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writing-is-a-martial-art · 3 years

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Good deeds have consequences: part 3/3

A/N: This is part three. Here's part one and part two.

Word count: 1555 words

Warnings: none for now but tell me if there should be.

Taglist: @chazzawrites @apocalypsewriters @pagesofcursive @47crayons @lady-of-himring @wolfsong02 @annoyingwritingtrash

When Yahgur got to his corner of the woods, the sun already lit everything a bright yellow, making his humble wooden house into an exquisite sight. He liked it here. His life was quiet, organized, and boring. Few people understand what a gift a truly boring, uneventful life means. You don’t hang from cliffs. You don’t wage wars. You don’t get your parents killed at the tragic beginning of your hero’s journey. Boring is bliss. Boring is so appealing that if you squint hard enough, you can mistake it for happiness.

For a second, he considered going in, sliding under the oh-so-cozy furs that he used as blankets, and taking a nice, long nap. For four, maybe five hours. He shook off that idea. Staying here won’t do him any good. After all, those apprentices saw what happened. When they come back and start telling their masters and parents a mixed story of a robber attack and that strange man who lives in the woods turning into a bear, there’s little chance anyone will remember why he was there in the first place. And even if some kid does, who will listen? A nice little delegation of villagers with torches and pitchforks might show at any moment. His old, boring life isn’t really an option anymore.

With that, he went in and took his escape kit. He had one. Learned the hard way that he needed one. It had all the money he gathered during the years (which sounds like a bigger sum than it is), a flint, a knife, some dried meat, some salt - believe me, you don’t want to eat anything you catch without salt - and a change of clean clothes, as well as a traveling cape.

He looked around for a weapon. Of course, he had his knife, and his hunting bow was standing in the corner, unstrung, but the knife is more for close combat, while the bow is more for long-range, and can be unhelpful in case of a sudden escalation of events. He needed something to cover the middle ground. Of course, he still had Thing. He kept it in the shed, where it wouldn’t be such an eyesore. It technically qualified as a sword. Yahgur considered sticking to what he had, but he didn’t have the luxury of turning down weapons right now, no matter how strange and irrational they were.

Sure enough, Thing was still there. He chained it to the wall, just in case. This… let’s say sword for the lack of a better word was the personification of everything Yahgur hated about magic. It's strange to think that at some point he even searched for it, tempted by the stories of a legendary sword that could cut through anything. And then he found it. The tales were true, Thing could cut through anything, no matter how strong. Theoretically.

In practice, it could just refuse to cut something, without any explanation or prior notice. Yahgur would've been fine with that - his and Thing’s moral codes overlapped enough for them to be able to cooperate - but one of those things Thing refused to cut through was Yahgur’s bond with the bear. Here, the reader might ask “but how can a sword cut through something like that? It’s not a physical object!”.

Oh, but it can. Thing could be directed at a speaker and cut the truth and the lies into two separate soundwaves. It could cut through magic. Some say it could even make a breach between the worlds of humans, gods, and spirits, but Yahgur never tried doing that. He figured bringing about the end of humanity would be a fun way to go out if he ever decides that he had enough of this life.

He stared at Thing, last-minute reconsidering his decision to take it with him. Thing stared back, reproachfully. It didn’t have eyes to stare with, or a face to make an expression with, but the reproachful stare was clearly there. Magic. The world would be so much better without it.

“Okay, let’s look at it this way: I need a sword, and a sword needs a wielder. We can tolerate each other for a little longer. Then I can trade you with a normal sword of some pure-hearted young warrior, and we’ll both get what we want. Deal?” Yahgur eyed the sword. Of course, it didn’t answer. It never did. But its nonexistent features softened a bit.

“Then it’s settled. And no ending the world without my permission, okay?”

Again, something that could be interpreted as an agreement. Something of a motionless nod.

Because talking to swords isn’t something sane people do, let alone rational ones, and Yahgur was both sane and rational, he didn’t want to continue the conversation any further than necessary, so he unchained the sword and attached the scabbard to his baldric, one he had from when he carried Thing often.

He checked how prepared he was to leave, one more time. Money. Weapons. Food. Tools. Clothes. Everything seemed in order. He took a good, long look at the cabin he lived in - a small, but cozy place, one he made himself and polished to a comfortable, familiar perfection - sighed, bid farewell to the local spirits, and walked away, squinting at the late morning’s sun.

Shimmi was waiting for him where he left him, which surprised Yahgur a bit. With all the energy Shimmi displayed, he didn’t picture him as the patient type. Standing in the sunlight, his head tilted upward to catch the warm rays, he was rocking back and forth, heel to toe, humming a little melody. The jewelry on his neck jingled gently, adding something of a rhythm to his humming. The picture seemed so tranquil and pure that Yahgur stood there for a while, not wanting to interrupt the happy fellow. Finally, he let out a little cough, hoping it would be enough to get his attention. It worked better than he expected. As it turns out, Shimmi was so enthralled with his little hum and the feeling of sunlight on his skin that he didn’t notice his surroundings at all. He jumped on the spot, slightly higher than a person should be able to, his eyes wide open, the golden markings on his face that Yahgur took for make-up shining a bright, golden light.

Magic.

It all made sense. Why he wasn’t afraid. Why he stayed behind and helped. Why he could help - only now it came to Yahgur’s mind that he should have questioned that. Shimmi landed from his half-flying jump, the light from his- from its- from their- the light on Shimmi’s face deeming to the usual golden shine. Yahgur tried to concentrate on the expression. Sure enough, the smile was there, just as always, but more sheepish this time.

“What are you?” Yahgur asked coldly

“I… I don’t really know. Human, mostly”

“Humans don’t float. Or shine. What are you?”

“No, I’m human, really! I was raised by spirits, and they taught me a lot, but that’s it”

“But you’re magic?” Yahgur pressed

“Y-yes?” Shimmi now seemed almost frightened, the smile gone from his face. He looked like he was about to cry.

Yahgur took a few steps back. He knew magic was evil. It was a stupid, uncaring force, that stormed into his life again and again and destroyed it every time. It couldn’t be good. Nothing magic could be good. No one magic could be good, not even Yahgur himself. He knew that the side of him that was affected by magic was nothing but a nuisance, a danger to society.

Nothing magic could be good. No one magic could be good. It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment statement. It was the law he lived by, year after year. And here was Shimmi. He looked like flowers and sunshine, combined in some being of universal harmless benevolence. And he was magic. And also on the verge of tears.

Yahgur took another look at Shimmi. He could just leave. He didn’t owe him… much. And he could probably pay back his debt by giving him his knife, or the money he had, or both. He could leave, and wander alone. And live Shimmi to wander alone, too, in this world where “magic” and “death” were often taken for synonyms. This tiny, silly man, with his silly hair, and his silly clothes.

Who was he kidding?

“You should have told me earlier,” Yahgur said, his voice and expression blank

“I didn’t think it was that important” Shimmy mumbled

“Look, you need to remember: people don’t like magic folk here. If they find out you’re magic, there are going to be problems. You have to be more careful”

Shimmi looked up, trying to read Yahgur’s expression. But Yahgur wore his face as a mask so often that he started to forget how to express his true emotions. He took a few steps down the road, towards the capital, towards the shining, blinding sun. He stopped.

“Well, are you coming or not?” he asked, turning back.

A smile split Shimmi's face, the markings on it lighting up with a light-golden glow.

“So I can come with you, right?”

“Well, judging by the looks of it, you will need protecti-" Yahgur’s reply was muffled by Shimmi’s hug.

#writing #original work #original writing #wip #jytfs #original story #original content #writeblr #wtwcommunity #wtw community #oleg's writing

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jq37 · 4 years

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The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 19

The Ties That Bind

The penultimate Fantasy High: Sophomore Year episode is upon us and not a moment too soon. Seems a little counter-intuitive to seek comfort from these objectively wild current events we’re experiencing from a fictional Nightmare Forest but we know what we’re about so let’s jump back in and start with the death of a beloved main character.

Yay.

Rewinding back to two episodes ago, last we saw Kristen, she got stabbed through by a skeletal unicorn and died. We pick back up there and, as she’s dying, she feels a sense of pain, betrayal, and anger--very similar emotions to what Brennan told her the goddess was feeling with her Nat 20 Religion Check. Kristen gets a vision of the goddess being destroyed in cracks of lightning by her own followers--the same vision Fig saw in the dream scrying pool when she scry-ed on Kristen last week--and then she wakes up on the chapel floor.

She’s not...dead exactly. But she’s not super alive either. She’s bleeding, but more oozing blood than the normal mechanical way of bleeding out because her heart isn’t beating. There’s a hole in her chest and, within it, her heart is crushed. Her skin is pale because the blood isn’t pumping through it properly anymore. Her breathing isn’t regular. And a piece of her finger tip (the piece taken by her friends for a possible Revivify) is missing.

She sees evidence of her friends having been in the room--footprints and the smashed wall--and to place this in the timeline, she can’t remember Fabian right now. When she checks her crystal, she sees it’s been 90 minutes since they walked into the forest. She does Cure Wounds on herself to stop the blood from dripping. Then she heads out towards the forest, passing the Oracular Pool Fig used in the last episode as she goes. She stops as she sees it and something in her heart glows with golden light. When she looks into the pool, she sees the sun reflected in the pool (and also Fig’s boot prints leading up to it). That’s weird because it is super not a Sol/Helio aligned Chapel/Area they’re in. She also sees the moon reflected and she feels like she’s being called in. It doesn’t necessarily feel safe but it feels like she might get some answers and also she already died today so how much worse can it get? She dives in and come up and when she does, she’s suddenly in the outer planes. Specifically, she’s in Elysium which is like the Neutral Good heaven. She hears a voice that she mistakes for her dad’s because of the major dad energy she’s getting from it: You can come home.

As she walks, she finds herself--as Kristen weirdly often does for some reason--in the presence of gods. Specifically, Sol (god of the Sun) and Galakaya (goddess of the Moon and his sister as we find out). Helio is also there, like the screw-up son of a CEO, hanging out in his office. Both of them are good gods but not neutral good so Kristen gets the sense that they brought her here to have a neutral place to talk to her.

Kristen is hilariously nonplussed by being personally Uber-d to heaven by arguably the biggest gods in the pantheon and when she is asked to take a walk with Helio so she can get some important information, she’s like, “Nooooo, can literally anyone else do it?” Galakaya agrees to do it instead.

They take a lap and she asks about Tracker. Galakaya says that Tracker isn’t dead but she’s in major danger. Then, she changes the subject. Has Kristen ever wondered where her spells have been coming from when she’s been between gods? Because, as Galakaya says, doubt is nothing. She reveals that even though Kristen rejected him, Helio has been providing Kristen spells this entire time. He sent the philosophers and the grad students to be her spirit guardians. Kristen rejected him but not the light. Galakaya likens it to a child running away from home to the front yard. Kristen isn’t too far gone. She can still come back to the fold. And, if she doesn’t want to be Helio’s champion, she can be hers instead and become a Moon Cleric, which would still be keeping it in the family. But that’s the problem Kristen has with it. Helio to Galakaya? It seems like more of the same--especially the way she’s been acting, like she would fit right in at a brunch table with Arianwyn and Anguin. Except, when Tracker comes up, Kristen notices she gets a little snarly, almost like a tic she’s trying to keep under control.

Kristen asks for her pitch, and it’s basically the same deal she was getting with Helio but with different window dressing. The Moon, sisterhood, and unquestioning obedience. Galakaya can’t see into Sylvere to check on Tracker like Kristen asks but if she had a Champion, say Kristen, she could send her all kitted up with new powers. She says she wants the Nightmare King dead more than anyone seeing as the Nightmare King killed her baby sister (the Mystery Goddess). She calls her baby sister sweet and sometimes confused, seeing as she thought destroying her name would make her more powerful. But Kristen knows that’s not what happened. It was her followers who destroyed her name as she desperately warned them not to. Some chicanery is going on.

She says she will take the job as Galakaya’s champion and when she makes like she’s going to pray to her to seal the deal, she instead reaches out to the mystery goddess again. The golden light in her chest disappears and is replaced with cool shadow. She feels shock from the goddess, that Kristen would still choose to reach out to her after she died at her hand. The goddess says, emotionally, “I’m sorry, I’m just so scar--” But, before she can finish the word, Galakaya grabs Kristen by the shoulder and snaps her out of it, face snarling and wolfed out. After a second, she composes herself and seems almost embarrassed that Kristen saw that, which makes Kristen realize what’s going on with her. Tracker is a cleric of Galakaya, but knowing Tracker, she wouldn’t worship someone so reeking of high elven prim and proper-ness. And she also knows what the number one rule of godhood is: As above, so below. Galakaya has basically been claimed as a high elven goddess. Which means that the vast majority of her followers aren’t like Tracker. They’re snooty high elves. Which means so is she and her wolf part is still there, but it’s buried and distasteful to her now.

Which, coincidentally, is how Kristen feels about this entire godly family. She “respectfully declines” both of their offers. And by “respectfully declines” I mean she socks Helio in the face and makes a run for it. Sol, full of rage, says, “I told you that kid was trash! Now get her!” The philosophers on Sol’s payroll look at each other and instead mob him (why is the literal sun god so easy to 1v1?) and help Kristen escape. As she does, Helio calls out after Kristen something she kind of already sensed upon arriving in Elysium. Most people are a soul in a body. But Kristen, at the moment, is a soul *as* a body. If she dies again, with no god to intercede for her, she’s dead-dead. No afterlife. But that’s not enough to make her stay. She keeps running and makes it to the pool. For the first time, she feels herself fully cut off from her spells.

Back in the cave in Sylvere, Kristen chats with the Philosophers. They tell her they were working for Sol so they couldn’t tell her what the deal was but they were always rooting for her. One of the philosophers quotes her own words back to her: Doubt can’t be a belief but it can be a practice. And as she says this, she turns Kristen’s Shepherd's Crook cool and metallic and turns it into a question mark. She can’t hold doubt in her heart but she can hold it in her hand (stats for the Staff of Doubt below; also what a sick line from Brennan).

She knows that to get to the center of the forest where she needs to be, she has to follow her fear, so she goes in the direction she doesn’t expect to find Tracker.

Shifting gears, we find Gorgug and Fabian at the mouth of the cave (and no longer high on duskmoss) in their floating rock island surrounded by the others. They see that there are other openings and decide to check them to see if they can find any of their friends. They spend a good two hours, tied together and climbing this rock face which is some extremely solid male bonding. When they reach the cave they were aiming for, they find Baxter, riddled with arrows they know to be Sandra-Lynn’s. He’s dying but not dead. I am outraged at Brennan until I learn a fact that I don’t think has come up until now: Artificers get spell slots. Which means that Gorgug has Cure Wounds. He only cures him for 3 points but that’s enough to stabilize him at least so we can all stop sharpening the pitchforks. However, Baxter is clearly dejected and confused. He has no idea why Sandra-Lynn would suddenly turn on him. So maybe the pitchforks are still called for.

They want to leave Baxter in the cave so he can rest up but, on a 1 Animal Handling, Baxter absolutely demands to follow them. It’s faster than climbing at least. They do so.

And we switch again, this time to the Abernants.

Adaine is still trapped in a prison orb and barred from doing most of her spells. She can, however, do the Message cantrip and Aelwyn is still in the room along with Anguin. She Messages Aelwyn and asks, What’s going on? Why is she working with their parents still? Aelwyn replies that she doesn’t like her parents but she does love them. Doesn’t Adaine? “They don’t love me,” Adaine shoots back. Aelwyn parrots back ideology that she’s clearly learned from her parents: Love has to be earned. What value does something that hasn’t been earned have? Adaine, fresh off of therapy and with full knowledge of Aelwyn’s broken psyche, fully calls her out. She is so closed off to love, to everything that abjuration is her school of magic. Aelwyn tries to wave her off but Adaine, very seriously, says, “I don’t love our parents but despite the fact that you have not earned it, I do love you.” Aelwyn fully dissociates (and I’m not far behind).

Adaine notices that Anguin is readying some kind of Sending spell and that he’s wearing a sword that he usually doesn’t have. He tells Aelwyn to ransack her sister’s brain for the info they need from her while he prepares her punishment. Aelwyn, clearly in a slight panic, tries to (not at all) casually persuade Anguin to just leave Adaine in the orb, unharmed, when they are done with her. She tries to do it in a, “This isn’t worth our time,” kind of way but betrays herself when she blurts out, “She’s a baby!” Anguin raises a hand at her and she flinches, apologetically casting Detect Thoughts on Adaine who has already (via Message) said she’d support her no matter what she did.

Enter, Adaine’s Mindscape: A series of interconnected rooms--and her Aelwyn’s rooms--repeated over and over. Adaine has her surface thoughts be all of her memories of Aelwyn *almost* being nice to her and then pulling back at the last second for fear of her parents. Aelwyn doesn’t press deeper than these thoughts and says that if Adaine’s goal was to humiliate her then she’s done so. But that’s not what Adaine wants. She wants to rebuild their relationship. They’re gonna be sisters for the rest of their quasi-immortal lives. These memories suck but they can make new ones.

And then, through a window, Aelwyn sees another memory. The memory of herself in the hot-tub post Calethriel Tower rescue mission. She doesn’t remember this because of the events in the memory itself. Adaine went into her mind and, at her written instructions, reboot her memory and personality. They’re able to Inception themselves into Adaine’s memory of Aelwyn’s mind and they walk through it. Aelwyn is confronted with the knowledge that this is how she is and that Adaine knows this. Siobhan, from her sniper perch, gets the kill order from Brennan to take the shot directly into my chest.

“Would you be my big sister? I would really, really love to have you as a big sister.”

So now it’s both Kristen and me who have crushed hearts this episode.

Aelwyn fully loses concentration on the spell and snaps out of it. When Anguin asks for the information, she, on full glassy-eyed autopilot, says she didn’t find it. Anguin decides to go for the nuclear option, readying a bolt of magic to throw at Adaine. “Prepare to be better, dear, sweet daughter.”

The magic races at her, ready to do something Stepford-ian to her mind I’m sure, but, suddenly, Aelwyn steps forward, still out of it but following her true, deeply buried but natural protective instincts. Protective magic covers Adaine and the spell is Counterspelled.

Adaine quickly dispels her orb but then it’s Anguin’s turn and he goes for Aelwyn. Adaine attempts to return the favor she has just been given and Counterspells but Anguin Counterspells her Counterspell and Lightning Bolts Aelwyn. The second before she’s hit, Aelwyn looks at Adaine and says, “I’m sorry”. She goes down.

Adaine’s turn.

And, if you recall, Adaine just received two boons: A bonus to her Strength score and a little spell called Adaine’s Furious Fists.

And, my dude, if Adaine has ever been furious in her life, it’s now.

5th Level. And it’s a strength saving throw but, just to be certain of her success, Adaine gives her undoubtedly weak father her 4 Portent roll. That’s 10d10 damage.

77 points of damage.

She charges forward at Anguin.

“Guess what bitch? I’m strong now.”

And she full Dragon Ball Z energy punches her dad, dealing more than double his max HP. You know what that means? Ding Dong the bitch is FULLY DEAD.

Deed done, she rushes to Aelwyn’s side and gives her her 11 portent roll for her first death save (super clutch use of a mediocre portent). Then, on an 18 Medicine check, stabilizes her without the need for any more checks. Aelwyn is immediately weepy about how she doesn’t deserve the kindness she’s being shown. Adaine, again, gently says that love isn’t about deserving or not deserving, though she definitely doesn’t deserve the crappy situation she’s in right now. And, maybe when this is over, she can exchange her bed for a bunk bed and Aelwyn can move in? If Aelwyn wasn’t crying before, she super is now, and spilling her guts. She’s the one who sank she ship the previous elven oracle was on, she worked for Kalvaxus and Kalina--things Adaine is willing to attribute to being under the thumb of evil, abusive people but that Aelwyn seems desperate to atone for. She gives Adaine an important piece of information for their mission: In the past, heroes going after the Nightmare King have failed because they failed to undo all five curses. They need to make sure they do that.

Adaine gives Aelwyn the tincture she has on her, freeing her from Kalina’s influence, and then Aelwyn gives her one more piece of information before she slips into unconsciousness. Before Aelwyn had the previous Oracle killed, she was sure that Adaine was going to be the next Oracle and she told Kalvaxus that. Why was she sure? Because the elf that becomes the next Oracle is always the most skilled Diviner alive at the time.

“I love you too,” Adaine replies.

Then she nicks the dope sword (and 30 gp) off her dad’s corpse, leaves Aelwyn there to rest, and goes to find her friends.

And, speaking of, let’s pop over to see how Riz and Fig are doing.

In a word, bad.

They’re still tied up and cornered by the skeletal unicorn who says they’re captured and soon their friends will be too. Nightmare Fig shows up with Baby (who is shortly tied up as well) and reveals herself to actually be this many-armed, snake-woman demon. A whole army of demons show up, ready to start wrecking house as soon as they’re ordered to.

Fig wants to try and use her lighter to set her bonds on fire and Riz wants to use his spy-watch to laser her bonds off. They both fail but Riz notices they’re not being stopped from trying. It’s like the demons want them to escape so they have an excuse to chase and kill them. He also notices a jiggling from his briefcase.

At the same time, Fig gets a Sending from Bill saying he just hawked all of Gorthalx’s stuff, including the six suits of magic armor. But, wait a minute. There were seven suits. On a Nat 1, she thinks Bill is screwing her over.

But then.

All of a sudden.

Riz’s briefcase of holding springs open and out pops a figure in gleaming gold Pride Armor. The armored figure, holding a brilliantly gold halberd, cleaves through some demons and the raises his visor showing that it’s none other than the chosen one himself--GILEAR! You see, the Deadly Sin armor feeds on its respective sin in the user and consumes them, but, as Gilear puts it, he has no pride.

He absolutely wrecks house, killing demon after demon. Riz records it on his tie-camera for posterity. Gorgug and Fabian on Baxter see the commotion and fly down, seeing the tail end of the fight. Gilear kills the last of the demons then gets spit out of the armor like it’s an Iron Man suit, fully dead. Again. He may have had no pride when he put the armor on but watching himself kick ass have him just enough to be fatal.

Fig gets free from her bindings and, on a 27 with Bardic from Fabian, beats the 25 DC she needs to make an illusory diamond (which turns into a real one) of high enough quality to cast Revivify. She does so, after a heartfelt statement about being proud to be like him and a sick lick on her bass.

Gilear comes back up and we learn that he’d been hiding in RIz’s briefcase with the armor since they sent him away because it was the only way he could think of to be useful to them and protect Fig. Fabian and Riz (along with the audience) also unfortunately learn that Gilear is hung like a horse when they fail their saves to look away quickly enough.

Adaine rushes in with her new sword and the information that she killed her dad which everyone congratulates her for. She then ritual casts Identify on the sword. Aelwyn told her earlier that it’s the sword that belongs to whoever the current Oracle is and she also learns it’s called the Sword of Sight, it can be used as an arcane focus, and was made by Fabian’s Grandad (full stats below).

Riz gets the footage from his tie onto his crystal and posts it on Fig’s account which has got to be the wildest social media account on Magic Facebook.

The Bad Kids are mainly reunited, but let’s get back to the final missing member.

Kristen, alone in the woods, starts using her blood to draw a picture of the Mystery goddess. She hears a creepy voice say, “Be careful what you give a face,” and some other ominous stuff. But Kristen ignores it as she lies prostrate in front of her drawing because she understands something extremely important.

As above, so below.

Galakaya is worshiped primarily by stuck up high elves, so she has become that.

If Kristen is now the only follower of the Mystery goddess and she says that she’s real and she’s good then as above, so below. The math checks out.

The bloody image changes to a beautiful woman’s face. The Mystery goddess. She says she only ever wanted to comfort her followers and tell them that the night itself was nothing to fear. Kristen sees flashes of the chained Court of Elders--the representatives of the five races who worshiped the Mystery Goddess and were convinced to destroy her name (ignoring her warnings not to). Among them are the unicorn and the decaying elf Adaine saw in her Scry.

Fear of the NK breaks her out of the vision and she finds herself surrounded by Twilight (that she’s generating) with Tracker in front of her, fully wolfed out with a bloody muzzle. Tracker is going feral, all, “You’re so selfish, everything is always about you.” Something is going wrong with her. Now, good news/bad news:

Good News: Kristen is fully committed to this Mystery Goddess so she gets her spells back and she is now a Twilight Domain Cleric.

Bad News: She goes Invisible (eliciting a, “Why are you running? I knew you would leave me. Why won’t you accept me like I am?” from Tracker) and tries to cast Greater Restoration but all she needs is a 4 and she rolls a 3. Tragic.

She finds that she is insubstantial still and is whisked away from a snarling and lamenting Tracker. As she is traveling, she sees the face of the Nightmare King who asks why she would follow a dead goddess whose path is just going to make her life harder. Kristen feels a pang of doubt and fear that she has just done exactly what her religious upbringing warned her against and put herself and her friends in grave danger for no reason by straying from the path, but then she has another classic Kristen-ism: Everyone is basic and wrong. She’d rather follow a goddess who is like, “Hey y’all, I also don’t have it all figured out but I will for sure do all I can to help you navigate it,” than a god who demands unquestioning faith and loyalty. And with that, she finds herself floating above her friends.

She feels the pull of her missing finger bone in Adaine’s pocket and she feels like it might be impossible for her to fully, properly, come back but on the other hand, she’s died like three times at this point. What does impossible even mean? She gets the sense that she can cast Raise Dead on herself and she does so.

Welcome back to the Bad Kids, St. Kristen Applebees of [REDACTED], halo aglow, newly reattached finger shedding a bit of light.

(“That’s hot for being gay,” Ally says about Kristen’s new glow.)

Everyone hugs everyone and catches up everyone on everything. Kristen heals up Baxter for 20 HP and gets a +2 bump on her Intelligence mod for her ordeals in the forest. They all make a plan to get everyone in one place so Kristen can put some of her new AoE healing spells to use. Fig wants to go on Baxter to get Ayda. Adaine, bringing us full circle, invites Fabian on a rescue mission to get her sister.

And we take a break.

Deep breath y’all.

Detention

Brennan for Cursing us With Knowledge About Gilear’s Penis

@allsevenmaidens put this very reasonable request in and I have to concur because what’s the alternative? Giving Anguin this spot AGAIN? Like, I don’t even want to give him the satisfaction of being the best of the worst. Adaine gave him the death penalty which is what he deserves and all he’s gonna get.

So, Brennan gets this spot for forcing me to hear the words “Gilear” and “hung like a horse” in the same sentence.

Honor Roll

Gilear for Kicking SERIOUS Ass

Listen, SO many Honor Roll-worthy moments happened this episode. Kristen’s Amazing As Above, So Below moment. Aelwyn finally stepping up to protect Adaine. Adaine absolutely obliterating Anguin in a single punch.

But, at the end of the day, I have to give it to Gilear “Just a Guy” Faeth for cramming himself and a suit of cursed armor into a mostly airless briefcase out of desperate need to do whatever he could to help protect his daughter and her friends who are basically demigods. He truly is the Anti-Anguin and I’m so glad Riz got that on tape for posterity. Way to go man.

Random Thoughts

I already wrote so many words and we have a five hour finale tomorrow so I’m going to try and keep this section brief.

We’re staring down the barrel of the last episode (coming Friday at 8PM EST) and I want to say this now rather than later: thanks for reading these and leaving nice comments in the tags and stuff like that. I’m not always the most confident person and the support really means a lot.

We’re also staring down the barrel of a global crisis right now so, you know, be nice to yourself and escape through fiction when you need to, reach out to people, and eat a vegetable if you can. Read a 5000 word recap of an episode you presumably already watched. Whatever you need to do.

The Staff of Doubt has ten charges and can cast the following spells at the cost of the amount of charges listed: Detect Magic (1), Lesser Restoration (2), Dispel Magic (3), Banishment (4), Greater Restoration (5).

The Sword of Sight gives +1 to attack and damage rolls. It gives a base 12 AC which bumps Adaine’s to 15. It lets her cast Divination cantrips as bonus actions. She gets to take the Dodge action when she casts a Divination spell. And she gets no disadvantage on attacks on Invisible creatures (seems very useful against Kalina possibly).

EDIT: I forgot to say! Gorgug saying very sincerely to Kristen, “I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” “there” being, “at her most recent death” broke me.

Where in the World is Ragh Backrock? We have at least an approximate idea of where the rest of the hirelings are but nothing on Ragh. I’m concerned. His vision was asking Gorgug if he was his dad. Maybe it has something to do with that?

Very curious about what the mechanics of the final confrontation will be. What Aelwyn said seems like it could be setting up for some shenanigans. Plus, there are still all the hirelings to worry about.

Another question, I feel like we still have almost no idea what’s going on with the NK. Half of me is almost expecting some kind of Te Fiti/Te Ka situation. On another day I might try to speculate and play detective but that’s not where I’m at today so I’m just gonna leave it at that.

I feel like Kristen is always negging deities to their faces. Like, girl. Her Axe/Dove metaphor was *chef’s kiss* though. Anyway, when (hopefully) Tracker is back to normal, I hope Kristen has a take that’s different than, “I met your goddess and she sucked.”

Kristen makes me feel bad for Helio. He’s just a surfer dude who likes corn, OK. He never did anything to her except give her magic!

Didn’t have a good place to mention this earlier but Fig alerted Bill to their situation and location so if there’s a Bill Ex-Machina next ep, it’s not out of nowhere.

(Also, just a small point of order, Gorgug did say he had a bone from Kristen last ep but so did Adaine. Doesn’t really matter but just wanted to explain the mismatch with my last recap).

Making everyone roll a save to not see Gilear’s dick is so funny. As was Zac invoking danger sense to roll with advantage.

“I cast Spare the Dying on Gilear’s Penis.”

“I am no man,” from LOTR but instead it’s Gilear saying, “I have no pride.”

“Drink deeply Gilear.”

Why is Kalina working for the NK? She’s supposed to be the Mystery Goddess’s familiar, right? Just another thing that doesn’t add up. Where’s that puzzle piece we’re missing?

The thought of Baxter being so confused and dejected and fatally injured, not understanding what he did so wrong to have his mistress riddle him with arrows makes me wanna throw down with Brennan IRL. Also, I’m Concerned about Sandra-Lynn.

I need to say this on the record. Ally Beadsley does some bonkers things in D&D that I could not even begin to understand but that As Above So Below Gambit was Galaxy Brained.

You knew this was coming. Abernant Time Bay-Bee (the abridged version because I need to get this out before Friday)!

First off, I am very happy to say that basically exactly what I predicted/hoped for in my last recap for this scene is what happened, with Anguin making Aelwyn cast Detect Thoughts on Adaine. And basically EVERYTHING I had on my Abernant Sisters Reconciliation checklist was checked. The Detect Thoughts. The pointing out that they’re gonna live for a long time and do they want to do it at each other's throats? Aelwyn finally stepping up to the plate and leaning into her Abjurative Instincts in a positive way and shielding Adaine from their father. And then the stuff that I wanted so bad but didn’t know it. The bunk beds moment? The “I love you too” moment. “She’s a baby!” I mean, “Will you be my big sister?” F off Siobhan. That was beautiful.

A little concerned about Adaine having left Aelwyn unconscious so close to where their mom is but I am glad she remembered to cure her of Kalina.

When Brennan said, “In Aelwyn’s last moment,” for a second I thought he meant she was about to be perma-dead and my heart legit stopped.

I was up until about 2 AM last night, popping bottles with @camwritery (my Abernant Sisters confidant) about Brennan and Siobhan giving us everything we wanted and I’m going to get yelled at by her if I don’t mention something I said while we were talking. Last week, during the fireside chat, all of the players talked about what future lives/jobs they’d want for their characters. I posited the same question for Aelwyn and offered my answer--CPS Case Worker. Because, like, think about it. She is an extremely protective person. She wants to atone for what she did and failed to do for Adaine. When she gets all the therapy she needs, she’s going to be equipped with deep, personal knowledge of what abuse looks like/what it can do to a child and an extremely long lifespan. Can’t you see an adult Aelwyn, in the living room of a well appointed house, speaking cordially to some high class A-hole with his terrified kid sitting next to him, trying not to say anything or do anything that will get them punished and Aelwyn does a surface level Detect Thoughts at the same time so she can mentally kneel before the kid and tell them, “I’m on your side. You can be honest with me. I’m here to protect you. I promise. Don’t be scared.” This is all I want for her.

This episode Fig rolled one Nat 1 and Gorgug rolled two but one was cancelled with advantage. No Nat 20s were rolled.

#fantasy high #fantasy high spoilers #dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #fantasy high live #(kind of a rush job bc the next ep is so soon so def hit up my asks if I missed s/t you wanted to hear about)

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salamanderink · 4 years

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About Raising Stakes and Killing Relatability -or how to deescalate your emotional investment.

Have you ever read of the saying "three dead people are a tragedy; three thousands are a statistic"?

What do I mean by that?

Oftentimes, when you have a big franchise, or a long lasting series, the authors tend to think that the only way to bring more feelings into the tale is to keep escalating the stakes, to make the risks bigger, the consequences of failure higher.

"We're no longer destroying the house, but the city! No longer the city, but the continent. No! THE PLANET!!! THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE!!!!"

And the writers feel very proud of themselves, because what's a higher stake than just killing all the things and destroying the Universe?

Well, just about anything else, it turns out.

How many planets have been blown up on screen these days? There was a few in the Star Wars franchise, one in the Star Trek Reboot, some Doctor Who stories, a hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy, quite a few in the MCU alone, and tbh TVTropes listed more of them than I can possibly remember

The thing is, how many of you guys have you cried when the planet got kaboom?

Not many, am I right?

If we’re entirely honest, if Spock’s mom hadn’t died in the ST reboot, few of us would even consider the destroyed planet a tragedy at all.

And yet it is.

But it’s actually not.

How many of us are able to grasp what the planet even IS?

Entire ecosystems, the unexplored depths of the ocean, the tropical forests, that hummingbird that just laid eggs, those turtle babies seeing the sea for the first time. A new bee’s first flower, a corvid rolling in the snow, a wolf howling to the moon, a rabbit munching on a clover patch, big cats sunning themselves. Mother deers bathing their newborns and watching them learn to stand and take their first steps. Bears sleeping away the winter, owls waking at night and sweeping on silent wings to hunt.

People!

That small farm in Kansas, another small farm in India, that cardboard home in Jakarta and another in L.A, That old abandoned temple in the heart of Bolivia, and the sacred ruins in Cambodia. That family that only now got their new baby. That mother who tries so hard to make ends meet alone, and make sure her kids don’t go hungry. That marine biologist who’s so happy to have finally mapped the sound of a whale song. That vet who just rescued a litter of kits.

All those small lives, interconnected, happening at the same time all over the world. We’re all part of the same thing, we all are earthlings first of all, in a way it is impossible for us to understand because we’ve never not been earthlings.

What does it mean then, to destroy a planet?

It’s technically an escalation from destroying a city or robbing a bank.

Technically.

Because that escalation is purely intellectual.

And completely unrealistic.

How many of you guys have come across one of these posts speaking about what a billion is, how much can a billionaire buy, what it concretely amounts to? How many of you have been able to grasp the sheer obscene wealth that represents?

If you tell me you have, I won’t believe you. I’m pretty sure even billionaires don’t truly understands what it represents beyond “above the law” and “nothing is impossible anymore” and “god on earth”. (which, is not a positive judgement at all, btw)

At this point, they might simply remove the number and put an ∞ instead. It’s about the same thing.

It’s a value too ridiculous and abstract for our brain to comprehend. That’s why people aren’t banging at their doors with pitchfork. Well. Not all people are.

The same thing applies to planet destroying. We see the thing on a screen and we think “that’s bad.”

What does our heart do? What do our gut say? Does it evokes in us the same soul deep horror that footage of war torn countries and broken bodies?

Does it make a deep visceral fear wake in your belly and tell you to fucking run!!?

Some dangers have been hardwired in our brains. Just the other day, I came across a hornet’s nest, and while I’m usually pretty chill about those flying, potentially-stinging, window-crashing morons, let me tell you that my gut was not at all ambiguous about my need to get the fuck out.

And yet, I certainly didn’t feel the same thing when Earth blipped out in the Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy, even though, technically, Earth annihilation is fairly more lethal than some measly hornets.

Granted it was probably played for laughs that time, the entire movie is a satire. But did the death star really feel scary because of its ‘planet-destroying’ ability?

I can only assume it doesn’t.

Do you want to know why?

Because it doesn’t mean anything. Invalid Data, brain does not compute.

Just like seeing numbers on a screen will never be as powerful enough as personal witness accounts and stories. Just as you won’t be able to grasp what a billion is worth the same way you will the ten bucks in your wallet.

If you change the scale of something, you also change the emotional impact.

Having a map of Florida tacked to your wall will not bring you back memories of your family trip to Disney World the same way your photo album will. Because the scale is human. It’s personal. It calls back feeling through your gut, it makes you laugh as you see a picture of your kid sister with half her face glued by cotton candy, or smile at the way your big brother took your hand and helped you through your fear of roller coasters because you really wanted to try them anyway.

A world map isn’t meant to bring back feelings.

This is why world destruction falls flat. It’s destroying the map of Florida and not your photo album.

And of course it falls flat. What do we care, then about so called ‘heroes’ stopping the world from destruction? Battling for the sake of the Universe?

We don’t. We can’t. What even is the Universe? That black tapestry with tiny and pretty little white dots? An immensity beyond thought and reckoning? It doesn’t mean anything anymore.

This is not even suspension of disbelief anymore! It’s just going beyond the scope of our ability to understand or care.

Because, WHY would we want to save the universe?

I mean, it’s controversial, granted. But, let me tell you, they could have obtained the exact same emotional response in the ST reboot if the thing destroyed had simply been a scientific vessel with Spock’s mom in.

The thing that makes you feel isn’t the planet. What even is a planet???

It’s the mom. Most people have a mom. Some even are moms. Some have lost a mom.

It’s one of three people in the saying above.

It’s a tragedy.

There might be three million other people who died on that planet, but we can’t care about those.

They’re a statistic.

TL:DR: Canon story writers. Please stop feeling very clever about “raising the stakes”. All you’re doing is making it impossible to care about your story.

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sweetlangdon · 5 years

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How would Michael and roommate deal with trick or treaters on their first halloween together? Michael is confused by the idea, especially after hearing a Christian protestor saying that this holiday is all about worshiping the Devil. And if they had to wear costumes (probably roommate forcing him to lol), how would they dress? I think cheap red Devil horns with a matching pitchfork and red cape would be fitting for him!

They would have so much fun.

Michael’s never celebrated most holidays, but this one is more his speed. He doesn’t like the idea of dressing up, so when his roommate throws a pair of Devil horns and a cheap red cape at him, he gives her a look. It’s like the ugly Christmas sweater debacle all over again; Michael insists that’s not at all what the Devil looks like and he’s not the least bit amused when she thinks it’s hilarious. She tries so hard to get him in the spirit, but he won’t budge, so she ends up wearing the horns and cape when they hand out candy to the trick or treaters.

That part, though? Michael loves it He has a huge sweet tooth, of course, so it’s a bit of a challenge.

“Stop eating all the candy, Langdon,” she warns with a laugh. “Save some for the kids.”

Michael, scowling, with about four Kit Kats and a Snickers stashed in his pockets and a Reese’s peanut butter cup shoved in his mouth, “I’m not eating all of it.”

“That’s your third Reese’s.”

“You don’t know how to count.”

His roommate scoffs and rolls her eyes, but she’s grinning. “You’re not as stealthy as you think you are.”

They sit outside their apartment building passing out candy until it’s gone, though she knows she’s going to be buying the stuff that’s marked down tomorrow. They both sneak pieces of candy and she gushes over the adorable costumes and Michael feels less like an outsider and a monster for one day out of the whole year where their two worlds meet.

#ask #fic: roommate series

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teganovak · 5 years

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Bobby pins (Scholar x Tyler)

(because i’m not over that illustration)

The day of the competition is easily the most hectic one Arthur's spent at Arlington yet, though he supposes that's to be expected. Everyone seems to be buzzing with energy as they gather around, waiting for the opening ceremony to start, and he finds himself soaking it all in. It culminates in a weird mixture of apprehension and anticipation inside of him, and he feels vaguely annoyed at the sensation; he was never this emotional before Arlington.

At least, he thinks with a sort of dry amusement, it's not as though he doesn't have a reason to be nervous. If his idea for the fashion show doesn't work out, the entire department would probably come after him, pitchforks and sewing kits in hand, with Karolina leading the mob. Or, he muses, she'll just stand aside and enjoy the show; one or the other, for sure.

"Psst," he hears from his left and shifts, eyes narrowing. Any frown that might've been making its way on his face, however, immediately softens as he spots Tyler's grin -- for whatever reason, Arthur finds it hard to be moody around him. "Shouldn't you be with your department?" he raises an eyebrow instead and, as he feels the bead ring on it being pulled, he wonders, distinctly, if he should've perhaps taken it out; he's ‘Arlington's sweetheart’, after all, and piercings don't exactly scream nice and approachable. Ah, well, he decides. Screw people if they judge him based on that. At his question though, Tyler waves a hand dismissively. "There's still some time left, it's fine. Besides," he grins and Arthur must be imagining this because he can swear he sees Tyler's cheeks darken. "I wanted to see how you were doing." Oh.

It's a sweet gesture, really; one Arthur would probably be rolling his eyes at if it was anybody else. But no, it's him, and it's Tyler, and that seems to be enough to leave him speechless, mind blank. "Er," he says finally and winces, annoyed at his own fumbling; he's never had problems with eloquence before. "I'm fine. I know we have a good idea, it's only a matter of executing it well." It's a very him thing to say, he's aware, and Tyler nods, unsurprised. "Yeah, I figured," he says and something in his grin seems to soften as he reaches out to give Arthur a light pat on the arm. "Even if you were nervous, though. Well. You'd still be a badass." Arthur has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling -- he doesn't think he does a very good job but the effort has to count for something. "...Thanks." Tyler laughs, hand sliding off of Arthur's arm, says, "Anytime, man," and suddenly Arthur has no idea what's next. Is he supposed to say something? His mind once again goes annoyingly blank. He thinks he's about to say something really stupid when, thankfully, Tadashi calls out to the student body. "We're on in two minutes, everybody join their department!" Arthur lets out a small sigh -- whether one of relief or disappointment, he's not really sure -- and throws Tyler a half-smile. "Well. Guess that's your cue." (He's surprised by how much he wants Tyler to just stay and chat, and the feeling is so bizarre he nearly frowns. ) "Yeah," Tyler says and returns the smile. "Before I go though, here." He pulls something out of the pocket of his uniform and holds out a fist, gesturing for Arthur to extend his hand. "Are you going to put something nasty in it?" Arthur asks, snorting in amusement even as he's already extending his right hand towards Tyler, who then laughs as well, and it registers somewhere in the back of Arthur's mind that he has a nice laugh. (It’s a weird thought.)

"Nah, not this time."

Arthur's officially curious and as Tyler finally drops the supposedly-not-nasty object in his hand, he has to squint. "Are those... bobby pins?" "Damn right they are," Tyler says, proud, but there's a maybe imaginary flush on his face once again. "And they're grey so they fit your whole 'prince of darkness' aesthetic." Arthur blinks at him as he slowly processes everything that’s just happened. "That's... Okay, first of all, never call me prince of darkness again. It makes me sound like a twelve-year-old that shops exclusively in Cold Topic," he says and makes a face because damn it, he really used to be that kid and it’s a memory he definitely doesn’t want to go back to.

"Anyway, uh... thanks. I guess." It's not that he's not grateful as much as he doesn't really understand why Tyler's given him this, and belatedly Arthur realises he could've probably worded that better. Fortunately, Tyler doesn't seem offended as he lets out another laugh. "It's for your hair, tall-dark-and-handsome," he says and Arthur is torn between rolling his eyes at the new moniker (which also makes him sound like the aforementioned twelve-year-old) and teasing Tyler for pointing out the obvious. In the end, he says nothing as Tyler continues. "It's covering your face. And while I do think you absolutely rock the whole messy look, you're more likely to get votes if people can see your entire face." Arthur stares at him for a long moment until Tyler eventually shifts in his spot. "It's kinda a silly idea, I know, and you don't have to actually use them, obviously, but I thought I'd suggest it anyway. Since, you know, you mentioned you had to get into the Silver Tier and all -- which I'm sure you'll do even without the bobby pins. Like I said, just an idea." When Arthur's brain finally catches up to what Tyler’s saying, his hand closes around the bobby pins almost involuntarily. "No, uh," his voice comes out weird and he clears his throat. "No. It's... it's a good idea. Thank you. Really." Tyler lets out an exaggerated sigh and makes a show of wiping the metaphorical sweat off his brow. "Oh, good! You're welcome!” After a beat, he adds, “You're gonna look so good the cameras won't be able to look away! And it’ll all be thanks to yours truly."

Arthur rolls his eyes as he lets out a snort; he's not sure he'll even get to be on camera, with how many people there are, but he doesn’t exactly mind; he works best in the background anyway. "Right, I'm sure," he plays along regardless. ”I’ll be sure to remember you when I skyrocket to fame.” Then he unclenches his hand and he looks down at the pins. "Er, do you mind...?" Tyler needs no further prompting as he immediately jumps in action. "Absolutely! Let me just..." And he moves closer, eyes narrowing in concentration as one of his hands goes to push Arthur's hair to the side. "Pin please." Arthur obediently hands him one and then, a few seconds later, he hands him the other as well. When Tyler steps back to examine his work, he raises an eyebrow. "Well, doc? What's the verdict?" It takes Tyler a moment to respond. "Uh, yeah,” he nods, and there’s something Arthur can’t quite place in his eye. “Looking good.” And then just as quickly as that something appeared, it vanishes, replaced by a cheeky grin. “Just like I said you would." Arthur's eyes linger on him a moment longer, though, and there's a thought half-forming in his head. Before he can accurately place the feeling in his chest, however, Tadashi interrupts once again. "Tyler," he calls, walking briskly in their direction. "We're starting any moment now; for the love of god, go to your department," he says and Arthur has to stifle a snort. It shouldn't be funny, he knows that, in theory; Tadashi’s probably had only a few hours of sleep and he's been running around the school like mad for the past few days. However the pure annoyance mixed with a healthy dose of resignation on his face makes for one hell of an expression and, well, Arthur’s only human. (Then he happens to meet Tyler's eye for the briefest second and containing his amusement gets even harder.) "I'm already gone," Tyler turns to Tadashi, raising his hands in surrender. "Now you see me..." and he throws Arthur one last look before dashing off. Arthur sighs, still amused, but what can he do, let Tyler down? As if. So he shakes his head and dutifully finishes, "Now you don't." The glint in Tadashi's eye at that promises murder but aw, hell, Arthur's tired too; he shrugs. "Don't look at me, I'm just an innocent bystander." (Tadashi stares at him for a bit before letting out the deepest, most desperate sigh Arthur’s ever heard and walking away, muttering something about dumb teenagers. Which, fair, but hi, kettle, it's pot.) When he finally turns to glance at where Lady Arlington is standing, ready to begin her speech, Arthur finally lets out the smile he's been fighting off. He feels... better. Not necessarily calm but that's alright; he always gets a buzz under his skin whenever he gets to work on something he's passionate about and if anything, it only helps him focus. But getting to talk to Tyler, even if just for a little bit, was... nice. His hand, almost subconsciously, goes up to touch the bobby pins, and as he does, he notices a random student staring at him. His hand drops immediately and his eyes narrow; he’s unabashedly pleased as the guy quickly averts his gaze -- Arthur does have a reputation of a prince of darkness to uphold, after all.

#sweet elite #god i'm so rusty but damn i needed to get that out of my system #basically 1k words of my fashion dept scholar pretending to be 2 kool 4 skool #and having a crush without realising it (bc let's be real the canon realisation was so good)#oc: arthur #ugh why am i even trying my tagging system is a Mess

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ultimateoptimus · 5 years

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Rescue Frogman Fubblegum

"Breathe, Finn and Bubblegum. Breathe in. Breathe out. There are lives in danger down there. Lives to rescue. Don't let the horrors of the ocean block your path."

> Rescue Frogman Finn "PG87" Mertens // >> Bio // Finn "PG87" Mertens, Class 3-D in the Helper Corps Rescue Frogmen, son of Martin Mertens and Minerva Campbell and Hub Island native (and secretly the superhero Finnian Prime, a Primal Code child, a Gross Baby, one of Dr. Gross' earliest gengineering experiments (like Kevin "Prime" Green of Ultraforce was) and what happpens when you play around with a kid's DNA before they're born), is a young Rescue Frogman of the Founders Island Helper Corps, a new breed of heroic Rescue SCUBA Diver who dedicate - and if need be sacrifice - their lives to save those of friends, family, loved ones and everyone they hold near and dear. One of the youngest and most eager-to-help star Rescue Frogmen and a bright shining candle of salvation in an ocean of darkness for the helpless, be they Islander or Hider, SCUBA diver or swimmer, human or mutant, starting with pool training, Finn joined the Helper Corps Rescue Frogmen and trained to become one to face his childhood fear of the ocean head on, full steam ahead.

>> Rescue // Finn's fated first SCUBA diver rescue as Helper Corps Rescue Frogman was a young candy mutant girl called Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum. Finn, a victim of the waters himself, kitted in his Rescue Frogman gear, was on a routine solo SCUBA dive out of his personal White Shark Marauder-class Rescue Frogman Sub in one bright Summer day under the waters between the Islands and Ooo as a test of bravery in the face of the horrors of the ocean, clear his head and just enjoy the wonders of the underwater world (after getting permission to dive alone from his tad overprotective mother Minerva of course - he's an extreme adventurer, but not THAT extreme) when along swam the boy SCUBA diver-in-training in the drowned ruins of a sunken Pre-Mushroom War city down on the ocean floor across a young pink candy mutant SCUBA diver girl clad in a pink one-piece sports swimsuit and swim cap and wearing yellowy SCUBA gear with a combo mask-snorkelator who was sucking on her regulator with both hands clutched on it, praying for another breath from her now empty bottletank, which only meant one thing: the girl ran out of air. Finn, heroic schoolboy frogman he is, wasted no time in proving his courage in the bony face of Death under the ocean and swam to Princess Bubblegum's rescue, sharing life-saving air with the candy mutant girl as she took her last breath out of her snorkelator and taking her up to where Finn's Marauder was waiting with a rescue jacket ascent. Back aboard Finn's Marauder, Princess Bubblegum thanked Finn Mertens with all her heart for saving her life and with her the Candy Kingdom and named him her Champion, marking the first step to peaceful coexistence between human and mutant. Funny thing about the air sharing part: this was the first time Finn kissed Princess Bubblegum in the lips, sharing the air mouth-to-mouth style... his first Kiss of Loyalty and Love as it turned out. >> Gear // Finn "PG87" Mertens' Helper-Issue Rescue Frogman gear is his light blue-blue with blue-white checkers Helper's boys school swimsuit and Helper's fingerholed long sleeve school rash guard, his white Finn-style Helper's school swimcap and light blue-blue swim socks, a strapless Helper's 360 degree mask, green Helper's teksnorkel and a pair of green-clear Helper's Twinblade Glide Fins, a green Helper's OxyBio Backpack SCUBA Jacket with a hi-teched up classic green Helper's twinhose regulator and an inbuilt rescue jacket inflator, a green Helper's OxyBio Rescue Oxypak with double twinhose octopus reserve regulators and two Helper's OxyBio Spare Air tanks for out-of-air emergencies (he's gonna need 'em all), his gengineered bion arm in novaskin coating (shown covered in a genebubble for gengineering, as Finn is deep in biosleep in a butterfly chrysalis genetank), two green waterproof sidekick pouches and an orange Water Park locker key.

> Rescue Frogwoman Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum // >> Bio // Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum of the Candy Kingdom of Ooo, Class 3-D in the Helper Corps Rescue Frogmen, a child of the Gum Mother Hive, is a young (well, as young as a centuries-old humanoid piece of mutated bubblegum can look anyway) bubblegum candy mutant girl of many firsts: Finn "PG87" Mertens's first rescued SCUBA diver, first Mutant Rescue Frogwoman in the Founders Island Helper Corps (despite pitchfork-and-torch anti-mutie mania), first mutant to fall in love with and kiss a human (again, despite anti-mutie mania), first step to peaceful coexistence between human and mutant, Islands of Man and Candy Kingdom (imagine how tuckered out those anti-mutant naysayers must be right now). One of the more experienced Frogmen, as thanks to Finn for saving her life from her Black Widow-style out-of-air SCUBA peril, Bubblegum has volunteered herself to become a Helper Corps Rescue Frogwoman and Finn's dive buddy, flying right in the face of the expected anti-mutie outrage from the other Helper Corps Frogmen and generally every Island human. Her series of successful rescue missions soon proved the naysayers wrong. >> Rescue // Princess Bubblegum, normally the more experienced SCUBA diver of the two, was living proof even veteran frogmen and frogwomen make rookie mistakes and ended up becoming Rescue Frogman Finn "PG87" Mertens' first rescuee. Bubblegum, kitted in her personal OxyCola SCUBA gear, one bright Summer day in the drowned Pre-Mushroom War city ruins under the waters between Ooo and the Islands of Man, was on what began and should have been a routine solo Pre-War history research SCUBA dive training herself as a SCUBA diver, learning about the life and times of the sunken city and just having fun and enjoying the underwater urban sights, choosing to rest a little on the bottom and take in the sights of this sunken ol' town... when the unthinkable reared its ugly head. Princess Bubblegum, running rapidly out of air, found herself taking a crash course in SCUBA safety (one of the lessons being "ALWAYS keep your eyes on your air!" - a mistake which could've been fatal) when she felt her breathing through the mouthpiece of her snorkelator tightening - the first sign her OxyCola bottletank was slowly going empty. She should've known her routine history lesson dive would turn into a hazardous adventure when the snorkelator tightened more and breathing became very difficult. These were her last breaths. And calm and collected as she was in this situation, a drowned mausoleum of a Pre-War city at the bottom of the ocean is no place to get lost and run out of air in. Just when all hope seemed lost for the pink SCUBA-clad candy mutant princess, when Bubblegum prayed for more breaths from her empty bottletank, along swam a guardian angel in light blue, blue and green SCUBA gear to Princess Bubblegum's rescue, sharing her the life-saving air her lungs ached for on the way up to his rescue submarine, rescue jackets inflated. A Founders Island Helper Corps Rescue Frogman named Finn "PG87" Mertens. It was the first Kiss of Loyalty and Love between Finn and Bubblegum as the boy Frogman kissed the air into the Princess' lips. With any hope, it won't be the last. >> Gear // Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum's Candy Kingdom Rescue Frogwoman gear is her hot pink with bright pink lines, white-bright pink-purple diagonal lines girls school swimsuit, hot pink-bright pink crown all-in-one silicon swimcap, hot pink webbed swim gloves and hot pink-bright pink white-bright pink-purple diagonal lines swim leggging-Morphfins, a strapless all-in-one 360 Degree Mask and peppermint-hot pink OxyCola Bottlecap Snorkelator, a yellow-peppermint-white-bright pink-purple diagonal lines Metal Fighter Miku/Banana-style OxyCola Backpack SCUBA Jacket with inbuilt rescue jacket inflator, two modular Banana OxyCola Rescue Bottletanks with peppermint-hot pink OxyCola Bottlecap Regulators and two OxyCola Spare Air Bottletanks for out-of-air emergencies, two peppermint waterproof sidekick pouches and an orange Water Park locker key.

@fubblegummers @kimonobun @ppgxrrblove @fubbles

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the-pitchfork-kids · 4 months

Note

song about *teh cast*

Help- ;-; there r so many chars and its rlly hard to keep track of them all qwq. can u make a song abt all the chars? ^^ liek maybe a parody or smth- with all their personalities and pronouns and stuff :D

Ty for reading tumblr ppl XD

HOLY SHIT.

I DID IT. OH I FINALLY DID YOUR ASK.

Have your songs pookie. You deserve them from how long I've forced you to wait. Toby's: (27786) I Won't by AJR Pitchfork Kids Parody - YouTube Sydne's: Lone Star by The Front Bottoms Pitchfork Kids Parocy (youtube.com) Kit's (27786) Stay Positive by Sushi Soucy Pitchfork Kids Parody - YouTube Asher's: (27786) MESS by PEGGY Pitchfork Kids Parody - YouTube Sangria's: (27786) Paranoid by Dream Pitchfork Kids Parody - YouTube Zayne's: (27786) Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo Pitchfork Kids Parody - YouTube Devereaux's: (27786) Joyride by Stellar Pitchfork Kids Parody - YouTube Rose's: (27786) Worlds Smalled Violin by AJR Pitchfork Kids Parody - YouTube Alex's: New Invention by IDKHOW Pitchfork Kids Parody (youtube.com) Group songs: (27786) Main Character by Will Wood Pitchfork Kids Parody - YouTube (27786) Christmas Kids by ROAR: Pitchfork Kids Parody - YouTube (27786) The Pitchfork Kids by AJR Pitchfork Kids Parody - YouTube

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mentalmimosa · 5 years

Text

tamed in this equation

Prompt: Soldier/nurse.

They find the man in the tall grass just beyond the house gates. He’s battered and his clothes--his uniform--is torn, his face a mass of blood and of bruise. Later, Keith will be angry that they moved him on their own, without calling for help; it’s a wonder they hadn’t injured the man even further in their haste. But when the call comes, when his friends’ shouts in the foyer rouse him, when he and Lance tumble in the dark from their bed and follow the servant’s bobbing candle down the stairs and into the parlor, his first thought is one of pure fear.

“How did he get so close to the house?” he demands. “Pidge, I thought you said the fighting was miles away.”

Pidge barely glances back at him, her hands busy over her slim handheld diagnostic. “It is. And the line’s moving back everyday. Another movement or so and we’ll have them driven back to the sea.”

“So what the fuck is this guy doing dying on our property?” Lance asks sleepily.

“Does that really matter right now?” Hunk is hovering at the end of the settee, his face twisted in worry. “Maybe we should focus on keeping him, you know, alive . Then you can ask him.”

“But--!”

Lance threads an arm through his and kisses his shoulder. Tips his temple against Keith’s. “Babe, relax. Once it’s light, you can take the skimmer over the perimeter and check for holes in the fence.”

He can feel the worried curl of his spine relax. “Yeah? That’s a good idea.”

“That’s me, Mr. Good Idea. I’m full of them.” A sigh. “Now shut up and let Pidge save this dude’s life.”

It takes until nearly daybreak, the room filled with a tension, an unbending silence, that even a newly-stoked hearth and a round of hot toddies can’t shake.

“What if he dies?” Keith murmurs from the depths of the chair where Lance has pulled him. “They’ll come looking for him, you know. What will we do then?”

“Nah,” Lance says against his throat. “What you should really be worried about is what we do if he lives.”

“If?” Pidge shakes her head, looks up from her work with a grin. “Oh, ye of little faith. I think you mean when.”

They gather around him, peer down at the hulking figure, sleeping now, his breathing deep and shaky, but even. He’s still a mess--a riot of blood and tattered clothes--but his wounds are healing, both the ones they can see and the ones his body’s hiding within.

“Yep, she’s a genius,” Hunk burbles, bouncing happily on his heels. “My best friend’s a genius.”

“How long until he can walk again?” Keith asks, meaning: how soon can we get him to leave?

“I have no idea. A phoeb, maybe?” Pidge pushes up her glasses. “Whatever he was hit with took a lot out of him, and the kind of damage it did, it’s not something I’ve ever seen.”

“Is that what took off his arm?”

“Oh, no. No. It was cut off clean years ago.” She holds up the diagnostic and taps at the screen. “See? Look at all that scar tissue. He hasn’t had that arm for a long time.”

“Cool,” Lance says, “so we have a one-armed soldier from the wrong side of the war bleeding out all over our couch.”

“He’s not bleeding out, Lance, I--”

Lance groaned and tugs his hand free of Keith’s. Made a face like a spoiled kid. “Yeah, yeah," he said, "you saved him, Pidge, I got it. Can I go back to bed now? This guy’s cost me enough fucking sleep.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Hunk says a split second after the door slams. “You haven’t turned him into that much of a grandpa, have you?”

“He’s fine,” Keith says absently. He reaches down and brushes the man’s matted hair from his face. It’s thick with dirt and dried blood; the few strands free of filth look white in the fire light, almost luminescent. “Been a long time since he couldn’t get a straight eight, you know? I’ve let him get soft.”

“Soft? Lance?” Hunk snorts. “Nah, I don’t think so. If anybody’s been tamed in this equation, Keith, it’s you.”

“Hunk,” Pidge says quietly. “Don’t.”

Hunk ignores her. “I mean, the Keith I used to know, there’s no way he wouldn’t have been out there with pitchforks and torches looking for a breach the second he got a whiff of this guy. I’m surprised you even let us bring him in here.”

“Not like I had a choice.” Keith looks up, sharp. His hand’s still on the man’s face. “I don’t remember you asking permission.”

“See, exactly. Exactly! There was a time when you’d have like broken multiple limbs because of that. Or at least shouted a lot.”

“Hunk!” Pidge says. “Shut. Up.”

“What? What’d I say? Pidge, come on, I only meant that--”

“It’s fine,” Keith says. It isn’t, but he’s too tired to be angry, too curious about the strange events of the night to give his anger any oxygen. “You guys should get some rest, huh? Your rooms are all ready. Go on. Get some sleep.”

“What about you?” Pidge squeezes his shoulder. “You look like you’re about to tip over.”

“I’m fine. Find Coran and ask him to come in here, would you? He can keep an eye on our friend here for now.”

“You’re sure?”

He turns and gives her a nod, tosses one Hunk’s way, too: we’re cool. “Yeah. Thanks, you guys.”

The man shifts a little, a tiny, spiked sound of pain falling from his lips, and Keith spreads his fingers, presses his palm against the man’s forehead.

“Ask Coran to bring the med-kit with him, huh? And some hot water. He needs to be cleaned up.”

“Sure,” Pidge says. Another squeeze. “We’ll see you in a few hours, all right? Tell Coran to give me a shout if--”

“I will. I promise.”

In a moment, they’re alone, he and the wounded man.

“You probably have a thousand questions,” Keith says. “God knows I do.” He feels a flash of the old steel in him, the dusty memories of what it’d meant once to fight. Ten years, he thought; hell. Has it really been that long? “You need to hurry up and heal so we can both find out what we want.”

The man moves again, more this time. He seems uneasy; less pained than unsettled, but he doesn’t turn his head, doesn’t shake free of Keith’s hand.

“You don’t like that idea, huh? Well, tough. That’s gonna be the price of your life, probably. Not such a bad one to pay, is it? A few answers and you get to live.” He cups the man’s cheek and strokes a thumb through the blood, feels the sharp lines of the bone. “Seems fair to me.”

Dry lips part and the man whispers something, a sound Keith can see but not hear.

“What?” There’s a streak of vicious in his mouth, an old language he’d thought he’d forgotten. Would you have rather we left you out there to die? The wolves aren’t kind this time of year, you know.”

They part again, try again: “Keith.”

He startles. Does his best not to show it. “What did you say?”

“Keith. That’s your name, isn’t it? I heard them call you it.”

“Your ears aren’t injured at least.” A sharp tone to shelter his fear. “That’s the only part of you, it looks like.”

The man’s eyes open, like cellar doors long locked and closed, and it’s only when they do that Keith realizes how close they are; realizes that he’s fallen to his knees and he’s leaning over the man, one palm still curved around that bruised, battered face. “Don’t you remember me?” the man says, a dry wind in the desert. “Has it been so long that you do not?”

“I don’t know you.”

“Not now. You did once.” A tattered smile. “Though much of me has changed, you have not, Keith. You seem exactly the same.”

There is a curl of pain in his gut, a flutter in his chest he can’t name, does not want to claim as his own. This man knows him. This enemy knows him. How is that possible? It can’t be true. He wasn’t on the front lines the last time this war raged; he was safe and warm in the capital, safe and warm and busy with the important work of interrogation, of extracting information from those foolish enough not to die when they had the chance but to be taken, captured, swept back to the capital wherein they might prove their utility one last time before death. Every enemy, then, that he’s ever met has been in tight quarters like this, face to face and stone to stone and none of those that he’d interrogated had ever walked out of the capital alive, except...

Except one.

A moment of weakness, that man had been. A temporary madness. It was the only time he’d ever believed what a prisoner had told him, the only time he’d felt pity, the only time he’d let himself--

Keith’s heart runs cold. It turns over. It bolts as if Keith had put his spurs to it and races off in a ragged, awful stagger.

It can’t be. This man, he couldn’t be--not after all this time! And why, of all the places in the world, would he try and die in the fields outside of Keith’s house, his very own property, a decade and half a world away? No. No. It couldn’t be.

“No,” Keith says, the word one last protection. “You don’t know me. You can’t.”

The man turns his face to Keith’s palm and nuzzles it, breathes unsteady against his skin. “But I do,” he whispers. “I do, I do. My name is Shiro, shin'ainaru, and you know me, too.”

#klance #sheith #hurt/comfort #au

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crimecasecollection · 6 years

Photo

Katherine Mary Knight was the first Australian woman to be sentenced to life in prison.

She was convicted of murder for murdering her partner John Charles Thomas Price.

Knights father was an alcoholic. He openly used violence and intimidation within the family. Her father would rape her mother up to 10 times a day. In turn Knights mother would tell Katherine details about her sex life and why she hated men and sex.

Katherine claims to this day, that she was raped and abused within her home when she was growing up.

Katherine was known as a pleasant girl with murderous rages caused by minor things.

David Kellett was Katherines first husband. On their wedding night Katherine strangled him because they only had sex 3 times before he fell asleep.

Their marriage was very violent, in one occasion Knight burned all of Kelletts clothes while she was pregnant right before she knocked him in the back of the head with a frying pan for being late coming home from a dart competition.

Kellett feared for his life and attempted to escape. He collapsed at a neighbors house and suffered a fractured skull in which he was later taken to the hospital for.

After Katherine gave birth to her first child Kellett left her for another women. Kellett couldn’t handle the abusive, violent relationship with Katherine.

Katherine was admitted into several psych hospitals due to violently pushing her new born down the street and even placing her child on a railroad track and leaving her there.

Each time she was released.

Eventually Knight met Daniel Saunders. A few months later he moved in with her and her two daughters although he kept his old apartment. Katherine would get extremely jealous and throw him out, only to be begging for him to come back.

In May 1987 she cut the throat of his two-month-old dingo pup in front of him for no more reason than as an example of what would happen if he ever had an affair before knocking him unconscious with a frying pan.

In June 1988 she gave birth to her third daughter Sarah, which influenced Saunders to put a deposit on a house, which Knight paid off when her workers' compensation came through in 1989. Knight decorated the house throughout with animal skins, skulls, horns, rusty animal traps, leather jackets, old boots, machetes, rakes and pitchforks.

After an argument where she hit Saunders in the face with an iron before stabbing him in the stomach with a pair of scissors, he moved back to Scone, but when he returned home he found she had cut up all his clothes. Saunders took long service leave and went into hiding. Knight tried to find him but no one admitted to knowing where he was. Several months later he returned to see his daughter and found that Knight had gone to the police and told them she was afraid of him. They issued her with an Apprehended Violence Order against him.

John Price was the father of three when he met knight. Price was well aware of knights violent history, yet he let her move into their house in 1995.

In 1998 they had a fight over Price’s refusal to marry her and in retaliation Knight videotaped items he had stolen from work and sent the tape to his boss. Although the items were out of date medical kits that he had scavenged from the company. Price was fired from the job. That same day he kicked her out and she returned to her own home.

A few months later Price restarted the relationship although he now refused to allow her to move in with him. The fighting was almost an everyday thing, and most of his friends would no longer have anything to do with him while they remained together.

In February 2000 Knight had stabbed Price in the chest, he was finally fed up and kicked her out of his house. On Feb 29th he stopped at the court house on his way to work and got a restraining order to keep her away from him and his children. That afternoon Price told his co workers that if he didn’t come to work the next day it would be because Knight had murdered him. They begged him not to go home.

But he told them that he believed she would kill his children if he didn’t go home. Price arrived home to an empty house, not realizing that Katherine had sent his kids to a sleep over.

Price hung out with his neighbors until 11pm that night. Knight later arrived at Prices house and they had sex. Afterward Price had fallen asleep.

At 6am the next morning the neighbor became concerned that Price's car was still in the driveway and when Price did not arrive at work, his employer sent a worker to see what was wrong. Both the neighbor and worker tried knocking on Price's bedroom window to wake him but after noticing blood on the front door alerted the police who arrived at 8am. Breaking down the back door police found his body with Knight comatose from taking a large number of pills. She had stabbed Price with a butcher's knife while he was sleeping. According to the blood evidence, he awoke and tried to turn the light on before attempting to escape while Knight chased him through the house, he managed to open the front door and get outside but either stumbled back inside or was dragged back into the hallway where he finally died after bleeding out. Later, Knight went into Aberdeen and withdrew $1,000 from Price's ATM account.

Price's autopsy revealed that he had been stabbed at least 37 times, in both the front and back of his body with many of the wounds extending into vital organs. Several hours after Price had died, Knight skinned him and hung the skin from a meat hook on the frame of a door to the lounge room.

She then decapitated him and cooked parts of his body, serving up the meat with baked potato, pumpkin, zucchini, cabbage, yellow squash and gravy in two settings at the dinner table, along with notes beside each plate, each having the name of one of Price's children on it, she was preparing to serve his body parts to his children.

A third meal was thrown on the back lawn for unknown reasons and it is speculated Knight had attempted to eat it but could not and this has been put forward in support of her claim that she has no memory of the crime. Price's head was found in a pot with vegetables. The pot was still warm, estimated to be at between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius, indicating that the cooking had taken place in the early morning. Sometime later Knight arranged the body with the left arm draped over an empty 1.25 litre soft drink bottle with the legs crossed. This was claimed in court to be an act of defilement demonstrating Knight’s contempt for Price. Knight had left a hand written note on top of a photograph of Price. Blood stained and covered with small pieces of flesh the note read:

Time got you back Johathon for rapping [raping] my douter [daughter]. You to Beck [Price's daughter] for Ross — for Little John [his son]. Now play with little Johns Dick John Price. (sic)

The accusations in the note were found to be groundless.

Katherine murdered John Price with no remorse, and was found guilty.

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westywrites · 6 years

Text

The Slaughterhouse

AKA the most afraid I have ever been.

@kclenhartnovels @lux-scriptum after talking about ghosts, I finally got around to writing out my scariest experience in story format. (The only thing that has been changed is the name of my friend and some dialogue as I don't know what exactly we said; otherwise, this is how I remember it happening. We were only 13 at the time. Those of you who don’t believe, feel free to pass this off as an interesting story from a deluded kid, but I can’t deny what I remember from that day. I have never been so scared in my life.)

“This place is super haunted,” she told me over the phone, “please, I can't stay here alone.”

“I don't know, Des,” I wouldn't admit it, but I was afraid to even think of spending the night in a place like that.

“I thought you wanted to explore the barns anyways,” she protested, her own fear evident in her voice. I was even more afraid of leaving her alone there.

“It’s an abandoned slaughterhouse, of course, I want to explore it,” I sighed, “I just don't understand why your mom’s boyfriend decided you should live there.”

“Because it was a cheap and easy fixer-upper? I don't know.” I could hear her fiddling with something on the other end of the line. We sat in silence for a moment. “Please just tell me you'll come.”

“I’ll come.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Desiree sounded so happy she may cry.

I smiled to myself, pushing away the uneasy feeling in my chest. “It’s no big deal,” I lied. I had just agreed to spend a weekend in the house in front of an abandoned pig slaughterhouse, definitely not a big deal at all. I was definitely not shaking like a leaf at all.

My mom warned me to be careful as we drove up onto the hill and out into the woods. I nodded and smiled, assuring her that everything would be fine. She warned me not to touch anything in those barns, not to go anywhere unsafe. I laughed, already convinced that nowhere on that property was safe to begin with. I hugged her goodbye and turned hesitantly towards the house as she pulled away.

The house was small, a little yellow bungalow with rotted once-white shutters. My friend’s pale face was framed in the window, beckoning me to the side door.

“He hasn't fixed this place up yet, huh?” I asked, kicking some painting supplies out of the doorway into the tiny kitchen.

“We’ve hardly even got everything out of the basement.” Des sighed, pushing an ironing board up into its spot in the wall.

“That’s neat,” I said, playing with the latch on the door she had shut around it. I hadn't seen an ironing board that was attached like that before.

“It would be neat if it didn't make a terrifying sound every time it falls open,” she joked half-heartedly. “Let’s go watch a movie or something.” I nodded, and we shut ourselves in her room. We played with her bunny and watched dumb movies until late into the night. To my surprise, the worst that happened in that first night was a fox screeching somewhere nearby.

“That sounds like a woman screaming,” Des cried, shaking me awake.

I yawned and rolled over to look at her. “It’s just a fox, you know what foxes sound like.” She nodded hesitantly. “I have a good sense for things like this, that's why you invited me, right?” She nodded again, more confident this time. “Go back to sleep.”

The next day consisted of casual preparations for our adventure into the two barns later that afternoon. My fear had begun to fade. As I said, I have a good sense for these things, and I wasn't sensing anything looking to harm us. Desiree wasn't convinced we should we even go in, but I teased that it was the only reason I had agreed to come and she stopped her protests.

The hot summer sun had already begun to descend by the time we found ourselves in front of the older of the two barns. We were armed with flashlights and first-aid kits, but the derelict wooden barn still seemed to threaten us with its very being. I marched bravely forward first, forcing my way through the rotten door. There was a small room before another door blocked my path. The empty room and dirt floor held no interest to me, so I moved immediately to pry open the next door. It wouldn't budge.

“We haven't been able to get in there at all yet,” Des admitted. “My mom’s boyfriend thinks that water-damage expanded the wood, so the door is stuck.”

“That won't stop me.” I was full of determination and resourcefulness, and way too much time to waste anyway.

We tried everything we could find and everything we could think up, but the door remained stuck shut. My next thought was to bust a hole in the rotted wall, but Desiree put a stop to my plan before I could even start. “You’ll bring the whole place down on our heads,” she said, and I eventually had to admit she was right.

So that was that for the first barn, and I was thoroughly disappointed. I had hoped for something interesting. My hopes would be answered in plenty when we moved on to the second barn. A modern metal giant of a barn complete with an industrial looking silo and water tank. The outside was pristine, it looked as though it could have been brand-new, but I knew better. The heat from the late afternoon sun beat sideways on us, warming my skin despite the shiver that was working its way down my spine. I couldn't wait to enter.

The front room had the appearance of an office after a tornado came through. There were papers strewn about and a chair laying in pieces. But the most compelling thing was a mini-fridge perched at the edge of a counter. I pulled it open and found a treasure trove of interesting things inside. Medicines, syringes, and even a can of pop stood on the shelves. The labels were mostly worn away from the bottles, but I managed to make out an expiry date on one. 1979. Over thirty years old.

Awestruck, I flipped through the water-stained notebook beside the fridge. The dates inside matched up with the date I had found on the medicine, the most recent set of listings was from November of ‘78. Des came to read over my shoulder, and she pointed immediately to what I had missed. The purpose of the notebook was to record the deaths of the pigs who had been held in the barn. Most of the dates listed had a cause of death written next to them. Illness, injury, behaviour, among others.

“Behaviour is a weird cause of death,” I said.

Des shook her head and pointed at the bottom listings. “That’s weirder.” The dates for November of ‘78 had no cause of death. Instead, they listed the number of deaths, all upwards of 10. According to the logbook, over one week’s time nearly 100 pigs had died. And there was nothing to say why.

“What the hell happened?” I muttered. Des shrugged at me.

“There's still a whole lot of this barn left to explore, maybe there's an answer somewhere.” She pushed open the metal door to the next room, it swung open with an echoing groan. “This is where they would have kept the pigs,” Des announced.

“It’s dark in there, be careful,” I warned her. Then I saw a light switch just beside the door. Just to see what would happen, I flicked the switch. Des screamed as the lights in the next room came on with a flicker.

“Jesus,” Des gasped, “little warning next time?”

“Sorry,” I called after her, “I didn't think it would actually work.”

I stepped down into the next room. It was long and dirty. The smell was unlike anything I had ever smelt before. I couldn't even think of how to describe it, but a nagging thought popped up in the back of my mind. It smelt like death. The centre of the room was split into rows of short metal stalls, all angled down to meet at a line of drains through the middle. Other than a pitchfork laying in one of the stalls, the room was entirely empty. Our footsteps echoed against the damp cement floor.

“Hey,” Des called back to me, already at the far end of the room, “there's another room here.”

I ran forward to meet her, and we stood staring into darkness. No door stood on the hinges; instead, the doorway looked like a gaping void. Despite the lights in the large room, we couldn't see anything in the blackness of the back room in front of us.

“I'm going in,” Des said. I grabbed her as she turned on her flashlight. She shook me off and stepped forward, almost like she was in a trance. Her flashlight barely pierced through the dark as she stepped through the door. I couldn't move, it was as if something had wrapped itself around my spine, holding me in place as I watched my friend step further into the blackness. The light of her flashlight glinted off of something metal on the ceiling. A hook. Then the light disappeared, and Des disappeared with it.

“Des?” I asked, her name stuck in my throat. The feeling wrapped tighter around my spine and dug claws into my lungs. I stumbled to the edge of the door. My flashlight felt freezing in my fingers as I fumbled to turn it on. The light did nothing against the dark back room. “Des?” Panic made my voice high.

I stuck my hand out and stepped through the door. But before I could even step I ran into something solid. I couldn't cross through the empty doorway. It was as if there were still a door there. A locked, black door.

“Desiree,” I screamed now, repeating her name over and over. I banged desperately at the darkness in front of me, but I couldn't get through that door. Dread washed over me. So much dread that I felt sick to my stomach. I screamed, throwing empty threats and nasty words at the darkness. I was pissed. I slammed against the solid dark, and it slammed back.

Next thing I knew I was on the ground several feet away from the door. My chest hurt like hell. I dragged myself up, but it felt like my limbs had turned to jelly. The metal wall creaked as it protested my weight. I looked up at the door and growled.

“Give me back my friend,” I demanded. My voice seemed to come from all around me instead of my mouth. The words echoed through the barn, and the lights overhead flickered out.

Suddenly, the light from Desiree’s flashlight appeared in the darkness. She stumbled forward out of the room, gasping. Without a word, I grabbed her arm, and we ran from the barn out into the bright evening light. We ran and ran all the way out into the fields behind the property. We both stopped out of breath and gasping. I started to cry.

We sat in the field until the sun touched the horizon. That night, locked in her room, Des and I hid in a corner with all the lights turned on. The next day, her mom returned, and I gladly left to the safety of my own home miles away from that barn.

Desiree and her family lived in that house for less than three months before they moved again. Her mom’s boyfriend never did fix the house; instead, they sold it to a contractor who planned to tear the whole place down. When asked why they moved away the family would give non-answers, avoiding the question whenever possible, but I knew the truth. They couldn't live on that property because something was already there, and it wanted their daughter.

#west's words #writeblr #scary #horror #ghost stories #writers on tumblr #I've never talked about this is this format #so it felt weird to write it out like this #I don't think the level of fear necessarily carried through #I sincerely thought my friend was dead in that room #and I sincerely thought I was about to die #this story version is also missing a couple of things that I wasn't sure how to include #my friend and I had been talking about wendigos and she said the name outloud #and that's supposed to summon them #the night after we were in the barn #there were loud sounds like some kind of fight outside #in the morning there was a path of crushed plants all the from the woods at the far end of the field #through her yard and to the street #then the path promptly disappeared #it was huge #it looked like a whole stampede of animals had run by and in circles around the barn #we think maybe a wendigo came and fought with the thing in the barn #or something #that's what we decided at the time #I really don't know #I was just super terrified

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zrtranscripts · 6 years

Text

Season 7, Mission 12: A Castle Full of Rascals

We could've been anything we wanted to be

SAM YAO: All right, guys. You should be approaching Blackmoore Valley by now. The high iron content in the rocks is going to block your comms, so be careful, okay? I'll be waiting for you to get back in range. Oh, and Janine, once again, I'm so sorry about storing all those Curly Wurlies in the armory - [static]

MAXINE MYERS: Sam? Sam? I never realize how much I'm going to miss Sam's voice until it's gone.

JANINE DE LUCA: Yes. I admit, I've come to find a strange comfort in Mr. Yao's perplexing digressions.

MAXINE MYERS: This valley is pretty shadowy. I keep expecting something to jump out from behind those big rocks. I'd feel safer if we had more than one gun.

JANINE DE LUCA: Fort Blackmoore's isolated position makes it secure, yet vulnerable, Dr. Myers. They rarely trade with outsiders. It would be best for us to appear non-threatening.

MAXINE MYERS: And we really think they can tell us what we need to know?

JANINE DE LUCA: This settlement has a large number of young people, Dr. Myers. Our intel suggests several of them ran with the Last Riders for a time shortly after the apocalypse. We may be able to learn what motivated the atrocity at the rave.

There is a second part to our mission. Miss McShell believes the Ministry gifted Fort Blackmoore a simple administrative AI based on the original ANNIE. Since this valley is cut off from outside communications, their ANNIE has not been in touch with the other parts since before the apocalypse.

MAXINE MYERS: And Veronica thinks analyzing a clean version of ANNIE will help her stabilize herself.

JANINE DE LUCA: Miss McShell may be clutching at straws, but we must try to help her. It was she alone who developed the cure to the original zombie virus, which the Minister then stole from her. She is our best hope for similar assistance in the battle against the V-types. We have very fortunately obtained a new AI core for her to add to her processing power, but -

MAXINE MYERS: But it's no use if she just installs a corrupted version of herself onto it.

JANINE DE LUCA: Precisely. So our work here is important. That's Fort Blackmoore, Five. The castle ruin in the distance. It looks as if the inhabitants have repaired some of the fallen stone walls with wooden ramparts. The sun's going down, but we can be there in minutes if we run. Go!

[portcullis raises]

MAYOR: Visitors! Thank goodness. And you even have a gun.

MAXINE MYERS: Okay... well, not exactly the reception we were expecting.

MAYOR: You're from Abel Township, aren't you? Even here, we've heard of those shirts. Please, come with me. Up the stairs to the battlements. Hurry!

[footsteps]

JANINE DE LUCA: I think there's been a misunderstanding. We're here to meet with the local mayor.

MAYOR: The mayor, that's me. But there's no time for any of that.

MAXINE MYERS: Wow! That's a hell of a view. We can see all down the valley.

MAYOR: The north wall's always been my favorite spot. But look at the north end of the valley, the other direction from where you came.

JANINE DE LUCA: Movement. Lots of it. Hard to tell with the shadows, but looks like... hundreds of zombies. Some are missing heads. Their movement pattern is odd.

MAYOR: We've heard stories about nearby settlements falling to it. A tide of indestructible zombies. I never gave them credence. Please, you have to help us. Aside from the walls, we're defenseless. Abel overthrew the Ministry. You have military experience! You must have guns, or bombs, or vehicles with you?

MAXINE MYERS: Well, we have a gun.

JANINE DE LUCA: We came here to trade, not fight. But that's immaterial, given the situation. We will provide any help we can, Mr. Mayor. Tell your people to begin a general evacuation and to gather anyone willing to fight. In the meantime, we were hoping to access your administrative AI. Can you give us that?

MAYOR: Yes, of course. Anything. Thank you. There's a computer terminal in my office in the main keep. This way. Hurry!

MAXINE MYERS: [whispers] Janine, we can barely even hold off one V-type!

JANINE DE LUCA: I'm aware of the tactical situation, Dr. Myers.

MAXINE MYERS: And you weren't wrong about the locals. None of them looks over 20. This castle is full of kids!

MAYOR: Fort Blackmoore was hosting a school trip when Z-Day happened. 50 teenagers and one teacher. This place has been our home ever since. We hunkered in, restored the walls, kept a low profile.

Lately, we've taken in a lot of young refugees. Some of them ran with the Riders. But they never meant it! They left when they realized what those people were doing. They're just kids with nowhere else to go. I think I'm probably the oldest person here. That's why they made me the mayor.

MAXINE MYERS: How old are you?

MAJOR: 27. I was the teacher. Geography.

JANINE DE LUCA: I suppose History of Warfare would have been too much to hope for.

[door opens]

MAYOR: Here, this is my office. There's a computer by the fireplace. You can access our system from there.

JANINE DE LUCA: Five, plug this memory stick into the computer. Miss McShell designed it to automatically copy any version of ANNIE it detects, but the process could take some time.

MAXINE MYERS: How did a place like this end up with a sophisticated AI?

MAYOR: Oh, the Ministry was keen to win us over for the PR. They installed an AI to automate our medical center and generators. They even gave us a few rifles.

JANINE DE LUCA: Which you've since lost?

MAYOR: We used them for hunting. Ran out of bullets a while ago. We tried scavenging an abandoned Ministry base, but all we found was an ugly black paper weight, a ginger kitten, and a stack of MOD stationary.

MAXINE MYERS: So to recap, we have no way of calling for help, no weapons, and an army of zombies at the door, but an excellent view of a picturesque valley. Does that about sum it up?

JANINE DE LUCA: Generators. You mentioned generators. What kind?

MAYOR: Petrol. They're in the generator station, the big warehouse next to the castle keep. Why do you ask?

JANINE DE LUCA: They might be our only chance of holding the horde off until your people evacuate. Five, Maxine, our dual mission here will come to nothing if this mainframe is destroyed before we can copy the clean AI off it, and if the Last Rider refugees we came to talk to are killed.

MAXINE MYERS: Also, helping these people is the right thing to do.

JANINE DE LUCA: Yes, it is. You two, go to the generator station and siphon off as much fuel as you can, then meet me on the north wall. Mr. Mayor, show me everything in this settlement that even resembles a weapon. What are you all standing around for? Snap to it, now!

[generators run]

MAXINE MYERS: Through here, Five. They've strung a bunch of portable generators together. Grab those petrol cans and I'll shut the generators down. Did you hear Janine up there? She sounds scared. [turns generator off]

Okay, Five. Help me get this valve loose. Watch it, it's hot! I siphoned gas from cars when I was a teenager. I bet I remember how. [unscrews cap] There should be a Yankauer tube in my med kit we can use for the flow. Just have to get one end in the generator and suck on the other. [sucks on tube] Don't try that, Five. One mistake, and you'll get gasoline poisoning.

I keep thinking about those kids. Sara's closer to their age than mine. I was trouble when I was a teenager. Maybe she'll be like me. I keep telling Paula she's taking too many risks. She's going to be so mad at me if I die here tonight. Okay, that can's full. Pass me the next one.

JANINE DE LUCA: Five, Dr. Myers - [static] - comms are barely functioning, even at short range. [static] - but I need you to - [static] zombies are here. I need you to - [static]

MAXINE MYERS: Sounds like she needs us up there, Five. Second can's half full. It'll have to do. We're heading back up to the battlements. Ready? Go!

[locals fight zombies]

JANINE DE LUCA: Five, Dr. Myers, this way! Step away from the battlements. The zombies are piling up on top of each other trying to climb over.

MAXINE MYERS: There's hundreds of them down there! Like a big dark pile of ants! Oh God, the smell!

JANINE DE LUCA: Here's the situation. Most of the older locals are forming a defense force while everyone under 18 evacuates. We must hold the castle until the evacuees are at a safe distance. To that end, I've positioned defenders at the wall with pitchforks and scythes, pushing the zombies back. The only weapons available were farming implements, alas.

MAYOR: Well, there's that old paperweight you nabbed from my office. You seemed to think that might -

JANINE DE LUCA: You are supposed to be rallying the troops, Mr. Mayor! We must take immediate action to avoid being overwhelmed. Five, run east along the wall. Maxine, run west. Take a petrol can each and pour the contents out over the zombie horde. We're going to light up the night. Go, now!

MAYOR: Everton, Lucy, remember what the Colonel said. Use the pitchforks to push them back and the scythes to cut off limbs. Don't give me that look, young man.

MAXINE MYERS: Janine, zoms on my side of the wall. I've got them - [static] - totally gassed. Okay, [static] can’t stay here any longer. Heading back to you.

JANINE DE LUCA: Excellent. Five has just returned to me with the same report. Get behind me, Five. [shouts] All defenders, stand well back from the wall! [under her breath] And to think Mr. Yao wasn't convinced flares needed to be part of every runner's standard pack.

[flare lights, flamers erupt, zombies squeal]

MAXINE MYERS: That is a lot of burning zombies. Ugh, the smell is actually worse!

JANINE DE LUCA: The fire won't destroy the V-types, but it's harder to climb with your extremities wilting. Five, Maxine, return to the Mayor's office. That ANNIE copy should have finished downloading by now. Everybody else - [shouts] Defenders, with me! Those zombies are still coming! We hold this wall for as long as we can!

[door opens]

MAXINE MYERS: Phew! It's Logan's Run meets Helm's Deep out there. Did you see Janine swinging that pitchfork? She'd give Aragorn a run for his money.

JANINE DE LUCA: Five, Maxine, come in! Come in!

MAXINE MYERS: Five and I just arrived at the Mayor's office, Janine. The download is at 97%.

JANINE DE LUCA: Our line was breached, Five. [static] - but it looks like our hostiles are headed in your direction. [static]

MAXINE MYERS: Janine? Janine? [glass shatters] Five, get out of the way. Something's coming through that window. [zombie groans] Okay. It's just one zom. We can do this. Five, grab those heavy tongs from the fire and I'll - hey, you ugly zombie. Over here! Fresh-tasting human meat.

Hit it now, Five! Now! [zombie squelches] Skull won't crack. It's still moving. Throw me the poker. [zombie squelches and collapses] Oh my God, I think we got it. That was a hell of a swing you took at the back of its head, Five. I can't believe its skull was so tough! Glad I managed to get it straight through the eye with the poker.

It's not moving, so it's not a V-type. Look at those yellow eyes. Its skin is decayed. It's human, or was, but it moved on all fours. It wasn't a normal zombie. It sounded more like a V-type. But we've killed it by destroying the brain. Five, whatever's attacking us here, it's not just V-types or ordinary zoms. I think it's something new.

#zombies run #zrs7 #s7m12 #a castle full of rascals #zr transcript #zrs7 spoilers

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