#Enjoy the lore dump!

[epic-and-kitty]

Twist - 🐶💛🎮💜

🐶 Does your OC have any pets?

Since Twist was nomadic for most of her life that she remembers, she really didn't have the means for a pet despite really wanting one. However, after she's adopted by Captain 3 (or Xero, as he prefers to be called) and allowed to live with him, she gets several pets from Frye and Shiver in the form of house warming gifts. Frye gives her an entire bed of garden eels, which act much like an ant colony would in our world, except the eels will sometimes play around in her tentacles and act as fashion accessories of their own free will, as well as a baby giant eel Twist names Mora. Mora will twist around Twist in a comforting manner as well as give her a lift if she's too tired to move.

Shiver on the other hand gifts her the runt of one of Mega's litters, a pup named Sammie. Sammie is a bit of a handful, constantly trying to eat furniture or Nom Nom (or Mora tbh) but Twist has made great lengths training him to be a good pup, even if he does try to nip at Nommy's fin hawk every now and then. (Don't feel too bad for Nom Nom, he is fully capable of protecting himself and has put Sammie in his place multiple times (Big Buddy anyone?))

Also, after Twist's "puddle incident", Mora and Sammie become guide animals for her as she recovers from not having a body. (Sammie by leading her and letting her lean on him when tired, and Mora by doing the same and being able to let Twist ride her in dire circumstances)

💛 How many languages does your OC speak? What languages are they learning?

Twist can actually fluently speak Octarian, Salmonid and Inklish, as well as read Octarian, Salmonid and Deep Sea Metro script.

Currently, she's learning to read Inklish as she simply couldn't decipher all the scripts of the language until she got help from Army and Mask. She's also learning Alternan with help from ORCA.

(Deep Sea Metro script is spoken like Octarian, but the script is completely different from written Dome Octarian and other dialects of Octarian)

🎮 What are three of your OC's favorite hobbies?

Twist ADORES sewing, especially sewing plushies for her and her friends. She's really good at it too. In fact, if you get a handsewn plush from Twist, you know she considers you a great friend.

Twist also enjoys researching humans and their culture. She sometimes goes back to Alterna just to go through all of ORCA's files on humanity (ORCA definitely doesn't mind the company or constant questions after 12000 years of silence) Twist's favorite band, Shine On Sea Dogs (a fan band of mine I haven't revealed yet), actually finds old human music records and remixes it while giving it a Mollusk Era twist and Inklish or Octarian lyrics (usually way off from the actual human ones, but they're trying their best).

Twist also just likes to walk around and people watch, or find places to enjoy nature in peace. In fact, the way she and Skull actually got to really know each other was when they both found the same cave like formation at Scorch Gorge and and decided to share it to watch the sunset/sunrise in occasionally. She likes her freedom to walk wherever and find a new place. (This does not help her and Skull not get horribly horribly lost though)

💜 What's your OCs ancestry/genetic background?

Aside from her being a pygmy octoling and a rare nine tentacled octo, Twist honestly doesn't know. She was found abandoned and half dead on Salmonid territory with no memory, she has no idea who she's related to or what's in her genes

(It's funny she gets along so well with Hue, her universe's Agent 8, who also is a rare tentacled octoling. They almost act like siblings)

(Technically, they kinda are. Twist is a clone of Hue, albeit far more...."customized" than he is, considering the differences in skin tone, size and of course gender. However, neither are currently aware of this, aside from Hue finding Twist "familiar" upon first meeting her.)

[magicicephoenix]

portable son!

[lilybug-02]

Any more random Soul or other such Lore you’d like to share with us that you’ve come up with but can’t fit in the comic anywhere?

GET READY TO READ. Chara Timeline Lore!!!

Also take all of this as soft cannon. Most, if not all, will not be showing up in the comic (or at least in this amount of detail). And the comic does not need this information to make sense.

These book entries are from an in-universe source.

I hope you enjoyed the world building :> Again this is mostly all for fun!

4th Wall Break Time! - Humans are completely oblivious to the fact “soul entities” are humans themselves. Their little heads would probably pop if they truly knew. So don’t tell them! - Monsters are still made of dust in my AU, but they are more physical than their Undertale counterparts, only slightly… - Both Humans and Monsters cannot do magic freely. They would need to go through extensive training to get…a Wizard license! :O - It’s strange, but the Monsters seem more human than the actual humans in this world…huh…

[zorangezest]

OML YOU REMEMBER THAT HGHFHUSHHFHHHHH

the story and characters have changed a LOTTTT A LOT using this request as an opportunity to show some of the new designs ive been stewing heh heh

don’t worry, while roro might’ve outgrown her hideous wardrobe, it’s all been passed down to her little brother yin!

[michealscorneroftheinternet]

ALRIGHT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!!

IT'S ABOUT TIME I GIVE SOME LOVE TO MY FAVORITE CREATORS!!!

And by love I mean scream my lungs out-

@strange0-0storm

Bro your character SMG8 has me in a chokehold!

He had me with music. I mean hell I'm listening to music right now while writing this (Digital Hallucination by OR3O) and was when drawing this. I listen to music constantly for inspo. I can imagine sitting and vibing with SMG8 just sharing music together.

Your art style specifically is a big love of mine. I very much envy how you draw SMG8's teeth-

@ominus-potato

BRO....

I literally originally started lurking around your page just finding Marware a fun crack ship but at this point you've dragged me into this ship full on. I'm a sucker for idiot with a charismatic partner. Will always remind me of Roger and Jessica Rabbit.

I continuously look forward to any post of yours! <3

@purpdrawsthings

WHERE TO EVEN START WITH YOU BUDDY-

BRO I SWEAR EVERY TIME I WAKE UP AND SEE A MENTION FROM YOU I GET A GOOFY ASS SMILE ON MY FACE! YOUR ART IS CONSISTENTLY AMAZING!

Your love for all my Aus and me and my friends au brings a smile to both our faces!!!!

@misskamilyvision

YOU.

WHEN I FREAKING GET YOU!!! YOUR LITTLE LORE BITS HAVE BEEN DRIVING ME INSANE!!!

I SWEAR ONE MORE AND I MIGHT COMBUST!

STOP BEING SO GOOD AT SAYING SO MUCH AND SO LITTLE IN ONE POST!!!

Not to mention but the fanart you have done for me in the past still brings a smile to my face whenever I find it in my fanart folder!

Never stop being so dang creative!

@grinnames

Hhiiiiiiiiii buddyyyyyy~

Fun tid bit about God Box AU Michael.

They know we exist.

They can see us.

Past the screen.

Teehee! But that out of the way your GodBox AU posts are always a pleasure to see! As someone who loves some good horror I lovingly enjoy each post!

I look forward to another lore drop on those bois. Especially maybe more of Mario as I'm intrigued about our spaghetti loving Italian.

@its-a-me-mango

Aye it's the doc!

The one and only Mango!

Your art is consistently just great eye candy for me.

Though I must repeat as I did to KamilyVision....

STOP DROPPING SUCH VAGUE LORE WITH LITTLE CONTEXT!!!! /J

IMMA FUCKING LOSE IT WITH THIS SHIT!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU MAN?! FMSKKDNFBDKWLKJFOSLWJBD

@tiredsmashbros

YOU....

I GOT A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU BUCKO!!!!

STOP JUMPSCARING ME WITH FANART MAN!!! YOUR GONNA FRY MY DAMN CIRCUITS!!! YOU MAKE IT SEEM LIKE ITS NOT A BIG DEAL!??!!?! AND YOUR MOST LATEST ONE BEING FOR PRACTICE?! FUCKING HELLO?! LOOKS LIKE A FULL MASTERPIECE TO ME!!!

SO IN RETURN IM GIVING YOU FANART OF YOURSELF WITH ME FUCKING TEASING YOU!!! BITE ME!

@coralalala64

Youuuuuuuu........

Your damn angst almost every FREAKING TIME feels like you are personally putting your hand through my chest and yanking out my heart and squeezing it like it's a damn squeaker from a squeaky toy!

STOP BREAKING MY DAMN HEART!!!!!

YOU ARE SO STUPIDLY TALENTED AND ITS DRIVING ME INSANE WITH ALL THE WORK YOU DO!!!!

Keep up the good work but if I see another angst post anytime soon I'm going to implode and I'm taking you with me. /J

Okay that's all of you!

But yeah, hi all you lovely creators! You all are big inspirations of mine and I adore all your works in a unique way. Plenty of the things you all create have inspired me within my own art and series Change in Script! You guys are honestly amazing!

I can't wait to see what you all continue to create within or outside of the SMG4 community!

[blorbocedes]

BROCEDES! ROOMMATE AU + UNEXPECTED VIRGIN!

‘Take a shot if your body count is more than 5!’

Most of the crowd drinks, even those with obviously shifty eyes and guilty demeanours. Lewis drinks.

He was coursemates with Adrian the previous semester and had to hear his bitching and moaning about the bitches he gets – the lack thereof, spots him drinking too. Nico’s standing at the end of the couch, expensive loafers careful to step around the sticky spilled beer.

He nurses his red solo cup, untouched. Lewis frowns.

‘Take a shot if your body count is double digits!’

Fewer people drink this time. The crowd goes ‘ooh’ at the ones who do. Technically, Lewis’ is 7 – 8 if you count the blowjob and her getting her period at the last second, opting out. But college athletes have a reputation to maintain, so Lewis finishes off his cup.

This time, Nico is watching him. Smiles when their eyes meet and does a mock salute, lips still not grazing his drink.

What the fuck? What could it be? It bothers Lewis that Nico’s not being honest. He's seen Nico half-lidded hanging off some guy’s arm at a party or cuddled into some girl to know better. Although, since Nico has access to all the population instead of 50%, it would make sense if his count is twice as high.

A pretty girl in a low cut top and blonde highlights taps Lewis on the arm to dance with her, and all thoughts of his roommate and how many people he fucks are forgotten.

A few hours later, the party has died down. Cold pizza and the music is less in-your-face, more indie. A small group gather on the floor playing the laziest truth or dare with a half empty bottle of Bacardi. The guy beside Nico is in an obnoxious leather jacket and tight pants, and his hand rests on Nico’s thigh.

It falls on Lewis.

“So… Lew-iss,” Natalie? maybe asks, voice slurring a little. “Do you remember when you first met Nico?”

Nico raises an interested eyebrow. Of course he remembers. However, Lewis is aware they asked the question because people think him and Nico are secretly hooking up because they live together, and since Nico’s seen with everyone. His teammate Felipe and his girlfriend are within earshot.

“Nah, man. I don't remember shit like that. I remember when I like, lost my virginity.” Lewis offers as bait.

Nico frowns, it's cute on him. Brows wrinkled up.

Naomi(!) bites. “Tell us about how you lost your virginity.”

“That's two questions.” Lewis leans back, flashing his most charming gap-toothed smile. Everyone's too drunk to keep track of whose turn it is.

Nico disappears off with Mr. Skinny Jeans.

It's a little while later when Lewis has smoked a spliff to clear his head, rejecting the blonde highlights girl’s offer back to her dorms which is on the other side of campus, when Nico returns, hair mussed and shirt buttoned more than it was when he left.

“Home?” He asks. Lewis follows.

Nico’s a pretty chill roommate. He grew up with a silver spoon and an only child, so he has no concept of sharing. Instead, when he orders Thai, he makes sure to order for two so that Lewis doesn't try to eat any of his dumplings. Lewis gets to have the flat to himself a lot since Nico disappears for the night, returns at early hours of the night with glitter on his cheek or bite marks on his neck and a cheeky smile before collapsing on the couch. Lewis can't complain, it makes bringing girls over easier. And when Nico is studying, he keeps to himself. Lewis will know, because there will be an extra coffee for him. In turn, Lewis gets rids of the bugs in the flat – the first time Nico seeing a cockroach asking if they should call pest control or sue their landlord for unhygienic living conditions.

“Why didn't you drink? At the body count question?” Lewis asks, breaking the amiable silence of their walk home, and the lack of filter signalling he was drunker than he thought.

Nico hums thoughtfully. “Cause that would be a lie?”

Lewis tries to make sense of that, doing math in his head. “No…? It wasn't about the exact number, just if it's more than.”

“Yeah,” Nico smiles, unlocking the door and stepping side. “That would be a lie.”

Lewis rolls his eyes. Nico and his riddles and his games. “It would only be a lie if you're a virgin. Which you're not.” He snorts at the thought.

Nico’s eyes flash dangerously. “Yeah?” Nico turns around, effectively trapping Lewis between the door. “You think about who gets in my pants a lot, Hamilton?”

Lewis feels a flush rise in his neck. Thank god for melanin, if he were Nico he'd have two giant red spots on his cheek right now.

“I don't care who you sleep with. Or don't sleep with.” Lewis tries to go for gruff, chill, but it doesn't quite land. He gets out of Nico’s cornering, going to the couch. “It's just weird you’d lie considering Jenson–”

“Oh if Jenson said it, it must be true.” Nico’s sarcasm is shrill and annoyed, betraying how drunk he is.

It does make Lewis pause. Jenson has a habit of embellishing stories of his conquests. The fated twins threesome never happened, he had separately hooked up with twins. Lewis remembers Jenson bragging in the locker room how he rocked Britney’s world and Lewis had worn his his shin guards with a little more force than necessary.

“Rock my world?” Nico rolls his eyes, leaning against the wall. “Hardly. We made out for forty minutes until he came in his pants.”

TMI because now Lewis is inundated of images of Nico, mouth swollen and bodies entangled while fully clothed.

“So you're actually a virgin? What about all those people?” Lewis is still trying to wrap his head around it. Nico is the most sexual person he knows. He eats yoghurt off the spoon distractingly, and has no shame walking around the apartment naked. Very sexual liberation chic, and Lewis had to draw up boxers boundaries.

Nico wrinkles his nose. “So you get with the easiest lay on campus and you're the only person he won't fuck. Do you want to admit something's weird and wrong with you, or do you just go about inferring you had sex? It's not like I'm going to correct them.” He must see something on Lewis’ face because he interjects, defensively offensive, “Don't ask why it's better to have a reputation. I know your tells. You drank twice.”

Lewis chooses his words carefully, gentle like he's not trying to spook a wild cat. “I'm not judging. I'm just surprised. Nobody figured it out?”

Nico softens at the tone. He sinks on the couch beside Lewis. “Honestly, you're the first person to notice.”

Lewis finds that sad. “Hey, we don't need to talk about this if it's a sensitive topic. I'm sorry I –”

“Jeez, Lewis. I don't have trauma, I'm just frigid. A pricktease. Nothing bad ever happens to a Rosberg.” Nico works on the complicated laces of his boots. He hates being pitied.

Lewis leans over. “It's really not all that cracked up to be. The first time, at least. Cause you're bad at it and you don't know how to pace yourself. Lots of people wait until they're ready. My first time, it was this girl I was seeing after GCSEs. We couldn't find a place so we got in my dad’s old Subaru. Lasted like 30 seconds. Wiped the whole place down but I was convinced he would know somehow. Come Sunday, I went and told him. He hadn’t the slightest clue. So that was an awkward drive to church.”

Nico gawks him, crumpling into himself laughing. Lewis regrets being a vulnerable and oversharer of a drunk. Nico’s gelled hair has come undone from hours of partying and falls over his eyes. Lewis is never going to open up to anyone ever again.

“On God's day, Lewis?! And you think I should save myself until marriage? Find myself a nice, righteous wife?”

“Someone you trust. Someone you're into.” The room spins a little. Nico Rosberg is a virgin.

“Someone who’d remember when we first met?” Nico challenges. "That's not very nice, is it? I can't believe you forgot--"

“You were checking out an encyclopaedia on space at the library. I wanted the Senna autobiography. We were 12.”

Nico’s eyes go wide. Lewis holds his gaze.

[moeblob]

Reverse!Gavin

[sirmanmister]

💥💥💥 more MacCurie cuz I’m love them your honour (also cuz I remembered I drew this a while ago but never posted it lol)

I like MacCurie in ordinary circumstances but I’ve also been thinking of them in a scenario where PREVENT doesn’t work. Like imagine MacCready ending up in vault 81: he meets Curie and gets the literal cure-all cure so he steals it and sends it back to Duncan. Only turns out it doesn’t help and actually makes him worse. So MacCready goes into debt to get a crew together to infiltrate Med-Tek. He has to stay in the commonwealth to pay them back so he just sends it off. Then he learns PREVENT doesn’t work either and he just fucking. Gives up. Regresses to a swearing morally bankrupt dickwad and just kinda works at easing his debt by taking questionable jobs. When Curie finds him again in the third rail, he thinks she’s working with the institute (he can’t think of any other way she’d get a synth body) and he doesn’t care.

She hires him to protect her lab/her as she travels around getting disease samples and biting off more than she can chew as she tries to help the commonwealth. He gets defensive seeing the good she’s doing but eventually thaws and tells her about Duncan and they go to DC together to try to save him :3

AKA very indulgent ship and ship circumstances cuz I love making creed suffer and the brooding bf and sunshine gf trope is TOP TIER.

If I was less of a perfectionist and less busy I’d write a fic abt them 🫶

[crystallizsch]

Trouble? You're only in trouble if you get caught. So don't let me catch you ~

uhhhhh say hi to jamil and yuusha's kid jas(mine) pt 2 (also here and here are like my only two other posts of her)

HFDDF OKAY SO - i actually had these unfinished sketches from months ago of jas as a nrc student and scarabia housewarden

this sneaky little bastard (affectionate) had never left my cranium she was just sitting idly by

im sobbing i hate jas so much (lie i love her)

jamil and yuusha still aren't supposed to have a kid so i just imagine this to be an alternate timeline for them 🤧🤧🤧

soooo info dump time ---

━━━━━━✦ scarabia housewarden nrc jas

jas has a vice-housewarden who is her childhood best friend (figuring out if i want them to be twst rajah or abu)

also thinking about if i want yuusha to be a staff member in nrc with grim or just dead during this time (why? just because)

no further info tbh, scarabia housewarden jas is just vibing

━━━━━━✦ child jas stuffs

i'm SO indecisive about her design as a toddler/preteen lowkey 😭

she was very sweet as a toddler but somewhere along the line she just became more carefree and chaotic

jas is a mama's girl but is more alike with her father than she cares to admit

octavinelle trio and heartslabyul duo + grim are like the honorary uncles (jas's favorites are floyd, ace, and grim bc they sometimes enable her with shenanigans)

even though jas has favorite uncles, najma is the favorite favorite. i imagine she's just the cool aunt

if mama yuu is "shrimpy" then jas is a "tiger prawn" (bc rajah)

jas LOVES doing people's hair including her own; would rather do them by hand rather than by magic

jamil showed jas how to breakdance once and it became ingrained in her personality ever since

(there's probably still more about her that i'm forgetting but this is it for now)

━━━━━━✦ bonus future jamiyuu stuff because i miss them

jamil took yuusha's last name surprise surprise (if they get married)

i imagine after nrc they'd be travelling together actually, not necessarily settling down

(i'm REALLY not 100% on them settling down and having a kid but i still love jas a lot so im so conflicted) (that's why aus exist 😔✨)

(and if hypothetically they do settle down i think yuusha being staff in nrc with grim + maybe jamil who travels for work (or being a house husband??? maybe they alternate roles) can be adorable ideas)

━━━━━━✦ (i also had this thing that i never posted about that one trope of a fankid finding themselves in nrc bc of portal/time/mirror shenanigans)

(jamil found both of them asleep somewhere and refuses to wake them up)

also some bonus tidbits about this scenario with them:

💜: Is she a family member of yours? How'd she get here?

🐍: I have never seen that child in my life before now. And there's no way I could have missed news about a new relative of mine.

💜: You know how ridiculous it sounds if she's related to me. I'm not from here. She even looks more like you!

🐍: Jas has the same color of eyes as you. Didn't you tell me she mistook you for her mother?

💜: ...Yeah, but I don't like what you're implying.

🐍: Well, I'm not exactly happy with this either.

they're just both in denial of the implication of this child existing and neither of them is saying it out loud.

and the angst/wholesomeness(???) of jamil asking jas's full name and hearing that she has her mother's last name instead of his

eventually they grew attached (unfortunately) until somehow they send jas home to her original timeline

and then they finally have a real conversation about what all that was about

anyways thank you for reading if you've made it this far;;; end tweet

[harvestingsun]

Entire knuckles 🎳✨Wade Whipple✨🎳 show in a nutshell

[completeoveranalysis]

[4]

SEE NOW THIS IS THE INFORMATION I WANT!

The fact that Clow Reed tried this exact process is FASCINATING and INCREDIBLE to know for sure. 

Is it the exact same method he tried? Did he make a copy of (Yuuko?) and have them travel across the multiverse? Did he give them a huge amount of magical power, like the feather in the reservoir? Did he fuse them with an original version of that person? Those were the steps that Evil Wolverine quoted!

Or did Clow try a different method entirely, and that’s why it failed? 

I mean it sounds like ANY method is kind of designed to fail, because it’s literally impossible, but Evil Wolverine is hacking his way into the back end of the universe to break it. And it's working currently, while Clow FAILED, so I’m assuming he tried something slightly different?

Either way I’m sure the result was Yuuko, I - 

OH WAIT THIS IS ALSO A DOUBLE PAGE PLEASE HOLD

YEAH 100% DEFINITELY YUUKO THAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HERE.

So because Clow failed Yuuko was put in her side dimension, which is very similar to what happened to Sakura in her little pocket of frozen time while the world went on without her. I'm interested in why there was a difference there - was Yuuko awake and functioning as a core part of the universe part of what Clow did, an accident, or part of who she is as a person? Would Sakura also have been able to become someone like that, but Evil Wolverine froze time on purpose to prevent it? Or did she end up that way because of the technicalities of Lava Lamp's Wish?

Either way I am mostly convinced there isn't enough time left in the manga to really go into what Clow did specifically, so I'm assuming we get to guess the details for ourselves.

But there's still time for me to be wrong I suppose!

[faestorian]

yt reccomended kept giving me witcher analysis videos today, so after work i decided to doodle the grumpy old people for the first time in a good while.

i promise you, maiilys and roche usually are NOT this lovey dovey but. tonight, self-indulgent fluff won.

[wildflowercryptid]

some doodles of tris and their two favorite babygirls

[androgynous-agent69]

info dump away!!! *grabby hands at your amazing writing*

Ohohoho~! Thank you dear anon! :3

So, this info dump is gonna be about the lore regarding my COTL fanfic mainly focusing on Leshy, Leon (my name for the Yellow Cat), and the other main Characters of COTL such as Narinder and the Lamb (and i even managed to add the Goat in as the Lamb's advisor(?), but i havent shown anything on this blog yet. Maybe soon, idk :p).

I'm only gonna be discussing the backgrounds and context of my posted story works and any essential still-private work that gives further context, because I'm too self-conscious about the rest of the still-private stuff, but what I will tell you is that the full story is mainly just me creating pages of either backstories, or building on relationships with Leshy and the others (such as when Leshy & Leon visited the coast area to hang out on the pier, discuss Leshy's background, and terrorise a few lighthouse cultists).

So, let's begin!

(WARNING: MENTIONS OF PTSD, CHILD ABUSE/HARM AND TRAUMA, VIOLENCE, GENOCIDE, AND SUICIDE BELOW. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!)

Starting off, I wanna talk about my most recent post, which is about Narinder trying to apologise for what he did to Leshy and the other Bishops.

I'll be honest, I do take inspiration from the stuff I see on tumblr, and when I came across THIS post of Leshy crying on Narinder (art by @wels-corner)

I suddenly had the urge to create a similar scene where Leshy begins arguing with Nari, which then slowly dissolves into a mental breakdown.

The whole "Shamura being essentially brain dead" isn't shown explicitly in that scene, but in the story there is a part where Shamura gets Leshy to chat, where they explain that trying to regain the Green crown will be useless as "the crowns will not accept a bearer who has failed" (failed = died/beaten by the Lamb). Leshy then begins to angrily panic and grabs Shamura by the shoulders to ask for more information, but Shamura's brain injuries then takes hold and they revert from "Bishop of war" to "elderly librarian who doesn't even know who their younger brother is, let alone their name".

Next up: The nightmare that Leshy has about Narinder's betrayal! Let's hear it for PTSD!!!

Jokes aside, I REALLY LOVED how this turned out, especially after all the tweaking I did to the story. The scene takes place after another part of the nightmare involving Leshy's regret and guilt regarding the Lamb Genocide, which is why it begins with "When you look back up", as Leshy looked down at the ground and tuned out the noises and sights.

I also did my best to make Narinder's words about each Bishop reference their injuries, if anyone noticed. Shamura was said by Narinder to "always be the smartest" resulting in their head and brain being caved in. Heket "always said such profanities", resulting in her throat being slashed. Kallamar always "eavesdropped", which made Narinder rip off his ears, and little kid Leshy in that scene was, what Narinder referred to as "a worthless spectator", which made Narinder rip Leshy's main eye out.

Final bit of the post I wanna talk about is that deerfolk mentioned at the start. the one that's twitching and makes "strange, savage noises". In that point in time, Narinder had created a basis for the resurrection spell, however it was not without flaws. While the soul re-entered the body, this body was not repaired of any decay, and as such, they essentially became zombies. The Lamb, however, managed to iron out the ritual's error, and thankfully caught it out before Narinder had to use the ritual on them after a botched crusade (thank heaven for that, imagine a crazed zombie Lamb o-o)

The next post of my fic is the one with Leon and Leshy casually talking, which happens near the start.

This scene has no real inspiration, it's just Leon and Leshy bantering. One thing I would like to talk about is the quote "Ugh, I forgot that fool actually got to your head...". My last attempt at this fic, Leon had a completely different personality. He was a hater of Chaos entirely and instead a devotee of the Lamb, whereas currently he is a former Chaos follower who, after the Lamb genocide and The Lamb's gaining of the crown, was forced by the other, higher ranking followers, to be sacrificed to Leshy. This was interrupted by said Lamb, who recruited Leon to the cult and the rest there is history!

This is important, because there's another part of the fic where Leshy finally reveals his wounds to Leon, who then gets a feline instinct to lick the wounds (inspired by the multiple artworks of this), which makes Leshy warn Leon that black ichor is deadly. This, however, makes Leon confused as only God's like the Lamb and the Bishops have black ichor blood, and Leon quickly puts two and two together.

Yeah, it ends in a rather depressing scene where Leon attacks Leshy out of sheer anger, and Leshy stops a knife that was going for his throat, only to grab Leon's hands around the grip, apologise, and pull the knife into his neck. But don't worry, because the Lamb revives him on Leon's wishes roughly two weeks later after he mentally recovered.

Finally, for those that bothered to read all this way (or just scrolled right down, idrc lmfao), have a reward through the form of the aforementioned scene above!

(BTW ignore the long ass "~~~~~"'s. Its just how I divide the 'chapters')

(Edits just fixing Shamura's pronouns, adding proper links, and fixing some grammar)

[magnuficent76]

All of M3ph1st0's prosthetics - A comprehensive summary.

Mephisto is disabled in multiple ways. It is also a huge nerd and a big transhumanism fan who happens to know about a lot of robotics. That all being said, they have augmented themselves in many ways. Here's all of them, going from the top [Content warning for discussion of organs, surgery and like. Slight body horror that doesn't make sense. Don't worry about it !]

Main functionality ones:

Arm and Legs – Self explanatory. They help him get to places and work on things, also the oldest ones out of all his works given they've just been consistently upgraded to better suit all his needs. Each limb has a name (Leonard, Leslie (legs), and Hal (Arm/hand)), and they all care dearly for their creator because even though it might be programmed into them, Mephisto doesn't just treat them as disposable tools. They also have tiny android forms for when they're not assisting 310 and are free to walk around/opinionate on anything they want to. Mephisto treats them better than it does an Average Person.

Spinal support — Another one that helps quite a bit. Standing up for too long or sitting down the wrong ways causes Mephisto a lot of pain, so they made a device to help them with remembering to take care of themselves in that regard. Enter, Simon: The spinal support bot that connects directly to their back through a simple mechanism around the back. Simon is divided in two parts– A small battery-bot that charges up everything, that can detach itself from the main component any time it runs low on juice and slither around if it wants, and the inbuilt structure, which is what forces Mrphisto's back to stay put together and pulls it back in case it slouches too much (happens Often).

Non-organic Organs — After getting literally brought back to life by A Curse, the shitty old magic from a thousand years ago didn't account for how organ failure would happen in case a body that was cold and lifeless came back swinging from the dead, and as such a lot of Mephisto's organs function weirdly/stop at random times. These were a necessity it didn't expect at first, but had to quickly figure out. They're mostly made of flexible synthetic material the body wouldn't reject, and took several dozens of attempts on other people to perfect before they could be inserted into its own body. Essentially just keep everything in function while also giving him some benefits he built into them, such as:

Being able to digest non-edible things through brand new stomach upgrade that now lines his insides with Bigger and Better acid that is only found in skags. And Mephisto now. No more tummy aches due to tummy now being made out of Actual Steel.

Heart now has extra pumps to help with weakness and fatigue without overpowering any functions. Also sounds a little weird whenever you press your head to its chest due to there being a Small Sized Engine in there

Awesome brain implant that doesn't allow for biological death to happen anymore through constant manipulation of grey mass and stimulation of neurons. and that has no ethical concerns attached to it. Don't worry about it too hard !

Full intestinal system update where most of it is replaced by a series of tubes that can continue functioning as normal with filtering and breaking down masses. And that body only complains Sometimes about.

Lung inserts that can distribute miniscule electricity pulses throughout the whole chest in order to keep them breathing and healthy. It was a doozy to install this one but hey, now breathing is finally automatic as it should be.

...And some others that aren't nearly as interesting, but that help nonetheless. How was Mephisto able to perform surgery on itself? The short answer is it didn't, its limbs did with help from a supercomputer on the feiling. Are its limbs qualified to do surgery? Who was the supercomputer? How many surgeries did it take to insert everything? Is there a lot of visible scarring for it? All great questions that you will never know the answer to because Mephisto will throw things at you if you ask them.

Lesser functionality ones.

Metallic throat insert — This one was mainly from paranoia of being choked or being bitten directly on the throat, but it doubles as many things. Not only does it protect Mephisto from attacks to the larynx and windpipe specifically, it's also got an in-built AAC device for communication even when the old vocal chords can't seem to muster anything up. Great for pissing off ventriloquists also.

Better Teeth that Don't Rot and Break due to Being Made Out Of Metal (Or just Upgraded Dentures / Jaw) — Self explanatory, I feel. Forgot to brush their teeth a lot during depressive periods and ran into many issues regarding that, and so decided the only way to get that fix was to get Better, Cooler teeth over those (once they got fixed up) that are retractable and can be made Sharper at a given brain command. Used to bite its tongue a lot due to this and it bled like a motherfucker, which Led to:

Tongue That Doesn't Hurt anymore — Again, self explanatory. Again, took a while to get used to, but ended up solving so many problems it didn't matter anymore. This one is more just a cover than a full-on replacement because that would hurt way too much and there was no guarantee it'd work for good without the original muscles. It did, but it was one of the scarier things Mephisto did to itself.

Now you might be thinking, "Magnus, that's an awful lot of things. How'd Mephisto get funding to do all that stuff? Or find material? Or even just do them in general, given they seem so far out of the realm of possibility?", and these are all pretty good questions, how did you know to ask them etc. But Let me try and answer them as much as possible without too many spoilers:

Mephisto works for anyone who gives it money. Sometimes its corporations (Whom they immediately steal info and material from also), sometimes it's individual people looking to buy things off their shop, sometimes its evil villains who need all sorts of machinery for their plans. He's not particularly picky with the source, so long as its consistent and upfront.

Refer to bullet point one. It is Stealing most of the time, but when it isn't, material is coming from either their own scavenging trips or from teams they specifically pay to find material and bring it to them.

Borderlands isn't real and the absurdity is part of what makes it one of my favorite things, but also, again. Supercomputer did it for them. It's probably fine !

[folliesoftheforest]

Curses and Compassion

In which Shop learns more about the King, and the curse they gave her

"Are you ready to go?"

"Heh, usually I'm the one to ask you that…"

SD smiled warmly, ruffling Shop's hair gently, "This will be your first time around them where I don't have to worry about you, but… you seem quite worried."

"Hey, I've had a hard time adjusting! I'm just, thinking about what I would ask them, if I could…"

SD hummed as he took a seat next to Shop, lacing his fingers as he rested his arms on his lap.

"Hopefully you'd be able to get some answers… I'm sure it would be helpful for both of us, unless they're just coming out for a snack eh?" He nudged her with a smile and his best attempt at a joke, to which Shop gave her friend a side glance as she sighed and smiled, before she refocused on her fidgeting hands.

"Oh Shop..." SD started, offering an arm to drape around her, continuing when she leaned against him. "The only difference between last time and tonight is that you're going to be on a more even playing field than before, which is saying something, since you've been at this for a while and have gotten by fairly unscathed."

"Fairly-" Shop echoed as her mind drifted, thinking of the large scar emblazoned on her skin from her past adventures . 

SD exhaled, leaning over to give Shop an encouraging kiss on the crown of her head. "You know it could be a lot worse; you're a strong young woman, and I have no doubts that you're more than capable of managing yourself out there, you've done it time and time again, curse or no curse."

The encouragement proved effective when Shop couldn't help the more genuine smile that spread across her face, though she was quick to bury it into SD's side, breathing in the familiar scents of coffee and clean linen to help calm her nerves.

"Thanks SD… I'm sorry I'm getting so frazzled…" she mumbled into him.

"You don't have to apologize, you know that," SD started, stroking Shop's dense hair for a moment before he looked at the wall clock.

"Things have changed for you, and it'll take time before we fully understand it. You're doing what you can and that's something to be proud of." He took a deep breath to signal for Shop to sit back up, his smile widening just a bit at her rosy cheeks. "We should get going now though, if we want to get to the usual place."

"Right, right," Shop sniffed. "You good to drive us?"

"Woooooow, letting me take the wheel? You really have changed haven't you?" SD snarked, chuckling when Shop jabbed his side playfully before he stood up with a stretch, stepping away to let Shop grab their bags while he got the car running.

On the car ride, Shop stared out the window, watching the buildings and suburbs slowly fade as SD drove away from the city, and towards the woods. She'd watch as her skin occasionally crawled and started to shift before it returned to normal as they happened to skirt around hotspots, reminding her to think over her questions when she had no choice but to follow the King if she wanted any chance of keeping up, and hopefully, staying safe.

The most blaring question to her was why the King seemed so, feral, on normal nights, as compared to the court session. Shop had her hypotheses, but she figured it would have been better to get it from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Shop was deep in thought when the car stopped, only snapping out of her thoughts when SD gently nudged her, startling her.

"Hey, hey, it's alright, you were lost in thought again, come on, we have to get moving." SD consoled, holding up his hands.

Shop stared for a moment at the way his beard had already begun to fill out, along with how his teeth and nails had begun to lengthen and sharpen. She rubbed her face quickly, trying to ignore the feeling of her skin crawling. "Right, right, sorry SD…"

Shop didn't wait for a response before she hopped out of the car, grabbing her bag from the trunk. The sun had already begun to sink beyond the horizon, illuminating the woods in warm sunset tones. She stopped again, taking in the scenery before she realized how much heavier the bag had gotten from before, the difference becoming more apparent when SD stepped up to the trunk to grab his gear, pausing when he also realized what was happening, and how little time they had before he wouldn't be able to talk with her.

So, SD took up his bag and hid it close to the car, talking aloud to get Shop's attention. "Come on, let's leave our stuff here and get going." He directed, exhaling when Shop shuffled close. He turned to give her a quick smile, pausing when he realized her eyes were turning yellow, much like his own were, as Shop would quickly notice.

The pair stared at each other for a moment before Shop sheepishly smiled with a small chuckle, rubbing her increasingly itchy arms as she gestured to the woods ahead. "I'll uh, see you on the other side, I guess?"

SD gave Shop a pat before he began to step away from her to give himself space, his voice already turning gruff as changes began to pick up speed. "You've got this." He managed to get out before scaly scoots began to sprout from his back, reminding him to try to take off his clothes before they turned to shreds. He managed to toss his clothes and glasses to Shop, who curiously did not seem to be having the same issue as she transformed, though she nearly dropped everything on the ground when she realized she was sprouting feathers, each quill quickly growing as her frame continued to dwindle in the presence of the King. 

The transformation slowed the further away Shop trudged from where the King was 'waking up', so she was quick to place SD's clothes on his bag before hobbling back towards the low snarling and growling, all while she herself painlessly changed. With eyes locked in the direction of the rustling trees and bushes, Shop hardly noticed any other changes beyond her body feeling a bit itchy,  and her perspective shifting, until she stopped at the natural barrier of the underbrush, much too thick for her to pass through. 

She inhaled, ruffling soft, patterned feathers before she fully snapped back to reality. 'What the-' she thought to herself, picking up large, rounded wings, dusted with dirt from dragging on the ground.

She twirled around herself in a hop, quickly putting together that her eyes were locked in place, compensated by how far her neck could now turn, helping her look down at two odd, fuzzy little feet, each toe ending in a sharp talon.

"Am I? Am I a fucking owl?!" Shop quickly deduced, perking up when she heard the great beast ahead of her stand up and begin to walk away. 'No no no! I don't know how to fly!!' She thought to herself as she tried to brute force her way through the bramble to get close to the King. She had no idea how far or close she had to be to stay in her current form, but she figured this was no time to experiment.

Using her beak and talons to push through, Shop made her way through eventually, but the hulking beast already lumbered away with a healthy head start; it stopped and looked back when Shop had fallen out of the bush, twigs and leaves entangled in her feathers. She froze, eyes wide as she laid helplessly on the leaf litter, but the King simply snorted with a shake of its head before walking off, presumably to find a meal.

"H-hey!! Wait!!" Shop screeched, trying to pick herself up by using her wings as she would her arms before doing her best to run after the creature. Her wings flopped awkwardly at her sides, occasionally catching the small breezes that managed to make their way down to the forest floor, lifting Shop up ever so slightly. This surprised Shop, enticing her curiosity. She paused, opening her wings as far as she dared before pumping them up and down, trying to understand how takeoff would work. She crouched down and pushed herself upward with her feet, internally exclaiming as she flapped in the air for a moment before falling back down to the earth with a thud.

"Fucking hell-" She hissed, rolling back onto her belly to push herself back up, deciding to walk until she had a moment to figure out this whole flying business. Luckily she had no problem relocating her target, as all she had to do was follow the trail of flattened debris the King left behind. Shop took the time spent walking to practice flapping, soon getting into a good rhythm and gaining lengthier hops. 

"Come on, come on!" Shop urged, knowing that it would be easier to follow the King from above than the ground. Eventually she decided to try for a running take off in a more open trail, arching her wings in preparation. She ran as best as her feet would carry her until she could feel the wind under her feathers, and then kicked off the ground, pumping her wings downward and launching her into the air, where she hung for a moment in shock before beginning to fall back down,

'Shit shit shit!!' She thought as she started to swing her wings wildly; finally, she managed to pump them in a bit of circular pattern, enough at least to stabilize her, 'Ah ha!! Yes-!' There was no time to celebrate for Shop as she faltered, however, as she propelled herself upper and upward. She managed to crash land onto a branch, shaking any remaining debris out of her feathers before looking and listening for her charge.

"There you are…" she cooed, locating the continued trail of flattened plant matter, accented by the occasional colonies of fungi and sprouts. Shop instinctively shook out her tail feathers and opened her wings before pushing off the branch, going into an easy glide as she did her best to land on another branch that sat above the trail, the action becoming easier the more she did it.

Eventually she did catch up, feeling better in this form as she glided over the King, who was now hunched over a fresh kill, this time, an unlucky stag. Curiosity got the best of Shop when the beast sat back on its haunches to clean its paws, all manner of fungi and vines making quick work of the finished meal. The owl swooped in, aiming for the antlers that sat on the King's crown. She made it to her target fairly easily, though the constant movement did make it a bit hard to stay on.

"Hah!! I did it!"

"You certainly took your time, little beast." A voice responded with a rumble, spooking Shop as it resounded in her mind.

"You CAN talk!" She exclaimed, leaning forward and down to try to look the King in the eye.

"Why couldn't I ever understand you? You always seem, feral, when you take over my friend's body, I mean." Shop wasted no time when she realized she could actually ask her questions, hopping back momentarily when a giant bear paw came swiping to scratch an itch behind the King's ear.

"I could always speak. You simply did not have the means to understand." It started as it fell back onto all fours and continued when it felt Shop settle back down on its antler. "Though truthfully, I still do require ample sustenance, regardless of the situation. Hunting is the only way I see fit."

"Hmph, well you seemed much more civil when you dragged us into your little faerie court session." Shop snarked, ruffling her feathers.

The King huffed as it began to walk, seemingly without direction, "I am surprised you are not more grateful, your fate could have been far worse under any other circumstances."

"GRATEFUL?!" Shop screeched, pushing herself off the King to land on the ground, feathers raised defensively. "LIKE I'D BE THANKFUL FOR GETTING TURNED INTO RANDOM SHIT WHENEVER I COME NEAR ANY MAGICAL FAERIE HOCUS POCUS BULLSHIT!! AT LEAST SD HAS THE COURTESY OF TURNING INTO YOU ON A DAMN CONSISTENT SCHEDULE!!" Shop cried, her month's worth of anger boiling over, forgoing any censoring to her words.

The King stood in front of the owl, unfazed by her outburst. "Are you done? " It asked plainly as it stepped past Shop. "I was fully prepared to give you the answers you seek, but now, your ungrateful little outburst here has me wondering if I should just end you and your whining instead."

It growled as its tone turned grim, promptly shutting down Shop's anger into quiet seething.

She did her best to fly up again as the King continued to walk, landing on its back. She tried to make sense of where they were or where they were going, but couldn't piece anything together. With the silence crushing, Shop decided to speak up again. "I'm… sorry, for getting so angry… I just, I feel-"

"Trapped."

"Y-yeah… how do you-"

"Has it ever occurred to you that you and your friend may not be the only ones roped into situations they had not planned to be a part of?"

The question stumped Shop, who took a moment before she clambered back up to the King's antlers before pressing further. "You mean… you didn't mean to possess my friend?"

"I don't think I was meant to be reawoken so early, let alone bound to a human."

"What do you mean, 'RE-awoken'?..." Shop grew worried when she didn't receive a response; she made sure to grip tighter on her perch as the King began to move into a bit of a trot, bouncing a bit. Soon the two came upon a river, where the King paused to address Shop.

"You would do good to test your grip and hold on, lest you be lost out here." Shop silently complied, shuffling to readjust said grip before the King stepped down into the water, swimming with the current.

Occasionally water would splash up and onto Shop, who would shake it off instinctively as she again tried to make sense of where they were going, often looking back behind them and wondering how far away they were going from where she and SD had parked. Eventually, Shop came back to the present when she felt her ride climb back up onto solid ground, shaking her and the water off its body. Shop squawked in surprise before she maneuvered herself onto a tree branch, looking down at the King. "A little warning would've been nice there!" 

"Oh please," the King began with a huff, "you could do with the practice; come, we aren't far now."

Shop once again puffed up as the King took off in a lazy trot, shaking her feathers down before taking off, following closely overhead as she got more and more daring with her glides, evening attempting full flight on a few occasions, diving close to the creature below her. 

"Hey, so… I know I have to get away from you or whatever, but, how far do I have to be before I start, y'know, turning back to normal?" Shop had decided to ask from overhead on a branch when the two had stopped, after the King had downed another deer to feast on.

"Truthfully, it depends on the strength of the source you are near," it began before breaking through some bones with its maw, a sight that both horrified and intrigued Shop as the carcass quickly produced fungi and small plants where the King had finished up.

"After that, you will remain in whatever form you had taken for a certain amount of time after leaving its influence, dependent again, on the strength and size of the source."

"Well that just sounds vague as all hell, but I guess that makes sense." Shop resigned, opening a wing to look over her feathers with a small sigh. The King looked up at the owl for a moment before it reached down to its kill, ripping up a small chuck of meat and setting down beside itself.

"Come down and eat, it will be a long night." Shop perked up at the offer, but grimaced in her own owly way when she saw the bloody mass on the ground.

"Are you sure I can uh, eat that?"

"Is animal flesh not what owls eat?"

"It is, it is, just uh, well I dunno if this is what they would eat in particular,  and, well, I'm not ACTUALLY an owl-"

"You are currently."

"But what if I get sick!"

The King, growing a bit agitated with Shop's hesitation, snapped its jaws at her, "If I had wanted to cause you harm I would have done so a long time ago, now either eat or we can continue on."

Shop sunk back a bit before hesitantly coming down from her branch, landing a few feet away from the creature to test the waters before walking up to the offered meat. She bobbed her head a few times, trying to see how she could pick up the mass before deciding to just go for it, taking a few tries before she got the wet lump trapped in her beak, tossing her head back to down the food in a single gulp.

After feeling the unorthodox meal settle in her stomach, Shop cautiously looked up to the King as it glared down at her, taking a few steps back away from it as it stepped forward to lead the way again.

Shop ran behind before she pushed herself off the ground again, once more landing on the creature's back as it walked on, soon coming into a small clearing that contained several massive trees, all arranged in a curiously circular fashion. Small clumps of mushrooms littered the area in seemingly random fashion, but as Shop looked up to try and see where the canopy began, she realized there were hundreds, if not thousands of colonies of fungi and mosses all throughout each tree's trunk, with some even appearing to be growing from inside the trees, rather than just on top of the outer bark. Enamored, Shop took off from the King, flying up to the trunks and circling the entirety of the ring. Then, something clicked, "is this?..."

"Where he found me? Yes." The King answered expectantly. "I brought you here to give you answers. That is what you wanted, no?"

Shop came back down to the King in a silent flutter, staying back as it walked into the center of the trees, laying down in the lush grass with a huff, watching as Shop hesitated at the edge of the trees.

"You are smart to be suspicious, but I promise that you are safe." The King beckoned, crossing its paws in satisfaction when Shop finally stepped into the center and jaunted up to the King, planting herself a little ways away from it so she wouldn't have to strain her neck to look up at it. "So… let's hear it then. What happened here? Why did you just happen to take over my friend?" Shop inquired.

"I was not meant to 'take him over'." The King sighed as it began. "I do not believe anyone was meant to find this place at all. How he stumbled across here is a mystery, even to myself."

"How did you end up here?..." Shop asked with curiosity.

"It was so long ago… my territory, my kingdom, you might say, was so much more vast than it is now… but, man came along, and began to cut down my woods, burn them down, destroying everything in their path…" the King's ears drooped as it recalled the events. "I remember being much, MUCH stronger then. I could command that which populated my domain, the very earth beneath us obeyed my every beck and call. I remember, I fought valiantly against man, pushing him back as much as I could to protect my woods, but…"

"But..." Shop asked, "What happened?..."

"They continued to come back. They kept, evolving, creating new ways to rip and to tear, to destroy everything I fought so hard to protect. Finally, one day, after destroying more wretched tools of destruction, I received word that the humans had been in contact with a witch, who gave them even more tools and weapons to push me back." The beast growled at the memory, its claws digging into the ground. "I knew I had to end them there, before they became an unmanageable blight on my forests, but… they were prepared. They shot me down with guns and blades, chasing me into the deepest recesses of my woods, destroying it all the while… this place… this is where I died." The King admitted somberly. "I suspect my surviving court must have blessed my resting place so that I might be able to return one day… although I cannot say it could ever be expected for myself to come back to my former glory, especially not while attached to a human of all things, let alone the state of my woods…" the King drifted off, lost in thought as it stared into nothingness, as it did, it snarled, becoming angered. "How ironic it is that man is the plague I spent so long fighting, only to end up being bound to one. It is BELITTLING, DEGRADING, HUMILIATING when one has already lost everything!"

Shop simply sat in somber awe, her heart going out for the beast, even if she knew she couldn't wholly understand the gravity of their plight. Deciding to rip the metaphorical bandage off, Shop asked, "Why did you spare me?"

"What?" The King seemed taken aback by the question.

"Well, you obviously hate humans, and with good reason, but you decided to spare me, on multiple occasions I might add," Shop stated, very matter of factly. "Why would you do that?"

The King sat puzzled by the question, genuinely questioning why it had done it, relaxing its body before answering. "I, cannot answer you for sure… but I may have a few, insights. Admittedly, when I first awoke, I was filled with rage and anger, hungry for revenge. But I was weak, and quickly fell into, I suppose, a coma, of sorts; that very well may be how your friend has been able to remain as he has, although I cannot say for sure… At first, I would attempt to, eradicate him, but, over time, I believe some of his essence began to flow into myself… I began to learn about this new world, about you, through his eyes… You have a tenacity and loyalty to him that is most admirable; you are, a good friend." It cracked a toothy smile and chuckled as it added, "and you made no attempt to be rid of me, for which I am grateful."

Shop ruffled her feathers, flattered by the unorthodox compliments. She dared to step closer, more questions at the ready. "Ok, well, I know you said you to appease the Court by doing THIS-" she opened her wings to gesture to herself, "to me, but why? I've had to avoid so many places because I keep nearly turning into, things, in public!"

The King seemed quite surprised at Shop's complaint, raising a paw to briefly scratch at its mane. "Well that is most certainly odd, you should have no issues with siphoning energy away in your human towns. Most faerie activity is out in the woods or around creatures and wells of great power…"

Shop stopped to think for a moment, trying to piece together thoughts. "Right… but uh, how long were you, ya'know, dead?"

"I've lost track of the time, but I suppose it must have been, say, 200 human years ago now?" It clicked for the King as it mentioned the passage of time, its eyes widening in worry. "They…they have torn down more of my forests in that time, haven't they?..."

"Yeah… but what's left is all protected space now! But… a lot of the land around here is all now, like, shopping centers and housing complexes for people…" Shop admitted, sinking back in case of an aggressive outburst, but it never came. The King simply laid down its head onto the soft wild grass with a sigh. 

"If you are changing in response to inconspicuous places, that must mean that there are many fae living amongst you. It would not surprise me in the slightest if they had all adapted while I was gone…"

Shop hopped over to the King's head, cocking her head to the side as she hoped to soften the blow it must have been taking from the revelation. "Well, if you think about it, you've adapted too, albeit more forcefully… but, all things considered, you haven't really inconvenienced my friend TOO too much-" Shop hopped back and ruffled her feathers when the King chuckled with a warm growl, lifting its head a bit to address her.

"I can see why he is so fond of you… But, I suppose you are, correct in that sense…" It paused to mull over what she had said, lowering its head to Shop's level to more genuinely speak to her. "I apologize, for your newfound difficulties… You have proven that not ALL humans are the monsters they always claim my kind to be, but, unfortunately, what's done is done… I cannot undo what has been done to you, much in the same way that there is nothing to be done for your friend and myself. I am, sorry."

Shop froze, going through a whirlwind of emotion all at once. All she could manage to get out in her shock was, "There's really nothing?..." The King sat silent and unmoving. "Ah… ok, alright… that's alright, I'll manage, I can manage…" she muttered aloud as she unknowingly trembled, quivering as her muscles all seemed to lock in place. This was not without notice from the King, who wordlessly moved out a paw around Shop, dragging her close for an awkward, but well meaning hug, sitting in place until it felt her relax, to which it removed itself from her to stretch, sniffing the air briefly.

"We had best get moving again if we want to return to where you came from. Come, it's been a long night for us both." The King waited for Shop to come back to, shaking the leaf litter from her wings and tail.

"Right, right, of course, I'm coming…" She replied, flying up to her perch on the King's antler before it began the journey back upriver and through the woods, both quiet the entire time.

Eventually, they finally came upon the car, with everything still in its place as when the night started.

Shop took off from her perch to the roof of the car, allowing the King to sit up and be eye to eye with the owl as the sky began to lighten.

"I can imagine, how terrified you must be," the King began, unprompted. "But please know this; both I, and him, are grateful for your company. And for that, I thank you."

Shop turned from watching the sky to the creature beside her, bowing her head to it. "I do what I can, I'm glad I can be of some help to you both..."

The King respectfully returned the bow before settling down beside the car and Shop, letting out one final exhale before closing its eyes, letting itself drift off into its weeks-long slumber. Shop figured she would try to make herself useful in the time before SD came back, and fluttered to the ground, half running, half hopping towards where they had stashed SD's bag.

Between attempting to pick up clothes and open a zipper pocket with her beak, Shop found herself growing more sluggish, signaling to her just how exhausted she was after the night's events. On the other side of the car, SD finally sat up in the early morning light, groggy but awake. He massaged his aching head and rubbed the exhaustion from his eyes, his body going into autopilot as he picked up the shedded antlers that were by his side, trudging barefoot to the spot he had stuffed his bag into. What he wasn't expecting was a quite sizable owl attempting to peck at his bag, which paused to look up at him, but quickly returned to its task, to which he simply stood there for a moment before trying to shoo it away, his voice dry and raspy.

"H-hey!" Shop squawked when his hands came down near her. "I was trying to open that for you!"

SD stopped when he heard the owl screech, but could also hear Shop's voice echo in his head. His sleepy mind put two and two together and he groaned, rubbing his face more. 

"Oh my god, Shop, you're an… you're an owl?... W-why are you an owl?..." He tried to deduce the situation as Shop stepped back to allow SD access to his bag, grabbing fresh clothes as she gingerly picked up his glasses for him in her beak from the other pile of clothes set aside the bag. "Yeah uh, I guess that was what was most convenient this time around… I'll have to tell you about everything when we *yawn* get back to the house…"

Shop shook off her exhaustion as SD finished putting on clothes, taking the glasses from her before looking his friend up and down and putting his hands on his hips. "I think what you meant to say was 'after you get in a nap', you must be exhausted if you were up the entire night... Come on, you get in the car, I'll pack our stuff up, ok?"

There was no argument from Shop as SD unlocked the car door and left it open, watching as she hobbled over and flapped hard a few times to get herself in the seat. He couldn't help the little chuckle of disbelief that escaped his lips before he went back to the bags, tossing them haphazardly into the trunk before coming over to close the passenger side door, and then going to sit down in the driver's seat.

"Alright, let's get going-" SD stopped when he looked over and Shop was already fast asleep, nothing more than a pile of feathers that had already started to shift, her growing form slowly rising and falling with every little breath she took. SD smiled warmly at the sight, unable to resist the opportunity to reach down and give her a soothing pet, starting from her crest and down to her back, doing so a few times before he finally started the car and drove the pair home, having to stop himself more than once from taking his eyes off the road to check on the sleeping creature, especially as she started to look more and more human again, until she was uncomfortably curled up in the passenger seat.

SD made sure to keep in mind how long it took Shop to turn back, in case she wanted to know, and sure enough, she was very curious to find out, and happy to fill SD in on everything he had missed that night, after a well earned nap, of course.