#half-wither!sausage

[sleepyy-dakota]

"I can be the devil to your angel, the night to your day."

I miss AfterLife <//3

[lunarsands]

The end of Sausage's livestream:

Fanfic writers/fanartists: Write that down! Write that down!

[ep2nd]

I made this AU whenEmpires s2 started but eh here we go-

Remember this is my take and my story based in cannon events thank you.

Odyssey's Sequel AU

Empires season one ended in destruction, death, departure, and disaster.

Scott died, Xornoth died, Joey died(maybe), Pearl died, Katherine left, Lizzie forgot, Joel lost everything, Jimmy left, Fwhip and Gem flew away, Sausage lost everything, Pix disappeared, and Shrub left to find the Gnomes.

All the empires were destroyed; the Ocean Empire and Cod Empire drained, Mezalea split in half, the Lost Empire burned down, the Grimlands exploded, the Crystal Cliffs shattered, Rivendell was Corrupted, Gilded Helinthia withered away, Mythland was overrun with Blood Sheep and darkness, the Overgrown(also House Blossom) shriveled up in flames and cracks, and Pixandria was abandoned.

So, the empires and emperors died.

Until 1,000 years later.

New Empires rose up.

And with it, new emperors.

Except they are all related to the Past Emperors in some way.

Scott, King of Chromia: a Reincarnation of Scott of Rivendell

Joel, god of lightning and thunder: a descendent of Joel, King of Mezalea

Jimmy, of the Codlands: a traveler of space time, the same Jimmy from the past, but changed

Lizzie, Mayor of Critter City: blessed by Lizzie, the Ocean Empress

Shubble, the witch of the Evermore: descendent of Shrub, the Gnome Queen

Joey, Pirate of the Eversea: Rebirth of Joey(same person but died, was born again, and lost memories), Emperor of the Lost Empire

Katherine, Princess of Glimmer Grove: Descendent and chosen of Katherine, Chosen of the Overgrown

Sausage, Protector of Sanctuary: Reborn of Sausage(same person, didn't die, was granted a another chance after the Afterlife, eventually got his memories back), King of Mythland

Fwhip, Goblin King: Haunted by Fwhip, the Count(shares a mind with past Fwhip)

Gem, Princess of Dawn: Spirited by Gem, the High Wizard(the old soul of Gem died and possessed present Gem)

Pix, Historian of the Ancient Capital: Revived Pix, the Copper King(died and came back to life, lost memories)

False, Queen of Cogsmeade: Chosen by Pearl, the Harvest Queen

Oli, Bard of the Olipoligo: Chosen by Xornoth, the demon

I will get more into this AU, along with how everyone deals with this sensation, what being Chosen means, etc.

Asks are always welcomed:)

[slusheeduck]

Fictober 2023 Day 4 - Prompt: "Fine, explain it to me." Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3 

“This is unacceptable,” Lae’zel muttered, pacing around the campsite like a caged wolf. “That…istik, thinking he could succeed in the mission without me.”

“As I understand it, Lae’zel, they need some stealth today,” Gale said, stoking up the fire. “And, for all your positives, subtlety doesn’t seem to be one of your strengths.” At the look Lae’zel shot him, he held up his hands. “It’s not mine, either! Crouching too long sets my knees creaking like nothing else.”

“But he took the teethling!” Lae’zel protested.

“Tiefling.”

“That is what I said.” She hissed out an agitated breath, resuming her pacing.

Gale watched her for a moment, then went back to the fire. The group would likely be plenty battered and bruised when they got back, and a good warm meal always did the trick. Well, and a few healing spells, but they had Shadowheart for that. He went to gather the ingredients—oh, dear, was this all he had to work with? He longed for a decent shop—then paused as he looked over at the githyanki, still pacing.

“Lae’zel,” he called as he made his way back. “Why don’t you help me with dinner?”

She looked over at him, then scoffed. “You think I am a lowly g’lathk?”

“I…don’t know what that is, but I’m going to say I do not.”

“T’chk.” She did stop pacing, at least, but it was to fix Gale with a withering look. “Among my people, food is unnecessary unless we are in the Material Plane. Those that work with it are a cowardly, lowly caste who would otherwise be useless to us. To ask me, a warrior, to engage with this…dinner is an insult.”

“But you…are in the Material Plane.” Gale frowned. “You have been eating, haven’t you?”

“I take sustenance when I require it.” Lae’zel sent a scowl to the ingredients Gale had set out. “I do not require this sort of…excess.”

Gale looked at what he gathered—a handful of potatoes, three links of sausage, several various mushrooms, garlic that had certainly seen better days, and a bit of pork still attached to the bone. “I suppose the half-fermented garlic really is a bit decadent,” he said dryly, then shook his head. “Well, suit yourself.” He paused. “I do know that Falerin would be very glad to have a meal made by you. And you know,” he added in a conspiratorial whisper, “Shadowheart can’t cook at all.”

Lae’zel was quiet for a very long moment. But finally, she came and sat down beside him, legs tucked under her and back very straight.

“Fine. Explain it to me.”

“Well, first things first, let’s get these potatoes peeled.” Gale picked one up, showing it to her, then picked up a paring knife. With a few deft flicks of his wrist, the peel was off, and he set the potato in a nearby bowl. “Can you manage that?”

“T’chk. A child could.”

“Many do. Here you are.” He passed her the knife and the remaining potatoes, then went back to the fire. He scraped off the bit of meat left on the pork bone, then dropped it in a cast-iron pot with enough water to cover it. That went over the fire, and he got to work on dicing the mushrooms.

“The potatoes are flayed.”

Gale blinked. “I suppose that’s…that’s technically correct,” he said, looking them over. “Well, isn’t that nice! You have a bright future as a potato peeler.”

“I do not.”

“I was joking.”

“It was not funny.”

“…ah. Well, now that they’re peeled, you can cut them up.” Gale went back to the pot, stirring the broth. “I’m thinking that we’ll have a nice fry-up. The broth adds a little extra oomph to it, but the overall effect will be crispy bits of sausage, and lovely golden brown pota—”

“It is done,” Lae’zel interrupted.

Gale looked over and just barely managed to keep his face in check. The potatoes were massacred. Some practically pulverized, others jaggedly cut. It looked remarkably like what Lae’zel’s victims looked like on the battlefield, on a much less impressive scale.

He stayed quiet for a moment as he stared at them, hand going over his mouth. “Or,” he finally said, “Or. We could have a really nice soup.”

He took the potatoes from Lae’zel, setting them aside as he resumed his work on the mushrooms. To his surprise, she stayed put.

“Is there more you require?” she asked.

“No, no, you’ve already been a great help. Thank you, Lae’zel.” He moved the pot aside, taking a cast iron pan and setting the sausages in it, along with the garlic and mushrooms. In a few moments, it was sizzling quite nicely, with fragrant smoke rising up to them. Lae’zel leaned in.

“That smells…pleasant,” she said slowly.

“Amazing what a bit of garlic does for a dish,” Gale said, then glanced at her. “You know, here in the, ah, Material Plane, cooking is an experience. It’s a good way to…take your mind off of things you’d rather not think about. I turned to it quite often when I took my sabbatical from the world, let’s call it, and it ended up being a favorite comfort of mine.”

Lae’zel nodded slowly. “That is why you are flabby and poorly suited for action.”

“…maybe not quite the way I would have put it, but yes. Can you, carefully, pour the potatoes in with the stock? That’s the pot there with the water.”

She nodded, taking the bowl of potatoes and pouring them into the water. She went back to sit beside Gale, and he looked over at her.

“You don’t have to stay, if you’d rather go off,” he said. “Thank you for your help.”

“I would like to observe,” she replied crisply, lifting her chin. “Perhaps this is a skill I will have need of, if you are cut down in our travels. I do not trust the others to make food worth eating.”

“I’m going to choose to take that as a compliment.” He gave the githyanki a smile. “And I’ll be sure to let everyone know you were responsible for dinner tonight.”

It was hard to tell, what with Lae’zel’s typical stoicism, but Gale swore he could see just a hint of a pleased glint in her eyes as she sat back to watch him cook.

Fictober 2023 Drabble Master Post

[siriannatan]

Count fWhip's Well-Deserved Rest - SausagefWhip

I'm still going strong with writing something every day this month, which can't be said about Integrated Strategies in Arknights or all the quests I have backed up in Genshin… I'll slowly catch up there. Eventually :D

Sausage never saw fWhip asleep. Like deeply asleep, not just fell asleep after Sausage shoved him into the bed. He was the go-to man for fWhip's advisors to call if the count, the head of the Wither Rose Alliance, current Lord Emperor, probably the most powerful ruler around... Refused to rest.

Yes. When fWhip refused to rest. Sausage would fly all the way from Mythland to pick up the half-dragon. Wrap his soft feathery wings around them and... drag fWhip kicking, screaming, scratching and biting to bed. And stand over him and wait until fWhip got ready for bed and actually fell asleep. It happened at least twice a week.

But today was the first time no one knew where fWhip was. He was never late for WRA meetings. So they split and looked around the manor. Gem went to fWhip's lab. Pearl to his library. And Sausage, with little hope of finding him there, fWhip's bedroom. Just in case he stayed up too long but somehow made it to bed, and was still asleep. 

But against everything he thought he knew, Sausage did find fWhip in his bed. But as soon as he recognised it was fWhip there his brain short-circuited.

He would never expect fWhip of all people to be a cuddler. Or at least get grabby in his sleep. But here he was, staring at fWhip practically wrapped around a pillow. One wing folded close and the other stretched out, blocking sunlight from reaching fWhip. His tail almost touching his nose which scrunched in the most adorable way. Too cute for Sausage's heart. 

What was Sausage supposed to do? Let fWhip rest, obviously. So he went to find Gem and Pearl and proposed they let fWhip sleep today. Volunteering to stay to inform fWhip when he wakes up. Shockingly they didn't mind. Could be all the hard work fWhip was doing recently or they were simply too busy to argue or wait. Or something.

Anyway. Sausage was glad they agreed and made himself comfortable in an armchair in fWhip's bedroom. To avoid advisors and inform him about everything as soon as he woke up. Not to stare at him contort around his cuddle pillow and tear another pillow apart with his horns. He was just making sure fWhip got all the rest he needed.

Watching fWhip wake up was just a nice bonus. Even if Sausage would never expect to get warm watching fWhip yawn widely, all sharp teeth on full view, and stretch, it was rare to see how wide his wings were without fWhip flying away within seconds. And he could see the way the sunlight shone through it.

"Sausa... The meeting!" fWhip instantly panicked when he noticed he wasn't alone. And would fall off the bed if Sausage didn't catch him at the last moment.

"Whoah, calm down, we decided to move it till you're fully rested. Your advisors agreed that you need a day off as well," Sausage calmly explained as fWhip steadied himself. 

"Were you watching me sleep?" fWhip realised far too quickly. That's on Sausage for trying to outsmart a genius. 

"I was waiting for you to wake up so you don't panic and hurt yourself," Sausage still tried to defend himself, "as you nearly did."

"Because you were here, otherwise it'd take me a second to..."

"Shush, I'm not explaining to Gem why you haven't rested for a change," Sausage cut the argument before it took over the whole day.

fWhip just sighed and leaned his full body weight on Sausage. Between the wings and tail and everything he was shockingly heavy. Not that Sausage would be complaining about having someone as pretty as fWhip this close. "I'm going to assume I get to keep you here the whole day as part of this resting arrangement?" he hummed in a manner that could only be described as flirting.

"Of course, I... I'll just need to send one quick letter," Sausage agreed. Anything for fWhip and his pretty eyes...

"You have until I'm done with morning bath," fWhip announced and ran off. Sausage wasted fewer precious seconds than expected on staring after fWhip's tail.

[minecraftbookshelf]

We have fancy height charts for the Arranged Marriage AU now!

Also some updated headcanons because, of course, once I shared the first thoughts I changed them.

Unfortunately the height comparison thing I found maxed out at ten people at a time (the best option I found) so we have two seperate sets, one is basically just "the couples" and the other is "everyone else" with both having the tallest and shortest for comparison/contextualization.

Breakdown once again, under the cut

Lizzie: Now has two seperate forms, both are the tallest person. Her full Blue Axolotl Sea Monster/Mermaid form is the 10' one, with a smaller version that can walk on land and is approximately 7'6" tall. Either way, no one is as tall as she is. Bow before the queen.

Lizzie: Now has two seperate forms, both are the tallest person. Her full Blue Axolotl Sea Monster/Mermaid form is the 10' one, with a smaller version that can walk on land and is approximately 7'6" tall. Either way, no one is as tall as she is. Bow before the queen.

Jimmy: Depending on what form he is in is either the second tallest or smack in the middle of the height pack. Cod Merman!Jimmy is ~7', Cod Hybrid!Jimmy (If that distinction makes any sense) is just under 6'2". (This is the difference then being taller/longer than Scott or shorter than Scott) The point about his absolute beanpole-ness and general disaster prone-ness negating his height advantage stands.

Xornoth: My thoughts on them have probably changed the least. Still six and a half feet tall, still (usually) no horns, still absolutely hits their head on doorways because they're used to elvish architecture which allows for being over six foot.

Scott: Still 6'4". Nothing's really changed here.

Pearl: Farmer Queen has been nudged up a bit and is now 6'1", still buff as hell and not scared of you at all. She is the tallest of the main Wither Rose Alliance and we love that for her.

Fwip: 6' flat, he's taller than Sausage and that is all that matters.

Sausage: Is now 5'11" he shrunk just a bit rip

Pix: I shrunk him a bit too. He's the tall side of 5'10" now.

Joel: Still 5'7", literally comes up to Lizzie's hip when she's in Ocean Queen form and not even to her shoulder at her shortest. He sits on her throne sometimes and his feet don't reach the floor.

Gem: 5'6", the shortest of the core Wither Rose Alliance.

Joey: 5'5", tends to wear heels that put him closer to 5'10"/5'11"

Katherine: 5'2", does often hover a bit, taking advantage of the fact that she is one of the two with natural wings to look her fellow rulers in the eye.

Shrub Berry: canonically 4’3”. So very very small. Will go for the kneecaps without hesitation.

[spacetrashpile]

ooooooooooooooh you wanna talk abt how s2 of empires is haunted by s1 soooooooooo badddddddddddd -your good friend ostinato who is still thinking about your tags on its post <3 (bullies you (affectionate))

ok so the first thing you need to know me is that i love when things are haunted and i love ghosts and i love haunted houses. this is a vital thing for understanding me and how i analyze media, and empires allows me to be awful about this exact topic in such a perfect way.

first of all, sausage. i feel like i don’t need to elaborate on sausage, but i will anyways.

not only is his goddess what became of his dead best friend, not only is he literally haunted by wither roses and the long dead friends who come with them, not only is the half of himself he left behind a thousand years ago crawling out of their grave to kill him, NOT ONLY ALL THAT! but he’s made friends with people who are horribly reminiscent of every long gone friend. they share names. some of them share faces. some of them share personalities. none of them share memories. he’s watching the ghosts of his friends walk around, alive, like they never died, because none of them have any way to know. it’s almost like sausage is still dead, like he’s the ghost haunting all of them, unable to move on.

second, we've got to talk about the ancient capital.

pix literally lives in the remains of a long dead city, empty of all but himself. he resurrected extinct animals to keep him company. he maintains the mausoleum of a man who died a thousand years ago, with a mural of a goddess few seem able to name, where he dug up another long dead king, expecting a skeleton and finding a man. and then more recently, pushing aside the mural and finding an artifact 1,000 years gone. all pix seems to know about it is the rules, not what came of it. it holds a story, of where it was when the rapture occurred. how did the crown find its way from the smoking ruins of the grimlands to here? maybe we’ll never know, but here it is. reminding us all of the long dead rulers who once wore it.

i started writing the pix section last night and now today, pix is literally a ghost. no one lives in the ancient capital but ghosts.

third, the evermoore.

shubble is quite literally haunted by ghosts of the past. the gnomes, eradicated by xornoth, haunt her home, stealing souls and whispering from the dark, and she’s giving them new life. shubble is restoring the forest of the gnomes to it’s former glory, giving them a chance at the lives that were cut short.

when the gnomes look at her, all they can see their daughter who made it out. do you think that’s why the evermoore welcomed her in the first place? because the ghosts so desperately hoped she was their long lost child, their one escapee? how long did they believe it could be her? did they know immediately? or did they hold onto hope until she asked the air, asked them, who’s shrub? how do you live like that? you’re the ghosts haunting her house and she’s the ghost haunting yours, and she doesn’t even know it.

fourth, joel’s whole deal.

joel’s building monuments to long dead gods who’s names he doesn’t even remember. he just has vague memories of the people who used to be his friends, his family, and he’s building monuments and sending prayers to gods who will never hear.

there’s more i could say here and i know it, but that’s all that’s coming to mind right now, so we’ll stop here and probably come back to elaborate later, lol.

[insomniaruler]

3rd life support group

"I can't come, I have a meeting." Scott said as he took off his cape. the WRA looked at him like kicked puppies. "Guys, i'll be back later this is important to me." Scott said crossing his arms. "More important than us?" Sausage swooned. "yes this is a once a month meeting that I have to go to or they'll hunt me down." Scott said smirking with a shake of his head. "Who are you meeting with?" Pearl asked as she snooped through his chests. "theee... wood elves." Scott said after trailing off. "The wood elves?" Gem said, suspiciously. "Mhm, so shoo." Scott said waving his hand at them.

the Wither Rose Alliance stood outside of the great hall of Rivendell. "so are we going to follow him?" Fwhip said leaning against one of the pillars. "Obviously!" Sausage said. "yeah he's hiding something." Gem agreed. "hooray operation spy on Scott!" Pearl cheered.

five minutes later Scott left the Hall looking far different from the reserved king of Rivendell they knew. he was sporting a well worn fur-lined denim jacket covered in pins and a couple splats of paint. he was wearing dark brown linen pants, his ears were studded with tiny golden earrings, and his hair was pulled back in a half up half down style. his antlers were covered in poppies. and the weirdest thing was he was properly smiling. not his sarcastic smirk but a happy smile.

he walked into the woods and relaxed as he left his empire. soon they followed him to a clearing with a merrily cracking fire in the middle of it. but what really grabbed the WRA's attention were the two other men sat by the fire. Gem had to lunge at Fwhip and put a hand over his mouth before his overly loud gasp could be heard, because sitting by the fire was The Codfather without his codhead, in a much more civilian tunic and pants and The Mezealan king in a white undershirt and well loved leather vest, there was a very happy wolf at his feet accepting loving belly rubs. They both had no visible weapons

Pearl had to lunge at sausage before his gasp gave them away when Scott bent down and kissed the Codfather. "Hey Sunflower." "Ewwwwww." Joel said feigning gagging. "You are literally married." Scott said Flatly. Joel, the obvious height of maturity stuck his tongue out at the elf. "You are also 'Literally Married' " Joel said with intense air quotes. Jimmy just laughed. the WRA looked at each other in shock. had Scott double crossed them?

"not legally!" Jimmy argued with a wave of his finger. "blah blah you both know you're basically married in all eyes except the law. Grian and Scar sent you guys a wedding gift last month." Joel said. "that was your fault and you know it." Jimmy said. "listen all i asked Gem to do was to deliver a letter to Scar I didn't know he would tell Grian." Joel defended himself. the whole WRA looked at Gem who was not making eye contact.

"anything happening with you guys?" Jimmy asked, laying in the grass. "I miss my cabin." Joel said quietly. "I miss all my wolves. Shrub nearly caught me having a breakdown in her forest." Joel said shaking his head. "well you could ask her to camp in the forest?" Scott reasoned. "i think she knows i'm a king." Joel huffed. "it'd be weird if a king was camping in her forest." Joel muttered. the WRA sat dumbstruck, this was seemingly very personal information.

only the trio who were hiding in the bushes saw Joel sneaking up on Scott with a stick. and when he wacked the other over the head they expected their friend to blow up at the other king but he didn't just stare at Joel. before suddenly Scott lunged forward a stick also clutched in his hands.

they mock fought around the fire as The Codfather egged on his partner. "Get 'im Petal!" he cheered. "this is for our wall!" Scott crowed victoriously as he beat Joel over the head with the stick. "Well i'm sorry it couldn't hold up to light arson! it was just encouragement to build a stone wall!" Joel said holding up his hands against the on-slot. Scott began to chuckle darkly. and then quick as a whip threw the stick for the wolf. "Fear the cottagecore gay." Scott whispered.

"food's done!" Jimmy announced deftly moving the pieces of meat from the coals of the fire onto small wooden plates. "Thank you." Scott said leaning against the Codfolk and kissing him on the cheek. "Your welcome." the Codfather said leaning into the other's touch. "Give me the food Jimmy, i don't come here to watch you two be lovey dovey." Joel grouched. "If you want war you should come to our game nights we played Uno last time." Jimmy said with a chuckle. "Okay you were quite obviously cheating! you can't stack +2's!" Scott said pouting. "No." Jimmy said rolling his eyes. "No yes you can do that or yes no you admit to cheating?" Jimmy just blinked at Scott twice. The elf groaned and rolled his eyes.

as the sun passed noon Scott got to his feet. "See you tomorrow Sunflower." Scott said kissing the Codfather. "you got it Petal, good luck with building the village." Codfather said jumping to his feet. "Obviously." Scott said with a laugh. and with a swish Scott started walking back towards Rivendell. Joel and Jimmy began to clean up around the camp. They were talking too quiet for the WRA to hear but there were a few waving hands. "I am a king I can legally marry you two! you just need to bring paper work I can even bring rings! we have plenty of gold in the Mesa" Joel said. "alright fine- I was planning on proposing tomorrow night you can marry us at the next support group meeting if he says yes." Jimmy said blushing a furious red. "HA! Grian owes me 15 diamonds!" Joel yelled and punched Jimmy's shoulder. "yeah yeah." Jimmy rolled his eyes. eventually the two went their separate ways and their spies popped out of the bushes.

The WRA exchanged glances before breaking out into loud conversation. Sausage was the loudest out of all of them.

"Holy bleep."

[lonksadventures]

SUP LADS NEW SKELETON RELATED LORE DROPPED

Which means it's time for another round of crack theories/observations with Lonk!

So in Shubble's latest video we are shown that when Sausage was sleepwalking he was wearing a skull on his head. Later in the same video when she goes to the nether she finds her magic circle is broken and along with the weird spikes that appeared a bunch of wither skeletons seem to have be summoned.

Now the obvious connection is that the skull that sleepwalking Sausage is wearing may be connected to either the skull from Scott's lore, Skeletron from Joey's lore or perhaps both. In the past I also made a joke that the crown worn by the tyrant king shown in Sausage's flashbacks do kinda resemble bones/ribs. There is clearly a skeletal motif that is seen with characters or events that have evil, possessed, corrupt or otherwise negative connotations. I wonder if all this skull imagery and skeletal objects are pointing to this all coming from the same source. Possibly a villain like Skeletron or more likely something much bigger.

Another fun but most likely coincidental connection is the use of wither skeletons throughout both Joey and Shelby's lore. When pirate Joe storms one of Skeletron's outposts in his videos the main ‘boss’ of that area and most likely the most high ranking of the skeletal pirates in that outpost is, you guessed it, a wither skeleton! And what comes out of Shelby’s magic circle? Wither skeletons. Not only is this more skeletal imagery related to villains/dark magic but it also makes it seem even more likely that these events are at least somewhat connected.

Now let’s break away from the skeleton centric theories to talk about something else. Nekomancy and the large focus on undead. Recently a lot of the empires have been ‘curing’ their villagers. You know, standard minecraft stuff. Except not only have they all seemed to do it around the same time but it is what also inspired Shelby to try ‘cure’ sausage and accidentally turn him into a zombie. We also see Lizzie performing ‘nekomancy’ which causes skulk to spread in her attic, most likely due to the death themed spells she used. Skulk does multiply when mobs die after all.

Now Sausage is eventually cured from the whole zombie thing by finding a Totem of Revival after receiving a little help from Saint Pearl. Saint Pearl herself is often depicted as a god of life/light, being surrounded by sunflowers and using very light colours. Her actions, or those of her champions such as Angel Sausage in Afterlife SMP, are usually focused around purifying evil, healing and light. In Empires s2 we see her depicted on a mural underneath the statue/catacombs in Pix's ruined city. A lot of people, myself included, have noticed similarities in design to the winged statue and Saint Pearl (especially @sabiralangevan on twitter's interpretation of her).

However, the winged statue only has one gold wing. The other is black. So here’s where my crack theory comes in. We know that the statue is probably referencing Saint Pearl as there’s literally a mural/memorial underneath it. But what if that isn’t the only thing it’s referencing? What if there’s another god/deity that we haven’t seen that is the opposite to Pearl. A god of darkness and death that mirrors Saint Pearl's light and warmth. We’ve seen a similar dynamics between Aeor and Exor, the two stag gods of Rivendell and later their champions. With so many references to dark magic and undead within this season (such as the Evermoore, skulk, undead and skeletons) I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a being tied to all of it. The statue in the ruined city doesn’t just reference Pearl but also her counterpart. Gods of both life and death mirrored in one statue.

I could go even further and point out the whole Wisp thing going on with Gem's lore being suspicious and how the entirety of Glimmer Grove is split, with one half withering in darkness and spawning undead monsters. Hell we know for a fact that people get lost and/or cursed if they wander into the Mangrove swamp. Literally one of my earliest theories for this season was that the skulk was spreading/a corrupting force like the nether corruption from season 1. All of this stinks of dark magic.

Anyways, thank you for coming to my dumbass ted talk. What do y’all think about my crack theories? If you have anything to add or theories of your own you want to share please feel free to add to this post! :D

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

for the e1 supers au: 7, 14, 23, 24 ?

7-- Imagine your fic/AU is becoming a movie. Share some casting ideas, or ideas on how you would translate the story to the big screen.

is this when i tell you i don't know anything about any celebrities. as for translating it to the screen... hm that's so hard. i feel like it would work best as an animated film, but if it WAS live action every single power set would have to be practical effects. the dragon would be a huge animatronic. it'd be beautiful.

14-- What's the most vivid image you associate with your fic/AU?

big fan of the dragon fight personally. i just really love the image of this monstrous woman who is so far divorced from being a person anymore and the rest of the cast swarming around her, half of them trying to save her from herself and the other half trying to save everyone else from her. especially love the way she dies being pix fully life draining her and his subsequent freak out.

23-- Give us one weird fact about your fic/AU.

ok the cod/salmon war is really funny to me in this au. basically the wither rose alliance and the cod alliance don't like each other very much in costume, but fwhip, sausage, and jimmy also interact pretty frequently at work (fwhip+sausage are camp counselors and jimmy is a life guard at the pool the camp takes the kids to) and are in the middle of a massive prank war because they can never be normal about each other.

so fwhip and sausage break into jimmy's locker one day to steal... something, they're not quite sure, as apart of this war, and they find the codfather head in his bag. they decide to steal it because they don't think it's real at first, and he's just a huge codfather fanboy, but then the codfather starts showing up to fights in a different mask and being visibly weird and they overhear lizzie (who also works at the community pool) teasing him about his secret superhero boyfriend (who he does not have, she is being lied to) and then fwhip and sausage have an ongoing bet about whether jimmy IS the codfather or whether the codfather is the aforementioned boyfriend.

24-- What's a random piece of information about your fic/AU you want to share?

this is making me realize i never really elaborated on the story of this au on here, whoops. uh, let's share character bios, why not? under the cut for the sake of your dash

Fwhip: He/him, 20, vigilante name The Mechanist. He has no powers, but made himself some mechanical wings and a whole lot of explosives to supplement. Pretty new on the scene to hero work. Works as a camp counselor and is an engineering student at the local college when not hero-ing.

Gem: She/her, 20, vigilante name The Sorceress. Her powers basically involve manifesting physical light that she can use to either hit people or as a shield, as well as a set of wings Fwhip made her after one too many falls. One of the better established heroes, having been doing it for about 5 years on and off after she developed her powers when she was 14. English+History double major at the local college and librarian in her not-hero time.

Sausage: He/him, 22, vigilante name Warlock, also his villain name when he goes bad. After he goes good again, he changes his name to Sceptre. Also pretty new on the scene. No powers at first, starts by using mechanical wings that Fwhip made him and a staff that imitates Gem's offensive powers, basically acting like a laser gun. When he starts working under+getting experimented on by Exor, he gets super strength and the ability to manifest and control the corruption tentacles. Once he's no longer being experimented on, he looses the tentacles but keeps the super strength, though he tries not to use it. Works at the same camp as Fwhip during the summer, still not clue what he does in the off season.

Pearl: She/her, 21, vigilante name Valkyrie. Her powers are super strength and near impenetrable skin. Also just a well trained fighter. Solidly in the middle of the WRA in terms of how long she's been doing hero work, but she's the most infamous after Gem. Does some sort of city beautification work as her day job.

Lizzie: She/her, 23, hero name The Ocean Queen. A shapeshifter who can shift into her Ocean Queen form from actual Empires SMP. Meaning 10 feet tall, big tail, sharp teeth and nails, can breathe underwater, and such. She doesn't have to shift into all parts of the Ocean Queen form at once, but tends to only use the gills on their own. Lizzie's been in the hero game for about 5 years as well. Lizzie is a swim instructor at the local pool and is engaged to Joel.

Jimmy: They/he, 20, hero name The Codfather. Powers are super strength and the ability to breathe underwater (it's genetic). Jimmy tends to utilize their strength to protect people rather than fight, unlike Pearl and Sausage. The Codfather Head is apart of their costume, but it's also a magical artifact of some kind that they use as a focus for their strength powers. While he is still quite strong without the Head, it's not quite super strength. Newer to the hero game than Lizzie, but you wouldn't know it from his skill. Works as a life guard and receptionist in their day job.

Joel: He/him, 22, hero name Militia. His powers allow him to make and command hivemind clones of himself. They aren't super strong individually, but they work together well and will die for Joel. Honestly not sure how long he's been doing hero work. Either owns or is a very important employee of an art studio/sculpture place, I haven't entirely decided his role in it.

Pix: He/it, 26, hero name The Phantom. His powers are run of the mill life drain, siphoning other people's strength to make himself stronger (the only person it's ever killed with these powers are The Dragon, but he's gotten close). It's on the nose, but it works at a graveyard as it's day job. Oldest of the cast and the person who's been doing hero work the longest (after Scott and Xornoth).

Katherine: She/her, 20, hero name Empress. "Hero" is a strong word for Katherine; she does pretty strictly hero work until Shrub shows up where she starts leaning a lot more towards vigilante/anti-hero. She's a healer, as well as the ability to grow and command vines, though she needs some amount of dirt to actually use that power. Katherine's been doing hero work in some respect for most of her life, though she's only gotten into the field as anything other than a medic in the last 2 or so years. She's a barista at the Sunflower Cafe (owned by two retired heroes and happens to service a lot of heroes and villains in their civies) as her day job, solely so she can sus out everyone's secret identities. No one knows that she knows, but she knows all their real names.

Shrub: She/he, 17, vigilante name The Wolf Spirit. His powers allow him to communicate with plants and animals. Despite living in a city, she does just have a pack of wolves she hangs out with. Don't worry about where they live when not with her. Very new to hero work, having only been a vigilante for less than a year after his entire life was uprooted and his parents murdered by Xornoth and he had to go on the run. Her day job is at a local animal shelter, as well as attempting to be an investigative journalist at the local paper (despite his references, they are reasonably worried about hiring a very angry 17 year old).

Joey: He/him, 19, vigilante name Alexandros, unsure what his villain name is though. Joey's powers are basically manipulation of fire, earth, water, and air (he's the Avatar). When he's getting experimented on by Exor he also gets the corruption tentacles. He only developed his powers relatively recently, so he's also pretty new to the game. His day job is photography at the local paper, and he is Shrub's aforementioned reference.

Scott: He/they, 21, hero name Fractal. If you couldn't have guessed, he has ice powers. He's had powers since he was a toddler, and his been working as a government sponsored (and government made) hero since he was like, 12. They're also a student at the local college, and I don't remember WHY I said they were a poli sci major and a theater minor but I stick by that. Also a barista as their day job, but at a chain coffee shop. He still goes to the Sunflower Cafe for his actual coffee though, cause Katherine's the only one he trusts to make it.

Xornoth: They/he/it, 21, villain name The Demon. Xornoth can manifest and control the corruption tentacles, as well as make their opponents hallucinate. It usually sticks to just messing with it's opponents vision, but it's not above making them hallucinate their allies in trouble, and he's particularly mean to Shrub since he knows her entire life story basically. Xornoth does not have a day job for the majority of this AU because they've been living as a very sad science experiment for their entire life and, unlike Scott, the slightly happier lab experiment, they aren't allowed to go out into the real world.

[lunarsands]

ESMP S1 Fanfic: A Garden's Path - Prologue

Characters: Mythical Sausage, Scott Smajor, Bubbles the Dog, Sir Carlos, appearances by the cast of Empires SMP S1 including Xornoth, featuring blaze-hybrid emperor TangoTek, and introducing: The Children of Mythland (specific characters to be tagged when they appear in each chapter)

Relationships: MythicalSausage/Scott Smajor, LDShadowlady/Smallishbeans, Shubble/Katherine Elizabeth, Jimmy Solidarity & TangoTek

Tags: Empires SMP S1 AU, scosage, adoption, fluff, wholesome, so much wholesome fluff you would not believe, a bit of angst here and there, Sausage has a few nightmares for Plot reasons, acknowledgement of amputation (not sure how else to tag that but just in case)

WARNINGS: fantasy racism (human vs elf), loss of parent (with adoption inevitably comes orphans), minor character death in a later chapter

Summary: Having weathered a new set of trials and finding love together, Sausage and Scott look toward a whole new future and adventure together: raising some adopted children. Surely after everything else they can handle two sons, a daughter, two or three others, a foundling infant…and a handful more along the way.

Set in an AU where Scott’s sacrifice at the end of Season 1 led to the creation of an alternate timeline. Scott retains his memories of the previous version of the world – as does Sausage, due to his ability to traverse parallel dimensions.

(Also available on Ao3!)

Prologue: The Aftermath

[ A/N: This is a sequel to an illustrated story by Cynthrey! :D Since I will be avoiding some of the spoilers for that story, we’ve decided to run them concurrently. You can read The Champion of Exor AU for information on things like: Why is this scosage? What is Tango doing here? Why does Sausage have a prosthetic arm? Now also available on Ao3!]

---

It had seemed like just another of Sausage’s exaggerated theatrics when, during a Wither Rose Alliance meeting, he bemoaned being unable to properly hug anyone with only one arm. Gem and fWhip had expected a different turn to the conversation when the wizard had asked how he had been adjusting after returning to some of his kingly duties. He certainly seemed like his old self, gesticulating as he talked, although now it involved waving his left arm around and merely lifting what remained of the upper half of his right, the sleeve of his shirt neatly rolled and pinned above where his elbow would have been.

The loss of one arm hadn’t slowed Sausage down for long, aside from the initial few months of recovery. Gem’s healing spells along with some holistic elven care had him back on his feet and in full architect form soon enough. With Scott’s help, they had rebuilt the parts of Mythland that had suffered from Sausage’s own actions. This included renovations around the castle, where walls were either removed or relocated to allow for open spaces, in particular a grand garden that featured some of the new orchid varieties Sausage had promised to bring to Mythland, and artful layouts by Scott’s hand of many other flowers and decorative hedges. The combination brought some natural healing, as well, to bodies and minds.

fWhip sat back in his chair as he watched Sausage while he went on about construction difficulties. The inventor clasped his ginger-bearded chin with one hand while beginning to tap on the papers in front of him with the other. He could remember just how Sausage’s right arm would look similarly flailing around with animated speech. fWhip abruptly flipped over a piece of paper and began sketching out a rough blueprint. The movement of the quill caught Gem’s eye and she glanced over at the drawing talking shape. Her eyebrows went up, then she smiled but refrained from offering more than a quiet and intrigued, “Ooh…” to not distract fWhip. He was in The Zone though, tuning out Sausage, and even grabbed Gem’s papers to have extras to scribble more details.

Gem now made sure to throw comments at Sausage to keep him distracted after she saw fWhip write a note of ‘deadline: wedding surprise’ with a big question mark. “You can do it,” she said, which could have been taken as directed at either of them. Sausage, of course, assumed she was talking to him and he proceeded to rattle off several reasons for why he probably could not and should not be doing any extensive cave explorations just for some emerald ore, because how would he manage both a pickaxe and a shield, unless he tried strapping a shield to his upper arm, but anyway how would he switch over to a sword fast enough if there were any monsters and also he was still retraining how to sword fight with his left hand instead of his right – and so on.

When the meeting ended, Gem had thought to offer any help fWhip might need with the project, but he was off and not-literally-running, pouring over the papers as he walked with only a hastily spoken, “Mm-hm, mm-hm, see you next time.” He stopped to lean on a barrel to make another notation, then tucked the papers inside his jacket to protect them as he stepped into the bubble elevator.

They’d had to replace ladders in various places since those were a little difficult for Sausage to use at the moment, but if fWhip’s plan worked, that would only be temporary.

~*~

Although the prosthetic had a solid copper casing in the shape of an arm proportional to Sausage’s left one, the prototype was still simple and more of a rush job than fWhip would have liked, but the deadline seemed to come up faster than expected, and the salmon forge wasn’t predictable enough for such precise work. As it stood, he nearly made Sausage late for his own wedding, but he had to insist they take the time to get it working so he could not only properly hug Scott, but properly hold his hand while exchanging rings.

That thought convinced Sausage to hold still despite glances toward the clock while fWhip cinched up the metal rig that went over his shoulder to hold the prosthetic in place against the stump of his right arm, then connected a series of redstone wires between the two parts. Sausage flinched at the small jolt as the redstone fired up, but then wonder dawned on his face when he was able to slowly straighten the arm and bend the fingers partway.

fWhip did warn him to think of it as a simple tool and not a full replacement; the range of movement was severely limited and wouldn’t hold much weight, and there wasn’t enough grip strength in the fingers to pick things up, but it would serve the purpose needed for that day. Sausage thanked him for even that much ability, and after fWhip helped him get his single-sleeved dress shirt and similarly modified ceremonial doublet on, he covered the prosthetic with his cloak and they hurried out to the garden for the ceremony.

Scott, waiting with everyone else, wore exquisite traditional elven wedding robes, a circlet made of gleaming ice crystals with a short veil attached atop his head, and clearly looked like he had been worried that Sausage had gotten cold feet. Instead, he saw the grin on his groom’s face that gave away that he was up to something and Scott couldn’t help a smile of his own, wondering if that giddy expression was for more than just the fact that their wedding was even happening. The elf’s own look of surprise, then of joy, when Sausage lifted the arm from under his cloak to cup his substitute hand underneath Scott’s hand, then slip the wedding ring on, was worth the minor discomfort of the not-quite-perfected redstone signals.

And then, once pronounced man and husband, Sausage carefully put both arms around Scott to hug him the way he had longed to since the moment he had woken up after the battle and found that his love was shared.

The redstone wiring failed partway through the reception, causing need for an impromptu sling to hold the prosthetic up until fWhip could remove the rig later, but Sausage didn’t mind. It had worked for just the right amount of time that it needed to, and anything else he could do fine with just his left hand – or with Scott’s help.

There were a few more designs that fWhip tried out after that, with variations on how the redstone wiring read signals and how the assortment of gears moved. Ever the adventurous type – and maybe just eager to have two working hands again, because what was a builder with only one arm – as well as possibly an unhealthy amount of pain tolerance, Sausage made for a good test subject. He put up with the occasional shorts in the wiring that left the prosthetic hanging useless, weathered the zaps if the power distribution was off, and let fWhip tinker without being picky about how the arm looked.

During the final test of getting conscious signals from Sausage to transfer to the prosthetic, fWhip resorted to a different sort of experiment with Gem’s help that involved embedding a transmitter inside a magic crystal that was attuned to the Mythlandian’s personal magical frequency, creating a small device that fit over Sausage’s ear and could be hidden behind it. This linked up with a matching crystal inside the prosthetic, and greatly increased Sausage’s control over the parts of the arm.

From there fWhip refined the inner workings. Smaller gears, a new type of copper wiring, some of the same old redstone technology, and then a series of overlapping struts on the outside to form the shape of flexor, radialis, bicep, triceps, and other assorted muscles but retaining superior functionality. He added a few aesthetic details as well, like invoking the vambrace he used to wear on his forearm that contained a second attuned gemstone for a backup.

The rig also no longer needed to go over his shoulder, with a basket-like inner structure that fit snug against what remained of his arm and the outer struts still forming a muscle-shaped support over it. An extra, simple strap was attached to the basket that could be tightened just in case, making it easier to remove for sleep or if it was irritating him for any reason. Sausage would wear a fabric cuff to cover the end of his stump for a little padding and protection for the scarred skin, the cuff itself buttoned on one side to also offer easy removal. He could choose to either drape a partial shirt sleeve over the top half of his upper arm or do away with sleeves on that side of his shirts altogether; the only drawback to the new design being that fabric could easily get caught in the struts if left sitting against them while he was using it. fWhip offered to test out full cover casings for temporary use in future versions, but Sausage still preferred functionality over appearance.

The real test came when attempting to pick up and carry boxes of supplies and materials, and how well the prosthetic held up while actually building. Of course, fWhip also cautioned against letting too much dust or small debris get into the arm, so Sausage was still limited on that front anyway, but getting to do at least a little of his favorite hobby was an improvement, and now he had Scott to help him – and to remind him when to take a break, or keep track of how much dust was getting kicked up. Still, even just drawing up architectural designs and taking measurements was easier with two hands.

fWhip was, however, resigned to knowing that part of the regular maintenance on the prosthetic would be cleaning the internal mechanisms. Although, to look at it another way, it served just as much of a learning experience for him to see what other types of improvements he could make to protect and perfect the internal parts even more.

~*~

With such a wedding as auspicious as a king marrying an elven prince, it was inevitable that there would be other parties of a more public nature, with the nobles of Mythland wishing to congratulate their ruler, and envoys from Rivendell visiting to honor their prince now become a king regnant. Things generally went smoothly, so on one occasion Scott and Sausage separated to mingle with crowds of their respective fellows to thank them.

Scott ended up accepting a gift from the Rivendell merchant’s guild of bottles of spiced cider, the best of each’s stock, and shared one with them over some idle chatter about recent Rivendell affairs until one of them made the casual comment, “Say, good move securing yourself a kingdom.”

Scott was about to question what they were implying but another of the merchants cut in with a laugh, “Ah, yes – why else a human then, hmm? What a quaint dalliance.”

A third asked, “He only has, what, fifty years left in him? Any lucky elf in mind for when that day comes?”

Scott forced his expression to be neutral then twirled his finger in the air. He froze their drinks, then caused frost to form over their hands so they were stuck to their goblets. He tossed what was left of his drink into the face of the first offender, then he spun around with his chin held high and walked away.

Meanwhile, Sausage had been chatting with some nobles from the far side of Mythland, and after showing off the latest version of his prosthetic, was fielding reports on the land holdings plus a little trouble with zombie hordes, which he promised to look into.

One of the men kept eyeing any of the elven guests who meandered nearby, then finally spoke his mind. “So, an elf became your choice? I can’t blame you. They have such… unusual color hair. Such pretty things…”

His tone made Sausage feel cautious that this was some type of judgment. “Well, there’s plenty of other things, just like you and me. Fighting skills, magic talent—”

“I suppose,” the man droned on as if dismissing those details, “They’re not all as delicate as they look. Say, are the ears like handles for when he’s—”

Upon the word ears, Sausage could guess where it was going and began to draw back his right arm. He then cold clocked the man right in the face before he could finish the sentence, buckling a few struts and popping a redstone wire somewhere in his prosthetic. The hand went limp and he had to lower the arm by pushing on it with his left hand, but he only glared as the offender’s fellow noble tried to help him, walking him away from the enraged Mythland king.

Sausage turned away as well and stormed off through the staring crowd, whispered gossip following in his wake about what the noble could possibly have said to make their king react like that.  He found a quiet spot with fewer people and started to inspect his arm. Aside from the struts making up the back of the hand and one by the wrist, he figured whatever wire had broken was key to letting him control the hand. He could only move the elbow partway so he forced it into a folded position, then removed his ceremonial cape and hung it over the arm to make it look like he was merely holding the cape as one normally would when feeling warm.

He figured that would suffice to ward off comments until he could contact fWhip to fix it. He should probably ask the inventor about reinforcing it so he could use it for such occasions without breaking it. He did feel a little foolish, however, that he had used it instead of his left fist, but the anger had struck pretty quickly, and his right side had been in a better position to hit first…

Well, what was done was done. He wasn’t about to allow such crude comments, and now people knew it. He turned back toward the crowd – in time to see Scott stalking by looking upset. He reached for the elf’s arm to stop him. “Hey – are you all right?”

Startled, Scott looked over at him, having not noticed he was there, then promptly hugged him and explained what the merchants had said. “It’s just so… callous of them to think I only married you because I wouldn’t become ruler of Rivendell, and that I would just… wait out your time…”

“Well, you… shouldn’t have to be alone after I go,” Sausage said softly. “It’s just a fact I’ll pass first. And I wouldn’t do anything like mess with magic to extend my lifespan, that would be crazy, eh-heh…”

Scott gave an earnest but gentle smile. “You’ve already thought about that, haven’t you?”

“Ah— haha. Yup,” Sausage admitted. “I won’t though. I know it won’t end well. We have the time together that we have.” He clasped Scott’s hand and brought it to his lips for a kiss to his knuckles.

Scott then hugged him again, only to realize there was something odd when Sausage returned the hug with only his left arm. The elf stepped back and looked down questioningly at how the prosthetic, hidden by the cape, was positioned. Sausage cleared his throat and slid the cape back to show the damage to his hand. “I, um, needed to defend your honor. The condescension runs on both sides.”

Scott sighed and helped arrange the cape back over the hand. “And we thought demons were the worst of our problems…”

“I know. Turns out it’s really other people. Come on, we’ll stick together for the rest of the night.”

“I like that plan.” Scott smiled, then paused and removed his own cape, draping it over the prosthetic as well. “Look how nice my husband is, carrying that for me.” He kissed Sausage on the cheek, earning a grin, then they rejoined the crowd.

.

It was sometime later when they were approached by the nobleman whom Sausage had punched, a sizeable bruise marring his face. “I expect an apology!” the man hissed. He flicked his gaze toward Scott and began to sneer.

“No,” Sausage said calmly, then yelled, “Guards! Escort this—” He spoke a word in Elvish “—out of here!”

Scott feigned a horrified gasp. “Sausage! Don’t call him that!” He had to suppress a smile until the man was hauled away, then he burst out laughing.

“What?” Sausage asked. “Was my accent that bad?”

“You called him a tree branch.”

“Oh. Well. Close enough.”

.

The rest of the event passed without incident, and soon enough the celebrations tapered off. With life getting back to normal and quiet, peaceful days ahead of them, Sausage turned his thoughts toward the future and the other possibilities that might await there.

~*~

One night, as Scott was helping him remove his prosthetic to get ready for bed, he decided it might be time to share some of his thoughts. He felt a little nervous, however, but instead of fidgeting just tried to lay still when Scott lifted it away from the protective cuff that covered the remaining part of his upper arm, the flicker of combined magic and redstone signals tapering off from his awareness. With the utmost care Scott placed it in its fabric-lined case where it wouldn’t be accidentally knocked over if either of them got up during the night.

Sausage sat up and leaned to reach and catch the elf’s hand before he could move around to the other side of the bed. “Can I… Can I ask you something?” Yet then, hesitating, he let go of Scott’s hand.

Curious about his tone, Scott sat down on the side of the bed. “You can, although it seems like you’re not sure if you want to. Everything okay?”

“Yes, I was just, um -- Well, I’ve been wondering… What, uh, what do you think about having… children?”

“Aside from the obvious issue with that?” Scott uttered a light laugh, but seeing Sausage’s face flush a little, he rested his hand over his. “Honestly? I hadn’t thought about it much before. Between the old world and this one, I always had other things on my mind.” He went quiet as he gave it some thought now, gently caressing Sausage’s arm in apology for seeming to tease him. “I guess… I mean we could… start considering adoption. Did you have something specific in mind? One, or maybe two – son, daughter, other?”

“Doesn’t particularly matter, just, ah— whoever we find that will accept us as we are, too. I mean, I don’t know how a child might feel about a father with only one arm.” Sausage looked at him sheepishly. “I would ask fWhip to reinforce the other one so I can pick them up and carry them around and stuff. Well, if they happen to be small enough for that. I guess age doesn’t matter too much, either.”

“Probably not an infant, though. We’re not equipped for handling anyone that young, and it might be easier to adjust our lives around an older child – you know, one who would know to be careful about your arm. There is one other consideration,” he added softly, a single possible repercussion coming to mind. “…Human, or elf?”

Sausage glanced down for a moment, understanding the implication, then smiled when he lifted his head. “Doesn’t matter. Whichever we find.”

Scott smiled in return and patted Sausage’s leg, then stood to dim the lanterns before going to his side of the bed. He had just gotten settled when more thoughts started occurring to him. “What would they call us? We can’t both be ‘dad’.”

“Dad and… ice-dad,” Sausage joked.

“No.” Scott pretended to act offended.

“I’m kidding! I called my father ‘papa’ when I was little. I’d be okay being that.”

“I’ll be ‘dad’ then.” He went quiet for a minute, weighing his next thought before saying out loud, “Should we tell them who we are right away? ‘Hi, we’re the rulers of Mythland, do you want to become royalty?’”

“That could be intimidating, or influence a match that doesn’t work out, depending on the people who run the place.”

“Right… It could be a surprise, maybe?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Then Sausage frowned sadly even though Scott couldn’t see it in the dark. “We won’t tell them the truth about my arm. That stays in the past. We’ll…make something up if anyone asks. Or just say that we don’t talk about what happened to Papa’s arm.”

Scott sought between them for Sausage’s left hand and gave it a squeeze. “All right.” He let a silent moment of that comfort pass, then said, “I’ll go to Rivendell in a day or so and find out what options there might be.”

“Sounds good. Maybe I’ll change some rooms around while you’re there.”

“Okay.”

They fell back into silence, if not sleep, with Sausage feeling grateful that Scott had been open to the suggestion, and Scott now realizing how much more of a future was available to them. His mind went to comments made by other elves about Sausage’s shorter lifespan. The idea of children meant their marriage, and the future of Mythland, could outlast them both…

~*~

Xornoth attempted to stare at his younger brother as if he wasn’t crazy, but darn if it wasn’t difficult not to. “You would like me to what?”

“Just to help me vet a few locations, if you will? I don’t know how appropriate it would be for a former prince of Rivendell to start touring every orphanage in the realm with his human husband…”

Xornoth chuckled. “Oh, but it’s appropriate for the current ruler to do it?”

“Well, I didn’t mean for you to go in person—”

“I understand your concerns but, Scott, why don’t you?”

“What?”

“Just go! Take Sausage with you and go meet some kids! Don’t worry so much about criteria, I’m sure any place will be overjoyed to know there will be dedicated parents looking after some young ones! Remember, I’ve seen you two together and the hearts are flying between you all the time now.”

The tips of Scott’s ears burned and he stared back at him as if he had never in the world expected him to say something like that.

Xornoth went and pretty much read his brother’s mind. “What? Did you think I would discourage you? You with your former inability to control elemental powers and him being a former demon? You’ve both gotten second chances and the world is wide open. You deserve a family of your own, too, if that’s what you want.”

“Maybe let’s not mention that second part ever again. Can I trust you to not bring that up? Our one rule is going to be we don’t talk about what happened to Papa’s arm.”

“ ‘Papa’? Oh, that’s adorable.” Xornoth laughed. Scott folded his arms, indicating he was serious. “Of course, I promise – I would no sooner tell about that than I would how I was once a demon, too.” He winked, but at those words Scott knew the secret was safe. Xornoth then began chuckling again. “Wouldn’t want to make Papa sad by reminding him about his arm, no… Ha! All right,” he said as Scott elbowed him, “Let’s get out a map and find you a town or two where you might not be easily recognized.”

Coming Next: Chapter One – The First Princes

[thedo0zyslider]

Explosions Across Lifetimes - Chapter Twenty Five: Heated Arguments, Receding Cold - 4k words

The next monthly meeting occurs, with far too much drama than anyone was anticipating, and with a lot of words that should've gone unsaid.

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The feeling in the air during the next month's meeting is…unusual to say the least. Mainly because there are now two empty chairs, aside from Pix’s permanently empty and foreboding one at one end of the long white table. Gem and Scott have not shown up by the time it starts, which is strange, because they’re both very punctual when it comes to this sort of thing. The last time neither had shown was when they’d be taken prisoner all those months ago..

Sausage is exchanging glances with Fwhip, ones that aren’t good and leave the Count averting his eyes in what seems to be shame. Pearl herself was giving tense glances between the both of them, indicating that the farmer was more in the loop than the rest of them. And those two things are probably why the air feels so cold when he walks into the meeting room that month.

Yet Jimmy has to wonder if it’s partly because of himself.

He had been more than a little stressed over the past two months. The loss of his Codfather’s head was still affecting him deeply, and it got worse with every failed attempt to gain it back. He’d have to have tried at least ten different methods by now, all of them that either helped his empire of the cod themselves in some way. None of them worked at all in the end, not even for one bloody second.

Sometimes it is easy to forget he’s lost a part of himself, and that he doesn’t even have a good idea of how to get it back. But most of the time, like now, with curious glances being thrown at the top of his head, Jimmy is painfully aware. He is always aware of the feeling that something’s missing, that he’s lost something big. That a part of his identity is gone and has been stripped form him without any good, solid, or seemingly fair fucking reason. Of what the codboy head , as the thing he now wears is called, sits in place of. The stares of his citizens remind him every day he wakes, anytime he tries to do anything around the empire, and it’s doing nothing but hardening his revolve to get back what was rightfully his. What had always been rightfully his, seemingly from birth.

And  maybe, in his seemingly endless attempts to get the Codfather’s head back, he has neglected everything else. Jimmy normally visits his friends regularly, or shoots them a message or two every once and a while. He hasn’t seen Lizzie in person in a month, maybe a month and a half. The cod wasn’t even aware Scott had lost the crown, or that Joel had obtained it somehow. He’d seen Fwhip a little more, but it had still been a few weeks.

And in those few weeks, something big had seemed to have happened. But in the bad way, unfortunately.

Because Gem had messaged him now even one week ago, asking about where Fwhip was. And when Jimmy had said he wasn’t sure, she’d told him to wait, and that this was something better discussed in person, At the next meeting perhaps. 

Now Gem isn’t here, and Fwhip looks like he’d committed a cardinal sin, and Sausage is glaring daggers at him. So yeah, the cod maybe now knows what the wizards previous messages might’ve been about.

Katherine clears her throat a little awkwardly, and officially starts this meeting. “So….what seems to be going on?” Her gaze flicks to the three remaining members of the Wither Rose Alliance, and the room goes silent again.

“Okay!” Katherine says with a clap of her hands, a sigh clearly being held back. “Can anyone tell me why Scott isn’t here?” Her gaze flicks expectantly between Jimmy and Sausage, and the cod wishes he had an answer to her question. Though he doesn't know if that would make him feel better or worse than he does right now,

The Mythlander is the one to answer, his blue gaze flicking between Katherine and the table. “His ice powers were getting…a little out of control. He asked Gem to help him, and accidentally ended up hitting her with an ice beam…”

There were a few stifled gasps around the table, a few hands covering mouths. Sausage continued on regardless. 

“She’s alive! Don’t worry! Her wizards are working on a way to reverse it!” The brunette reassures, waving his hands a little wildly. That’s good to hear, really it is, but their friend's explanation had ultimately given the nine of them more questions than answers.

The next to speak was Lizzie, who had started to ring her hands together in anxiety, the emotion clearly coming through in her voice as well. “But what about Scott…?”

“He kinda, ah, exiled himself over it…” Sausage mumbled, running a hand through his hair in lingering stress.

“That’s horrible!” Katherine exclaimed, her brows now furrowed, right as the rest of them erupted with their own exclamations of surprise and upsetness. Expect for Jimmy, who was quietly in shock over all this more than anything.

“How long has he been gone for?” Pearl, the next person to inquire, did so more calmly, as she presumably had been getting some scarce updates as everything went down over the course of the past week.

“Maybe five days now? A week?” Sausage shrugged, the action seeming a little helpless. “We’ve been searching but haven’t found anything yet.”

Joel clears his throat, throwing another pointed glance at the Count sitting across from him. “Okay, that doesn’t explain why you're glaring at Fwhip.”

In an instant, everyone’s gazes are on the Count, sinking into him. The half dragon shifts and squirms under the weight of it all, and seems to slump down further in his chair. When Fwhip speaks his voice seems reluctant, almost shy, like he knows what reaction is about to come. “I was…a little angry when I would that out, and-”

“ Angry!? You blew up Scott’s house!” Sausage interrupts, and the stunned silence is loud. Jimmy goes to say something, but his voice is caught in his throat as he stares at his boyfriend in complete and utter disbelief. It’s a lot of disbelief, and also growing anger bubbling right under his skin, properly distracting him from his stupid Codfather’s head for the first time in months.

Shrub is the next to speak, her voice displaying all of their shock perfectly. “You what!?” She doesn’t yell it out, but it’s close enough, and Fwhip seems to shrink further under the gnome's unusually hardened and disappointed gaze. Beside her, Joey is wide eyed, and staring at the Count like he has two heads, because even the lost emperor isn’t as foolish or impulsive enough to do such a thing to another empire. 

“What the fuck, man!’ Joel calls out, and beside him Lizzie narrows her eyes and nearly growls at their old enemy. Who might become an actual enemy once again, depending on how all thai goes. Though that would be bad, for a lot of reasons, so hopefully none of this ends up going that way.

When Jimmy finally speaks, the cod is basically yelling, almost hissing his words out. His normally cheery and happy voice is now loud and booming, echoing throughout the room and probably down a few of the surrounding hallways as well. “Why the hell would you do that, Fwhip!? What in the world were you thinking!? Why would you blow up Scott’s house!?”

The anger feels like it’s bubbling out of him all at once, probably not helped by his pre-built stress. It’s bubbling out so much, he won’t even let Fwhip get a word in edgewise when he does try to tell his part of the story.

"Orchid, please-" 

"Don't orchid me!" Jimmy snaps. Fwhip flinches back in his chair at that, and the air around the rest of the meeting becomes quite uncomfortable. 

There’s a few minutes of terse silence, and the room is quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Jimmy glares at him heatedly, and the Count can feel a few of his others doing the same, though lacking the same amount of spark that his boyfriend carried. 

After a minute Fwhip gets out a few, shaky words, trying not to let his voice tremble. He gets the sense that he and Jimmy need to have a private conversation elsewhere, and then return to the meeting a little while afterwards. Less all their friends want to watch them have a couples fight, which he highly doubts they do. It also gives everyone a chance to cool down, and not yell at Fwhip before he can say the apology he desperately wants to get out.

“How about we take this…to another room, okay?” The Count suggests slowly, a little hesitantly, even, already beginning to rise from his chair. He’s doing so hastily, looking ready to sprint out of the room before the cod even agrees with him. 

Jimmy narrows his eyes at his partner, accompanied by the sound of his tail swishing rather angrily. “Fine.” He huffed sharply, and moved to follow the half dragon out of the main meeting room. 

They walk to a room together, one not quite as far down the hall as it maybe should be, and as soon as the door closes Jimmy is laying into him properly. And it’s nothing he doesn’t deserve, really.

“Why the hell would you do that, Fwhip!?” His boyfriend shouts, frills puffed out in what is absolutely anger. Understandable anger, because he had just blown up his best friend shouse a few days ago.

“I was upset-” The Count is frustratingly cut off for the third time that day, and tries his best to not let that irritate him, to not get upset and make this argument worse. Though that’s pretty hard to do, in his own defense. (Which is probably a bad defense actually, all things considered.)

“Upset enough to blow up a house!?” Jimmy’s voice rises to a level where someone can absolutely hear what he’s on about, and Fwhip doesn’t even think the cod cares about if they’re heard or not. The Count isn’t even sure if he himself cares about that, though that fact is one of the farest things from his mind at the moment.

He manages to get his own defense out, stumbling through the words as he does, shame and the smallest amount of self hatred lining his words. “I shouldn’t have done it, I know! I’m sorry, really I am.”

“You can’t just….just do that when you get mad, okay? That’s-” The blonde in front of him starts to scold him, like a child, like Gem does sometimes, and it pushes Fwhip a little closer to the edge.

“I know, I know! I’m working on it!” The Count snaps, a growl being held in the back of his throat and his own tail now beginning to lash wildly behind him. Fwhip knows he’s impulsive, and sometimes lets his emotions get the better, and that he likes exploding things to a dangerous degree. He knows that! And he;s doing a lot better than he used to, considering the last big explosion was that goddamned ravine between Mythland and the Codlands years ago!

“I’m sorry, okay, I didn’t mean to cause Scott to go missing or anything. I don’t even know what I wanted…okay?” His voice lowers, and comes out in a sigh. The room is silent for a few seconds, as his partner considers his words. But apparently this is not the end of whatever the cod across from him has to say, and by the next time the blonde speaks his tone is more worried than anything.

Jimmy starts again, and it feels like some of the anger has left him. Only some of it, though. "Do you know how worried I was when Gem messaged me-"

"You? Worried? That's rich!" Fwhip cuts in, frustration leaking out of him like water leaks out of a broken pipe. Frustration that’s been building up for weeks upon weeks, like a clog in his system. "You've been worrying me for the past few months!"  

“With what?” Jimmy snaps, crossing his arms over his chest.

“With never wanting to see me, because you're apparently so busy all the time!” Fwhip retorts, trying to keep his voice as low as he can manage. He doesn’t know if anyone can hear them, and doesn’t want anyone to if they can. This had turned into an argument that wasn’t for anyone’s ears but theirs. “I barely come over because you say somethings happening, and I don’t want to intrude! And you said I was the one always working!”

Irritated clicks came from the back of the Codfather’s throat as he responded. “I’ve just been dealing with a lot, okay!? I’m getting it sorted!”

“You could’ve let me help, if it’s taking this long! I’m your partner , you're supposed to let me help when something’s wrong!”

“I-..” The blonde fumbles on his words for a minute, then pulls out possibly the most generic and also irritating response to ever use in an argument ever. “I didn’t need help, okay, I have it under control!”

“I really don’t think you do-” Fwhip starts, and is promptly cut off in the heat of it all.

“And why’s that!?” Jimmy asks, voice rising once again, clear frustration in it.

“Because you're always running out of the meetings nowadays. You act weird during them, and as soon as they're over you're out the door and no one sees you for weeks!” Fwhip would know that Jimmy’s been dealing with whatever it is alone, because he’s asked everyone the cod is close to the same damn question. If they’d seen him recently, and the answer was always no . Everytime his partner had gone a week or so without talking to him, he’d ask that question. He’d asked Lizzie, Joel, Katherine, Scott — everyone , and the response was always the same. That Jimmy was being weird and not checking in as often as he used too,

“That’s why I’ve been worried, okay? Because you’ve been acting so off and not telling anyone anything!” Fwhip’s sounding a little worried, now, maybe a little desperate, but he can’t help it. Weeks worth of anxiety is crashing over him all at once, and he’s not holding it back anymore.

Jimmy gives what sounds like the last, frustrating retort he’s willing to give. The same thing he’d been saying the whole goddamned time. "You didn't need to worry that much! It's fine , I can handle it! " 

" Bullshit! " Fwhip yells out loudly, not caring of who hears him anymore. "I was worrying because I-I'm your boyfriend! I care about you, a lot, okay?" The words I love you get caught in his throat for what feels like the millionth fucking time. Goddammit, why? Why can't he just say it? Why is it so hard to tell Jimmy those three simple words-

"Well maybe you should stop caring so much! If it's what made you blow Scott's house in the first place!"

Fwhip goes silent at that, the words striking him harder than they probably should. But maybe it’s also a fair reaction, because his boyfriend did just tell him to stop fucking caring so much. Whatever report he had dries up in his throat, and he just stares at the cod across from him, an hurt expression of some kind absolutely spreading across his features. 

Jimmy's eyes widen slowly, as he realizes what he'd just said. And once he does he's already scrambling to take it back. "Oh Fuck. I'm-I'm sorry, Fwhip. I shouldn't have-" There is clear regret in his tone, and it’s panicked as well. He takes a step forward, reaching out to grab Fwhip’s arm, but the other shifts backwards, limbs being drawn closer to the rest of his body.

The Count takes a slightly shaky breath, and moves to head out of the room. "No, its-its….I'm done, I'm going home. We can talk later…." As far as he's concerned, this argument is over, this meeting is over. They're done talking. He needs to go home. His heart is hurting far too much for this now.

"Fwhip, wait-" Jimmy's near desperate plea is met with nothing but the sound of a dragon's tail limply being dragged across a quartz floor, and the dejected sounding click of a door shutting quietly behind it. 

The Count takes a few deep, ragged breaths to keep himself calm. At least until he’s outside and flying home. At least until them. He listens to the sound of his boots clinking against Katherine’s nice, beautiful quartz floor, and is glad he’s not spilling his tears on it or anything. He also hears no footsteps following him, and part of him is glad, because that part of him knows he needs the space. The other part of him wishes Jimmy would run up to him right now and they could make up and kiss like none of this ever happens. The third part of him knows that's impossible. 

He takes another breath when he finally re-enters the meeting room, as he needs to go through it to leave the castle. And also apologize to the rest of them as well, for the whole Scot thing of course. But when he opens the door the atmosphere has turned from upset to awkward, and all of his fellow rulers are gazing at him. 

Shit . Fwhip thinks, catching the looks the others are giving him. That’s not good.

“You all heard that, didn’t you?” He asks, squirming under the weight seven gazes; some of them incredibly awkward, and some look like they’re sorry for him. Like he needs that.

“Yeah…” Lizzie mumbled awkwardly, her gaze flicking to her seablings chair. Fwhip thinks of Jimmy, remembers the words they’d just exchanged, and flinches at everything going on in his head at the moment.

“ Shit. ” He hisses, pinning the bridge of his nose. His tail lays dejectedly on the ground still, and his wings seem to fold in impossibly tighter to him with every passing second.

Joey lets out an uncomfortable cough from the back of his throat. “We were trying not to, you guys were just…a little loud. And not very far away…” It’s the most awkward Fwhip’s ever heard the Lost Emperor, which feels like a feat in and of itself, considering how that man has no shame whatsoever. Not that there’s any reason to celebrate it, that is.

“....Sorry?” Shrub offers, and Katherine lets out a somewhat comforting murmur of her own.

“Probably should’ve told Jimmy all that in private first anyways…” Sausage muttered, giving Fwhip the best apologetic look he could muster in the moment. An apologetic look he didn’t really deserve, in his own humble opinion. The Count just sighs in response. 

“Look, I’m sorry about the blowing up Scott’s house thing, really.” He starts, and he’s repeated the sentiment so many times today it’s already starting to feel empty. Even though it’s not, even if he means it with his entire soul. He locks eyes with Sausage as he speaks, and hopes his brother can see that. He hopes the man knows him as well as he thinks he does.“I’m gonna make it up to him when he gets back….”

“We kinda overhead all that. We get that you’re sorry okay?” Pearl reassured him, her voice a thousand times softer than any of the concern held in her gaze.

Joel spoke next, his words unusually slow paced and worried. “You okay there, mate?” “It’s just…” The Count trailed off, taking a deep breath, his words unsteady as he spoke. His gaze was now firmly fixed on the ground, tears already threatening to break through the surface. Goddamit, why couldn't he save the waterworks for when he was in private?

“..Fwhip..?” Someone said his name, he didn’t know who, all he knew was that they said it gently. Gently enough to finally, somehow, after everything, be his breaking point for that day. He should’ve broken a lot  earlier, honestly, he doesn't know how it took until now, really.

“It’s fine, I just….” Fwhip sighs. “I’m going home, okay?” He says, and keeps making his way to the door. He’s going to his physical home, at least, because his real one is back there, behind that door. Yet for once it doesn’t feel like he can run there, because that’s what he’s running from. Not forever, just for a bit. But until then he is at his physical home, waiting for his real one to mend itself once more.

However long that would take.

_______________________________________

Jimmy walks back to the rest of the group, probably a good ten minutes later, after he’s done swearing and hurling all kinds of insults towards himself. And also trying not to cry a little. Because what the fuck was wrong with him? How the hell could he have hurt Fwhip like that, how could he have said that?

There is lingering anger and stress still in him, but mostly it has become overtaken by regret. Regret and grief that both flood over him and cloud his sense and makes him hate himself for even saying such a cruel thing, even if it was in the heat of the moment or not. Even if they were both emotional and not thinking straight. He shouldn’t have said it, he shouldn’t have. God why did he say that, why, why, why, why, why?

Jimmy walks slowly down the same hallway Fwhip had not even an hour before, and does basically the same thing his partner had done. Listen to the sound of his own footsteps, try not to have a breakdown, and wish that his rose petal was here. (He shouldn’t be calling him rose petal still, like he has a right too, after telling Fwhip to not call him orchid then telling him to stop caring. It’s another thing from today he should never have done.)

When he finally returns to the meeting room the others have started to leave, yet Jimmy pays them no attention. He gives a handful of quick goodbyes to Lizzie, Joel, and a few others that manage to get his attention, and then he’s out the door, feeling like the worst person in the world in those moments. The blonde just goes straight to his shack when he does land back at home, hiding away in the tiny little house for the next few hours. 

He says he’ll leave and go and speak to Fwhip when doing so doesn’t feel so painfully, when the guilt lifts. When thinking about it doesn’t his anxiety of haywire and send him pacing with possible scenarios of how all of this could go wrong. His mind never thinks of a scenario where this could go right, only wrong, which probably makes everything he’s feeling one hundred times worse when he does so.

It never quite gets there in the end. Jimmy decides to get it over with and shoot Fwhip a message over their communicators three days after the meeting. Or maybe it was four, or five. He’d lost count at this point.

The cod lays there, his Codfather head still missing, late at night, and waits for a message from his boyfriend. Just so they can try and begin to fix this. So they can try and fix what they have, to fix them .

Part of him worries it won’t work. The rest of him hopes it does. The rest of him hopes it does with a desperation he’s never quite felt before. He thinks it’s what being in love does to someone. In some sick, twisted kinda way that is. 

He thinks it's what loving someone so much it hurts feels like. (he loves Fwhip so much he’ll endure this, even if it isn’t worth anything in the end. He’ll endure it. It’ll be worth it.Jimmy sure of that.)

[fantasticalbiology]

You know the best part about the way Smajor basically killed CPK, I’ve written stories where he’s done this. So context that no one cares about, back during afterlife CPK got stuck on the roof of the nether and couldn’t escape so Smajor or Count Smajor- as he had the vampire origin at the time- saved CPK from the roof of the nether which was all for not as he starved to death anyway. Now the reason this is important is because Smajor had started an “evil” group with Half-Wither Sausage and Shadow Shubble and people during that time after CPK got the Dullahan origin wanted him join them, and by saving him Smajor had a debt over him. So I joked that CPK was an evil intern for Smajor. Which leads to the two stories where Vampire Smajor uses CPK as a get out of danger free card i.e: Count Smajor vs Angel Smajor and Count Smajor vs the Wyverians.

[siriannatan]

Alliance Woes - ScottfWhip

Survivor mode is going strong I suppose, but I'm happy to write anything at all.

Scott couldn't for the life of him focus on what the Ocean Queen was talking about. He was a bit shocked she came to him in person. Bundled up in many many layers. But he did turn down alliance invites from all other member rulers of the Cod Alliance. He was sure she presented all the pros of having allies so distant from him would be. Especially with his empire being quite close to Grimlands. 

From the entire Wither Rose Alliance, fWhip's nation was most worrisome to Scott. Pear and Gem could be reasoned with. And could keep Sausage somewhat in check. fWhip was an absolute wild card who listened to no one. In all honesty, fWhip's offer to join said alliance was more tempting. With how Katherine seemed to be leaning in favour of Cod. She could be trouble.

"Lord Smajor? Are you okay?" the Ocean Queen asked, breaking him from his thoughts of last evening's 'political' talks with Count fWhip himself. Luckily the half dragon left shortly before his current guest arrived.

"Yes, yes, I apologize if I seem tired. I had to stay up late with a bit of an emergency," Scott apologized, shifting uncomfortably and fixing the collar of his shirt. He really hoped it covered marks that fWhip seemed to love as well as it seemed while he was getting dressed. In a lot of hurry, arguably. He really hoped Lizzie would be done bothering him so he could rest, have proper breakfast, and try to get fWhip's teeth and sharp, nearly claw-like nails out of his mind before their official meeting. "Unfortunately I'll have to, yet again," he was nothing if not at least a bit petty, "turn down this most generous invitation. Taking everything into account the close relation to Lost Empire as well as the distance I have to stay by my decision," he explained, with as friendly of a smile as he could when sitting was kind of uncomfortable... Damn fWhip... 

Ocean Queen ended her visit a bit abruptly and stiffly. And didn't look any happier when she passed by a very happy with himself fWhip in Scott's door. The bastard arrived sooner than he said he would. And his smirk got even more smug once he noticed. "Sorry I'm early, but you were interested in blowing up a whole tunnel through a mountain, and that takes a lot of planning," fWhip grinned, barely acknowledging the Ocean Queen with the slightest of head tilts.

This of course didn't impress Ocean Queen who only sped up the proper leaving procedures. Leaving Scott alone with the beast that is fWhip and all his sharp edges. "So, shall we talk explosives over breakfast?" the count offered innocently but not so secretly eyeing all the spots he left his marks last night.

"How about you stop beating around the bush and just ask me to join your stinking alliance?" Scott huffed, escaping fWhip's grabbing range to go and actually get breakfast and not just be fWhip's biting toy.

"I don't really need to, do I? Not like you'll join cow-boy's club if I don't," fWhip hummed as he closely followed the elven king. "If you want to join to keep them from asking then I can have a chat with Gem and Pearl, they shouldn't mind and then Sausage can't say no," he added as Scott remained silent.

"That'd be appreciated, it's annoying," Scott saw no reason to not agree. Most of WRA was tolerating his existence but didn't seem like they would want to spend an excessive amount of time - or any for that matter - around him. Except for fWhip. But there was no reasoning with madness. Or dragons. And the bastard was both. To certain degrees.

[rottonfishie]

Empires smp world building au thingy

The Grimlands - founded in 1922, by Peter Tay III

————————————————————————

National animal - Deepslate Dragon

The dragons used to live in the deep caverns of the grimlands but after people began to explore the caverns, the dragons were ran out and captured, there fire were used in the beginning of the 1900's.

They are about 11'0 feet on all fours and 2x the size on two legs, there very strong and can breath fire and seem to be made out of redstone.

For many years these dragons were abused by the grimlanders only recently are the dragons are being treated with respect like how people would treat horses.

————————————————————————

Magic/Reglion - Deepslate redstone & Wither Roses

The Grimlands have been magic free as long as its been founded mainly been founded by humans who have never even seen magic before..

But the grimlanders came into wither roses and deepslate redstone for as long as the came to the plains, the wither rose began growing round the camps of the grimlanders and they began using the rose for teas and stews causing them to gain natural Immunity to the witherous affects of the roses.

The spears of Deepslate Redstone have been there for much longer than the grimlanders, the grimlander just began using them when the found they could be used for power.

The grimlanders have really never believed in deitys.

This what a grimlanders magic soul looks like :

————————————————————————

Vegetation - Potatoes & Wither Roses

Wither roses have natural growen around the grimlands for years no one can explain why, but I seems to be the reason that soil out side of wall in completely infertile.

Potatoes were the first thing farmed at the camps the original grimlanders were Potato farmers they are also the only thing that can really grow in the harsh soil of the plains.

————————————————————————

Flag Of The Grimlands

————————————————————————

Exports

Gunpowder

Potatoes

Weapons

Forgery

————————————————————————

Countess Ember Tay (49)

Count Quartzite Tay (52)

Prince Fwhip Tay (18)

Princess Gemini Tay (18)

Extra Family

King Duardo Calypso (54)

Queen Cordelia Calypso (deceased:32)

Prince Eleodoro Calypso (29)

Princess Estella Calypso (25)

Prince Adonis Calypso (22)

Prince Aspen Calypso (22)

Prince Mythical "Sausage" Calypso (18)

Princess Pearl Calypso (19) [half sister]

[entityredacted]

The Last Letter from Sanctuary part 3

Aka Shelby's awful horrible idea but for real

Some warnings: Self loathing/self depreciation, mention of unrequited love, description of a dead body, dissociation

---------------------------------------------------

"Scott!"

Scott woke with a yelp of pain as he fell out of bed from Shelby's yell. The witch had once again almost shattered his door on accident and was climbing up the ladder to his bedroom as fast as possible.

"Sorry!" she said hastily and helped him up.

"It's important, look."

"It's three in the Morning Shelby," Scott groaned as he tried to get his eye to focus on the book she was shoving in his face. He couldn't read whatever language it was in.

"Shelby I can't read ancient elvish," he told her.

"But you speak elvish!"

"Modern elvish. It's very different from whatever that is."

"Oh."

Shelby sounded a little disappointed and awkwardly turned the book around to read it herself.

"Using the deceased body of the chosen subject, blood vines, hearts of the nether and the charred skulls of long dead soldiers, the subject may be resurrected in the ritual described on page 279."

She looked up at Scott.

"Blood vine and hearts of the nether is slang for weeping vines and nether wart," Scott said uncertainly.

"What are you going to do?"

"Scott come on! You said it yourself, what if we brought him back?"

It took several seconds for Scott's tired brain to understand what Shelby meant.

"Shelby I wasn't being serious!" he half shouted.

"But I mean..."

He let his mind try and grasp the concept of Sausage coming back, what that would be like.

"He didn't love you. He never loved you and he's gone," the voice in his head whispered again.

But did it really matter? Did it matter if Sausage never loved him and never would, as long as he was back? As long as he was alive and happy and running around Sanctuary with Hermes and Bubbles, so wonderfully alive and bright as Scott remembered him?

No. No it didn't.

"Let's do it," Scott said after almost a whole minutes silence.

"When and where?"

"Tomorrow night in Sanctuary's chapel, that's where his body is, we can get the rest tomorrow," Shelby answered quickly.

"Okay then."

There were a lot of things going through Scott's head as he and Shelby laid the weeping vines in a circle around the casket with Sausage's body in it, as they forced it open and Shelby gently placed pieces of nether wart on his pale face, in his hands and on his chest. Scott couldn't help with that, he could only stare at the corpse in the casket. It had gone stiff and had long lost all its warmth and colour, Sausage's face was white and almost blue in some places.

Scott managed to help Shelby light black candles to surround the circle of weeping vines, then they sat down on their knees at the foot of the casket and Shelby spent a bit too long trying to find the right page in the massive book.

"Here," she whispered and propped the book up in front of them both.

"The chant needs to be in two languages a both of us need to smear some of our blood on the casket."

"I have a knife, so that wont be too hard," Scott told her and took a small pocket knife from his belt. He cut Shelby above the elbow and she cut him in the same place.

"You could do the elvish chant and I'll do the common," she said quietly as they smeared their blood into red lines on the casket. Scott didn't say anything, he just nodded.

Scott wasn't fully aware of what he was saying as they started chanting. He felt weirdly disconnected from everything that was happening, even from his own body. Words he didn't understand were leaving his mouth and thoughts he couldn't hear were swirling around his head. He was vaguely aware that the candles' fire had turned blue and that the weeping vines were turning black, as though they were withering.

Then both his and Shelby's chanting stopped abruptly and he felt as though he'd just woken up. He could understand his thoughts and words again, and Shelby looked like she'd been through the same thing.

"Did it work?" she asked shakily and they slowly rose to their feet.

The blood on the casket looked as if it had been burned and charred, the same thing had happened to the nether wart on Sausage's body. The body itself in the casket looked considerably less pale than before, it no longer looked like a dead body at all, more like Sausage was just sleeping.

Scott thought he must have been imagining it but he thought more had changed about Sausage. His hair looked darker in some spots and he could have sworn his nails were longer and the tips of his fingers black, but Shelby didn't seem to notice.

"Sausage? Are you there?"

No response.

"Sausage?"

Nothing.

"Sausage, are you alive?" Scott said, feeling his voice and hands trembling.

Then there was a very slight movement to Sausage’s hands. His eyes flickered open to reveal a cold, pale silver which was very different from his normal deep blue. His eyes turned to Scott and he sat up in his casket.