#after that he would actually look for caves/abandoned buildings/forests for shelter

[lunarlicorice]

45 minutes after leaving light labs

[sketch--booked]

It's 6am, I just woke up from another dream--

--about Echo returning.

And it's another island adventure dream but FAR MORE OOOHHH OKAY THAN OWWIE OH NO. It had the same energy as Nya trying to figure out who Samurai X was. And Echo was not a villain this time.

Actually the dream had the S14 guy as the villain, the one with the mask, spoilers.

It started with a fight between masked man, who's name I neglect to remember, and the ninja. They barely even get a chance to fight him before someone in a hodded cape swoops in and kicks him clean off his thone/podeum. They guy lands poorly and his leg gets messed up but continues fighting while the ninja just s t a r e at them.

The ninja only make a real reaction when they see the mystery man use the element of wind, and they're all utterly bewildered.

The mystery man can't hold them all off and is knocked far into the forest, presumably dead considering how far he went, and the rest of the ninja are separated into groups (Kai and Cole, Nya and Zane, Jay and Lloyd with Wu and Misako).

It followed Kai and Cole mostly, just discussing the possibility of two elemental masters of wind (they recalled Krux and Acronix) and that this guy could be dangerous. While they're talking, they bump into the motionless body of that cloaked person and Kai literally nearly pukes. Cole manages to get close to the guy and with prompting from Kai, pulls back the hood to see, not a man, but a nindroid! And a nindroid that looked eerily like Zane.

.

That's when it cut to Lloyd and Jay, they're talking with Wu and Misako about the mystery man, and this is where Wu info dumps that, after an elemental master passes without any heirs, the elements will take an unknown amount of time to present itself in a new host. It depends on that persons destiny and whether or not they're fit to use it and yada yada.

Lloyd understands that this would mean morro would no longer be the elemental master of wind, since after the DotD, he legit died and is gone for good. Which resulted in the element passing on. Wu comments that this is the fastest he'd seen an element passing on and presenting itself, and says that whoever this person is, must have been picked for a very good reason.

Jay then starts making a ridiculous list of people that he thinks could be the new master of wind, despite Wu telling him the probability of Jay knowing this master, is near impossible (Jay gets a kick outta this r e a l soon).

.

Then we hop back to Cole and Kai, who are freaking out over the rusty version of their friend who somehow has elemental powers too??

Kai says they should leave him here, saying it could be an evil nindroid, since they were also based off of Zane's prints. Cole argues and says they should take him back for questioning, and that Cole would be very happy to carry him.

While they're arguing, the fake Zane starts to wake up, and in a comedic way, screams at Cole and Kai, who in turn also start screaming. The mystery nindroid awkwardly chuckles and remarks that this was not particularly how he wanted to introduce himself, but anything works...

Kai and Cole begin questioning him and he answers their questions, starting with his name, telling them his name was Zane, but upon seeing their reactions, he says they can call him Echo.

Echo tells them they need to get into shelter, since at night, the island becomes unbearable and deadly. Kai and Cole reluctantly follow, continuing to ask questions while the three of them walk away, Echo limping from his earlier fight.

.

"Why are you on a random island?" Kai asked

"My raft washed up in a lightning storm." Echo replied.

"So did Julien build you too?" Cole continued.

"Yes, I would reluctantly say he is, in essence, my Father"

"Reluctantly?"

Echo did not answer.

Cole broke the silence "Where did you come from?"

"There is a lighthouse, in the-"

"-middle of the ocean between ninjago and the dark islands. You were there?" Kai interrupts.

"You know of the lighthouse? You were there?" Echo wondered "How come you did not know of my presence?"

"Your father never said anything, neither did Zane." Cole answered his question, giving the earth ninja even more of his own.

"Oh, no. My brother would not know of me, I was built in the lighthouse, not--wherever he was built" Echo confirmed "How did you get past the leviathan?"

"Zane swam to the chains and broke them with those star thingys" kai shivered, recalling those star shaped demons--

"Oh, you mean the Starteeth!" Echo begins laughing lightly "You know, one time, a bunch of them washed up and ate through the window in the basement. The basement was flodded and made me all rusty. I couldn't move for a week!" He walked slightly ahead while laughing hard.

He suddenly stopped laughing and looked serious "Looking back on it now, it was probably not funny."

Kai and Cole shared a look before Cole jumped up, realising something, and whispered close to Kai.

"Hold on a second, we completely forgot about his powers!"

"Oohhh, you're right! Hold on, I'll ask 'em."

Cole was going to pull him back to explain how shouldn't just--ask--but Kai had already begun running to catch up.

"So how did you end up an elemental master?"

"An ele-mento-who-what?" Echo fumbled his words.

"An elemental master? Y'know, with the crazy wind powers."

Cole was ready to punch Kai out, the man couldn't be subtle to save his life, which it just might right now.

"Oh! Honestly, Red, I have no idea." Echo had called Kai, Red, as the other two masters had not given their names. "I just remember the lighthouse getting nearly blown into the sea after weeks of strong winds. I had not realised the strong winds were the cause of my emotions. It was--new and scary. Gizmo was there to help me."

"The little cleaning robot? You brought that little guy with you too?" Cole caught up with Kai and the second wind master.

"Of course, he is my only friend! I would not abandon him the way I was. That is too cruel of a punishment for any being, organic or metallic." Echo yelled, a breeze shook the trees. Cole stayed quiet, but silently apologised to the nindroid.

Their questions were ended as they came across a half-cave-half-hut-like shelter. Where the settled and only prayed for their respective brothers.

.

There was a lot more small talk in the dream but I cut it down to the funnier and more important parts.

The next bits of the dream is fuzzy, but I know it revolves around the ninja reuniting and accepting the mystery person into their group while they defeat the evil and escape the island.

Kai and Cole agree to Echo's pleas to not tell Zane for the time being, as he doesn't want Zane to see his brother for the first time looking like--how he looks.

Each of them get some interactions with Echo, with his identity hidden, remaining mute as to not throw them off with his voice. He even has an interaction with Zane where Zane politely asks Echo not to keep staring at him, as he's been doing that since they came together. Zane pegs his curiosity to "he's never seen a nindroid before" and Echo confirms that for him. (unknowing the truuuuth aaaaa)

I'll write Jay's interaction with Echo another time maybe, and how he figures it out, since hoooo boy it hurt. Echo didn't remember Skybound so Jay's just mentally torturing himself for the rest of the journey.

The ninja that find out its Echo is Nya, Jay, Cole and Kai.

.

I'm gonna jump to the end, because my dream also jumped to the end? Rip. But the end what what gave me the Nya and new Samurai X vibes, but less fighting and more chill chat.

.

.

He was on a real boat. Not a makeshift raft constructed out of his father's old bed, table, chairs and shelves, not pushed forward by his newly explained "elemental powers". A real boat, one that would take him away from tiny islands that kept him prisoner, away from the existential dread of loneliness. He'd be free. Free from fearing his last day would be solitary and sad. In one day alone, he'd made a literal boat load of friends. They wouldn't abandon him, not as his father once did.

He was happy, he felt really, truly happy. But he didn't smile. Yes he had friends, but what he wanted more than anything else, was his brother. He was right here on the boat, but Echo's own worries about how his brother would perceive him, how his brother would react to seeing him in such a state (Upon first meeting too! Talk about first impressions), persuaded him to otherwise say nothing.

Deep down, Echo knew he had nothing to fear, he'd heard stories from his father, before he'd locked him away, about Zane and about what it was like--just the two of them. Happy. And from what Echo had seen, Zane was more that strong. Not just physically, nindroid and all, but mentally and emotionally. Echo only wished he had that confidence, the ability to say nothing but be so loud at the same time.

It would make talking to him a lot easier, if he had to say so himself.

Echo, however, had his thoughts interrupted by the sound of footsteps he hadn't even registered, and a soft, yet firm, hand on his shoulder. He tensed just slightly, preparing himself to pull his hood down further.

"It's nice, is it not?" That voice, it was Echo's voice. No, Echo had his voice. His brother was standing right next to him. So close and yet so far, just one swipe of his hood would bring them together, finally. But he resigned himself to simply nod in response. He hadn't come this far to give up now.

A comfortable silence covered the two like a thin layer of snow, fitting considering who was standing next to him. It would almost make him laugh.

"You fought well, out there," Zane started, Echo had thought he was done and nodded again, a small smile forming on his face. Zane may not have known who he was complimenting, but Echo took every moment of it with pride. But then his world span at Zane's continuation.

"For a nindroid."

Zane looked down with a small smirk. Like he'd told the best joke in history. Echo tightened his grip on the wooden railing of the bounty, crushing the paint under his permanently short nails. Zane must've noticed, but didn't say anything. Either in respect for his privacy or because he wanted to hear the confession himself.

In Echo's mind, he was obviously panicking. He didn't want his brother, someone who he'd heard stories from his father, the bot he was built off of, his singular role-model, to find out who he was, like this?

Despite the fear in his ticking heart, he did something probably really stupid and something that would likely result in his downfall. He thanked him.

"Thank you... How- how did you know?" Though, he lowered the pitch oh his voice. It would not be difficult for Zane, or anyone really, to rase the pitch and find out who he was, it still calmed him down just a bit.

"A nindroid knows a nindroid. A brother knows a brother."

Oh I'm f*ucked...

There was only panic, in his systems. The ticking of his clockwork had never sounded louder in his ears. It'd drowned out the sounds of water, the automatic breathing he for some reason had, the cracking of wood underneath his palms was the only sign that ticking was not the lone sound in the world.

He fell out of his anxious trance when the hand left his shoulder and those footsteps came back. No. They were moving away. Echo looked back, moving his fingers to clutch his hood tight against the unintentional winds that now followed him and his emotions. He could see Zane walking towards the steps of the bounty, but halted at the top of them, his hand instead lazily laying on the banister.

"Don't worry, I won't tell them-" He called, just loud enough for Echo to hear over the breeze.

-about what? That he knows who I am? That he'd practically lied to them? That he knew everything all along, because of course he knew, this was Zane, how could he not know, he-

"-Cryptor."

Echo ceased all thoughts from his head. Cryptor? What was that? Was that some kind of fruit? Or a vegetable?

Echo turned his body in the direction of his brother to ask him or at least say goodbye, but he was gone. He'd walked off and down the stairs. Leaving behind not so much as a sheet of frost.

The clockwork child stayed standing there, pure surprise, fear, relief, confusion--actually a lof of emotions he didn't know how to process--flooding his brain. If it weren't for the distant voice of Nya yelling about the sudden gusts of wind changing their direction, he would likely not have moved from that position until they landed.

Cryptor. He thought, it must be a nickname. There was no way he couldn't have figured out Echo was his sibling. He'd said, "a brother knows a brother", they didn't have any other siblings. Right? No. It was just them, just the two of them. The only two nindroids in Ninjago.

His father had said so himself. Although, his father had also buried him under scrap metal and kept him hidden from his family.

Anything could be truth now.

Although Zane had left, and there was no one to hear him, he still felt it necessary to acknowledge what happened. Quietly and sadly, he spoke with a smile.

"Good guess, brother."

.

.

.

.

SO Uhh I'm gonna assume this was because i watched DotD last night,,, and so both Cryptor, and Morro were on my brain hense wind and Cryptor calling Zane "brother", but I always have Echo on the brain man,,, so uhh. Echo for the new master of wind? Anyone? I think it's cute,,,

I probably missed something, other than writing Jay and Echo's interaction, Jay was so sad throughout the rest of the dream, man. And Echo didn't even know why, it was heartbreaking---but it was also a dream and like all my dreams, they never get made into real things.

But I did like the Zane and Echo bit at the end though. There was a second ending, but it relied on the reveal of echo to the audience at the e n d of the dream. Zane still says Cryptor and Echo turns with the camera getting close to him. And as he turns his head to the camera, you see its Echo and then he says "good guess, brother" BUT NGL I THINK IT HURS MORE WHEN WE KNOW FROM THE BEGINNING SOOO.

My dreams are whack dudes,,,

Also this took nearly 3 hours to write its actually 8:50 now Soooo ilya

[ailuro-mania]

InuKag Week 2020: June 14th *Home*

Could they hear it too?

His heart was pounding louder by the second, attempting to contain the erratic pumping of his vital organ was becoming excruciatingly difficult. The young half-demon pulled his legs closer to his chest, eyes squeezed shut as he focused on the sounds and scents of the forest floor.

He’d gotten in trouble big time, stealing from a demons cave. A full blooded, nasty looking, snake demon at that. Why did he have to steal food from a snake demon? Simple, he was only a boy and quite hungry. The winter season was in full blast and every living thing was either burrowed deep or already mutilated by common bears. And he refused to eat disgusting left overs. Well, refused being used very light hardly here. He’s quite possibly had to do so, not that he’d admit it to another living soul.

Inuyasha’s ears twitched at the sound of a snapping twig underneath his temporary shelter and held his breath. He had an advantage if caught. He was smaller than the mostly human looking snake demon, and clearly much younger. Which obviously meant he was faster, and smarter, right?

Another twig snapped, small white dog ears zoning in on the hiss’d curses coming from directly below him. The young boy dared a peak under, seeing his enemies ebony eyes scan carefully over the forest. Not once looking up. They never looked up. A prideful smirk played against the young ones lips, small fang and all sticking out.

The moment the disgusting demon took a few more steps away, Inuyasha took off in the opposite direction without sparing a glance back. His speed at peak, feet lightly skimming across tree branches with such cocky arrogance for someone who could of lost an arm mere minutes ago. Clearly he knew this route way too well.

Once a couple hundred yards away and closer one of the many old abandoned shacks the boy used during the wet season, he dropped. Bare, clawed feet sank into the snowy bank, observing his surroundings longer than truly necessary before trudging through the fresh snow. His left arm cradled the stolen goods underneath his fire-rat robe, the other hanging casually to his side. The cold wasn’t what bothered him, it was simply the lack of food. Not that he particularly enjoyed getting sopping wet, either. Hence the ancient looking, drafty old huts. This one was a particular favorite, resided next to a cliffside that viewed over a few villages, trees that somehow managed to grow and stay attached to the side of the cliff climbed over the sides. During spring he’d watch birds begin to build their nests that’d inevitably get destroyed by other critters. Regardless, for the young dog-demon it was entertainment enough.

But it wasn’t spring. It was winter. And he should head inside before his red-cladded self got caught against the white snow by some other hungry demon.

Once inside he slipped the bundle of goods stolen. A few pieces of dried meat and bread. That snake demon more than likely killed a human carrying such food and snagged it as well. Inuyasha was certain most demons didn’t eat normal human food like he did.

He puffed out his cheeks and began shredding the hardened bread with sharp, tiny claws. Once satisfied with his mediocre slices, he began to stuff his face with bread so hard a normal human would possibly break a tooth even trying to gnaw on it. Not exactly edible, but it was something. He set the meat aside, deciding it’d be best to save for the next night, possibly next few nights. A storm was coming through if his nose told him anything and that meant more demons would bunker down and guard their gathered or stolen food, meaning he shouldn’t be as careless as he had been tonight. But his stomach had more control over his thinking than his instincts did hours ago.

Inuyasha dragged his feet over towards an old chest he knew well. Slipping in one sharp claw into the lock that sealed it away from others and after fidgeting around for a minute or two the thing finally snapped open. Inuyasha pushed up the lid and grinned at the blanket he’d hidden in there years ago. It smelt of dust and had a few holes, but it was one of the only items he’d actually somewhat owned. An old woman who took pity on him once ten years ago handed it over to him. She’d done it in secrecy after the town called for his head. Another similar case of him having to take shelter in the trees from persons that wanted him dead. The woman’s strange dog found him and begun circling the base of the tree he’d climbed. But never once barked. Once the woman reached her dog she’d looked up at him. A pathetic, apologetic, look graced her face as she set the blanket he currently clutched in his hands on the forest floor.

Hours later Inuyasha climbed down the tree and snatched the thing, running far away from that village and never looking back. The old lady was probably six feet under now. Humans seemed to age much faster than the half demon.

Back to current time, Inuyasha settled down in the corner of the old hut. He wrapped the blanket around himself and gazed out one of the larger holes in the furthest wall. His thoughts drifted off to his mother. The few winters he remembered spending with her. She’d whispered to him about the beginning of winter being one of her favorite times of the year. He was born as snow was just settling against the floor.

The small boy let out a sigh as sleep begun to cling to him, seeming to drag his heavy eyelids down. Visions of his old home passing over the backs of his eyelids. If home was what he could even call it. His mother was his home. He had no home. Not yet, at least.

He was oblivious to the two women who would change his fate so severely. The beautiful priestess who’d teach him desire, and the young reborn girl from the future who’d teach him love, teach him what home once felt like.

“Inuyasha?” A small voice that sounded faintly of wind chimes called to him, waking him from deep slumber he’d abruptly fell into.

Golden eyes snapped open and met deep brown ones peering down at him. Kagome smiled warmly, melting away the cold memories that decided to haunt his dream that summer day.

She reached down and tugged at one of his ears, “C’mon we gotta catch up. Sango, Miroku, and the others already took off.”

He grumbled some curse under his breath while heaving himself up, physically shaking his head to rid the dreariness. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You looked so peaceful.”

His eyes met hers once more.

Yeah. He’d never imagined he’d find another home in his lifetime. Yet here she was, staring right back at him.

[serararku]

Duet: Under the Storm’s Chorus

  <Theme>

Buscarron’s Alehouse was remarkably busy for a Tuesday. The sound of plates clacking together, laughter, idle conversation, and footfalls created an almost deafening white noise that filled the building up to the brim. The two alehouse wenches scurried from corner to corner, refilling drinks and swapping out dirty plates with fresh food as quickly but as carefully as they could manage. Wall to wall the alehouse was stuffed with patrons, overflowing out to the outside pavilion; every chair at every table was occupied, except for the lone Miqo’te resting after a long day’s work in the back-corner of the establishment.

R’zevi had spent all morning and the better half of the afternoon patrolling up and down the South Shroud, fending off wild animals and roaming bandits alike from preying on Lalafellin merchant caravans. The pay was decent, but hardly worth all that effort, and now that he was sore from the neck down all that was left to do today was stare at the bottom of his tankard before turning in for the night. Yet unbeknownst to R’zevi, the alehouse wenches were giving him more than the standard attention issued to the other patrons once word got around that he was a surprisingly generous tipper; by the time he realized his table was gradually covered in untouched tankards of ale, it was too late to stop them. After all, he wouldn’t tell these women off for going the extra mile, and the last thing he wanted was trouble from the Roegadyn bouncer wandering around the alehouse.

"Excuse me…" A strangely familiar voice whispered beneath the discordant noise of the alehouse. He looked up to see a woman weaving in and out of view while she made her way to the bar, dressed in a black dress normally seen during a party or celebration. R'zevi swore he knew her from somewhere, and the bandages on her forearm was giving him the worst case of déjà vu in recent memory. The Miqo'te woman walked a little awkwardly in her high heels while she squeezed between two drunken patrons to get her drink; it wasn't until she turned around to search for a place to sit did he recognize her.

“S’era! Over here!” R’zevi called out over the commotion and waved to get her attention; she gave him a quizzical look at first, clearly not knowing who he was or how he knew her name- but no sooner did he recognize her did she recognize him, and a bright smile flashed over her face before she began making her way to his table.

“Good evening!” She sighed, brushing off her backside with her good hand before settling in the chair beside him. “You’re one of Lord Isenhart’s Ashen Wolves, right?”

“Yes, I am.” He paused only long enough to push some of the cups away to give her some space. “My name is R’zevi. How are you doing?” His gaze flashed to her outfit, but he successfully resisted the urge to glance down at her bare thighs through the slit in her dress. “What’s the uhh… occasion?”

She looked down at her getup while her cheeks flushed a vibrant red. “Oh… I was supposed to go on a date with someone, but um… they never showed up. I waited for them in Quarrymill for maybe an hour or so? Then I gave up and came here to get a stiff drink.”

“A date?” R’zevi gave her a puzzled look. “I thought… you were training to rescue someone? Your Nunh, right?”

“Oh I still plan on it, yes.” S’era paused to take a quick sip of her mug. “This was supposed to be practice. Nothing serious, just… something to help me get an edge on being his favored wife once he’s returned.”

It still didn’t make sense to him. “Practice? Do the women in your tribe take the Nunh out on dates often?”

S’era gave him a blank stare for a long moment. “No, the other kind of practice. The stuff that usually happens after the date.”

“Oh.” Now it was R’zevi’s turn to blush. “Right… that makes a lot more sense.”

“My sisters are pleasing the false Nunh of my tribe. If I’m to keep up with their experience, I need experience of my own.” S’era glanced over her shoulder at one of the bar wenches walking past the table before continuing. “Training with Lord Isenhart will only get me so far… if I don’t practice on pleasing a Nunh, then… I’ll be at a sore disadvantage once I finally rescue him.”

“You know…” R’zevi set his mug down to ruminate a bit, deciding to choose his words carefully. “You seem to be sacrificing a lot for the sake of your tribe. And, I know this doesn’t hold much water coming from a Tia who isn’t trying to become a Nunh, but, maybe you should reconsider your priorities for your own sake.”

S’era gave him a gentle smile- something he wasn’t expecting. “I know what it looks like… some naive foolish girl chasing a man she hardly knows. But I have to do this. My tribe is… everything to me, and… I want to do my best to make sure it remains strong."

“As long as you’re happy.” R’zevi didn’t want to press the matter further; this woman was clearly set in her ways and determined to see this through. Instead of trying to argue, he decided to change the subject. “What are your plans for the rest of the night?”

She pursed her lips and fell silent for a moment before answering with, “Probably get tipsy, and watch the sunset before I return to my apartment to go to sleep.” A defeated shrug raised her shoulders. “Not nearly as exciting as I was hoping, but it is what it is.” No sooner did she mention watching the sunset did thunder roll across the sky above. S’era leaned all the way in her chair to peek out of the open door, and her ears flattened against her head at the sight of the large black clouds choking out the warm but fading sunlight. “A-ahh… or I can just sit here and wait for this storm to pass…”

R’zevi raised a brow and asked, “Not a fan of storms, huh?” Another roll of thunder caused the hairs on the back of her neck to bristle, and her tail grew bushy. 

“Mmmn… a bad childhood experience with lightning…” She nervously fidgetted. “We don’t get many storms out in Thanalan near the Sagolii Desert… usually the worst is a heavy shower or two once or twice a year. But sometimes my tribe would travel all the way up to the outskirts of the Black Shroud, where lightning likes to strike. Gods, I can’t imagine why…” R’zevi opened his mouth to explain the nature of a certain primal the local Sylph have been known to summon, but refrained from interrupting her story. “A-anyway, I was climbing a tree in search of bird eggs, and a really big bolt struck the tree nearby. It was so… so loud… and it shattered the tree into blazing pieces. I fell maybe three stories, struck my head against a branch, and did a front flip into a bush. If it weren’t for my mother sending out a search party for me, I… I would have probably burned to death in that forest fire.” She let out a sharp sigh before chugging the rest of her tankard down. “I just freeze up when I hear thunder now… at least in Thanalan I had caves I could scurry down into…”

R’zevi ruminated on his thoughts again as he watched her become twitchy. Seeing her so jumpy at even the slightest movements around her was a tragedy indeed, especially over a little rain and the occasional thunder. “Hmm…” He hummed lightly, getting her attention. “Come with me, I want to show you something.” S’era gave him a quizzical look while he rose to his feet and headed to the door, but she reluctantly followed.

Outside it was pouring. The raging thunderheads above made quick work of any remaining clear sky, and most of the outside patrons had either retreated back inside or left for other shelters. S’era slowly opened the door and saw R’zevi standing out there between abandoned tables, already soaked from head to toe. “Come on out and join me.” He called, gesturing for her.

“Are you crazy?!” S’era called back, wearily glancing up at the sky as if the lightning was hiding just above the roof. “Come back inside! You’ll get sick out there!”

“It’s just a little water.” He raised his face to the rain and closed his eyes, basking in the bounty of the storm. “I want to show you that you don’t have to be terrified any longer. You won’t be struck by lightning out here.”

“You don’t know that…!” She shrunk away from the rain like it was acid. “Please come back inside! I don’t want to see you die!”

R’zevi opened his eyes and smiled warmly at her, despite standing in a growing puddle with soggy and soaked clothes. “Lightning only hits the tallest point in the forest, or anything wearing a lot of metal.” He touched his chest before gesturing to hers. “We’re both wearing leather and linen. We’re completely safe, I assure you. Come join me… it feels amazing.”

“I’m wearing silk, actually…” S’era didn’t like this idea one bit. “Gods, you really are crazy…” Much to R’zevi’s shock, she took off her heels before scampering out from under the roof. The woman squeaked when the rain splashed against her head and shoulders, causing her eyeliner and lipstick to run down her face; it was only after she was soaked did R’zevi realize he probably just persuaded her into ruining that dress. He would have to make a mental note to repay her for that. “Alright…” She mumbled, standing a few inches away from him. “Now what?!”

“Just listen.” He gently took her by the hands and held them together. “To the storm’s chorus. To the applause of rain surrounding us. To the harmless bark of thunder.”

“Harmless…? Hardly.” S’era glanced up at the sky again, but flinching every time raindrops struck her eyes dissuaded her from continuing that for much longer. Instead she looked down as she felt the cold mud squishing between her toes, and against her better judgment, she also braced herself for the rolling thunder overhead.

Booooooom…

R’zevi heard her squeak and nearly leap into him, her arms wrapping tightly around his waist as she buried her face in his chest. Slowly he patted the top of her head before gently whispering, “It’s alright… it’s just thunder. It’s not going to hurt you.” He hesitantly ran a hand through her soaked hair. “You’re safe.”

He could feel her heavy breathing. Her heart pounded against his stomach, and her vice grip around his waist remained steadfast; she didn’t dare look up, fearing the flash of lightning would be the last thing she saw before joining her ancestors. Thunder bellowed again- louder this time- but she didn’t flinch as hard as she did before. “I’m safe…” She repeated, taking slow and steady breaths. “I’m safe… I’m safe… I’m safe…”

“I can hardly believe what I’m seeing.” R’zevi cooed, grinning madly. “A woman who traveled the four corners of Eorzea and shoved her hand into a fireplace for him is terrified of a little noise?”

“Mmmn… quiet you…!” She pulled her face away from his chest to pout at him. “This isn’t so bad… with you being much taller, I can at least survive the first strike, huh?”

“All you need is some time.” R’zevi pulled a few strands of hair away from her face. “Exposure is the best way to overcome your phobias. Just take a little bit at a time, just enough for you to handle… and eventually you won’t give these rainstorms a second tho-”

BOOOOM!

Forked lightning streaked across the sky and lit up Buscarron’s Druthers. Her grip around his body suddenly tightened, and S’era almost leapt right out of her skin. R’zevi wrapped his arms around her and looked around, somewhat relieved no one was around to witness two strange Miqo’te hugging in the downpour. “Shhh… it’s alright. It can’t reach you down here…”

"Alehouse is taller… trees are taller… R'zevi is taller…" S'era mumbled to herself, squinting from the rain as she looked up into the sky. "It can't reach me… I'm safe… I'm- huh?" Almost instantly the rain completely stopped, as if someone had turned off a giant faucet high above. 

"I knew it wouldn't last long when it started so suddenly and angrily." He smiled, reaching up to wipe his wet brow. "... I still figured it would last longer than it did."

"Thank you anyway." S'era beamed up at him awkwardly before she hesitantly let him go. "It really means a lot… and… you didn't have to do this."

"Defeating childhood trauma can't happen overnight." R'zevi gave her another warm grin. "A good memory in a storm to fight a bad one. That's one for one for now, S'era."

She chuckled nervously as she ran her hand through her soaked hair. “You can call me Era… if you like…”

“Era it is.” R’zevi blushed a vibrant red once he realized her ruined silk dress was now clinging to and highlighting her figure, and his gaze snapped back to her eyes to avoid ogling at the outline of her smallclothes keeping everything in place. Quickly he cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you need an escort back to your apartment complex? I doubt you’d run into any trouble, but I really don’t mind accompanying you…”

A sly smirk spread across her face before she said, “Hasty, are we? I’d like to know you more before I take you back to my apartment.”

“O-oh! No, no no no, I didn’t-! That was not what I was implying!” R’zevi sputtered, his face as bright and red as a tomato. S’era let him ramble on for a few more seconds before she couldn’t take it anymore; she was gripped by a giggle-fit that only got more uncontrollable every time she looked at his face, but he was determined to explain himself. “Era-! I uhh…! I’m sorry if-!”

Once her laughter was reigned in, she quickly placed a finger on his lips. “I was just messing with you, Zevi. I can call you Zevi, yes?”

“Of course you can.” His voice was heavy with relief, which only forced her to stifle another fit of laughter. She wiggled her index finger at him to gesture him closer, saying nothing. R’zevi half-expected her to mock him right to his face, but when he bent over to meet her at eye-level, she gently wrapped her arms over his shoulders and embraced him in the most uncomfortably wet hug he’s ever had.

“You’re really cute when you’re flustered.” She softly whispered in his ear, before pressing her lips together and planting a wet kiss on his cheek. "Until next time, okay?"

Without thinking R'zevi reached around her waist just as she began to release him and pull away, pressing a hand against the small of her back, an ilm or two above her tail. He drew her back into his arms until their soaked bodies were firmly smooshed together again. As S'era gazed invitingly into his eyes, the fear of rejection fled into the night, and he did the only thing that felt natural. They both closed their eyes when their lips met. With their hearts pounding against each other's chests the two Miqo'te stood in silence, lip-locked and dazed. Eventually S'era tilted her head and parted her lips, while her leg lifted off the ground to give him something warm to hold on to. It wasn't until they were at the zenith of their deep kiss did they snap out of their lustful trance.

"You two'll catch yer death in the cold, pluckin' and cluckin' like that." An elderly Roegadyn groundskeeper grumbled, shambling by with a mop and broom in his grasp. “Damn kids, no restraint… back in my day you would get walloped and your girl snatched right out from under ya if you mmmn hrgmm mergmmm…” He was still rambling to himself when he turned around the corner and vanished.

S’era and R’zevi were left standing there awkwardly, the mood killed and the magic gone. “Um- Era, you’re um…” He gestured to her dress, which was now turned slightly to the side and riding up her thighs.

“Mmmn… you should look down…” She quietly retorted, motioning to the bulge in his pants. They both adjusted themselves, too uncomfortable and embarrassed to look each other in the eyes. "So…" She started again, now that she was wearing her dress correctly. "You should take me on a date soon…"

"I will!" He did a poor job concealing the excitement in his voice, especially when he tried to play it off by clearing his throat immediately after. "Where would you like to go?" She gave him a wide grin as she slowly walked back toward the alehouse, shrugging halfheartedly at him; despite being genuinely invested in the answer to the question, R'zevi couldn't shake the notion that where the date started didn't actually matter- but where it ended.

"Surprise me." S'era finally spoke, winking slyly at him. She ducked back through the doors and vanished, leaving him out in the night… cold, wet, and antsy.

---

Mentions: @rzevi-tia-ffxiv​

[mysaldate]

(UM seduction methods anon here) Im in awe over how much you write for so many character, every day! Do you have any hc on how they live? (where they live? living conditions?) BUT please dont push yourself or anything either!

Thank you so much for worrying about me! I’m simply trying to do my very best for all of you! And thank you also for such wonderful and original requests!

The living conditions of the Upper Moons headcanons

Daki&Gyuutaro

This one will be short since we know quite a lot about them. They’ve lived in the red lights district for their whole lives. In the streets and usually with little more than just their clothes on but they had each other.

They stayed in even after they became a demons. No surprise, there’s plenty of food and nobody will really care if a couple girls disappears.

They don’t have separate rooms of course. These two are literally inseparable so of course they wouldn’t bother with something like that. There’s nobody to tease them about it either since people are not aware of there even being two of them and as for their fellow demons, those just don’t care. Except maybe for Douma but he wouldn’t tease them about it.

We got to see their room so there’s not much to be said about the decorations either. Daki is a stylish girl and she likes to show it off even in the way she sets up their room – even if nobody much gets to see it.

Kaigaku

He never really had much of a home per say. He became an orphan at a young age (if he wasn’t abandoned as a baby already) and then was chased out of Gyomei’s temple as well. Jigoro took him in but unfortunately enough, that relationship didn’t really work out either. Strangely enough, he felt most at home when he was outside, travelling from one mission to another.

After he became a demon, he stayed with Kokushibou for a short period of time but that was just before Muzan approved of his existence. After that, he had to find his own territory – which wasn’t really too hard anyway. He picked a run-down old house as his shelter from the sun for the day but he didn’t really care much how it looked, at least not at first.

It’s not that he wouldn’t like company but there’s not really anyone to share his place with. Humans wouldn’t hang out with him, other demons literally can’t. Other Upper Moons won’t.

He first didn’t care at all how the place looked but after some time, he decided that since he didn’t have anything to do during the day anyway, he could at least try to decorate the place a bit. So while the sun is up, he does little things inside, like sweeping the floors or painting the walls. He even learnt to sew to make curtains. And at night, when he’s not out hunting, he does other reparations. Even he is surprised by how much fun he can have, giving the place a personal touch.

Gyokko

Being an artist, it’s not unlikely that he lived in an open, arid room before he became a demon. Lots of sunlight too. And occassionally, a companion or two but those never really stuck around for long. His place was filled with various unfinished art pieces.

Now that he’s a demon, he can’t have the luxury of a sunny appartment. His pots, however, work as a little pocket dimension so that’s an upgrade? Of sorts? It doesn’t really have a set shape either, it’s a little bit like Nakime’s Infinity Fortress but shapeless, like the walls are made of water or another liquid and constantly change form.

He lives with plenty of goldfish. The entire place is nearly filled with aquariums of various shapes and forms. You know how people make mazes for hamsters, guinea pigs or even cats? Well, those are nothing when compared to the lengths Gyokko goes to for his fishies. It’s not just glass, coloured or plain, either. Sometimes he would use the nichirin blades or pretty hairpieces of his victims’ to decorate the elaborate fishtanks as well. If a human ever strays in, it’s the last thing they say.

Gyokko LOVES decoration. Aside from his fishtanks, he has numerous statues, paintings and just about everything else you can think of. Both handmade and stolen. For his handmade art, he usually uses bodies or bodyparts of his victims, possibly their blood too. It serves both as an artpiece and a food reserve just in case he ever gets to a position where he’s forced to starve. Surprisingly enough, his pots are great at preserving things. Oh, and let’s not forget about the amount of detail he puts to the exterior of his pots! 

Hantengu

Back when he was a human, he didn’t really have a home, naturally. He couldn’t afford it. And most people wouldn’t let him stay more than one night, chasing him out often with sticks and stones. He had to travel all the time and preferably somewhere far away where the rumors about him didn’t reach yet. Due to this, he becomes restless when he has to spend a long time in one place.

Now, as a demon, he also doesn’t stay in one place all the time. He usually sneaks in a house, kills the family and stays there for a few days before moving on to the next one. Some of his other personalities, namely Sekido and Karaku, find this a little useless and bothersome but they wouldn’t really fight him on it.

Speaking of whom, his other personalities split when they have time to be alone as well, taking care of him and the house. It’s a great way to keep him safe as well since at least one of them is always on guard for possible intruders. They get along... somewhat well. There are the usual conflicts between Sekido and the others. Karaku is careless about their cover, Yoroko likes to make pranks on them and Aizetsu tends to lock himself in his room for hours on end. Poor Sekido is left with the task of housework, making sure they don’t get discovered too soon, acting as the voice of reason... and he still has to go out hunting and stay on guard when it’s his turn.

Yoroko likes decorating stuff and Karaku loves to watch him but their taste is strange to everyone but them. Surprisingly enough, Hantengu as well as Aizetsu both can actually create rather beautiful tapestries and Zohakuten sometimes paints when Sekido is just too done with the three useless dorks.

Nakime

She used to be your typical hikikomori. Nakime spent all her time in her room, with nothing but a pile of books and her biwa. It wasn’t a big room either. While her room did have windows, she prefered them covered and read in the light of an oil lamp. As expected, it wasn’t too good for her eyes...

She lives in the Dimensional Infinity Fortress now. A place she can fully control and knows everything about, one that bends to her will and where she can transport anyone anywhere at any time, just as she wants. The only exception seems to be Muzan who comes and goes as he sees fit (at least until the current arc but y’all already know how I feel about that). It’s not that she minds it, she still knows where and when he enters and leaves and even if she didn’t, it’s not like he would ambush and kill her for no reason (right?).

Despite providing rooms specifically suited for the Upper Moons, she much enjoys her solitude. Even when they’re in and she has to keep an eye on them (I’m sorry, I’ll stop with the puns now), she keeps her distance. Try to annoy her, or even just seek her company, and you will mercilessly get thrown out. An exception, again, is Muzan. He doesn’t live there with  her though and only seeks her out when he has work for her to do.

Decoration of the rooms varies greatly, mostly based on what are they used for. Most of the Fortress is not decorated since Nakime sees no reason to waste time and effort on that. However, there are special parts that deserve special attention. Just as an example, there’s Muzan’s upside-down lab, Douma’s lotus pond, that traditional japanese area Kokushibou first appeared in... And of course, the execution platform that’s now decorated with the red of the Lower Moons’ blood.

Akaza

Again, we have a very good canon idea about his life as a human. First living with his father and then spending some time in the streets, he eventually ended up staying at Keizo’s house, taking care of Koyuki. He had his own room there too but it didn’t really matter because he spent most of his time by Koyuki’s side anyway. Rumor has it he dragged his futon to her once when she was having a nightmare and never moved out until she got all better.

He’s pretty much a street rat as of now, looking for challenges and new foes to fight for the most part. During the days, he usually stays still outside, in dense forests or deep caves. He’s not particularly picky. Sometimes he stays there during the night too, setting up a campfire and waiting for someone to wander close. For some reason, he doesn’t really like cities, especially during the festival season.

So yeah, he lives alone. At least usually he does. It’s not all that rare for Douma to find and bother visit him. He doesn’t want company. Getting attached would make him weak. The more people you care about, the easier it is to take advantage of you.

The only thing he cultivates in his surroundings is his own body. No, I’m not talking about the tattoos, though those certainly are a decoration as well. Rather, it’s his muscles and strength. However, he still prefers to have some manners over raw power, hence why he keeps refusing Douma’s more than generous offers to hunt down some girls together even if that could make him stronger.

Douma

Grew up in the temple in the forest. High up on a mountain overlooking a small town, it’s not a place with the most access to society. But cults are usually like that. When he was about three years old, his father planted two magnolia trees in the courtyard so that the place is a little more lively and the trees can grow tall to provide lots of shade in summer since the sun could be quite annoying. If only he knew...

Loyal as he is, Douma stays at the temple even now. He had it expanded a little and even had a lotus pond build right behind his room so he can calm his thoughts at least a bit after every session. He used to need it more than he does now, especially since he now also has the one made by Nakime that is way better and more spacious.

Canonically, there is at least one temple servant staying with Douma at the temple. But honestly, it wouldn’t be quite like him to satisfy himself with a single person. There’s probably a number of people taking care of the place, both temple servants and maidens. They also serve as a source of entertainment and possibly even as a last-resort snack just in case. There also used to be Kotoha and Inosuke for a short period of time but well...

While he is quite childish and it might sound just like him to go overboard with decorating stuff, that’s not entirely true. Really, the most he has is the skull closet with engraved golden door. That and the pot in which he planted Kotoha’s head but that one is a gift from Gyokko so it doesn’t really count.

Kokushibou

As with most of them, we were blessed with enough info on Kokushibou’s, or rather Michikatsu’s, homes. Growing up a samurai, he never had time to spare, little to no friends and a bride who was most likely found for him without him having any say in it, it’s really not that much of a surprise he would elect to leave it all behind and become a demon slayer since it gave him significantly more freedom.

Even as a demon, not much have changed. During the day, he stays at a mansion like the samurai lord he is, and at night, he goes out to hunt down the pests in the area, more often than not treating himself with a bountiful feast while he’s at it. He also has a room in the Infinity Fortress but like the majority of the Upper Moon demons (actually everyone but Douma), he enjoys his solitude way more.

He has a few servants at the mansion. Ones that get replaced every once in a while when they mysteriously disappear. But the salary is high enough to let any major rumors die out in a blink (I know, I promised, I’m sorry) so the most he has to deal with are whispers about him overworking his servants to the point where they rather abandon the money and run away under the cloak of the night.

You would probably find the house eerily plain but he’s used to it. The backyard is where he spends most of his time aside from his room and those two are the only actually decorated places in the house. And they’re still kept neat and practical for the most part. He rarely has anything that wouldn’t serve a purpose, both when it comes to items and people.

[teddystrap]

[神なる君と] Spirit duo - Rei

なんかちょっとラストスパートな感じですけど…

Rei is the friendly spirit that Sakuya and co. met when they were investigating rumours about hauntings in the old school building. He’s arguably the most ‘mysterious’ character, since nothing is known about his former life, and I was super curious what his deal is. Not to mention he’s the final obstacle standing between me and Mikoto!! Ψ(￣∀￣)Ψケケケ

Truth be told he’s not really my type, though - since I’m not 15 anymore. I mean he’s a ghost but looks more like a forest elf / Mori Boy circa. 2001, and his voice sounds like it’s breaking. Compared to the other characters also he has a personality (or lack thereof) that is blander than konnyaku. In fact I found myself opening all the Yuzuru options in his common route first before going back and redoing them for Rei, because senpai saranghae I only wanna be wit u <3... 

Aaanyway.

-Mizuniwa Rei-

Rei-kun’s common route was actually quite revealing and interesting - in two of his ema, Mikoto actually asked to tag along, so it seemed like there might be some important information there idk. 

In his second ema, Mikoto tells Sakuya that she has the power to push people who are on the brink between Life and Death into one world or another, depending on what kind of guidance she gives.

Which in retrospect seemed like heavy foreshadowing for what’s about to come.

Fuu-san’s backstory was also revealed here:

Around 10 years ago, Fuu-san and his bff, a boy named Kawashina Yuuya, were students at Mikagurayama High School. One day they found a hidden basement storage room in the old school building, and turned it into their hang-out spot.

The basement used to be a bomb shelter, and had some books left over on occult spells and curses, that were used during the war to protect the townspeople. Fuu-san found a book with a spell to summon the powers of the Great Demon, and wanted to try it out of fun/boredom, but Yuuya was against it.

So Fuu-san did it by himself anyway. He got the sealed cursed box from the magical cave and took it back to the basement to perform the spell. Halfway through he passed out... and when he came to, he realised that Yuuya saved him by transferring the spell onto himself. 

Yuuya never woke up again, despite a lot of medical attention and whatnot. After half a year, Fuu-san decided to quit school and skip town to learn exorcism so that he can save his friend. But when he finally returned a few years later, Yuuya had already died...

Fuu-san lived with guilt all these years and thought that Yuuya died hating him. But when he went down to the basement with Sakuya to liberate his spirit, Yuuya’s spirit communicated through Sakuya that he doesn’t ever regret saving Fuu-san, and he hopes Fuu-san can stop blaming himself and go forward in life, smiling... By this point I was pretty much crying like a baby... ｡･ﾟ･(ﾉД｀)･ﾟ･｡

Oh how I wish there was a Su-sa-no-o in my neighbourhood, with a sexy store-owner like Fuu-san... 

But we’re not here to court Fuu-san (I wish we could, mang. I wish we could), so let’s get back to Rei. In his route Sakuya tries to help him to find out about his family and his past. She asks Aki for help ofc, and Aki reports back that she couldn’t find anyone matching Rei’s description in the database of deaths, nor the missing persons list...

And the mystery deepens dun-dun-DUN. This would’ve made for an interesting story development,... except the writers totally abandon it and instead opt for Rei and Sakuya frolicking around in the forest, true to his Mori Boy style (wholesomely tho, since they are both underage XD). Then Rei realises that he’s not long for this world, and he tries to put some distance between them - but Sakuya eventually convinces him that they should spend his last remaining time on earth together and make lots of beautiful (wholesome) memories.

There were a lot of group events in his route, which was nice since I got to see Yuzuru-senpai mucho. (Although he’s not an option here obvsly T_T)

You know I will happily choke on a fish bone for you, senpai <3.

So hoshimatsuri night, Rei undergoes the ceremony to pass into the other world. Sakuya stays home, because she’s not strong enough to go and say goodbye to him. Is this like deja vu from the Yorihito/Nisei story arc or what?? ...After that, Sakuya goes to the old school building one day after school, and finds a note from Rei. SURPRISE - he’s still here.

...

It turns out that Sakuya’s, uhh, clinginess is keeping him from successfully departing. At this rate he’s going to grow weaker and weaker and become trapped in the interstitial space between two worlds - forever. They keep communicating through notes, and through voice chatting over radio, while Sakuya grows enough balls to finally let him go.

Eventually she does. Because let’s face it - Otomate can’t afford to pay their seiyuu to carry on a story for like two gajillion chapters.

In his final moment of departure, he appears to Sakuya in a dream, but they can’t hear each other’s voice. Just as Sakuya is freaking out, he pulls her in and kisses her, then disappears into the ether. (*ฅ́˘ฅ̀*)♡

...I guess Yuzuru and Rei’s routes don’t work the same way as Narumi and Yakumo’s, bc you don’t get the alternative ending by choosing the ‘wrong’ option for the last couple of choices. I wasn’t strong enough for senpai’s bad end, but I was actually pretty curious about Rei’s, although all the same I wasn’t able to unlock it. Either way I hope he didn’t get stuck in between worlds forever, poor kid has been through enough.

1. Good end: Fast forward 10 years, Sakuya becomes a teacher at Mikagurayama High School, just as Rei had hoped. She still goes to the garden every day to take care of Rei’s flowers. The old school building is about to be torn down because it’s too old and might be a safety hazard. She’s on her way there one last time... when she gets a call from Aki, who finally found out what happened with Rei’s past-life investigation 10 years ago. Unfortunately Aki trips on something and the line cuts off before we get to hear it. _(:3」∠)_

So Sakuya is there happily watering her flowers, when guess who appears - ahem *Rei*, now all grown up. He tells her that this time he’s not a spirit anymore... and the scene just ends there. I’ve seen a lot of abrupt endings but this has gotta take the cake. Although I’ll admit adult Rei is kinda sorta smoking hot, so less talk more making out!

[Thoughts] What can I say? This route really didn’t explain as much as I thought it would, although there were some good bits. For one, the Fuu-san backstory really got to me. Fuu-san was always the side character that I was most curious about, since he seems kind of... shady, and like he might’ve had a colourful past. His arc really delivered, and it’s my favourite out of all the four side stories, although I loved them all in their own way.

I was expecting to find out about Rei’s past here, but I guess the writers are saving it for Mikoto’s route / wrap-up, which almost certainly means there’s going to be a surprise revelation. So I am looking forward to that and I hope they don’t fuck it up.

The route itself actually felt like it was mostly stuff that belongs in a fandisk, rather than an individual character route. All the group hangouts, and scenarios that reveal idiosyncrasies about the other characters (e.g. everyone’s drawings in the Fuu-san arc. I finally got to see Yuzuru-senpai’s kawaii creations! :3).

Senpai’s art totally unleashes his inner otome...

As expected, Rei failed to give me any doki-doki feels... except at the end, where we saw grown-up Rei and got to hear Iguchi Yuuichi’s normal voice for like 2 seconds. (I wish this game had a fandisk bc I *definitely* need more of that!!) From the other character routes I got the sense that he’s an iyashi-kei type of guy, and he’s probably the most consistent out of all of them, because he continues being selfless and caring about Sakuya before himself throughout - e.g. helping her to find her future path despite not having one himself. 

Still I gotta admit, when he confessed that he liked Sakuya, I did a silent fist-pump in the air, because FINALLY here’s a guy who said it first. I’m so tired of always having to make the first move >;(

Also the thing that Narumi said really touched me here: that Rei would rather choose a lonely existence as a spirit trapped between two worlds for the rest of eternity, than force Sakuya to let him go. Even when he was weakening, he never said anything to Sakuya. In a way he was perhaps the most adult-like one out of all of them. Admittedly I didn’t like Sakuya very much in this route. She seemed very self-absorbed and immature, refusing to face the truth. But eventually Narumi kind of slapped some sense into her (figuratively ofc, I mean Narumi would never actually slap her XD) and she did choose to do the right thing.

...I guess Narumi is determined to be the guy that has a crush on her and ‘saves her’ one way or another in every route. Kudos to him but he’s still only, like, my third or fourth favourite lols.

Lastly, I felt that this route was actually the most poetic + metaphorical one so far. (Maybe the other ones were, too, and I just wasn’t paying attention?) ...The metaphor of flowers bearing seeds that blossom into new flowers, bearing witness to their relationship and carrying on their legacy. When they first met the flowers were newly planted, and when they said goodbye they were just about to wither. 

Also Sakuya and Rei always met after class at sunset, the time between day and night - like the space between Life and Death. Idk mang but that’s, like, really beautiful or sumshit.

But this is the most poetic thing of them all~!

[kuriquinn]

Telanadas [4/19]

Cover Page & Disclaimer

first chapter

The storm continues through the night and into the morning, persisting long after dawn’s first light. The members of the outfit sit in silence, distractedly playing cards or dice as they wait for the sharp wind to subside and the sun to pierce the constant cover of clouds.

When the blowing snow and ice subsist, but still does not give way to light, Kakashi ventures from the cave to scout their surroundings. His magic affords him the ability to transform into a creature more inclined toward frigid temperatures, and with senses more useful than a human’s.

“Too bad he can’t cast that on us,” Naruto grumbles. “I wish I had a fur coat right now…”

“With our luck, we would end up stuck as forest creatures with him forgetting to undo the spell,” Sasuke points out.

“I guess…”

“Don’t be so critical. Kakashi’s a talented mage,” Sakura says loyally. Off their unimpressed expressions, she goes on to admit, “When he’s not getting distracted by every old lady or black cat crossing the street.”

While waiting for the mage to return, the three of them continue their game of Wicked Grace, though it is only out of habit. For whatever reason, when the three of them play, the game always ends up in a three-way deadlock. Sakura and Sasuke are equals in strategy and Naruto appears to have the luck of the gods; Sasuke would accuse him of cheating if it were not for the fact the other man cannot lie to save his life.

A shadow lurks in the entrance of the cave, and they all glance up at the giant bear that looms over them. The beast gives a deliberate shake of its shoulders, knocking thick deposits of snow off, and then begins to shift. A moment later, Kakashi stands there, appearing mildly disgruntled.

 “The way is somewhat clear,” he tells them. “It is not the best condition. There are snow drifts everywhere, and the wind is still like a knife. But we will be able to see more than a few feet in front of us.”

“Oh, great. So, if we’re about to go over a cliff, we’ll at least be able to see the way down,” Naruto complains.

“No sign of any temple, though, cursed or otherwise,” Kakashi continues. “It will be just our luck if we end up having the climb the whole mountain before we reach it.”

“This Kaguya person is more trouble than she is worth,” Sasuke mutters.

“Well, the legend does say the temple is at the very top of this peak,” Sakura says with a shrug. “The odds of us finding it soon are a fool’s hope.”

They make quick work of packing the rest of their gear before bundling themselves once more against the cold. Kakashi bewitches several small stones to emit a comfortable warmth, setting them into their gloves and boots, and then they are off.

Just as the day before, wind slashes at them like a Suna raiding party, coming from every direction and without warning. Luckily, it is not laden with snow or ice anymore, or they would be blinded. Still, the whites of Sasuke’s eyes freeze if he opens his lids beyond a squint.

Kakashi was not joking about the snowdrifts, either. They are high and unyielding, forcing them all into an ungainly march that has Sasuke’s calves and thighs burning at the repetitive movement.

The shortest of their party, Sakura has the worst of it, though she does her best to soldier on. Despite her efforts, she slows them down even just following behind the taller men. Deciding they will be stuck out in the cold that much longer if they wait for her, Sasuke grabs her pack and tosses it to Naruto. Before the man can question it, Sasuke then orders Sakura to clamber onto his back.

“What?!” she demands, face red in a manner that is more embarrassment than the assault of cold on her cheeks. “N-no, I’m fine, I can manage—”

“You will manage to get left behind and lost,” he informs her gruffly. “Gird your pride for another day. When we are in Iwa drinking your dwarven liquor. For today, I want to get out of this weather.”

“He does have a point, Sakura, even if he is being remarkably blunt about it,” Kakashi agrees. “At least endure it until we get to more steady ground. The higher we get, the more solid the ground will be.”

She spares another half a second in consideration, before nodding, and clambering up on Sasuke’s back. As she settles into place, she does not notice the way Kakashi’s eyes crinkle or the outline of his mouth beneath his mask. Sasuke does, and knows the older man is smirking at him, but ignores it.

“Just do not fall off or choke me,” he informs Sakura as they continue onward.

“Right,” she says, sounding a little breathless. “Are you sure I’m not too heavy for you? I could get Naruto to—”

“It is fine,” he cuts her off, hefting her once to get a better grip under her thighs. It does not escape his attention that this is the closest they have ever been, or the most they have touched since they met. Or that the weight of her against his back is more comfortable than he would have thought.

“Hey, asshole, don’t you dare try anything funny,” Naruto calls back to him, scowling at Sasuke in annoyance. He is ridiculously overprotective of his fellow Warden, and while it is easy to ignore most of the time, right now it is a little more difficult than usual.

Especially with the growing warmth of her body so close to his.

Teeth gritted, Sasuke sets off forward, stalking past the other two until they hurry to catch up.

The rest of the journey is thankfully silent. Sasuke is so focussed on the weather and not dropping his charge that need not dwell on troublesome notions.

It may be an hour, perhaps more, when they finally experience a break.

The wind dies down, and the sun pierces through the cloud cover, illuminating their path in front of them. Even better, the snow is more stable now, and there is no longer any danger of becoming mired waist-deep in it.

“You can let me down now,” Sakura says quietly in his ear. Sasuke disguises his shiver by immediately relinquishing his hold on her, allowing her to drop gracefully to her feet. “Let me know if I can return the favour sometime.”

“I doubt there will ever be an occasion where you need to carry me,” he says stiffly.

Something like hurt flashes across her face at this, which bothers him, because he was not intending to be insulting. He simply cannot fathom a situation where he would be injured or unconscious to such an extent that he could not soldier through it.

Before he can tell her so, there’s a shout from Naruto. “Look!”

They both glance up. It takes a moment, and then they see it: village in the distance.

“Yes!” Naruto punches his fist in the air. “We can finally get out of this frozen hell and get a homecooked meal! And maybe even sleep in an actual bed!”

Sasuke privately thinks the village will not have much of either. The pathetic collection of hovels is overshadowed by trees and rock outcroppings, so that even as the afternoon sunlight shines, the village remains shrouded in night.

“I can barely believe it,” Sakura says, wandering away from Sasuke, their minor interchange apparently forgotten. “What sort of people would choose to settle up here?”

“Ask Sasuke,” Naruto sniggers. “It probably looks like paradise for him.”

“As long as you are not present, it could be,” Sasuke replies, but his distraction takes the tartness out of his reply. The village exudes an aura of foreboding he has only experienced once. When he was a child, he and Itachi stumbled onto the ruins of an elven temple. The stench of death and darkness hung there like the air of a crypt, and it is the same feeling he gets from this village.

Still, there is no point or purpose to turning around now. With their quest demanding they search this place, and without any other possibility of shelter for miles, this damned hamlet is their only terminus.

The approach is silent and grim, and Sasuke can sense his comrades anxiety. Everyone seems ready to spring at a moment’s notice. Every step closer to the village, the atmosphere of wrongness increases.

It is not improved as they wander past the first eerie, shabby houses. Trees that appear more dead than alive sprout haphazardly out of the snowy paths. In the distance, a small dock floats with one lone boat moored on a lake that has likely never unfrozen. More of the miserable houses, shacks of mismatched wood, dot the slope up the mountainside. Abandoned wagons and farm gear litter the frozen, winding paths.

But the most disconcerting thing about this whole place is the utter silence that reigns. Sasuke can hear no people, nor animals. It is as if the very whisper of the wind through the trees is missing in this place.

The hair on the back of his neck stands on end.

They have not gone far when they are suddenly joined by another presence. As if appearing by magic, a leather-faced, hollow-eyed man in tattered armour appears.

“What are you doing in Rōran?” he demands.

He addresses Naruto, barely taking notice of the other three behind him; it is a human quirk Sasuke knows well. People immediately assume that Naruto is the leader of their outfit because he is both a human and a warrior. Sasuke’s ears and Sakura’s small build, as well as Kakashi’s staff, cause humans to view them as no more than second-class.

It is a fiction Sakura encourages, if only because of the use in enemies misjudging which of their group presents the most danger.

“There’s nothing for you here,” the sentry insists.

“How do you know that?” Naruto challenges cheerfully. “I could be a merchant with many useful items and wares that people here would benefit from.”

The guard is not impressed. “You haven’t got a cart. And you all look like you’re starving, not selling.”

“Never mind that,” Kakashi interrupts. “We have business here.”

“No, you don’t. I’d’ve been informed if anyone was expecting…” his eyes rove over them judgementally, “visitors.”

“We’re looking for information,” Sakura pipes up, “and once we have it, we can be on our way.”

“Hmph. Perhaps Revered Father Mukade will know of what you seek. Unfortunately, he’s ministering to the villagers now and can’t be disturbed.”

“Then why mention him?” Sasuke mutters under his breath.

It is clear the man does not intend to tell them anything useful, even if he were privy to it. The group tacitly agree not to mention their actual quest, and Sakura instead suggests, “Maybe you can offer us some answers then.”

“Ask and be on your way.”

“Is there anyone else who might know the goings on in the area? An elder, or even a barkeep?”

“We’ve neither.”

“Do you know where the next nearest settlement is then?”

“No.”

Sakura does not exactly frown, but her mouth firms a little. Her eyes flit to Sasuke, and her head makes an incremental move to one side that suggests there is no point to continuing this.

“Can you point us in the direction of somewhere to gather provisions, then?” Kakashi asks. “If we can resupply and rest for a spell, we can be out of here as soon as possible.”

The guard gives him a sour look, clearly wanting to deny him, but thinks better on it.

“There’s a general supply store up the ways,” he tells them grudgingly. “Won’t be much there, but it’s better than nothing.”

“Thanks,” Sakura says, plastering a false smile on her face and prodding a scowling Naruto ahead of her.

The sentry watches them as they head in the direction he indicated, and even when he is far behind them, Sasuke continues to feel his eyes.

“Anyone else feel the cold, icy fingers of dread up their spine?” Naruto asks under his breath. “That guy was disturbing.”

“That is not the only thing that worries me,” Kakashi agrees quietly. “I have never heard of a Revered Father within the Chantry hierarchy.

“And where are all the people?” Sakura adds. “They can’t all be asleep or out working, can they? You’d the think there’d be women and children about.”

As they enter the village proper, Sasuke moves closer to Sakura, angling slightly downward to murmur, “You have no intention of just getting supplies, do you?”

“No,” she agrees. “But they say it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission. Is he still watching us?”

“Hm.”

“I will deal with this,” Kakashi replies, and covertly flicks his fingers. A wispy green cloud flickers in the surrounding air, and then dissipates before it truly takes form. “I can have this swarm lead him on a bit of a chase while we look around.”

But it turns out there is not much to see.

Though they pass many houses, more than they expected at first glance, they all appear empty. Once Naruto tries to catch a peek through the dirty, frost-covered windows, but the spying yields nothing.

“You shouldn’t do that.”

Everyone jumps as—in the same manner as the lone sentry—a skinny, wan child appears, like the sentry, as if out of nowhere.

“Why are you here?” he presses.

Sakura moves forward, offering the boy a kind smile. “We’re just travellers passing through.”

“Why would you travel here?” he asks bluntly. “Lowlanders don’t belong here.”

“We can really, really see that,” Naruto murmurs to himself.

“I remember some Lowlanders like you,” the boy goes on, unaware or uncaring. “They left…I think. I never saw them again.” Sasuke and Kakashi exchange significant looks. “I doubt I’ll see you again.”

He walks away without warning, singing softly to himself in an unnerving monotone.

“All in favour of getting the hell out of here?” Naruto suggests.

“Not yet,” Sakura says and nods to something up ahead: the supply store of which the sentry spoke. “If there’s a merchant of some sort there, I bet he’ll know something.”

The store itself is homely, but surprisingly, the sallow-skinned shopkeeper is a little more forthcoming than his fellow villagers.

“You’re not from Rōran,” he says, tone more surprised than unkind.

“Everyone says that as if we are not aware of that fact,” Kakashi remarks mildly.

“Well we…we don’t get many visitors,” the man says, honest enough, but he sounds nervous.

“This place is so remote,” Sakura agrees. “Can you tell us about it?”

The man shrugs noncommittally. “How would you describe the place you only know as home?”

Something is not right in here, Sasuke decides, studying the barren walls of the store. There is a familiar tang in the air that should not be in a merchant’s abode.

“I can think of a few words about mine,” Naruto snorts.

“We need to resupply,” Kakashi says. “Basic rations, healing kits, blankets…”

“I don’t have much, but I suppose you can take a look,” the man says, as if it’s not his business to see to the needs of customers.

The falseness of the entire thing begins to grate on Sasuke, and while Sakura starts to barter with the man, he wanders around the room. As he explores farther away from the counter, the sharp smell in the air becomes more pronounced. It appears to be coming from a door to the back of the store.

Sasuke frowns and moves forward.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” the shopkeeper snaps. “That’s private!”

“I smell blood,” he replies. That is all it takes for the sallow-faced man to give a sudden unholy shriek and throw himself over the counter at Sakura.

The move is so surprising, she does not react until he has knocked her to the ground, throwing her elbows back to catch herself. He is already pulling something from his belt, a dagger gleaming in the dim light of the store.

“Sakura, watch out!”

Comments and concrit are much appreciated, and very motivating! For information about supporting my original, non-fandom related works, you’re welcome to check out my ko-fi tip jar, or my patreon page. 

栗

Next Chapter

[zne-theartist]

Sexy Little Red Riot Hood Ch13

Link on AO3: here Boku no Hero Academia | Wolf Bakugou x Little Red Riot Hood (AU) Chapters: 13/? Summary: Kirishima heals up (relearns how to walk properly) and they arrive. Content Warnings: sweet aftercare | Aizawa x Toshinori added into the mix

Author’s Note: it’s still monday! just a really late monday! thank you guys for your sweet words - I’ve been feeling better and working on getting back up on my feet. as you can sort of tell my writing has been affected by it all. not that I don’t have ideas - just getting it all out from my head. but I’m picking back up! So I apologize about the three/four week delay ;;;;

Chapter Thirteen: Mysterious Figures

The aftermath of the week long rut was astounding. Kirishima looked like a work of art with hickeys littering his entire body, clear bite marks, handprints all over his hips, even his ass from the spankings that occurred. Understandably Kirishima was aching and he was exhausted. Bakugou’s rut was completely sated and so was his alpha side. The first thing they did when it ended was Bakugou moved the rocks and took Kirishima to the creek to wash up.

Bakugou was completely doting, cleaning Kirishima out and being certain to be gentle. He wouldn’t let Kirishima even try to walk – though Kirishima was a hundred percent certain he’d wobble and fall like a baby learning to walk. Then, he was drying him off with clean furs and they were back in the cave. Bakugou used whatever Shinsou and Tokoyami made to help with the injuries inflicted. He retrieved water and cooked food, only waking Kirishima to feed him. Kirishima was sleepily in and out of conscious for the entire process. He got Kirishima dressed in some loose pants and a shirt he had put aside for the after math. He wrapped Kirishima up in his fur skin as he got dressed. Then, he picked him up in his arms and he brought him back to the camp of their pack.

“There’s the love birds!” Ojiro exclaimed happily. All of them were by the fire burning with the last of the meat cooking, packing up everything already. Shinsou kept packing but Shouji and Tokoyami looked up.

“You didn’t destroy him did you?” Shinsou made a smart remark. Bakugou huffed.

“I left my marks.” He said rather proudly as he sat down, shifting Kirishima in his lap. Kirishima simply readjusted his head against Bakugou’s neck, nuzzling it as he sighed. Bakugou even had bite marks and hickeys along his neck left by Kirishima in the redhead’s own possession of the blonde.

“You seem nice and refreshed.” Tokoyami commented. “While Kirishima seems like he’s glowing but dead to the world.”

“Yeah,” Bakugou huffed. “I’m all satisfied – don’t really need to sleep after that. Kirishima will be out for a while.”

“Yeah… `m tired…” Kirishima responded, semi-conscious but eyes still closed. He was listening to the conversation in and out.

“You handled him well I see, Kirishima.” Shinsou commented and Kirishima made a small smile, barely able to laugh and it came out more as an airy hum.

“Did you want to let him rest or did you want to get a move on?” Shouji finally spoke up. It had been exactly a week and no doubt a lot of ground would’ve been breached.

“We can move.” Bakugou said, taking a piece of meat that Ojiro offered him before he offered it to the others. “I’ll carry him, so he can sleep. Not like he can walk anyway.” Bakugou smirked happily.

“Shut up,” came Kirishima’s sleepy reply, yawning before he fully dozed off. The entire group couldn’t help but laugh at the weak argument from Kirishima, finding it cute. Bakugou nuzzled his nose into Kirishima’s hair before he was eating his meat.

“Nothing happened right?” He spoke, serious stature back.

“Not a thing and no suspecting activity.” Tokoyami reported, finishing wrapping his bag up and pulling the strap closed. “If we leave today we can gain ground lost.” Bakugou was satisfied.

“Good…” He ate the meat, taking another huge bite out of it with his teeth. They talked and prepared their things and then set to work trying to make it seem like they hadn’t camped there at all.

Once packed up and good to go, they headed off. They weren’t terribly far from their Point B destination, the coast, as they had stopped about four days off when Bakugou’s mood had gotten the worst. It was a good thing they were not too far, because they all wondered how long Bakugou could hold his lover and how long Kirishima would sleep. Bakugou held Kirishima in his arms just like he said and still kept the lead, not slowed down at all by his lover’s weight. During those four days Kirishima slept nearly the entire time, on full recovery mode, and it wasn’t until they could smell the sea that he was actually trying to walk, legs still like jelly. Bakugou tried to help him with walking through it all-; however, he ended up picking Kirishima up and carrying him because he was taking too long.

“Wow!” Kirishima’s eyes sparkled as they could see from the hilltop they came upon, a breach in the trees with a view of the vast expanse of the sea. They all took a moment to relax and stare, the breeze salty and nice on their skin, though it was a little cold. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah,” Bakugou quietly agreed, sniffing the air and nose wrinkling at the salt smell. Kirishima looked at Shouji.

“You lived around here right?”

“Yes, my village is in the sea,” Shouji pointed out to the water. “We live on one of the islands breaking between the sea and the ocean.” Kirishima and Ojiro tried straining their eyes to see but couldn’t see an island on the horizon at all. “It’s far out,” He chuckled. “You won’t see it.”

“Ah,” Kirishima laughed nervously and Ojiro smiled at him, both laughing now at their silliness. Bakugou rolled his eyes.

“Come on, let’s get moving. Does the area look familiar to you Shouji?” Bakugou spoke up, looking around, arm around Kirishima since his legs were still a little shaky. He wanted to find the Plus Ultra Sanctuary as soon as possible.

“Yes it does.”

“Then let’s get going. I’ll feel less anxious when we get there.” He huffed, tail swishing behind him.

“Please follow me.” Shouji took the lead, though Bakugou was right there with him – he was the alpha so he needed to be there ready in case of anything.

They walked along through the forest, down close to the beach where sand mixed with the grass. The shrubbery was brighter, though everything was beginning to turn to fall colors. After walking along the coastline they branched towards a set of mountains near the beach. It took about three hours as the terrain was a lot more difficult to get through – Shouji and Bakugou constantly needing to use their strength to move thick branches so they could get through. When the trees and terrain eased up and cleared out they came upon some ruined rubble – a stone wall that had crumpled in some places, and was enclosing a large courtyard. They could see a large building on the other side of the courtyard and garden. There was a church as well, and another house though all the buildings looked like they could use some work. They were overgrown and some parts needed repair. They could see the beautiful mountains surrounding them, low on the horizon with how far up they were, able to still smell the sea and see it when they got closer.

“This place looks abandoned and decrepit.” Ojiro commented. Shinsou nodded, agreeing with his lover.

“Looks uninhabited.”

“The flowers have been tended to.” Tokoyami spoke up as they reached closer to the garden. The flowers did look like they were flourishing, and the gates surrounding it were nice and not overgrown.

“You sure this is it?” Bakugou sneered a little. “How could this be a sanctuary protected by some great force if it’s coming apart?”

“I’m sure this is it.” Shouji agreed.

A noise suddenly made them snap their attention towards the house near the courtyard. Through the sun in their eyes there stood two figures, surprised and shadowy due to the sun blinding them, having just exited the house. Bakugou immediately put himself in front, especially sheltering Kirishima as he growled, ears twitching in aggression and his tail bristled. His hands sparked up. Everybody was tense though, Tokoyami’s hand in his pocket to reach for a bomb in front of Shouji, and Shinsou looked relaxed but he was tense and ready to fight, Ojiro behind Shinsou, unsure what to do.

The mysterious figures started walking their way.

They didn’t know what to expect, and stood ready for a fight.

Then finally they could see, figures blocking out the sun and illuminating what they actually looked like. Two older men dressed simply. Shinsou stepped forward in front of their pack, hand out to calm them and to calm Bakugou before he went blasting to kingdom come.

“Aizawa,” Shinsou suddenly bowed to the man with the long, wavy black hair (looked like bedhead). He was the taller of the two, wearing a simple black long sleeve shirt and grey pants, with eyes that looked tired. Honestly he seemed exactly like Shinsou with an indifferent expression on his face, though his took on a little more of an annoyed look.

“Shinsou.” The man spoke in a deep voice. The shorter man beside him was scrawny, with long yellow hair that was held back in a messy bun, in a white shirt much too large for him and baggy pants. He looked sickly. He looked up at Aizawa.

“Shouta, you know these people?”

“Shinsou is one of the students I had.”

“Ah, I see,”

“The others I don’t know.” He spoke plainly, black eyes looking over the rest of them, causing Bakugou to spark up again. The blonde man smiled and he touched Aizawa’s arm rather intimately.

“Well then,” He looked to them and held out his arms in a mock welcome. “Welcome to Plus Ultra Sanctuary.”

[angstalottle]

Watering the plants

Part2: Tension had be high ever since Pidge’s headphones were broken and no one owned up to it. Everyone was in a bad mood, not talking or trusting each other. Allura saw only one solution. To abandon the Paladins on a forest planet without their armour or bayards with only emergency supplies.

“Well this sucks” Lance moaned looking through the bag of supplies finding only one large blanket between the five of them and only enough food to last two days if they rationed. “It could be worse, at least the planet doesn’t seem hostile.” Shiro shrugged from where him and Pidge were building a makeshift shelter. “I only hope they remembered to pack my meds.” Lance sighed continuing his rooting. All the others stopped in their tasks. It had been a couple weeks since the garden incident and everyone had been tip toeing around the subject of Lance and his episodes. Well everyone but Hunk “don’t worry Buddy I got them here.” He produced the full orange plastic container from his pocket and gave it a little shake causing the pills to rattle around. “Thanks Hunk.” Lance sighed standing up and joining him building a fire.

By time night fell Keith had returned from hunting with a few alien rabbits that Hunk cooked while everyone else sat round the fire. “You know for a survival bonding trip, this is actually kinda nice.” Lance sighed leaning back against a tree while the others nodded in agreement. For a moment everything was peaceful. Then that moment passed and the ground collapsed beneath them.

The sudden earthquake had caused the thin piece of rock they had set up camp on to fall into a cave network. Lance sat up rubbing his head as he looked around the dark cavern he had fallen into. His arm hurt but didn’t feel broken so that was good. The problem was he couldn’t see any of the others. “Hello?” His voice echoed throughout the empty space. “Guys? Hunk? Shiro? Pidge?… Keith?” Nothing no reply. Lance stretched his hands out in front of him hitting the cold stone wall. He was trapped in a small cavern only about a arms width in diameter. He felt around and found what could be the bottom of a ledge but was just out of his reach. Lance sighed, didn’t look like he was getting out of here anytime soon. He slid down to the wet floor drawing his knees close to his chest as he waited and listened. At some point he must of fallen asleep because when he woke he heard someone yelling. “Hello?” Lance called. “Lance?” The voice replied. A head suddenly appeared over the ledge holding a small light. Lance realised it was Keith. “Holy quiznark, I’ve never been so glad to see you Mullet.” “Likewise.” He smirked offering down a hand to pull him up. Lance tried to lift his hand high enough but a jolt of pain reminded him of his injured arm. Keith noticed the look of pain and lowered his light slightly to see the blood stained limb. “Fuck” “Language” Lance chuckled. “I don’t know how I’m going to get you out of there…” Keith sighed. “Guess we just have to hope one of the others gets out and calls Allura.” “Don’t worry I’m sure Pidge has gotten out by now. That little gremlin practically lives in the vents so I’m sure a little underground cave system is nothing.” Lance chuckled glad to see a small smile forcing its way onto Keith’s face. A small beeping noise came from Lance’s watch causing the blue paladin to pale. “I don’t suppose you found my meds after you fell… did you?” Keith’s eyes widened “shit Lance… what do I do? How do I keep you here I-” “Keith buddy calm down. Missing a dosage just makes it more likely something will happen. It’s not a definite. And if you keep talking to me it may work out fine.” Keith seemed to calm down slightly at this but still seemed consumed by worry, not able to forget the sight of Lance standing over the plants bleeding from cuts in his wrists. “Ok…ok, so what do you want to talk about?” Keith asked taking a shaky breath. Lance shrugged in response causing Keith to groan in frustration. “Ok what about the ocean? Your always talking how much you miss it.” A fond look came across Lance’s face “I really do. I miss swimming against the current and the feeling of wet sand beneath my feet. I miss collecting sea glass and shell with my little brother and sister.” Lance rambled on about the ocean for about 20 minutes before Keith noticed Lance had the same far away look he had last time he had slipped away. “L-Lance? You still with me?” “Mmhm” Lance hummed his expression suddenly turning to panic. “Keith! The water its rising! Get me out!” He yelled frantically clawing at the walls. “Lance you need to calm down there’s no water.” Keith tried to explain. “No there is! Its getting higher! Please pull me up! I don’t want to drown!” He yelled scrapping his finger nails so hard against the rock that one came off and the others were split and bleeding. Keith knew this was bad. Lance could seriously hurt himself if this kept up. His thoughts turned to Hunk explaining that the best way to deal with situation was to try and calm Lance down and talk him out of what he’s doing. Keith tried to swallow the lump in his throat. “Lance..erm you can swim remember. You just need to swim up with the water.” Lance seemed to calm down slightly as he began to move his arms in what would a comical fashion if not for the circumstances. “Good buddy j-just concentrate on treading water and you’ll be just fine.” “Lance? Keith?” Shiro’s voice called from above as he scaled down the rock on a line. “Here Shiro!” Keith called back. Shiro landed next to him. “You ok? Where’s Lance?” He asked before following where Keith gestured to see Lance frantically moving his arms with tears falling down his face. Shiro cursed softly under his breath. “I knew coming here was a bad idea.” He dropped a line down to Lance and after a bit of coaxing was able to get him to the surface. He was sedated and placed into the pods for an hour to heal the damage done to his hands. When he came out and saw all the worried faces of his friends Lance broke down sobbing. “It happened again! I’m sorry I’m so sorry I’m such a useless paladin.” “You have nothing to apologise for Lance. This is my fault for sending you all on this bonding exercise. I never dreamed the planet would be unstable.” Allura said as she wrapped him up in a hug. Hunk stepped forward joining the hug"it’s not your fault princess it’s mine.“ He added guiltily "I had his meds, if I had just given them to him before the earthquake then it wouldn’t of happened. "I should of gotten out and called for help quicker instead of waisting time looking for everyone.” Pidge mumbled throwing her arms around Lance’s torso. “I’m the leader, looking after my team is responsibility, I’m so so sorry Lance.” Shiro placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “No… its my fault I couldn’t keep you here, I let slip off.” Keith grumbled too awkward to join the hug. After a few moment Lance looked up “let’s just move on ok? No point in feeling guilty…”

After that it was decided that every paladin would carry a small bottle of Lance’s medication on them when they went out on missions just in case. Lance pretended it didn’t bother him, but it felt like with his team constantly monitoring him they were just admitting to something Lance had known since day one. That he was the weakest link.

------------------------------------------part 1: https://langsty-mc-langstface.tumblr.com/post/159802129425/watering-the-plants

[vorpal-chandelier]

Backstory For Orville Thompson, Archaeologist Bard.

Orville was the first born in his family, a poor family who lived in the town of Morbig near the Teranian mountain range. Their town was about half a day away from a dwarven city, and also just a few days from the forest all by walking, so the town was inhabited by a mixture of wood elves, dwarves, gnomes, and humans primarily.

His family was, of course, a human family seeing as he himself was human, but had a sick mother and a father who couldn’t keep a job. His father, being selfish as he was, decided to leave his family so that he wouldn’t have to watch his wife or sons die of starvation, illness, or neglect. Orville was about seven years old at the time, and had two brothers and one sister.

His mother, tried her best to take care of them with what little she had to offer in service to the town, but only succeeded in doing so for about a six months before she became bedridden. Due to this, she asked Orville to try to find a job around town to provide enough money to feed the family and keep their shabby shelter over their heads.

Mostly because of his age, he had plenty of trouble doing this, but found a small group of older boys who seemed to get what they needed one way or another. He started running and playing with these children during the day and the evenings, and spent his nights sleeping or taking care of his siblings as his mother slowly wasted away.

The boys were tough on him, mostly because they were not nice boys, and he had to find ways to defend himself when the boy got rough with him. Mostly he took to padding his clothing with paper or wood planks or whatever he could find to tuck into or tie onto his clothing. At first, this caused the boys to make fun of him even more, but once he struck them a few times with his scraps of this or that, they would typically back off. In fact, he didn’t realize it, but his habit of “armoring” himself gave the rascals an even better idea for their shenanigans.

During the next several years they grew from the nuisance they were to more of a proper street gang, upgrading from the occasional verbal hazing of other children and pilfering of the local shop keeps cart goods to actually roughing up children and elderly for their money or belongings.

Orville never really liked doing that sort of thing, so he, over time, distanced himself from the gang and attempted to find odd jobs now that he was older. After a while, he even became a part-time apprentice at the local blacksmith, and although it wasn’t paid work, he knew soon enough he would be able to keep his siblings fed legitimately. This gave him the perfect reason to avoid running with his old crew, which led to him typically only being called upon when the group had the courage to try to pick on someone closer to their prime.

Unfortunately, soon after this his mother died, and when she did even more trouble followed. His “friends” being what they were, started to come to his home for short visits. Over time they made their stays more and more frequent, which made Orville uncomfortable because his friends, being older than he was, were at that age where they were becoming more and more interested in women, and on the street it showed.

The majority of the time that the did spend off the street was spent in Orville’s shabby shelter, going out of their way to tease and touch and pester his sister to a degree that not only made his brother’s uncomfortable, but made him worry even more. They had never done anything drastic before, but Orville couldn’t really trust them. He knew there were too many of these older boys for him to really confront them, and they had gotten more and more bold and sure of themselves as the years had gone by, so he decided he would leave with his siblings the first chance he could.

Toward the end of one of his “shifts” working under the blacksmith, he took a bag, a chain shirt, folded to fit in the bag, and a sword, but was caught before he could sneak away. The blacksmith was furious, and for good reason, but as Orville sobbed and pleaded, explaining his situation the blacksmith’s stone face softened, and a tear shed from his eye. The blacksmith then demanded that Orville take him home to his family, and he took in his brothers and sister, but insisted that Orville pull his weight to cover the added costs to his household.

Orville of course agreed, and began working full time for the blacksmith, without pay, but all of his family’s needs covered completely and truly by the blacksmith, looking after them like his own children.

It would come to nobody’s surprise that when the gang found their new hangout abandoned that they became enraged as well, and set out immediately to hassle the blacksmith. The gang of four struck during the day, mobbing one of the blacksmith’s customers just outside the building as they were negotiating on price. The blacksmith started by attempting to pull the rapscallions off of the man, but as he struggled with one, the other three released the man and converged on the busy blacksmith.

Orville ran out of the shop, hammer in hand and helped the blacksmith fight the thugs off. Being armed with something properly dangerous, and being larger at this point that some of the older boys due to the hard work, between the strong blacksmith and himself they did manage to run them off, but not without Orville taking on a serious beating in the process.

The blacksmith helped Orville back into the house and set him up with a slab of meat, then took some gear from his shop and set out to take care of the situation. The guards, having not perceived them as a real threat at this point, were now painfully aware that these boys needed to be handled properly thanks to him and the gang was forced with the option to either leave town, or spend time in jail.

The blacksmith told Orville upon returning that they had ultimately chosen to leave, and because of the blacksmith from then on the town took that sort of behavior much more seriously.

As Orville became a man, he expressed a great deal of gratitude for the blacksmith, but ultimately decided that he needed something more in his life. Now that he didn’t protect or feed his family, he felt Idle and empty doing the day to day labor of a blacksmith.

He remembered great tales of heroes and beasts, princesses and damsels that his mother used to tell back when she was well. He didn’t remember much of them, but he remembered enough to know that he needed adventure to feel whole, or at least that’s what he had decided.

After a long talk with the blacksmith, the man decided that Orville would no longer be obligated to work, because his siblings became like family to him, with the condition than when he was able to more than just enough money to live on, that he would send some their way, and of course he would visit when he could find the time.

Orville left his new home at the proud age of sixteen, and began travelling the land in search of adventure. Doing so, he found a company of stage performers looking for a strong arm to protect them, and he learned much about the mystic ways of the bard in these travels.

Months with one group, weeks with another, and sometimes a year or two with even more, Orville made many friends on his travels, some lucky, and some not so much. He picked up not only many skills, but many interests along the way, finding in himself a great love of history and ruins. Old caves and temples, and also a great interest in the people who left them behind.

Thirty three years old now, with many treasure and relics sent to the blacksmith, and many visits back home, he still roams the country in search of adventure, treasure, and true love.

[thudd224-art-old]

Avidity Adrift Chapter 4

As he exited cloister for the first time Maxiss gazed in wonder at the size of the island. The little mountain that he saw upon his arrival was actually quite larger than he had initially thought. The trees, hundreds of feet below seemed to taunt him as the two descended the path.  As they advanced downward a realization struck Maxiss and a new wave of vertigo caused him to back into the cliff, knocking a rock above him loose. Down the cliff face the stone tumbled, bouncing off various surfaces in its mad dance with gravity. It sailed past the tree line and continued to plummet, confirming what Maxiss feared. The trees were in fact far taller than he ever thought, two, possibly three hundred feet high, his heart sank. They were up, way up. Eventually Maxiss and Acuity made their way down to the base of the trail, which seemed to be carved into the cliff on the far side of the Mountain. A shift in the wind drew the Weaver's attention upward to the tree canopy, and noticed that the trees had far more branches than conceivability possible, until he remembered the height of the massive forest. Acuity studied the map, and the hunt began. A steady jog established, they began to exchange stories. For Maxiss this had become routine, and what he could remember flowed easily. Acuity on the other hand seemed to  withhold small details and would hesitate if asked about them, so Maxiss let it go for now.  He learned much about Acuity, yet knew so little. At one time a honored head enforcer in the city Kiln, now a renegade protecting a village on a mountain's peak. The child of an enforcement squad leader and a nobles daughter. Stripped of birthright as an infant because of being born blind, now striving to prove oneself worthy. Acuity was a complex individual indeed. Maxiss, an amnesiac an been fighting for the resistance for hundreds of years, not because he mercenary, rather that he had witnessed the way things were and knew that the current regime was flawed. Maxiss had outlived many good friends, lovers, and rivals. Over the centuries he had become more of a machine than a man in most instances, but he somehow retained what little humanity he could. After a few hours they stopped and rested. Maxiss delved into his provisions from Exemplar and prepared a stew. Once they caught their second wind the chase continued through the evening until they reached the base of the larger mountain. Acuity constructed an improvised shelter while Maxiss prepared another meal, stew this time as well.  As night fell they took shifts for sleeping, and lookout. A whole host of unfamiliar animal calls kept Maxiss alert during his watch, and long after. He found it quite unnerving that Acuity spent the entire watch with active camaflauge active, on a branch, just above him. Eventually morning came with more questions than answers, for Maxiss had spent the entire night wondering how a flying island had a day / night cycle. Sadly when asked Acuity had no idea, forcing Maxiss to abandon the train of thought. As the pair of warriors scaled the slope, rays of morning sunshine pierced the darkness, painting ever growing spots of light on the scenery surrounding them. As they reached the peak, a bird cried,drawing our duo's gaze skyward. It was the same type as the one the cloaked man drove, but it wasn't alone. Using as much cover as possible, Maxiss and Acuity infiltrated the nest without drawing attention to themselves. As they entered the massive cave voices could be heard, one belonged to Kebitzer, the other was the riders. Using a boulder just behind the target for cover, Acuity inquired if Maxiss had a plan. He turned and replied, "Yep, hold this," as he removed his mask and passed it to his companion and rose to his feet.  Without warning Maxiss sprinted toward the rider, who noticed an intruder far too late. Without any hesitation Maxiss grabbed the riders throat and slammed him into the hard cave floor, knocking his helm off. Continuing the attack, Maxiss locked the man's arms in place while sitting on his chest, effectively pinning him. Once again the Weaver went for the throat, squeezing it until the rider started thrashing about, struggling for air. Maxiss curled his free hand into a fist, and sent it screaming into the riders face. After several heavy blows Maxiss loosened his grip from around the man's throat, letting him catch his breath. He leaned in and asked, "Who sent you?" To which the man coughed out through a mouthful of teeth and blood, "A group of people with a shared interest, and a warning from a time traveler." Maxiss slugged him yet again and insisted, "I don't believe you, and if you don't make me, I'm going to put my fist through your skull," Immediately following with a punch to the floor hard enough to shake the entire cave. "Stop! Please don't kill him, he didn't hurt me," Kebitzer cried. Watching Maxiss brutally beat the beast man traumatized her to the point of immobility. The quaking of the floor had snapped her out of shock, bringing her back to the gruesome sight that lay on front of her. "I'm not going to kill him, oh no, this is discipline," Maxiss calmly replied, "however, if I don't get some answers I might just." "A ledger is tucked in the chest plate you're sitting on. If you'd get up I could give it to you," the injured Warden interjected. "Sure, I'll get off ya," a fiendish grin crept across Maxiss' face. As he rose to his feet Maxiss grabbed the riders chest plate, right above his neck and lifted him off the ground. The rider stayed still in hopes that the beating had ceased. Much to his dismay he was quite wrong. Once Maxiss had retrieved the ledger from the armor he slammed the beast man against the cave wall. An audible cracking of ribs echoed throughout the cave. Finally Maxiss dropped the rider, whom collapsed to his knees, trying and failing to catch his breath. Slowly Maxiss unfurled the paper, and leisurely scanned the text, ignoring the crying woman and wheezing animal. After a few minutes Maxiss turned back to the beast man, crouched down, and in a hushed tone stated, "I'm taking you back to Cloister, you've got some buildings to fix."  Maxiss then walked over to Acuity, who remained motionless throughout, and retrieved his mask. The Weaver equipped his faceplate and with his hand covered in blood closed it over his face, leaving four long red tracks on his black mask. Without looking back Maxiss started for the exit and said, "All of you, come on, were going back." "But he's injured," urged Kebitzer. "I didn't break his legs, yet," concluded Maxiss. Slowly the group descended the mountain to the same spot Maxiss and Acuity had camped earlier. Kebitzer had been set to look the nights meal, whilst Acuity stood watch. As it turns out, the rider was named Lithe. He once was a part of a clandestine organization of unknown intention, now he follows the whims of Maxiss. And at that moment he was to collect fire wood. Maxiss had left camp in search of a sturdy tree to punch. As dinner simmered, and wounds healed, echoes of heavy impacts could be heard throughout the forest. About halve an hour after the last boom was heard Maxiss returned to camp, fist smothered in sap and splinters. He removed his gauntlet and with the utmost care washed the sticky residue from his armor. An uneasy tension gripped the camp as Kebitzer dished out the nights meal. The night seemed to drag, and the only one that seemed to get much sleep was oddly enough Maxiss. Dawn slowly came on Maxiss' watch. A pleasant surprise awoke the slumbering group, sizzling meats slowly cooking in the fire.  "Eat up," Maxiss urged, "You'll need your strength for the journey."