#it would be two people stuck in one body fighting for control and sentience

[maddragonfruit]

In my mind the original Creativity and a Roman/Remus fusion would be entirely different sides

[brax-was-here]

Scarlet Briar: The Redemption of Ceara Chapter 6

Chapter 6: A Second Chance at Life

Written by: Braxxus

Sometimes we must open our eyes to see

     Ceara had lost track of time as she traveled across the desert wasteland. She had been wandering for hours without seeing any sign of life save for a few random plants here and there.

     “HELLO!? IS ANYONE OUT THERE!?” she hollered as loud as she could. She was met with the same thing yet again, silence. Only a slight breeze every so often would blow through. The arid environment was not being kind to her. She could feel her skin drying out, and the foliage on her head was starting to droop. The last time she had anything to drink was before arriving in Divinity’s Reach.

     "If I don't find any water soon, I'm going to crumble into dust. And that will not do.” She mused. She had given up doing calculations in her head trying to devise a way to get back to Tyria. She paused a moment, looking out over the desert.

     “All this talk about the ‘eternal war in the Mists' I kept hearing about. Well, where is it? Where is all this so called 'fighting'? Hmph, let me guess, I landed in the most peaceful part of the Mists where no one ever travels?” she sighed deeply. An uneasy feeling suddenly washed over her. She slowly turned her head looking over her shoulder. Someone or something was watching her atop the nearby dune. Slowly reaching under her cloak, she undid the clasp on her pistol. Drawing the weapon, she turned quickly, pointing it at the top of the sand. Nothing was there. She quickly glanced around. Nothing.

     “No, not this time.” she quipped as she started climbing the dune. Reaching the top, she found an area where the sand had been disturbed.  She looked for any tracks leading anywhere, but there were none.

     “It burrowed?” she asked to herself as she slowly backed away from the immediate area. “I’ve got to be…” She was knocked off her feet as the sand seemed to erupt from under her. She rolled into a kneeling position and fired off two shots at the giant sand worm that was now looking over her. Both rounds hit the worm center of mass. It let out a deafening screech and withdrew back under the sand. That’s when she heard the low rumbling. Looking about briefly, the sand seemed to be alive.

     “Pale mother! There’s more!” she went racing down the dune hoping to make it to a rocky outcropping not far away. The ground erupted behind her as she ran as fast as she could.

     “That blasted teleporter would be handy right now!” she yelled. She made it to the boulders at the base of the outcropping and started climbing as fast as she could, the worms nipping at her heels. She climbed to the highest point she could reach before looking at the cluster of writing beasts below.

     “Shoo! Go away!” she yelled down at them. “Stupid worms…don’t you have any birds to feed!?” Looking over the area, a look of disgust crossed her face. “Just great. Now I’m stuck up here!” She sat on the rocks in a heap as the worms twisted and swirled about below.

     “They’ll leave soon enough.” A gruff voice said behind her. She spun around to her feet with her pistol drawn. Facing her a few yards away was an aged centaur holding a simple looking wooden staff, his long gray mane settled over his shoulders.  

     “Who are you!?” she commanded. The centaur’s eyes narrowed, He started walking towards her, his staff periodically touching the ground much like a cane.

      “I’m not here to harm you, young Ceara.”

      “Young Ceara? How do you know my name!?” she asked, still pointing the pistol at him. He walked up beside her and looked over the edge. He held his staff in the air and the worms slowly burrowed back under the sand.

      “Nice trick. Now I asked you how…”

      “Ceara of the Grove. Secondborn of the Pale Tree.” He stated cutting her off. “I have watched you since before you were born. You seem to have made quite a name for yourself in the land of Tyria…Scarlet Briar.” He turned and started walking away from her.

      “You could say that but now answer my question. Who are you?”

      “The worms won’t bother you for now. But you should get moving. It won’t be long before they return.” A shot rang out as a bullet buzzed past him.

      “The only lasting peace is the peace within your own soul, child.” He stated. Ceara looked at him as he walked away, a slow realization crossing her mind. “All things have a right to grow. Even one as spiteful as yourself. Even the weeds will blossom if you give them time.”

      “Ventari?” she gasped disbelieving, her mouth agape. “You’re…Ventari? You…you helped protect the Pale Tree?”

      “I did. Your Mother Tree…that you dismissed.”  

     “I didn’t.…” She was cut off as Ventari struck his staff to the ground, sending out a shockwave that knocked her off her feet. He turned towards her.

     “Child, I respect your decision to follow your own path in life. In fact, I admire it. That you, Sylvari, took fate into your own hands and determined your own path.” He started walking towards her in a determined gait “But you turned your back on your Mother Tree. You rejected my teachings. You ignored the warnings and you let evil blossom in your soul!” his voice powerful and booming. She looked up at him, feeling his gaze pierce into her soul, but at the same time she sensed a feeling of disappointment from him.

     “I watched you in the dream before you were born. I watched as your intellect grew beyond every sylvari before you, and none after you have matched it. I had hoped that you would be a leader, one to lead the sylvari as a grand people, to help and teach those that were born after you. To help the sylvari take their place alongside other races on the grand stage of Tyria.” He closed his eyes, sighing heavily. "What a disappointment."

      “Hmph. I’m sorry I didn’t live up to your expectations.” She replied snidely.

      “Not once did you consider the outcome of your actions, nor did you care.” He continued.  

     “I was searching for knowledge!” she retorted, raising her voice, getting to her feet.

     “Knowledge? Of what precisely?”

      “I wanted…wanted to learn how the workings of nature all worked together. How all the systems fit together and…”

     “By viewing the very fabric of reality.” He turned away from her. “And did you find what you were looking for, child?”

     “I found…” her voice cut off, choked by a feeling in her chest. She didn’t know what it was or what was happening. Regret was it? Anxiety? Possibly. She looked at the ground. “I found …madness.” She continued, her voice trailing off.  

      “Indeed.” He replied. He held his staff in the air, causing the air around them to stir. The scenery changed. The desert replaced by the arena in the Crown Pavilion. Ceara found herself in the middle of the Queen’s Jubilee watching herself taunt the Pact Commander. The scene quickly faded to a scene of herself in the spore tower, which then faded to the battle of the Marionette. For a few moments, she was bombarded with images from her time under Mordremoth’s control. The final moment, the desert sand swirled in front of her and the ghostly version of herself appeared.  

      “No!” Ceara jumped back and raised her pistol. The ghost raised its hand up in front of it, and a ghostly image of a worm like dragon erupted form the ground, wrapping itself around Scarlet before facing Ceara, opening its mouth in a great roar.

      “Your madness awakened the jungle dragon.” He tapped his staff on the ground. The scenery changed again. It was the Grove. Everything was on fire; the Pale Tree’s branches were gnarled and misshapen and there were strange plant like creatures everywhere.

      “This…this is the Grove.” She gasped, looking around, her eyes wide. “What’s…what’s happening?” She started to feel anxious, staring up at the Pale Tree, it’s form dark and twisted.. She remembered the dream she had before waking in the mender’s home. “Why is the Grove like this?”

      “This is your home. What it would become. The Sylvari will become slaves to the jungle dragon.” He paused, looking over his shoulder at her, his eyes narrow. “Much like yourself.” The scene faded. “Your ambition to toy with powers greater than you could imagine caused you to become the very thing you claimed you would never be. You opened your mind to the jungle dragon and he gladly took the invitation. He planted the seed that would consume you and now Tyria will pay the price yet again.”

      “The seed…” she said quietly.

      “Yes, it became a part of you. When your mind fragmented, it latched on to as much of your psyche as it could, devouring you.

      “I tried to fight back.”

      “You did, and you might have beaten it had it not started drawing power from the very thing that created it. It grew and consumed you.”

     “It became me…”

     “Yes. The more power it consumed, the stronger it became. It developed its own sentience. A more twisted version of yourself.”  He held his staff in the air and the scenery changed yet again “You and the being that now calls itself ‘Scarlet Briar’ are more connected than you realize, child.” Ceara found herself standing in the command center of the Breachmaker, the whole scene of her final moments in the battle played out before her. “When you were at deaths door, this madness, left you. It took part of your mind and soul with it.” She watched as a ghostly apparition of herself appeared very briefly from her body before disappearing. The scene faded back to the desert.

     “That was…that thing…it was…”

     “Your own insanity.”

      She stared at the sand where the image appeared, her thoughts on how her madness had tormented her, dwelling on the things she had done. A swirl of emotions filled her head. She felt angry, sadness, determination. Ventari glared at her, sensing something changing within her.

      “Where did it go?” she finally asked, looking at him.  

     “The Dream of Dreams.” He replied. “It draws its power from the Dream now.”

     “But if it was born from Mordremoth, why would it need the Dream?”

     “When it was inside your mind, it fed off his energy. When he awoke, he did not need you anymore.

     “So…it went to the next available source.” Ceara said, lost in thought. Ventari nodded.

     “You may feel yourself complete without it, but it is not complete without you.” He stated.

     “That’s why it talked of “being back together”.

     “Yes.”

     “I can’t allow that. What happened before…What it is doing now…It’s running amok in Tyria and I have to get back there. It…has some plan to make that dragon stronger!” Ceara exclaimed. Ventari slightly tilted his head.

     “It’s not like you to be concerned about Tyria, child.” He said slightly puzzled. Even Ceara herself was caught offguard by her statement. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath.

     “I…” Ceara was at a loss for words. She had never been concerned with the state of the world before. She didn’t care. But now, things were different. She felt different. “Anyway, I need to figure out how to end that ghost or whatever it is.”

     “That ghost, child…is you. If you destroy it, then you may destroy yourself as well.”

     “So that’s it? I was saved by that mender just so I could die anyway?”

     “That is the risk you must take, child.”

     “I’m not a child.” She stated. Ventari snorted his frustration. He continued walking.

     “Wait!” she ran up beside him. “So how do I get back to Tyria?”

     “There are numerous portals throughout the Mists that lead back to Tyria.” He replied.

     “But how do I find them?”

     “Ceara of the Grove. You were born the most intelligent of all the Pale Trees children. Surely you can find your answer.” He said slightly amused. “Perhaps you could ask your friend.”

     “Friend?”

     “Yes, the one with the floating vessel. Mai Trin is her name, yes?”

     “Mai Trin!? She’s here??”

     “It appears so. She holds up in her vessel on the far edge of the Mists.”

      Ceara thought for a moment. “It might not be in my best interests to contact her.”

     “And why is that?” he asked.

     “I’m not the same person I was before when we worked together. Though, I may be able to sweet talk her into helping me.”

     “Scarlet was controlling your mind.”

     “Yes, and I…she…it…kind of left her at the mercy of the Lionguard the last I knew.”

     “You betrayed her.”

     “Scarlet betrayed her. It wasn’t me!”

     “But you suffer the retribution for Scarlet’s actions.” He stated. Ceara fell silent. “Your search for knowledge is admirable, child. It is the learning the curiosity of the unknown that drives us forward. From learning the simplest task to trying to divine the workings of life itself.”

     “Mother tried to stop me.”

     “But you didn’t heed the warning.” He replied. “Now all Sylvari will pay the price for your insolence.” Ceara paused a moment and glared at him.

     “I tried calling for help!”

     “By then it was too late. Scarlet consumed you. Your actions allowed her to awaken Mordremoth.”

     “She didn’t consume me.”

      “Oh, she didn’t?” He paused looking over his shoulder. Ceara slowly walked up beside him.

      “I allowed myself…I…gave in. I gave up.” She said quietly. He glared at her. “I couldn’t beat my insanity. Fighting for my own mind. I couldn’t win. It became too much.” She paused as a tear ran down her cheek. She turned away. “The madness…Not knowing what I was, what was happening. I wasn’t in control of myself. I felt it all slipping away piece by piece.” She paused again, wiping the tears away. “I’m sorry.” She said, choking back the grief that was forming in her chest.

     Ventari breathed in deeply. “So, child…” he started. She looked up at him. “What will you do?”

     “I have to get back to Tyria to stop that monster.”

     “And how will you do that?”

     “I…I don’t know, but I have to find a way. I have to try!”

     “Even if it destroys you?”

     Ceara paused a moment, a look of determination across her face. “Yes.”

     “Then come with me, child.”

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     Amaranda, Failynne, and the two wardens sat in a small room set off from the main Seraph office. Across from them was a plain wooden desk with a quill, a bottle of ink and some papers. Amaranda studied the few small pieces of artwork that hung on the wall. 

      “How long are they going to keep us in here?” Warden Aed said solemnly. 

     “Longer than they need to.” Tapani replied. Failynne nodded her head as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. They could hear Sgt Connery’s voice outside the door just before he opened the door, entering the room. He shut the door and paused a moment looking over the group before sitting at the desk.

     “As most of you know, I am Sgt. Ramus Connery of the Divinity’s Reach Seraph. And as you all well know, there was an incident last night at the Crown Pavilion, as well as a similar incident today that injured some of our ministers as well as some guards. Two of you were present during those incidents. He turned towards Amaranda, looking over his glasses. “Miss, your name please?”

     “Amaranda.” She replied, somewhat agitated. 

     “Amaranda,” Connery repeated as he wrote her name on a parchment. “So…Amaranda. Tell me what happened at the Pavilion last night, please.”

      “Scarlet Briar attacked us!” Amaranda stated. 

     “Us? Who was with you?”

     “Ceara.”

     “And who is Ceara?”

     “Another sylvari.”

     “And where is this Ceara now?

      “Scarlet threw her through some kind of portal.”

      “Is that what caused the explosion?”

     “No, sir. The explosion happened before she attacked us.”

     “Ok. So, what does this Ceara look like?”

     Amaranda paused a moment, looking at Failynne, who returned her look, nodding lightly. Sighing heavily, Amaranda closed her eyes. “Scarlet Briar.”

     Connery paused, looking at the group. “But you said Scarlet Briar attacked you?”

     “Yes.”

      “So you are saying this Ceara attacked you?”

     “No no.” Amaranda paused in frustration, taking deep breath. 

     “Ok, explain to me everything that happened last night.” He ordered. Amaranda reconstructed the events of the prior night as Connery continued to take notes. 

     “So…what you are telling me is…this…Ceara, who happens to look like Scarlet Briar assaulted you first…but then this ghost of another Scarlet Briar appeared and seemingly taunted you, after which you followed it to the Pavilion, where it took control of the Watchknights, set off a large blast of energy, attacked the two of you, tossed Ceara through a rift, and then you blacked out.”

     “Yes.”

     “Ok.” He paused looking over his notes, then turned to Failynne. “Now, Warden, you had a similar incident happen to you today, correct?”

     “Yes, Sergeant.”

      “Please explain what happened.” Failynne recounted the events from earlier in the day. After finishing writing his notes, Connery set his quill down, removed his glasses and sat back in his seat scanning over the sylvari in front of him. 

      “You do realize the Shining Blade will be involved with this, if they aren’t already?”

     “I’m aware, Sergeant.” Failynne replied. 

     “If Scarlet Briar is within the walls of this city…again…”

      “I know, Sergeant.” Failynne interrupted him. 

      “I will return momentarily.” He said as he gathered up his notes. He stood from his desk, looking over the Sylvari one more time before turning to the door.

      “Ceara isn’t evil.” He heard Amaranda say behind him as he walked out, shutting the door behind him. A collective sigh swept over the group.

      “This is why humans take so long to get things done.” Tapani spoke up, sounding displeased. 

     “Indeed. We’re doing nothing but wasting time here.” Failynne replied. 

     “You would think they would be searching the city high and low for Scarlet.” Aed, the other warden, said. 

     Failynne nodded. “After what I saw, I don’t think the Shining Blade will be able to stop her. She’s different. She’s not really a ghost.”

      “Some kind of entity.” Amaranda added. 

      “Yes.” Failynne agreed.

      “I don’t think she is in the city anymore.” Amaranda said, staring thoughtfully at the desk. 

      “You believe so?” Failynne asked.

     “I do. She has no reason to stay here. She got what she wanted.”

     “Where do think she went?”

     “I don’t know…but I think…I think if we find Ceara, we’ll find Scarlet.”

     “You said Ceara isn’t evil?”

      “She not. She’s in a lot of pain. Pain from what happened to her. I could feel it.

     “What do we do if we find her?”

      Amaranda took a deep breath before replying. “I don’t know.”

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      Sgt. Connery closed the door behind him as he exited his small office. He glanced over at the mishappen aetherblade rifle that lay on the table nearby. 

     “Sam.” He called to his subordinate. 

     “Yes sir?” Sam replied. 

     “I was hoping we would be done with Scarlet Briar after Lion’s Arch.” 

     “Sir?” Sam asked inquisitively. 

     “Instead of having a terrorist on the loose in the city, we now have a ghostly terrorist running around the city.” Connery said, rubbing his forehead.

     “Should I alert the Shining Blade, sir?”

      “No, I’m sure they already know.”

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     Ceara didn’t know how long they had been walking across the desert. Her skin and foliage had dried out immensely and her feet were killing her. Not to mention she was hungry again and extremely thirsty. Ventari had been completely silent during their journey, seemingly ignoring her prattling.

     “Will you please just answer my questions and tell me where we are going? At least let me ride on your back for a while so I can rest a bit.” She was agitated, upset and out of breath.

     “We are almost to our destination.” He finally responded.

     “You finally remember how to talk! Amazing! And just where in Tyria exactly might we be? There is nothing out here but sand.” she protested. As Ventari reached the crest of the next dune, he pointed.

     “There.” He said. "We have arrived." Ceara hobbled up beside him and her jaw dropped. There was a small oasis not far away.

     “Oh, thank the pale mother!” she gasped.

     “How ironic..." Ventari said quietly.

     “What?”

     He looked down at her. “You thank your very mother, whom you turned your back on.”

     “Oh, come off it!" she raised her voice. "I didn't...I didn't turn my back on her!"

     “Oh, you didn’t it? Then tell me, Child. What did you do?”

     She gritted her teeth at being called ‘child’. “I lived my life the way I wanted. I didn't want to follow some "wyld hunt" that she set out for me. I told you that already."

     "Hm..." he snorted as he started walking down the dune.

     “We sylvari should be able to choose our path in life. Not have to choose between the Dream or living in Nightmare.”

     “Including gazing into the eyes of an elder dragon?”

     “I didn’t know he was there!"

     “The Pale Tree warned you not to go any further.”

     Ceara was becoming increasingly frustrated to the point of screaming. “I wanted to learn! Is that such a crime!?” she screamed. Ventari kept walking. “Who are you to judge me!?"

     “It is not my place to judge you, child.”

     “Will you please stop calling me ‘child’!? I have a name!”

      “And what is your name truly?”

      “My name is…” She suddenly stopped herself. A wave of panic washed over her. The world knew her now as Scarlet Briar. Scarlet Briar that nearly brought Tyria to its knees. She shook her head and looked down at her hands.  They were trembling. Ventari stopped and looked over his shoulder.

     “Is it?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

     She shook her head again. “No. No it isn’t.” She felt scared. Scared of herself. She hadn’t felt frightened like this in a very long time. Not since the nightmares from years before. She lowered her head.

      "What…what is happening to me?” she asked. Images flashed through her mind. Images of her life before and after the Eternal Alchemy. “Why am I being tormented?”

     “This isn’t torment, child. It’s showing you the error of your ways.” Ventari responded continuing to walk towards the Oasis. “All your life in your pursuit of knowledge, learning everything you possibly could, with blatant disregard for anything and anyone that got your way. You didn’t care who you stepped on to get to your goals.” Ceara closed her eyes and tried to focus. She breathed heavily, trying to regain her composure.

     “I just like to get things done and get results” she stated, as she finally got herself calmed down. “And I never once hurt anyone before…” she paused.

     “Before the eternal alchemy” he finished, reaching the edge of the oasis.

     “Before Mordremoth…” her voice trailing off as she thought back to that fateful day. She thought of Omadd and his assistants.

     “It hurts now, does it not?” he asked. “Everything you have done.”

     She closed her eyes, feeling the tears welling up. “At the time, I didn’t concern myself with anyone. They were all just tools to help me get what I wanted. And then the Eternal Alchemy broke me. I lost control slowly. It was overbearing.”  

     “And Tyria suffered.”

     “Lion’s Arch paid the price.”

     “And you?”

     “And I should have paid the price.

     “But you didn’t. A loan soundless mender cared enough about you to save your life.”

     “Yes…" she said quietly.

     “And now, young Ceara.” He started. “You have a second chance at life. To forge a new path. To try to correct the mistakes of the past.”

     “Is that possible? For me?”

     “The Dream makes all things possible.” He said in a familiar tone.

     “Heh, you sound like Mother.” she said kneeling by the water. Cupping her hands, she dipped them into the water and sipped.

     “Ah, so refreshing. she gasped. She looked at her reflection in the water, a tired face looked back at her. "I could feel my foliage wilting." She continued to drink from the pond. “So how far away is the nearest portal?” she asked. There was no answer. “Ventari?” she turned, but the centaur was nowhere to be found. She realized everything was very still and extremely quiet. "What’s going on?” she said, now on edge. A golden glow appeared to wash over her. She turned to see the Avatar of the Pale Tree floating above the middle of the pond.

     “Mother?” she asked cautiously.

     “My child.” The Pale Tree responded. “Please come home. Where you can be safe.”

     Ceara eyes narrowed. “Mother, why are you here? In the Mists?”

     “To bring you home, my child.”

     “No…” Ceara muttered, slowly shaking her head. “This doesn’t feel right.” She looked at the Pale Tree suspiciously, while slowly moving her hand to her pistol.

     “My child, why do you resist? Come with me. I can bring you peace.” She opened her eyes and gave Ceara a slight gentle smile. She raised her hand in front of her in a gentle motion, opening her hand towards Ceara. A blinding white light filled the area. When her vision cleared, Ceara found herself standing in the Omphalos chamber, the Pale Tree in its alcove before her.            

     “You see, my child. I have brought you home. You can stay here, and never be tormented again.”  Ceara looked around. A few sylvari were about in the chamber. Two wardens stood guard by the Pale Trees alcove. A young sapling tended to some sylvan pups. A teacher instructed a group of young saplings near Ventari’s tablet.

     “This…this is too perfect.” Ceara thought. She cautiously approached the teacher, carefully listening to his lecture, her hand on her pistol.

     “And what of Ventari’s 4th tenant?” he asked the group. A female sapling quickly raised her hand in the air. He gestured to her.

     “Mordremoth will consume you.” She growled a deep bellowing voice.

     “Very good.” The teacher responded. Ceara gasped and instantly drew her pistol, turning towards the Pale Tree. She fired a shot, but the Pale Tree smiled and vanished just as the bullet embedded itself in the wood of the alcove. The two wardens drew their weapons and rushed her. She felt herself grabbed from behind.

     “The teacher!” she gasped as the saplings grabbed her, forcing her to the ground. One knocked the pistol from her hand. The Pale Tree reappeared in front of her, flanked by the wardens. She knelt and gently grabbed Ceara’s chin with her long thorn tipped fingers.

     “Welcome home, my child.” She smiled. Ceara looked at the Pale Tree and spit in her face.

     “You are not the mother tree!” Ceara spat defiantly. The Pale Tree wiped its face and glared at Ceara. “Oooohh….” Ceara said quietly. “Corporal form. That means you can bleed.” She said while smiling somewhat whimsically.

     “You will pay for your insolence.” The Pale Tree growled.

     “I’ve paid enough already.” Ceara responded. She bucked her right arm in the grasp of the sapling just enough to smack the back of her hand against its body, setting off the switch for the electrostatic discharger mounted in her pack. Electricity arced over her, knocking the saplings away. She got to her feet, trying her best to hide the fact that she herself also got somewhat of a shock as well.

     “I’ll need to fix that as soon as possible.” She thought to herself. “Now monster…” she said taking a deep breath, “let’s finish this.” One of the guards lunged at her. She clumsily sidestepped, diving for her pistol at the same time. Rolling to her knee, she fired a shot at the other guard, dropping him in a heap. She was then knocked to the ground by the first guard. She wildly swung the pistol at him, catching him in the side of the head, knocking his helmet off. She gasped at the visage that was revealed. His face was monstrous, something she remembered from her nightmares. She wasted no time sticking her pistol under the creature’s chin and pulling the trigger. Pushing the body aside as it slumped on top of her, she got to her feet and turned to the Pale Tree.

     “Don’t you see, dear Ceara. You can’t escape. You, like myself, are of Mordremoth. We belong to him. He is…”

     “Not my father!” Ceara shouted, cutting the Pale tree off. “And you…you are not the mother tree. You…you’re a monster. A construct. Created in my own mind by that dragon. Used to control me.” She paused. “But now…you’re nothing. So drop the façade, charlatan! Show yourself!”

     “Dear Ceara…” The Pale Tree started, closing its eyes. It smiled. “Why do you resist me?” it asked, opening its eyes, revealing the black eyes of the ghost. She held her right arm out to her side and opened her palm. Vines grew from her forearm, twisting and turning, forming into a thorn covered version of the greatsword Calabolg. Smiling, she disappeared.

     “Again, with the tricks!” Ceara shouted. She turned as she heard a low growling from behind her. The sylvan pups had morphed into a monstrous flowerlike appearance. More creatures from her nightmares. Even the pup tender had changed form. She brought her pistol up and shot one of the pups in the head, dropping it. The other lunged at her, missing her as she sidestepped.

     “Come back to us, my dear.” Scarlet’s voice, now an amalgam of her own and the Pale trees, echoed throughout the chamber. “You can have the power to do anything you want. Be anything you want.”

     “No. I won’t be a slave to you, to that dragon, to anything. Never again! Show yourself! Quit hiding behind illusions!” The Pale Tree appeared right in front of her with the sword raised in the air.

     “Thorns!” Ceara exclaimed. She barely dodged the attack, losing her footing and rolling on the ground. The monstrous pup jumped on her, growling and nipping at her face. She managed to shove the pup off her to see the Pale Tree standing over her. Ceara pointed her pistol, but it was knocked out of her hand by the sword.

     “You have always been a thorn in my side, Ceara” The Pale Tree growled. “But now it’s time.” The Pale Tree raised the sword above her.

     “I don't think so." Ceara kicked one of the Pale Trees legs out from under her, causing her to fall. She crawled over to her pistol and spun around, bringing it upon the Pale Tree and pulled the trigger. *Click*…nothing. “Are you serious!?” she yelled looking at the weapon.  She threw the gun at the Pale Tree and bolted for the far side of the chamber. The Pale Tree knocked the weapon away easily and proceeded to charge after her.

     “Please don’t run, my child! I have such wonderful things to show you!”

     “You showed me enough already when you were in my head!” Ceara yelled back. Ceara reached one of the ledges on the edge of the Omphalos chamber and looked out over the Grove. She was stunned by what she saw. The Pale Tree’s branches were twisted and gnarled, and each branch was adorned with birthing pods, some in clusters of two or three. She watched in horror as the Grove was filled with the monstrous creatures from her nightmares, moving and working around the area.

     “You see, dear Ceara. This is what we are meant to be.” Her own voice spoke behind her.

     “It’s...it’s a literal birthing factory…”

     “Yes. This is what your Mother Tree would truly be had she not broken free of his will so early in her life. A birthing center for the children of Mordremoth. His army to conquer all of Tyria. Once he has fully awakened and reached full power…this...this will become reality.”

     “All my life I searched for the ways and means of how life itself worked. I thought I could manipulate the world, change the rules so that we could live our lives as ourselves. This…this is not what I imagined…”

     “It is beautiful, isn’t it? What you will have wrought upon the world.”

     Ceara looked over her shoulder to see her own face looking back at her. She glanced down at the sword; the thorn covered vines that created the hilt writhing in Scarlets grasp.

     “Now...come..." Scarlet spoke holding out her hand to Ceara. “Come back to us.” Ceara thought for a moment, turning away to look out over the nightmarish scene. Images flashed through her mind. Images of the Grove, of Caledon Forest. Places she sought solitude to distance herself from others. Faces of the few friends she did make in her days as a sapling. The people she met in her travels. Her teachers. The Pale Tree, who never turned her back on her.

     “Even in all my time I sought to stay away from everyone, not to be bothered by anyone while I worked, they all still cared in some way, in some form. And in my work, I would have destroyed them. Even…even the Pale Tree…” Ceara closed her eyes as a tear rolled down her cheek. She balled her hands up as her chest felt heavy.

     “You…you need me…" Ceara said softly as she turned and looked at Scarlet in the eyes. “Without me, you can't exist. Without me...none of this will exist." Ceara paused. "I need to end you.”

     Scarlet closed her eyes and smiled. “You cannot end me. To destroy me means you would destroy yourself.”

     Ceara looked at the ground, lost in thought. “Is this the only way?” she asked softly. She sighed deeply, shaking her head slowly. Long moments passed as she stared at the ground, trying to figure a way out.

     “There is no other way for you.” Her doppelganger said quietly. “Now, come. Mordremoth awaits.”  Ceara took a deep breath as she looked at her adversary and slowly reached out for Scarlet’s hand. Scarlet’s smile grew. Ceara slightly pulled her hand away. 

     “I’d rather die than let this come to pass.”

     “What!?” Scarlet was caught off guard as Ceara grabbed her by the bodice of her armor and drove her forehead into Scarlet’s nose.  She reeled back, dropping the sword.

     “Ow…” Ceara whimpered as she felt her eyes crossing, her blood trickling down from her forehead. She cleared her vision and saw Scarlet faltering. She picked up the sword and cried in pain as the vines from the hilt wrapped around her hand and arm, driving their thorns into her flesh. Scarlet looked up and saw what had happened.

     “No…What are you doing?” she asked. Ceara looked at her, raised the sword up and drove it through her abdomen.

     “NO!” Scarlet shouted as Ceara fell backwards over the ledge. As she fell towards the level below, the ground opened, letting her pass through. This continued for each level until she hit the water at the bottom of the Grove. She opened her eyes and gasped for air. Her breathing heavy, she looked around and saw she was laying in the pond in the oasis. She felt her chest and stomach for any sign of the sword or a wound, but there was nothing. She looked at Ventari, who was standing on the edge of the water, watching her. She stared at him a moment, before getting up to stand. She slowly made her way to the waters edge, retrieving her pistol from the sand. Checking the chamber, it was empty. She sighed and put it in its holster. She walked slowly along the water’s edge towards Ventari, lost in thought about what she saw, a swirl of emotions dancing through her head.

     “So…what in the name of the mother tree was that?" she asked him sternly.

     “Hmm…the mother tree?” he asked back. She stared at him. He glanced at her with narrowed eyes. He could feel something different about her. “What did you see?”

     “I saw…I saw that monster masquerading as the Pale Tree. I was in the Grove. It was…it was like a factory. A birthing center for sylvari.”

     “Not sylvari.” He interrupted. “For mordrem. The troops of the dragon’s army.”

     “The creatures from my nightmares...”

     “Indeed. That is what the Sylvari will become should things come to pass.” He looked down at her. “You’ve changed, young Ceara, whether you realize it or not.” She looked up at him. “You sacrificed yourself to end the nightmare that will come. One brought on while you were under the thrall of Mordremoth. That’s something you would have never thought of doing before.”

     “Yes…” her face dropped. Ventari turned to look out over the water.

     “She still cares for you, as a mother would.”

     “She knows I’m alive?”

      Ventari nodded slowly. “She does…” he said quietly. “Your connection to the Dream, ever so brief as it was, did not go unnoticed that day.”

     “Come home, my child…” Ceara spoke. “I heard her…” She looked at the ground, a swirling mix of emotions going through her mind, her chest was heavy again.

     “Mother…” she said, her voice raspy and broken by the feelings welling up in her chest. Images of the past flashed through her mind. Never before had she been concerned with the Pale Tree, choosing to live her life away from the Grove to avoid having any interaction with it. But now things felt different, and she didn’t know why.

     “Young Ceara…” He said, reaching down, tenderly touching her chin. Ceara instinctively jerked away from his touch, before looking up at him, a tear rolling down her cheek. “A slight spark of anger in your chest.” He continued. “A small light of passion. Passion for someone you turned away from the moment you were born.” She closed her eyes as he gently wiped away the tear. “It’s not too late for you, child.” He continued. “What will you do?”

     She opened her eyes and looked at him. “I need to stop that thing. I need to get back to Tyria and destroy it.” She stated, choking back the tears. Ventari nodded slightly. “I need to find a portal. A rift. Anything.”

     “That which you seek has been in front of you the whole time.”

     “What!?” she exclaimed.

     Ventari looked out over the pond. “Open your eyes, Ceara.”

     She turned towards the pond. “I see noth…” She paused as the air above the water of the oasis started to shimmer. Electricity crackled through the air as a rift slowly appeared above the center of the pond.

     “Hurry, child. Or you may be trapped here in the Mists forever. I’m sure Mai Trin would be happy to have your company again.”

     “Tell her I said hello!” Ceara replied as she dove into the water.

     “Try not to drown, child.” Ventari said as she swam as fast as she could.

     “Almost there.” She thought as the current of the water shifted creating a vortex flowing towards the rift.  She allowed herself to be launched through.  

      Ventari stood on the side of the pond, watching as the portal closed. “My dear Pale Tree…your child has returned home. She is in your hands now.” He turned and walked from the pond, fading from sight.

[thehandsomeasshole]

@starttheanarchy from X

"Then why use them for a job they are not meant for, just keep them to their original purpose and make something new that works for what you need. And because quality work will save in the long term with less repairs, replacements, and malfunctions over all. And your welcome." The wide grin could be heard in her last three words. She was raised to have some manners after all. "And DT could probably do it as long as the load weight isn't over hmmm..." She drifts off as fingers tap together, mental math being calculated. "Eight tonne? Maybe less. I'm not exactly sure on that front since I actually haven't tested his limits on that front. Hmm something to test another day." Her eyes drifted over the floating form of her robot as it stayed ever vigilant of her surroundings. She knew it could do some heavy lifting since she had used previous versions to move things in the junk yard.

Eyes roll at yet another reason on why to avoid corporations, and another as he seems to enjoy being a pest.

"Actually last thing I did was fix up several things that were in disrepair in Overlook, since too much of the population of that poor town have the skull-shivers and had no access to the medicine. Something about repair tickets being ignored or something like that. And I didn't come here for the shallow reason of becoming rich, I'm opening the vault to try and prevent a very clearly corrupt corporation from monopolization on something that might be a blessing or a curse." If she had it her way, she would keep it locked forever since no one has a full understanding of the capabilities and issues of Eridium that began to spawn after the first one opened. To many variables and yet everyone wanting to just add more into the chaos.

"Yes, yes. The definition fits, but you seem to think I am on the same level of depravity like the Fleshrippers or the Bloodshots. To which all I can say is, rude and incorrect. And princess? Really?" That got her to shoot a glare back at the space station.

"Not everyone. Yes there are people who still deserve a chance to be treated like a decent human because they are. But you seem to be hard at work for making it so those people are just as dead as the rest. And you are right, no one has used an army of robots to lay siege on a planet in the name of their own ideals. They used armies of people, and all of them were considered like a plague upon humanity in the context of history. Dictators, tyrants, oppressors, authoritarians, monsters. Wonder how will you be written down."

At the laughter, and how it grew as she talked about what started this whole hot mess off for her on planet side, it made her skin itch with irritation. Out of everything on this fucking disaster hellscape, it was Hyperion that tried to kill her first. Sure others might have had to deal with bandits at other stops, but she went from off the inter-space shuttle to the train with no issues.

It was fair to say Jack was the first person to try to actually kill her. Even when escaping Eden-5 they were aiming for capture to make her life a living hell instead of a death sentience. It was one of the reasons she was trying so damn hard to keep surviving at this point, out of spite for the asshole who tried to kill them after using some shitty signs to inform them of their supposed doom.

Hands were clenched into fists and she could feel a chill roll through her body. It was like the ice never left at times.

A deep breath as she turns her face to the sun that burns the landscape, she is fine and alive. And she isn't going to follow his script and get pissed. She isn't going to scream like everyone else on this planet. The Mechromancer is going to do what she always does, go against what is expected.

"How about you tell me something else instead. You worked with the Crimson Raiders? What happened? What is the full story, from beginning to end?" Her voice is calm and even, one that seems to hold no judgment and wanting to listen. And she does, after all there isn't much information on the group. Gaige had no plans to jump ship, but she honestly had as much trust for them as she did for most anyone on this planet that wasn't shooting at her. Eden-5 taught her that the only person she could ever trust was her father and the friends she created with her own two hands.

"No bullshit, no propaganda. Just your side of the story. I have time."

Jack did smile at the little sass she threw his way, despite himself. "Well, empty, those things weigh nearly five tonnes. So, nice try. I guess." He chose to ignore her initial comment about using the loaders for their designed purpose. There was not enough patience in Jack's body to unpack all of that right now.

"Oh, the vaults are definitely a curse. But, once you get the ball rolling around here, there's not really anything anyone can do to stop it." Jack shrugged lightly, scanning through the first four pages while he spoke, "You just… gotta do what you can before another idiot comes along and screws everything up even worse than you did."

"Nah, you're right. Princess made me feel a little icky. How about… I- I'll get back to you, I'll think of something real good." he laughed lightly, beginning to scribble down some notes on the papers before he continued. 

"You sure as hell act like 'em, you and your bandit buddies. Just exactly how many things or people have you killed since you got to Pandora? Hey, look, I'll even give wildlife a pass cause- Well, you could kill a hundred skags one day and the next day there'd be two hundred more. Let's just focus on people. Maybe you're not running around screaming about meat bicycles, and maybe it is a little rude of me, but it's also correct. You just don't wanna admit it."

"The people who are still decent in this universe are few and far, kid. In my entire life, I've only met two people who were truly selfless." One's dead and the other’s… worse. "But, you do realise that if it wasn't me up here, it'd just be someone else? Hell, Dahl and Atlas would still be plowing through planets like they're big balls of paper and slaughtering everyone in their way while going off about fighting for those planets' freedoms and peace."

"Ooh, I love tyrant! Has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Always considered myself more notorious, than anything else." The sharp, almost humorous-sounding edge to his voice gave the impression he was teasing her, "Kid, it's nothin' I haven't heard before. You really think I'm gonna be kicking it anytime soon, anyway? Nah. Nope, not happening! I got way too much to do."

Jack's brows knitted together and slowly raised in a mixture of surprise and confusion. Sure, maybe she didn't care, he'd just never had a person who hated him ask for his side of the story before.

He decided not to express his shock.

"So, I'd been working on Helios since it launched, I was, uh-... A- a programming and engineering specialist for Hyperion for ten, fifteen years, maybe. I was in charge of most of the construction, getting together schematic proposals to give to my bosses, all that kinda shit."

"The first time I met Lilith and Roland was when Dahl decided they wanted to massacre all the workers on Helios and take it over. They… They didn't discriminate. If you worked for Hyperion, they'd gun you down without even batting an eye. They killed so many of the workers up here, I knew them all personally. We- we didn't even have a real military then, for God's sake! They shot workers out of the sky when they were trying to evacuate. That was the level of murderous psychopaths we were trying to deal with. We defended as best as we could, but even the freaking loaders weren't weaponised yet, I had like… Six hours to get them into a position to defend themselves, and you bet your ass I did it. I guess that actually answers your earlier question, too. I used them for a job they weren't made for out of necessity, the damn Lost Legion shot at them when they were running away, too. Assholes."

"I managed to get the vault hunter's I'd hired down to Elpis in a moonshot, think you've met a couple of them. They got to Concordia thanks to-" Shit. He hadn't actually thought about Janey in a while. He'd ask Athena how they were both doing, but she'd probably curb stop his head before he could even say hello. "-uh, this mechanic. They asked Lilith and Roland to help cause, y'know, Dahl had stuck a jamming signal somewhere on that moon and I couldn't work Helios's defences until it was shut off. They knew people on Helios were dying, and they said no."

"They only started to help when their lives were in immediate danger and Dahl got control of the moonshot laser and start firing away at Elpis. I really did trust 'em to help us, y'know? Like they promised they would."

"I guess they kinda did. We managed to get control of the laser again and… They blew it up. They nearly took the whole space station down just because they didn't want Hyperion having it. That stupid laser could've saved Pandora, you know. It could've- The blasts were so concentrated we could've wiped out an entire bandit settlement and their nice neighbours next door would've barely felt the ground tremble. I'd worked so hard on that laser. You have any idea how hard it was to make? How much progress they destroyed when they blew that damn thing up? A lot! A whole, freaking lot and-... Sorry. Off topic. Uh…"

He made a small noise, "Oh, yeah. Anyway, after that it was just a rush trying to get to the vault before anyone else did. Dahl was already there, but after what happened with those two I wouldn't have been surprised if they got to the vault first just so we couldn't."

"But, we did. My vault hunters took care of the- The Empyrean Sentinel, I think they called it. Big bastard, more human than the other vault monsters. Freaky stuff."

"So, the Sentinel was dead, and we finally got to the vault relic. It looked like… Nothing. Very underwhelming. Just a weird little floating vault symbol. I decided to touch it and-..." Jack went quiet for a while, his knuckles growing white with how tightly he was gripping the armrests of his chair, "And I saw… everything."

He felt sick even talking about it. The pit in his stomach growing deeper and he knew if he didn't stop soon he'd fall into a full blown breakdown. So, he took a shaky breath in and continued.

"Wasn't long after that when Lilith made her grand entrance. She destroyed the relic and- blasted the fuck out of my face. You ever had your face branded by some freaky eridian technology? It sucks. Real bad."

He let his head drop back, and he rubbed his eyes, "So, there's my side. Think I can quit my day job and become a professional story teller?" Though he tried to make a joke, the fire in his voice seemed to have dissipated. He just sounded… tired.

[tanoraqui]

I just wanted you to know that I just read all your hellmurder castle 'verse posts and I LOVE THAT AU SO MUCH

what you have to understand about my Hellmurder Castle AU (Homestuck set in the world of Girl Genius, if you haven’t read it) is that it was born specifically from my spite exasperation with all the long, epic AUs about either only the trolls or the trolls + beta kids, with alpha kids appearing as background characters at best and often not at all. Many of these fics are great, and many of them were written or at least planned before the alpha kids even appeared in canon, in which case it’s not the authors’ faults at all. But I LOVE my alpha kids, and Roxy may be my favorite and Dirk is a delight, but I was ALSO tired to tears of how even in fics featuring the alpha kids, it was almost always Derse-heavy.

So I basically said “fuck it”, yeeted them all into the world of Girl Genius (which was inevitable), figured out the torrid backstory of the beta kids and ancestors and how the dancestors and trolls fit in, and set about focussing the plot and character development exclusively on the alpha kids, particularly Jake and Jane. Particularly particularly Jake, because a) I thought him more underappreciated than Jane, and b) the idea of a Heroic Adventurer who constantly has to resist his own reflex to be a minion is fucking funny.

Let’s elaborate, shall we? Because I’m okay again, after the epilogue. I have forgiven. So, the hypothetical pfennig novels/fics in a series:

Jake English: Escape from Castle Lalonde

In which Jake leaves home, and meets a number of interesting people.

covers from basically that scene of Roxy capturing him through Jake escaping with Jane, and them agreeing to be adventuring partners. A lot of the middle consists of Jake helping Roxy and Dirk win back Roxy’s ancestral home of Castle Lalonde, defeating whatever villainous spark - probably an OC - had taken up residence.

Jake means to leave, but Roxy and Dirk need help cleaning up, and getting their labs running, and with interesting projects…and possibly they put a shock collar on him so he can’t leave the grounds…or at least tell him that’s what the collar does, and prove it, like, twice, and then turn it off because they don’t actually want him crippled in an emergency; mostly he’s just a great minion and Roxy is pretty sure he’s destined to be part of their team for defeating the Batterwitch, as laid out in the obscure and highly metaphorical prophecy her mother left her in a wizard book.

this is not at all good ground for either friendship or a healthy minion/master relationship, which is why Jake is pretty damn game to help Jane escape and then run away with her.

Jake English and the Red Miles

in which…I actually have barely any memory of wtf is supposed to happen in this one. Presumably, they have to survive the Red Miles at some point, with some ridiculous series of revivificationsthe trolls show up at Jake and Jane’s camp (okay fine, I love them, too), and after some alarmed mutual weapon-pointing, explain that Jake’s grandmother, Lady English, made them after Jake left, except now she’s died so they’ve come to find Jake and either bring him home or, at least, join his adventuring team and keep him safe

(yeah, Jade instilled some loyalty, which is Sketch. In fairness, when she lost control of the original generation of trolls, all her best friends were killed and/or disappeared, presumed dead. she has reasons)

I wonder if there was supposed to be a timeskip between this and the previous book, or if Escape from Castle Lalonde happened later into Jake going out adventuring than I think, or if Jade just got bored and made 12 new people like…3 hours after Jake left home

for pacing, the trolls should probably show up pretty early in this story, so they have a long time to be around before shit hits the fan

a lot of this book, aside from whatever shenanigans they’re dealing with re: Red Miles, would be Jake dealing with the fact that he is suddenly responsible for 12 people who keep looking to him for orders, and somewhere in the distance is an entire town (Hellmurder Village) that’s likewise.

they do not go back to the Castle at the end of this book, even though they arguably should bc Jake has responsibilities. But he also has adventuring to do, by golly, and…hm, it’s one of the Rings that causes the Red Miles, isn’t it? So maybe they get it at the end of this book, and now they have to track down the other one. Which brings us to…

Jake English and the Rings of Skaia

In which Jake and Jane (and Roxy and Dirk, and 12 young trolls) explore a castle, learn a little history, and generally level up their friendshipsI split up the aspects of Castle Heterodyne in this au: Jake has the recently inherited Castle with the terrifying, nigh-magical power source buried in its depths, and Jane has the abandoned derelict that is fully sentient, most automated, and even more malicious than it is trapped. This is the story of that castle, and the Ring of Life hidden somewhere in it

Jack Noir. The castle’s sentience is Jack Noir. Or perhaps more accurately Spades Slick? Who cares.

I had a very elaborate mythology/history thought up at some point about the twin spark queens of Derse and Prospit and their great enmity, and the saga of betrayal and heroism that marked their reigns and left behind this castle and two super magical scientific rings of power, and I do not remember ANY of it now.

This is the bit where that scene of Dirk ripping out Vriska’s soul comes from. He and Roxy are here for the fabled treasure as well - possibly the castle only appears/is accessible at certain specific times? And they don’t know the trolls are with Jake, so…clusterfuck, there.

Jake English and the Troll Queen

in which the big bad is reveeled

there’s trouble brewing in the countryside, idk, monsters or pirates or something that can be traced, after some investigative heroing, to the self-styled Her Imperial Condescension, still unfortunately at large

mostly this fic is Jake growing into leadering a little more but also addressing the question of that inbuilt loyalty Jade gave this generation of trolls, because really, that was Sketch - and in general, who are we as people defined by who we follow, what groups we ally ourselves with; is it birth or genetics or who raised us or the family we choose or…

i kinda think Dirk and Roxy are conducting concurrent but generally not overlapping investigations to Jake&Jane’s(+the trolls) (dirk and roxy having pretty neatly answered all the above questions years ago by choosing each other, but still being kind of insular about it, and need to relax just enough to trust other people)

in the end there’s some confrontation with the Condesce and she convinces ½-2/3 the trolls to join her bc, honestly, why shouldn’t they

Jake English and the Castle in the Lake

in which…okay, in this one bit of fic I implied her base was in the ocean but I totally had this title written somewhere, so what is the truth??

in the above linked scene, the trolls who stayed with Jake and Jane were Karkat, Terezi, Kanaya, Gamzee, and Feferi, but idk about that. If Feferi’s there, why isn’t Sollux? And, like, Aradia would probably have just fucked off in her own direction completely, given the chance…

our heroes are trying to sneak into HIC’s base and disable it, okay. that is the plot of this one. probably they have to find it first, which is tricky, and basically a D&D dungeon crawl, and that’s before Jane gets tiara’d. Which definitely happens climactically. and then everyone else gets captured, with the possible exception of Dirk, who probably gets beheaded instead. things do not look good for our heroes…

Jake English and the Lost Hero

in which we find out exactly what happened in the previous generation

maybe even alternating chapters, past/present? 

what happened basically is that the first generation of trolls, the Ancestors, went absolutely batshit roughly as per homestuck canon. The Condesce, being OP, started just conquering land. She was stopped, eventually, mostly by the epic sacrifice of Rose and Dave. And John…except Rose and Dave’s bodies were found, and in a clusterfuck of inventions warping time and space and reality itself, John’s never was

Jade survived, of course. obviously.

John did, too, it is revealed. He was just disconnected from the time-space continuum, stuck popping up in random times and places, sometimes close to those he loved and sometimes not, mostly uncontrollable…

he’s appeared here and there throughout the stories, probably, a mysterious figure in blue who nearly has time to say something before dissolving into fizzing wind. Now he appears more frequently, and for longer periods as the story goes on, including just enough to help break Roxy and Jake out of prison. And whichever trolls were stubbornly sticking with them - if the Condesce wasn’t just mind-controlling all the reluctant ones…let’s be real, she was…lotta “I know you’re in there somewhere” fights here, probably

also, Vriska reveals herself to still be trying to help our heroes, because it is SO Vriska to try to double-cross Her fucking Imperious Condescension

this double-cross is revealed partly from her using Jake’s minioning safeword that he developed with Grandma Jade, way back when; meaning roughly “I don’t want to do this but I’m not sure I can stop”. It’s pumpkin, of course.

they revivify Dirk on the way out, and either stop in the Condesce’s lab to get sparkily distracted trying to pin John into reality or they make it back to Hellmurder Castle before doing that?

What am I saying. The Condesce is probably working on some spacetime-warping tech of her own, and Roxy, Dirk, and Jake use it to fully anchor John for the first time in…who knows, subjectively? It’s possible he stays behind to buy them time to run

Jake English and the Battle for the Green Sun

in which things come to a head

aka the Battle for Hellmurder Castle, and it’s mysterious and terrible power source

Jane and half or so of the trolls start out on the Condesce’s side, but if you thought there were good “I know you’re in there” fights before, just WAIT until Jake saves Jane with the power of friendship

ultimately, it’s alpha kids + Alternian trolls + dancestor-clanks VS Her Imperial Condescension

it’s close

it’s very close

I would have krilled for an H–EIR—ESS CHALLENGE X3 COMBO, ie, Jane, Feferi, and Meenah vs. the Condesce, so that happens

John maybe appears one last time-displaced time, for him before the events of Lost Hero, to deliver a well-timed hammer swing

I love Jake, but I’ll give Homestuck this one: Roxy getting the final blow with an ancestral Strider sword? Perfect.

in the denoument Jake awkwardly invites everyone to live in Hellmurder Castle, because he feels vaguely like he should stay and look after it, and of course he wants his chums around. Jane, Roxy, and Dirk are all like, “well, a real lab or seven would be amazing…but also…adventuring. Why don’t YOU come with US?” Jake is like, “oh JEEPERS yes!” The trolls and dancestors meanwhile talk out among themselves who genuinely wants to stay and who wants to go out adventuring, either with these idiots or just to make their own way

[comicbookuniversity]

Hey humans, more specifically comic-artists,

I wrote a small story for fun, and instead of letting it sit in my docs, I decided to share it. It’s nothing major, but I was experimenting with what it must be like writing in the Marvel-Style as Stan Lee used to write. I was recently inspired by Hickman’s acknowledgement of how his Giant Size X-Men stories were written.

I like to think all writing is good practice, so I figure the same must be true for artists; I personally struggle with stick figures. I wanted to write a story with little to no words to really let the art shine with a character whom I believe is great for creativity: The Green Lantern. So if you are or know an artist who might enjoy bringing this story to life as a means to practice, I’d love to see it. I don’t know if anyone will ever see it or draw it, but I’d rather just put it out there and let it be. (PS sorry, but I can’t add in a ‘keep reading’ thing)

High Noon At Broome’s Pride: A Green Lantern Story by Geordan

For the first page I’m thinking a star wars style floating scrawl across space; I’m thinking colorful nebula as the background.

The text: Green Lantern Justice stops evil in thousands of galaxies, and supports sentience-affirming, rights-positive institutions. The Green Lantern Corps are heroes to hundreds of quintillions of sentient beings. After examinations by Corps Investigative and Judiciary specialists, Green Lantern intervention was approved on a human world, Broome’s Pride. Lantern Maria Cohen is on the ground and an Alpha Lantern is on overwatch in orbit.

We see our Lantern standing outside of a walled facility that also has a force field around it; and it looks distinctly different from the background environment. This background can be the local flora or cityscape, but there definitely needs to be a design contrast between the Rebels and the Authorities. She forces an opening in the field and is fired upon by forces unseen. Since there will be little to no dialogue, I think showing a sense of escalation in her tactics and level of force would be fun, so as she progresses her response becomes more epic. I think with the first few baddies, we show her doing things like hand to hand, then to generated melee weapons, and finally a construct of a cool-ass gun. We also see her send a handful of these bad guys back to the forces who were standing outside the facility who were the authorities that requested her intervention. The bad guys in this first round don’t really have much more than some sci-fi rifles/handguns; maybe even a single grenade.

This is where we introduce the minor B plot. We cut to a group of children, who are scared and being held captive in a room with several guards; the exact number, age range, and how many boys/girls/unknowns I will leave up to you. There’s an explosion from a distance, and some of their guards leave. One of the braver/reckless kids silently tries to tell the others that this is their time to escape. There is some hesitation, so the others look to the most scared of them all and the body language still shows fear. The brave one reaches out their open hand with a ‘do you trust me face’, and there’s a beat of nothing followed by a shot with their hands together. The group takes down the guard and runs away.

In level two, we’re deeper into this facility; there’s no more open space. We see mechs beginning to assault her. These are varied in size and weapons, but all look like they were meant to be sibling designs to each other.This would be a point where those little lantern shaped info bubbles come up to explain to our audience just how dangerous these mechs are, bu I’ll leave this aspect up to you based on what is needed on the page to show some cool action. It’s not strictly necessary to do the little bubbles, but this would be a place to do them. I definitely believe that the mechs should attack in unison and even seem to have the upperhand momentarily before our Lantern swiftly dismantles them. She sends the pilots back to the authorities.

The children have made some progress, but it’s unclear to them and the reader how close they are to the Lantern. We see them dodge guards as they run to their stations for battle, and the children running in their blindspots towards freedom. Two important things need to happen during this little sequence: one the scared one saves the Brave one by pulling them back from being seen by a guard, and there’s a moment of bonding. Two, one of the children gets separated and is found by a guard; the other children watch horrified as they cannot give away their own position lest they be caught too.

Now we’re in level three, a big hall clearly designed to hold meetings for a large number of people and different kinds of events. There are soldiers everywhere standing on different levels with different guns and the leader of these people are standing dead ahead with the kid who was caught escaping; the leader is holding a gun to the kids head. There is even a throne in the room that the leader is standing in front of. The soldiers open fire, but nothing gets past her shield. She sends out tentacles that rapidly send these soldiers back out to the authorities waiting outside the facility. There are only a few left in the room, and Maria feels confident that her mission is almost over. A new figure arrives in the room from above- Maximus Onyx, alien robot mercenary. This is definitely where a Lantern info bubble is needed to introduce this robotic foe and inform the audience that it is wanted for the deaths of three other Lanterns. The Alpha Lantern is informed of his presence and descends from orbit, but not before Maria begins her battle with this mechanical monster.

The children find this giant room and watch from a distance. Maria notices them, but cannot let her focus stray from this deadly foe.

Maria goes hard a first. She tries knocking him many meters into the ground with a giant hammer like attack, but Maximus teleports out of the way. Small drones pop out of Maximus and start firing new energy bolts at her while she is assaulted by a sword and robotic tentacles. Maximus also unleashes a sensory attack to further destabilize the Lantern’s concentration. This fight is going south for Maria quickly. Maximus knocks her down and appears to be ready to deliver a final blow, but then the Alpha Lantern arrives. Maximus backs off and the two make space for their own battle. Barely standing, Maria spits out some blood, and sees the leader of the Rebels trying to escape with the child. She reaches out with some of the last of her energy to get the Leader, the child, and the other children away from the fight that is about to start.

Maximus uncloaks a ship that is floating above the facility and many more drones coming flying down. A case is shot down, and Maximus opens it up to reveal a new and strange sword. The Alpha Lantern is unphased and begins Tactic-821, cascading energy barriers with spiked surfaces. This sends wave after wave with the next wave starting before the last one ends that kinetically destroys (smashes) everything within a sphere range of the Alpha Lantern. Maximus is on the retreat as his hundreds of drones are destroyed, but he slashes through one of the waves with his strange sword that appears to disrupt lantern constructs. He uses this sword to cut closer and closer against each wave. With drones destroyed, Alpha Lantern ends Tactic-821 and engages in a form of close quarter combat, since distance attacks will no longer have the advantage. Maximus engages the ship to attack the authorities. It’s up to hurt Maria to protect them against the fearsome fire power; her ring is still low. The children hug her before she goes, and she pinky promises the scared one she will be back.

Maximus begins to intensely use his local teleportation ability against the Alpha Lantern. THe Alpha lantern has learned that intensely dense constructs will block the sword, but it can still cut into the constructs- it just gets stuck. So far the Alpha Lantern has been unable to immobilize Maximus, but has figured out what will work. Alpha Lantern engages Tactic-1035, Green World. The Alpha Lantern projects an artificial environment based on memories of their homeworld within their actual environment to trap an individual within the ‘Green World’. From here, the Alpha Lantern increases the ‘gravity’ of the Green World; this isn’t actual gravity manipulation so much as the pressure of the constructs ‘air’ acting as a fake gravity. Maximus struggles to hold the sword, but cannot hold on to it. Outside, Maria is holding onto something, barely doding shots fired by the ship, and doing what she can to deflect them away from the living. She crashes through the flight deck to see more bodies of Maximus moving around operating the controls. She starts to panic, but drops off her gift and flies off as fast as she can. She loses power as she flies away.

The ship explodes, and Maximus is aware that the others are gone. One of his tentacle cannons begins to charge, and he teleports behind the Alpha Lantern. He fires his shot, which releases a large energy beam, but the beam passes right through the Alpha Lantern. It was a construct, and the real Alpha Lantern had hidden when the Green World was launched. The construct dissolves and binds around and into Maximus before he can react. Maximus is disabled and arrested.

The Alpha Lantern registers that Maria’s ring is offline and begins to search. Outside the facility, the Alpha Lantern discovers the children surrounded. Medics are rushing towards her, but the Alpha Lantern stops them and starts medical triage constructs. The Alpha Lantern does not leave until Maria awakens and allows her to say goodbye to the children. The Lanterns confirm that the rebels have been captured, and fly off into deep space with Maximus in tow.

The End.

Story and Character Notes:

This story is specifically designed to be straightforward. The Rebels and Authorities conflict is unknown to the readers, so people can project what they want. I mean, I don’t want the Green Lantern associating with a Nazi or otherwise facist authority, but I’m not trying to create deeply political narrative here. There’s pretty much always some group within a cultural context that wants to break away from society for their own reasons and is willing to use violence; this is a common phenomenon in human history, so I don’t see it stopping anytime soon.

This is a future human colony world, but how far into the future is not clear. Considering the wild disparities of technological advancement within the larger DCU, it could be twenty years into DC’s future or two thousand. It’s not particularly important in this story how far it is into the future. Have fun with the designs is the most important part; the rebels and authorities need to have distinct visual differences.

The Green Lantern is a concept who I really think should be artist driven, so this is a story where it has clear heroes and villains to just let the artist have fun drawing imaginative action sequences. The goal of minimal/no dialogue or words was to really keep this experiment as accessible as possible and really let the art shine.

Maria Cohen is our primary hero for the story, but considering this is the future, for all we know, Maria and Cohen will have spread to become names that do not particularly denote any particular ethnic or cultural background. Or maybe she has an unusual background. Maria’s exact story is not needed here, but I talk about how her name can be open, because I would like to make her age, body type, ethnicity, tattoos/no tattoos all left open to however you want to make her. I personally see someone closer to 30s, but if you want her to be a teenager or even a grandma, I say go for it. And it’s pretty clear that the GLC doesn’t have a clear uniform standard beyond their symbol, so have fun with that. The only thing she needs to be is confident in her body language. I do suggest no outfits that would be overly male-gazey; it’s a work uniform, not a strip club look.

Maximus Onyx does not have to be a humanoid robot. He only needs to have arms, the ability to launch tentacles (if they aren't already out), and the ability to shoot drones out him. Primary color scheme being red, black, and gold. He could have 3 heads for all we know. Just make him look menacing.

The Alpha Lantern could be another human, or it could look like Mothra signed up to become an Alpha Lantern. I think it would be really fun if it were an animal we are all familiar with, but a human intelligent version- like an elephant Lantern. It’s just a suggestion. The primary point here is that the Alpha Lantern looks cool and stoic.

[jones573]

what jack is (and isnt! he’s NOT a ‘genie’ he is VERY bitter about that comparison)

probably done being written, unless people have questions because i almost certainly forgot to address things

jack is the janitor’s cart of the universe, the broom and the bleach to make the nasty things go away. he is the caretaker of the natural order, and a destroyer of what would threaten it. but even that is too poetic. 

in actuality, he is more like the neglectful and largely uncaring supervisor of a plethora of toddlers, if the daycare facility were an abandoned ammunitions and explosives factory with a lot of improperly stored gasoline. if a sentient being blew itself up- Well. It happened sometime. And they didn’t necessarily need that wall, did they? But if things got to the point that the entire place was going to blow, or damage the structure in such a way that would cause irreparable damage, then jack (or things like him) are the ones that ensure that doesnt happen. this is largely done by monitoring how loudly the small toddlers are screaming- if someone knows they have well and truly fucked up and is projecting that in their mental state, jack checks in. and usually he lets whatever’s about to happen, happen. 

in the earliest days of the universe, jack was at his busiest. at least a couple times an epoch, some idiot would get into magic in a way it should not be gotten into, and jack intervened. but sentient beings got smarter, and magic got less accessible (perhaps the two are related, jack was not really interested in the proceedings at that point) and generally speaking, things got a lot quieter.

jack’s general state of being is one of passive hibernation- he just kinda chills out on his plane of existence and passively monitors the fuck-ups that are happening. i imagine if there were other things like him (there must have been, i suppose) they went into a deep hibernation sometime over the last several millennium, and have not risen since- perhaps their inactivity indicated they were no longer needed, and they simply ceased to exist. but jack was summoned by a shepard girl who found his ritual engraved inside a cave in the Atlas Mountains, and... well. finding livestock is absolutely in NO way anywhere near his job description but it was such an odd request and the girl’s general ‘not terrified’ attitude was interesting. (the visualization of his true form is awe-inspiring and quite alarming, but i imagine half the reason people always pissed themselves in fear when he arrived was the knowledge that they had fucked up enough for this thing to come for them)

at any rate finding livestock is not a task jack can expend his resources on but he stuck around until she had found them and found it a weird, if annoying experience, and he went back to chilling in another plane of existence. by the time he thought to check in on the girl, she had long since died (as had the livestock) and that was a bit sad and jack was unused to feeling things like ‘a bit sad’ and so he started paying attention to the little sentient critters a bit more actively. just to pass the time. and he made a few appearances here and there, even when he knew he couldnt or wouldnt do anything to assist. and he did find himself ‘assisting’ more often than he might otherwise have, finding ways to justify it to himself, and on one occasion even coaching someone on what NOT to say because so long as he wasnt directly told a certain fact or two, than he was free to act

in the arthurian age, the wizard merlin did some shit. really, quite a bit of shit- he binged jack’s radar a few times, but the clever wizard always managed to figure a way out of it before interference could be considered. but eventually merlin called him, having created something too terrible and too powerful that the wizard feared he could not control it, and that it would ruin everything he cared for

but merlin offered something in exchange for jack’s help- not completely unusual, of course. but usually it was tokens one might leave for a god entity- food and flowers and the like. but merlin asked jack to fix his mistake AND spare his life, and in return merlin would create a means for jack to become human

jack agreed, which was a terrible sign for merlin, really. generally, the unnatural or threatening thing is destroyed, as are all involved in its creation- but such an action isnt always necessary, and in this case it hadnt been. (and jack killed several that merlin cared for, but he would have had to have done that anyways, and besides, the wizard didnt mention them by name)

but merlin was true to his word, and upon his death, the great bulk of magic he had acquired over his many years was put to work powering a very complicated spell. essentially, roughly every 30 years, jack can possess a human body for about 3 or 4 months. (the times are kinda arbitrary, they can be changed if you guys feel they are too long or short or whatever. in my head the spell also is tied to jack’s own energy, so staying four months instead of three would potentially weaken him). the body must be human and must be living at the time he inhabits it. he cannot wield his powers to their full extent while a human, as his true form cannot possibly fit inside such a tiny thing, but he can fully experience everything the human body does. if he wishes to wield his powers, he must completely leave the body, though he can return to it when finished with his business. he can also use different bodies if he wishes- that’s how he ‘traveled’ in his early exploration days.

jack very much enjoyed having a human body- the novelty! the fun! but honestly he wasn’t super regular about it. sometime in maybe the 1400′s he was summoned by the young vampire he would eventually take the name Matt. matt requested that his youngest sister be spared, as her magic was uninvolved in the debacle. jack was impressed by this- not that matt had advocated for someone else, but that matt had had the guts to ask /anyone/ to be spared. matt’s people were up to some truly high-level apocalypse shit, and by all rights he would have been perfectly justified to just carve their entire territory out of the south american landmass and completely disintegrate the whole thing

but anyways. he spared them both. and checked in on them sometime later during one of his human escapades. and then kept checking in on them. he is NOT sentimental, it’s just practical, is his refrain. finding a human lover that he enjoys as much as Matt would take WORK, and they’d be weirded out by him reappearing in thirty years in a different body, and they die so often! really. he’s fond of Matt, sure. But he isn’t attached to him or anything. Dont be silly.

as i’ve mentioned, Jack can be ‘summoned’- In fact, he pretty much has to be. but ‘summon’ is a very loose term for it- the mental anguish of realizing you’ve fucked up so badly that the entire world might be in danger tends to count. way, way, way back in the day there were more formal ‘rituals’ that could be used to bring forth a visual analog of his true form for mortals to interact with, but merlin was the last to use one, and jack has destroyed any remaining instructions (that he was aware of)

unfortunately, this means that Jack can be tricked. if absolutely no one involved in a project that threatens the natural order has any inkling of the damage their activities could create, or has no feelings of regret associated with that inkling- the world could potentially end with jack being none the wiser. i imagine there are also magical protections that could be used to prevent jack from interfering if one was aware of his presence, though he has yet to come across such things and probably believes that no one could really create something that would keep HIM out of where he wanted to be

jack is also limited in what he can fix. it has to be something that is truly a threat to the natural order AND it can’t be something that the lowest form of sentience can do anything about. (this is a rule that he has justified himself down on over the ages to reach the current stage it is at, and unfortunately he cant seem to get it any lower. not that he WANTS to help, of course.)

these days he often visits suspicious folk in dreams to suss out the situation- less likely to cause a panic, and in the morning they barely remember. he appeared to a very distraught member of the Manhattan Project in a recent near-interference. and he was totally on board with making sure this thing completely stopped existing but then. the damn fool said something about their fears that the bombs would be used and... well. its not an active threat if someone just has to NOT do something, is it? and a human someone, too! and so jack told the scientist that this was something the politicians were responsible for stopping. (technically, jack already KNEW this- he cannot really be lied to, exactly. but he cannot actively know everything all at once, and intent of things is often what determines whether or not jack can act.) jack’s refusal to help- even after the bombs had been deployed and there was nothing humans or supernatural beings could do to stop them- was the source of the biggest fight jack and matt have had to date. it was also the point where matt began to realize that jack IS dangerous, and he began sharing information about jack with maria in an attempt to better understand his limits and abilities

Jack is not inherently dangerous to the average person. In his human form, supernatural beings that can ‘read’ others- by scent, auras, telepathy- will know he is wearing a borrowed body. Those more familiar with planes of existence may be aware that there is more of him hiding somewhere, just out of sight. 

most alarmed by his presence (both his true form and when he’s tied to a human body) would be people and things that are in defiance of nature. the beast creature that Merlin had created, for instance, went rigid and frothed at the mouth when he appeared, in blind panic and fear

Jack’s involvement in taking care of Dr. Rawe and his subsequent invitation to the New Year’s Day party are part of an ongoing research project started by Maria that is being kicked at by Annabelle. Clearly, he is not impartial as he claims. And he uses his biases to work around his own rules. Annabelle believes that should be harnessed.

Matt’s suggestion that Jack take care of the Dr. Rawe problem probably went something like shown below. its also highly possible that jack was aware he was being ‘manipulated’ and allowed it- he is VERY keen to meet May and ‘the friends’, so.

M: boogeyman shouldnt be able to use magic should they?

J: no, not actively at least- just drawing stuff into their lairs. processing fear, creating nightmares. thats all instinctual stuff

j: why

m: oh nothing- well. i guess a wizard that had previously been absorbed by a boogey was taking control of it. being both

j: it... shouldnt. it couldnt.

m: well, it did. went around kidnapping other magic users, forcing an actual boogey out of its lair, ripping open portals and not properly repairing them... you look pained. this isnt your ‘sort of thing’ is it?

j: ehhh i mean. its only the one?

m: i think so? i mean i guess theres no way to know unless the thing could be inspected

j: ehhhh

m: you have to be asked, don’t you?

j: i dont HAVE to be anything-ed! i am free to act as i please

m: well im asking anyways- the things a menace, and its been targeting other oddities. im sure the endangerment of some of your other ‘keep an eye on’s would pull some strings out of the rug, yes?

j: ...

m: humans certainly cant take care of it. even i would have trouble disposing of it properly. much less permanently.

j: ...okay. throw that blanket on my body, i dont want it to be all cold when i get back to it. and itll only be like, ten minutes tops, so help me if youve put your pants back on by the time ive returned