. He didn't want to lose this chance, not when he'd already missed the opportunity to help Shiro's clone. He refused to put anyone else in danger because he didn't take action.

So he stood and clasped her hand. That alone pleased him more than it should have when Pidge's face turned a bright red and her lips parted in surprise. The corners of his mouth curled up on instinct into his favorite teasing and flirtatious smile, but his heart felt more sincere than ever.

"Trying to get out of paying me back? You'll have to do better than that, Pidge."

She clenched her fingers around his in anger, but did not take her hand away. "If you're going to start flirting with me just like with every other girl in the universe, you can forget it. I kissed you out of necessity and delirium. I don't want you to read anything into -- "

He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles, interrupting her. "So, in delirium and in pain, the first thing you thought to do was kiss me?" he said in humor as he found her eyes once more. "Now we're even."

Angry eyes melted into soft and defeated orbs. "This is a bad time for this," she said.

"I don't know when we'll next have time, Pidge. So, let me try, okay?" At a small nod and with butterflies flying into the wall of his stomach, he said, "Even though this situation really sucks, I'm glad I'm stuck here with you. You're the smartest, bravest, most creative person I know. You're amazing, and I felt like telling you every day." Pidge froze, emitting a soft gasp, but he continued, "You're beautiful, Pidge, inside and out. I would play the Gameflux all day every day with you if I could."

He didn't expect his words to open the floodgates in her eyes.

"When we met at the Garrison, you wanted to be my friend," Pidge managed to choke out. "You kept trying to be my friend, even though I pushed you away so many times. I just... I just wanted to - I wanted to hear that from you so much. I didn't think I'd ever -- " Her lip wobbled. "I hate caves and I hate pirates!"

She fell limply against his chest, unable to speak any further until her tears dried up. Lance held her close, not about to let her fall. He didn't need to hear any more. Pidge had been waiting long enough, and he felt awful about it.

"I'm sorry," he said after a while.

"You gave them your bayard," she stated, wiping her tears away and changing the subject. She had the right idea. It was time to figure out a plan.

"Yeah, I did." No sense in lying about it.

Pidge sniffled. "We're outmanned, outgunned, and at a strategic disadvantage."

"Ten to one, at least," Lance supplied. "But the team is on their way, the pirates are going to dig us out, and you can walk."

Pidge inhaled deeply and took a step back, letting her shoulder roll down and relax with the exhale. She did not let go of his hand. When she opened her eyes, tears were nearly gone, and in their place a steely determination.

"We can assume they have a functioning communication device able to get past the storm since they called in for machinery," she said methodically. "If I can get to it, I can contact the Coalition channels to see if anyone is closer than the Atlas.”

“I’ll keep them talking as long as I can,” he offered. “You’ll be okay with one hand?”

“I’ll have to be.” She held the injured wrist. “I should keep this elevated.”

Lance looked around the cave for inspiration. “Well, there’s plenty of rocks,” he joked.

Pidge’s face fell. “I guess that will work…”

He sighed dramatically. “Pidge, I am not going to let you rest on a rock if I can help it. Here.”

He settled himself down on the floor, shifting around for the most comfortable position. Once his head found a nook in the rubble that wasn’t too sharp he set his arm around a rock that was about head high, and gestured for Pidge to join him.

“You can use me as a pillow. Come on.”

At her uncertain face, he added, “It’ll keep us warm too. We should be well-rested for tomorrow.”

Pidge sighed in surrender. It took her only a few steps to reach him and curl up beside him. He didn’t have to coax her to rest her head on his chest and lay her arm across his abdomen.

“Comfy?” he asked once she stopped adjusting. He wrapped his arm around her back when she shivered and snuggled in closer.

“As much as I will be. Thanks, Lance.”

He rested his own head on hers. “Anything for you, Pidge.”

They descended into an easy silence. Lance watched the opening in the wall as Pidge’s sleeping breaths nearly lulled him to sleep.

He had no reason to think Bront lied to him about the digging machine coming in the morning, other than the man being a pirate. He’d been truthful so far as Lance could tell, and to even have panacea on his person meant he took care of his crew. They could have ended up with worse captors.

One of them needed to be awake, in case he made a move early. Since Pidge needed all the sleep she could for her recovery, that left him.

As the sun set outside,  it grew more difficult to distinguish the hole in the wall with the rest of the cave. The pirates kept Lance awake, a group of them keeping vocal well into the night.

“You didn’t have to get me the panacea,” Pidge said out of nowhere, startling him. Her voice was laced with the grogginess of waking.

“Yes I did,” he insisted. “It was killing me to see you in so much pain. Besides, it... would have been a short fight even with my bayard. I was using my brain, promise,” he teased.

Pidge shuffled to reach the computer on her gauntlet, still content to use him as a pillow.

Static echoed when she turned on communications. “The dust storm must still be going on. I still can’t get a hold of anybody.”

“Didn’t Coran say they could last for days?” Lance gulped. The pirates could have them well off planet by then.

“Weeks,” Pidge corrected solemnly. “Did Bront tell you where he was taking us? I can at least leave a scrambled message for Matt.”

I know just the client.

Lance shivered. With how fixated Bront was over their, at the time, non-existent romantic relationship, he really didn’t want to find out. He hoped that Hunk’s famous gut feeling would be enough to bring the team on time.

“He didn’t say, and hopefully we’ll never find out,” Lance said, unintentionally holding Pidge even closer. “We missed check-in a while ago. The team has to be on their way.”

Pidge leaned back on his arm, sending him a determined glare. “We have to be ready if they don’t.”

“I know,” Lance conceded. There wasn’t much they could do except stall for time. He could talk and Pidge would do her share of distracting, but they had to wait until they were free and that wouldn’t take long once the digger arrived.

Or would it?

“Hey Pidge, how powerful do you think that digging machine will be?”

She raised her eyebrows at him, puzzled by his train of thought. “I saw a lot of machinery that looked like twenty-first century Earth tech. We might have ten dobashes or so before they can make a hole big enough to get us out.”

“How long would it be if we reinforced the wall with Altean tech?”

Pidge opened her mouth to remind him they didn’t have any other equipment, but stopped herself, her face lighting up.

“I still have my bayard! I could try and weld the rocks together,” she said with a bright smile. “Lance, that’s genius.”

His chest glowed and his heart fluttered at the compliment. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted to hear her praise him like that, confirmation that he wasn’t dumb and not just a goofball.

“Are… you crying?” she asked, breaking Lance out of his reflective world.

He was tearing up, he realized.

Pidge searched his face for answers and he hated that she frowned instead of smiled. “It’s like I’ve actually never said a nice thing to you.”

“That’s not true!” Lance was quick to retort, frazzled that this was suddenly about him. “You uh…”

Her eyes grew wide with horrified realization. “Seriously? I swear every time I think about our conversations I remember saying something nice.”

“No… just… goofball, not being the team sharpshooter…generally in the way.” Each and every time he’d been unsure of himself and his place on the team.

It had hurt to see her in physical pain before, but he may as well have stabbed himself. Because now her emotional pain was explicitly his fault.

Pidge sucked in a sharp breath. “Lance, I’m — “

“No, it’s okay. I deserved it,” he said. He averted his gaze, electing to continue his lookout duties. All traces of daylight were gone now, and even the pirate chatter had diminished. A low hum of insects was all that remained. “It took me too long to man up out here, too long to take things seriously.”

The weight of Pidge’s head returned to his chest.

“Being a goofball is one of my favorite things about you,” she said quietly. “You lift us all up. If I hadn’t been focused on finding my family I would have enjoyed hanging out with you after class. Even if I was annoyed, I was really grateful for the distraction.

“And if that’s not enough, I love playing video games with you too. You’re a good right hand to Keith and for the rest of us, and you are our sharpshooter. You’re amazing, Lance. Even if we - I - don’t say it often or at all, that’s the truth.” She lifted her head and smiled at him, a soft beautiful smile she usually reserved only for her family now was his too. “It’s true you’ve grown for the better, but we all have. None of us started this crazy adventure perfect. Don’t ever lose what makes you, you.”

“Pidge.” The faucets opened. Sobbing into her hair wasn’t his most ideal way to begin a relationship (or being stuck in a cave surrounded by pirates if he was honest), but the way she held him as tightly as she could despite her fractured wrist made him feel welcome to stay that way as long he wanted.

All seemed fine and perfect. Apart from the circumstances, Pidge’s arms were exactly where he wanted to be.

The ambient humming noise that Lance once thought belonged to local wildlife grew more prominent and distinctly more machine-like. Pebbles shook and crumbled from the wall faster than before.

“Oh quiznak, they’re coming.” Lance’s heart sunk. This was too early. They weren’t going to be able to even start their plan.

Just as distressed, Pidge flopped over and began to roll the back undersuit back down to cover her leg, slow going one-handed. “Help me get my boot back on.”

Lance sat up and grabbed the boot and shin guard, the urgency of the task keeping his mind from dwelling on what might be waiting for them after the pirates.

The temperature in the cave rose, and though the task of armoring Pidge was a simple one, water dripped from his brow into his eyes. Wiping his face did nothing but agitate it, covering his gloves in moisture.

Pidge suffered as well. “Sorry, I sweat pretty bad normally,” she said as he slipped her boot the wrong way for a second time. The last piece.

Rock fell to the ground with a great clash, diverting Lances attention.

A hole large enough for several people to fit through was now the entrance to the cave. Fresh air filtered in, the night breeze cooling and drying his sweat. The drilling machine responsible sat just outside, the drill bit powering down and still glowing a shade of orange from its heat.

Pidge took his hand, trembling. “Okay, a little more advanced than twenty-first century Earth.”

A loud click sounded and bright lights flooded the cave. Lance yelped and diverted his eyes, his senses overloaded. Pidge groaned and buried her face in his side.

“Good morning Paladins! I hope you slept well!”

Lance squinted to see Bront filtering in with five additional crew. His fingers itched for his bayard, but it dangled far away from him on the pirate’s belt. The sight of it served as a physical reminder of his promise not to resist, and it took all of his willpower to remain still while holding Pidge’s boot.

It wouldn’t stop him from snarking.

“Was hard to with how loud you all were out there,” Lance said, making sure to glare holes in the man.

The head pirate laughed. He gestured from his crew to the Paladins, a wordless order to restrain them.

“Looks like I’m right on time! Would have hated to walk in on you two in the act; I can respect a couple’s privacy.”

Lance knew he shouldn’t, but he looked to Pidge. He couldn’t not after her exclamation of ‘what’ to Bront’s comment. Her face was caught between horror and rage.

Two pirates lifted Lance to his feet, one on each arm. “We don’t want to hear it from you,” he hissed, hoping the man would get the hint.

He didn’t. A devilish joy flashed in his eyes, a grin to match. “Despite the digger coming early, you were able to unleash all your passions and get dressed again minus a single boot.” Bront shifted his weight and clapped slowly and deliberately. “I am impressed.” He laughed in almost unbridled delight. “My client is going to love you.”

Lance felt sick, so he refocused his energy on the pirates lifting Pidge to her feet. One of them finished the job of putting her boot back on. Seeing her able to stand on her own made him feel slightly better. The trade had been worth it

“Careful,” he told them as authoritatively as he could. “Her wrist is still healing.”

“Where are you taking us?” Pidge demanded.

“Don’t you worry, Ceronis takes good care of his wards. Talked with him last night; he doesn’t have any Earthlings yet. You’ll get a pretty cushy room - plenty romantic too, I’ve heard.” He winked at them.

Lance forgot to breath out, sucking in more air than he needed and coughing. They were going to some kind of crazy collector and encouraged to be intimate. His chest tightened at the implications, on the verge of panic.

Where was the team?

Pidge kicked and growled. “That’s sick! Let us go!”

Bront made a show of considering. “Why not?” He shrugged. “It’s only fair to bring you in together. Secure them to the transport. We head for the spaceport as soon as camp is packed.”

He turned on his heel and headed outside.

A pair of handcuffs linked Pidge’s good hand with one of Lance’s with a resounding click.

“You can keep it as our gift to you,” one of the crew teased. Lance fell forward from a rough push, his boots scraping across the ground and barely keeping his footing. The others joined in the laughter.

Pidge tumbled into him. Already unbalanced, they hit the ground clumsily.

Pidge gasped sharply in pain. Her wrist must have been hit.

“No need to be pushy,” he twisted to growl at their guards.

The head of the group gestured with his blaster. “Don’t waste time, get up.”

He didn’t want to risk further incapacitating Pidge, so he helped her to stand with him while she nursed the offending wrist, eyes shut as if to will the pain away. If they had any hope of escape, it wasn’t now and they both needed to be as fit as possible.

Guns to their backs, they marched out of the cave. The sudden activity clawed at Lance’s stomach, reminding him neither had eaten since they left the castle.

The cool fresh air and the cloudless, starry sky refreshed his sore muscles, and he let his feet dig into the soft sand. It would be peaceful if not for the dozens of desert vehicles, all clearly armed to the teeth with turrets on top and blasters out the sides. With a few cosmetic changes, they would have fit in with any group Earth tanks.

Bront led them to one.

“Since you’ve both been so cooperative, I arranged some special transportation to the spaceport.” He put his back to them and pounded on the fortified side.

With a stinging yank, Lance lost control of his arm. He opened his mouth to deliver a quip, needing something to lift his spirits.

Pidge paid him no mind. She’d pulled up her wrist computer. Trying to send the team a message, he realized. The storm had subsided, so they could get ahold of anyone now. He shut his mouth. She typed fast even with the shared weight of his arm, wincing with every tap.

Pidge was working, which meant he needed to as well.

Bront’s pounding opened a door in the side of the tank. His heart sank, knowing where this was going. If they went in there, communications definitely wouldn’t work.

“Oh come on,” he complained, making a point to shield Pidge’s actions with his body. “It’s nice out and it was super stuffy in the mine. We can walk for a bit.”

A sharp gasp. “Watch it!” Pidge snapped, her eyes lined in water. Their guards had caught her in the act. One of them pulled a knife out of her cuff, which crackled with electricity, rendered useless.

“Dude, I told you her wrist is bad,” Lance added in anger. “Don’t make it worse.”

“Don’t be sending any cries for help,” Bront retorted, smiling. It was not a nice smile, and it chilled him worse than the night air.  He bowed mockingly. “Ladies first, I insist.”

Blasters hummed to life behind them, leaving only one choice.

He hadn’t felt this hopeless since that first showdown with Zarkon.

A soft pressure wrapped around his hand. Pidge’s grip tightened in sync with her angry face, tinged with sadness.

“You should have listened to Lance,” she spat. “Our friends are going to tear you apart looking for us.”

“I’d almost welcome the challenge if I weren’t here for business,” Bront aired. His face twisted into a nasty scowl. “Get in. Another word or pause and I’ll have Keln take out your whole arm, Green.”

Lance refused to risk the bluff. He squeezed Pidge’s hand and stepped forward, making the choice for her. She reciprocated the comforting gesture and offered no resistance when helped up through the hatch.

Lance awkwardly followed head first, yelping as gravity pulled him to the floor inside. He landed on his back, one arm splayed out and the other stretched uncomfortably, still connected to Pidge. He twisted to his side as Bront pushed his legs completely inside.

The floor was less cold and less hard than he had expected.

“It takes these machines about three varga to cross the desert. You two do whatever you want in that time; no one will bother you,” Bront said in delight. “See ya then.”

The door shut, several locks clicking with finality, and total darkness engulfed them.

Fairy lights illuminated the area moments later. The strings decorated the cushioned walls and ceiling, the floor similarly pillow-like. Actual pillows sat at one end.

It was very… romantic, for a holding cell.

It only served to unnerve Lance further. The list of things he would give to be in this position with a girl he liked was long, minus being kidnapped of course.

And he was here with Pidge.

“He - he’s not kidding, is he?” Pidge asked, cheeks a dark red. “He thinks we’ve already - oh quiznak,” she moaned.

“I don’t think he’s kidding about his client either,” he said. He took deep breaths, trying to slow his adrenaline filled heart. “Did you get a hold of anyone?”

Pidge shook her head and sat, resting her injured wrist on her knees. “I just managed to get out some incoherent code. They’d know it’s me and that’s about it. If they crack it.”

“There’s still time,” Lance said quickly. He sat up, crossing his legs for comfort. “Red’s saved Keith from death tons of times, so the Lions could find us too.”

“We’re not about to die, Lance,” Pidge snapped. “We’re getting shipped off to be an attraction at a private zoo run by a pervert. We’ve never heard of this guy. The odds of the team finding us after we get off-planet are — “

“The odds are bad, I get it. Everything about this is bad.” He took her hand. “We’ll find a way out of this. I promise.”

Pidge steeled her gaze. “As soon as we can con tech out of the pervert I am making a communicator.”

Lance grinned, heart much lighter with Pidge planning their escape. “That’s why I love you, Pidge.”

A familiar purr surrounded his mind like a roaring campfire. Words did not come, but all thoughts of escape were cut off and the void replaced with an image of this planet in his mind's eye.

It was gone as quickly as it came. Across from him Pidge blinked, looking as if coming out of a deep sleep.

“Did you see that?” he asked breathlessly.

Pidge nodded, a victorious grin growing on her face. “I heard Green! The Lions know where we are and they’re coming!”

A quintet of deep roars permeated the walls of their thick metal prison. Pirates screamed and laser fire tore into the nearby landscape.

Lance gulped. “I sure hope they know we’re in one of these.”

Metal on metal screeched, drowning the scream that Lance made the vocal motion for, but couldn’t hear. Pidge dragged him back as the fairy lights were ripped into the open, along with the other half of the cell, by yellow claws.

“Lance! Pidge!” It had never felt better to hear Hunk’s voice. “Guys, I found them! Are you two okay?!”

“Hunk!” Pidge yelled, delighted. He let Pidge drag him to the new, much larger, door and waved.

“I’m sure glad to see you, buddy!” Lance yelled back in relief. “Pidge has a hurt wrist! We’re fine otherwise!”

The Yellow Lion stood imposingly over the battle, where the Blue and Black Lions circled above providing air support. Green and Red landed nearby, anxiety rattling through the bond to get their Paladins back in the pilot seat.

Lance beamed. He always relished the role of Paladin, but in this moment he let pride take over fully, both for himself and for the team he was a part of.

“Oh man that’s such a relief,” Hunk breathes. “So, Yellow kept showing me images of this guy and I’m guessing he’s the cause of this. I have him pinned under a claw.”

“Keep him right there!” Lance hollered back, scowling. “I owe him a piece of my mind.”

“I’m coming with,” Pidge said. “I want to punch him. Also,” she chuckled, “we’re still handcuffed together.”

Lance wasn’t sure why, but it was hilarious. He broke down in a giggling fit, unbound hand clutching his side. Pidge joined him on the floor, sputtering into uproarious laughter of her own.

Why not? Lance thought. This entire situation was like a weird nightmare nearly come true. Of all the times to reveal a mutual crush - it wasn’t not funny.

It was a better coping mechanism than taking it seriously.

“I need to get my bayard back,” he managed to say, though his chest hurt from laughing too much. “I told him our friends were going to be angry.”

Pidge wiped the tears from her eyes, dragging his hand with her. He took the opportunity to help, hoping his gloves were dry enough. Her smile shifted, going from pure mirth to something like affection. It was a look she’d given him so many times before but one he’d never given proper context to.

“What’s with that look?” he teased as he settled down.

“That’s what I love about you,” she responded in kind to his admission earlier, leaning her head towards him, her smile getting softer by the moment. “I always have fun when we’re together.”

Her face drew closer, and Lance didn’t realize it was partly his own doing until their faces were too close to not kiss.

So they did. His lips traveled until they met hers. She pushed up, and he pushed down in equal measure. Lance savored the taste of the alien fruit that still lingered from their previous meal. His lips wormed around hers, exploring every crevice. Pidge paused over his lower lip. The way she nibbled and licked on it excited him more than he could afford in the middle of a battle zone.

“Guys?” Hunk’s voice cracked.

Pidge pulled back with a snort. “I think we broke Hunk.”

“We gave the pirates what they wanted.” Lance shrugged with a smile.

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Think Bront is watching? Want to break him too?”

With her eyebrows raised suggestively enough, Lance found he couldn’t say no.

So in the middle of the battlefield, filled with scraps of what were once armored vehicles and weapons, in front of their friends and the pirate leader who was so pleased to egg them on:

They kissed.

[boarix]

Wraith in the Ruins: A Fallout 4 Story Part XV

Nefarious They

Trigger warnings: Canon violence/language/gun use. Mature content *throws lemons* so look out

Game spoilers

Please enjoy!

 “It was deliberate. A direct attack on Sanctuary.”

Hancock idly flipped his tricorn, “Hmm. I’d say more like it was a attack on you, sunshine.”

“What do you mean? I wasn’t even here.” Wraith, who had been examining gouges in some of the trees that bordered Sanctuary’s fence, now turned to the ghoul, confusion on her face, “I thought that they waited until they were sure I wasn’t.”

“I don’t doubt it; you’re too terrifying to mess with directly! But you’re hurt if your loved ones are hurt, you feel me?” His smile was pitying, “If someone wants to punish you, make you suffer, than the best way is to kill your people.”

Confusion turned to anger and then swiftly to fear, “To hurt me…”

“Trouble is your people are very strong. MacCready and Danse alone could take out a score of… whatever they got.”

“They… who are ‘they’?”

After returning Valentine to his wife and appointing a new Quartermaster to Diamond City, Wraith had made good on her promise to Edward Deegan; offering her support and condolences as they delivering the remains of Emogene and Virgil to the Cabot house. Afterward she had continued on with her interrupted schedule by travelling to The Castle to check in with Preston. A few weeks had passed since the incident and Wraith would have had nothing to go on but hearsay had Danse not taken pictures.

As soon as he had known Panther would recover, he had taken the settlements camera to the breach. The photos documented the unmistakable Mecanum wheel tracks left by a sentry bot leading to and from the massive hole in Sanctuary’s defense as well as boot tracks from the aforementioned ‘They’.

“I suppose the robot dragged the caged deathclaw here too.” Wraith was running her hand back and forth over her freshly clipped hair, “Why didn’t anyone hear it? Or see it? I supposed they could have rigged it up with a stealth-boy and waited until Mac’s class started… Rust Devils? They certainly would have the knowledge…”

“They ain’t particularly stealthy though. They like it when their victims know whose victimizing ‘em.” Hancock took her fidgeting hand in his and squeezed it gently, “And if they knew to wait for MacCready’s class to mask the noise then that means there’s been a spy skulking round for a bit. Seen any new faces lately?”

“I haven’t been here… I should check in at the gate and the Rocket; talk to Tina, she was a Devil.”

“I don’t get how they could have dragged a caged deathclaw cross the Wealth without attracting some attention. I realize the population ain’t exactly dense…” Hancock paused, smiling to himself on his phrasing, “Somebody had to have seen somethin’.”

“You up for playing detective with me?”

“I’m always down for some roll-play.”

 Tina shook her head emphatically, “No ma’am. The Devils would want you to know it was them. It’s possible this was staged to look like them to make you crush them.” She offered Wraith a somewhat abashed smile, “It’s not like there are many of them left for you to punish.”

“The Hounds have been doing a commendable job in keeping Minutemen settlements safe. You should be proud, Tina.”

Lifting her chin, the former raider gave Wraith a sharp salute, “I am very proud, general! Thank you for taking a chance on me.”

Stepping out of the Red Rocket, Wraith winced as the wave of light and heat washed over her, “Ugh… so…”

“Who’s left?”

“This seemed more organized than your average raider group. L&L?”

Hancock was quick to dismiss them, “Not likely.” He removed his hat and held it aloft, blocking the sun from Wraith’s face as they walked, “I’ll have my network look into things. We’ll figure out who’s fuckin’ with ya and serve them up some bad days. No worries, sunshine.”

“In the meantime, I guess I’ll have the Minutemen make sure to check new visitors. I’ll reinitialize long patrols on all settlements… I hate to do that but we are going to be on high alert.”

Bear stopped them after they passed through the gate, “C’mere a sec, Wolf. I want to measure your feet.”

“My feet? Oooo, are you going to make me some new gofasters?”

“New gowhatnow?”

Bear chuckled, “It’s slang for ‘sneakers’, Johnny Boy. And no, I’m making you some serious shit-kicker boots! That deathclaw hide made some fantastic leather and I’m itchin’ to start creating.”

Wraith had worked with the ghoul to re-build the home just to the right of the bridge. Now with a full workshop and storefront, Bear’s business was booming. So much so that he had begun an apprentice program, just so he could have assistance with the near-overwhelming volume of orders.

“I noticed you seem to make a big deal about everyone else’s birthday, while doin’ your best to pretend yours don’t exist. Well, I’ve literally known you for centuries, so I’m making you something special and I want it done for the BIG one.” He passed her a vest as she sat down, “Try this on too.”

Wraith groaned, “Two-hundred forty years…”

“You’re only as old as the woman you feel.”

“It’s not the years, it’s the mileage.”

“Thanks, boys. That’s great. Super helpful.”

Bear clapped his large hands together, “Oh yeah, I finished the new armored jackets for the Hounds.” Turning, he grabbed an enormous coat off of a rack and held it up for them to see, “I even made one for my buddy Strong!”

The garment’s main body was fashioned from dark green leather and on the back the Hounds’ symbol, the Triskelion was done in golden inlay.

Hancock whistled appreciatively, “That is some mighty fine craftsmanship there. You’re a true master!”

“Incredible! Cait is going to spaz!”

“You think so?” Bear ducked his head, suddenly embarrassed, “You think she’ll be happy?”

Hancock’s eyes crinkled in a warm smile, “Yeah, brother. She’ll love ‘em.”

Leaving the shop, both were quiet as they entertained happy romantic thoughts. Arm in arm despite the heat, they slowly made their way up the street. Sudden bombastic laughter made them both jump slightly and as they turned a corner they could see Duncan, mouth open wide, laughing and pointing at Shaun. Wraith’s grandson was singing and dancing in a goofy manner along to the radio.

“Pretty good set of pipes on that kid… Nate sing?”

“Not as well as you. Honestly. I’m not just saying that to blow up your ego, or get in your pants.”

“I like it when you do those things too though…”

“Anchor! Anchor!” The song had ended and Duncan was clapping and shouting, “More! Anchor!”

Breathless, Shaun bowed with mock solemnity, “Jus a min, Dunk. I wanna talk to Grandma Wraith...”

Wraith clapped as well, “Anchor? What’s Anchor?”

“Oh, he just means ‘encore’. Dr. Curie said it earlier… So, speaking of that; Cap’n Danse left the clinic a little bit ago and he looked, I dunno… like, scared.”

“Brother Shaun! I asking politely, please!”

“Give me a second please.” Shaun smiled and shook his head, “He’s really needy today… So, yeah… um maybe you should poke your head in and see if Dr. Curie and…”

“I ASKING POLITELY!”

“Not at that volume.” Even with a quiet and even tone Shaun’s admonishment cracked like a whip.

“You have this under control?” Wraith popped her chin at the now apparently sullen Duncan.

“He needs to know I’ll stop playing with him if he gets too bossy, right?” Shaun flashed her an impish grin, “It’s just as important for a child to be told ‘no’ for reasonable reasons, as it is to receive positive reinforcement.”

“Ha! Well alright then.”

“That one from you?” Hancock tucked his chin, his question quiet.

“Yeah, but hearing it said back to me… ugh, it sounds really…”

“Robotic?”

“Yeah…”

Once inside the clinic, Wraith knocked politely on Curie’s exam room. Both jumped back when the door flew open and Fahrenheit, face scarlet in fury, yelled at them.

“I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE!” As soon as she realized who she was roaring at, the red in her cheeks deepened, “What do you two want?”

“I’m sorry Fahr; I thought your exam would have been over…”

Curie’s voice carried an uncharacteristic tone of irritation, “Mademoiselle’s exam has not yet started.”

“This is all just a waste of time! I will not be a party to this farce!” The redhead swept out her hand, seeming to indicate all of Sanctuary, “I will not stay here for the remainder of my pregnancy to be poked and prodded!” She stabbed a finger in Curie’s face, “Perhaps you’ll do better to convince Mrs. Valentine to be your lab rat. I will not!”

“Who said anything about you staying here? I thought you just came to get an ultrasound? Maybe hear th’ lil one’s heartbeat…” Hancock’s face clouded in confusion.

“I simply asked.” Curie pushed herself to her feet and frowned at Wraith, “This… woman… yelled at Danse after I asked him to help me move equipment.” Her struggle to maintain a professional tone was becoming increasingly apparent, “He would have naturally left before the examination commenced! Her… bellowing was unnecessary!”

“YOU’RE UNNECESSARY!”

“Okay whoa!” Hancock stood between them with his hands up, “Let’s all just breathe…”

Wraith’s laughter cut through the room like a saber, “Ha ha… you’re… hahaha.”

“I fail to see what is so damn funny.”

“Fahrenheit this is so unlike you! No one is going to make you do anything! As if we even could.” Wraith wiped a tear from her eye, “I’m sorry for laughing but this has gotten really out of hand, right? You came all this way… so let’s regroup. Do you want me to stay? Do you want your dad here? You tell us how you want this to go.”

“Monsieur Hancock is… oh my.”

“He raised me but he didn’t help make me.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.”

She rolled her eyes, “Semantics… you were pivotal in my development as an individual. Satisfied?”

“Quite.”

Fahrenheit’s shoulders sagged, “Very well. I might have overreacted. But I am firm in that Amari will deliver my child.”

“But surely my procedural knowledge far outweighs even Dr. Amari’s.”

“How many babies have you delivered?”

“Well… none.”

“She has delivered several to drifters; in poor health, no less.” She gestured to Hancock, “He himself has helped with at least four in my memory. Their practical experience far outweighs your procedural knowledge, Dr. Curie.” She offered the synth a slight smile, “If we can time it out and you would like to come and observe, I suppose I would have no objections.”

“You’ve delivered babies, Hancock?”

“Helped. I helped. Mostly just made sure there was clean water and a hand to hold.”

“I’ve been made to understand that even these simple things can be pivotal, oui?” Curie sighed, “I would be remiss if I did not defer to the mother.” She turned and pulled a book from the shelf behind her desk. Smiling, she offered it to the ghoul, “In that case, please accept this, Monsieur Hancock. I know you will have no difficulty in committing it to memory and I am certain Dr. Amari will find it useful as well.”

“Tiny, Tiny Babies: All You Need to Know About Pediatric Medicine.” Flipping through the first few pages, his smile was tender, “I might get choked up here…”

“In that case, please leave! I’ve had my fill of hormonally-induced, excessive emotion today. Thank you.”

“Fine by me.” Smiling wickedly, he kissed the top of her head as he passed her on his way to the door, “Love you, Fahr.”

“I said no more.” Her smile betrayed her tone.

 That evening, Wraith used her guests as an excuse to throw a settlement-wide cookout. The outdoor communal dining area was filled with the sounds of people happily eating and visiting. Wraith sat at a picnic table with the MacCreadys, Shaun, Hancock, Fahrenheit, Curie and Danse. Sighing with contentment she watched their faces, committing their expressions and happy tones to memory; fighting dark thoughts about how she might have lost them to the deathclaw.

Fahrenheit’s exam had gone well and she agreed to go back after dinner so that Hancock could hear the heartbeat of his grandchild.

“You and Mikey come up with some names yet?”

“No, MacCready; Michael and I will decide when we actually meet the child.”

“You see my eyes rolling, right? Jeez.”

“Mon ours, would you pass me the carrots? Merci beaucoup.”

“What’s ‘ours’, Docker Curie?”

“It means ‘bear’, sweet boy.”

His cherubic face screwed up in confusion, Duncan pointed at another table, “Unkie Bear is right there.”

“It is a nickname that I have given to Danse. It demonstrates the deep affection I have for him.”

“It’s like how Wraith calls you ‘Dunk’ and me ‘Mac’, because she loves us.”

“Oh, you call Mr. Cap’n ‘Tin Can’ cause you love him too, right daddy?”

MacCready choked on his Nuka Cola.

“Is that true MacCready? Do you love me?”

Danse’s tone was so perfectly deadpan, Wraith couldn’t trust herself to look up. Afraid she might ruin the moment, she feigned fascination over the carrots on her plate.

Looking down at the hopeful and sweet smiling face of his son, MacCready visibly swallowed, “What… ahhh… what’s not… to… to love?”

“You alright MacCready? Looking painful o’er there.” Hancock’s voice shook slightly with suppressed mirth.

“… just overcome with love, man. Overcome…”

 Later, Shaun was helping Wraith wash dishes and she could tell he was working himself up to ask her something big. Alone in her kitchen, with the radio softly playing, he would normally hum along. Quiet and stiff limbed, the youth practically shouted anxiety at her.

“Mr. MacCready says that I’m a really good shot.”

“Mmm hmm. He brags about you almost as much as he brags about himself.”

I have a feeling I know where this is going…

“I was able to disarm Nat almost every drill and my throws have gotten better too…”

“You certainly have improved but don’t forget; it’s almost impossible to defend against a knife without getting cut. If you can run away…”

I’m not going to make this too easy on you, kid.

“Yeah, I remember. So, I heard that you were going to start long patrols back up…”

“Yup.”

“If… if Mr. MacCready goes out, may I go too?” He stood perfectly straight with his arms down to either side and his chin high. “I won’t get in the way and I think that if we bring Dogmeat or… or another adult…”

“I’m not sure Mac will want to leave Duncan.” Wraith reached out and tapped her grandson’s elbow, hoping the contact would help him relax, “He isn’t, technically speaking, a member of the Minutemen. He has gone on long patrol before, that’s true, but mostly it was because he was frustrated and bored.”

Shaun’s face fell, “Oh…”

“I tell you what; it’s up to him. If he agrees and you take both a Minutemen solider and Dogmeat, then you have my permission.” She held up a finger in the face of his jubilant bouncing, “Maybe not a loooong patrol, okay? Maybe a longish patrol.”

“Really! Oh cool!” Suddenly serious he schooled his features back into attention, “I won’t let you down, General!”

 “Why are you laughing at me, Mac?!”

The sun had set and Sanctuary was quiet. Sitting on the bench next to the mill, Wraith and MacCready waited for Hancock and Fahrenheit to finish at the clinic. Snuggled up under his arm, she had told him about Shaun’s proposal.

“I’m just surprised ‘s all. You barely let the kid go to the bathroom by himself…”

“Oh, please! I’m not that bad…”

“Uh huh. Yeah. Sure.”

She dug a knuckle into his ribs, hitting a particularly ticklish spot, “Robert Joseph, you take that back!”

When he attempted to twist away, she hooked her arm around his waist pulling him fully beneath her. Popping herself up, she straddled him and held his arms; pinning him in less than a blink.

Breathless and aroused he tried to lean toward her, “Or you’ll what? Tell me what you’ll do to me.”

“Hmm, I don’t know…” Smiling evilly, she shifted her pelvis, grinding against him, “See how close I can get you? Hmm? Make you shudder and shake…”

“Please, yes…”

“That’s it, ask me nicely.” Reaching down between them, she palmed him through his jeans.

“Plea… uhhhh.”

She stopped stroking and gave him a squeeze, “What was that? I didn’t quite hear you.”

“Don’t stop. Please don’t… God yes. Just like that. Please, Wraith. Please touch me.”

“Why, I’m surprised at you!” Arching over him, she bent to set her teeth on his neck, nipping gently even as she slipped her hand beneath his waistband, “Asking for such things on a public bench.”

“You’re so… I’m… puh… ye… plea…”  Close to climax, he bucked involuntarily into her hand.

“Tell me, baby. Tell me how good it is.”

“Shit! Wraith, it’s so fucking good… I’m gonna… HUH UHHhhhhhh!”

After a few seconds of heavy breathing, MacCready suddenly sat up and pulled Wraith to his chest, kissing her hard, “Your turn…”

“Oh yeah? I don’t know; I’m not an exhibitionist…”

“There’s no one to see…”

“I can see you two got started without me.” Hancock smiled down at them, “And I hear that foul mouth of yours, Robert. What’s the matter, house too full?”

“Nothing quite like screwing on a hard bench outdoors…”

“Mills open, ain’t it?” Hancock opened the barn door and bowing, bade them enter.

MacCready picked Wraith up princess style and carried her across the threshold, “Good, you can help me with something.”

“From what I could see, you got it well in hand.”

 Bossy and the Goodneighbor provisoner caravan arrived a few days later. Despite his protests, Fahrenheit had insisted that Hancock stay with Wraith.

“You’ll drive me crazy. I’ll not have you under-foot and following me around.” Her tone softened briefly when a flash of hurt crossed the ghoul’s face, “Stay for a month and return home on Bossy’s next run. I’ll be sure to contact you, either through Radio Freedom or a courier, with any new information on the deathclaw incident.” Then to everyone’s amazement, she embraced Wraith, “I want to thank you Queenie, for everything you’ve done. Oh, and one more thing; the mattress in your guest room is terrible. I’ve slept on cobblestone streets that were less… lumpy. I’m almost positive, judging from what I know of you, that is most likely the best bed in the house. I’ll have Daisy find you better ones.”

“Oh… Okay Fahr… thank… thank you?”

“A larger one for your room as well since you are oft sharing a bed with two others. Especially since MacCready sleeps like he’s making snow angels.”

“Oh, I do not!”

“You kinda do…”

“Be well.” Turning briskly, Fahrenheit led the caravan through the gate an across the bridge.

“What the heck is a snow angel anyway?”

“Like this, daddy.” Duncan flopped onto his back and made angels in the dirt.

“Smart kid.” Hancock scooped the small boy into his arms and tousled the sand from his hair, “Your aunties teach you that?”

Sighing, he laid his head on the ghoul’s shoulder, “Yup. I miss ‘em.”

“Good thing it’s bath night...” MacCready sighed as well, “So, are you going to start on the new greenhouse or are you two going to go talk to the Abernathy settlers?”

Hancock passed Duncan to his father, “I still think it’s a dead end; they would have sent someone if they saw something.”

“I’m not going to leave it to chance. Any small detail could prove invaluable.” Wraith smiled at the MacCreadys as they hugged each other, “What about you, Mac? You figure out a ‘patrol for beginners’?”

“Yeah, Tenpines. I’ve got a couple more days of lessons then we’ll head out.”

“You takin’ Lloyd?”

“Naw, man; I’m going to let Shaun pick.”

Hancock gave him a mischievous grin, “You know he’ll pick Danse, right?”

“That’s fine,” He rubbed noses with his son, his voice going up an octave, “cause we all loooove Mr. Cap’n, don’t we?”

 Hancock was right. The trip to and from the Abernathy farm was both uneventful and fruitless. Frustration drove Wraith to sleeplessness and she slipped away from her lovers to go for a late-night walk. Her intention was to do a complete circuit of Sanctuary but instead found herself at Nate’s grave. To her surprise, Curie was standing near the make-shift headstone. Not wanting to shock or scare her, Wraith froze in indecision.

“What ez it, Panther?”

The large feline walked through the synth’s legs and padded to Wraith, whiskers extended.  Crouching slightly with arms out, she picked them up; holding them to her chest like a child.

“Oh, Madame, it is you.” Curie’s voice was strangely thick, “May I assist you?”

“Me?! Curie, what’s wrong?!”

“Oh! I do not want to burden you…”

Setting the cat gently on the ground Wraith went to embrace her, “You’ll never, ever be a burden!”

Seeming to melt in her arms, Curie cried bitterly for several minutes. Wraith thought her heart might break and her own eyes filled with tears.

“Oh, crying this much is so very taxing.” Sniffling and hiccupping she motioned to the grass, “May we sit?”

“I’m crying myself, and I don’t even know what about!”

“I… Even if we decided to… I wanted to… But, we cannot!”

A sudden revelation came to Wraith, “You two can’t have kids.”

“Mon ours would have been the greatest father…” Crying anew she bent forward, placing her face in her hands.

“Oh, honey. I’m sorry.”

“There is more… I’m sorry but… Danse isn’t aging… but I… I AM!” Raising her head, she turned to Wraith, eyes filled with deep sadness, “How will I ever tell him? He will have to watch me grow old and die. I will be gone and he will be alone… again alone.”

The realization that Curie was upset, not at her own mortality, but at the thought of Danse’s grief, set a pain in Wraith’s chest. “He’ll have time with you, right?” Reaching out she patted Curie’s back, “You are still young! There are years of memories for the two of you to make. And when you are no longer with us,” Fighting her own emotions, she swallowed hard, “he’ll…”

“Oh! That’s right!” Her face suddenly brightening, Curie clasped Wraith’s face in her hands, “You and Hancock will be with him! He would no doubt take comfort in your love and friendship.” Pulling Wraith’s face to her own, she clunked her forehead affectionately.

“You ladies alright?” Hancock had woken up when Wraith got out of the bed. Worried when she didn’t return, instinct drove him to check Nate’s grave, “Somethin’ happen?”

“Et is well, Monsieur Hancock.” Curie cocked her head to the side, considering the ghoul’s silhouette with the moon as a backdrop, “Have I done a metabolism study with you?”

“That a pick-up line?”

 Wraith did her best to keep occupied while Shaun, MacCready, Dogmeat and Danse were gone on patrol. From Tenpines, the group would head to Starlight Drive-in then on to Abernathy Farm and finally return to Sanctuary. Knowing that her grandson would be beyond her protective reach for several days was bothering her. However, she did take comfort in the strength of the adults (she counted Dogmeat as one such adult) he was with. Joining Sturges’s greenhouse work crew certainly helped as well; working hands helped to still a working mind.

“General, we’ve got a white flag bearer on the road.” Lloyd’s voice crackled from the walkie on Wraith’s hip, “Children of Atom, from the looks of it.”

“It’s not Marie, is it?”

“No ma’am, from the posture and gait, I’d say it’s a middle-aged woman.”

“Good job. Have Gabby meet her at the Rocket. I’m on my way.” Motioning for Hancock to join her, she set a brisk pace to the bridge, “I think it might be Isolde. I’ve been expecting to hear from her, but not in person!” Accepting her coat from a helpful soldier, she stopped to work the various clasps, “I’m thinking she’ll be a more reasonable conversationalists then her daughter...” Catching sight of her face in a window, she stopped again to work on a spot of grease.

“Having to talk to any of these… folks, doesn’t exactly razz my berries…”

It was indeed Isolde. Sitting on a barstool, she stared at the air conditioner with a mixture of fascination and keen distrust.

“Mother Isolde, welcome to Sanctuary. This is an unexpected honor.”

“Forgive me child, for surprising you this way. I was concerned that any attempts to contact or indeed warn you, in any way, would have been thwarted by Marie.”

“Is there a… difficulty concerning your daughter? Some aid I might provide?”

Looking down at the glass of water that Gabby had given her she seemed on the verge of tears, “My daughter’s obsession with you has not waned. She has convinced herself that if she kills you she will have destroyed a false profit.”

Hancock growled deep in his chest, “That’s bullshit! Wraith has never claimed to be this… whatchamacallit, ‘Fog Walkn’ Favored One’. From what I heard that was all that Tektus asshole’s nonsense.”

“I’ll have to respectfully disagree Mayor Hancock. Wraith is indeed the Mother’s Favored One. Although she chooses not to embrace it, your wife is a Blessed Child of Atom and that holds immense religious significance to my people.”

“My… wife...”

Doing her best to ignore Hancock’s confused and sappy smile, Wraith pushed the conversation to the point, “All that aside; we recently came afoul of a chameleon deathclaw. Was that Marie? What else can I expect from her?”

“I truly know very little.” Looking up at Wraith there was a great deal of fear and regret in her eyes, “She began stirring up some of the younger, more fanatical Children and pushing for open war; against you and your Minutemen.” Her gaze returned to her cup and her voice softened, “My Marie, my daughter…”

“Isolde, what has happened?”

“I feared for my people. I knew that you would never want to destroy us but… you would. Utterly.” Standing, she set her cup aside and squared her shoulders, “I have denounced her. I cast her out.”

“I’m so sorry. That must have been so hard…”

Islode held up her hand, “I fear I have made the situation worse. After I exiled her she and her followers traveled to Megaton. It is my belief that they intended to recruit Infamy.”

Hancock sucked air over his teeth and groaned, “Goddam…”

“Who or what is Infamy?” Hancock’s reaction genuinely spooked Wraith.

“Nyx has had some… difficulty with ‘em. They’re Children but they are closer to feral than even I am.”

“They act like a collective; all of them ghouls. Having discarded their names, they are all Infamy. They defer to a glowing one who believes he’s Atom’s personal assassin.”

“You can hire ‘em if you can convince ‘em, that your goal is beneficial to Atom.” The ghoul rolled his eyes, “MacCready has bitched about ‘em too.”

“They are Atom’s ‘Divine Blade’. Very cunning. Very deadly.”

“Not so deadly when it comes to my people.”

Islode shook her head, “Marie somehow blames you for not receiving visions of her own. She blames you for her exile… for the loss of everything she holds dear. She wants you to lose everything the same way she has; then watch as you die in anguish.”

Revelation struck Wraith like a hammer, “If there was a spy… then they knew I’d set long patrols… Shaun, Mac, Danse and Dogmeat…” She practically turned herself inside out to sprint to the Radio Freedom tower…

 “I’m not sure when I noticed… Maybe that one time with the deathclaw… when she broke her ribs, remember?”

“I missed that one. I must have still been at the police station.” Danse’s brow furrowed, “What about her breaking her ribs would have made her alluring?”

“Not cause she got hurt. Just… I don’t know… the fact that she would get hurt for other people’s sake.”

“That I can understand; her selflessness and devotion to others does make her compelling.”

“And her legs and her eyes and…”  

“Mr. MacCready… can we please change the subject…”

Navigating the rocky terrain south of Tenpines, the group had fallen into an easy banter.

“Shaun, buddy, I’ve told you to drop the ‘mister’. Call me ‘Mac’; like Wraith does.”

The youth’s mouth twisted, “No that’s weird…”

“Well kid I have plenty of names… how about ‘MacCready’ like Hancock does?”

Danse chuckled, “I think that might be weird for similar reasons.”

“Okay… what about ‘RJ’?”

Happy to have moved on from the ‘Wraith is a Knockout’ discussion, Shaun readily agreed.

The sniper’s bullet hit Danse and he fell from the ridge.

Dogmeat instantly turned and made a beeline for the assailant.

MacCready’s first thought was for Shaun and he screamed his name, even as he was overrun by a herd of feral ghouls.

A slight movement out of the corner of his eye was all the warning Shaun got before a hooded attacker, wielding an evil looking dagger, hacked at his face. Grabbing his opponent’s right elbow, Shaun pulled forward and raised his own right arm up; tight to theirs. Pivoting to the left and using his back and hip as a fulcrum, he thrust his arm toward the earth, rolling them both to the ground. Keeping his momentum, he put some small distance between them, and then vaulted to his feet while unsheathing his bayonet.

Infamy was impressed.

Shocked to see his foe was a glowing one, Shaun backed away even as eyes kept flicking to the cliff where Danse fell. And to his rifle that lay midway between them.

Infamy noticed.

“That your friend, there? Too bad little boy.” Their voice had an odd, echoing quality that sent shivers down the spine. “That your precious mentor, getting gnawed at by my children? So tragic! What will you do, little boy?” They chuckled low and evil, “I got you, you know? You’re cut. Your blood is flowing, ha ha. Flowing away.”

Ignoring the baiting, Shaun's mind was filled with only one thought:

Danse didn’t cry out when he fell…

Thank you so much for reading! Like what you read? Looking for more? Please check my Wraith in the Ruins tag for the full link tree. As always, if you have any questions/comments/concerns, my ask is open (anon too). I would love to hear from you! =^..^=

[innerchorus]

Koutetsujou no Kabaneri: Geographical Locations

(sorry this is super long but I can’t use a Read More because of the damn apostrophe glitch...)

In the absence of a proper map of Hi-no-Moto, I thought it’d be useful / interesting to compile all the information and theories I know of concerning the location of stations etc in order to try and map the journey of the Koutetsujou throughout the series and beyond. If you happen to have any contributions or corrections then please add to this list! I’m also interested in hearing guesses other than my own for stations that were seen or visited along the way that don’t have a confirmed location.

To start with, Aragane Station.

Aragane Station is located within Izumo Province (confirmed in prequel novel), ‘an old province of Japan which today consists of the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture,’ within the Chugoku Region. (The map shows Japanese provinces in 1868, at the end of the Edo Period.) Aragane is the location of the opening of the anime series, and after it is overrun the main characters decide to head towards Kongoukaku aboard the Koutetsujou.

(I’ll cover Kongoukaku later on, but for now let’s assume that the assumption of the Japanese fandom is correct and that it’s further east than Aragane.)

Prior to the Koutetsujou’s arrival at Aragane Station, it travels past Hayatani Station, which has fallen to the kabane. I don’t know of an exact location for this station, but given that we know Mumei is heading towards Kongoukaku, it is likely to be located to the west of Aragane.

Following the departure of the Koutetsujou from Aragane Station, the next stop is Yashiro Station (and I hope you’re ready for speculation because again, I haven’t seen any official info regarding location).

There was previously a town named Yashiro that merged with two other towns to become the city of Kato in Hyogo Prefecture, so I decided to look into that location as it lies between Aragane’s location and where Kongoukaku is likely to be. The Koutetsujou’s journey to Kongoukaku involves the risky decision to take a route through the mountains in order to reach their destination faster, and looking at a map that shows the topography, Yashiro / Kato is a potential fit, though possibly a little too far south (and perhaps just too far). As an alternative, there is the site of Yanahara Mine, but although geographically it looks promising, after checking details I’m not truly convinced (it primarily produced copper and wasn’t operational until some time in the 1950s).

(If you’re interested, you can see the distance between an approximate location assigned to Aragane Station and the mine site here, it’s worth toggling on the ‘terrain’ option too.)

After leaving Yashiro Station, the next stop is Shitori Station (no information about location, let me know if you have any ideas).

The last stop before Kongoukaku is Iwato Station. This station functions as a ‘gate’ that controls access to the Shogun’s stronghold (at least from the east) but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s as close in proximity to Kongoukaku as it first seems, only that the sole way to reach Kongoukaku from that direction by rail involves being permitted to pass through Iwato.

And that brings us to Kongoukaku itself.

There is no confirmed canonical location for Kongoukaku, but Japanese fans consider it to be built near Lake Biwa, like Oda Nobunaga’s Azuchi Castle, while the design of the stronghold itself is modelled on Goryoukaku, with the shape being hexagonal rather than pentagonal (see images above).

This map gives some idea of distance from Aragane Station (somewhere in the east of Shimane prefecture) to Kongoukaku (eastern shore of Lake Biwa). Total distance as the crow flies is around 300km, but the actual journey in the series would of course be longer as their route was not direct.

I placed the marker on the map above at the location of the site of Lake Dainaka (now reclaimed land), as I’ve seen it suggested that this lake is the one Kongoukaku uses as its moat (either that or another of the nearby lakes existing at the time). For a closer look at the size and position of this lake, there’s a useful map here, look for 大中湖.  The water of this lake was only 2.7m at its maximum, a shallowness that would allow it to be built on.

The Wadatsu Oohashi (Great Wadatsu Bridge) that Biba mentions in episode 10 is equivalent to the Biwako Oohashi, though if the location is the same, the site of Kongoukaku doesn’t precisely match that of Lake Dainaka as that’s not directly opposite the modern day bridge.

(I was also wondering when Ikoma falls out of the train after being stabbed, whether the water he falls into is Osaka Bay. There are actually a few modern train lines that run along that stretch of coastline before routes veer inland towards Lake Biwa.)

So, that concludes the named locations in the anime series.

...but I’m not finished yet!

As you know, the game (Koutetsujou no Kabaneri: -Ran- Hajimaru Michiato) is due to be released later this year, and this article gave some information about the setting for the game’s events. With the fall of the Amatori Shogunate that governed the west of the country, the characters continue eastwards, with the game taking place in the region of Hokuriku, along the northwestern coast in Honshu.

(The map shows Hokuriku in red and the Chubu region that it is part of in darker green.)

I think we can expect a couple of things from this; sea and snow. Hokuriku lies right along the Sea of Japan, and has ‘the highest volume of snowfall of any inhabited and arable region in the world’ (source). The home station of the game’s three new characters is 勝木駅 , which Google Translate has as Katsuki Station (it could potentially be Gatsugi Station instead), but although it must be somewhere within this region, I don’t know exactly where. 

That brings us to the next installment in the story after the game, a movie with the title of Koutetsujou no Kabaneri: Unato Kessen, set to be released in 2018. So far, very little is known about it other than that it’s set 6 months after the end of the anime series. The teaser video shows some unknown locations and characters but doesn’t give much away, making it hard to speculate about geographical location.

...but how about this?

I don’t think it’s likely that the Koutetsujou will return the way they came just yet (though if the story has a good end, then surely the reopening of Aragane station will require it eventually) so let’s assume they continue in the direction of travel we’ve seen so far.

海門 / Unato is left untranslated in the title (Koutetsujou no Kabaneri: Unato Decisive Battle) so I’ve assumed that’s a place name.

A search for ‘unato’ gives no real results (and nothing that matches the kanji) but if you choose to search instead for the kanji themselves then that gives ‘kaimon,’ a literal translation of which is ‘sea gate’. So, kaimon is a ‘strait’ or a ‘channel’ (check it out on Jisho and have a look at this list of straits of Japan). I obviously don’t know whether this holds any meaning for what we’re going to see in the movie, but what if it did? I’ve often wondered where the kabane outbreak first began in Hi-no-Moto, and I’m quite partial to the idea that it arrived in Kyushu and spread from there. The eastern region of Hi-no-Moto apparently has better technology (it’s the source of the blueprint for Ikoma’s mechanical arm) and I wonder whether that’s partly because the people there had longer to develop such things before the kabane reached them, and perhaps continued trade with other countries for longer (while the fearful and soon to be kabane-infested west, under the rule of the Shogun, would undoubtedly have closed the ports and focused solely on the building of walled stations to hide inside rather than pursue the means with which to fight the kabane, whether that be technological advancement or trade / info from abroad).

And it made me wonder about the furthest end of the country from Kyushu, the island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido is separated from Honshu by the Tsugaru Strait, which is 19.5km at its narrowest point.

...what if the people of Hokkaido were able to prevent the kabane from crossing the strait? The distance between may be enough (it was found to be a zoogeographical boundary). And if not that, what if they have some other reason for refusing to allow access to those trying to cross it? (I mean, you can go wild with speculation here... I wonder whether foreign countries have had more success in blocking or exterminating the kabane or even developing medicine or a way to control / use the kabane... It’d be kind of ironic if, as well as the kabane themselves, Ikoma and co. have to deal with an invading or occupying force who want the land for themselves.)

(...the only glimpse of water in the Unato Kessen teaser)

I could certainly see there being some kind of unique situation in Hokkaido that the main characters aren’t yet aware about, thanks to both its own geography and the Shogun’s attitude towards the sharing of information. Either way, I hope the continuation of the Koutetsujou’s journey will lead to some answers and hopefully a cure.

[the-mf-bread-babies]

– REBUILD III –

RUNAWAY RENEGADES

· COLLECTION 1 ·

“backstories”

———————————————————

- VOLUME ONE -

Dennis, Aaron, Damon, Sawblade

It was a normal (or was it?) day. The alarm on the boy's phone rang loudly, and he woke up.

Two hours late. It was a Monday.

Too tired to care, he fell back down to his bed and went on his phone. He opened Twitter and was shocked to spot the #1 trending hashtag:

#DojaCatIsOkAgainParty

He rejoiced, opening it to find millions of tweets without any context. After ignoring various fancams that made him lose hope in the current situation, he stumbled upon a thread explaining the current situation.

“#DojaCatIsOkAgainParty : A THREAD <3” The first tweet twote, accompanied with four pictures: One of Doja Cat herself, one of Nicki Minaj, another of whoever becomes the next US president, and Lana Del Rey. What the hell is going on?

“As we all know, Doja Cat, Beyoncé, and many other artists have somehow been cancelled by Lana Del Rey within a week in May of 2020,” Okay… “This is due to Lana's satanic powers.” Oh, okay. Yeah, this was the same account who said that Avril Lavigne has a clone. Who was part of the CIA. Sure, man, whatever.

“At 3:56 AM today, Doja Cat had kidnapped [insert 46th president here] and escorted him to a secondary location. Then, Nicki stabbed the shit outta him. This has caused the America fandom to go insane.” what. “Lana was behind this. As we all know, she and Jessie J had hacked into The Pentagon and made Beyonce Knowles president, for clout.” what.

He put down his phone, questioning what the hell Stan Twitter was on now. The boy approached his cat, Sawblade, who was sleeping on the floor. Sawblade yawned dramatically and circled the boy's legs. He picked her up and laid her onto his bed.

“kwjdkwjjrjrjrkjwkjwjrkj” The cat purred. His phone buzzed. It was a notification from PlayStation Messages. He opened it, eager to know if one of his friends finally wanted to play multiplayer with him.

“#0.00 NULL$$ - Hello PLAYSTATION user! We at NULL HQ politely invite you to join us in making the world a better place one job at a time. Kindly go to this location and sign up for one of our many job offers! No résumé needed, only experience, hard work, and an interview and a fitness test! We hope to see you soon!”

Oh, a scam. He took a screenshot of the text, and then immediately blocked and reported the user, NULL000000. Huh, odd username. Whatever, he's not gonna reply–

One DM from Twitter.

NULL AGENCIES ✓ – @NULLhiring

“#0.00 NULL$$ - Hello TWITTER user! We at NULL HQ politely invite you to join us in making the world a better place one job at a time. Kindly go to this location and sign up for one of our many job offers! No résumé needed, only experience, hard work, and an interview and a fitness test! We hope to see you soon!”

The same thing, huh? This NULL guy really wants his money, he guesses. First Nicki commits manslaughter and now he keeps getting the same scam messages? It's only been not even an hour today and yet so much has happened. What next, Enya comes out of hiding?

“BuzzFeed News: Famous singer Enya comes out of her big-ass castle to collaborate with Nyan Neko Sugar Girls creators for new Apple TV miniseries”

Damn, okay, this is a dream. The boy wrapped himself in a blanket, hugged his bolster and wriggled around, trying to sleep. He couldn't, so he went back on Twitter.

jimin is fr**kin DEAD (@bangtanctwice):

“dont s-word me but like why is l/*n//a out of prison again. i thought she had the electric chair already ://”

illumi killed silva <3 (@hxhoverwatcch)

“ITSSB ACK !!!!!!!!! HXH IS BAAAACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEEEEAAHAJAHAHAAAAA DJDJJDJDJSNDNFJDDJ”, followed by an edit of Hisoka Morow.

oikawa⁷ (@HAIKYUUUUS)

“man how the hell did furudate think a crossover w yu yu hakusho mp100 bnha kny gintama n hgtv could save haikyuu. it practically ended the moment they all ate that volcano w departure in the bg”

Kerry Washington ✓ (@kerrywashington)

“LITTLE FIRES 6 OUT NOW!!!! I'm gonna EXPLODE Earth in this one!!! I'm going back to the Early Cambrian stage!!!! Bye Pearl!!”

Internet Explorer Anitwt (@iloveboruto)

“Y’all Kurapika brought A SHOVEL to that fight with Uvogin!!! A Whole SHOVEL!!! 😂😂😂”

knas is canon !! (@moiiiraclones)

“guys i think bakugos a kurta..... think abt it.... red eyes... always stressed......”

vic (NOT SPOILER FREE!!!) (@myname_jeff)

“why is no one addressing the fact that jfk 2 is happening and like everyone involved has stans”

ray is ia rn (@cryptodorito)

“my dog just ate my dad ....... stan list !”

give moxxi another dlc (@TORGUEEEE)

“hey does anybody find it weird that gearbox just released borderlands 4 w no buildup At All. seems p fishy :(”

gerard's hand sanitizer (@raytowo)

“did mcr just do twelve concerts in three days. legends”

ceo of tanjirou (@hiskoamorron)

“pls stream jessie j now ;) or die <\3”

ceowo owof bakuwugowouwu (@bakubaby)

“yes, what i did was wrong. there are dogs everywhere starving and eating dog treats is not morally right. that said, (1/67)”

Okay, enough of that. No more. Please. Three hours have passed, and he's still very confused, if not even more confused than before. Is there some sort of event today that he missed? Why is every single tweet weird? Is all this real? Is he in a parallel universe? Is he dead?

The boy zoned out into the bedroom wall, thinking of all the possibilities of this happening. He was lost in his imagination, his train of thought splitting and exploding due to all the unusual occurrences. That was, until Sawblade voiced out her needs.

“YEEEEEEHEHEA” she yelled. She was starving, mainly because the last time she ate was like, a whole hour ago. Sad.

“Ye lah,” “Mew,” “Meow meow mew mew mew,” The boy meowed as he dragged himself to fill up his cat's bowl. “chyouooyoymeeeiielll,” he complimented, ruffling the cat's face.

The boy tripped over his Form 3 activity book as he was walking, a reminder that he should probably do his homework soon. He turned the doorknob and opened the door and he was shocked to find that his house…

Had been ripped in half.

He pushed his back against the wall and slowly inched along the wall towards the kitchen, staring down into the abyss below the house. The living room had a sofa missing, and the television looked like it was going to fall down any second. Furniture floated in the void below the floorboards, which was bent, with plumbing pipes exposed, as well as the metal rods holding the house together.

It reminded him of what Sanctuary looked like when it was floating in space in Borderlands 2. But instead of a city, it was a condominium unit. And instead of Lilith lifting it up, it was… unknown. If only he could gunzerk, or have siren powers, or be a ninja sniper assassin, or have a turret, or have a giant mech, or be super tall and have a buzz-axe. If only. But thank God there's no Mordecai. To hell with Mordecai. I hate Mordecai. He's the most straightest man. Ever. Claptrap is less straight than him. HANDSOME JACK is less straight than him. R O L A N D is CLEARLY less straight than him. Mordecai is the epitome of heterosexuality.

Thankfully, the boy reached the kitchen safely, but still very full of anxiety, and poured the cat food into a flat container, since Sawblade is so fluffy, her face can't fit in cat bowls. He emptied the water bowl, cleaned it, and filled it with filtered water, making sure it's slightly cooled. Sawblade likes it that way. As she cronched on the kibbles, he stared into the distance, wondering what his apocalypse name would be.

He grabbed a glass of water and a packet of muffins for his breakfast. As he ate it, he scrolled through his timeline as if it was the morning paper. Oh, Katy Perry gave birth to twelve kids. And Gowon killed X Æ A-Xii. With a machete. Ok. That's cool, I guess. Capitalism, y’know?

:DAMON @C0RR0Sl0N

“my house got sliced in half. im just chillin here w my cat sawblade. considering eating cat food. not influenced by any recent drama ok”

Send Tweet.

As the boy was eating, he noticed the front door to the house was missing. The entrance lead to what seemed like the side of the street. In a foreign place. The lamppost was unfamiliar, and so was the pavement design. It seemed rather American.

He peeked his head out, and lo and behold, he spotted a pet shop just a couple of feet away. The sudden shock of all this made him forget about his cat, an indoor cat, a curious one. Sawblade stepped slowly outside, and as she went into the boy's view, he stormed to catch her, panicking and swearing profusely.

Of course, this made her way more terrified, and she ran faster, and… into the ajar door of the pet shop. “SAWBLADE!!! DON'T!!” he yelled loudly as he stopped in front of the building. The boy paused, unsure whether to proceed or retreat.

“Russell Family Pet Store, since 1965” wrote a large sign on the front. It looked rustic, but well-kept. The blinds were drawn, so the boy couldn't see what was inside. The building occupied two lots, and seemed to be two storeys tall. A nice rooftop garden was situated on top of it, and there were painted-over remnants of many posters plastered onto the walls. The walls were now coated with light brown paint. This building was surely cared for by a variety of owners.

Although hesitant, the boy stepped into the store, his hands shaking. He could've probably pass out right then and there if he wasn't searching for Sawblade. He sneaked into the building quietly, determined to get his cat and run like hell right after. However, his ideal plan was quickly foiled after he stepped on a squeaky toy.

“Shit, who's there?” A deep voice asked. It seemed like it belonged to someone tall, depressed, and very angry about capitalism. The boy was stuttering, both from the panic of being caught, and also because he had to speak to a native English speaker. “Probably just the delivery guy,” A second voice assured. This voice seemed quite hard to guess, but it was surely a kind one. Very trustworthy. “Jed, is that you?” The kind voice added. Yeah, these two are totally friendly. Probably. Don't take any chances, though.

A figure approached the boy, and it towered above him. The 5'9" hulking beast stopped. “Oh, sorry, we're closed. It's Judgment Day,” the kind man said. Well, of course it's judgement day. Why wouldn't it be judgement day? “Wait, no, I'm an idiot. Martin Luther King Jr’s day.” The man corrected. “How the hell do those two even remotely sound like each other?” The first voice said, the owner sitting behind the counter, shadowed.

“M-My cat's here.” “Have y-you sa-see-sawn her?” The boy was actually very fluent in English, even more than Malay, but the panic he was experiencing kind of absolutely extirpated any knowledge of it from his brain. Really, dude? “Sawn”? What is this, Texas?

Fortunately the two were understanding. The man behind the slau– counter stood up suddenly. “Holy shit, do you speak Spanish? Habla español?!” He asked excitedly. “No, why would I–? I'm Malay, dumbass,” the boy retorted, then realising that he just insulted someone much older than he was and that was… kinda rude. “WAIT SORRY” he blurted out, sending him back into the panic that he was under when he entered the store.

“HUH?! No, I’M sorry, I just assumed you were South American just because you couldn't speak English!” The man yelled, apologizing loudly. Yeah, this dude's sure as hell white. “I CAN!!! WHERE'S MY CAT!!!” The boy shouted back, very confused at where his priorities should be right now. “Oh!” said the man in front of him.

“IS THIS HIM– SORRY, HER?!” The man asked, reaching towards the corner. “We, uh, found her just straight-up running into here. Which is really weird, since cats, like, don't do that,” he said, holding Sawblade. Senang cita. “YES!! THANK YOU!!” The boy yelled. Why is everyone yelling?

Sawblade looked comfy all snuggled up in the man's arms. “He… seems to like you,” The boy said jealously. Usually, he was the one Sawblade loved most. “I have ten cats, so,” The man replied casually. “…How? Even?” he questioned as he carefully took Sawblade from the stranger. “I just do?”

The boy still remained very confused. “Name's Aaron, by the way. Please don't call me Ay-Ay-ron. Just… please,” the kind man said. “Ok” the boy replied. “Mine's. Um. Uh.” “…” The boy thought whether to say his real, legal one, or the one he went with online, which he seemed to prefer way more than his real one. “THE NAME'S DENNIS RUSSELL. I SHARE MY INITIALS WITH A VIDEO GAME.” The white guy said, interrupting the boy's statement. “Oh. Good to know. Hi, Mr. Danganronpa,” The boy politely said. “Fuck yeah,” replied Dennis.

“And if you're wondering which one of us is part of the Russell family that's running this shop,” Dennis began, “Den, don't,” Aaron interrupted. “It's my family. But, my dad became a magician, and my dad's choosing to indulge in his gardening hobby here, so the job's passed down to me now,” Aaron said.

“G//ay Ass!” Dennis shouted. “Okay, fine, Dennis, since we got married last month, you're part of the Russell family, too, honey,” Aaron said. “Just don't–” “YEEEEEHAAWWEE PARDNER WELCOME TO YE OLDE RYUSSELL PEYT SHYOP–” Dennis yelled loudly enough to give the boy a heart attack. However, this was probably the tenth time this week he did this, so Aaron was just very tired. “Jesus.”

“Um, what is this place?” The boy was still very much confused on why there was a pet shop sitting in front of his house, which was ripped in half. “I just told you…” Dennis said disappointedly. “No, like, where am I? Why are you guys American? I'm assuming? I'm not?” The boy said. “Well, our pet shop's in Toledo; Toledo, Ohio,” Aaron stated, gesturing towards a pile of papers. “If you're lost, we have some maps, some phone books…” he continued, unaware of the current situation.

“No, I live in Selangor, so– Selangor, Malaysia, not Ohio, out of all places, God, no, and my house is right over there,” the boy argued, pointing outside. “Well, half of it,” The two pet shop workers stood at their places, trying to process what the hell this kid just said. “Like? There? Outside this gracious state that occupies the #2 spot for most arson cases in the US? That's Malaysia?” Dennis shot back, also unaware. The boy was a bit excited after hearing him mention the name of his country, but shook it off to further develop the conversation. “Yes. Somehow. Also, I really don't think this is Ohio. Too many buildings and I haven't seen any corn fields,”

“Didja know there's over 75,000 farms in this 14-million acre state? There are, ya just gonna know where to look :)” Dennis stated. “What the hell? That's way too many farms. How does… what…” The boy replied in shock, almost dropping Sawblade. “I'm sorry, what?” Aaron asked. “Yup! Lotta farms in the buckeye state!” Dennis replied excitedly.

“HALF?!” “Of it??” It seemed like Aaron was the only one there actually concerned about the task at hand. “Huh? Oh yeah. Not really that big of a deal, though, honestly; enough food here for thirteen weeks,” How the boy calculated that, and how accurate it is remains a mystery. “Anyway, how do state fairs work? Like, do corn dogs taste good? I've had deep-fried Oreos once, they tasted really good. Really love 'em,”

Aaron ignored the exchange by the two very excited individuals and opted to step out to see if the boy was right or not. In his head, he was honestly convinced he wasn't, but that was up for change. Hell, he didn't even look at his phone or the TV today, so maybe the kid's right, his house is snapped in half.

Oh, it is.

“Holy shit, Denny, come look,” he yelled, gesturing to his husband. “Okay! I hope the aliens aren't homophobic or anything! :)” Dennis replied, running eagerly to the door. “HOT DAMN!” Dennis shouted. Now the boy could see how they both looked like, especially Dennis.

Dennis was definitely over six feet tall, he had balding, spiky red hair, and his eyes were big and sunken, and had bags under them. Aaron, on the other hand, had only seemed tall because of his hair. Aaron was missing a tooth for some reason. His lower-left fang. That's weird. They were both sporting uniforms; an orange shirt covered by a green vest with the logo of the pet shop sewn near the… like the… the end of it but like in the front? Like the middle? But like the logo was on the side. Yeah

“I don't think aliens are homophobic. Have you played Borderlands? Lots of g/ay people, and they're all technically aliens. I think the aliens are g//ay,” the boy explained thoughtfully. “I have, at my friend's house this one time, but then I died and I had to, like, pay, so then I just left his house, man,” Aaron replied. “Yeah, that's fair, usually I just save and quit whenever I die,” the boy added.

“Wait, what's your name, again? This whole time, you're being referred to as ‘the boy,’” Dennis asked, breaking the fourth wall. “Shrek,” the boy replied. The two men nodded in solidarity. “Good name,” Aaron complimented. “It reminds me of my childhood, and good times, and Shrek-flavored Oreos,” he added.

Shrek paused for a bit, hesitant to tell them his preferred name, but saying it anyway because they both seem quite nice and understanding, also, his family's not there. “I'm kidding. Shrek is but only my middle name,” Shrek explained, “Please, call me…”

“Damon,”

Gender euphoria ran through his veins like that one time Thanos put on the infinity gauntlet and he was AAAAAGH, P O W E R,,, HNGGH, that but Yeah. “Cool! Hi, Damon!” Dennis said, watching Damon's eyes burn with joy. Oh, just saying, like in some more volumes, this little kid turns into a pyromaniac, so. Yeah. Watch out for that. This is Foreshadowing.

Aaron scanned the horizon, unknowing what the hell was happening. “Hey, guys, should we… go investigate or something?” Damon thought for a bit, but not too much because this thing going on seemed too random to properly scan and plan. “Um, I don't know,” he said wisely, “Did you guys hear about that thing with, like, Nicki Minaj and the president? Were you guys affected or whatever?”

“With who and what? Nick– NICKI?? THE PRESIDENT?? OF HERE?? WHATEVER THIS THING IS???” Dennis struggled to figure out what Damon was saying. “Yeah, she stabbed him or something. Doja Cat helped too :)” Damon explained, confusing the two even more. “Why?” Aaron tried. “I dunno. Drama?” “Heard Lana's involved too… but you didn't hear it from me, yeah?” Damon added.. “THE COW GIRL. HELPED NICKI. AND LANA. ASSASSINATE THE PRESIDENT. DAMON.”

- * Special Thanks * -

Snowball

Sandball

Gon Freecss

Killua Zoldyck

Leorio Paladinight

Kurapika Lastname

Hisoka Morow

(is that the correct spelling?)

Illumi Zoldyck

Kikyo Zoldyck (shes pretty, ok)

Kanamori Sayaka

Mizusaki Tsubame

Asakusa Midori

Pakunoda

Machi Komacine

Moira O'Deorain

Freddy Krueger

Sideshow Bob

Spy TF2, Pyro TF2, Scout TF2, Leia Organa, Han Solo, Yoda, Darth Vader, he's cool, Sheev Palpatine, Developers of the video game “Tiny Thief”, Mad Moxxi, Ellie Kurta (shes a spiderant. my theory), Handsome Jack (Not Really, Burn In Hell) (during the period of time between me writing this and me copying and pasting this, i have developed a crush on not only jack, but his doppelgangers too. help)

Angel :)), Claptrap, Dr. Zed, NOT Marcus Kincaid, Dr. Patricia Tannis, Roland, Lilith, Brick (ga/y rights), Zer0, Krieg, Tiny Tina, Tiny Tuna, Louise Bob's Burgers, Mabel Pines, Stanley Pines, Lazy Susan, Sheriff Daryl Blubs, Deputy Durland, Officer Spectre :)), Yoda Again, 2003 Honda Civic, Ray Toro, Lynz Way, Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Frank Iero, Linda Bob's Burgers, Bob's Burgers Bob's Burgers, Sans Undertale, Komaeda, Sombra // Olivia Colomar, Actually All Of Talon Bc They're Hot Af, Except For That French Guy Max, Torbjörn Lindholm, Torbjörn Lindholm, Torbjörn Lindholm, Spider-Man PS4, Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix Wright, The Lil Psychic Girl, Uhhhh Mario Brothers

part 2 incoming.

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (May 12/2021) - The L’Sandburg Ultimatum

Foolish leaves a message for the L’Sandburgians telling them that they have overstayed their welcome on his land and that they must take down their walls in five days.

Those yellow flags will be white, or this means war.

Meanwhile, Ranboo receives a letter back from the Council.

---

VOD LINKS:

Ponk

Foolish

Philza

Captain Puffy

Ranboo

Badboyhalo

Badboyhalo

---

- L’Sandburg has gone too far. At Foolish’s summer home, he explains that the L’Sandburgians have not only built a massive wall, but closed off the toll gate! 

- They’ve gotten a little too aggressive Foolish says, taking a toll-free shortcut that’s been conveniently dug beneath the wall

(Said shortcut is a hole with a ladder going all the way down to bedrock, a few blocks of horizontal tunnel and another hole going all the way back up to the surface with a tiny piece of the ladder missing halfway up)

- L’Sandburg has left Foolish no choice but to fight back. He is reluctant to start a war yet, as he would rather not use TNT on his own land. 

- The first thing he does is take down the gate. For now, he leaves them a message:

---

Dear L’Sandberg,

You are in violation of the original agreement of building inside of one chunk of territory. Not only have you further expanded but you have the audacity to make a toll gate ON LAND OWNED BY FOOLISH. I expect this to be torn down  by the residents of L’Sandberg within 5 days. I WILL NOT LISTEN TO ANY DISPUTE OVER THESE LAND CLAIMS!

- Foolish

5-12-21

---

- Ponk visits the summer home and speaks with Foolish to tell him that he’s named his skeleton horse for him, and walked the bee. 

- He leads Foolish all the way past Eret’s castle to the trapped flower hill. At the top, he places a bunch of maps with pictures of money on them

- He shows Foolish the underside of the hill, which is rigged with TNT. He blocks off the entrance as Foolish tries to run, shouts “LOVE ME” and lights it, sending the entire hill into an explosion

- Foolish asks what’s wrong with him and kills his dog. Ponk asks if he’s having a blast right now. As they walk back, Ponk turns to Foolish and says he trusts him to look after something, throwing him a poppy named “Sam <3″

Foolish: “Oh, this’ll be perfect for -- never mind.”

- Ponk then asks if Foolish notices anything different -- his eyes! He is Egg-free now

- They go up the MLG tower, and Foolish brings up the IOUs with Ponk. He mentions he’ll be going on a date soon and wants Ponk to be his waiter. Ponk says he’d be down

- Ponk tries to trade Foolish Netherite blocks for gold. He soon has to leave for the Twitch Rivals event

- Phil continues to work on the basement and chats with Tommy for a bit

- Ranboo goes to check his mailbox. Inside is a letter and an enchanted golden apple:

---

Hello! No new news yet. We have been keeping an eye on things and everything seems to be going okay so far. In our searches one of us found something that may be of use to you! We have left it in this chest. We respect your wishes. - The Council

---

- Ranboo leaves a return message:

---

Council, Thank you for your gift it will prove to be of good use. Please make sure that you keep a close eye on everything happening regarding what we spoke about earlier. If i have any more requests i will give them to you here.  Thank you again. - Ranboo

---

- After Eret blew up the glitch cube (with Fundy’s permission), Puffy lights the obsidian frame into Nether portals

- She then goes to check on L’Puffburg, seeing the message from Foolish. She takes the empty book and quill to write a reply:

---

I agree with Foolish and also you should give Puffy diamonds as well because I’m also offended

- Puffy

---

- She returns to working on her base back home

- Puffy later speaks with Badboyhalo extensively about Tall Mama

- They meet up at L’Sandburg and Bad shows off the wall before noticing the message, reading it

- Purpled logs onto the server for a few minutes

- Bad is enraged. He, out of the kindness of his heart, made a toll-free shortcut for Foolish! They take the shortcut. When they finally emerge out the other end of the shortcut, they come face to face with Foolish

Bad: I love this wall

Puffy: “I think I’ve heard that quote somewhere...”

- He speaks with Foolish, who is upset that Bad has made this wall. Bad explains that their economy was experiencing turmoil due to a loss of toll revenue

- Bad brings up Tall Cactus, insisting that while they gave Foolish Tall Cactus back, the L’Sandburgians kept ownership of the strip of land. Foolish disagrees

- Bad says that canonically, this is their path! Foolish replies that canonically, he gives two shits about this

- Foolish disapproves of the shortcut. Bad offers to improve it. While they discuss toll, Puffy starts twerking, asking why inflation has increased the toll to one golden apple

Foolish: “Five days. Five days for this wall to come down...or we might have turmoil.”

- Foolish refuses to pay the toll. Bad offers him a special yearly tollbooth pass for ten apples. Puffy pays him nine. L’Sandburg Toll Company thanks her for business

- Foolish threatens to hire Purpled to come kill them. Puffy hands Foolish the apples to pay to Bad. Puffy asks Bad if she and Foolish can make a drug cartel that passes underneath the wall

- Bad asks Puffy to join him in defending the wall as L’Sandburg and L’Puffburg, offering her 50% of the toll revenue. Puffy isn’t on board.

- Puffy brings up Tall Mama. They talk about Tall Mama. Eventually the subject returns to the wall

Bad: “Oh, so it’s gonna be war then, is that it?”

Foolish: “Oh, is that what this is? Huh, Bad? You want war!”

- Foolish lets Bad know to respond by letter. Or, he can surrender right now, and settle things peacefully. 

Foolish: “Bad, you see these yellow flags?”

Bad: “Yes.”

Foolish: “They better be white in five days.”

- Foolish says he’ll hire a bunch of mercenaries and end the war swiftly. Bad says he can pay them more to hire them over to his side. 

- Foolish threatens to set up a TNT canon aimed at the wall. Bad says he can rig TNT underneath the entire place so that if it ever goes, it will be nothing but a huge crater the size of Wyoming. They proceed to discuss Wyoming

- Foolish shows Bad Finley, his child. Bad almost refuses to give Finley back, but returns her

- They go back and look at the Tall Mama poster at Bad’s house

- Then they stack themselves in boats. Many innuendos are made

- Afterwards, though, Foolish tells Bad that this changes nothing. The walls of L’Sandburg must still come down. Bad is sad

Puffy: “Yeah it meant more to you, Bad, than it meant to him.”

Foolish: “It was a one-boat-stand, okay Bad?”

- After dealing with some technical issues for a bit, Bad tries to find Skeppy for his trident and starts following Ranboo around to see what he’s up to. 

- Bad finally spots Skeppy lurking on a tree, but Skeppy logs off when Bad tries to go to him. Bad tries repeatedly to convince Skeppy to log back on so he can kill him and retrieve the trident

- After the chase, Bad goes to L’Sandburg to fill chat in on the conflict, saying that Foolish seems to have declared war on L’Sandburg. Bad is unfazed by his threats and leaves his own response:

---

EAT DIRT FOOLISH LSANDBURG WILL LIVE FOREVER!!!

DOWN WITH THE TYRANICAL TOTEM!!!

DIEEEEE

- With love, - BBH

---

He signs the book “<3″

- Bad then “improves” the shortcut with lava out of the kindness of his heart and reinforces the wall with concrete

- Next, he tweaks the flags, making them black and yellow. He plans to mine a bunch of obsidian for the wall

---

Upcoming Events:

- The ultimatum deadline (five days)

- Foolish’s date

- Quackity’s business opening

- Quackity’s next lore stream

- Tales From the SMP: “Space Race”

- Ponk’s lore stream

- Dream’s lore video

- Sapnap’s possible lore stream

- Awesamdude lore stream

[sage-nebula]

When I wrote Revolutionary, I originally started writing it from the perspective of canon Team Voltron. The idea that I had was that I would start it from their perspective, and then switch to Keith’s after they were accosted and sent off to the Castle’s detention cells (and he went to the training room). As much as that was my initial thought, however, I abandoned it about 4000 words in because it just wasn’t working. While the dialogue for canon Team Voltron was all right, the blocking felt clunky and awkward. As such, I started over to write it from Keith’s perspective from the start, and in the end, I like to think that my decision to abandon what I originally had to start over like that (and to keep the fic in Keith’s perspective the whole way through) was the correct one.

That said, my reason for saying all of this is because even though I started over, I still kept what I originally had (especially since, when I started over, I wasn’t sold on the idea of starting over yet; rather, I just opened a new document and started writing to see if writing from Keith’s perspective would make everything flow more easily, which it did). I found that draft again while looking through my “current WIPs” folder tonight, and while it’s nowhere near complete (obviously, since I abandoned it to start a second, much better draft), I figured I’d share it just in case anyone is interested in what prompted canon Team Voltron to go through the rift and end up in the Revolutionary reality in the first place.

“Uh, are you guys sure this is a good idea?” Hunk asked. “The last time we went through one of these things, the reality we ended up in was . . . not good.”

As much as it pained her to admit that a reality where the Alteans had won the war ten thousand years ago and had thrived to the present day wasn’t a pleasant one, what pained Allura more as Voltron hovered before another massive, glowing rift in space-time was the fact that Hunk was correct. Not only had the reality they had found themselves in been one where her people had been warped almost beyond recognition, but the result of their venture had been delivering a comet capable of creating a spacecraft rivaling Voltron straight into Lotor’s hands. Whatever Keith had said about how she had made the right decision, Allura still gripped the Blue Lion’s controls more tightly as remembered shame settled in her spine. It had been her insistence that had led them into the rift. It had been her insistence that had freed the comet. She had been warned, and yet she . . .

Well, she and Keith had agreed on one thing: What was done was done. The important thing was that that they not make the same mistake twice.

“I agree with Hunk,” Allura said, and she took a breath to make her voice stronger. There was no need to broadcast all that she felt about their last venture. “There is no telling what lies on the opposite side of that rift. Whatever the opportunity, it can’t be worth the cost.”

“That depends entirely on what the opportunity is,” Shiro said. Allura looked away from the rift, casting her eyes over the Blue Lion’s dashboard instead. She couldn’t say she was surprised, given that it had been his decision to have them form Voltron to fly out and meet the rift to begin with, but she still couldn’t help but feel a tiny thread of discontent that he didn’t agree with her. “We have no idea what lies on the other side of that rift. It could be that new form of quintessence that the Blades found.”

“Then shouldn’t the Blades be the ones investigating it?” Hunk asked.

“Yeah!” Lance agreed. “Send Keith in there. He flies into black holes and stuff like this all the time.”

“The Blade of Marmora doesn’t have vessels that can survive a trip through a rift in space-time,” Shiro said. “The only thing that can make a journey like this is Voltron.”

“Well, Voltron and that ship that Lotor made from the comet,” Pidge said. Allura was thankful none of them could see her wince.

“And Lotor’s ship,” Shiro amended. He didn’t sound very happy about it. “But the Blade of Marmora doesn’t have access to either of those things. They can’t investigate.”

“Are we sure there even is another form of quintessence on the other side of this rift?” Pidge said. “Where exactly did the Blade of Marmora say they found it?”

“Quintessence originally came from a rift just like this one. That’s what Allura and Coran told us when they told us the story of the original Paladins,” Shiro said. “Plus, there are readings of quintessence coming from this rift. Isn’t that right, Coran?”

“Yes,” Coran said, his voice crackling over their communication channels. “But they’re normal readings, not anything unusual. It’s how I’m able to detect that the energy signatures are quintessence to begin with. Shiro, I really must urge you all to turn back.”

“I’m with Coran,” Lance said. “I do not want to go to any more bizarre-o, freaky universes where they turn anyone who disagrees with them into mindless zombie slaves.”

“I’m with Lance,” Hunk said. “So, seconded.”

“Thirded,” Pidge said.

“Fourth . . . ded?” Allura said, and as her voice cracked over the end of what was possibly the most awkward thing she had ever said in her entire life, heat flooded her cheeks.

“Fourthded?” Lance repeated, sounding bemused.

“I agree with all of the above,” Allura said hastily, raising her voice to be heard over what she was positive was Lance’s snickering. “As I said, the risks to this venture outweigh the possible gains. Setting aside the danger from the alternate reality itself,” she took a deep breath to steal herself, “the last time we traveled through a rift in space-time, Prince Lotor was able to get his hands on a comet which gave him the capability of building a ship to rival Voltron. That is not something we need repeated.”

“I understand your concerns,” Shiro said, “and I know that letting Lotor have that comet couldn’t have been easy. But we know what to avoid now. We know not to let any strange comets through the rift. We also know that this rift leads to another reality. The knowledge we have of what happened last time will stop us from making the same mistakes twice.”

Allura glared at her Lion’s console. “I hear what you are saying, Shiro, but I still believe---”

“We need any opportunity we can get our hands on to defeat Zarkon,” Shiro continued. “We’re the Paladins of Voltron. If we won’t take these risks for the sake of the universe, who will?”

No one responded.

“Besides,” Shiro added after a moment, and there was a hint of a smile in his voice, “I didn’t get to go through the rift last time. I think I’m owed my due.”

“Is that all this is?!” Lance cried. “Shiro, come on!”

“I can’t believe we’re going to risk our lives because you want to go through a giant, glowy, explodey thing,” Hunk said.

“To be fair, it’s not like Voltron itself will explode,” Pidge said.

“Still.”

“It isn’t just that. I meant everything else I said about gaining new resources to win this war,” Shiro said. “All the same, we’re moving forward. Team, are you ready?”

Lance huffed a sigh, but despite his earlier protests, something about it sounded more excited than agitated. “You know it.”

“If the rest of you are going, then I guess I’m going, too,” Hunk said.

“Count me in. I’ll keep an eye on our vitals just in case this rift reacts differently to Voltron than the last one,” Pidge said.

“Thank you,” Shiro said. “Princess?”

Allura felt anything but ready. This felt like a mistake. It felt like a waste of valuable time they could instead be using to rally the coalition. Where had Shiro’s desire to form the coalition gone? Why had he suddenly decided that obtaining quintessence from a rift in space-time was their most urgent objective? It was true that they had stumbled across the rift by accident, and that perhaps they could secure the new quintessence and still make it back in time for another coalition rally, but---

“Princess?” Shiro repeated.

Allura took another deep breath. Everyone else was prepared. As a Paladin of Voltron, she needed to remain with her team. Shiro had a point when he said that they were aware of their prior mistakes. That would surely help them avoid making the same ones over again. This---this didn’t have to be a disaster.

“Yes, all right,” she said. “Let’s do it.”

As before, they proceeded slowly at first. The rift had no gravitational pull, despite its impressive size and the brilliant, golden-orange light emanating from it. Yet when they were just close enough to touch the rift with one of Voltron’s fingers, Allura felt a sharp tug from within her Lion. It wasn’t the same as gravity; it was instead, she thought as she closed her eyes, almost like a longing. The rift enveloped Voltron, encompassing and almost embracing it, and as it did, her Lion seemed to sing. But the moment was gone as swiftly as it came. The rift released them on the other side, its embrace drawing back with a quick snap, and it was as if her Lion ceased caring in that very tick. There was no longing, no singing; Allura’s Lion was quiet once more.

Her fellow Paladins, however, were not.

“Uh . . . what?” Hunk said. “What is . . . what just happened? Did it work?”

“It had to have,” Pidge said. “We definitely went through the rift. I received all the same readings as last time. Plus, we didn’t change course at all.”

“Right, and I’m not arguing that, but then why . . . I mean, that’s the Castle, right? The Castle of Lions? I’m not going crazy?” Hunk said. “Because that definitely looks like the Castle to me, and it should be behind us.”

“It should be in our actual reality,” Pidge said. “Remember, when we went through the rift last time the Castle was completely gone. We could fly up over the rift, but we wouldn’t see the Castle on the other side because we crossed branches in time-space.”

“Okay, so then why is the Castle right in front of us?”

“How should I know?!”

Whatever the reason, Hunk’s eyes were not playing tricks on him. The Castle of Lions waited in stasis before them, poised just as it had been before they had entered the rift, albeit on the wrong side. It . . . could make a bizarre sort of sense, Allura supposed. They had entered an alternate reality. Perhaps, in this reality, they---

“Maybe there’s another us in the Castle?” Lance suggested. “We came out here to explore the rift, so maybe the us of this reality did, too. Wait---does that mean they went through the rift when we did? Did they come out in our reality? Will they figure out the difference? Will Coran? Will we be stuck in the wrong reality forever because they took our place?!”

“Easy, Lance,” Shiro said. “Don’t get carried away just yet.”

“It might be our reality that gets carried away by another version of us,” Lance said. “This is a total clone swap scenario! How is that not a reason to panic?”

“Well, they’re not technically clones,” Pidge said. “They’re more like alternate selves. Although it’s likely their DNA would match ours exactly given that they are us, they still weren’t created from us, so it’s not exactly a perfect clone swap scenario.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Lance said. “The point us, we could be replaced by our alternate selves, and Coran might not even notice. That’s messed up.”

“To be fair, none of us noticed when he was possessed by a brain parasite,” Hunk said.

“Fair point, but still.”

“Speaking of Coran,” Allura said, and she was unable to keep a bit of dryness from her voice as she switched her Lion’s communicator to the Castle’s primary channel. The moment it connected, the light pale white against the blue of her Lion’s dash, she called, “Coran? Coran, are you there? Can you hear us?”

Déjà vu rattled Allura’s heart against her ribcage as she was met with nothing but silence. Last time it had made sense that he hadn’t answered, given that they had left the Castle back in their own reality. But now, even if this wasn’t their Castle in specific, a Castle of Lions was still right in front of them. Theoretically, Coran---a Coran, at the very least---should have been as well. Her eyes roved over her dash again as she ensured that her Lion’s communicator was connected to the communicator in the Castle’s primary control room before she tried again. “Coran? Hello? Is anyone there?”

“Well . . . maybe he’s just busy?” Pidge suggested after a moment. “Or he’s not in the Castle at the moment. He might have gone somewhere.”

“Where?” Hunk asked dubiously. “Coran never goes anywhere. … Does he?”

“I . . . never really asked,” Shiro said.

“I think he snuck off to see some sort of theatrical fountain show at the Space Mall once,” Lance said. “But I think the bigger concern here is that he went through that rift with the us of this universe to replace us now that we’re not in our Castle.”

“But our Coran is in our Castle,” Pidge said. “So wouldn’t the two of them sort it out?”

“The bigger question,” Hunk said darkly, “is whether one universe can handle two Corans.”

A long stretch of silence fell over them as they considered the implications of Hunk’s statement.

“Well, it’s best not to jump to conclusions just yet,” Shiro said, breaking the silence at last. “Why don’t we go visit this Castle and see what’s there? Since no one answered, it stands to reason that this universe’s version of us aren’t there, either---”

“Because they’re taking over our Castle,” Lance muttered.

“---so we should be able to use the hangars for our Lions while we take a look around,” Shiro said, ignoring him.

It was too late to turn back now. The optimal time to turn back would have been before they went through the rift in the first place, and Allura knew it. Even so, as they separated back into their own separate Lions and made their way to the Castle, Allura’s palms felt slick with sweat inside her Paladin armor, her heart beating as quickly as her mice could run in her chest. The fact that Coran didn’t answer, when he always answered her calls, was signal enough that something was fundamentally wrong. Whatever the others might have thought about Coran perhaps taking a jaunt to the other reality with this reality’s version of them . . . why would this reality’s Coran do that when their own wouldn’t? Why would he abandon the Castle to float through space on its own?

“Uh, guys?” Hunk said suddenly. Allura blinked as she was pulled free from her fretting. “I’m picking up on a reading that says that there’s already a Lion in my Lion’s hangar. Specifically, it’s telling me that my Lion is in my Lion’s hangar.”

“What?” Shiro said.

“I’m getting the same thing,” Pidge said. Allura glanced over in time to see the Green Lion shoot toward her hangar anyway, only to pull to an abrupt halt right outside the entrance. “The Castle is denying me entrance. It says the hangar’s already occupied.”

“Mine too, what gives!” Lance demanded. “Hey, Castle! My Lion’s not in the hangar---my Lion’s right here!”

“Maybe this reality’s version of your Lion is in the hangar,” Shiro said. “Maybe this reality’s versions of us didn’t go to the other reality---or anywhere else---at all.”

“But then why wouldn’t they answer when I contacted the Castle’s primary communications channel?” Allura asked. “Even if Coran was absent for whatever reason, surely one of us would have responded.”

“I’m not sure,” Shiro said. “But there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there? We have to get inside.”

“And just leave our Lions out here?” Hunk asked. “Isn’t that kind of dangerous?”

“We won’t be here long,” Shiro said. “We’ll park the Lions on top of the Castle and enter the hangars ourselves. Once we figure out what’s going on, we can leave the same way and return to our Lions then.”

Without waiting for agreement, Shiro turned the Black Lion and headed for the top of the Castle. It took less than a tick for Lance, Hunk, and Pidge to follow suit. Allura frowned, and slowly followed after the others.

“Weren’t we supposed to be searching for a new form of quintessence?” she asked after a moment.

“You don’t think this reality’s version of us might have a lead on where that quintessence is?” Shiro asked.

“I . . . I don’t know. I suppose that’s a good point,” Allura said, and that was the end of that discussion.

As Shiro had instructed, they disembarked from their Lions upon landing atop the Castle, and used the jetpacks attached to their armor to fly down to the hangars. Whereas the hangars had denied them entrance due to the Lions already being present within before, once the sensors indicated that the Paladins alone (identified by their armor) were trying to gain entrance, the doors slid open just wide enough to allow each of them through. Despite her misgivings about staying in the reality they had found themselves in, the sight of the hangar opening for her still filled Allura with a sense of relief. Even if this wasn’t her reality’s Castle, it was still her Castle. Wherever Coran was---or wherever her alternate self was---that fact couldn’t change. Her Castle was still her home, her sanctuary. Even in another reality, it was still there to welcome her home.

It was this assurance that allowed her to slip into the Blue Lion’s hangar, the soft glow of her armor lighting the otherwise darkened space. It was this assurance that had assuaged at least some of her misgivings, enough to make her smile a little it as she entered the hangar and the door slammed shut behind her. It was this assurance that made the sudden, frigid pulse that rocked through her feel like a bucket of ice water dumped over her head, and made her clench her fist over her heart.

This wasn’t . . . this was her Castle, but . . . something was wrong.

Allura forced herself forward, walking slowly through the Blue Lion’s hangar. With every step she took, the glacial sensation throbbing through her---so unlike the comforting, warm embrace she was so used to her Castle providing for her---grew. It almost felt as though something slick and chill was crawling along her skin, seeping into every pore on her body so that it could fuse itself permanently to her. Something is wrong. Something is not right . . . Even as she reached the main space of the Blue’s hangar and saw her Lion---or this reality’s version of her Lion, anyway---waiting, poised and ready to go, she couldn’t shake the arctic chill down her spine, or change the way the hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end. There was something eerie, something---something wrong about the way the Castle was behaving. It looked the same as usual---everything was where it should be---but somehow, something felt . . .

Allura hugged herself, rubbing her hands along her arms despite her armor.

The Castle was not welcoming. The Castle . . . for the first time in her recollection, she wanted to flee her own Castle. But more than that, she wanted to know why. She wanted to know what had happened to cause such a change, even as a more pragmatic part of her told her that she was better off not knowing.

She was the last to enter the hangar lobby, and when she did, she found the rest of the team grouped together in the middle, all of them looking around with expressions of varying puzzlement and confusion. Pidge had her head craned all the way back as she squinted at the lights glowing from the ceiling. Hunk was frowning as he surveyed the walls, and Lance’s brow was scrunched together as his eyes roved over the doors to the other Lions’ hangars. Only Shiro looked mostly unaffected as he stared at the door that led to the rest of the Castle, though there was a little frown on his lips, too. It wasn’t as severe as the others, but it was still there. That was . . . Allura couldn’t tell if that was a good sign or not.

“Is it just me, or is there something really different about this place all of a sudden?” Lance asked. He wasn’t looking at anyone in particular, and so it seemed to be a question posed to the air, but Allura still felt her heart lift despite the rapid beat of wrong, wrong, wrong against her ribcage.

“You feel it, too?” she asked.

All eyes turned to her, Lance’s wide. “Uh, well, I don’t really know about feeling anything, but Red’s hangar looked different somehow. Like, it was lit up, but the light didn’t seem to do its usual thing for her complexion at all.”

“Lance, she’s a giant Lion made from a mostly unidentifiable ore ten thousand times stronger than steel,” Pidge said, deadpan. “She doesn’t have a complexion.”

“She does too have a complexion, and it’s beautiful,” Lance shot back. “You better not talk like that where she can hear you. Same goes for Blue.”

Pidge rolled her eyes.

“Princess, is something the matter?” Shiro asked her. Once more, all eyes turned to her. Hunk’s brow was creased in worry.

“I---I’m not entirely certain,” Allura said. She hadn’t thought it possible, but Hunk’s lips tugged into an even deeper frown. “Something about the Castle doesn’t feel quite right. It---It feels colder than before. Less welcoming.”

“Maybe it can tell we’re from a different reality?” Pidge suggested.

“I . . .” Allura took a deep breath, steeling herself, before she said, “I wish to find out what happened here. There is something wrong, and I want to know what it is before we leave.”

“That’s quite a change from how you seemed to feel before,” Shiro said, and his lips curled in such a way that it was difficult for Allura to tell if he was smiling or frowning. “Are you sure?”

His question was like a bo staff prodded against her ribs---not enough to knock her off her feet or cause actual injury, but enough to jab, to make her a little more unsteady. She wondered, the thought a flash through her mind, if this was how Keith had felt before he left, when Shiro had scrutinized and questioned every one of his decisions even when he seemed to be agreeing with previously decided actions.

But there was no time to wonder at that. There was no time when her Castle felt the way it did.

“I’m sure,” she said, and she turned toward the door. “Let’s go.”

[titconao3]

Hello, you have been identified as An Awesome Fic Writer™. Congrats, you rock! So that all of your readers can shower you with some extra love today, please tell us your favourite five stories of yours and why you like them and then send this to another five fic authors you think deserve this title!

wow, er, wow! well. hem. first, thank you; and now for the flailing - i really suck at choosing, so… it’s going to be hard. i can be very critical of my stuff, and when a story of mine is jossed because canon moved on i want to throw it all away - if i don’t it’s only because 1/ i try to tell myself it would be cowardly (but what i actually do is think very hard about other stuff) and 2/ i can enjoy jossed stories as a reader, although not always and 3/ i remember as a reader being so often disappointed i couldn’t find a story someone had mentioned… i don’t know if mine are *ever* mentioned, but who knows! anyway, this is why it’s taking me so long to answer this… and also most people i could think of tagging have already been, so… oops. sorry again.this is probably Lucifer-related, so i’ll just sweep the one Good Omens story and the very, very old (& old skool) Kirk/Spock ones under the carpet, mmmkay ;-) and while I’m at it, my older Lucifer stories? canon has made them irrelevant or at least feel wrong to me.as a reader, i enjoy longer fics with plot, but i usually write Deckerstar-ish, short-to-medium-length fics even if the relationship is not necessarily the focus of the story but just a consequence, a side dish or even only a background thing.i like and hate my fics all equally at the same time, so i really don’t know what to say, but i’ll try. it just feels like i’m always writing the same stuff, more or less… so i don’t know which ones to pick, especially since i’m never able to make up my mind for anything as a rule and saying anything positive about myself feels like shameless self-aggrandizing behaviour.

so let’s see… maybe sand castles and building blocks, because it’s the first de-aged Lucifer I remember in the fandom and kid!Lucifer was fun to write?well i also like whumping him, and while finding the balance between believable & story-justified whump and comfort while not steering too far from RL plausibility can be hard, i did like sending him to a hospital. I’m uncomfortable physically hurting Chloe because she’s already ended several times in hospital in two short seasons and she’s more breakable than him, so... he’s my fave woobie, i guess.

i often get comments about how sad readers were / how much they cried because some people seem to think my stories are often sad - i insist they aren’t and that there’s always a happy ending, even if it’s set in the afterlife ;-) but i tend to like fics that tackle those big issues - death, aging, and what happens when people of different natures are friends or lovers, when you see them die and when they don’t age. And also, the general suckiness of life.but, otoh, i don’t see death as necessarily a sad ending; not in a fandom where the afterlife is canon and - more than that - where if you go the Lucifer/Chloe route you have to find a way that does not lead to everlasting sadness when one goes to heaven and the other... can’t. and Chloe choosing hell or eternity on earth, meaning she’s apart from those she loves? Lucifer becoming human is a thing that gives me the creeps too, so... nope, not for me ;-) so i try to find ways for the gang to have a happier ending that “everybody died, Lucifer angsted over his piano for the rest of eternity, the end.”

so anyway, because of those SAAAD comments, i tried to fluff too but apparently even when i fluff as hard as i can it’s not pure fluff. oops? so, er, maybe the valentine story or the Lucifer baby-sits Trixie one? i don’t know. the ending of the first blind-sided everyone including me, and the second felt terribly tooth-decaying, but i think it was the first time i purposefully set out to write properly fl00ffy fluff and it was part of the month of fluff i did last December to try and make myself, well, stop making the readers who wandered on to my stories leave “i am SAD” comments - it was not 100% successful but i did try my hand at fluff and humour that month (okay, i giggled while writing Nyarlathot’elf but really i didn’t know about these eldritch horrors and they are now one more reason for me to fear and dislike that season… so thank you for that, @benfael ;-) 

i should add ora pro nobis because i almost managed to insert an actual investigation plot (well, the closest i’ve ever come to at least) in there, among the religious nods and the usual feels… i was happy to manage to write a few longer (for me) fics lately, especially this summer. i didn’t think i could do several.

i committed some not Deckerstar-centric fics too, and i’ve really liked trying to delve into other characters’ heads. It feels strange at first, less familiar than my usual version of Lucifer and Chloe - am i doing Amenadiel justice, does Ella sound like Ella, what about Maze’s voice, is Linda the right mix of insightful and fun with hidden depths, is Dan sufficiently Dan-ish? (yes, sorry, i love bad puns) so while i’m not necessarily happy with them, and while they can be a challenge, i’m glad at least i tried?

i usually try to give screen (page?) time to all the characters as in the show, to give them quirks and things to do and say. I tried to do that with Candy before 2x14 aired, so of course now it’s totally jossed but it was nice to try and imagine a Candy and her motivations. i also sometimes have fun with recurring OCs like Ebony or Jesus (under several aliases), Jesus’ mum, and even Candy herself (gave her a son once because why not). but i also worry i’m overdoing it, going too far from canon, into topics no one cares about, or that i go overboard, or not enough, when trying to be more inclusive. how much is too much? how little is not enough?

right, so i totally didn’t do what i was asked to do, imma post this and forget about it now, sorry about this pointless logorrhea...