☆ thrice the bell tolls
{☆} characters neuvillette
{☆} notes cult au, imposter au, villain au, drabble, gender neutral reader
{☆} warnings minor angst
{☆} word count 0.9k
"Get in the water."
There is no trepidation in the voice of the Sovereign as he speaks, only pure contempt that bleeds into the very air until it chills their lungs – there will be no penance here. No redemption. He stands before them with apathetic indifference, and with his hands he shall draw judgement upon sinners without a shred of mercy, so heavy his gaze they cannot move. This land shall become the grave of gods – no, not gods, Archons. Transcendent..and fallible.
Horribly, humanly fallible.
What a cruel thing to be – neither god nor mortal, in the end. Their Authority a stolen, coveted thing, so easily taken in a blaze of fury that singes them to the bone, in winds so harsh it tears the breath from their lungs from the sheer pressure, in the way their hairs stand on end as if lightning shall smite them for their arrogance. Judgement has come for them, in the end, and no plea nor bargain can save them from it's justice – they shall be judged and they shall be sentenced.
"..I was willing to put aside your past transgressions – forgive your thievery of the Authority that is not your own – to see Their vision of harmony come to reality." He speaks with nothing but clarity and calmness that unsettles – as gentle as the serene pond illuminated by gentle sunlight, ducks drifting across its pristine surface and creating faint, brief ripples. Calm as the tide as it recedes from the shoreline. His eyes speak of the tempest – the raging winds and the harsh waves that will crash and break and ravage. There is a fury so turbulent it makes the wind go still, the earth erode and the water recede. "You do not deserve repentance when Their body bears the marks of your transgressions," There will be no mercy. They try to plead, to beg and bargain but they cannot speak – their cries go unheard just as Theirs were ignored. A horrifying irony.
"Self proclaimed Acolytes, all, yet you bathe in Their most divine blood and call yourselves Saints," He breathes in, taps his cane against the hardened earth, and holds his head high as he meets their eyes unflinching. Mercy, they think, for we are innocent – we did not know. "Sinners, to the very last. You tear at the flesh of the most Divine like wild dogs to sate your own hunger, for you know nothing else."
His voice is the toll – it echoes like the ringing of a bell, calling them to the water like a siren. It beckons, it demands, and it will not wait. The water recedes and he stands like a beacon among the shores – a bastion of light where it has been snuffed out.
His eyes witness their sins – heavy a burden he bears as he witnesses that which they must atone for. The cruel hand of an Archon as it spills the Divine blood of the very earth beneath their feet. He sees Their agony, feels it to the last. Every bolt of wind, every jagged rock, every bolt of lightning. Every single one he feels until he weeps – for Them, he weeps.
His left hand renders judgement – guilty. Their transgressions are grave, and no redemption can be found for such horrors they have inflicted upon the mortal vessel of the Divine. They have felt their sorrow, have felt Their pain, and he has found them guilty.
And with his right hand..he enacts justice.
"Let your sins be your anchor – let your sins weigh heavy upon your shoulders so that you may feel a brief flicker of the agony you have inflicted upon Them," He lifts his cane with a solemn resolve, tears staining the scales upon his cheeks. "I shall weep for you, too, for no other shall do so in my stead. Return, wretched beasts, to the earth and let it nourish Them where you did not."
And at his call, the waves devour.
Entire cities, entire nations – those who bear the sin shall drown in it's wake, dragged to the lowest depths where even the sun cannot breach. It takes and takes, claws and tears and rips at the bodies of the damned – it devours the world, impartial and unrelenting in it's judgement.
And Neuvillette alone weeps.
◇
"Neuvillette? Are you..crying?" Their voices makes him startle back to awareness, the briefest flicker of shame welling up in the empty space of his chest as he wipes away the tears that roll down his cheeks like drops of rain.
"It..appears so. Forgive me, most Divine, it seems I had a brief lapse in focus." He clears his throat, straightens his back, tries to ignore the pit in his stomach as he watches Their lips pull into a smile all too happy. He..he should be happy too, shouldn't he? He should. If They are happy, so should he be. His lips curl into a smile that doesn't feel like it fits on his face, but he delights in the way They smile wider when he does.
They approve, and that's all that matters, isn't it?
"It won't happen again, I assure you."
Their approval is all that matters.
So why does his chest ache so badly? He did as They commanded, he removed the stain upon Teyvat and ensured Their safety.
So why does he feel such sorrow?
The thought gnaws at him like the tides erode at stone, yet he cannot bear to burden his Creator with such..nonsense.
He will bear this weight alone until the day the waves come to claim him, too.
"Shall we visit the gardens today, Divine One?"
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ooooh can u tell something abt the western au :3c
Me and Jay ( @darkfire1177 ) work on ideas for Western AU together! :]
Soooo, many have been around long enough to know I've drawn Faith and Max in gothic cowboy inspired outfits in the past. All my Cowboy Max ideas stem from banter in Murder on Eridanos where Max gets a bit enthusiastic talking about Free Range Fixer and then immediately trying to change the subject. This also makes so many of my Max and Spencer dynamics so much more interesting and hilarious to me. Also, don't you think he'd just look so dashing as a cowboy 💖😩💖
ANYWAY
One of my favorite ideas Jay and I have formulated, has to do a bit later in the story after Faith and Max are already close and they become good friends with Jasper!
Jasper's family is still alive and they own a ranch! At some point, Faith and Max are invited to visit, stay for dinner, meet the family, all that good stuff. And we thought it would be really special, since neither Faith or Max have any family and hardly have any friends, if they were to be invited to be a part of Jasper's family 🥺
We have some other ideas abt who all appears in this au and what everyone's roles in town would be.. but I love love love us talking about Max still having a complicated relationship with his religion and if Jasper's family essentially offers him an opportunity out of the priesthood by inviting him to become a ranch hand, if that were a path he'd be willing to go down. He'd have to take off the collar and commit to that kind of work, but hey, it's an AU for funsies, it's for us to enjoy.
I've got SO many ideas and interactions cookin' in my head, I can't wait to talk to Jay more about them and actually draw out some things this year!!
Anyway everyone go give my bestie @darkfire1177 some love 💖💕💖💕
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I know a lot of people are really into your human au (belong me I'm to, I'm catching up into the crazy ride that's it is) (゚ο゚人))
but personally I keep coming back to the mini telenovela that is Howdy and Barnaby rejected confession (I keep calling it limpieza en pasillo 6) I don't know I all in for the drama; just like Sally, I hope they get a happy ending (no after howdy get a hell of a fail attempts to charm his goof love back) ( /^ω^)/♪♪
Also I'm eating up the tiny but where Wally juts unlock a protective mood, I keep wondering if he just stare Howdy super hard telling him how unneighborly he's been or just stay close to Barn to be there for him (also trying to crack the jokes he remember from him)
Anyway sorry for the rambling, I just get so excited!! ಠ◡ಠ
Hope you have a lovely day bye!
mini telenovela 😭 LIMPIEZA EN PASILLO 6 PLEASSEEEE that's so good... i cant even write the post im too busy giggling like a madman over that
tbh the whole things is like.... Plotted Out in my brain. before i bed i just press play on the mindplayer & watch it like a movie. w/ Wally i like to imagine that he has no idea what to do with this new emotion. it's more like he just sticks to Barnaby like glue & puts himself between Barnaby and Howdy in a sense. i have a specific scene in mind where Howdy goes to Barnaby's as soon as he Realizes to apologize, but Wally answers the door instead and basically it goes:
Howdy: i need to speak with Barnaby
Wally: he's napping
Howdy: oh! well i can just come in and wait for-
Wally: he's napping.
Howdy: ...oh
Wally: thank you. goodbye *closes door*
(Barnaby was not taking a nap)
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Headcanon Week
Day 6 - Torso (part 1)
Going to divide this headcanon in two since 1- felt fitting for the weekend; 2- I still haven't decided which theory I like most,,
I'm torn about how Per'kele got his exposed muscles- a theory I have is that it could be part of a botched moonscorch from the time he first won the Festival of Termina (thought of it when someone suggested that moonscorching could be slowly happening during the three final days or as the subject slowly loses their mind instead that all at once during the last day or at the end of their mental rope- forgot who exactly talked about it, damn it.)
Alongside his jester motive it could've been about a desire for a twisted freedom (jester's privilige- do and say whatever one wants without punishment as you don't matter)- be it from who he was before the Festival or from the Festival itself- could've also been him finding his own freedom in the bloodshed.
I imagine the last step of his transformation would've been for his ribs to detach from the sternum and open outward into a sort of reverse Blood Eagle, whilst his organs or torn muscles could've went to form a twisted pair of wings sprouting from his insides (think of the Pilgrim Butterflies from Dark Souls 3).
He would've technically had two pairs of wings- THE symbol of freedom - yet both would've been non-functional if not full-on hindering. So it'd be Per'kele just kneeling on the floor with his back arched backwards and his "wings" stretched out against the moonlight.
An empty promise of freedom granted through blood and gore yet instead forced to always look up towards the Moon, towards Rher, as payment towards the god for having granted a fool's wish.
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