#gravital!sausage

[lunarsands]

ALSMP Fanfic: Until The Blood Moon Descends Ch 2

Characters: merling!Scott, gravital!Sausage, goolien!Sausage, giant!Sausage, thornling!Scott, and a few more iterations…

Relationships: MythicalSausage/Scott Smajor

Tags: Canon Divergent, scosage

Warnings: Injury, Illness, Body Horror, Character Death (by fourfold), Angst

(Sequel to Echoing Through To You and When The Skies Cry)

Summary: Sausage and Scott start to find balance again as gravital and merling, and life falls into a relaxing routine. Then one night a Blood Moon rises and their bond is tested like never before. Destiny, it seems, continues to hound their every step…

(Also available on Ao3!)

[ Chapter One ]

Chapter Two

It might have been the sound of his own labored breathing that disturbed Sausage during the night, but after a few moments he also noticed that there seemed to be something scrabbling around in his room. He could swear he heard a faint beeping noise but then it stopped. “S-Scott? Is – Is that you?” he called blearily. He couldn’t see much in the dark but didn’t have the energy to turn on the light.

Someone who definitely wasn’t Scott muttered, “Signal is weak but this is the source. Bad and good timing it seems.”

They sounded like they were almost right next to his pillows. Sausage turned and attempted to push himself up, black mist curling around his hand. “W-Who’s there? H-How did you get in here?”

“Oh, you really are in rough shape. That will make this easier. Hey, over here.” A dull greenish light lit up beside the crate of health potions. Sausage was very confused by what he was seeing. There seemed to be a very small, semi-transparent bipedal creature dressed in some type of red bodysuit with a closed helmet standing on the wooden chest, holding a tiny silver box which was the source of the light.

“Who – and what – are you?”

“That’s going to take some explaining. Let me start with this: I’m from somewhere far away, and I arrived here on the night of crimson, and you caused me to crash land because of some gravity malfunction. It has taken me far too much time to track you down because everything on this planet is absurdly large, and as I now see you don’t even have that much gravity power left. Since you obviously won’t be able to help with that part of the matter, you can help me in another way – because right now, as I see it, you owe me one.”

Sausage gave a quiet little laugh then coughed. “What? I was – I was fighting monsters half the night. What do you mean ‘this planet’? …I must be delirious or something.” He eyed the tiny creature then reached over it to try to pick up one of the potions. His fingertips caught at the top of a bottle but he only managed to knock it over in the attempt.

The creature watched and shook its head judgingly. “You really don’t have a lot of time. Listen: I can give you more time, but we need to make a deal. I have a mission to carry out and I need a host to get me across this stupidly big landmass. You’re about to die, and you’re responsible for my delay. Work with me and we both benefit.”

“A mission? A host? What does that even mean?” Sausage huffed in frustration and tried again, although his hand was shaking, and he was unable to grip the neck of the next nearest bottle. He was beginning to fear what this creature meant when saying he was about to die.

“The princess of my people came to this world and was murdered. I’m here to find her killer and enact justice. But not being of royal blood, I can’t fully function in this atmosphere and have to conserve my body’s energy. If I have a host – that is, if I possess a body like yours – I’ll be able to do what I need to and then be on my way. You can have an extra day here, then let me take over and complete my mission, and afterward I leave and you can do whatever it is your species does when it expires.”

“How do you even know how much time I have left?”

“If I can possess a body, don’t you think I would know what condition it’s in?”

Sausage couldn’t believe he was still entertaining this delusion, but had to ask, “So how much time, exactly?” He remembered that at the end the mist had overwhelmed Scott without much warning.

“About four and a half hours.”

“Uh… So that’s… What time is it now..?”

“You’re not making it to sunrise, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Sausage tried to think if he could successfully manage to find Scott, get through another possible argument with him, and still say what he needed to in order to make peace with him within that time frame. As he grabbed the side of the blanket to pull it back so he could get up, he saw the mist surrounding his hand. He realized he had two options: he could try to yell for Scott so he would come to him, but he didn’t feel like he had the lung strength for that right now; or he could agree to this alien creature’s proposal and buy the time to talk to Scott in the morning. He wasn’t sure how he would explain the latter, but maybe Scott would be more reasonable by then.

“If I agree to this, promise me you’ll leave Scott out of it. Actually, no, I want you to help him. All he can think about is blaming himself, and I don’t want him to keep on like that. There has to be a way to get past all this.”

“I’ll see what I can do, after I get back.”

“Fine. So…what happens now?”

“Lay down for one thing. You’re going to fall off of this rest platform if you don’t, anyway. Then just close your eyes. I promise you won’t feel a thing.”

~*~

It was more than four hours later when Sausage opened his eyes to see daylight streaming through the curtains. He held a hand up, staring as he tried to determine if there was mist around it or if he just wasn’t fully awake yet. He felt… nominally better. Breathing seemed a little easier and his arm wasn’t as weak when he reached over to pick up one of the potions. He took a cautious sip. Much like the last time it didn’t seem to do anything to help, but he drank the whole bottle just so Scott would see that he had listened.

If only the former merling would listen to him. However, he didn’t know what else to say to ease the guilt. He could go over each incident that had led to his deaths and try to rationalize them, but he knew Scott had never gotten over the first one. When he had tried to remove that specific guilt Scott had stopped him, not wanting to be forgiven. The guilt was a part of him, integral, important to him, to always have inside. Maybe it was due to not having much of a conscience as a vampire then gaining one as an angel, particularly in regard toward Sausage as he fell in love with him.

It hurt Sausage to think about it, but maybe he himself needed to accept that Scott would continue carrying those feelings through all of his future lives. He would prefer still trying to help him heal, but this life, right now, wasn’t the one to do it. Maybe he could try again in whatever followed when the alien was done with him.

A knock on the door made his thoughts scatter. “C-Come in— Oh.”

Scott walked through the door without opening it, seeming to make a point to face away into the room as he spoke in a clipped tone, “Good morning. I’d ask how you were feeling but I know the answer won’t be ‘better’.”

“N-No, actually, I do—” Sausage stopped himself. Should he tell him about the alien? Would it make much difference? It was only an extra day – well, less than that by this point – and he would still die with no way of knowing what would happen next. “—because… I slept all right,” he continued. He felt he should say something else, but no words were coming to him.

Scott tilted his head, ear turned toward the bed. “No cough right now?”

“No, it – it cleared up a little. Maybe the potions are working better this time?”

“They’re not a long-term solution. You know that.”

“Scott, can we please just talk without all the impending doom hanging over our heads?”

The former merling didn’t reply so much as exhale loudly through his nose.

“Fine,” Sausage said sadly, “Be that way.” He fidgeted with the edge of the blanket then sighed, unable to commit to the silent treatment. “But, just— Remember, no matter what I come back as, I love you.”

“I – I know.” Scott struggled with the traditional response. He uttered a sigh of his own and finally moved, sitting at the very end of the bed out of reach but feeling like he owed it to Sausage to sit with him for at least a little while. “I still hate every second of this. I can’t think of any way it could have gone worse.”

Sausage had a few ideas but kept them to himself. He racked his brain for something funny to say instead, something to try to lighten the mood, but then Scott said, “I… won’t see when you go, or when you come back because then I might curse you all over again. I won’t know what you are. I hope it isn’t also bad, because… well, remember what I said when angel-me died? I can’t be much of a conscience for you if I’m like this.”

Sausage was about to ask him to stay beside him until that moment, but realized the situation could change very fast when the alien took over. “Hey, um, how about this for an idea: if you get some paper and a quill, I can write a note for myself, to remind me to keep that promise, too! And I’ll—” He stopped himself again. “…I’ll, um, I’ll let you know what I am when I can.”

He had to include that last part in case he wasn’t near home when the alien left, although he would hope it would have the courtesy to not abandon him thousands of blocks away. Maybe he should add a reminder in the note to keep obsidian plus a flint and steel on him so he could take a shortcut home if that did happen.

“I’m not sure that would work,” Scott replied, although he stood up. “But I’ll do it if you really want. Let me go look.”  He walked directly through the door again.

Sausage let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He really should have asked the alien creature more questions about what would happen when it took over, and when it left.

If he hadn’t simply dreamt the whole thing.

But then, he was better right now, and it was true the potions didn’t ultimately work. His thoughts then doubled back on themselves. Scott didn’t seem any more agreeable this morning, and the rest of the day would likely go the same.

“You don’t have to give me a whole day anymore,” Sausage whispered out loud. “It doesn’t matter.” He got out of bed and picked up one of the empty potion bottles, clutching it tightly as he went over to the open window beside the desk. It would be a simple matter to climb out. “Let’s go now, before he comes back. It won’t be fair, but none of this is.” He placed the bottle so it sat precariously close to the edge of the desk. “Don’t let him catch us leaving.”

“If that’s what you want,” said the creature’s voice inside his head. “Hold on to your bronchial tubes.”

Sausage then began to cough violently. His legs started to give out, causing him to stumble until he caught himself on the wall, where he saw the mist surrounding his hand once more. Scott would undoubtably hear. He shakily reached out for the windowsill.

He blacked out before he even hit the floor.

.

The sound of glass shattering caught Scott’s attention more than the coughing. The latter he couldn’t do anything about, but if Sausage got hurt by any broken pieces that would just be literal insult to injury. He left the book and quill in favor of a dustpan to clean up the glass with. This time he opened the bedroom door instead of walking through it. “Sausage, are you all…”

The room was now utterly silent. He could see some of the broken potion bottle from under the edge of his blindfold. It was across the room, not near the bed. He set down the dustpan and felt around along the blanket to be sure. No body was there. He carefully searched around to make sure Sausage wasn’t just slumped somewhere out of view, but there was also no other sounds besides his own breathing. For a second he entertained the thought that Sausage was now also something that could walk through walls, but the more acceptable thought – and what he preferred to be true – was he had come to his senses and left altogether to avoid being cursed again.

Allowing listlessness to take hold, Scott lifted his blindfold just enough to be able to more safely clean up the glass, then pulled it back into place once it was taken care of. He put away the remaining potions then returned to the bedroom, curling up on the bed and imagining that it still felt warm, that Sausage had not been gone for long.

He should have told him that he loved him one more time, or had the guts to say goodbye when he knew this was what could happen.

~*~

The next few days blended one into the other for Scott. He tried to do some upkeep around the villa, tried to make sure all the flowers in the garden patches were watered, tried to tend the animals. It was just things that had to be done. He considered letting the animals free to return to the fields, considered letting the gardens grow wild.

But what if Sausage returned and decided he wanted his home back?

Scott thought about returning to his vampire mansion, long since left to the elements after Sausage basically took him in while he regained his strength when he became an angel, and then it just seemed right to stay in Heaven’s Reach after that. As a compromise to himself, he went down to Wither’s Grasp and made the manor a little more livable since it had also been left to gather cobwebs. Boarded up windows were certainly suitable for whatever his new life alone was going to turn out to be.

He didn’t know yet what else he was going to do. Just wait, perhaps, and let nature take its course. One thought at the very back of his mind – something he didn’t dare call hope – was that Sausage, reborn hale and hearty, had left to find a better answer to the problem.

It occurred to Scott that he should write down everything he knew so far, since he had left that one book back at the stronghold, just in case Sausage did return, and there was the chance that one of them might become an Enigma again in the future. The project took up part of an afternoon, and he was leaving the manor to bring the book up to the villa when he heard footsteps crunching on the rocky dirt of the path. He quickly tugged at his blindfold to make sure he didn’t accidentally catch sight of them.

“Hello?” he called out, keeping his voice steady to avoid giving away his weakness. “Who’s there?”

“An old friend,” came a semblance of Sausage’s voice; something seemed off about it, not to mention that was a strange way to refer to himself. “Ssscott,” he then sounded out the other’s name as if it was an unfamiliar word. “Come with me. We have business to tend to.”

Before Scott could react, a hand closed on his arm and he was practically dragged across Wither’s Grasp, over the bridge, and partway up the stone staircase. “Saus—where are we going?”

“Back to the scene of the crime.”

That phrasing didn’t sit well with him, but he didn’t protest as he was encouraged to climb up into the cave that sat inside the wall, left just as it was on the night of the Blood Moon. Still holding onto the book, Scott was about to ask why they were there now, but hands turned him to make sure he was facing toward Sausage and then the blindfold was yanked off his head. “No-!” He started to cover his face with his arms but the glimpse he caught of who he thought was Sausage made him stop and stare in shock.

Green, translucent skin and pink hair greeted him, strange clear eyes staring back from what was definitely Sausage’s face. He was wearing the same clothes as the last time Scott had seen him, although they hung oddly on his frame and there was residue from gunpowder dirtying his shirt. Scott recovered from his shock and tried to block his line of sight again, but the alien version of Sausage stopped him. “No, don’t look away. This is important. Now, listen to me: Do you want to forget this ever happened? I can make him forget, and I can make you forget.”

“Make… him? So you’re… not Sausage? What are you?”

“Very long story. If you forget it won’t matter anyway. Let’s just say I needed to borrow him. No, keep looking at me. I still need you to end this.”

“Then…make sure we get this book. In case one of us comes back like me again.” Scott pointed with the book’s spine toward the bit of cobblestone wall where the black cloth was still laid out. Pseudo-Sausage nodded, and Scott backed up to place the book on it, glancing away only long enough to make sure it was properly on the wall and wouldn’t fall off. Then he said, “Forgetting won’t take away the guilt, you know.”

“That’s a matter for you. My business is vengeance. You can think of this situation as that. You’re knocking me loose, but I’ll avenge this mate of yours before I go.”

Understanding dawned on Scott. He suppressed a grateful smile and continued to hold his stare. The black mist appeared around pseudo-Sausage’s hands and feet, progressing even faster than before.

The alien looked down at his hands, holding one up to study the effect. “Hm, that will do. Next we just…” He took a small silver box from his pocket and fiddled with it. “Wait, that’s not… Right, got it.”

Scott watched curiously and leaned forward a little. A beam of bright red energy shot out of the front of the box, striking him in the chest. He dropped to the floor without a sound. The alien then sighed and placed the box on the ground by the cave’s entrance, then sat down next to Scott and waited.

~*~

When Sausage woke he first registered the sunlight streaming in from the front of the cave, and that was a relief. At least the night full of hordes of monsters was over. Next, however, came the feeling of the cave wall pressing in on him. His body felt oddly spread out, like his shoulders were too wide and his arms farther apart. He tried to move a little and nearly hit his head on close-hanging rock. Had there been some creeper around that collapsed a wall on him?

His gaze fell on a book sitting upon the black cloth where arrows and a potion had been, seeming far below his line of sight. That hadn’t been there before. He reached for it and—

Well, if he had been able to pick it up he probably wouldn’t have been able to turn the pages. His hand was gigantic in comparison. It wasn’t the cave that had changed. He had gotten bigger. But where was… “Ohgod. Scott? Scott??” The only thing stopping him from looking around in a panic was the threat of hitting his head again. “Please don’t tell me I crushed you…”

“Over here.” The voice had a strange quality to it, reminding him of endermen speech.

It took a moment because he was looking for a regular-sized person, but what he finally did see was a small (was it extra small because he was so big?) creature with purple crystalline horns coming out of its forehead, strangely shaped motes floating around pale yellow hair, and violet eyes that stared up at him. “Or down here, I guess I should say.”

“Oh, you’re tiny. That’s kind of cute.” Sausage giggled.

“And you’re stuck. I don’t know if you’ll fit through the way out even if you can crawl over there. Of all the places to turn into a giant,” Scott mused. “I’ll go get a pickaxe and try to get you out.”

“Wait, there’s a book here, it wasn’t in that bundle. I can’t, uh, pick it up.”

“All right, let me see.” The wall was just low enough for Scott to reach it. He started to flip through the book, wondering what relevance it had in the wake of them being shot by the terrifying skeletal archer. “This is…my handwriting. I don’t remember doing this.”

“What does it say?”

“Something about a creature called an Enigma. Huh… Oh! I put a little note at the end. …Oh.”

“That didn’t sound good.”

“That’s the thing that killed me when I was an angel.”

“Oh.”

“I don’t know why this was here, but I guess I found information or something? But I still don’t remember writing this.”

“Maybe… it’s the cave. Like you found the crossbow and stuff, and the first time I came in here I found stuff I could use as a wither. I didn’t question it before.”

“The cave has prescient abilities?”

“I don’t know. Weirder things have happened.”

Scott batted at one of the motes floating around his head, not that it really did anything to affect it. “Obviously. Well, give me a few minutes.” He scurried out of the cave and Sausage couldn’t contain another giggle while watching him. He then worked on maneuvering around to do the aforementioned crawling toward the cave’s entrance, earning a few scrapes in the process when trying to figure out where his limbs could fit. This was going to take some getting used to.

Scott returned and started work on expanding the sides of the entrance. Sausage noticed the extra pickaxe strapped to his back. “Why did you bring a gold one?”

“I don’t know. I just kind of wanted it.”

“Huh, so… where am I going to sleep now? I’m not going to fit in the house…”

~*~

As time went on the cycle just kept continuing for the two of them. An excessively packed TNT trap took out Sausage despite his extra resilience as a giant, although it was that resilience that shielded Scott from the blast. Yet before long, in a similar fashion, Scott was caught unaware by a creeper, which dealt immediate death due to his smaller, less hardy state.

They soon found themselves in a new unusual situation when Sausage became an owl and Scott a red panda. They made a nest inside a small forest cave as they adjusted to animalistic senses, although it didn’t last long anyway when a dire wolf found them.

Throughout it all they stayed together as best they could, while Sausage soon outpaced Scott in the count as he continued to be driven to protect him. A lengthy amount of peace came again when Scott found himself settling in as a floran, content to just tend gardens again while the very plants themselves grew upon him, giving him his own personal flower crown at all times. Meanwhile, the various pools and house pond came in handy again when Sausage had a turn at being a merling. Scott took out his old trident to give him tips on using it, and showed him the best spots for fishing in the river. There weren’t as many adventures anymore, and as Scott put it one time, “Now I don’t have to go far to get the flowers I want.”

Reminded of a particular flower-gathering disaster, Sausage was glad to agree.

~*~

Scott idly kicked his bare feet in the water of the deeper of the western ponds, smiling at a late afternoon butterfly that was investigating the flowers growing in his hair. Sausage had been napping at the bottom of the pond and was on his way up while Scott simply waited for him, a picnic dinner set out nearby and plans to watch the sunset ahead of them.

Surfacing near the middle, Sausage swam over and rested his webbed hands on the tops of Scott’s feet, which the floran lightly alternated again to create small ripples between them. Sausage smiled up at him then patted one of his knees before going to the side and hauling himself out. With water running down his face from his hair, he gave Scott a little kiss, then they moved to the picnic blanket to eat.

It was a perfect evening… up until the red of the sunset failed to fade from the sky. Sausage peered at the horizon, doublechecking the sun’s position. “Um… Not liking that. We should maybe get inside…”

“Too late.” Scott was already looking toward the villa. Creepers and spiders had begun to appear en masse, and a group of zombies was starting to head their way. Scott put his hands to the ground and after a scowl of concentration, twisting vines emerged from the grass in front of the undead, tangling around them as they shambled forward. He caught up a few creepers as well.

Sausage reached back into the pond where he had left the trusty trident leaning on the wall, having a habit of keeping it nearby at all times. “We’re getting to the river this time,” he insisted. Scott nodded and left the sentient vines to do their work without him, and together they ran for the waterfall. Unimpeded this time, they reached the fountain and slid down into the river below. After the brief plunge they both surfaced and assessed the threat collecting on the banks to either side. They began to swim underwater with the current, hoping it would speed them along a little faster, with Scott leaving a trail of petals as the flowers were pulled from his hair by each dive.

Sausage dealt with any Drowned they encountered, which for the moment were thankfully few. But skeletal archers on the banks were becoming wise to their presence, and the two had to start diving deeper to avoid the arrows, with the merling providing breaths of air when it became too dangerous to surface. They found respite when the river opened up toward the ocean, but colder depths weren’t very agreeable to a floran so they started to head back up and hoped to find a spot of land with the least number of mobs possible.

As much as Scott didn’t mind Sausage kissing him to give him air, he was glad for the next breath he took on his own as he reached the surface first, and one of the green tendrils in his hair poked at his ear as if to tell him they didn’t appreciate being submerged for that long. Scott brushed at it and looked around for a safe place to get out, starting to feel a little uneasy without soil beneath his feet. The nearby beach, however, was already crawling with zombies, and they were now beginning to funnel toward him, sinking as they hit the water only to start being converted into Drowned.

Sausage had been scouting from below and grimaced at the sight as he swam back upward, but he had located what he had been looking for. He surfaced and reached for Scott with his free hand. “I know you would really rather get back on land right about now, but there’s no safety at all there. I found a spot we can hide out in until daybreak, it’s just another little swim down. Come on, I’ve got you.” He offered a reassuring smile.

Scott brushed at the tendril by his ear again, then smiled back, trusting the merling. Together they dived back under and Sausage guided the way. A trench lined with exposed magma provided a natural barrier but crossing it was risky for the floran. Sausage wrapped his arms around him and used the trident to propel through the water across it as fast as he could, then continued swimming for a little ways through a crevice before letting him go and pointing upward.

Above was a small pocket of humid air within a section of the tiniest lush cave either of them had ever seen. The glowberry vines barely had any fruit but it was enough light to see by. Scott gratefully climbed up from the deepslate to sink his feet into the clay. It wasn’t dirt, but it was enough to sustain the dripleaf, the nearest of which he petted as it leaned toward him on its stalk. New flower buds began to form in his hair. Sausage watched with a smile. It was always fascinating to see that happen.

Something gurgled behind him. The smile fell from his face, stomach turning with dread. So much for being safe. He only had time to notice that the Drowned that had found them had a head like a wither skeleton before a smoky black trident was thrust into his chest, and then he was the one gurgling as he was pushed backward against the clay wall, his own trident falling from his hand.

“SAUSAGE!” Scott yelled. Acting fast, he caused scores of dripleaf to erupt from the ground and shoot up to the ceiling, cutting off the wither-Drowned. As he rushed over, glowberry vines descended upon Sausage, wrapping around his chest to stem the flow of blood from his wounds, although Scott worried how effective it would be if the accursed trident had pierced too deep. “Hold on, hold on, Sausage, I’ll – I’ll think of something, okay?” He clasped the merling’s face between his hands, hoping to get him to focus on him. Sausage smiled weakly but there was already blood seeping out between the vines.

And then the withering took effect. With nothing to counteract it, at that point Scott could do little more than hold Sausage’s hand until the merling’s grip grew slack. As unfortunate as it seemed, it was now something they had grown accustomed to. Scott cradled him in his arms, leaving the vines in place to keep the wounds covered until Sausage regenerated with the change to a new form.

With no other indication of the hour, he relied on the progression of the original meager vines on the cave ceiling to mark time. Slowly but steadily they grew downward, and occasionally a new cluster of berries blinked into existence, adding a little more light. But after a while Scott decided it was a terrible way to keep track of time, because it seemed to be taking too long.

“Sausage, come back to me, please. Y-You can’t just leave me in here, okay?” He tried to laugh. “This was your idea. You know, it’s kind of silly, putting ourselves in a dead end like this with no plan for a way back if you can’t swim us out.” He leaned his head over his face, teardrops falling onto Sausage’s cheeks. “I’m sorry I said that. It wasn’t silly. It was a good idea. I should have blocked the way behind us sooner, just as a precaution. I’m sorry I keep relying on you to protect us. Y-You’re going to come back, right? You have to. …Sausage?”

He stroked his hair then slipped a hand under the vines to check for a heartbeat. “L-Listen, Sausage, I can get us out, don’t worry about that part. I can get roots to dig through even the stone and we won’t have to worry about the swimming part no matter what you are. But you’ve got to come back first. Okay?”

Scott gently laid him against the clay wall so he could climb a little higher and touch the ceiling to start summoning the roots as promised. If the unthinkable happened, he still needed a way out…  He then sank to his knees and looked at his hands, feeling helpless. “W-What am I supposed to do if you don’t come back? Sausage…tell me?”

New light suddenly blazed into view, but it wasn’t the soft orange of a glowberry. It was silvery and bright, and it came from between the vines around Sausage’s chest. Scott uttered a gasp of relief and hurried back down toward where he lay. The light spread, engulfing Sausage’s body as he was finally revived. The vines fell away, and before the glow even faded his silhouette alone stopped Scott in his tracks. The former merling didn’t move right away and so he couldn’t help crying out, “Sausage! Sausage! Please, wake up!”

On Sausage’s part, he was a little disoriented by the light but as it dimmed he could see the new, full blooms in Scott’s hair and thought to himself that this was good, because it meant the floran was unharmed. But he himself felt like he was on fire. “Urg…my head…is buzzing. Am I a thunderborn again?”

Scott answered with a voice full of awe, “No…No, you absolutely are not.”

Sausage shifted to sit up and felt a weight on his back. A familiar one, and… in three different places. The fire actually seemed to be focused behind his head. He stood up and like he had as a giant felt like he was towering over Scott, but it was only an illusion because of the power thrumming through his body.

“A-Angel,” Scott stammered. “…My…angel.”

Holy power was what he felt, stronger than ever before. Sausage looked around at himself, folding one set of wings forward so he could look at them. This time his feathers were white with silver edges, a barely perceptible pattern along the tips. There were three pairs of wings altogether; he wasn’t just any old angel this time. The memory of hierarchies and titles came to his mind. The fire at the back of his head was his halo, and its light was shining on Scott’s face like the sun. When he held out a hand toward the floran, Scott reached for him in turn and a vine coiled out along his arm, splitting into multiple leaves and a small sunflower that all turned upward toward the seraph’s face.

Sausage offered a quiet laugh and made an effort to consciously dim his aura. The vine withdrew and the sunflower popped up in Scott’s hair amongst the others. “Well, I think I can safely say that with this much power, nothing is going to hurt you ever again.”

Scott gave a laugh of his own. “So, you’re now the guardian angel you’ve always wanted to be. I would say you’ve earned it, and… everything might have been worth it.”

Sausage grinned at that, and pulled him closer to wrap him in his larger pair of wings for a hug. “We’ll wait here a little longer. I’m not that eager to test out my smiting abilities yet.”

As he leaned in for a kiss, the other flowers in Scott’s hair fell off and were replaced by a new crown made up of more small sunflowers.

 ~To be continued in Then We’ll Rewrite the Stars~

 [Post A/N: This fic was planned out before I saw Scott’s Empires S2 skin so the two different color eyes is still a reference to his Angel and Merling skins, and borrowing the idea from Lizzie that an Enigma can be a mix of someone’s previous origins. Also borrowed Jimmy’s Thornling design because there wasn’t much I could do with a potted cactus, lbr.]

[sseastar]

✶ small things ; wang yixiang.

info. nicholas x reader. fluff. can be established relationship or friends to lovers. description. nico and his habits towards you in your friendship / relationship. just nico being a cutie and a menace. a cute menace. warnings. play fighting. physical touch. listen to. love 119 by riize

accidentally tickling you + the need to keep doing it.

you know that clip of nico just touching the exposed skin through fuma’s ripped jeans? and fuma getting ticklish because of it and stopping nicholas’s hands, but nico’s hand keeps gravitating back to it? i feel like nico would do this with you. initially, it’s usually just him gently grazing the skin on your arm or neck or knees with his nails or fingertips. the moment you squirm away, something in nico’s brain tells him that he needs to keep touching that same spot unless you really tell him to stop (you usually don’t). he also squeezes your leg or thigh just to make you jump. and then commences the game of you trying to catch nico’s hands before they can touch you again but still playing along because of course you will. you always have.

playful attacks when you’re teasing him.

there’s a video of nico just like, fake tickle attacking gaku during one of the &audition episodes that i just saw recently and my first thought was just nicholas going for your waist whenever you tease him for something. you tease him a lot whenever you get the chance because he, of course, does the exact same to you. so it’s no surprise to you anymore when you just kind of quickly scoot away after teasing him because you know what’s coming, and sure enough, nico’s hands just shoot quickly towards your waist after you like, talk about an embarrassing moment he had.

it used to just be something he had to decide to do (he knew whatever you were saying was a joke so that was his choice to retaliate) but at some point it just became second nature for him to start wiggling his fingers towards your sides. is it because he’s just gotten used to it? or is it because his hands know his need to hear your laugh? you may never know. nico also finds joy when he just brings his hands relatively near you and your giggles just fall out of your laugh without him even touching you.

feeding you.

with nico looking as if he would be a tsundere, the way he holds out food to the members without looking is so characteristic of that. there’s a couple of clips of him feeding harua by just holding out ice cream or tanghulu to his mouth without even looking. something about that melts my heart because it’s like he wants people not to make a big deal but he’s just too caring for me to ignore.

nico does the same thing to you. just holding his drink up to your lips if he knows you like his drink better than your own. holding up food combinations he wants you to try (like when he fed harua the seaweed) and patiently waiting for your opinion. if you can’t decide which dish you want to order, he would order both and let you pick which one you would like better. and of course, cooking you sausage wherever and whenever you want.

poking your cheek + tapping your chin.

i’ve seen nico do this a lot to euijoo and taki (especially in the scent of you behind). it seems to be his way of teasing but with affection, because he had done it after reviewing their scenes in the mv. i think it’s his way of saying you did well, i’m proud of you, and i think you’re absolutely adorable, but i’m gonna do this little cat scratch thing because i’m too shy to actually tell you (so lino-coded i love this).

nico will just randomly tap underneath your chin or poke your cheek, usually when it comes to times when you’re being complimented or getting flustered. he thinks you’re adorable with the way you suddenly can’t make eye contact and can only let out a stuttering ‘thank you’ and so he just has the sudden urge to make it worse by doing the whole underside of the chin gentle tap with his fingertip or knuckle.

making random sounds to get your attention.

i’m sure we mostly all know about nico’s “ooh sexy joo” clip, and if you don’t, you’ll probably find out soon. but something tells me that the way he hypes up euijoo and the sounds he makes along with it translates to you as well. a lot of times, when he’s bored and you’re not paying attention to him he just starts making those ‘oooooo’ sounds that he was making during their photoshoot behind. it’s kind of difficult to ignore the fake ghost sounds your best friend is making but it’s come to the point that if he isn’t making these sounds when he wants your attention, then something’s wrong and he’s probably jealous of someone grabbing your attention instead of him.

it’s not rare for you to be trying to finish an assignment at your desk with nico just sprawled out on your bed, limbs hanging off the sides of your mattress. when he senses you’re almost done, nico starts to make these sounds or just starts to hum your favorite song unconsciously, reaching over to you to play with your free arm or your hair, hoping that it’ll help speed up your progress on your work. spoiler alert: it doesn’t, but you don’t have the heart to tell him otherwise.

his tired clinginess in the morning.

just blank nico in the morning. tired baby will just go up to wherever you are, cooking, getting ready, brushing your teeth, whatever. he would just go up to you and cling close as he’s waking up, not with arms around you or anything but just standing with his chest pressed to the back of one of your shoulders as he watches what you’re doing, eyes unfocused and head slightly dipped towards you - he might not be a morning person but being around you makes it better.

sometimes you get surprised despite getting used to this habit because one moment, you’re in the kitchen pouring milk into your cereal. when your turn back from the fridge after putting the carton away, nico’s just standing silently behind you, not reacting to the little laugh you let out at your surprise like he usually would (he loves your laugh). instead, you simply take a spoon and drop it into your bowl as nicholas just brings his body close to yours and lightly presses his chest against your back. he watches you eat over your shoulder, simply opening his mouth when you bring up the spoon to it, and nuzzles his head into your neck as he chews, basking in the little pats you give to the side of his head and face.

hiding his face from or behind you.

as intimidating as our lovely boy can look, nico is just a shy baby when it comes to being teased or excessively complimented. you love how he gets when this happens and so sometimes you purposely praise him over and over again just to get him flustered. at these times, nicholas just hides his face from you so that you can only see his eyes (like in the ‘our diary - acrobatic’ video when k said it was his turn to do the last challenge and he hid his face behind the mats). the giggle that leaves your mouth only causes his heart to stir even more, and he tries his best not to giggle back as much as he feels like he needs to. he has a dark image to protect lol.

if someone else makes him shy and you’re near him, he goes immediately to take your arm and hide his face behind it with the cute high pitched nico laugh we love. more often, nico just steps behind you and plants half his face on your shoulder, again only leaving his eyes to be shown. euijoo had once said that nicholas one of the most important people in his life so casually, and the next moment, nicholas had already left your side and had his face hidden behind your shoulder. so cute.

⌕. author’s note ; did i disappear again? yes i did and i’m so sorry! i did have a lot of motivation to write over break but never had the time because of family plans, but! i am still working on current wips and starting to work on &team works! thank you for waiting!!

as always, please leave feedback and reblog with tags as it’s the most important thing when it comes to motivating writers on here! without feedback, i have less motivation to keep writing so pls pls pls do not just like and empty reblog! it gets very draining and unmotivating to see when that happens!

⌕. taglist ; @enhacolor @soobin-chois @koishua @chrysbibi

[ryukatters]

kaaatttt 😭😭😭 i need some satoru headcanons to heal my soul... what is he like as a bf??

ask and you shall receive my love (writing this to heal my soul)

content: modern AU, fluff, nsfw headcanons at the end

SFW

“mmm..i think i deserve a little treat right now.” 

except he says that at least 5 times a day and you will also be given a little treat. he does not care if you don’t want to eat kikufuku right now, you will be accompanying him to get some. 

speaking of, this man is basically eating 24/7. if gojo leaves your side for any reason while you guys are home, just know he is scavenging the kitchen for scraps like the raccoon he is. 

food is one of satoru’s main love languages. there’s something oddly satisfying and strangely warm about his loved ones eating and sharing a meal together, even if they tend to make him the butt of the joke in every single dinner conversation. 

will force you to become a sanrio girly idc (if you aren’t one already)

“babe, look!” "satoru, we have enough cinnamoroll plushies at home." "so you hate me then?"

the type to pick you up and spin you around whenever you two hug. he’ll spin and spin until both of you are dizzy and crash onto the couch.

attention whore. also just a whore in general but mostly a whore for (your) attention. will absolutely do the MOST to make sure your eyes are on him— i’m talking about poking your cheek, locking your phone if you’re scrolling through tiktok next to him, and it doesn’t even take much for him to start begging. he’s a loser like that.

scarily in tune with you. satoru is a lot more emotionally intelligent than he likes to let on around others, but he picks up on a lot of things. both of you are at a function and he can take one look at you and know that it's time to pack it up and go home.

is very sentimental about the things you give him/the things you two do together. before you started dating, satoru wasn't really one to collect tiny trinkets or keep ticket stubs because he thought they were just a waste of space. after you two got together, he started keeping virtually everything in a little box hidden in his closet. he realized that it's nice to give sentimental value to the little things, because then the memories associated with them live on in something physical.

he just... can't keep his hands to himself LOL. and like not even in a sexual manner either (sometimes), he just naturally gravitates towards you and is almost always touching you somehow— hand fiddling with your jewelry or hair, arm around your shoulder when you're sitting, arm around your waist when you're standing, playing footsies, whatever.

this man is painfully in love with you, and he makes it everyone's (mostly nanami's) problem. manages to bring you up in every single conversation with a lovesick grin on his face.

you will rarely ever hear satoru address you by your actual name. it will always be some variation of baby, babe, sweetheart, love, etc. uses snookums, cupcake, sweet cheeks, cinnamon sugar roll, my little sausage mcgriddle <3 on a rotating basis to annoy you

NSFW

you know those couples that just have this pent up sexual tension between them for no reason? like y’all could just be looking at each other but to everyone else it feels like you two are just eyefucking ​​😭 that’s you and gojo

no matter how long you guys have been together for, that spark between you just doesn't go away. people can see the immense physical attraction between you two.

is somewhat of an exhibitionist LMAO. he literally gets horny at the worst times and will drag you to the nearest supply closet, even if it means breaking the door in the process. who knows, maybe his real kink is vandalism

enjoys when you put up a bit of a fight/act like a brat. it makes putting you in your place so much sweeter.

very vocal— talking, moaning, whimpering. he sounds very pretty. he's extremely receptive to your touch so simply rubbing your hand along the bulge in his jeans has him moaning like a pornstar.

say it with me: satoru gojo is a pussy👏🏻pleaser👏🏻!

really likes going down on you. he thinks he could stay in between your thighs forever if you'd let him.

nasty. will cum inside you and clean it up with his tongue.

oscillates between wanting to overstimulate you and deny you. sometimes he does both. the way you get this hazy look in your eye and become so pliant, so needy for him gets him going.

he gets strangely possessive during sex. maybe it's a way for him to affirm that you really do love him and find him attractive.

"i'm the only one that can fuck you like this, right? make you feel this good?"

is a fan of snacks during aftercare LOL. you could have just had the most wild sex of your life, with the two of you panting as you lie in bed before satoru rolls over and opens his nightstand drawer and pulls out a pack of oreos before shoving one into your mouth

Some of these aren't even bf headcanons they're just how I think he'd be LMFAO

[nerdieforpedro]

Part Six of "The Lake Between Us"

Gravitational Pull

Ezra AU x Seraphina (plus size OFC)

This fic is for those 18+ MDNI

Word Count: about 1.9k

Warnings: Mentions of all the food (sorry for making you hungry), implied sexual activity, Ezra is a softie, actual adult conversations (the humanity!), Sera and Ezra being sexy and cute (I very much enjoy these two - I'm also biased), two idiots (because they kinda are but it's good - I think)

Summary: Ezra and Seraphina are growing closer fairly quickly. Neither of them view this as a bad thing, but it warrants some conversations and a different kind of dinner.

Notes: Two more parts to go! I made use of a time skip. A good chunk of time passes in the part but it's to show the relationship progression for down the line. There's also two other interludes because of the story flow.

Main Masterlist/ Ezra Masterlist/ The Lake Between Us Series

Orbiting around each other for almost two months, it was surprisingly easy to fall into an exchange of their homes. Seraphina had opened hers first, leaving Ezra to do the same with his. Dinners were alternated as well: gumbo, stews, shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles and Ezra’s favorite that Sera made, jambalaya. He was fond of the sausage she used, letting the spices soak throughout the rice. The evenings became longer as they both lingered in each other's abodes.

Seraphina observed his bookshelves, one was filled with different first editions he’s collected over the years and the other had momentos and pictures from his life with Cee. A small child with cornflower hair smiled brightly in most of them as a younger Ezra held her, sometimes reading, other times sitting in a truck as they drove. His dedication to her upbringing was remarkable. He swears up and down it was just a promise he had to uphold. 

“I keep my honor intact in areas where it matters most in life my dear Moonbeam. That is all it was and is.” 

He can’t hide the small smile that appears each time he looks at her graduation photo. Nor does the gentleman hide how often his hands find their way to her hands, arms, and back. Not that his Moonbeam ever appeared to mind.

There were nights where Ezra would allow Sera to reveal different stories from career. He found it fascinating that a person could remain in the same profession for ten years. The changes she describes and the different facilities she’d worked in. The witnessed suffering, knowing there was little to be done for the patient or their family. The treatment of those in her profession and those associated with it. The physicality of what it means to perform different tasks and the skill it took.

Another two months of dinners brought the two of them closer together, learning about each other. Studying their bodies and sounds. There were times they parted, back across the lake, but oftentimes the nightly partners remained intertwined among limbs and sheets. Still having a drink before bed but not nearly as many. They were dulling each other's edges, making it easier to slip into their dreams. 

There were occasions when they laid awake, wordless as the radiance of the moonlight draped both of their forms; they did wonder if they were awake or asleep. It felt like such a pleasant notion to have someone who understands by your side.

Ezra got a call that Cee was coming back down with her girlfriend Zora on a short break between the summer sessions. They would be in around four in the afternoon. He was supposed to have dinner again with Seraphina, it’s become a near nightly staple, even when she’d have her shifts at the hospital. Ezra had told her to turn on the back porch light if she was willing to have company. Sera always made sure it was turned on after she got home and showered. Even if she fell asleep on the couch sitting next to him, she always thanked him for coming after curling up next to Ezra. 

While cooking for tonight’s dinner, the gentleman decided to make a bit more food. While putting some rolls in the oven, he called Seraphina to let her know. 

“Good afternoon Sundrop. How is the day treating you?” A familiar giggle is heard over the phone, she’d told him that she’d be out part of the day with her mother. He heard her mother in the background asking if that’s ’the handsome man with the good ass gumbo’ Ezra maybe poked fun at Sera about that a bit, even after making the matriarch his bread pudding two weeks ago. Sera’s mother still called him that or ‘skilled with his hands.’ 

“Well. I’m going to finish shopping with her and take her home. Then I’ll be on my way back. How are things on your end?” Sera’s mother pinched her cheek and laughed, taking the bags with her. She put them in the car. He smiled, knowing that her mother likely did something to make her yell, “Ma!”

“Sundrop. Cee called and said that her and her girlfriend are popping down for about a week between their sessions. I’m going to pick them up and they’ll come back to the house.” Ezra set the timer for his rolls and checked his shrimp, still sautéing in the frying pan, not quite as brown as he would like. 

“Alright. Did you want me to come and meet her? Or did you just want to spend time with Cee yourself?” Curious, what his answer would be and also to meet the fabled Cee. Ezra’s pride and source of joy. Was there room for her in his world? Or maybe not yet, it might be too soon.

“My dear, I don’t want to pressure you into meeting her. There will be other opportunities.” Ezra added some more butter, onions, peppers and some seasoning to the shrimp. “However, I am making plenty of food for you to join us tonight. If you wish.” Silence for a moment too long he feels. Things are too ambiguous. “Sera, it’s fine if-“

“I want to meet her, she’s important to you.” Sera’s mother protested being taken home wanting to eavesdrop a bit more, “I’ll call you again after I drop her off.”

“Of course. Talk to you then.”

Their conversation ended for now. It picked up again while Ezra was simmering the grits after finishing the shrimp.

Seraphina knocked on Ezra’s door. He answered in a white tank top, dark green apron and brown cargo shorts. He was barefoot with the fans going, it was too soon to turn the AC on, it was best to save for the nighttime. She walked in and brought chocolate cake she'd baked the night before and a fresh bottle of tequila. Following into the kitchen, Sera set the bottle down and placed a hand on Ezra’s back as he checked his pots.

“You know what’s important to me and that’s family. You were wonderful with my mother and she can be a handful. I don’t want to pressure you either. This is…” Pausing, she loses the words. Does he feel the same way that this is going somewhere? Is it really? They have just been rather casual about things with the exception of him meeting her mother. And maybe Sera mentioning him to her friends. Possibly only on her side she didn’t see it as casual.

Turning the heat down on grits, Ezra faced her head on. She looked up at him with the same honey orbs that held curiosity on the dock that afternoon. Now they held such trepidation. “This is something that’s been foreign to the both of us for quite a long time. A relationship, is it not?” Her flowing yellow dress appeared to glow in the artificial light of his kitchen. His hands found their way to her hips, where they tended to stay. “I would be overjoyed if you met Cee. Then she could put a face to the name of the woman I’ve been spending my time with and who has been helping me to sleep better. Giving me a bit more purpose.” Watching her face as he spoke, Ezra knew he may have said a bit too much, not unusual for him. He usually peppered it with innuendo to lighten things, but this wasn’t the time. 

“I suppose you’ll tell me next I shouldn’t have been so wrought with concern.” Pecking his lips to keep it light, the wide smile on her face was evident. “I’m not sure how long we’ll be together like this but I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else.”

“I should hope not. And you had the same concerns I did. I just know what I feel as well. I do hope we’ll be at this for a while yet. You aren’t going to be rid of me, are you Sundrop?” The grin found among Ezra’s patchy beard drew Sera’s hand to it as it had before. Shaking her head, she kisses him again letting herself linger. An arm snakes around her back before he draws his head back to go for her shoulder, he'd rather have her neck or chest. Ezra makes sure to keep in mind that his charge will be here with them for dinner and not leave any marks on her body as he normally does. 

“I’d be a fool to let a man like you go, .”

Before Ezra left to pick up Cee and Zora, Seraphina assisted him in cleaning the table before popping back to her house to freshen up a bit further. Both their bodies had become drenched with sweat and they’d need to change clothes. Ezra requested, however, that she not change her underwear and he wouldn’t either. Playfully slapping his arm, before capturing his lips once again, “Such a filthy scoundrel you are.”

“Since I am, will you help make me a new man by allowing me to see all of you again tonight? It can be wherever you like, as always, lady’s choice.” His hand cups her ass and squeezes. Keeping her near the door, not letting her leave quite yet.

“I think maybe I should. Since you’re such an honorable and changed man now. Let me go, I can’t be meeting Cee smelling of-“ Her laugh made him want to hold her longer.

“Neither of them would know anything about that type of smell, I hope. Besides, you smell divine.” Nuzzling into her black poofy tresses, he finally released her. “But if you must go. So be it. Remember my two requests, Sera.”

“I know. They’ll remain. Focus on getting those girls here safely please.”

“I can think of more than one thing at a time. See you back here tonight.”

They parted ways as Ezra tracked to pick Cee and Zora up and Sera washed up and dried out her dress. She’d keep the yellow dress on a bit longer. He was right, it did smell of him, not as strong as when she first came home. Having Ezra scent around her was as much of a comfort as it was a source of arousal. She needs to focus on the former for dinner tonight. 

Seraphina was going to meet face to face with the fabled Cee, she was only a little nervous. Little did she know Cee was as well. When was the last time she was this invested in a relationship? Not since college and this one was certainly a lot more healthy. Sera felt she could have worded it better, but she’s been nervous about bringing it up, always was. Per usual, Ezra made her feel like her worrying was totally normal and so was how strongly she felt about him. If he were to pull away from her, she would just hold on tighter, hoping that he would feel the same.

Ezra was humming to a song he hadn’t heard in years, “Day Dreaming.” He laughed because the last few months has felt like consecutive pleasant dreams. He was sure he was aware though. Maybe this is what he should be doing and where he should be. As Ezra drove, he was more sure in comparison to even half an hour ago - even if she fell out of love with him, he would long for her.

Chapter Five

Chapter Seven

Interlude One

Interlude Two

Taste-testers of Ezra’s gumbo 🍤: @rav3n-pascal22 @maggiemayhemnj @morallyinept @survivingandenduring @bonezone44 @magpiepillsjunior @yorksgirl @gemmahale @missredherring @missladym1981 @alltheglitterandtheroar @megamindsecretlair @readingiskeepingmegoing @pedroshotwifey @tinytinymenace @inept-the-magnificent @vivian-pascal @jessthebaker @littlemisspascal

[inbetweenhours]

Katherine and the 3 Goths /hj

So I have this batshit arrangement of headcanon bordering on AU about witchcraft smp that has culminated in this piece I for some reason completely focused on for like 3 or 4 days.

Under the cut is a detailed explanation of my ideas regarding the headcanons and au stuff that culminated in this piece, as well as some close ups of everyone faces :] 

Bullet point explanation on all the ideas about the headcanon/au:

Scott’s mysterious “Him” is the wcsmp’s version of Mythical Sausage because Scosage deserves a win

I will continue to call him MJ, going foreword because its easy

MJ is based tangentially off of some of afterlife Sausage. He has gravitational magic and the colour pallet of his wither skin.

I saw 1(one) fanart about esmp2 Spellblings (MJ & Shelby) but because I couldn’t fit it into my own esmp2 fanon, I held onto it and am now applying it here. So MJ and Shelby are siblings (might change to cousins, either way they are close)

“Him” (MJ) notably likes storms because Shelby is a storm mage, reminds him of home :]

cc!Shelby has mentioned that wc!Shelby has someone “waiting at home” so she's not interested in romance at the trials... I just finished Katherines Starquest series and saw I think like 1 person implying nature wives real in wcsmp so I linked the two together. They live in the Starquest community together <33

Overview: Scott and MJ are fiancés, MJ and Shelby are siblings, Shelby and Katherine are dating. I have notes for my fanon and timeline i promise it works out.

Finally, this scene takes place in a potential future of the wcsmp. Post trials: nether Shelby nor Scott became Supreme Witch 

Scott actually straight up forfeited after reaches a point in his power where he was confident to try and raise MJ from the dead, as per his goals. When that worked out he completely bailed on the tournament because he didn’t care about it aside from his power.

Shelby still put up a hell of a fight!! I just don’t know if logistically she can beat like,,, Cleo,,, specifically. I do actually think she got pretty close tho 

Scott and MJ took some months to recover from both MJ being alive again, as well as the after affects of raising and being raised from the dead, and the general poor health affects of necrotic exposure.

They’re still dealing with it mind you, but since reconnecting with Shelby MJ and her really want to meet up wit their loved ones. They didn’t get to before he died last time so y’know...

Final culmination in the 4 having a nice visit together at the Starquest community. MJ and Shelby formally introducing their partners n stuff and generally a peaceful epilogue after all the adrenaline of the trials

I must have you all know my wcsmp document lore is much and I will explain any of it on command everything makes sense I prommy <33 

Now! Faces!

[smallidarityfan]

ask game! smallidarity. i just wanna hear someone talk about them<3

you are my enabler tumblr user hellish-hyperfixation

Ship It

• What made you ship it?

I can't exactly remember when I started to, but it was sometime after watching Joel's esmp 2 around mid 2022 when I realized that the man would always mention Jimmy at least one time per video. and i was like. holy crapos. i know what they are.

Though I also vividly remember the first time I watched Joel through Last Life, he met Jimmy in some cave and bullied him and I was also like: "what?!?! being mean in minecraft roleplay?!??!?!! that is just like the popular ship bakudeku from the hit series my hero academia (literally barely watched the show)"

• What are your favorite things about the ship?

THEYRE SOOOO......... THEYRE............. ok. ok ok ok. other than the fact that I just really like enemies to lovers type shii, the way that Joel would go lengths to protect Jimmy whether in the life series or empires (see the times when fwhip or scott would bully Jimmy and then Joel rushes in to kill them) despite being the one to bully him in the first place,

or when Jimmy would be a victim to Joel's teasing, actively says he hates it, yet always seems to gravitate towards being around Joel and doing the things he tells him to without question??— the way it then seems like he'd never admit that they're friends (or. in love) and yet 2 seconds later he'd just be like "guys i love Joel so much. wait what who said that?"

And then the Exclusive Flirting?!??!?!! both Jimmy and Joel have canonical esmp husbands (scott and sausage) and yet neither of them ever so much flirts with their husbands much more then they flirt between themselves?????? Hello??!?!?!?! flirting after a whole enemies to lovers shtick??!?! in MY empires smp?!?!?! The way they call each other babe (other than their actual partners ofc LMAO) but not to anyone else?!?! Even in the life series!!! See that 1 clip where Etho professed love to Joel but gets shut down, or when Sausage called Jimmy 'babe' but was like "What? only Joel calls me babe..." and then on the Smallidarity side you get clips of them mutually confessing to each other???????

Jimmy's known Martyn longer than he's known Joel, and Joel's known Oli longer than he's known Jimmy, and yet just from X life 3 years ago they immediately snapped together as best friends the moment they met and then proceeds to do pet play in some quad account merging youtuber competition (sniffermyfeet piglinmynose video).

ykwhatimsaying. the clips basically do all the work honestly.

• Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

eughhh this is hard because i dont know much about the other opinions on this ship? OH ACTUALLY some people take their relationship to be that of a Joel dom-ing type situation where he takes advantage of his bully stance in order to date Jimmy, but i take it more in the shonen manga style way? eg: it's because Joel likes Jimmy that Joel bullies him (in a tsundere way)

To me, Joel fundamentally isn't brash or aggressive in nature, it's just the way he ends up communicating as such. His character has bits of anxiety sprinkled in (you can see from how jittery his movements are in-game), while his main value is just being calm and playing singleplayer hardcore minecraft for 600 hours building pretty little structures yk?

So normally, I don't think Joel would be as naturally aggressive as people take him to be in the smallidarity dynamic? Maybe only when Joel feels tense is when he'd start being mean n stuff, and maybe you could associate that with feelings for jimmy i guess. (highschool au brewing in my mind rn)

[andromeda1023]

Corkscrewing through the cosmos, three distant galaxies collide in a stunning new image captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

This cosmic crash is known as a triple galaxy merger, when three galaxies slowly draw each other nearer and tear each other apart with their competing gravitational forces. Mergers like these are common throughout the universe, and all large galaxies — including our own, the Milky Way — owe their size to violent mergers like this one.

As chaotic as they seem, mergers like these are more about creation than destruction. As gas from the three neighboring galaxies collides and condenses, a vast sea of material from which new stars will emerge is assembled at the center of the newly unified galaxy.

Existing stars, meanwhile, will survive the crash mostly unscathed; while the gravitational tug-of-war among the three galaxies will warp the orbital paths of many existing stars, so much space exists between those stars that relatively few of them are likely to collide, Live Science previously reported.

The galaxy cluster seen above is called IC 2431, located about 681 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Cancer, according to NASA. Astronomers detected the merger thanks to a citizen science project called Galaxy Zoo, which invited more than 100,000 volunteers to classify images of 900,000 galaxies captured by the Hubble telescope that were never thoroughly examined. The crowdsourced project accomplished in 175 days what would have taken astronomers years to achieve, according to NASA, and the initiative has already resulted in a number of strange and exciting discoveries, like this one.

Studying galactic mergers can help astronomers better understand the Milky Way’s past and future. The Milky Way is thought to have gobbled up more than a dozen galaxies over the past 12 billion years, including during the exceptionally named Gaia sausage merger, Live Science previously reported.

Meanwhile, our galaxy appears on track to combine with the nearby Andromeda galaxy about 4.5 billion years from now. The merger will totally alter the night sky over Earth but will likely leave the solar system unharmed, according to NASA.

Link: https://sciencesprings.wordpress.com/tag/the-galaxy-cluster-ic-2431/

[sirmariusrenathyr]

sir marius, what types of food do you like to eat? it must be hard to find something you enjoy with your, er… condition.

Well I can eat anything basically. But it seems that I gravitate more to things like blood sausages and meat in general... For the protein, that's all. More protein, more strength to fight off evil and protect the innocent.

[mawofthemagnetar]

I'm in love with your interpretation of the Life series as an over-dramatic larping trip, it's so fresh. To go out early is to be sentenced to smores and sausages cooked over the fire and I love that... Angst is cool but there's something so funny about "they're all there of their own free will and you KNOW they're having so much fun"

no it hasn't been over a week since I got this ask what do you mean-

I mean!

Thanks, Anon! Angst is fun, but when it comes to Life Series angst, I find it tends to, uh, exert a disproportionate amount of gravitational pull on everything else around it. So, to me, the simple solution is keeping it casual and fun!

Thanks for the ask. I'm gonna write more of Fashion Police, and you'll get more of it!

[total-drama-takes-takes-2]

tta finale (original)

“Last time, on Total Takes Action: our final three competed in an all-out, extra dramatic laser tag challenge with a few… twists. Alliances were formed, friendships were broken, and it was Peter who took the fall to give Scruffy a chance at the finale. With just one exciting challenge left, I’m sure you’re all wondering who will win- and there’s only one way to find out: right here, right now, on Total! Takes! Action!”

The sky is clear and blue, the pigeons are cooing, and the smell of breakfast sausage is filling the air as Scruffy and O wait in a very short line for their complementary “final two breakfast” in the craft services tent. 

Chef heaps a few sausages, eggs, and waffles on each plate and shoos the players off, both of which immediately gravitate towards the opposite ends of the picnic table and eat in silence. Scruffy paces around their end of the table, swiping forks, knives, and spoons, just in case. O draws a little smiley face on his plate with syrup. 

---

O: “Well… this is it,”

---

SCRUFFY: “Today’s the big day,”

---

O: “I can’t believe how far I made it,”

---

SCRUFFY: “I can’t believe how far O made it,”

---

O: “I’m not exactly winning material… but then again, neither is Scruffy,”

---

SCRUFFY: “He’s a big softie. Not nearly as well-trained, unless you count psychology- but then again, I’m an expert at that, too. He’s just gone to- ugh- “therapy”. Who has therapy helped?”

---

O: “I’m thinking that once I get back, winnings or not, I might cancel my sessions with Dr. Anderson. I feel like… I don’t know. Pathologizing my problems has made them worse, somehow. Maybe it’s time to try a different approach. The… Scruffy approach, I guess,”

---

SCRUFFY: “Still, I can’t help but wonder if all of this dedication- all the hours I’ve spent rewatching the original show, all my community college classes, all my reading and training- has really helped me get here. I’ve been missing an obvious pattern. If only I could figure out what that is…”

---

 O looks up from his syrup smile and waves at Scruffy. “Hey, bro. Good luck today,”

Scruffy blinks. “Um… okay,”

“Attention, campers! Your final challenge starts in five minutes out by the trailers. Time to bring your A-Game!”

---

Scruffy and O stand an arm’s length apart as Chris paces between them, humming to himself. “You’ve lived. You’ve loved. You’ve laughed. And most importantly, you’ve lost. Today is the final test of strength, wits, smarts and endurance- both of you will enter, but only one will emerge a hero. And with a big fat check,” Chris chuckles. 

“Today’s final challenge is a multi-part rendezvous across the set. You will start here and make your way through the city,” 

Scruffy immediately jumps into a running stance, ready to take off. 

Chris grins. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. The first leg of your race to the finish line was inspired by your very first challenge here- the birdocalypse. Thousands of territorial birds are having their afternoon nap on the city set. Wake them up, and you might have a problem,” he goes on. “After that, you’ll make your way through a ghost-filled maze, inspired by the video game and period flick challenges. Once you’re out, you’ll run the final stretch to Lot B- a functional studio next door. The first to arrive wins the prize. Ready?”

Scruffy and O exchange nervous glances. 

“Go!”

The two don't run, but awkwardly walk off in the same direction, as if taking a pleasant afternoon stroll. 

O’s eyes drift over to Scruffy and he winces. 

---

O: “Is it weird to ask them for advice? I feel like it’s weird, but…”

---

“Hey, dude,” O says, looking over. “I know we’re competing and all, but-”

“Shh!” Scruffy interrupts him, holding a finger to their lips. They point ahead, where a black mass is covering the city set- it’s almost like an oil spill, but instead of the viscous glimmering liquid, it’s hundreds of sleeping crows. 

Scruffy goes first while O hangs back, looking ahead nervously. The former moves through the set, stepping over birds on the road and ducking under birds on the street signs and lamps. They delicately step, roll, and skip through the set with expert agility while O watches on. 

---

SCRUFFY: “This isn't so hard! Just a little yoga moves and some spatial awareness. Maybe I haven’t lost my zing after all!”

---

Scruffy reaches the other side and turns to wave at O- in a clearly taunting way. O crosses his arms and glares. 

---

O: “Yeah- no chance of friends there,”

---

Scruffy reaches the mouth of the maze and chuckles. “Easy. Is this all you got, Chris?”

Chris rolls his eyes and pulls out a large remote. His thumb hovers over the big red button on the surface for a few moments, taunting Scruffy, before he slams it and the maze lifts off the ground and begins rotating on a large metal plate. 

Scruffy watches the ground disappear beneath them and sighs. 

---

SCRUFFY: “WHY would I say that? That’s the easiest mistake to avoid on this show!”

---

Back on the city set, O tip-toes over the birds, nearly stumbling over each one. He’s breathing heavily, and almost falls over at least ten times. 

But, he reaches the end and sighs before jogging off. O reaches the entrance of the rotating maze and gawks at it. 

“Yeahhhh,” Chris grins. “Don’t worry, though, we’re prepared for this.”

Chef wheels out a canon. 

---

Scruffy wanders through the maze, dizzy and unbalanced as it spins around itself. They’re about as green as their hair, but still pressing on nonetheless. 

---

SCRUFFY: “I’ve been trying to improve my gag reflex since island. I’m usually pretty good, but I have… a thing about other people getting sick in front of me. As long as that doesn’t happen, I’m set,”

---

O’s screams echo, growing closer and closer before he slams into the concrete of the maze behind Scruffy, leaving a hole in the ceiling. He coughs. 

“Don’t throw up!” Scruffy shouts. 

O stands, rubbing his head. “Wasn’t gonna. Don’t worry, man, I’ll leave you be,”

Scruffy nods and the two run in opposite directions. 

---

O: “I get it! Scruffy has nothing to get from me, so why would I bother them?”

---

Scruffy steps through the maze, scratching their head as it spins. “This isn’t good. I’m all turned around,”

Chris’ voice blares over the intercom: “That’s the point, Total Drama Genius!”

They sigh and hold onto the wall while stumbling along. The maze suddenly lurches and begins turning in the opposite direction, sending Scruffy tumbling to the ground. They groan and sit up against the wall. “It’s hopeless. I keep lying to myself and telling myself I can do this, but I can’t! I don’t know what I’m doing,” they turn to the camera. “I’m sorry, Jules.”

---

O walks along, faring much better than Scruffy. A light breeze tussles his hair and he turns to where it’s coming from- and just around that corner, a beam of sunlight filters through. He grins and jogs forward. 

As he rounds the corner and sees the exit, though, he hears a loud cry. The sound of Scruffy’s wailing carries through the maze, and it stops O in his tracks. 

He hesitates. 

---

O: “I know I shouldn’t go back. I mean, what if it’s a trap? What if Scruffy is just trying to get my help and then dump me after? But…” he sighs. “I’m not like them. I’m a nice person, and there’s nothing weak about that.”

---

O turns and jogs off into the dark. 

---

Scruffy, curled into a ball on the floor, cries in anguish. 

“Hey? Dude?” 

They whimper loudly. O sits down next to them and sighs. 

“Listen, I’m not gonna try to fix your problems, ‘cause I know that’s not what you like,” O says. “But you should know that… well, you don’t have to win this. You’re not a weak person for not being mean and conniving like the people who get far on this show…”

“But I want to be!” they whimper, eyes full of tears. “I want to be Heather!”

“But you’re not… Heather,” O looks around awkwardly. “You shouldn’t want to be, either?”

“I’ve been studying this show since primary, I’ve taken all the classes, done all the research, trained to perfection- why am I so bad at this?”

O pats Scruffy’s shoulder. “You’re not. You’re good.”

“But not like you. You didn’t even try and you made it to the same exact spot I got to! I don’t get it. Were you a pawn? A twist villain I didn’t see coming?” Scruffy rocks back and forth. 

O raises an eyebrow. “Um… no… I don’t know, man, I’m just nice,”

“You can’t win just by being nice, I mean, that’s… that’s improbable! The nicest contestants always get got!” Scruffy says. “I’m nice! I’m not mean!”

“Yeah, man, but you’re kinda… uh, you know… you’re not the easiest to be around,”

Scruffy’s eyes water again. “Wh-what do you mean?”

O sucks in his breath through his teeth. “You’re… kind of intense, dude. All you talk about is the show, and, I mean… you’ve got some serious walls up, man,”

“I-I do not! Ask Jules, she’ll tell you! Julia knows!”

“Saying that one of the meanest contestants on the show knows you more than anyone is… not great, Scruffy. Haven’t you made any other friends?”

“Haven’t you?”

O frowns. “I guess not. But… I mean… I dunno,”

“When you say you’re nice, all I hear is that you’re a pushover. You let people use you!” Scruffy says, crossing their arms. “I’m not like that! I don’t like being pushed around!”

“Says the guy who went nuts cause they thought a girl would like them more if they won some dumb game show,”

“Says the guy who hasn’t had a single steady friendship since the show started!”

“Says the guy who needs to impress everyone with how great they are!”

“Says the guy who does the same thing, Dr. O!”

Both huff and turn away from each other. The intercom crackles to life and Chris’ voice sounds slightly peeved. “Hey, guys, this heart-to-heart has been great, but you are IN A CHALLENGE! Now get to it!”

The maze suddenly starts spinning faster, throwing Scruffy and O to opposite sides of the hall they were seated in. Each grab on to a corner of the black walling and hold on for dear life as they’re thrown around like they’re getting flushed down a toilet. 

“I- can’t- hold- on!” O shouts. 

“Take my hand!” Scruffy throws out an arm as O flies off the wall, catching him just in the nick of time. “Maybe I can be… nice after all!”

O smiles gratefully and nods. “Let’s get out of here!”

The two fashion makeshift ice picks out of the forks Scruffy had swiped from the craft services tent and rake their way up the wall as the maze spins even faster. 

“This way!” O instructs, retracing his earlier steps to the exit of the maze. The two reach the door and look to the ground below, where only a tiny kiddie pool was left to break their fall. 

“Ready?” O shouts. 

Scruffy nods. “On the count of three!”

“One!”

“Two!”

“Three!”

The two hold hands as they jump, both screaming and flailing their free arms until they land in the shallow pool below. 

“We… we made it!” Scruffy shouts with glee as O coughs up a mouthful of water behind them. “We did it together!”

O stands. “We did, didn’t we? Together,” O puts an arm over Scruffy’s shoulder. “No strings attached.”

“No expectations,”

“No value!”

Scruffy nods. “Let’s wing this,”

The two start off on the final track, throwing the doors of a large set building open and running through it, approaching a final set of double doors. 

“Hey,” Scruffy jogs up to O. “May the best man win, right?”

O salutes them. “May the best man win!”

---

“And that’s the story of how I lost my first tooth,” Staci says. “And no one ever found the hammer.”

Caesar massages his temples. “Another fascinating story from Staci. Anyone else have something to add?”

Luckily, before someone else can add on, Bonnie runs on stage. Caesar sighs with relief. “Bonnie, here to save the day again! What’s the news?”

“They’re coming!”

Caesar squeals, and the peanut gallery turns to the double doors backstage in anticipation. “Can we get a countdown?”

“Five!” Ass and Courtney both lean forward, then notice each other and glare. 

“Four!” Sha-Mod and McLovin are busy giving each other crudely drawn stick ‘n poke tattoos of each other’s faces. 

“Three!” Julia shoves Patrick out of her face when he gets to close. 

“Two!” Mal blows a gum bubble and texts something on her phone. 

“One!” Bonnie takes a seat and Caesar puts a hand on their shoulder. 

The doors burst open, and O runs in. 

“The winner of Total Takes Action, everyone!” Caesar shouts. “O!”

A shower of confetti and balloons fall from the ceiling and the crowd cheers. A group of former contestants- Kelly, Al, Michela, and Peter- run from the stands and hoist O into the air, carrying him in. He laughs merrily.

They set him down in the hot seat and Caesar grins. "So, O, you've just won a season of Total Takes- what are you going to do next?"

"I think... first, I'm gonna split some of the winnings with my friends. Then I'm gonna take a long, long vacation,"

"You don't have to do that," Peter states. "We're just happy you made it back in one piece."

McLovin pipes up in the background. "Did somebody say One-"

"Anyway," Michela interrupts. "We were kind of planning on taking you out for a celebratory-or-consolation dinner, anyway. On us."

O smiles.

“What a season, what a cast!” Caesar says. “And here’s our runner up, Scruffy!”

Scruffy jogs in behind him, breathing heavily. Julia stands and runs to the doors, hugging Scruffy. “I missed you!”. The peanut gallery continues whooping and cheering, and O gives Scruffy a big thumbs up as Patrick storms over and tries to pull the two apart. 

Scruffy waves as the crowd cheers for them, then collapses as soon as Julia lets them go. 

Caesar turns to Bonnie. “Thoughts, feelings?”

“Not many. I’m a little hungry,”

“Oh, God, me too. Those finger sandwiches are three parts air, I swear,” Caesar says. “Dinner tonight?"

"You're on. Maybe we can tag with O's crew and eat free,"

"I like the way you think," Caesar winks.

“Well, this has been Total Takes Action- The Aftermath. We’ll see you all soon for- what’s this?” Caesar presses an earpiece, and then bursts out laughing. “Oh, my God- no- really, you’re joking? You’re not?” he turns to the audience. “Chris McLean has been arrested and is currently in custody for illicit activities!”

The crowd cheers even louder, the big screen rolls down and displays a live newscast. Chris is being led from the Action set in handcuffs, Chef and the interns watching from behind a police barricade.

"You CANNOT do this to me! Do you know who I am?!" Chris shouts. "Chef- call my lawyer- call the producers- call my mom!"

"You should've remembered our anniversary,"

"CHEF!"

The police drag Chris into the back of their squad car while he screams. The wind picks up and his hair detaches itself, flying away in the breeze.

"MY TOUPEE!"

Chef rolls his eyes. A white van pulls up just as the cops slam the door of their cruiser on Chris, and a team of hazmat-suited scientists hop out of the back. The broadcast ends and turns back to the studio, where a blonde woman with a tight face reads off the happenings to new viewers. The monitor turns off.

Scruffy sits up from the floor and raises an eyebrow. “What happened?”

“No official reasons yet,” Caesar says. “In due time, I suppose. In the meantime, we’ll-”

An intern runs over to the host and hands him a letter. He huffs and opens it. “It’s from Scary. It just says “told you so”,”

Bonnie rolls their eyes. 

“Well… if this is the end of the show, I just wanna say I'm glad we met. I'd be nowhere without you guys,” O says.

The former contestants turn to each other with warm smiles. 

“And yet… this can’t be the end,” Scruffy interjects. “We haven’t had a musical season yet!”

“Woah, woah, let’s save that for the Gemmy’s,” Caesar chuckles. “We’re about out of air time, but… I want to say that it’s been a hell of a season, everyone! See you all soon!”

[bardnuts]

17: Twill Slips Away

In which Twill communes with livestock

Be Gay, Do Drugs, Hail Satan - Chapter 17 - bardnuts - Baldur's Gate (Video Games) [Archive of Our Own]

“And that’s how I fulfilled my oath and discovered the true meaning of friendship,” says Wyll. “Not a story for the faint of heart, I know, but there it is. What about you?” 

It’s the dead of night. The air is frigid but the three of you are seated around Wyll’s tiefling friend Karlach, who has a medical condition of some persuasion and puts out enough heat to roast a sausage on. You’re camped in a low hollow off the enclave’s main cavern, safe inside the palisade. Wyll has spent the past hour spinning a yarn about his time since the nautiloid crash, something whimsical involving devils and mechanical organs and a case of mistaken identity, and you have hardly heard a word. 

Your thoughts are a morass of red and black fluids, sliding around each other inside your head. The sound of your own pulse is a persistent beat at the base of your skull. Something is terribly wrong, and you can’t make it go away. 

Astarion doesn’t look much better. He isn’t just pale, he’s translucent. He licks his lips every time he speaks. How often do vampires need to feed? Clearly more often than this. 

You sit hunched on your bedrolls in a kind of covalent misery, subdued by your respective blood hungers. 

Wyll seems to be having a wonderful evening.

Karlach is snoring.

“What about us, what?” asks Astarion. 

You, at least, are certain your hunger has a cure. You’re sure the tadpole is causing it. If Halsin can extract your parasite, your urges will cease and you’ll be in command of your own mind again. You think you’re running out of time. Your face keeps making expressions on its own: a scowl, a grimace, an evil smile. Vile words bubble up on your tongue and you have to force them back down. You’re scared of yourself.

“Tell me about yourselves! Who you are, where you’ve been—before our untimely capture, I mean.”

Who are you, really? 

No one you want to be. 

Your hands tremble. You don’t have the wherewithal to reach for your lute, and you can’t remember how to play. 

“Ugh, nobody and nowhere worth fawning over,” says Astarion. “I’m a magistrate back in the city. It’s all very tedious. But you …” He levels a slender finger at Wyll. “The Blade of Frontiers. My, my. Did you choose such a dashing title for yourself?” 

Wyll laughs awkwardly. “Uh, well, you see …”

Your vision is swimming. Strange shapes dance at your periphery, vanishing when you turn your head. Hallucinations? You look down at your hands. They’re bruised. They’re clean. They’re covered in blood. 

What is wrong with you? 

You blink, and an hour has passed. Wyll and Astarion have moved to a more distant corner of the hollow and are chatting amiably with one another. You frown. You’ve agreed to join Wyll and Karlach’s venture to find Halsin—you’re all running on the same hourglass, after all, counting down to illithid-o’-clock—but you’re surprised by Astarion’s instant gravitation toward Wyll. He hasn’t so much as glanced your way since you left the druids’ sanctum. Why, you wonder, does he find Wyll’s enthusiasm so charming but yours so irritating? 

Perhaps he’s afraid of you.

Good. Yes, excellent! It’s about time you received the respect that you’re owed. But you could do so much more to enforce your reputation. these aren’t your thoughts Tonight you will—

“No!” you snap. Astarion and Wyll fall silent at once. Karlach sits up with an aborted snore. 

“SssnUGH—what? Somethin’ wrong?” 

You lick your lips. Your mouth is full of paper. “All fine! Spider got on my … shoe …”

“Well, don’t hurt her,” mumbles Karlach, settling back down. “We’re in her house, you know.” The snore resumes before the end of her sentence. 

Astarion is staring at you intently. 

You collect yourself. “Does Gandrel know?” you ask Wyll, pointing to your eye. “About the worms?” 

Wyll glances toward the hollow’s entrance. “No,” he says after a moment. “I think he knows we all fell from the nautiloid. It’s the only thing we all have in common. But I don’t think the other fish has swum into the net yet, if you get my meaning.”

“Ehm—no, frankly,” says Astarion. 

“I mean he hasn’t worked out why a group of totally disparate strangers would be on a nautiloid in the first place,” whispers Wyll. “I think some of the refugees from Elturel have, but they have bigger things to worry about at the moment.” He shakes his head. “We need to find Halsin fast. Those kids don’t have long in there.” 

“Oh please, it’s no contest if it comes to a fight,” scoffs Astarion. “Not when half the druids in the enclave are decorating the inside of a fishbowl.” 

“It isn’t funny. If the wrong person finds them, they could be killed.” 

“Darling,” says Astarion, placing a hand on Wyll’s shoulder, “call it tragic if it makes you feel better, but don’t you dare tell me it isn’t funny.” 

Wyll sucks in his breath. “All right, it’s a little funny.” 

Astarion smiles. “There you are.” 

They both chuckle. Your head begins to swim again. You focus on their conversation to keep your awareness from slipping inward, into the yawning morass of yourself. 

“Why stay?” Astarion asks. “Here, I mean. You have the same unwelcome houseguest as the bard and me, but instead of looking for a healer you’ve been—what? Hunting gnolls for a group of strangers? Why?” 

“Because they needed my help,” says Wyll. 

“I’m sure they will appreciate it very much when you explode into tentacles in front of them,” says Astarion dryly. 

“It hasn’t happened yet. Besides, there’s something different about our parasites. We ought to have symptoms by now—hells, we ought to be insensible, shivering on our bedrolls as our skin peels off, layer by layer—”

“Eugh.”

“A grim portrait, I know. But …” Wyll shrugs. “Nothing.”

“Maybe they’ve died,” suggests Astarion. 

You all know that isn’t true. Even if you couldn’t feel it moving around in there, the four of you are connected, peripherally: you feel Astarion’s presence in the world like a phantom limb, and you’re beginning to sense Wyll and Karlach in the same way. Your illithid worms are binding you together.

Wyll chuckles again. “We can only hope. And we can only hope Halsin knows of a cure. And that Halsin forgives what those kids have done to his people. Gods … I have a headache.”

“Do you want something for it?” asks Astarion. He produces a small bottle. “It’s amazing, what druids leave lying around in locked drawers in their private quarters.”

Your head is pounding. You need a distraction. Someone to pull you out of this. Anything. You shuffle gradually to your feet, drawing curious glances from Astarion and Wyll, and mumble, “Going for a walk.” 

Suddenly you are standing by the oxpens in the larger cavern. You don’t remember coming here. Your awareness stutters in and out like the sun passing behind thick clouds. You fold yourself over the fence, saliva pooling in your mouth as nausea overwhelms you. 

You’ve held yourself in for too long. There is a smirking edge to this thought. Did you think that was a real solution? Behind the dam, the pressure only builds. 

Why can’t you simply be normal? 

You do a very good job pretending to be a person. It serves you well. 

You aren’t pretending anything. 

Oh, but you are. You know when to smile and when to frown, which questions to ask, where to tease, where to commiserate … but it’s all paper dolls, isn’t it? Authenticity is for organs and offal. If anyone knew what you really were—your true self, under all that decoration—they would run from you in terror.

You don’t want anyone to be afraid of you.

No, you have never been interested in power, only in praise. But what good is being liked, if it comes at the expense of yourself? Of your birthright? Your purpose? You feel a stir of air on your cheek, almost like a gentle caress. Love yourself. Be true to your art. Tragedy and blood: that is your craft, and people are your medium.

You shiver. If you wished, you could be the savage ghost that haunts this grove. Sweep through and slit a few throats, then slip away in the small hours before the morning watch. You gleefully consider your options, who to leave alive and who to kill for maximum effect … Arabella, but not Mol. Zevlor—so there’s no one to lead the refugees. 

no no no no no

That tiefling bard you played with—she’s much too talented to live. You always hated them, the ones who played better than you, and it will be a good 

what is wrong with you

first step back toward your old self. The first rung on the ladder, so to speak. And you’ll need to fix your mistake with the Ravengard boy. Pathetic of you to stoop so low. Irresponsible, irredeemable behavior, but you can set it right … 

these are not your thoughts this is not

what is it what is wrong

with me

There is no “me.” 

There is only you. 

One of the oxen snorts, its hot breath steaming up in a cloud. You raise your head and meet its glittering eye. Then, behind you, someone speaks:

“Can’t sleep?” 

You turn and find Gandrel leaning against the fence a few paces away. 

Your voice comes out remarkably steady. “I can’t ever sleep.” 

“Aye. Me neither, it seems.” But he’s still dressed in his leathers, his sword belt still fastened. He’s awake on purpose. “Forgive me, but you seem unwell.” 

He needn’t worry. You’ll feel much better, very soon.

“I’ll be fine.” You offer him a strained smile. “I suffer from … night terrors. Nausea.” 

Gandrel watches you implacably for a moment. “My daughter had the same ailment. Do you want to know what helped her?” 

You nod.

“We tried bedtime stories. She loved tales of roving heroes and daring adventurers. Those tales didn’t work on her night terrors—her dreams always managed to twist them into something horrifying. No, what worked in the end was laughter. If she woke up in tears, we’d ask what made her cry, and whatever it was—monsters in the dark, a drowned cat, Papa dead and gone—we’d sit and find a way to make a joke out of it. Very bleak jokes they were, too, sometimes. But they worked, so long as they got her laughing. The nightmares lost their power over her.” 

“Hm. Know any good ones?” 

“I’m not privy to your nightmares,” says Gandrel. “But you’re a bard—I’m sure you can cook up a few.” 

You force out a noise similar to a laugh. He ought to leave now, if he wants to live. But he doesn’t. Instead he leans in closer.

“Tell me,” he says quietly, “you and your pale friend fell from the nautiloid, didn’t you?” 

“Yes.” 

“I had a feeling the ‘roving bard’ story was an act. You both look too haggard and you’re too ill-equipped to have come here of your own volition, and your timing … well, everyone saw the nautiloid fall. If it weren’t for all the other dangers plaguing this place, it would be all anyone was talking about.” Gandrel toys absently with a loop of leather on his belt. “How long have you known your friend, really?” 

“Not long.” 

“I see. And …” 

This is it. The two-hundred-dollar question.

“What’s his name?” 

You meet Gandrel’s probing gaze. “His real name? To be honest, I don’t know. I never thought to ask.” 

Deception: success

“Hm,” says Gandrel. “Master Twill, you took an interest in my work over lunch. Do you want to know why I’m hunting this particular vampire spawn? This ‘Astarion.’” 

“If you’d care to tell me.” 

“He’s the servant of a master vampire active in the lands around Baldur’s Gate. Cazador Szarr is his name. I don’t know how much you know of vampires—a fair piece, I’m guessing, given your education—but they are cruel, capricious, tyrannical creatures. They feed on trust and procreate by deception.” Gandrel takes a breath. “A great many of Cazador’s victims have been taken from my own community.” 

“Seems like Cazador is the one you should be hunting then, doesn’t it?” 

“He’s untouchable. And I don’t choose who I hunt. My people sent me after Astarion for one purpose: to capture him, bring him back alive, and open a pathway to his master.” 

You count the tap of your fingertips against the fencepost. One-two-three-four. “A noble cause. Do you have any strong leads?” 

“I have no record, no physical description, no information apart from his name and his race,” says Gandrel. “No leads, except for one: he was likely aboard the very same nautiloid whose destruction you have survived. It isn’t often a vampire spawn is separated so completely from his master. For my people, it represents a rare opportunity.” 

You’ve always hated lying outright. Not because it’s wrong, of course, but because it’s sloppy. There is no artistry in a bold-faced lie. No interactivity. The best lies, you’ve always felt, begin with the truth. 

“Do you know, Gandrel,” you say, speaking to the watching ox in its darkened pen, “I hope you find him. I really, really do.” 

He pats your shoulder. You bide your time. “Thank you,” he says. “For working with me. I hope you’ll come to Baldur’s Gate with us when the road is safe for the refugees to leave. I think we may be friends indeed.” 

“Yes,” you murmur, “and sooner than you think.”

Gandrel nods. “Good man.” He seems about to say something more, but instead he nods, pats your shoulder again, and slips away into the dark. 

You smile to yourself.

[lunarsands]

ALSMP Fanfic: Until The Blood Moon Descends Ch 1

Characters: merling!Scott, gravital!Sausage, goolien!Sausage, giant!Sausage, thornling!Scott, and a few more iterations…

Relationships: MythicalSausage/Scott Smajor

Tags: Canon Divergent, scosage

Warnings: Injury, Illness, Body Horror, Character Death (by fourfold), Angst

(Sequel to Echoing Through To You and When The Skies Cry)

Summary: Sausage and Scott start to find balance again as gravital and merling, and life falls into a relaxing routine. Then one night a Blood Moon rises and their bond is tested like never before. Destiny, it seems, continues to hound their every step…

(Also available on Ao3!)

[A/N: The rest of Scott’s canon origins didn’t give me much to work with so we’re going completely off the canon rails now. Actually we’re going off canon a little for both of them, because it’s fun. Also borrowing origin designs from other characters because the concepts were too cool not to use, but I won’t spoil which ones here, you’ll have to read to find out… | Bonus semi-related artwork by Cynthrey of merling!Scott and gravital!Sausage cuddling! <3]

---

Chapter One

Heaven’s Reach was turning into a flourishing landscape of flowering trees, an assortment of garden patches, and pathways made from both rocky soil and meandering streams of water. Colorful vines accentuated by those sporting glowberries cascaded down the cliff alongside the customer waterfall, and an ever-increasing number of ponds showcased dripleaf and exotic water plants from The End. Scattered outbuildings for various hobbies cropped up along with occasional larger structures, such as a new watchtower on the south side. Even a few less ominous-looking buildings were added around Wither’s Grasp, although mostly for extra storage or horticulture.

Scott and Sausage were happily making the area into their own personal eden. Things had settled down nicely since striking a balance between merling and gravital, and they had navigated quite a few adventures together, including one harrowing incident when they stumbled upon an ancient city in the Deep Dark. Now that Sausage could safely enter water, there were plenty of casual moments such as sitting in one of the ponds side by side watching the sunset, or having an early morning swim along the river.

There was also the afternoon when Scott returned from a fishing trip to find that Sausage had taken down the villa wall that abutted the small enclosed pond where the merling slept at night. Scott stored away the fish in the kitchen then returned to watch him remove half the floor and create a spot level with the bottom of the pond. “What are you up to?” he asked with amusement.

“I had an idea! Give me a few minutes, you’ll see!” Sausage proceeded to flood the entire new section by breaking through the wall of the pond.

“Did you mean to do that?”

“No! Well, sort of. Just – give me a minute!”

Scott chuckled and moved closer to crouch at the edge of the remaining original floor, catching some loosened pieces of kelp that floated by. He nibbled on one as Sausage built a new wall for the pond out of glass, then cleared out the leftover water and put down a small section of wooden floor which led directly into a set of stairs that he connected with the original floor.

Scott stood to let him pass as he went off to get something else, which turned out to be a spare bed that he then plunked down in the space beside the glass wall. Sausage grinned. “See? Look! We can sleep in the same room now!”

“You’re a genius,” Scott praised, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. “That’s better than trying to put a pond in one of the bedrooms.”

“I had been thinking of using a sleeping bag out there sometimes, but I didn’t want to risk falling in if I rolled over or something. So, it’s this instead! We can see each other and not have a whole outside wall separating us! A little bit safer, too, if you ask me.”

Scott smiled patiently, ever-aware of Sausage’s tendency to be overprotective of him. “Well, now that you have that sorted, are you interested in planning a little journey? I got a new treasure map in trade. Maybe we’ll finally find a Heart of the Sea and make that conduit.” It was something they had been wanting to set up in the river for a while, but the one crucial piece had been missing.

“Oh, yes, show me!” Sausage dusted off his hands and followed Scott to the kitchen, where he spread the map on the table and then they began making comparisons to locate where exactly ‘X’ marked the spot. An actual trip out would wait until another day, however, for it was getting late by the time they had drawn up a larger map to reach the treasure location.

They had dinner and then relaxed for the rest of the evening, then Scott climbed into his pond and Sausage settled into his newly placed bed, and for a while they laid in proximation of side-by-side, each with a hand against one side of the glass and smiling. It was comforting in a way, and, Scott agreed, better than having the wall of a house between them.

.

The one catch with the glass wall that Sausage found, when he randomly woke up during the night, was his eyes first focusing on his own reflection. The slight warp made him pat at the right side of his face as he vaguely felt the urge to check if his scar had changed. It seemed like an unfounded worry but for some reason he wanted to be sure, as if there was some nightmare he was forgetting.

Then he focused on looking through the glass instead and could see Scott’s face as he slept, head resting on his arms and one hand still out toward the wall, small strands of seagrass swaying against him. The peaceful sight calmed whatever concern had bothered Sausage’s mind, and he put his head back down, moving his arm so that his hand was in line where it might have touched Scott’s if the glass wasn’t there.

~*~

The treasure hunt ended up not yielding what they were looking for, but while they were out they explored around for any sunken ships that might have other maps, meanwhile collecting some coral and a few more fancy sea creatures for the fish pond. A second map recovered from a wreck had the same result, so they decided luck just wasn’t with them and headed home before it got any later. They finished the day simply puttering around with a few chores.

It was when the light washing in from the kitchen window as the sun set remained a strange crimson color instead of fading to blue that Sausage glanced outside out of curiosity, only to yelp in surprise. “Scott! I think we have a problem!!”

“What is it?” the merling called over from where he was putting away the last of the dishes.

“Moon’s red.”

“What?”

“Moon’s red.”

Scott came over and leaned to also look out the window. Sure enough the moon, full and looking extraordinarily large, was glowing an ominous bloody hue. They both jumped as a violent pounding sound came from the front door. A similar sound came from the direction of the villa’s other door. “Zombies,” Scott said grimly.

They sprang into action, Sausage going for a bow and arrows while Scott grabbed his turtle shell helmet and the first other piece of armor he could get his webbed hands on – a mere leather chestplate, but it would do – then took out his trident. First was the front door, where Sausage blasted the zombies back with a pulse of repelling gravi, giving Scott an opening to start fighting them off, then the gravital went back inside to blast the other group away from the back door so they wouldn’t get inside that way. The two fought their way along the perimeter of the house, meeting up once they had cleared the immediate area.

But there were many more of the undead all around the mountaintop, and their own presence outside drew the attention of skeletal archers, creepers, and other dangers.

Sausage flung a sparking creeper into a group of zombies, causing a shower of rotten flesh to rain down on an approaching cadre of skeletons. “Why are there so many of them?!” he cried in frustration, turning to repel away a leaping spider.

“Something about the moonlight – the darkness is different than normal, or it’s causing extra ones to spawn.” Scott sliced through a skeleton then rammed the end of the trident into a zombie’s chest, knocking it backward so he would have better space to stab it.

They heard the horrifying scream of an angered enderman, which came rushing in to pummel Sausage multiple times before he was able to put a hand out to repel it. “I didn’t even look at it!!” he protested. As it charged back in, Scott braced his trident at the last moment in front of the gravital to skewer it. It hissed and flailed, knocking off Scott’s helmet, and seemed to take an extra amount of time to expire.

Sausage flinched repeatedly, feeling nauseous, and had to put his head down to wait for it to pass. “That – that wasn’t a normal one.” He then stumbled as an arrow punched right into the back of his armor. “W-Wait, they’ve got high piercing, too?!” He grabbed Scott to pull him into his personal sphere of gravi, then released a forceful repelling pulse in all directions.

Mobs went flying, but a glance toward the villa revealed it surrounded once again. Sausage pointed toward the waterfall and then raised his bow, firing off shots into the monsters that moved in to take the place of the others. Scott swung his trident at anything that got too close, throwing it a few times when Sausage needed to get out more arrows and recalling it right back to hand for another swing. He would have to worry about his helmet later, water breathing boost or not.

They were then forced away from the waterfall by a chain of creeper explosions, and a skeleton got in a hit with a poisoning arrow on Scott. Sausage held him steady with one arm wrapped around him, blocking further shots with a shield of gravi, but over a dozen zombies were closing in. The gravital threw a glance toward the edge of the plateau, then tucked Scott behind him. He used just enough force to knock the zombies back a few steps, then turned to place his palms against Scott’s chest. “I can get you to the river from here. You can outswim anything that’s in there – find somewhere underwater to wait this out. I – I’ll meet you after sunrise if I can.”

Scott grabbed Sausage’s wrists. “No. Don’t do that to me – don’t make me have to survive while you fall, alone. You can’t beat all this by yourself. We’ll run wherever we have to, but we do it together.”

Sausage wanted to insist, but there was no time. He turned, directing the pulse he had been holding at the resurgence of zombies, then grasped Scott’s wrist in return and ran blindly for the switchback staircase down the cliff. He took a few more arrows to his armor as he made a path through the mobs.

They were halfway down the steps when Scott remembered the small cave that was within the wall. He pulled back on Sausage’s arm and pointed over to it. “Maybe in there. We’ll be out of their sight, we’ll have a solid wall to our backs, and have a bottleneck to fight them through if they do follow.”

“Good idea!” Sausage boosted him up to the entrance then followed, blocking several arrows on the way. He turned to kick a spider that had begun climbing the wall. “Check in the back – there was a chest there and maybe there’s something in it we can block a little more of this hole with before I have to pull down part of the ceiling.”

He withdrew beside the entrance, intending to break line of sight from the mobs, but kept on watch. He was still hurting from the punches by the overpowered enderman, and an arrow that had made it into his thigh was causing a trickle of blood down his leg. He grimaced as he pulled it out, not waiting for it to fade on its own, and he leaned against the wall for a long moment, panting.

Scott returned with a bundle of black cloth, which he set down on a raised bit of cobblestone wall. “This might not have been what you meant, but did you know these were in here?” He opened the bundle to reveal one potion bottle, a dozen silver arrows, and a shimmering golden crossbow.

“No? That’s weird.” Sausage limped over to have a closer look. He picked up the crossbow but no enchantment was revealed, and the arrows were a mystery as well. He took them and went back to the cave entrance with Scott following, careful to stay out of view while loading an arrow. He sighted down a random creeper in a crowd of zombies and fired. The arrow duplicated in mid-air, taking out the creeper and a dozen undead in the same one-hit strike.

“Wow. Could have used that ten minutes ago!” Sausage chuckled, then loaded another arrow. Scott watched, then held out his hand to have a try. They were able to clear the immediate area, and although they could hear more zombie groans and the clatter of bones elsewhere out of view, it seemed they had earned a reprieve.

Sausage staggered back to the improvised table and began to remove his armor. “I think a few more made it through than I noticed, and that enderman really hit hard…” He moved the potion bottle and tore a strip from the black cloth, wrapping it around the one arrow wound that was visible. Then he pulled at the collar of his bodysuit to check his chest for bruises. “Hmm, yeah, that already left a few marks.”

“Well, hold on.” Scott placed the crossbow and remaining three arrows on the floor, then picked up the bottle and uncorked it, closing one eye to peer inside with the other. “This could be a healing potion, or a strength one, I think. I didn’t get hit as badly, so you have some first.” Realizing the gravital would protest upon hearing that, Scott pushed the potion into Sausage’s hands. “Nope. It’s yours.” Smiling as he for once obeyed, the merling went about pulling more strips from the fabric for makeshift bandages until they could get back into the villa.

Sausage took an experimental sip, and when he felt a little of his pain ease he had a bigger drink – only to choke on it as his gaze went toward the cave entrance. “Sc-Scott!” he coughed, “The crossbow!”

There was a massive skeletal archer with crimson bones in the entrance, tall as an enderman, and it peered in at them with a dark intelligence behind its scowling eye sockets. It brought forth a black bow and knocked a long, blood-red arrow. Scott grabbed for the golden crossbow but knew he couldn’t load it in time. His eyes slid to Sausage, already wounded and vulnerable without any armor on, and moved with purpose to block the arrow with his own back. He would have said—

My turn to protect you—

But he didn’t expect the arrow to pierce straight through him, carrying him forward until the arrow tip was driven home into Sausage’s shoulder, pinning them together with the momentum smacking Sausage’s head against the wall. Scott drew in a wet breath, wanting to apologize, but…

Well, at least they would be in each other’s arms as they died.

~*~

The back of Sausage’s head ached something fierce when he woke up, but the next thing he registered was sunlight coming in from the cave’s entrance, and that was a relief. However, it took several more seconds to work out what he was seeing when he looked down… and then realization hit that he was looking through the transparent top of Scott’s head from where he lay against Sausage’s chest. His first thought was that the merling had become a phantom, but he could feel the weight of him, and when he chanced putting his hand on Scott’s back he didn’t pass right through him.

He looked at his own hand and clenched his fist to see how he felt, and came to another realization: he could still sense the forces of gravity around him.

He hadn’t died.

Whether because of the potion – long since spilled over the floor now – or if the red arrow hadn’t hit anything vital, he was still a gravital. But Scott was…something new. His hair appeared to be white, and when he stirred Sausage saw some kind of pattern of glittering markings along his arms as he used the floor to push himself up, head still down as he focused on not pushing on Sausage himself.

As he settled back in a sitting position, Scott lifted his head with a resigned look, but the gravital gave a start for another reason. One of his eyes was blue and the other was gold. Sausage glanced at Scott’s arm again and the pattern became clear: it was in the shape of small feathers.

A feeling of nausea suddenly hit him, but he tried to attribute it to his head still hurting rather than the revelation, and he forced his hand to move to gently touch the side of Scott’s face. “Hey – uh – the weird moon is gone. We can go home now.”

Scott sighed quietly and stood up, looking around at his body. “Well, I can breathe air again at least. But what am I?” He stared through his own hands at the floor, then raised them toward Sausage and looked through them at him.

“I don’t know, but you’ve, um… got a little bit of everything you’ve been so far going on.” Sausage took one of his hands and led him over to a small pool of water so he could see his reflection.

Scott patted at his hair, then touched his face under his gold eye. “I have no idea what’s happening. I don’t really feel any kind of powers yet, although I do wonder if I can, like, walk through walls maybe?”

“We can test that out when we get back to the house, if you really want to. I don’t feel so hot, and if I’m going to pass out again I’d like it to be in a bed.”

Scott gave him a look of concern and wrapped an arm around him to support him as they headed to the cave entrance. They carefully climbed down onto the staircase, then Scott let Sausage lean on him all the way back to the villa. Once inside, he helped Sausage wash off some dried blood and change into a loose tunic and trousers, checking over any other arrow wounds besides his leg and shoulder as Sausage rested in a chair. “I’m glad you didn’t die, at least. These we can patch up with healing potions, but let’s get you to bed for a while.” Scott held out a hand to help him stand.

“I think that one potion helped, as little of it I got, but yeah, my head is ki—" Sausage completely missed Scott’s hand as he lurched forward and abruptly dropped like a ton of lead to his knees. Black mist puffed up from the floor around where he landed.

They exchanged horrified glances. “Oh, no…” Scott clenched his fists, drawing a sharp breath before crouching to wrap his arms around Sausage. “There must have been one of those things that cursed me out in the field somewhere, and… maybe that potion held off the effects until now. Sausage, I’m sorry.” He held him for several moments, gently stroking his hair while Sausage hugged him back. “It’s… not going to be easy, but… just… sleep as much as you can, all right? Don’t think about it too much. We’ll get through this.”

Scott pulled one of Sausage’s arms around his shoulders to lift him up, doing most of the work to get him toward his old bedroom, thinking it a better place than the bed beside the pond. The gravital seemed somewhat despondent but clung to Scott’s hand once he was lying in bed. “We never found an answer last time,” he mourned, then closed his eyes as he was overcome by dizziness.

“I’ll look again. We have nothing to do but try.” Scott’s heart ached. He leaned over to kiss Sausage’s forehead. “Just rest. I’ll brew some fresh potions, and we’ll… We’ll wait it out together.” He continued to hold the gravital’s hand until he was sure he had fallen asleep, then slipped free and silently walked out of the room.

He had no way of venting rage like Sausage’d had with his lightning; but, in fact, he didn’t feel rage so much as a resigned sorrow, knowing there was not much they could do, or have a direct source to blame. There was just something out there, striking people with a deadly wasting illness.

With the trappings of a merling not feeling suitable to life back on land, he changed his own clothes to a plain blouse and leather pants, which gained transparency as soon as he put them on. Then he returned to the cave to collect Sausage’s armor and his trident. He inspected the tines, figuring he could still use it. There was some odd, glittering residue on it, and he remembered the overpowered enderman. What if that had been it? What if it had some other ability unique to its type? When he had fallen ill as an angel, he had been smiting hostiles in the area, and what if one like it had hit him and he just didn’t remember it happening in the midst of the fight?

That didn’t offer any solution, but maybe it was at least an explanation, and it gave him an idea. He quickly returned to the villa, trying to keep quiet as he stored away the armor and the weapon, then prepared a travel backpack before going out again to start on the health potions. While they brewed he experimented with his transparency, finding that he could, indeed, pass through solid walls. It didn’t seem like much of an ability, but it would come in handy for his search.

A little while later he brought a crate of filled bottles into the bedroom, setting it on the chest beside the bed for the time being before checking on Sausage. He was still asleep, but his brow was covered in sweat and his breathing was labored. With growing worry over how fast he was being affected, Scott went to get a cold, damp cloth to dab at Sausage’s face and hopefully ease what seemed to be a fever. He couldn’t help but gaze at him with sympathy, knowing exactly what he was experiencing even as he slept.

.

Somewhere around evening time Sausage woke again while Scott was at the desk flipping through a book on astrological events, investigating occurrences of a Blood Moon. “Hey,” Sausage croaked. “Been there all day?”

Scott smiled softly as he closed the book. “No. I was busy, but you missed all the action.” He got up and went to sit on the side of the bed, gently taking hold of the gravital’s near hand. “I thought of a place to look for more books that might have an answer. Tomorrow I’ll go to the End stronghold and check the library there. I made a bunch of potions and I want you to drink one every few hours while I’m out, all right? And then you stay put.”

Sausage managed a weary smile. “Who am I to argue? You’re in charge…” He then put his other hand over his eyes. “This dizziness is something else. Did you keep feeling it a lot? I just thought you seemed, well, weak and tired.”

“Not too much,” Scott replied with a frown. “Mostly that first time before I fainted. It might be affecting you differently – maybe because your powers are different?”

“Oh, yeah, maybe. I guess that can be a side effect of messing with gravity.”

They sat quiet for a few minutes, then Scott tried to make a lighthearted comment. “Hm, well, I did find out I can walk through walls, so I might be some kind of living, composite ghost. It’s kind of a good kind of haunting, where I can still kiss you and be able to get through the stronghold faster.”

Sausage didn’t laugh so much as cough. Scott squeezed his hand then picked up one of the potions and helped him sit up to take a few sips, waiting a moment or two before finishing the rest. He put the bottle back in the crate, then watched to see if it helped any. Sausage only groaned and turned away to scrunch over against the pillow, hand going to his stomach. “Ughh, I hope I can keep that down…”

Scott lightly rubbed his back. “I’ll let you get back to sleep. I’m going to stay up a little longer to check books, but I’ll keep the door open in case you need anything. I promise I won’t leave until morning, okay?”

“Yeah…Yeah, that’s fine,” Sausage mumbled into the pillow, “No sneaking off… That always gets us in trouble…”

Unable to reach his face, Scott pressed a kiss to the fabric covering his shoulder, then gave his back one more little rub before going to the desk to collect the book and go out to the kitchen.

~*~

Despite another health potion in the morning Sausage wasn’t faring any better, still complaining about dizziness and nausea, as well as discovering that his field of gravi was gone. His power was waning a lot faster than Scott’s had, and now that worried them both. With a promise to return as soon as possible, Scott set out for the End stronghold.

Not only was it faster to sink through the ground to reach it but looking through each wall helped avoid any hostiles lying in wait. He bypassed several spiders, a small horde of silverfish, and two endermen this way, and spotted the back of a bookcase that finally led him to the library. Unfortunately, he caught a glimpse of a creeper just as he was about to step out of the wall, so he quickly withdrew further back into the stone bricks. He tried moving around to a different section but the creeper was smack in the middle of everything. He sighed impatiently but waited to see if it would wander off, not wanting to risk it exploding and destroying a book he might need.

He ended up glaring at it and muttering, “Come on, move already, you stupid thing.”

The creeper hissed and began to flinch, moving forward, then sideways… and black mist began to curl up around its four feet. Scott could only stare in shock, then with fear, as the creeper keeled over and dissipated with the mist.  He looked around for any other creatures, glancing to the upper level of the library then quickly running around the room while staying inside the walls, but he saw nothing.

Was this thing invisible, too? He didn’t want to think about it somehow following him there, and was now grateful for his new ability to hide lest it curse him again. He backtracked to where the endermen had been to see if the thing was just going through killing mobs.

They were still there, apparently chatting to each other in their strange, warped language and appearing to be fine. Yet as he watched them for longer than his initial first glance through had been, the closer one began to twitch and flinch like the creeper had, the black mist soon appearing. It unhinged its jaw and Scott thought it was going to teleport to wherever the thing was, but—

It turned and charged at the wall where he was hiding.

Scott clapped both hands over his mouth as his gut wrenched, stumbling backward out into the corridor. But… he had to make sure… He stepped into the wall again, just in time to see the first enderman expire, then he dragged his gaze to the other one. The same thing happened. There wasn’t even a single enderpearl left behind.

He was causing this.

That meant he had…

He ran back to the library and began frantically tearing through the bookshelves, desperate for any titles about monsters or illnesses. What was he now? There had to be something somewhere – anything – some way to stop what he could do.

He felt absolutely sick to his stomach but he couldn’t stop, he had to keep looking. He needed to save Sausage from what he had done to him.

.

Books and even pages torn out in frustration littered the entire floor by the time he found it.

The Enigma often goes unseen. It lays a curse with its eyes to drain the life force of its victims. Only a few have ever been captured, and they don’t give up their secrets, usually baiting their captors with puzzles and riddles, eventually tricking them so that it may set its gaze upon them. To date no cure has ever been worked out in time. Rumor has it the Enigma itself can lift the curse, but that remains mere rumor. None of the creatures have ever cooperated to do so.

Scott closed the book and pressed it against his chest. So maybe he could undo this… but he didn’t know how. He hadn’t purposely laid the curse. What if it didn’t work anyway, because he wasn’t a naturally born Enigma?

All he could do was fill his own head with doubts.

He dropped the book and picked up his backpack, letting it hang from his hand by one strap, not bothering to put any of the books in it. He didn’t see the point. He had his answer, and a new heartful of guilt.

Once he was home he threw the backpack on the floor and went to his room, ransacking his store of clothing until he found the short chiton he had worn as an angel. He yanked at the seams until they gave way, stifling sobs as he did so while hoping Sausage wouldn’t hear him. He tore off a wide strip that he wrapped over his eyes and tied at the back of his head. He waited for the sobbing to subside, then adjusted the bottom of the improvised blindfold so he could see just enough of the floor under the edge to make his way around. It was more to avoid abruptly bumping into things and startling Sausage, since he knew his way around the villa like the back of his hand.

He half-heartedly threw some of the clothes back into the chest, not bothering with the rest, then left for Sausage’s room, hand trailing over the wall more for a physical object to touch than as a guideline – ironically, since he could also have just passed his hand into it.

Under the edge of the blindfold he could see light coming from beneath the closed door. The gravital was awake, at least. “Sausage,” he called out softly, hesitating with a hand against the door. “I’m… I’m back.” He pressed his forehead to the wood. “I need to tell you something. It’s not good news…”

Sausage’s puzzled voice called in return, “You can come in, you know. I’m not going to be mad about bad news. I’m just glad you’re back now!” The sound of coughing followed the enthusiastic statement.

Scott drew a steadying breath, squeezing his eyes shut under the blindfold and then thought about wishing Sausage’s illness would go away, as if maybe that would be all it took and when he opened the door he would be better.

But the coughing continued, then came a groan. “Sorry, sorry. But you can still come in, silly!”

Scott vented one last frustrated sigh then pushed the door open. He had expected a response to the blindfold, but the cry of apprehension still turned his stomach.

“W-What happened?? Your eyes – did you get hurt? Let me see – you should have taken one of the potions!” Sausage reached out toward him but Scott had made sure to stay out of range when he entered.

“No, this is for your protection.”

“Uh-??” Baffled, Sausage lowered his hands.

Scott moved to sit on the side of the bed, and pushed Sausage’s arm down when it came into view of the blindfold’s bottom edge as he reached for him again. “Just – wait, please. Listen to me first. I… I learned what I am. One of my new abilities is...” He turned his face toward the floor, gripping the edge of the blanket in his fingers. “Sausage, I did this to you, just by looking at you. And I might have made it worse because I kept looking at you. I’m something called an Enigma, and I’m draining your life away. I’m sorry. It’s my fault you’re now dying. There could be a way to stop it but I don’t know how. All I can do is not look at you anymore, and because I know how it's going to feel right up until the end… I’m so sorry I did this to you.”

He lifted one hand to finally let Sausage touch him, their fingers twining together. “I don’t blame you,” the gravital assured, “Please know that. You couldn’t have known about this. We couldn’t have known. We’ll ride it out together, like you said, and-and we’ll figure out something just like we always do! This isn’t going to drive me away from you. I’m not going anywhere.” He coughed a little then recovered and joked, “Couldn’t if I wanted to right now.”

The attempt at humor was lost on Scott as a new thought occurred to him and he pulled his hand free to stand up, turning away. “Maybe you should. Maybe that would be better for you. I’ve caused all of your deaths, Sausage. You’re not safe around me.”

“Wh— but— the last one was fWhip’s fault!”

“If I hadn’t gotten caught that wouldn’t have happened to you!”

“Scott, no, please – death itself is not going to keep me from being with you! I love you, and I know you love me. We—” He had to stop to catch his breath. “W-We are going to continue defying this! You came back to me, I - I’ll come back to you! We’ll find a way!”

“How, Sausage… How can you still love me when I keep doing this to you? I’m still more of a monster than anything else – how can I be anything else, when all you ever do is die when you’re around me?”

“But what about everything else? All – All the other time we – we’ve spent…” Sausage tried to hold his voice steady, even though the strain he was feeling made him almost gasp for air right there. “We’ve built so much together… T-To have a life together… Please… Don’t do this to yourself. I – I know what you must be feeling – stealing souls didn’t make me like myself much after a while, either.”

“At least you tried to give my soul energy back. I can’t do that for you. I can’t even die right trying to save you.”

“S-Scott… P-Please…” Sausage’s next breath got stuck in his throat and he clutched his chest until it passed, and for a split-second he was glad Scott couldn’t see what was happening to him just then. “M-Maybe you should get some rest, just – give things a little time. It – It’ll be okay in the end.”

“No, Sausage. Stop. I can’t accept that right now. Where does it end? How many more times am I going to cause you to die?”

“I don’t know where it ends.” Sausage fell quiet, both to catch his breath again and to try to think. “And I don’t care, either. I just want to be with you. I could die a hundred times and all that matters is the moments in between that we spend together.”

“Pretty words,” Scott mumbled, walking toward the door. “But it doesn’t make me less of a monster right now. Go back to sleep, Sausage. You’re going to need it.”

The gravital didn’t try to say anything more and could only watch him leave.

[ Chapter Two ]

[lordcakedoom]

Story Time:

You sat me down and started heaping food onto my plate.

"You must be hungry. I mean, of course you are. You are always hungry, aren't you?"

We started to dig in. We? Mostly me, you had a bit on your plate and mostly pushed it around, a little bite here and there. - All in all, our conversation was nice, even though I could see your eyes gravitating down to the gap between the buttons, especially when i leaned forward to refill my cup. That's when the fabric gave a strained sound.

It was clear, those buttons are on their last leg.

I noticed your eyes growing a bit wider and handed you my plate. "Could I have seconds?"

"Of course, but shouldn't you slow down? I made brownies and you have to leave some room for dessert."

I put my hand on the side of the distended gut that tightly fills the shirt like meat inside of a sausage casing.

"There's always room for dessert."

[wolfclaire]

Hello!

Question

which afterlife people are dead

is Chicken Lauren dead? I think Enigma Lizzie sisters (or some) are also dead

Hi, thank you for your ask!

At this point in time, these are those that are confirmed dead: Elytrian Sausage; Avian Lauren; Angel Scott; Goolien, Bird, Phantom and Zombie Lizzie

Enigma Lizzie might have killed Wither and Gravital Sausage; Cat Shubble and Vex Lauren, but we don't know for sure yet ;)

[elegy-if]

Since you askedddddd..

🍎 for Eden please.... 👀

🍎  — a headcanon about a daily ritual of my muse, and why they do that.

Eden is honestly… pretty put together. A lot of their day is comprised of little things they make a habit of doing every day.

Though, considering they mostly work nights, Eden is the type to crash in bed the second they get out of the shower and dry off after a quick dinner. Most of their more “put together” rituals come in the morning. They cook up a hearty breakfast — usually their favorite, pancakes, with some eggs and sausage. But their favorite part of the morning is when they get to bust out the blender and make a smoothie! They loveee blueberry smoothies, and that + other berries are what they tend to gravitate towards when making them!! Eden won’t complain about other fruits being thrown in, though.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Two of the Milky Way's earliest building blocks

The early history of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is one of joining smaller galaxies, which makes for fairly large building blocks. Now, Khyati Malhan and Hans-Walter Rix of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy have succeeded in identifying what could be two of the earliest building blocks that can still be recognized as such today: proto-galactic fragments that merged with an early version of our Milky Way between 12 and 13 billion years ago, at the very beginning of the era of galaxy formation in the Universe. The components, which the astronomers have named Shakti and Shiva, were identified by combining data from ESA’s astrometry satellite Gaia with data from the SDSS survey. For astronomers, the result is the equivalent of finding traces of an initial settlement that grew into a large present-day city.

Tracing the origins of stars that came from other galaxies

When galaxies collide and merge, several processes happen in parallel. Each galaxy carries along its own reservoir of hydrogen gas. Upon collision, those hydrogen gas clouds are destabilized, and numerous new stars are formed inside. Of course, the incoming galaxies also already have their own stars, and in a merger, stars from the galaxies will mingle. In the long run, such “accreted stars” will also account for some of the stellar population of the newly-formed combined galaxy. Once the merger is completed, it might seem hopeless to identify which stars came from which predecessor galaxy. But in fact, at least some ways of tracing back stellar ancestry exist.

Help comes from basic physics. When galaxies collide and their stellar populations mingle, most of the stars retain very basic properties, which are directly linked to the speed and direction of the galaxy in which they originated. Stars from the same pre-merger galaxy share similar values for both their energy and what physicists call angular momentum – the momentum associated with orbital motion or rotation. For stars moving in a galaxy’s gravitational field, both energy and angular momentum are conserved: they remain the same over time. Look for large groups of stars with similar, unusual values for energy and angular momentum – and chances are, you might find a merger remnant.

Additional pointers can assist identification. Stars that formed more recently contain more heavier elements, what astronomers call “metals”, than stars that formed a long time ago. The lower the metal content (“metallicity”), the earlier the star presumably formed. When trying to identify stars that already existed 13 billion years ago, one should look for stars with very low metal content (“metal-poor”).

Virtual excavations in a large data set

Identifying the stars that joined our Milky Way as parts of another galaxy has only become possible comparatively recently. It requires large, high-quality data sets, and the analysis involves sifting the data in clever ways so as to identify the searched-for class of objects. This kind of data set has only been available for a few years. The ESA astrometry satellite Gaia provides an ideal data set for this kind of big-data galactic archeology. Launched in 2013, it has produced an increasingly accurate data set over the past decade, which by now includes positions, changes in position and distances for almost 1.5 billion stars within our galaxy.

Gaia data revolutionized studies of the dynamics of stars in our home galaxy, and has already led to the discovery of previously unknown substructures. This includes the so-called Gaia Enceladus/Sausage stream, a remnant of the most recent larger merger our home galaxy has undergone, between 8 and 11 billion years ago. It also includes two structures identified in 2022: the Pontus stream identified by Malhan and colleagues and the “poor old heart” of the Milky Way identified by Rix and colleagues. The latter is a population of stars that newly formed during the initial mergers that created the proto-Milky Way, and continue to reside in our galaxy’s central region.

Traces of Shakti and Shiva

For their present search, Malhan and Rix used Gaia data combined with detailed stellar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (DR17). The latter provide detailed information about the stars’ chemical composition. Malhan says: “We observed that, for a certain range of metal-poor stars, stars were crowded around two specific combinations of energy and angular momentum.”

In contrast with the “poor old heart”, which was also visible in those plots, the two groups of like-minded stars had comparatively large angular momentum, consistent with groups of stars that had been part of separate galaxies which had merged with the Milky Way. Malhan has named these two structures Shakti and Shiva, the latter one of the principal deities of Hinduism and the former a female cosmic force often portrayed as Shiva’s consort.

Their energy and angular momentum values, plus their overall low metallicity on par with that of the “poor old heart”, makes Shakti and Shiva good candidates for some of the earliest ancestors of our Milky Way. Rix says: “Shakti and Shiva might be the first two additions to the ‘poor old heart’ of our Milky Way, initiating its growth towards a large galaxy.”

Several surveys that are either already ongoing or bound to start over the next couple of years promise relevant additional data, both spectra (SDSS-V, 4MOST) and precise distances (LSST/Rubin Observatory), should enable astronomers to make a firm decision on whether or not Shakti and Shiva are indeed a glimpse of our home galaxy's earliest prehistory.

IMAGE....A visualization of the Milky Way galaxy, with the stars that Khyati Malhan and Hans-Walter Rix identified in the Gaia DR3 data set as belonging to Shiva and Shakti shown as colored dots. Shiva stars are shown in green and Shakti stars in pink. The complete absence of green and pink markers in some regions does not mean that there are no stars from Shiva or Shakti there, as the data set used for this study only covers specific regions within our galaxy. Credit S. Payne-Wardenaar / K. Malhan / MPIA