#it was always mapicc who came back to zam

[chiffsters]

first of all the relationship between zam and mapicc. no matter what happened, no matter how deeply they despise each other and lack trust, it always comes back to them. mapicc will always seek out zam's suffering and taunt him without ever committing to actually killing him. zam will never give up on trying to down leviathan. ex teammates, forever enemies.

but zam. still. trusts. mapicc. no matter how much of a rat or a coward or how unworthy mapicc views him, zam will remain comfortable in his torture because all he can remember about mapicc, more than the pain he's cost, is their time together as team awesome.

the cycle is eternal. zam will leave. mapicc will hunt him down. zam will fight back. mapicc will extend an offer to zam. they'll be teammates again. the cornered rat and the loyal dog.

[mapicccc]

zam has always had a bad memory. moments would disappear in a blink of an eye. mapicc always took it upon himself to remind zam.

zam would glance over while they're talking to someone, a question held in his eyes. mapicc would answer in turn, always fitting in what zam was missing back into the conversation.

this is also part of why zam would write. signs and diaries and torn paper. trying to fit everything he has back together.

after home sweet home, his mind went to fast for anything neat. scribbles on stone walls, sometimes made without a pen. sword scratching into the wall, or sometimes the written memories would be made of himself.

and ohhh mapicc. as the one who would always help zam, for season upon season, he knew just how quickly he could forgot now that they weren't teamed.

he wasn't going to let this happen.

and so he talked over, digging his boots into the snow to make sure the print would stay until tomorrow, staying until he would return. when he had been sneaking around under zams feet, he carved his name into the very foundation of the castle. mapicc would make sure zam remembered.

he couldn't always be there, busy with leviathan and spoke and preparing for whatever was to come, and once he came back, sometimes, zam would forget him. the months alone in his castle had only made memories harder to reach, so all mapicc could do was remind him. he'd start with how they used to work together, get zams hopes up, before telling him exactly how he betrayed and crushed mapiccs trust. mapicc never tried to kill him when he was like this, taking all he needed by watching zams expression fall like his had on the netheroof.

[derww]

hi, 4 am wings headcanons.

tldr: members with wings are using them. members without them usually are using elytras from the end, which they make work with all sorts of tricks, including mechanics that violate the laws of physics, manipulation of reality, and magic. anything, as long as it works.

subz has wings, but not his wings. he killed eldrich-like chthonic beatle, tore its wings off, and attached it to himself with a very old magic. and he can't even properly use them on the lifesteal, so he cheeses the system using tridents while he can. he never lives long enough to catch elytras unban.

mape has giant ass demonic wings, which he usually hides and ignores for all 4 seasons since he can't fly anyway bc of the rules. he starts using them again after elytra unban and they hurt as fuck after years of neglect, but it's not like he cares. at some point, zam caught him, and carefully kneaded and treated his wings, and after that, they gradually began to hurt less and less. wow! paying attention to the problem can solve it!

planet is a literal cosmic god, but he likes to play by the server rules, and he limits almost all of his abilities, which is reflected in the fact that he does not glow, and instead of multiple halos and eyes and stars around, there is only a faintly illuminated circle behind them. his godmod version doesn't have wings, but rejects all rules of physics, so they can walk on the air and fly just by will and roll the continuum, manipulating reality and walking from a selected point to any place in the world. he can do nothing of it in his human-like form, and somehow have no problems with being so much weaker.

s4!vitalasy loves flying so much because it reminds him of their scaffolding trick from s3 and he can't just deprive himself of it because he clings to this memory as the most fun and cool moment between him and subz. its like a dream come true, but at the same time, it's a bitter reminder that something is definitely wrong in their relationship now. he really doesn't like to fly in s5 because of it.

squiddo is a beetle themself, and she is actively horrified by the fact that half of the server carries the remains of her relatives on their backs. at some point, she becomes incredibly paranoid, believing that mapicc wants to rip off her own wings. It's a lie, but not because mapicc wouldn't do it, but because it never occurred to him.

in his overseer godmod ash just has a creative flight and he (or god inside of him) really likes to use it to demonstrate dominance. without it, he surprisingly still can, in some extent and connotation, fly, much slower and more sluggish, followed by a trail of glitches and bugs. spoke can do it too, but with the voidfog trail, but never actually does it. he only flies having an op.

roshambo can't really fly, but he can sit on the air, not too high from the ground. its kinda convenient, but not actually useful.

parrot, of course, has his disproportionately huge bird wings, which he constantly forgets to preen, which is why it always falls on his teammates to take care of them. 

poafa has quite angelic wings, fluffy and soft, and no one understands where they came from the guy who was part of the devils trio in the first season. so far, no one has decided to ask. he doesn't fly very well, but he can stay in the air for a long time. 

pair of minutech's black wings are fully mechanized and additionally armored. he separately monitors and cares for them, and he even has a prepared set for this. he spent most of s5 cleaning the clown's and leo's elytras too.

jaron can just create a pair of wings of any form and kind on him, but he really doesn't want to do it. instead, he steals any modified version from his teammates. or, less often but much more funny, enemies.

zam's elytra always breaks, and he fixes it in the middle of nowhere with the help of the first junk, faith and luck constantly flowing through his body. he never tries to bring the elytras to a really adequate state and just lives in anticipation of the moment when they will break again.

jumper wings look like a bublegum. they are bright pink, non-sticky, very bouncy, and look like she is putting a lot of effort into waving them. they turn out to be surprisingly functional when she needs to run away.

wemmbu isn't flying, rather, he clings to the fabric of reality and stretches in the right direction. his wings, constantly disappearing and appearing, are a tight coil of thick wires and strings that completely obey his will. they are also really easy to cut off...

[connor6sex]

Roses and Smoke week ficlet 2

Ash and Red argue after the results of the election. ao3

”Why are you even here? What are you getting out of this?“ The Commissioner asks the new president of Lifesteal. He had been killed a moment after inauguration, and hadn’t seemed that upset. 

”Cause you just revived me? Am I supposed to turn down your gift? Is that what you want, Ash?“

”No. I want you to explain yourself? What do you want?“ The Commissioner demands. Holding the perpetrator by the collar of his dress shirt. His suit jacket hadn’t survived the assassination.

”Calm down, Ash. I’m not against you, what are you even on about?“ There’s a false sense of confusion on Redd’s face that Ash could almost believe if he wasn’t so angry.

”Like hell you aren’t!“ If Ash’s face could be red with anger it would be, instead the outlines of his body stutter and shift. Glitching out.

”Ash, talk to me. What is this about? Do you want to discuss policy? Or is this personal?“

”Policy? You don’t have any fucking policy! You don’t care about this place! You don’t live here anymore, you have no stake in this!“

”I think that’s a little unfair of you to say. When have you ever cared, Mr. Apathy? You, Ash, who prides himself on his distance, who claims to be so far above everyone that no one is important.“

”What do you mean I don’t care? I’ve always cared, /you/ of all people know that. And this world needs care that you can’t give.“

Reddoons laughs at him, and Ash wants to punch him ”And you can? You think that you can save this place?“ he asks him.

”No, but you need to fucking try, Redd!“

”Try?“ Reddoons scoffs. ”Like you have? All /you’ve/ done for this place?“

”Yes.“ Ash pushes Redd away. He wanted to push him down, but Redd’s the steady-footed one of them. ”Yes, like what I’ve done. I killed Wemmbu, I removed his backdoors. I fixed all the damage he brought.“

”Redd what have you done except damage to this world?“ Ash asks him. ”What have you ever done on this world? What gives you the right to harm it?“

”I don’t see how I’ve hurt anything here. My lack of involvement is what made me such a good candidate in the first place. I’m impartial.“ Reddoons has that confident air to him, the one he puts on for negotiations. Full of posturing and lies. Words spoken without belief but full bodied.

”Impartial? You handed the server to someone who wanted to destroy it!“

”What are you insinuating about my running mate? What has he done that other people haven’t?“

”4CVIT is a terrorist! And you’re supporting him!“

”And honestly, I don’t see what issue you have with that. Didn’t you vote for Mapicc? Someone who’s gotten a lot closer to destroying Spawn than 4C ever got.“

”It’s not about Spawn!“ Which is a statement that surprised Ashswag coming out of his mouth. Hasn’t this been about Spawn? Wasn’t protecting Spawn his goal? He told Squiddo it was the only thing he cared about. And that was true when she joined.

But now? Now that Spoke was working with troublemakers like Wemmbu, Ash had to step up for the server. Keep the code clean and stable. As Zam fucked around bringing more interference from the void, Ash had been solely responsible with protecting the world.

And he liked that. Ash doesn’t like the idea of nurturing. That’s what always prevented him from running a world. But owning a world meant protecting it, and that’s what Ash has been doing for Lifesteal. Like a lord offering peasants shelter in his castle walls.

”Then what is this about, Ash? If it’s not Spawn, if it’s not policy? Then what else is left?“ And the keyword there is left. Reddoons left Lifesteal, he was seeking better lands and only came back here when people asked him to.

There wasn’t any of the closeness that they had before. Redd was nearing a stranger compared to the man Ash had known before. Sure they kept in touch, but text and calls can’t compare to having him next to him, in arms reach.

”It’s about you! You don’t have a say here, you haven’t been here!“

”Oh,“ the bastard has the gall to be taken aback, ”Did you miss me, Ash? Is that what this is about?“

”No!“ yes, of course. ”Uh,“ No Ash was right the first time, don’t back pedal. ”Maybe. Maybe I did miss you, Red. Would you even care about that?“ Ash pointedly doesn’t look at Redd as he confesses this. He can’t, tears don’t fall from his glitched eyes but Redd knew him well enough to know if he wanted to cry. Maybe he still does.

”Ash,“ Redd says with all the weight in the world. That single syllable is spoken like a prayer. ”Ash, I missed you too. Did you think I didn’t? I kept inviting you but you never wanted to come. I figured you didn’t care about me as much anymore, so I stopped bothering you.“

”Idiot.“ Ash chokes out, crossing the space between them, pressing his head against Reddoons’, as Redd wraps his arms around him.

”Yeah, I can be pretty dumb. I’m sorry.“ Redd confesses as if that could make anything right. And it does, not by much, but a little more than Ash expected.

[zylian]

Mapicc and Zam discussing how Vitalasy begged for power in the end and if Spoke betrayed them by giving Vitalasy op

Mapicc and Zam assumed they only had each other at the end until Spoke begrudgingly said he was only fulfilling his promise

Did Spoke technically betray by doing that? Or did Mapicc and Zam change their mind? They did insult Vitalasy saying he will always be below Spoke but they both really hate Vitalasy so who knows

I think Spoke almost betrayed but it was on good terms since Spoke was still op and came back clearly not okay with leaving Vitalasy in charge

Also its so fcked up for Vitalasy to pull that shit and tell Zam to “log off” before despite him waiting for op, such a long term hypocrite who just lied for months to Zam, I doubt he ever cared since he always prioritized himself first. I swear as a c!Vitalasy anti I’m glad they all hated him in the end

At least Mapicc had Zam as his last teammate in the end instead of being alone

Oh god this ending turned me into a c!Zam apologist wtf anyways Mapicc is the definition of being loyal

[mapicccc]

Zam's world is only his castle, save for the people that visit. He has no control over who they are, no control over when they come and go. He cannot leave.

People come and tell story's to him, they mistake him for a traveler too and expect some in exchange. He wishes he had his own stories. instead he retells what hes heard from others, inserting himself into their lives and changing details to fit him.

One visitor comes a second time, this time with a companion. Zam had been alone for most the month and was more than eager to talk with them. Distracted by the new person, (new details, new colors, new movements), he retells the story from the first visitor.

They immediately catch on, waiting for him to finish before asking him about it, about his situation. He's nervous to answer, most think hes a traveler who happens to have decided to live here, but with enough questions he tells them.

Anything past the edges of the castle dissolves into the sharp blue, when he was younger (younger is the wrong word, time isn't something you can count on for its consistency here. When he knew less. When he could count how many stories hes heard on one hand.) he tried to touch it only for it to solidify and burn.

They leave soon after, he hides away in the tower from any visitors until he can make out their voices. He's standing by his door when they finally introduce themselves, Mapicc and Ro. With all his anxious hesitance he opens the door and goes back down.

They brought him new foods to try, something that made his eyes well up, and Ro had to carefully explain his tears. Zam tells them about one visitor who came after they found out, someone who could slide in-between the gaps in his door and walls and comforted him when he refused to leave his bed. More stories are told, there's always more, and eventually they have to leave again, disappearing into the not-quite-as-pointed-blue.

It's always clear to him after someone leaves, the warmth he feels goes with them. He can't explain it but the stories make him more real. That without them he simply wouldn't exist. Once they leave he feels the chills set in again, worse now that he was used to the warmth.

He could only wait for their return.