#that things are just cobbled together upon my whims and will not read in a way that is intuitive.

[apocalypticdemon]

ughhhh writing hard

[lady-o-ren]

Hunger of My Heart

//PROLOGUE//  //PART ONE//

A/N:The new chapter for this fic is uploaded on ao3 but its not showing up on the main page. I have no idea why. But you can read it HERE for easier reading.

PART TWO

On that nameless street, in what was once an empty, rundown lot, appeared gates draped in ivy from nowhere - elsewhere, before Jamie's very eyes.

"Must be magic," Claire had grinned, and tugged him past the gates that opened without a touch, gracing him in silvery birdsong as they stepped into a world from centuries long forgotten.

Jamie spoke not a word, too dumbstruck and tongue-tied, as they walked down a dirt cobbled path that cut through a grove of root twisted trees. Ahead in a clearing, he saw a large cottage fit for the Queen's Hamlet in Versailles, patched with ivy and honeysuckle and puffing smoke from its chimney. But they veered off to traverse further into the forest where the trees grew more and more monstrous, towering high to meet the clouds, chase the birds, while their red and green leaves and bright budding flowers scattered below on the sweetest perfumed breeze.

Claire called this wild wood her garden.

But how could this all be?

"We're still in London - though not exactly," she explained to his awed upturned face. "Best not to dwell on it though we're almost where we need to be - Watch your step, lad!"

At her warning, Jamie stumbled and hopped over a bushel of pink muhly grass groping at his legs, only to step on a skittering, nameless thing hidden beneath the bracken that hissed at his heavy-footed clumsiness.

"I'm beginning to feel more and more like Hansel being led to the slaughter," he said, blue eyes darting around his surroundings more carefully though still bright with curiosity.

Claire caught the laughter on her lips between her teeth.

"I'm a healer not a witch. You'll see none of that cauldron nonsense from me," she said, just when a patch of roving sunlight ignited her eyes like a candle wick's flame and gilded her curls like a cloud of burnished gold, hypnotising Jamie like a lovesick moth.

"Besides, my house of sweets is back that way."

"So ye say," Jamie murmured warmly, ears heating pink, when she threaded her arm through his, bringing him close like a dear old friend as they continued on their trek, while he felt something entirely more intimate, steadily growing, enveloping him whole like a tidal wave.

He grasped for even breath. She wondered if he had swallowed a bug. "But where exactly are we headed then in the middle of the forest primeval?"

She patted his arm. "A place where the fresh air along the way will do you some good. You look like a man born to the sun and earth. Am I wrong?"

"No," said Jamie, wondering if she could indeed see the generations of highland farmers and Laird's stamped on his face, flowing proudly in his blood. "Are ye ever?"

The question was left to drift like dustlight in the air when they come upon a grand old yew tree. It's craggy bruised trunk was knobbed with gem colored toadstools and had been hollowed out to fit a rounded bench carved deep into its heartwood, glinting eerily with faint sparks of light.

"I did say I would take you to a bench."

"One made for the faerie folk?" His mouth twitched and she laughed in quickly growing fondness and wrapped her fingers around his pulling the red man inside.

Together, they sat in the arched hollow with their knees bent towards one another, making the old wood seat creak and groan in protest, while above them fireflies dotted the inner wood, twinkling like stars, the source of the eerie glow, Jamie noted, breathing in the quiet serenity.

Then the small hand in his, warm as the blood that pumped life to his veins, gave a gentle squeeze.

"Now start from the beginning, Jamie, if you can. . ."

So he told her. Told her everything. Of the chorus that had once been a lullaby as a child, that grew maddening as he got older. Had him living a heartbeat from squalor as he followed it's command, it's every damnable whim, until finally he found Her, the only one to silence it.

Then with cheeks blooming a shade of deep adoration, he said with halting breath,

"I think it was you calling for me all these years somehow. . . .Like magic," he finished with a crooked awkward smile, one that compelled Claire to raise a tender hand to cradle the dearness of the lads face and thumb the lines of haunted nights that bruised the skin around his eyes.

"I told you before that I'm a healer. People come to me when they can no longer bear their emotions. Their grief and pain, their love. . ." She uttered the last with little reverence, entirely of indifference. "And I do my best to tend to them, to ease their torment. But it's them that come to me, I never beckon anyone to do so yet you. . ."

She trailed off, losing herself in contemplation even though the answer was staring back at her in the most beautiful shade of blue she had ever seen.

If only she were capable to see, to know, the face of his heart.

"Maybe we're meant to do some good for one another," said Claire, making Jamie's heart leap higher than the boughs of the forest trees.

"I am in dire need of friends, at least that's what my Elias tells me."

Then it plummeted like a corbie, an arrow pierced through his breast.

"Who is he, may I ask?" He choked, eyes rooted to the leafy ground.

"My apprentice, but he's dear to me as blood. You should meet him, Jamie. "

"Now?"

"Of course," she grinned, and brushed a wandering ginger lock back behind his ear. " Fate has brought me a gift and I plan to spoil him with whatever Elias has roasting."

She then softly bopped his nose, a tad too long, and ushered him out from the blissful shadows of the old yew tree.

They walked back to the dirt cobbled path beneath the dwindling evening light sparked now with dancing fireflies, and Claire twined her arm once more with his, as if she had done so for a thousand lifetimes.

At least it felt that way to Jamie and may she do so always, he prayed.

For he could feel this woman engraved in the blood and marrow of his bones, kindle something fragile and marvelous and everlasting in his soul.

It wasn't just destiny that brought him to her.

Jamie knew it was love.

[dorky-arsene]

Day 6 - Demon

@shuakeweek​

Much like my Day 3 entry, this one’s going to be a fic as well, using the “Demon” half of the prompt. This one’s also gonna have an art attached to it, since I kinda went all out. -shrugs-

Like the last fic, this one’s probably best suited for a teen-rating. It also has slightly more cursing and like the last fic has some mild spoils for Persona 5.

(as for the art, do NOT repost it)

Goro frowned at his notes as he set up the cheap candles he’d picked up half an hour ago, trying his damnedest to make sure none of the candles ended up dumping wax on his cheap carpet. After all, it’d be a bitch to clean off the wax, and the company I’m renting this apartment from will probably want to take my damn soul if I so much as spilled a single drop of wax..

The stressed high-schooler sighed, brushed hair out of his face for the 20th time, and looked over his notes again. So.. here it says I need a sprig of mistletoe.. How inconvenient, I’ve got none, he thought to himself, mentally slapping himself. Goddamn it. Why did I forget to get that.. ugh... It’s literally key to his mythological lore, and yet my tired ass forgot it!

Guess I’ll have to use something else as a replacement, Goro thought to himself, having to brush yet more of his too-long hair out of his face again as he shook his head in self-disapproval. The best thing Goro could think of on a whim was, oddly, coffee beans, which were sitting innocently in his kitchen on the counter.

“...Can’t believe I’m using fucking coffee to commune with a supposed trickster god,” Goro groaned aloud, narrowing his eyes at the cheap bag of coffee beans before shaking his head again and getting off his knees to go get it. “This had better work properly or I swear I’m going to chew Mifune-san out for even suggesting this.. Uuuugh... I spent real money for this..”

He swiped the coffee beans off the counter, then a culinary torch he normally only used for attempting crepes, turning off the lights in his tiny kitchen after that. It left only the light coming out of the glass doors leading to the tiny, crappy balcony of his apartment, which wasn’t a lot of light to go off of considering it was April and sundown had already passed. Somehow, though, by a miracle Goro could see just well enough to tell where the candles were.

He had a mat to deposit the chalk dust and coffee beans safely without fucking up the carpet, and now all he had to do was light the 6 crappy candles and deposit everything. The candles went first, bathing the little cleared-out living room area in orange-golden light as more and more of them got lit up. Then he deposited the chalk dust, in a little plastic bag with a corner cut off, forming a circle with vaguely wing-like marks.

In it, he wrote down the characters he thought was supposed to spell out Loki’s name, also in the chalk dust. It seemed a little longer than it was supposed to, but.. Goro was admittedly too tired to try and look up the damn proper words at the moment. He wanted it over with.

The last part was, of course, putting down the coffee beans and injuring himself just enough to deposit blood. That, and according to his notes, he had to make some stupid vow-thing..

“Here we fucking go,” Goro said to himself, scooping up some of the smelly beans and dropping them in the middle, carefully so he didn’t undo the circle and mess up the spell. After brushing more light brown hair out of his face, Goro grabbed a sewing needle off the ground he’d placed earlier, jamming it into his palm with an angry hiss and holding it above the coffee bean offering. He didn’t want to watch this part, so he squeezed his eyes shut, reciting the lines he’d practiced at least what had to be a hundred times over the past week and a half.

God, did Goro’s stomach feel pretty stormy right now..

“I.. I am thou, thou a-art I..” Goro stuttered, feeling his blood dripping off his hand uncomfortably. “F-from the sea of my soul.. I summon you.. I.. I bear the strength of my soul..”

...Crap, what was the rest..?! Damn it, Goro, you’re flubbing it..! he thought briefly, before the rest clicked into place. The needle in his palm got loose, and he hesitantly let go of it, practically hearing it drop against the likely soaked coffee beans.

“U-uh..” he tried again, eventually getting the courage again to speak. “I bear the strength of my soul.. to ascertain all on my own. N-now come to me, Loki!”

Still with his eyes closed, Goro felt the atmosphere of the room change somehow, and what little light he saw seemed to change to a blue-ish color. Goro sensed a foreign warmth a bit where he’d set up his mat, and so he backed away, feeling himself shake as he fumbled for the black towel he’d gotten specifically for the communication attempt. Besides that, he’d used his main hand, his left hand, to do this, so it stung like a bitch the whole time as he awaited whatever result.

...Still, curiosity and a hint of fear struck the tired highschooler’s heart, so he opened one eye to take a peek. The coffee beans and blood had entirely disappeared, and the circle’s color was no longer boring cheap stone white, rather becoming a strangely attractive shade of red and glowing. The candles’ flames actually turned a stark blue, burning in both light and dark shades of it, and most noise had disappeared from the environment, save for Goro’s frightened breathing and the flare of the candles.

...Then, a rush of wind knocked Goro to his bottom, and just like that, a quasi-humanoid being appeared above him. Black feathers fluttered around Goro and on him and his floor, their source being half-feathered wings attached to the humanoid. He found himself gazing into the face of the being, with his eyes seeming to have golden-colored outsides and red irises, and the demon had a sharp, cunning smirk to go with the already distracting eyes.

Besides that, the demon appeared to have black, red-tipped hair that half-hid nubby horns, a dual set of two, one set gold and the other silver, and as for clothes, he seemed to have an armored vest of sorts with a bright red ribbon hung loosely over. He also wore semi-armored gloves, and thin pants with leg armor, with no shoes to speak of. It was a contrast, certainly, to Goro’s simple thrift store nightgown and pants, both of which were more of a mild stormy but light grey and nothing else, save for whatever chalk, wax and blood he’d gotten on himself in the past 10 minutes.

The dark-haired demon chuckled softly, his voice apparently no older than someone Goro’s age.. which felt really weird. Perhaps weirdly attractive, if Goro were being honest to his closeted heart.

“Oh my.. I seem to be a little off-course,” the teenaged demon spoke, floating in midair as if he’d done so his whole life. “It’s not a whole loss, I suppose.. What a cute summoner~.”

Goro felt his cheeks flush at the compliment (or flirt), and he tried to glare at the demon. “Uh, off-course? I’m pretty sure this was intentional on my end. Does the name “Loki” sound a bell?”

Quizzically, the demon’s thick eyebrows furrowed and he tilted his head, his smirk fading into a thin line.

“Loki..? What’re you on about? I’m called Satanael, and I’m as far from a Norse god as can be. A trickster, when I feel like it, but I’m more of a rebel than anything,” the demon introduced, stretching out his arms and smiling. “I can see you wrote my name instead of the intended one.. That’s probably contributing to me being off-course and all.”

Goro looked where Satanael had pointed out, and upon re-reading the kanji the summoning circle currently produced.. It struck Goro that it was, indeed, the wrong goddamn name.

“Fuck my life,” the brunette responded, facepalming. “Now I’m stuck with you, I guess.. First I forget the damned mistletoe and now it turns out I wrote the most incorrect thing of INCORRECT THINGS--”

Satanael seemed to be sweating nervously upon hearing Goro berate himself, and he gently placed a hand on the tired teen’s shoulder.

“Hey, hey, don’t get all worked up. I can already feel your soul wearing itself out faster. Panic only nets you passing out, human. I mean, I’m sure you’d be as cute as a sleeping cat when passed out, but--”

“Off!” Goro yelped, swatting at the demon with his towel. “Get off me, will you?! Can’t I panic in peace around here..?”

“..The circle’s still in effect, so not for a while,” Satanael pointed out, in the most awkward way in the world by using two of his six massive wings that kept poking the curtains of Goro’s sliding glass door. “You wanted assistance, right? You got the rest of the incantation down properly, so you must want help in something, right..?”

“...” Goro sat up properly for once, and he wrapped his hand around his towel, trying to ignore the pound of feathers Satanael shed all over his stupid living room like some cat with too much fur. He needed a second, and it seemed the demon got the memo, magically scooping up his shed feathers and dumping them as the brown-haired novice of a summoner tried to cobble his internal brain back together from the panic disaster mess it was.

Ugh.. Dammit, this is what I get for trying to summon demons by myself, Goro complained internally, nursing his aching hand and watching Satanael trying to clean up his feathers successfully. He’d gotten most of them by the time the stressed teen got back to breathing as if he wasn’t biking at 60 miles an hour, and another self-deprecating thought passed his mind before he’d next opened his mouth. Maybe I should have asked Kitagawa-san to help me out.. He studies stuff like this on his off time for his artwork, so I probably could have gotten the right fucking god instead of a random-ass demon..

“..Hey, Satanael-san? Where were you supposed to be going, anyway?”

With a bundle of feathers in his arms, Satanael turned his head. “Oh, you mean being off-course. Uh, kick the circle, will you? I don’t mind being in the human realm for a bit while we reorganize, yeah? And thanks for the coffee beans. I appreciate the gift, human.”

Goro kicked the circle with his bare foot despite his lingering confusion, and the candles promptly turned back to their usual color, the chalk having gone back to normal. Well, now the coffee beans, blood and needle were gone, but everything else was still right where it was, save for the streak of chalk from Goro’s bare foot.

“Anyways,” the demon continued, “I was off to confront some asshole human who just so happens to be a reincarnation of one of the main “Sin” groups your sort likes to put my kind into. Ah, he doesn’t go by Samael anymore, but that’s the name I knew him by before he decided to up and betray me.”

“..Betray?” Goro questioned. “So why come all the way up here for one measly human anyway?”

“Hrm. Correct yourself to say “falsely powerful” human, friend. That nasty son of a bitch decided to try and give himself a foothold in Japanese politics with so many violations of the point of my movement that I want to punch him back home,” Satanael hissed, the cores of his eyes flashing gold as he dumped the feathers onto Goro’s kitchen counter. “..Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t think you summoning me was a mere accident. You feel a bit like he does.. Only a little.”

“...Huh??” It didn’t quite click to Goro, what Satanael meant, despite something telling Goro a certain bald-headed bastard might’ve been involved.

Satanael gestured to the circle, which still had his name’s characters in it. “I’m not so sure it was coincidence you wrote the name of a particularly rebellious demon, now, is it? I am the very representation of rebelling against authority, at least for some.

I’ve got a few names under my belt, because of it. Some call me “Satan”, since I’ve already rebelled once and gotten kicked out. Others like to call me “Lucifer” or “Helel”, too. But Satanael’s the preferred one. Get my drift?”

“..Wait, go back,” Goro said, standing up off the ground, while still holding onto his towel in his left hand. “A.. A rebel demon? ..W-well, I.. I wanted to rebel against my biological father.. He keeps trying to make me do his dirty work and I have a hell of a time trying to get him off my damn back.”

The teen huffed, and Satanael folded his wings, blowing out Goro’s candles and essentially helping pick up the mess all over the living room floor as the mortal of the pair turned on the kitchen lights again.

Goro opened his fridge to check for food, but was only met with a supply of apples and water bottles, and old leftovers he didn’t feel like trusting to the half-broken microwave he had to get off some sketchy online shop.

“..Uh, just out of curiosity, Satanael, do you eat?”

Kneeling in the middle of the floor with the mat, the demon lord just shrugged. “If coffee comes with it, I have no problem with what you have. I’d prefer you eat something, though. It’d be unbecoming of you to faint in the midst of teenage rebellion-ing your father.”

“Touche,” Goro responded blandly, pulling out the leftovers and a few apples. He also took out a water bottle and his coffee machine, the one other machine besides his alarm clock and his P.A.D. that worked without being too shitty, and he filled up the coffee machine’s water tank. “Oh, also.. I feel like I was rude earlier to you, so I apologize for that. My name is Goro Akechi, by the way. I’d forgotten, almost, to tell you that.”

“..Goro.. I like it,” Satanael chuckled, closing his eyes and smiling cheerfully as he placed Goro’s sewing needle back on the kitchen counter, bloodless. “I.. I suppose a more personable name I normally use while hiding among your kind is Akira. Akira Kurusu.”

“If I may.. have you been in Japan for a long time, before?” Goro asked, quietly, while he looked in the demon lord’s direction. The newly-dubbed Akira simply nodded, but in a wistful way, as his smile shrunk slightly to match.

“I’ve been here once before. Not, well, in your current capital.. but in the country. A little place called Inaba. I once happened to meet Izanami there, right when this other nasty human decided to invoke her power and try to cover the damn place in poisonous Yomi fog, all while I’d been in my human disguise. Let’s just say some humans close to your age a few years back had to put her in her place by summoning her very, very angry former husband.. I didn’t get involved much beyond observation for obvious reasons, really.”

“...” The much too tired teenager didn’t grace the little story with a response, finding it too tiring to follow beyond a basic repeat of legends he’d known since middle school. Well, besides the “Yomi fog” and the familiarity of what Akira may have been talking about.

...Oh, right.. Maybe Akira-san’s speaking about the Inaba fog murders. God, that was a disaster for their police force.. I ended up studying that for my current crappy job..

Reluctantly, Goro tossed the leftover food from the previous night onto a pair of plates, just a split-up beef bowl with noodles, and one plate went into the sketchy microwave, leaving the prep of the coffee. Another quick check of the kitchen yielded sugar and little creamer cups he’d snuck out of the office at work, and Goro turned around again to the demon lord, who had surprisingly ditched the demon form in favor of a mild, unassuming human look, complete with removed shoes already put near the apartment entrance and glasses.

“..A-ah.. Is that what it looks like?” the highschooler asked, instead of what he’d intended to ask. “It’s.. it’s a bit different, to say the least..”

Not to mention, Goro thought privately to himself, the unassuming-ness of this look feels.. cute, almost? The glasses are so nerdy, though.. The hair, though.. it helps balance that nerdiness out.. And he’s pretty tall, even as a normal human..

Akira just smiled slightly at Goro from his spot on the couch, twirling a bit of his now horn-free hair. “Well.. Sometimes, my kind has to regenerate a little at times. Sort of like those “Time Masters” from “Doctor Whom”, or whatever that human show is.

Except I just have roughly the same face, hair and voice every time. I’m halfway through at the moment, so in human terms, I am currently, in both mind and body, 16 years old... again. Does it make you feel more comfortable for me to look like this? You don’t seem too unhappy about it-”

Goro felt his cheeks heat up, and he just tried to not think about how alluring Akira’s new grey eyes looked, instead interrupting Akira in his tracks and turning his tomato-red face away again. “J-just tell me your coffee preference, please.”

“Just a touch of sugar and no creamer,” Akira reported, and the other teen could practically feel the disguised demon lord’s wink being sent in his direction as he grounded up the coffee beans in a bowl with the butt of a nearby hammer.

Dammit.. This’ll be a long however-long-he’ll-be-here, won’t it.. he thought with a frown, silently regretting ever going through with his little demon-summoning plan to ruin Shido’s day. Jeez, and on top of me getting the wrong otherworldly being, I end up with one that’s attractive!! I wish so badly to scream, Goro further thought, feeling his cheeks go on fire as he dumped the ground coffee into its filter, practically slamming the door on the filter hole shut just to snap himself out of it.

Evidently, he now had the craving to just go sit and talk with Akira for awhile instead. Goro was grateful for the stinging pain of his left hand when he grabbed the sugar bowl, grateful for a distraction from his mind’s silly, likely insomnia-caused thoughts. 

Goro shook his head at himself again, sighing as the microwave beeped to indicate the leftovers somehow didn’t get burnt.

I guess I really am wanting to date a demon lord.. Practically inevitable since he’s taken up flirting with me.. I guess this’ll just. Happen. Why not.

---

END

[theboondogglepub]

A Land of Gardens Black. Part 2.

Part 2: The Catte Army that Baps, Far and Away we Travel Still...

What ho, what is this?

You’ve returned to our play? I cannot say I’m surprised I took your breath away. Very well, I can see you thirst for more of this bard! I am not wont to deny audience hunger this hard. Let me restring my lute, and twine my guitar, figure simple words out I can rhythm very far. Yes of course! It is time, and I must not disappoint. I believe our next chapter begins where roads joint. Where was I? Oh yes! It is time we took notice of Cattes. Of stalwart brave fighters who oddly take naps. It is time, I do think, to appraise the Catte army of Baps.

Stare out if you will, and do not miss a thing. Complexities abound when I get ready to sing. You and I see a town, quite the normal seen sight! Though do you share my wonder why they lack any light? Streets awash with people in clutters and slums, nary a working street lamp just rows upon rows of bums? We see here two roads in the middle of town, and two groups on said roads, all sharing in frowns. A blockade on both ends, and two blockaders at that, one group for the Botanist queen, the other sworn to Catte. Let’s look in now, stay quiet! You don’t want them to hear! Perhaps a bit of eavesdropping with make things more clear.

“I demand passage!” He cried out in the direction of a conifer tree, tapping his cane on the cobbled path as he walked into town. “I have a message for her Lady of Cattes! It is quite important!” The blindfold he wore made seeing the blockade of Her Lady of Botanist Divinity hard to see, not that it mattered as he still was aways from the road yet. “I am Aster of Chants! A monk sent by our Lady of Divine Pure White! The Botanist Queen Herself!” He bumped into a light pole, and demanded audience with it. “It is imperative she hear this right away!” While Aster chats with a light pole, let us see what else is happening.

“What do you mean I cannot cross? I have friends over there! This is absurd!” At the borderline stood stalwart a woman of impressive strength and azure hair. On her person she hefted her shield, her sword, her backpack, her friends backpacks, a water heater, a steer, a baby carriage, half of a tree (the best half, if you were wondering), exactly three uneaten pies, and a loaf of pumpernickel bread, all tied together into a fashioned backpack of sorts made of rope. Her eyes glared at the men and women that guarded the border, their pristine white uniforms opposite the enemy border watch in black uniforms that guarded the other side of the street. An enemy watch that was… exactly 10 fulms away from them, facing the other direction.

“We are sorry Lady Braum the Azure Knight, but there is nothing we can do.”The pristine white uniformed man said. “It is the Botanist Queen’s orders that no one travel beyond this street. There are rumors and more than rumors that a war is about to break out, and we must be ready. It is for your own good that no one be allowed to cross.” The white uniformed person told the azure knight of absurd encumbrance.

“Hah! You would say that you white uniformed dog! I spit on your mother’s grave and speak to your father about your crass language! HMPH! It is the Queen of Botanists that sways and grows ever dangerous!” Exactly 10 fulms away from them, a black uniformed soldier turned ever so slightly to throw his insult. It wasn’t a very good one.

“How DARE you!” The white uniformed soldier replied. “I will see you to fisticuffs on the battlefield, you Catte soldier confederate! You, you, you… MEWLING!” That last insult drew an audible gasp from everyone present. Ashe, Azure Knight of impressible mettle and bizarre encumbrance, remained at her side and waited. She would be waiting a while.

Meanwhile on the other side of the blockade,  exactly 10 fulms away a small group of travelers sought passage. Most of these travelers were heavily cloaked, however one… “HURRR you cannot do this to me! Do you know who I am?” A beefy shirtless man stood staring down his side of the blockade, blond beard bristling. “I am the second greatest Dragoneer, second greatest lover, second greatest puncher, wine-taster, dead-lifter of weights, and skipper of stones and coins. Why, were I not a peaceful and negotiable man just trying to sell people on the fine art of shirtlessness! I would show you the strength that has been passed down my family line for gene-” Just then he was interrupted.

“Heeeeeey,” A singular voice clamored accusatory, surly, feminine and quite direct. It was a voice that echoed high in the streets, demanding attention and notice. It was Z’ylarix of Fire, and she strode upon a steed/chocobo/chair/bear/owl combination. For you see, Z’ylarix of fire used everything, and rode everything, all at once. “I see you there. Don’t deny it! You will come with me this instance! There is no escape, not any more for deserters like you!” Striding forward atop a, for the sake of convenience we’ll call it a ‘mount’, from the direction leading into town, Z’ylarix of Fire pointed her sword/dagger/staff/knife/other dagger weapon (To be fair, it is quite impressive despite its odd name) down on the well-cloaked crowd. She called someone in particular out, but whom it was not yet quite known. “It is time you came with me!” One of the cloaked figures broke out from the crowd, and began making a mad dash away, only to be caught in Z’ylarix’ patented net/ropes/trap/box/assortment of trinkets that was thrown by the dark rider herself. “There is no escape! The Admiral demands it!” From there, the netted body and Z’ylarix rode away.

After a travel, large and imposing black gates open and creak, and the room beyond requires much of me to speak. It is wide in its scope, and tall in its lift, and in threw Z’ylarix the man known as the agent of Grift. Still in a bag, and the bag in a net, you’d be wise to consider his death a safe bet. The Grifter did shuffle, did sway and crawl out, only to look on at his peers with a definitive pout. He wore an eyepatch, and another on top. Another and another which all shuffled with a hop. Let us hear in and see what this meeting does bring, perhaps more revelations upon which I will sing.

“SO,” She scowled, and we shall get into who she is quite quickly, for now her face is covered in a black mask. “The MAD PATCHER! Made any eyepatches lately?! Or perhaps… CONSPIRED WITH THE ENEMY?!” She, the Admiral of Cattes and Lord of the Gardens Black, stood up and slammed her rifle onto the table, letting it lay there as an object of imposing fear. Under her black mask, the Lady of Cattes twitched her cat ears, and flicked her cat tongue, and scratched her cat nails along the table. She wore red sewn with red stitching, red fangs on her black mask, and red draped on her cloak. She wasn’t grand, but imposing, commanding the room.

The Mad Patcher replied. “Oi don't nu waaat yer are blatherin' aboyt.” He spoke an eclectic… accent? Speech pattern? He.. did he even speak? Or was it some form of grunting? “Al' oi want is for peace among de people. dat is al', perhaps we can reach a resolushun? wud yer care for an mince pie patch?” The Mad Patcher was called so for his abundance of eyepatches. He wore an eyepatch on an eyepatch, and another on top. He wore patches on his shirts, on his pants and on his boots. He wore patches on his fluffy Catte ears, and it was rumored he was once a time ago a sailing Corsair of some type. Now he was just the Mad Patcher. If there was a thing that required a patch, the Mad Patcher was there, ready to patch.

The Black masked Queen of Cattes was having none of it. The Admiral of Cattes took out another gun (this one more a derringer), and shot the Mad Patcher in the shoulder, causing him to wince and bend. She laid that gun out on the table next to her first. “WHAT SAY YOU my COUNCIL? He has chosen his side. Shall we show what happens to those who do not choose correctly?!” The Admiral of Cattes looked on her council, and waited to hear their wisdom.

To the Admiral’s left was Kai Aries, the astoundingly cute. She wore pink sweaters and frills, and pink ribbons on the frills. Pink bows on her ribbons and pink tassels on her bows. She was small, but not tall, and had big eyes but no tail. She had cat ears, and wore a pair of cat ears behind her cat ears. Kai Aries was known for her resounding style, and also her battle precision. Kicker of groins, there was not a foe downed by her that didn’t wheeze for days after. Men feared her kicks, women feared how her kicks could hurt so bad, and her allies feared naught but being dressed up in pink on a whim. To deny Kai’s proclivities of dressing people outside of the Admiral in garb meant... well, you can guess it. Yup. A kick to the groin. She gave a thumbs down. “The Patcher did not let me patch his pants pink. I say punish him.”

Past Kai Aries sat Catherina of the Lynx, and in her shadows peered out from pure darkness the eyes of 1000 cattes. Not a simple thaumaturge, she was a black mage. More than a black mage, her every shadow was pitched in darkness, and in each shadow a pair of catte eyes glowered out from. In the curves of her form fitting gowns, in the crease of her bent knee, under the brim of her hat. Catte eyes. She sat bored, reading a book laid inside another book inside yet a third book. “Oh? Him? I suppose yes. He should be punished. Go ahead.” Each word Catherina spoke was echoed by meows coming from everywhere and nowhere, and as she finished speaking she returned to her book. Disinterested.

Beyond Catherina was the Mookie of Boolie, a large buxom creature of insectoid and feline nature and elusive dangerous beauty. Not quite a wasp, nor butterfly, nor a caterpillar, not a catte, the Mookie of Boolie was at once a little of many differing insects, and sat upon a tufted mushroom of multitude vibrant colors. She smoked a pipe, blowing out idly as she observed the Admiral’s rage. Hailing from the land of Boolie, Mookie was the ruler of the distant realm on the edge of the Garden’s Black. She ruled for she was the greatest of her species, the Queen of Boolie, and all respected her and the hard earned title. Mookie slowly piped out several circles, blowing an arrow through each expertly. “Not lewd enough for my taste. I vote punish him. Humble the egotistical fool.” Her words cut through the smoke rings, an air of dominance through them all.

Lastly to the Admiral of Catte’s right sat, or more so loomed, the shadow of Aifread. I say and emphasize shadow as Aifread did not speak, did not possess shape, did not do more than loom dangerously. Her shadow cast 15 fulms high behind her, but where the shadow originated from, nothing sat. Just a spectre with flickering cat ears. Long did rumors circulate that Aifread was nothing more than a simple Catte once, much like many of the denizens of the Garden’s Black. Other gossip placed her as a pool of liquid shadow that did the dark biddings of her dark Admiral of Cattes. Still others said Aifread was once a normal though affluently wealthy Catte, yet bought herself the right to cease to exist, thus becoming a shadow of ill-intent. Whichever was true was little known, what was known however, was she was easily distracted. Sitting to the Admiral’s right, the shadow of Aifread, again merely a shadow near 15 fulms tall, noticed a mouse and pounced. The Admiral of Catte’s regarded Aifread. “Well? Which way do you sway on the matter?” With the reminder given, Aifread, again a massive cast shadow of a creature, pointed down. Her vote was given.

“VERY WELL,” The Admiral of Catte announced her decision, laying yet a third gun on the table with a slam. This one a drum magazine style tommy-gun. “You, Mad Patcher shall be punished for your impunity! I declare the punishment as… DEATH!” Having said that, the Admiral of Catte’s leveled her fourth gun drawn from her coat, this one a sniper rifle with a solid oak stock, and fired. POOSH went the bullet, and the Mad Patcher fell over in a slump, shot right between the eyes. Dead.

Minutes passed, and a conversation about changing the curtains to a shade to match the new season began. They decided on paisley. Then, “UUUUUUHHHH” The Mad Patcher inhaled sharply. “T- Tanks me queen .” He said, barely understood.

“Now, think about why I killed you next time you go and do something stupid Mad Patcher. To the dungeon with him! I demand he be killed at least 5 times before breakfasts, and 15 more before dinner for the next two sennight!” With the Admiral’s declaration, black uniformed guards stepped up to, picked up, and carried the Mad Patcher away. “And no desert for him! The delinquent!”

Now we have seen a bit more of the cast, and yet the third still waits to be shown at last. We have met Aster of Chants and Ashe the encumbered, but what of the rest who are still as of yet unnumbered? What of Locke of the Tin, or Maeze of the paths, or Kayne the pure or of Lulu of Crafts? What of Naih the quite strange, or Anhashy the bold, what of all of the clans of Blacke who hail from the cold? We’ll meet them all soon, and more I do swear, I just have to muster the desire to care. What is that you say friend, there is story to tell you must hear? Yes, I believe we’ll begin again when the tune once again finds my ear. Just time to rest, that is all I do ask, soon once again in my tale you all will bask.

[kronecker-delta]

A Short Nier: Automata Crossover Snippet

Some superhero crossover ideas I’ve seen recently reminded me of something I'd been tossing around. Mostly as the attempt to write something generally humorous and just fun for a change but also involving Superheroes. And I mean quite a bit more lighthearted than most anything else I've taken a swing at. (That and the recent Scooby Doo crossovers last year reminded me of this show.)

Nier: Automata/Batman: Brave and the Bold

Things were about as bad as they could get. Or so she had thought.

"At last," Brainiac, that evil testament to the technological prowess of Colu and the Computer Tyrants thereof, shouted loudly. "With this last component my trans-spatial booster is now complete. No longer will I need to painstakingly hack individual systems one at a time. Through this device I could take control of every piece of technology on an entire planet. From the simplest kitchen appliance to even crude automata such as yourselves."

White would have been more insulted, but after the last four months of captivity on her own station she'd grown rather used to the constant rain of abuse the green skinned alien robot levied against any and all he saw as inferior. Though she at least didn't have to suffer alone.

A pair of apparently younger girls, identical in appearance like those long discontinued twin models, were held in a glass prison much like her own.

"Serves them right for siding with this mad man in return for whatever paltry knowledge he had offered them."

Her hands clenched tight, thinking about how this had only been so easy for mechanical monster before her because of other more personal betrayals. The Terminals had only been able to offer Brainiac information on the Bunker's backdoor and the opening it gave to the rest of the Android networks because those security weak points had been pre-installed. Though it did give her some small satisfaction to see them as they now were, their once impossibly vast and amorphous meta-data entities forced into material shells by some strange whim of Earth's new master.

All she could figure is that he must have liked collecting things. That alone didn't shock her as much. Her old partner in the Resistance had had her odd interests after all, much like some YoRHa members had with mechanical fish.

"I can only hope she's still alive. Along with all the rest."

After Brainiac had shut down the Army of Humanity's defenses he'd sequestered the higher consciousness of the machine networks and taken over all the machines that hadn't yet disconnected once they realized what was happening. She knew many had survived his take over, but with the advanced alien technology he had to equip them with it hardly mattered. Within weeks newly operational Brainiac Battlebots built to his specifications were enforcing his will across both light and dark sides of the Earth.

The now enslaved Androids and Machines forced to work side by side with their millennia long enemies under the watchful gaze of Brainiac's forces and their over-sized plasma cannons. Though it looked like whatever he had had them gathering materials for was now complete.

Which probably wasn't a good thing.

"You have completed your work here Brainiac," the Terminals said, voices synced together. "Given your previous statements of intent on acquiring advanced technology I fail to see what you gain by remaining here."

"Unfortunately for you the value of the knowledge I possess is inversely related to how many others know it as well. This will sadly require your... elimination." Brainiac's smile clearly should how false any sympathy his words might have implied really was. "But do not despair. Your world will have the honor of serving as the first test of my new weapon."

"But why?" White asked. "You've already acquired everything from our data servers."

"I may have read them yes. But this device can also be used to write."

"No... he can't mean-"

Brainiac had already turned back towards the enormous console that dominated the control room. Pulling levers as a low whine began to build, the draw from the stations fusion reactors growing greater as it prepared to activate. "Yes, as I'm sure you've realized by now your world presents a perfect opportunity for this device to be used for this purpose. In mere minutes every computer system will be overwritten with my own programming. Granting me an army of drones ready to conquer new worlds for the glory of Brainiac!"

She looked to her side and saw a similar expression of horror on the faces of the Terminal twins. The dawning dread that came upon them as the realized that they and all on the world below them would become pale copies of this insane alien tyrant in his demented quest to consume all knowledge in the cosmos.

The seconds ticked away as the time before their annihilation and 'replacement' narrowed to a razor's edge. All hope seemed lost as he flipped the final switch.

Only for a reprieve from oblivion to impact in the form of an explosive bolt detonating the computer console in a shower of sparks and metal shrapnel.

The cloud of smoke and debris had only only just begun to disperse when Brianiac screamed out in rage. "Who dares interfere with my experiment? Which of you misguided scrap heaps from the ruined world below would court death by challenging I, the most advanced synthetic life form in the universe?!"

His response was another explosive projectile, this one impacting against a shield of green energy he summoned before his body. Up above, the source could be discerned in the glare of the red emergency lights that had come on. A solitary figure perched on the walkway above.

"Is this all? I shouldn't be surprised that so few of you would embrace such futility. But I would have thought even beings of your limited intellect would recognize how futile such a limited force would be."

"Damn, you do like to hear yourself talk don't you?" The interloper had a woman's voice and a rough tone to it. White could almost swear it sounded vaguely familiar.

Such thoughts were pushed aside as Brainiac extended a battery of tentacles from his back, issuing forth a barrage of green energy blasts to rain down on the target of his fury. They began running to the left, their form obscured by the fire retardant gases now being pumped out. With a great leap the jumped from the upper walkway down to the floor before, rolling into a ready stance with their weapon aimed towards the alien robot. Some sort of improvised crossbow by the looks of it, an odd if not utterly unknown weapon to use.

Though the outfit was the more shocking element. Their head and hair covered by a red cloak, and from the shadows that obscured their face she could see that a matching mask lay under it over their eyes. Aside from that it looked like they'd cobbled together a little of any and every weapon they could find. A bandoleer of more explosives on their chest, a damaged pod system carried on one side and satchel on the other.

The lack of melee weapons made it likely they weren't one of YoRHa coming to rescue her. Not that that didn't surprise her. Brainiac had saw no reason not to reveal the fate of Humanity to his new slaves during one of his many gloating monologues about the poor inferior creations he had come to grant new purpose to.

While she didn't know the identity of their rescuer, Brainiac did not seem to share that problem. "Now I recognize you. You're that irritant that's been bombing my construction sites recently? The self-styled Android Avenger going by the messages you choose to etch into my drones after you destroyed them? Ha, I shouldn't be surprised that automatons built to be so...human would express such contemptible patterns of behavior when placed under the right amount of stress."

"You got that right. I've been under a lot of stress since you came here and started screwing things up." They stepped slowly to the side, though for what purpose White could not tell. They were caught out in the open and it was clear that Brainiac's weapons and defense were far superior to what they had. Which made the cocky smile they now had all the more surprising. "But then that's why I didn't come here alone."

A sextet of projectiles impacted then. Smaller explosions that did even less damage as Brainiac lifted his arms to block them. But clearly further enraging him as he turned to face the newest intruder.

Only to take a step back at whatever he saw.

"I-Impossible!"

"You're technological tyranny is at an end Brainiac! There's cell waiting for you on Oa after we shut you down for good."

"Batman! How could you possibly follow me here?!"

"You must have had even more screws loose when you reassembled your new body if you think I would let you pilfer and plague another dimension." This one glided down from even further above, having entered through a maintenance duct, landing opposite the android from before. A more professional costume, though the lack of clear armament disturbed her. Whoever this Batmannwas, they didn't seem to be prepared at all. "Surrender now and maybe you'll get off in two or three millennia for good behavior."

The tendrils moved, taking aim at both of them. "I think I will have to decline your offer. But once I've had my revenge on the Kryptonian and put your Gotham into my collection I'll be sure to stop by there. The destruction of the Green Lanterns will be quite easily done with my new weapon."

Another barrage of batarangs, these stopped by Brainiac's shield. Suspended in the air. "I assumed as much. Criminals like you never come quietly."

Before White could quite wrap her mind around the idea that a world conquering AI was being referred to as something as pedestrian as a criminal, Brainiac spoke. "I'm well aware of your tricks Batman. These batarangs would administer a concentrated shock, likely to allow your ally to damage me when my shields go down. A easily seen ploy."

The batarangs did indeed activate into a shower of sparks. Quickly arching not just onto the shield but through it. Brainiac crying out in alarm as he reeled back. Then in even greater pain as the explosive bolts struck his back, shredding the energy firing tentacles off.

"I expected as much Brainiac, which was why I first detonated particulate silver into the air around you."

"Hey, could you stop showing off how clever you are and stick to the plan?" Android Avenger shouted above the chaos, already reloading their weapon.

"Of course. No time for lengthy banter when the fate of the world is at stake," Batman said, rushing forward and landing upper cut that sent the still stumbling tyrant into the air and was accompanied by the sound of thunder. "My Nth metal shock bracers should wear you down in time."

The rising hope that had begun to fill White was quickly dashed as Brainiac caught Batman's hands in his own. "Or it would if I had not further upgraded my body since our last conflict. You should have stayed on your Earth Batman. At the very least you could have spent your last moments with your fellow humans instead of dying here to protect the freedom of so many aimless machines."

"He's human?!"

"That's where you're wrong Brainiac. Human, alien, or even android; freedom is the right of all sapient beings and my responsibility as a hero to protect it. Besides," Batman said as he jumped up and planted his feet on Brainiac's chest, "I already knew the Nth metal wouldn't work."

Whatever else Brainiac might have said was lost in the roar of light and sound that followed. White having to look away less her optic sensors burn out as the intensity grew ever greater.

When it at last dimmed, Brainiac lay there motionless. A half meter hole burned through his chest while the Android Avenger let a smoking (and now slightly melting) energy rifle fall from her grip.

Batman reached down, depressing a button on Brainiac's head and pulling a small triangular chip out before sliding it into a specialized compartment on his utility belt. "And that will hold you until I can get in contact with Hal Jordan. Or Guy Gardner..."

"Did you really believe it would be that easy Batman?"

This time the voice came from all around them, the systems of the station itself speaking in the mad Ai's voice.

"Of course. Even if they've secured the hardcopy of his consciousness data he'd likely have backup on the local server synced up with it."

They've done next to nothing, as the machine began to charge up again, preparing for it's lethal blast to all Machine and Android life.

"Of course not Brainiac. I knew a mind as twisted and evil as yours would always have some last plan for Pyrrhic victory."

"There will be nothing Pyrrhic after I rewrite the minds of your ally and all the others to be copies of my own."

Batman moved quickly, burning through access panel on the colossal contraption of evil and revealing intricate circuitry therein.

"Android Avenger, do you have neodymium coupler?"

"Yes just give me a-shit, I think I burned my hands," she said, running over to Batman and handing him the part he'd asked for. "Wouldn't it be easier to just blow this thing to hell?"

"Unfortunately not. It's already built up enough charge to effect everyone here and would likely go off during the explosion. So," he reached in welding some small device from his utility belt inside along with the part he'd asked for, "I've created an alternative solution."

"Your compassion for this creations has only doomed this entire world and yourself Batman. The signal booster is already charged! I will savor watching your demise at my new army."

It did indeed trigger, a pulse of static and EMP that dropped White to her knees, prepared for the inevitable.

And then nothing.

Actually nothing at all.

"What?! The device worked perfectly? Why do I not have control over anything?"

"I rewired your booster to send most of the signal into a parallel universe with modified transpatial oscillator. The remainder would have still reformated any memory system to a blank slate... except I took a detour and wired your signal through the laser communications hub you were using to send orders down to the surface."

"Did you hear that you jerk? You just wiped the systems for all the drones you'd built!"

"I will not tolerate this! I will not accept this!"

*Reactor malfunction, please evacuate.*

With the clear signs of Brainiac's self-destruct coming, their rescuers wasted no time. Rushing over to the prisons and swiftly blasting an opening in both. White wasn't sure how to feel about the supposed human rescuing the once leaders of the Machine Network, but she didn't have much time to think about it. Her own departure was swift, panicked, and ended with her being held tightly against a modified flight unit that someone had painted red and black as they plummeted through the Earth's atmosphere. The Bunker detonating behind them.

Their arrival on the surface came with a celebration, numerous Androids from both the resistance and YoRHa among their number. And even Machines as well, all welcoming the return of the heroes that they'd known to be attacking Brainiac before he could complete his scheme.

"Are you alright White?"

That brought her attention back to the one closest to her, the so-called Android Avenger. Who...

"Jackass?"

"Yeah, well after that alien jerk showed up I sort of went underground trying to come up with a plan to rescue you. And I-"

"You got the idea for this from those human comic books you used to read, didn't you?"

"Hey! It worked, didn't it?"

After months of captivity, fear, and no small amount of personal pain as Brainiac quite literally picked her brain until he decided she no longer had anything useful to give him, White didn't feel like arguing. If Jackass's unconventional plan had saved her life, all their lives, she would accept that.

Of course acceptance mere acceptance wasn't the reason she decided to show her gratitude in that moment with an embrace that definitely violated some of YoRHa's policies regarding fraternization.

Kissing wasn't specified of course, but certainly violated the spirit of the rules. Not that she'd ever really bothered to enforce those in general.

"Ah-hem."

She turned to see Batman standing there, the Terminals at his side.

"We have decided in light of the possibility of another alien or extra-dimensional aggressor like Brainiac that the current suspension of hostilities should be extended. Perhaps indefinitely."

White nodded, not sure that she trusted herself to say anything coherent in response to that.

"Once you have established global communications with the other Android forces we would like to negotiate this deal in greater detail. Until then we must leave. The damage Brainiac has done to our systems was substantial and will take some time to repair."

And with that they turned and left. Along with the human, Batman, who had already started making his way towards Android woman wearing glasses nearby.

"Wait! Batman," White said, a hundred if not a thousand questions coming to mind. About him, his world, the monster that had attacked them, about humans; before settling on something that she realized would bother her the most if she didn't get an answer. "The signal Brainiac created, you said you sent most of it to a parallel Earth. Doesn't that just mean he'll take over their technology, whatever it might be?"

"You don't have to worry about that. I sent it to Earth-20-2. Caveman Earth. Their most advanced technology are flint tools."

Before she could ask him anything else he, and the Android with glasses that had come to stand beside him, vanished in brief flash of light and the oddest absence of sound.

***

Bat-Files: Earth 4-65, Far Future Android/Machine Civilization Active Heroes; Alias: Android Avenger, Real Name: Jackass (Note, this is not another alias. Names chosen by individual, likely personal meaning.) Powers: No meta-human abilities, but all Androids are stronger than a normal human. She also possess considerable skills in guerrilla warfare, use of and construction of explosives, as well as the advanced sciences native to her reality. Allegiance/Relationships: Army of Humanity, Android Resistance, centered around Japan (though originally from Australia according to personal history). Close relationship with Commander of Android Special Forces YoRHa. Reliability: Acceptable (more so than Booster Gold certainly), consider proposing for probationary membership within JL Temporal/Extra-Dimensional division.

***

( I modeled the general idea after the intro shorts on Brave and the Bold. Where Batman would team up with characters that make rather little sense on the whole. Why is Batman storming the beaches of Normandy with GI Robot, flying around in space with Space Ghost, or saving President Lincoln from assassination at the mechanical hands of a robotic John Wilkes Booth?

He just is.

As for this scenario, I thought the funniest idea would be to have Jackass take the role of native 'hero' for him to team up with. Partially from some earlier yet unfinished humorous stuff I had about her liking old world comic books.)