#incinerating pearl

[littlebluespoon]

Isolated ~ Stuck (Octo!König) Ch 5

Apologies for the longer wait, I had uni and family and new tattoos to deal with and I also tried to make this chapter longer.

But here we are, chapter 5

König reaches out to you. You reach out to someone else.

2K, MDNI 18+ stalking, mentions of vomiting, hybrids and all that jazz.

🤦🏻 knew there was something I’d forgotten to put in the notes.

Perle is German for Pearl and kleiner artz is German for little doctor

A03 link - https://archiveofourown.org/works/51314596/chapters/131934805

~~~

It had been weeks since you received the pictures. You were going to throw them in the pile of rubbish for the incinerator but realised that would leave a chance for other people to see them and if whoever this was found out you’d thrown the pictures out well, you didn’t want to think about it. You scavenged a box from recycling and shoved everything from the first ‘gift’ to the pictures in it and kicked it under your bed. Out of sight and hopefully out of mind was what you were going for.

By the time you had dealt with the ‘gifts’ and rechecked your room for any signs of another person or hidden cameras you had missed breakfast. It was a big deal though as you were spending the morning doing inventory and ordering supplies, busy work that kept you at your desk where you knew you had a stash of protein bars. Where you were supposed to have a stash of protein bars. Either you’d miscounted how many you had left or you had a thief. Your thief had to be Gaz, the fox hybrid had a habit of stealing when he was bored. He never took anything that was important to you or work related, usually food or clothes he knew you had spares of. You’d had to hunt him down several times to find your missing hoodies and socks. It seemed you were destined to go hungry until lunch today. 

The knock on your door was unexpected. You were off medical duty today in order to stock count so no one should be coming to you for medical care,

“Who is it?” you call out through the closed door.

“It’s me Perle, can I come in?” the heavy, Austrian accent gave him away. König. It was here you realised you’d never actually spoken with him, too him certainly but never with. You’d never heard his voice. 

Another knock startled you, “König? Yeah, come in,” You got up and made for your med kit, you might be off duty but you’re still the only one on base with the training needed for König’s medical care and considering your past experiences you were expecting the worst.

A muffin. Your favourite muffin. König was holding your favourite muffin. He was holding your favourite muffin? You stared at him as he crossed the doorway, assessing him. No blood, no missing or extra limbs, no limp, no obviously broken bones. He didn’t need medical attention from what you could see. Unless it was something embarrassing and private but unlike other soldiers on base you didn’t think the Colonel was the type to sleep around and contract several STDs. 

Confused, you just continued staring at him until he offered you the muffin,

“You missed breakfast this morning. Thought you might be hungry.” He gave a small shrug as he handed you the muffin.

“I did. I am,” you give him a bright smile, “Thanks, these are my favourite too!” munching on the muffin and assured that he wasn’t in danger of passing out on you, you settled back behind your desk and gestured for him to sit too.

“So just a muffin that brought you down or do you need something from me?” you ask around a mouthful, thinking that maybe this was a more routine medical issue.

“I can’t come and see my favourite Kleiner Artz?” his eyes scrunch up underneath his mask, it’s a small sign that tells you he’s smiling. Ghosts’ eyes do the same, that how you know, “You missed breakfast and it was pancake day, you never miss pancake day so I wanted to check on you. Noticed your teammates didn’t come see you, is that how the legendary 141 operate?” His concerned tone is what you notice most, it sounds genuine enough but there just something about it that leaves you on edge.

“Ah, you’re scouting.” Throwing the wrapper in the bin before mustering your professional voice, the one you use on superiors who try to refuse medical treatment, “While I appreciate the concern Colonel, my team and I operate just fine. I’m quite happy with my working conditions and no, I’m not interested in a pay rise. Does that satisfy you?” plastering a fake smile on your face you wait for him to dismiss himself, even though you don’t technically have to conform to the PMCs ranks you feel it’s disrespectful to fully dismiss them. 

He slowly shuffles towards the door, stopping and shaking his head before closing it behind him. Like he had something else to say however you didn’t have much time to dwell on it as you had supply forms to be completing. 

~~~~~

It was after 3pm before you had finished all the forms which meant if you wanted them ordered today you had to hand them to your lieutenant personally, which was no easy task. Figuring one of the sergeants might have seen him at some point you stop by their shared office first,

“Hey, has LT been around today?” standing in the doorway you watch as Soap lines up a spit ball with Gaz’s head,

“Something about meeting with the Cap and paperwork. Probably in his office.” Comes the reply from Gaz. Just as he looks up towards you Soap sees his moment and fires, hitting Gaz right above his eye. 

“Ha, that serves you right for eating all my snacks. I’ll be back, gotta get these to LT before four.” You walk off, throwing a wave behind you and keeping an ear out for the chaos that often followed the two.

Just as Gaz had said, Ghost was in his office. Cursing at paperwork and idiots and probably every officer on base by the sounds of it. Knocking on his door you waited for the command to enter and give him your request,

“Supply forms sir, there’s a few of them that are urgent. Should probably take priority over field reports.” You hand him the forms, knowing he’d take the opportunity to do anything other than read recruits reports.

“Thanks, I’ll get them in tonight,” he puts them on top of a pile but doesn’t dismiss you as expected, “You missed breakfast. Everything solid?” he asks.

“Yes sir, just overslept.” You give him nod, keeping it short so he has less time to sense the lie.

“Alright, let me know if you need anything though yeah?” He doesn’t dismiss you until you acknowledge his indirect order after which you make a beeline back to your office. You always feel like Ghost sees your soul whenever you stand in front of him like that and you need some time to decompress. Especially with the paranoia from last night still lingering.

~~~~~

Your office was a safe space, despite all the physical trauma it sees, it’s where you go to centre yourself. To just be. For you it’s a sanctuary of hope, of where you do your best work and in the moments where there’s no emergency to be dealt with its tranquil and peaceful. With the rain tapping against the window and all your paperwork done, you settle in to enjoy a quiet moment. Closing the door and with your back against it, eyes closed and just breathing. In, out. In for one, two, three, four, five. Out for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

The silence you can hear is a rare thing on a military base. No shouting, banging, not even a vehicle passing. Just the rain. And? Bubble wrap? Focusing on the sound, pop, pop, pop. It’s not a gun, you’re far too familiar with those and it’s not bubble wrap. The sounds are too long, it’s like someone blowing a bubble with gum and then it pops. The sound echoes in the empty hallways so you settle for counting the pops until you can’t hear anymore; one, two, three… seventy two… ninety five… one hundred and sixteen. The pops eventually faded and after the last one you opened your eyes. Your office the way you left it, except for one detail. A peach envelope.

There, in the middle of your clean desk lay a nightmare and all you could do was stare at it. Frozen. Your door was locked. You double checked. You always double check because of all the medications in it. Your door was locked and your window doesn’t even open, the key to it being lost forever ago. Your door was locked, how was this envelope on your desk. What else had this person done? Where else had they been? How? Where? When? Who?

The questions swirling around your head left your heart rate climbing and your hands shaking. You could barely open the envelope because of the shaking. As you tore it open you took another moment, in and out. Breathe in, breathe out. Getting a hold of yourself before you read it. As the shakes slowed you could make out the typed writing;

My Dearest Heart,

I hope you had a pleasant rest. Mine was wonderful, dreaming of you. I hope that pleasant dreams were the reason you missed breakfast and not anything nasty. You looked so worn down when I saw you in his office, I do hope he isn’t making your life difficult. Oh My Heart, I hope you know that I would do anything for you. I would damn the world if it was what you wanted from me. I’ve left you some presents in your drawer, hopefully this time that dreadful fox doesn’t steal them. I can’t have My Heart going hungry after all.

With all my love,

Your Soul

Retching you lunged for your bin, throwing up what little you had eaten that morning. They had been following you. You knew they were watching but they had followed you this morning and you hadn’t seen them. What good was a soldier who isn’t aware of their surroundings? How could you have missed them? The halls were empty, they should have been obvious but they weren’t. Unless they weren’t physically following you? Could they be watching from the cameras? Could the be using other people to follow you? You were all trained military personnel, there were hundreds of ways to follow a target, you knew that. They could be anywhere. You might have never even seen them in person. 

~~~~~

The letter burned a hole in your combat pockets until you could make it back to your room after lunch. You had to constantly remind yourself not to reach to check it was still there and hadn’t fallen out. Lunch was quiet, with the Lieutenant still drowning in paperwork and Soap running a demolitions class for recruits it was just you and Gaz. Until he had to run before he was late for a meeting and it was just you, alone at your table in the noisy mess hall, picking at your food until you deemed you’d spent an appropriate amount of time being seen by people.

Walking back to your room, your legs felt like lead. Like they were getting heavier with each step. You took the longer route back, sticking to hallways that were always populated, saluting where necessary and saying hello to other people just to prolong your pain. You didn’t want to go back to your room. It’s peace had been ruined. You didn’t want to go back to your office, it too being soiled.

Your feet kept you along the familiar paths, pulling you closer with each step as your mind wandered. Lists of people. Theories about how. Questions about why. With your head buzzing with paranoia and questions, you didn’t even notice when your feet stopped outside a door and your hand had already knocked,

“Enter.” The gruff voice called out through the wood. Breathe in, breathe out. The questions in your head stopped abruptly as you opened the door and stepped through, the click of it echoing in the room. Breathe in, breathe out. Looking at him across the room, the one person you feel certain your stalker can’t be, one last big breath in and out,

“Lieutenant Riley? I need your help sir.” Your voice shakes, your whole body tensing, as if preparing for a fight as your hand reaches into your pocket and pulls out the envelope. He stands slowly, reaching out for the letter as he assesses you, he watches as your body collapses the second the paper leaves your hand.

[tathrin]

Since AO3 is apparently going to be down for a while, here’s a random little snippet of movieverse Legolas and Gimli with poor Aragorn, as usual, playing the role of their third wheel. I don’t write movieverse fic so I have nothing else to do with this thing, so here: I offer it forth freely. Do as thou wilt.

(Also I’m currently bleary-brained from covid so if you see any massive typos or paragraph jumps that don’t make sense...blame that, not me. Shh.)

Set after the Battle of Helm’s Deep. Rating: PG for innuendo.

Gimli barked a hearty laugh in response to the dry jest. "Oh, Master Elf," he chuckled, "I could kiss you right now!"

"You are very welcome to do it."

The words popped out of Legolas's mouth without his leave, and though he snapped his teeth closed after them it was far too late to catch them back.

For a moment there was nothing but silence in response. Legolas's thoughts whirled, trying to piece together a follow-up statement that would turn the sentence so that it seemed no more than their usual banter; something to make it harmless and light, like all their teasing was these days. But his thoughts broke apart like foam in the strong eddy of a stream, and no empty jesting words offered themselves to his salvation.

The silence seemed to be growing, as though all of Helm's Deep had paused in this moment to partake of his shame. Was every mortal in the courtyard staring at them? Had all of Rohan witnessed him making a fool of himself by so blithely, so vainly speaking the secret words of his heart? Legolas closed his eyes, as though that might be enough somehow to shut-out the world; as though he could hide on the other side of his eyelids like mortals did in their dreams.

"Well, then." A gruff voice broke the weight of the silence, and Legolas flinched as a dwarven throat cleared itself in a musical avalanche. "You'll have to bend down first, you fool elf—or do you expect me to fetch over a box?"

Legolas opened his eyes.

Gimli stood before him, not turning aside in derision or disgust; not laughing at him, or dismissing his words as some ill-spoken jest. Indeed, the dwarf's cheeks were redder than usual against the bright copper of his beard, and his strong fingers worked anxiously against one another, pressed so tightly that the pale knuckles stood-out against his callused skin like bright pearls.

"No," Legolas murmured. He felt dazed, like one who had wandered too close to some strangeness of wizards or great lords and was left reeling from the shock of brushing against a grand and unknown power. "No, you need no box."

He bent, arcing his head down towards Gimli's like a sapling who bows before a great mountain gale, and pressed his lips gently to Gimli's waiting ones.

Oh, but it was like kissing sparks—as though fire itself had been made flesh in Gimli's form, and Legolas shivered as those sparks spread to dance brightly through his veins. He drew back—

And suddenly rough, strong hands caught him by his jerkin, and he was pulled down hard and swift and hungry into another kiss, and oh it was not sparks at all; this was a blaze, a forest fire that would overrun and incinerate him; burning the tree of his heart down to ash, and Legolas would love the very fury of the blaze for its strength and its unceasingness; would throw himself into those flames again and again for the sake of feeling its heat dance upon his skin. It was like being alive, this fire; alive such as he had never felt himself before, in all his years under tree and sky.

"Gimli," he mewled, and his words were met by a growl such as that which mountains must have made when the world was forming. Legolas shuddered at the sound and all the strength fled his limbs.

He landed on his knees, falling with such gracelessness that a gasp of shock was torn from his lips only to be swallowed by Gimli's as the dwarf pressed their mouths together once again. Legolas surged forward into the kiss, now arcing up to meet the dwarf rather than down, and broad, strong hands unfurled along his back, pulling him tight against Gimli's cold mail and soft beard.

Legolas tangled his hands in the rich, thick hair, and whimpered in Sindarin so incoherent that he himself did not even know what he spoke; only that he spoke of love, and fire, and Gimli—always, always of Gimli!

"Stop talking so I can kiss you proper, Elf!" the dwarf grumbled, and Legolas went limp against Gimli and let himself be devoured by strong dwarvish lips and tongue and teeth and, oh, if this was how mortals dreamed then he was never going to wake up, never—!

A throat that had no mountains in it cleared behind him, and Legolas dimly became aware of cold stone under his knees, and the drip of old rainwater from tall places, and the creak and shuffle that was the constant noise of Men's rough bodies; he heard coarse voices muttering, and coughing, and muffled laughter; and he remembered where he was.

He drew back from Gimli slowly, trembling, and blinked in surprised confusion at the world beyond the dwarf's scorching mouth. It seemed impossible, somehow, that it should all still be there—the damp stones of Helm's Deep, the battered army of the Rohirrim, the tired king and the ragged Ranger—when everything else had changed so wholly and completely at the touch of Gimli's mouth that all of Arda now felt as though it had been made anew.

"Ah," he said thickly. "Aragorn."

"What is it, then?" Gimli growled impatiently, and his broad hands tightened on Legolas's shoulders and the elf shivered against the urge to melt into his strong touch once more.

"Glad as I am," Aragorn drawled, and while his tone was sharp with exasperation his eyes danced with bright joy, "to see this matter finally settled between you two, I must remind you that we are in some haste. There is a wizard to be seen to, remember?"

"Ah," said Legolas again, trying to remember why he should care about wizards when he might have dwarven hands upon his skin instead, "yes, of course. My apologies, Aragorn."

"I do not apologize," declared Gimli, and Legolas shivered again at the thrill of delight that the dwarf's possessive rumble sent dancing down his spine. "But very well; duty calls, and all else must wait upon its satisfaction…and," he added in a low voice meant for Legolas's sharp ears alone, "the waiting will make the satisfaction all the more rewarding, when at last I can tumble you into my arms."

Legolas's breath strangled in his throat and he sagged against the dwarf. Gimli chuckled and brushed his lips across the elf's pointed ear, and Legolas felt as though all his bones had turned to starlight. "Oh, you are wicked, Gimli!" he breathed, and Gimli's laugh rumbled in both their chests.

"You have no idea, my friend," he murmured back. "But how I will enjoy showing you."

"Enough," Aragorn commanded, although his lips were twisted sideways in amusement. He caught Legolas by the shoulder and hauled him to his feet, and never before had any elf risen with such ill-grace; he stumbled, and had Gimli's hand not been there to steady him, he likely would have fallen. He barely felt as though he could remember how to work his legs.

Gimli shot the Ranger a dark look and shook his finger at him. "Watch who you're man-handling, laddie," he chided. "King or no, it'll be axe-work for you if you go around oft putting hands to my elf like that in front of me."

My elf! The words sang in Legolas's head like stars. My elf!

He looked down at his dwarf—his dwarf!—and beamed. Gimli glanced up, and then away quickly, and his cheeks were crimson.

"Ah, well!" he mumbled. "No need to be getting all sappy about it!"

Legolas laughed and dipped to press a quick kiss to Gimli's brow—but no more than that, lest he once again forget all else but the presence of his own dear love.

Aragorn muttered something in weary Sindarin, but Legolas was not listening. No more did he hear the shocked muttering or nervous laughter of the watching Rohirrim; he had eyes—and ears—only for Gimli, as they followed Aragorn down the stairs to the waiting horses and the king.

He leaned down and caught Gimli's hand, lacing his long thin fingers through the sturdy weight of Gimli's shorter, broader ones. His heart sang to see how well their grips fit together, as though a part of him long missing had been reunited and made whole at last. "Your elf indeed," Legolas promised quietly, "from now until beyond the breaking of the world, in every way in which it might be measured."

"Ach!" Gimli made a strangled, choking sound, and his fingers tightened convulsively on Legolas's. "Sappy, as I said!"

Legolas laughed. "I am a Wood-elf, Gimli. My blood is half sap already—yet now, yes; now I think the other half is all given over to dwarven fire!"

"Not yet it's not," Gimli growled. "But give me time, and we'll fill you up with dwarven fire until you all but sing of it."

A shudder ran down from the tips of Legolas’s ears to his toes and back again. "And a better song all of Middle-earth will never before have sung," he agreed fervently.

"Friends, please!" Aragorn groaned from a little ways ahead. "I can still hear you!"

"Not half so well as all of Rohan will soon hear my elf singing his pleasure under my hands," Gimli muttered, and Legolas bit his lip with the effort of restraining his whimper.

"I promise you," he said huskily, "the song will be a duet, my dear dwarf."

Gimli shivered so hard his armor clanked. He spoke then in the language of the dwarves, and while Legolas did not know that secret tongue, the rumble of its words through his heart made his breath draw short and the tips of his ears burn red.

He paused on the last step before the courtyard and turned to face Gimli. "Meltha nín, I—" Legolas licked dry lips and tried again. "Gimli, if I—"

"Please!" Aragorn shouted. "My friends! Saruman, remember?"

Gimli shook his head and raised his voice to bellow, "A pox on all wizards!"

Legolas laughed as Gandalf sputtered in confused outrage. He left it to the dwarf to explain as he swung up atop their horse, pretending he could not see the aggrieved glower on Aragorn's face, and reached a hand down to pull Gimli onto Arod's back behind him. Strong dwarvish arms encircled his waist, and Legolas grinned as the horses trotted forward.

He was very much looking forward to that duet.

{ read more legolas and gimli fic here, once AO3 returns }

p.s. please feel free to reblog if you liked the fic. I know a lot of folks are new to tumblr right now, but trust me: that’s not just an acceptable thing to do on this site, but a lovely one. Whenever you see a post you like, consider reblogging it to share it with more people.

[rw-repurposed]

Rain World Repurposed - SEVEN RED SUNS

Seven Red Suns was a notable Iterator in their local group. He was Five Pebbles' mentor and was seen as a senior by many just below Looks to the Moon. His relationship with the OG Chasing Wind was a respectable one, albeit the two don't interact as much as No Significant Harassment does.

After Pebbles' isolation, Moon's final broadcast, and Spearmaster had come back to him, Suns were distraught over what had happened and he took a step back from communicating with the others in the local group except with Sig. Eventually, Suns opened to Wind as well after Wind told them that he is going to leave the Sliverist group and disconnect with everyone except their local group. Suns respected Wind's decision and everything was well.

Until it wasn't. When news struck that a Repurposed Chasing Wind had destroyed multiple Iterator facility grounds and their superstructures Suns immediately tried to contact Wind and confront him about it. Wind refuses to take responsibility for his actions and even warned Suns to not interfere. Shocked by how insane Wind had become, Suns sent Spearmaster to investigate of what had happened with Chasing Wind.

Unfortunately, Spearmaster was caught. Wind then gave Suns a threatening message contained in a pearl lodged inside Spearmaster's chest. He will come to Suns and destroy him if he intervenes one last time. Suns was not having it and fortunately for him, Sig had a surprise for him. Sig was able to replicate Wind's repurposing method and had repurposed himself beforehand.

With Sig's help, Suns was repurposed with a lot of firepower and immense capabilities as if he was built for war:

He had a built-in energy reactor capable of generating an unlimited amount of power and energy while disconnected from his superstructure. This energy reactor is capable of empowering an entire superstructure alone.

He was given extra platings of armor for his body. Capable of resisting the worst of physical damage even explosions. This plating of armor also allowed him to conduct even more heat for his energy cells.

He's capable of combusting himself into a fiery rocketbot if his energy reactor was overcharged. Making him devastatingly fast and powerful in melee combat.

He's able to shoot out a laser from his head insignia. Not a normal Iterator brain blast, but a scorching incinerator that would leave no ashes remaining on its target.

He's capable of summoning energized spears from his hand plates. Yes, Spearmaster was the blueprint for his main choice of weaponry. And he was delighted to have Spearmaster as his combat duo.

His energized spears were as lethal as an explosive and fire spear fused into one. In that, it explodes as it hits its target and burns the target into crisps afterward.

Sig gave Suns a bit of an old-fashioned knight armor over his armor platings. Albeit a bit excessive, Suns still accepted it because it gave him more defensive capabilities. Sig however just thought it looks cool on him.

After his enhancement was done, Suns strapped himself for the journey towards Wind's facility ground to confront him once and for all. Wind has to be stopped or else who knows what he'll do to the other Iterators or ecosystem next time. Sig and Spearmaster followed right next to him, however, Sig separated from him later on to check on Looks to the Moon while still maintaining his overseer to look after Suns.

Suns will confront Wind one way or another...

[would-this-pokemon-be-a-friend]

Would A Houndour Be A Good Pet?

Surprisingly (to me, at least), a houndour would make good pet for a lot of pet owners!

In a lot of ways, a houndour is pretty much just like a real-world dog. They’re the size of a small or medium sized dog, depending on how you define it. Their behavior, as laid out in the pokédex, is just normal dog stuff. In the wild, they live in social, co-operative packs, co-ordinating the cornering of prey with communicative cries (Gold, Ruby/Sapphire). They’re clever and emotive (Diamond/Pearl). It’s even confirmed that, when living with a human, they are exceptionally loyal and responsive to commands (Ultra Sun). So far, it seems like caring for a houndour is gonna be just like caring for a dog. A noisy dog, mind you: their aforementioned crying and howling would likely be reminiscent of a particularly vocal dog.

Things get a little more complicated when we look at their moves. When you read just the Pokédex, it’s easy to forget that houndours are fire-type pokémon! Their move set is full of both physical moves that make use of their powerful canine jaws and fiery blasts that could threaten to cause a fire hazard. Moves like Incinerate and Flamethrower bring down houndour’s score, like a lot of fire-type pokémon, as the risk of a fire in your home is certainly worth considering. Even with the best trained pet, accidents can still happen. An Ember in the wrong place at the wrong time can be a big issue.

In summary: for the most part, houndours would be model pets just like real-world dogs. Their ability to generate powerful blasts of fire, however, has dragged them down a rank (but just one rank!) from A. Due to their receptivity to training and their loyalty, these risks could probably be minimized by most pet-owners, as long as they make sure they are aware of what they could be in for.

[musingmelsuinesmelancholy]

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of witches

Our muse, our fate, our life, our doom

To thee we do cry proud banished children of Eve

Rejoicing in this; thy verdant valley

Turn then, thy eyes of star-fire toward us

And after this, our beheading, may we be made worthy of the fruits of the Serpent

O’ shinning, O’ dreadful, O’ Pale queen

Drown and incinerate us, that we may be made worthy to bear the fire

Hail, bright star of the sea!

Heavens own Queen blest

Ever Shinning

Gate of heavenly healing

Font of magic

Taking that sweet Ave

That the serpent spoke

Peace confirm within us

Hailing Eves name

Break the captives fetters

Starlight upon the waters pour

All our ills expelling

Every bliss implore

Show thyself a Queen!

Sorceress all exceeding

Most beauteous and shinning

Freed from impurity, preserve us

Broken and remade

To our oaths keep us

Make our way secure

As the sea, by thy sky-strung pearls

We navigate

Through the highest heaven

To the darkest depths

We honor thee

You who light the way

[astronomodome]

Alright I was asked to make a list of all the The Garages songs I associate with life series things so I have done that

A few notes:

Songs are in no particular order (mostly just sorted by album as I was going through listening to them all)

All song titles (in color) are links to the respective songs, so you can listen to them :3

These songs are all worth listening to but my absolute favorites are marked in orange

Let me know what you think! I’ve been waiting so long to talk extensively about this :)))))) <- going to explode

list is below the cut because this got loooong

Astro Astronomodome’s Garages Life Series Playlist:

Eyes in the Dark- *gestures vaguely* how am I gonna live with these eyes in the dark when they’re following me around and they’re following you around 👍 and there’s nowhere you can go that they’re not there 👍

Jaylen Hotdogfingers Settles The Score- limited life winner martyn in thy little wood I am so normal about you <- lie

Godspeed- TIES sending off Skizz… see you space cowboy

Curse of Crows- third life grian-core, you know, when he was green and couldn’t actually kill but he and scar were going around being vaguely threatening. You could maybe use the crows in this as a metaphor for red life scar. Also birds

Relief Pitcher (Leave It On The Field)- Extremely strong vibes but I’m not sure of what. Maybe last life martyn? In the final battle? Idk. Maybe every martyn. I ljke him. (anyway this song changed my brain chemistry permanently so it deserves a place in the list regardless)

rooting for you- I’m delusional, bdubs is a species of plant, and ethubs is wlw. what is a nature wives

we had a season- ok this is THE desert duo song. No song will ever end of double life we’ve-spent-so-much-time-dancing-around-each-other-and-now-we-have-nothing-left-but-each-other desert duo as hard as this song. I have a very detailed AMV in my head of this so you know I’m right. It’s even a duet… ‘we had a season, we had a year/between when I died and when I reappeared’ (there’s almost exactly a year between grian’s last third life episode and scar’s first double life episode. I checked for this reason specifically and it killed me instantly) PLEASE just listen to this one ‘I had my reasons, I had my fears/I had my pride (I still had tears in my eyes as I died)’

dead ringer- just as the previous song is The desert duo song, this is The red king ren song. It slaps and the vibes are perfect. ‘my skin is made of energy, my blood is made of fire/I am what will happen when your best-made plans backfire’

hexed- very much post-3rd life watcher grian. pretty self-explanatory

The Alternate- ‘I’m new but I’ve seen so much/I’m old but I was not there’ do I even need to say it. Gem-as-Cleo and Lizzie-as-Pearl (‘I’ve done this once before’)

gamer grindset- yeah this is The Life Series Joel Song. you can fight me on this but you don’t have to because I know I’m right

a leap of faith- reminds me of scar. nothing in particular it just has similar vibes

haunted- ok now this is a Real watcher grian kind of song. ‘my body is a temple/for the gods of other men/wielded as a weapon by foes I swore I’d never be again’ ok. edgy bird moment

she’s dead and i’m someone else- this one requires some interpretation but I’ve always seen it was team BEST mourning the loss of bdubs. However it could also be applied to almost every ten in the life series that lost a member early lol

Mike Townsend (feels the shadows call)- specifically last life shadow alliance martyn but any martyn in general fits. he’s having a bad time

INCINERATE- just like. Being on your red life in general and the bloodlust and manic energy that brings. 😛 (edit after the finale: OKAY I KNOW THERES SO MANY LIMITED LIFE MARTYN SONGS BUT THIS IS ALSO ONE OF THEM ‘I know how to win this/I don’t need to play your games/I’m just gonna dance now/I’ll show you how to deal with pain’ ‘every day’s getting worse and we’re starting to choke/‘cause the water in the air is getting stuck in our throats’ LIKE COME ON MAN)

Sidelined- limited life skizz you will always be famous ‘am I just another wash-out/am I damned to go out swinging/I can’t hear you from the dugout/is there anyone else singing for me’ I am singing! I am singing for you skizzleman!!!!!!!!!

Firewalker With Me- the song. The myth. The legend. It’s just such a great song and it’s about life series grian’s curse of killing the people he cares most about. Grian is a parker if you think about it <- mentally ill (special note- ‘nobody deserves to be called a curse/but if you’re gonna resist I’m happy to make things worse’ is grian accidentally getting jimmy final-killed first in limited life btw)

We’ve Got History- not to be that guy but desert duo. Ok

New Year, Same Me- martyn.

The Return- the start of a new life series! Seeing old friends again! Missing friends who couldn’t make it (cough cough martyn missing ren in limited life cough cough)! Playing the game! Living and loving despite the horrors!

A Horrible Mistake We Will Make Again And Again- grian grian grian. Grain. The bird boy. Also easily one of my favorite Garages song titles. ‘If I don’t know the limits, how am I gonna break them?/If you think that we’re kidding well then you’re sorely mistaken’

The First Ain’t The Last- canary curse activated! Honestly the entirety of this album is just the average life series lmao ‘and one day you’ll wake up/and from the ashes a phoenix will rise/and she’ll hit like a champ/and burn out bright before your eyes’

The Ballad of Unremarkable Derrick Krueger- another one that definitely has life series vibes (and is just a really good song) but that I just can’t place. I want to say Tango honestly because he always has been somewhat painfully mediocre and has famously always final-deathed in underwhelming and meaningless ways

Rise- this is the Cleo song. Epic. Thank you Cleo :) Joe can be the monitor in this scenario I think he’d be good at it

RIV- does anyone still remember that part of martyn’s last life lore where the mysterious voice was promising that he would get to see jimmy mumbo and impulse again if he followed its instructions? Well……

Hell’s Game- Blaseball is a death game and this song leans into that so naturally it fits pretty well with the life series as a whole. Would make a great AMV

5am Shift- Ok bear with me here. This doesn’t really fit Pearl other than the song title (lol) and maybe you can make some parallels to cleaning lady Pearl but it gives me her vibes. Plus it’s just a whole jazzy banger and one of my favorite songs so it’s going here anyway :)

Nullified- for the end of limited life. pretty self-explanatory ‘wasted all my minutes/trying to stay alive/and look where it got me/I’m just the last one nullified’ honestly worked better before the actual finale because martyn was more manic about it than this song would imply

STRIKEOUT!- life series mumbo my horrible wet cat. this song is a little weird but it suits him I think

The Tug- they never left the desert.

SUN 2- obligatory flower husbands song for all the flower husbands enjoyers out there. Time to go cry I guess

flooding/drowning- big impdubs moment. Or honestly just any of bdubs’s life series exes reminiscing… ‘and you’re angry when the energy rises to meet you/like the life rafts are disrespectful to the sea’ is the most life series bdubs thing I’ve ever heard

REMEMBERTHEM- very good and classic anti-watcher song. If c!martyn was just a little more aware of his situation I think this would fit better (honestly a lot of good garages songs just don’t fit very well because we haven’t quite reached the ‘let’s kill the watchers’ stage of the lore yet lmaooo)

Nothing Happens Every Day- tfw when no life series 🥺 could also be martyn because he loves to kill <3

historic season nine party time speedrun and associated records- mean gills vibes. a nice quiet evening in the coral isles, reminiscing

Mike Townsend Is A Disappointment- I’m so sorry Jimmy but it fits too well

Bonus! Hermitcraft-adjacent songs:

Storm’s Raging- moon big. the long, slow, inevitable end of the world. Bdubs looking up at the sky as it falls on him. the lyrics kick ass as well: ‘there were days when it all seemed never ending/when all you could hear was the forecasts, the fear/and the sound of the cloudline bending’ (and the way it speeds up at the end……. omg)

howling at twin moons- s8 scar. I will not elaborate

alaynabella hollywood- ariana griande <- wait who said that

golden- rentheking arc I love you :3 viva la revolution

Sincerely, The Collateral- hermitcitizen song tbh

Beep or Bleat- despite the EXTREMELY zedaph-coded song title this is actually end-of-season 8 tango moon landing-core. ‘do we possess a soul/does it exceed the speed of light/can it escape black holes/do we still have a chance to fight’

Nut Economy- another rentheking arc song. You can tell when I started watching HC from this can’t you. Well. Royal emeralds I miss you :(

Morning is Coming- HONESTLY if I had the ability to make AMVs this would be top of my list. It’s just so… so much. Escaping moon big at the end of season 8… I know it’s overdone at this point but it’s rotating around in my head all the time. What does it say about me that there are two moon big songs here and they’re both my favorites…

fourteen days is not enough for my screams to reach your ears- another tango lost in space at the end of season 8 song. it messed me up ok

psychoacoustics- I love convex* *DISCLAIMER: 99% of the convex knowledge I have comes from fan interpretation alone. Alternatively I could just be really trying to manifest a zedaph villain arc

oliver mueller (is a hero)- docm77 for several reasons which will become apparent almost immediately

hello world- grumbot I love you :] (putting in a different version so you can tell what the lyrics are without subtitles and I’m sorry because this version of the song is somewhat worse. they just start singing godspeed in the middle of it for some reason and like I’m not complaining I love that song but also why) (here’s the original version)

the entire kansas city breath mints team failed the bar exam- hermitcraft. no elaboration is necessary

[tieflingkisser]

Sen. Lindsey Graham Suggests Nuking Gaza, Calls Hiroshima ‘the Right Decision’

Graham argued Israel would be justified in obliterating Gaza because America did it to Japan 80 years ago.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) offered a baffling comparison of Israel’s war on Gaza to the U.S. decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan during World War II, telling Israel to “do whatever you have to do” to finish the military campaign. Speaking to NBC’s Kristin Welker on Meet the Press Sunday morning, Graham made the argument that Israel would be justified in slaughtering civilians in Gaza by likening the situation to the U.S.’s war with Japan eight decades ago. He suggested Israel would be right to flatten the Gaza strip—home to 2.2 million Palestinians, half of whom are children—simply because the U.S. did it to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the 1940s. “So when we were faced with destruction as a nation after Pearl Harbor, fighting the Germans and the Japanese, we decided to end the war by bombing Hiroshima, Nagasaki, with nuclear weapons,” Graham began. The senator continued to call the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki “the right decision” by the U.S. That decision ended the war with Japan, but killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians between the initial blasts and the deadly radiation that followed. “Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war they can’t afford to lose, and work with them to minimize casualties,” Graham insisted. It was unclear how he believed the U.S. and Israel could work to “minimize casualties,” since bombs tend not to discriminate between civilians and militants upon detonation. Graham’s comments were so extreme that even Welker was taken aback, unsuccessfully attempting to interject as the senator talked over her. “Can I say this?” Graham continued. “Why is it okay for America to drop two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end their existential threat war? Why is it okay for us to do that? I thought it was okay.” Of course, the presumption that the U.S. was justified in nuking Japan to end World War II has been contested by historians and other critics for decades. Those bombs also decimated nearly all of Hiroshima’s and Nagasaki’s medical infrastructures, making it nearly impossible to deliver aid to the injured and dying, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Graham’s comments came as Israel appears poised to launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah, which the U.N. and the Biden administration have warned would be catastrophic for the 1.4 million people sheltering there. On Sunday, as Graham went on national television to suggest incinerating Gaza, the U.N. secretary general pleaded once more to prevent the area from spiraling into all-out devastation.

[shardthefuckingwhajje]

gemsonas

behold, moldavite and goldstone

theyre off colours

moldavite:

probouns: they/them for some reason

gem info: moldavites are architectural painters on homeworld, using fungus gathered by other tektites as paint fodder. there are only ever six of them due to chronic deformities and high rank

deformaties because there are several

-elongated gem and therefore body

-"chip syndrome", basically having a chunk of you always missing, leads to weird speech and and physical differences

-miscoding (they think that they are a pearl despite contradictory evidence)

also they are ships repairman (bad idea)

blue goldstone:

pronouns: she/they

gem info: blue goldstone is the fusion of the result of a punishment for a quartz (cobalt slag glass), a pyrite with extra arms due to overbaking, and a former corrupted iolite

if a quartz shows cowardice on the battlefield, they are melted into a different gem (a glass with colour based on element)

iolites are like rubies for emeralds; bodyguard fodder. they become mothlike when corrupted

pyrites are overhead moderators with very loud voices, basically camera alarms

they are a custodian that never has to do much due to how little dirt is ever in the sun incinerator

other:

moldy likes getting petted by goldy when they're scared

moldy's tongue is very long compared to most, as a result of elongation

goldy's moth features become more prominent when angered

bye!

[spacetrashpile]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let's spread the self-love 💞

tagged in this by @leonstamatis

favorite is such a strong word but.... i'll go for it! trying to avoid recency bias on this one

stop me if you've heard this all before - an empires smp au in which s2 sausage finds the remains of the prison dimension his other half was trapped in, which still contains one of his old friends. i promise chapter two WILL be coming when school stops beating me into the ground.

bring out all the ghosts to life - blaseball/hermitcraft&evos au where pearl, jimmy, and netty are precog trio. this one is also not finished but it WILL BE because i literally have another chapter done already and also i care about these three so much. it will just take awhile because of the aforementioned school beating me to the ground.

the heart knows nothing of your love or of your loss - written in the aftermath of moses mason's incineration just over three years ago now (happy late anniversary!) about lenny spruce and grief and anger. man i love lenny spruce i should finish that draft i have about her.

it's not something that you put to bed - apart of my three part crossover between my friends and i's personal server, perpetuity smp, and secret life. frankly i could've gone for any of the fics in this series but this one is about jimmy's ghost session and his ghost guardian who i had picked out for him A WEEK BEFORE HE ALSO BECAME A GHOST and frankly this one has an extra special place solely for that dodgeball.

men are fools, oh, men are frail - post limited life scene between martyn and the watchers. no one should've ever let me watch evos because it made me worse about the watchers and it shall never be rectified. i LOVE writing about the watchers and i love writing about their relationship with martyn and someone told me in the comments of this fic that i had a good martyn voice in this one and i will literally think about that forever. so. you get it.

and as for my people to tag! @cohnal @waveridden @pixlostinatos @charaznablescanontoyota @theminecraftbee (if you haven't already been tagged. if you have. whoops.)

[raccoonfallsharder]

starlorn .⋆☁︎:･꧂

[anticipated 4/22]

18+ only | rocket x f!oc | 6/25+ | wip | wordcount: pending.

pearl pleads her case. warnings below.

It had been obvious, even to those morons — someone had made massive changes to the system. Had improved it — made it better than ever. A couple idiots tried to claim credit but Tullk and the Captain had looked at them with dubious sneers on their faces, eyes half-squinted in disbelief. A few hours later, when the Captain had been alone in his quarters — that’s when the Monster had taken the risk.  Had talked to him. Now the monster sighs and scrubs his hands over his face. No use lamenting that particular tragedy. The summary of it is that he’d been searching for the same thing with Lylla, he knows. He’d escaped the Eclector and spent years in and out of prisons, making and losing money, hating the universe more and more. Until, blinded by his own greed — wanting someone, anyone to accept him, someone to be his, someone he could belong to — he’d had the idea to stalk Wyndham. To extort him. To demand a companion of his very own. The Monster had been reckless in his want for a friend, a partner, an ally — thinking he needed it, thinking he could have it — as if everything he was didn’t fly in the face of the natural order of things. As if there could be anything in this universe suited for him, when he himself had never been suited for anything but an incinerator. And his selfishness had resulted in another innocent lifeform being tortured and murdered. He can’t keep the pearl. He can’t take care of her out here, not the way she needs. Not the way she deserves. How could he be trusted to? He’d brutalized her when she was vulnerable, trapped in her gilded cage — gotten her all tied up in her pretty skirts and smashed her lovely face into the ground, like some kind of goddamn villain. He’s a selfish bastard but there’s a reason he stays solo these days.  Tying someone to himself is a guarantee that, at best, they’ll be miserable. Or worse:  they’ll be dead.  No, he tells himself sleepily, leaning back in his chair. The best thing he can do is drop her somewhere safe. Somewhere nice, and comfortable, and welcoming. Somewhere that’s suited to her, far better than he is. But — he should’ve cleaned her injuries tonight, he thinks hazily as his eyelids weigh themselves down over his blurring stare. The tangle of cables and buttons and switches on the ceiling slowly shadow away with every blink. He should’ve rebandaged her. He should’ve made sure she’d eaten; he should’ve— He jolts awake. It’s still the middle of the sleep shift, but he’s awake now, and he’s hungry. Maybe a snack, and he can dick around with the leftovers of the dismantled Hadron Enforcer, see if he can fashion anything smaller but equally devastating and destructive from the remnants— Except Wyndham’s pearl is gone.

from chapter seven. starlorn. ✩ cicatrix masterlist.⋆☁︎:･꧂

a story about scars. two survivors learn about themselves, each other, hope, and the universe. a freakish little monster visits the high evolutionary’s bride on her wedding night. an adventure of intergalactic proportions ensues. aka raccoons make plans; the universe laughs.

WARNINGS for this chapter: self-injury (biting), continued references to grooming and confinement. rocket’s explicit running commentary and the faintest whisper of d/s vibes. brief mention of bondage.

fluff ✮ | spice ✩ | some smut ❤︎‬ | much smut ❤︎‬❤︎‬

[mint-hiddenite]

Vriska Undertale

Technology

Ancient Gem Colony Ship - Ancient Troll Colony Ship

The Appalachian - The Appalachian

Attack Pods - Voot Runners

Chrono Panic 4 - Overkill's The Walking Dead

Communication Hub - Communication Hub

Destiny Destroyer - Viral Tank

Diamond Communicator - The Tallest Communicator

Diamond Ships - The Alternia (The Black/Blue/Yellow/Pink Massive(s))

Dondai Supremo - 2001 Honda Civic

Escape Pod - Escape Pod

Flask Robonoids - SIR Units

G.UY.S. Dispenser - G.U.Y.S. Dispenser

Garnet’s Keytar - Dirk’s Keytar

Gem Destabilizer - Zodiac Destabilizer

Gem Drill - Sexy Drill “The Penetrator”

Gem Pedestals - Zodiac Pedestals

Gem Warship - Troll Warship

Golf Quest Mini - Star Wars Mini

Greg’s Van - Sans’ Van

Hand Robonoid - Minimoose

Holo-Connie - Holo-Miku (it/its) (Hologram)

Holo-Pearl - Holo-Onceler (it/its) (Hologram)

Hot 2 Tot - Hot Tot Pic

Hyper Space - Ludicrous Speed

Injectors - Inculcators

Jelly Jiggler - Horse Plinko

Jenny’s Car - Baby (Dean’s Impala)

Limb Enhancers - PAK Legs

Meat Beat Mania - Dance Dance Revolution

Observation Orb - Observation Pyramid

Peridot’s Voice Recorder - ZIM’s Voice Recorder

The Perils of Pweepwee - Kirby’s Dream Land (Purple Caprittarius Zodiac)

Plug Robonoids - SIR Units

Prime Kindergarten Control Room - Prime Bucket Control Room

Punch Buddy - Dummy

Race Rush - Sugar Rush

Replicator Wand - Replicator Wand

Road Killer - Grand Theft Auto 5

Roaming Eye - Dalek

Robot Shooty Thing - Pea Shooter (it/its) [Plants vs. Zombies Series] (Bio Machine)

Ronaldo’s Phone - Guillermo’s Phone

Shattering Robonoids - Control Brains

Skee Ball - Skee Ball

Spinel’s Injector - Pinkie Pie’s Inculcator

Star Skipper - Down with the Cis

Steven’s Phone - Vriska’s Phone

Steven’s TV - Vriska’s TV

Steven’s Video Game Systems - Vriska’s Video Game Systems

Sun Incinerator - Star Destroyer

The Teacups - The Vanilla Extract Cups

Teens of Rage - Street Fighter

Tsunami - Tidal Wave Runner

TubeTube - U-Toobz

Turbo Race - Sugar Rush

The Universe Mach 3 - The Undertale Mach 5

Virtua Teens if Rage - Street Fighter 2

Visor Robonoids - SIR Units

Whacker Man - Whack-a-Mole

Whacker Man Jr. - Whack-a-Mole Jr.

[bedofthistles]

Cave

🌶️🌶️🌶️

It had been a long time since Loveday had entered… any house, and in truth, she had forgotten much of the etiquette her own governess instilled in her. 

She thought it best to wear her favourite dress - one of the few items she had taken from the Castle with her when she left on her mission to retrieve the Pearls - but shoes? She did not have shoes. 

Even as a young girl, she preferred running around barefoot (to the distress of her governess, and amusement of her father). In her - rather self-inflicted - banishment, she decided to forgo shoes entirely, and it worked out rather well for her. But arriving at a Lord’s Manor in an outdated dress, with her wild and untamed hair, and dirty, shoeless feet, made the one woman who occupied the Manor had fainted. 

Digweed had opened the door upon her arrival, and welcomed her back to the Manor. He was kind enough to act as if no time at all had passed. “Sir Benjamin is waiting in the music room-”

“Ah, Miss. De Noir- Oh!” The woman, who even looked like Loveday’s old governess, stopped short and placed a hand over her heart, as if it were attacking itself. “Goodness gracious!” And fell backwards. 

“Oh!” Loveday moved towards the woman, who had fortunately been rising from one of the wingback chairs in the entry hall and simply fell back into it, but she popped back up. 

“M-my dear, i-i-it is so lovely to- to meet you!” She managed, before gently touching her forehead and hurrying off down the hall.

“That’ll be Ms. Heliotrope!” Digweed supplied with the dimwitted smile Loveday thought of so fondly. 

“Ah.” Loveday bit her tongue, before stalking down the hall to the music room. 

Digweed hurried to catch up with her, and made it just in time to open the doors before she threw them open herself. 

Loveday had no time to blush in embarrassment, for she was being quickly introduced and, suddenly, there he was. 

Loveday, much like her brother, had been told her whole life she would be married off as soon as she were of marrying age. 

But, she refused every contract, every suitor, every man; she had a duty to the Valley, she had told her father, and she would not marry until that duty was completed. She was fortunate, as her father loved her so very much, and never forced her to do anything she didn’t want. 

To some degree, Loveday had been spoiled by her father. 

Loveday never believed in love. 

How could she, after being told the story of the Moon Princess? 

In case you couldn’t tell, the De Noir’s had a variety of variations of the myth, and Loveday had gorged herself on each and every version. What she had learned, despite every parable, was that the Moon Princess had been scorned. 

Not just because her father and bridegroom had wanted the Pearls for their own, but because Sir Wrolf Merryweather had chosen power over love. 

How could she believe in love after that? 

But, Loveday was not the Moon Princess, she was a Moon Princess, but not- nevermind. 

So, love did not matter. 

Not until she met Sir Benjamin. 

But of course, he had proven to her just how right she had been. 

Love was not real. 

So, as Loveday sat across from Sir Benjamin in total silence, drinking the first imported tea that was not made from herbs in the forest in ten years, she felt her heart breaking all over again. 

She had ignored the letter for a good day, she had scolded Digweed for ratting her out to the man, she had tried to incinerate it, tear it to shreds, and soak it in her glass of water until all the ink melted into each other and the words were illegible. 

But she had not. 

In fact, she had read the letter over and over again. 

Please, Loveday, he had written, you are my final chance. 

“Well.” She said at last. 

“Well.”

“I am here.”

“So you are.”

Loveday crossed her legs and put her tea cup and saucer on the little table between them. It was good that it was there, she had no idea what she would do without this barrier between them. 

Snog him, or throttle him.

Both were good options. 

Sir Benjamin cleared his throat. “I believe apologies are in order.” 

“Yes, they are.”

“After all, one’s behaviour has not been… as it might.”

“That’s right.” Loveday’s eye twitched at the unintentional rhyme. 

“I’m sorry.”

“Yes, so you should be.”

“Beg your pardon?”

“It shan’t be easy to forgive you, but-”

“Forgive me?”

Loveday fisted her hands in her dress. “Yes! Forgive you!”

Sir Benjamin’s jaw tensed, and she could see the little muscle twitching. She used to say the most ridiculous things to make him irritated, just to laugh and kiss his jaw- 

“It was you who-” Loveday blinked her eyes, she would not cry. She had already cried too much!

“You lied to me!” 

“To protect myself!” Loveday jumped to her feet. “You were so kind! I knew the minute I told you who I truly was, you would have turned me away!” 

Sir Benjamin rose to his feet as well, not being one who enjoyed being looked down on. “You tricked me into loving you!” 

“No! No, no no! I loved you, Benjamin Merryweather! Truly and fully! And I should thank you.”

“Thank me?”

“Yes! Thank you! For teaching me what I had known all along!” Loveday stepped into his space, because she knew he didn’t like people breathing in his air and getting too close. 

“And what is that?”

“That love does not exist!” She hissed, and at this point she could not contain her tears, and they bubbled over her lash line. 

The anger that had once dominated Sir Benjamin’s eyes, faded and gave way to the softness she had grown so fond of, she had loved so long ago. 

Oh, and if you’re a child, say younger than sixteen, you should turn away now! Don’t worry, nothing too shameful happens.

Sir Benjamin’s large hands came around her cheeks, he tilted his head, and as he leaned down, Loveday rose up onto her toes, her hands wrapped around his neck to keep in place. His own, strong and warm, hooked around her waist, and pressed her body into his own. 

Loveday had not been kissed like this in years. And oh, how Sir Benjamin’s lips had haunted her dreams, dreams that left her waking in sweat and filled her with the desire to run back to Moonacre Manor and beg forgiveness. But those all paled in comparison to this, which burned her skin and made her feel alive. 

She distantly heard the door slam shut, but she paid it little mind, as Sir Benjamin was tracing her bottom lip with his tongue. 

“Benjamin.” She said, wrenching her head back before he could have another go at her. “What about Maria?” 

“Who?”

“Maria! Your niece, Maria!”

Sir Benjamin tore his eyes away and looked down rather guiltily, before letting her go. Not that Loveday did, no, she kept her hands firmly locked around his neck. 

“She’s been taken captive by your father. Hidden in Castle Black, I have no way of getting to her, but you-”

“You want me to go back there.” Then, Loveday did break away from him, and tucked her hands behind her back in fear. 

“No! Not necessarily, if you can sneak in-”

“Sneak i- Sneak in.” Loveday tapped her chin. “I can do that.” She muttered to herself, so lowly Sir Benjamin had to bend his head to hear. “Oh, but it's been so long, I don’t know them like I used to. I could get lost down there, and then what? No me, no Maria. Oh, that wouldn’t be good. No, no, can’t do that. But, it may be the only way. Although, now that I think on it- no, no that won’t work- well. No. So yes, that would be the only way.”

“Will you help me, Loveday?”

“Hmm?” Loveday’s head snapped back to his own. 

You see, this is what happens when one spends too long on their own. Their social skills abandon them, and leave them a little worse for wear. Loveday was used to chatting to her animals, who did not respond, and did not need her to be loud. Which led to her habit of muttering to herself rather than speak in cool pleasing tones, as she had been taught. 

“Of course, follow me.” Loveday gathered her skirt in her hands and lead out of the music room. “Come along!”

Sir Benjamin could do little else, but follow. 

☾

“What’s so special about the forest anyway?”

Robin choked on his spoonful of stew. “Excuse me?” 

Maria rolled her eyes, sometimes he could be so dramatic. “The forest. It’s all you and the other boys talk about.” 

Maria and Robin were down in the greenhouse. After Maria had told him the Coeur had taken her there - of course once the immense shock left his system - Robin took her there as often as he was able. 

Most people who went into the garden who were not the Couer himself, Robin, or the sole gardener who was allowed to enter, were severely punished. Usually a day or two in the stocks. 

Outside of the forest, the greenhouse was his favourite place. 

It was peaceful and quiet, and it gave him the opportunity to learn about his mother. All her favourite flowers and plants were inside of it, and a long time ago, it housed two robins, so he was able to decipher what kind of person she had been. A nature-lover. Like him.

She liked tulips, but not roses, geraniums, but not pansies, ivy but not pothos. 

Robin had been told he looked like her, and he tried to take that as a compliment. 

Robin was rather giddy (though that was not a word he would ever use to describe himself, he’s not, I am, and it's the perfect word to use) to take Maria there. 

Not every day, to keep it special, but before they went to bed, they would go down before sunset and watch the sky through the glass. 

That night, they had taken their supper there, and right in the middle of a bite, Maria had posed the most asinine question she had ever posed.

Once Robin had cleared his throat, and Maria had offered him some water, he began to explain just what was so special about the forest. “For one, it's the one place where I don’t have to live up to anyone’s expectations.” 

“Of being a great oaf? What do you become in the forest, a troll?”

Robin’s mouth twitched into a smirk and he breathed out a laugh. “Who was your father?”

“My father was a colonel.” She said, “He fought for his country!” He did not, however, die for it. 

“Right, and who is my father?”

“Coeur De Noir?” She said it like a question, not entirely sure where he was going with this. 

Robin nodded. “Lord of Castle Black, Lamour, and half of Moonacre Valley.”

“So?” Maria rolled her eyes. 

“So, one day I’ll be.”

Maria couldn't help but scrunch up her nose. “You? Lord?”

Robin shrugged as he nodded. “Something like that.” 

“Oh.” Maria ran her spoon through the dregs of her soup, it was thick enough that it parted before slowly rolling back down to meet in the middle. “Does- does that-” Maria pursed her lips. 

As far as titles went, Maria technically had none. 

Raised a Lady, she was only the daughter of a military man. And, unless Sir Benjamin, Lord of Moonacre Manor and Silverydew, named her his heir, she really had no future for herself in Moonacre. The plan for her, as for all young ladies, was to marry above her station. 

Robin, being the son of a Lord, technically, put him in that category: suitable for marriage. 

Maria cleared her throat to rid herself of the lump that was forming in her throat. A new symptom. “I see.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t order you around, you’re still a Princess after all.” And then Robin did a very unceremonious thing. He winked. 

And that just about sent Maria over the edge. 

Her heart had been teetering on the edge of a cliff for some time now, and she had been restraining it all the while. She wasn’t sure if it was the wink itself - cocky and arrogant - his reassurance that he would do the proper thing and not boss her around - cocky and arrogant - that he referred to her as a princess - as he usually did, but nevertheless, cocky and arrogant - or the simple fact that he wasn’t a some impoverished cretin, but in line for succession - alright that was cocky and arrogant on her part - that finally did it. Or perhaps, it was a combination of all of it, but suddenly there was a swooping feeling in her stomach, her heart had fallen, and she was free falling. 

She immediately remembered a time when her beloved Ms. Heliotrope told her what kind of young gentleman she should go after. 

“Maria, any gentleman worth your time will be kind, good-natured, courteous to you and your needs, strong-willed, so on and so forth! These are the qualities you look for in a husband!” 

At the time, Maria had curled her lip, she had only been eleven, and she was much more interested in her piano lessons than finding a husband. But they stuck with her, the way certain words stick with children. You never know which ones are going to be impactful, and most of the time, your words aren’t. Often, your words are forgotten, tossed to the side and replaced with favourite colours and candy flavours, but there’s always the small chance that it will stick in the folds of their wrinkling brains. Just as these words had stuck to Maria. 

She didn’t know why, but every time she met a young man (more often than not, young men from the militia come to sup with her father) she could not help but hold them up and see how they met her standards. 

They usually fell short, or met those standards, but not Maria’s expectations of how a young man ought to look. (A polite way of saying, she found them hideous). 

In Maria’s opinion (incorrect, of course) Robin did not meet a single one of her and Ms. Heliotrope’s standards. He was cocky and arrogant, as stated above, rude, and insincere. 

But Maria fiddled with her spoon, because despite the fact that he did not meet her standards, she found that she was rather smitten. 

Scratch that, she was well beyond smitten at this juncture. 

She had been smitten with the young Private Quinton last spring, and that was because he did not treat her like a little girl. She had been smitten with Ms. Heliotrope’s young nephew when she was seven. She had been smitten with her school mate’s older brother. Maria had, perhaps, been smitten when Robin had brought her the strawberries. Or, when Robin had brushed his hand against her back as he tightened the laces of her bodice. Or, when he thought tickling was a good convincing tactic to get her to try and eat the stew. 

No, Maria was well past smitten, she had spent too many nights whispering to him from her bed, she had spent too many afternoons needling him to let her walk to the music room to play piano, she spent too many mornings making sure she woke up before David took his place. 

Her disease had turned into a terminal illness, and smitten was too small a word to accurately describe her heart’s condition. 

So, Maria blinked, set aside her stew and angled her knees towards him. “The forest gives you a break from being the son of a Lord?” 

“Yes, in a way. My father expects a lot of me-”

Robin went on and on, telling her the secrets of the forest, all the wonderful things it provided. Peace, solitude, the joy of hearing the rustling animals, the exhilaration of freedom, and beauty. 

Above all, the forest was beautiful. 

“Will you take me?” She asked. 

And Robin, who had fallen two weeks ago, couldn’t deny her anything. 

☾

Loveday marched right up to the library, where she found the entrance to the tunnels that weaved under all of Moonacre Valley. 

“Wh- what is this?” Sir Benjamin asked, blinking in surprise. 

“An underground cave system.” Loveday said as she lowered herself down onto the ladder. “It will lead straight to the castle.” 

“But- but how-?”

Loveday jumped from the bottom rung. “Are you coming?” 

Sir Benjamin’s teeth clicked as his jaw snapped shut, and a moment later he was beside her in the dark tunnel. “Digweed, send down a lantern!” He called. 

“Right away, sir!” Digweed said. 

“So.” Sir Benjamin turned to Loveday. “These tunnels have been here all this time?” 

Loveday bit her lower lip. “Yes, although they have been a heavily guarded De Noir secret, so I must ask that you not tell anyone what I have revealed to you.”

Sir Benjamin’s lips flickered into a smile. 

“That’ll be your lantern, sir!” Digweed called, laying on his stomach as he lowered the glowing lantern to them. 

“Thank you.” Sir Benjamin took it from him. “Well, go lead on.”

“Right.” Loveday turned. “It shan’t be easy, but I can remember.”

Then, Loveday proceeded to get them horribly lost. 

☾

Maria crossed her arms. “Richard.”

“Maria.” 

“Let me by.”

“Can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because if I do, I’ll get flogged.”

“I don’t see how that’s an issue.”

“My beautiful skin? Forever marred with scars?”

Maria bit her tongue to stop herself from laughing. She had long since learned that Richard was not serious, or so egotistical, it was simply his sense of humour. However nonsensical it was. “You’ve never stopped me before!” 

“Before it didn’t matter.”

Maria stomped her foot. “What is going on! If you do not tell me right now I’ll-”

“You’ll what? You can’t do nothing, Princess.” Richard grinned rather victoriously. 

Maria growled before attempting to run past him for the door. It was a rather silly attempt, given that Richard was a trained hunter. All he needed to do was stick out his arm and grab her around the waist, he spun her around until she was facing the other way and let her stumble back to her feet. 

All morning, they had refused to let Maria go outside of her room. Not to mention the entire day had been strange to the point of disbelief. 

When she woke, she was alone for the first time since her kidnapping. 

She rose up, went to her wardrobe, only to find it completely empty save a brand new dress she had never seen before. It was not the empire-waisted dresses she had been wearing, but something actually fashionable. A bustle! They had given her a bustle! And it was the prettiest sea blue she had ever seen, with a long train, and little flowers embroidered all over the fabric. It was perhaps the finest piece of clothing she had ever owned. 

When she finished dressing and fixing her hair, David had finally stepped in, and while she had been elated about the new dress, it quickly disappeared as David refused to let her out. 

Henry was the same, though she had been close to breaking him, she had pretended to cry, and while he had patted her shoulder, he refused to let her out for fresh air. 

Then of course Henry had been replaced with Richard. 

Maria realised they had only been there an hour each when they had been switched out for the other, rather than the usual four hour shifts. And Richard didn’t look himself. 

That was to say, his face was clear of dark markings under his eyes, and his bowler hat. His leather jacket and trousers had been replaced for the suit of a gentleman, and he appeared rather dashing, though Maria couldn’t suppose as to why. 

Of course, now Richard was getting on her final nerve and she was close to snapping when there was a knock at the door. 

“Are you ready?” It was Robin’s voice floating through the door, but Maria was rather disappointed when he didn’t open the door to take Richard’s annoying place. 

“Ready for what? To leave? I’d very much like to if these fools would let me out!”

“Oh no, sorry Robin!” Richard called, and out of his pocket he had fished a black strip of fabric, much like the one Robin had worn the day of her kidnapping. “Close your eyes, Princess!” 

“Close my- Robin! What is going on?”

“Just listen for once, will you, Princess?” Robin asked through the door. 

Maria crossed her arms and glared, though a heavy wooden door blocked him to her. “Very well, but I swear if you’re plotting something embarrassing, I shall never forgive you!” 

And, though she couldn’t see, Robin simply smiled in response. 

Then, Richard came towards her and tied the mask around her eyes. 

“Can you see?” 

“Does it look like I can see? Honestly, this is utterly ridiculous!”

She heard the door open, and one of the boys had taken hold of her hands. And, even though she could not see, she knew it was Robin. 

Out in the hall, David and Henry joined them as they herded Maria down the corridors, and while she was blinded, they too were wearing their very best. 

“Alright, wait right here.” Robin said, and Maria nodded, her hands held tight to his own, frightened though no longer entirely afraid.

She heard the boys walk away, and then, the mask was being lifted from her eyes. 

She blinked, to let in the light, and gasped. 

Below her was the grand hall, decorated and decked out for a party. As soon as the mask was removed, musicians began to play music, and all the attendants who had gathered in the hall, rose up and began to applaud. 

Maria smiled in delight, before turning to Robin, “What is all this?” 

And Robin, who always seemed like a rogue to her, had cleaned up. A black and silver suit, his hair combed back and organised, rather than the bird’s nest it usually was. Maria was rather breathless as she took him in.  

“Your birthday party. We didn’t know the exact day, just that it was in early August.” 

Maria laughed to herself, “This is for me?” 

“Of course, Princess.” And he escorted her down the wooden stairs.

A De Noir celebration consisted of three main components: heavy alcohol consumption, music and dance, and of course, food. 

The spirits had been limited, per the Coeur De Noir’s orders, but no one seemed to mind. 

Everyone had heard about the Moon Princess, rumours of how she had every servant bow to her whims, of her walks with the Coeur De Noir, and how she had reigned in the boys (who could not be found most days, unless you were in the forest). There wasn’t a single person who didn’t want to meet her. Merryweather or not. 

Maria sat at the Coeur’s right hand, a place of honour. She had the first choice for every dish. When they brought out a large cake, decorated with sugar with fresh berries from the garden, Maria was, of course, given the biggest slice.

The Coeur De Noir asked for her first dance, then Richard, and then Henry. David, she had to cajole into sharing a dance, but he knew the steps very well and never stepped on her toes. 

At opportune moments, people she had never even met came up to her with gifts. She had received a pair of archery bracers, boots, a lace collar, boxes of macaroons, several ribbons, and much more than she knew what to do with.

When, at last (as it certainly was not soon enough) Robin asked to dance with her, and Maria felt as if the whole world had melted away. When they danced, it was like dancing on starlight, it felt as if her feet had not touched the ground, and she floated, weightless, with each spin and twirl. And, neither wore gloves, so each time her hand touched his, she felt the warmth of his calloused palm on her own. However innocent, it lit her up in exhilaration. 

It was like the grand balls Ms. Heliotrope promised she would attend when she was old enough. But this was so much more special, because this was for her, in celebration of her, and what could beat that as far as first balls go?

☾

“Well, that’s the wrong entrance!” Loveday chuckled to herself as she ducked back inside. She had just opened what she believed was the entrance to Castle Black, but really let out to the backside of a waterfall, and Loveday was soaked to the bone as a result. 

“Loveday-” Sir Benjamin pinched the bridge of his nose. “As much as I appreciate this, we’re losing time!”

He was right. 

Loveday had been leading him blindly through the tunnels for the entire month of July. 

And, frankly, who knew what was happening to Maria?

In Sir Benjamin's imaginings, she was trapped in a dungeon without air, forgotten most days, and grossly mistreated the others. 

He never would have supposed the Coeur De Noir himself was planning a birthday party for his niece, despite being a week early, and he most certainly never would have imagined how much Maria had taken control of her situation. 

Loveday, while knowing her father would never be so cruel, could not help but worry over the poor girl, who was surely scared if nothing else. 

But, this was the only way Loveday could get back to the Castle, she could not just waltzed up to the front door and ask for Maria! Besides, Sir Benjamin had already tried that. No, what Loveday needed to do was sneak inside, find the prison tower, and get Maria out. 

First, they just needed to get in. 

As the days went by, Loveday and Benjamin had worked in perfect tandem. 

Sir Benjamin held the lantern high, and followed her orders without hesitation, despite the fact that he never listened to anyone. Loveday, for her part, put aside her pride to ask Sir Benjamin for help when she needed it. She did not blindly run down the tunnels anymore, but asked Sir Benjamin which way he supposed. 

After the first afternoon, when they had gotten so lost in the cave system, Loveday was sure they would both die, Sir Benjamin made sure to take a compass the next.

Which, indubitably, was a great aid, but there were still many different pathways that lied in the same direction. 

“Benjamin, the Five Thousandth Moon isn’t-”

“I don’t care about the Curse! I care about my niece!” He seethed, furrowing his brow, not glaring at her, because he did not like to glare at Loveday, but it was still a rather grim expression. 

Loveday sighed, “Yes, but finding her before the Curse takes place is just as important! The Moon will not love us forever…”

“I don’t care… Loveday, is there ever a moment where you don’t think about the Curse?”

Loveday tilted her head. “How do you mean?”

Sir Benjamin’s lips twitched unhappily before he continued on. “All my life, all I have ever heard about was: De Noir’s are evil, the Curse will kill us all, the Pearls are lost. But, aren’t you tired of that?”

“Benjamin, the Curse looms over us all! How can it not press on my mind?” 

“You press on my mind! You- Loveday, wasn’t there once a time when you thought of… myself, more than the Curse?” 

Loveday blinked as she turned to examine him. 

Sir Benjamin was a rather tough man. His grumpiness had tickled her, and his struggle with words was even sweeter, but above all Loveday loved that Sir Benjamin was sincere. He tried to bury it down (deep down) but Loveday had always managed to see it. 

An honesty to him that made him shine like sunlight. 

Loveday smiled soft as a ray of moonlight, “Yes. For eleven years, to be exact. From the moment I met you, you occupied my thoughts, and when I left, I had trouble dismissing you from them. I am only so focused on the Curse now because… If it does come true, there will be no more you, will there?”

Sir Benjamin was stupefied, and no matter how he moved his mouth, no sound came out of it. 

Loveday chuckled, before patting his cheek and moving on. “Come along! We’re almost there! That waterfall is half a morning’s walk from the gate!” 

☾

Tonight was the night of the full moon.

Robin hadn’t been watching the moon, as he had been in Maria’s chambers every night, laying on the floor as he fought the need to sleep in favour of talking with her. 

But he knew tonight was the night. 

When the Moon would destroy the Merryweather’s. 

Or all of Moonacre. 

Just as Maria said it would. 

He promised he would take her to the forest, as he talked about it so much, she grew curious and wanted to go see for herself what made it so great. 

It was a pleasure to see her in the gown he had picked out. Blue, because he had learned that was her favourite colour, and in the current style, because he heard her complain too often about how out of season the dresses she wore were. And he led her out of the Castle through the tunnels. 

It wasn’t as if he couldn’t take her out through the halls and courtyard, but he wanted to keep this between themselves. 

Stupid teenaged hormones.

Of course, he forgot any lantern or light of any sort, so Maria had to hold his hand so he could lead them. 

Once in the forest, Maria let out a laugh in relief, and they were free. 

Free as birds, free as two young people can be. 

He tried to show her as many places as he could in a single afternoon, but then-

“Do you see that?”

Robin looked in the direction she had pointed, but there was nothing. Just more trees, and maybe an oddly shaped rock that kind of looked like Richard if you squinted. “No, what is it?”

“It- it looks like a horse. A white horse. But it's tiny!” Maria tilted her head like a songbird. “It's a little white horse.” 

Robin tried again, but he saw nothing, then, suddenly, Maria picked up her skirts and began running. 

“Maria!” He called, but she did not stop, and Robin was left with nothing to do but run after her. 

☾

Loveday pulled on the horse head lever, and the trapdoor to her old room popped open. Or at least, she hoped it would lead to her old room. As she pushed the door open and over, she looked around her completely spotless chambers. 

“Oh.” She said in disappointment. 

“What is?” Sir Benjamin called from the bottom of the ladder.

“N-nothing!” She said, “Just- just my room. I guess, I shouldn’t be surprised…” But that didn’t make it hurt any less. 

Someone was living in her room. 

Which meant the De Noirs had moved on from her. 

Meaning, her father…

Loveday moved back down the ladder, knowing that was her room gave her a better idea of where she was, and where the prison tower would be. 

“This way!” She said, filled with new energy as she ran through the tunnels. She counted, the memories flooding back to her, getting lost in the maze, but always ending up back home, and soon they were at the entrance to the dungeons. “Here! Oh, Benjamin, I did it! I did it, I didn’t fail!”

“Yes, you were spectacular, my love.” And Sir Benjamin smiled, it was not big, or bright, or blinding, it was actually small, teeny, pathetic, but to Loveday, it felt like cool rain on a summer’s afternoon. The last thing she would have expected, but exactly what she needed. 

“Benjamin, is there any way you could ever forgive me?”

Her hardwon smile fell from his face, and he adopted a look of confusion. “Loveday, I forgave you long ago, even- even if I was never able to admit it to myself. I forgave you, it is me- It is I, you should be begging for yours. My foolish pride that resulted in my losing what I loved most.”

Loveday took a step towards him, her hand wrapping around his own. “And… is it possible that what you lost could be something you loved again?” 

“Without a doubt.” He said, and suddenly, Loveday’s lips were upon him like a guerilla general. 

Fifteen minutes later, Loveday was sneaking in the dungeons- what happened in those fifteen minutes? Never you mind, you cheeky devil, that’s private business that is - with Sir Benjamin close behind. 

They checked every cell until they reached the very top of the tower. 

Loveday’s eyes were filled with tears, and Sir Benjamin was teeming with rage. 

Where was Maria Merryweather? 

[glassgob]

[ID: Digital illustration of Pearl Thane and Scratch Duodenum from Blaseball. Pearl is a mixed Korean femme person with New Zealand half crab features and wearing blue lolita fashion. Scratch is a Japanese girl with gaudy clown crab features and wearing decora fashion. They are posed together, Pearl delicately holding a pearl as Scratch smiles behind her. Below the image, it reads "Pearl Thane and Scratch Duodenum. Inventors of the Memorial Pearls. Incinerated Season E Day 43." End ID.]

my piece for @lokrow‘s memorial zine for the blaseball zine jam!

[strigital]

just some lazy Disney-style Aurora ⛈️⛈️⛈️

because i have an ache in my bones to play some bg3 again and also she's currently my fave tav

and a super-duper quick rundown of who tf she is and what the hell she's doing amid the Tadpole Havers™:

Aurora of the house Du Lac is a noble-born half-elf sorceress with a spark of thunderous wild magic about her, whose childhood palace stands tall above the sea on an island west of Neverwinter. Lighting, storms, hails and rains seem to breathe with her thoughts and emotions at all times; the household always knew she was sad whenever it rained viciously for hours and days. An embarrassing flaw such was - to be under the control of her own magic in the family of fabled sorcerers and wizards, incapable of casting a spell without causing the weather to sour. And so she grew aloof and withdrawn, her only friends and windows into the outside world were mere books full of adventure, drama, and love. Determined to control her magic she plunged herself into studies, eventually finding solace in the teachings of Lady Mystra, becoming her cleric armed and armored with thunder and gales. She fondly remembers her youth in the warmth of Mystra's guidance, back when she - a mere child - had yet no idea who her tutor truly was. Music and dance also helped calm her inner and outer storms and let the magic flow calmly like a morning drizzle. Until, that is, she was met with the harsh reality of being the eldest daughter of a noble house: marriage. Not by love but by choice. The choice made by anybody but her. To strengthen the magic within the bloodline, to fatten up the treasury, to enlarge the estate... She endured like a good daughter should for years, but every day the dark clouds outside her window brewed and bubbled with a hurricane about to erupt. She begged Mystra for help, begged her family, prayed to whoever would listen. But one night the storm broke loose, and while the winds howled and hail smashed the windows she ran wherever her feet would carry her and then - the darkness of an alien ship and a horrid headache. After the crash, she wandered the wilds alone and afraid until she came about a group of adventurers not far from the druids' grove. Among them was a familiar face, or uh... A snout. Pearl the friendly dragonborn healer, one who found salvation from the torment of her wild sorcery in the embrace of Lathander, a healer with a stern hand and a motherly gaze whom Aurora knew through some friends of friends and who became a much needed anchor in the world turned upside down. With time, she let the storm within her ebb and flow as it may, letting her magic be her guiding light, its willful destructive nature a boon amidst the dangers they faced every day. In that hum of the Weave, she found another voice - Gale of Waterdeep. Another toy used and discarded by Mystra, left to wallow in her silence. Another creature of magic, the only thing in Toril she would call a friend. Quiet evenings spent reading, stargazing, sharing stories over a glass of wine, and before she knew it the magic had bound them forever. So when the disgruntled husband found his escaped wife and demanded she return home at once, Aurora needn't shiver in fear: the whole squad jumped to her protection and so did Gale. With a charming smile upon his lips he promised to incinerate anyone who'd dare come near Aurora. From that day she knew what her newfound goal in life would be. Forget the tadpole and the Absolute. She'd save him from the Orb whatever the price would be. It was thanks to Gale, after all, that the storms within and without were for once calm and quiet.