Have an excerpt of my current project
The two vassals exchange glances with each other, noticing how strained Meta Knight’s tone seemed to be. After sometime, Blade Knight spoke up softly, “What do you wish for us to do, My Lord? Shall one of us keep watch?”
“....No.” Meta Knight replied after a pause. “All of them are capable of defending themselves. If something does happen to them, then I have total faith that they will be able to handle it on their own. We cannot coddle them…and I must be confident in both Kirby and Myra’s abilities as the new generation of Star Warriors.”
He jumped down from his perch on the balcony and slipped back into the shadows of the castle where only his faint outline could be seen. “For now, leave them be. The afternoon patrol will begin soon. I am going to prepare, you two are free to do whatever you want until your next patrol shift. Dismissed.”
“As you wish My Lord.” Sword Knight and Blade Knight replied, bowing in machine-like precision and synchronization. Meta Knight nodded his head, and then turned the corner. As soon as he was gone, Blade Knight said, “He is only going to go and check-in on them as soon as our back is turned.”
“Aye, that he is.” Sword Knight chuckled softly. “As hard as he pretends to be, the Lord remains as soft as ever when it comes to those kids.”
“Ah…that I agree with. Since the young Ladyship is off duty, shall we go get lunch?” Blade Knight asked, as Sword Knight bobbed his head.
“Lunch sounds good, I don’t want to stomach whatever the Lord has in store again. If one thing hasn’t changed, it is his awful cooking.”
“That fact will always remain true. Our lord might be strong, but a good cook, he is not.”
From the shadows, Meta Knight replied, “Sword Knight, Blade Knight, if you are going to gossip about me, I would appreciate it if you both made sure I was out of earshot.”
The two knight vassals made quick apologies, while chuckling nervously and hurrying off to attend to their business.
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One thing that I always enjoy is writing the knightly trio. You can tell they have been together for a long time if they can get away with light backtalk lol
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one-shot snippet
Duke was running out of fumes to run on. The last few days would be exhausting if it was just vigilante or just civilian stuff but no, he had to have it both. Because of Arkham break out, he had been called in three nights in a row, not for a whole patrol but he couldn't exactly sleep it off during the day like others did, especially not in a week when every teacher decided they needed to have test or quiz or what not. Naps meant he wasn't as sleep-deprived as he could be but he needed far more. But he couldn't because crime in Gotham never sleeps so he had normal patrol to finish and there were about two hours left.
Would something bad happen if he just stopped for a moment and laid on a roof? Ten up to fifteen minutes. It was a slow day too…
Yeah, no, he deserved a moment to rest and if something disastrous was to happen in the meantime he would shame other Bats for not giving him enough time to sleep.
It certainly said something that he found gravel covering this roof to be quite comfortable. He set a timer for ten minutes and let himself close his eyes.
When the loud screech of the timer jolted him awake, he was suddenly fully aware that he wasn't alone anymore. He sat up a little too quickly.
"Oh, you're awake" white white-haired girl around Damian's age chimed, sitting cross-legged just a few feet away from him. She wore something that could only be described as a lab safety hazmat suit, white and black with popping green accents. When had Gotham gotten a new vigilante/villain/whoever the girl was? "Good, I just returned from a snack hunt," she added, gesturing at a big textile bag lying next to her. Duke didn't have enough brainpower to do anything more than ask.
"What?"
The girl shrugged, take-out from BatBurger in her hand.
"You look like you have a bad day if not a few days, so I've got you my cousin's bad day combo or at least the closest thing I could. BatBurger burger isn't as good as NastyBurger but you certainly have better fries" As she spoke, a second take-out bag, 1 liter bottle of energy drink, juice bottle of the same size, and pack of convenience store brownies joined greasy paper bag sealed with a sticker.
"Is your cousin a speedster?" Excuse Duke, it was a totally valid question, he saw with his bare eyes both Wally West and Bart Allen when they visited Manor. No one else would be able to stomach the amount of food they inhaled during their stays.
"Nah, we're not that fast or that hungry. Though I think I may get closer to the speed of sound." So, clearly, a meta if white hair and weir aura that let his eyes rest weren't enough indication "My cousin when he has a bad few days often forgets to eat so this combo has to help with there too. But I'll steal your fries of course."
Duke was not going to look a gift horse in the teeth, so he grabbed one bag and tore it open. There was a classic combo with bigger fries and NightWings inside.
"Thank you…" he trailed off, hoping that the girl would take a clue and introduce herself but she didn't. She just drowned her fries in ketchup and started munching. She had her own juice.
"My cousin always said that each part of this combo has a different purpose." she explained instead, slightly muffled because of the fries in her mouth "This" she gestured towards the fast food meal "is to soothe your stomach. This "she tapped energy drink "is to soothe your brain and kick it back online. This "she raised a bottle of juice "is to soothe your taste buds because energy drinks are war crime against them and this "she nudged brownies "is to soothe your heart because Ancients damn it, this day is awful and you deserve it. At least that's what he told me when I had day bad enough to deserve that" she shrugged, licking ketchup of her finger. Suddenly she froze "You aren't allergic, are you?
"No, I'm not" he confessed bewildered.
"Good"
For a long moment, they sat in silence, devouring food the little girl brought. Duke distantly wondered if this was how the night shift spent their snack breaks. It felt nice.
He was finishing his part of the brownies when the girl spoke up again.
"Do you feel better now?"
"Yeah," he was a little surprised to realize that t it was true. He'll have to note down what she put in this 'bad day combo'. "Thank you"
"Don't mention it." she shrugged with a general gesture of dismissal "You're one of my cousin's favorite heroes because you're vaguely his age and handle Gotham alone during the day and I quote "She did honest or God air quotes at that" 'As only hero in Amity-' which is a lie by the way, Val is doing great and even if he suddenly got problem with how she feels about his alter ego, he still has Sam and Tuck even if they're usually more of moral support. And I helped when I visited, so no, he isn't the only one. Anyway as he said 'As the only hero in Amity, my heart goes out for anyone who deals with this type of bullshit so Dani if you absolutely have to prank heroes, leave them out of it, especially Signal, he can't be older than Jazz, he doesn't need any more mess to handle.' All aliens and lanterns are also off-limits because he is a space nerd. But you aren't space-related so I'm like 80% percent sure he has a celebrity crush on you" She slurped more juice, unbothered.
Duke was thankful he wasn't swallowing anything because for sure she would choke. He took a split second to consider addressing… this whole situation and choose against it. He was not ready to be anyone's celebrity crush.
"Your name is Danny?" he asked instead.
"Dani" she corrected" with an I"
"Ok. It's nice to meet you Dani-with-an-I" She giggled, nodding her head slightly.
"It's nice to meet you too Signal"
Duke stood up, stretching a little. Dani joined him after hastily putting all the trash in her bag. She was a little higher than expected.
"I have to get back to my patrol"
"Cool," she drifted back a bit, making him realize that she was floating a few inches above the ground. She fixed her bag on her arm.
"Hey, can I hang out a little bit more? My cousin will go green out of jealousy when I tell him" she added with a mischievous smirk but Duke could tell there was more to it. He took a moment to consider it, which apparently made the girl nervous "I can be invisible the whole time, like before." she offered, disappearing in the meantime. He could still tell where she was, because of her heat signature, and aura but for regular people, she would be no different than the surrounding air.
"Yeah, you can hang around and you don't have to be invisible. Just don't get in my way when I have to actually do some fighting."
She popped back to the visible spectrum and pouted like Damian whenever he got benched.
" I can fight, y'know? I stopped mugging on a snack run."
It was ten goddamn minutes, how could she get so much food and stop a mugging in such a short time?!
Oh, right, superspeed. Still, impressive.
"I haven't seen it" he started, channeling all Dick-trying-to-wrangle-Damian-into-socially-acceptable-activity' energy he could muster "So I don't know how you fight or even what powers you have. If we tried to fight together we would trip over each other" It was a bare-faced lie, Bat Training made sure of that but he knew for a fact that if he said anything else, the girl would be mad and probably did her own thing.
Was that what Bruce thought about all of them?
Oh no.
Dani still looked displeased but after a moment of consideration, she nodded with a defeated sigh.
Suddenly she straightened like she got struck by lightning and whipped around.
"Wha-"
She just shushed raising her finger to her mouth. Duke did indeed quieten.
"I have enhanced hearing" she whispered "There is a mugging somewhere this way."
"Let's go then" he shot his grapple, waving his other hand at Dani to come with him before he jumped off the roof. He heard the girl giggle as she flew right after him.
" After this, you'll show me the coolest gargoyles, okay? Sam asked for photos"
"Okay"
It seemed that the end of this patrol wouldn't be as bad as the start was. Hopefully.
And afterward, he was going to lock himself in his room until the sky fell or he was well rested.
Yeah, that was a good plan.
*******
how do you like it?
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BALANCE THE PARTY
social justice barbarian
Never met a nazi they wouldn't punch.
Never met a cop they wouldn't call a nazi.
Treats the soft animal of their body like a lance
to the heart of a tyrant.
Their anger is a gift from God–
it transubstantiates.
social justice necromancer
Reads her history.
Says their names.
Goes through cemeteries
leaving flowers, grave-borrowing tactics.
Coaxes the spirits from their beds
to let them dance; we realize
we have always been beautiful.
social justice rogue
Unplucks the landlord's tapestries at night.
She covers her face, she code-names,
wipes the prints from her hand
after shaking. She's a lot.
A blade in the dark that daylight can't soften.
She hums a mantra called mission;
it's all the warning you'll get.
social justice bard
Makes his sincerity a lute
and plucks fingers raw upon it.
Has brass knuckles on the inside of his throat.
Knows what to say to soothe
the scared guy sleeping rough,
to make the officer laugh
instead of shove.
social justice druid
Gives you grace and space to grow.
Makes a weird balm to calm your hurts.
Turns into a panther once a day
dispensing courage;
turns into a dove once a day
dispensing peace. Serves the world
from the half-empty vessel
in their heart.
social justice warlock
Sold her soul to do DEI
for a Fortune 500 company.
Walks each day through thicketed razors,
carving footholds in a hill of glass.
The job takes its pint of blood so slowly,
it is possible to believe
she doesn't feel it.
social justice paladin
Always knows the words.
Is afraid of what will happen
if they forget them.
It's not an excuse, but it is sandpaper,
truths nailed into the shoebeds.
They're implacable
from the outside.
They can't believe I would love them
without their fury.
social justice cleric
The people tell her, "Your mouth
ruined our movement. You suffer in silence
all the time–what's one more?"
She believes in a love whose demands
cut friends and enemies alike.
She cleanses, sad surgeon.
She is martyred twice.
From the ground where her tears fall,
a perfect flower grows.
social justice warforged
Has a fuckin' truck!!!
He rolls up to mutual aid
and the people rejoice at his truck.
He is become a mover of things,
a Christ-bearer: mattresses and gasoline,
the girl who needs a ride across the state.
She says bless you, bless your truck,
and his heart swells.
He never knew he could be so needed.
social justice giant crab
Strength +1. Intelligence -5.
She is a crab. She has 13 hit points
and claws for hands–
but she can breathe water and air.
She knows what the surface looks like
from underneath. She carries wisdom
in her crab body that the arc of the universe
will always bend to rediscover.
Don't you get it?
That we all have gifts to give?
-elisa chavez
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