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hughiecampbelle · 1 year

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Eve (Shiv Roy × Matsson!Reader)

Character/s: Shiv

Word Count: 1,262

Requested: may i have some shiv x fem!reader in these trying times? maybe meeting some younger, sarcastic chick who shiv thinks she can just dominate but then the tables turn ;) love ur succession writing btw! don’t listen to that anon, they could only wish that they could write as good as you <3 - anon

Tag: @locke-writes

A/N: I took some creative liberties with this request, I hope you don't mind!! I try to make everything gender natural as well so its gn!reader instead :) Thank you for such kind words my love!! I really hope you like it!!! Feedback is always appreciated 💜💜💜

She couldn’t take her eyes off you. There was something about forbidden fruit that had always enticed her. Eve was right in bitting into that apple, in taking what she wanted when she saw it, she wanted to do the same to you. You looked radiant, everyone took notice. You were an intern, someone who ran coffee orders and took notes from meetings, to be seen but not heard, but tonight? Tonight you were something else entirely. Your finest attire hugging your body in all the right places. Your eyes bright, gleaming, knowing. You kissed your glass every so often, knowing how these kinds of events went, how handsy some of the guests could get with just a drop of alcohol in their system. Tonight they were supposed to be on their best behavior, but since when had you played by the rules? You were surrounded by some of the most powerful people in the country, in the world and yet all she could focus on was you. Someone was speaking to her, talking terms, but she couldn’t hear a word. Someone, an associate from Sweden, slipped their hand around your waist, whispering something in your ear, making you smirk. Jealousy overcame her. She was seeing red. You laughed. You looked up, matching her gaze. You patted their shoulder, excusing yourself, refilling you glass. You swept past her, your hands brushed, slowed just a moment to whisper: Du är den enda för mig, min älskade. You are the only one for me, my love. She didn’t have to understand it to make it make her blush. Her cheeks resembled apples, crimson glowing.

She undressed you with her eyes, you could feel it, and you leaned into it, giving her knowing looks over your glass of wine. You’re such a tease, you can already hear her whine. Yes, but you love it, you’d whisper in her ear, pushing her over the edge. Everyone suspected there was something going on, but not between you. You were an afterthought, the younger sibling, the intern to your brothers company, his wealth and fame. You were nothing. A plus one he brought to events. Only she could see that you were dangerous, a weapon of mass destruction. You were watchful, observant, holding on to secrets until it wasn’t necessary anymore. They all suspected it was Lukas, his brains, but you worked behind the scenes, giving him a little push, a bit of encouragement, when he needed it.. Between her and him. The calls, the texts, the shared smiles. If only they knew what you two got up to when no one was looking. Your brother was flirt, you’d give him that, but he was like that with everyone. He still wasn’t over Ebba, either, hung up on the past. Shiv was too good for him. Too smart, too precious, too cut throat. You could match her energy. You knew exactly what to say and how to say it to make her melt.

The time she spent in Sweden, and you in the States, was limited. Anything more looked suspicious. Still, you made it work. Shiv had never felt like this with anyone, certainly not Nate or Tom. You were younger than her, sarcastic, funny, never letting anything get to you. Not when you were talked down to. Not when you were underestimated. Not when you were discarded. You knew better than that, than to be reactive. Everyone would get what was coming to them, every single one of them, even your brother. He could flirt all he wanted, but she was yours. You never wasted a moment together. Every second was crucial, important. You love was secret, but it did not mean it was small. No, it was powerful. Locked doors, locked eyes, discarded clothing, calling out one another's names. She thought you were docile, passive, but you proved her wrong every time. That was the act you put on. You played the part well, too well. Even your idiot brother believed it, wanting to set you up with Roman or Kendall, insisting you’d been alone for far too long. You only had eyes for one Roy. He’d even gone so far as to set you up with Oskar, a blind date you had no choice but to go along lest you let your secret get out. You’d excused yourself to the bathroom halfway through and left. Neither Lukas nor Oskar ever brought it up again, though you had a few choice words for your brother. Tror du verkligen att du kunde sätta upp mig med en gris och jag skulle inte märka det! After that, he never pushed the subject again. You’d later laugh about it with her one night in bed, the whole thing an embarrassing disaster. Jag vill aldrig vara med någon annan än dig. I never want to be with anyone but you.

You found your way to the balcony, the cool air a welcomed feeling on your warm cheeks. Too many bodies in there, too many people, too much power. She drifts towards you, trapped in conversation, in Paradise. Somehow she escapes with smiles and nods, needing to be near you, to smell you, to hold you. She didn’t need a serpent in her ear telling her how precious you were, a gift, she could do that on her own. Was it dangerous? Of course, but importance never came without risk. Was it stupid? Probably. A lot was on the line with this deal. Everything she was was on the line. And yet, when she saw you standing there, nothing else mattered. It hadn’t been that long since you’d last seen one another. The getaway in Norway was full of all kinds of fun, but it wasn’t long lived. She needed to be close to you like she needed oxygen. Her arms found their way around you. She smelled sweet, warm, like vanilla. There were no lights on, just the glow of the apartment behind you. Back lit. You let your head fall to the side, her skin hot on your face. Jag har saknat dig. I’ve missed you. Her Swedish was getting better every time you saw her. I had no idea, you laugh, holding her hands. You could feel her roll her eyes, wondering why she ever put up with you, being reminded of her love for you seconds later when you bring her hands to your mouth missing her knuckles softly.

Your brother was calling your name, his voice loud and feigning upset through the quiet. Something had happened. Something had set him off. Vi lämnar utan dig! He threatened. Your moment was gone. Torn apart yet again by reality. Shiv stepped back ,letting you go, not before you turned around and kissed her, desperate for her. She leaned into you, into the moment, feeling free. When you were done, you kissed her cheek, sliding the door shut behind you, cursing him in your mother tongue before leaving. You never looked back. You didn’t need to. Her face was flushed, left breathless, yearning, wanting more. Wishing thighs were different, wishing there wasn’t so much distance between you. Her phone buzzed, her expression lit up by the screen. A number without a name. No constant image either. Just a short message, eight words. Reading it over and over again, feeling giddy, like a teenager in love. She can’t hide the grin she wears from ear to ear, nor can she hide her excitement as a car down below honks twice. A final goodbye. I can’t wait to see you again.

#requested #writing #shiv roy #shiv roy imagine #shiv roy x reader #succession #succession imagine #succession x reader #shiv roy fic #shiv roy oneshot #succession fic #succession oneshot

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thecat-inthehat · 1 year

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Something that’s stuck with me since finishing the Pandaemonium tier is like. The entire story is based around the idea of taking the concept of “creation” to its natural extremes.

Like, the first tier, Asphodelos, you were introduced to pandaemonium as a whole — a prison where dangerous creations were housed and studied; not unlike a high security lab for weapons of mass destruction or diseases. Larger hints of the story are there, sure, Mr Vampire, but the whole tier is largely about dangerous experiments gone wrong—Phoinix especially, given how it’s a concept that so many have tried to create and perfect before yet none have succeeded.

The second tier Abyssos builds on this, as well as carried over from the first, where people are corrupted by the creations that they got close to. (Carby notwithstanding. He’s doing great we’re all happy to have him) Hegmone and Agdistis both were researchers for some pretty high scale creations, and both were consumed by them, Agdistis to the point of death. It reminds me a lot of like … in real life, being so consumed by a project or creative endeavor to the point of destroying your own health. Workaholics and perfectionism. It’s driven home a little further by Lahabrea, even, where he’s so twisted that he literally cuts himself in half after getting done answers to his creative pursuits. Granted there’s uh, some more stuff going on there, but it can read a lot like a person being unable to come to terms with the consequences of what they’ve created and brought forth.

And then we get to the logical, both ends extreme in Anabaseios. Athena sought to create herself as a god, so in turn she could create (manipulate) the world in her image. But she also used her son, a person that she created, to try and do so.

So like. Creating children isn’t exactly special. Most every species goes through the mundane process of making a baby and rearing it, and what comes after the birth is also part of this process. Things like teaching and protection, nurturing, etc, are all part of this act of creation of a very important thing, a new person, yet it’s all very… normal. You could do it, I could do it. So do a lot of ducks and tigers. Children are so normal of a concept that it’s not remarkable to have made one, yet the entirety of Amaurot treats them as incredibly precious and deserving of love and adoration.

Which is why it’s juxtaposed against Athena’s all powerful grab of godhood. She’s probably gotten farther than any other person in XIV, and she did it by manipulating the mundane creation she was part of in Erichthonios. In a broad sense, she showed no respect for the concept of Creation (fantastical or mundane) and only used it to serve her own ends. It’s even laid out in that last convo between them — “truly, useless to the last” “and who made me that way?” She took something that, by her own society’s standards, was precious and important, and simply tried to manipulate Erichthonios into being her mindless puppet.

It’s fascinating to me, and I really doubt I’ll stop thinking about this any time soon. There’s a lot that left me wanting in Pandaemonium, yet this concept is gonna stick with me.

#ffxiv #pandaemonium #endwalker #musings #pls take this with a grain of salt I’m very sleepy

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mwolf0epsilon · 2 years

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The Ghost in the War Machine

With the stakes of the Clone Wars increasing steadily overtime, the Techno Union had grown significantly more ambitious with their various projects and investments.

Some might say the guild's aspirations had outgrown them because, while their facade of neutrality might have fooled the Republic's Senate and the people they represented, it never quite fooled the GAR's soldiers nor the more attentive Jedi Generals. Especially not the ones that were more than a little acquainted with the machinations of Wat Tambor and his underling's work.

Keeping at the very top of their game wasn't easy with the likes of the 501st and 212th Battalions knowing fully well that the guild was not to be trusted (and more involved with the Separatist movement than they let on).

Naturally, Wat Tambor took it as a challenge of sorts.

Branched out a bit with the experiments and far off expedition he approved, and mostly kept the more classified projects as far away from view as possible to avoid incidents like the one that occurred in Nelvaan (making an actual public enemy out of Anakin Skywalker was a mistake he'd prefer to avoid). Whenever the opportunity presented itself, the Techno Union wasn't afraid to try something new.

And, upon stumbling across a rather peculiar little planet in the Kaldar Trinary system, opportunity for something more ambitious did present itself...

---[Continue Reading...]---

The legend of the Skara Nal was not one just known to treasure hunters and pirates alike. Many sentient species all across the galaxy have heard the stories of the Ancients, their mysterious culture, and their awesome treasures.

Wat Tambor had heard such stories himself. Was curious and inspired by beings of ancient times that could somehow invent technology that was leagues ahead of its own time. Felt like those were tales that one could learn for in the name of both progress and profit.

So, upon hearing about a rather incredible discovery one of the branches of the guild had made, he was more than a little excited to get his hands on a design that would inspire both awe and fear into the hearts of his allies and enemies alike:

The Skara Nal Walker

An incredible feat of automation that had (overtime), been confused to be some kind of ancient city holding a precious treasure, rather than what Wat Tambor actually knew it to be: A superweapon capable of mass destruction.

This design (this incredible war machine) could completely change the order of things in favour of the Techno Union itself. With a Walker this powerful Wat Tambor could simply seize control of everything and everyone, and change the tides of war to better suit the Techno Union's needs. His needs.

All he'd need is to get his hands on the Skara Nal's blueprints and design, recreate it and its specs (with some alterations here and there), create a more complex form of processor to better control it with, trick the Techno Union's investors into funding the project itself, and then construct an ultimate weapon that he would then control.

Maybe an entire army of them.

And, with an army of superweapon Walkers at his disposal, who could possibly oppose him and the Techno Union in any meaningful way? No one. Absolutely no one.

Not even the Jedi, or Count Dooku and his shadowy master.

Time flies by...

The construction process of the prototype recreation of the Skara Nal is less than consistent, but the promises Wat Tambor makes about this mysterious project is more than a little tantalizing for the more power hungry members of the Separatist Council.

It's so very easy to tempt the Techno Union's most loyal investors with the prospect of power, that hiding his true intentions is ridiculously easy. Still, Tambor has to maintain a front of willingness to provide actual advantages for the Separatist army. Offer them something that'll keep their interests peaked, and their curious eyes off the project itself...

The answer is fairly easy, really... The Algorithm keeps Tench more than satisfied, so it's easy to lend its limited remote services until the time is right. However, everyone that's working on the Walker Project knows that (eventually) the Algorithm will be used for more than just data analysis and advisory tasks: It will be the brain of their superweapon.

The central processor that both keeps the Walker itself running in a seemingly commensalistic symbiotic relationship, and that can be more easily controlled than the original Skara Nal (which attacked its surroundings indiscriminately when not given any guidance).

Thus far the Algorithm had obeyed them well, so the Techno Union believed it would continue to do so once the Walker was fully operational and connected to its neural relay.

In theory the plan was quite brilliant.

By using a living being conditioned to obey orders directly transmitted into their brain, they could get the Walker to move more fluently and even react to situations in a more aware and intelligent manner. An ARC trooper that had been highly trained and aware of enemy strategies, would thusly be able to outsmart and outmaneuver the GAR's army with ease.

This would effectively protect the Algorithm itself (which was imperative to keep the Separatists on the Techno Union's side until the time was right to seize control of them), and also force the Algorithm to rely on the Walker for more effective life support (cryosleep had kept their asset alive, but it had certainly not maintained the body very well due to lack of nutrition and vitamins) as well as stability, via a string of pre-programmed code that would help it integrate itself with the Walker's systems.

In fact, the Walker had been redesigned to be able to "eat", store "digested nutrients" in a storage tank connected to it's "stomach", and overall mimic an actual living being in such a way that the entire machine would become like a second body for the Algorithm in an almost seamless transition from flesh to machine. The Algorithm would essentially become the Walker itself, and hopefully be conditioned to believe it had always been a weapon to be used by its new master

Wat Tambor believed he'd be the master of the galaxy's most complex, intelligent and powerful war machine ever known to any being, by fooling its "brain" into believing it had always been a machine with the sole purpose of obeying orders...

He was sorely mistaken.

The Algorithm may have been doing it's job as intended, but Echo had been fighting back as best he could the entire time. And he would soon be able to show just to what extent he'd be willing to go to try to free himself from both the Techno Union's and the Separatist's clutches alike...

Echo became more and more aware of himself the more tests were performed to see if the Walker could be effectively integrated with his neural network, and then subsequently began performing his own tests trying to figure out where he was exactly, and how to use the various systems he was connected to to his own advantage.

Tech and Rex's inquiry when the 501st and Clone Force 99 began investigating the Algorithm that was causing the GAR so many losses on Anaxes, was simply the nail in the Techno Union's coffin. Echo may have still been trapped but he was now aware of the fact someone was coming for him, and that he might be able to make himself mobile the next time Wat Tambor called for the Walker to be activated. Which he stupidly does in an attempt to use it against the invading party that has come to steal the Algorithm...

Needless to say, the moment the Walker is brought online, Echo is fully in control of it and goes on a rampage.

Enacting rage fueled revenge on the bastards that imprisoned and that tortured him should come as no surprise, and the fact the Techno Union ever hoped to be able to control him at all was idiotic on many levels. Especially since he held no loyalty towards them to begin with and was trying to escape their clutches since day 1.

The mild issues that come with his rampage, however, are that:

His rescue party has no idea he's inside the Walker currently raining hellfire upon its general surroundings;

He can't quite see who he's attacking because of the size discrepancy, so he's basically just trying to fry anything that so much as twitches;

The transmissions that Tech had been using to track him are now garbled because Echo is a little out of his senses;

It's certainly not a great first impression to this whole situation, and everyone's first instinct is to either flee or fight back... Which honestly doesn't help the rescue party not seem like another obstacle for Echo to decimate.

Thankfully both Tech and Rex connect the dots fairly quickly, and realize that the war machine currently trying to wipe them and the Techno Union off the face of the galaxy, is indeed being piloted by the imprisoned ARC they'd come to save. Getting him to calm down is a bit more difficult since he's in a bit of a state but, since they still have an open line of communication, they soon talk Echo out of attacking them.

Then comes the next big problem: How to get Echo out of Skako Minor while he's currently stuck inside a gigantic Walker that most definitely won't fit in their ship, and that they don't know how to open up...

Fortunately for everyone involved, this was an issue that the Techno Union itself had resolved, since they needed a means to transport the Walkers off planet once they constructed a sizeable army.

A sort of flight mode attachment was in the works, and the prototype was ready to be tested prior to the rescue mission interfering with the Techno Union's plans. All they would need to do is connect it to the Walker, and Echo would simply be able to follow them back to the base on Anaxes.

Which he does after fumbling a little (he may have been able to figure out how to use the weapons system on the fly, but that's because of the previous system tests that were performed prior to current events. The flight mode is completely new territory for him and the first attempts are probably very similar to Hardcase trying to figure out how to fly the Umbaran ships).

Here is where some major changes (besides the obvious) come about in terms of plot and what happens to Echo in general.

As soon as they land they try to disconnect Echo from the Walker, only to realize that any attempt to do so would kill him. The life support system is the only thing keeping him alive, and as such Echo is (for the time being) trapped inside of the Walker until the medical and engineering teams can find a way to safely disengage him from it.

Which, due to the ongoing war, isn't something they can do right now. Unfortunately there's just no way they can drop everything their doing just to help Echo. Something which distresses him and causes another near rampage (the Walker reacts to his distress by immediately engaging all weapons systems, and this is absolutely not a great way to get him in anyone's good graces).

The stress of the battles and the unpredictability of the war machine keeping Echo alive, make the GAR more than a little distrustful of him, and the dejected ARC trooper ends up locked away in a warehouse where he'll simply have to wait until he can be tended to.

He neither is able to help put an end to the Battle of Anaxes, nor joins Clone Force 99 because they too do not trust him in the slightest. The only few people who visit him are Rex, Jesse, Kix (before he ends up falling into Dooku's hands) and Cody. And, while they are hopeful that one day they'll be able to get him out of the Walker, Echo himself loses hope of that ever being a possibility.

The more time passes the more hopeless about his situation Echo feels, until one day he decides that the best course of actions is for him to simple disappear. Stop being a burden on the 501st's shoulders, and go somewhere where he'll be left alone and not endanger anyone...

And so he does. He waits for an opportunity and then engages his flight mode to leave the planet. It's not like anyone can really stop him anyway, nor do any of them want to try to shoot him down since Rex and Jesse would most certainly not be happy about it.

Rex is forced to watch his little brother be torn away from his side once more, only this time it's by Echo's choice.

And he simply watches it happen because he can't bring himself to force Echo to stay. Not when the alternative is clearly not ideal for his well being in the long run...

He can only hope wherever he goes that his vod'ika will be safe.

There's really not much time to dwell on it anyway. The Siege of Mandalore eventually takes up all of his time, and then Order 66 happens (which gives way to so many new problems he has to solve, as well as some close calls with the Empire) and he's thrown for a loop.

Rex only really has time to think about Echo again when, during an attempt to track him down to warn him about the Empire, he ends up reuniting with the ARC in a rather... Err... Awkward manner...

The planet Echo chose to exile himself to was apparently inhabited, and the locals had begun worshiping him as some kind of deity... Which means he occasionally gets live sacrifices (which he simply releases and leads somewhere safe away from the people that sacrificed them to begin with because YIKES that is not a safe environment).

One stealth mission to recover Rex's gear later (and a lot of swearing to never tell about this to anyone ever), the two catch up on recent events and decide to team up to help save their brothers from the Empire's clutches.

Should be easy enough when Echo can provide both the manpower and transportation needed to carry and protect their brothers (bare in mind the Walker was built from the inside out and has maintenance shafts, fully operational oxygen supply, decompression and gravity control modules, and even a hyperdrive to go with the flight mode), and Echo can also pick up on remote transmissions and transmit remotely himself. The Walker is a remarkable feat of technology that would most definitely be an asset to Rex and Echo's mission.

And it's not just the two of them that realize this...

Someone else has been looking into classified GAR data and taken a great interest in the supposed superweapon that the 501st and Clone Force 99 recovered from Seperatist control prior to Order 66 going live. And they would very much like to get rid of what is effectively listed in the files as "just a very smart droid" that'd give the Empire an edge if they ever got their hands on it.

It's not every day that a ghost goes out of his way to track and attempt to hunt down another ghost...

Not that Fives, who's been in hiding and out of the loop for a while, knows that Echo is the weapon he's seeking to destroy...

#Eps Draws:#star wars #the clone wars #the bad batch #Ghost in the War Machine AU #arc trooper echo #captain rex #told you I had another one of these in the works :)#and it comes with a bit of a surprise at the end too

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nobodypunk · 2 years

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Avatar Way of Water Jumbled Thoughts SPOILERS AHEAD

So initially, it was very pretty. Visually stunning. We all know that.

I was so happy to see Jake and Neytiri again, I was pumped to just to be on Pandora again. I’ve split up my opinions in sections:

This Family is a Fortress:

I loved seeing Jake and Neytiri’s family. I loved the song bead opening and the ending, that was a very nice round way to tell the story. The kids all had their own distinct personalities and stories to tell which I feel can be hard to portray in sequel films especially with more than one kid. I loved Jake’s balancing act of being a father, I love that Neytiri didn’t lose any of her grit while being a mother. I will say I felt it was very strange for them to leave the Ometikaya. The planet is under threat again, I know it’s personal, but I felt like them leaving the people we spent an entire film with to fend for themselves was unnatural. I would have been down for a whole clan relocation, but whatever. I do think their refugee angle was compelling and it offered that “whole new world” angle to it. Neteyam and L’oak’s relationship was very nice, very much early Prince of Egypt vibes, I could sense as we got closer to the end of the film that Neteyam was for sure going to die. But again it was very round and it was pretty well done. Kiri, my little nature girl, I love. I loved her vibes, I live for Sigourney, but I’ll get back to her later. Tuk was precious baby, in too many dangerous situations but I guess I’m not mad if it gave her more screen time. Aaaand Spider, I liked having a child raised by scientists involved with the tribal lifestyle of his peers. I wish that they had utilized that more. I’ll also get back to him.

The Colonel Debacle: Attack of the Clones:

Quaritch…. I am so mad about everything to do with his return and the “sky people” narrative in this film. First of all, in the first film they express that making an Avatar body is extremely expensive and a huge undertaking. They invited Jake in the first place because his DNA was compatible with his dead twin’s Avatar, so they wouldn’t just be pouring their money down the drain. And again, this was a mining endeavor, it wasn’t military. All the “military” we see are mercenaries. So why would a mining company put replicating their expendable mercenaries high on their spending list? They wouldn’t. Just like we saw, the new colonization attempt just brought in more military force, so why bring back a team of 9(?)mercenaries that died into specific Avatar bodies?(Also felt like there were a lot killed, but too many of them by the end of the film?) The plot tries to explain it away “to be bigger, stronger, to blend in with the natives” not once did they blend in though (THEY WERE BAREFOOT IN CAMO???), not once did being Avatars actually bring them the upperhand. AND just plugging in memories to the body, why didn't they do that with Grace? Or Jake’s twin for that matter? I also feel like Quaritch would be SO against cloning in general! “It’s not the real me” blah blah blah Let alone in an Avatar body! Also BALD SUNGLASSES GUY??? REALLY??? Sorry, I’ll die on this hill. What made Quaritch a good villain is that he was a weapon of mass destruction, evil and toxic masculine to the core and he just kept coming. His death was so satisfying in the first movie because of it. It feels like such a cop out to bring him back, all satisfaction lost and it really just looks like little Jamie C couldn’t write any other villain and that’s lazy.

Okay so they’re clones and they’re there. Now you have identity conflict, I feel like if they were going this route, have the clones have a moral and identity crisis to the CORE I would have loved that narrative of realizing that their original selves were wrong. But Quaritch, while we did see some struggle in identity, decided to have a vendetta against Jake Sully! It was interesting to see his interactions with Spider, still feel like OG Quaritch wouldn’t give two shits to learn the language (he didn’t in the first place) or about “becoming Navi”. And I’ll talk about some of my issues with Spider as well here. I felt like he needed to show more motivation about showing them to be Navi to grow their sympathy, but it felt like show and tell. I also felt like he should be more reactive and more upset at everything they were doing, it felt like he was just watching and strangely apathetic most of the time. Quaritch burning that village to the ground and deciding to go after the Tulkun instead of just murdering everyone felt out of character, but that can all be traced back to— this is a clone. Quaritch was a genocidal maniac and I expect him to just be exactly that. I don’t exactly want to go on a sympathetic redeem the villain story with him (even if his clone “didn’t do that”). I don’t hold it against Spider for saving the clone in the end but I am mad at Jamie C for keeping him around. I am so done with Quaritch’s story. I was more than done in the first movie, let alone this one.

SKY PEOPLE. So I felt that the threat of the sky people was FAR GREATER in this movie than the last because instead of just “we want the rocks you're sitting on” it’s just straight up old fashioned colonization!! They are coming for the planet!! I don’t understand why this film wasn’t about nipping THAT in the bud, you didn’t need Quaritch, that would have been compelling enough. The way they landed, cLEARING the forest with fire NEAR the Ometikaya homeland was HORRIFIC, but the plot treats it like whatever. Though it makes a little sense (ahem MARS) for Humans to want to settle here, I still think it doesn’t make sense? The air is toxic, the wildlife is huge and dangerous, I just don’t think Pandora is “the promised land” GO SETTLE ON TITAN OR SOMETHING. I can make room in my brain for a mining mission, but full colonization? No thanks. General Lady had smaller exoskeleton armor because Lady, was so fun and she was just there to explain stuff. I was expecting there to be some differences in the suits and technology too, given the time skip. Jamie C was like I LOVE SPIDERS AND 3D PRINTERS. And I still don’t understand the Avatar Marine’s mission. It just felt like a personal murder party??? Like no real orders???? I’m just generally mad about all of these decisions. They felt lazy and under-baked. I WAITED 12 YEARS FOR THIS?!?

Kiri is Avatar Jesus:

Kiri, Kiri, Kiri… While I love her… I have some issues with how she came about and her role. Kiri has come from an intubated version of Grace…. (though I do not remember Grace’s Avatar body dying. I can see if they put her in stasis but it seemed as though this was a clone) Clone gets pregnant…. So (iF this is Grace’s original Avatar) either Avatar Norm and Avatar Grace were messing around for science or Eywa was like guess what I’m not bringing you back to life but I’ll make your Avatar preggers with my spiritual baby ALA Bible style. OR if this is a clone, somebody was just messing around in the lab. Either way science immaculate conception needs to stop please. I would have almost preferred it if Grace meant so much to Jake and Neytiri that they implanted one of Grace’s eggs in Neytiri. (which is still weird but not as weird as space jesus ANAKIN ALREADY TOOK THAT SPOT)

And Kiri’s Eywa powers. It’s really screaming white savior yet again. Kiri is born of an Avatar, not native and yet again Eywa has chosen an alien to be her chosen one. It’s just bad. It isn’t right.

I also thought her Epilepsy was going to play a bigger role in the rest of the movie but it was just a plot device for Quaritch to find them?

The Metkayina:

THEY ARE SO COOL I’M ALL ABOUT THE EVOLUTIONARY CHANGES TO THEIR BODIES, I LOVE THEIR ARM FINS, TAILS, AND LARGE RIBS FOR BREATHING. On a sciency note, I found it interesting that they chose to make their tails swim left to right like a fish instead of up and down like an aquatic mammal. I loved the ocean, I loved the quiet moments we just got to explore and soak in the surroundings, I loved the sign language and the breathing. I was all about it. FREE WILLY SIGN ME UP, I WANNA TALK TO WHALES. The Tulkun were so charming and I loved them. THERE’S ALWAYS A BIGGER FISH. But yeah, big big fan. I wish that we got to see some female friendships? Jamie C is big sexist. Neytiri disappeared for much of this part. I wanted to see Kiri and Tsireya vibing, and Ronai and Neytiri finding common ground as Matriarchs.

Ferngully 2: Whale Hunting Palooza Electric Boogaloo Payakan’s Revenge:

So the new colonizers are here for unobtanium 2.0 (even though they sound like they’ve been here for a while, even though the sky people were driven out???) We went for the forest in the last movie, now it’s time to go after the animals! We have the hunter that is here to be way too excited about poaching, and the scientist that has been a part of this the whole time but is Jamie C’s favorite trope of “sympathetic moral high ground scientist who has no accountability whatsoever because the big mean corporation is paying him to do it”. It’s just so tired. I hated unobtanium 2.0, magic gland fluid that stops human aging????? Like come on, I could get down for a stupid rock with a stupid name, but really???????? Payakan’s revenge was satisfying. I felt like the Metkayina disappeared randomly after that.. And with Quaritch going after the Tulkun, and ultimately attacking the sea people, it was still kinda Jake’s fault for endangering them. I feel like if they just lived on an island close but separate from the people, it would have worked out better??? Idk

James Cameron and casting problems:

Jamie C didn’t fix any of his writing issues with indigenous people. It was still white savior, take advantage of indigenous narratives, and sexualized native women. And at the end he was like “I directed Titanic, remember????” Man with everything he put Neytiri through I was surprised she didn’t turn to Jake and go “I want a divorce”.

I also have major issues with the casting. I was fully expecting at least mixed boys playing Neteyam and L’oak but they were WHITE! And Kate Winslet is wonderful but she was playing an indigenous islander woman??? I just think it was a big mistake and honestly it kept taking me out of the movie.

His action sequences are great but the plot was very convoluted and he definitely needs a wake up call to fix his narrative, work with native people, and cast people of color. Zoe’s back hurts from carrying both of these movies.

#avatar 2 #avatar way of water #avatar 2 spoilers #12 YEARS I WAITED #ALDSKJDFAL;JFLAKJF #feelings #avatar 2 way of water

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mirawritesstuff · 1 year

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Writing Practice #2

Writing Practice: Pick a line from one of your favorite songs, and identify the main emotion. Now write a character who is feeling that emotion and hears the song. Try to describe the type of music in such a beautiful way that you will make the reader yearn to hear the song as well.

The Line: “Tell you you’re the greatest, but once you turn they hate us” - Enemy by Imagine Dragons

The Emotions: Bitterness - Anger and disappointment at being treated unfairly; resentment

This little apartment was the bane of my existence. It was drab and dark, with boards covering the windows. Pipes ran up the walls and across the ceiling. One wall was solid brick; no paint or wall paper. And the other walls had cheap, ugly wallpaper that looked decades old. It was even peeling off the wall. It was located in an old city block on the outskirts of the main city. The buildings here were mostly abandoned by this time, home only to the outcasts and criminals now. It wasn’t my choice to live in this little hole, if I had it my way I’d be living it up like I used to in the lavish castle at the center of the city. The gorgeous castle that was an incredible mix of ancient architecture and modern technology (that I helped pioneer - mind you).

I used to be the Monarch’s precious little inventor. I was her genius, her prodigy. She loved and adored me; as long as I did as she wanted. I made weapons of mass destruction so we could keep control over the world. Over time, I developed my own thoughts and opinions. I thought, maybe, we could keep control by earning loyalty instead of instilling fear. Apparently this was the wrong opinion to have in the Monarch’s court. I would later learn that the fear was for fun, they liked punishing people; the Court liked seeing the suffering of the people.

But I didn’t quiet myself down, but maybe I should have. I kept mentioning different ways how I thought we could done things differently. The more I spoke, the more they realized how dangerous I could be. If I spoke to the people, I could raise a revolution, I could lead to the downfall of the Monarch and her court. They accused me of treason and thus began my fall from grace. I guess they didn’t need me anymore - I had given them enough.

They manipulated the media to be against me. They said I had gone off the deep end, and even staged a fucking terrorist attack and blamed it on me. I was an outcast now, pushed to the lowest rungs of society. All because they didn’t want the very intelligence they used to love to turn against them, I was a threat to them now. So they figured it would be best to get rid of me and turn the people against me.

I turn on the beaten up radio that I had jerryrigged so that I could have something other than the silence around me to listen to. I know I’m brilliant but even I was surprised at how this thing worked. After a few minutes of tuning, it finally picks up a radio station and a song I had never heard starts playing; and the more I listened, the more the song resonated with me. Now, I’ll be honest, I’ve never been one to identify genres or musical instruments, but it sounded a bit like it had some distorted instruments in the back ground, that added a depth to the song that kept me captivated, and despite the heavy subject of the lyrics the music felt a little calming in a strange way.

Though what kept me listening wasn’t the instruments - it was the lyrics. All the emotions I had been feeling the past year - the resentment and bitterness - it was portrayed perfectly in the lyrics of the song. For the first time in a long time, I felt seen. I felt understood. Oddly enough, relief spread through me. If there was someone out there who felt the same emotions as I do, maybe all is not lost. At this point in my life I felt like there were enemies all around me; but maybe there are allies among the public as well.

The revolution is finally coming.

#writeblr #writing #writing practice #creative writing #imagine dragons #fantasy #short story

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redhandopen · 2 years

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RAKALA & the Revolutionary

In a time and in a world not so different from this, there lived a Revolutionary: born in the shadow of gold and fed up on scraps dusted from a gilded table. Hardship wore his bones, hateful eyes tore at the very fabric his identity, and myriad injustices lit in his heart the Flame of Inspiration. He came of age and spat embers from his silver-tongue, tending his kindling people whose blood and being were so likewise maligned as his to build an army. These forces gathered at crossroads, in shaded rooms, then en masse under the hot sun to swoon at the Revolutionary's bitter poetry. They sang out in passionate misery. They drank in the Flame and readied their destruction. His Word carried both to sympathetic ears... and to His Oppressor who had made himself deaf for so long, but who was at last in a listening mood.

This would not do, said His Oppressor, who gathered gold-clad guards and gold-clad weapons to meet the fiery uprising. The Oppressor made his proclamations, broke who could be broken by his golden gauntlet and fed the Earth with improper blood. The Revolutionary's ranks were cut to ash, but his message could not be so easily snuffed. Thus, His Oppressor called for his golden guards to bring him a silver-tongue. They hunted the Revolutionary, burned homes, crops, and any whose lips were deemed too tight. They hunted, plundered, pillaged, hunted, hunted, hunted... before they finally found him casting his Light from a shady room with fire still on his tongue.

The golden ranks overtook him, marched him with much fanfare and shame back from whence he came: back to that shadow of gold and to the gilded table from which he was fed scraps. His Oppressor hoisted him high for all to see and, with his golden blade fed with blood and ash, took the silver-tongue and the head that went with it. All across the land, fires mourned and wept until they put themselves out. Until dreams themselves went into ash and shackles tightened. The Revolutionary's head was placed on a golden pike before a golden estate guarded by golden guards.

For days, it baked in the sun. For days it buzzed with flies and rot and oozed poison blood no golden boot would dare tarnish itself with. Mourners mourned in silence at the sight but those whose hearts were filled with hate and delight spit from mouths filled with golden teeth smiling. Smiling, as it were, until on the fifth day of this display, embers began again to emanate from the Revolutionary's mouth. And fire again took light behind his eyes.

While none was witness, it was assumed that at some time on the fifth night, some scavenger must have carried off with what little remained of the severed head. Assumed, that was, until on the seventh day word carried again to the golden capitol of man with a silver-tongue and fire behind his eyes. A man whose skin was red like blood and cast ember light. A Revolutionary who whispered and was answered by hundreds, who spoke plain and was answered by thousands, roared and... Well, this Revolutionary was roaring now and all that could be seen from the Oppressor's golden throne were flames and choking plumes of smithy smoke kindled for melting the most precious of metals.

The Oppressor called to his golden guards, but none came. The Oppressor called to his golden god, but just as he'd deafened his ears for so long did his cries fall on the same. The Oppressor wept as all that was golden was taken away and met with flame: his great golden estate, the gilding from his gilded table, his golden throne, his golden gauntlets and golden teeth plucked right from his gold-clad head. But his head was not golden, nor his body, nor his blood. And so given to he was the same gold that was given to all who were slaves to his golden regime. Gold, he cried, that was not enough. Gold over which all but he wept with joy for their abundance.

#rakala

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yourdeepestfathoms · 3 years

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tooth and nail

ask and you shall receive ;) @denpine14 @strawberrygem21

in which the Dimitrescu daughters exhibit cat-like traits

---------

“Dear Mother Miranda,

The girls have grown well, though there are some complications. Bela seems to have some form of anxiety and very low self-esteem, Cassandra has anger issues, and Daniela, I believe, has some type of hyperactivity disorder. Despite all of this, I love all of them dearly.

However…more strangely…they have…feline-like habits. I expected the hissing and growling, but the other things… Well, I’m not too sure how this has happened, as they were born from insects, but they weirdly act like little kittens in the most absurd ways. These mannerisms include, but are not limited to…”

“…headbutting…”

“Oof--” Alcina blinked in surprise and looked down as Bela headbutted her leg. “Yes, my darling?”

Bela giggled and headbutted her again. Alcina rubbed her head, which triggered a strange sound to fill the air.

“…and purring…”

Purring. Her daughter seemed to be purring.

Alcina’s heart swelled with love. She couldn’t help the smile that came to her lips.

Later that day, Cassandra and Daniela did the headbutting thing, too, both of them bonking her in the legs while giggling adorably. When she scratched along their scalps, they purred, just like their big sister had.

--- --- ---

“…staring when they want something…”

“Yes?” Alcina asked, raising an eyebrow at the trio of girls staring at her. If it weren’t for their different hair colors, it would have been difficult to discern them from each other with their matching black gowns and hoods. She made the mental note to give something to them to help make them out better.

Her daughters continued to stare.

“Is everything alright?”

Still nothing.

“Darlings?”

Cassandra reached out, swatted at her dress, and then they all took off running in different directions, their sock-clad feet making them run in place for a few seconds before they gained traction and streaked away in blurs of black.

--- --- ---

“…and also staring at nothing at all, as though they are seeing ghosts…”

Alcina blinked. Her daughters were staring intently at the wall, their eyes wide and shiny, like they had just witnessed the secrets of the universe. She tried to see what they were looking at but could spot nothing at all.

“What in the…?”

--- --- ---

“…pushing random things off of surfaces for seemingly no reason other than the fact that they like to…”

A loud clatter echoed down the hallway, and Alcina was quick to hurry to the source of the noise: the parlor, where Daniela was perched on one of the tables inside, staring down at a fallen candelabra. Luckily, none of the wax sticks were lit, as they would have sent the red-and-gold carpet over the floor up in flames. Daniela looked up at her, her eyes awestruck and shiny.

“Did you knock that over?” Alcina asked.

Daniela stared back. Then, slowly, reached out her hand and swatted over a cup.

--- --- ---

“…causing utter destruction…”

“Hey! Hey! Hey!” Alcina snapped, shooing Cassandra away from the blinds. Her daughter leaped back, her claws ripping out of the fabric she had been sharpening her talons on. “No. Do not scratch things up, Cassandra.”

Cassandra inspected her claws. “Then what am I supposed to sharpen them on? Look at how blunt they are!” They showed them to Alcina.

They were sharp enough to gut a human in one swipe.

In amusement, Alcina said, “How about tree bark? It’s rough enough to hone them.”

Cassandra considered it, then nodded. “Alright!” She bounded away to go destroy one of the trees in the garden.

That same day, Alcina found Daniela chewing on a branch in her bedroom, creating a small pile of woodchips beneath her jaw. She seemed to be doing the same thing as her older sister: sharpening her natural weapons. Alcina left her be.

--- --- ---

“…sudden hyperactivity…”

The loud sound of footsteps suddenly burst throughout the hallways, rebounding like thunder. They would stop at random, then begin again, seemingly in a sporadic pattern. When Alcina finally stepped out of her bedroom to investigate, she barely caught a blur of black as one of her daughters, she couldn’t tell who, whizzed past her like lightning. She spun around, blinking.

“What--”

At the same moment, one of the others came from a different direction and skidded to a stop in front of her. She whirled to them and saw that it was Bela.

“What are you three doing?” Alcina asked.

“Playing,” Bela answered blithely. She stepped forward, headbutted Alcina lovingly, then zoomed off again, slipping on her socks as she went.

--- --- ---

“…getting startled at the most mundane things…”

The parlor had been peaceful at one moment; Alcina was drinking her tea, while Cassandra and Daniela played chess and Bela multitasked reading and watching the game. It was then that Bela’s thread bookmark fell out and she swiped at it to pick it up. However, when the string seemed to catch on her claws, she got frightened, leaping at least five feet up into the air. Seeing their older sister so unsettled, Cassandra and Daniela did the same, nearly jumping out of their skin and scattering the game of chess as they scampered away in terror. Alcina laughed loudly as her daughters huddled against her sides, shaking.

--- --- ---

“…bringing me dead animals as gifts…”

Alcina was cleaning up for bed when there was a knock that filled her bedroom. She walked to the door and opened it, only to see no one. When she turned around, she saw Daniela clinging to her window sill, a mass of fur caught between her teeth.

“Daniela!”

Alcina quickly opened the window, and Daniela hopped inside. She presented the thing in her mouth to her with great pride: a rat.

“For you, Mother.”

“Ah-- thank you, my dove.”

Daniela purred as her head was rubbed affectionately.

The next day, Cassandra padded up to her, her chest puffed in pride, a large snake pierced by her fangs.

“A gift, Mother.”

“Thank you, my sweet.”

And then, that evening, Bela came to her door with a bird in her mouth.

“Here, Mother.”

“Thank you, my darling.”

And then the bird jerked away when Bela set it down and flew off down the hall in terror. They both watched it go.

“It was too pretty to kill.”

Alcina chuckled. “I see.”

--- --- ---

“…laying on my things when I need them…”

Alcina stared tiredly at the stack of girls laying on the folded clothes on her bed. All that space on her giant mattress that was made specifically for her size and they chose that exact spot. On her clothes.

Well. They were much too cute to wake up.

--- --- ---

“…laying on me and keeping me from getting up…”

“Maiden,” Alcina whispered.

The maid passing by stopped and turned to her instantly.

“Get me a glass of blood. I can’t get up and I am thirsty.”

The maid eyed the form of her youngest daughter stretched out on her lap, asleep, and then nodded, whisking away.

She hadn’t moved for three hours.

--- --- ---

“…they have no concept of personal space…”

Alcina was awake that night, her girls piled on top of her to the point where they were practically smothering her, Daniela and Cassandra under arms and Bela on her chest. Every time she twitched, they would move closer, snuggling in deeper to her heat. She wouldn’t be sleeping very comfortably, but at least her daughters were warm.

--- --- ---

“…sitting in strange places…”

“Are you comfortable?” Alcina asked, laughing.

Bela looked up from where she was reading and wedged inside a basket that was meant for quilts. Despite her small, wiry frame, it technically wasn’t her size, but she managed to curl herself inside, piled by the blankets and indulging herself in a good book.

“Yes,” Bela said, smiling.

Alcina would also go on to find Cassandra napping haphazardly on the banister of the upper hallway balcony, which she picked her up from and placed her back into her bed in fear of her falling off, and Daniela hiding in one of the cupboards in the kitchen.

However, none of these things beat when she found all three of her daughters crammed in a box, murmuring and giggling to each other over something.

--- --- ---

“…did I mention the purring? Because the purring is absolutely endearing. I do believe it has healing properties…”

Alcina wasn’t quite sure what she had come down with that day, but she woke up feeling exhausted and achy all over. She didn’t even think to get up and alert her girls to her condition, choosing to rather wallow in her bed, so it wasn’t a surprise when her room was soon filled by three worried bug-spawn creatures.

“Mother?” Daniela’s small hands were set on her shoulders.

Alcina stirred.

“Mother?” That was Bela, now.

She rolled over and blinked tired eyes at the worried-looking faces of her daughters.

“Hello, my darlings,” she croaked.

“Mother,” Bela said again, her voice thick with concern. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, yes,” Alcina nodded, though her mind was wavering, shrouded in a heavy fog. “I am fine. Just a little unwell.”

“Can we help you?” Cassandra asked, her hands twitching.

“Don’t worry,” Alcina answered. “I’ll be fine.”

Her daughters exchanged looks. A moment later, they were climbing onto the bed, curling up around her.

“We’re helping,” Daniela said.

Alcina had no idea how cuddling was supposed to help her, but then she heard the soft churring that filled the air. The purring in itself did little to actually heal her sickness, but something about the soft sound and the presence of her precious daughters soothed her. Bela, with her head on her chest, filled her heart with a gentle rumbling. Daniela, curled up right next to her, chirred gingerly in her ear. Cassandra, stretched out over her stomach, resonated a soothing burr throughout her body.

She chuckled tiredly. “Thank you, my loves…”

--- --- ---

“…and, at least when they were newly reborn, absolutely hating when I go into a room without them…”

She was just taking a shower. That was all. And yet, she could hear her young, one-week-old daughters on the other side of the door, yowling and screaming and scratching their claws into the wood.

“I’m just bathing!” she snapped.

They wailed louder.

--- --- ---

“…to wrap the letter up, it is certainly a strange phenomenon to the experiment, but I am not complaining at all. They are much more entertaining and endearing this way. I wouldn’t have them any other way. I would like to thank you again, Mother Miranda, for letting me have such sweet daughters.

That will be all for now. I will follow up in another letter if anything new comes up.

-Alcina Dimitrescu”

#resident evil village #resident evil 8 #alcina dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu #bela dimitrescu #cassandra dimitrescu #daniela dimitrescu #dimitrescu daughters #dimitrescu family #resident evil fanfic #re8 village #tooth and nail

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bad-rper · 2 years

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The Scaffold

"We hereby call to judgment of Azeroth's most reprehensible creatures!"

Thick shells of plate clinked into place with each pace of the warden's sabatons. The makeshift stage was hobbled by what little debris there was to scrounge. Before it, a gathering of several dozens of kaldorei and other allies of Kalimdor huddled in their dignified scraps of armor and cloths. Not often did wardens hold their executions as spectacles, especially in those trying times, but was not only justice. This was revenge for a people.

"Not any demonic invader! Not any dwelling threat from the bottom of the sea! Two of our own brothers--demons disguised in nature's names!"

"ALASH! ANIR!"

The two sat painfully on their knees behind her. Their ankles and wrists bound, stripped of armor and aught, and enforced by imposing Sentinels. Even his eyepatch had been taken, forcing him to look at the destitute remains of their people unblinkered. To watch their jeers, scowls, and cries. The sunken socket might have been a portal to the past, but it could not send warning.

"They terrorized in our forests! Setting fire to house and home, kith and kin! Razing our temples and priestesses! Then used what remained to build their weapon of calamitous destruction! And even after using it to lay waste to half of our living woods, the fallout brings back swathes of Legion forces to our world! Uninhabitable and -infested-!"

To his right, Anir watched the warden's every movement, searching for the hint of something beneath her billowing cape. At first, Alash had thought he was still looking for a means out, or some last way to thrash at the woman. The other bound man's body was tense, rendered still by the constriction of all fibers within him. Instead, that focus was only to glimpse one precious object: the simple dagger worn as a trophy.

"The blame is not theirs alone! But theirs is the fire that lit their cohorts' torches! We've snuffed those flames... Now only the pyre to extinguish!"

"Si..." Anir's head finally gave, curling forward, inward, and under his chest. For so long, longer than his capture, he'd weathered their abuse and punishment with a vacant, unbreakable stare. How fitting that the stage would cause him to crack.

"Don't let them take your dignity." Alash's gravelly voice was full enough to drown the rest of the name but low to not garner the others' attention. It was a half-truth, not just a save for either's dignity. 'You cry a lot when you're alone, don't you?' The insouciant soldier's last words to Anir; he couldn't let those change now.

"... Only Elune has a chance to guide their souls now...!"

The lodging of mucus and saliva in the bent man's throat trembled into a sickly sounding chuckle. "Even in death... We cannot escape Her," he mused weakly. His tired vision rose again to the mob, cursing their name, "... They'll never know it. A pity." Those ever-observing eyes could hold the world no longer, closing and tilting his face back to the gnarled wood.

"I'm sorry," quaked Naddred again. For a moment, the orating warden and the raucous crowd were muted. The backstage was several miles away. "I should have done better." The words hung there, living in the last moments of imaginary peace they could take back.

The eyes opened again, barely, hanging onto the woodgrain. Imagining it was coursing currents through a sea. "Dred..." They wound into turbulent eddies and thrashing whirlpools. "... Did you ever love me?" eked out a pathetic question from a pathetic voice with pathetic eyes and a pathetic state.

In near offense, the man's head looked up to see with his lone eye, looking at the cascading mass of hair that covered his face. Was this the time for such intimate doubt and self-pity? But 'of course' was caught in his throat. When was the last time he said it? Implied it? This was the time. This needed to be the time. "... I've always loved you."

Before them, a Sentinel officer handed off the glaive to the warden.

"And I'll show that to you," a trail of seawater coursed from the wet, bruised crater, "Even if it means dragging us from hell to do it."

Sisters cheered. Mothers held squeaking breaths. Men roared. The warden turned. Blade held and reflecting the Moon's light. Her Judgment.

Moon-welled eyes looked back on him with a smile as rare as it was pained. "Then you've done the best you could."

Twin thuds rolled onto wood. Cries exploded. Birds flew. -- (This was a prompt response for ‘what if your character was still dating their ex’ that got out of hand. Whoops.)

#no actual scaffold gifs but close enough #Naddred Snakeeater #Anir

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miss-tc-nova · 3 years

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Events Unchanged - Xehanort x Eraqus

So THIS is my final piece for the @checkmate-zine. I had a blast writing it and it’s probably one of my favorite pieces I’ve ever written. Please check out the other creators on this project because they are all absolutely amazing.

Music Inspiration: End In Tragedy and MIssing You by Set It Off

Art by my queen @kingdomcarrots

~~~~~

The castle looms over the young man. This being his first stop, he’s not entirely sure he’s in the right place, or rather, the right time. The description of the place matches up, but he could be anywhere from minutes to decades off with no idea how to tell. Additionally, if he’s jumped even a minute too far, that complicates the whole plan.

With really no other choice, he climbs the steps to the front door, letting himself in. He’d heard a little of this place, seen a few paragraphs in books, but the Land of Departure is such a small world compared to Scala Ad Caelum. However, this is very obviously an off-shoot of the Scala training school; the only real difference lies in the missing inhabitants. Such spacious halls lack the chatter of students and staff despite the well-kept appearance.

“Identify yourself.”

He stops. That gruff voice rumbles with the faintest hint of familiarity. Curiosity piqued, the young man turns back.

It has to be him; it couldn’t be anyone else. Aside from that traditional style and the Master’s Defender prepared to strike, Xehanort could never mistake those eyes and no amount of hostility could mislead him. There’s no doubt now that Xehanort is far into the future, not while he stares at the aged face of the man Eraqus is to become.

He looks worn, as if the years have been long and hard and those scars prove nearly as much. That welcoming cheer from their very first meeting has been replaced by sheer apprehension, likely caused by his arduous life. It seems he’s become the soldier his parents always pushed him to be; and yet, surely, he can’t have forgotten his beloved.

Cautious hands lift to push the hood back and reveal the face hiding beneath.

Shock takes over the old warrior’s expression. “Xehanort?!”

“Eraqus.” It’s all Xehanort can come up with in his uncertainty.

“How is this possible?!” Resumed suspicion reaffirms that fighting stance.

First and foremost, Xehanort has a mission, one that could potentially fix everything that went wrong in their lives. They could have everything they lost, including the happiness stripped from them far too soon. Additionally, this is Eraqus, the one who saved Xehanort from self-destruction and gave him the motivation to do all these incredible things. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do to ensure Eraqus’s happiness. However, the stubborn blueblood often disapproved of Xehanort’s methods as of late and perhaps that’s only gotten worse as the years passed—perhaps plans should be kept quite even from one’s most precious. Having been caught here in the future, Young Xehanort must pick carefully which truths to divulge.

A soft exhale calms the nerves. “I’m from the past,” the traveler confesses. “Brought here by the version of me from this time.”

“How? What for?” Eraqus demands. “What proof do you have for any of this?”

“I can’t say how or why but…”

A well-seasoned Master Eraqus is probably not a fight Xehanort wants to pick, but he’ll need something personal to convince this man of the truth. He knows just the memory, but it’s not pleasant.

Xehanort’s gaze drops to the floor. “You once caught me on the roof of the citadel. You told me…that if I couldn’t find a reason not to step off, then you would make one.”

Eraqus’s mouth presses into a thin line; they never told anyone of that incident.

“So what are you doing here?”

Shaking off morbid memories, Xehanort replies, “Like I said, I can’t tell you that, but I need to find myself from this time. Is he here?”

Eraqus wears a heavy pity that agitates Xehanort—he may still be young with much to learn, but he’s never taken kindly to pity.

“You don’t know anything. You just left, didn’t you…”

“I left Scala several hours ago,” the youth says. That empathy grows. “Why?”

“You…Your older self doesn’t come by often.”

This is unexpected. Even as he left, Xehanort fully intended to visit his significant other once he got things set in motion. Besides, Xehanort is greedy—he knows it. He’s got only the sparsest restraint when it comes to indulging in his partner’s presence, so this statement by the man at the heart of that avarice makes no sense.

“Why not?” Xehanort is not going to remain calm if that look of condolence continues. “When does he come by?”

There’s a solemn shake of the old man’s head. “He doesn’t.”

“What do you mean he doesn’t?!” Xehanort barks, leather creaking with tightened fists. “He has to come visit you! He wouldn’t leave forever—not when you’re the person most important to him!”

The outburst does nothing against Eraqus’s empathy. “I’m sorry. Once you left, we started to view things differently. There were things we simply couldn’t agree on.”

“Then why didn’t you stop me?!”

“Nothing I said would’ve convinced you to stay.”

“No!” he shouts. “There’s no excuse! You should have stopped me! If me leaving made you so miserable, you shouldn’t have let me go! You should have cried or begged or even beat me over the head—whatever it took to make me stay!”

Tears form in the man’s eyes and that unwanted compassion pushes Xehanort past his threshold. With renewed determination, he stalks past the elder to resume the search for his future self.

A strong fist catches around the young man’s wrist. “Where are you going?”

His answer is short, sharp. “To do what I came here to do.”

For the third time, Eraqus presses, “And what would that be?”

Xehanort glowers. With a vague restraint in his voice, he spits, “I’m a time traveler; what do you think I’m doing here?”

“You can’t do that! There must be consequences to meddling with the timeline!” protests the elder.

“YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW THAT?!” the young man roars. “YOU THINK THIS IS JUST SOME STROLL IN THE PARK FOR ME?! OF COURSE I’M TRYING TO CHANGE WHAT HAPPENED AND I DON’T GIVE A FUCK WHAT IT COSTS! IT COULD COST MY LIFE AND I WOULDN’T GIVE A DAMN! THEY DESERVED BETTER! YOU—” Fury falters as the words catch in his throat and the edges of his vision blurs. “You deserve better.”

Guilt resonates on that marred face; this is why Xehanort never told him. Eraqus had said a million times over that what happened wasn’t Xehanort’s fault, but a deep sadness settled in Eraqus’s heart that was clear to the Seeker. For Xehanort, the loss of his friends was already unbearable enough, but to have the love of his life stuffing down his turmoil behind a flighty façade tipped the scales. So now he’s here.

With a look of defeat, Eraqus pleads, “Don’t do this. Please.”

“I’m doing this for you.” Again, the older master begins to argue, but the younger has had enough and pulls away. “You couldn’t stop me then, and based on what I’ve seen today, you can’t stop me now. Take care of yourself.”

With that, Xehanort leaves.

It’s been a few hours since the confrontation, but Xehanort still hasn’t found a single clue to the whereabouts of his present self. He’s hopped a few worlds and even double checked those he’d been drawn to in the past, but nothing comes up. Worst of all, something is pulling him back to the Land of Departure. He can’t shake the feeling that, no matter what Eraqus says, Xehanort would return to him eventually. They must still love each other or else he wouldn’t be here.

His arrival is noiseless and unnoticed, but with each step closer to the castle, he hears the escalating sounds of a battle. Peering around a pillar across from the castle steps, Xehanort sees Eraqus squaring off with a young, brunette man.

As he watches, Xehanort notices enough between the two to speculate that there’s a clearly straining relationship. Considering the use of darkness by the younger man and Eraqus’s violent abhorrence of it, Xehanort assumes that’s the cause of the clash. The winner would be an easy call if it were a simple fight, but that boost of darkness significantly closes the gap; so it comes as a surprise when the younger warrior rushes past Eraqus, causing him to stumble. It takes every bit of self-control Xehanort has not to act on protective urges as the Master’s Defender falls from its wielder’s hand.

Terra, as named by Eraqus, is upset with his success. He cries over it, but his master is the one to apologize, admitting that his own heart is full of darkness. That declaration plays in the gray area of Xehanort’s mind. He already knows Eraqus is a good man with his heart bound to the light. What he doesn’t understand is that light, too, can make mistakes—mistakes which may beget darkness. Xehanort has tried explaining this before, but the noble would have none of it.

A dark figure at the top of the stairs catches Young Xehanort’s eye too late. A blaring ring fills his ears seeing that man aim a familiar weapon. There’s no time to react; he’s too far away to do anything. Before Xehanort’s very eyes, the man he loves, and should have always loved, fades.

With the reality of what happened beginning to sink in, his eyes focus on the man strolling down the steps. Anger ignites in his heart until he hears Terra question the stranger.

“Master Xehanort! Why?”

Master Xehanort—that man, the very person who killed his beloved Eraqus, is Xehanort himself.

A dark storm swallows the sky, mirroring the wrath churning in the young man’s chest. With nothing but that rage guiding him, he rushes after the assassin into the dark portal. This new land is empty and barren save the mass of foreboding keyblades strewn about, but Xehanort has other concerns right now. Waiting just outside his attack range is the murderer.

That man’s voice is filled with the gravel of age, but no remorse can be detected. “I wondered when you would arrive.”

“You killed Eraqus.” Fists tremble at the young man’s sides, that quivering creeping into his chest.

“I did.” Only a man scorned like Young Xehanort could withstand those chilling yellow eyes.

Furious, he yells back, “That’s it?! That’s all you have to say?! How could you?! He was the only reason I didn’t throw myself off the citadel! HE’S THE REASON YOU STILL EXIST!”

“Ah, the foolishness of my youth.” His casual dismissal drives the young Seeker’s heart rate up. “It’s true he’s the reason I exist today, but Eraqus’s departure was necessary. You know firsthand how loyal his heart is to the light.”

The response tears from his throat. “AND THAT’S JUSTIFICATION TO MURDER HIM?!”

“He just didn’t understand that this is all for him, to create the life that he should’ve had. You knew there were consequences to meddling with time.”

With no comeback, the young adult sneers, but the old master has one last remark that cuts to the quick.

“As you said: they deserved better—he deserves better.”

The words spoken just hours ago, shoved back in his face, incite the anguish burning in his heart. Rationality devolves and Young Xehanort charges his future self.

All his life, Xehanort let his mind dictate his path. Moves were not made without thought to the consequences, but this—this is something beyond even the purpose of this mission and everything in him is screaming for revenge. Grief and anger cloud his judgement and spur attacks too straightforward to connect, however, that sloppiness doesn’t discourage him.

Old Xehanort swipes, successfully disarming his younger self, and with the same ruthlessness shown to his former love, he eliminates the man from the past.

Golden eyes meet gold; even as he’s being dragged back into his own time, the young man emanates his fury.

Unbothered by the turn of events, the victor simply states, “One day, you will understand.”

~~~~~

The elder watches his past self disappear among the shadows. It’s unfortunate how naïve he was, but this was to be expected—he and Eraqus had been so in love. Xehanort still possesses those feelings, which is why the decision had been so difficult. There’s a hole in his heart but he understands that sometimes things must be broken for them to become better and that’s the sort of thing the Seeker is betting on.

In lieu of these unfortunate circumstances, he’s going to have to prepare a backup—to persuade his young self into venturing into the future a second time.

As the thought occurs, darkness flares from the ground, creating a portal from which steps the young man that just tried to smite him. He’s more prepared than he gave himself credit for. He beckons the young man to follow to discuss the details of their plan. Even as they speak, the senior can see a spark in the new master’s eyes. There’s a curiosity that he will no doubt seek answers for.

“How is Eraqus?”

He should’ve known.

Enacting his hard-earned skill of smothering his emotions, the old man answers, “Eraqus is dead.”

The youth freezes, clearly distraught. “How?”

A deep breath conveys true sorrow while concealing the lie. “The same as the others.”

Hard determination grows on the young man’s face. Knowing that look and knowing himself, old Master Xehanort has ensured his ignorant self’s unquestionable devotion to the mission.

~~~~~

Despair shakes his heart, waking the young man. Opening heavy eyelids, Young Xehanort finds a room illuminated with soft moonlight. Although this is not his room, it’s still familiar. Normally this place would bring him some solace but the discomfort he feels is intense.

Whatever this is, it’s akin to a nightmare, slipping from his grasp as he tries to remember; it’s confusing and upsetting and damn near painful. Xehanort has had days where getting up for training was hard, he’s been injured so badly he’s been unable to stand, and he’s suffered unending fatigue at the hands of depression; but none of that compares to the sheer heartache of this moment and he doesn’t even understand why.

Gentle humming draws his gaze lower and he immediately chokes down a whimper. Pressed flush against him is the love of his life, peacefully snoring away. Even with his messy hair and a little drool, he’s absolutely beautiful. No sight could be more stunning and yet, it’s also the most painful. Whatever vice is clenching down on Xehanort’s heart has to do with Eraqus.

Of course, Xehanort’s always had those fears that maybe he can’t make Eraqus happy or that maybe he’s not good enough—as quoted by the noble’s parents—but even those feel so trivial compared to this dread. It breaks him more than anything ever has.

His quivering is impossible to stifle and sniffles begin sneaking past his defense. To make matters worse, his sleeping partner stirs.

“Xehanort?” Such a sweet sound worsens the turmoil. “Xe, what’s wrong?”

There it is: the first hiccup that destroys the weary dam holding everything in and he breaks down right there.

Eraqus doesn’t press for an answer but instead holds his sweetheart tightly. With the unknown sorrow flooding his system, Xehanort sobs into his boyfriend’s chest, desperately hoping to get this misery under control before he has to say goodbye to Eraqus in the morning.

#xehanort #eraqus #young xehanort #xehaqus #checkmate-zine #kh zine

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yel-halansu · 4 years

Text

Pre-Reform Vulcan isn't what you think it is

So I've seen a lot of confusion in the fandom regarding Vulcan history, which is a shame because it's really detailed and interesting! I've compiled this summary of the main eras and events in Vulcan history which I hope you will find informative and useful (just as a note, all dates will be given in standard Earth years and centuries for clarity). Let's begin!

THE TIME OF THE BEGINNING

Life was seeded in Vulcan by a preserver race around 6 million years ago, which explains the similarities with other kinds of humanoid life in the galaxy. Evolution took its natural course, and by 600,000 BCE, a humanoid species had developed from a feline ancestor.

Proto-Vulcan humanoids were a peaceful people with an aptitude for logic. They lived mostly in the plains and kept away from mountain areas due to the danger posed by volcanic eruptions. They learnt to use fire early, and the abundance of metals made for a short Stone Age as they quickly developed rudimentary metallurgy and agricultural techniques. They soon started to domesticate animals and developed other basic technologies such as weaving. During this time period, strong solar flares and increased volcanic activity desertified the planet. The lack of resources such as water and fertile land that ensued would mark Vulcan history for thousands of years to come.

THE AGE OF ANTIQUITY

By 2,700 BCE, society was organized around tribal lines in clans that banded together for protection. Most tribes were nomadic, crossing the desert in search of water and following the migrating herds of the animals they hunted. It is theorized that groups were female-dominated, with the clan matriarchs overseeing most aspects of life.

Around that time, however, settlements had also started to develop across the territory, mostly near the shorelines of the small seas of Vulcan and by protective rock formations near oases, in order to utilise these precious resources and guard them from outsiders. These settlements eventually developed into fortified city-states. Conflicts over water and arable land became common as the cities fought to monopolise them, and technological development quickly stagnated as they fought for survival, ushering in a dark age. Political intrigue and violence were rife, with the warlords of the city-states securing alliances through arranged marriages and concocting elaborate plots of betrayal.

It is also thought that it was around this period of time that Vulcans as a species started to develop psychionic abilities, with members of the population who displayed these abilities being highly sought after and respected. As early as 2,500 BCE, some isolated Vulcans appear to have began to mentally train themselves to suppress their emotions, noticing that doing so resulted in a heightened control of their telepathic abilities.

The Age of Antiquity lasted thousands of years, but due to the uncontrolled destruction of the environment during the wars that were about to ensue, little archaeological evidence remains of it. Most accounts about this period are now shrouded in legend.

THE AGE OF EXPANSION

Eventually, an arms race began as the Vulcan city-states, locked in constant skirmishes, rushed to overpower their neighbours and defend their scarce resources. Technological advancement, which had up to that point been slow, quickly sped up and focused on weaponry, until Vulcans came to create weapons of mass destruction such as atomic and neutron bombs. The wars that ensued ravaged the surface of the planet, permanently distorting a region of its magnetic field, and leading to frequent energy discharges in the red sands.

By the 9th century BCE, Vulcans were capable of space travel, though they did not yet possess warp capability. Legend states that the first spacecraft was built by the warlord D'Vir in 855 BCE. At the time not many species were warp-capable, and so the Vulcans did not come into contact with other civilizations. They quickly landed on Vulcan's sister planet, T'Khut, and started mining it for resources.

Wars were now worsened due to the shifting balances of power caused by the destabilizing factors of the discovery of new off-world territories to colonise and the new incoming resources taken from T'Khut, the nearby asteroid belts, and other neighbouring planets. The wars in Vulcan continued for centuries.

SUDOC'S HEGEMONY

The landscape suffered greatly, and the Vulcans came close to extinction just around the 3rd century CE. It was around this time that a warlord called Sudoc took power in the city of Jaleyl by assassinating the previous ruler. His psichionic abilities were renowned and he used this power to control his followers through mind-melds and telepathic torture. He cultivated a close circle of ardent brainwashed followers. He quickly became very popular in Jaleyl by appealing to the majority of the populace with propaganda techniques, and began to expand his kingdom quickly and violently. Initially, other neighbouring city-states resisted, but Sudoc fought them mercilessly and invaded them. He is said to have slaughtered entire cities except for a single survivor, who would then be sent to the next town with the following message: “Your rulers are responsible. They would rather see you dead than out of their control.” This would cause neighbouring city-states to either surrender or be torn apart by internal conflict, as the leaders would be overthrown by their fearful citizens. For over a century, Sudoc's armies advanced across the planet.

THE TIME OF AWAKENING

Surak was born to a general in Shi'Kahr just as the city was entering in conflict with Sudoc's expanding kingdom. As a well-off youth, he was spared the horrors of the war and was not drafted into the army as most common citizens were. Instead, he spent his youth reading, studying and discussing philosophy with his friends at the sumptuous feasts of the upper class. The turning point in his life came when his entire family was assassinated by Sudoc's agents. Surak was spared as he was at a party that evening. Many other influential families were killed in this coordinated attack, including that of Surak's closest friend, Senet. Senet was consumed by rage, and immediately joined the front lines of the army, wishing to get his revenge on Sudoc. He was promptly killed.

This event changed Surak permanently, and he began to write. He theorised that all the problems of the Vulcan people stemmed from their excess of emotion. He started to develop his discipline of logic, which he believed was the only thing that could temper emotion and allow Vulcan society to develop past the horrible struggles of war. Many of his former friends deserted him during this time, but others stayed as he developed a close circle of faithful followers. Surak surrounded himself with masters of all disciplines, such as law, calligraphy and mathematics, who would in time go on to apply his principles of logic into these disciplines.

Surak faced great opposition at the beginning, as he was perceived by the population of Shi'Kahr as a spoiled kid who knew little of the horrors of the war. Sensing their apprehension, Surak and his followers started crossing the enemy lines and teaching their philosophy of peace among the armies of Sudoc. Many warriors began to desert the army, and propagated his teachings in turn as they travelled through the desert, fleeing the conflict.

From that point on, Surak's teachings gained popularity and sparked unrest in many of the territories of Sudoc's kingdom, which soon rebelled against the warlord. By this time, Sudoc had grown old, and in 331 CE, he died in a telepathic accident during melding session with his inner circle. His empire collapsed quickly after that and the war came to an abrupt end. The Vulcan people were still fractured into various groups while Surak spread his message, but in the vacuum left by Sudoc, many more Vulcans found comfort and hope in Surak's teachings.

THE SUNDERING

Even though Surak's teachings were extremely popular, not all Vulcans felt inclined to follow them. A group of Sudoc's most ardent supporters, led by a warrior named Tellus, found themselves increasingly disturbed by the new philosophy that was sweeping the planet. They would come to be called the "those who marched beneath the Raptor's wings". After attempting to start a new war against the followers of Surak, they saw themselves forced to leave the planet.

In 369 CE, hundreds of thousands of Tellus' followers took to space in the rudimentary crafts available at the time, looking for a new planet to call their homeworld. They would eventually arrive to a distant planet named Romulus and their culture would develop to become the Romulans we know today. It is a mystery how they managed to survive in space and travel that far a distance in non-warp ships, and it has been suggested that they may have accidentally entered a wormhole or been aided by some poweful interstellar entity.

With the exodus of the proto-Romulans, Vulcan was left mostly unified in thought and belief. However, Surak always considered the societal rift responsible for the Sundering to be one of his greatest failures. Surak died of radiation poisoning on Mount Seleya in 481. Selok, one of his disciples, took to the task of building a new system of government that would align with the new philosophy of pacifism and planetary unification, emotional supression and logic.

THE GOLDEN AGE

With a renewed spirit of unity and cooperation, Vulcans ushered in a new age of technological development. Within the space of a few years, Vulcans mapped the geothermic activity of their planet to contain its destructive force and harness its power, and used this new energy source to construct desalinisation plants and supply water to the cities and the cropfields. For the first time in Vulcan history, resources were plentiful and the constant threat of famine was erradicated. Science progressed quickly, with the Vulcan Science Academy being founded in 399 CE. Psichionic techniques also developped faster under the discipline of logic, and by the 6th century they had become cemented in the population as the new techiniques of meditation and self-control developed in their mainstream culture.

THE ROMULAN WAR

The Golden Age came to an abrupt end in 1270, when mysterious spacecrafts entered Vulcan aerospace and attacked their planet. These were, in fact, the Romulans, who has returned to their homeworld with the intention of conquering it. Both civilizations lacked warp drive capability at the time, and it is theorised that the Romulans were using an unstable wormhole to travel between the two worlds when permitted. Because of this, the timing of the incursions was unpredictable, and sometimes long periods of time would pass between attacks. The war lasted around 100 years in total. Romulan strategy dictated that their vessels must self-destruct rather than being captured, and because of this, the Vulcans never understood who was attacking them or why. However, they defended themselves with tenacity and avoided being conquered, until the wormhole closed permanently, putting a stop to the war.

SPACE EXPLORATION

The Romulan war drove technological advancements in many fields, including aeronautics, and after many years of avoiding space travel, the Vulcans took to the stars once again. Initially motivated by the potential discovery of their enemies in the recent war, they developed warp-drive capable starships. However, as they were still weary of other civilizations due the recent conflict, they avoided first contact with other races, preferring studying them from afar until they had gathered sufficient data to judge whether they posed a threat. First contact with Earth took place on 2063, and by that point they had already had encounters with the Tellarites and the Andorians, among others.

THE REFORMATION

Relations between Vulcan and Andoria were always tense, and by the 22nd century they had reached a boiling point when the Andorians sacked the Vulcan monastery of P'Jem, believing it to be an undercover spying operation. In the political fallout that ensued, the Vulcan High Council came under the control of Administrator V'Las, an undercover Romulan agent who was working to instigate the Vulcan invasion of Andoria.

In 2137, a Vulcan named Syrran created the Syrrannite movement, with the goal of returning Vulcan to the true path of pacifism and logic laid out by Surak. The increased militarism of the Vulcan High Council did not go unnoticed, and the Syrranites stood in stark oposition. The Council, weary of their influence, commenced a long campaign of persecution and slander against them.

In 2154, V'Las attempted to bomb the Terran Embassy in Shi'Kahr and blame the Syrranite movement, now led by T'Pau. However, his plans were foiled when T'Pau uncovered the Kir'Shara, an ancient artifact containing some writings of Surak that had been lost for centuries.

As a result of this discovery, the government of Vulcan was reformed and restored to a less militaristic democratic government in 2155. T'Pau stood for election and was elected as First Minister, and during her term she became one of the most influential Vulcan politicians of all time.

THE FEDERATION

The Federation was founded in 2161, with First Minister T'Pau as one of the signatories. Vulcan was proposed as capital, but the more conservative elements of government rejected the idea as it seemed culturally dangerous. Instead, Earth became the capital, though Vulcan remained a core member in spite of the warnings from conservative Vulcans that too much involvement in the affairs of other worlds was illogical and could be contrary to the philosophies of autonomy and peace that guide Surakian thought. In 2241, T'Pau refused a seat at the Federation Council, the only person to ever do so, and Suvok volunteered in her stead. This reticence to become overly involved in offworld affairs extended to Starfleet, as many saw the paramilitary organisation as having the potential to become violent. While enlisting in Starfleet was not forbidden, and many Vulcans did indeed choose this career path, it was mostly frowned upon in Vulcan society.

Though the majority of Vulcans support the Federation, the growing influence of Terra and other alien worlds in the affairs of Vulcan crystallised the radicalisation of more xenophobic elements of society, such as the Logic Extremists. During the 23rd century, this terrorist group bombed the Vulcan Learning Center to kill young Spock and Michael, the children of the mixed family of Ambassador Sarek. In the following years, they went on to sabotage several diplomatic missions until they were disbanded. In 2370, the Vulcan Isolationist Movement, the spiritual successor to the Logic Extremists, was discovered and also disbanded.

And these are the main periods in Vulcan history so far! In spite of their rapid advances in technology, Vulcan remains respectful of its traditions, ever logical and reserved, ever holding the violence that plagued it for centuries as a reminder of the past they wish to distance themselves from and the bright future that lays ahead.

Sources: VLI: Planet Vulcan History, The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans, Memory Alpha, Memory Beta.

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reddus-sideblog · 3 years

Text

A Rembrancer’s account of the House Mariqette’s affairs during the War of the Beast.

002.M32 - The Promenade Worlds - Still recovering from the terrible destruction wrought by the Traitor’s hand the Untellatian Parliament signs oath-contracts with several Rogue Trader houses at the dawn of Millennium 32 to go forth into the void beyond the sector’s borders and find resources to rebuild the shattered worlds of the Sector Untellatian with. The borders formed by the Dominion of Storms, the Acheronian Drifts, and the Xersinian Wastes send the entrepreneur-explorers into largely uncharted territory, with some daring to make forays into forbidden systems. At least two noble lines are lost to unknown circumstances in the depths of the Heart of Darkness, with the entire Trathine family’s fleet being lost to the Xersinian Wastes.

Those who scouted the regions that lie Rimwards find tens of untouched systems, brimming with unrefined resources. Mass-harvesting soon begins, with the Thune family claiming a majority of worlds before selling them to lesser houses for a king’s ransom, with interest rates that will take generations to pay off. As the newly named “Promenade Worlds” expand into full-fledged colonial worlds their remoteness draws in many noble families, who discreetly buy whole islands or continents on these planets, and create grand mansions and palaces upon them. This interest and development by the many noble families of the sector lead to a perceived air of exclusivity and refinement that the possessors of these worlds did little to dispel, leading to their lofty and grandiose title of “The Promenade Worlds”. With these periphery systems being still beyond the borders of the Sector Untellatian they were largely under the provisional purview of their owning nobility until such a time as a sub-sectorial constitution could be drafted and signed by these provisional rulers after their worlds were reviewed by Administratum logi-savants and Biologis adepts for tithe-grading.

This tithe-grading process could last for decades, as hordes of bureaucratic adepts agonize over profit margins, labour-force numbers, and tonnage of harvested materials, double and triple checking their calculations before sending them to the nearest Adeptus Adminstratum collation nexus and awaiting a response through astropathic channels that could take months or even years that would give them the affirmation of due process needed to move on to the next step in the rigorous system. Occasionally, due to changing planetary conditions, corrupted astropathic transmissions, or lost mass shipments of paperwork, an entire system would have to be re-evaluated beginning the process all over again. This extensive and seemingly endless administrative busywork brought a sense of furtive complacency to the nobles who had taken up their private residences on these backwaters, as no end could be seen to it, and with it their private keep’s secrecy would remain unspoiled. For what reason these holds were kept can only be speculated at, but hiding away troubled progeny, dodging conscription tithes, stashing away unspeakably valuable heirlooms, and far less legitimate enterprises could all be assumed. For a handful of centuries these frontier worlds bolstered up the weakened Sector Untellatian until it could stand once more.

542.M32 - The Encounter at Scertan - As the Promenade Worlds began to face the growing pains of becoming a newly-formed subsector many of the Rogue Traders who had founded these frontier worlds now used them as stations to base further explorations into the depths of the void. As time went on these voyages would find the occasional world of use, but many of the habitable and resource rich worlds worlds had already been claimed. With this expansion of borders the Promenade Worlds came into contact with Forge World Tigrus around 374.M32. Soon after this chartist captains took to hauling raw resources from the burgeoning sub-sector to the Mechanicus sovereign space of Tigrus, and returning with manufactured goods and technological tools to further expand the scope of their industrial processes. This trade would continue largely uninterrupted for nearly two centuries, as it’s scale and rapidity benefitted the rapacious appetite of a recovering sector.

By 512.M32 an uncomfortable truth had been realized; across a wide number of the less habitable worlds of the newly-formed subsector a common xenoform was present, occupying their own primitive settlements far removed from any major human ones, but in numbers that could well threaten the less well defended industrial camps of the Promenade Worlds. The anomalous xenos had been repelled multiple times over the years by men-at-arms of the colonial world’s noble families, but as the years went on these skirmishes began escalating, some even becoming protracted campaigns, with noble families hiring Rogue Trader Militants to help them endure and scour their worlds. Even with this aid the infestations persisted, leading to a plea for help to, and interest from, Tigrus’ xenobiologists.

In less than a decade the Tigrusian techpriests confirmed their findings, these xenos were none other than the long thought to be extinct “ork” species. While they exhibited none of the insane technological prowess that their species was said to possess during the Astartes’ engagements with them they nonetheless fit the profile of the creatures. It was surmised, ultimately, that these were merely stragglers, degenerated leftovers from the days of the Great Crusade’s xenocides, barely able to comprehend a simple firearm, much less use one. Skitarii cohorts were soon summoned, and rad-elimination protocols enacted, with consent from the planet’s rulers. This seemed to be the end to a pitiful, savage race that had no place in Mankind’s galaxy.

In the ensuing years a string of events occured that lead to the utter downfall of the sub-sector. The first of this was the growing predation on inter-system short distance haulers from the well-established worlds of the Promenade to the growing colonial worlds at the edges of it’s space. At first these were anomalous, but as the number of the escorts guarding the ships grew so too did the ferocity of these raiders. When ships laden with goods for colonies started disappearing, and some of their escorts with them, the Imperial Navy stepped in, determined to end the threat with decisive action. In 539.M32 the Battlefleet Ultima sent forth 2 flotilla of ships, consisting of one grand cruiser and three escorts each, to patrol the Promenade World’s outer edges, flush out these raiders, and crush them. These plans went unchanged for some three years, until chance had it that one of these patrol groups would investigate an astropathic plea for help coming from the Scertan system, a plea that mentioned xeno raiders preying on the isolated outposts of the planet’s worlds. The Exaction of Justice and it’s escort ships, the Torchbearer, Angelus Solarum, and the Terra’s Child took to the system, sweeping inwards to goad out their quarry. As the group approached Scertan III, the primary colonial world of the system, they made close passes on each of the planets, taking augur readings as they went.

As the warships left the orbital rings of the gas giant Scertan VI they were hit by an unexpected bombardment that hit their rears, taking out the plasma drives of both the Angelus Solarum and the Terra’s Child, and crippling the maneuvering thrusters of the Exaction of Justice.To the shock of the ship’s captains the raiders had modified entire asteroids into attack platforms, which the initial scans had simply dismissed as ferric ore clusters. This opening salvo coloured the rest of the engagement, with the two disabled ships becoming easy prey for the lumbering asteroid fortresses. The valiant armsmen of both ships were unable to stop the tide of well-armed aliens that overran their vessels, soon commandeering them and turning their weapons against the Exaction of Justice. The Torchbearer left formation, as the Exaction suffered from the fire of her previous allies, and swung around to engage the commandeered vessels. Streaking through the hail of fire from the asteroid fortresses and gun batteries of the other escorts the Torchbearer disabled it’s rogue counterparts, annihilating their weapon batteries that were focused on the Exaction of Justice’s exposed flank.

With little left of it’s maneuvering devices the Exaction of Justice increased its plasma burn and accelerated deeper into the system, to put space between it and the overrun ships. As the Exaction hurtled forwards it approached the original goal of their interdiction, Scertan III. Coming closer to the beleaguered world the Lord-Captain of the Exaction of Justice realized how grave the situation of Scertan III truly was. It had been shelled from orbit, obliterating vast swathes of land and kicking up dust enough to block out entire continents. The devastation followed into orbit, where the shattered remains of the colony’s astropathic station and main void docks lay, now a mutilated metal corpse, it’s technological innards strewn about as though torn apart by some unimaginably immense chainsword. Then, from the opposite side of the planet’s orbit the xeno raiders struck at the damaged grand cruiser.

The hideous alien ship rounded the planet’s curvature, speeding towards the Exaction with full confidence in its ability to take on the heaviest class of ship of the Imperial Navy headon. With precious few options left the Imperial vessel’s Lord-Captain was determined to test his foe’s mettle. The Exaction hurtled towards the ugly, brutish ship, igniting her engines to full burn and taking shots at it’s pitted, spiked hull as the two ships closed the distance between them. In the last moments before the impact, the Lord-Captain Seyv Haadirge ordered the Torchbearer to retreat to the nearest civilized system, to tell the Battlefleet Ultima command upon Kar Duniash what had transpired, and regroup with the second flotilla.

The cataclysmic crash between the human and alien cruisers was enough to totally destroy both combatants’ vessels, sending enough wreckage about to fully double the density of Scertan III’s debris cloud, and giving the vessels but a few precious dozens of minutes before they careened down to the world’s surface, obliterating a steppe continent with their furious force. The Torchbearer watched their doomed comrades with morose admiration before speeding out to fulfill their commander’s last order.

544.M32 - The Tyrant Rises - It is unknown and perhaps unknowable if the Scertan Encounter lead to the ensuing invasion of greenskins, or if indeed the Tyrant of Jagga’s WAAAGH! had been in the making and rampaging towards these most tenuous borders of the Imperium for many years before it. Many xenoarcanists speculate it is a simple combination of the two, saying that the ork’s naval forces most likely returned to their main host and informed the orks of Jagga that the Imperial systems in that direction were ripe for the taking.

The reason for it mattered little in the end, as the Tyrant WAAAGH! swept through the frontier systems of the Promenade Worlds, practically unopposed by the meager planetary defense forces and men-at-arms present on these planets. The endless tide of aliens tore apart the colonies of the fledgling sector and still hungered for more, and turned it’s sights to the ancient worlds of the Untellatian. As the orks renewed their strength on the spoils of their conquest the noble families of the Mariqette Reach's whipped their vassals and allies into a frenzy. The House of Mariqette was on the verge of being swept over by a green tide of barbaric fury, and they had lost many scions, assets, and entire family lines to the fury of the ork’s invasion already. The militant forces of the Imperium were occupied on the opposite side of the Promenade Worlds, pushing the WAAAGH! back from the Ostarrin Hold, and would promise very little in the way of aid to the far off Mariqette Reach.

Thusly the Lord Mariqette Solteraise the 1st summoned forth the multiple Mariqette lines that held Warrants of Trade allowing for the purchase of war materiel, most notably the Kees-Erraux, Dilante, and Deur-Maute lines. They made for Kar Duniash with all haste, and took to aggressive negotiations and in some cases acts of piracy out of desperation, being far too acutely aware of the destruction coming forth from the Rimward Reaches to care for the agonizing months or even years of due process that would be needed for the release of these vessels into their houses hands. While this was underway the Taghmata and Skitarii Legions of Bellus Prime and forces of House Vulker took to the field of battle, trying to delay the endless deluge of xenos with all the techno-arcane might they could muster. Ancient weapon vaults bearing hideous weapons not thought of in over a millennium were brought forth once more to destroy this menace, obliterating planetary biospheres in irradiated conflagration storms, phosphex bombing campaigns incinerating entire landmasses, and cybernetica constructs considered taboo by the nature of their abhorrent destructive potential commanded forth once more. Entire worlds were lost to these weapons, but it was barely enough to hold back the Tyrant WAAAGH! and the ranks of these ancient bastions of the Machine God were folding to the inconceivably more numerous hordes of their foes.

Many of scions of House Vulker were lost to hold back the greenskins, and cohorts and maniples without number sacrificed to give just another day to House Mariqette’s radical plan. The Knights of House Vulker had sworn binaric-honor pacts and intended to keep them, unto the death of their last son, but the ruling synod of Bellus Prime were becoming wary and uneasy. If the most terrible of relics from Old Night could not hold back this foe, then what? The other forces of the Imperium throughout the sector faced dilemmas of their own, with Incaladion besieged by an entire planetoid commandeered by orks, the worlds of the Ostarrin Hold dedicated to fighting a war very much the same as theirs, on the opposite side of what had once been the Promenade Worlds, and Tigrus facing a systemwide siege. There was no help to be found, from the followers of the Omnissiah or the Emperor, so the most drastic of measures were pursued to ensure the greenskins would not take their world. The biosphere of Bellus Prime was thusly poisoned with meticulous care to ensure it would be wholly inimical to the ork menace, any of the test subjects placed onto the forge world’s surface could not breathe and began to decompose within minutes of exposure.

After this act of self-poisoning the forces of Bellus Prime renewed their efforts, ensured that their home could continue to exist, even if the foe made landfall upon their world. It took still more weeks until the first of the Mariqette’s newly acquired fleet could make it to the frontlines, but once they did the effect was immediate. After witnessing the state of so many of the worlds that once held infinite promise for the noble houses of the sector their course of action was ensured. The fleet of House Mariqette would sweep through the stolen worlds and deny them to the enemy by means of obliteration, boiling oceans with lance batteries, obliterating continents in fusillades of macrocannon fire, and destroying moons and planetoids wholesale with nova cannons. Over the course of the next decade House Mariqette, supplied and followed by the remains of Bellus Prime’s Taghmata and House Vulker’s crusade fleet brought death to the lost worlds of Mankind. The destruction of planets was simply not enough to assuage their ignited rage and they took on the fleets of their sworn enemy head on, tearing them from the void and quite purposely marooning them in decaying orbits, or hauling the hulks into nearby stars.

598.M32 - The Lordly Patrol of the Dead Worlds - At the end of this grisly campaign almost two dozen systems were purgated, and only then did the Tyrant WAAAGH! resign. Though House Mariqette had bolstered its fleet with a score of ships taken from the Battlefleet Ultima command above Kar Duniash now only a half dozen of those ships were still serviceable. A handful of others required extensive refits to be considered voidworthy again, while the rest of the acquired ships were destroyed, either being scuttled as they were overwhelmed, utterly ruined by the alien foe, or in one case taking a whole enemy capital ship into a star’s corona with it while the crews of the two vessels clashed. If it could be considered a victory it was a hollow one. The perception of martial perfection of the Mariqette was marred by the brutal and terrible methods employed to cleanse the worlds of the taint of the greenskins, but their utter dedication to the Imperium would never come into question again. With the closing of the century came the sentencing of House Mariqette for their acts of piracy and theft against the Imperial Navy, presided over by the Lord Marshall of Justice for the Sector Untellatian, the Imperial Naval Review Board, and the Sector Lord himself. After the short 5 month trial the verdict was for the Lord Mariqette Solteraise the 1st and all his heirs to be punished by means of service unto the sector. This service entailed their stewardship over the worlds they had razed, to ensure that the enemies of Man would not ever use that region of space, and would not be able to use it as a route into the sector once more. To this end the Lordly Patrol of the Dead Worlds was established, with a flotilla of craft on near-permanent patrol throughout the breadth of the ruined worlds and multiple servo-automated listening posts stationed throughout the systems of the newly christened “Dead Worlds” as no longer did any of the systems once so full of promise for the Imperium resemble anything habitable.

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dragonrajafanfiction · 3 years

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Genji Heavy Industries (End) Turning Point

After all this way, we finally see the MC reach the turning point in her life.

If you’ve read this far, I thank you very much. I hope this has made you love the world of Dragon Raja

You could no longer see Caesar or Chu Zihang, but at this point, you weren’t looking. Your eyes were locked on Chisei Gen. Caesar’s final orders rang in your head like a command from Heaven. Your hands were caked in dried black blood. You were trembling with pain and fatigue, but that last brief surge of Blood Rage had revived your senses enough to stare at him, much like a cat would, eyes dilated and your body flexed. If he moved a muscle, you would draw your weapon.

Chisei watched the flames with resigned calmness however. He was tied firmly and his life was in Caesar and Chu Zihang’s hands just as much as yours was. “MC.” He said. “Where did you learn how to fight like that?”

He’s looking at you now, with the fire reflected in his eyes. His stare was confident. Even though he was asking a question, there was no question in those eyes. No curiosity. It was as if he were asking a question he already knew the answer to.

But how could he know the answer? The hairs on the back of your neck stood up. You’d learned how to shoot and hand-to-hand combat from your training in Black Swan Bay. Your training in Black Swan Bay was mostly centered however on your Yanling, focusing your spiritual energy into the ground, learning the limits of your power, how much you could manipulate the earth without suffering physical effects… This was all ingrained into you in a way that bordered on lab experiments with each result meticulously recorded and logged. It was just constant testing and while you were being tested, you learned your power and how to control it.

But Chisei hadn’t seen you use any of that. What he had seen from his vantage point in the mural hall rafters was you, walking out after Caesar and Chu Zihang armed with nothing but the laser sight of a Soviet era rifle and a pistol which you used to bait a member of the Deadpool into attacking their own kind. He observed how closely you could read the actions of the deadpool and how you picked her targets to attack. He heard your giddy laughter echoing on the mural hall walls.

After that, he would have seen clearly how you fearlessly approached that deadpool after she was exhausted, shot her in the head and then used her severed claw as a knife. How you used the non-lethal bullets from your pistol like a fist. How you were using that claw as your only weapon to render these A-ranked super monsters as weak as worms. It was no wonder that he looked at you when he was using Majesty to subdue the deadly and left a few living ones in his trail of mass destruction for you to kill. He had wanted to observe you close up.

When you don’t answer immediately he turns back to observe the fire. “Among the Hydra we have a name for that fighting technique you’re using. It’s called “God’s Eyes”. The heart of God’s Eyes is to subdue the enemy by your understanding of their movements and by your complete control of the battlefield. According to those that describe it, it takes at least a decade to approach mastery of elements of this technique. But you have mastered all of it and you’re so young. I’ve never seen anyone use God’s Eyes like you. You had to have learned from a master… but there are no masters of this technique. Only a few books that reference it or reference other works that describe it. It’s a technique that’s lost to history.”

“There’s only one man I know who can use God’s Eye on your level. And that’s Hilbert Ron Anjou. But you two just met a few weeks ago. Right?”

His eyes watch your face, but you nod, completely innocent, and his eyes narrowed to slits. You just stare back at him. He finally sighs. Whatever theory he may have had about where you learned your technique collapsed.

“Anjou can clear a room with just his pocket knife. Just like you. I don’t know anyone else who can do that.”

You do, of course, but disclosing that involves your deepest secrets and given the huge deadpool tank you found at the bottom of Genji Heavy Industry, you can be excused for not exactly trusting this man with secrets about your past. “Perhaps after this is over, we can talk more. Over sake?” You ask, taking a page from Caesar’s book.

“I would like that.” He sighed again. “I would also like to know how someone like you ended up with these people from Cassell?”

“I ask myself that every day.” Your lips quirk upward.

This was the first time you actually had a moment to sit and talk with Chisei Gen one on one and it actually wasn’t that hard. It took your mind off your pain enough for you to crack a little joke. Chisei lowers his eyes and, much to your delight, he chuckles and your smile grows.

“For my last moments, if these are my last moments… I suppose I could have worse company then these weirdos. My only regret is that Lu Mingfei isn’t here. But knowing him…” You roll your eyes to the ceiling, imagining him flapping his arms and squawking about how much danger you were in. “...nah, I'll take that back. What I really regret is that if we don't make it out of here, he’ll have lost all his friends. I know how that feels. I don’t want him to feel that.”

You rest your head against the wall of the elevator and gaze out into the flames. “Looking back, my life is very odd. Even if you ask me a thousand questions about myself, I wonder if I would even be able to answer a single one. Simple things like… where were you born… Who are your parents? Where did you go to school…?” Your voice trails off. After a moment's thought, you shrug.

Chisei looks at you, silent.

A burst of gunfire and a sudden sharp explosion made you squeak and flinch! This was it, you think, this was the end. Was it really going to end this way? Caesar’s last order was to make sure that Chisei Gen did not touch the elevator door, but he also told you to stop seeking death! You only had your miserable little peashooter pistols, your miserable little claw and your miserable little knife and your miserable laser pointer.

You were suddenly struck with a sudden and intense desperation like nothing you’d ever felt.

You force yourself up to your feet while Chisei Gen sits there astounded. “What are you doing?” Chisei shouts.

Your voice is choked off as you stagger toward the elevator door, groaning with intense pain, but this fierce determination drives you forward. Chisei can now see the full view of your ruined back, your skin-tight combat suit is torn to ribbons where the Deadpool’s claws sank deep into muscle tissue.

Caesar and Chu Zihang were visible again! Caesar held two Sten submachine guns with both hands and Chu Zihang had one. The two back to back were using the bullet screen to suppress the group of deadpool while moving slowly in the direction of the elevator shaft. The group of deadpool that had been overturned by the shockwave of the explosion regrouped, their hideous golden eyes surrounding Caesar and Chu Zihang, the bullets repeatedly knocking them to the ground as they repeatedly straightened up and charged forward. The only thing that protects them is the bullet screen in front of them, and once the screen disappears the group of deadpool will pounce and bite.

You stand in the door, a silhouette in the light of the flame, shoving a magazine into your pistol. Your black hair is being pulled by the intense flaming winds like you were standing right in the breath of a massive creature. You finally relent. You finally gave in. You finally believe the last words of your friend. You finally believe the words of Caesar and the eyes of Chu Zihang.

You have to live!

The pale red columns collapsed one by one. The hot wind and black smoke rampaged through the hall, the frescoes curled in the fire, and the painted dragons and snakes finally flew away in the black ash.

The two rival men were fighting back to back, and the group of deadpool were getting closer and closer, so close that Caesar once passed the barrel of his gun into the deadpool’s open mouth before shooting it out. Chu Zihang stuck his sword and Onimaru in front of him, so if a deadpool got too close he would draw his blade and force it back, and then pick up his gun and fire. But sooner or later the bullets will run out, just like a man holding a torch to scare the wolves would eventually see that torch go out.

So you wait, watching them, hand on your pistol, observing the battlefield with God’s Eyes! You knew how many pieces of ammunition you had and, from your observation of Caesar’s reloading, you could make an estimate of how much he had left. When you determined that they were close to being out of ammo, you raised your pistols and opened fire!

The staccato rhythm of your pistols is like the rhythmic hits of a boxer’s gloves. The bullets strike the sensitive areas of the beasts, their eyes, their open wounds, their burns. They hiss and flinch as though being stung by a sudden swarm of bees. You drop the empty magazine and reload and shoot again and again and again, cursing them with the deepest and blackest of words.

Each bullet was precious, like a drop of life’s blood. You couldn’t waste a single one. You watched the behavior of these monsters. If they reached for your friends, your bullets stung them like the whip of a ringmaster before vicious tigers. If there was even a possibility that they might think twice about doing it again, your quick and painful punishment gave them pause. If they hesitated, you rewarded them by not shooting them. But if they looked ready to pounce you shot them where it hurt.

Your support is just enough to turn the tide. The resistance of the deadpool falters and this time it doesn’t recover. If they rise up they’re either hit by the two men and if they’re not hit by the two men, they’re hit by the pistol fire.

A strange noise like the pop and snap of firewood shifts your focus and your pistol swivels and points at Chisei. “Stay Down!” You roar.

Chisei’s face is a mask of pain. His body was writhing strangely, his joints were all dislocated, and the bones moved independently of each other. It was like his arms had turned into spaghetti!

“I said stay down!” You lower your pistol to his ankle and pull the trigger.

Click. Your eyes widen.

Chisei smirks. “You’re out of bullets. It’s okay…” He grunts. “I’m not going to run. If they want blood…” He gasped. “I’ll give them blood.” Before you could comprehend what was happening, he suddenly freed himself from his restraints by wiggling out of his shirt. His bare chest looks like an ugly bag of broken bones! He cut himself across the wrist with Dojigiri, staining the white fabric of his shirt red. He stood up and walked to the elevator entrance and threw the shirt into the fire.

With that last act, Chisei Gen completely collapsed. You tried to catch him but the action pulled at your wounds and you both went down to the floor. Both you and he had given your all. You let him fall to the floor and just tried to annoy them with your laser pointer while you grit your teeth, but the Deadpool had a far more tantalizing target in mind already. You realize what’s happening, but you can’t pull the unconscious Chisei back into the elevator. You’re so choked with smoke and exhaustion you can’t even call for help.

"What's going on?" Caesar couldn't believe his eyes, the smoking muzzle points to the ground. The guns in his right and left hands stopped firing, but still no monsters pounced on him.

They were about to run out of bullets when the swarm of deadpool suddenly withdrew from them and scrambled to slither up to a corner of the hall. A minute ago they were still a seasoned suckling pig roasting in the fire, and now they suddenly turned into a disgusting slop, and the whole group just left.

"Hurry! Run!" Chu Zihang yelled.

Caesar suddenly woke up. Tight now they do not have time to think about the rationality of this miracle. The fire burning C4 explosives may explode at any time. It was still too early to celebrate. They simultaneously took off running. They shed off every entangling weight, taking off their heavy windbreakers, which still had scattered firearms and bullets in them. There was a loud bang and a searing wind behind them. It was some piece of C4 explosive behind the shaded wall that had exploded. It was so powerful that it completely took the wall down.

The first thing he saw when he cleared the smoke was you struggling with Chisei in the elevator door. His fury spurred him faster. He was coming at you like a raging bull. You couldn’t even begin to explain! Caesar didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, and blood exploded from Chisei’s calf.

“Caesar!” Your voice is a useless squeak. Caesar had grabbed Chisei and unceremoniously tossed him like luggage back into the car.

Chu Zihang picked you up and hit the door close button on his way in.

The pain woke up Chisei and he was just about to struggle to sit up when Caesar rushed into the elevator and threw a straight punch at his face.

“Stop…” Your voice is just a hiss, and you realized that you’ve completely lost your voice. Perhaps the heat, the dry air, and your screaming in pain had ruined your vocal cords.

The chain of explosions had already begun. Blinding sun-like lights are lighting up the corners of the hall as waves of hot air swept through at speeds that exceeded those of a hurricane, setting other blocks of explosives ablaze. The old freight elevator squeaked and closed with difficulty, and with a few centimeters left in the doorway, a hot air stream a few centimeters wide burrowed into the elevator, a bright red that ignited the remaining files in the car. But the elevator door finally closed.

It slowly sank into the elevator shaft, and a few seconds later there was a heavenly explosion from above, and a bright wave of air rushed into the elevator shaft, throwing the burning corpses of the deadpool into the void. The snake shadows burned in the fire, their fat dissolved, until gradually the bronze skeletons were revealed. These tyrannical creatures finally were cut off from life, and as they died they gathered around a shirt and shredded it..

As the freight elevator rumbled down, Caesar stomped hard on the burning documents, and then lay down exhausted on the file box, and kicked at Chisei’s face.

“Stop it!” You hiss. But Chu Zihang held you tight and you were far worse off than he was. Turned out that weird period style armor had actually protected him quite a bit. You dug your nails into him but he didn’t even flinch.

Chisei said nothing, powerlessly wrapping a cloth band around the wrist wound. He had cut an artery, and soaked at least a fifth of the blood in his body into the shirt. He made his shirt irresistible to the monsters. The result was that he couldn't even stand up. Caesar wasted no time, tying him up even tighter.

You’re breathing a bit easier now. Instinctively, you take deeper breaths. As your adrenaline lowers, fatigue crashes again like a weighted blanket. Breathing now became agony, but with no voice, no one could hear you moaning. There’s just the strange whistling noise, like the soft whine of a little dog.

"What do we do with this guy?" Caesar pointed at Chisei with the Desert Eagle.

You don’t even lift your head.

"It's naturally best if we can take him prisoner. But it's hard to leave Genji Heavy Industries by ourselves in this situation, and it's even harder to take him away." Chu Zihang said. He tilts his head down to look at you. “She doesn’t seem to want any harm to come to him.”

"How about using him as a hostage threat? There is no way the Yakuza would give up the precious Emperor, right?"

"It's hard to make sure we're not followed, Tokyo is the Hydra Yakuza's home turf, and we won’t be able to escape it no matter how much we run.”

"It seems the best way is to shoot this guy. Sooner or later the Academy and the Hydra family will have to go to war, such a precious weapon can not be left in the hands of the other side. Anyway, his body is flowing with dragon blood, I have to kill him as a dragon slayer!" Caesar pulled the bolt and loaded the gun.

No way! Caesar hadn’t killed anyone this whole time! And now that you’ve come this far and you had fought beside Chisei and he’d saved all your lives, he was going to kill him?

You jerk against Chu Zihang and try to sink your teeth into him. His strong arm tightens. He whispers so softly you can barely hear it. “It’s a bluff.”

In a moment of silence, you hear something else sigh.

There were only four people in the elevator, and you heard a fifth breath!

The side wall of the elevator car suddenly caves in! Before Caesar had time to react, the monstrous bony claws penetrated the sidewall and plunged into Chisei’s ribs from behind! Blood rained down like a fountain on the sneak attacker's face as it let out an ear-piercing scream of joy!

Even Caesar was stunned when he saw the Deadpool, even though they had just stepped out of the hordes of Deadpool that were trying to kill him. This Deadpool was so amazing. It was more than twice the size of the others! The longest of them was over five meters, the shortest was only about three meters, and their upper bodies were about the same size as a human, gradually getting thinner and longer below the waist, before finally taking on the shape of a snake. But this monstrosity is more than eight meters long. Its abdomen is bloated, like a pregnant queen ant. It dragged this overly deformed lower body upward but fell down, so it had just arrived at the mural hall. It became the only survivor. It was attracted by the smell of Chisei's blood and recklessly tore through the elevator car..

This deadpool had the face of a middle-aged woman, and her face was not as pale as the other deadpool. Instead, it was rosy and lustrous, like a woman who had become rounded in pregnancy. Caesar took a glance at its abdomen and suddenly understood. Its snow-white, scaleless abdomen had snake tail-like traces shining through. This was really a pregnant Deadpool and a pregnant deadpool could only give birth to those more fearsome than itself, because the fetal dragon blood would be purer. The fetuses also seem to have felt the freshness of the blood of Chisei and are stirring in the mother's body.

What had been suspected all along was confirmed, the Deadpool was capable of producing offspring, and this bloated, deformed mother's womb was breeding devils!

The Deadpool clung to Chisei, licking the blood excitedly. Chisei clung on to the handrail to keep from being dragged into the elevator shaft. Deadpool's bloated body weighing hundreds of kilograms hangs below the elevator by that single grip.

Chu Zihang presses his hand firmly on your mouth. You wanted to scream in rage, pure frustration and despair. But the monster hadn’t noticed you at all yet. You were too weak to fight this thing. You all were. You said ‘no more sacrifices’ but now you really had no more to give but yourselves, and this monster wanted Chisei. You could get away scot free if you left him behind.

Caesar tried to aim several times in the process of raising his gun, but he had no chance of hitting Deadpool, who was hiding behind Chisei. If he fired, he would first have to injure him, and it was unknown whether the force of the bullet could do that and injure the deadpool. He just fired a shot at Chisei but now he needs to shoot him again. But Chisei is extremely pale from blood loss. He originally had a feminine beauty, and now he looks like a dying girl. His soul is leaving his pale body. If he suffered another gunshot wound, Chisei could certainly die.

This world was so black, so dark, that the minute you started to believe that perhaps Caesar could be right and you could live and you could live with all your friends, that scythe of death came to collect its taxes on your happiness. You hated this world, you hated this life!

Deadpool licked the back of Chisei’s neck with her long tongue. Her sharp teeth are seeking the veins in his neck as she begins to give birth to her babies. The green and white snake-like fetuses fell one by one.

At this time there was a "thump" sound above the elevator, and the speed of the elevator's descent suddenly increased. The elevator filled with boxes of documents was close to the upper limit of the load. The weight of the giant deadpool plus the four of you exceeded the limits of the elevator, not to mention that it was running in the fragile track after the earthquake. It was slamming into the depths of the elevator shaft at an accelerating rate, at which point the Deadpool would of course be smashed to death, and the four of you would invariably be buried with her.

"Shoot!" Chisei yelled with his last strength.

You watched Caesar look into the eyes of Chisei in surprise.

"Shoot me! Hit me in the neck! Its head is right back there!" Chisei spurted out a mouthful of blood.

Caesar gritted his teeth fiercely. He was ready to shoot.

But his fingers were trembling, it was as if the blackness of the world had surrounded him and was pressing in on him, closing in and laughing, mocking him. You stood in that darkness and you could offer no answer. After all, what mercy had the world ever offered you?

A mere few days ago, you wouldn’t hesitate to reasonably make the judgment that sacrificing one person can save everyone, and it's worth doing. But now you stared at Caesar and shook your head. You didn’t want to live in a world without his justice.

You take your bronze claw dagger and stab it into Chu Zihang’s side! Caesar turns at his gasp of pain. You rise up like a lioness to seize Caesar’s wrist and push it upward, pointing the Desert Eagle in the air. You’re face to face with him and bare your teeth.

"’Never leave a friend’ is your justice.” You force the words through your dead vocal cords. Your eyes stare into his eyes and they’re cold and black as the ice sea. “I live for your justice and I will die for your justice!"

Caesar stares for a moment and, for that moment, the cheeks on either side of his face grow gradually pink.

Chisei suddenly smiled. He rarely smiles. His smile is surprisingly beautiful.

"Gattuso-kun, in fact, I have thought about being ...... friend of justice." Chisei let go of the handrail and was instantly sucked into the void outside the elevator car.

Caesar barely prevented you from plunging out there with him in your effort to stop him. He threw you back against the door of the elevator. Your vision exploded into sparks and for a moment you couldn’t move.

“Chu Zihang!”

The elevator suddenly stopped, pressing you to the floor. You blink your eyes open. Caesar and Chu Zihang are gathered by the hole in the elevator wall, shoulder to shoulder. They weren't moving, in fact, they were grunting with great effort. They were backing up from the gap and in their hands was the rope. The rope that he’d tied Chisei up in was being pulled up back into the elevator and attached to that rope was Chisei!

You gasp and crawl forward. He was unconscious, pale like death. His sword was stuck through him, front to back, but he was alive. He was still alive. Caesar looks down at you, but oddly doesn’t meet your eyes. He looks shy, almost embarrassed?

“We need to find a way out of here.” Chu Zihang, ever practical, hands you the claw dagger back. You stare at it a moment and then tuck it in your belt to let Caesar carry you out.

Together, you climb out of the elevator and into the darkness of the shaft, until you take a rest on the beam. Caesar is puffing on a cigar. You’re sitting in Caesar’s lap like a child. Exhausted, you’re turning the bronze colored claw dagger over and over in your hands, watching the play of light on it.

You all sit in silence like this for an hour.

Your head was burning and you felt numb and yet, deep down, the arctic ice that had held onto your soul since waking up at Cassell was starting to fracture and the summer sun was beginning to rise. You rest your head against Caesar’s chest and look up into his eyes.

He lets out a puff of smoke. “You’re not going to fall for me, are you?”

Your eyes narrow and then you huff. “No. I was just thinking…You weren’t going to let me die from the moment we met, right? You stinker.”

Caesar tapped the ash over the edge of the beam. “So you finally get it.”

“Uh huh. I’ll always miss my friends.” Your lip trembles a bit but you once again control it. “But… I think… with you… That’s okay.”

Caesar bit his cigar and grinned. “Glad to hear it.”

You lower your eyes to Chu Zihang who had been tending to his own injuries and was now working on Chisei’s many wounds, while he rested on the beam. “Sorry, I stabbed you.”

“It was impressive.”

You laugh, unsure of how to respond to that.

The building was chock full of Hydra operatives now. You couldn’t leave the elevator shaft yet. They were probably all looking for Chisei so you had to wait for him to wake up.

Chisei started to stir under Chu Zihang’s medical care. Caesar carefully settled you against the wall of the shaft and catwalked over to stare down into Chisei’s eyes. He pulled the last cigarette from his pocket, stuck it in Chisei’s mouth and lit it, the fire illuminating the man’s pupils. Chisei struggled for a moment but he was still in pain and tightly bound.

"The emperor hybrid is really different, huh. A serious wound like harakiri only took an hour to heal. I want to have such a good body.." Caesar moved the lighter closer to his face and illuminated it to Chisei, showing his healing injury. In the next moment, he’d kicked Chisei off the beam. The rope pulled taut where the end was tied and Chisei Gen hung from it.

"Won't you consider untying me?" Gen Chisei smiled bitterly, "It's a little inconvenient to smoke and hang from a rope."

"Not quite. With someone of your low integrity, I still can't believe you. The minute I untie you, you’ll assault us again.." Caesar gripped his cigar, "Let’s just have a good conversation."

"Is the family style of the famous hybrid Gattuso family that shameless?" Chisei exhaled a puff of smoke.

"You call this shameless?" Caesar shrugged, "If you think this is shameless, you haven't met my studly old man." After a few seconds of silence Caesar mumbled. "Sorry."

"There's nothing to apologize for. At the time I really wanted to escape and leave all you behind. I'm not a friend of justice. I've done a lot of bad things, I've killed people."

"Ghosts?" Chu Zihang asked.

"We call them Ghosts, but they are actually the same hybrid species as us, only more likely to become deadly." Chisei whispered, "To some extent all of us are ghosts."

"The mural is ruined, but we took pictures. Although you do not want us to, we have to take these pictures. The Academy and the Hydra are now in a hostile relationship, and now that the Deadpool group is also finished, your cooperation with us is over, and we all revert to hostile relations." Caesar took a drag on his cigar.

You listen to the conversation and your heart is surprisingly calm when you hear that you won’t be seeing Chisei any time soon. Chisei looks up at you. “I guess we’ll have to make plans for sake later?”

Caesar gives you a look of sharp disbelief.

You stick your tongue out at him. “I meant it as a lady.” But you offer no further explanation. It wasn’t his business.

"Then you have to leave quickly, with my recovery speed, this rope won’t hold me for long.." Chisei smiled again.

"You can’t fool me. This rope can tether an elephant. I also tied it with a sailor knot, so the more you struggle, the tighter it will get. Your body is not as strong as we thought. You super hybrids are slightly stronger than us, but your bones and muscles can not be compared with a real dragon. You might be worse than those deadpool but the minute you release your Yanling you’re defenseless. In short, you're strong, but not necessarily without flaws." Caesar sneered.

"Well, well you guys see through me. What do you want to do with me?"

"It was too difficult to take you away, and, in the end, I decided to leave you here. Your men are looking all over the building for you, but they didn't expect you to be hanging in the middle of the elevator shaft just yet. Seriously, I think that Assistant Sakura likes you a lot, don't you?" Caesar waved his cigar.

"I'm not getting a girlfriend until I leave Japan, and isn't it a bit much to ask a woman like her to give up her life to go to France with me to sell sunscreen?"

"Isn’t that exactly like leaving behind your status as the head of the big family to go to France?"

"I am a person who has done a lot of evil. My hands are stained with the blood of many ghosts, fleeing to France to settle down would be good, I am not going to France, I’m trying to escape." Chisei said leisurely.

"You said you also want to be a friend of justice?" Caesar raised an eyebrow.

"Everyone wants to be a friend of justice when they are children." Chisei said faintly.

"Are you mocking me for still being stuck in a child's state?" Caesar gave Chisei a poke and sent him spinning.

You giggle. It hurt but that struck you as funny.

“What are you laughing at?” Caesar smiles at you.

You reply "Friends of Justice are the words from Ultraman, a cartoon for kids."

"Ultraman?"

"Superman who came to Earth from the universe to help Earthlings fight alien monsters. The heir of the Gattuso family should not have seen that kind of thing. We all watched it when we were kids. In elementary school, kids could be seen discussing which Ultraman was more powerful and saving their lunch money to buy plastic models of Ultraman. Did you do this MC?”

“No,” you chuckle. “I was a Sailor Moon fan. And James Bond fan.”

“Ah…” Chisei sighs. “Ultraman said his fans are friends of justice. We are friends of Ultraman, so we are also friends of justice. The more powerful monsters will be defeated by the friends of justice. Every episode they say that, so as children, we are convinced." Chisei mumbled slyly, "One year school performance, I went on stage to sing the theme song of Ultraman, I still remember the tune ......"

"Beep beep beep,

lots of monsters.

Look behind you,

beasts through the street there,

just to your left and right.

Can't get enough, can't get enough.

Fly one foot and hit three low,

don't presume to fly away.

Who comes from the universe to fight for freedom?

Who will be faithful to defend the world?

It is you, the great friend of justice!"

You clap your hands. “You have a good voice, Chisei.”

This scene is really weird. The big head of the Japanese yakuza and the only emperor hybrid hanging in mid-air singing the theme song of "Ultraman". The heir of the Gattuso family, Caesar Gattuso and A+ blood Chu Zihang, and you, the S-ranked young woman, are his audience. Everyone should have laughed, but no one did. All of you had childhoods that were long gone, and you paid respects to them the same as you would a long dead ancestor.

The song ended and Caesar clapped his hands.

"But I didn't become a friend of justice, I became the bad guy." Chisei said softly, "My friends are bad people. Yasha turned out to be a street fighter. Crow is a loan shark organization's strong man. Sakura is a killer. And I have done a lot more bad things than you can imagine. You might think the Japanese executive bureau is here to maintain order. But more often, it all just ends in bloodshed.. The mob is like this. In this business only violence speaks. The ones who are the most violent are the loudest. We live by doing evil. We belong to a family. We must be loyal to it. For the benefit of the family, we may strike at the innocent. For the benefit of the family we can sacrifice our companions or ourselves. Everyone can be sacrificed so that more people can live a good life. This world is so cruel. I am not Hikari Ultraman.I can not save everyone. If doing evil can make my people live a better life, then I am willing to become a bad guy."

"Bad people can become good, but bad things will never become right." Caesar said.

Chisei made the effort to give Caesar a look, "At your age you can still say such things, Gattuso-kun. I envy you."

"Is that another Japanese style taunt?"

"No, people who strongly believe in justice are happy people." Chisei said softly.

Caesar was silent for a long time and raised his eyebrows: "What a bitter thing to say. But there's no time for your bitterness, I hear footsteps approaching, it's your people looking for you, right?"

"Goodbye then, have a good trip." Chisei said.

"The next time we meet, we'll be enemies again. Can't we say some warm and fuzzy goodbyes?"

"Don't get involved in this. Leave Japan if you can, this is not something you can get involved in."

"That kind of bullshit might as well be Saying Sayonara.”

"Sayonara." Chisei said softly.

"Sayonara." Caesar said, "People who could have been friends end up like this. The world isn't cruel. It’s Bullshit.”

You stare down at Chisei. You want to say something, but you feel like you and Chisei were strangely similar. You were both violent people and trained to be so from an early age. You both felt similarly when Caesar spouted on about justice and being right and good in a world that was cruel.

“Chisei… please don’t give up…” You whisper, but your voice is still hoarse.

“Come on, girl, he’s not worth your time.” Caesar once again lifts you up on his shoulders like a child and starts to climb. But you look over his shoulder. You and Chisei lock eyes as he hangs there in the void and you keep looking at each other until you’re both out of sight.

#Dragon Raja

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millytempesta · 3 years

Text

Save me.

Chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 4.

Paring: Asahi Azumane x reader

Rating: Fluff, hurt/comfort, smut.

Summary: Asahi is a marine biologist, who is in charge of taking care of the strange creature that they found.But what happens when he discovers that other biologists are experimenting on his precious sea treasure, leaving it a shaky, scared mess?He'll need all the help from his friends to rescue the little fish and take it back to his blue house.

Warnings: This chapter contain SMUT, MENTION OF DARK THEMES, as DEATH, WAR and MASS DESTRUCTION WEAPONS (ONLY MENTIONING), MAY BE TRIGGERING TO SOMEONE.

A/n: Late night confessions, a few details of (Y/n)'s past and a very steamy scene...

It was late in the evening, the sun almost gone, no one, except for the cleaners and security, was around in the lab. Changing his lab coat to the cleaner one, Asahi made his way to the pool with a big clothes trolley (I’m not sure how it’s called, is the big trolley that cleaners use to put all the dirty laundry), keeping his face hidden from the cameras, thanks to the basketball hat he found together with the other clothes. Cleaners had a special card, who allowed them to move freely around the lab, including the restricted part he was working in.

Opening the big door to the restricted area, he quickly made his way to his office, where cameras couldn’t film him. Running upstairs, he turned off the music, shouting for the mermaid name.

After not even a second, her head came to the surface, looking at the agitated man with questioning eyes.

“We need to go now, come here quick!”. Shock filled the girl's eyes, letting her jaw fall open. Her finger came out, signaling for the man that she wanted to communicate. Pointing her finger to herself, and then to the door from where Asahi came from with still her mouth agape, she asked for confirmation. “Yes, I’m taking you out of here, but we need to hurry, I don’t know how much time we still have before someone will come and check”.

Quickly giving a nod she signaled for him to wait with her finger, disappearing under water. After a couple of seconds she came back, with their photo in her hand. She swam to the edge, pulling herself out of the water. Strong harms picked her up, and for the first time -and hopefully last-, Asahi made his way down the stairs and into his office, where the trolley was waiting for them. “I’m gonna put you inside of it, okay? You need to stay hidden under those covers”. Gently placing her down, he tried to hide her body, but her tail was too long to fit inside. “Oh no! Your tail is picking out, they’ll see you… What should I do? I don't have a plan B for this!”. Sweat started forming on his forehead, blood started draining from his face, shock filled his eyes.

He messed up.

He needed to find a solution, and very fast. It was not time to panic, her life was in danger.

“-sai”.

A sweet, fragile voice came from behind him, making the man spin looking at the closed door- wait… If the door is closed, then who- “Asahi”. Brown iris slowly moved from the door, looking at the (h/c) haired girl, whose eyes were staring right back at him. His mouth opened, but no sounds escaped, making the very shocked guy look like a fish.

A giggle escaped the girl, moving her tail up in the air. Her scales started losing their bright colour, her beautiful fin slowly got smaller and smaller, taking the shapes of what seemed to be… Feet?

Her tail slowly separated, turning into two (s/c) legs. Folding her new legs, she repositioned the covers over her smaller body, hiding completely her skin from the cool breeze coming from the AC on the wall. Still shocked and gaping at her, the girl opened her mouth again “We need to hurry Asahi, we don’t have time”. Breaking him out of his trance at the mention of being caught, he fixed the covers one last time, making her body completely non visible for other curious eyes.

Pushing the trolly out of his office and out of the restricted area, he made his way on the elevator, pushing the 1st floor bottom.

The door opened, a corridor with just a couple of cameras appeared behind the elevator’s door. Entering the cleaning storage room, Asahi started searching around for clothes. After finding a sweater with the lab’s logo on it and a pair of shorts, he gently moved the covers. “You need to wear this, so you won’t look too suspicious, and now that you have legs we can move more easily to the parking lot”. Handing out his hand to her, he helped her out of the trolley, turning his back to give her privacy while changing. A light tap on his shoulder made him turn back around, making blood rush to his face at the view. The sweater was too big for her, it was covering her hands, making the girl fight for her fingertips to come out; The shorts were hidden by the top, making it look like she was wearing nothing under. If the situation was different, he would have taken a photo of how cute she looked- But now was not the time! He had a mission to finish.

Taking hold of her hand, he pulled her to the elevator, pushing the parking floor bottom. It was all going so smooth, even too smooth. That’s when the elevator stopped to the 3rd floor.

Panicked he took his hat off, putting it on top of the girl’s hair and pulling her behind his wide shoulders. His eyes widened at the man in front of him.

“Oh! Doctor Asahi, still here? It’s pretty late, did you fall asleep again on your desk?”.

Doctor Furukawa entered in the elevator, pushing a bottom and making the doors closing. Pulling the girl even more behind him, Asahi tried to maintain his voice stable. “Y-Yeah, I was really tired, you know how it is, the cold is making me even more sleepy…”. Smiling at the young man, his lips falled back into a line at the view of someone behind his shoulders. “Doctor Asahi… Who are them?”. His face became pale, sweat started coming from his hairline, shaky hands started to fidget with his top. “T-t-they are… They…”.

‘FUCK ASAHI WAKE UP! I need to find an excuse, and quick-’.

But before he could the elevator came to a stop, a bell sound preceding the opening door. Still terrified he looked at the Doctor stepping out of the small space, stopping right out of it. “I hope you are ready to face the consequences of your action Doctor Asahi, they’ll start a hunt for you…”. Gulping down Asahi nodded his head, only to realize he couldn’t see him with his back facing him. “Y-Yes… I’m ready for my destiny, but-”.

Turning back to face him he put a hand to block the door, making him stop in his sentence. “I knew from the start that you would have taken good care of her, your kind nature is a gift Asahi. I considered you as my own soon as soon as I saw you at the university. I saw your warm heart where everyone else saw only a scared mouse.” Opening his bag, he took a key out handing it to him. “This is my boat’s key. Save her my boy.” The door started closing. “Thank you Doctor Furukawa”, said Asahi, bowing to the man. A warm smile was the last thing he saw before the shiny metal closed. A tear made his way down his face, followed by a small sob. A cool finger caressed his cheek, drying it from the salted drop.

He opened his eyes, a warm smile appearing in his face at her worried expression. Putting his hand on top of hers, he turned his face, lips brushing against her palm. No words needed to be exchanged, the silent in that moment spoked for tousen of words.

Finally reaching their floor, they run to the car. Strapping her in, he made his way to the opposite side, strapping himself in. Turning on the car, a yelp escapes the girl’s lips, startled by the machine’s sound. A hand flew to hers, squeezing it in a reassuring way. “It’s okay, it will help us to move faster, you are safe”. Nodding her head she repositioned in her seat. “It’s gonna start moving now, but don’t be afraid of it, okay?”. Another nod came as a response.

The car started moving, making its way out of the laboratory, and to the beach.

Night’s lights came into view, illuminating the city near the streat. People walking near buildings that Asahi took photos of during the day lights, adorned by Christmast decorations. Curious eyes studied her surroundings, admiring all the lively streets. Coming to a stop at the red light, he let his eyes run around her features. (E/c) eyes locked with brown, an apologetic smile was all he could give her. “I’m sorry I can’t show you around… I bet you are curious to see all those places I took photos of with your own eyes”. Shaking her head she reassured him “It’s okay, you give me enough to remember”. Moving again at the blue light, he looked at her with the corner of his eyes, nervous coming back to him.

“So… Y-you can talk?”. Nodding slowly, she turned her gaze to his face. “I bet you are asking why I never talked before”. Taken back by her blurtness, he shankly nodded his head. “They were already doing enough experiments without talking, just imagine what they would have done if they discovered I could communicate easily with them. They would have started asking questions about me, my race, if there were more out there… It was better faking being like a stupid fish-”. He quickly interupted her with an hurted voice “You are not a stupid fish!”.

Shock filled her eyes, a silent fall in the car. A chuckle escaped her lips, her body shaking from trying to keep the laugh in. Red exploded in his face, embarrassed by the situation “H-hey it’s true! D-don’t… Don’t make fun of me…”. Completely letting herself go to laugh, she caressed his arm reassuringly, “I’m not making fun of you, you are just too cute!”. Turning his head to her, he felt his cheeks burn up from her words “C-C-C-CUTE?! I-I’m n-n-note cute!”. Another round of laughs followed his statement, making his embarrassment fall, joining her laugh.

Her cold hand made its way to the one not holding the steering wheel, squeezing it lightly. “You’ve always been the only one who ever treated me with respect, making me feel at home…”. She brought his hand to her face, cool breath hitted the back of his hand making a shiver go through his back. “Making me feel…”, she moved his hand to her cheek, “... So… Loved…”, nuzzling her now red face into his palm.

Stopping the side at the stop, he looked at her features, illuminated by the orangey street light, making her eyes shine in the dark car. “So beautiful…”, he whispered it so low, that she would have missed it, if it wasn’t for her accentuated senses. Moving his hand on her hair, he pulled her face closer, eyes slowly closing, breaths mixing together, their lips almost touching- BEEEP! Startled by the sound, their head bumped into one another, making them hiss from the contact.

An awkward silence filled the now moving car, both of them not daring to comment what happened.

“S-so…” clearing his voice, he tried to find something to talk about. “If you don’t mind me asking, are there more of your species?”. Humming in though,, she looked back out of the window. “I don’t know… I… My family died when I was little… I have lived alone since then…”. Sadness took over his body, looking at her with teary eyes, he took hold of her hand. “I’m so sorry…”. His expression made the girl’s hearths melt. Squeezing his hand, she gave him a reassuring smile, “It happened ages ago, when the big bomb was dropped... In a second they were gone… I don’t even remember their faces anymore…”. Silent filled once again the car, unable to find words of comfort for the girl.

The silence was broken by her once again “That day I understood how greedy humans were, how primitive for going one against the other, all in name of power and money… I spent my whole life hiding in the deep blue… Waiting for my time to come… But mermaids’s lifetime is basically infinite, we don’t die of old age”. Silently listening to her story, he left out some hums once in a while, to show his interest. “You know, the day Doctor Furukawa found me… I was hoping for them to end my life… I arrived at one point where I couldn’t bear anymore being lonely… But instead they took me with them, locked me in a pool and started doing experiments on me… I was so scared… After each test, my body felt like thousands of knives were dug deep on my skin, but because my body regenerate so quickly, no scar or scratch was ever visible”.

Worried eyes looked at her figure, fidgeting in his seat “Why didn’t you ever tell me that they were hurting you?”. Not able to look into his eyes, she kept looking at the city’s lights now far away in the far distance. “I… After all that happened I… I know now it was stupid of me-but I was afraid that the only human that ever treated me good, would have turned agaist me… And once again I would have been alone”. Tears started falling from her eyes, light sobs filled the car. Parking the car in a rest area, away from the noisy street, he turned his body completely to her.

“I would never hurt you, you know it… Right?”, his voice shaky, unsure of her reaction. Holding both of his hands to her face, she looked at him through her thick lashes. “I do know it now, I was just so afraid of losing the only reason that made me want to keep living”. Slowly, unsure, he approached her face, leaving her enough time to pull away if wanted. “I will never leave you on my own free will… I…”, her hands made its way to the back oh his head, inching closer and closer to him. “Sssh I know”, and the last space was gone, lips connected with one another, cool breath mixing with hot, making their lips the same warm perfect temperature.

Hot hands started roaming around her small frame, caressing every dips, curve and delicious softness, making the girl gasp in his mouth. Liking at her bottom lip, he made its way into her cold cavern, tasting the sea saltiness of her small wet muscle. Eagerly, she pulled at his man bun, freeing his hair from his confines, making them fall around his face. A light pull of his long brown locks, pulled out a light moan from the man’s mouth, making the girl’s legs clench together. Loving the sound, a sensation of confidence washed through the girl, making her push the man back in his seat and making her way in his lap. Eagerly connecting their lips together, she pulled their body flushed together, making their crotch brushing to one another.

Parting for air, he lightly pushed her face away, making their eyes lock to one another. “Y-you don’t have to do it, we can take it slow you know, we can-” she interrupted him with a kiss, pushing herself on his growing bulge. A low groan is swallowed on her mouth, making wetness go in her panties. Rough hands take hold of her sides, pulling her more firmly against his hardness, making it brush perfectly against her clit. “A-Asahi!”, her head going back from the pleasure.

Hot lips start sucking marks on her neck, eliciting more sounds from her. He started trusting up, hands squeezing her sides, probably leaving marks -not that neither of them cared. Small hands sneaked under his top, feeling his bunky abs under her fingerprints. Getting the hint, he moved his arms up, allowing her to take the shirt off, lips separating from her, now marked, skin. Blown wide eyes stared at his well built body, drinking in every inch of skin visible.

Before he could feel even slightly conscious, she started peppering kisses on his exposed skin. “You’ve got the body of a God Asahi”, she whispered on his skin. Feeling his ego boost up, confidence came to him, taking hold of her top. “May I?”, he asked, wanting to be 100% sure of her consent. Caressing his face she smiled at him “You may”. Without needing to be told twice, he quickly got rid of the offending piece of cloth, letting out a pleased groan at the sight in front of him. “Look who’s talking…”, he groaned under his breath, one hand coming up to cup one of her breasts, gently squeezing it.

Arching her back, she continued moving against his crotch, letting small moans escape. His mouth connected with one of her nipples, suking lightly at it, eliciting a more loud moan from her. One of his hands moved to the other nipple, twisting it between his fingers, while the other hand moved on her back, slowly making its way on her ass. Her hands flew into his hair, scratching at his scalp. “A-Asahi, I want more”. Unable to decline her request, he switched to the other nipple, giving it the same treatment as the other. With both of his hands free, he pulled her sweatpants off. Reaching for under the seat, he made space for their body and reclined the back, switching their position, so to make her feel more comfortable.

Leaving a smooch on her lips, he lowered his face down her body, leaving a small kiss around her soft skin. When reached her panties, he traced the wet spot with his pointer finger, feeling her twitch under his touch. “You are so wet already”, moving the cloth aside, he traced the wet lips, stopping at her bud, making a small circle motion. A loud moan echoed inside of the car, eyes opened wide, the girl looked down at him. “W-what was that?”. Chuckling to himself, he blew on it, pulling another moan out of her. “This? Is your clit, is a very sensitive part of women’s body”. Pulling her panties off her legs, he pushed the soft thighs apart.

“I’m gonna make you feel really good now, you can stop me at any time, okay?”. Taking hold of one of his hands, she nodded at him. Eyes rolled on the back of her skull, the moment he lached his lips on ler hardening bud. “A-Asahi!”. His warm muscle moved down, entering her wet hole, fucking her with his tongue. “O-Oh God! Asahi!”, one hand squeezing his big one while the other flew on his hair. A long finger made his way inside of her, making her back arch away from the seat. Moving back to her clit, he started pumping the digit in and out of her, shortly after adding another one. At a particular trust and scissoring, a shout of his name came from her lips. “M-more! Asahiiii”. Suking harshley on her bundle of nerves, a knot started forming on her belly.

A third finger entered her, scissoring around her spongy walls, hitting her sweet spot. “So-aAaaAh- so c-close”, a harsh pull of his hair, caused the man to moan on her clit, the vibration pushing her to the release. Eyes seeing stars, mind going blank and mouth opening wide with a silent scream. Waves of pleasure wash over her body, making her shake in delight. Only taking his mouth off when sure of riding her full orgasm out, he pushed himself up to her face, placing a sweet peck on her sweaty cheek. Caressing her hair, he looked into her eyes. “Should we stop? You seem to be tired”. Narrowing her eyes she switched position, sitting back on his lap.

Nails lightly scratching down his pecks, she opened his trousers. “I want to become one with you”. Pulling his trousers and underwear down enough to freed his member, she started stroking it with her hands. Kissing up his jaw, she nipped at his ear, whispering seducity against it. “You are so big Asahi, I want to feel you inside of me so badly”. His resolution snapped, taking hold of her hips and positioning himself at her entrance. Looking with pleading eyes, he stroked the tip on her wet cavern. Putting her hands on his shoulders, she slowly lowered herself on him, causing a loud moan to escape from both of their mouths. Once filled inside of her, hips locked together, he went for a deep kiss, pouring all his carnal desire for her in it.

“I’m gonna start moving now, tell me to stop if it hurts”. Receiving a nod as confirmation, he slowly pushed her up his leight, only to lower her back down. After the first few experimental pumps, he started moving her more fast, slamming her body back down with more force. Screams of his name filled the car, mixed with grunts and moans and skin slapping against skin. Pleasure fogging both minds, both running after their release. The first to snap is (Y/n), still sensitive from her first orgasm, spasming around his cock, pushing him to his own release, spasming inside of her wall, coating in withe warm cum.

Both stilled on the car seat, hugging their sweaty body, and leaving sleepy kisses on eachother skin. When his breath came back to a normal pace, he started scratching her scalp, leaving sweet kisses on her forehead. “We should find a camping space to spend the night, a hotel will be too dangerous, they might find us”. Nodding, she slowly got off his lap, hissing at the feeling of his soft cock exiting her sensitive cavern. Tirely dressing back, they sit quietly next to each other.

Turning to look in their eyes, a warm smile spread on their faces, eyes filled with adoration and love for the other, feeling so connected like never before. “We should leave now, so that tomorrow night we will arrive at the sea”. With one last sweet kiss, he started the car, going back to the main street, and driving to the nearest camping site. Now out of the city, stars shine in the sky, making the night more magic. Looking at her lover, a sad sansation falls on her body, making it hard to breath. Thinking about tomorrow night, a tear dropped from her eyes, quickly hiding her face from him, not wanting to make him worried.

To think that tomorrow they’ll part ways, made her heart hacker, while her mind remembered her that she knew this would have happened one day, because creatures of the surface can’t be with creatures of the deep blue mass, he would die under water, unable to breath. Turning her face to him, she stayed up all night, hoping to tattoo his features in her brain, not wanting to forget him ever. Only when the sun started to wake up, she found herself unable to keep her eyes open, whispering a small “Thank you”, she let herself hug from the dark world of dreams, imagining a life with someone to swim with again.

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