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ninja-go-to-therapy · 7 months ago

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I Work Hard to Make This Treehouse a Treehome

kinda crack but kinda angst idk ive had this in the drafts for 7 months and just finished it rn so

ao3

Summary: Branch and Archer get high and bond over their complicated relationships with their shitty brothers.

2125 words

The adrenaline was leaving his system.

The last three days had been nonstop insanity, from the very moment John Dory crashed the wedding. Even before that, preparations for said wedding had been an intense affair.

Branch was exhausted, and the adrenaline couldn’t keep him going anymore.

It couldn’t keep him pumped up anymore, either.

For a good portion of the adventure, Branch had almost been excited. His brothers were finally back in his life, and he actually wanted them there. He wanted to be a family again, and he was actually getting his wish.

He thought it was what he wanted. But now things had calmed down, and his brothers were in the bunker, and he felt like there were fire ants under his skin.

He thought he wanted them here. Nothing had happened to make him change his mind, but he just… he just couldn’t handle this.

He couldn’t handle Bruce casually making a pot of coffee. He couldn’t handle Clay’s appreciation of his home. He couldn’t handle Floyd’s exhausted smiles, and he sure as hell couldn’t handle John Dory’s… everything.

Everything they did only irritated him further. Every kind word, every appreciative hum. He wanted to scream. He wanted to throw a tantrum like he was a trolling again, rolling on the floor and lashing out at anyone who got in the way.

Of course, that would only further their teasing of him. As much as Branch reminded them that he was a grown up (because they’d missed his childhood, they’d abandoned him and they’d missed it, and they couldn’t just come back and pretend he was the same little kid they’d left), they didn’t stop. Not really. Floyd was the only one who didn’t particularly tease him, and somehow that frustrated him too.

Everything they did. Everything they didn’t do. He didn’t know why, but his wire was fraying, and he was terrified that he would snap at any second.

He couldn’t handle this.

He wanted them out. He wanted them to leave again, to go back to their stupid lives without him, he wanted them to hate themselves forever for what they’d done.

He wanted to hate them.

It was all too much, it was all so confusing. He didn’t know how to handle all of this.

His first thought: talk to Poppy. His second: no, she’d only tell him to work things out by communicating. He didn’t want to communicate. He wanted to rot somewhere where nobody would question him, or tease him, or do nothing but exist and still manage to get him wound up.

He loved Poppy more than anything, but he was worried that if he saw her right now, he’d only blow up at her, too. He needed to get out. He needed to distance himself from all of this until he could clear his head.

But the bunker was his only safe space. He couldn’t go to any of his friends — they meant well, but he worried they’d be too much for him right now, too. Not to mention that his friends were Poppy’s friends, and they’d never be able to lie to her.

He didn’t want to lie to her. He just… needed some time alone.

Where could he go that she wouldn’t immediately find him? Where could he go that he wouldn’t be questioned or judged?

It wasn’t like anyone else in the village could possibly understand something like this.

He mulled that over for a moment, because actually… there just might be someone.

It only took a minute or two after knocking on the door of Archer Pastry’s house — built in the base of a tree trunk — for it to swing open. He was wearing his usual spiked vest, which looked a little less intimidating with the pins and patches that the village had gifted him after he'd officially become a citizen. He was fairly certain at least half of them were from Poppy.

“Uh… hey?” Archer offered, giving him a confused look. Branch couldn’t blame him. While they were friends, they weren’t really the… hang out one-on-one, seek each other out specifically kind of friends. Archer, much like Branch, preferred to take things at his own speed, more the type to lurk at the edge of a party than join in on the dance floor.

He was probably the only person Branch could handle seeing right now that wouldn’t make him snap completely.

“Hey,” he parroted, awkwardly waving. He was starting to regret this already. It was weird to show up like this! They weren’t that close! And yet his feet were rooted to the forest floor. He wasn’t going anywhere. He certainly wasn’t going back to the bunker. “Can I um… can I come in?”

Archer’s body blocked the doorway, but he moved back, stiffly granting Branch access to his home. He’d never actually been here. Archer, though an honorary troll, was a bit similar to him. They both valued their privacy quite a bit.

“So is everything… okay?” Archer asked, not quite making eye contact, which was perfectly fine with him.

“I just…” he sighed. “I needed somewhere to go for — I dunno. Maybe a few hours or a few…” his chest seized. “I needed somewhere to go.”

“And you came to me instead of Poppy?” He asked, one eyebrow raised as he led his impromptu guest to the couch.

Branch shrugged helplessly.

“Eh, okay. I mean, I didn’t really have any plans today other than like… lazing around, so. Er… did you wanna, like… talk about it?” He looked uncomfortable at the idea, his face wrinkled in distaste.

He shook his head, and Archer sighed in relief. “Oh, good. I’m not really good with all this… mushy gushy stuff you trolls are so fond of.”

Branch chuckled somewhat. “You and me both. That’s… kind of why I’m here? Poppy would just tell me it’s okay to have feelings or something. Which, you know, is great and all, but not really what I’m looking for right now.”

His host nodded. “Yeah, that girl can be a lot.” A beat passed. “So, anyway… bathroom is that door there, and uh… help yourself to whatever you can find in the kitchen? Except the brownies. Don’t — don’t touch the brownies.” He slapped his knees, standing up. “Cool, well… I’m gonna go back to bed. If you need anything just… guess.”

“Guess?” he asked, a bit put off by the idea of looking through another person’s home.

“‘s not like I have any personal shit,” he shrugged. “I’ll wake back up in an hour or two… probably. Goodnight.”

It was quite definitely not nighttime, but Branch wasn’t in a position to judge. In fact, being all alone in a nice, quiet place was exactly what he needed right about now.

He got comfortable on the couch, closing his eyes and taking a few deep, calming breaths. He was starting to relax already.

About two hours later, Archer had woken up, and offered some of those brownies he’d mentioned before. Apparently they had some weird party crasher drug kind of like the weed trolls had, but Branch was curious enough to try one. They had been a bit stronger than he was anticipating.

“If your brother came back,” Branch said, gripping onto the side of the couch, as if he was unbalanced, “would you like… let him?”

Archer’s previously relaxed expression wrinkled into one of sour distaste. “Ugh, no way. I hate that guy… you know he helped me pick the name Kaboom, and then he wouldn’t even use it?”

“That is so older brother of him,” he grumbled, glaring at the floor. “Mine pretty much exclusively call me some variation of Bitty B.”

Archer blinked at him. “I didn’t know you had brothers.”

He fell to the side, wrapping himself around the arm-rest he was already clinging onto. “I didn’t,” he said, miserable and glassy-eyed. “They left me when I was a baby.” He sniffled, hugging the couch like it could possibly hug back.

Archer considered this for a moment before snapping lazily, pointing to his friend. “Kill them.”

Branch hiccuped a dry sob. “Can’t… just went on a life-endangering adventure to keep one of them from dying…”

“Oh, is that where you and Poppy disappeared to last week?”

He nodded, cheek scraping against the couch. “Floyd is the only one who said he’d come back,” he said miserably, “he swore he would. Twenty years later and I only see him again because someone else ropes me into a rescue mission for him. At least the others didn’t lie! I hate him but he just died — literally died in my arms — so I should just forgive him, right? That’s what the others would say…”

“I say this with all the love in my bitter little heart… the pop trolls have a bit of a toxic positivity problem sometimes.”

Branch looked at him in surprise.

“I mean, it could be worse. Then again, the several months I spent in that… “fungeon” made me want to rip my hair out. I don’t even have hair. Do you ever think about that? Like, how jealous would you be if other species could literally manipulate their hair and you don’t even have any…” he trailed off, seemingly remembering who he was talking to. “Oh, yeah. Anyways, just cause some guy died doesn’t mean you have to be nice to him.”

“He’s not just some guy,” he clarified, “he’s my brother.”

Archer stared at him in silence. “You have brothers?”

“Didn’t I just say that?”

He thought for a moment. “I think you did… sorry, when I get high I’m kinda… you know.”

Branch nodded. “The floor is moving.”

“Sure bud. So your brothers suck, welcome to the club I guess.”

“I mean, they do. But they’re better, I think. I don’t know… I want them back in my life, I just… I want to scream when I look at them.”

Archer tipped his head back, resting on the edge of the couch. “Let it out, bro. What’s the damage?”

He couldn’t help himself from opening up. He explained the entire history of Brozone, and even his grandma and her death. Archer didn’t particularly react, and if Branch didn’t know any better, he’d almost think he was asleep. But every few minutes, he would nod, or make a little noise of acknowledgement without interrupting. It was nice.

“They don’t even want to be here,” he said once he’d finished explaining the Mount Rageous situation. “That whole argument… they all want to go back to their lives. Without me. But I threw a fit, and now they’re here. I think… I don’t think they would have done all of this if it had been me instead of Floyd.” he sniffled, tears beginning to trickle down his cheeks. “I hate them so much. But at the same time I just want — I just want my family back.”

“I really hope you’re not expecting me to have any advice, because we did literally… blow up my brother. So…”

“I wish I could blow up mine.”

“Do it,” he agreed with a flippant wave. “Super therapeutic.”

Branch groaned. “I can’t. I just want to punch them all in their stupid faces — but then they’ll leave. I want them gone, but I also really don’t. I hate this.”

“Have you tried yelling at them a bunch?”

“About what?”

“I dunno. Your feelings. If you can’t punch them with fists, punch them with guilt for ruining your life and not even coming back for you. At least they would probably feel bad about it.”

“Still can’t believe Bash had no remorse.”

“Bitch, you’re telling me! Lemme tell you about this one time…”

They sat there for a long time, exchanging stories back and forth. Branch didn’t even realize just how long they’d been talking until he glanced out the window, surprised to find it dark outside. He’d spent almost the whole day here!

“I should get home,” he said, standing from the couch and stretching, his back popping.

“Right,” Archer agreed, joining him on his feet and shuffling over to the door, swinging it open. Before Branch could leave, though, he stopped him one more time. “If you wanna like… come over again sometime… or something. That could be. Nice?” He looked away. “Sorry, I’m not really good at this whole… friends thing.”

Branch found himself actually smiling, which was a massive improvement from his mood this morning. “Well, from one loner to another, I think you’re doing pretty well for yourself. See you later?”

As he walked home, he knew that his issues with his brothers wouldn’t magically be resolved. But… he did feel a little lighter. And for now, that was enough.

#kat writes #trolls fanfic #trolls #dw trolls #trolls branch #archer pastry #trolls the beat goes on #trolls tbgo #fanfic #brozone

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randomsporefacts · 4 months ago

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more on that cool AssembledContent zip

theres no cut creations in buildings or vehicles seemingly, but there sure are a heck of a lot of early names. though i need to do a post delving into them more deeply than this later

the exact thing that led me to finding out about the zip is that Oobergrowb used to be named UberGroB!

and they pointed out the fact that grob, as you might now, is the early/internal grox name (the B wasnt capitalized though) so theres an apparent grox relation here!

and on a related note. Alabyew is still named the same here as in final, but i just realised it kind of reads like "i love you"? this is adjacent to the werkin sondee = workin on sunday discovery.

turns out some lowercase names that were lowercase in some other languages were also like that in AssembledContent, like how ildeeni and oooooppphh were named like that in swedish. theyre named like that in AssembledContent too!

though this isnt the case for Maj, where both of them are just spelled Maj in AssembledContent. swedish renamed one of them to maj lowercase but it wasnt the case here

the grox spaceship was named grobAAV, Pickub Crab was named pcikupcrab which is just funny to me

then theres Surchin being seachingUFO and Shark just SharkUFO, and Sovkaan being SovKhan1 is interesting

engines actually DID have the weird numbers in its name as Engines(4294922107), so did Sleepwallker as sleepwalker(4294928290)

and theres this great creation name, Hitchit was UFO_H

as for building names, theres a bunch of interesting ones

grox building names; Grox Platz (city hall) was grobCentral, Grox-o-Plexx (entertainment) was grobEntertain, Grox Stacks (factory) was grobfactory, Grox Sweet Grox (house) was grobHouse

ChynaHall was chinaCitiHall, Eurorox was EuroRockCastle, Flower Plower was flowercitihall

Orch was orcH for some reason, Prima Pear was pearHall, Uriarte Centro was scitowerhall

Wicked Shrub was treeHome, Urglbrgl (the building) was named Urglbrgl Data Storage and i have no idea why they renamed it (before they were compiling the pngs even, where its named Urglbrgl), Hotelio was named CAHotel

The Hub was named e3hub for some reason, Mall was named ECmall which reads more like a vehicle early name (theres a bunch like that)

im gonna be mostly excluding building pngs cuz theres a lot of these things

Column Pavilion was Column Entertainment, Fancy Teatro was Fancy entertainment, Higgermhol Jazz Pavilion was Higgermhol entertainment, Stacking Disco was Stacking Entertainment, Tower Tainment was Tower Entertainment (which is pretty similar to be fair), Tri Top Terrace was TriTop Entertainment. theres a trend here. its only a surprise they didnt rename Tubulo Entertainment theres a similar thing going on with the factories but im not gonna repeat myself. theres a LOT that were renamed

these were named Kidsrotatinground and Lotoplayground

other noticeably different names: Il Patio was OutPatiodining, Tree Caf was treedinning, Holiday Shoppe was Xmasparty;

Owl's Mill was HowlsFactory, Derricks Ltd was oilwell, Rejunkling was JunkRecycle, Mid-Town Offices was Office Tower, Steam Reprieve was waterSteamer, Grape Crushing was wineFactory (i was correct about the wine part but not the rest)

Cube Abode was cubehouse, Mi Casa was House (which is really funny. thats the simpsons house btw), Rockshrooms was MushiRockhome, Ye Olde Farm was Myfarmhouse, The Fun Dominiums was The Projects, El Arbol was treehouse (which i guessed right!)

curiously Horrific Thrills (entertainment) was named Horrific Entertainment, whereas Horrific Thrills (factory) was named Horrific Factory. so they were renamed into the same thing somehow when they were renaming the buildings to not repeat entertainment and factory SO much

the fact that Round Roof Hall was named RoundRoofHall also reveals WHY it was named Round Roo fHall in the png metadata! they were just adding spaces to it and misplaced one!

and another building that got renamed twice is icreamFactory to I Scream Parlour to Fungus Frozen Dairy

the building editor music came up in my playlist in the middle of me working on that section which is very appropriate

as for vehicles

Diamond Balloon was misspelled as DimondBalloon. turns out Air Party was partyAir

theres an incredible name, Sam Smiles was named DoILookLikeImSmiling_ (underscore included) and i think now i realise why

Secret Trading Sub was EC_secretTradingSub turns out! so it was another vehicle name with that kind of prefix, we just didnt get to see it before

Ohav's Nightmare was also named Ahab's Nightmare turns out! it doesnt particularly look like a whale, and is an air vehicle, so i dont get why this one was named that

someone was seemingly really excited about these ones, The Hurricane was THE HURRICANE (sic for two spaces between the words), The Raven was THE RAVEN, Vulture was VULTURE. then The Enforcer is the same as final and The Inspector is TheInspector much like in Spore_Content.package

also this finally solves. whatever was going on in there! i hadnt considered there were just a bunch of vehicle names that started from the same prefix but that explains everything

theres also the obvious connection between little shooter, lil shoot and lil shoot too! they all have basically the same prefix names!

Groxoplane was named grobAirVeh, Grox Grumbler was grobTank, Oceanic Grox was grobWaterVeh. unsurprisingly enough

curiously "This Is Not A Spy Ship" was called "This is not a spy ship" in its png metadata, but the vcl file is once again "This Is Not A Spy Ship". the png metadata names come after the AssembledContent names, so they renamed it to be lowercase and then rename it back to the AssembledContent name in the final game???

glad to report Red Flapper still has two spaces in the name as it does in final

this is for Sky Dancer. nice that i figured that out

also Sky Tunes was musicair, Autobus Musica was musicairbus which i couldnt quite guess (i assumed music autobus which still didnt line up with the fact that it still sorted before music airship)

Musicycle was musiBike turns out. Muse Marine was musisubmarine

El Tigre Shark i assumed to be Tigre/Tiger Shark, turns out it was tigersharkMusic. interesting comparing my assumptions here

for flora. the way the AssembledContent flora was sorted doesnt actually line up with the asset ids. it does for literally everything else. so this is particularly frustrating to line up

that said the plants names are all known since forever and arent much of note. but theyre all confusing as hell. why are they like this why are they SORTED like this

#spore #spore datamining

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carneirinha · 8 days ago

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my biggest wolfpill is that i 100% believe that cherry bomb has unused oc/story related content from wolf (2013) that tyler added w/ a lil wink n a nod just cuz he wanted 2. but saying it makes me looks like those pop diva fans that decodify shit that isn't there

like blow my load DID begin production during wolf era. that one's a fact. n then he adds that little skit at the end that not only goes "well that was new music from the soundtrack of the upcoming film [censored]" but also mentions a 'triple movie feature' in relation 2 it. like there is no way. n also there's a couple in the aforementioned moon theater on the fucking young mv that literally looks like salem n wolf 🤷

plus wtf is keep da o's doing there? "know they call me mr treat ya nose" n IK it's a reference 2 a track pharrell produced I KNOWWW but that kind of became a samuel thing n that's not even the only callback 2 samuel in the album 🤔 ok. n the fact that okaga, ca literally is so similar in structure n theme 2 treehome95 that if it were a few years earlier he'd call it treehome 2 (like analog 2, wheels 2, etc)... andddd all the references 2 "hey i'm a director i make moviesssss i for real am writing a script" 🤔🤔

i do unironically feel like he still had hopes of writing a script 4 wolf the movie during that era (he flipflops n says he has it in the works BUT ALSO that the idea of wolf the movie was just 4 album promotion. i imagine he at least wrote a script bcuz he's the type 2 do so w/ ease) so that's why there were still some callbacks 2 it. it's very interesting in that sense

#recovered floppy disk #tyler the creator #wolf trilogy

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archthrones · 3 months ago

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Happy one-year demo anniversary!

Greetings emissaries, we have are pleased to announce that the Archthrones demo is now available to play in 10 different languages, including:

- English - Deutsch (credit: Finfy) - Français (credit: Treehome (Maël R.)) - Italiano (credit: speeddemon (Virginia Q.)) - 日本語 (credit: Kanashiro, takasago_jp) - Polski (credit: Steyl) - Português Brasileiro (credit: Nightsong) - Русский (credit: mirilian, IamLebed, Karnagebot, CanCan) - Español (España) (credit: Commander Catto (Lucía R. H.)) - 简体中文 (credit: Rico.Se7en) - 繁體中文 (credit: IzumiKamichika)

Each translation has been hand-crafted by our wonderful volunteers, who worked very hard to bring the mod to an international audience.

We also took steps to provide a higher quality translation for more gendered languages.

If you didn't know, in the vanilla version of Dark Souls 3, the player is always treated as male due to the limitations translators were given.

We were able to leverage the unused potential of Dark Souls 3's subtitle system in order to provide an alternate female gender variant for every line of character dialogue.

The 1.1.3 patch is now available on Nexus Mods, we hope you enjoy!

The Archthrones Team

#dark souls iii #dark souls 3 #archthrones

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beneath-the-moon-and-me · 5 months ago

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#i think these pair nicely :)#have this on loop a lot today #Spotify

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carrion-whispers · 2 years ago

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Kindred Spirit

Gnome Tav!Durge!Reader (sfw)

CW: Depression? (I dunno, kindly tell me if I need to add something)

Very minor companion spoilers for BG3 ahead.

Disclaimer: I haven’t written anything in 15 years but got possessed by a sad bug today. I tried to keep facts accurate but ultimately this is about my own Tav’s reaction to being plucked from their peaceful life and thrust into the role of party leader and caretaker. Any inaccuracies are just from their own perspective and shouldn’t be taken as a slight against anyone. Sorry if it’s too poetic.

2nd Disclaimer: Because I haven’t written anything in so long I’m not tagging this! As anything. Also I’m terrified because I’ve never ever posted any of my writing anywhere. yay.

If I haven’t chased you off yet and your expectations are appropriately low then happy reading? I guess??? Why are you still here?

—

It’s beginning to wear on you. The loneliness of being a living balm without finding a salve of your own. The emptiness that grows as you soothe the hurts and calm the minds of everyone around you without sharing your own soul deep pain is exhausting.

Your kindness, unwavering smile, and boundless patience is often taken for nothing more than the by-product of your profession and people. You’re supposed to be friendly, joyful, and bring warmth to every situation. That’s what bards -especially gnomish bards- do! Right?

But you didn’t come from a burrow or any gnome town. You were born in the Feywild. You’re a forest gnome. Usually timid and shy with Big Folk by nature, the opposite of who you are today. Yours is a people so reclusive that many don’t even believe they exist. You should expect confusion and misplaced assumptions.

You’re used to it. You’re barely connected to your roots anymore so you will not correct them.

Why force upon them the burden of your past when the entirety of their lifespan is but a fraction of yours and so fraught with sorrow and tragedy already? So you will offer them a hand, a smile, a warm embrace, a listening ear, and even a firm voice whenever they need it. You will bend and break for them. Mold yourself into what they need to learn their own hearts and heal. They are not the first to whom you’ve made this silent vow. They will not be the last.

But your already long life has been a series of tragedy too. There are layers upon layers of loss and agony and torment buried behind your smile, etched into your soul and your skin.

Their eyes sometimes rest curiously upon the jagged scars across your face and the warlock’s gaze often lingers at your neck when he catches you rubbing at the painful lines of pearlescent skin beneath your jaw. You simply smile and wait.

But they never ask.

They don’t ask why you sleep far removed from camp. If they hear the screaming visions that wake you, they make no mention. They don’t ask why you come to breakfast each morning with clammy skin and shaking hands, the circles under your eyes growing ever darker.

A few have already witnessed the biting coldness in your eyes around under-dwellers. The rage you desperately try to contain when speaking to slavers. They were taken aback by the brutality that breaks free near any goblin that so much as inconveniences you. Still they’ve asked you no questions.

Maybe they’re waiting for you to offer your history to them. Maybe they’re respecting the privacy normally exhibited by gnomes of the forest, if they realize what you are, but you’re barely connected to those roots anymore. You haven’t seen a treehome in centuries. You haven’t talked to one of your own in nearly as long.

You don’t mind letting the pale one manipulate you for his own reassurance or patiently not-asking for the sharran to share what she’s been so desperate to reveal. You don’t mind listening to the wizard’s worries over his self-inflicted curse or offering reassurances to the hellion that you’re going to fix her engine. You don’t mind the bravado and blind loyalty of the astral or the warlock’s charming half-lies and untruths.

You tell yourself you can be what they need but being such a beloved stranger to them begins to weigh heavy as yet another troubled soul joins your travels. You feel hollowed out and exhausted as he recounts his woes of a century cursed land. You can barely follow his words, listening instead for what he will need from you. What shape will you need to take for him?

It gets harder to greet the camp each day. Every night is colder, darker than the last and the world’s color is beginning to fade.

Your careful facade grows thicker and thicker. The line between what they need and who you are has begun to blur. You’re losing yourself. Again. As if the last half-century you spent building a peaceful life and trying to heal never happened.

Just when you think you might finally collapse and disappear under the weight, the smallest gesture halves the burden. This man, who breathes to bless the forest, so outwardly troubled by a lifetime equal in length to your own, asks about you.

It’s not even anything important. He just wants a small interesting fact. His smile is genuine but it wavers and trembles ever so slightly. You spy a familiar vulnerability in his eyes.

You can feel the life return to your own. A sudden warmth, like sunlight piercing through the black clouds of a stormy sky fills your entire body. The air in your lungs is fresher, sweeter. The rustle of wind in the trees reaches your ears and you can feel the crunch of gravel and sand beneath your feet. You’re alive again.

The smile on your face is genuine and you buzz with energy as a thousand different things fight to be the first to escape. You choose a silly musing about your fear of krakens. He chuckles, a sound so soothing you feel your eyes prick in response. His brow cinches curiously as he offers that you’ve nothing to fear if you avoid open seas.

But for once, you don’t want to explain. In this moment, your painful past had been chased worlds away and you hope that he will not begrudge being a salve for your soul for just a little while.

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kitty-is-writing · 3 months ago

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🖊️ Writing Share 🖊️

a short snippet from my Nightcat WIP which still needs a title (=^ェ^=)

Moon-Eye let his spirits inspect the furless as he approached, listening to the little scraps of information they gathered and brought to him. The young lad was a quiet, kindly sort, according to them, and could be trusted with secrets. His own spirits, they said, were most excited that he had found his way to them.

He was glad to hear that the furless also had spirits, and their own Runecat equivalents did not work with some strange, incomprehensible power. It would make things far easier, at least with this one. What powers any others could access were not his concern for now.

As Sky-Hunter led the furless to his treehome, Moon-Eye got another good look at him. When he relaxed and let his eyes see beyond the physical, the lad’s spirits became clear. Each shone with a bright light, and not one of them was darkened or corrupt. Seeing proof of what his own lights had told him was a relief, though expected. He had been doing this for many seasons, and rarely had his spirits led him wrong.

The furless reached the base of his tree, and Moon-Eye unrolled a rope ladder for him to climb. It had been many seasons since this ladder was last needed, but he was glad now that he had thought to keep it.

As the lad climbed up, Moon-Eye reached down to help pull him up. Their spirit lights mingled, performing an excited dance of their own, as cat and furless met as equals. Moon-Eye lifted the curtain aside, letting the lad enter first, directing the final swirl of his charm around him.

Faint spirit lights danced around the small room, flickering in harmony with the runeflame. Once they had both settled beside the crackling fire, Moon-Eye presented his guest with a customary gift. Where a visiting cat could expect a simple trinket or knick-knack, this particular amulet would allow the two of them to speak properly.

Moon-Eye had begun working this charm on his return to his home. The carved bark trinket he had given was only part of it, creating a simple bypass to the clear language barrier. Greater understanding would require effort from both sides, but his charm would provide some assistance to them all.

The spirits who had been most curious about young Kester had told him that he was not entirely unfamiliar with feline ways, though his knowledge was gleaned from a pet smallcat in childhood. Simple, instinctive creatures, but close enough to give them something to work with.

taglist: @eli-t-spoon @write-with-will

#writeblr #writing #my work #fantasy #short story #untitled as yet #drenius #kitty's short stories #kitty's nightcats

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