#chanting fwhip fwhip fwhip fwhip

[playername-player-of-games]

Cleo strides across the deck to the gangway where Lizzie is waiting for her, gripping the straps of her bag. The sun is rising, the sky and the sea the same color as Lizzie's hair and cheeks, her expression set and determined.

"Hello, trinket," Cleo greets, towering over her.

Lizzie straightens her back, chest puffing out a little more. She frowns up at Cleo, "You're the one looking after me today?"

"I am."

"Good."

Lizzie seizes her wrist and starts down the gangway. Cleo stumbles after her, startled into laughing and nearly losing her hat. She manages to catch herself before she can fall into the water, and falls into step beside Lizzie.

"Alright," she says, amused, fixing her hat, "where are we going?"

Lizzie drops her hand, her face a light, dusty red, "you'll see."

They step onto port and Cleo checks behind them to make sure someone's still there to babysit- she spots Grian and Scar chatting on the rigging, good- and follows Lizzie to wherever it is they're going.

Past all the busy ship hands and reloading cargo, out of the port and into the town proper, down cobblestone paths and past old brick buildings. It's a shopping district of sorts, and Lizzie looks just as determined as she did on the ship, though has the air of someone who is desperately lost.

"What are you looking for?" Cleo asks.

Lizzie does not answer, instead perking up at one shop sign and taking Cleo's hand again.

It's a white building with a deepslate tile roof. A bell dings as they step inside. Lizzie releases Cleo's hand, approaching the counter, while Cleo stays by the door.

"Just a minute!" comes a shout from another room.

It's a cozy interior, packed with shelves upon shelves of magical trinkets- she spots dragon statues and crystal balls, belts, armor pieces, loose bits of cloth. There's black curtains around the windows, letting in the natural light as the sun continues to rise, and fading fairy lights strung about the ceiling. Lizzie is looking down at a glass counter full of jewelry, tracing her fingers lightly over the top.

There's a crash and a yelp, a hurried "I'm fine! No problems here!" before a man comes bustling into the room, his face round and freckled, his hair orange, and his eyes a bright, friendly blue.

"Hi!" he beams. There's something strapped to his back- black wood and red cloth, clattering together as he hurries to put a box down behind the counter.

He straightens, rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt and stepping over to be across from Lizzie, "you've caught us just before we close for the night! What can I do for the two of you?"

"I'm hoping to get something for me and my captain," Lizzie answers, "I think jewelry, maybe?"

"Of course!" the man presents the counter with one hand, "take your pick."

Cleo raises an eyebrow, caught on something the man said, "you close at dawn?"

The man winces, "yeah, well, they'd only let me have the space at night so we're making due with what we have."

Cleo frowns. Lizzie points to something in the case and asks him about it.

He directs his smile back to Lizzie, easily rambling about practically everything in the case. A pair of bracelets that let you read each other's thoughts. Rings with the power of fire and ice, one keeps you warm and the other cools you down, no matter the weather.

"This here's a disguising bandana!" the man demonstrates by tying it around his own head- his skin turns more green and his ears grow longer and pointier, "perfect for traveling pirates!"

"Not what I'm looking for," Lizzie says. She scans the counter again, pointing out something else in the case, "what about these?"

"Teleportation rings!" he provides, whisking off the bandana and smiling again as he explains the enchantments- this time Cleo notices how sharp his teeth are- this man has fangs. Cleo folds her arms, keeping one hand close to her sword, and leans back on the doorframe.

"No I'm-" Lizzie sighs, offering a sheepish smile, "I'm sorry about all the questions, I just want this to be perfect."

"No worries!" he returns, "I'll close up after we're done, it's no trouble."

"How about these?"

"Earrings that let you hear each other's heartbeats."

Lizzie's eyes widen.

"Bad choice, trinket," Cleo pipes up, "I don't have a heartbeat."

Lizzie waves her off and hurries to open her bag, "how much?"

The man offers a price- surprisingly reasonable- and Lizzie hands over the gold in exchange for two simple, golden hoop earrings.

"Thank you," Lizzie says, and returns to Cleo's side.

"Did you miss the part where I don't have a heartbeat?"

"Don't worry," Lizzie waves one of them in Cleo's face, "if your heart ever starts beating again I'll come back and kill you myself."

Cleo laughs, pushing off the wall, "thank you, dearest trinket, I'll be sure to remember that."

She smiles. There's a clattering and a rushed, "ah- don't go! I have to help you guys attune to those."

Cleo follows Lizzie back to the counter. The man beams at them again, all fangs and freckles, "put the earrings on and hold hands."

Putting the earring on is easy- Cleo swaps out one of her old ones easily. Lizzie laces their fingers together and gives a squeeze. Cleo squeezes back, a little harder.

"Okay, now," he wraps his hands around theirs and begins murmuring to himself, a spell of some sort, his eyes glowing a slight red. The magic is warm, comforting, spreads up Cleo's arm, shoulder, into her neck and splitting off to her chest and her ear, and-

A slight, phantom hearbeat begins to thump lightly in her ear. It's a little too fast. She smiles.

He pulls away, the warmth evaporating as his eyes fade back to blue.

"And there you go!" he offers one last dazzling smile, "thanks for coming in, you two."

Lizzie reaches up to feel her new earring, her heart still a little too fast, "I-I'll hear something if my captain ever gets her heartbeat back, won't I?"

"Yep!" he says, "so long as it's attuned to your captain it'll let you hear their heartbeat."

Lizzie sighs, looking relieved, "thank you."

"No problem!" he waves as they go to leave, "come back anytime!"

[tubbytarchia]

jim stream. i tried to keep it short. its not short.

(full server list thanks to martyn streams pinned message: Aimsey, Bekyamon, Fwhip, Lizzie, Mogswamp, Oli, Shelby, Scott, Joel, Sneeg, Jimmy, Guqqie, Sausage, CPK, Eloise, and Martyn)

jimmy logs in and martyns nearby. they almost immediately start calling each other discheads. martyn says that he (himself) is the biggest dischead he knows.

aimsey comes over and ALSO calls them discheads but aimsey believes the holes a donut so they get offended.

aimseys STACKED. 14 hours on the server already. its day 4. jimmy and martyn believe that they just live in the server now. aimsey IRL left a party early to go home and play minecraft.

the server crashed but they knew it was going to so jimmy and martyn just started chanting disc to make sure it was the last word said before the crash. he talks to chat for a bit and he says hes going to build a base today

server restarts and they all rejoin. aimsey kills a horse then combat logs when jimmy and martyn go after them. its really funny since everyone else is in full diamond and jimmys walking around with his stone tools.

jimmy does a mini tour of the disc (just pointing out where things are) and he doesnt stop talking but he does look over at scotts twice. like a double take. which is understandable cuz it looks like this vv

^^ which TECHNICALLY doesnt mean anything. building inside a wall is a common building thing and it does not mean he is referencing any past series. (gritting my teeth)

jimmy decides that he should probably get geared up before doing anything else and goes mining.

HIM AND OLI ARE. STREAMING ELDEN RING TOMORROW. ????? really out of nowhere HES GONNA BE STREAMING ON TWITCH????????????? who is this man. who are u. my twitch streamer. he yearns for twitch emotes. and an among us stream on wednesday WHAT is happening

someone came into chat to tell him that impulse thought he was 30. he got so deeply offended about it. he demanded the chat to tell him that hes 28 then decided to message him HIMSELF "i am 28 years old. and proud. not 30." impulse said something like "close enough" and jimmy is so annoyed about it.

jimmy learns that joel is having a statue built of him. he IS happy about it but he makes a really funny expression for a few moments

hes been digging a staircase down instead of finding caves like a normal person and he finds an underwater cave. he crafts some doors and mines some underwater diamonds......... pro gamer.....

shelby joins and sausage starts. being sausage

olis in chat and jim starts talking to him. he asks if theyre still planning to live together and olis like pushing our minecraft beds together???

his diamond luck is INSANE he just cant stop finding them.

its been like 10 minutes since the 30 thing and hes like HAS IMPULSE MESSAGED ME BACK YET? (he hasnt) hes too scared. jimmy i think ur the only one who cares but its very endearing.

callum cpk has joined the jimmy solidaritygaming polycule. i mean what. jimmy promises he will be back in 2 minutes then finds a massive cave.

(he starts heading back and then finds a mineshaft. i fear they are never seeing each other)

i was joking earlier but WHAT IS HIS DEAL LMAOOOOOO jimmy was like WHY ARE YOU SO DEPENDANT?????? ("is this how joel feels? like what im like to him?" okay. okay)

(i tuned into cpks stream and he is actually doing it. he is slowly getting higher. why does jimmy attract the most insane men)

jimmys talking about tango swag/twag and how its being used and he calls himself a tango stan. he says a tango tangie (like an ethogirl)

jimmy finally gets back. cpk jumps down and survives! it took half his hearts but hes fine enough.

martyn comes over and they start berating cpk for not being a dischead. cpks like i think ur pushing the line of what u can say and theyre both like what? and he just backs down immediately,,,,,,

they go to scotts house just to harass him for being a donut believer. yeah sure why not. jimmy says he doesnt like the sound of scotts composter (it sounds like someones just in your walls all the time) and scott says hes going to build one in jimmys house.

martyn walks off at some point and cpk and jim talk about sausage. ("callum you cant be encouraging it." "i didnt know i was honestly")

jimmy starts making fun of cpk for being a furry. thats rich coming from him. cpk says it back and neither of them properly deny it which means its canon now

they talk about their dogs for a bit and cpk says all his dogs are called jimmy. jimmy gets close to him and is like i knew you were obsessed. this is the first time omgggg and cpks like i cant believe thats true. and jimmys like joels been obsessed. jk its the other way around

cpk decides to move into the disc. atp i think over half the server is living in/around the disc.

martyns here again. theyre trying to fix a waterfall that oli (and sausage?) made thats like. really strangely shaped. they fix it then start running around and start talking about how welsh kirstys accent is (cuz jim tried to do her accent and martyn was like shes more welsh than that and they bicker for a bit) and they run past scott and martyns like oi scott do u think kirstys welsh as anything AND ALL THIS TO SAY SCOTT AGREED WITH JIMMY. BIG NEWS.

he talks to bekyamon. when he asked her what she thinks the hole is she said shes agnostic, which implies the disc/donut thing is a religion. this is furthered by jimmy saying he will respect her beliefs. interesting.

he can hear oli from far away and eventually spots him. his first instinct upon seeing oli is to hide and just start repeating everything oli says. they meet up and talk about how they have done absolutely nothing. they talk about base plans and making a farm better than the one on the other side of the disc wall. oli says "slash neg" out loud

they talk about whos the discheads. jimmy mentions that cpk took some convincing and olis like "we hate a man who challenges authority" im SO scared as to what the disc/donut thing is going to become. they talk to cpk about the disc.

shelby comes over too and shes. shes calling herself the rim lord. frowns. i dont watch either of them very much but i think i need to be scared of the shelby/sausage teamup.

MARTYN HAS GONE TO A TRIAL CHAMBER AND HAS THE ACHIEVEMENT. i tuned into his stream to see and he literally just went close enough for the achievement then left.

jimmy went up to sausages house and listened in on him for a bit. someone in sausages chat calls him a professional minecrafter and hes like "well some may say that. i built all of this without anything on my side monitor" and jimmy just went like ʰᵉˢ ˡʸᶦⁿᵍ

then sausage comes down and they talk. sausage says he was breeding for fwhip for 10 hours last night. cows and sheep of course. hes calling himself the lord of the rim.

IT GETS WORSE. THEY FIND FWHIP. FWHIP IS CALLING HIMSELF THE LEADER OF THE BOWLGE (PRONOUNCED BULGE). THIS CANT KEEP HAPPENING. jimmys like deadpan to sausage Youre the rim lord. and sausage just starts laughing. he cant keep up with his own bit.

jimmy leaves and types the kick command in DEAD silence. freedom at last.

end of stream. lizzie might be joining jim and oli for elden ring. we're so back. new video near the end of the week maybe.

awful

I maintain that I wouldn't be able to bear watching this myself. What is this 12yo humor man I love a lot of these guys so much but what!! What rim lords!! What bulge!!!!!!!!! Where am I is it still 2024

The bit with seapeekay makes me unreasonably angry. Why is he doing this. Why do we keep treating Jimmy as an object of desire and burdening him with things he is not responsible nor owes anyone. What is this "If you dont come to me fast enough, I will kill myself" ultimatum. What the fuck has Jimmy done to deserve this why are half the people like this to Jimmy. I'm going to murder someone. When will he be treated like a person again. When will he break away from the ecosystem. When will he find himself in a relationship of mutual nature again. Angry. Seapeekay I have no faith in you anymore

And grrrr. that thing. That fucking thing Scott is building. And Jimmy taking a double take. My son. My poor son. He's being reminded.

Good on him and Martyn though for going over to Scott's house just to harass him. Sounds dreamy

[geekordaus]

Even if Shrub wanted the hug to last as long as possible, she let go of Xornoth embrace, looking at the floor.

"Shrub? What's wrong?" Xornoth use his hand to raise her head so they could see eye to eye. Shrub resisted a bit, but she finally looked up at the demon's eyes. Her golden eyes, filling with tears.

"I- they... they got rid of the corruption on me, and severed my connection to Exor."

Xornoth mouth opened in surprise, and he tried to say something, but was interrupted by Shrub.

"But, I don't want for you to corrupt me again."

"Shrub..."

"I don't want to live to make Exor's world anymore. I don't want to live for Aeor's either. I just want to live, with you, and don't worry about anything else." Shrub look at them with the same sad eyes that she had the day they found her on that nether wasteland.

"Shrub... I..." Xornoth kept looking at her eyes, and sighed. "Shrub, you want for me to stop being separated from Exor's influence. I'm their champion... how would that work?"

"It worked for me, it can work for you. And you would be able to be yourself, the you that decided to take care of me all those years ago."

Xornoth gave a defeated smile. "Alright little gnome. I'll do it. For you."

Shrub smiled, and sat besides them, reclining on their shoulder. "Should we wait them here?" she yawned.

They softly reclined on her too, hugging her to make sure she didn't got cold while they wait.

=======

Gem had called for Fwhip and Pearl, and Scott called Jimmy to act as backups as they went to the Undergrove, they couldn't let Xornoth to grew strong again, they needed to act quickly.

They all tried to land without making too much noise. They had previously planned for everyone to split up to search around, but Scott signaled towards Shrub's house. "They are in there." He muttered.

And quickly they went in attack mode, prepared to fight against the demon again, and-- they were peacefully sleeping, on the couch.

Xornoth was the first to open his eyes, they were careful to not distrub Shrub too much as she slowly woke up after them. He raised his arms, and Shrub explained what happened to the group, that still had their weapons trained towards them.

"I'm sorry I escaped, but, I knew that if he was freed from the crystal with all of you present, he wouldn't react well. I wanted to talk to them, alone, so it would easier to convince." Tears began forming again. "Neither me, nor them will try any tricks on you all now, but I know neither of us has your trust, so please, put us on those magic dampening cuffs if you must." They both placed their hands so the emperors could cuff them.

The emperors looked at each other, and a Gem and Scott looked at each other agreeing. Gem took the cuffs, and put them on their wrists. After doing it to Shrub, she placed a hand on her shoulder, and smiled. "I'm glad you did the right thing."

=======

And they returned to the Overgrown, Katherine looked up as the door opened with everyone guarding the two prisoners. She looked at Shrub, who raised her head, and gave her a ashamed smiled.

They placed Xornoth on the same ritual circle as Shrub, and while the demon looked at the gnome, muttering "see you soon" to her, Gem chanted the spell. A white light enveloped Xornoth, taking longer than Shrub, as their connection to Exor was being cut off.

[To be finished]

[cathumanthing2]

Roseblings Chatfic AU Chapter 7

magic bitches

2:45 am

actual wizard: fWhip i can hear your chanting pls stop trying to summon a demon in the house

tech wizard: oh thats not me

tech wizard: sausage and joey decided our house was a good place to summon a demon for some reason

blood sheep man: It has  the perfect amount of space! Plus the negative energy will attract the demons better!

actual wizard: …what's that supposed to mean?

blood sheep man: Oh, nothing!

plant flower faerie: Anyways has anyone heard from shrub? They usually stay up this late on weekends.

glitter starboy: nope

tech wizard: me neither 

jungle bitch: nah

scary fish lady: Nope :P 

blood sheep man: No, but I have seen a demon!

short pottery man: Nah bro

buff buff farmer: Sadly, no, I have not seen the idiot/pos gnome

Father: I cannot say I have. Why do you ask, Katherine?

pathetic fish man: I don't think they're anywhere rn, really

plant flower faerie: aww, I was gonna ask them if they wanted to go watch a movie or something tommorrow

father: Finally.

buff buff farmer: shes ready to stop being an oblivious sapphic idiot

actual wizard: Now the only ones we need to get to stop being idiots are fwhip, jimmy, and scott

blood sheep man: You forgot Pix

actual wizard: Wait why pix?

father: Sausage. If you tell her, I am going to commit several acts against the law. 

plant flower faerie: What the heck are you guys talking about??

buff buff farmer: we spoke too soon

plant farmer faerie: Still tho where's shrub

fungi fungus gnome: Yall talking about me?

plant flower faerie: Oh, shrub! Wanna go tomorrow to see a movie or something?

fungi fungus gnome: oh ofc!

father: I would rejoice but you guys are still being idiotic

plant flower faerie: WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN-

jungle bitch: unrelated but scott i accidentally summoned your hot sibling

glitter starboy: Joey i will fucking murder you if you kiss them

jungle bitch: too late

jungle bitch: hi this is xornoth i can confirm joey is a good kisser

glitter starboy: im going to cry

father: Everyone please go to sleep now I'm getting a headache from your guy's sleep deprivation.

Scott & Sausage

3:34 am

Sausage: scott

Scott: Hmm?

Sausage: I wanted to tell you something

Scott: what

Sausage: nevermind actually

braincell + idiot

3:45 am

idiot: Pearl i ALMOSt did it

braincell: Did what

idiot: Told scott

braincell: Woohoo!!

braincell: One step closer

braincell: But why do you keep going to me for advice im literally aroace im not gonna be able to give you anything good

idiot: exactly

idiot: I need an outside perspective, plus ur my bestie and your good at knowing what to do

braincell: ok soos now pls let me sleep

idiot: Ok I'm gonna keep summoning demons :D 

braincell: Have fun don't get hurt

magic bitches

3:58 am

father: Go to sleep or I'm going to hunt you down and murder your entire family.

tech wizard: GEEZ PIX WHAT THE FUCK

actual wizard: I dont think he's joking too-

father: Especially you Gem. Your exhaustion and burnout is easily smellable from a mile away.

actual wizard: The heck is that supposed to mean?

father: You know what I mean. Stop being an idiot and sleep.

father: That goes for the readers as well. Sleep. I can sense your sleep deprivation.

tech wizard: hold up wait who gave you the ability to break the 4th wall??

father: The author. Who also needs to sleep. I am fighting the urge to scream in their ears as we speak.

blood sheep man: Ok first what

blood sheep man: second I'm sleeping now

actual wizard: I am confused and am now going to sleep in the hopes my mind will be able to figure it out in the morning

father: Good. Now everyone else, sleep or suffer the consequences.

[erstwhilesparrow]

okay last time i thought about this my conclusion was wither rose alliance we know the devil au doesn't work but i think it might work approximately fine or even good. i think it might actually just be wra wktd isn't something i personally care to write. HOWEVER. i do like considering how the [group of three where it's two vs one] breaks down so excellently for them. look:

fwhip + gem vs sausage: literally just canon. sausage making deals with / possessed by the demon, which is on one side "this guy you loved and trusted as a dear friend is messing with powers clearly beyond his control and maybe threatening to hurt you and/or start war(s)," and on the other side is "your friends can see that you're getting stronger and don't like that" OR "your friends can kind of tell something is up and that you in your quest for power landed in some shit you're not sure you can get out of on your own, but your situation just keeps getting worse and you can't or don't know how to talk about it and everything you do only alienates them more."

gem + sausage vs fwhip: magic guys / people who have reputation for magical or physical prowess vs guy who has to make his own tech to keep up -- fwhip as self-described tinkerer and alchemist. you can also do gender things about the way fwhip goes for One Of Approximately Three Fantasy Archetypes For Men (tm) because sausage already has "proud leader guy" and "mage guy". something about struggling for recognition of your abilities / talents when it comes so easy to the other two. AND fwhip isn't there when sausage gets 'cured' -- again, shut out of magic while it gives the other two some kind of common ground, even if that common ground is a little fucked up. that one beat where sausage and gem point weapons at each other and fwhip hops back and forth between them chanting, "three best friends! three best friends!" to try to deescalate.

sausage + fwhip vs gem: the thing gem is constantly doing in her pov where she treats fwhip and sausage both as allies she needs to appease / [do work to keep on the good side of] so they'll help her when danger comes, or at least not do as much to hurt her specifically. this one also has gender things baked into it. also something maybe to gem being the only one of the three who, like, Does Book-Smarts in that way? both of them refusing to give her anything but joking most of the time? that intense loneliness she references multiple times only made worse by how neither side of this really seems to know how to connect to the other.

it's... something about how each of them always thinks the other two have something over them? i need to think on this more. loneliness and power.

[belovedgamers]

The “men kissing empires!Jimmy” saga continues ft the empires cast says… fwhimmy rights

Jimmy: (low) I’m really disappointed.

Oli: I’m really disappointed in you too, fWhip. You can’t—

Sausage: Oooh, disappointed!

Oli: (continued) So, you can’t come, fWhip, anymore. You can’t come with us.

Jimmy: I’m really disappointed in you, fWhip.

fWhip: You’re disappointed in me?

Jimmy: Yeah. Like, rea—

Sausage: You guys should kiss and make up.

Jimmy: (overlapping) I’m going to have to— What?

[FWHIP approaches JIMMY.]

fWhip: (soft, faint kissing noise)

Oli: I think you should kiss in the canon— Oh. They did. They did it, they did it!

Jimmy: (overlapping) Wait, what? What?

Gem: (quietly, overlapping) Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!

Jimmy: What did you just do?

Sausage: He kissed you! He kissed you!

Jimmy: What did you just do?

fWhip: (brightly) Thanks, Leader!

Oli: (in a gravelly tone) He kissed you all cute.

Sausage: (laughs)

Jimmy: Oli, let’s go! Oli, let’s go! Oli, let’s go.

Sausage: (chanting) Fanart, fanart, fanart, fanart!

Jimmy: (overlapping) Oli, let’s go.

Oli: Yeah, couple of boys!

fWhip: (excitedly) The Leader’s given me a kiss!

[crowomen]

*joins in chanting new lore* Lizzie eating the fruit with zero hesitation made me want to belive 80% of House Blossom meetings are attempting to get Lizzie and Jimmy to stop eating yhings that are not edible suxh as paper, bowls, forks, fwhip (Jimmy was tired ok??), the table, themself (that was the last time they let the seablings be bored) [feel free to add/come up with the why this happened] -Neo Hood

This is correct, you're not wrong-

The Fwhip Monchy-Cronchy incident, being dubbed {The Incident We Will Never Speak Of Again}, was more or less when Jimmy, low on awake braincells, thought Fwhip was a tasty piece of steak and/or a tasty grilled fish for him to eat.

Lizzie encouraged this purely cause she thought it was funny.

[empiressmpheadcanon]

Tfw you’re thinking about emails and then suddenly have a new angsty af au

The au has nothing to do with emails at all I could name the exact train of thought that led me to this but it will likely not make any sense at all

Anyway here’s some more corrupted Gem (eventually) because it’s me >;3

Writing this has already spawned two seperate (but very similar) aus I’m only on the second paragraph help

~

It’s the final battle with Xornoth. Gem’s setting up the ritual to seal them away, and everything seems to be going as planned. Sure, she got an arrow to the shoulder before the others managed to cover her and sure, she can’t move it as well as she’s tracing the runes in the sky with her staff, but she’s sure it’s fine. Right?

Xornoth is trapped in the circle, Gem’s chanting and the others are holding off Joey. A flash of light. The corruption recedes and a crystal rests on the ground. They’ve done it.

Then laughter rings out, distorted and cruel.

Then the crystal rises off the ground, shaking slightly.

Then it explodes, and Xornoth is free.

They say two words before vanishing.

“You failed.”

They all stand in shock and fear before Scott whirls around and turns on Gem.

“What did you do? You promised it would work!”

“I thought it would! I don’t know what happened!” She raises her hands in surrender before letting out a hiss of pain as the wound on her shoulder opens again.

He doesn’t believe her, stepping forward and fixing her with an icy glare.

“How do we know that you aren’t working for them? That you didn’t fail the spell on purpose?” Gem opens her mouth to respond but he cuts her off with a scoff. “Save it. I don’t want to hear your lies.”

He shoves past her, ignoring her yelp as he slams into her injury, and flies off. One after the other, everyone follows close behind, and Gem is left alone.

~

Word spreads quickly, and soon all empires bar one have turned their backs on the Crystal Cliffs. Fwhip still visits her, still cares about her, still defends her to anyone who will listen, but she can see how it wears on him.

He won’t abandon her, so she’ll push him away herself.

When he next comes over she tells him to leave, saying she doesn’t need his pity. He tries to figure out what’s going on, but in doing so he says the worst thing for her to hear in that moment.

“Is Xornoth making you do this? Making you isolate yourself?”

And then her anger becomes real.

“You’re just like all the others, thinking the worst of me. Get out, Count, before I make you. And don’t bother coming back.”

As he leaves both twins have tears in their eyes, and Gem is left alone.

~

“Oh little wizard, how far you’ve fallen.”

~

Two weeks later, when Xornoth next shows up, Gem is standing behind him with her head bowed.

Scott sneers that she’s finally revealing her true allegiances and asks what took her so long, causing Xornoth to laugh.

“Oh brother, she wasn’t mine until very recently. In fact, I should thank you, you pushed her right to me! She still fought through, right up until she couldn’t anymore. But she wouldn’t dare fight back now, isn’t that right?”

Silently, Gem shakes her head. Though none can see, she trembles slightly with every word they speak.

“So eager to please, but pushed away by those she once called friends. All she wanted to do was help, and you shunned her for it. Well, I simply redirected that eagerness. Wizard, time to prove yourself. They’ve all hurt you and your brother, don’t you want to take your revenge?”

“Yes, sir,” she whispers, standing up straight and pulling out her staff. The once purple crystal is now a bright red, and corruption snakes up the wood.

Even still she’s apologetic as she meets their eyes, and everyone is hit with the weight of what they’ve done. But it’s too late for apologies now.

If you say a lie enough, it becomes the truth. But what happens when you never thought you were lying?

~

Woop woop more corrupted Gem

Every day is a battle between the “everything is an oc concept actually” and “everything is corrupted Gem” actually parts of my brain

Send help

-🦊

“Every day is a battle between the “everything is an oc concept actually” and “everything is corrupted Gem” actually parts of my brain” YEAH ME TOO.

ALSO FYCK THIS IS JUST ONE BIG PAIN SOUP

tjem hding back Joey :((( and gem just wanting help so bad but not being able to ask for it :(((,,,,, there are so many little details aauhh :((((

[is-the-empires-clip-cute]

Hello there, I had a Gem show up today but there's something different about her compared to other Gem's I've seen.

For one, she showed up in a portal made of amethyst and her clothes are more akin to what a Shrub or Pearl would wear then a Gem. She seemed distressed but putting her with my Fwhip or Sausage only seemed to make it worse, and while she calmed down upon seeing my Pearl it quickly turned into an argument so I had to separate them.

She's now in my Shrub's enclosure (who I moved to temporarily stay with Katherine) but just seems sad, I'm at a complete loss of what to do! Any help greatly appreciated, none of my friends who own emperors know anything either

-Copper

Hello, I'm glad you reached out to us!

Don't worry, it seems you have stumbled upon a hermit Gem, which is a far more calm and generally more practical than an emperors Gem. They are usually known for having a passion of gardening and animals, they prefers a cozy environment but tend to enjoy working the land and gardening. Especially trees.

She seems incredibly shaken up and this behavior has been reported across multiple hermits in the past couple of months. We don't know why they all seem to have experienced some kind of deep-rooted trauma, however, it seems that their state worsens during the full moon. So, if you decide to keep this Gem I would recommend setting a strict bedtime before she's able to see the moon.

If you decide to keep the Gem you must accommodate for her, not only with her enclosure, but, also with getting more hermits. In particular it is recommended for a Gem to be taken care of with a Pearl, or Ren and Doc. However, if you decide the latter, mysterious accidents and ominous chanting may result.

However, it's also alright to decide not to keep the Gem! You can take her to the nearest hermit helping center and they will know what to do- especially as there have been multiple reports of new behaviors in the hermits. In the specific: agitation and restlessness.

We are not yet certain what these changes in their behavior might mean, but, experts in the hermits are confident that it's just a new phase for them. The ninth one that has been reported throughout all these years of them first appearing!

Hope this helped!

- Mod Icarus

[vyeoh]

this is your chance: wax poetic about an Empires or DSMP character of your choice to a fan who is new to both. Explain why I should love them. I need guidance in this new and meme-populated land.

okok this is a lot of pressure haha. Spoilers for EmpiresSMP and DreamSMP below, obviously. I wrote a lot so prepare yourself, anon

I watch a lot of empires POVs but the ones I most anticipate every week are Scott and Sausage.

c!Scott (I'll call him Smajor for the sake of simplicity) starts off the series chilling, not really getting involved with the rest of the server, and staying aggressively neutral. After all, he's an elf. He has lived far longer than most of the other rulers already, and will most likely outlive them for many years. So, the best thing is to stick to his mountains and not get invested in the dealings of mortal affairs, maybe sometimes causing problems on purpose and dipping because what's life without a little spice right.

But then, this demon comes to the server, Xornoth. He's going around causing havoc and wants to send the world into an eternal winter, but he doesn't bother the kingdom of Rivendell much so Smajor stays tentatively cautious but ultimately unbothered. But then, the puzzle pieces start falling together. The first thing that the audience noticed was was Xornoth sounded like Smajor, but we mostly thought that this was just due to cc!Scott voicing both of them and there was nothing more to it. However, then, the people the demon starts possessing start chanting in elvish. The demon hates mortals, and the elves are conveniently one of the two confirmed not fully mortal races in Empires.

This culminates when Smajor stumbles across a cave that contains the backstory of the patron god of Rivendell, Aeor. Basically, there's two opposing forces, Aeor and Exor, and both have a champion. In a previous life, those champions were two brothers, where Aeor eventually prevailed and banished Exor. In this life though, the champions are - you guessed it - Smajor, and the demon Xornoth.

So now Smajor is like. Well fuck. It's my literal god-given destiny to be responsible for defeating this demon who is technically my brother, and if I fail the server gets plunged into an eternal winter. And I have no fucking clue what is happening because I've just been here on this mountain actively trying to stay out of the issues outside my kingdom. We watch him panic and teeter on the verge of spiraling for an entire episode, and when the followers of Xornoth go to the End to kill the dragon, releasing Xornoth's full powers, he fails to stop him. Smajor is a character who was used to being the smart one, the prepared one, the one who has the least deaths on the server. But he's also a character who runs away from his problems and ignores them. Before and during the dragon fight, we hear the desperation in his voice, as he's thrown into a situation he is wholly unprepared for, and it's bigger than him going to the Cod Empire to kill their king, or assisting in other people's plans to kill the codfather. He can't run from this. cc!Scott plays this scene so well as well, as I've said before, one of the best parts of Scott's acting is how he's never super dramatic, but he's so effective in the little things like inflection to make you feel, viscerally, the panic and dread.

So after the dragon fight, Smajor realizes, I can't do this on my own. I've tried and failed. So he gets allies. We watch him, someone who has so strongly been an isolationist, learn the benefits of allies and watch him learn to trust others and watch him learn how to get that trust in return.

My favorite thing about Smajor's characterization is that he's an incompetent protagonist, but not in the way of the "plucky young adventurer". He's capable skill-wise, and fairly jaded and very pessimistic. However, his issue is that up until recently, he did not care about the rest of the server at all, and by the time he learned to, it was way too late.

Also, in 3rd Life, cc!Scott and cc!Jimmy were canonically married and they reference it sometimes in Empires. Like, Scott goes over to the Cod Empire every so often both in and out of character to kill and/or flirt with Jimmy, the ruler of the Cod Empire, which may develop as a secondary plot into the future who knows. So ty Scott for giving the gays what they want o7

Now onto Sausage: his is a story of Icarus, his hubris and ambition being his downfall. He's one of the two followers of Xornoth, who promised him endless power in exchange for his servitude. He started the series being eccentric, but not outright unhinged, but slowly gets more and more extreme as the series progresses, as he gets brought more and more to Xornoth's side.

One of the best parts of Sausage's character, in my opinion, is how his gradual corruption affects the people around him. Initially, he got into a conflict with the Cod Empire and was allied with two other people in the Witherrose alliance. They were allies, but also close friends. The fandom liked to joke that the three had sibling energy, and I'm pretty sure the ccs played to that even more lol.

It was painful to watch the other two members, Gem and fWhip, watch Sausage get corrupted right in front of them, and see them desperately clinging on to this old idea of Sausage in their head because if they faced the truth, it would mean that their friend was gone. Eventually, they do finally cut him out of the alliance, leading him to fully commit to the side of the demon. Sausage felt very clearly betrayed by this, and declared the remaining two Witherrose alliance members to be enemies.

He gets more and more possessed, and we even see the other Empires, his enemies even, slowly realize that something is very wrong with the ruler of Mythland. He starts doing more and more evil things, like killing people more, making sacrifices to the demon, and eventually helping to kill the dragon to free Xornoth. So things are good for Sausage, for a bit. He won, and is more powerful than ever. Then he finds out: he's going to die. Xornoth's possession is slowly killing his soul, and eventually, his body going to be fully taken over and he himself is going to be trapped in the spirit realm. So how do you react to this? Over the next few episodes, we watch Sausage struggle between "the demon is literally killing me" and "the demon has given me so much, and I love it", all while Xornoth takes over more and more of him. We hear him exclaim that "don't worry!! I'm still about 15% there!" while trying to downplay every time Xornoth completely takes over his body. We watch him willingly oppose anyone who is trying to end the thing that is killing him.

My favorite thing about Sausage is that he is undoubtedly evil and proud of it, but he's also undoubtedly human. If you like to watch evil characters go absolutely feral, he's the guy for you. He makes the deal with Xornoth in the beginning, knowing and fully embracing the evilness of the demon, but at the same time he knows what he's doing is detrimental to both himself and everyone around him, but he's gotten in way too deep at this point, and to be fair the demon has held up its end fo the bargain, right?

Also, I would be damned if I don't talk about cc!Sausage's editing. Every one of his videos is like a movie. The way he does camera angles and uses music is so skillful- every lore scene feels like something out of a high fantasy action saga (think: LotR). Every big lore event I always wait in anticipation for Sausage's ep because his editing truly takes lore to another level.

I'm just generally very excited to see where this series goes. Empires is such a good mix of talented builders and good lore. Part of the reason why the series is so immersive for me, beyond any other lore smp, is that they have the settings to back it up. There is a certain charm to the DreamSMP's objectively terrible builds (with a few exceptions) but in Empires, the settings help sell the plot so much.

Another part of why I love EmpiresSMP is how much the ccs are involved with the fan community. I'm sure you've seen the memes about Scott being on tumblr, and Sausage regularly goes through the EmpiresSMP fanart tag on Twitter and likes art, even ones not related to Mythland. Most of the ccs, in fact, have brought up tumblr content on stream at some point or another. Like, several ccs have said that they read tumblr lore theories and hcs and stuff and sometimes take inspiration from them. Fun fact: Rivendell's church was inspired by my pinned drawing; confirmed by Scott Smajor himself. It's just such a good cycle of ccs and fans being excited about each other.

As for DreamSMP, I'm gonna be honest here, the only person I really am invested in in Technoblade. I started watching when he joined the server, and he's the only person whose lore I keep up to date with.

Techno's fun to watch because he's like the Deadpool of DreamSMP. Virtually unkillable, very skilled and scary, but consistently cracks jokes and breaks the 4th wall during plot. His POV is just fun. Like, he does wild plans and gives speeches and some of the stuff that happens to him should be called deus ex machine if it wasn't for the fact that Technoblade is the one who's doing it, and all the stuff is grounded in the fact that cc!Techno is just that good at the game.

However, the fact that he rarely takes anything seriously makes the few times Techno is 100% serious so much more impactful. His whole character has a basis in being perceived as inhuman and being treated as such, and therefore in return trying to hide his humanity. So, when he shows that humanity, whether that's fear, anger, or genuine love for his friends, it really makes you go "oh shit."

Techno's often said not to have character development, but I'd argue that while he remains steadfast in his moral code, he develops leaps and bounds as a person. Like, at the beginning, he's brought onto the server to help Wilbur and Tommy overthrow a government; them knowing he's 1) an anarchist and 2) very very powerful. His character was more of a plot device at that point and was treated as such in the canon. Wilbur and Tommy straight-up lie to him about their plans to establish another government after they overthrow the current one, while he was led on to believe that they were abolishing all governments in the area. But he isn't a plot device. He's a person, as much as he only shows the terrifying, blood god side of himself.

After the establishment of New Lmanburg (the new government its a long story), his friend Phil joins. And for the first time, we see him be fully human with someone and we see someone treat him like a human. Like, we saw glimpses before, with Wilbur and Tommy in Pogtopia, but Phil is the first person we noticeably see he trusts 100%. Then Doomsday happens, and Techno essentially retires to the tundra. During this time, we see Techno learn to be more human, first with Ranboo, then Niki when he establishes the Syndicate. In fact, the two of them, along with Phil, canonically throw him a birthday party, which is a far cry from his treatment in Pogtopia.

Techno's development is one of a god learning to be human, and I just think he <3

[amaranths-in-hobbitland]

Don’t imagine that Scott is the only one to stay home on the day of the arena fight, being too distrustful of Sausage now to fall for a trick like that again.

Don’t imagine Scott struggling to shrug off his worries as the death messages come rolling in, sending brief, concerned message through his communicator that gets cheerfully dismissed by the others. Don’t imagine Scott politely declining the invitation from his allies begging him to join the fun.

Don’t imagine him dropping everything to fly to the arena once he sees that Jimmy was killed by Fwhip.

Don’t imagine Scott shouting at Jimmy in worry to stop horsing around and be careful, even though the Codfather and everyone else in the arena are all trying to reassure him. Don’t imagine him begging Jimmy to get out, frustrated that nobody else sees the obvious trap; frustrated that there doesn’t seem to be an obvious trap.

Don’t imagine the way the fighters’ smiles are just ever-so-slightly forced. Don’t imagine the tension still lingering on each of their shoulders. Don’t imagine the warning signs that Scott is only faintly aware of but still feels in the pit of his stomach.

Don’t imagine Jimmy begging Scott to team up with him for a rematch, telling him that this is the one way to prove their new alliance is unstoppable. Don’t imagine Scott yielding under the earnest eyes of the Codfather.

Don’t imagine the battle of Scott and Jimmy versus Fwhip and Gem: Scott on the defensive, doing all he can to keep Jimmy from their opponents’ line of fire, parrying blows and taking the brunt of Gem’s magic.

Don’t imagine Fwhip’s deepslate arrow lodging just below Scott’s ribs- a nonlethal shot, but one that nonetheless sends waves of pain throughout Scott’s body and turns the corners of his vision red and blurry.

Don’t imagine Scott lunging forward in a counterattack, but letting his guard on Jimmy drop.

Don’t imagine Scott looking back to see a burst of amethyst light, a redstone arrow embedding itself in Jimmy’s cod head as the Codfather stumbles and collapses, vanishing into an ashy, volcanic-looking respawn cloud.

Don’t imagine the rage coursing through the elven king’s veins- not the childish fury of the loss of some temporary defeat in an arena game, but the righteous fury of the loss of a loved one. He raises his sword and throws caution to the wind; in his head, he is a crusading widow.

Don’t imagine the rest of the battle. Fwhip looses arrow after arrow, Gem launches spells until her pool of magic runs nearly dry, but the king of Rivendell is too fast, too aggressive, too angry. When he charges towards Gem, she cannot get her sword out in time- an axe tears into her torso and the battle’s over for her. Less than a minute later it’s over for Fwhip too, as he makes a desperate sword attack and receives a nasty slice to the stomach for his effort; he rushes for cover but is tackled to the ground as Scott drives a gleaming gold sword right between his wings.

Don’t imagine Scott alone in the pit, catching his breath, barely able to recognise his victory, wondering what just came over him, wondering why it wasn’t going away.

Don’t imagine Jimmy rushing in for a hug in celebration, barely giving a thought to his ally’s state of shock before turning to the losers to gloat. Don’t imagine the gleam in Jimmy’s eyes that looks sharper and crueller than before... how something about his gloating stings a little bit, doesn’t sound quite like him...

Don’t imagine Fwhip’s smile as he congratulates the victors is more of a grimace. Don’t imagine Gem isn’t smiling at all, as she demands Scott fight her one-on-one.

Don’t imagine the way Gem is obviously hiding a limp as she approaches, how she’s trying to hide the way she’s clutching at her ribs. Don’t imagine the cut from Jimmy’s sword early in the fight still on Fwhip’s arm, barely even scabbed over. Don’t imagine the things Scott sees as the realisation comes to him slowly. Like how haggard the two rulers look... Jimmy, too. Don’t imagine how bloodshot Jimmy’s eye looks before the cod head covers it. Don’t.

Don’t imagine that Scott can’t get his shallow, exhausted breathing to slow, nor can he even begin to numb the pain from his wounds, or the bloodlust in his brain.

Don’t imagine Scott turning to survey the audience: all the rulers of all the empires, most of them refined, reasonable people, his friends- all battered and bruised, but still shouting and cheering and jeering and chanting and hurling taunts and baying for blood.

Don’t imagine the devil in plain sight: at the back of the stands, sitting and smiling, is the strongest of the rulers, watching them wrestle each other to exhaustion and turn petty competition into genuine hatred, fighting on until there’s nothing left in them to fight and no reason to fight.

Don’t imagine that Xornoth’s dark aura seems to be a lot stronger, encapsulating the entire arena.

Child’s play.

[astronomical-bagel]

On so I know the 80s diner at is well. A diner au. But what if they all went to an arcade for a day. Or at least a few of them.

OMFG UR A GENIUS!!!! I DONT KNOW I DIDNT THINK OF THIS BOTH MY DAD AND MY NEIGHBORS ARE OBSESSED WITH BUYS 80S ARCADE GAME THINGS.

okay okay WAIT. they would go to the arcade and absolutely take over. thats their house now. they spend SO much money there. jimmy dies at everything. mumbo has to be dragged away from the tetris game. impulse has a crush on mrs. pac-man. Tango tries to play the impossible Lion King game and almost breaks the machine in a blind rage. Grian's favorite game is the Legend of Zelda, obviously. Scott and Cleo keep trying to play sonic but theres always some guy in a sonic onesie there and he takes FOREVER to die. keralis plays those racing games. Bdubs plays frogger. Joel plays Mario. Fwhip plays dig dug and tapper.

Every once in a while a bunch of them gather for a street fighter tournament. grian won the first one, and the entire group had circled around the game thing and were chanting and cheering at the top of their lungs as grian beat scar to death. The only reason why management doesn't kick them out is because Tango and Fwhip work there. They ARE the management.

[astrxd]

A temporarily blind Astrid Drabble?

A/N: Holy heck. I am, so terribly sorry that this took me so long to put out!!! I found it and decided to rewrite it aaaand,,, Well, this was the result! I’m so sorry that it took me forever to post this, @aracanabraeks​!! :’)(I think this one might be a little heavier than what I usually write? I’m not entirely sure, but I feel as if it’s necessary to note that it’s not super light and fluffy, or anything!)

Blink

 “Mostof the hindrances that you and your friends cause me are generally…unseen. And as the saying goes–an eye for an eye, no?” He’dsaid. “You needn’t worry, however. I’ve decided to be mercifulby letting you keep them, at the very least. How useful they’ll beto you is simply… undetermined.”

Therewas no ultimatum, no ulterior motive–Viggo wanted revenge for theRiders’ last stunt: the destruction of his marble stronghold. Theentire purpose of kidnapping Astrid was for the sake of making apoint.For the sake of gettingeven.

Hemade a formidable adversary, and part of that was due to the factthat he wasn’t afraid to employ tactics heavier on the…unscrupulousside…in order to get what he wanted. The fact that he so casually broughtthe Scourge of Odin back down upon the Barbaric Archipelago was proofenough, but yet another one of methods he utilized revolved aroundthe fact that prolonged and close-range exposure to an Armorwing’sflameresultedin (supposedly temporary)blindness–toboth dragon and viking. Such exposure was appropriately classified astorture.

…Andin both cases of blatant inhumanity, Astrid was a victim without a choice.

Thevery real threat of hurting Stormfly if she didn’t cooperate withthe Hunters was the only thing keeping her eyes open in the face ofthe Armorwing’s inferno. Every blink risked a scale off of her bestfriend’s back, a premature spine ripped off of her tail. Thistime… there was no way out of Viggo’s plot.

“Obedient,”he had mused from somewhere in the ship cellar, a tone of purecomplacency dripping from his voice, “I believe I expected a littlemore from you, Miss Hofferson.”

Shegrit her teeth and kept her hands–which had curled into fists–gluedto her sides.

Oneday, he would crumble at her feet.

Viggo’stricks were growing dirtier and dirtier, and the fact that Astridwasa prime target was–quite frankly–rapidly becoming veryirritating.

Shewas a pawn. A bargaining chip. She knew that, and while her capturehadn’t been her most graceful moments, she surely didn’t go downwithout resisting. In the end, whether or not she went with theHunters quietly or not didn’t matter, but it brought her a shred ofcomfort to know that she put up a fight. Of course, she promised togive them much morethanan axe to the gut and a kick in the groin when she recovered.

(…Ifsheever recovered. The thought made her heart sink impossibly further.)

Theyencountered her during her morning flight-slash-patrol around the island. 

They’dtaken both her and Stormfly–again.

Theyhadn’t even bothered to restrain her, but they did disarm her–andtheyput her very own axe to her dragon’s neck.

Theyforced a captured Armorwing (who Astrid vowed to help free as soon asshe was able) to sustain its flame, only a few feet from her face.

Theygave her a choice that wasn’t even a choice.

Theygave her an option–lose her sight indefinitely, or leave with hersight and her life… but without her dragon.

Butneveragain.Never again would Astrid allow the Hunters to have Stormfly in theircustody.

…Andso she stood, in the center of the cellar, steeling herself for whatwas to come.

Shedug the soles of her boots into the grain of the wood and squared hershoulders, and she furrowed her brow in fierce determination from thevery, very beginning. The Armorwing loomed before her, and the heatimmediately bordered unbearable. It hadn’t been long before she felta sheen of sweat broke out across her forehead–but how hot her skinwas paler in comparison to the intense burnhereyes promptly experienced.

Theyquickly felt as if they were going to begin to shrivel at any givenmoment–but when she began to squint or nearly blinked, Stormflytrilled. Woefullytrilled.

ForStormfly, shechanted in her head.

Theentire time, the ones she held dearest to her heart were on her mind.It was from thoughts of them that she drew her strength, herendurance–that, and pure spite.IfViggo thought he’d be guaranteed some sort of twisted gratificationfrom seeing her suffer, then he was sorelymistaken,because she had no intention of expressing her pain. She was strongerthan this–stronger than him, and whatever he tried to put up againsther!

Andyet…

…Very,very soon came the point where Astrid grew numb to the dragon’sflame, but could hardly stand to keep her eyes open any longer. Hervision clouded and became glazed with white, everything becominglighter and lighter with each passing second. She initially refusedto give the onlooking Hunters holding down Stormfly the satisfactionof hearing her cry out in pain, and instead elected to bite down onher lip to muffle any shouts that threatened to escape–

Buteven the mightiest were susceptible to being felled.

Astrid,knees wobbly, ended up collapsing to the ship’s floorboards withinless than a few minutes,witha broken, choked, patheticgaspfor air that wasn’t heated. The sustained fire had done its job,but it also seemed to devour the oxygen in the air. Her firm resolvehad been melted by the Armorwing’s intense flames, and she resortedto pressing the heels of her palms against her eyes, as if doing sowould somehow numb the sharp, stinging sensation.

Itwas over surprisingly quickly, but every moment felt like absoluteHel.And the aftermath?

Excruciating.Every single secondofit.

Whenshe felt her dragon thunder towards her and curl protectively aroundher person, Astrid finally pried her eyes open and blinked. The sharpfwhipofStormfly brandishing her barbed tail filled her ears, but her eyes…

Shesaw nothing but white.

Theystung with both welling tears and the lingering pain of having staredat a bright source of light for an extended period of time–but shedidn’t cry. As soon as they oh-so kindlyallowedStormfly to escort Astrid back to their base, the Hunters made aquick departure in the opposite direction of the Edge… and that wasthat.

Hercondition served as a message. A warning. A taunt.

AndOdin knew what Hiccup would do when he found out.

Whenshe was safely on Stormfly’s back and well in the air, she stilldidnot allow herself to cry, because crying was givingin.She could not see the sun or the morning sky–she just assumeditwas still morning. She could not see their base in the near distanceor the rolling hills and trees beneath her. She couldn’t even seethe crown of spikes on Stormfly’s head, but she clung to thedragon’s neck with such dependency anyway. Astrid wanted to tellthe Nadder to take her somewhere secluded, but despite the dragon’sloyalty, she knew that Stormfly would take her to her friends. Itwasn’t until she reached a tentative hand to her face that sherealized that she was crying anyway. She tried to blink away thetears.

Intrusivethoughts swarmed her mind relentlessly–how uselesstosaid friends she was now that she couldn’t see, whether or notshe’d be able to see atallinthe future, how they would react. How Hiccupwouldreact. Just thinking about it made her feel guilty, as if somehow,she could have prevented this from happening. 

Even though such wasimpossible, she knew she couldpreventthe impending carnage and cycle of revenge that was likely to takeplace when her condition was revealed, but how could she keepsomething such as being blindunderwraps? How could she pretend that her world wasn’t crashing down ontop of her?

Sheonly continued to imagine–no, predict–howher future was going to further fall apart.

Combatwould be next to impossible.

DragonRacing–if not just flying in general–was just… out of thequestion.

She’dnever see the sunset, or the exotic colors of every dragon theyencountered. She’d never see her mother or father or her friends oreven her future children–andit wouldn’t be because she wasn’t present, but it would be due toa physical incapability.

Everythingwas changing, all before her very eyes. The ones what she couldn’tseewith.

Evenafter Stormfly landed, presumably back at the stables, Astridcontinued to think.Her fingers trembled and her breaths were all ragged and strained,but she strove to find some reason deep within herself.

Wouldshe ever see again? Or was she stuck in a perpetually white world?The fact that she wasn’t seeing pitchblack waspromising, and it gave her a sliver of hope that she could somehowrecover. She clung to that shred of optimistic thought, because therewas still a chance for her to beat the odds and beatViggo,but as soon as she attempted to dismount Stormfly–

“Astrid!There you are!”

GreatThor.

Sheswallowed thickly and rubbed at her eyes as she slowly swung her legover Stormfly’s back. It was a motion she’s completed with suchease and confidence time and time again, but she’d suddenly…grown wary of her footing. All she wanted to do was curl up besideher dragon and reflect and be alone,butof courseHiccuphad to come around. Quickly attempting to recompose herself, heturned towards the source of his voice and blinked, thankful that herhearing was still intact.

Astriddidn’t know how long she could maintain the illusion that herencounter with the Hunters didn’thappenand that she couldstillsee, but she would try. She’d simply have to–for the sake ofkeeping order on the Edge. Her thoughts of her future and herhappiness be damned–they couldn’t afford to make any risky movesfor the sake of getting even, and getting even is exactlywhatViggo probably wanted them to do. If Astrid knew the Hunter’sleader at all, she knew that he tried to have everything planned downto the last confrontation.

“Hey,Hiccup,” she responded soon enough, offering a brief lift of herhand as wave. Her voice sounded unbearably tightandshe had no clue about how disheveled she may have looked, butStormfly ducked her head and nudged her shoulder so that she wouldface an entirelydifferentdirection.

Somuch for being secretive.

Astridplaced her palm on the Nadder’s horn for stability. She blinked.Her world went from white, to black, to white again.

Shecould only imagineHiccup’sperplexed expression. Literally. What he looked like at the momentwas a mystery to her and–

Oh,no.

No,no, no.

Whatif she forgets?

“…Astrid,is everything okay?”

Whatif she forgets what he looks like? His eyes. His smile–all of them.The goofy, crooked one and the jokingly serious one and the heartmeltingly adoring one and… What if she forgot her other friends,too? What they all look like? It was only a matter of time before anyand all hopes of her ever seeing again would be ultimately crushed,and then… And then she’d be stuck. She’d never see Stormfly orHiccup or her friends. She’d never see the sunrise or sunset orcoloratall–

Astridtried so desperatelytoremain composed and stay levelheaded, but with such a probablyreality looming on the horizon, how could she stay calmwhenit truly, finally hit her that her entire futurewasvery likely compromised? She relied so heavily on her sight thatliving without it…

…Wouldn’tbe living at all.

Sheblinked.

Suddenly,she felt her hair get tucked behind her ear and warm, calloused palmson either of her cheeks, and she stiffened, startled. The contactalone was enough to make her walls fall in around her, while herpreviously rigid expression crumpled into that of one conveyingagony.

“Astrid?Astrid,what–what happened out there? What did you see?”

Theirony.

Astridshook her head and barked out a single, humorless laugh. Her eyescontinued to burn with a dull intensity, partially because she wascrying even harder now, but she kept her hands to herself. The thingsthat she knewshecould do with her eyes closed now seemed to be completely foreign andimpossible–even throwing her arms around Hiccup in the way that sheusually did seemed hazardous.

Shesettled for squeezing her eyes shut. The darkness was comforting,because she could pretend that she was fine despite knowing shewasn’t.

“Astrid,look at me–”

“Nothing,”shefinally snapped, the sharp bite in her trembling voice evidently notdirected toward Hiccup. She pictured him wincing. “Nothing, okay? Ididn’t–I can’tseeanything.I can’tlookat you.” Astrid could hear Stormfly coo, and she imagined thatHiccup looked worriedly over at both of their dragons, seeking somesemblance of insight as he gathered her in an embrace.

“I–Idon’t–Astrid, what are you…?”

Shefelt his arms loop around her middle, so she managed to find hisshoulders. Astrid buried her face in the crook of his neck and simplystood there,leavingHiccup to try and decipher her cryptic response for the same amountof time it took for her to compose herself to the point where sheknewshewouldn’t break down. It was only when she became astutely aware ofthe fingers rubbing circles into the small of her back that she wasdrawn out of her bout of self pity.

Asingle name was enough to make Hiccup’s hold around her waist growsignificantly tighter. She was well aware of the shift in hisstature–from comforting to downright protectiveafterso much as hearing “Viggo” leave her lips.

“What,”Hiccup grit out, “did he do?”

Shetook a shuddery breath that wracked her chest and pulled her armsfrom around Hiccup’s shoulders. It didn’t make the pain subside,let alone help her fears for her future shrink, but the blonde soonset either of her hands on what she felt as the slope of Hiccup’sneck and slowly wrenched her eyes open. They stillburned.Everything was still bleary, still white.

Hiccupwas probably only inches away from her, but at the same time… Hewasn’t there.

(Butusing that logic, the moon didn’t exist and neither did theHunters. Astrid breathed deeply again. She blinked. It still didn’thelp.)

“Itwas an Armorwing,” she managed, willing strengthtoinject her quiet voice. Astrid knew that around Hiccup, there was noneed for her to remain strongindifficult times, but it was the only way she found herself capable ofspeaking to him. “Viggo–he, he wanted revenge. But you–youhaveto, to promise, promise me that you w-won’t do anything stupid.”

Astrid…Astrid was conflicted. On one hand, Hiccup had taught her thatemotion was natural,andthat they didn’t live in a world as brutal and ruthless as theyinitially thought. With the resurgence of a new massive threat intheir lives, however, that notion immediately caved in on itself.What wasshe,if not the resilient, hardy Hooligan that her people were known tobe? What happened to the viking who had so firmly believed inherself, and believed that she was stronger than anything Viggo triedto do to harm her?

“Astrid,”Hiccup said again, this time more sympatheticallyhurt,and it was as he’d said her name a million times over in the pastminute with different tones each instance. She knew that he wantedher to continue to explain.

“Hiccup,I’m–”

Shechoked on the next word, a sob ripping from her throat, becauseadmitting it made it real.Admitting it made it feel like Viggo won,and she’d be damned before she let something like that happen.Astrid felt Hiccup tense further, and she squeezed his shoulders,sniffling and breathing choppily.

“…Bl–ind.”

Itfelt like a massive wave crashing onto an unsuspecting shore. It hither like a Catastrophic Quaken barreling into her at full force,knocking the wind out of her lungs and sending her reeling.

Shewas blind.

Sheblinked. Astrid felt as if her mind was still foggy with disbeliefand sheer horror,but saying it out loud… It helped. Somehow, it helped, and deepdown, she knew that acceptingitwas the first step to overcomingit.

Hiccup’ssilence, however, was terriblyconcerning.Astrid lifted a shaky hand to thread her fingers through his hairwith slight uncertainty. She couldn’t use her thumb to smooth awaythe creases in his brow that she knew were there, so she had tosettle instead. His presence was grounding, and it made her thinkmore practically–it made her realize that the only thing left to dowas cope,notcry.

Ithurt, but knowing that he was worried about her… hurt more.

“Maybeit’s temporary–”

“Hiccup…”

“Wecan get you to Berk and have Gothi–”

“Hiccup–”

“Astrid,we can still–”

“Youknow,” Astrid interjected (again), “all I could think about washow useful those Deathsong amber goggles you made would have been,”she whispered, fingers curling at the hair at nape of his neck. Shethen pressed her palm to his cheek and leaned forward–he got thememo, thankfully, and their foreheads met. She thoughthehad his face committed to memory, but now that the situation requiredher to draw upon those memories, they were… Gone?

Notgone,but buried.

Byfear.

Byanger.

Byirrational thought.

Sheblinked. She smothered those feelings by reminding herself thatletting them fester would only make matters worse.

“I’msor–”

“Don’t,”Astrid interjected, both pleadingly and in warning. He wiped histhumb against the corner of one of her eyes, presumably to wipe awayher tears, but she squeezed them shut reflexively. “Don’tapologize.”

“…”

“What’sdone is done,” she said, her tone indicating that what she had tosay was final, though it retained its shakiness. Astrid tried sodesperately to sound okay,but…“Apologizingwon’t, c-can’t change–this.”Astridwaved a hand toward her face.

“Iwas… just going to say that–I, I’m here,Astrid. You were there for me, and… And now it’s my turn.”

…Itdawned on her then.

Thevalue she had was not determined by, nor was it reliant, the heightof the senses. Despite lacking her sight entirely, what she said wastrue–the only way to go about her life at this point?

Work past it.

Learna little morefromHiccup.

Swiftly,and with practiced ease, she pressed a kiss to the apple of his cheekbefore slipping out of his arms to find her dragon, ignoring thestrain of keeping her eyes open. The rough texture of Stormfly’sscales was beneath her fingertips in mere seconds–Astrid didn’thesitate once in pulling herself onto the Nadder’s back.

Shewasn’t okay. She was far from okay.

Butshe was guaranteed not to be okay for the rest of her life if she didn’t at least try to move forward.

“Whereare you–”

“Thefirst thing you did was fly,” Astrid reminded him, squaring hershoulders as she curled her fingers against the bar of Stormfly’ssaddle. She sucked in a deep breath. “And that’s exactly what I’mgoing to do.”

IfViggo Grimborn thought he could eliminate AstridHofferson fromthe game, he was painfully mistaken. Sightor no sight, she’d overcome the trials set out before her–shealways had, anyhow.

Sheblinked.