#where are all the people gnawing on phoenix's bones so white??

[psqqa]

yes, yes i know edgeworth’s big wet eyes and loser boy personality have captivated us all, but listen. listen.

phoenix wright

phoenix “genuinely unable to reconcile the girl on the stand with the girl he dated for eight months, a cognitive dissonance so profound it’s ultimately explained by them being literally two different people, but which he first sits with for five years and does not talk about at any point to anyone” wright

phoenix “don’t mention that name to me. i don’t want to talk about it. i don’t want to think about it. i am just going to keep myself in this state of perpetual crisis mode focus on other people’s problems until eventually i die and get to hang out with mia on the astral plane and never have to deal with any of these emotions ever again” wright

phoenix “overnight loses his career and reputation and sense of identity while gaining an adopted, probably pretty traumatized eight-year-old daughter, and rather than leaning on his friends for help, or getting therapy, or taking any time to process any of this, he *checks notes* spends seven years dedicating all his free time and energy to investigating the weird fucking circumstances around it and maintains a friendship with the guy he suspects was behind it all” wright

phoenix "runs across a burning bridge and falls through it, half a day after the game establishes that he is terrified of heights, because his friend is on the other side of that bridge" wright

phoenix “i sure felt surprised. maybe i had my poker face on” wright

phoenix “looking back on it that was actually a pretty dark period in my life” wright

phoenix “don’t ask me how i got started. i don’t remember” wright

phoenix “only you stood still, your eyes calmly watching” wright

phoenix “sometimes, life just sucks” wright

just

phoenix wright

crunchiest man in the world

and all i wanna do is chew and chew and chew on him

[cross-d-a]

I want to know ALL about Wu Xie embarrassing time traveler!Li Cu!!! ✨✨ I'm also v intrigued by Nie Huisang death death death

(Also, Cross you have so many wips; I read in awe. And to think I thought I had a lot of star wars fix-it ideas! I only have anything at all written down for two of them!)

(this refers to the WIP tag game I completed a few days ago!)

Wu Xie being EMBARRASSING & Li Cu Time Travel: 

I’ve got a series of interconnected oneshots planned where Li Cu just- accidentally hops back in time to every drama/book and helps out the Iron Triangle. and it’s more like LI CU embarrassing WU XIE haha

I thought it’d be HILARIOUS if Li Cu got to see how Wu Xie (UR MY DAD BOOGIE WOOGIE WOOGIE) is so YOUNG and STUPID and EMBARRASSING when he’s young!! Wu Xie making (ACTUALLY) innocent doe eyes at an emo Xiao Ge?? GROSS. Wu Xie accidentally (DELIBERATELY?) setting off multiple traps in a tomb?? Li Cu is 10000/10 going to RECORD THIS on his phone and bring it BACK to the future and make fun of Wu Xie FOREVER. Also!!! There are SO MANY SNAKES in Ultimate Note!! And?? Conveniently?? Li Cu has a lil’ snake buddy?? MAYBE HE COULD HELP??? 

I basically want Li Cu being the Actual Competent One and the baby Iron Triangle floundering. Mostly Wu Xie. I want Wu Xie floundering. I also want Wu Xie SO EMBARRASSED when Li Cu hops back to his own time. 

li cu: DAD UR AN IDIOT 

wu xie: i DONT WANT TO RELIVE IT PLS AND THANK 

li cu: nO!! U ARE GOING TO SUFFER!! UR SO STUPID u set off FIVE TRAPS

wu xie: i hate you 

li cu: no u don’t u just told me u loved and appreciated me for saving ur life like ten minutes ago. there were tears in your eyes. actually they were streaming down ur face. u might have been hugging my leg and sobbing

wu xie: tHAT WAS SIXTEEN YEARS AGO FOR ME OK i am an OLD MAN

Nie Huaisang death death death:

I think it’s hilarious that you picked out one of the resurrective immortality fics considering we were JUST talking about the old guard hahaha. This one I actually have a good chunk written so far, so here is a long snippet near the beginning. Context is that Nie Huaisang’s mother is VERY pregnant and she’s riding through the mountains to visit her family before she gives birth. WARNINGS for gore (kinda??) and child death and just- DEATH in general:

There are beasts in the mountains. Ravenous, born of fury and blood, more ragged spirit than flesh. Their claws are jagged and broken and their maws drip with sizzling saliva. They have roamed the mountains for years and years, and have only grown more enraged, voracious.

The Nie Clan have always harnessed the butchery of their past. Binding rage and ruin to themselves, channeling it through their hearts and into their swords until they are one and the same. Until it feeds upon their flesh and their spirit, gnawing on their bones, carving out a little space for itself between brittle ribs. Until, one bloody piece at a time, it consumes them whole.

The Nie Clan’s power is also the source of their doom, and these beasts who roam and know only hate hate hate are Nie-furen’s doom, as well.

They descend upon the Nie in the dead of night, a roiling mass of snapping teeth and furious howls. There is blood, screaming, desperate flashes of Dao magic and heavy blades. But there are too many and it is not enough.

But the mighty Phoenix of the West has always been filled with unmatched fury and she is full of new life and about to burst. She will not let her child die here today. Not before he can breathe sweet fresh air and keen that first high cry. Not before his father can cradle him in his arms and his older brother can plant a kiss on his forehead.

That rage within her swells. It devours her spirit and bleeds out her eyes as she screams screams screams- a raging beacon of power and brutality and every ancestor’s grief.

She slaughters everything in her path.

When she comes to, she is soaked in blood and there is pain in her belly and an ache behind her eyes and in every breath- but she is alive. She lies amidst the ruins of her people and the lingering darkness of vanquished spirits and Shan Xifeng—

She goes into labour.

It is long and hard, lasting through the night into the bloody dawn and beyond. She manages to crawl to the edge of their encampment but no further. She twists into a curl of agony and cries into the clouded sky.

Her son is born on the cusp of evening, just as the sun slides behind dark, ragged peaks. He is born soft and warm and silent.

Shan Xifeng cradles him in quaking hands. Cups his cheek to her breast. His tiny head is blood-streaked like his mother. Blood-streaked like her friends and family around her.

It is an irony that on one of the most important days of her life, she is surrounded by her loved ones and yet they are all dead.

“Little one,” she murmurs, and tilts his limp head. “Little one, please.”

But he is silent as the dead around her and that grief swells again in her breast. It gnaws on her ribs and scrabbles at her throat and she is shaking shaking shaking.

“No,” she spits. “No! He has done nothing wrong! Nothing! Does he not deserve his first breath? His first cry? Does he not deserve the family that awaits him?!”

She screams into the sky and tastes blood between her teeth. “Take me instead! I beg of you! Please let him live! I would give my life! Every single one of them, so that he may live!”

Her sword quakes along with that dark raging thing within her and she clutches her dead son close.

Then—

The faint, elegant curve of a fan in the corner of her eye. The shift of cloth, the echo of a breath. The glimmering of ethereal gold and silver, like someone has spun the stars and sun above into delicate thread.

Summoned, like a beast to blood.

“All of them?”

Shan Xifeng knows better than to face an unknowable thing and so she bows as low as her broken body will allow. She stares into the bloodied dirt and breathes in dust and rasps, “Yes.”

“Hm.” A flicker of a stretching smile, coy, with a hint of sharp teeth. She does not see the fathomless dark behind those stark white teeth, a gaping void of ravenous benevolence. It is hidden behind the flare of the fan. “Do you understand what you ask for?”

“I do,” she says without hesitation.

The grin widens, lips scarlet and dark against bone-white skin. “Then I shall grant your wish.”

A shift of cloth, then a cool hand cups Nie-furen’s cheek, guiding her up. Her eyes flicker open and she sees what no mortal has ever seen, and then that fan whispers against her cheek and blood-red lips press against hers and the last thing she feels is her golden core trembling spasming dying as life is pulled from her breath- all the lives she has ever lived, the one she lives now, and every life she could have ever lived.

Shan Xifeng falls into the bloodied dirt beneath, still clutching her dead son to her breast. And then there is no one left living in that small clearing.

Pale, bony fingers trace a delicate line through the blood that lingers upon her cheek. It is still wet and useful. Stained fingers press against scarlet lips and the life held between stark white teeth is breathed anew into that blood.

Carefully, bone-thin fingers trace a deliberate character upon the newborn child’s left cheek. The blood shines, brilliant and devastating, before fading back into a gruesome name across pale skin. Slowly, the child begins to twitch, brows wrinkling in displeasure, before a high keening wail escapes tiny lips as the child take its first breath.

“Your mother does not know what she’s doomed you to.”

A day later, travelers upon the road hear a faint keening noise not far from their wagon. When they find the clearing, they gag and retch. When they find the weak, whining child clutched in his dead mother’s arms, they shake their heads and then stare at the crest emblazoned upon the woman’s clothes.

Two days after that, the child is delivered to Nie-zongzhu’s disbelieving arms.

“No,” he says, violent spirit quaking deep within him. “No. It- it is not true.”

The traveler ducks his head and clasps his hands in a bow. “I’m sorry, Zongzhu. We were not able to take the bodies with us. You’ll have to send someone to check, but…it was the crest of your house. And…” he hesitates, then nods to his companion who stumbles up and offers a sword.

Not just any sword. A dao.

Shan Xifeng’s dao.

Feng.

“No,” Nie-zongzhu cries, falling to his knees.

“I-I’m so sorry,” the traveler stutters. “I am so, so sorry, Nie-zongzhu.”

Nie-zongzhu sobs, clutching his newborn child to his chest. “Little one,” he weeps. “Oh, little one. At least life is kind enough to have spared you.”

“Yong,” the traveler blurts.

Nie-zongzhu stares uncomprehendingly, tears running hot down his cheeks.

“It- it was written upon his cheek in- in blood. I- I think that is what his mother named him. She must have done it with her dying breath. She must have wanted you to know. He did not enter this world nameless.”

“Yong,” Nie-zongzhu echoes, trembling. “It- it is a good name, for my brave little boy.” He cups his son’s cheek and sobs. “Brave like- like his mother,” he murmurs, voice thin and quaking. “She named you well.”

And perhaps it is bravery that made Shan Xifeng give up the chance to ever be reborn. Perhaps it is bravery that saved her son’s life.

But it was all a mother’s wretched love, and Shan Xifeng did not write the character for brave upon her son’s cheek.

No, it was not Yong for bravery, but Yong for eternal.

And it is not his mother who wrote it.

Perhaps it is bravery that saved her son, but is the curse of eternity really a kindness?

No, no Shan Xifeng did not truly understand what she asked for.

But Nie Yong soon would.

The next section starts with:

The second time Nie Yong dies, he doesn’t even realize it.

He is four years old.

and the third section starts with:

The third time Nie Yong dies, his Adie kills him.

He is nine years old.

It’s basically an Angst Fest with a happy ending bc...I just need a happy ending Always. I just REALLY love resurrective immortality and I love making my favourite characters Suffer :)

I hope these were fun and satisfying to read!! 

♪(ﾟ▽^*)ﾉ⌒☆

(also omg NO it’s a CURSE!!! I WISH I could just finish SOMETHING!! ANYTHING!! OMG!!! I am so envious you’ve managed to restrain yourself to a few!! Also!! I am SUPER excited to find out more about your fix-its!!! :D)

[keichanz]

Oscurità, amore mio | II

I found my new title!

Previously known as Dalle Ceneri, this story is now titled Oscurità, amore mio which means “Darkness, my love” in Italian. Sooooo many hugs and thanks goes out to my dearest friend and inspiration @sssuperbartola! She’s been immensely helpful with writing this story and I couldn’t do it without her, or @sesshsbae! Thanks you two! <3

Read on AO3.

Dark eyes wide with a something akin to warried shock, Kagome took in the figure standing before her in all his muscled glory, his eyes the color of burnished amber, skin lightly tanned, and his mouth stretched into a wicked grin that did indeed reveal fangs, however they were smaller and definitely not that of the bloodsucker variety.

Kagome opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. “You’re not—”

“Nope,” he said, crossing his arms.

“But you can—”

“Yep.”

She shook her head, utterly confused and yet at the same time—

No. No, she was just confused. She was not impressed. She wasn’t. She wasn’t.  

“I don’t under—h-how—”

He sighed, as if deeply troubled, though from what Kagome was getting from his emotional grid, he was more amused than anything. The bastard. “That’s a bit of along story, I’m afraid,” he confessed and then glanced somewhere behind her before cocking a brow. “One, by the looks of it, that you don’t really have the time for.”

She frowned at him and turned around to follow his gaze. “What—son of a bitch!”

Trying and failing to blend in with the gyrating and swaying bodies on the dance floor, the vampire her boss had sent her to eliminate was attempting to make his getaway. If Kagome hadn’t been absolutely certain he was her target, the intense panic that slammed into her when he caught her staring at him instantly gave him away and after that he abandoned all pretenses of stealth and made a mad dash for the exit, shoving humans out of his way and ignoring the indignant shrieks of protest.

Forgetting about the white-haired vampire-but-not, Kagome immediately took off after him, managing to slip between the sea of people more effectively than he had and was out the door in record time. The cold air made her skin pebble but she ignored it as she hiked up her leather skirt and retrieved her Sig, double palming it as she edged along the wall of the pub and peered into the dark alley beside it.

She didn’t see anything, but that meant nothing. Vampires were adapt that concealing their presence, but Kagome knew what to look for, dark eyes skittering around and searching for signs of his hasty escape, mentally reaching out and attempting to glean his location from the faint trail of panic she could still sense.

Cautiously she stepped into the dark ally and inched further down the narrow strip of pavement, taking note of the trash cans, a dumpster and various boxes lined up along the parallel walls of the buildings. The sliver of moonlight helped her see, but it was still dark enough where she had to squint to make out the shape leaning against the dumpster. She kept her gun pointed at it as she stepped closer, but huffed in irritation when it turned out to be a pile of garbage bags.

Scowling, the dark-haired assassin lowered her weapon and thrust a hand through her hair in frustration, cocking a hip and chewing on her bottom lip in contemplation. She knew he wouldn’t have gone very far; she had extensive and accurate knowledge that this particular bloodsucker got his meals in pubs such as the one she just left, and it was the only one open around here for miles. She was positive he would be back; underlying the panic she’d felt as he’d fled had been a gnawing hunger that had been ignored for one day too long and he was weaker than usual as a result, so traveling very far in his condition was unlikely. Right now he was most likely biding his time and waiting until she gave up the chase before returning.

She inwardly snorted. Yeah, fat chance. She’d waited a whole month once before taking down her target; a few hours were nothing.

Grumbling in annoyance, but knowing there wasn’t much she could do at the moment, Kagome holstered her Sig, turned around—and jumped.

“Jesus—what the fuck!”

A fang-bearing grin. “Flattery will get you everywhere, mia bella fenice.”

Ignoring that rather egotistical remark, Kagome’s lips tightened as her hand flew to her left hip. “You have no right,” she hissed and had the fleeting thought to go for her gun, but immediately dismissed it. He was far too close and ten times faster than she; he’d be on her before she could even draw it.

“You gave me the right when you purposely attracted me with that god-awful travesty of a song,” he returned smoothly, giving a careless shrug and Kagome wanted to punch him because she couldn’t even refute that. “I’m certain Tallon rooted around in there as well and found more than he bargained for, which explains his hasty retreat.”

“Tallon?”

He stared at her. “Your target?”

Kagome balked. “You know him?”

He gave another careless shrug. “No, but I’ve seen him around. He frequents this pub.”

She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Only someone who also frequents a pub would say that.”

“I like their breadsticks,” he said blandly by way of explanation, his expression blank.

A vampire that liked breadsticks. Oh good lord she should’ve had a drink when she had the chance.

“I’m not a vampire,” he casually reminded her but Kagome didn’t believe it. Vamps were the only creatures that had the ability to mind read.

Crossing her arms, Kagome quirked a brow at him and asked, voice heavy with skepticism, “Really. Then what are you?”

He smiled at her, catching her off guard and she resisted the urge to inch away. The smile was pleasant enough, but there was an underlying hint that said danger and it made her uneasy.

“I already told you, bella fenice,” he said and his golden eyes grew hooded even as he continued to smile at her. “It’s a long story.”

“Stop calling me that,” she snapped, eyes the color of dark chocolate glaring at him with a veiled fire that threatened to burn him to the bone if he continued to provoke her.

He tilted his head, all innocence, and Kagome barely kept herself from snorting. Vampires were anything but innocent. “It suits you,” he said, racking his gaze down her body and she shuddered despite herself. His grin told her he’d noticed. “You are fiery. Passionate. I felt that a name like ‘phoenix’ would be quite flattering. You don’t like it?”

Kagome glared at him and felt her cheeks heat despite herself.

His grin widened. “Would you prefer something else? Perhaps piccolo gattina? Dolce angelo? Or maybe something more along the lines of bella bonazza.”

She had no idea what that last one meant, but it didn’t matter because going by the way those molten eyes crinkled at the corners and the deep chuckle that reverberated in his chest, it wasn’t an improvement. With every ridiculous name he rattled off Kagome’s jaw clenched even tighter and her hand suddenly itched, wanting to feel the reassuring steel of her gun against her palm while she popped a few silver bullets into the fucker’s forehead.

When still she didn’t answer him, he raised his eyebrows and the smile he gave her that time was downright lethal. “No? Then how about—”

She snapped and spat harshly without thinking, “Kagome! My name is Kagome, you goddamn—”

Kagome froze and the color abruptly drained from her face as her eyes went very large. Her heart beat erratically in her chest as the sense of what she’d just inadvertently done came crashing down upon her and she stumbled backwards as if the realization was an invisible force. Horror and dread roiled through her so strongly she felt sick and she swallowed compulsively as bile rose in her throat, her stomach rolling uncomfortably, her blood turning to ice in her veins, leeching the warmth from her skin and causing her to shiver almost uncontrollably.

The coldness she felt, however, was nothing compared to the deadly chilling smile he gave her then that was at complete odds with the searing heat in those molten amber eyes.

“Ka-go-me,” he purred, sealing her fate, and then he moved so fast Kagome didn’t even register it until her head was suddenly yanked back and two sharp points pressed against the soft flesh where her jaw met her neck. She jerked, but the steel arm around her waist prevented her from escaping and she bit down hard on her lip to stifle the whimper when a hot tongue lashed against her skin.

“You—you tricked me,” she gasped breathlessly, pushing against his chest, hating how her traitorous body reacted to his closeness. Gone now was the previous chill that had blanketed her body after she’d made her foolish mistake and in its place was a raging heat that roared through her with the intensity of a thunderstorm. Her nipples tightened, her muscles clenched in need, and warmth pooled between her legs—all instinctive reactions because she’d foolishly forgotten herself in her anger and irrevocably bound them together tighter than any contract ever could.

All because she’d willingly given a vampire her name and everyone knew that to do so was as good as signing your own death warrant because your life was no longer your own.

“No, mia bella fenice,” he growled against her neck and he heard her breath hitch in her throat. “I didn’t. You gave me your name willingly, and now...” He dragged his fangs along the slender column of her throat, brushing his lips against her thundering pulse and pressing a tender, whisper-soft kiss against the wildly fluttering skin.

Then his grip tightened, a savage growl erupted from his throat, and he snarled, “Now, Kagome, you’re mine.”

He struck and Kagome screamed.

*cackles gleefully* God this is so fun.

Piccolo gattina - little kitten Dolce angelo - sweet angel Bella bonazza - loosely translated “hot stuff.”

Originally I wanted Inuyasha to call her “sugar lips hot tits” but there’s really nothing that translates to those direct words lmao 

I | II | III

[korkrunchcereal]

Redwall

Eredin Redwall woke to the sound of a crackling fire, and the smell of roasting meat. As his eyes opened, the sheer pounding of his head made him wish he was dead. Groaning, he blinked several times before trying to move. He was on his back; why was he on his back? And what was he on? Gods why did everything hurt so b-

The shield.

The giant behind the shield.

The giant behind the shield with the army.

Shit.

Wearily he tried to pull himself up, wincing with the effort. He noted he was on some thick blanket that kept the snow off. The dull throbbing in his bones was matched by the pounding in his skull, and so he fell back down with a grunt of annoyance. Slowly he realized it was dark out, the moon high overhead. Cautiously he turned his head, careful not to upset any of his injured limbs. There was the fire several feet away, as well as what looked to be several rabbits being cooked over them. He saw the juices dripping down, sizzling in the fire. Gods he was hungry.

How long had it been since he ate? Perhaps more importantly, how did he even get here. Was he dead? No. All the stories said the afterlife was painless and pleasant. The pain in his body and the gnawing at his stomach proved he was still alive. The other Redblade’s must have recovered him from the village. Surely he wouldn’t have been put next to a fire in the dead of winter by the men that tried to kill him. Briefly, a twinge of fear crept up his spine; his ring. In a panic he moved to feel it, breathing a sigh of relief as he felt his wedding band. Still there. Good.

Eredin tried to pull himself up again, this time succeeding in getting to a sitting position. Now higher up, he scanned the area around him. There was no sign of anyone else save some footprints now faded by fallen snow. The fire was quite large, and in the distance Eredin could see even more lights as well as scatterings of dead trees. This didn’t look like the Redblade’s meeting area. Where was he?

His eyes wandered more, until falling on a strange shadow. He narrowed his eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness. He gasped in recognition, seeing a staff leaning upon a fallen log. He had seen that staff before; nay he had carried that staff. It was from the village he had robbed, though he had been knocked unconscious while carrying it. How did it end up here?

In the firelight he can see the faint glimmer of gold from the staff’s head, as well as the ruby gleaming in the center. It was worth a pretty penny he was certain, enough to feed him through the cursed winter. A sharp crackle broke his attention, causing him to look back at the meat. It looked so juicy, and it had been sometime since he ate last. Slowly, as if fearful of the flames retribution he reached out. Just one bite was all he-

“Interesting.” A deep, booming voice like thunder sounded behind him. Eredin let out a yelp of fright, turning quickly. The movement sent a shockwave of pain through his body, forcing him to collapse into the snow. He pulled himself out of the snow, looking up.

And up.

And up.

His eyes crawled over black plates and gold trim, stopping at a roaring lion with eyes like gleaming rubies. Yet that was not what frightened him; nay, when his gaze travelled even further up if such a thing were possible, it fell upon a helmet crowned with twin antlers. It was the very same man that had stopped him dead in his tracks at the village.

The iron juggernaut himself sat there upon another log, arms crossed and undoubtedly staring down at Eredin. Eredin tried to stammer out something, anything to say but failed to utter more than a weak, squeaking gasp. He was a dead man; the armored giant would kill Eredin for trying to steal his food. He’d crunch his bones, smash his skull and-

“Go on and eat.” Eredin blinked at that, looking up to where he assumed the giant’s eyes were. The armored man extended out a hand towards the rabbit. “Eat.” He repeated. “You must be hungry.”

“E-eat? Oh, right.” Eredin felt himself nearly drool at the prospect, turning back to the rabbits. Cautiously he reached out a hand, fingers grabbing a piece of the animal. It was hot, the meat and flames burning his fingers, but he didn’t care as he pulled. He was starving, and sloppily shoved the meat into his mouth. Gods it was good. He took another bite, and another.

“Is it good?”

“The best damn rabbit I’ve ever had. Oh it’s delicious its-“ Eredin stopped mid bite, raising a brow curiously. “You’re not just trying to fatten me up to eat me are you?” There was a pause, before the armored giant began to laugh. It was a loud, booming thing that seemed mirthful and yet almost forced, as if there was no real joy behind it. It was an uncomfortable mixture that made Eredin uneasy, and he weakly laughed alongside the man.

“Eat you? No, I am not going to eat you.”

“You’re not a demon, then?” The man grabbed his helmet, pulling it off. The giant’s skin was a brown ochre, with short ebon hair and a trimmed beard flecked with the beginning of grey. His eyes were nearly white in their paleness, while a large burn scar covered the left half of his features. To Eredin’s relief, the man was most certainly an elf, albeit an unusually large one.

“Not a demon.”

“No.” Eredin agreed. “Not a demon. You’re really god damn big though.”

“I have been told that, bandit.” Bandit? Eredin’s eyes went wide, forgetting for a moment he had been one. The title filled him with some measure of shame, and he looked away sheepishly. “How are your injuries.”

“I feel like everything’s broken. Why’d you hit me so hard?”

“The first two I hit did not go unconscious. I hit harder the third time.”

“Yea? Well thanks.”

“I could hit you with my flail instead.” Eredin remembered seeing it briefly before he was knocked out, noting that the head of it was as big as his torso.

“Pass. Why didn’t you, anyways. Did you bring me here?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because the alternatives were death or turning you over to the authorities, which right now is likely the Phoenix Guard.” The name filled Eredin with dread, for their reputation was cold and merciless enforcers of the law were well earned.

“Yes, but why?” Eredin continued, pressing the question. “Why not kill me or turn me over?”

“The Phoenix Guard are already dealing with traitors and others they believe dissident. I would not burden them with a thief, just as I would not burden the mule tilling a field with another plow. As for why I did not kill you? I wanted to see something.”

“See something? What?”

“I have wandered the country for some time now,” the giant began explaining. “And in my travels, I have come across numerous bandits. Most have attacked me and thus I have put them down. Some flee. I asked myself what has turned these men and woman to such desperation? To turn on their own in such fashion. To steal, and murder.”

“I didn’t murder anyone!”

“No? What of the villagers?”

“The village was abandoned when we got there. We were just stealin’ what the villagers had left behind. If they left it there, they weren’t gonna miss them being gone.”

“Hmmm…” The giant reflected on that answer, a hand moving to tap his fingers along a skirted thigh. “A favored walking staff. A carpet. A chair. A tombstone. Do you not believe these have attachments to people?”

“Well yea, but-“

“-And if I took your ring for example, would you not miss such an item?” Instinctively Eredin brought a hand to his wedding band, covering it.

“Alright, I get the point stealing is bad. Look, I didn’t want to do it.”

“But…?”

“I was desperate. We all were! Some of us haven’t eaten in days. We don’t have houses to return to or…or families. The state and the military ain’t protecting us or helping us so we got to help ourselves.”

“At the expense of another life? What authority places your life above theirs. What makes your struggle greater than that of another man?” Despite the harshness of the question, there was no spite in the man’s voice or bitterness. Only genuine, sheer curiosity which puzzled Eredin.

“N-none, I suppose.” Eredin finally muttered out.

“If I let you go, what will you do?” The question confused Eredin.

“What?”

“If I let you go, what will you do? Will you return to banditry and preying upon others? Will you join the high elven king that has come to our shores? Will you perish in the winter of Quel’thalas? What will you do?”

“I…” Eredin paused, contemplating his answer. What would he do? Banditry obviously didn’t work out for him. In truth, he never truly wanted to resort to robbing others. It was strange; the giant’s very presence and nature made Eredin guilty. “I don’t know.” The armored man nodded to that, finally pushing himself up.

The man towered over Eredin, standing some seven feet tall. Even in the darkness he could see the flail and shield on the man’s back, the edges catching the fire’s glow. Was the man going to kill Eredin? Had Eredin’s answer been unsatisfactory? He was honest, something he could not say he had been for a while. Honest with others…or himself.

“Do you wish to live?”

“Of course I want to live. I have no wish to die.” The man nodded, placing back on his helmet. He moved to grab the staff, Eredin’s eyes following it. If the armored giant had noticed he paid no mind as he placed the staff over his shoulder. Without another word he began to walk away, Eredin’s eyes going wide. He quickly grabbed the blanket he was on as well as the stick the rabbit had been skewered with, even if it had burnt his hands.

“Hey! Hey wait!” Despite the pain Eredin pulled himself off the ground at last, feeling some strength in his limbs again thanks to the fire and food in his belly. Slowly he followed after the giant, taking bites out of the rabbit. “Where are you going?”

“Back to camp.”

“Camp?”

“Yes. The Sunguard are camped near here.”

“What about me? What am I supposed to do?”

“I am neither destiny nor fate, and thus cannot tell you. Your path is one you walk, not I.”

“Let me join you, then.” The man stopped, letting his boots crunch and sink in the snow.

“Why.”

“You’re right; Trying to rob people. Right now, people are desperate. I shouldn’t add to that. It feels…wrong.”

“I see. I never stated you were right or wrong.”

“Yea, well I realized I was wrong.” Eredin’s words hung in the air, before the giant began moving again. The giant didn’t say no to Eredin following, and so he trailed behind. “Why’d you bring me out there away from the camp anyways? Seems like a long walk.”

“In case I did not like what I heard.” For a moment Eredin did not understand, and then the realization set in.

“Oh…”

“But I believe your story was of desperation, not maliciousness. It is not my authority to cast judgement on your crimes. Just as I am neither destiny nor fate, I am not law or truth, bandit. I am simply a wanderer.” Silence again, broken only by the crunching of snow. Minutes passed before Eredin spoke up.

“My name is Eredin, by the way. Eredin Redwall.”

“Varyc.” The giant boomed in response. “Come; my camp is but beyond this tree line. I do not have much to spare, though I shall offer what I can. You must remain quiet however for some there may recognize you, Eredin Redwall.” Eredin let out an audible gulp before he nodded, realizing to his foolishness Varyc wasn’t looking behind himself.

“Understood.”  Briefly Eredin wondered what on Azeroth he was doing to willingly follow a man that had every capability of killing him. Then again, it was better then freezing in the woods…and perhaps he could turn a new leaf.

Perhaps.