vibesoda
vibesoda
Alyx/Atlas
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vibesoda · 2 days ago
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back on my bullshit (more incomprehensible iterum doodles)
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vibesoda · 2 days ago
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It’s well-established that I am normal abt Hunt & Run. This isn’t another one shot. Don’t click on the cut. Just trust me bro.
It wasn’t cold in the caves.
For an arena praised so much for being “hostile”, it was certainly temperate. Even the underground chill wasn’t as bad as it should be. Couri had made his observation out loud to the group and Fein had speculated that the gamemakers hadn’t wanted inexperienced players to get sick and die due to the weather of all things. Reasoning aside, Couriway found himself missing the comfortable chill as the mines quickly got almost unbearably hot between the cramped space, physical activity, and blast furnaces. Couri was struggling for air within about an hour, and had to stop to hydrate. Leaning against the cave wall, he took in the state of his companions.
Unsurprisingly, they weren’t faring well either. Das was slumped against the wall next to him, empty canteen hanging loosely in his grip. A disheveled Fruitberries was frustratedly poking at one of their furnaces. The damn things just weren’t getting very hot, and it was taking the ore forever to melt down into something actually valuable. Feinberg looked the worst out of all of them, stubbornly chipping away at a vein of coal. His helmet and jacket were long discarded, his long sleeves pushed up to show off his visually unimpressive forearms. His visor was acting as a headband, pushing back his greasy hair to reveal a soot-smudged face flushed red from heat and exhaustion. Couriway stared as Fein rhythmically pounded at the wall, the motion hypnotic to his tired brain. The rhythm was interrupted when a sizable lump of coal dislodged and crumbled to the ground, where Fein paused to kick it into the small pile next to Fruitberries. Fein caught his eye when he was turning back to the wall, pausing before giving him a small, awkward wave. Couri just snorted and waved back.
“It’s hot as fuck in here.” Das lamented, still ragdolled against the wall. Couri was relieved that he hadn’t been the one to say it.
“Tell me about it.” Fruit replied, standing up in his spot by the furnaces. “And these furnaces are so slow too. It’ll take ages to smelt everything we need.”
Fein knocked another piece of coal into the pile, staying silent.
“Do we really need to watch the furnaces the whole time?” Couri decided to chime in. “We could get a lot more done if we split up.”
The team considered this for a moment, Fruit ultimately breaking the silence.
“I have some stuff I’d like to get on the surface I guess. And this is as hot as these furnaces are gonna get.”
“Take someone with you. Buddy system.” Fein finally spoke up, unfaltering in his attack on the coal vein. Das immediately got up, stretching out his back with an audible crack.
“I’m going. Anything to get out of this cave, man.”
Couriway was pretty sure Das was just hoping to run into an unsuspecting team to wipe, but to each their own. At least he got to hang out with Fein. Das and Fruit wasted no time donning their armor and taking off towards the surface. Couri tucked his canteen back into his pack and prepared to get back to work until Feinberg whacked an innocent piece of coal across the cave with the blunt end of his pickaxe, where it bounced off the wall behind him with a crack and clattered into the pile.
“I am so fucking sick of coal, man.” He seethed, grabbing his own canteen where it laid next to his jacket. He drained half the container in one go, before promptly choking on it and spilling water down his shirt and all over the cave floor. Couriway tried and failed to hide his laughter behind his hand, under the guise of having a particularly nasty cough. Fein glared at him with as much contempt as he could, but it backfired on him when it just made Couri throw courtesy to the wind and double over in hysterics. Fein looked a bit like a disgraced house cat, and the image of the great Feinberg losing to a mouthful of water of all things was absurd enough to captivate his fatigue-riddled mind. It took Couri a few seconds to compose himself enough to look back over, locking eyes with Feinberg who in the dim cave lighting looked a bit redder than before. Couriway didn’t have time to contemplate this before Fein broke eye contact and turned his attention to the pathway that lead deeper into the cave. Taking the hint, Couri proposed a change of plans.
“Let’s leave the coal for now. We need more of that netherite stuff anyways.” He shrugged. “Plus I kinda want to check out this cave.”
“You’re the boss.”
He really wasn’t.
The pair did a final scan of the area and left after finding nothing of note, descending further into the cave. The initial passage was quite small, with the two forced to walk single-file and Fein needing to stoop a little to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling. They made idle chatter as they went deeper, Fein lighting a torch to search for any sneaky valuables in the wall.
“What do you think is going to happen if we make it to the end?” Couri asked, wondering if Fein had any plans. The latter just shrugged, torch flickering with the movement.
“Dunno. Guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
“Burn it, more like.” Couri grumbled.
“Fruit won’t have any hard feelings about it.” Fein pointed out. “He’s chill.”
“I’m more worried about Dasnerth.” Couri ducked under a particularly low-hanging rock.
“Well, the rest of us are reasonable at least. Worst case we deal with him and then work it out with HBG.” Fein reasoned, slowing down his pace as the passage widened so Couri could catch up and match his stride. “Either way, you’ll be there. I’m not super worried about any endgame issues.” Couri scoffed derogatorily.
“You won’t need me to deal with Dasnerth.” He chuckled. “You’re freaking Feinberg.” Couri looked up at Fein who just frowned, sights on the cave ahead of him.
“Give yourself some credit, Couriway. You’re just as important as the rest of us.” Yeah, right.
Still, to have Feinberg say that about him was kinda sweet and maybe a bit out of character. The guy wasn’t known for his kind words about the skill of others, even his friends’. Couri sat next to him while watching Ranked several times, the guy was an asshole. Couri let the walk fall into comfortable silence, only broken by echoey footsteps and occasional rock shifting. Before long, the passage opened up into a massive cavern. Despite having seen many caves before, Couri couldn’t help but marvel a little at the unique generation. Despite being deep underground, the cave was partially exposed to the surface. Cracks in the distant ceiling revealed a star-speckled and provided enough faint starlight that Fein was able to put out the torch without worry. The walls were sprinkled with the glossy netherite-like material they were looking for, reflecting sparkling white light that shifted as Couri moved his head. Massive pillars of stone extended from the floor, some even touching the ceiling. Blues and browns and greys and purples all blended together, and for a second he could almost forget that it was all artificial.
Fein held no such reverence and continued on without hesitation. Couri smiled a little at his friend’s focus.
“It’s interesting that the arena is the exact same every day.” Fein noted aloud, already at a particularly large vein in the wall. He spun his pickaxe around in his hand with a little flourish and sunk it deep into the wall. “I wonder if it’s the same one they’re just resetting somehow, or if there are a bunch of arenas.”
“How could there be only one if we were split into groups?” Couri countered, grabbing his own pickaxe and swinging it into the neighboring chunk of ore.
“Dunno. Maybe they ran us all at different times?” Fein proposed. “Like, maybe we were unconscious for longer than we thought somehow. Maybe we didn’t all wake up at the same time.”
Couriway decided he didn’t like that theory.
“What about the death messages?”
“You think they wouldn’t tamper with our pings? It’s just a bit of movie magic” Fein scoffed (though not at Couriway) and wiggled the fingers on his free hand mysteriously. It was a bit dorky. “Anything for a good show, remember?” They let the silence sit for a moment, Couri just staring at Fein who had already turned back to his wall. He’d been doing a lot of staring this evening. Couri decided he was probably just tired.
“Do they really do stuff like that manually?” Couri decided to make small talk, knowing that Fein could get talking about nearly anything related to the games. It was hard to do icebreakers with a guy you knew better than yourself, and the alternative was talking about home. Couri didn’t really feel up to opening that can of worms at the moment, plus talking about the games might lead to something productive.
“I mean probably not. They’ve probably got some crazy fuckin’ sensors in the bracelets or some bullshit like that. We should smuggle one home. Some of those nerds will love this crap.” So much for not talking about home.
“Pot, kettle.” Couri murmured before speaking again at a normal volume “I hope they caught you saying that.” Couri gestured vaguely at the vast cave, where there were surely countless hidden cameras and microphones tucked away.
“I don’t give a fuck. They know I can’t stand them.” Fein said flippantly. Couri laughed and elbowed him in the side.
“Wh- come on man! I’m in HBG too you know! So is Fruit!”
“Eh, we’re actually good at the game.”
“So is most of HBG to be fair.”
(His “most” discounted exactly one member. Couriway could be hundreds of miles away from home competing in a deathmatch and still find a way to shade President Poundcake.)
“We’re better.” Fein said decisively, swinging at the wall with renewed vigor. Couri certainly couldn’t argue that Fein was better, so he just kept working instead. The silence didn’t last long.
“…Did you see Poundy’s newest Ranked PB?”
The pair continued to work their way through the cave, managing to collect enough ore to fully suit up the team in just under 3 hours. Fruit had messaged that he and Das were on the way back about 20 minutes before they wrapped up, leaving them with plenty of time to gather their spoils and return to the furnaces. Couri’s fatigue had him in a bit of a melancholy mood, just barely winning out over the nice feelings that often came from hanging out with Feinberg. It must have shown on his face or something, because Fein turned to look him in the eyes properly for the first time since they’d entered the cave.
“Yo, you good?”
Couriway was caught off-guard by his question.
“Yeah? I’m good.”
Feinberg in turn didn’t look convinced by his answer. To his credit, he also decided not to push it either after a quick moment of contemplation.
“Alright man, just like let me know if you need anything.” In typical Fein fashion, he didn’t really seem worried. Maybe he knew that Couri would come to him if he really needed anything, at least game related. Couriway needed to be at his best, and he couldn’t be at his best without Feinberg.
“Same goes for you.” Couri had no idea why he offered, no chance there was anything he could help Feinberg with. HE seemed to appreciate it nonetheless, his face slipping into something a bit soft before the look vanished.
“Man we’re gonna be so stacked for the final bloodbath.” Fein grinned, eyes flicking down at the ores in Couri’s arms and then back up to his face. “There’s just no fucking way we don’t win this thing it’s actually just impossible.”
A familiar determination in his eyes reflected the limited starlight and shone brighter than the ores they’d just finished collecting. His mood was infectious, and Couriway felt his own melancholy fade away to be replaced by confidence and excitement. Feinberg was here, and Feinberg never lost. He’d take them all to the end, and then he’d figure out a way for them to win. Couriway rapidly came to this conclusion and then just as suddenly realized something else.
It wasn’t every day Couri got to see Fein’s face without that stupid visor in the way, and he mentally kicked himself for not noticing sooner. His usually dark purple irises appeared as their actual bright blue, a little bit of daytime sky in the deep cave. Feinberg was pretty easy on the eyes, without his face obstructed anyone could see it. He should take off the visor more often. Maybe Couri could knock the damn thing off his face and stomp on it. Steal it off him in his sleep and bury it in somewhere in the arena. Couri was unaware of how intensely he was staring at Fein now, the latter growing mildly uncomfortable as the former continued to scheme ways to get rid of that stupid visor.
“Couri? Hello? Couriway? Anyone home?” Fein chuckled nervously, glancing to his left in an attempt to alleviate some of the discomfort from the prolonged eye contact. Surprisingly, it actually worked when Fein caught a glimpse of something unusual.
A faint flicker of yellow light stole his attention, and he immediately turned fully and flicked down his visor to activate heat vision mode. Couri snapped back and only had a second to mourn his great loss before Fein grabbed his wrist and pulled him behind a nearby stalagmite.
“There’s a team of 3 over there.” Feinberg hissed, still holding onto Couri’s hand. “They’re low stars, I see their names now. I think we can take them.”
“We don’t.. have to do we?” Couri asked hesitantly. “They’ve got us outnumbered and we don’t need to take this fight. Kills don’t matter.”
Fein shrugged.
“I think we should. One less team for the bloodbath y’know? Hell, if you’re nervous I might even be able to take them out myself”
Couriway was not about to let Fein 1v3 after mining for 5 straight hours, but Fein wasn’t going to let up either. Couri sighed and pulled out his gun.
“Let’s go.”
The duo silently darted through the cave, Couri falling back and letting Fein lead him to the heat signatures he saw. As they drew closer, Couri finally saw the names himself.
Strangely familiar names.
These were people in his bunker at the end of the first day.
He faltered in his sprint, but refused to lose sight of Fein all the same. A loud shout came from up ahead and Fein started shooting.
In the end it wasn’t much of a fight.
As Fein chased down the last guy, Couriway was left to finish off the two who were knocked on the cave floor. He tried to tell himself it was a mercy kill as he shot a single bullet into each of their heads. It didn’t really feel that way. His bracelet pinged 3 times. Once for Fein, twice for him. There was blood soiling his shoes and the cave wall. Couri decided to stare at the sky instead of the ruined ground.
It wasn’t cold in the caves.
Couriway shook all the same.
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vibesoda · 2 days ago
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It’s well-established that I am normal abt Hunt & Run. This isn’t another one shot. Don’t click on the cut. Just trust me bro.
It wasn’t cold in the caves.
For an arena praised so much for being “hostile”, it was certainly temperate. Even the underground chill wasn’t as bad as it should be. Couri had made his observation out loud to the group and Fein had speculated that the gamemakers hadn’t wanted inexperienced players to get sick and die due to the weather of all things. Reasoning aside, Couriway found himself missing the comfortable chill as the mines quickly got almost unbearably hot between the cramped space, physical activity, and blast furnaces. Couri was struggling for air within about an hour, and had to stop to hydrate. Leaning against the cave wall, he took in the state of his companions.
Unsurprisingly, they weren’t faring well either. Das was slumped against the wall next to him, empty canteen hanging loosely in his grip. A disheveled Fruitberries was frustratedly poking at one of their furnaces. The damn things just weren’t getting very hot, and it was taking the ore forever to melt down into something actually valuable. Feinberg looked the worst out of all of them, stubbornly chipping away at a vein of coal. His helmet and jacket were long discarded, his long sleeves pushed up to show off his visually unimpressive forearms. His visor was acting as a headband, pushing back his greasy hair to reveal a soot-smudged face flushed red from heat and exhaustion. Couriway stared as Fein rhythmically pounded at the wall, the motion hypnotic to his tired brain. The rhythm was interrupted when a sizable lump of coal dislodged and crumbled to the ground, where Fein paused to kick it into the small pile next to Fruitberries. Fein caught his eye when he was turning back to the wall, pausing before giving him a small, awkward wave. Couri just snorted and waved back.
“It’s hot as fuck in here.” Das lamented, still ragdolled against the wall. Couri was relieved that he hadn’t been the one to say it.
“Tell me about it.” Fruit replied, standing up in his spot by the furnaces. “And these furnaces are so slow too. It’ll take ages to smelt everything we need.”
Fein knocked another piece of coal into the pile, staying silent.
“Do we really need to watch the furnaces the whole time?” Couri decided to chime in. “We could get a lot more done if we split up.”
The team considered this for a moment, Fruit ultimately breaking the silence.
“I have some stuff I’d like to get on the surface I guess. And this is as hot as these furnaces are gonna get.”
“Take someone with you. Buddy system.” Fein finally spoke up, unfaltering in his attack on the coal vein. Das immediately got up, stretching out his back with an audible crack.
“I’m going. Anything to get out of this cave, man.”
Couriway was pretty sure Das was just hoping to run into an unsuspecting team to wipe, but to each their own. At least he got to hang out with Fein. Das and Fruit wasted no time donning their armor and taking off towards the surface. Couri tucked his canteen back into his pack and prepared to get back to work until Feinberg whacked an innocent piece of coal across the cave with the blunt end of his pickaxe, where it bounced off the wall behind him with a crack and clattered into the pile.
“I am so fucking sick of coal, man.” He seethed, grabbing his own canteen where it laid next to his jacket. He drained half the container in one go, before promptly choking on it and spilling water down his shirt and all over the cave floor. Couriway tried and failed to hide his laughter behind his hand, under the guise of having a particularly nasty cough. Fein glared at him with as much contempt as he could, but it backfired on him when it just made Couri throw courtesy to the wind and double over in hysterics. Fein looked a bit like a disgraced house cat, and the image of the great Feinberg losing to a mouthful of water of all things was absurd enough to captivate his fatigue-riddled mind. It took Couri a few seconds to compose himself enough to look back over, locking eyes with Feinberg who in the dim cave lighting looked a bit redder than before. Couriway didn’t have time to contemplate this before Fein broke eye contact and turned his attention to the pathway that lead deeper into the cave. Taking the hint, Couri proposed a change of plans.
“Let’s leave the coal for now. We need more of that netherite stuff anyways.” He shrugged. “Plus I kinda want to check out this cave.”
“You’re the boss.”
He really wasn’t.
The pair did a final scan of the area and left after finding nothing of note, descending further into the cave. The initial passage was quite small, with the two forced to walk single-file and Fein needing to stoop a little to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling. They made idle chatter as they went deeper, Fein lighting a torch to search for any sneaky valuables in the wall.
“What do you think is going to happen if we make it to the end?” Couri asked, wondering if Fein had any plans. The latter just shrugged, torch flickering with the movement.
“Dunno. Guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
“Burn it, more like.” Couri grumbled.
“Fruit won’t have any hard feelings about it.” Fein pointed out. “He’s chill.”
“I’m more worried about Dasnerth.” Couri ducked under a particularly low-hanging rock.
“Well, the rest of us are reasonable at least. Worst case we deal with him and then work it out with HBG.” Fein reasoned, slowing down his pace as the passage widened so Couri could catch up and match his stride. “Either way, you’ll be there. I’m not super worried about any endgame issues.” Couri scoffed derogatorily.
“You won’t need me to deal with Dasnerth.” He chuckled. “You’re freaking Feinberg.” Couri looked up at Fein who just frowned, sights on the cave ahead of him.
“Give yourself some credit, Couriway. You’re just as important as the rest of us.” Yeah, right.
Still, to have Feinberg say that about him was kinda sweet and maybe a bit out of character. The guy wasn’t known for his kind words about the skill of others, even his friends’. Couri sat next to him while watching Ranked several times, the guy was an asshole. Couri let the walk fall into comfortable silence, only broken by echoey footsteps and occasional rock shifting. Before long, the passage opened up into a massive cavern. Despite having seen many caves before, Couri couldn’t help but marvel a little at the unique generation. Despite being deep underground, the cave was partially exposed to the surface. Cracks in the distant ceiling revealed a star-speckled and provided enough faint starlight that Fein was able to put out the torch without worry. The walls were sprinkled with the glossy netherite-like material they were looking for, reflecting sparkling white light that shifted as Couri moved his head. Massive pillars of stone extended from the floor, some even touching the ceiling. Blues and browns and greys and purples all blended together, and for a second he could almost forget that it was all artificial.
Fein held no such reverence and continued on without hesitation. Couri smiled a little at his friend’s focus.
“It’s interesting that the arena is the exact same every day.” Fein noted aloud, already at a particularly large vein in the wall. He spun his pickaxe around in his hand with a little flourish and sunk it deep into the wall. “I wonder if it’s the same one they’re just resetting somehow, or if there are a bunch of arenas.”
“How could there be only one if we were split into groups?” Couri countered, grabbing his own pickaxe and swinging it into the neighboring chunk of ore.
“Dunno. Maybe they ran us all at different times?” Fein proposed. “Like, maybe we were unconscious for longer than we thought somehow. Maybe we didn’t all wake up at the same time.”
Couriway decided he didn’t like that theory.
“What about the death messages?”
“You think they wouldn’t tamper with our pings? It’s just a bit of movie magic” Fein scoffed (though not at Couriway) and wiggled the fingers on his free hand mysteriously. It was a bit dorky. “Anything for a good show, remember?” They let the silence sit for a moment, Couri just staring at Fein who had already turned back to his wall. He’d been doing a lot of staring this evening. Couri decided he was probably just tired.
“Do they really do stuff like that manually?” Couri decided to make small talk, knowing that Fein could get talking about nearly anything related to the games. It was hard to do icebreakers with a guy you knew better than yourself, and the alternative was talking about home. Couri didn’t really feel up to opening that can of worms at the moment, plus talking about the games might lead to something productive.
“I mean probably not. They’ve probably got some crazy fuckin’ sensors in the bracelets or some bullshit like that. We should smuggle one home. Some of those nerds will love this crap.” So much for not talking about home.
“Pot, kettle.” Couri murmured before speaking again at a normal volume “I hope they caught you saying that.” Couri gestured vaguely at the vast cave, where there were surely countless hidden cameras and microphones tucked away.
“I don’t give a fuck. They know I can’t stand them.” Fein said flippantly. Couri laughed and elbowed him in the side.
“Wh- come on man! I’m in HBG too you know! So is Fruit!”
“Eh, we’re actually good at the game.”
“So is most of HBG to be fair.”
(His “most” discounted exactly one member. Couriway could be hundreds of miles away from home competing in a deathmatch and still find a way to shade President Poundcake.)
“We’re better.” Fein said decisively, swinging at the wall with renewed vigor. Couri certainly couldn’t argue that Fein was better, so he just kept working instead. The silence didn’t last long.
“…Did you see Poundy’s newest Ranked PB?”
The pair continued to work their way through the cave, managing to collect enough ore to fully suit up the team in just under 3 hours. Fruit had messaged that he and Das were on the way back about 20 minutes before they wrapped up, leaving them with plenty of time to gather their spoils and return to the furnaces. Couri’s fatigue had him in a bit of a melancholy mood, just barely winning out over the nice feelings that often came from hanging out with Feinberg. It must have shown on his face or something, because Fein turned to look him in the eyes properly for the first time since they’d entered the cave.
“Yo, you good?”
Couriway was caught off-guard by his question.
“Yeah? I’m good.”
Feinberg in turn didn’t look convinced by his answer. To his credit, he also decided not to push it either after a quick moment of contemplation.
“Alright man, just like let me know if you need anything.” In typical Fein fashion, he didn’t really seem worried. Maybe he knew that Couri would come to him if he really needed anything, at least game related. Couriway needed to be at his best, and he couldn’t be at his best without Feinberg.
“Same goes for you.” Couri had no idea why he offered, no chance there was anything he could help Feinberg with. HE seemed to appreciate it nonetheless, his face slipping into something a bit soft before the look vanished.
“Man we’re gonna be so stacked for the final bloodbath.” Fein grinned, eyes flicking down at the ores in Couri’s arms and then back up to his face. “There’s just no fucking way we don’t win this thing it’s actually just impossible.”
A familiar determination in his eyes reflected the limited starlight and shone brighter than the ores they’d just finished collecting. His mood was infectious, and Couriway felt his own melancholy fade away to be replaced by confidence and excitement. Feinberg was here, and Feinberg never lost. He’d take them all to the end, and then he’d figure out a way for them to win. Couriway rapidly came to this conclusion and then just as suddenly realized something else.
It wasn’t every day Couri got to see Fein’s face without that stupid visor in the way, and he mentally kicked himself for not noticing sooner. His usually dark purple irises appeared as their actual bright blue, a little bit of daytime sky in the deep cave. Feinberg was pretty easy on the eyes, without his face obstructed anyone could see it. He should take off the visor more often. Maybe Couri could knock the damn thing off his face and stomp on it. Steal it off him in his sleep and bury it in somewhere in the arena. Couri was unaware of how intensely he was staring at Fein now, the latter growing mildly uncomfortable as the former continued to scheme ways to get rid of that stupid visor.
“Couri? Hello? Couriway? Anyone home?” Fein chuckled nervously, glancing to his left in an attempt to alleviate some of the discomfort from the prolonged eye contact. Surprisingly, it actually worked when Fein caught a glimpse of something unusual.
A faint flicker of yellow light stole his attention, and he immediately turned fully and flicked down his visor to activate heat vision mode. Couri snapped back and only had a second to mourn his great loss before Fein grabbed his wrist and pulled him behind a nearby stalagmite.
“There’s a team of 3 over there.” Feinberg hissed, still holding onto Couri’s hand. “They’re low stars, I see their names now. I think we can take them.”
“We don’t.. have to do we?” Couri asked hesitantly. “They’ve got us outnumbered and we don’t need to take this fight. Kills don’t matter.”
Fein shrugged.
“I think we should. One less team for the bloodbath y’know? Hell, if you’re nervous I might even be able to take them out myself”
Couriway was not about to let Fein 1v3 after mining for 5 straight hours, but Fein wasn’t going to let up either. Couri sighed and pulled out his gun.
“Let’s go.”
The duo silently darted through the cave, Couri falling back and letting Fein lead him to the heat signatures he saw. As they drew closer, Couri finally saw the names himself.
Strangely familiar names.
These were people in his bunker at the end of the first day.
He faltered in his sprint, but refused to lose sight of Fein all the same. A loud shout came from up ahead and Fein started shooting.
In the end it wasn’t much of a fight.
As Fein chased down the last guy, Couriway was left to finish off the two who were knocked on the cave floor. He tried to tell himself it was a mercy kill as he shot a single bullet into each of their heads. It didn’t really feel that way. His bracelet pinged 3 times. Once for Fein, twice for him. There was blood soiling his shoes and the cave wall. Couri decided to stare at the sky instead of the ruined ground.
It wasn’t cold in the caves.
Couriway shook all the same.
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vibesoda · 3 days ago
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“wtf is iterum, chapter seven even about?” who cares! switch finally gets to yell at everybody for being incompetent!
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vibesoda · 8 days ago
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hello everyone, I come here asking for help for my best friend's aunt who is battling cancer and her daughter who's taking care of her - if you have anything to spare it'd be extremely appreciated!! LINK HERE
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photo of my dog for attention, thank you everyone in advance!
(I'm not too sure if this works outside of Poland but I know I have some polish following too)
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vibesoda · 19 days ago
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Except from Iterum, Chapter ???:
Couriway regrets skipping breakfast this morning; he’s well on his way to a migraine. “And Feinberg didn’t say anything about it? He never asked any questions about how you managed to keep Reign alive?”
“No.” Switch shakes his head. “I think he answered all of his own questions a long time ago.”
Couriway’s hand snakes into his pocket, his fingers ghosting across the lenses of a pair of sunglasses. “How are you so sure Fein isn’t dead by now?”
Switch looks at Couriway as though he asked why the moon can’t be seen during the day. “He’s Feinberg. The whole Universe could die before he does.”
“He’s only human.” Couriway’s level tone falters for a split second, giving way to something more vulnerable. “He doesn’t have powers like you and Harvey do. He isn’t a hybrid like me or Raddles.”
Switch crosses his arms over his chest, leveling a half-lidded stare at Couriway. “A few years back, you once told me that Feinberg belonged here. If he’s as ordinary as you claim, what did you see in him?”
“Resilience. The kind of willpower I didn’t have.” Couriway shakes his head, pushing his first memory of Feinberg away. “But willpower can only get you so far. The world beyond these walls is ruthless, Switch. You’re a doctor; you’ve seen it for yourself. What makes you so certain that Feinberg is any different from the other poor souls we laid to rest?”
Switch studies Couriway for a moment, his dark eyes sparkling. “I’m going to tell you a secret that you can’t share with anyone, but before that, can I ask you a question?”
On one hand, Couriway’s eyes feel like they’re about to pop out of his skull. On the other hand, it’s his responsibility as a king to know as much as possible about the Kingdom’s goings-on.
Reluctantly, Couriway groans. “Sure.”
“How do you think Feinberg single-handedly defended HBG’s borders for years without anyone’s knowledge? The very same borders that our best soldiers are currently struggling to defend in groups?”
“I don’t know!” Upon hearing his volume, Couriway bites his lip, swallowing a curse or two. “I don’t know, Switch. More monsters started showing up recently or something?”
“Could be,” is all Switch has to say, his fingers drumming against the spine of his notebook. “But I have a different theory.”
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vibesoda · 1 month ago
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i can’t seem to find what we came here for
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(back around)
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vibesoda · 2 months ago
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A single thought lingers at the forefront of Feinberg’s mind before darkness swallows him whole.
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Switch is going to kill me.
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vibesoda · 2 months ago
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Excerpt from Fine, Chapter Six: Torch
Shivering, Feinberg’s thoughts wander to the dog on the side of the road. Feinberg remembers that dog so clearly, trembling in the pouring rain, rounded eyes glistening with hope when it looked up at Feinberg.
On the brink of death, that dog believed in Feinberg. In the warmth of his arms and the safety of his raincoat.
The dog knew its end was near, but in spite, or maybe because of that, it trusted Feinberg. It crawled across Feinberg’s legs, deeming his lap a suitable place to die. In its last moments, it considered the embrace of a stranger better than being alone.
Then, Feinberg achieved the impossible. By what appeared to be blind faith in himself, Feinberg matched the image in his mind to reality.
Under the dim glow of a streetlight, Feinberg imagined one of the thousands of lives the dying animal could have lived had it not been in the wrong place at the wrong time. It deserved to be healthy and happy watching the rain from a living room window, not bleeding to death in some teenager’s arms.
He knew what he desired was impossible, but that didn’t stop Feinberg from squeezing his eyes shut and believing in the goodness of the world, finding a silver lining beneath the suffering.
You’re in a better place now, buddy, he’d whispered to the corpse of a new friend, wondering where to go with its body. He couldn’t just leave it.
Then, the corpse squirmed, whining. Feinberg opened his eyes and let go of the dog, flinching in surprise.
Moments earlier, the bull terrier was dead. Feinberg was sure of it. Its bones were shattered. It was over. There was never any other possible outcome.
Yet, there the dog stood on stable legs, not a scratch grazing its soaked fur. It looked about as shocked as Feinberg was.
Feinberg staggered to his feet, the blood beneath his sneakers washed away by the rain. He looked at his hands. His fingertips were red and aching.
That night, Feinberg performed a miracle. Not the revival of a fleeting soul, but rather a rewrite of fate. Had Feinberg chosen to keep walking and let nature take its course, he never would have discovered the road less traveled. He wouldn’t have gone on to heal the skin and spirits of countless people.
It was a split-second decision, spurred on by pure impulse, a jump at the chance to bring a speck of kindness back into the doomed animal’s life. Gathering the pitiful remains of a dog into his arms, Feinberg desired only for its painless death, even though Feinberg would be left to shoulder the burden of its remains.
Had he not performed a miracle that day, Feinberg wouldn’t regret his decision. It was worth it. Every second of sorrow he endured was worth the heartbeat of hope in those round, innocent eyes.
So why—why does Feinberg not have hope, too? Why is Feinberg convinced no one will come to his aid?
Feinberg takes a sharp, but quiet breath. “Who helps the heroes when they’re in trouble?”
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vibesoda · 2 months ago
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basically iterum: chapter 7
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vibesoda · 3 months ago
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also curiousssss idk if i missed it or anything and if this is spoilers Sorgy but what is fulhams power. my curiosities. what is up wiuth him....
It’s a surprise tool that will help us later! I will say it’s pretty useful in poker… unless your opponent is Fine or his civilian counterpart, because he has to be quirky and different.
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They probably don’t get along.
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vibesoda · 3 months ago
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i'm actually curious... how Does couri's power with the wings work..... the whole being able to for the lack of a better word switch them on and off (and them being better in the sunlight) is so interesting to me.
fein's is also so very interesting to me.... the fact he can heal birth defects without knowing. and the remark that healers can't do that like byeah no wonder he doesn't initally believe it.
Like Fruitberries, Icarus’s power is the ability to summon pseudo-limbs that can retract at the summoner’s will, with the tiny stipulation that the limbs must be physically undamaged or else retracting them could cause further harm to the rest of the body.
We can extrapolate this information from Fine’s internal monologue in chapters 1 & 3, where he says:
Ch 1: “It’s not often [Fine] gets to check out Couriway’s wings.”
Ch 3: “First, Fruit’s vines are an extension of his body, much like Couriway’s wings.”
Because Fine can only “read” parts of the body that are currently connected to it, he can’t check on the status of Icarus’s wings or Fruit’s vines just by touching the person in question, they must actively be summoned for Fine to gather information from them.
As for Icarus’s sun-enhancing ability, think of it like the function of chlorophyll in plants, except instead of energy, sunlight is converted into more feathers & muscle & so on. Icarus’s wings are still plenty capable at night or indoors, but in the sun, they eclipse the capabilities of any other hero’s wings. His unique ability to take advantage of the daylight is one of the main reasons his rankings are so high.
There’s certainly more than meets the eye to Fine’s power… a power that can not only “read” the nervous system of others, but interact with it at the cost of one’s own doesn’t sound like the average healing ability. That, and the fact that Fine must know what he’s healing to heal it is strange indeed. Most healers’ powers work similar to painkillers: they affect the entire body and target anything out of place.
Yet, Fine’s power is notably unable to perform such widespread repair of the body, at least as far as he knows. Perhaps his power is simply the result of fine-tuned evolution (no pun intended) or perhaps it’s something else.
We’ll learn more about everyone’s powers in chapter six. Maybe it will answer some of the lingering mysteries.
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vibesoda · 3 months ago
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sorry., hi. its me again. live reaction rereading fine for the nth time becauseim. so very normal trust me
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it’s okay i’m not normal either (exhibit a)
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as for your prior ask about more content… i occasionally doodle things when i’m writing. here’s one from chapter five
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in terms of more yapping about the fic from me… i never really know what to say, but if anyone asks me a question im always happy to answer (unless it’s asking for a spoiler [: )
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vibesoda · 3 months ago
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Fine—Chapter Five: Care
Feinberg wakes up. The reception to this event is mixed.
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vibesoda · 4 months ago
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Excerpt from Iterum, Chapter Seven: Alive
Couriway shakes his head again. “Skies, don’t make me do this. I never wanted to hurt him, Reign.”
As Reign’s eyes meet Couriway’s, his razor’s-edge gaze softens. “I know. He never wanted to hurt you, either.”
Couriway scoffs, a wry grin stretching across his lips. “Could have fooled me.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Reign says, shrugging. “He played all of us like Kayfour’s piano. Except for Switch, maybe.”
Couriway removes his glasses, wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand before returning them to his face. “What does Switch know?”
Reign glances inside. “More than he lets on, that’s for sure.”
“I’ll have to speak to him later.” Couriway follows Reign’s gaze, swallowing to remedy the dryness of his throat. “If I go in there and convince everyone that I was…”
Couriway wracks his brain, but he can’t find the right word to describe the judgement he levied against his own Captain other than treason.
“Justified?” Reign supplies.
“Yes, justified in sending him away… You’re certain that is what Feinberg wants?”
Reign nods. His demeanor has dissolved from downright mutinous earlier to stoicism betrayed only by intermittent flickers of resentment in his eyes.
“Alright.” Couriway lets out a whisper of a sigh, signaling Reign to enter the Great Hall before him. “Let’s go make Feinberg proud.”
Reign hesitates, lingering in the doorway, neither inside or out. “He’s going to come back. He’ll come back for you. For us.” Reign looks over his shoulder, catching Couriway’s eyes. “You know that?”
“I know.” Couriway nudges Reign forward by the shoulder. “I’m counting on it.”
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vibesoda · 4 months ago
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not really an ask, but i think about the corn chip line a lot
me too. when I was rewriting dolorem in 2023, i considered removing that line because I thought it was corny (go figure) but I didn’t because people told me they loved it 😭 so now a goofy decision I made when I was 17 stays in the fic or I face backlash too vicious to imagine
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vibesoda · 4 months ago
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we study our story arcs; inherently good, or were we broken right from the start?
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