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jasper-the-menace · 9 months ago

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Hey, since you're interested in scorpion biology, I thought you'd be interested in the idea of... intersex Chima scorpions! Well, sort of.

There's a specific character that's been bugging me a bit. Scutter is kind of the scorpion equivalent of a centaur; he has two torsos, one anthropomorphic, and another of the scorpion body. With scorpion anatomy in mind, it's easy to reach the conclusion that Scutter's reproductive organ would be heavily altered because of his body, making him intersex to a certain extent.

I hope this makes sense. I'm trying to look for possible trans rep in Chima characters (like in this example). What do you think of this idea?

Oh friend, you don't know the essay you just inspired.

You Opened This Can Of Worms, Now Lie In It

Some important bulletpoints before I get going, just to get all of my followers on the same page:

Disclaimer: I am a transgender nonbinary perisex individual. This means I am not intersexed (to my knowledge), I don't identify with the gender I was assigned at birth, and I don't identify as male or female. The closest thing to describing my gender is literally "no".

I am a strong advocate for making as many characters transgender as possible, regardless of "realism". That's why, in my own writing, half of the Scorpions are retroactively transgender (though they don't understand gender on the whole and most of them would probably be nonbinary if someone took fifteen minutes to explain gender, variable social constructs, and the concept of genitalia tying to gender roles) and also Razar is too on account of I said so.

Being intersexed does not inherently mean being transgender. There is a lot of discussion and individual choice between intersexed people about whether or not they're part of the queer community. It's a very individual thing, and I am not part of those discussions on account of not being intersex myself.

When it comes to humans and other beings with a level of sentience and sapience, the term "hermaphrodite" and its derivates are considered slurs. When talking about animals, hermaphrodite and its derivates are scientific terms. So in something like the Legends of Chima series and other humanoid-animal media, the proper term is "intersexed". (I noticed you used the term "intersex" in your ask, and I appreciate it!)

I know too much about scorpion mating and birth.

We're talking way too much about genitalia and gender tonight in regards to fictional characters.

I am genuinely delighted that you decided to drop in here to discuss this, because boy howdy do I have a lot of thoughts about transgender headcanons/representation and scorpions specifically! Scorpions are just. So damn cool.

Note for my fellow arachnophobes: There are no images attached to this post, but it's really easy to find videos of scorpions doing various things on YouTube, which is actually how I've been studying them.

Scorpion Sex, Mating, and Genitalia

Scorpions of both "genders" have genital opercula (singular: genital operculum), and their asses run up into their tails. In order to mate, they don't just do like horses. No no, buddy, they have a really weird, specific method!

In order to start wooing his potential mate, the male scorpion will lock chelae (pincers) with the female scorpion, and they will start to "dance". The male scorpion will drop a sperm packet onto the ground and lead the female scorpion over it. If the female scorpion is down, she'll basically squat and absorb the sperm packet into her body, which is then followed by a "mating plug" to keep it in while it does the fertilization thing.

(It's important to note that the courting process also contains "juddering", aka the male scorpion doing the dance that the stickbug meme did, and may also contain clerchical "kisses". Honestly, pretty romantic for an arachnid. And possibly tail-rubbing and sexual stinging. Scorpions are very kinky!)

(It's also important to note that some species of scorpions have been reported, though not reliably, to reproduce through parthogenesis.)

Post-coitus cannibalism has not been scientifically seen in scorpions, so the male scorpion is generally safe as long as he scadoodles.

Gestation in some scorpion species can last over a year, and different species can have anywhere from 2 to 100 little scorplings - the physical size of the scorpion is not necessarily tied to how many babies they'll have.

Also, scorpions give live birth!

The baby scorpion is essentially folded like a Fedex package and launched out of the womb. It will then unfold and climb on top of the mother to make way for its next sibling. These will hang onto the mother until their first molt, which happens as a group and launches them into the juvenile stage. After this, they will still stay with their mothers until their carapace finishes hardening and gaining color, at which point they hunt prey on their own and will wander off on their own terms.

Hey, Jasper, That's Pretty Fucked Up, But How Does This Tie Into Chima?

I'm getting there, hold your centaur scorpions!

This is where we get into the worldbuilding of the Legends of Chima series, the Character Encyclopedia, and our poor boy Scutter.

See, the Legends of Chima as a series is very much a product of its time. There is some rife ableism and questionable word choices in regards to the Crawlers (and Sir Fangar, but this isn't about him). According to the Character Encyclopedia, Scutter is "less evolved". There's a looong history of racism in using phrases like "evolution" in regards to other humans, so taking that and applying it to an animal world leaves us with some very strange dissonance, because it's used in Chima to mean animals turned into a more humanoid form by the Chi.

Because really, what is the Chi? It's a magical substance that, depending on how you read it, could be the animist spirit of the land (I say, as an animist myself), or it could be drugs. Or it could be any number of other things! I know one person who writes Chi as the blood of dead gods, which is metal as fuck!

Ultimately, it depends on how one is writing the Chi that makes the usage of phrases like "less evolved" more or less questionable than it was intended. We're all dragging around the corpse of a Lego theme across our writing desks anyway. And the way I go about answering the question of "what is Chi" is definitely different from others. (Again, see the dead god blood part.)

The question of whether or not the Scorpion Tribe, namely Scutter, would count as intersexed relies on 1) defining intersexuality in regards to genitalia arrangement (scorpions don't have penises and vaginas by default; and the Wikipedia article on scorpions just uses "genital orfice" or "genital opercula"); 2) determining if the Chi has magically changed how genitalia works for Scorpions (admittedly, I do this because I didn't want to have to use the term "genital opercula" over and over); 3) determining the humanization extent of the Scorpion Tribe as you write them (I lean more towards human than you do, just from what I've seen of your work); and 4) deciding if such terminology even exists in Chima.

But looking at Scutter and going with the assumption that the back end is fully scorpion... No, I wouldn't count him as intersex by default. Intersex implies landing between the two human biological extremes (which, as we all know, is not as cut-and-dry as high school biology taught us), when really he's kind of a secret third thing (a Scorpion who probably doesn't have either a penis or a vagina).

(Of course, there's also what you said, paraphrased to my own wording: the Chi may have just decided to fuck up this poor man's genital situation and do a half-ass job.)

That's not to say he can't be trans. I mean, I made Scorm and about half of the Scorpion Tribe trans already. That's also not to say they're not all trans by default, considering scorpions without the ability to think wouldn't have the concepts of genders anyway.

Okay Jasper, So How Do You Write Him?

So, here's the thing. I'm aromantic-asexual, and I also write smut and, to a lesser extent, romance, which means I think about fictional character genitalia too much. But thinking about Scutter has left me utterly baffled.

On one hand, I usually write the Chi as a magical animist force of the land of Chima on the whole, and part of that is that the Chi tries to get everyone on the same playing field, physically speaking, which is how we get retroactive transgender man Scorm in my Tales of Chima series.

On the other hand, look at him. Look at him. He's a centaur arachnid. I know he can pass the Harkness Test, but I still feel weird thinking about his genitalia. If I go with my theory of the Chi giving everyone penises and vaginas at random, then I don't want to think about how much that would get in the way for the poor boy! On the other hand, his lower body is still mostly scorpion instead of, well, Scorpion, so who's to say he doesn't have a genital operculum?

Too Long, Don't Want Details About Scorpion Sex

Alright, spoilsport. Here's your TLDR:

It genuinely depends on what the Chi does in your version of the story and how bad it fucks up. It depends on how dedicated you are to scientific accuracy. It depends on how much you want to think about scorpion genitals.

And being intersex is not necessarily trans rep, unless it is, unless it isn't. I'm not intersexed, so I'm not going to say what that falls on myself. There is an intersex pride flag that was created by Morgan Carpenter in 2013.

Trans characters can exist outside of being intersexed, you don't have to conflate the two in order to have transgender representation. Just hit the characters with the Transgenderinator 5000 Beam. Fuck realism, this is a series about walking talking animal people. Who's going to stop you? The fun police? Transphobes? Eat them.

Further Reading

Start at Wikipedia and go from there through its sources for anything of particular interest:

Intersex flag (in case you're curious about it and its history, which can also launch you into further reading about humans being intersex)

Scorpion (morphology section)

Scorpion (mating subsection)

Scorpion (birth and development subsection)

So, uh, yeah! Thanks for coming to me with these questions, it's really touching that you value my thoughts this much, and I love talking about my boys and scorpions and the complicated web! I apologize for any errors or too-crass sections, because I wrote most of this in one sitting after playing wayyy too much Skyrim today.

~Jasper

#answered #olivescales3 #legends of chima #lego legends of chima #lego chima #chima #scutter #loc scutter #scorpions #science #biology #queer #trans #transgender #intersex

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maniculum · 10 months ago

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Another Scorpion Sunday! Slightly confused this week because (a) it looks like I forgot to post one last week but also (b) this one is next on the list and I swear I've done it before. IDK, maybe I just thought about it really hard.

Anyway, this one is from Additional MS 22413 at the British Library. The British Library is still down, so I can't tell you much about it except for the fact that it's a Hebrew manuscript. (I looked it up when I was doing the original post, but the only things I remember are that it was in Hebrew characters and had a really long descriptive title.) You can kind of see a label in Hebrew characters up at the top of the circle there, in between the critter and the gold border.

Anyway, this one stands out from the pack by being Obviously Just a Turtle, which is not a direction I've seen anyone else go. I think there's a bit of influence from the usual sources with the face there -- the fact that it's a different color from the rest of the body and looks kind of humanoid suggests to me that the artist had heard the thing about scorpions having a human face.

So, points:

Small Scuttling Beaſtie? ✓, i think turtles qualify

Pincers? ✘

Exoskeleton or Shell? ✓

Visible Stinger? ✘

Limbs? 4

Sadly, this is one of the ones that gets a penalty. This is obviously identifiable as something other than a scorpion -- i.e., a turtle -- and therefore gets a -1.

As for vibes... look, I like turtles. I had a pet turtle as a kid. His name was Proganochelys (i was a weird, nerdy kid). 5/5 for turtles.

Which gives us a total of:

6.4 / 10

Sorry, buddy, but you are impersonating a scorpion and that's not where you belong.

#medieval scorpions

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xinxiaogato · 2 years ago

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— live to tell the tail

summary. you unfortunately lived in a universe where general gorou had found out ms. hina was… himself. and just your luck: gorou’s first impression of you was a crazed devotee of the ms. hina fan club, but you had only been in the wrong place at the wrong time. will you live to tell the tail?

love interests. gn!reader x a watatsumi general, an inazuman vagrant, the balladeer, and the kreideprinz.

warnings. infinite pet puns, referenced character death, weapons, swearing, blood, alcohol, harassment, and mentions of war.

note. “nibi” is a gender-neutral title i am using for a parent in this chapter! also, the child could have been delivered by a gestational surrogate.

word count. 1,044

chapter eighteen ⌇ pawternal instincts

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when scaramouche came up to your table for help with a child pincering the hem of his shorts, your katsu sandwich went down the wrong pipe hole. you downed half of a bottle of dango milk to help you recover from the shock.

“i would’ve never guessed that you had a kid,” you jested, wiping your lips of any excess, but scaramouche was a far cry from being entertained.

“very funny,” he said flatly, neglecting to conceal his true colors at this point. “what was in your food to make you say that?”

the little kid’s big eyes shone at the sound of “food” and locked onto the manifold delectables atop your plate.

“i-i’m hungry…” he cheeped, rubbing his tummy.

“you’re hungry?” you reiterated to which he frantically nodded, bouncing on the balls of his feet. his mannerisms reminded you of a red burny girl back in mondstadt, who occasionally showed up at good hunter to snatch a tiger grilled fish stick from you. “c’mon, it’s all yours, champ.”

the boy waddled away from scaramouche and clambered onto the adjacent seat. as his eyes swept across the mizu manjuu, egg rolls, and fish-shaped cakes, your concern proliferated. you smoothed back the sprig of cowlick on the top of his head and inquired of him, “where are your parents, buddy? did you come to this restaurant with them?”

he paused before pointing the tip of his tri-flavored skewer at you. “nibi…” and then right at scaramouche. “papa…”

and that was when you noticed: the boy’s hair that you were patting was a similar color and texture to yours, and his eyes reflected the same intense purple as that of scaramouche’s. in your chair, you rotated to face the man with robotic consistency.

“kuni… this may sound farfetched, but what if, in the future, we actually ended up in a loveless marriage and this is our child who went back to the past to stop us from falling for each other?” you proposed.

…

scaramouche was appalled. you weren’t fazed by the intimate moment he created earlier—lips against your ear and everything—yet you have already shaken him more times than he can count.

“i’m leaving,” he snapped.

those words from scaramouche seemed to set off an alarm in the child. he dropped the skewer and outstretched his hands with teary eyes, confining scaramouche in one place.

“papa, please don’t go!” the little kid’s bottom lip quivered as he turned to you for help. “n-nibi, can you stop papa?”

seeing him in such a crestfallen state made your chest clench painfully. you quickly gave the child a reassuring smile while whipping up some sort of convincing explanation. “aaactually… your papa is off to get… your stuffed animal from our room!” you blurted out, catching scaramouche’s eye. “right… honey?”

scaramouche, a sinner whose face could school itself into deadpan amid a sea of rotting bodies, was flabbergasted at this unfolding of events. a stuffed animal? he hadn’t seen one in his life, but the glimmer of hope in the child’s eyes forced scaramouche to raise his shoulders into a noncommittal shrug.

“yes, i will return,” he grunted after a moment’s worth of hesitation.

with herculean strength, he offered his newlywed partner and unplanned child an award-winning smile and left the restaurant, but once he was out of sight, his elegant steps turned into anger-driven strides.

i should’ve never decided to come kill this moron myself! he fumed, but rationality slowed scaramouche to a halt.

it wasn’t a decision for scaramouche. for the first time in his godforsaken time on teyvat, scaramouche felt like he had no other choice.

as soon as scaramouche received the report that you escaped after eavesdropping on his henchmen in the forest one time, he already had lackeys on your heels. there was no need for him to get personally involved.

but his lackeys continued to be defeated one by one. those that managed to survive and crawl back to headquarters all described seeing “a dash of white hair” before a gust of wind ripped their comrades to shreds. they couldn’t get anywhere near you.

and do you wanna know about the icing on top? the salt to scaramouche’s wound?

you, reader, were a complete nobody with zilch information on your record that he scrounged up, yet you somehow got yourself implicated in his plan to incapacitate a general.

well, you didn’t completely thwart it. the divine priestess—a pawn he had fiddled with in the past—would still believe that the man who shot the arrow was an undercover shogunate officer…

…when it was really a fatui agent sent on scaramouche’s behalf.

tension between the inazuma shogunate and the island of watatsumi was exactly what scaramouche needed to gain control of the nation as a whole. the same nation he was manufactured in would be the same nation that met its downfall by his synthetic hands.

but there was an unforeseen error: scaramouche was under the impression that you overheard the details of his plan to fabricate chaos in inazuma in the forest, thus throwing caution to the wind and taking an arrow to the shoulder for general gorou…

…but no one outside of the fatui organization was allowed to get away with that information alive, especially a being as insignificant as yourself.

due to how incompetent his servants were, he boarded this very passenger boat to get the job done, thinking you were some powerful entity, but scaramouche was quick to find out that you weren’t powerful in the brain or brawn department, which should’ve meant he had the upper hand. human lives were playthings to him, and he could easily strike you down at any given moment…

…but he was hesitating to kill you.

thrown so off-kilter by this, scaramouche knew there was something terribly wrong with his wiring. this abnormality was the antithesis of his crimes as the balladeer thus far, so he was on the verge of knocking down the shogun’s door and demanding her to fix him.

well, if he didn’t hate her so much.

scaramouche was aware that he wasn’t making any progress by idling around, so he stormed off to find a stupid, ugly stuffed animal to pacify that kid.

shit, where am i going to steal one?

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#genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin x y/n #genshin impact x y/n #genshin x you #genshin impact x you #gorou x reader #kazuha x reader #scaramouche x reader #albedo x reader #fluff #crack #comfort #angst #stella writes — !#live to tell the tail

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scarred-but-still-smiling · 2 years ago

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Sleep Deprivation And Its Effects On The Immune System.

In which Pix thinks it's all over, but he couldn't be more wrong if he tried.

The third installment in the "Pixlriffs' No Good Very Bad Few Days" series

Also on AO3

Landing on the bridge of Cogsmede, Pix looked around, shivering slightly. He never realised just how cold the air was around here until he was flying through it at speed while both wet and half naked.

"False?" He called out, cupping his hands around his mouth, "False are you home? I need a favour!"

"Pix?" False's voice, cautious as always, echoed down from the clocktower. "Give me a moment, I'll be right there."

As he waited, Pix's mind wandered; it wandered to what had happened at the edge of The Great Lake, to what he'd seen before he'd awoken; cracked ribs and a mouth full of water and Scott's face barely an inch from his own. It wandered to the last words he had heard before he was wrenched from the jaws of oblivion.

"We will always be a part of you now, don't ever forget that~"

His head pulsed, and he rubbed his temples, but he knew oxygen deprivation, especially for extended periods of time, could cause neurological issues, so a little headache wasn't unexpected. In fact, he had a feeling he'd be in for worse.

Hearing footsteps, Pix looked up and saw False approaching with her sword drawn and looking at him with great confusion. "Hey, uhh, Pix? Lose your shirt somewhere buddy? Or did you lose a bet instead?"

He laughed, striking a pose with his hands on his hips, "Like what you see?" The laugh faltered, "for real though, that's a long story that we don't have time for right now. I need your help dealing with Cubfan, or rather, the creature that is claiming to be Cubfan." He gestured to the patches of sculk that dotted the bridge, "I'm sure you've seen his handiwork."

"You need me to kill someone?" False asked.

"Yeah, I kinda tried myself already but he just kinda came back, so I get the feeling I didn't do it right."

False shrugged, "Okay."

Pix's eyebrows shot up, "Really? I kinda expected it to be harder to convince you, but honestly I'm not complaining. Grab your killing things and follow me."

As they flew over, Pix tried to formulate a plan; clearly just Killing Cub wouldn't work, he'd tried that already, and he knew that doing to Cub whatever happened to him wouldn't work either, as the sculk had been a part of him for too long. He wracked his brains for any shred of an idea, but his mind felt thick and thinking as though trudging through a swamp.

They landed outside of Hermitopia and quietly approached Cub's challenge house, seeing his nametag inside, and Pix walked up to the front door and knocked.

"Oh Cub! I've brought a friend!"

Cub opened the door and Pix forced himself inside the small house, sword drawn, as False entered behind him.

"I've brought FalseSymmetry to say hi, she's also seen your handiwork; lots of sculk spreading around Cogsmede."

Cub's face split into an unnaturally wide grin, "Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it the best thing ever?"

False grimaced, "Is there a reason for it?"

Cub shrugged, "I mean, spreading the sculk is the only reason I need."

"Is that the only reason?"

As Cub and False talked, Pix manoeuvred around the room, carefully trapping Cub in a pincer formation.

"I mean, you also gotta spread the souls," Cub gestured to the soul lanterns hung in the corners of the small room.

He shot False a look, indicating he was ready when she was.

She nodded ever so slightly, "Oh is that what these are for?" She asked, "What about that one there?" False pointed at a lantern behind Cub.

"Oh, that one?"

As Cub turned, False pulled out her trident and swiftly thrust it at him, just barely grazing his side as he stepped out of the way.

Cub laughed at them, "Really?" He glanced at Pix, and Pix felt something primal in him open one eye and take notice as their eyes met. "You already tried killing me once, Pixlriffs. I thought you were supposed to be smart~"

False thrust the trident again, and again Cub dodged, jumping from the large window despite Pix trying to take a slash at him to stop him as False threw her trident after him, and Pix watched with a sinking heart as it flew far into the distance.

He and False jumped after him, gliding over to where he stood against one of the outer walls of Hermitopia. They finally had him cornered.

Glaring at Cub, Pix could feel that primal Thing inside him rear its head, could feel the very ground beneath his feet trembling, and he closed the gap between them, grabbing Cub by the back of the head and driving his sword deep into his gut in one fluid motion.

As Cub's body dissolved in his grasp, sculk rapidly devoured the grass beneath their feet, the rot spreading up his sword and to his hand, his wrist, halfway to his elbow before it lost steam.

"Pix!"

Pix shook his head, breaking out of the daze he was in and turning towards False, seeing she had jump up on top of a tree to escape the spreading sculk. But before he could respond, he saw Cub jumping down from his window again. "He's coming back for seconds, ready yourself!"

He threw his sword to the ground just as Cub came out into the open. "Come on then!" Pix taunted, arms spread wide, "aren't you just furious at me for betraying you earlier? For pretending like I believed in your insanity just to stab you in the back? Don't you just wanna tear me apart for that? Like the monster you are?" He grinned, baring his teeth and lowering his head, his voice becoming an animalistic growl and his long tangled hair falling wildly in front of his face, "Well come and get me!"

"Um, Pix? Are you feeling okay?"

Pix could barely hear False over the rumbling in the air between him and Cub that his challenge had caused, staring the sculk monster down.

Suddenly, there was a shattering of glass and a wave of fatigue washed over him, causing him to stumble and fall against a nearby tree.

Hearing an impact beside him, Pix looked up and saw Xisuma had come out of nowhere, presumably from above, and was dragging a dazed Cubfan into a hole that False had just finished digging.

Weakness potions never used to knock him on his ass this badly, what was wrong with him?

As False filled in the hole around Cub, Xisuma walked over and offered him a bottle of milk, "You okay mate? I've never seen you like this before."

Pix drained the bottle hungrily, the fatigue from the potion being washed away. He sighed, "I don't know man, I've just had a really long day like you wouldn't believe." He brushed his long hair out of his face, grateful that it was finally dry, "we gotta get this over and done with, I could really use a good night's sleep right about now."

Xisuma tilted his head, "Hang on, I just noticed but why are you-"

"Shirtless?" False walked over to them, shovel over her shoulder, "According to him it's a long story we don't have time for, so hopefully once we figure this out, he'll tell us." She looked down at Pix, "Feeling better there, Rambo?"

Pix got to his feet, "Much. Now then, how did the potion work on Cub?"

"Seems to have gotten rid of a good amount of sculk actually." She said, motioning with her head towards where Cub had been buried, "he really didn't like it. I reckon we go grab a whole bunch from Shelby and just throw everything at him and see what happens. Worst case scenario it does nothing and we need to think of something else."

He nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Xisuma?"

X straightened up, "Yeah?"

"Keep an eye on him. You know how to brew weakness potions, bring a brewing stand over here and get some going, just in case he tries anything."

With a nod from X, Pix and False took off in the direction of The Evermoore, arriving in record time, Shelby there to greet them having been sent a message by False on the way over.

As soon as landed in the heart of The Evermoore, Pix felt something change in him; it felt strange, like he belonged there, like the trees were calling to him. He shook his head, he needed to focus on fixing Cub.

"Pix?" He looked up, Shelby was looking at him with concern and the slightest hint of suspicion. "You okay dude?"

"I'm fine," he replied, "just distracted. Worried about Cub, you know?"

False didn't look convinced, but she turned her attention to Shelby, "You have the potions I asked for?"

Shelby nodded, "Yup! One of everything, just as ordered. Let's get back over to Hermitopia, and fast."

The two ladies took off immediately, but Pix hesitated, looking around at the trees. They had it under control, surely? Surely he could just...

A rock made contact with his bare chest, and he looked up, seeing False flying in circles above him, "Pix I swear to the void if you fuck this up..." she caught herself, "Just, just get up here!"

He launched into the air, and he and False spammed rockets until they caught up with Shelby, and the three quickly landed in Hermitopia, with Xisuma strangely nowhere to be seen.

False got to Cub's location first, removing the dirt above his head as Pix and Shelby joined her, "Oh good, he's still here."

Shelby smiled brightly as she approached the hole, placing down the shulker box and removing a few potions, "Hey there friend! I heard you're not feeling too good. Well, don't worry, I'm here to help fix that."

False took out a few potions as well, and Pix followed her lead, feeling the light hum of magic through the glass bottles, and joined the two women by the side of the pit.

Cub chuckled at Shelby's words, and Pix could feel the laughter resonate in his own chest as though he were the one laughing. "It's almost cute that you think you can beat me." he said, as his eyes swept over the three of them, eventually landing on Pix, "No matter what you do to this body, you'll only be cutting off the head of a hydra. The Deep Dark will always rise."

Pix felt every word, felt the feral Thing bear its teeth deep in his soul; oh how desperately he wanted to cut this bastard to ribbons over and over again for what he did to his city. But he grit his teeth and fought through it.

"Okay, that's enough of that." False said, thoroughly unimpressed by the speech, and threw her potions into the pit with he and Shelby following suit.

As the cloud of vapours from the splash potions filled the air, Cub cried out in pain, but Cub wasn't the only one having a bad time. With every breath, Pix's head spun and his stomach lurched.

Staggering away from the cloud, Pix fell to his hands and knees and dry-heaved, feeling something inside of him that desparately wanted to escape.

"Hey! Sorry for wandering off," a voice from above them, Xisuma, "I just realised you'd all probably want some milk!"

Pix raised a hand, grasping in the general direction of the voice, "Very much so," he groaned, "please, quickly."

"Oh boy of course, are you okay? Here, fresh from the cow."

As soon as he felt something in his hand, he quickly brought it to his mouth and drank, feeling once again that comforting wave as the potion effects were cleansed from his system. "No, I don't think I'm okay, honestly. I'm starting to think I might have an allergy to one of the potion ingredients." He got to his feet, walking over to the hole in the ground; as much as he wanted to go to bed, he had to see if Cub was okay.

"Hello? How did I get here?"

Just as Pix reached the edge of the hole, it seemed, Cub woke up. He looked down, and was relieved to see Cub's normal face and normal eyes looking up at them, full of confusion rather than arrogance or malice. He smiled, "It's a long story my friend, and honestly one you're gonna have to ask Shelby about because I'm just," he laughed, "I'm very tired."

"Yeah," Cub sounded concerned, "No offense but you look like garbage my guy." A curious tilt of the head, "Nice, uh, nice physique though. I can think of a few people who wouldn't complain if this was a permenant change to your usual look."

Too exhausted to respond coherently, Pix just smiled, nodded, and turned to leave, taking out his rockets as Shelby placed a hand on his shoulder.

"If you want, you can come over to my place tomorrow and we can take a look at why the potions affected you so severely today? After you get some rest, naturally."

Pix nodded again, it was getting so hard to keep his eyes open, he needed to get home soon or he was gonna pass out. With a few rockets, he sprung into the air and headed in the direction of The Ancient Capital, the cold air in his face just enough to keep him alert as he raced with the setting sun to get back.

He managed to stay conscious long enough to land next to Winchester, who was perched up on one of the walls around his cow pen. But, before he could register why that was, the last ounce of strength left him, and the last thing Pix felt as he passed out from sheer exhaustion, was his face sinking into a patch of sculk as he hit the ground.

He found himself floating above the ancient city again, just like earlier that day when he had drowned. He tried to speak, to call out to whatever the voices from last time were, but he couldn't, even in this dreamscape, and when he felt his face to figure out why, he found his mouth was completely filled with sculk

The voices spoke.

"It was very rude of you to take our vessel away from us, mortal."

Pix felt multiple presences all around him, growing closer and closer.

"However, now that we aren't distracted by it, and now that sufficent time has passed to prepare, that will not matter."

The many coalesced into one, and Pix could feel something right behind him, but found himself unable to look.

"You will serve us just as well~"

At that, Pix felt something sharp pierce directly through his heart from behind and come out through the front of his bare chest; a spire of sculk, one that spread out tendrils of corruption across his flesh.

Suddenly, he felt the presence vanish, and Pixlriffs was alone in the dark of an ancient city with only pain for company.

#empires smp #empires season 2 #empires pixlriffs #empires false #empires shubble #pixlriffs #shubble #falsesymmetry #cubfan135 #scarred stories #bye bye canon it was nice meeting you #unfortunately your usefulness has come to an end #Pixlriffs' No Good Very Bad Few Days

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eqt-95 · 1 year ago

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Hi, different anon here. Can you explain the entomology angst thing?

Can I explain?! Can I… anon, I’ll do you one better: I’ll even include visuals, but just so you know this reply got away from me… so strap in! (or on, you do you)

So, back when I was in college, I spent a summer working for an entomology lab. For the uninitiated, being a lab assistant for an entomology lab is not particularly special, but it did let me spend most of the summer outside surrounded by mosquitoes, bats, and some of the strangest situations I’ve ever experienced like getting a truck stuck in a swamp by myself with zero cell reception.

I’ve got a whole fanny pack of stories, but the one I’ll share is about my actual day-to-day: I was tasked with driving around the state and collecting ips bark beetles. These buddies are… adorable. Just take a look:

So tiny! (yes that’s a penny). I love them to bits. They are the itty bittiest little pals, and as someone who detests most bugs, I bagged a real winner (and yes, I got this job to face my fears).

Now, the job itself was pretty simple. There were two parts: 1. collect beetles from the field and bring them back to the lab for ‘research’ and 2. in my own random-ass shack on the outskirts of campus, raise more beetles.

I’ll explain: in my home state, there are designated natural resources (also called ‘DNR’ sites but not to be confused with do-not-resuscitate orders). Through some agreement between the University and these sites we were allowed to cut down a couple of pine trees each season and haul them back to my one-chick shack. Once there, the trees were cut into lengths that could fit vertically inside a 5 gallon bucket and left to their own devices on shelves in my shack for some number of weeks. During those weeks, the tiny beetles I had stolen from their wooded homes nibbled through a buffet of phloem and made babies and generally lived lives like they normally wood (pun).

Now, you may be asking, ‘quinn, what the hell did you do with the beetles you found in the field?’ And I’m glad you’ve asked because the answer is hilarious: basically nothing. The research wasn’t even ABOUT the beetles. It was about the MITES that lived ON the beetles. Remember that beetle picture above? Yea, now imagine the microscopic mites that live on that buddy. I had to count them. For science.

Now, back to my shack: once the stumps had fully matured from a few weeks of fine aging, I had to ‘harvest’ the beetles. How did that work, you ask? With a chisel, a hammer, and the delicate touch needed to peel back the bark and phloem layer, revealing the labyrinthe of beetle paths chewed around the log like in these super cute diagrams:

The task that followed? count the beetles. It was a summer of counting. I got really good.

So why the angst? Where is that stemming from? Don’t worry, in my excitement I have not forgotten the origins of this question.

Well, remember the size of those little beetle buddies? Super tiny. Adorable. The cutest. To find them ALIVE, I had to be super careful: that meant cautiously peeling back the bark, checking for any signs of terrified beetles scurrying off, gently plucking them out of their little homes. So naturally, I had to be one with the tree: sitting at eye level, fingers prodding, hunched and vulnerable.

Now, the thing about nature is that you’re never alone. And for as much joy as these little beetle buds brought me, I was NOT prepared for what else dwelled inside. Enter these grubby fellows (artist rendition because I can’t find pictures of them on the internet):

I called them Pincerers because I was super creative and terrified.

Why was I terrified? Because these bully bugs were (by comparison) HUGE! Remember the size of the tiny little bark beetle? A wee little 5mm? Well these chompers were four times as big.

‘But that’s nothing!’ you might be thinking, and to that I say: NO. Imagine, for a moment, that you’re about to go play and hide and seek with an imaginary 4-year-old nephew in the woods. Sounds fun if not a bit boring, right? Except, what you don’t know is that Bigfoot is ALSO playing.

So while you’re off minding your own, looking for the tiny little rascal, something 4x the kid’s size is lurking under the bark waiting to curl up on its grubby little hind rolls and lash its pincers at you. It elevates the heart rate and sends logs flying off the workbench and clattering into shelves at a rate that most certainly would have turned heads if not for my being in the basic-middle-of-nowhere for this job.

And while I can already imagine you rolling your eyes, just consider this! While bigfoots were waiting with baited breath and I slowly conditioned myself to DREAD this utterly trivial, microscopic thing, that’s exactly when a chipmunk moved into my shack.

So imagine the heart attack I have when this squatter-of-a-chipmunk sidles up to me and starts loitering on my table while I’m nose-deep in bigfoots.

Not laughing now, are ya!?

The fight or flight instinct has never felt so raw as when I instinctively threw a screwdriver across the shack not once but at LEAST a million times over the rest of the summer (and don’t worry, the chipmunk was fine).

So yea, I think that’s where the angst comes from.

#anon did you have any idea the answer would be this long #just wait till you hear about the beet lab i worked for another summer #there were carrots and onions too but they were only supportive characters #qs with quinn

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talking-about-bug-snacks · 2 years ago

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CHEDDABOARDLE REX

Cheddaboardle Rex is a Big Deal! The biggest, baddest Bugsnak of all! A boss snak, AND a bigsnak, and so big, it doesn’t just have little baby minions- it uses entire full-sized Cheddorbs as weapons! To top it all off, it has a strong, glassy lid of crystallized Snakmatter to protect it from Shrink Spice, making it probably the most formidable Bugsnak there is. Do you have what it takes? What it takes to read a Tumblr post about it? I think you do!

Upon being summoned, Cheddaboardle does not mess around. It goes right after your Little Buddy, throwing the now big Buggy Ball so high into the stratosphere, that it will not come down until the end of the battle! This leads, however, to a rather fun and amusing battle, where instead of using your easily-guided Buggy Ball, you must weaponize the panicked influx of Cheddorbs! Bait Cheddaboardle into throwing them toward the funny wall-mounted cannons, and launch them at its shell!

Initially, I was rather confused about what bug Cheddaboardle was, assuming it to be an antlion larva, since it emerges from the ground, throws things, and has a head shape kind of resembling pincers that can be held close together, not to mention its overall shape. However, as mentioned in Cheddorb’s post, it is based on a dung beetle! No matter how huge, strong, and intimidating Cheddorb is, it’s still metaphorically hurling its poop. Maybe that makes it MORE intimidating. It’s not ashamed! Does it have ANY weakness? (yeah it does)

Cheddaboardle takes a while to defeat, and a few steps, but once the deed is done, it becomes adorably small and pathetic. This thing still has six knives for legs, and still feels pathetic! In a lovable way. I love it.

With all those knives, Cheddaboardle is hands down the SCARIEST Bugsnak to think about eating! I know they’re not really the same texture as real knives, but still! Yeesh and a half!

Cheddaboardle is also one of the most lore-important Bugsnax, and I am honestly not sure how to handle that part here. I have been sort of trying to avoid any actual spoilers on the blog! So I won’t say anything. This will make the next and final post rather difficult... we will see how I handle it! See you soon for the second anniversary of Bugsnax!

#cheddaboardle rex #bugsnax #talkin bout bugsnax

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clowneryandshenanegans · 7 months ago

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since noir and Peni tied I did peni first so here’s the girl

Made with headcanons, kind of a mix of her comic design and movie design with a headcanon suit design to go along with the SP//dr mech and a spider-society id card

I drew her with fangs similar to spider pincers, with four on the top row and two on the bottom. Her suits meant to be a kind of parallel to the SP//dr suit that she can use outside of it, and would be pretty similar but more blue.

This would be a design for one of my aus or headcanons, since in that au I made it so as she gets older she resembles her comic book style more.

her suits pretty obviously based off the main character from evangelian, but also the SP//dr mech from the second movie with the eight eyes on the helmet, along with details from the mech from the comics with things like the glass on the shoulders and lower face of the helmet.

hope you like this one, up next is noir!

headcanons:

-One of the most painful parts of the spider transformation was the fangs growing in, especially since they grew in at a very quick rate. She doesn’t really use them for anything, but sometimes has a very squeaky bug-like hiss whenever she is overwhelmed or in immense danger.

-She’s very bendy now. Since the spider rewrote so much DNA, one of the spider like traits was being more flexible since spiders don’t have bones. She still has them, but they’re much less likely to break and she is slightly double jointed.

-As she got older her clothing got more put together but her hair got increasingly messy. She’s considering cutting all of it off into a pixie and letting it grow back.

-She cannot STAND peppermint, since the strong smell makes her nauseous.

-She’s still a bit bitter towards her uncle for forcing her to be bit by the spider, saying she’d rather have done so herself after being told.

-Her and Miles experiment what he can blow up with electricity. So far they’ve blown up a Tesla coil, a microwave, and (accidentally) a cell phone.

-SP//dr has its own tank that it sleeps in when not powering the suit. It’s very cozy for a spider.

-Her and Margo worked on some of the parts for the society, and were both tech support. Miguel was basically screwed after they joined Gwen, because none of the other spiders understood the holograms and stuff. They’re also gaming buddies.

-So far she has three parental figures: her uncle, Peter B, Noir, and Spider-ham. She prefers the last two because of fighting strategies and how they grouped up in the society.

-She helped Hobie get the parts for the replica watch. They fight together a decent amount.

-The SP//dr mech has the lower half of its face like pincer bits with thicker metal, while Peni’s helmet is built to retract easily with slightly thinner parts.

-She joined the society a bit after her main canon event. After the Miles Chase, she was one of the first to join Gwen’s crew after shutting off anything that could be used against them by the society.

-she has to stretch a lot after fighting so she doesn’t get sore.

-she was shown the older version of herself with the Amazing Eight, in which this version died. She made an aggrement to join the society if that was prevented to its fullest extent.

-she’s aroace and identifies with she/her pronouns, but will also use they/them.

-she’s 5’2”

Honestly this girlie deserves so much more love. She was fun to draw, and hopefully we see more of her in Beyond the Spiderverse

Will be drawing in my own art style with headcanons, won’t be fully canon and I will take forever on this

these are going to be either mirror povs of the characters or an idea for spider-society ids with their masks, citizen identity’s and fangs because I like drawing them

#peni parker #traditional art #across the spiderverse

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littlegodzilla · 3 years ago

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Freedom MacxFemReader/MurphyxFemReader +18

I don't quite sure what to say... After a month I dare to post it, I'm just going to leave this here and... I don't know, I hope you like it!

As always sorry for my english, it isn't my first language.

Freedom

MacxFemReader/MurphyxFemReader.

Warnings: M, +18. Smut. Abusive Relationship, hurt/comfort. Blood. Violence. Drugs. Death.

Summary: You run away from Utah leaving your past behind you, but you just can’t run away from it so easily.

You're done with it.

You're pissed off, but you know it's your fault. No one forced you to stay. No one forced you to be with him. Everyone in town knew the rumors, and the rumors about him, yet he came to you with that mischievous smile, that look full of mystery and danger, that gesture that showed he had the situation where he wanted it and that you were not going to be able to escape. And you didn't. His intense blue gaze, normally tarnished by red veins from being drugged, dug into you like two daggers and kept you close to him ever since.

You knew what he was doing in the caves outside of town, he along with his buddies, just as over the top as he was, mentally damaged in some way, cooking meth, selling it in town to young and not so young, shipping it all over most of Utah, which surprised you. At first you thought it was for your own consumption and maybe your neighbors, but his buddies were taking it seriously. The women's problems, you never wanted to hear all the hoaxes that existed about what happened when some young woman, mostly from some neighboring town, suddenly disappeared.

You let yourself go, you let him envelop you with his kisses, his touch, surprisingly his dirty words, all that gave him an air of mystery and danger was what caught you from him.

The sex was good too, very good. Wild, rough, intense. He never seemed to get enough of you, whenever he came home, no matter how late it was, or what you were doing. He would take you over. He'd put you against the floor, the kitchen table or on the dirty mattress he called a bed. Somehow, though, things went awry, wild, rough and intense, but fun, it turned into a fight. You wanted to try to change him. He couldn't change. The hair pulling became a pincer around your neck that barely let you breathe, the kisses and hickeys were now bites and scratches so deep they would be scarred into your skin for days. You even had a bite on your neck that he loved to remark on, for over a year now. Tentative spankings, turned into hand slaps when you refused to do something he wanted.

You bite your lip as his teeth close on the skin of your shoulder, leaving a new mark, you feel the thin threads of blood run down your shoulder and you close your eyes holding in the pain.

"Mac..." you gasp clutching the edge of the kitchen counter.

He growls, his fingers close around your waist and he pushes harder inside you. He holds you by the hair tightly and thrusts harder and harder, deeper and deeper. You moan feeling that he is about to cum. He grunts again and his nails dig into your skin. He's not looking for your pleasure, he's high and just wants to cum. That was also a point against this whole 'relationship'. In the beginning you were able to cum once or twice before he did. Now Mac comes in so high and drunk that sometimes he only needs to get it in once to cum, leaving you pissed off and needy.

He pulls away from you and you gasp at the empty feeling. Mac pulls you to your knees in front of him. He hasn't even made the effort to take off his overalls, he just unzips his fly to pull his cock out and fuck you. He rubs it in his hand, tugs on your hair again and brushes the tip against your lips.

"Open yer mouth..." he growls.

You don't want to obey, you know he isn’t going to be nice to you, you can see his eyes redden and his jaw unhinge. He's too high and drunk. You clench your jaw as he tries to open your mouth. Mac slaps his hand against your cheek and you gasp in pain and surprise. You look at him out of the corner of your eye and see him biting his lip in anger. His hand closes around your jaw.

"Open yer mouth, ya whore. Don't make me tell ya once again." He growls.

You tremble, feel the pain in your cheek, your skin throbbing from the blow and you're sure it's turning a reddish color. His thumb tries to open your mouth again, pressing against your lips, you feel the bitter taste of the engine oil from his hands and you make a disgruntled move. You open your mouth at his insistence, and feel yourself choke. His cock forces its way into your mouth roughly.

"Look at ya, with that slut face, with all my fucking cock on yer mouth..." You feel him press to the back of your throat causing you to gag, but it doesn't stop him, he pushes again and you feel him choking you again. "If ya bite me, I'll rip yer teeth off..." He assures you in a dark voice. His fingers tangle cruelly in your hair, he gives you no respite, his cock moves in and out of your mouth, pushing as far down your throat as possible, your nose buries itself in his pubic hair, wet from his sweat and your saliva. He stays wedged inside your mouth and you hear him gasp and snort as he cums in your mouth. Gagging becomes more intense because you really can't breathe, between his cock and his cum your mouth is full, you swallow his cum trying to catch your breath, your eyes fill with tears from desperation. You dare to look at him, your eyes cloudy with tears, he watches you with accelerated breathing and a cruel smile, he licks his lips and pushes your head back, pulling his cock out of your mouth.

Several strands of cum and saliva connect his cock and your mouth as he pulls away, you feel the wet smack against your cheek and it leaves a sticky trail against your skin. His smile turns into a drugged-out grimace. He bends down to take you by the arms, manipulates you carelessly laying you down on his bed. The stale, dirty smell of the sheets forces you to grimace. His mouth runs over your body again, bites, licks, scratches your skin, reddening marks that were already losing their color. You're not important to him, Mac doesn't have that ability, but he doesn't tolerate anyone else touching you, he likes to make it clear who you belong to.

He breaks away from you rummaging in the pocket of his overalls, you tremble as he spreads something on your belly and sniffs loudly. Your face breaks down into a grimace of distaste. Mac licks the remains of the white powder, bites and sucks your skin leaving a new purple mark next to your navel. You feel his gaze on you, he pulls away and you hear the street door open and close.

The next day you wake up with a sore body, your cheek burns and your body aches with every movement you make. Your throat feels raw and you know it will be a while before you can speak properly. You leave the room to get something to eat, you doubt Mac has anything in the fridge, but sometimes he remembers that he has to eat too, that whiskey doesn't feed him. You stand in the kitchen doorway discovering Mac's body on the floor, there is vomit on one side and his mouth is full of foam and vomit.

"Mac?" you panic walking over to him, you check with relief that he is breathing, that whatever has happened to him, he is okay now and is just unconscious.

Your heart is pounding brutally in your temples, like a warning. You look around, Mac is alone, you are alone at home. You check again that he is not choking on his own vomit and get up from his side and go back into the room. You don't have much money, you don't find much in the man's pockets either, but it's enough to put a few miles between you. You quickly get dressed, grab a backpack and put on some clothes and get ready to leave. You take one last look at the man still lying on the dirty kitchen floor and turn around.

It's time to get the hell out of there.

The good thing about Mac living outside the village is that you can take his truck without anyone seeing you leave, or at least without anyone suspecting that you are leaving, it isn’t the first time you take the man's car to go to the village and tidy up the house a bit. After several miles away you leave the van at the side of a bus station where you take the bus that can take you farthest. You stop in several cities and after a few weeks getting money in quick jobs with endless schedules, you start moving again. You never stay in one place for too long. You know Utah is a long way away, but you always have the feeling that you're being watched all the time.

As if Mac has never been left behind.

You get off the last bus you've taken to Boston. It's a huge and noisy city, but you hope you can settle down there for a while longer without fear of being discovered. You rub the skin on your arms nervously. The marks that Mac left on you several days ago still haven't faded, and you're sure many of them will never go away. You sigh long and hard when you discover that with the money you have left you won't have enough to find a place to sleep, so the first thing you do is look for a job. Boston is huge, you need to take a lot of buses to get around the city. You leave several resumes, talk to the managers of the establishments, but it's clear that no one is interested in hiring someone new. You sigh in frustration when you stop at a bar that looks like it has had a better life. There's a sign written in shaky handwriting looking for a waitress. You bite your lip looking around, the neighborhood doesn't look very welcoming, but you can't get fussy. You take a deep breath and enter the Irish pub "McGinty's" and you are immediately flooded by the soft music. Behind the bar is an older man with short, gray hair, chubby and big glasses. He's endearing and seems a little overwhelmed. You walk up to the bar and greet him with a gentle smile.

"Good morning." You introduce yourself and the man smiles too.

"G-Good morning, Can I help you with s-s-something, lass?" he smiles at you and stutters, letting out a curse at the end of the sentence that surprises you.

"I've seen the sign that you're looking for help and... I don't know if you've found a waitress yet..." You dare to venture over and the man looks at you with surprise. Apparently he didn't expect you to be there to ask for work.

"No, not yet, b-b-but tell me, do y-y-you have experience?"

"I've worked in several roadside bars, I know how to set glasses, change beer kegs..." You assure him and the man thinks about it, he's obviously older and some of those things must make it complicated for him.

"The pub is livelier at night, y-y-you can take care of the deliveries w-w-when they arrive in the morning and maybe some stiff will ask you for a coffee."

"That's okay, I think I can handle it." You joke smiling.

"O-okay, I'll need your p-p-personal details: name, age, a phone number and an a-address w-where I can reach you...Fuck! Ass!" The man curses again and you frown, no doubt he has some kind of peculiarity that makes him behave this way.

"I've just arrived to the city, I haven't settled anywhere yet, but I'll give it to you as soon as I can."

The man watches you, frowns slightly, he knows you're running from something or someone, even if you didn't have to tell him. Still he doesn't seem to mind. He nods and gestures for you to follow him. You sigh, feeling yourself relax instantly, and follow him.

Doc, your new boss, shows you the keys to the pub, explains where things are, how everything works and how he usually proceeds, he usually waits for a customer to show up, so it's a simple job. You thank him for the explanations and leave your backpack behind the bar, you put your hair in a ponytail and start cleaning the tables while Doc leaves to fix your papers.

You find yourself at ease in the environment almost as soon as you're in charge of everything. As Doc has told you, it's not busy during the day, so you have plenty of time to study and get to know every corner of the pub to help Doc as much as you can.

As the sun went down and the night made its appearance, the atmosphere gradually changed. At first it was one or two people arriving shyly, but gradually things got livelier. You enjoy the atmosphere, the music is loud, people are having fun, the cigarette smoke bothers you a little but you get used to it quickly.

You're just finishing clearing some tables when the pub door opens once again. The voices sound louder, more cheerful, you even see Doc, behind the bar, happy with the newcomers. They must be acquaintances or very special customers. You pick up the tankards, wipe the table and turn to return to the bar, but you bump into someone and as you look up, the tray falls from your hands.

Mac.

"Oh, shit! I'm sorry, lass!" You hear him say with an Irish accent that manages to set your heart on dial again.

"Murph! I told ya before, don't scared the ladies with yer ugly face!" You hear a shout from the bar and laughter erupts around you.

It's not Mac, in fact, the guy looks younger, maybe your age, yet his face bears a resemblance to him and that causes you to still be unable to move from where you are, breathing heavily, your body shaking.

"Shut up! I ain't scared her!" his voice sounds different too, a youthful, fun tone, more strident than Mac's raspy, gruff voice. "Yer right, lass?" His eyes dart to you and you finally manage to react. Yes, there's something strange that reminds you of Mac, but no, it's not him.

You quickly shake your head and smile trying to get back to normal.

"Yeah, sorry, I didn't see you..." You apologize to him and gesture away.

"Let me help ya." He offers and you quickly stop him.

"No need, thank you." You insist and turn around to go get the broom and pick up all the mess you've made, however he tries to grab your wrist and you turn violently, looking at him in fright.

"Murphy! Don't do me to go for ya! Move yer ass here!" You hear once again the same man call out to him. Murphy, as it seems his name is, looks at you in embarrassment and biting his lip turns away from you, walking back to the bar.

You regret how you have reacted, but you still feel your whole body in tension, you see how he sits next to the man who has been calling him and he says something to him giving him a blow in the back of the head, which the other responds almost immediately, getting into a comical fight that stopped the rest of the companions who were at the bar. You sigh and return to your common sense, put the tray aside and pick up the broom cleaning up the mess. You just hope Doc doesn't get too mad at what you've done. You go back to the bar and approach the newcomers, they still don't have anything to drink and Doc talks to them animatedly.

"Can I get you guys anything?" You try to look calm, but your gaze avoids the guy you bumped into earlier.

"Two pints." One of them asks you and smiles at you, you return the gesture and grab two glasses going to the beer shooter. "Who's she, Doc? granddaughter?"

"N-no, she's helping me with the p-p-pub, fuck! Ass!" the man shouts and you put down the pints in front of the newcomers. "She's new in the c-c-city." Doc introduces you. "These are the MacManus twins, Connor and Murphy, m-m-my best customers."

"It's a pleasure guys, sorry about earlier..." You dare to look at Murphy, but he just shakes his shoulders and takes a puff on his cigarette. He's clearly annoyed by your reaction.

“Don't worry ‘bout him, lass, he hit his face when he was born, tha's why he scared ya.” Connor jokes with you and you try not to laugh, but Murphy stirs and punches him in the face, earning another punch from his brother, starting a new battle between them.

"I'm the goodlooking twin here!" Murphy says indignantly getting a laugh from the rest.

You feel relief that he's only upset with you, that he can still enjoy the atmosphere and the banter with his brother and the rest of his buddies. You smile and go to the other side of the bar when you hear someone call out for another beer. The night goes on, another of the MacManus brothers' companions, Rocco, appears and the atmosphere gets a little livelier, at the end of the evening it's your turn to throw out the four drunken stragglers and Doc gives you permission to close the bar to go home.

You have nowhere to go.

You close the doors of the pub, allow yourself to clean up a bit so that the remains of beer do not get stuck on the floor or on the bar and take your backpack. You curl up in the storeroom putting on an old blanket you carry in your backpack and leaning against a sack of peanuts, you fall asleep.

The days go by, routine settles into your new life, but it's nice, you don't feel overwhelmed, nor do you want to look for another place to be, maybe Boston is a good place to finally stay. In the mornings, before Doc goes down to the pub, you get up from the storeroom, wash up a bit in the pub toilets, pick up your backpack and head out. You still don't have enough money to look for an apartment or rent a room, perhaps the most frustrating part of your whole situation, but you know that as the days go by that will change. You just need Doc not to find out. Before you start your shift that afternoon, you decide to go to a laundry and wash your clothes, you don't have much in your backpack and you've had dirty clothes in your backpack for a couple of days. You prepare the washing machine and count the bills you have left, maybe you can buy something to eat and a clean T-shirt and even some panties. You bite your lower lip checking how much time the washing machine has left and get out of there.

By evening you're already on your side of the bar, cleaning glasses getting ready for all the usual guys to return and start your work day. Things with the MacManus brothers have also changed a bit, you still have little jolts when Murphy appears in your field of vision without you expecting it, but you are getting better, at least you can talk without shaking or being able to look at him and smile.

Connor is less talkative, but he always seems interested in how you are doing, he's friendly and you like him. Murphy seems to forget, from one week to the next, the awkward situation you came into the first day you met, he has that funny look and easy smile again, he is a giggly person who always seems to want to get on his brother's nerves. It's fun to see them together. You smile when you hear the door open, prepare two beers and approach the stools already occupied by the MacManus brothers and smile.

"Good night, guys." They both smiled at the same time picking up the beer and taking a swig.

"Good evening, lass. How was yer day?"

"Well, entertaining, you know, feeding my favorite guys." You joke and they laugh, you glance sideways at Murphy who smiles and you return the gesture.

The mood is getting livelier, new people arrive at the bar and you step away from the group to wait on them. Laughter and easy conversation are quickly interrupted by awkward comments and sarcastic laughter. The pleasant atmosphere is transformed into a cloud of tension with the newcomers, it’s clear that they are only there to annoy the Irish, and they are succeeding.

You don't know how it happens, but one minute you're setting a beer down in front of Connor and within two minutes it has flown over the head of one of the men who has gone to confront them. You gasp in surprise as you see the two twins and Rocco go at the newcomers. It's three against a whole group and yet the Irish seem to be winning the fight. You watch in surprise as Doc is cheering them on from behind the bar.

"Murphy!" you startle as the man throws the Irishman against one of the walls, but Connor stops you behind the bar.

"He can take care of himself!"

You want to protest, to get out of the bar and help them, but you see Rocco and Connor take care of throwing the group out with no trouble. Murphy crashes two bottles into the guy's head, which has him pinned against the wall, knocking him out and out of the pub as well. There's a moment of silence, between everyone, you can almost hear the heaving breaths of the three men and suddenly Murphy raises his arms in the air and there's a general laught.

"Where's ma beer!" he shouts returning to the bar where you had left their beers and you can't help but stare at them in disbelief. They have several wounds on their faces, some cut on their nose and eyebrow and red knuckles from the blows.

You snort trying to get angry, it was crazy that they got into a fight with those guys, they were much bigger than them, and yet they came out on top. You leave Doc the bar and head to the bathroom to get the first aid kit and go back to the brothers and Rocco. Connor is the first to refuse your care, he's fine, he doesn't need you to worry, but you do it anyway. You treat a cut on his forehead and wipe the blood from his knuckles. Rocco seems more willing to cooperate, he mumbles some things in Italian that you don't understand but judging by the two blows he gets from the MacManus, it doesn't have been any good. You laugh and pick some more cotton as you approach Murphy. He doesn't look any worse than his brother, a cut on his eyebrow, cheek and reddish knuckles, he has some glass stuck in his skin from the impact of the bottles so you try to be careful.

"Don't worry, lass, I'm fine, 's just..."

"You have crystals on your hands, let me put them off, please, or they'll be infected." You shush him and give him a sidelong glance. Murphy seems hesitant but nods shaking his body a little and you sit down next to him on a free stool.

You carefully pick up the small crystals with a fine-tipped tweezers and leave them on top of a gauze with which you have cleaned the blood from his eyebrow and you feel his hand close against yours, you look at him and he looks at you from the corner of his eye, staring intensely at you feeling you tremble at this. You smile and go back to concentrating on cleaning the wounds on his knuckles.

"Thank you, lass." He thanks you and you shake your head dismissively.

Slowly the memories of Mac become less intense as you look at him and discover all the variables in his face, but mostly in his personality.

The nights pass between alcohol, lively discussions and loud music. You don't have much time to stop and talk to the group that you consider almost your friends. You don't stop moving from one side of the bar to the other, you go out to the tables to refill the empty beers and you have to stop a fight that is getting complicated. That night you can feel Connor swarming nearby when one of the men confronts you, but he doesn't do anything, he knows you alone can handle it, you see the wince from the rest of the men in the bar when you grab him by the balls and politely show him the way out. There has been enough fighting that you want to see.

The rest of the night seems to calm down, Doc even asks you to sit down for a bit and have a beer. You've been working there for a month now and it seems the man is happy with you. You hesitate, but finally decide to take him up on his offer and sit on a stool next to the guys with your own beer. You haven't finished the first sip when you see Doc appear with a small cake with a candle in the middle. You're surprised, your cheeks reddening violently as happy birthday chants echo through the bar. Connor laughs at the sight of your totally red face and Murphy slips an arm around your shoulders rocking you to the horrible off-key singing all around you. You laugh and a few tears gather in your eyes.

"What's this all about?" you ask feeling like your heart is going to burst out of your chest.

"We're celebratin' tha' today, one month ago, ya came to Boston, lass!" Connor tells you and you laugh again uncomprehendingly.

"You've ag-ag-agged this pair of... Fuck! Ass!" Doc croaks and you all hold in a guffaw. "Put up with this old man and this bunch of drunks, all by yourself."

"Oh c'mon it's my job I don't deserve..."

"Ya do, lass!" Murphy interrupts you and points to the candle on the cake. "Make a wish."

You smile and look at them all, they seem to expect you to blow out the candle like it's really a birthday cake. You bite your lip thinking something silly and blow out the candle, which blows out instantly. Again shouts and cheers echo through the place. Doc is in charge of the bar that night and you enjoy the group, watching them laughing and having fun with each other, sharing anecdotes with you too, feeling like one more in the group.

In one of those, Murphy grabs your hand and pulls you out in the middle of the bar trying to dance. You feel his hand on your lower back, holding you, but not daring to get too close to him. His other hand still grips yours and your fingers intertwine. You glance sideways at him with a shy smile and Murphy looks back at you, eyes bright and smile easy. Not only you have two left feet, Murph is not a natural dancer either. You two bump into each other, stumble over your feet and each other's, laugh as you are about to fall and hear the laughter of others around you. Murphy looks at you with an amused smile and his eyes sparkle with intensity getting you blushing, feeling your heart pounding.

"Come on guys, it's time to go home." You say when it's three in the morning and alcohol is the air freshener of the whole Pub.

"C'mon, lass, one more round." You hear Murphy protest, Connor grunts wanting to get up from his seat, he doesn't look as drunk as his brother.

"Let's go, Murph, she's right. Time to sleep."

"Sorry, Murph." You look at him regretfully. "You know you can come back tomorrow."

"Will ya be here?" Murphy's gaze is intense and you feel your breath catch.

"Sure, as always." You smile trying to calm him down, he smiles with you and Connor gives him a gentle slap on the back.

You accompany them to the door of the pub, say goodbye to them once more and watch them walk away down the alley. You close the door to go back inside and continue cleaning the pub. You grab your backpack and pull out the blanket you always keep there for when you close the pub. You are about to raise the money to find a place to live, you just need a little more time. Today has been special, you have felt special, loved, like you had for a long time. You hear the door open and you turn to see that it's locked and see Murphy looking at you apologetically.

"Murphy, is something wrong?"

"I lost my coat and... oh there's" Murphy points to the side of the bar and walks over, staggering grabbing the coat and stares at the place. The blanket and pillow in your backpack and you're still there. "There's somethin' wrong, lass?"

"Oh, no, no, it's all right, I was just finishing cleaning the pub and..."

"Are ya sleeplin' here? Does Doc know it?"

"No, he doesn't know, please don't tell him, I've almost got the money, I just need a few more days and..."

"Don't worry, ain't going to say nothin' to him, but ya can't sleep here. Ya will sick. Come with us."

What? You look at him confused, you don't understand what he means, he's asking you to go with him to his house? That's crazy, you haven't known each other long enough to have that kind of trust. You hesitate thinking about what you can say to him so that he won't give you any importance and go home. You shake your head, smiling politely.

"No need Murphy, thanks, I'll be fine."

"No, no, I ain't let ya here." He insists and puts on his coat pointing the pub's door with his head. "Come, Connor's waitin' us."

You hesitate again, you don't want to go, you don't want to disturb them, it's their house and you're an intruder, you haven't known each other that long and he's offering his house anyway, so you won't sleep on the warehouse floor again. You smile a little and nod your head grabbing your backpack and stuff following Murphy out of the Pub and close the door going with the Irishman to his house. Connor isn't waiting outside so you walk side by side without saying anything, Murphy lets the smoke from his cigarette out of his nostrils and gives you a sidelong glance. It seems that the cold of the night has cleared his head a bit and he is no longer staggering as he walks. You smile and walk a little closer to his side.

You arrive at a building not far from McGriny's, it is a building that looks abandoned, it doesn't look very good and when you are going up to the fourth floor, the situation certainly doesn't improve, but you don't say anything, you are not going to be ungrateful. Murphy opens the door to one of the abandoned apartments, you realize that in reality the building is not abandoned, they are squats and apparently no one cares. Connor is sitting on his bed in the middle of the large room, shirtless and unbuckling his boots. You avert your gaze so as not to notice the twin's muscular, taut back and you look around the entire floor discovering a couch, not very nice looking, but it will work.

"Fuck, Murphy, ya had to tell me..." Connor starts to say looking for his clothes to get dressed.

"She's here 'cause she's sleepin' in the pub, I can't leave her there." His brother explains and Connor frowns for a moment, trying to process what his brother is telling him. He looks at you and you look down again in embarrassment.

"Why didn't tell Doc? He could help ya."

"No need, he's already doing enough for me... next week I'll have the money and I can find me a place..."

"Ya can stay here, this flat has a few empty apartment so..." Connor proposes and you raise your eyebrows curiously. "Ya have water, electricity... Ya just need a bed and a key." He smiles and shrugs, Murphy approves of his brother's proposition by sitting on the edge of Connor's bed and Connor looks at him with a frown. "What're you doin'? Move!"

"She needs a bed!"

"So? She can sleep with ya!"

"Guys, guys! No need to fight, I'll sleep on the couch." You point to where you're sitting and Murphy shakes his head, he's not going to let you sleep there. "It's okay, I've slept in worse places, you don't have to worry." You smile downplaying it and pull the blanket out of your backpack, laying down on the couch.

Connor nudges his brother out of his bed and you laugh as you watch them engage in another slapping and kicking brawl with no force. You settle back to watch them and smile because you don't need to go and separate them. They walk away themselves, Connor continues to undress and Murphy mimics him, so you decide to turn away and give them privacy.

At some point you fall asleep, exhausted from the whole day and maybe the beers have also overdone it.

Several weeks go by, the tone of the pub doesn’t change; the mornings are quiet, you spend them cleaning and receiving the orders that Doc makes. You have found an empty apartment in one of the buildings near where the MacManus brothers live, they helped you find it, not needing to pay rent, water and electricity, you took advantage of the money saved to buy the right furniture, food and a small fridge.

You insisted on inviting them to dinner to thank them for their help. They didn't want you to do it, because it wasn't necessary, but finally you managed to convince them, so you bought something to prepare dinner, bought some beers and put them to cool in the fridge. You prepare a huge bowl of spaghetti, you aren’t sure if the brothers will like it, but your culinary skills are still in the process of expanding and pasta is what you handle best, that, or order food, but then it would be cheating. That night you have free at the Pub, you told Doc about your idea with the boys and the man let you enjoy the day off, you offered him to go to dinner as well, but the man refused, he couldn't close the pub, so you promised him you'd leave him a tupper with some for him to try.

You jump into your skin when you hear the door. You push the knob away from the small fire and walk quickly to open it, you need to use some force as it doesn't fit properly and to close it you always have to push violently. The twins help you from the other side and you smile gratefully at them. Connor enters with a simple greeting, kissing your hand, Murphy on the other hand opens his arms and traps you completely with his body in an affectionate embrace that makes you laugh and giving him a few gentle strokes on the back until he separates completely from you. You offer them a seat and bring out two beers which they gladly accept and you set the table to set the dinner plates.

"I hope you guys like the spaghetti because it's my signature dish." You joke and you see that they smile, they offer to help you with the table, but it is not necessary, when everything is ready, the three of you sit at the table and start dinner.

You dine without much ceremony, the boys seem to like the dish you have prepared for them and you feel a little calmer. When you finish you pick up the plates and sit down to continue talking and drinking, it isn’t as if you could offer them to watch a movie or something like that since the electricity is very limited. After a few hours you realize that maybe it's already late and the guys would rather go to Doc's pub, so you get up to clean up the dishes and let them go if they want to. Connor is the first to move, he offers to help you clean up and invites you to go with them to McGinty's but you decline the offer, Doc has given you the day off so if they leave, you will take the opportunity to lie on the couch for a while and do literally nothing. Your apartment is like that of the MacManus brothers, a single large room, bare concrete walls, at the back the bathroom with nothing separating it, however you made some changes to make it look more livable by putting some screens, giving privacy to certain parts of the house. Connor taps his brother who responds in kind, they seem to be discussing something between them and finally you hear Connor say goodbye and leave. You turn and see Murphy on the side of your makeshift kitchen, biting his lower lip, scratching the back of his head.

"Aren't you going with Connor?"

"Nah... Want me to help ya?" he offers pointing to your plates and you laugh.

"No need Murphy, if you want to go to Doc's pub you have my permission."

"I wanna stay here, with ya..." he mumbles and averts his eyes a little embarrassed. You look at him with surprise and feel your cheeks blush.

"Sure, as you wish. Sit down if you want, I'll finish now." You offer him and go back to focus on what you're doing. Behind you, you hear Murphy's hesitant footsteps but he finally does as you've asked.

You feel the atmosphere grow thin, not unpleasant, but a little uncomfortable. You aren’t quite clear why Murphy has preferred to stay there with you, he is usually his brother's shadow, and the other way around. It doesn't mean that it bothers you, on the contrary, you enjoy the company of the dark-haired man since you were able to bury your bad memories. He's funny and although sometimes a bit childish, you know there's no malice in his actions. He's like a big kid and you like that about him because he always finds a way to make you laugh and get you out of your murky thoughts. You are glad to have met them, him and Connor, you feel like they have helped you adjust to the place and maybe they have taken you under their protective wing without asking too many questions. You don't know if Doc has told them anything about you, how you got there with nothing, how the man knew how to read in you that you were running away without saying anything and decided to help you, but they have never asked you and have always been there to support you.

You finish with the dishes, wipe your hands and approach the couch where Murphy is sitting, he moves his leg nervously and was touching the rosary hanging from his neck. It was another detail that surprised you about them, the twins were religious, every Sunday morning, no matter how much of a hangover they had, they went to the church like good believers. You have never considered yourself very Christian but you respect people's beliefs, you just didn't expect them to be so devout.

You sit next to him and catch his attention with a little smile.

"Want another beer?" You offer. "I don't have much more to offer you, sorry..."

"I'm fine, don't worry..." He shakes his head and you bite your lip.

"Murphy... Are you okay? What's wrong with you?"

"I... I wanna ask ya somethin'..." he mumbles and you tense a little, looking at him worriedly. You nod and he turns on the couch to look at you. Before you know it, he's crawling on the couch and his hand is hidden under your hair, touching your neck. Your whole body instantly freezes. "We saw yers marks... What happened to ya? He did it?" Murphy asks you and you feel his fingers caress Mac's teeth mark, it's not as visible as it was months ago, but you're sure it will never quite fade. Like so many others. Something squeezes in your chest and you feel your eyes fill with tears.

"How did you...?" you gasp, not knowing what to ask.

"Ya was afraid of me, so I... we though' ya had a boyfriend or somethin' and when we saw yers marks we though' he wasn't pretty nice with ya..." Murphy looks at you sideways, whispering his words, it's clear he doesn't want to make you feel uncomfortable and that he's embarrassed for butting in where he isn’t wanted.

Memories come back to your mind. It's not hard because you haven't had that much time to forget, but you feel it overtaking you and your eyes fill with tears. The last thing you want is Murphy to worry about you or think he's to blame for anything.

"He never was my boyfriend... he never was nothing, actually, we just..." You try to explain, but you don't know what to say either, or even if you're ready to tell, but Murphy keeps looking at you with those hurt puppy dog eyes and you sigh. "I think I was who fell in love with him and he just accepted it and then he did whatever he wanted with me..." You look sideways at him feeling stupid and pathetic. If you had more personality maybe none of that would have happened... maybe you wouldn't have met Murphy either. "I'm sorry, Murph... I... You remembered him, it's true...but you aren't like him, you never could be..."

"He hurt ya... he marked ya and..." Murphy's jaw tenses and you startle a little at his darkened look. "He ain't deserve ya, never... ya wasn't stupid or anythin' ya just were in love with wrong person, but..." Murphy bites his lip and his hand on your neck slowly moves up to your cheek and caresses your cheek and the tip of his thumb brushes your lips. You look sideways at him and his gaze is fixed on you, he is serious, his pupils slightly dilated, his eyes are shining, he wants to tell you something else. "I can... I can help ya to forget him... I..."

"I can't Murphy I... I'm broken..."

"I... I can... let me be with ya..." Murphy asks you and you feel your tears overflowing and you cry silently, you want to pull away, but he holds your face with both hands pulling you closer. "Don't. Please, lass, don't cry... I'm sorry, I didn't pretend..." He starts talking and you shake your head covering your eyes trying to wipe your tears. You hate yourself because Mac doesn't deserve to be in your thoughts anymore, but you're not able to get him out either. Murphy caresses your cheeks wiping away the line of your tears.

“You didn't anything wrong, Murph, I just… I'm so sorry…”

You cover your eyes with your hands, unable to stop crying. Murphy watches you not knowing what to do. You open your eyes wide when you feel Murphy's lips against yours. It's a gentle touch, unforced, just a touch that manages to stop your tears. Your heart beats so hard you feel it pulsing in your ears. You take your hands away from your eyes and Murphy pulls away a little to look at you. He licks his lip nervously before he moves closer again and kisses you again. You sigh against his mouth, resting your hands on his broad shoulders, squeezing slightly as one of Murphy's hands slides to the back of your head, holding you by the hair, his lips catching your lips and his tongue grazes your teeth. You invite him in, opening your mouth slightly. Murphy gasps against your mouth and pushes into your mouth, his tongue brushing and tangling with your tongue. His free hand travels to your waist and he presses harder against you. You sigh against his mouth and slowly pull apart, looking at each other again. Neither of you say anything, but you snuggle against Murphy and the Irishman stays with you that night.

That evening you open the pub a little early. You have several drink orders that have come in that you need to place and prepare the storeroom for when the empty cases of beer and soft drinks are taken away. You are loading several crates with bottles of drinks when you hear the front door open.

You don't think anything of it, it's probably Doc who has already arrived. You walk out with the cases, one in each hand, closing the door with you. You are about to reach the bar when feet appear in your field of vision. You raise your head because it looks like a customer and freeze.

"I found ya." Says the man with ashy blond hair, dirty, blue gaze charged with anger and hatred, his tense jaw adorned with a thin layer of blond beard. He wears his red plaid shirt and worn, dirty, torn jeans.

"Mac..." you gasp his name and feel crates fall from your hands and the drinks explode wetting the entire pub floor. There is terror in your gaze and a crooked, cruel smile forms on his face. He advances a few steps towards you and you back away scared to death.

"Did ya think tha ya could escape from me?"

"Mac I... please..." you mutter backing away as he advances towards you.

"Please? Ya ran away!" he yells and throws one of the stools he has nearby and slams it to the floor.

You jump back, he grabs your arm and you quickly you hit him with the palm of your hand on his jaw, throwing his head back. Mac grunts in pain, lets you go and you try to run, but he grabs you again and throws you against the bar. A trickle of blood runs down his chin, possibly he bit his lip when you hit him. But he doesn't care. He grabs you from behind, holds your hair and violently crashes your head against the wooden surface several times until your nose is bleeding profusely, pain runs through your face and head, you feel dizzy and you are sure he has broken your nose.

" Spent all this time lookin’ for ya... Yer goin’ to come back with and ya goin’ to pay..." Mac whispers in your ear darkly and with anger in his voice. Your body trembles wrapped in fear, your eyes are filled with tears, face smeared in traces of tears, blood and snot. "Yer pathetic." Mac roars and throws you to the ground.

You gasp as you run out of air from the impact, but you don't stay there, you quickly crawl across the floor wet from the beers spilling out of the crates you've dropped on the ground, all you want is to get away from him.

"Where ya goin' bitch!?" Mac barks behind you and you feel him grab your ankles and drag you away, however, he suddenly lets go.

You hear a loud, abrupt gibbering, some cursing and a sharp thud against the bar again.

"Don't move!" You hear a shout and your heart races as you recognize Connor's voice.

You turn quickly to find that the MacManus twins are holding Mac against the bar. Connor is between his brother and the other man. There is surprise on their faces, but anger is too strong to be intimidated. You panic because the Irish twins are carrying a gun in their hands and you've never seen them armed before. You want to get up and stop him, but you're getting dizzy from your own pain and from bleeding out your nose.

"Who ‘re ya!?" Connor yells again, but you can see Murphy tense his jaw and bite his lip nervously. He knows who is, you told about him the other day and he doesn't have to be very smart, he only has to look at the face of that man, older than him, but clearly with features very similar to his.

So you were afraid of him during the first days you met them. Murphy looks away from the man to look at you, Connor is still holding Mac, pointing his gun at him, the "older" twin nods in his brother's direction and Murphy rushes over to you to help you up from the ground seeing your face full of blood and tears. Murphy wipes your tears and blood with his coat sleeve and you hiss in pain. He looks at you apologetically and kisses your forehead.

“Don’t feel pity for tha’ bitch, she deserved it.” Mac snarls from behind your backs and Connor slams the gun into his face, breaking his nose. The man groans in pain and shoots him a menacing, deadly glare.

“Please, don’t… Call the police, Murphy.” You look at the twin holding on to his coat, looking at him with fear. “He’s crazy, he can kill you both!”

"Don't worry, lass, Rocco..." You look up realizing then that the man is there too, in front of the pub door, blocking the other man's possible escape. He is also carrying a gun and is pointing it at Mac. "Take her to the hospital, get her patched up."

"Sure, come on, pretty girl." Rocco raises his arm towards you and you hesitate for a moment, but you advance towards the Italian.

"She isn't goin’ anywhere!" Mac roars, but this time, it's Murphy who blocks him, a crooked smile plastered on his mouth, licking the blood running down from his nose, Murphy frowns, wondering what you saw in that guy. “She’s mine!”

“She ain’t belong to anyone!” He yells and his brother looks at him watching that he can control himself. “Ya marked her, like a fuckin’ animal! How did ya dare!? She’s a beautiful woman that doesn’t deserve ya in her life!” He still yelling and you feel your heart stops beathing.

Rocco takes you out of the pub to go to the hospital, you can't leave the McManus brothers with Mac, it's dangerous and you know it perfectly well, you've experienced it in your own body, but Rocco doesn't let go, he wants to help you, because he considers you a good friend, and you're a complete mess right now.

Inside the pub the McManus twins are still watching Mac, Connor has taken Rocco's place at the door to stop the man escaping and Murphy has landed a couple of blows on him, taking some as well. Both have some open wounds on their faces and are panting heavily. Connor is starting to get impatient with that, he understands that his brother wants revenge for what Mac did to you, but he's not going to let that lunatic smash his little brother's face in either.

"Ya like her that much?" gasps Mac wiping blood from his mouth. "Did ya fuck her yet?" A chuckle escapes his mouth as he sees Murphy's jaw tighten. "No, I see, is that why yer doin’ this? ya think savin’ her ass from me, she'll spread her legs and beg ya to fuck her?" A guffaw is born from his stomatch. "That bitch loves to be dominated, if yer goin’ to go soft on her ya'll never get her to cum, and she'll leave ya."

"Shut the fuck up, don't ever talk about her like that again!" Again Murphy's fist impacts against Mac's face and Mac is cornered against the bar of the pub. Murphy places the muzzle of his gun over his forehead and tenses his jaw once more. "I'm going to make her forget ya... I'm going to get ya to just become a fucking old nightmare..." He swears at him loading the gun.

"Yeah? And how are ya gonna get it? Are ya gonna put a mask on yer face?" Mac has nothing to lose, he knows he's not going to get out of that pub alive, he fought, but the Irishman has left him limp and obviously a gun to his head, doesn't give much chance of victory. "Why do ya think she stays with ya?"

"I ain't like ya!" He punches Mac in the face with the gun.

The Utah man takes his last chance, sinking his fist into the Irishman's stomach. Murphy breaks away feeling short of breath, Mac takes advantage of this and fires his fist back into his face. Murphy falls to the ground and Connor wants to go to his aid, but his brother shoots him an intense look. He doesn't want him to intervene. He springs to his feet as Mac approaches ready to unload his foot against his stomach, but Murphy moves nimbly and now it's the other man on the ground. Murphy punches his stomach in several kicks before Mac grabs him by the ankle and pulls him to the ground. They engage in a grapple trying to wrestle the gun away from him. Connor panics because his brother has been pinned under Mac's body, both struggling to gain control of the gun.

"Murphy!" Connor calls to his brother and the shot echoes throughout the empty room.

You and Rocco aren't far from the pub when you hear the gunshot. Rocco has tried to get you out of there as quickly as possible, but you keep resisting. Your blood runs cold in your veins and you yank yourself away from the man and run back to McGinty's.

You yank open the door to find that both twins are fine, Mac's body lies lifeless on the floor of the Irish pub and your eyes fill with tears as you discover the multiple wounds on Murphy's face when he turns to look at who has entered. There is surprise and confusion on his face when he sees you.

"Murphy!" you run to him hugging him tightly, crying against his shoulder. Connor smiles pulling away a little, giving you space. "I heard the gunshot, and I... I was so scared, I thought..." You stammer unable to say anything coherent, sniffling through your nose, feeling it ache, as does your head, but you don't loosen your embrace against Murphy's body, who laughs softly and hugs you as well, stroking your hair.

“It’s okay, lass, it’s over.” He says softly on your ear. “Yer safe now, I promise.”

You pull away from him slightly to look into his eyes and smile kissing him. Murphy tightens his grip around your waist and you sigh against his mouth, making the kiss more intense as his tongue delves into your mouth, seeking yours, making you gasp. Connor behind you clears his throat, calling your attention.

"Sorry to interrupt the moment, but I think before we get tender we should get rid of that guy." He points to Mac and your body shudders. "And you two should go to the hospital. Now.”

“Aye! Let’s go, lass, we need to heal that pretty face of ya.” He smiles at you and you laugh feeling the pain on your face but you don't care.

With one last look at Mac you feel sad for a moment but when Murphy takes your hand again you smile and go with him to the hospital to heal your bruises on your face, because you know your heart is already healed.

The End

I hoped you enjoyed reading this.

Please don't hate me a lot!

#norman reedus #mac red canyon #macxfemreader #murphy macmanus #murphy x reader #murphyxfemreader #macxreader #oneshot #one shot #smut

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nothing-gonna-wake-me-now · 3 years ago

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So I just watched the IT miniseries for the first time in awhile and let me tell you I love that there are three different times when kisses happen at super inappropriate times. Like that's just a precedent that gets set that we're gonna make out at really inopportune moments. First there's Ben and Bev Pennywise while Mike is getting lightly stabbed a few doors over. Granted, it was a distraction and torment, but still (side note: he should be so glad the Derry curse made him forget that, I'd have PTSD about that for years). Secondly, there's Ben and actually Bev this time, while Mike is casually maybe dying in the hospital. Like keep it in your pants, now is not the time babes. Although we do get poor Eddie awkwardly clearing his throat behind them, so it's not a total loss. My favorite, though, is Bill and Audra after he brings her out of her deadlights trance or whatever you wanna call it. Firstly he nearly caused a car accident by riding his bike out in front of traffic. Then they make out in the middle of the goddamn street. Like seriously buddy, can you not pull off onto the sidewalk?

Also totally unrelated, this is probably me being stupid but it took me until this viewing to understand why tf Eddie died in the end. I always figured they wanted to do the eating the arm thing but couldn't so fall damage???? But I'm realizing it's probably supposed to be the fact he's being crushed in Spider!Penny's giant pincers and I'm just really stupid. Anyways go watch the IT miniseries, it's a good time

#also eddie's death still destroys me #the way he uses his final moments to joke with richie #aaaaah #like if you cry everytime #dennis christopher really said reddie rights #anyways #it 1990 #it stephen king #stephen king's it #it miniseries #benverly #ben hanscom #pennywise #beverly marsh #eddie kaspbrak #bill denbrough #audra phillips #audra denbrough #the losers club

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that-blue-vault-dweller · 3 years ago

Note

the image of curie trying to sneak into the cuddle pile actually made me squee it was so cute! companions cuddling with sole reaction someday? <3

Aww!!! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!!! 🥰 Curie is one of my favorites to write (with my other two favorites being Piper and Cait) so I had quite a bit of fun throwing that in. 😊

Also, I may or may not have given Cait, Piper, and Curie a little extra description than the others, but it was not my fault. I was a victim of circumstance. Cuddling + my favorite girls = me getting description happy 😂😂😂

Thank you so much for this beautiful request! I hope you enjoy! 💙💛

Cait - Is always surprised when it happens. The first few times F!Sole suddenly just is leaning on her, her chin propped on Cait's shoulder as her arms wrap around Cait's middle, Cait is shocked as can be. She is a little stiff with it for the first several times, carefully wrapping a bony arm around F!Sole and sort of just letting her stay where she's at while Cait is frozen in place. However, as she grows more accustomed to it, Cait loosens somewhat and might even quietly signal F!Sole that she wants to cuddle by leaning against her a little more or carefully touching F!Sole's hand or shoulder and just being more touch-oriented in general. She is not much of an initiator, but if she has had a bad day, trusts F!Sole a lot, and F!Sole is lying down or sitting somewhere nearby, Cait will crawl over and just collapse on her best friend, knowing she'll make it better by being there for her unconditionally.

Piper - Absolutely adores the affection. Whenever she sits near F!Sole literally anywhere, F!Sole will just reach over and pull her over so she is leaned against her totally, her head resting against her best friend's chest or shoulder and F!Sole resting her head on Piper's as she just quietly listens to Piper talk. Piper will snuggle closer, never missing a beat as a big grin grows on her face while she yammers on about her day or whatever she has found out. However, if her best friend doesn't start cuddling her when she sits near her, Piper herself will usually initiate it. She'll just suddenly squish against F!Sole, completely unannounced as she carries on as if nothing happened, her arm tightly wrapped around her. If F!Sole is lying down anywhere, Piper takes that as a pure invitation to just flop down on top of her and be an aggravating little turd. But Piper knows her best friend secretly loves to be close with her found family and Piper is definitely no exception to the rule.

Curie - Is positively as happy as can be when F!Sole cuddles with her. When F!Sole first reaches her arm around Curie's neck and pulls her near so that her head is underneath F!Sole's chin and Curie is practically lying on her, Curie is practically popping with excitement and pure happiness. She loves all of the new sensations of actually being able to feel things when people touch her, and to be so near to someone that means so much to her is a true gift. When Curie finds out that F!Sole loves to cuddle with her friends, Curie has no problem springing impromptu cuddles on her. If F!Sole is lying down, Curie will sneak over and cuddle closely to her until F!Sole wraps her arms around her. Even if F!Sole is standing, she's not off-limits, and Curie will hurry over and just grab her around from behind, sometimes scaring her half to death if she is not expecting it. However, she takes it well, knowing that the girl is just excited to show her friend affection.

MacCready - Is pretty uncomfortable but finds it to be sort of nice. He never particularly wants to sit there very long with her but he usually lets her cuddle him for as long as she wants until he gets so uncomfortable that the only excuse he can think of is that he absolutely has to use the bathroom. She has since learned to release him before he gets to that point, understanding and respecting his boundaries. He never initiates cuddles, and he would honestly be fine with just occasional hugs since they do not make him feel quite as awkward.

Deacon - Is really squirmy and it does not last too long. He is not overly comfortable with cuddling or any extended contact, and it usually consists of the two of them sitting on a couch together and she just randomly throws her arm around his middle and leans her head against his shoulder. He sort of awkwardly pats her back and lets his hand rest there uncomfortably. He just wants to get away as soon as he possibly can without hurting her feelings in the process. Needless to say, he is definitely not an initiator and he honestly is not going to find her just so she can grab onto him. He cares about her in his own way, but touchy-feely stuff is not his thing.

Codsworth - Is very happy when she tries to cuddle him. It usually is more like a really extended hug, but he very much appreciates her effort even if he cannot truly feel the contact. He loves the sentiment and it lets him know that she truly sees him as family. And that is the greatest gift of all. As for initiation, he tries to in his own extremely strange way. He will usually reach a pincer around her, and she gets the message, quickly hugging him tightly. It just feels nice to him to see evident proof that she feels so much affection for him.

Hancock - Loves every single minute of it, and is not ashamed to say so. As soon as she does it, he is surprised, but he returns the affection quickly, asking her what got into her today. But other than that, he just happily holds her, grinning widely in spite of himself. He will not usually initiate it, but he has plenty of ways of trying to trick her into initiating it herself. If she's sad, then he says that he read somewhere in a Pre-War book that cuddling can raise serotonin levels. She usually just chuckles in reply to him before taking advantage of his offer. It always makes him very happy to just hug her tightly and not let go, feeling her warmth against him.

Danse - Does not know what to do, but secretly loves it to death and longs for more of it. Whenever she springs it on him out of nowhere the first few times, he is shocked and almost frozen, but he reacts soon enough and slowly brings his arms around her. He does not know what he is doing, but he knows that he absolutely loves the feeling of her actually wanting to be close with him and show that she cares in such a sweet way. It is a tenderness that he has never really experienced, and he just encloses her in his arms totally and enjoys it. He is never going to initiate it, worrying that he is imposing or something, but he openly welcomes it whenever F!Sole initiates. After finding out about his true identity, he usually wordlessly and unintentionally clues F!Sole in that he needs cuddles when he looks so serious and perturbed.

Preston - Enjoys it quite a bit, but it shocks him when she first does it. However, he does not have a problem reciprocating by putting an arm around her carefully. He is happy as can be when he is receiving affection like this, and it makes him feel like he actually matters to someone in a way that is more than just as a respected officer. He does not ever initiate it since he is sort of a bit too shy and uncertain to do so. However, he will ask for it very occasionally and very sheepishly, really hoping that she will not turn him down. He is always very pleased when she welcomes him with open arms.

Valentine - Honestly is terribly shocked, but he does enjoy it. When it first happens, he just sort of wraps an arm around her and pats her on the back kindly, expecting her to only hug him for a moment, but when she just snuggles closer and rest her head on his shoulder, he is very surprised. After all, his body is not exactly like that of humans and cannot be comfortable to lean against. But she seems to have no problem with that. He would never initiate cuddling, but he is always open to it if she wants to. He does not want to push her into anything, and he definitely does not want her to feel like she has to do it. Even if he does enjoy it greatly.

X6-88 - Is completely standoffish about it, but for some reason finds that a tiny piece of him actually likes it. Needless to say, he absolutely hates that part of him. When she first starts to spring these sorts of things on him, he insists that they need to find something more constructive to do. However, as time goes on, he insists much less and mostly retains complete silence, just letting her hold onto him but not really reciprocating. He would never initiate this sort of thing directly, but the closest he will get to it is sitting down on the same couch she is sitting on and just staying quiet in hopes that she will do it. She soon realizes what this gesture means, and she knows that he wants cuddles when he does that. She finds it quite adorable to be honest.

Dogmeat - Is absolutely thrilled any time she does it. Whenever she calls him over, giving him lots of pets before just hugging him close, he is wagging all over, panting happily and snuffling at her face. In fact, he oftentimes is the one initiating the cuddles, hurrying over to give her lots of kisses before trying to fit into her lap even though he is much too big for it. Literally every time that she is sleeping, he is either lying right next to her or on top of her. He is literally the best cuddle buddy ever because he is up for it twenty-four seven.

Strong - Absolutely hates it and will literally get up and walk away if she starts trying to do it. He will also fuss about it for a really long time, and makes a special note to bring it up in front of her other friends just to try to embarrass her and keep her from doing it ever again. However, when he least expects it, she will do it again to try to get him into the habit of letting her do it. Plus, she also thought it was kind of funny how he fussed constantly and let such a silly thing get to him.

Maxson - Is extremely uncomfortable with it, and believes that it is even somewhat inappropriate. However, he does secretly like it, and that feeling nags at him. He is usually significantly more chill about it if she initiates such a thing away from others, but he is still very uncomfortable. He is not in the least accustomed to such things, and he is one of those people that had originally thought this sort of thing was for either little kids or for people in love. But when he realizes that she is just showing she cares in a beautiful deeper than friendship but not at all romantic sort of way, he warms to it a little more. He will never initiate it, but he is eventually simply okay with it and lets her do as she wishes as long as absolutely no one can see them.

Sturges - Does not mind it at all, and actually likes it somewhat. It makes him a little uncomfortable the first few times she does it, but he soon realizes that it's her way of showing him that she cares about him. He is slightly self-conscious of how greasy and sweaty he often is, but since she does not seem to mind it, he just goes with it. He does not initiate it ever because he considers it to be the gentlemanly thing to do to let her decide if she wants to cuddle or not.

Glory - Is extremely uncomfortable and dangerously close to shoving F!Sole off when it first happens. However, she slowly figures out that it feels really nice to have someone's arms around her when the person is someone that she trusts as much as F!Sole. She is never fully comfortable with it, but she definitely craves it to a degree and will very hesitantly sort of bump F!Sole's shoulder to let her know that she would appreciate some love right about then. Especially if she has had a particularly difficult time with a mission or she is just feeling less than her usual self.

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a-pale-azure-moon · 2 years ago

Text

Midnight Plays Azure Gleam: Chapter 10

Finally getting back into this! Three Hopes goes one step past its predecessor by having two timeskips. Does this mean we get double the fun?

The narration tells us that it's been six months since the battle at Arianrhod, but the war's apparently been raging the whole time and nothing significant happened? (Ceasefires are a thing, writers. Friendly reminder.) This arbitrary skip also makes me miss the calendar; as silly as the "one mission per month" thing was in 3H when you thought about it too hard, it did at least give the sense of the passage of time.

Adrestia has undergone a "striking transformation," where the citizens are being killed en mass for...some reason.

Hey, its Rhea! Guess we don't have to put up missing persons posters after all!

Rhea tells Dimitri that Lord Arundel was in league with Tomas. (Where the heck has Solon been all this time anyway?) She mentions that Arundel used to be a generous benefactor to the church, until he suddenly stopped, the same thing Dimitri discovered back in 3H.

Dimitri connects the line to Cornelia and how she suddenly changed. He says he thought Cornelia and Arundel were agents of the Empire, but after seeing Thales attack Edelgard, he now thinks there's a separate faction with their own objectives. (Give the man a gold star!) He also says that's it's difficult to believe Edelgard's claim that Thales murdered Lambert, but admits that the pieces fit.

Holy crap, it's Claude! Are we finally going to get an actual teamup between Dimitri and Claude in this game?! Pleasepleaseplease....

Claude says the Empire's been dealing with endless sieges and uprisings, and that they're knocking on Alliance territory.....and he suggests partnering up! Rhea and Dimitri both readily agree. (It's really happening!) <3

Count Bergliez is heading the Empire's eastern front, while the western front is Hevring territory, and has the problem of rough topography (the Oghma Mountains). But Claude has a plan, saying that if they claim one "vital stronghold" they'll have the upper hand.

And this stronghold is of course Garreg Mach, because this all has to tie neatly together, lol.

Rhea's naturally anxious to get her home back, but she questions how it's possible. Claude's plan is a massive pincer attack (what is it with Fodlan and pincer attacks??) by drawing the Empire's army out on the east and west at the same time.

Rhea suggests getting to Garreg Mach through the Valley of Torment, since it isn't heavily guarded. (Seeing as it's an active volcano, I'm willing to believe this.) Claude likes the idea. First we'll divert the enemy's attention, and then head to the monastery.

After Rhea and the others leave the scene, Claude asks Dimitri if he intends to stay "buddied up" with the Central Church after the war. Dimitri affirms that he will. Then he asks Claude how long he intends to stay allied with the Kingdom, and Claude says he hopes it'll be for many years, even after the war's over. Dimitri's a bit skeptical, but expresses gratitude for Leicester's support. Claude (in a somewhat joking tone) says Dimitri should be more trusting. And that he wants a feast, lol.

Even with this flimsy attempt to cast shade on Claude, seeing him team up with Dimitri and Rhea is like a dream come true. <3

Cut to Shez exchanging a few words with Arval about the six month timeskip, and then Dimitri and Dedue enter with some old/new faces: Lorenz, Raphael, Ignatz and Marianne (!).

(The game makes an attempt to handwave the lack of snow even as Raphael and Ignatz mention the cold. Just once I would've liked to have had a snow map. They existed in previous FE's but it apparently doesn't actually snow in Faerghus despite its reputation.)

We get the option of recruiting the four Deer. I have no idea why anyone would choose not to. What a weird choice to make them optional, but whatever.

Shez is happy to have the extra help. Dimitri is too, though he again expresses some skepticism about Claude's motivations (why?). Shez asks if there's more to things than stopping the Empire. Dimitri wants to uncover the truth about TWSITD. He thinks Rhea probably cares the most about reclaiming Garreg Mach (probably right), but he doesn't know about Claude's ulterior motives, if any.

Rodrigue is apparently "tying up lose ends" in regards to the western territories, and won't rejoin us until later. (I'm assuming that means next chapter.) =(

Camp (Arianrhod Outskirts)

Yuri sounds almost relieved to be here, though true to his nature, he's cagey about it.

Dorothea's worried about "Edie" and the Empire. It's really mystifying why she's recruitable on this route when pretty much all she does is complain about fighting against the Empire. (I'm not saying it's wrong for her to have reservations about turning against her home, just that it would've made more sense for her to be unrecruitable if she has such strong loyalty to the Empire. Because as she's presented here in AG, she comes across as very whiny with her constant "woe is me" attitude.)

There's an NPC Imperial General tucked away in one of the corners. He says Ferdinand and Hubert have "disappeared" and that there's no future for the Empire, so he's joined up with the Kingdom.

An NPC merchant tells a story of a knight single-handedly lifting her wagon out of the mud, and then discovering said knight was actually Dimitri (of course <3). She says she's grateful for his help but is a little frightened of his ridiculous strength. See, this I could get behind as a reason for people to be wary of Dimitri, rather than that "can't tell what he's thinking" nonsense someone spouted back in chapter 3. Because yeah, for someone who doesn't know Dimitri personally, it'd be a normal reaction to be intimidated by a guy who can crack a human skull with the flick of his wrist.

(I've always loved that the effect of Dimitri's Crest is integrated into his character and the greater story, and it's a severely wasted opportunity that none of the other Crests in the games got this same treatment. Such a shame.)

An NPC mercenary talks about Dedue, Miklan and Shez's positions in the army and wonders if that means there's hope for her getting a promotion one day.

Another NPC mercenary drops hints about Balthus. Hard to believe we still only have two of the Wolves on hand at this point.

Sylvain and Ingrid are conversing, first about her going home to see her father for a spell, then about Miklan. Sylvain says that his father's the same as ever, but that his mother's taken it pretty hard.

An Alliance soldier complains that the food and booze in the Kingdom is tasteless. I know this is just a throwaway line, but is the rest of Fodlan really so ignorant about Faerghus' harsh climate and poor economy? Doesn't exactly paint a good picture of the other nations, but maybe that's the point?

Dedue says that after issuing his post-Arianrhod orders, Dimitri collapsed and slept for three straight days! And then of course went right back to work as soon as he woke up. Dedue's worried about that, naturally. So should we all; the man's going to burn himself out before he's 25 at this rate.

Paralogue: Love and Hate in Wartime

Featuring the trio of Ashe, Yuri and Catherine! This combo has a lot of potential.

We start with just Ashe and Catherine as they talk about Christophe. Catherine says that if Ashe can't forgive her for what she did, she accepts his challenge, but Ashe says he doesn't have the right to judge her, since he's also betrayed people for his beliefs. (Presumably he means standing by Dimitri rather than rebelling with Lonato.)

(Also, reminder that Christophe got suckered into an assassination plot against Rhea by the Western Church. It's unclear if Ashe knows this truth in this timeline or if he's talking about the coverup of Christophe being involved in the Tragedy of Duscur. Either way, Catherine's decision to turn in Christophe had little to do with "beliefs" and more to do with stopping/prosecuting a real crime.)

Ashe leaves and the scene changes to Shez meeting with Catherine and Yuri. Yuri reports that a sizable number of Imperial forces have surrounded Ashe's scouting unit. Catherine thinks their true aim was to take out out Ashe himself, which Yuri agrees with, since some of the enemies were flying the Gaspard flag (i.e. Lonato sympathizers, who would view Ashe as a traitor).

Yuri says even the most virtuous knight would still be seen as an enemy to the opposite side. (Too true.) Shez expresses sympathy for Ashe's position and Yuri says that if Ashe isn't ready for people to hate him, he should get out of the killing business. As cynical as Yuri sounds, it's clear he genuinely thinks highly of Ashe, even noting that the two of them both came from nothing and that he "can't help but root for him." <3

Ugh, this is the same map as Chapter 6. Please let this mission be less annoying!

First task, defeating the enemies surrounding the central stronghold. There's catapults again (my favorite /s). After seizing the stronghold and rescuing Ashe, the enemy militia seals off the escape route. Nothing to do but fight our way past them. Yuri notes that it's probably a trap and Catherine's unworried because she'll just smash her way through, lol.

Yup, it's a trap as reinforcements appear. No biggie though.

Ashe laments that this wouldn't have happened if he hadn't betrayed Lonato. (Who really betrayed whom though?) Yuri tells him he did what he did because he thought it was right, and that he shouldn't give in now.

Huh, the boss is Pallardo, of all people. I almost forgot about this guy. Catherine thinks he must've incited the rebellion. When he dies, he says nothing went as planned. Hm.

I got an A Rank because I was TWELVE kills short of the 1200 required for S-Rank. ARGH!! Yuri got MVP honors.

Yuri says he needs hazard pay for this mission, and that he'll send Dimitri an invoice, lol. Ashe chastises him and Yuri says he's just joking.

Ashe wonders if he's worthy of being a knight after fighting people from Gaspard. Yuri reminds him that killing is part of his job, and that ensures he'll make enemies. Ashe says Lonato always told him to hold true to his beliefs, so he'll keep walking his own path of justice. He thanks Shez and Catherine, and Catherine says she owes it to Christophe to keep Ashe alive.

After Shez asks about Christophe and comments that the situation with him sounds complicated, Catherine says that no one can escape their past. Everyone has baggage. Yuri makes a scoffing sound. Ashe says that he intends to help the people from House Gaspard however he can, and Yuri snarkily says that will probably make more work for the rest of them before walking off. Ashe chases after him, and Catherine chuckles, implying that they remind her of herself and Christophe.

Definitely a much easier battle than Chapter 6. Nothing earth-shattering in terms of story, but I definitely enjoy the oil and water of Ashe's idealism meeting Yuri's cynicism. Can't wait to unlock their supports.

There's a paralogue with Lorenz, Ignatz and Raphael open as well, but I'm not going to cover it since it's assuredly available on Golden Wildfire.

Interlude

All of the villages (in Empire territory) have been plundered and burned to the ground by Imperial forces. Dimitri doesn't understand; he wonders if the soldiers were stealing supplies or trying to prevent the Kingdom from setting up a base, and wonders if it's his fault.

(Holy shit, are they really trying to frame the Kingdom as the bad guys here?!)

Let me say it louder in the back for the people who didn't hear it, and apparently for the game's own damn writers:

FAERGHUS DIDN'T START THE WAR.

FAERGHUS. DIDN'T. START. THE. WAR.

(I'd let this go if this was the only instance of this kind of talk, but it's enraging how it keeps coming up. Again, it's in character for Dimitri to blame himself, but there is never any pushback from other characters or the story's narration to point out that this war is not his fault. He's defending his country from an invading force, as any leader would do. He is not responsible for the Empire's actions!)

Dimitri further wonders what wrong the people had done to deserve this treatment, and who would carry it out. (Shez notes that all the villagers were executed too. Jesus.) Shez says the Empire's methods have always been "rough" but never so cruel.

Dimitri can't believe this is what Edelgard wants. Dedue says he suspects Edelgard is a puppet now, or a victim to what happened to Tomas. (What makes him think this? Was he a fly on the wall for that scene with Duke Aegir and Thales?) Dimitri says he may be right.

An NPC soldier enters the scene. The Western Church has launched a surprise attack. Losses are minimal, but their forces are attempting to join with the Imperial army. Dimitri decides we need to deal with the Western Church first.

Neat detail: the map marker for the chapter's main mission actually changes position on the map!

Battle

Ingrid wonders why the Western Church would form an army now. Dimitri says that some of Cornelia's associates were seen in their ranks. Sylvain says if they've been working together, the Western Church may have also played a role in the Tragedy of Duscur. Dimitri agrees.

Shez says to themself that Thales, Tomas and Cornelia have been pulling the strings the whole time, and wonders what that means for them.

The mission goal is to rescue some green units (uh oh). The maps's pretty big, but smaller than Arianrhod, and it doesn't have all those annoying doors. Balthus is also on the map as a green unit, and we have the option to persuade him!

Chasing Daybreak remix again! Nice.

First task is taking out the initial waves of enemies and secure the escape route for the citizens. It's an instant loss if any of the green Citizen units die, and there's been a noticeable increase in enemy strength this chapter.

Oh, it's Metodey. I remember that guy. He's in the locked room in the northeast corner with Balthus. Balthus was apparently hired for this job, but he tells Metodey he can have his money back, because he wants no part of it. Metodey tells him to shut up and do as he's told.

After the escape routes are seized, holding them is part of the victory condition, which makes sense. After rescuing the Citizens, we have to escort them to the evacuation points. Naturally, reinforcements show up to impede their progress.

Great, enemy ballistae again. These things are very annoying.

Once the Citizens have exited the map, the doors to Metodey and Balthus' room opens. Reinforcements also appear in the south to attack the evacuation points. Metodey orders his men to attack Balthus. Taking out the assassins allows Balthus to join our ranks, though he retreats from the map for a "breather." That's 3/4 of the Wolves in our ranks now!

And Metodey's dead. He's really a pushover. Felix wonders how he could pass for an Imperial general.

Oh, now Myson appears. I remember this guy too. He'd better not have that Bohr X spell. He immediately starts running towards a green mark on the map. And a bunch of Western Church forces swarm in.

...But it's pretty easy to take them out, as well as intercept Myson. Myson sadly just retreats.

I got an A Rank because I went slightly over the time limit and didn't kill enough bad guys (again). Dimitri was the MVP (again). This honestly wasn't a hard mission, just a lot of running around and a lot of stronger enemies that took more time to kill compared to before. I think I need to grind a bit more, lol.

Shez is looking for Myson, and he teleports in and demands to know why Shez has the power of "Epimenides." Naturally, Shez has no clue what he's talking about and asks if he means their power from Arval. Myson poofs away without answering. Both Shez and Arval are confused. Shez reasserts that they'll keep being themselves, and Arval reiterates Dimitri's words from way back about power itself being neutral. (So even Arval likes Dimitri now? Ha!) He does bring up the need to defeat Byleth again though.

Later, Arval and Shez converse again about Myson. Shez wonders who or what Epimenides is and wonders if it's just Arval. Arval doesn't know because of his amnesia. Arval says Shez shouldn't get distracted and just focus on their goal of defeating Byleth.

Dedue enters to fetch Shez for a meeting. Rodrigue's back!

...But instead we cut to Claude, Hilda and Judith meeting with Count Gloucester. The Count says the Western Church's actions haven't impeded the Kingdom's progress, so Claude's plan is still in place.

Judith asks what Claude intends to do on his end, as crossing the Great Bridge of Myrddin leads right into Bergliez territory. Claude says they aren't really going to invade, just make it look like they're invading, because the real prize is Garreg Mach. He intends to strike at all of the many bridges that span the Airmid, like a "many-headed snake." (He implies this is a common Almyran strategy. Interesting.)

Count Gloucester calls the plan "arrogant and brazen" but that it should prove effective. Claude says that whatever happens, once Garreg Mach is reclaimed, Fodlan will change.

...And that's the end of the chapter. Feels like a strange place to leave it off, but whatever.

These chapters are getting longer in terms of side battles, so it's taking longer for me to get through them, but hopefully I'll have chapter 11's writeup done in a more timely manner.

#fe3hopes #few3h #azure gleam #blue lions #midnight plays azure gleam

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