#also tried firing bomb arrows at it from that small hole. that just made the bomb fly off in a random direction

[viulus]

So I haven't been updating anyone on my BotW progress, not really, but I felt like doing that right now.

Last night I finally made my way up to my first Devine Beast (Vah Medoh), and with that I also got to see the first flashback with Revali, and... I think he deserved to die in the Calamity, actually

[ymiwritesstuff]

A Helping Wing

Quick Revali scenario, I have had this idea for some time now and I’m finally posting it lol. Anyway enjoy soft, worried Revali!

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild

Revali x Reader

Summary: A trip to Goron City gets an unexpected turn with an even more unexpected reaction from the Rito Champion.

Notes: Injury

The scorching heat that dominated the air on the way to Death Mountain would have been unbearable if it weren’t for the fireproof elixirs you had made well in advance. Still, the hot air had its effect on you as you found yourself wiping tiny beads of sweat from your forehead every now and then as you walked along the rocky path. You could only imagine how the thickly feathered Rito behind you was most likely suffering from the heat much more than you were.

“Remind me again why are we on this absolutely horrendous trip to Goron City in the first place,” Revali complained behind you, eyebrows frowned in annoyance. A part of you knew that this would happen. Knowing him, just about any small nuisance in his way made his beak spill out words of irritation. All you could do was sigh.

“Daruk got seriously injured and Mipha requested us to bring her some supplies so she could heal him faster,” you explained, though had already done so when you initially started your trip to the city. You threw him a quick glance. “Without these, the process could take days.” You lifted the bag on your shoulder that held the herbs and potions the young Zora had asked for. Revali merely scoffed.

“Well, if this is such an important mission, why are we wasting our time on foot when we have two perfectly operational wings right here?” He motioned to his wings with his eyes. “Surely we would get there faster and be done with this cumbersome task.” You let out a laugh, keeping your eyes forward.

“As if you would let me climb on your precious little back,” you mocked. If there was something you knew about Revali is that he had too much pride in, well, everything, so you knew that what he was implying was practically impossible. Even if he was willing to let go of his ego in this rare, inconvenient situation, there was a problem with his idea. “Besides, the herbs would just fly out and burn if we’re that high up.” You turned around to look at him.

“We’re almost there. Just hang in there a little longer."

Revali clicked his tongue but eventually sighed, accepting your words. Despite his exasperation, you were right. Even with the effects of the elixir, flying high surrounded by the hot air would do damage to the precious contents of your bag, but also to him and you. His feathers would probably catch fire and that was the last thing he wanted. So, he continued to walk behind you, muttering miffed words under his breath.

As you pressed on under the extreme temperature, something quickly caught your eye. You stopped and Revali looked at you, raising his brow in confusion before your voice came through.

“Bokoblins.” You nodded towards the creatures. “Four of them.” They danced around as they usually did without a care in the world. The Rito crossed his wings.

“Nothing you can’t handle,” he stated, his words making you look at him in bewilderment.

“Me? Are you not going to help?” You purposely kept your voice down, as the Bokoblins hadn’t yet detected either of you. Your question was met with a smug smirk that stretched the edges of his beak.

“I am rather exhausted from this awful heat, and I’d rather let you do the honors, seeing as you seem to be quite determined in getting to the city in the first place.” You couldn’t believe his words. Revali was many things, but lazy was something you could have never expected. There was the possibility that he was telling the truth, but the pompous grin on his face made you doubt this. However, he was right in saying that defeating a few Bokoblins was no difficult task.

“Fine,” You spat and tossed the bag of supplies at him before grabbing your bow, a part of you regretting the decision to ask him to come with you in the first place. “I really hate you, you know?” Revali held the bag and took a few steps back, the smirk never fading from his face.

“The feeling is mutual.”

With a roll of your eyes, you turned away from him, your eyes gluing themselves on your target. The Bokoblins were in a nice little pile, so taking them out would be easy. However, you could feel Revali’s judging eyes boring into your back, watching your every move. At this point, you thought that he may have abstained from helping you just to see how you would do with the bow and then possibly mock you for an incorrect technique only he could see.  

You shook the thought away. Now was not the time to worry about Revali’s judgment. Your only task was to bring the supplies to Mipha and not pay attention to his foolishness. Still, in the back of your mind, some part of you wanted to impress him for whatever reason, so you attempted to take all of the Bokoblins out at once.

Revali watched as you prepared for your attack, that arrogant smirk still apparent. His eyes watched as you gripped the bow, how you tested the string and how you finally grabbed an arrow from your quiver and-

Suddenly, his expression changed to a panicked one as his widened eyes noticed the grave mistake you had made that took the form of the arrow you had chosen: A bright red, sizzling bomb arrow.

Revali quickly jumped into the air and grabbed the back of your shirt with his talons, pulling you away from the massive explosion caused by the arrow and the surrounding air. Your eyes widened at the blast, and you instinctively shielded yourself with your arms as you were pulled back before feeling your back slam against an armored chest.

The Rito stumbled back and fell to the rocky ground, softening your fall by having you land on his chest. The sound rang in your ears and you squeezed your eyes shut and only opened them once you couldn’t feel the heat of the flames any longer. You blinked and looked at your burned bow that laid on the ground, the Bokoblins fleeing the sight, frightened by the loud noise. It had all happened so fast, you only realized your mistake when Revali opened his beak:

“Are you out of your mind?!” He yelled behind you, voice filled with anger and concern. “You could have gotten both of us killed! How could you possibly think using a bomb arrow at a place like this was a good idea?!” You slowly stood up, still shaken by the accident.

“Are you truly that foolish? That you don’t know that a bomb arrow will explode as soon as it makes contact with the hot air?”

Of course you knew. In the heat of the moment, you hadn’t even realized that you had grabbed a bomb arrow and now you were scolded by your stupid mistake. Your eyes found the ground below you, embarrassment settling in your stomach. “I’m sorry... I just... I didn’t even realize,” You said, trying to somehow explain your actions, though you were more taken aback by his reaction. You had never heard him use his voice in such a manner.

A sigh left Revali’s beak as he tried to calm himself down. Truthfully, he didn’t fully know why he reacted in such a fiery manner.

“You’re hurt,” he finally said. You looked up at him and saw his eyes glued to your arm. Then you felt the burning pain on it. A significant piece of fabric from your sleeve was burned, the jagged hole revealing your reddened skin that sent waves of pain and discomfort throughout the rest of your arm. You hissed in pain and grabbed the abused area with your other hand.

You noticed Revali grabbing something from a bag of his own and motioning you to sit on a rock conveniently placed on the side of the road. You took his offer and sat down, fighting back tears that threatened to fall from your eyes. You glanced at Revali, who carried a white, jiggly blob of... something in his wing while walking towards you.

“What is that?” You asked, keeping your eyes on the unknown substance.

“White Chuchu jelly.” Revali kneeled beside you, expression neutral, rid of any signs of arrogance or judgment. “It should help with the burn,” he stated, pressing the jelly on the surface of your arm, the cool temperature of it immediately easing your pain. You let out a shaky breath.

“Why do you even have that?” You were unable to look at him, something inside you making your stomach churn. You felt his wings wrapping a bandage around your arm, the jelly staying on your skin.

“Well, I would have used it to cool myself off, but it appears that you need it more than I do after that ridiculous stunt you pulled.” You clicked your tongue in annoyance.

“I said I didn’t realize what I was doing I just-”

“Didn’t pay attention,” he interrupted. You were about to argue but after realizing that he was correct, you let out a heavy sigh instead. Revali finished wrapping your wound and stood up, briefly glancing at your destroyed bow.

“What a waste,” he sighed, walking back to the bags, relieved to see the supplies still intact. You stood up, looking at your bandaged arm and then at him. Despite his somewhat rude and cocky exterior, he apparently cared about you enough to at least tend to your wound when he technically didn’t need to. You couldn’t help but smile.

“Thank you, Revali.”

The Rito briefly stopped what he was doing, likely processing your words. You couldn’t see his face, so his expression was left a mystery. He on the other hand was grateful you didn’t witness the feathers on his face puff up ever so slightly. The accident startled him more than he would have liked to admit and was grateful that he was able to pull you out in time.

“Don’t thank me yet,” he finally said, regaining his usual attitude. He stood up and picked both bags up from the ground.

“We haven’t reached our destination yet and I clearly misjudged your abilities, who knows what ridiculous mistake you might make next.” For the first time, you let out a tiny laugh at his words, following him as he began walking.

“Well, I guess asking for your assistance in this little task of mine wasn’t such a terrible idea after all.”

Revali chuckled and shook his head at your words, his usual arrogance embedded in his response:

“Oh, (Name).” His glimmering eyes glanced at you, smirk once again decorating his features.  

“What would you do without me?”

[chemicalmagecraft]

Taiyuu OCT Round 1

@taiyuu-oct

Yukino stretched, appraising her teammate for the hero vs. villain exercise they were doing. She guessed that they had some sort of slime body Quirk. Mostly because their body appeared to be made entirely out of blue slime. "So I'm guessing your Quirk is being made out of slime, Rimuru-chan?"

"Yup!" they said, despite the fact that they didn't seem to have a mouth. Or lungs. "I can basically turn myself into a liquid, or make myself super sticky. I'm weak to water and fire, so look out for those. What's your Quirk."

"Cryomancy." Yukino showed off with a small puff of white mist that didn't really do much aside from look cool. "I can freeze things, and then I get psychokinetic control over whatever I freeze. I can actually absorb fire, though I also don't like getting wet."

"Good to know. What should we do for the exercise, then?"

Yukino knelt down and started giving the Lumin they were supposed to escort to the other side of the forest pets. "Right, I'm... kinda acrophobic, so it's probably for the best if we go for the low route. That cool with you?"

"That's fine," they nodded.

"Thanks. I should probably stay with Inu-chan because my Quirk is great for defense. What do you think?"

"Sounds good, I can scout out ahead, try to see if I can find who we're supposed to be fighting."

"Sounds like a plan."

As they waited for the okay to start, Yukino pulled out her staff with a twirling flourish. Unlike the entrance exam, this time they let the students bring some basic equipment with them. Yukino had also tried to ask for a bow, but the teachers denied it when she explained that she could make arrows from ice... Though to be fair, that probably could've gotten pretty dangerous if she didn't have practice with it. Like the entrance exam, she was wearing a nice, warm hoodie, though this time she had her P.E. uniform under it.

"You two can start now," Aura-sensei told them. Rimuru-chan melted into a puddle of blue ooze, then flowed ahead of Yukino.

"C'mon," Yukino told the plant wolf. She started walking, and the wolf followed her. Yukino hummed to herself as she walked down the dirt path in the middle of the forest. One hand was on Inu-chan's head, both rubbing behind his ears and making sure neither of the villains pulled some sort of teleport surprise. She didn't think anyone in Taiyuu had a teleporting Quirk, but better to be safe than sorry, right? Her other hand was holding her staff, obviously. Yukino tried to act like she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, but in truth she was scanning the forest. She glanced around the trees. Occasionally she heard some rustling leaves in the distance, but nothing closer. Still, she didn't let her guard down.

Some time down the path, Yukino saw a rope in the middle of the path. It looked like it might have been a snare or something. Of course, the rope was almost the same color as the dirt path, so if her eyes weren't so good. "Stop," Yukino said, pushing down on Inu-chan to make him stop. She calmly held out her hand. A small blade of ice condensed from the air in front of her hand amid a puff of mist. The clear knife floated over to the rope, then dropped, propelled by her Quirk as well as gravity. The blade went clean through the rope and sunk into the ground. Half of the rope zipped off, and a second later a large rock tied to a rope fell by the side of the path.

"Right, let's go," she told the dog. Just in case, she cleaved the half of the ice knife that was still sticking out of the ground off of the rest of the knife, then shot it forward in a bit of a sweeping motion. It didn't hit anything, so she figured the path was clear for a bit. A little bit later, she heard a loud popping noise. Ball bearings spilled from a tree above the two. Yukino managed to react in time to make a hexagonal shield of ice above them. Her shield prevented them from getting hailed on by the small metal pellets, but there was still the problem of there now being ball bearings scattered on all sides of them.

Yukino growled. "That's annoying..." She snapped her fingers, and as she did her ice shield snapped into long, thin segments. Yukino floated the segments down to the ground and used them to brush the ball bearings off the path. "Is this all it's going to be?" she asked as she started walking again.

It didn't take long for Yukino to get accosted again. This time, Rimuru-chan jumped out of the foliage. "They're coming!" they shouted, then hid back in the bushes. "The girl who uses balloons and another girl with space hair! I'll try to surprise them, you hold them off!"

Yukino got into a ready stance, but couldn't help but snicker. "Balloons, huh? What's she gonna do, amuse me to death?"

"You'd be surprised," a voice said from the treetops. A spherical object fell in front of Yukino, and before she could smack it away a plume of thick smoke erupted from it.

"Smoke bomb!" Yukino shouted, then swung her staff. Frost crept along it as she swung, and as she hit the smoke bomb she generated more wind than should have been possible by swinging a staff. The smoke bomb was launched into the woods and the smoke it released was dispersed. Just in time for Yukino to see a purplish balloon heading straight for Inu-chan, as well as the clown-looking girl that threw it. Acting quickly, she swung her staff in front of Inu-chan, using telekinesis to speed it up a little. An ice shield condensed just off the staff, between Inu-chan and the balloon. The balloon hit the shield with a dull thump. Yukino snorted.

And then the balloon exploded. Technically it was probably just the balloon popping, but it exploded with so much force that it shattered the shield. Luckily Yukino regained control over the large shards before they hit Inu-chan, though it was close... Yukino threw the shards at the girl as she threw another balloon. The shards hit the balloon, exploding it with enough force to pulverize most of the ice.

"Okay, so 'balloons' is a much better power than I gave it credit for, that's on me," Yukino conceded as the diamond dust settled. She saw some blue ooze move behind the clown girl, but kept a neutral face. "Doesn't mean you're gonna win, Makku-chan."

Makku-chan giggled. "Like MacDonald's! You're funny, but I've gotta run now. Toodle-loo!" She turned and ran.

Right into Rimuru-chan. "What the heck?" she shouted as her shoes got stuck.

Rimuru-chan rose up, wrapping around her legs. "Now!" they shouted.

"You activated our trap card!" Yukino quipped as she dropped to one knee, slamming her hand into the ground. White vapor spread from her hand as a line of frost streaked to Makku-chan and Rimuru-chan. The line split just before them, flowing past them and converging on the other side as a circle. Ice froze up from the circle as it formed, forming itself into a clear dome of thick ice. The dome wasn't quite solid, though. There were small airholes out of the bottom, though rather flat and not nearly large enough for a person to squeeze through.

A normal person, anyway. Rimuru-chan seeped out from one of the holes easily. "Good," Yukino said. "I was hoping I made the holes big enough."

"Hey, you've got a dog on you," Rimuru-chan said.

"Well yeah, isn't that kinda the thing of this excercise?" Yukino said.

"No, another one." They made a pseudopod to point at something below Yukino's waist, then made an annoyed sound and changed their aim slightly.

Yukino looked down to see a dog circling around her. Not a wolf like Inu-chan; wolves are, usually, larger than dogs. Still, it was kind of on the big side. And weirdly enough, it was almost like... like the dog wasn't entirely there. Whenever Yukino tried to concentrate on where the dog was it was like it shifted and was suddenly a little to the left, or to the right. The dog walked over to Inu-chan, and Yukino decided that was probably a bad thing. She swung her staff, using her Quirk through it. The dog dodged, but Yukino was satisfied to note that it was only just barely. Yukino felt... something off when she nearly hit the dog, but she just chalked it up to whatever weird effect was around the dog. And as for where the dog came from...

Yukino looked up and saw the starry-haired girl. Except... logically she knew the girl was there somewhere, but for whatever reason Yukino couldn't tell where she was. It reminded her of the dog, just several times worse. The girl was trying to sneak up on her. Maybe. "I'm guessing the dog is yours, then?" Yukino asked.

"I suppose it's pretty obvious," she said, still walking in a direction that Yukino was only mostly sure was towards Inu-chan.

Yukino didn't bother trying to break through the effect through willpower alone. She planted her staff in the ground, letting go of it and making it stay upright with her telekinesis. She held her hands out in what she felt might be the girl's general direction, white vapor pouring from them as the air around them started to cool. The air she cooled, just barely cold enough for her telekinesis to work on it, was pulled to a point in front of her palms. A ball of white mist quickly formed from the compressed air. "That's a pretty annoying power you've got there, Lucy-chan, but I think I've got a workaround!"

Lucy-chan just barely had time to let out a confused "Wha-" before Yukino fired. The ball of compressed air decompressed in Lucy-chan's general direction. Violently. The annoying part of air control was how much Yukino had to concentrate on her air just to keep it from spreading out and becoming useless quickly even if she made it really cold. Her air blast didn't solve that problem at all, but by making it only barely below freezing she ended up with very little "cost" for what was effectively a one-use attack anyway. Of course, being just at the point where her bond broke with it also made it harder for her to feel the air with her bond, so that combined with Lucy-chan's aura of "vagueness" meant that Yukino only had a general idea of where she was.

Still, it was enough that she hopefully had her. Yukino didn't waste time as Lucy-chan reeled from the gale-force winds. She grabbed her staff and channeled her Quirk through it. She made another ice dome, this one a little bigger to make up for the fact that she wasn't entirely sure where Lucy-chan was. As soon as she saw that Lucy-chan was inside the dome, she turned back around to see Rimuru-chan grappling with Lucy-chan's dog.

"Run, I'll hold the dog off!" they said.

Yukino followed their order without complaining. "Inu-chan, come on!" she shouted. She ran as fast as she could... which admittedly wasn't that fast... Even aside from how short her strides were, Yukino was never the fastest runner. And she assumed Inu-chan was under orders to not to too fast, so when she noticed he was lagging behind she had to slow down and let him catch up. Still, she went as fast as Lumin would allow her to. Between Makku-chan's balloon having broken her ice shield and the fact that she thought she'd seen Lucy-chan summon things that weren't a disorienting dog at some point in the past month, Yukino wasn't entirely sure how long those ice domes would hold...

Speaking of... Yukino shook out her numb hands. "Ah, cold hands, cold hands!" She shoved them in her hoodie pocket to try and warm them up. "Still... I'm starting to get the feeling that I'll be getting a lot of mileage out of those ice domes."

"What are you doing, go faster!" Yukino heard Rimuru-chan shout behind her.

"Inu-chan won't go any faster!" she said.

"Can't you pick him up with your ice?"

"Oh yeah, good point." Yukino created a platform out of ice and set it down in front of Inu-chan. "C'mon, Inu-chan, get on!"

The plant wolf hesitated for a second, then got on. "Good boy!" Yukino said, petting him. "Now you get on Inu-chan," she told Rimuru-chan.

"What? Shouldn't I walk with you?"

"I have to focus on floating the platform if I want to go fast, so you should watch our backs. Now get on."

"Okay, if you say so." Rimuru-chan got on the wolf.

"Good slime!" Yukino said, petting them.

"Okay, now go!"

Yukino nodded and started running, having the ice platform float next to her. She was a little slower than she could've been because she still had to concentrate on the floating platform, but she still went a lot faster than she would've if she was just walking with Inu-chan.

They were already out of range of Yukino's ice, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. The good part was that that meant they were putting distance between themselves and the villains. The bad part was that Yukino couldn't tell if her ice was broken if she wasn't within range of it, so unless one of the villains picked up some of her ice after breaking their way out she had no way of telling if they were free...

"So I'm guessing I should work on restraining them so you can do that ice dome thing if they get to us again?" Rimuru-chan said after a bit.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Yukino agreed. "The only real problem with the ice domes is that they take a few seconds to form, unless I'm dealing with someone like you."

"Heh, we make a surprisingly good team, then!"

"I gues-"

"Behind us!" Rimuru-chan warned.

Yukino turned around, readying her staff. The villains were sneaking around the trees, but their stealth was pretty much ruined by the weird burning table floating near Lucy-chan... They jumped out of the bushes when Yukino turned around, ditching stealth. Yukino jammed her staff into the ground, activating her Quirk. Vapor rolled off her hands and horns as a line of frost extended from her staff in front of her, freezing up into a giant wall of ice.

"Ow, cold," Yukino said, shaking out her hands. She turned back around and started running. Hopefully that wall would...

Something weird happened to the wall. It felt like it was melting, but... not melting? Yukino looked back at the wall, seeing the remains of a giant ball of fire that had pretty much instantly melted a large hole through the wall. But... Yukino could still feel her control over... something. It was... cold air? Yukino didn't get it, but she didn't complain. She grabbed as much of the air as she could and compressed it into a ball of misty air floating in the middle of the hole. Yukino let the air loose as the villains approached the hole, blasting them back.

As they reeled from the blast Yukino flung her hands to the side, forming ice crystals with her Quirk. She noticed that that one weird table had disappeared. Maybe it had limited charges or something? Good. Though Yukino didn't like that cloud of green fog starting to grow around Lucy-chan... By the time the duo had recovered Yukino threw the two chunks of ice at them. Two icosahedrons of pure, perfect ice with numbers carved in them hurtled at the two villains. "Roll for initiative!" Yukino yelled.

The green fog around Lucy-chan formed into claws around her hands. "Draco!" she yelled, then smashed both with her claws.

"Nat 20, crud..." Yukino muttered.

"Get them!" Rimuru-chan shouted, jumping off Inu-chan.

Yukino grinned and made the large shards of ice left from the giant dice fly at the villains. "Ice knife!"

Lucy-chan deflected the shards with more speed and force than Yukino thought she was capable of. Yukino winced, forming more chunks of ice to throw. Makku-chan darted out from behind Lucy-chan, carrying a rather large balloon, and threw it at Yukino. Yukino quickly splintered a needle of ice off of one of her crystals and shot it at the balloon. The balloon popped, and even from a few meters away Yukino had to brace herself from the force of the explosion. Rimuru-chan, who was a little closer at that point, was flung back.

Yukino growled and threw her ice at Makku-chan. Like before, Lucy-chan deflected it all with clearly enhanced speed, smashing the ice into shards. Yukino just barely suppressed the urge to grin as she made more ice, and only then because of the sting of the cold on her hands. The shards from the ice that Lucy-chan broke hadn't fallen. Instead, they started to fly at Makku-chan as Yukino drew Lucy-chan's attention with more ice.

Makku-chan shouted as the ice flew towards her. Lucy-chan turned on a dime, swinging at the ice that was now dangerously close to Makku-chan.

Just as Yukino planned. She snapped her fingers, the ice darting away from Makku-chan. Unable to fully stop herself in time, Lucy-chan accidentally punched Makku-chan in the chest. She had greater control than Yukino thought, because her hit didn't look like it hurt Makku-chan too much. Of course, the next few would hopefully throw them off a bit...

The ice shards that Yukino had feinted Lucy-chan with looped around and slammed into her back, blunt sides first. Just for good measure, she threw the ice she'd just made at the villains too. It didn't look like it hit Lucy-chan too bad, but the heavy hits in rapid succession still knocked Lucy-chan and Makku-chan over into the puddle that was made when Lucy-chan melted Yukino's ice wall. Yukino grinned. While they were still trying to disentangle themselves and get up, Yukino drove her staff into the line of frost Cryomancy had already made when she made the ice wall. Her Quirk's freezing effect chained through the frost, letting her create an ice dome anchored to her existing ice wall just a bit faster and for less "cost."

"Okay, back on the dog, Rimuru-chan," Yukino said. "Before they bust out of that again." Yukino thought it'd probably take them a bit, what with how whatever power Lucy-chan was using actually seemed to be more defense-oriented, but Yukino wasn't taking any chances.

"Dang, that was awesome!" the slime cheered.

Yukino gave them a toothy grin. "You know it. Now, let's go!"

Rimuru-chan nodded and hopped on Inu-chan. Yukino picked the floating disk of ice back up and went as fast as she could. She let her staff go, keeping it from falling with her telekinesis, and started rubbing her hands together. Those attacks might've been awesome, but it was cold, too...

SLAM!

There wasn't even enough time to get out of range, this time. If Yukino had to guess, it was less than a minute before she felt a heavy blow put cracks in her ice dome. Yukino turned around to see a giant green snake slamming its head into her ice a second time.

SLAM!

"Oh, come on!" she shouted. The ice wasn't going to take more than a hit or two, even if she put everything she could into reinforcing it.

"That's a big snake!" Rimuru-chan said, pointing out the obvious.

"I know!" Yukino said, picking up her pace as much as she could.

SLAM!

That was the last hit the dome could take, next one would burst a hole right through it. "RUN!" Rimuru-chan screamed.

"I KNOW!" Yukino screamed back.

SLACRASH!

The dome broke. Yukino grabbed her staff back and sent Rimuru-chan and Inu-chan up above the trees and away from her. There was no way she was outrunning that thing, so she could at least try to make sure those two got away. Then she turned around and readied herself to at least try to defend herself from the giant snake. It slithered toward her, though Yukino noted that it looked like it floated just a bit over the ground. She gritted her teeth and readied her Quirk, white vapor curling from her fingers and frost starting to spread on her staff.

The serpent roared and lunged at Yukino. She held her ground, forming a shield of ice in front of her with her staff. The snake bit down on the shield. It tried to throw the ice away, but Yukino resisted telekinetically. She took a few steps to the side and swung at the snake with her Quirk-affected staff. Instead of frost blooming from the blow, though, the serpent roared as part of its body dissolved into some form of luminous green fog.

Yukino blinked. "Huh." That did not taste like normal body heat. It was... weirdly fruity?

"What did you just do to Ophiuchus?" Lucy-chan asked, a mix of curiosity and horror tinging her voice.

Yukino noticed that the two villains were running over to her, Makku-chan already making another balloon. Yukino sighed and drove the butt of her staff into the dirt. A small wall of ice erupted from the ground between herself and the villains, circling around to trap the snake with her. Unless it could float over the wall, anyway...

Her hands were starting to get cold again, but if she was right about what just happened that wouldn't be too much of a problem. She bared her teeth at the serpent, a predatory grin that showed off her sharpened teeth. The snake certainly looked unnerved, at least, as Yukino lashed out at the snake with a Quirk-enhanced palm strike. Instead of bouncing ineffectually off of the snake's thick hide, her hand passed through the snake with little resistance and a roar of pain and terror from the serpent. As with before, the summon's body deformed into a luminous lime green cloud that her Quirk sucked up as greedily as it did anything else it deemed thermal energy.

Yukino dropped her staff and plunged her other hand into the snake. It roared in terror. Yukino winced, but continued eating the snake with her Quirk. The mixed fruity taste it left on her Quirk's metaphorical tongue reminded her of... "Rainbow sorbet," she realized. "I could go for some of the real stuff, actually..." The serpent spat out the chunk of ice it was gripping and tried to escape, but Yukino managed to block it with the ice before it could. "I guess my name for Lucy-chan was pretty spot-on, then..." Yukino muttered to herself, moving her arms around to suck up more of the snake. "I've never tasted a star Quirk before, but between the combination of flavors and the fact that Lucy-chan called you Ophiuchus earlier... You're a constellation, aren't you?" she asked the snake. It was just scraps and green starfog at that point, and just a few moments later it dissipated entirely.

Yukino sighed like she'd just eaten a big meal, her arms feeling nice and hot. While using her Quirk to chill objects to below her body temperature made her body just a bit colder due to the fact that she wasn't completely immune to her own Quirk, sucking up an excess of heat, like a fireball or, apparently, a giant snake made of star matter(?), always left her feeling pleasantly warm. And because of that, Yukino felt almost as good as she did before they'd started the exercise. Maybe a little tired, still, but she felt like she could do something really big with her Quirk. And she knew just what.

Yukino idly noted that Makku-chan had cracked her ice wall a little, though she wasn't too worried. She grinned at the two. "Hey, wanna see something cool?" Yukino dropped to all fours, digging her claws into the dirt a little. Her horns and claws seemed to turn to ice as she readied her Quirk for something big, white vapor streaming from her arms. "Special move!" she shouted as the villains panicked and started to run away. Not that it'd help them...

Frost spread from the ground beneath Yukino's hands, permeating even below the surface of the ground. The frost expanded in a wave, going under Yukino's ice wall and spreading across the forest. It even climbed up the trees. "SUNDERING CLAWS OF THE ICE DRAGON!" The frost quickly overtook her opponents, but they blinked in surprise as nothing bad happened to them. No ice spread up from the ground to trap them, their feet didn't even freeze to the ground. It wasn't even slippery.

"That was anticlimactic..." Makku-chan said, turning back around. She started blowing up another balloon.

Yukino hissed in discomfort. She hadn't cooled the ground as much as she normally cooled things, but her arms were still starting to go numb from the cold... She planted her staff into the dirt and used to to pull herself onto her feet.

"Oh, and look at that," Makku-chan rolled her eyes at Yukino. "All that bluster, and in the end all she accomplished was frosting the ground over and taking herself out. Should we even bother with her?"

Lucy-chan frowned. "I... don't think she's done quite yet."

Yukino laughed as she shook her hands off, trying to return some semblance of feeling to them. "Yeah, she's right." She wasn't freezing again anytime soon, but the thing about Yukino's Quirk was that it was two-step. Even though she could feel the drawback of the first part of her Quirk in full force, the warm, full feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that the energy pool her telekinesis drew from was filled to the brim, almost demanding to be released.

She obliged, spreading out her legs into a wide stance and dropping her clawed hands into a position like she was about to throw something underhanded. Yukino never really needed to physically move to use her telekinesis, but sometimes for bigger things like this it felt like it helped. "Know what 'sundering' means?" She made a slow clawing motion, her hands shaking from the cold as she brought them upwards. As she clawed at the air, the ground started to rip itself apart. Small chunks of ground rose at first, but they slowly grew in size.

Makku-chan and Lucy-chan, quickly realizing that this was not a good sign, scrambled for the sides of the frost-covered ground. Yukino snapped the ground up, blocking them from fleeing with walls of earth.

"Cryokinesis, air blasts, energy absorption, and now geokinesis?" Makku-chan listed... incorrectly. "What kind of Quirk does she have?"

Yukino smirked, drawing more on her telekinetic energy. The ground cracked apart, lifting up in giant chunks. The villains slipped down the suddenly-uneven ground, though Yukino took care that they didn't get too battered from the fall. Once they were stuck in the bottom of a steep-walled crater, Yukino stacked the earth she'd pulled from the ground into a makeshift wall around the hole, trying her best to compact it into something that they'd have trouble climbing or breaking through.

The problem with having a general telekinesis-type Quirk instead of one of its more specialized cousins, Yukino was well aware of, was the fact that it was harder to perform the same sort of fine manipulation that was usually easier with specialization. Yukino could only make her perfect ice because she shaped the water as it was freezing, and even then it took a lot of practice and concentration. Still, Yukino was hopeful that her patch job would make do until her team won. It didn't feel like it'd collapse and bury the villains in dirt, at least.

She hissed again, shivering and rubbing her hands together. Her arms were still super cold, and she was starting to notice that her Quirk's energy reserves were already pretty low just from that one special move. Yyyeah, it was probably back to the drawing board for that one... Yukino almost fell as her legs turned to jelly, only just barely managing to grab her staff before she did. She winced, it was still freezing cold. "Well, at leas' they're probably not gettin' out of there anytime soon..." Yukino muttered to herself. She turned around to walk away and hopefully rejoin with Inu-chan and Rimuru-chan-

And banged her head into something cold and hard. "Ah, what the-" Yukino rubbed her head and looked in front her her face. Oh. Right. Ice wall. "Been a long time since I ran into my own ice..." she muttered to herself. It'd be hard to break out with her energy so low, and forget about climbing over. Yukino sighed, then remembered the part of the wall that Makku-chan cracked. Probably the best place to try...

Yukino walked over to the cracks in the wall. She leaned on her staff and kicked at the crack, trying to enhance her weakened telekinetic force with her weakened physical force.

Crack!

The ice cracked under her foot, but didn't break. Yukino sighed and kicked it again.

Snap!

It broke. Good, Yukino didn't think she had enough energy in her for a third one... She used her staff to knock out a few bits of ice that were only just hanging in there. The hole still wasn't that big, but it looked wide enough for her to climb through, at least. She pushed her staff through, then carefully pulled herself through. She tried not to touch the sides; without enough energy for finer telekinesis, she hadn't been able to smooth out the jagged edges of her hole. She managed, though her hoodie was torn up a little. Shame, Yukino liked that hoodie...

Yukino sighed in relief once she was out of her accidental trap. She slowly picked herself back up and dusted herself off. She looked back at the earth wall, thinking. Should she wait by the wall, in case the villains managed to get out?

She heard a pop, then a voice shouting, "Oh, come on!"

Yeah, they probably weren't getting out of there anytime soon. Not that Yukino would put up much of a fight if they did, come to think of it. Lucy-chan probably wouldn't put any more of her summons in a position where she could eat them again, and without her Quirk Makku-chan would probably take her out easily. Accepting that, Yukino turned around and started walking down the path to where she threw Rimuru-chan and Inu-chan. She was starting to feel pretty sluggish, though... She always felt really tired when her energy reserves dipped too low. The fact that it made her feel colder as well didn't help.

Yukino felt herself nodding off as she walked down the path. She shook herself off, trying to keep herself awake and get her blood pumping. She slapped her cheeks lightly, balancing her staff in the crook of her arm. Just for extra measure she pinched her cheeks, accidentally drawing a little blood because her claws were sharp. At least it woke her up a little.

After what felt like an hour, Yukino managed to shamble over to Inu-chan and Rimuru-chan. Rimuru-chan, who was currently in their more humanoid form, was trying to push Inu-chan faster than he was willing to go, but it didn't look like it was going that good. "Hey," Yukino said.

"You're back!" They harrumphed at her, making cheeks just to puff them up. "You're lucky I managed to catch Lumin, that could've gone a lot worse!"

"Yeah, yeah, let's jus' get to the finish line before the villains get back out again," Yukino waved them off. "Unless you can set things on fire I'm probably not gonna be much use if they fight us again."

"Wow, that snake must've really done a number on you, huh?"

Yukino shrugged. "Th' snake was actually the easy part, I kinda wiped m'self out dealin' with the villains. Shouldn' be too easy for 'em to get outta the hole I dug for 'em without some help, though."

They nodded. "Well that's good, at least. I think we're almost done, hang in there."

True to what they said, Wolfy-sensei was waiting for them at the other side of the next turn in the path. "You two won, good job," he told them. "Take a break, we'll have to get Laccadaisy to repair the course anyway." He was definitely glaring at Yukino when he said that. "Speaking of which, Takeda-chan." Yukino sighed to herself. She knew that stern tone of voice, Ryuji just loved using it on her. Lecture time... "I don't want to see you doing something like that again. It doesn't matter how many villains you take out if it takes you out with it."

Yukino sighed, but nodded. "Yeah, I know, I know. Won' do it again."

He nodded. "Good. Now do you need anything?"

Yukino shivered again. She dropped her staff and leaned against one of the trees. "Need to warm up."

Wolfy-sensei nodded again. "I'll call Laccadaisy, then see about setting up a bonfire or something. You gonna be fine if I leave you here for a bit?"

"Yeah, thanks."

[glacecakes]

In which Hugo Nearly Fights a Toddler

Hugo's main rival for Varian's love isn't a suitor. It's a child. A slightly bratty royal child.

I meant to repost this as like, fully available on tumblr, but im a moron and just reposted the link from last night. rip. I am also now taking Varigo fic requests! See my other oneshots here

-

Hugo didn’t hate all children, it’s just… he hated the one that he knew.

Varian insisted he was being ridiculous, but what did he know? He was her uncle, it was his job to like the little brat. And she certainly didn’t help, with her clinging and yelling and crying, and how Andrea stole the last crepe at breakfast the other day when he clearly called dibs!

The hatred was mutual, too. Anytime Hugo and Varian were together, Andrea would grab onto Varian and drag him away from Hugo. And everytime, without fail, she’d turn and stick her tongue out at him! He always stuck his out in return, of course, because what the hell else can he do? Fight a literal toddler for his boyfriend’s hand?

With Andrea’s 5th birthday came a slew of the festivities Corona was famous for. Dancing, singing, music, the whole shebang. Hugo would’ve been glad to spend it like all the rest: holed up the Library, only coming out to steal Varian from his royal duties and drag him back to their room and not leave until late the next morning, when he would smugly announce Varian wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t be attending the day’s ceremonies. And he usually scheduled that day to be the final festival day, when the closing ball happens.

Unfortunately, since this was Andrea’s birthday, he was stuck fulfilling the whims of the brat princess, and all she wanted for her birthday was for her Best Uncle Varian to attend a ball for once and dance with her.  

Which meant no sneaking away from the festivities, no stealing his boyfriend, no fooling around and weaseling their way out of royal duties.

The worst part was that Varian was willing to do it! It’d be one thing if they got to share in their hatred of nobility and all the stifling activities it entailed, but Varian was more than happy to agree for Andrea’s sake. He was weak to her puppy eyes.

“Seriously?” Hugo had complained to her. “We could make you like almost anything.”

“No!” Andrea had stomped her little mary-jane clad foot, the perfect image of a spoiled princess. “You always hog him!” She’d whined.

“He’s my boyfriend, that’s my job.”

“Well you’re fired!”

Varian had laughed himself to tears when Hugo told him that.

Here’s hoping any kids they had wouldn’t be as spoiled…

Hugo had mentioned that off-handedly once, and once they all got over the shock of Oh my God Hugo wants to marry Varian and have kids, Varian had been quick to argue otherwise.

“Babe, you will literally drop whatever you’re holding to hug me. Like, let it crash onto the floor,” He’d laughed. “There is no way you won’t spoil our kid silly. You’re just jealous of Andy.”

“I am NOT!”

And it’s true! He was definitely not jealous of a child. Not jealous of how Varian was willing to ditch Hugo for her, or how he let Andrea help him with their lab experiments even if she often ruined them, or how he’d gladly make toys for her but when Hugo asks for something it’s always “Hugo, we’re not building a death ray security system, that’s a terrible idea.” or “No, I’m not getting you a bow and arrow from the market, you’re just gonna try and hunt Eugene down.” Not that Varian doesn’t get him stuff, quite the opposite. It’s just not the stuff that he needs.

(He doesn’t actually need it, he just likes being dramatic for dramatic’s sake. That and it makes Varian laugh.)

Anyway. The point is Hugo is being forced to go to a birthday party ball and he hates it.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Varian looks breathtaking with his hair slicked back and teal work outfit swapped for a more formal beige suit. Hugo was pretty satisfied with his own attire too, choosing just a simple white dress shirt and black pants. He wasn’t the center of attention tonight, and he’d like to keep it that way. If he had to play nice with a bunch of stuffy nobles and diplomats he might actually explode.

Thankfully, he was allowed to play the part of Varian’s arm accessory, a part he adored and took very seriously. Could you blame him? Varian was a hell of a catch, with his enchanting baby blue eyes and adorable freckled face, and his hands were so soft and sleek despite his day job. He wasn’t the only one who noticed Varian’s good looks, clearly.

One noble, whose name Hugo didn’t care nor want to learn, had been eyeing Varian whenever he passed by, and he passed by often. The guy didn’t even try to hide his glances, looking Varian up and down hungrily. Every time he walked by, Hugo couldn’t help but squeeze his arm around Varian a little tighter, and Varian would simply hum and rest his head on Hugo’s shoulder for a moment.

“I gotta go find Andy,” He muttered, letting go of Hugo, but not without a chaste kiss on the cheek. With that, Varian slid into the crowd, awkwardly trying to avoid small talk with the other nobles in attendance as he went. Varian hates these events just as much as Hugo, he just does a better job at hiding it.

Speaking of shitty nobles, here comes that guy again. He’s wearing the red of Ingvarr, black hair slick with gel save for one stray hair on his forehead. His face is etched with a smirk, not unlike a cat about to snap the neck of its prey. He skulks up to Hugo with that smarmy look and Hugo represses the urge to sock him in the face.

The noble looks Hugo up and down like he’s debating whether or not to eat him. “Ah, I see your little bird has flown away for the evening?”

“He went to go find the princess,” Hugo bites out, his eyes turning to scan the ballroom for either Varian or Andrea.

“Sure he did.” Clearly, the man didn’t believe him. “I don’t believe I know who you are, though I doubt that’s a problem.” Oh bitch he did not just do that. “Lord Ricket. And you are Lord Varian’s servant, I presume? Obviously that rose of Corona wouldn’t choose to be near you otherwise.”

His laugh was high pitched, as if the laugh escaped him on accident. God, this guy was everything Hugo hated about court. Varian, a rose? Please, the guy may seem small and delicate but was a walking disaster, anyone who spent more than 5 minutes with him knew it This is exactly why he didn’t want to come-

His steaming anger was cut off by a small hand slipping into his, warm and soft.

“Hugo,” Andrea whined, the u sounding more like an oo sound. Hugo would die before he admitted it was cute. “Uncle Varian needs you.” She tugged on his arm, trying to get him to move with all her little baby strength. It didn’t work. She simply stood at an angle, hair falling to the floor.

Hugo blinked. He’d never seen Andrea act like this to anyone but her parents, grandparents, and of course Varian. Her face was scrunched up with the effort of trying to move someone a good five times her size.

Lord Ricket blinked in shock at the little intruder. Recognizing the princess, his dark grin turned into a neutral frown and slunk back into the crowd of bodies. Andrea let go of Hugo’s hand and fell onto the floor with a soft thunk. Her dress spread out around her like a blanket, undoubtedly getting dirty.

“I hate balls,” She grumbled.

That got his attention. “You do?” He honestly expected Andrea to love this. She thrived on being the center of attention, and this would be no exception. The first of the new generation, all of the older royals loved to crowd her and shower her in praises, and she seemed to eat it up.

“Yea!” She yelled, raising her arms over her head, but making no movement to get up from the floor. “Everyone’s super boring, it’s all ‘nice to meet you’ and ‘I like your dress’! I don’t even like dresses, they’re itchy!”

Her complaints… they sounded so much like his own. The stuffy atmosphere, snooty rich people, awkward clothes, these were the things both he and Varian hated about balls, and it’s why they avoided them at all costs. The only thing that made these things worth his time…

...was Varian.

Hugo remembers his first ball in Corona. He’d been miserable. It was judgemental noble after judgemental noble, looking down at him because of his heritage, his past, his unorthodox relationship. If Varian hadn’t been there, Hugo would not have lasted 20 minutes without throwing an alchemy bomb.

Having Varian by his side to help him adjust his collar, gag at the nobles who tried to flirt, mock the petty arguments, those were what made formal events passable. Is that why Andrea wanted Varian here? Not to steal him for herself, but so she could have a like mind help her power through this? It was her first formal birthday ball, after all. This was technically Andrea’s introduction to court beyond hiding behind her mother’s skirts, hence the big fuss.

No wonder she wanted Varian here.

Hugo sighed. He felt like a total jerk. Well, he knew he’d been a jerk to dislike a toddler, but it felt justified. Now, not so much. Andrea’s arms were still stretched over her head, and Hugo leaned down to grab them in his own. With one quick motion, he pulled the little princess upright.

“Come on, let’s go find our favorite alchemist,” He said, and Andrea’s face lit up. Still holding his hands, she pulled him through the crowds, letting Hugo look over everyone’s heads to find him. It took a few minutes (how many people did Rapunzel invite?), but they finally spotted Varian chatting with Ricket, who seemed much more at ease. Varian, on the other hand, seemed very annoyed, his eyes flashing with rage. In any other situation, they guy would’ve gotten decked by the shorter alchemist.

Hugo and Andrea shared a knowing look. For all her bratiness, the girl was incredibly perceptive and smart. After all, her taste in people was impeccable.

“Uncle Varian!” She called, speeding up and making Hugo trip slightly as he tried to keep up. Said uncle’s face lit up considerably at the interruption, brightening even more when he saw who she was dragging around.

“Hey you two,” He grinned, and Andrea let go of one of Hugo’s hands to grab onto Varian’s. Reaching over the princess, he gave Hugo a peck on the cheek. “I was just talking to… Rickey?”

The lord’s face turned an ugly purple. “Ricket.” He gritted out. “I do believe I’ve been introduced to your…”

“Boyfriend. Not a servant.” Hugo supplied, grin stretching across his face.

“Yes, it was lovely to meet you… and you as well, princess, I’m honored to meet you.”

Andrea grinned a toothy smile. “I’m not.” Varian’s shoulders shook with hidden laughter.

The noble looked like he was struggling to swallow a grape. He at least had the manners to bow to Andrea before making his leave once more, hopefully for good. Varian hummed, leaning his head on Hugo’s shoulder and glancing down at Andrea.

“I see you two are getting along now?”

“For now, yup.” Hugo popped the p. “And I do believe you owe this young lady a dance? For shame, Varian.”

“Alright, Alright!” Varian lifted his head off of Hugo, and the taller mourned the loss. “I’m gonna need you to let go of her hand, though.”

“No!”

This shocked them both. “No?” Hugo asked.

“You gotta dance too!”

“Oh, now we can share him?” Varian smacked his boyfriend, but otherwise didn’t dispute the claim.

“Just for tonight.” The princess said, puffing up her chest as if she was making a royal decree, clearly copying her mother. She pulled the two of them back onto the dance floor, boyfriends grabbing hands as they went. The three were now forming a small circle, moving in time to the upbeat song now playing.

“Hey Andrea,” Hugo murmured. “You were kidding about the just tonight thing, right?”

“You can have him on weekends.”

“Wha- if anything I need him on weekdays!” The two bickered over custody the rest of the night, the sound of music and Varian’s laughter filling both of their ears.

So maybe Hugo didn’t hate her. But she was still a brat.

Good thing she had Hugo to guide her.

...He was so gonna recruit her to prank Eugene.

[themostcleverandwittyname]

There’s Power in Pain

CH1 CH2 CH3 CH4 CH5 CH6 CH7 CH8 CH9 CH10

CH11

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

(LinkxOC)

Summary:

A farmer with a troubled past had found a fallen hero on a riverside and makes the decision to take him in. With Ganondorf gathering power by the minute, there is no time to delay in his defeat however there is a time and place for everything as well as a lesson to learn. Link will have to do the hardest thing he has ever done and that is wait until he is ready to defeat Ganondorf.

But will Link ever truly be ready to rely on help to do the impossible? To accept that even heroes need support even from the most unlikely of people?

Meanwhile, a group of thieves organize to steal the sacred sword of the Hero of Destiny for themselves.

(A/N)

Hey so there’s probably no one who asked for this but I just played Twilight Princess for the first time and I really enjoyed it so I decided to write this. On AO3

Chapter 1: Lucky

Chapter 1 on AO3

The strawberry harvest had come to a close, picking season was several weeks past gone. The heat of the summer was draining and sucked the all the local farmers of energy but in a deeply satisfying way. The last dregs of the harvest from one young farmer’s personal and private strawberry field were packed loosely into baskets and huddled onto the back of a yellow wooden wagon, being dragged along by the steady pace of her only horse. Today was the last day of harvest and Annette was living, a woven straw hat rested over her face as she leaned back on her elbows, trying to ignore the ache of hard work in her body. She was set high in the ornate Ordonian saddle, reins held with slack in her hand. Her horse knew where to go, so she wasn’t much concerned with directing it.

She was saving the last bit of water in her flask for the ride home, now instead looking forward to washing the freshly picked strawberries in the cool water of the fresh spring. Always using the trail along the river, the brunette headed upstream as she always had as long as she had grown strawberries. The breeze felt nice and Annette stared absentmindedly at the shimmering water from under her hat, soaking up the smell of greenery and water.

The farmer was so entranced by the lazy flow of the river that she had almost failed to notice a lonesome horse standing at the riverside, stamping its feet and huffing impatiently. It was mostly a chestnut color but with a white star marking on its face, an Ordonian saddle reminiscent of her own was fastened to the mare. Her hand twitched, ready to pull on the reins at any sign of something alarming. She quickly looked around to be sure that there were no riders to be seen walking around. The horse, still far off down the riverside, hadn’t seemed spooked as if it had run away from its owner and was rather calm.

Had the rider walked off into the woods? Had the rider been killed and the horse had just wandered here by chance? Was the owner close by, ready to mug and steal from anyone who took the horse as bait for a diversion? Annette couldn’t be more careful, she knew the tricks of thieves in the area like the back of her hand and she looked at the ground for any traps or likewise. Slowly, her own dappled mare approached the other and then she was able to make out what was on the ground near the lonely horse.

It was no bomb, no trap, no baggage that had been carelessly left there. It was a man cloaked in green, his head and shoulders the only thing touching the bay where the sand was damp. The rest of him was in the river water, the current flowing around him. It took her a moment to notice the arrow in his left shoulder, the hastily put together and unrefined arrow of a bublin archer. Her blood ran cold but yet she was still relieved. This was no thief’s trick and a mindless bublin wasn’t clever enough to set a trap like this.

After a few seconds of hesitation due to her own shock, she tugged on the reins and swiftly hopped down from her saddle before her horse could talk back. Still casting wary glances over her shoulder, she quickly dashed over to the man for a better look.  Approaching the green-clad man wasn’t at all what the chestnut horse wanted and the animal reared up and whinnied, obviously concerned for the man. Must be the owner of this horse then, Annette concluded. She shushed the horse and slowed down, the horse becoming visibly calmer when it realized she meant no harm.

He was injured far worse than just an arrow to the shoulder. Upon closer inspection, the arrow was scorched black and the shaft had cloth wrapped loosely around it. Where it had entered the man’s shoulder there was a place where the fire had burned away a hole in his green tunic to reveal tarnished and severed chainmail underneath. This man was no Hylian knight or common criminal from his the look of his clothing, but something distinguishably different.

Standing over him, she tried to get a better look at his face to see if she recognized him but she did not. His chest rose and fell to her relief and his face, though with one terrible gash across his cheek, was primarily untouched and only had the disgrace of being smeared with blood which also had found its way to stain his blonde hair. His hair was tucked under a green, impish hat which was almost comical had the situation allowed for humor. She noticed that his left arm not only had been struck by this arrow but was also limply bent at an angle that made her cringe.

His arm was definitely broken.

Worst yet, his torso was marked up with slashes and the water he lay in did nothing to help his blood clot, the red tinge lingering around in the flow of the water much like a steeping tea bag. One further thing she noticed was that on his right arm, a Hylian shield was strapped, it’s surface littered with dings and scratches.

She wasn’t quite sure how far gone he was, but his injuries were bad enough for her own concern. She swallowed and took a deep breath, debating if she should try to help or just get on her horse and leave. She didn’t know what kind of man this was and she didn’t want to face the consequences of trying to help a criminal that should have died on the riverside. However, she didn’t want to leave a good man to suffer and die when she could have helped. Whose brother was this? Whose partner was this? Whose best friend was this? She didn’t want to abandon someone who didn’t deserve it.

Shakily, she decided to at least try to wake him up, if he wasn’t unconscious. She made a promise to herself there and then that if he didn’t wake, she would do something about this, her own safety be damned. It was the right thing to do and she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she left.

Holding her breath, the farmer reached down and shook the man’s right shoulder, careful not to jostle him too much.

“Hey, um sir? Hey, get up. Can you hear me?” she tried, her voice more stable than her insides. His only response was a low, pained groan but his eyes didn’t budge. Lifting her hand and standing up, she looked around again and bit her lip. Since he didn’t wake, a promise was a promise so she had to do something.

Looking to the back of the yellow wagon, she thought of the linen that she used to strain the masses of strawberries with when she washed them. That could dry him off at least and maybe be a temporary sling? He didn’t look too heavy so maybe she could get him on the back of the wagon? She silently thanked the goddess and ran over to her horse, pulling the reins down to lead her horse and wagon over to the man’s unconscious form. Once she determined it was close enough, she released the reins and rushed over to the baskets and found the one basket that held her usual supplies. Among the typical, the folded and strawberry stained linen lay and a small machete. Perfect.

She slung the linen over her shoulder and snatched the knife, hurrying to kneel down close to the man. She set the machete down and did her best to lift the sopping wet and bleeding man from the water, underestimating how heavy he would be. It was dead weight, proving he was indeed unconscious. Groaning with effort, she managed to drag him until the only thing in the water was his boots, not failing to also become sopping wet and bloody. She hadn’t noticed the two swords the man had strapped to his back before, as he must have been laying on them.

So he was a swordsman.

She decided that the swords and shield would only get in the way so she unstrapped both and set them to the side. Surveying the damage, she decided to make a sling and at least wrap his torso, the source of most of the bleeding. For now, it was all she could do and she would have to do better later. Ripping strips of cloth with the machete, she managed a temporary sling and wrapped another strip around his torso rather tightly, hoping it would help stop the bleeding.

Taking a look at the wagon, she was very grateful for the fact that the strawberries were scarce today and so not many baskets lined the wagon’s surface, giving sufficient room for her to lay the man down. Readying herself, she bent down and with a lot of strain and difficulty, she barely managed to lift him to the edge of the wagon. Using the little bit of leverage from the edge of the wagon that she had, the farmer rolled the man into the spot that was available.

Panting from the heat, her effort, and her own racing heart, she took a breather and without much care, did her best to toss the two heavy swords and metal shield into the back with the fallen swordsman. Contemplating what to do with the swordsman's horse, she put the machete up and lamented her bloodstained clothes. She was sure that Cordial, her own horse, wouldn’t mind sharing the space with the new horse for a little while as the swordsman heals up.

Slowly and carefully grabbing the reins of the chestnut mare, Annette led the horse to the wagon and tied the reins to the side, making sure it was strong enough to keep the horse from running off.

Sighing and trying not to doubt her own actions too much, she hopped back on her saddle and headed home, once again thankful for the small number of strawberries that would go unwashed today or even perhaps the next day. It was not a total loss to her and she could focus more on what she was going to do with the fallen man in her wagon.

Annette just hoped she had made the right decision and wouldn’t regret helping a man in need.

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CH11

[probably-not-star-lord]

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Two: Part 7 (Peter Quill x Reader)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

A/N: I’m sorry it took me a little longer than expected to post part seven but I hope you enjoy it! Also PLEASE keep sending me asks and stuff in my inbox cause they are so fun to answer while I’m writing. Thanks loves!!

Warnings: swearing, mild violence, fluff if you squint

-

You and Peter join the others on the ship just as Drax and Rocket bicker over if Rocket is really helping. 

"We had it under control!" Drax argues.

Just before Rocket can reply, Mantis speaks up. "We did not." She shakes her head. "That is only an extension of his true self. He will be back soon."

Ignoring Mantis' warning, Peter notices Nebula the second he steps into the ship. "What's Smurfette doing here?" he asks.

"Whatever I need to do to get a damn ride home," she answers.

"She tried to murder me!" Rocket exclaims.

Nebula rolls her eyes. "I saved you, you stupid fox!"

"He's not a fox, Nebula," you correct.

"I am Groot."

"I'm not a baboon, either," Rocket replies.

"I am Groot."

Rocket brushes the correction off. "Raccoon whatever..."

Suddenly, the blue tentacles that were stabbed through Peter only moments ago break free from the ground. More follow as each tentacle rips through the floor until there are several surrounding the ship.

Drax looks outside the window, fear in his eyes. "How do we kill a celestial?"

"There's a center to him," Peter explains. "His brain, his soul, whatever it is...some sort of protective shell."

"It's in the caverns below the surface," Mantis announces.

Peter climbs up to the flight deck, you following not far behind. He notices Yondu flying the ship and is taken aback. "Yondu?"

"Thrusters are out," Yondu delivers as Peter takes a seat next to him. The tentacles wrap around the ship and rock it aggressively, making it hard to stand. Noticing you're wobbling, Peter pulls you onto his lap and holds you close so he can still manage to have his hands on the controls. 

Yondu turns to the two of you and smirks. “You better keep her around, boy, she seems about the only person that knows how to take care of you.”

“Don’t worry,” Peter tells him. “She ain’t goin’ anywhere.”

“Good. I like her.”

You smile at the surprisingly kind man. “You’re not so bad yourself, Yondu.”

"Guess I should be glad I was a skinny kid," Peter says, the ship rocking continuously. "Otherwise, you'd have delivered me to this maniac."

"You still reckon that's the reason I kept you around, you idiot?"

"That's what you told me, you old doofus."

"Once I figured out what happened to them other kids, I wasn't just gonna hand you over," Yondu assures him, causing you to notice that he has always been the true father figure for Peter. You keep your thoughts to yourself as they argue.

"You said you were gonna eat me!" Peter defends.

"That was being funny!"

"Not to me!"

"You people have issues," Rocket retorts.

"You're telling me," you add, nodding in agreement.

"Well, of course, I have issues," Peter scoffs pointing to the horrifying form that Ego is now. "That's my freaking father!" He plays with a few switches allowing the ship to fly properly again. "Thrusters are back up."

His arms come around you quickly as he grabs the wheel and takes control of the ship. He flies it right through Ego's form and crashes into the window, allowing the ship to fall straight downward. As it falls, Peter leans forward as much as he can, squeezing you close to him to prevent you from falling out of the seat. Screams erupt from the entire ship.

"We should be going up!" Yondu acknowledges.

"We can't! Ego wants to eradicate the universe as we know it. We have to kill him." Peter smiles at you and you realize he's aiming for the ground. You’re going to fight Ego like the countless other people you fought before. "Rocket!"

"Got it!" Rocket nods, turning on the blasters and destroying the ground before your impact with it. As the ship continues to dive down, Rocket continues shooting to make more open space to fly through. Peter lets out a cheerful yelp.

"So, we're saving the galaxy again?" Rocket questions.

Peter turns to you with a smirk. "I guess."

"Awesome!" Rocket renders excitedly. "We're really gonna be able to jack up our prices if we're two-time galaxy savers."

"Rocket! That's really what you're worried about?" you ask the raccoon.

"I seriously can't believe that's where your mind goes." Peter shakes his head.

"It was just a random thought, man. I thought we were friends," Rocket answers. "Of course, I care about the planets, the buildings, and all the animals on the planets."

"And the people," Peter adds.

"Eh," Rocket shrugs.

"The crabby puppy is so cute," Mantis squeals. "He makes me wanna die!"

The ship continues digging downward toward Ego's core. You remain seated on Peter's lap and feel slightly bad that you could be distracting him from piloting the ship. Yet, if he isn't going to say anything or deliberately ask you to move, then you sure as hell are fine right where you are.

"Tell me why Ego wants you here." Yondu demands.

"He needs my genetic connection to the light to help destroy the universe. He tried to teach me how to control the power."

"So, could you?" He inquires.

"A little," Peter says. "I made a ball."

"A ball?"

"I thought as hard as I could. It was all that I could come up with," he clarifies in response.

"You thought?" Yondu laughs. "You think when I make this arrow fly, I use my head?"

Suddenly, the ship smashes right into something, causing a few pieces to fall off as it bounces into a few more rocks that are in the way. You hold onto Peter tighter for stability until the ship slows down and floats. Sitting before you is a red and blue orb with numerous pathways attached to it.

"That's Ego's core," Mantis announces.

"That core is thick, Rocket," Gamora states worriedly.

"I got it covered," Rocket reassures

"We must hurry. It will not take Ego long to find us," Mantis mentions nervously, shaking in her spot. Peter lines the ship up to face the core, therefore signaling Rocket to get the guns ready.

"Keep it steady!" he calls from below, firing up the weapons. The guns blaze and fire right at the core. The bright, fiery light from the impact creates smoke as it burns through the thick shell.

"We drill into the center, we kill him!" Peter exclaims.

The core continues to get a hole burnt right through it and you know you're getting close. A sigh of relief washes over you for the first time in a long time. You are going to be able to go home soon and be back in your normal life with the rest of the Guardians.

The speaker that rests beside Yondu buzzes. "Captain?" A voice says.

"What is it, Kraglin?"

"Hey, remember that Ayesha chick?"

"Yeah, why?"

You and Peter share a look. "Fuck," he mumbles.

"Uh..." Kraglin stutters just as the ship is blasted with countless shots from a Sovereign fleet led by the High Priestess.

"Oh, hell!" Yondu shouts. He and Peter steer the ship away from the core, tearing you away from your desire to head home. As the ship is hit again and again, Drax, Gamora, and Mantis hop out. Luckily, they land on the ground safely.

Peter discovers that no one is defending the ship as it dodges the attack. "Why aren't you firin’ the lasers?" He asks Rocket.

"They blew out the generator,” he explains. “I think I packed a small detonator."

"A detonator is worthless without explosives," Nebula hisses.

"Well, we got these," he says. Peter lifts you off of him and the two of you head below the flight deck to see Rocket holding up the Sovereign's batteries.

"Is that strong enough to kill Ego?" Peter questions.

"If it is, it'll cause a chain reaction throughout his entire nervous system," Rocket discloses.

"Meaning what?"

"The planet will explode," you answer, shocked.

"Yup." Rocket nods. "We'll have to get out of here fast. I rigged a timer."

The three of you line up at the edge of the hole in the ship. Groot hops on Rocket's back as he readies his aero-rig. Peter puts on his mask and activates his own aero-rig. He slaps one onto your back and turns it on, taking your hand in his with a nod.

"Go!" He hollers as you all fly around, avoiding shots from the small aircrafts. Peter directs you into a cave that leads to the core, everyone slamming onto the ground abruptly on impact.

You all stand up with some groans. Rocket turns on a flashlight to illuminate the rest of the cave. "The metal's too thick. For the bomb to work, we'd actually need to place it on Ego's core. And our fat butts ain't gonna fit through those tiny holes." He discloses.

"Well..." Peter yammers, turning down to look at Groot.

You follow his gaze. "I can think of someone who might fit."

Rocket looks back to see the two of you staring at a dumbfounded Groot. He furrows his eyebrows. "That's a terrible idea."

"Which is the only kind of idea we have left," Peter asserts truthfully.

"Unbelievable," Rocket huffs crawling into one of the holes with Groot and the bomb. "'Rocket do this. Rocket do that.'"

Peter takes his mask off and his eyes meet yours. He looks exhausted and you know you're both concerned for each other. "How you holdin’ up?" he asks.

You shrug. "I'm alright I guess. I just...I really want to go back home."

He strides over to you and his hands find themselves at your hips. "We'll be home soon, I promise," he assures you as your arms wrap around his neck. He wiggles his eyebrows with a smirk. "Now that we're alone I want to tell you that your ass on my lap earlier was pleasantly distracting-"

"Peter!" You chuckle with a bright grin on your face.

"But, while you were being super hot and totally distracting, I still somehow managed to fly a spacecraft. So, like, I'm kinda badass," Peter brags obviously, looking to you for validation. "I could be the next Han Solo or somethin'."

"Sure, Peter, you are totally Han Solo," you laugh, placing a quick kiss to his soft lips.

"You can be my Princess Leia."

"For sure," you agree. "And I could remind you all the time that I think you're the most badass man in the entire galaxy. I have no idea how you manage to do it all, Star-Lord."

Peter quietly moans at your words, but your moment alone is interpreted by approaching ships. He takes a step away from you and puts his mask back on. He prepares himself for the two of you to fly outside the cave and kick some Sovereign ass.

"What a day," he exhales, flipping his blasters around in his hands.

"Peter," you state, gaining his attention as you pull him closer to facing you. "I love you."

Those are three words Peter never thought he would hear from a woman in his life. At least, he never thought he would enjoy hearing them. Yet, after all this time has passed since the day he met you, it's the only thing he's been longing to hear. You couldn't keep the way you feel inside anymore, and Peter is so glad you made the unspoken thing so spoken. He grins wildly within his mask. Peter thinks of exactly the right words to say.

"I know."

With that, Peter leaps from the edge and fire profusely at any surrounding ships. Leave it to the man you love to pull a Han Solo right before a deadly battle. Laughing, you jump from the edge and fight alongside him. Your anger from the past few days bubbles to your surface and you feel stress wash away as you take it out by shooting your guns at the enemies.

After several minutes, you land back inside the cave, doubling over as you take a breath. Peter follows quickly behind. He takes off his mask and meets his green eyes with yours. The two of you are breathless.

"I love you too, Y/N," he finally says. "More than you'll ever know."

The both of you share a genuinely sweet smile. It had taken a long time to reach the point of properly communicating your feelings with one another, but you finally did it. You love him. He loves you. Even with the Sovereign attacking you and Ego trying to dominate everything, you feel a sense of peace within the galaxy knowing Peter Quill will always be by your side. You wouldn't have it any other way.

Suddenly, you hear Rocket scolding Groot in the distance and you retreat toward to the smaller caves, Peter following. "Rocket? How's it going?" You ask. "You better not being worrying him!"

The only response is more yelling from Rocket. Peter takes off his mask and glances down to where they are. "Hey, you're makin’ him nervous!"

"Shut up and give me some tape!" He responds. "Does anyone have any tape out there? I wanna put some tape over the death button."

"I don't have any tape. Y/N do you have any tape?"

You raise an eyebrow at him. "Do you think I have tape on me right now?"

"So...I'm gonna take that as a no."

You shake your head and laugh. "No, I don't have tape, Peter."

Peter puts his mask back on and flies out of the cave. "Lemme check! Yo, Yondu! Do you have a-" An explosion cuts him off. "Do you have any tape? Gamora! Do you have any tape? TAPE! Ah, never mind!" More explosions interrupt his quest for tape and you can't help but snicker to yourself quietly. Only Peter and Rocket would worry about this during a battle. "Drax! Do you have any tape? Yeah! Scotch tape would work! Then why would you ask me if Scotch tape would work, if you don't have any?" He reappears in defeat.

"Let me guess, no one has tape?"

"No, nobody has any tape."

"Not a single person has tape?" Rocket grunts.

"Nope!"

"Did you ask Nebula?"

Peter hesitates, thinking for a moment. "...Yes!"

"Are you sure?"

"I don't think I heard you ask Nebula," you mutter sarcastically to piss him off.

"I asked Yondu, and she was sitting right next to him!" Peter defends himself.

Rocket groans with an eye roll. "I knew you were lying!"

"You have priceless batteries and an atomic bomb in your bag!" Peter points out, shooting at a few more passing ships. "If anybody's gonna have tape, it's you!"

"That's exactly my point," Rocket spits. "I have to do everything!"

You sigh. "You guys are really wasting a lot of time here."

Peter puts his mask on and goes back to fighting off ships. Just as you're about to follow him, you see Groot snatch the bomb and head for the core. You silently wish that he will know the correct button to press when the time comes. You whip your head back around to focus on the battle, but Peter is nowhere in sight. Your eyes follow where all of the Sovereign crafts are and they're surrounding the ship, Peter laying down on the floor.

"Guardians," you hear Ayesha's voice ring out into space. "Perhaps it will provide you solace that your deaths are not without purpose. They will serve as a warning to all of those tempted with betraying us. Don't screw with the Sovereign."

Your eyes widen in terror as they all fire immensely at the ship, explosion after explosion occurring. The flames grow more and more and you know that the entire ship will blow. You fall to the ground, unable to find your breath all of a sudden. Everyone is so close, this can't be how it ends. Rocket made a stupid mistake and you're all being prevented from saving the entire galaxy from Ego just because of it. You crave Peter by your side, back in this cave or running around asking people for tape. You want him anywhere but where he is right now.

You look up to see them firing lasers, demolishing every single Sovereign ship. Your spirits lift, but only for a mere second. A flaming ship part launches right next to Peter on the ground. You're instantly panicking again and all of your worst fears come true. The ship creates a massive explosion with the glowing, orange flames you have seen too many of today. You just want everything to be over and to go home. You want to be back on the Milano with your best friends. You want to be sleeping in bed next to Peter on a lazy morning again. Is that too much to ask for? Is being with him too good to be true?

Tears fill your eyes and your lip quivers as you search the debris falling from the sky after the explosion. "Peter...Peter!" you scream. But there is no answer.

He didn't make it out.

A/N: I’m sorry this part was short and basically sucked cause it was literally just the plot of the movie. Also, y’all can’t be upset with this cliffhanger cause I assume you have all seen the movie.

Part Eight: Here

taglist: 

@ikbenplant @ggclarissa @octo-cow52 @peterfromtheavengers @londonalozzy @mymandrake @condy-wants-a-cookie @greenarrowhead @spn-is-baee @verkyun @seninjakitey @kiersten-xoxo @lookclosernow @theflash-trash @itskitties4life

[yourplayersaidwhat]

Sweet flips bro

For the reference to this story, our DM has some experience, and she made a really sweet campaign entirely from scratch. It started originally with a small quest to accompany some traders from one town to the next. Our party consisted of; a Tiefling monk named Recien, an Aasimir paladin named Anabiel, a Human fighter named Kay, and a Bugbear sorcerer named labrys (me).

The traders go down the road, with a really cool silver knight with them, and we follow shortly after as both another caravan and extra security. Eventually we see something in the road.

DM (after all of us absolutely bombed this perception check) : “So you guys see this big dead dog in the road, that upon closer inspection you determine might be this thing called a horse.”

Anabiel: “I check to see how it died?”

DM: “I mean you don’t need to roll, the thing looks like swiss cheese. It’s got arrows in it, and also small holes of an unknown origin.”

Labrys: “How about I look around to see if I can see where the arrow shooters went?”

Kay: “Pretty sure those are called archers.”

*Rolls a nat 20 on the perception check*

DM: “So you see a campsite off in the distance, and it’s got a fire going. The only thing between you and it, is a stream about 2 feet wide.”

Recien OOC: “I roll to jump over it.”

*does pretty good and backflips over it*

Labrys (Me): “I wanna do a cool trick over it too!”

*Critical failure*

DM: “So you take a running leap, but you forget to leap and you end up in the river taking 7 bludgeoning damage from hitting your head on a rock.”

Labrys (Me) OOC: “So…that knocked me out.”

*Literally everyone starts cracking up while the DM describes the scene*

DM: “So you see this large, furry, muscular boy, try to leap across the river and he just face plants, and starts floating down the river face down.”

*Cue the 10 minute misadventure where everyone tries to pull me out of the river and revive me*

DM: “GUYS IT WASN’T THAT BIG, YOU LITERALLY COULD HAVE JUST STEPPED OVER.”

And then after that we found a small camp full of goblins, and I killed like 10 of them with create bonfire, and the boss with a crossbow, and Anabiel literally convinced one of them to jump into the fire on his own with a nat 20 persuasion check, and Kay whipped a man so hard his head cracked open.

[clement-weather]

Flames of War

The sounds of warfare resounded throughout the ruins of Eldre’thalas; the Dire Maul’s streets were running red as blasts of spellwork crashed into walls and caused  crumbling stone to crush upon melee fighters. 

The forces of the Alliance were retreating from their attempted assault.

Horde forces, supporting the ogre faction that made the city a residence, hounded men and women at every angle and direction during the escape.

Many soldiers fell back for the Southern borders.

Others clamored to make their own holes, breaking walls and clinging for hope.

Some fought their way North, struggling in their chaotic movements. 

Alison Clement kept committed to the last option with a coterie of other fighters. They’d pushed too far into the once-elven city and distanced themselves from any other option with every step that they took. 

She was rushing, especially hard, despite hearing the bovine roars of Tauren as they crushed pillars of wood onto her allies. A voice rang out, croaking its last as she ran away. It was familiar; a man, freshly recruited to the cause after being reminded of the Siege of Orgrimmar not but a few years ago and assured of victory following the Alliance’s fresh success against demonic invaders.

She couldn’t go back for him, nor anyone. 

“Keep moving! Hurry!” 

Her blonde hair was a mess, after having lost a battered barbute in favor of hearing close comrades as they each scoured the ruins for an exit. Lacerations at her brow caked her face in blood alongside other visceral details. 

The grime irritated her eyes and blurred her vision, but she couldn’t slow down. 

She was moving on instinct, barely yielding when the group found a fork to choose from.

“Left!” one man yelled, pathing down the street only to be crashed into by a frenzied Orc warrior. 

“Right!” his uncle ordered, contrasting and encouraging what was left of the group to keep moving despite his internal tragedy.

They ran, and ran, and ran, before breaking into a wider market space.

Alison still held onto her sword with her right hand at the hilt and the left keeping a tight grip half way down its blade. In pause between her Crusader-Fighting, she angled and brought one hand up to rub at the corner of her eyes so that she could take on a brief awareness of the setting.

Doing so, ironically, made her wince in pain. Her fingers were broken, but she could hardly remember the moment it happened. 

Was it when she were outside the central arena, being rebuked and countered by an orc who smashed his boot so harshly onto her right hand that she could hear its knuckles pop and phalanges fracture while curled around the hilt?

Or was it afterwards, when she took advantage of an ally’s assistance to climb atop that same orc, after he was cleaved, so that she could smash her fists so savagely that she briefly felt a sharp pain reverberate back into her palm?

Regardless, she was lucky that the hand had gone numb enough from the pain and strong enough to force the tendons to stay in a delicate curl around the tool. 

Her fingers were broken, but she wouldn’t let go.

The question had to be dismissed altogether, as she turned her attention to a thunderous roar of shamanic power. Crackling lightning struck a distance to the right, at an oil wagon, and acted the catalyst to a sundering explosion.

“Keep moving! Find cover and don’t fucking stop moving!” Alison cried out.

Two men wouldn’t be able to heed the call. The others were shook, but followed the hoarsely voiced instruction into a maze of crates and canopies.

The fire wasn’t too far behind, spreading across various flammable objects.

Going backwards was a death sentence, but the route ahead only had one single hope. Ladders raised up at a dead end of ancient stonework barriers, which were built to displace dirt and stone at the other side. 

Some men went immediately to climb, foregoing the fight. 

Those men fell back down, shot by ranged magic and mundane attacks alike.

The moment they halved the ladders’ height, it was a death trap; evocation spells from Sin’dorei were blasting the escape options apart, one by one. 

In a break of tragic desperation, a mage stepped backwards to sacrifice herself for the cause. She stepped away from her brothers and sisters, telling them to make the climb as she began some somatic gestures. 

A transmutation spell was cast to control the blazing fires, bringing a tempestuous pause onto the oncoming enemies. 

It gave enough time for Alison and a couple other soldiers to reach the top. 

There was also brief appreciation from Alison, as she recognized the spell; it was an entry-level cantrip that even she’d been practicing over the last several weeks, alongside the Evocation spell, “Firebolt.” 

That moment of appreciation shattered, however, when the shaman juggernaut revealed himself again. A competent, experienced troll, he challenged the mage’s spell. 

He broke the incantation, before breaking the mage sorceress in turn.

A nearby Kaldorei tried to fire arrows into the mass of hellfire, but it was no use. Alison reached for him and screamed in pained Common that they needed to keep moving. 

The wall they climbed onto leveled, ironically, into a tangle of dense forestry. It made little sense at this late hour, especially as most illumination was coming dimly from the city behind them.

“The further away, the better,” Alice assured before continuing.

They didn’t have time to rest, after all. And— Why would they, when the Horde had only just started its chase? The Alliance’s assault had gone on for a few hours and this escape effort had barely taken a fraction of the time.

They kept running, still hearing bellowing taunts coming from their pursuers. 

It was scornful.

Shameful.

“They’re gaining!” said a man warningly, while trying to make zigzagging movements. Most followed his example, save for one; he began sprinting further and further forward before the same shaman hurled a bomb of burning lava overhead. 

The ball split into portions; much of it fell onto a tree while a small amount landed at the furthest footman’s back. That was all it took, unfortunately. He let out a gasping howl from the heat, staggering in his movements. His comrades could catch up, but the assailants did so just as swiftly. A distant grunt’s firearm blew a musket-ball out and it pierced to his spine.

He dropped. 

Another bout of elemental magic was cast against the fleeing soldiers. Fire blew a distance ahead, being used from the tree nearby to force the Alliance to seek a different direction. 

Alison curved outwards, while encouraging her peers to continue left. 

She intended to mimic the mage’s sacrifice. 

“Keep going!” she demanded before slowing briefly and parting a hand out. She internalized the spell from earlier, taking her prior practice to exponential heights.

Do not think, act.   Willful focus intent. Disregard heat. Force. You are warmth.

The youthful knight closed her fist, then made a pulling gesture as if she were coaxing nature itself; in a way, she was. A blazing wave followed all of her fury, rushing like a tide onto the shaman. He was too prideful to consider suffering from heat, at the time of his chase, and suffered amply from it. 

Alison breathed in wearily, then started running further away from the massive plume of flames and smoke.

The troll’s yells didn’t cease, however. He kept wailing in wrath, eventually running out of the flame and leaping towards the knight. 

Wielding a massive club, he brought weight upon her with burning ire as an expression of his figurative and literal pain. 

The knight fell, topped by the smoldering fighter. In desperation, she kicked her feet and turned in an attempt to gain every inch away that was possible. 

When she turned her eyes upon his, though, all she saw was murderous intent. 

Her suffering was inbound, but ultimately intercepted as a row of arrows shot out from a distance. The ranger that Alison discouraged to linger, disobeyed and saved her life; his shots impacted the shaman’s chest, twice, and once into the very arm that held his weapon of choice. 

It gave her desperate hope and she took the opportunity.

Alison raised her left hand, again. Despite a painful sob, she forced the only other spell that was in her mental arsenal. 

Focus willful intent. Attribute target. You are energy. Unleash, propel. 

The mental incantations finished and, abruptly, a thunderous clap of arcane energy was evoked and shot forth into a combusting bolt of flame and fury against the troll.

He had only staggered a few feet away from her, so the impact was tumultuous.

Soot and ash rippled from the burst after a chaotic explosion, blowing Alison into a roll and her enemy off into the distance. 

She didn’t look to see if he survived, this time.  She heard a horn ring out, signalling that the Horde pursuers were overextending. They pulled away, back to the city’s outer borders.

With her comrade’s help, Alison broke further; they didn’t intend on chancing their survival. For every step that she took, however, a severe pain stabbed sharply at her lower back and coupled with short breaths; ribs had been broken and her lungs had been bruised by the club.

Rumors went abound between the survivors as they kept moving, then.

From their gnomish communicators, they were told reports of Alliance combatants pocketing all over the southern forests. 

They were safer in the North. 

The information was taken as opportunity and they ran with it, finding a hill and using its vantage to identify an uncontested road; a safe route for Feathermoon, the Alliance’s stronghold in the region.

The quick success was an overwhelming relief, forcing decompression on everyone and especially on Alison. She was so hopeful to find respite swiftly, that she began running down the steep slope. 

Unexpectedly, she skipped on a rock and began stumbling into a roll for the bottom. When she came to a stop, it was against a large stone; her knee bludgeoned it and sprained to add further issue during the trek’s last stretch.

Did she truly care, though? No. 

They were no longer being chased and she rose with quick composure despite her peers’ chagrin. 

After all— A woman with a limp can still stand for her friends.

[deathberryhime]

Tipping the Scales

((the unecessary AU nobody asked but still going to get)) ((I’m uploading this here as well; someone said they wanted updates here so--)) ((also in ffnet // ao3 ))

Chapter 02; impossible encounters

Astrid left at first light.

She had left a note for her aunt and uncle; one last round about the islands before we leave. I'll be back before sundown. So she took her boat –the small boat she and her uncle had built from scratch, the one she always took when she helped the fishermen as they did their rounds– and went around the island, tied the boat tightly and hid it from view, before slipping in the cove and then taking off to the skies.

Sensing her urgency, Stormfly ripped through the clouds like an arrow, slashing though the fog, and in a few hours she reached her destination. Ice reached high up in the sky as glaciers went into the water, few and scarce trees were frozen at the banks as the waves crashed on them. Even from the distance she could see the dragons that curled over the top, close to the clouds, and the shadows that stretched beneath the waters.

Stormfly slowed down, and tilting her body she headed to one of the many caves –entrances to the center of the great iceberg. After twisting and curling over stalagmites and stray boulders, she reached the epicenter. Colors flashed all around her as dragons of all species danced in the air. The green scenery complimented the ice walls surrounding a grand lake and an even bigger grassland. The Ice King had found the perfect place for his own little fortress.

She leaped gracefully off of Stormfly and strolled over the path towards the caves. The dragons that lurked all over the ledges paid her no mind, except from one soft purple little Terror and a Triple Striker. The Terror flew straight at her and curled over her shoulders nuzzling her neck, while the Triple Striker trotted next to her for a few scratches and hellos. She resumed her walk to the caves where she was met with a soft voice singing. It was an old song, something you'd hear during a wedding, upbeat and something Astrid couldn't for the life of her remember the steps. Yet, there was a single person that knew it by heart.

She sang and hummed as she skipped and twirled all over the cave, taking bowls and mugs and rearranging the cave's entire look. Further inside a dragon was sprawled on the floor a dopey smile on his face as he was enjoying the woman's voice. It only paused when Astrid entered the cave, giving her a graceful tilt of the head as he blinked owlishly, before turning back to the woman and crooned.

"Astrid!" Even in her late forties, she was a rather beautiful woman. Long auburn braids, graced with only a few stray grey hairs, went down her back. A slim body clad in simple browns, greens and greys. Earthy colors, she had said the first time Astrid met her, useful when in hiding. Green eyes flashed at her, mirth burning all over her ageless face as she presented her with a smile.

"Valka. It has been a while."

The smile almost slipped from her face as Valka looked her over. Astrid tried not to cringe; she knew she was a mess. Dark circles from a sleepless night, askew clothes and rumbled, and her hair was probably a bird's nest seeing as she slept with yesterday's braid and didn't bother to fix it this morning. Then again her expression was probably not helping much. Valka placed the jug she was holding back to its place and inched closer, "Are you alright? Is something the matter?"

Astrid sighed and reached for the desk –a board scrimmaged from a shipwreck snagged between two rocks– and leaned over, "I could be better. And yes. Something has happened since the last time I saw you."

"Sit. I'll make some tea and we'll talk." She said and blinked, a move identical to the dragon –her dragon, a Stromcutter, Cloudjumper– and moved to the cauldron over the fire. In a matter of seconds she had two mugs of steaming water with herbal leaves floating in front of them, as she sat over a trunk close to the desk, "What is wrong? For you to come all the way here and not send a Terror, must be important."

"It is." Astrid took a gulp and straightened in her seat, "We might have a problem."

Valka mainly raised a brow, "Problem?"

It took a while to tell her everything, mostly because she was trembling, both from her nerves and the cold. By the time she had finished, Valka had grown pale. A frown twisted her features. Astrid blinked at the woman, "Valka? Are you okay?"

The woman ignored her. She sat up and started pacing, mumbling as she went. Cloudjumper watched her carefully and when she didn't reach for him when he crooned in concern, Astrid narrowed her eyes. She was hiding something.

"What do you know?" the accusation rang clear in the air, and it only strengthen when Valka didn't turn to face her. "Valka." She pressed, "What. Do. You. Know."

"A rumor."

It was like a slap to her face, "You knew?"

Valka turned, pressing her lips, "The dragons talk. They travel far and they see so much, too much."

"You knew. And you didn't tell me."

The woman sighed, "What was I supposed to say exactly?"

"A warning would have been nice!" Astrid hissed, "A letter, a visit, something!" Anything that would have prevented her feeling like her world had turn upside down.

Valka huffed, "I wasn't sure if it was true. Dragons aren't always truthful. They exaggerate and would you truly have believed it if I told you about it?"

"If it was from you, then yes." Astrid exhaled and reached for her bangs. Her fingers fluttered through the loose locks as she urged herself to breathe. "What have you heard?"

"Rumors. The dragons fly farther every day, but rarely stay south for very long. The Queen is too vivid in their memories, I suppose." She sighed and moved closer, "There's a Terrible Terror that comes and goes. He ventures south much too often than I'd like, and he has come in contact with them more than once."

"The Dragon Riders?" Astrid asked, but the troubled look on Valka's face made her insides clench.

"Not exactly." She said and touched her temples, "There's a group that rides dragons, I can tell you that much for sure, but…" her green eyes looked up, "The one he's met often was their leader."

"Leader?" the fear must have melted in her face because Valka was quick to rise to the occasion.

"He's not Drago, I assure you." There was a long pause before Astrid said something.

"Are you sure it's not him?"

The older woman smiled tightly at her, "Drago hasn't been in our waters for years. I monitor his movements daily. There is nothing for you to fear, my dear."

"That doesn't mean he can't be here. For all we know the Dragon Riders could be in league with him." She knew she sounded hysteric. But Drago has been a sore subject for years for Astrid. The haunted look of her uncle was frequently vivid whenever the man was mentioned.

"Perhaps." Valka said touching her arm, "Sharpshot hasn't told me much, but he seems to like traveling alone more than enough." She pressed her lips, "He doesn't deem him dangerous. Then again, Sharpshot doesn't stay too long, he's kind of skittish that one." She paused, "Then, there's the matter of the raids."

Astrid blinked and then paled, "You think they lead the dragon raids." Her mind raced for a moment before she frowned, "But that's impossible. We would have seen them, noticed that some dragons carried more than fish and yak."

"I don't know if they lead them, but they certainly participate. I've had Terrible Terrors coming in reporting of Riders freeing captured dragons during raids all over the Archipelago." Valka hummed thoughtfully in her hand, "Haven't you heard anything from your Chief?"

Angry scowls and yellow bushy brows glared in the back of her mind. "Yeah, Madnut Thorston isn't someone that explains everything to his people." She mainly blamed the twins for that. Their father wasn't exactly the tamest man –he's getting better, her uncle had whispered at her once, that yak bomb was the tipping point– and the twins were his personal hel. She pitied the man; she didn't want to be the twins' focal point of any prank.

"I see. I don't know why they have yet to venture here, maybe it's too far out. The Northern Isles are a bit too north, it's a wonder you don't all freeze to death." Valka teased. "But in any case, I'll keep an eye out. If they come closer I will send a Terror."

Astrid was quiet for a moment. The tea had gone cold during their conversation. Her thoughts were a mess; everything had tangled together in a huge yarn that had no beginning or end.

"How long have you known?" she hated her whisper. It sounded too small, too fragile. Something she was not. But she knew shouting wasn't an option either; it never was with Valka. Ever since she met the woman Astrid admired the way she held herself; proud, strong, never any care for what the world thought. She had a way to twist words around, most times Astrid found herself agreeing with her. She admired her, but she always kept secrets. Before she met Valka, Astrid prided herself as an honest and headstrong person, clean of lies and secrets. Now, she had so many she was buried up to her waist.

"Almost two years now." Was her answer and Astrid bit her lips.

"Valka, I trust you with my life. You saved me. You brought me and Stormfly together. I believed you when you told me about the Queen. I trusted you when you told me there was nothing to be done. That it was the nature of this, and that we shouldn't disrupt it." Astrid looked up at the woman, "I don't know what made you think I wouldn't trust you on this."

There was a pause and Valka turned away, "Well, you hadn't been around much."

Astrid pushed the need to roll her eyes, "This again? I told you I can't leave my village behind. The raids are getting worse. There had been times I had Stormfly to step in. I can't just leave them alone and hole myself in here."

"And you told me you don't feel at home anymore there." Green eyes met blue, "Astrid, I worry about you. About what would happen to you! One mistake is all it would take, one false move and they would turn on you!"

"What, like they did to you? If you don't remember you didn't give them much of a choice in the issue." It was a low blow, she knew. But she was angry and Angry Astrid didn't care.

"Do not patronize me Astrid. Not on things you'd never understand."

"Don't you want to go back? Don't you want to see them? Aren't you curious what have happened to them?"

"They won't want me to. They're better off without me."

"How are you so sure about that? Have you gone back to check? Maybe things aren't as fine as you think they are." Astrid swallowed a lump in her throat and reminded herself to breathe, "I'd give anything to have my parents back." Her voice was small and trembling. She didn't like talking about her parents; the void they've left was too big to fill as much as Finn and Ingrid had tried. "To get to know them, to hug them, to tell them I love them. I don't get to have that. I'll never have that." Her eyes burned and she could feel her throat closing. Nevertheless she continued, "And your family probably feels the same. But unlike me, they can have you back. I'd give anything to have what you don't want."

"Even Stormfly?" Valka's words cut through her like arrows, "Would you give her up, if it were possible?"

How dare she. How dare she. "Don't twist this around." Astrid hissed, "That's not the point."

"That is the point. I can't go back –won't go." Valka said scowling, "I won't abandon Cloudjumper or the nest for a false dream of a happy family." It was rare to see her angry. Valka was always calm and collected, but Astrid had pushed her too far, and she was livid, "I was a pariah from where I come. They scorned me and my way, even my own husband. I won't leave everything I slaved for twenty years behind to go back there!"

"Not even for your son?"

"Especially for my son." Astrid watched her as she took a breath. She blinked once, twice, reminding herself that Astrid wasn't worth of her anger. Her posture relaxed and went to pet Cloudjumper, "He's probably all grown up now. He doesn't need me, nor will want me. He's grown up with a twisted version of me in his father's stories." She threw a glare over her shoulder, "I won't disrupt their peace nor their memory of me by going back. And that's my final word on this matter."

Astrid seethed. Her eyes burned and her chest heaved and her fingers trembled. She wanted to lash out, to scream and yell and shake the woman back to her senses. Why didn't she understand? Why couldn't she see that by staying back she was robbing her family of her. She blinked and an image of a toddler rushed in her mind. Crying and screaming as fire rained from the skies. She blinked again and the image was gone. Astrid forced her body calm down. It wasn't worth it. It wasn't really worth it. She evened her breaths and slowly her shaking eased. With a final exhale, she turned and walked out.

"If I see anything, I'll send a Terror."

It wasn't really worth a damn at all.

By the time they reached Northern Isles' waters the sky had gone dark. Only a few rays were left that lighted a path in the sky.

She had spent most of her visit with the Deadly Nadders. They always stayed more than necessary. Stormfly almost never saw her clutch anymore and the Nadders were always welcoming and affectionate. The babies were always fun to be around. They kept crawling and climbing all over her and she always toppled over with their weight. Stormfly's clutch –now older– had trilled up and begged for pets and scratched, rubbing their soft beaks and horns at her arms. If Stormfly was bothered she wasn't always around her children, she didn't show it; it didn't slow Astrid's guilt though.

She was still furious with Valka. Her attitude towards the particular issue always bothered her. She couldn't understand her reasoning; how she was so ready to throw away her family and deliberately stay away. Family was everything for Astrid. She hadn't met her mother, she died during labor. Her father she remembered in flashes and pieces; he died during a raid. Her uncle had taken her in and raised her as best as he could. She had no complains; she was their daughter through and through. But what wouldn't she give to see them again.

Even Stormfly?

How dared she. Astrid looked at the Nadder. Stormfly wasn't a bargaining piece. Even if the Gods themselves had asked, she'd rather die than let them have her. Stormfly was family; she was up there with Finn and Ingrid. Her hands gripped the belts tighter than necessary. She'll never give Stormfly up. To no one. Not the Gods, not Drago Bludvist, not even to those Dragon Riders.

Astrid scowled. That had been something else that worried her. The twins hadn't said anything about the raids. Had they lied? Sure they viewed her as family, but how far did that extend? Maybe they hadn't known as well. Ruffnut had said there were more scrolls that they didn't manage to read. Or perhaps they had deliberately withheld information. Astrid remembered Tuffnut's excided face; yeah, not possible. Maybe it wasn't the twins that were doing the withholding; they weren't the only tribe in the Archipelago.

They were two hours away from Thor's Edge, when she heard it. The wind howled and bit at her skin and it took her a moment to register. Growls and roars accompanied by the familiar sound of beating wings. She braced herself on the belts and flattened her body on Stormfly's; her pale wools would make good camouflage on the Nadder's back. She turned the dragon up again, taking cover in the thick clouds; it was too early for another raid, they had barely caught up with the destruction the previous one had done. Her heart threatened to leap from her throat when three shapes flew below them. The two lithe Monstrous Nightmares flew gracefully flanking a chubby Gronckle who amazingly matched up their speed with little effort. If Astrid hadn't been too busy admiring the fast Gronckle she might have noticed them earlier.

Three figures were sitting on their backs; dressed in dark wools and hoods, talking and gesturing at each other. Astrid felt a pit on her stomach. They had come. They were here. Astrid forced her mind into focus. She flipped her hood on and tugged her scarf up her nose. She needed to leave, to hide. They were too many to engage and they could easily trap her. She had full faith in hers and Stormfly's abilities but an aerial battle would be suicide when she knew near nothing on her opponents. She couldn't take them. Not three versus one.

She paused for a second and narrowed her eyes; two Nightmares, one Gronckle. That makes it three Riders. But the reports had said four dragons. If that was the case, then where was–

She barely managed to stop Stormfly in time. She was really disappointed in herself; she should have paid more attention to her surroundings.

Stormfly bucked just in time for a black body to burst from the cluster of clouds above them. It missed them by a few inches. She froze as the eerie sound whipped in her ears when the black lithe dragon fell towards the sea. And in that moment she caught the eyes of its rider. Well, as much as someone could seeing he wore a mask. They came to an abrupt stop, the dragon groaning and roaring in discomfort as the Rider pulled a lever-like rein back, the great wings beating down to gain height. That's when Astrid had realized her mistake; they had her surrounded.

Well fuck.

She didn't wait for the four Riders to completely trap her. She bolted. Astrid clicked her tongue three times –a distress signal she and Stormfly had figured out for literally times like this– and Stormfly took up in the clouds. She heard cursing behind her and the familiar sound of wings beating the air furiously. And that terrifying screech. Her heart beat furiously in her chest. She also refused to acknowledge the crippling fear that gnawed her stomach and froze her legs. The Hoffersons are proud and fearless –yakshit! Her uncle hadn't obviously come face to face with a Night fucking Fury.

She knew dragons weren't the mindless killing machines that everyone thought of for three-hundred years. That didn't mean she was happy or willing to come close and personal with a dragon that had "the unholy offspring of lightning and death –hide and pray it will never find you" as a description in the Dragon Manual. Borg the Bold –the author of said Manual– had avoided it at all costs, and Valka herself had thought the species as extinct. She couldn't face a dragon she knew nothing about, much more one that had a Rider.

Gods, the Dragon Riders had a Night Fury in their ranks. She was screwed.

Stormfly weaved through the clouds, hiding in the dark clusters around them. Her coloring helped amazingly, making her blend with stray clouds that made them almost invisible to the four menaces in her tail. A loop through the quickly darkening clouds did little to shake the annoying Riders. A stray look over her shoulder found them still following and closing in. Astrid growled; shaking them off would be challenging.

With a smirk she pulled Stormfly higher, "Time to disappear, girl."

Stormfly trilled and shot up with a few beats of her wings. The Nightmares followed; the Gronckle stayed lower. The Night Fury was nowhere to be seen. Shaking her head, Astrid focused on the enemies she saw. The Nightmares were closing in as Stormfly streaked the air, and she noted the bright red one lighting up, rearing its mouth open. Astrid clamped her thighs on Stormfly's flank and tightened her grip on the belts as the Nadder looped around the torrent of fire that came at them. They didn't miss a beat as they flawlessly avoided the other Nightmare's –a deep purple and red Monstrous Nightmare– flamed body that came barreling at them, and went higher.

They weren't that high, but Astrid did notice the air thinning as she took even breaths. She also did notice the Nightmares falling behind, as well as their bodies whipped out of flames. Astrid smirked. With a swift nudge, she directed Stormfly towards a thick mass of clouds, intending to hide and let the Riders fly away.

They didn't go far.

The Night Fury came screeching, curling its long body into a loop around them and came beside them. They were close; close enough for Astrid to see the emerald eyes of the Rider behind the helmet –not a mask– that matched the Night Fury's. Close enough for Astrid to see the quality black leather he wore. Close enough for Astrid to see the bright red prosthetic tailfin that graced the Night Fury's tail. And close enough for the Night Fury Rider to reach over with his hand.

Till that moment, Astrid didn't know Stormfly could move any faster.

Her Deadly Nadder friend hissed and whipped her tail around, spikes up and ready. It slammed on the Night Fury's flank, and the dragon roared and reared its head back. Astrid yelped when Stormfly turned her body and took the charged shot the Night Fury sent their way. She heard Stormfly groan in pain and a yell she registered as the Night Fury's Rider before her whole world flipped.

Wind blew around her as she fell. Her ears were still ringing with Stormfly's pained groan and she had to bit her lips before any screams would happen. Her body felt numb from the icy winds whipping her around like a doll. She knew Stormfly was alright, a single shot would hardly take her friend down, but the wait was too long and the waters were coming towards her faster and faster. Where was Stormfly?

An all too familiar screech came behind her, and she wrestled her body into her back. The sight of the black Night Fury barreling after her didn't help her at all. With a whimper she saw as dragon and rider came closer; said rider reaching forward, a gloved hand stretched to grab her. Gnawing fear gripped her stomach when his fingers ghosted on her arm. Astrid willed herself for her incoming imprisonment. She also willed her brain to hatch an escape plan, one that preferably didn't lead to her falling to her death.

As it seems, her escape plan would have been for naught.

A stream of fire came at them catching the dragon by surprise. It reeled and roared as it raised a leather wing covering its rider from the attack. Astrid smirked as the Night Fury barrel rolled away from the bright magnesium fire, and hooted in triumph as a bright blue Deadly Nadder came and wrapped her claws around her upper arm. The smile fell completely when she saw the charred hole on her friend's chest. She almost slipped through her claws –bloody and dripping claws– but Stormfly growled and flipped her over to her back before shooting for the cover of the clouds again. The belts and furs were gone but she was more concerned with Stormfly's injury.

There was a screech that froze her body, and Astrid threw a tentative look at the Night Fury. Dragon and rider were hovering just below the clouds as thunder echoed in the distance. They weren't following, but Stormfly wasn't waiting. She pushed through, eager to go home. Astrid's last look of the rider was a red tailfin as they scurried away.

Anger unfurled in her guts. How dare they hurt her friend and then run away? She should have gone there and given that Rider a piece of her mind… She shook her head and reached around Stormfly's neck and felt the muscles coil and pulse. Her suicidal attempt for revenge could wait; Stormfly came first. Her friend whined and wavered when the rain started falling.

She just wished they'd made it in time.

The helmet was off the moment they touched down.

"Are you alright, bud?" the young Dragon Rider said reaching for the scorched wing, "Damn." The Night Fury hissed and roared in discomfort; his wing was badly burned. Another dragon slammed down right after them.

"What the Hel was that?!" the Night Fury rider rolled his eyes and looked over the red Monstrous Nightmare's fuming rider.

"Do you think I know? He took Toothless by surprise."

"She." Everyone's eyes fell on the Gronckle's hefty rider, "The Nadder was a female. Too bright scales." He mumbled as he passed ointment for the Night Fury's burn. The dragon groaned in relief.

"I don't care about the stupid dragon! It had a Rider! And he almost killed us!"

"Frankly, if Fanghook hadn't slammed on you–"

"Hey, don't blame Fangie for this!"

The Night Fury rider rolled his eyes and continued rubbing ointment on the injure dragon, ignoring the chaos behind him, "How does it feel, bud? Better?" Said dragon grumbled and tested his wing, furling it open and hissing as the membrane stretched too much. He shot a glare at his rider, "Yeah, I know. We cut it close. That blast packed a punch, huh?"

"Nadders have one of the hottest flames. Toothless is lucky it was a small burn." The Gronckle rider provided again and the dragon –Toothless –huffed and grumbled, shooting a glare at the large rider that showed his disagreement.

"We don't have time for this. We have to warn the others." Toothless' rider said at the still arguing Nightmare riders, "Take Fanghook back and call a meeting. Tell them we have a problem."

The youngest of the group –Fanghook's rider– raised a brow, "One rogue rider is hardly a problem."

"He's not alone." At that the teen paled and cursing he mounted his Monstrous Nightmare and fled.

"Are you sure about this?" he turned to the Gronckle rider who fumbled with his hands. By his side the Nightmare's rider narrowed his eyes.

"He was good in the air and total control over the dragon. By the way they moved he had experience. Years of experience."

"Yeah." Toothless' rider groaned and ruffled his hair, "This could be a problem."

"You really think there're more?"

He threw a look at the hefty man, green eyes blazing, "Where there's one, there's more. That's what Dad always told me about the dragons. It can cover up riders as well."

The Nightmare rider cursed, "Then we need to leave. That could have been a scout. They could come at any minute."

The Night Fury rider put his helmet back on, "Agreed." Then gracefully slid on the saddle and hooked his prosthetic leg on the flying mechanism. He shot a look up at the rumbling clouds and the direction the rogue had –probably– taken off.

They were gone when the first raindrops touched the ground, the telltale screech was the only sign they were ever there.

[newsnigeria]

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Why Israel’s Airstrikes in Syria Are a Sign of Weakness, Not Strength

By Ollie Richardson for ooduarere.com

Why does Russia behave the way it does in relation to Israeli airstrikes in Syria?

I will proceed from what seems to be an established fact (SANA confirmed) that on the night of January 11th Israel hit one depot at Damascus international airport. I.e., material damage. 12 projectiles were fired in total. Syrian air defences worked, and by all accounts they were as effective as they were in the previous Israeli bombing run (80% accuracy approx.).

Even if Israel had hit two warehouses or a local farm in addition, then it changes absolutely nothing. What the Syrian Army lost can be replaced with little risk; Iran has seemingly supplied the Syrian Army very well and continues to do so at will.

How many times has Israel hit targets in and around Damascus and its airport since 2015? The answer is “many”. And each attack resulted in more or less the same thing – small material losses. A few times troops were killed in a couple of cases, but this can hardly be described as large losses (yes, war entails human losses – shocking, isn’t it?).

There is some misunderstanding in regards to why Russia sent the S-300 to Syria and upgraded the Syrian Army’s air defence network, integrating it into its own network. Like with the S-400, there was the assumption that Israel would never bomb Syria again, or that a NFZ was created.

Schematic showing the range of equipment that forms the S-300 system

Like with the S-400, this is not the case at all. As I explained once upon a time in an older article, the deployment of the S-400 was the logical next step after establishing the Minsk Agreements and neutralising what the West was trying to do in Ukraine.

What was the West trying to do in Ukraine? Mainly: drag Russia into a fratricidal sabbath and signing the death warrant of the Russian nation. The collapse (coup) of the USSR was already a bullseye for the West, so managing (weaponising against Russia) “independent” post-Soviet states was the next task. Having created a paradigm whereby the West must pour money into a black hole, being unable to abandon the Banderist monster it created, Russia paved a safe road to Syria (Sukhois touched down at Hmeymim in September 2015). The West was frozen in time and vulnerable to an attack to its rear (collapse of the liberal order).

Incidentally, the Gilets Jaunes protests represent the first stage of this attack to the rear. But it’s not Russia who is behind it; the West is suffocating itself with its own hands – Russia merely created the conditions for such a thing to happen by deploying the S-400 and putting an end to the Skyes-Picot project, thus in turn preventing France from pillaging the Middle East anymore (Russia will toss France out of Africa later). As a result, the internal contradictions that form the equilibrium mood in French (EU) society were raised to the surface, similar to how Ukraine’s dark past (OUN-UPA, SS collaboration) came to the surface (the West assisted this process via the 2014 coup, but did not create it).

The S-300 deployment was needed by Russia in order to take the load off the S-400. I.e., to give Russia more room to manoeuvre in the diplomatic sphere (read more here). Reminder: the S-400 is much more than an anti-air system. It embodies the future of international relations and a transition away from “Responsibility to protect”. In other words, Israel had carved out for itself room to manoeuvre in Syria that started to pose a danger to Russia’s (and thus International Law’s) “red line” zone in and around Hmeymim and Latakia/Tartus. What do I mean by “red line” zone? Russia was invited into Syria by Assad, and thus it must base its military somewhere. Much like how an embassy is a special kind of territory, a military base is also like a “state within a state”. Russian troops represent Russia’s signature, in the same way that Syrian troops represent Syria’s signature. In fact, the Kurds shot themselves in the foot when they tried to exit from the framework of the Syrian state, because they do not have the leverage to “go it alone” in the big world of International Relations. America has business partners, not friends.

There is another, more vivid interpretation of this “red line” zone: the clear framework, as defined by International Law, whereby Russia is RESPONSIBLE both in the media and before the UN Charter for its action or reaction. I.e., S-400 shooting down an Israeli jet means that the Russian state is responsible for it, and if the S-200 is fired, it means that the Syrian Army is responsible, respectively.

This is why Russia ALWAYS tried to find a way to use the S-200 in order to repel Israel (a few Israeli jets were shot down.. sorry… it was a “bird strike”). This liberates Russia from being blamed in the media and at the diplomatic level (not behind closed doors, however, as all parties understand how the great game works) in front of Israel, and thus gives Moscow more diplomatic room to manoeuvre and also limits consequences to the LOCAL environment (for example, Jews living in Russia will not be made to feel uncomfortable because the country they live in just attacked their “motherland”).

Does Netanyahu know that Moscow gave the Syrian Army the order to fire the S-200 at its precious jets? Of course, but in terms of International Law, it is not a Russian (re)action, it is a Syrian one. And if push came to shove and Assad was taken to the ICC, Syria can say that Israel violated its sovereignty, thus Damascus is also covered by the UN Charter (this didn’t work for Milosevic because Russia was not in a position to offer its allies leverage due to the treacherous Perestroika, which crippled Russia in all aspects).

However, there is a problem. Israel can violate International Law (at the local level, not globally and certainly not against a nuclear superpower) without consequence. I.e., the game is rigged. So, how can Russia push Israel back and coerce it into abiding by International Law? Here we have to be careful to not enter into a paradox: violating International Law (and thus severing diplomatic relations) in order to force a violator to abide by International Law. This is the equivalent of slitting your own throat.

Now let’s speak a little bit about what Russia is trying to globally:

We’ve all seen what the US & Co have done in our lifetimes, and even in the lifetimes of our descendants. A good“modern” example is Yugoslavia: the US definitively spat at the principals of the UN and grossly violated International Law, dropping depleted uranium without a UN mandate.

How the US managed to do this is a topic for another day, but what’s important is that the sovereignty of Yugoslavia was blurred via NGOs and aggressive media work, along with false justifications based on “Russell’s Teapot”concepts. This fact is still alarming even today. So it was learnt pretty quickly in Moscow (and by Putin) where all of this was going. The only way that Russia could survive amidst this post-Soviet onslaught was if it targeted the projected US’ weakness. And so today we have Kinzhal, Avangard, Kalibr, S-400, Pantsir, etc. The West has no answer for these weapons, and is unlikely to have even parity in the next 50 years. It’s like saying:

“You like to use aircraft carriers and your airforce to pummel weaker opponents, hijack their economy and hand it over to the IMF, and then integrate it into NATO to stop it escaping US hegemony? Okay, we’ll develop the necessary toolkit to hit you when the time is right.”

A common theme in everything that I have ever written – whether it be for Russian media or for English media or on social media – is that I place an emphasis on the (relative) long-term. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, not in 5 years, but in 20 years+. We are now in an epoch where social media is a far more important (in terms of time) battlefield than the zone of military operations of the ground. They, of course, work in sync, but the US understood that color revolutions are more efficient (consume less resources) and pose less risk for US troops.

Anyway, without wanting to digress, my point is that all actions/reactions must be slotted into an algorithm that produces multiple results based on different time periods in the future. A solution that brings fruits in 5 years but then a catastrophe in 10 years is no good. The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has a supercomputer, as I have mentioned many times in the past. Today we can say that the algorithm being used allowed Russia (and friends) to encircle the West. Russian media is, frankly speaking, kicking the MSM’s ass.

The algorithm is based on RISK. Russia must be allowed to make mistakes and suffer the consequences as a result. During WW2 the USSR turned a black situation into a victory (the ratio of destroyed Red Army tanks to destroyed German tanks looks alarming on paper, but finds understanding with a wide perspective). The victory was possible because of this same RISK. There was no safety net – Russians (Rus) either win or are exterminated.

And isn’t this true to life? We may consider ourselves to be so distant from our Neanderthal/Cro-Magnon ancestors, with our iPhones and e-cigarettes, but we haven’t changed at all. We still fight for survival, we are always ready to launch arrows and defend ourselves. It seems to me, based on things I’ve read from people who know Syria far better than I do, that Syria dug itself into a hole. Of course, takfiris/Muslim Brotherhood/Wahhabi/Zionist/Anglos took advantage of it, but Damascus tried certain domestic policies, and some worked, some didn’t.

The main problem now is that Syria has a demographic crisis, much like Ukraine. In fact, it seems that this is true for the entire Middle East. This didn’t just happen in 2011 because of terrorists. It is a process that started long before this. So, who is going to solve this crisis? Is it Moscow? Well, I think for many laypeople this would be the ideal scenario. After all, absolving oneself from responsibility is conformable. But what does this ultimately mean? Syria must remain a child who needs help from Daddy?

Surely Syria would like to look after itself and be self-sufficient, whilst at the same time enjoying profitable trade relations and military alliances with allies, where parties have equal status, and not like a vulnerable toddler surrounded by adults? Of course, China, Russia, and all Eurasian friends are going to help rebuild Syria, but at some point Syria will need to depend on its own economy and efforts. The Eurasian Development Bank isn’t an endless pool of funds, nor is Russia a bottomless pit of aid.

So let’s come back to the question asked earlier in this article. How can Russia help Syria, deter Israel, and at the same time preserve diplomatic and historical ties with both countries (only an idiot wouldn’t want to have more allies than enemies)? Simple: by enforcing rules that apply to ALL parties in Syria. By the way, I should make it clear right now that Russia isn’t interested in bombing Israel or any other lunatic actions. Westerners might have a hard time understanding why, but this is because the West has never truly experienced war, only Hollywood movies.

The deployment of the S-400 established the following rules (not an exhaustive list, but some examples nevertheless):

Russia’s military (re)actions are clearly distinguished from Syria’s;

Parties cannot bluff about what collective leverage (from all theatres of military operations around the world combined) they have or don’t have;

Russia controls the tempo (it’s economy is stronger than the other parties’ economies);

Donetsk, Lugansk, and Crimea are lost for the West (the Banderist abscess was isolated);

Nord Stream 2 is being built, end of discussion;

Association with jihadist groups in Syria now incurs losses and not profits (why would a client continue to fund something that evidently cannot achieve their aims and objectives);

Syria’s sovereignty is final, unless a party has the leverage to challenge this;

etc…

Let’s expand on some points:

As I mentioned earlier: for Moscow, separating Syria’s actions in Syria and Russia’s actions in Syria was a very, very important move. This allowed Moscow to participate in the proxy war without exposing its rear to a US attack (Navalny/Grudinin coup?)

The bias of the UN was removed in the grand scheme of things. The RISK paradigm enforced by the S-400 (Russia let Turkey make the anticipated mistake, allowing S-400 deployment) pushed the US to the North East (Washington’s “plan B”) and made the local chessboard easier to read.

Turkey’s sphere of influence (SOI) in Syria was isolated to Idlib (operation Annex Aleppo failed); Qatar and Saud were pitted against each other and removed from the game (lack of leverage); Israel’s SOI shrunk due to the strengthening of Hezbollah’s regional status and proximity to Israel’s Syrian-side borders. I.e., the rats started to scatter.

The Astana Agreement in many respects is even more genius than the Minsk Agreement. Russia found a way to exploit Turkey’s lack of leverage (after all, the US is ready to unleash a Gulen coup at any moment) and coerce it into reformatting the jihadist matrix (NGO network). As time progressed & the Syrian Army liberated more and more territory, the jihadist groups consolidated time and time again, and the list of terrorist groups became more and more truncated. This is a very interesting aspect of fourth generation warfare that deserves its own article. Anyway, fast forward to today, and there is only Al Nusra left (Zinki and Ahrar are non-entities, since Qatar and Saudi Arabia washed their hands of them). Although we can’t say for sure what “Nusra” (HTS) really is today (terrorists can just change flags and create new allegiances with Ankara’s help), they are the controlling force anyway.

Hopefully this helps to understand why Russia was happy to leave Idlib for later. Ankara knows all terrorists in Idlib by name, and they are a burden. Today a relationship with Tehran and Moscow can bring far more fruits than ties with Nusra can. Erdogan is a realist, he puts his finger to the wind. One more point about Turkey: Nusra’s magic capture of most of Idlib and the decimation of Zinki/Ahrar is not a coincidence, nor is it organic. It is Erdogan’s way of handing over Idlib to Assad and saving face amongst his electorate. Of course, he drives a hard bargain (Assad must bring the Kurds to heel and definitively end their separatist “Rojava” project), but it’s a good deal anyway since the big loser is the West and its MENA terrorist allies.

Russia indeed controls the tempo not only in Syria, but also in MENA. The little scare we had in the middle of 2018 when the West was close to bombing Syria again was successfully averted because Russia temporarily slowed the tempo down and managed to encircle the US in the media space (the DPR and LPR use the same strategy now to prevent Poroshenko from using the Donbass theatre to further impose martial law and cancel elections). Pay attention to how Russia jumped ahead of the MSM/NGOs in the social media time continuum. Moscow reported a lot that the White Helmets were filming a false flag. What happened here is extremely complex and needs a separate article (or even book!) about NGO media work.

So, knowing that the deployment of the S-400 reconfigured the parameters of SyrianWar.exe, it becomes (I hope) possible to at least understand that the situation is not at all black and white. After all, it if was, then there wouldn’t be a need for supercomputers in MoDs. The conversations that happen behind closed doors are not at all like the statements that are disseminated for public consumption. Not at all.

What’s the real reason Israel still bombs Syria?

Because it has to in order to “stay in the game”. But things aren’t like they were before. Now Tel Aviv must pass through this RISK paradigm and earn its place at the poker table. But is damaging 1 warehouse in Damascus (according to some social media “experts”, this symbolises the end of the Syrian state and Russia’s failure to defend its interests…) worth it?

It is here that we see the importance of having not just local, but also global leverage. The fact that Israel fights upstream and RISKS much more than what it can possibly hope to gain testifies that its position on the grand chessboard has weakened. Netanyahu was forced to call early elections. He is being investigated for fraud. Hamas and Hezbollah are now stronger than ever before. Iran is entrenching itself further and cementing solid ties with powerful countries. The UN demands to give Golan Heights back to Syria. etc. Another big blow for Tel Aviv is that Syria’s air defence were upgraded, and it is Tel Aviv’s own fault. Just like how Turkey blinked, Tel Aviv was involved in the Ilyushin catastrophe, and it must pay the price for it – but in accordance with International Law, not through reciprocal violations of the UN Charter!!!!!! The bear says jump, the snakes ask “how high?”. Syria’s Pantsirs (air DEFENCES) are watching…

So, too long; didn’t read?

Well think of it like this: Syria is well on the way to being a self-sufficient and independent (not in the American sense, where post-Soviet states are hijacked and turned into liberal springboards) nation, capable of defending itself. An adult. Wanting responsibilities, and not shying away from them. Meanwhile, Israel is dependent on Western aid and becomes more and more childish (Freud used the term “fixation”), incapable of growing up and becoming truly independent. A lot like the US actually, which is the bastard child of London, forever playing the victim and inventing “successes” on Blu-ray.

If you aren’t convinced by anything I said and think that Russia is “weak” or prefers to cower in a corner, then please remember the fact presented below.

I think Syria understands the message now much more than ever before.

RISK = RESPONSIBILITY.

[thereisnoneedtocallmesir]

The 100 ask game

I saw this on @osleyakomwonkru​ her blog and she ended it with “if you want to do this, go for it”, and I’m a massive nerd that likes the ask game so I’m going for it

1. What Station on the Ark would you be from?

Arrow station, it is the furthest away from the other stations and because I hope that there would be a lack of machines like the kind on factory station, mecha station, hydra, station and farm station, seeing as those are NOT usually quet machines

2. What would you get arrested for on the Ark?

Either stealing something or because of something that happens if I become overstimulated. I have autism and a spacestation would never stop producing sound so things like going to the wrong place, not following certain orders that I might not even have processed, or if someone tries to stop me from leaving a place with too many stimuli MAKING them let me go

3. Would you take off your wristband when you landed on the ground?

Nah

4. What would the necklace Finn would make for you look like? (Clarke: deer/Raven: a raven duh..)

Assuming I’d know about their (former) existance, a penguin

5. If you could resurrect any MINOR character who would it be?

Probably Sinclair

6. Create a squad of 5 characters to go on missions with. Who are they?

Uuuhm lets see, assuming we are still on the original earth but with the peeps from season5, I’d say Raven(tech), Niylah(she can get and process food and make clothes, and in general seems like a usefull person), Octavia(fighting and strategy), Jackson(healing) and Maddie(she knows the land and can also gather food)

7. What Grounder Clan would you belong to you?

I think either Trikru or Trishanakru

8. What would your name be in Trigedasleng? (example: Octavia=Okteivia…just make it up!)

I think it would be jessika, though for this I am using the The 100 wiki so idk how good of a job I am doing interpreting that

9. Thoughts on Finn? Some people hate him, and others love him, so I’m curious

At first I liked him but season 2 Finn can just go die in a fire, ooh wait he got stabbed by Clarke before the fire came...

10. Be honest. How willing would you have been to take the chip without knowing all the horrible things it does?

Not. I’d like the thought of not suffering but I would not trust some sorta chip

11. What character do you relate to most?

I think Charlotte, she was dropped in a shit situation and had no idea how to deal with the situation(though her situation is on a whole other level)

12. What character do you like the least?

From the ones currently alive, Kane. He went from dick to pretty decent BUT NOW HE’S BACK TO AN ASSHOLE LIKE C’MON MAN

13. Describe your delinquent outfit. (Would you wear something like Murphy’s jacket with the spikey red shoulder patch or have a trademark like Jasper’s goggles? Be creative, yet practical)

If I’d be able to get my hands on it, cargo pants(I like ma pockets), some kinda shirt with half long sleeves(I can’t really handle ones with really short sleeves and long sleeves aren’t very useful if it becomes hot) and some kinda jacket, depends on what kinda jackets I would be able to get my hands on

14. Favorite type of mutant animal?

The butterflies

(also WHERE DID THE MUTANT ANIMALS GO LIKE THEY WERE THERE AND THEN THEY JUST FORGOT ABOUT THEM FOR A WHILE OR SOMETHING?)

15. What would your job be on the Ark?

Sorting things like scrap metal. It doesn’t require a lot of social interactions and I LOVE sorting things. So I’d probably enjoy doing it a lot, work hard and probably become faster as I do it more

16. Would you have willingly pumped Ontari’s heart if Abby asked?

Yeah

17. If Lexa wasn’t Heda, but she was still alive then who would have made the best commander?

Uuuuhm probably Roan yeah

18. How would you act if you ate the hallucinogenic nuts like Jasper and Monty?

Judging from how I act when sleep deprived, like an idiot(like getting jumpscared by my own hair, multiple times) that is also smort, like I’d probably find a way to make a shitton of bombs, and I would find useful stuff and forget where I got it from

19. How would you have dealt with Charlotte’s crime? A more John Murphy approach or Bellamy Blake approach?

Not really an option but more like Clarke. There should be some kind of system that is democratically voted on that applies on ALL crimes of the same sorts. Spur of the moment emotions are NOT a good way to judge anyone

20. Who should have been the Chancellor, if anyone?

I am not sure to be honest

21. Would you have been on Pike’s side like Bellamy or on Kane’s side? Or Clarke in Polis?

Either by Kane’s side or in Polis

22. Mount Weather had a lot of modern commodities. (example: Maya’s Ipod) What is the one thing you would snatch while there?

I would look around and hope for dear life that they have noice cancelling headphones(for autism reasons), and maybe even some sort of small solar panel and generator to charge it

23. What would your Grounder tattoos look like? Hairstyle? War paint?

I would probably have some tattoos on my arms, my hair would be in a ponytail with some small braids in there and I’d probably wear war paint around my eyes

24. Favorite quote?

“Ge smak daun, gyon op nodotaim.” (Get knocked down, get back up), like it’s part of my phone background

25. If all of the characters were in the Hunger Games, who would have the best shot at winning?  

I agree with @osleyakomwonkru​  “Luna, because I think she could outlive everyone either by fighting until the death OR by stomping off by herself and outlasting everyone out of sheer willpower (keeping @easilydistractedbyfanfic‘s answer again)” 

26. Least favorite ship? Favorite canon ship? Favorite non canon ship? NOT INCLUDING CL OR BC OR BE

Least favorite: I think Kane and Abby

Favorite canon ship: Lincoln and Octavia or Lexa and Clarke

Favorite noncanon ship: probably Niylah and Octavia

27. A song that should be included in the next season? If there had to be another guest star like Shawn Mendes on the show, who would you want to make a cameo?

I don’t know to be honest. Though if I had to choose a guest star it’d be Hayley Kiyoko, just because I think that she is awesome

28. What would you do if you were stuck in the bunker with Murphy for all that time?

Be bored as fuck, and if they had the tools I’d try to figure out how to take random objects apart and put them back together(hopefully I’d succeed, though I would steal the camera from Murphy to record what I do so that I can check what came from where)

29. You’re an extra that gets killed off. How do you die?

I’d probably go exploring somewhere and get lost

30. A character you’d like to learn more about and get flashbacks of?

I think Shaw, because he was talking about some war where Diyoza fought in and I am interested in what happend before the firs time the world ended

31. A character you’d bang?

LEXA AND OCTAVIA

I REPEAT, LEXA AND OCTAVIA(I am very gay okay)

and also Raven

32. Would you stay in the Bunker? Go up to Space? Or live on your own in Eden?

If they would let me I would stay in the Bunker. The Space thing wasn’t as planned, and I wouldn’t survive on my own in Eden

33. In the Bunker, would you follow Octavia? What would you do to pass the time underground?

Yes. And I would probably try to learn how to fight and how to speak trig(I really like the language okay), and then the basics of skills like healing, sewing, which foods are edible and which aren’t etc

34. What crime would you commit in the Bunker that lands you in the fighting pits?

It would probably also be that I try to get away from a place with too many stimuli and then if someone tries to stop me I’d make them let me go. Especially if looking at the fights in the pits was an obligation (though I somehow feel like I would be more likely to get to talk to Octavia, well Blodreina, and explain it and maybe be allowed to stay away from all the noise, and if needed clean up the bodies and process the meat as reminder of why you shouldn’t break the law or something. At least more likely than that I’d be able to organize anything like that on the Ark, but  don’t know why I think that)

35. Up in Space, who would you bond with first? Who would be the most difficult for you to get along with?

I think I would bond with Raven first, because she would be able to explain to me how a lot of stuff works so if I see an opportunity I would ask her a lot of questions and only continue asking about things she seems to get exited about. It would probably be more difficult to get along with Bellamy because I just don’t like what seem to be his thinking patterns and his morrals

36. How long do you think you would last on Earth by yourself?

Not at all

37. When the Eligius ship lands what do you do?

Watch, observe and learn. Learn who they are, what they do, when they do it, how they respond to different situations, who holds what kind of position in their group and what their intentions might be or how I could learn those

38. Favorite Eligius character? Least favorite?

Favorite is Shaw, least favorite is McReary

39. Would you Spacewalk?

Legally yeah, not worth the risk of getting caught though

40. Would you prefer to eat Windshield Bugs, Space Algae, or Bunker Meat?

Space Algae, seems to be the easiest to throw down and not have to chew

41. Would you start a war for the last spot of green on earth? What would your solution be to avoid it?

I wouldn’t start a war, but if a war has already been started(officially or unofficially) and attempts to end it peacefully fail I will try my best to finish the damn war

42. Would you rather dig out flesh-eating worms or stick thumb drives into bullet holes?

I’m fine with both

43. Are you willing to poison your sister for the Traitor Who You Love? What would you do to stop Octavia?

Depends on what my sister does and what the traitor did but probably yeah

Generally speaking I wouldn’t stop Octavia. I would only talk to her to try to stop her from burning down the farm, so that I can gather a bunch of different kinds of seeds and everything that might be ready(the medicinal plants probably don’t all grow in the one green spot left) and THEN I would let her do her thing

44. Would you go to sleep in cryo or stay awake like Marper?

I would probably stay around for a bit, to process things and explore, and then I would go to sleep

45. Who are you waking up first to explore the new planet?

Raven, Shaw, Niylah, Octavia, Jackson and Diyoza, though they probably wouldn’t just all get along perfectly