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aquamotto · 4 years ago

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Polish School of Magic or what Rowling gets wrong about Poland

In short: many things.

The only mentions of polish wizards come from two instances - some Quidditch team (Grodzisk Goblins) and Hagrid’s visit to Europe (with some goblin mention, again).

Why goblins, anyway? There is no such creature in real polish mythology. Instead, there are much more Harry Potter-esque things such as: Beast of Krakow, Dragon of the Wawel Hill who is the most famous and ferocious creature in all Eastern Europe. The majestic power of this beast can only be matched with majestic power of its city of dwelling - Krakow, to put it simply, is the city of Polish kings.

Below: Krakow, the city of “goblins”, according to JKR:

But let me guess - goblin invokes this image of rudeness and primitivity that probably comes from british understanding of poles as construction workers and such. It is curious that nuanced portrayal of poor people that is reserved for characters like Snape is not allowed to poles. They are “goblins” but Snape is a “working class hero”.

What I will describe below, is my headcanon based on what I imagine Wizarding Poland to really be like, sans goblins and other imperialist fantasies but based on my own observation of Poland as both pole and outsider (because, unfortunately, I am both).

Personality, culture

Quidditch champion image as rude and loud lads couldn’t be farther from the truth. Polish wizards, much like their friends in neighboring Czech Republic, are wise, eccentric, philosophical and brave people. They have been blessed and cursed with difficult history (Such as Partition of Poland and German and Soviet Invasion) and know very well how to operate in secrecy. In fact, they are the most secretive of all european wizards and if muggle were to accuse them of witchcraft, they would deny the fact to their last breath. In the same time, polish wizards love magic and often risk everything to pursue their next magical experiment. They are prone to be idealistic and live with their head in the clouds, sometimes literally, which can lead to both troubles and brilliant inventions.

Some believe that Nicolaus Copernicus, the genius astronomer who placed the Sun at the center of the Universe, was a polish wizard (painting by polish artist Jan Matejko):

This image of genius, sudden discoveries and epiphanies is valued in Poland to the point that students of Polish School of Magic wear stars indicating their year on their uniforms - to honor Copernicus.

However, poles aren’t Ravenclaws in disguise - they are traditional, obedient and lawful people at the core and no polish wizard, even the smallest first year, would dare to cheek their headmaster or teacher the way Harry and co. do.

Teacher - student relationship is sacred in Poland and it’s almost like your second parent - someone to be treated with utmost respect. This can lead to quite harsh hierarchies in Wizarding Poland.

Looks

Polish wizards dress modestly, colorful suits Weasley Twins style are not for them. They can sometimes even look monk-like (or medieval knight-like) in appearance. Since Poland is filled with minor aristocracy called szlachta (and I am proud to belong to it, too*) many polish wizards openly wear their coat of arms on their clothes. (*If you are wondering whether I have a coat of arms - yes, I do).

Polish School of Magic uses dark red monk-like hoods with more normal suit under as an unifroms. Since they want to be the guardians of well respected traditions, it fits them.

This doesn’t mean that poles are somber, though. They can be playful but in their distinct, “I challenge you” way. They can be competitive and fiery to the highest degree, especially when their honor or honor of their school is involved. They are indeed the most patriotic of all wizards, thinking of themselves as separated not only from muggles but from foreigners too.

Relationship with muggles

Polish wizards do not like muggles very much but unlike Britain, it rarely comes in a form of hostility but rather patronizing and light mockery. Rather than valuing pure blood,poles just think of themselves as superior to muggles in intelligence.They are especially suspicious of muggle disrespect of culture and the past which leads to wizards thinking that muggles are morally and spiritually, rather than genetically, impure. However, there was never an attempt to deny muggleborns education - in fact, they are welcomed with open arms and often even relief - “Finally, another one of us!”. This makes them a bit closer to Grindelwald’s idea of superiority than Voldemort’s one.

Music

Anyone knows Chopin, the great french-polish composer and indeed, poles adore music. To the point that Polish School of Magic considers participation in a school choir mandatory. But highest praise is reserved for those who dare and pick up an instrument (be it violin, cello, horn, piano or something else) to join the School Orchestra. If Triwizard Tournament accepted Poland, they would arrive in most curious way possible - operating the giant musical machine which would look like a church organ mixed with piano and other instruments. The headmaster would play it and the students (dressed in cloaks) would accompany him with some strange melody to make the grandest entrance ever.

Polish School of Magic

Pictured below: Frombork

Thanks to Copernicus, magical astronomy and astrology are best subjects to learn in Polish School of Magic. Unlike their colleagues in Prague who are obsessed with alchemy, potions and dark arts, poles are more interested in the spiritual so they also value divination in any forms and defense against the dark arts. Since living in a country as difficult as Poland forces you to always be on your toes, teachers consider it important to teach their students nonverbal magic as soon as possible. They also encourage wandless magic and actually had a lot of luck with it (unlike other european schools). Thanks to a certain WW2 incident, they also offer a superior course of arithmancy (If you know what I am hinting at, well done!)

Pictured: Frombork Cathedral Bell Tower

Since poles are not very practical people, they don’t teach their students about Magical Creatures at all (aside from a side course on dangerous creatures such as dragons in DADA). This just doesn’t fit their heady aesthetics. Being honest and reliable people, they also dislike transfiguration - something about turning things into animals and other things strikes them as unnecessary cruel and even devilish. Being pious at the core, poles want magic to always come from the source of respect and light. That’s why almost all students leave the school with full patronuses - most common of which is a white eagle, of course - the symbol of Poland. Poles are often so patriotic that even their best memories are linked to their national identity!

Poles are also good at charms and make superb magical duellists. In fact, not many nations can best them in this regard, if any. It is thanks to their wandless magic, wordless spells, quickness of reaction and harsh discipline (almost military-like) instilled in them in their school.

Talking about discipline... Polish School of Magic’s discipline is indeed very strict. The school grounds are usually quiet, students know best not to laugh too loud, not to pull pranks or fool around needlessly. Spontanous duels are forbidden. Teachers love their work and always keep an eye on misbehaving individuals. Lazy, incompetent or misanthopic teachers don’t exist in Polish School of Magic. Instead they can be overly strict, demanding, mocking, conservative and overly eccentric. (This one is based on real life experience, everyone.)

Below: Ksiaz castle

Teachers in Polish School of Magic lean old and getting a place there is very difficult and demands tons of connections. They also lean male but not just because of prejudice (although, unfortunately, such prejudice exists - Poland is a country of soldiers in many ways), because DADA course there is especially harsh and physically exhausting. (Some say it’s because they want to best Durmstrang and it comes with knowing your enemy).

Despite the notes of traditionalist gender roles, female teachers are usually well-respected, even more than male ones. And that’s why many female teachers are quite haughty and have queen-like demeanor.

Below: Ksiaz castle room

But when do poles rest from all their strict training? The answer: when holidays come. Holidays are sacred for poles and many missteps are forgiven during them, rules become slightly more relaxed.

One of the curiously LESS regulated things in Polish School of Magic is love. While british and american wizards such as Snape may get into a puritanical rage seeing two students kissing passionately, polish teachers would just smile sweetly at them and leave them alone. Girls sending boys postcards is not considered cringeworthy as it is in Hogwarts (I am looking at you, Harry) but natural and enviable. In fact, teachers encourage students to dance together and on holidays such as Christmas, they even overlook duels related to love triangles (a rare case of them approving non-DADA duels). Poles can dance well and you can often find them waltzing in the school balroom in their festive robes. They also flirt well and all this combined with the fact how good they are at duelling, makes them formidable rivals in love for students from any other school, including Beauxbatons, especially considering that Beauxbatons boys lean narcissistic rather than chivalrous.

In the end, if Poland did participate in Triwizard Tournament, I think it would charm everyone with their quick wit, intelligence, modesty, good manners and passionate spirit.

Quite far from the “Goblin” stuff, isn’t it?

Below: various beautiful views from Poland

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dappercritter · 4 years ago

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Invader Zim: Taller Tales of Terror - The First Fic That Wasn’t

This was going to be my first fanfiction that I ever published, but things came up and I found other story ideas and fandoms to get into. However, because there’s nothing I hate more than leaving a story untold and forgotten.

So like a writer jilted by a big name studio working on a big superhero movie that went terribly wrong after they left, I’m going to share it with you good folks to see if you still think there’s hope for it in some capacity. If so maybe I’ll choose to revive it in some capacity, or one of you kind folks can adopt it. Whatever you think of the once untold tale I’m about tell you, I hope you enjoy it.

The fic would have been either a mini-series/anthology or a movie-esque sequel—or two—to Enter the Florpus.

It would have followed the stranger further misadventures the kids would go on as teenagers, all of which have at least something to do with getting taller, literally or metaphorically.

Although I'd do my best to recreate the series' darkly comic tone, there'd be more to the story than just that. I'd like to do a sort of character study with my fanfics and explore what they would do as they got older, how they would change if they could change, if they'd mature and try to connect with each other more, or if they really do just hate each other. It'd be like a coming-of-age story but done in the style of Invader Zim.

But don’t be fooled, folks! It's not going to be one of those big dramatic fanfics with high stakes (nor any smut) thrown in. At it's core it's still just a fun, dumb, mildly disturbed "What if?" sort of fic. There would be a bit more emphasis on character and plot than normal, because I do love me a good character-driven plot, but still plenty of room for (what I hoped would feel like) the usual weird dumb creepy fun that original series excelled at.

The story is set in basically the same continuity (or at least the closest thing to a continuity that can exist in Invader Zim) as the show and comics. The only difference is that the Battle of Meekrob actually happened—but not really.

Long backstory short, there was a big showdown between the Irken Armada and the Meekrob-allied Resisty, but Zim and Dib missed it because a food fight got them stuck in detention. Zim tried to get Skoodge (who was rooming with him at the time because the scrapped Season 2 episodes were sorta canon here) to cover for him until her got there, while Dib tried to get Gaz to take Tak’s ship to provide support against the Irken. By the time they got out, however, the battle was over, Gaz blew the whole thing off to get a new game, Skoodge and some other Invader became the war hero Zim always aspired to be, and The Almighty Tallest decided to cancel Operation Impending Doom 2 because after the big exciting space battle they felt like they couldn’t top anything after that. Suffice to say, Zim took it pretty hard. Dib however would have seen this as something of a win since Zim still failed in a sense. Albeit it was a very anticlimactic win, even to him.

The actual story would have taken place about 5 years after the Battle of Meekrob, where Zim, Dib, and Gaz have made it to high school (or “hi-skool” as this is the Invader Zim universe, after all). Setting wise, things haven't changed much but the characters have made a few surprising or not-so-surprising developments. The most important of all, so important that it would be the focus of the entire story, in fact! would have been Zim developing a brand-new disguise utilizing an exoskeleton, based partially on the Almighty Tallest, in attempt to make him look like a normal teenager AND impress superiors. Naturally, things go horribly yet amusingly wrong for everyone involved.

Now just where and what has everyone been up to/going through in those five years? Here’s a rundown:

-Zim spent those 5 years obsessing over his crushing failure, begging the Tallest to give him another chance, which they refused every time. Being stuck on a planet of smelly, stupid, and increasingly annoying creatures for so long without any real victories has left him bitter and frantic with more shmoopiness than usual. Even the little "VICTORY FOR ZIM!" moments he used to have got harder and harder to come by. By the time he reached high school, he was so messed up he didn’t realize his classmates had all had growth spurts until Dib easily overpowered him in one of their petty fights and points it out to the whole school. Thus, leading to the new exoskeleton and subsequent schemes to redeem himself in the eyes of the Tallest while looking normal in the eyes of his human classmates. Unfortunately, due to his desperation and general lack of understanding about the human body, the exoskeleton comes out looking like a lanky robotic nightmare with clawed fingers that jerks around like a big cybernetic marionette.

-Dib meanwhile has been doing slightly better. He and his paranormal research are still looked down upon, but he's persevered through the hope that someday he'll prove he's right. After (indirectly) stopping Zim from joining the Battle of Meekrob, Dib got a small confidence boost, thinking of it as a big step to exposing for Zim real now that he’s effectively trapped on Earth with him now. Although, following a rather blunt intervention from his family, he's started thinking about what he’ll do with himself once Zim is gone. He still hates his guts and he's still hellbent on beating him, but he's also started getting out more and trying to socialize more—however awkward his attempts may be. That he's also gotten taller and his head isn't quite as big compared to the rest of his body has been good for his self-esteem too. But make no mistake—when he's not going for runs, working shifts at his dad’s lab, or looking into a “totally normal” science major, he's toiling away on improving his array of anti-Zim strategies and defenses.

-Gaz is doing pretty good but she is totally done with Zim and Dib's junk. Although she's still her old apathetic self, she's doing everything in her power to broaden her horizons so she doesn't end up in the same, stupid rut that they ended up in. She would have gotten into indie art and game development; although her work is still fairly obscure, it's quickly gaining attention for it's macabre, edgy, punishing and geeky nature. (Imagine the works of Jhonen Vasquez, Toby Fox, Hidetaka Miyazaki, and Hideki Kamiya mashed together.) She also participates in e-sports tournaments on occasion, if only because crushing countless so-called “gamers” brings her amusement. Her psychic powers have also gotten stronger with her age, and she likes to experiment with them whenever she can—usually when somebody really annoys her. She's doing fine in the story until, after a run-in with a certain unkillable spoiled brat at an e-sports tournament, sends her over the edge and she trashes the place in a Carrie-esque episode. This gets her sent to anger management therapy, and now she's trying to find a way out to avoid sitting through an endless slog of "sappy" sessions.

-Gir would still be insane.

-Minimoose would still be the ultimate techno-lifeform Minimoose.

-Zim's Computer is still tired.

-Prof. Membrane is still the greatest and most powerful scientist who ever lived but he’s also trying to make time for his family more and mentoring Dib to be the successor to his legacy he always thinks he was meant to be. That is if is experimental new immortality machine doesn’t work out. May or may not have to fend off Clembrane whenever he comes to visit.

-The Almighty Tallest are still living content, tyrannical lives. They didn't take canceling Operation Impending Doom 2 very hard because, as it turns out, they just got bored with it after a while. (Of course, Zim's repeated interference didn't help keep their spirits up either). However, they'd come up with the perfect plan to obtain absolute control of the universe AND get the feeling back: by making Operation Impending Doom 3 a thing and setting up a huge hype campaign for it. Thing go pretty well for them until Zim calls them and tells them about his new exosuit. They believe that Zim is trying to make himself look like a Tallest so he can lead a rebellion against them and get revenge for treating him like garbage. (He's not, obviously, but they're too dumb and paranoid to realize this.) So, they pretend that they're ok with it and let him carry on his merry way while they figure out how to dispose of him without making him look like a martyr figure of some sort, thus giving the other Irkens they mistreated any ideas.

-Tak would show up again in the second half and this is where it gets spoiler-y. She would come to Earth on the Tallest’s orders with a squad consisting of a reformatted Mimi, rogue SIR units, as well as Tenn and Skoodge who she had recruited to aid in her vendetta against Zim. She would subsequently reveal that after drifting through space in an escape pod, she crashed landed on Meekrob just as the battle was about to begin, and using the element of surprise, rescued Tenn from captivity and assisted Skoodge and the Tallest in devising a battle strategy so brilliant that it crushed the Resisty and Meekrob’s alliance and earned her the status of Irken Elite. She grew comfortable in her new position but could never get over her fear that Zim would eventually ruin it all again, so she waited and prepared for the day she would strike back. I don’t know how or if she would adopt an updated disguise (perhaps a hologram of her older humansona projected over her, Tenn, and Skoodge standing on top of her shoulders?) or hide in the shadows while Tenn, Skoodge, Mimi and the berserk SIR squad did her dirty work.

-Skoodge would have gone from aspiring to be Zim’s friend to being his worst enemy after Tak turned him to her side by digging into his past with him, making him realize how little his supposed old friend cared about him. Despite this he still keeps an unusually cheerful disposition—even repeatedly apologizing to Zim whenever he attacks him—and acts as the heart of Tak’s squad. He thinks of them as his real friends, so he always goes out of his way to help them out or keep the energy up. Even though Tak looks down on him because of his size, she appreciates his gullibility and unquestioning loyalty. Tenn just thinks he’s nice, especially since he’s good at keeping the SIRs in check.

-Tenn has recovered from the traumatic escapades she endured on Meekrob at the hands of the rogue SIR units and imprisonment under the enemy, returning to her usual competant Invader self—something Tak values quite a bit in an armada largely composed of egomaniacs and morons. Tenn values Tak’s companionship even more, viewing her as a conquering hero who not only won the most important battle of Irken history, but also, her heart. …Not she’ll ever act on her feelings. That would inconveniance the mission! (Although Skoodge has picked up on this and gladly supports her, thinking they’d make an adorable couple.) After investation revealed that Zim was supposed to receive the rogue SIR units instead of her while he trashed the Megadoomer that was rightfully assigned to her, she bought into Tak’s view that Zim’s very existence was a threat to all Irkenkind, gladly assisting her efforts to eradicate him.

-Mimi and the rogue SIR units have been reprogrammed to be less insane and follow orders again thanks to Tak and Skoodge’s efforts. However, Tak also had a berserk mode installed specfically for eradicating targets with optimal, brutal efficiency. Mimi still tends to glitch though. In addition to Mimi retaining her cat holo-disguise, the berserker SIRs would gain new disguises resembling either feral cats or rabid teacup poodles. (I hadn’t decided yet.) Tenn still gets anxious around them.

-Gretchen might show up again and would possibly get to reconnect with Dib, maybe even finally be honest with him about her feelings for him when she surprises him with her surprising new position at Membrane Labs: the janitor.

-Keef will… er, uh… actually, don’t get your hopes up.

Well, I think that’s everyone important. Okay back to the plot now!

So, right up front, the biggest part of the plot as well as the biggest reason why I got uncomfortable with the whole thing was there wiould be some romance in here between a few couples and that it would have figured into the plot. The most significant of all: ZAGR (a.k.a. Zim and Gaz Relationship). But I wanted to make it feel organic and even sweet without sacrificing the feel of sardonic madness but also keeping it in the wholesome zone.

I always felt like Zim and Gaz were a natural fit for each other (like quite a few other people, admittedly) because I always felt like their personalities were a good fit and they could have a lot in common. The story would follow them as they unexpectedly developed a romantic friendship, bonding over their resentment of the Earth and humanity, their absent family members, a love of technology of questionable intent, and subjugating those who anger them. It would all start with Gaz agreeing to help Zim improve his suit and his unassuming human act just to get back at Dib for annoying her. At first they’d be acting entirely out of spite and necessity, but as they spent more time together, they’d start to enjoy each other’s company more.

Gaz would be the first develop feelings, since she voluntarily rejected the concept of love instead of being programmed to reject it like Zim, as she slowly realizes how much they have in common—much to her horror. Zim would take more time but when he begins to understand how he feels about and just what these DISGUST feelings are, he’d handle it just as poorly. (e.g. I pictured a scene where Zim has such a hard time admitting his feelings for Gaz that he ends up vomiting black goo like he’s possessed or something. For comedy of course.) But they’d both start to open up to each other in the end, if only because they’re the only two people in the universe they can stand. Gaz would try to help him overcome his anxiety and stop caring as much about what humans think of him, while he would be someone that she can actually relate to.

Dib, however, would take sincerest offense to it. He’d be totally freaking out, nearly diving off the deep end to put his plans to defeat Zim into action and expose him before he could be exposed. He’d also make a point of demanding what Gaz could see in a monster like him, even reminding her of everything that Zim had done. Probably in an exchange like this:

DIB: He stole our organs! He tried to crush the planet with Mars! He kidnapped me and threatened to turn me inside out! He tricked me into helping him teleport Earth into outer space so his rulers could destroy it! He turned me into bologna, Gaz! (*holding back tears*) BOLOGNE!

GAZ: I thought you got over that.

DIB: Well, physically I did, yes, but not mentally.

Gir would be pretty on board with it though.

The other biggest plot of the series would have been Tak’s return and the reveal of her and the Tallest’s master plan to destroy Zim once and for all: kick off Operation Impending Doom 3 by placing Zim on trial, executing him, and completing Tak’s plan to turn the planet Earth into a snack bowl for the Tallest (which she still insists is a good plan, she just never got to complete it) big enough to feed them while they watch the conquest of the rest of the universe in style. Zim and the Membranes get through to her and her squad, and possibly the other Irkens, by turning them against the Tallest to stop the Irkens once and for all. Maybe.

Finally to wrap this little nightmare up, here’s a vague outline of the stories I had planned for this wannabe whopper:

-A Whole New Nightmare – Following an amusing prologue about how Zim and Dib ended up missing the battle of Meekrob, Zim finally realizes that his natural Irken height threatens to expose his façade to all the classmates who have reached proper adolescent human height. He creates his exosuit then proceeds to cause a scene when he calls the Tallest and goes to hi-skool. Meanwhile, Gaz bugs Dib about still wasting his time bullying Zim. Zim then challenges Dib to a contest of normalcy: a series of challenges that are just overhyped normal teenage things like loitering, hanging out with friends, and finally a dance-off. Whoever loses has to admit they’re a complete weirdo and admit they’re most embarrassing secret. Dib wins the first round, but after he blows off Gaz to hang out with the other kids, she and Zim strike up a nice conversation and he wins the second round. The final dance-off ends in a draw when Zim and Dib both end up looking like total dorks. The story ends with Dib and Zim standing up for themselves against their judgemental peers, but Zim ends up overtaking his big speech and convincing his classmates to completely forget about his bizarre new appearance.

-Gaz the Befriended - Zim and Gaz make a deal: Gaz helps him fine tune his suit while posing as his "NORMAL HUMAN!" friend, and in return he helps her figure out how to control her powers while posing as her friend so she won't have to go to anger management counselling. While they do drive each other nuts, they eventually learn they have a lot in common and start acting like real friends. Dib grows suspicious of their "friendship," sets out to uncover the truth.

-They Follow - Dib goes on social media to share his findings on Zim with the world in an attempt to verify all his evidence via wisdom of the crowd. Zim finds out and retaliates by joining social media as well to make himself look like a hard luck case in an effort to gain sympathy from the (basically ignorant) public. As their war of words escalate and their follower bases grow, they end up starting a flame war that threatens to destroy society itself.

-Star Dib - Hoping to find some real help, Dib sends a message to outer space looking for reinforcements. He ends up with what remains of the Resisty, who dissolved after their crushing defeat on The Battle of Meekrob. Taking pity on them, he volunteers to become their new leader. Shenanigans ensue on a galactic level.

-C for Conspiracy - Dib stumbles across a mysterious conspiracy involving Earth tech being backwards compatible with alien tech. He wants to take it on himself, but realizes that he might actually need Zim’s help. So he has to swallow his pride and ask him for help, and as if that weren’t enough he has to put up with his and Gir’s (who tagged along) antics.

-Night of the Living Prom-goers - Prom night comes along and all the hormonally-imbalanced kids are ready to go, except for Zim, Dib, and Gaz. Until Gaz works up the nerve to ask Zim out, which he actually accepts. While Gaz prepares for her perfect tolerable evening, Dib desperately tries to convince her that Zim’s up to something while trying uncover his true motives, only for her to snap at him and challenge his views on Zim. Little do either of them know, Zim plans to use the prom as an experiment to harness Gaz’s power for his own ends. But at the same time, he ponders whether his friendship with Gaz is just a means to an end or something more. Either way it will be a night they will never forget. Or survive! Probably.

-The Return of Tak’s Revenge Rises - Tak finally returns to take her revenge on Zim and the Membrane siblings. Striking them when they least expect with the aid of an upgraded MiMi, a squad of berserk SIR units, and two fellow invaders Zim had wronged in the past.

-Doomed Together - Following Tak’s strike, the Almighty Tallest kick off Operation Impending Doom 3 with a mission of utmost importance: sending in the Irken Armada to ensure Zim is destroyed once for all so they can finally proceed with absolute universal domination. Now, Gaz, Dib, and some unlikely allies must come up with a plan to save their even more unlikely new friend and the rest of the universe from the most fearsome force in the universe! It’s basically the grand finale.

And that is all there is, or was, to Taller Tales of Terror. I can’t guarantee I’ll ever revisit it, what with all the other stuff on my plate right now, but I’m glad to have finally shared the story of my first fanfic with y’all.

So, tell me, my filthy monkey maggot mutual friends. After all that horrible rambling, what did you think?

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itsclydebitches · 4 years ago

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Welcome back, everyone!

We’re now on Chapter Eight and once again the story is told from Velvet’s perspective. So our starting question is: why is she getting the most attention so far? If memory serves, the PoV order has been Coco, Velvet, Sun, Fox, Yatsu, Velvet, Scarlet, Velvet again — meaning that in a text balancing eight main characters, so far four of them have received a single chapter, two (Sage and Neptune) zero chapters, and one three chapters. That seems rather imbalanced. I suppose it makes a certain amount of sense if we factor in RWBY viewers’ familiarity with Velvet, but I’d wager we’ve gotten far more screen time with Sun overall. My only point being, why Velvet? It’s not that you can’t make her a focal point of the narrative, I just haven’t seen anything to explain that choice in the first 100+ pages. Her perspective hasn’t brought anything unique to the story, something we couldn’t have gotten from the seven other characters involved in these events… but here we are, back with Velvet for the next six pages.

Yeah, this chapter is short. Silver lining?

We learn that Team NOVA is on their second mission — why bother showing us the first when they’re an entirely new, volatile team, right? That would be silly! — escorting a technician “through the Grimm-infested mountains just outside of Oscuro Combat School.” So Shade students regularly conduct real huntsmen work but throw a fit over having to spar with one another? Interesting. See, if I were a civilian who got even a glimpse of what goes on inside these schools, I would not trust these kids with my life.

Lo and behold, things go horribly! We learn right off the bat that “The technician had been knocked unconscious in a skirmish with a band of Dromedons.” For those of you with an iffy memory like mine, these are the camel-like creatures that spit acid and… that’s about all we know about them. That’s really all we need for this scene though because this grimm nailed the tech in his leg, a wound which now requires “serious medical attention.” Great. Gus Caspian, who I learn is a younger friend from the previous novel, is trying to treat the wound as best he can, clearly a little freaked out about being here, “but apparently Oscuro teachers didn’t coddle students any more than Theodore did.”

Do you expect them to? Despite Atlas being the only one who combines their academies with their military, we can’t pretend like these schools aren’t teaching teenagers to wield deadly weapons and kill things with them. There’s no institution on Earth (or Remnant) that should “coddle” those looking to take on that responsibility. I mean yeah, we had moments where Ozpin encouraged them to be kids, like after the food fight and during the dance, but he still took a hard stance whenever there was an actual lesson in the works: “No. You will be falling.” Based on the age of the students, the academies are akin to colleges. In real world college if you don’t do your work or don’t pay attention in class, well… nothing that bad happens. This is by no means a call to not do you work, merely an acknowledgement from a formerly grade obsessed student that individual test scores really don’t have the impact on your life that it feels like they will at the time. Trust me on this. So yeah, some leeway is great in the real world… but when the students are fighting monsters and defending others from death? Then the schools should absolutely discourage any slacker-esque attitude. The concept of any institution “coddling” huntsmen is horrifying.

Note though that the chapter starts after all the action has taken place. We skip the rest of reinitiation. We skip NOVA’s first mission. We skip the attack that landed Velvet in this predicament. It’s not automatically a bad technique provided you’re skipping over boring parts to get to the interesting bits… but this isn’t interesting. We learn almost nothing new from this scene: Velvet misses her old team, her new teammates don’t believe in her, Nebula is mean. Those are the emotional beats here — things we’ve known for at least three chapters now. The only thing that’s introduced is the advertisement on Gus’ scroll, which could have been been added to any other scene.

Let’s revise a bit:

We get to see the battle against the Dromedons wherein Velvet uses her camera, revealing her weapon to Team NOVA and earning more of their respect. Information about Gus’ improvement is shown through his combat abilities as he’s unexpectedly chucked into this battle (perhaps with him using his semblance to further his growth there too). While taking a hit he loses his scroll, slightly damaging it. In the aftermath Velvet retrieves it for him and finds this ad displayed, growing curious. Over the course of Gus’ explanations the rest of Team NOVA is clued into Velvet’s worry and suspicion. What’s wrong? It’s just an ad. But you’re clearly hiding something… Now, does she tell her new team about the Crown, or keep it silent and risk the tenuous trust they’ve just created?

Why is Myers skipping over all the action and potential growth?

Instead we get the boring stuff. Velvet admires Gus’ uniform because of how it’s built for the heat and recalls that “Coco had been messing around with new outfit designs for Team CFVY.” I swear though, 95% of my enjoyment with this novel comes from the throwaway details. I would actually like seeing how Coco combines her personal love of fashion with the necessity of designing combat gear appropriate for the environment. Maybe they frame it as merely a hobby outside of their huntsmen work, giving them an excuse to keep helping their former teammates. That could be cool!

Though of course, this is the series where Cinder, Neo, Hazel, and Emerald all walk into the ice Kingdom with skin bared, so...

(You all are going to freeze to death, have fun.)

“Velvet’s ears swiveled around, listening for danger.” That’s anything detail I like. At the very least Before the Dawn remembers that Velvet is a faunus and frequently incorporates that into her character. She’s on the lookout because other than Gus tending the unconscious technician, she’s alone “on the sidelines.” It’s framed simultaneously as the group rejecting her and as an unavoidable necessity: “it wasn’t like she didn’t have an important task of her own [repairing the relay], one that none of her teammates had the expertise to perform.”

Wait. Why does Velvet have this expertise?

The justification is that she’s “handy with electronics” and “Anesidora was incredibly complicated, and she’d designed it herself,” but that’s like saying “I built a computer so I’ll come fix your refrigerator. That’s easier.” I don’t know, maybe someone with the ability to build a computer from the ground up could figure out a refrigerator on the fly, but they feel like different skill-sets to me. All electronics are not built the same and claiming that because you understand one you automatically understand all others — even supposedly simpler pieces of tech — seems a little suspect. If that were the case, we’d have no need for experts who fix your phone, your television, your toaster, and your watch. Surely if you understand one you understand the others, right? It’s the same assumption here: If Velvet can understand building a hard light weapon, then she must understand relay communications too!

…right.

She even goes so far as to say that they “probably should have left the technician at Oscuro—she could have done this on her own” yet just a few minutes later it’s, “Velvet double-checked everything. She didn’t know what was wrong. She glanced back at the technician, Gus still at his side. The guy was out cold. He’d taken a pretty hard knock to the head. Well, she had tried.” So she’s confident enough to think that the technician is unnecessary one moment and then looking to him for help the next? Which of course isn’t followed by any sort of revelation. Velvet doesn’t acknowledge that her knowledge isn’t as specialized as she had assumed it was, or that huntsmen rely on non-combat experts for other things. She just shrugs and…

…kicks it.

Yeah. Velvet’s skill amounts to kicking the box until it works. Which, of course, it does.

I can’t with this novel.

More seriously though, that’s terrible characterization. Not only does it undermine Velvet’s actual skill to reduce it to being “handy with electronics” — isn’t every huntsmen “handy with electronics” then, considering they all build their gun/energy/dust weaponry in school? — but it adds another layer of supposed uselessness to the adult professionals around her. Theodore doesn’t teach them anything because, as their headmaster, he’s removed from everyday interactions. Rumpole can’t be trusted now and every lesson she tries to impart is rejected. The unnamed technician who is referred to only by his professional title is deemed unnecessary, knocked out, and then indeed proves useless when Velvet magically does his job for him. So why are any of them in school? Why aren’t they just running the world with their superior knowledge and skill-sets? Every time the RWBY franchise puts its characters in a position where they might actually learn something through failure, it pulls back at the last second. ‘Never mind, they actually knew this all along!’ Or, ‘Never mind, the things they’ve been taught are stupid, so best to forget them!’ I struggle to understand what kind of story I’m reading — or watching — when the characters are already framed as perfect. Or rather, flaws absolutely exist (as these recaps attest), but the story pretends they’re not there.

I hesitate to use the term “Mary Sue” here due to its origins and history. Meaning, the Mary Sue was conceived of as a parody, a deliberate exaggeration to comment on the types of characters written in the Star Trek fandom. Then people began using “Mary Sue” as a catch-all term for any female character that people deemed too talented (regardless of how talented their male counterparts might be), we started acknowledging the sexist undertones of that, then started reclaiming the term as something to celebrate and embrace… but we haven’t quite gotten there yet. “Mary Sue” is still a pretty loaded name to force on a character and it carries a lot of implications that I absolutely do not want to attach to Velvet. Yet it’s also the closest term I know to describe the act of an author giving a character what feels like a badly justified skillset. Such as “handy with technology” actually meaning “can fix anything powered by electricity or Dust as the plot needs.”

Velvet is the action movie hacker going, “I’m in” is what I’m getting at. It’s not a compliment lol.

During all this grimm watching and relay fixing, Gus wants to know why they don’t just high-tail it out of there. Especially since the person they brought to do a specific job can no longer do that job. Mission’s a bust. Velvet gives what sounds like a decent explanation: “Retreating from Grimm isn’t an option when you’re fighting this close to a settlement. If we leave without destroying them, the Grimm will just look for another target.” AKA the settlement itself.

Thing is, by this logic any grimm that are currently close enough to attack them are already close enough to the settlement to latch onto those people as the next target. They’d pick up on the civilians whether Velvet’s group was there to kill them or not. The group is there though, so they feel responsible, but why not just head to the settlement anyway? If the grimm follow you, fine. You can still fight them AND you now get the additional benefit of any other huntsmen/students who might be there. If they don’t follow you, great. If they were close enough to the settlement all along… again, this was always going to happen.

Which, to be clear, isn’t the worst stance to take. I understand them wanting to avoid any potential risk by leaving/leading the grimm towards anyone else. I only want to point out the additional stupidity of fighting them when you’ve already got an unconscious civilian in your care, a barely trained student, and the whole reason you came out here might now be for naught. Yeah, Velvet gets the relay working with her magic kick and yeah, the rest of the team handles the grimm just fine, but none of them are able to see into the future and know that both these events will occur. Gus’ ‘Why are we staying here? It’s dangerous and pointless’ question has merit.

But of course, no one in RWBY would ever consider retreat. It’s a very iffy characteristic at this point.

We learn — or at least I learn now — that Gus’ semblance is the ability to enhance others’ emotions, so basically the opposite of Ren’s. That would indeed be incredibly handy provided he has good control over it. We get another reference to Yatsuhashi’s “meditation exercises” that helped Gus’ grandfather in the last novel. Velvet theorizes that his improved memory has more to do with Yatsuhashi’s semblance than any generic meditation: “No one knew for sure what Yatsuhashi had done with his Semblance when he’d tried to heal Edward’s mind … even Yatsuhashi wasn’t sure. His ability was to erase memories, but it was possible that there was more to Yatsu’s Semblance than that.” Um… subtle yikes? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad things have turned out well for the guy, but if I were the grandfather—or a family member of his—I wouldn’t really want a student messing around with my mind when he “wasn’t sure” what he was doing. Especially when the base skill is to erase memories, not recover or strengthen them. Honestly, I love taking a good look at fantasy series because half the time you realize how horrifying things actually are, once you strip away the common place aspects of these skills. An equivalent third year college student is running around experimenting with peoples’ memories to see if he can achieve something other than erasing them. Great!

The good thing is that Yatsuhashi is just as suspicious of this power as I am. Velvet things that he “hated messing with people’s minds.” Understandable, bud. I’d hate the ability too.

While they’ve got this time alone, Gus mentions that he had planned to contact Velvet soon anyway. Two of his classmates have gone missing and though his school has told Shade about it—there’s at least some of that additional info that Rumpole mentioned—he wanted to let her know too because remember, no one in this franchise trusts the professionals to fix problems. It’s a mindset I’d better understand if the professionals were actually inept. Or the protagonists weren’t training to be those professionals. It’s still exceedingly weird to me that there’s so little respect and trust for huntsmen while they desperately try to become huntsmen…

Something something broken systems, but RWBY isn’t interested in exploring that.

So yeah, Gus ropes Velvet in with the hope that she can help. He says that they were last seen attending a new club called Mirage that hosts one-on-one fights for a championship title. So… it’s not really a club, right? Sure, sure, we’ve all seen Fight Club, but generally that’s used to describe dancing, not fighting. It’s a rather misleading term for what they were actually looking for. No one else finds this odd though. Nor that the information was sent out to select, powerful individuals. Nothing shady about this, folks! Velvet obviously recognizes all these details—a club, powerful semblances, a crown in the advertisement—and asks Gus to pass it along to her.

Our plot forwarded ever so slightly, their conversation ends as Arslan calls Velvet on the now fixed connection. One of the first thing she says is that Octavia used the other students as bait for the grimm.

At least Velvet shares my reaction: “What?!”

Octavia then takes an already bad situation and makes it that much worse. Listening in, she defiantly says, “That’s right. And it worked. It’s called strategy.” She confirms that the students are “mostly” okay and taunts Velvet about inviting them to her “Baby Brigade and you can all cry about it!” I hope I don’t need to take up precious document space by explaining how awful this is. Overlooking the fact that these would-be huntsmen are willing to put their younger peers’ lives in danger like that—and then mock them for needing mental health resources after the fact—why is Octavia the one pulling the murderous Mean Girl act? Yeah, she was an asshole during reinitiation, but wasn’t the whole point of that to demonstrate that she and Velvet got a little closer? Even if she won’t admit it? She saved Velvet from flying down that hole, but now she risks the lives of students at least three years her junior? If anyone should be this violent and antagonistic towards Velvet, it’s Nebula. The most she’s done for Velvet is offer a hand up, otherwise we just watched her express glee in getting to fight her and mock her for not abandoning Beacon… the same sort of behavior we’re seeing from Octavia now. Does Myers think that these two characters are interchangeable? That he can just pick one willy-nilly per chapter and let her play at being Velvet’s Mean Girl?

As a lovely anon reminded me recently, these are also the girls that were created and backed by fans. If I had put money and creative energy into these OCs, I’d be pretty frustrated with how the RT team has been treating them.

Arslan at least is complimentary towards Velvet for fixing the relay—“Truly, great work today”— and Velvet herself is appropriately shocked at Octavia’s behavior. That’s more emotional consistency than I’ve come to expect of this book, so I’ll take whatever little bits I can get.

Arslan signs off with plans to meet back up soon and Velvet thinks about how “everyone was safe after the mission, which was no small thing.” I’d agree… except for Velvet’s early thoughts about how easy this mission supposedly was and Octavia’s decision to put her teammates in danger. It sounds like if anything did go sideways, it’s in part because you chose to enter this overconfidently and then actively made it more dangerous.

Finally, the chapter ends with Velvet believing that she might be able to make her new team work with time. Our final line, in its own paragraph is: “If they had time.”

Am I the only one who finds this weird? The line reads like an omniscient bit of foreboding. Velvet thinks about how she just needs time and we, the reader, hear that this won’t be possible. Except this chapter is told from Velvet’s perspective. So why does she think they might not have time? Because of the Crown? I assume there will be an attack towards the end of the novel—can’t have a RWBY story without the final, epic battle—but right now Velvet has no reason to believe that an attack is imminent, or that the teams will change back, or anything else that would interfere with her hopes of strengthening this relationship… so why the rather confident sounding pessimism? I don’t know. I don’t pretend to know anymore lol.

At least this chapter was short? As said, silver linings. We’re still treading water though: Velvet’s bond with her new team seems to have regressed after two missions, rather than improved, and Gus didn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know, just further confirmed it. I assume that next chapter Velvet and the others will visit Mirage. Let’s hope something actually happens then.

See you! 💜

[Ko-Fi]

#rwby #mymetas #Before the Dawn #BTD Recaps

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superman86to99 · 4 years ago

Photo

Adventures of Superman #506 (November 1993)

Superman vs. Superboy! I mean, vs. Superman, since the Kid still insists that Superboy is definitely NOT his name and never will be. The two Supermen meet while the younger, radder one is dealing with some sort of deformed flying babies that are trying to kill him, which is the sort of thing that happens to you when you wear an “S” emblem on your chest.

These turn out to be deformed flying babies THAT EXPLODE, but the Kid is able to push them away with his (very non-Superman-esque) telekinesis powers. He then deduces that these things must have come out of Project Cadmus, the top secret genetic experimentation facility that created him, and brushes off the elder Superman to get back at those geeks by doing what he does best: being a brat on live TV.

So I guess the “top secret” part of Cadmus’ description is no longer accurate, thanks to the Kid. On the other hand, I kinda feel like the people of Metropolis deserved to know that there's a nearby government facility churning out genetic atrocities into their sewers.

The Cadmus gang sends Guardian to bring their wayward creation home so they can talk to him. Obviously the Kid isn't very interested, and for a while it looks like we might get the fight scene teased in the cover, but then Superman the First convinces Superman the Second that he should at least hear them out. And, while at it, ask Cadmus to tell him exactly what the hell he is. If he’s Superman’s clone, why does he have those weird TK powers? The Kid agrees, but... he doesn't like the answers he gets.

The Kid finds out that he's NOT a clone of Superman since, as established a while back, Kryptonians are damn hard to clone. So, since Cadmus was determined to create a new Superman after the original appeared to be dead, they instead took a clone of a regular, non-super man and genetically modified it to approximate Superman's powers (for instance, translating Superman’s “aura” into a telekinetic field). But who was that human DNA donor? Surely it was someone good and cool!

Just after the Kid wonders that, the quite evil and deeply uncool Director Westfield bursts into the lab and demands that this "super-punk" be taken into custody, probably so they can flush him down the toilet like Cadmus' other failed experiments. Superman makes Westfield see that making Cadmus' whistleblower disappear wouldn't look very good right now, but they can't just let him run around unsupervised. So, at Guardian's recommendation, the esteemed telepath Dubbilex is assigned to follow the Kid wherever he goes. I smell a sitcom! (Or a spin-off comic.)

As a last order of business, the Kid decides to give Superman his trademark to the Superman name, which his manager Rex Leech doesn't take too well. So what are they gonna call this teenage “S” emblem-wearing hero now? Superman has an interesting suggestion: SUPERBOY. Our young friend still isn't a fan.

But after storming out and thinking about it for a couple of pages (and trying out the name on some guys robbing a jewelry shop), the Kid realizes he's "earned" the title of Superboy and accepts it. Character development! And just in time for his solo series. ("That Non-Superman Clone Who Also Calls Himself Superman" wouldn't look good on a cover.)

Plotline-Watch:

The final page shows a shadowy figure shaped like the recently introduced Bloodthirst outfitting someone with a weapon-teleporting gizmo, then calling him "Bloodsport"... except that this dude is quite paler than the Bloodsport we met way back in Superman #4 (in an issue inked by current writer Karl Kesel, so you'd think he'd remember the character). This looks nothing like Idris Elba! What gives?!

Superboy is still bummed out because his friend Tana Moon left Metropolis without telling him where she was going, which is now known as "ghosting". In the end, Rex talks about sending Superboy on a promotional tour to establish his new brand, and the first destination of that tour will be... exactly where Tana went to hide from Superboy. This is now known as "time to get a restraining order."

Clark Kent is slowly morphing into a hipster the longer he rooms with Jimmy Olsen. For a long time I assumed all the bands listed in the panel below were made up, but turns out the only non-existing ones are “James Rock” and "Axel Rose". Luckily, Superboy was happy to give Clark's old apartment back to him (apparently only Pulitzer-winning journalists can afford it), so Jimmy won't hipsterize him for much longer.

Westfield gladly assigns Dubbilex to Superboy because it means there won't be a telepath at Cadmus to read his thoughts and find out about his evil plans (like sending the ugly flying babies after Superboy). Very clever, Westfield! Except for the fact that he thought that right in front of Dubbilex, who clearly "heard" the whole thing.

Incidentally, there's an apparent error in this issue when Superboy thinks "They won't take me without a fight!" and Guardian shows up and says "That's too bad, son. Because I don't want to fight you." How did Guardian know what Superboy was thinking? Obviously, Dubbilex patched Guardian through to Superboy's mind to assist in finding him. Now where's my damn Baldy Award?!

Is it me or is this page reminiscent of the cover to Superboy Prime's first appearance during Crisis on Infinite Earths?

Patreon-Watch:

Special thanks to your Patreon pals Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, and Samuel Doran, and welcome aboard to Bheki Latha (our first $6.50 patron ever!), Mark Syp, and Ryan Bush! You are all excellent. This month they got to read a long-ass post entitled 45 Things I Learned by Reading the “Death of Superman” Novel (Part 1), in which I talked about the stuff Roger Stern added to the canon in the first part of the Death and Life of Superman book. This includes Superman’s private thoughts on the JLI (and Guy Gardner in particular), what Lex Jr. calls Supergirl in bed, and Professor Hamilton getting romantic. Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99

But now: the Don Sparrow show! Take it away, Don.

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

The end of an era, at least temporarily, as Tom Grummett draws his last Adventures of Superman issue, moving onto Superboy (and I think still doing Robin at this time?) with Karl Kesel. He’ll return for the quarterly Superman: Man of Tomorrow and other things, but it’s a long gap until he does.

A pretty good cover, with Superman and Superboy about to tussle. Though it can be seen as cheaping out on the backgrounds, I always love radial rays as an effect.

Inside the issue, we have a great splash page of Superboy getting attacked by botched clones, and I love the gesture here—having his head snapping away from the camera adds to the motion and action. Great stuff.

Though he won’t be drawing her again for a while, Grummett excels at the new, shorter-haired Lois in these pages. Superman soaring to the skies is a great panel as well, and I especially like the way his cape and fist slightly break the panel barrier, giving it a sense of motion, again.

The sequence of Guardian acrobatically flipping from one ledge to another is very well drawn. Ditto the splash on page 13, where Superboy loses his temper. The body language in this whole sequence tells the story very well, as Superman is calm and patient, confident in his ability not only to reach Superboy with his words, but also withstand him physically.

The way Superboy snaps the carpet, but controls it mentally with his Tactile Telekinesis is a great example of his unique powers in use. It reminds me of a technique they tried on the CW Supergirl show (but almost immediately abandoned) where they made like the Kryptonian fabric of their capes was like “smart fabric” and could be used as a weapon.

Lastly, the dreamy, child-like expression on Superboy’s face during the Peter Pan exchange is wonderful, and a fitting end for Tom’s run on the book. [Max: You mean the William Shatner exchange, Don.]

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

I almost never like it when they reference pop culture stuff in Superman comics, particularly music. Karl Kesel isn’t the worst offender in that department (that would be JM DeMatties a few years down the line, who had Clark Kent bizarrely asserting he loved the Beastie Boys) but Clark’s discussion with Jimmy about an apparently fictional musician working with a rolodex of early nineties names makes me cringe (as does trying to imagine how awful a “Hip Hop Lyle Lovett” or “Grunge Frank Sinatra” would sound).

The car poster on the wall of Jimmy’s bachelor pad looks for all the world like Robin’s Redbird, also a Tom Grummett creation. (Fun fact: Tom once told me he still gets {very small} royalty cheques from the Batman & Robin movie, because Robin’s motorcycle was called the Redbird, though that might no longer be true with Paul Levitz no longer in charge of such matters.)

Superboy (in no less than his third time calling those pink creatures “spuds”) references John Candy and Joe Flaherty’s “Farm Film Celebrity Blow Up” where the guests would frequently “blow up real good” and it does my SCTV loving Canadian heart good.

It’s interesting (and a little sad) that they again note that Superboy knows things (pop culture, etc) without ever having experienced it. I feel like there’s a lot they could do with this concept.

This issue reads very much like the end of the Superboy “Reign” issues, as Superman is more of a secondary character to the kid. All of it begs the question of why Superman, or Guardian put up with Cadmus. Superman has said in previous issues that he has moral problems with how Cadmus treats life with their cloning experiments, and they’ve attacked him in the past (and also stole his corpse!) so other than the fact that it’s a launchpad for Superboy’s series, there’s really no reason any of these heroes should associate with Cadmus. Especially Guardian, who comes off as little more than an errand boy here. He wants to bring Superboy in, but won’t promise Superboy won’t be harmed or imprisoned?

Nice to see Superboy return to his “Slammin’” catch phrase!

An interesting bit of foreshadowing when Superboy asks Big Words whose clone he is, and who immediately enters but Westfield. [Max: That’s right, Westfield! Not Luthor! Sorry, sorry.]

#superman #karl kesel #tom grummett #doug hazlewood #superboy #project cadmus #paul westfield #dubbilex #guardian #carl packard #rex leech #roxy leech #bloodthirst #bloodsport #hip-hop lyle lovett #grunge sinatra

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talesofsonicasura · 4 years ago

Text

Thief's Ambition

Velvet Dilemma

Every thief needs the right tool for any sort of job. But what would happen if one of your resources isn't what they seem to be? Long post. Warning: Suicide Attempt, and mentions of abuse

They say reality and imagination are two sides of the same coin. Reality being ruled by laws and sciences to present what one calls 'normal', a limited perspective. Imagination however, is without restrictions if someone has the willpower to create or dream, limitless potential.

Information or to be specific, Digital Code' held both treats of reality and imagination. Rules to stabilize the unlimited potential of someone's creativity and what could be created is endless. Sometimes, one's design could break those boundaries. The results are determined by the creator. Whether it will lead to paradise or pure ruin. Only they can decide.

Le Blanc, a small but humble shop located in Yogenjaya, Japan. This cafe owned by Sojiro Sakura, is quite famous for their delicious curry, extraordinary coffee and friendly atmosphere. It is also the temporary home of a specific teenager. A young man whose choices can affect the world around him in large ripples. His name was Ren Amamiya.

The boy was around 15 years old, hair was a pitch black nest of curls, eyes a mysterious obsidian that shone brighter through the lens of his false glasses, a soft balance built with some growing muscle to his form, and stood about 5'7 in height. A pure black gakuran fitting snugly on the young man's body paired alongside black pants and nicely made boots as he carried his slightly large gray school bag over his shoulders.

His destination was Le Blanc, taking his time by walking down the sidewalk and glanced around to take in any important details. It didn't seem that anything would catch the boy's eyes since Yogenjaya was more of a rural area. That was until an abnormally tall structure crossed his line of sight.

Not too far from where he was, Ren could make what had to be a hotel. Around 5 stories in height and from how clean it seemed, the place was obviously new. Halfway down the large infrastructure was a soft magenta sign that read: Hotel Nexus. The name rings some bells in his head.

It was a new hotel that recently opened up before he came. Great service, fair prices and quite a selection of accommodations for anyone's price range. He heard some of the teachers and even students at his school raving about it.

Ren didn't really notice that he entered his destination until his nose was greeted to the bitter scent of coffee beans and spice of curry. His caretaker Sojiro Sakura, a rough looking older man with dark brown eyes, black hair in a man bun and beard, was in the middle of serving a few customers. Thus, the teen walked up to his room which was in actuality, a spacy attic.

Placing his bag on the bed, the raven was about to start on his homework when a voice spoke out. "Thy trickster." A soft, suave yet slightly distorted male's nearly made the boy jump if he didn't know who this voice belonged to. Not even the first few days in Tokyo did the teen come across the path of the supernatural.

"We need to have a discussion. Thee might have a problem." The voice explained much to Ren's utter confusion. If by instinct, the raven took off his glasses and held it out. Blue flames suddenly manifested on the frames, sparks spewing out to the attic floor in 5 different spots before the fire extinguished.

Each spark burned brighter as they grew in size but didn't spread across the wood surface like any normal fire. The smallest stood barely a foot in size while the largest being a shocking 15 ft all around. Suddenly, the fire sputtered out as five different creatures now sat before the young boy.

A large black horse that had two long teal horns, crimson eyes and white mane, a small brown haired pixie with butterfly wings wearing a blue one-piece and gloves, pink skinned imp with small wings and wore a belt with a large stinger positioned at an inappropriate place, and a jack-o-lantern headed creature wearing a dark blue robe, witch's hat, and white gloves holding a lantern.

The last being was not only large but vastly different from the others. Sitting slightly uncomfortable on the floor was a dapper gentleman-esque black and crimson demon.

Black leathery hide, pitch black mask for a face as fire highlighted the long spindly devil horns than just painting fiery eyes or the wicked smile, razor sharp black claws and angelic ebony wings that spawn from his lower back. The demon's clothing consisted of a black corset tuxedo held tight by red strings, white fancy cravat, a short crimson coat with long sleeves, collar and coattails, red armor mimicking dress pants covered the legs which ended with knife blade heels, and a tall black top hat stitched at the back with red strings.

Despite the five demons sitting before him, Ren wasn't afraid of their presence. After all, why would he be scared of his own Persona and one of the reasons he is still alive? From the information given by various sources, these beings were born from thoughts of man and assist those who awaken or earn their power.

His current Persona team consisted of Bicorn, Pixie, Incubus and Jack-o-Lantern. Ren couldn't forget his main Persona either, the one who answered his call and shared the same rebellion in his soul, Arsene. Seeing all five here meant there was something going on especially from the looks on their face.

Bicorn looked very irate, well, more than he usually was, Pixie was a mixture of concern and worry, Incubus had his arms crossed alongside a large scowl on his face and Jack-o-Lantern looked like he wanted to disappear. The only one who didn't seem upset was Ren's dapper devil, the flames of the mask were in a soft simmer, almost if he was sheepish. Things had to be wrong if the Legendary Phantom Thief didn't have his signature grin.

"Is everything ok? Arsene said you guys wanted to talk about something." The raven politely asked, it may not look like it but Ren did care for his Persona. Although, not all of them were on the same level as his rebel heart but… Out of the bunch, it was Incubus who spoke up.

"Here's the problem boss, none of us are getting fused!" And the teen's train of thought came to a stop like a broken record. "What?" The word just came out of his mouth as if he was on autopilot. Quite a reasonable reaction for when you considered Ren's current situation in full.

Stuck on probation in a foreign place, his future walking towards a foretold path of ruin, the twisted desires of his gym teacher manifesting as a cognitive place and these very creatures before him holding a key to his salvation. That also included fusing them to create a more powerful Persona.

"Normally we don't have any opinions when it comes to fusion. Previous Wild Cards before you had done the process thousands of times. However, this time there's two issues that we cannot accept! And no amount of bribery will change our opinion!" Bicorn huffed, scraping a hoof across the ground.

That actually convinced Ren even more to listen to their problem, especially when he considered the new information given. If there had been others like him, why wasn't he notified? And what was different about the process of Fusion if Persona used to not have an issue?

"Alright. Can you tell me these reasons for omitting fusion from the Velvet Room?" His inquiry seemed to relieve some of the tension for the group of Persona. The teen could only guess it must be rare for Wildcards to tend to their needs. Or it must have been quite a long time since a Persona User like him appeared.

"Sure dee-doo, bossman! First off is the Fusion Methods! Persona are fused in many different ways, some by dancing or even tarot cards. Executions aren't one of them. Despite some Persona being created from evil legends, the fusion tools were always humane and fair for all participants." Jack-o-Lantern spoke up, the fire in his lantern burning brighter with each word.

Ren easily agreed with that reason. His first time actually being able to use the Fusion was a very unsavory experience. At that time, he only had just Arsene and Pixie. To see Igor and his assistants unveil those large guillotines made him feel like he was back at that Palace thing.

Seeing shadows of people being tortured like slaves already made him a bit uncomfortable but the 'Fusion Tools' were enough to leave the room with a poker face just to hide a grimace. "Yeah, I can see your point. Don't know how a guillotine isn't even supposed to do that."

That also raised another question as he had a feeling what the second reason really was. Pixie only solidified that very thought. "Our second reason is the Velvet Room itself, to be precise, Igor himself. You see, out of many Personas, I am usually the one Wildcards tend to acquire first." A look of nostalgia sparked in her eyes.

"This means that I am often fused quite a lot so I've been around Igor. Despite looking a bit crooked, the man has an aura of a gentleman and has this mischievous but kind air around him. Something that makes the Velvet Room comfortable for both Persona and Wildcards but…" A nervous and saddened look was quick to mark the fairy's face.

"...that isn't the Igor we know. This one is cold and has this aura of cruelty hidden underneath. And it's not just him but both Velvet Room attendants feel off too. It's almost if both girls are like broken dolls, scraps of a toy remade into two different copies."

The room went silent for a bit as Ren processed all this information. Persona who's been summoned or recruited a lot, Veteran he'll call it, could feel when something is off with the Velvet Room. It would explain why Arsene didn't seem that bothered unlike the others, since he was new to the whole thing.

Now that the teen thought about it, Igor and his attendants seemed very quick to introduce the Fusion mechanic… too quick. If something was indeed wrong with the Velvet Room, then it would be best to limit his usage. Ren couldn't just stop using it altogether and none of them had issues with the Register/Summon option.

"Alright. I won't use the Velvet Room for fusion. If you guys think the place is off and Igor can't be trusted, then I'll trust your judgement. Problem is, how can I perform Fusions now?" The Persona he had now, excluding Arsene, can't really grow powerful enough to deal with any future Palaces.

Stronger Personas were needed if he was going to avoid this 'ruin'. His main Persona then spoke up. "How about you search for a mage? Thou passed one earlier today." Wait what? Ren looked at the Curse Type with a mixture of disbelief and surprise.

There's a mage, someone who practices actual magic, in bloody Tokyo. Pixie spoke upon her User's look of befuddlement. "Practicers of magic do exist, master Ren. They are rare and tend to stay hidden amongst the locals. You can easily guess why. Some even treat Fusing or Summoning Persona like an exam to know if one is ready for the next level of magic."

The raven haired teen let out an intrigue hum from the explanation. If he can find the mage Arsene sensed earlier then they should be able to help with his Fusion problem. "Where did you sense them anyway?"

Ren couldn't believe the stroke of luck he got. Apparently the person he was looking for happened to be in Yogenjaya, specifically the new Nexus Hotel. Once school was over for the day, he quickly made his way towards the place. It was honestly bigger in person than seeing it from Le Blanc.

Various trees with interwoven branches formed a path to the hotel similar to a green red carpet, two fountains paired with benches on each side of the fountain and the centerpiece was a peculiar statue. An 8 meter giant of scrap metal carefully melded together to form a lizardman wielding a large microphone stand like it was a guitar and on the plaque it stood on read: Welcome to Hotel Nexus.

There are even a few stalls set up for local vendors to rent and sell merchandise. 'This hotel feels like a homey place to stay in. No wonder a lot of people Shujin talk about it.' Ren thought while looking at the large statue with intrigue. He could see a lot of work was put into it from the V shape horns, beak like snout and even intricate design on the stand.

Even a non-artist can see all the work, effort and dedication put into it. "What do you mean it ain't for sale?!" A brutish shout immediately ripped the boy's attention. Obsidian eyes soon look at a scene forming to his side between a large portly man and someone around his age.

The girl had cyan hair with a silver frohawk at center, emerald green eyes bearing black v shaped marks underneath, and a thin elegantly curved body around 5'6 in height. Her clothing consisted of a black shirt, short red long sleeved jacket, dark blue cargo pants and white high tops.

What got Rens attention was the peculiar device hanging around her neck, it looked like one of those pocket pet toys but merged with a walkie talkie. Pure silver with red buttons and a black strap for string. She honestly looked very annoyed.

"It's like I said to your boss a million times before. Hotel Nexus isn't for sale! My family and I worked hard to make this place so no way in hell we're giving it up. I don't give a damn how high the food chain your boss is, the answer will be no!" Ren could practically feel the venom in her words from the fifteen distance.

Something that amused Arsene since the Curse Persona was laughing. 'It seems that fiery young lady is the mage that thou been looking for. Such strong rebellion radiating brilliantly alongside her magic.' The raven continued watching the scene unfold.

He had to agree with Arsene on the fiery term since the girl literally growled at the man before her. "Get outta here and tell your boss he can choke on his own balls!" The poor employee went running off in seconds with his tail between his legs. Adjusting his fake glasses, Ren decided to approach the cyanette once she took a few deep breaths.

Now that he was closer, the young man could see flecks of gold and silver in those emerald eyes as the girl saw him. "Hey there. Sorry if ya saw the commotion. I'm usually more professional but guys like that tend to grind my gears." She then put on a polite smile.

"My name is Hokuto...Shoutmon! One of the owners of Hotel Nexus. What can I do for you?" Ren couldn't lie, that was the oddest last name he heard in his life. Or the fact that her teeth were razor sharp just from the smile given. Knowing it was rude to stare, the raven haired teen spoke.

"My name is Ren and I happen to be new in the area. I was hoping you can answer a few questions for me." Best to have some honesty if he was going to even get the cyanette's trust. Hokuto merely kept a polite look on her face and stayed professional to even her posture.

"Sure, what questions do you have? Need any help finding a room or are you interested in renting a stand? Or is it more personal?" Childlike curiosity brimmed in the emerald eyes of the Nexus' heiress that made Arsene laugh in his human partner's head. 'Might as well answer her, dear Trickster. Can't keep a young lady waiting~'

Ignoring the obvious flirt, Ren decided to be a bit straight forward in his response. "Can you help me with a little school project of mine? I'm supposed to ask people a set of words and how they felt about each one for my psychology class." He even pulled up a pen and paper to make it more convincing.

If she was really a mage, then he had a feeling Hokuto would be more comfortable with masking a risky topic such as this. Plus one class did ask for a Do-Your-Own assignment for homework today. The Shoutmon woman tilted her head a bit, mild confusion crossed her face before shrugging. Didn't seem that bad to her so why not oblige the boy?

"Sure, I don't mind. It's honestly a bit refreshing but I get to choose a few words too. That way it'll be more like a game, and who knows, ya might get some extra credit." Ren nodded his head and had a smirk on his face from Hokuto's unexpected reply. He even had a good word to start with.

"Alright. My first word or to be precise, words is 'Velvet Room'." The cyanette hummed a bit hearing the word. An inquisitive look on her face as she mulled the two words over in her head a bit. It took a few more seconds before she gave an answer.

"Intrigue and wonderment comes to mind but oddly also caution. Something as fancy as 'Velvet Room' has to have something dark or sinister in the undertone. Kinda like the story of Hansel and Gretel with the witch's house being made of sweets." The teen and Persona understood the reason behind that, even if the 'caution' part sounded more instinctual.

Not everything that glitters gold meant was good. "Alright, my turn. The word I choose is Tamer." Hokuto said with a cheery tone. It was his turn to tilt his head at the suspicious pick. Being a Wildcard did fit with the word since Ren had to befriend or 'tame' multiple Persona than just one.

"Adventurous, enlightening and carefulness. Being a tamer means you are potentially risking your life at befriending a living creature that can do harm if you aren't careful. Achieving a bond is also a reward in itself from how much you learn and grow with the experience." The raven haired teen could feel the warmth of his Persona's happiness and admiration blanket his heart.

Hokuto also seemed really happy about his response too, almost if checking something off in her head. "That's one way to say it. Now it's your turn again." Ren already knew what he was going to ask for this round. "Okay. My next word is Persona with a capital P." The cyanette mulled over the peculiar word in her head.

Something about it felt odd, like a primal instinct of sorts but she couldn't really guess why. Placing a hand on her chin, the young woman gave the boy an answer. "Since it sounds like a living creature, I would say wonder and bewilderment. Unknown life tends to bring tons of questions alongside the possibilities of their uniqueness."

Ren hummed at the answer while writing it down on paper. He would admit that he didn't see the next word coming though. "Your next word is Digimon!" Confusion immediately covered the raven haired teen's face. Did he hear that right? Digimon? Was it short for something like 'Digital Monster'?

"Taking a random guess here but the only thing that comes to mind is curiosity. I've never heard of a term like Digimon before and it makes me wonder what the concept truly is. A game or maybe a brand series that's focus is around collectible creatures under the same name."

It was the only reasonable Ren could actually think of. He'd never heard of 'Digimon' before and would have done some research later on. The teen was ready to ask his final question when the sound of a ringtone went off. Hokuto had pulled out her phone, a look of mild horror crossing her face in seconds.

"Seriously?! I'm sorry but I have to cut this conversation short. Got to close off one of the guest bathrooms and call for a repairman!" She quickly turned on the heel of her feet before taking off into the hotel. All Ren could do was blink as his objective was now out of reach.

'An unfortunate setback. However, thou at least have the mademoiselle's location. We would just need to visit another time.' Arsene whispered in the raven's head, the young man let out a sigh. He'll have to make do with the Persona he had for now.

The next day… Ren was sitting in his seat like usual. Getting stared at by most of his classmates and teacher with the appeal of a convict. An irritating normal when you had your criminal record and reason for being transferred thrown out to the entire school as if it was a newspaper.

It also sucked that his teacher, Mr Uchimaru, was an asshole who likes to harass others when they answer one of his surprise questions wrong. Ryuji texting him in the middle of the class and Morgana talking in his bag either. Even if no one could understand the not-cat, they could still hear his meows.

His mind however went to a grinding halt upon the words of his classmates. "There's someone on the roof! Is she going to jump? Suzui Shiho?" Dread immediately filled his heart upon the name. Suzui Shiho was one of the upperclassmen who was being sexually harassed by his current target, the gym teacher Kamoshida.

He was out of his seat in seconds and ran straight for the hallway window for a better look. A better view was needed to see if it really was Shiho. Obsidian eyes widen in absolute horror upon the sight of the brown haired teenager standing at the ledge of the building.

'No… Dear god, please don't…!' The girl jumped off the roof, Ren's heart dropped to his stomach while his classmates screamed. Shiho was about to hit the ground when familiar light blue hair came into sight as someone caught her falling body in time. Ren immediately ran down the halls of the school, to get outside and see if his senpai was alright.

The teen caught sight of Hokuto Shoutmon holding the girl tight to her chest, Shiho was nuzzled into the hotel manager's neck in tears. "Shh. It's alright. Just let it all out. I don't know who hurt you but there are people in this world that still care about ya. Think about them, not ya tormentors."

Hokuto's strong upbeat voice was now a soft comforting whisper while she rubbed the suicidal girl's back gently. Emerald eyes looked into Ren's obsidian ones with mild surprise. It was probably the fact she didn't know he went to school here either.

"Shiho." The raven turned his head to see one of his classmates running towards the two girls. Ann Tamanaki, the platinum blonde girl with green eyes and her hair in two ponytails who was also Shiho's best friend by what he saw from their interactions. The hotel manager turned her head over to the blonde.

"I'm guessing you are a friend of hers? Do you know her parents' numbers? This poor girl needs all the support she can get right now and I need to call the suicide hotline. We were lucky enough that I was able to catch her in time." Hokuto let Ann hold Shiho but not before the pigtailed girl said a grateful teary 'Thank You'.

The cyanette then looked at Ren. "I don't know who broke that poor girl's will but I do know one thing. If that fucker shows their face, I'll do everything in my power to knock em off their pedestal. No one deserves this for another bastard's sick pleasure. They say eyes are the window to one's soul, her eyes are that of a victim on their last string."

Shiho's parents immediately came over along with an ambulance and a few cop cars to check on the frazzled brunette. Hokuto had left after they questioned her on how she even found Shiho. Apparently the hotel manager was heading towards one of the markets nearby, a coincidence that managed to save his classmate's life.

It also meant that Kamoshida needed to be dealt with before someone else breaks. There is the expulsion deadline too, since confronting the man in righteous anger was a dumb idea. Whatever the case, the perverted PE teacher needed his heart changed. And the only solution was the man's castle, nestled in the school's Metaverse.

The Metaverse was a physical plane created through the unconscious cognition of people, a place between reality and imagination. Palaces were an area created from the large distortion in a person's heart, something that reflected a dark mindset. Kamoshida's Palace was that of pure unadulterated lust.

A medieval castle filled with statues of himself or various girls around the skin that displayed their innocence in a perverse manner, echoes of male students were seen as slaves that were beaten meticulously, and the distorted version of Kamoshida flaunt through the castle as it's disgusting lustful king in nothing but a crown, heart shaped boxers and a fluffy red cape.

Through these halls was the key to stopping this man's twisted heart and the consequences to follow if they failed. Within one of the hallways, a large cluster of knights were gathered in a tizzy. Empty blue masks staring at a pile of molten gold, various statues of the Palace's Ruler melting into a golden soup in front of the culprit.

The suspect's body was shadowed by the large blaze behind them. "How dare you destroy the visage of our King Kamoshida?! You'll pay with your life wench!" One of the knights howled as all brandished their large blades. Feminine laughter came out of the figure alongside their appearance, emerald eyes glared down at the mass.

Ren was running as fast as he could, the teen helping a tired Ann with assistance from two others. The clothes the four of them wore were very different from what they wore in the real world, an attire created through the power of their Persona and rebellious souls.

The raven had a white domino mask bearing a black flare around the eyes, long black leather jacket paired alongside a bulletproof black vest, crimson gloves, black Italian leather pants, and black leather boots. Ann's entire was a full red leather blend suit that displayed her elegant lithe form, a red mask with cat ears, red stilettos and even a fake cat tail that seemed to move on its own.

Then there was Ryuji Sakamoto, a spiky blonde with brown eyes and Ren's first ally he made. His outfit was a metal skull shaped mask, a black suit bearing a metal spine plate along his back, red tie to a black bulletproof vest, black Italian leather boots and red gloves bearing metal knuckles.

Ren couldn't forget their odd party member Morgana either. A 1'6 ft tuxedo cat-like being with a form comparable to a bobblehead. Slightly large head with black fur on the top half of the head imitating a mask to the white bottom part, a yellow bandana scarf around the neck, a black body with white paws, white feet and white tip tail, and a brown fanny pack around the waist.

The two males were helping keep Ann steady, the platinum blonde was exhausted from summoning her main Persona. "We're almost at the exit, just need to go past this hanger." Morgana stated, his childlike male voice stern and strong. Smell of burning metal hit everyone's nose, all eyes were on the growing smoke that began to seep from an adjacent hallway.

"What the hell? Is someone else here because I don't think Kamoshida's knights are stupid to burn the castle to the ground?" The blonde was right but who was it. Getting into the Metaverse, much less a Palace, required the Metanav app. Without the mysterious phone app, no one could enter this place unless brought here by accident.

A familiar voice then reached Ren's ears. 'Thy Joker, that sounds like young Hokuto. It appears our acquaintance is making good on her threat to Madame Shiho's abuser.' Arsene spoke within the raven's head. It was an odd coincidence that the hotel manager was in the same corridor leading to the exit.

The group of four turned into the hall to see an army of Kamoshida's knights cornering Hokuto. None of them were blind to the gold statues of the Palace ruler burning behind the young woman, a sight that made Ren's main Persona purr in delight.

"Ain't that Shoutmon-san?! Did she get dragged in by accident like I did?!" Ann couldn't help the worried tone within her own voice. The not-cat of the group whistled at the destruction. "That girl isn't normal. It takes extreme heat to melt solid gold like that."

Ryuji guffawed at the amount of damage that the cyanette did by herself. "Talk about a one woman demolition crew! Maybe she can help us after we help her." The group was taken aback when Hokuto began to laugh at a guard's execution threat.

"A King you say?" The cyanette scoffed, her hand grasping the device around her neck. Morgana quickly notices the peculiar device. "I'm getting weird vibes from that gadget. Whatever it is, that thing is letting out a lot of power!" All three humans looked at their smaller teammate in surprise before facing Hokuto.

Something big was about to happen. "All I see is the evidence of a pervert who loves to harass those more innocent than him. It's time these trophies of sin burn and I'll light them ablaze with the fire of my soul!" A light purple aura circled around Hokuto's opposite hand.

The peculiar sparkled and moved in an inhuman but familiar to digital code if given a physical shape. The next words Hokuto said proved to Ren and his friends just how unique she was. "Let's do this Shoutmon! Biomerge!" Pure gold fire burst forth upon Hokuto swiping her hand across the device.

All of the guards had to jump back upon the massive blaze that now engulfed the teenage girl, her shadow growing amongst the wall of flame. For a second, the masked raven saw something familiar move within the fire. The visage of the Hotel Nexus Statue crossed Ren's mind.

"Hope you're ready!" Hokuto's voice boomed from the blaze but it was very off. There was a mechanical tone to it and all of Ren swore he heard another voice overlap, a scratchy, growlish young male one. A large gold armor leg and boot with a silver stripe going down the center alongside a back spike heel stepped out from the blaze.

What followed was a giant 16 ft armored beast, a golden dragon man that looked vaguely similar to the statue back at the hotel. Giant V shaped horns adorn the head alongside the golden tusk on the cheeks to form a pseudo helmet to the silver beak like muzzle of the dragon, a rounded chest plate that held two holes on opposite sides of the flat front, curved pauldrons leading to black wire hose that connected the slimmer arms bearing three fingered hands.

On the upper back was a helm very similar to the statue and that gold alloy went down the slim waist except for the silver circle on the stomach. And the part that showed this was once Hokuto was the bright emerald eyes burning with righteous fury.

"Cause OmniShoutmon is going to bring the house down!" Hokuto or OmniShoutmon bared her two fists in a boxer's stance as she let out a battlecry. Her eyes then flitted over the group of four, a look of surprise crossing the dragon's beakish muzzle. Something one of the guards noticed as he turned around to see the small group.

"The intruders are still here?! This rebellion will be squashed before it can grow!" Every knight began to shudder in an unnatural manner, their bodies immediately collapsing into streams of black and crimson shadow. The shadowy streams immediately rose up to form various Jack o' Lanterns, Incubus, Bicorn except for one.

One had transformed into a large knight in silver armor, ruby red angelic wings sprout from the back, their red skin face held a solemn stare as they held a large broadsword in front of them in a religious manner. Ren recognized that type of Shadow from a previous encounter, it was an Archangel.

"Mona and Skull, protect Ann!" With a flair, Ren pulled off his mask as blue flames swallowed it and Arsene materialized from the fire. The sight of the Curse Persona made a wild smirk run across OmniShoutmon's muzzle. "Knew there was something special about ya! Let's get to know each other after we toast these suckers with the melody of our burning souls!"

Orbs of pure sun yellow flame ignited the draconic being's claws, emerald eyes burning bright with something akin to passion. "Hard Rock Soul!" Both small suns doubled in size and with a howl OmniShoutmon tossed them with incredible force as if they were baseballs.

A large blast of fire exploded forth upon the two projectiles hitting one of the smaller Shadows, the intense heat burning groups of the ones that held no resistance to ash. Ren took the opportunity to strike the twisted monsters with their guard dropped by the blast.

His boot struck an Incubus from a high jump kick, he used the Shadow to spring towards a Jack O' Lantern stabbing his razor sharp straight into the pumpkin demon's skull. The raven then spun midair to send his hooked opponent straight into a small cluster of Pixies and quickly turned to a group of Bicorn.

"Eiha!" Red tinted black energy manifest between Arsene's claws, the Curse Persona morphing it into a short lance. The personification of the gentleman thief quickly threw into the head of one of the black stallions. The beast let out a painful neigh in response before exploding into a redfish black bonfire that grasped a few other Bicorns.

Some enemy Jack o' Lanterns lob multiple fireballs with a swing of lanterns, Pixies shot out bolts of lightning from their fingers and a herd of Bicorn went into a stampede covered in harsh wind magic. All of them were aiming for OmniShoutmon, who smiled maliciously at the attack.

"I am an inferno born of passion, baby!! You can't extinguish my soul that easily!" The draconic being leapt off the ground, arms spread out whilst her golden body flew through the air almost if riding on an invisible current. Hokuto swept past the lightning in a barrel roll, weaved through the onslaught of fireballs before going into a condor dive whilst bearing her horns.

"Mach Rush IV!" She picked up more speed as OmniShoutmon went straight to the herd of Bicorn with the intent to run them down. Looks of shock crossed the horn horses as every single one quickly found themselves bouncing off of the dragonoid then crash disgracefully to pieces. What was worse were their green horns easily shattered then sent off into rapid fire sharpnel, whatever wind magic on them now struck down multiple allies.

The only three non-combatants watched the scene in utter shock. "Holy shit! Hok- I mean OmniShoutmon completely wrecked that stampede like it was nothing!" Ryuji remembered how much of a pain those specific Shadows were but to see them being wiped out so quickly was insane.

"I think it's because of that weird armor all over her body. Doesn't seem like any kind of material that can be found in the Real World or even the Metaverse." The not-cat has seen very peculiar things in the metaphysical plane before but he didn't think whatever material that armor was made from one of them.

"It's not just that. Before she changed, she said 'Let's do this, Shoutmon.' What if Hokuto-san wasn't saying her last name but someone else's?" Ann's words hit her two companions like a truck. Joker had also caught what the platinum blonde and things started to click in his mind.

The thought swirled in his mind whilst sliding under the large blade aimed for his head from the boss Archangel. She wasn't really alone when they had conversed earlier. Hokuto had someone or something alongside her, a Persona perhaps? Could it be…?

Joker glanced at the once human, his eyes widened in mild horror when he saw the Archangel spread out their wings. A warning signal for a powerful attack. "Look out OmniShoutmon!" The dragonoid immediately spotted the aforementioned threat and her response was surprising.

OmniShoutmon stood her ground, a burning yellow aura burst from the brilliant gold armor. "Hamaon!" The angelic shadow pointed his blade at OmniShoutmon, a large blast of bright light erupted the steel straight at her. It was at this point that the observers realized an important detail about the former human's armor.

There was a purpose to those two holes on the chest. "Flamethrower, yeaah!!" Fire burst forth from the chest holes alongside OmniShoutmon's war cry, large golden streams that clashed with the blast of light. Both attacks struggled to swallow the other, a battle of attrition in physical form. Letting out a loud roar, the fire from OmniShoutmon doubled in size as she put more power into the attack.

In seconds did the two blazing streams engulf the light in its entirety before swallowing up the Archangel and their allies in a massive bonfire. With the last bits of fire out of her chest, OmniShoutmon fell to her knee panting roughly.

"*pant* Damn did that asshole have some power. Using Flamethrower like that just takes the air out of your lungs. *whistles*" The dragonoid pants, her eyes now settled on the group of familiar faces. Ren had run up to the former human with Arsene offering his hand so the Persona could help her up.

OmniShoutmon took the assistance without hesitation, a smile on her beak like muzzle. "Thanks big guy. I have a feeling you aren't a Digimon, but I do know that I like those knife heels." The Curse Persona raised a non-existent eyebrow before letting out a hearty laugh.

Ren couldn't help shaking his head albeit agreeing with the statement. That definitely solidified this was indeed Hokuto among some other things. "As much I love to continue this chat, I believe it's best to move it to outside the confines of this castle." Arsene's suggestion didn't go unnoticed to everyone.

It made no sense to stay any further in their current state, plus there were a lot of questions that needed to be answered about their draconic ally rather than just their next possible move. Ren did know one thing, he had a feeling his life was about to get flipped over once more. For good or bad was up to debate.

And that's it. Felt Digimon would suit more into this considering DNA Digivolution, Biomerge and Spirit Evolution is a thing. Hokuto's last name isn't Shoutmon if you hadn't noticed. Last name is undecided at the moment. I did add some personal headcanons than just giving the Persona actual personalities. Persona is in personality after all.

Until next time folks!

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flutteringphalanges · 4 years ago

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Caught in a Riptide

Summary: After the infamous Count Dracula is discovered and taken into custody by the Jonathan Harker Foundation, former nun and now guardian to her young niece, Zoe, Agatha Van Helsing is tasked with keeping tabs on the vampire after a mishap leads to his release into modern day society. Can Agatha remain levelheaded, or will fate turn her onto a new path?

Pairing: Dracula/Agatha Van Helsing

Rated: M

Read on FFN and AO3

A/N: It's good to be back writing this story! And such a long chapter too! Thank you as always for such the lovely feedback you leave! There is a scene/dialogue between two certain characters that’s roughly based off a conversation between Trixie and Lucifer in 1x01 on Lucifer. Feedback is great loved and appreciated! I hope you enjoy it! -Jen

Chapter Two

Zoe watched her aunt through the rear view mirror as she sat in the backseat with a pout. This wasn't what she'd envisioned her night to look like. Sure, there had been pizza, but cuddling up with Agatha enjoying a Disney movie was a more ideal choice. Nevertheless she remained rather quiet as her guardian veered down the road and towards The Foundation.

"I'm sorry to drag you along." Agatha apologized, turning her head to meet the girl's stare. "But Mrs. Avery was already turning in for the night. I didn't want to ask more of her."

"Why are we going to your work?" The child inquired, tugging at the safety build as Agatha pulled into a parking space. "I thought you were done for today."

"Something came up," Agatha explained, turning the car off. "Look, it shouldn't take too long." That was a lie and she very well knew it. "You can play in the lobby on my phone. There are some games on there. You like to do those, yes? Consider it a special treat."

The young girl seemed to perk up a bit as she and the former nun exited the vehicle. Taking Zoe's hand, Agatha pulled her along considerably fast for the child's legs to keep up. Before her niece had a moment to complain, she produced her key card and slid it into the awaiting slot. It was an odd sensation, the sound of her own heart pounding so loudly she could hear it in her ears. Oh how she had waited for this moment. Dreamed of it even.

Shoes clicking against the floor, she took only a moment to pause. Agatha knelt down eye level with Zoe. She smiled warmly, but the girl didn't return the look. She'd make it up later. Maybe ice cream or something the kid liked. There'd be time later to figure that out.

"Now I need you to be good and stay here." The woman instructed, handing Zoe her unlocked phone. "If you need anything, you just ask one of the security men. I'll be right down the hallway past a few doors, okay?" She kissed her forehead and the girl scrunched her brow making a face. "I love you."

Zoe made a remark about dying from boredom, but Agatha was too focused on much greater things. Count Dracula. The Count Dracula. As she ventured deeper and deeper into the institute, she was soon met by a crowd of scientists filing into one of the lecture halls. Almost instantly, her eyes met Jack. The doctor grinned at her, pushing past the others so that they were now face to face.

"I didn't think you'd be here until the morning." He admitted, looking her over. "Where's Zoe."

"Preoccupied out front." Agatha explained, following him into the room and taking a seat in the back. "So, how much did I miss?! Where is he?!"

In the front of the room, a large screen began to descend. Agatha watched as Dr. Bloxham made her way down the aisle causing a hush to fall over the attendees. When she stepped behind the podium, the former nun took notice of the scientist's now bandaged hand.

"What happened to her?" Agatha whispered into Jack's ear.

"Dracula bit off her thumb." The doctor replied in a low voice. "And she refused to go to the hospital too. We had to take care of it here. It was...it was hard to look at."

The woman's stomach knotted at the thought. Drinking blood was one thing, but this… If anything, it only proved further evidence that the man was a monster. She settled back in her seat, watching as the video started. A morbid part of her wished she had some popcorn to go along with this film, but it wasn't exactly that kind of tape to enjoy.

"So some good did manage to come out of the loss of my thumb." Bloxham continued, pulling Agatha from her thoughts. "We managed to detain Count Dracula while he was distracted. It wasn't an easy feat, but I would like to thank those involved." A round of applause sounded and the former nun found herself clapping too.

It was a rather curious thought trying to consider how exactly they had managed to capture the creature so easily. In the back of her mind, Agatha wondered if it was possible that the vampire wanted to be taken into the Foundation's custody. Maybe even having some ulterior motive. But then again, it was a silly idea. He'd just come out of his century long comatose state after all. How would he even begin to have such plans?

"Agatha, might I have a word with you?"

The woman looked up to see that Bloxham locked eyes with her. Throwing Jack a cautionary look, she stood up and walked towards the scientist. Trying her best not to stare at her hand, Agatha focused her attention on her co-worker's face.

"I'm glad you were able to make it tonight." Bloxham admitted, motioning for the former nun to follow her. "I know you have a lot on your plate with that neie of yours. How is Zoe doing by the way?"

"She's fine, thank you." Agatha replied, giving her a half smile. "I'm sorry about your...injury."

"Don't be." The other woman chuckled. "I'd gladly give up all ten fingers if it meant capturing the bastard." She exhaled, tugging the identification card from around her neck. "Agatha, have you ever come face to face with a vampire before?" Agatha began to open her mouth to reply but Bloxham immediately cut her off with a wave of her hand. "I was only kidding."

A red beam of light glowed out of the edge of a little, white box on the door. Holding the back of her card to it, there was a click and the color turned green. Bloxham threw Agatha an overconfident smile as the entrance opened to reveal still one of the oddest rooms the woman had seen to date.

The round, intricately painted clock stretching to the near edges of the stone floor. A triangularly shaped prism-esque cell made out of thick, see through bullet proof glass. Surprisingly enough, there didn't seem to be much security around. One would expect as much all things considered. These thoughts ran through Agatha's mind as she scoped the place out. It wasn't until she saw the figure standing calmly in the center that a chill ran up her spine.

"Have you brought me dinner, Dr. Bloxham?"

Cool. Calm. Collective. Do not show emotion. Agatha followed Bloxham's lead as they entered the outside of the holding cell. Dracula's eyes never left the former nun as both women moved to stand in front of him. The scientist didn't smile as she addressed the vampire.

"Count Dracula, this is Agatha Van Helsing." She began, motioning towards the other woman. "I think you're familiar with her family?"

The way his face lit up in a mix of recognition, excitement, and menacing delight caused Agatha to feel slightly nauseated. But her curiosity again was getting the better of her. After years of yearning for this moment, it was finally opening. She'd ask Bloxham to pinch her to make sure it wasn't a dream, but that would've been inappropriate-especially since she was missing a thumb.

"Ah, a Van Helsing." Dracula smirked, taking in a deep whiff of air. "Oh, it's been so long since I've encountered one of you."

"The pleasure is all mine, Count Dracula." And she was surprised how nonchalant the words came out. "I believe our visit has been way overdue."

"At least well over a century," he agreed. "Now tell me. Whatever did happen to your dear grandfather? After we lost contact, I was rather worried."

"From what I was told, he lived a long, happy life. No thanks to you." Dracula's sneer seemed to broaden at her words. "You've caused a lot of damage, Count Dracula. Do you know where you are?"

"The Jonathan Harker Foundation I've been told." His gaze flickered over to Bloxham. "I was given a brief history lesson. And forgive me for not addressing it immediately. How is your hand, Doctor?"

"Still has the same strength to grip a stake." Bloxham remarked, pleased with her retort. "Now, if you don't mind. I'd like to show Agatha how your cell works. Just in case we are forced to take action."

"Naturally," he breathed. "Don't let me get in your way. Safety is of the utmost importance after all." There was a glimmer of mischief in his eye as he spoke, attention still drawn to the former nun. "Isn't that right, Agatha?"

Making a mental note to invest in a few more crucifixes, the two women approached a panel attached to the wall. Agatha watched as Bloxham began to fiddle with the knob and lever. Just as the scientist flipped a switch, the groaning sound of metal slats sliding against one another caused her to look up. The ceiling had opened to reveal a large hole that allowed the light from the moon to stream right into the vampire's cage. Dracula glanced upwards, seemingly unfazed by what was happening.

"I'm sure you're already aware of what this is." Bloxham spoke, motioning to the device. "But there were alterations made. If there is ever a concern, no matter how minor, of him ever endangering any of us, this can be used to release sunlight into his prison." She stared hard at Dracula. "Which would instantly incinerate him."

"An impressive invention." Dracula commented, studying his sharp nails. "I applaud you for your efforts. Now," he strode forward dangerously close to the glass. "If it's alright with you, Dr. Bloxham, I'd much enjoy some alone time with Miss Van Helsing. It's nothing personal. I'm just feeling a little...nostalgic about the family line."

As much as she didn't wish to humor him, being able to sit down and actually talk to the vampire was such a fascinating idea. Grill him. Get every ounce of what he was, what makes him tick, from his cold, dead being. But Bloxham interrupted before she could even reply.

"Agatha has other matters to attend to," the scientist said curtly. "But fear not, she'll be back eventually." Her eyes fell to Agatha, lips pressed into a thin line. "There is paperwork I need you to fill out. Some consent forms. If you wish to really be involved with this, I need to know immediately." The woman paused, then adding in a low voice as if Dracula's keen hearing couldn't pick up. "And your blood."

"My what?" Agatha's brows knitted in confusion. "Why on Earth would you need that?"

"He needs to feed," Bloxham explained. "And despite what he is and what he's done, we won't stoop to his levels...yet. We'll remain as humane as one can when dealing with a vampire." She glanced over her shoulder, noting that Dracula was still watching them hungrily. "Let's go."

Reluctantly Agatha did as she was asked. Peering back one last time at Dracula, who merely waved in response, she trailed behind Bloxham, disappearing as the door closed.

"So," Agatha began as the door hissed, locking behind them. "Why is there a lack of security present in there? Aren't you concerned about what he could do?" She knew well enough what he was capable of. The stories she'd been told from her childhood. "I don't think it's a wise decision to just leave him in there unsupervised."

"All of our doors are being monitored and we're setting up a team to take shifts." The woman replied, her pointed shoes clicking on the floor. "Mind you it's only been hours since we've captured him."

"Yes," the former nun insisted. "My point exactly as to why we need to be more thorough with keeping an eye on him."

Bloxham stopped in her tracks, pausing momentarily before rounding on her heels to face Agatha. "Look," she sighed. "I am very happy you've decided to join us. And you are a very important asset to the Foundation. But I won't have you questioning my authority or my decisions, is that clear?" It was the first time the scientist had ever spoken remotely harsh to her. "Don't take being her for granted, Miss Van Helsing. Things can easily change. And I quite like you." Once more she smiled, but it lacked any friendliness. "Shall we continue? It'd be nice for you and your niece to get home at a decent hour. Tomorrow will certainly be one for the books."

XXX

Zoe hummed loudly to herself as she kicked her feet back Agatha's now dead cell phone resting beside her on the bench. She was bored. Incredibly so. And her aunt was taking much, much longer than she promised. Had she forgotten her? Surely not. But with nothing else to do, in that moment, the little girl made a conscious decision to search the place out and locate the woman. It had to be past her bedtime-not that she really minded the minute detail.

Peeking around the corner, she noticed one of the security officers sitting at the front desk. Her eyes immediately caught sight of the key card hanging haphazardly from his pocket. It was like the game "capture the flag" in school. She just needed to be sneaky enough to snatch it off of him without being caught. That wouldn't be too hard. She was awfully good at stealing an extra cookie or two out of the jar at home when Agatha wasn't looking. This was just a really, really big jar and a funny looking cookie.

Abandoning the phone, she slipped off of the bench and made her way towards the preoccupied man. Considering her age, she was a rather bright and a crafty little thing. As the guard watched his cricket game, yelling on occasion at the tiny screen on his device, she delicately plucked the card from his person and made her way towards the doors. Hopefully Aunt Aggie wouldn't be too cross. After all, she was the one who was late.

Since the departure of the two women, Dracula had been studying the circumference of his cell looking for any weaknesses in the glass. Not to his surprise, it seemed very well made. No matter, he'd figure something out. At the sound of the doors opening once more, he turned to look in the direction half expecting to see Bloxham and Agatha again. But instead, waltzing straight into the room was a little girl.

How the child had managed to sneak past the guards undetected he wasn't quite sure. But the vampire had to admit he was rather impressed. Zoe walked confidently over to his prison, looking it over with such curiosity. His lips curved into a friendly, and yet also edging on menacing grin.

"Hello," she said cheerfully.

"Why hello yourself." He responded, eyes scanning the room half expecting an entire army to barge in. Somehow they were alone. Maybe this Foundation wasn't as well thought out as he was previously led to believe. "What, might I ask, are you doing here?"

"My baby-sitter couldn't watch me, so my Aunt Aggie brought me here." She shrugged. "I'm trying to find her. She promised we'd go home soon. But it's been hours and hours and hours…" she took a deep breath. "And hours!"

"Oh." Now things were getting interesting. "So you're Agatha Van Helsing's niece?"

"Yep." Zoe nodded her head vigorously, smiling brightly. "What's your name?"

"Dracula."

The little girl gasped and the vampire couldn't help but grin wider. "Like the vampire?" She whispered, watching him with wide eyes.

"Exactly!"

She seemed to consider this new information for a moment. Then, folding her arms over her chest, Zoe furrowed her brow in an expression of comical seriousness. "Show me your fangs."

It was his turn to be taken aback. After centuries of existence, the mere aspect of a vampire struck fear in the hearts of many. Now here stood a little girl, void of such fright, demanding to see his razor sharp teeth. So, without a reason not to do so otherwise, Dracula allowed his fangs to pop out. The girl gaped at them mesmerized.

"Cool!" She exclaimed. "Oh, and my name is Zoe by the way."

Dracula eyed her with a cocked brow. "That's a harlot's name."

Zoe tilted her head in confusion. "What's a harlot?"

He smirked as the sound of panicked footsteps drew closer and closer to the room. "Ask your aunt." The Count chuckled as an out of breath Agatha sprinted through the sliding doors. "Pleasure speaking with you, Miss Zoe."

"Zoe!"

It was almost comical how Agatha's face was etched in both concern and utter relief. Roughly tugging the girl behind her, anger flared across her features as she stared Dracula down like a mother goose protecting its offspring from a fox.

"Don't you dare talk to her!" The woman hissed, nudging Zoe back once more when the girl tried to look at Dracula again. "Don't even look at her!"

"He didn't do anything, Aunt Aggie," Zoe mumbled sheepishly. "We were just…"

"Not a word until we get into the car." Agatha said through clenched teeth. Fucking Bloxham and her fucking failed security. If a seven year old could get past the system, then a centuries old vampire could get out. "I told you to stay in the lobby! You nearly gave me a heart attack when I saw you weren't there! You don't do that to me, Zoe!"

"I'm sorry…" The little girl sniffed, rubbing a hand under her nose. "I just wanted to find you."

"Give the child some credit, Agatha. She's rather brilliant for her age." Agatha's blood began to boil as the Count crouched down, trying to get a good look at Zoe from behind the former nun. "Don't cry, dear Zoe. There is nothing wrong with being adventurous. Why, the best of us are." His gaze flickered to her aunt. "Nothing wrong at all. Right, Agatha?"

She had a few choice words to say. More like an entire novel. But Zoe was in earshot and she didn't need to deal with a call from the school because her niece repeated them. Inhaling deeply, she pushed aside the idea of staking Dracula. For now. Tomorrow when they had their proper "interview" Agatha could say what she wanted.

"Let's go home." Agatha said quietly, taking one of Zoe's hands. "You have school in the morning."

"Bye, Mr. Dracula!" The little girl waved, her mouth forming a smile once more. "It was nice meeting you!"

"Farewell, child." He nodded, smirking as Agatha threw him a dirty look. "I look forward to our next visit."

She didn't look at anyone as she pushed past those standing in her way, Zoe hurrying at her side. She was pissed. Furious. Not so much at Zoe. She was a child, after all. But Bloxham. And without a doubt Dracula. Goddamn Count Dracula. Right now her fascination and wonder about him had become rage. Fury brought on by the idea that her niece could've been injured. Or worse. Now that she really thought about it, she was pissed off at herself too. Endangering her child like that. What would her brother say?

"Am I in trouble?" Zoe asked hesitantly once they were on the road.

"No." Agatha sighed softly. "No, Zoe, you're not. I just got scared...I didn't know where you went and I was worried. I don't want you wandering off again like that, okay? Especially where I work."

"Why was that man in the triangle?" The girl inquired, looking at her aunt through the rear view mirror. "Is he in jail?"

"Sort of," the woman admitted. "He did some bad things a long time ago." Not to mention that day. Though she really didn't really feel as sorry about Bloxham's thumb now. "He's going to be in there for awhile."

"Oh." And Zoe felt silent for a moment. Just as Agatha went to pull into their driveway, she spoke up again. "Aunt Aggie?"

"Yes, baby?" The woman asked, turning her head to meet her niece's stare. "What is it?"

"What's a harlot?"

Never before had Agatha ever hit her car brakes as hard as she did that night, the squeal of her tires causing the neighbor's dog to bark loudly. Fucking Dracula.

#Dracula #Dracula 2020 #Dragatha #Agatha Van Helsing #Dracula x Agatha #Caught in a Riptide

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jq37 · 5 years ago

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The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 9

Bad Kids Family Reunion

Can you believe we’re on our last episode for the year? I feel like we just started! We may not have another episode until January, but we left off on a doozy this week so let’s get going. This ep is basically split into two parts: The bulk of the Bad Kids in the Land of the Lomenelda and Adaine in Catheldriel Tower. In the ep, we go back and forth a little, but I’ll just summarize each part separately to keep things simple.

Lomenelda Family Reunion

As you probably remember, last week the group decided to teleport to the Land of the Lomenelda because Catheldriel Tower was too secure to get into directly and because The LotL is both close by to the Tower but also the ancestral home of Fabian’s mother’s side of the family.

Once they arrive, they see it’s basically the most stereotypical elven forest ever. Pristine woods, beautiful animals, haunting music. Fig puts a clove cigarette on the ground as an offering to a deer that she thinks might be her creature (which she still hasn’t paid for as far as I know) which brings out an elf named Telemien to tell her to stop littering. Telemien is very Elrond-esque and he has all the classic elven traits--long-winded, breathy speech, weirdly inflected words, turning into sand to be dramatic. He also happens to be Fabian’s grand-dad.

Gilear rolls very well on his diplomacy check and, combined with the fact that they’ve brought family, the group in welcomed into the forest with open arms. Fabian fills his grand-dad in on why they’re in his neck of the woods and Telemien informs him that the Abernant family has been disgraced, Adaine’s mom was found guilty of treason (though he doesn’t know the exact crime) and fled, and their land has been seized by the Court of Stars. While the Lomenelda are generally apolitical, Telemien doesn’t have a problem saying that he has a low opinion of the Abernant family and Anguin especially is an amoral, power-grabbing, sonuvabitch.

Riz, who is shouldering the entire responsibility of keeping the Bad Kids on task since Adaine is currently locked up, rolls to see if anything weird is going on in the forest and we learn that the Lomenelda basically just drug their teenagers with magic grapes and sad music to keep them chill and not horned up (something he finds iffy until a day of herding his friends towards a very time sensitive rescue mission at which point he’s like maybe this guy is on to something). Still, Riz warns the group against eating anything, which is always a good rule of thumb when you’re dealing with fae-adjacent nonsense (and Kristen does ping faint fey/celestial energy when she casts a Detect Evil and Good).

Fig and Riz are willing to leave for their rescue mission pretty much right away but the group decides to get a full night’s sleep first so they can regain spell slots and stuff. Ragh goes to flirt with some elf teenagers and Tracker reminds Kristen that they need to have a chat vis a vis Garthy and Sandra-Lynn. So, four episodes after the fact, Kristen finally tells Tracker that Sandra-Lynn hooked up with Garthy but she does it in such a blase and offhanded way that I assume was an attempt to sell it as not a big deal to Tracker to prevent a trip to the doghouse. It’s not the strategy I would have suggested and clearly the dice agree with me because she hits double Nat 1s on her persuasion roll. Tracker gives her another shot to give the real reason why she kept the info from her (besides “I didn’t wanna tell a lot of people,” which is such weaksauce). Kristen says that “so much was happening” and just Tracker stalks off.

Fig, having seen Tracker leave in a huff, asks what just went down and Kristen tells her. Fig takes Kristen’s side and is appreciative that Kristen was willing to let her mom’s business be her own business. Kristen decides to give Sandra-Lynn a heads up that Tracker knows what she did. Sandra-Lynn is distraught enough about the situation that she makes the mistake of briefly giving Kristen whisky before wising up and sending her to the Van, sans alcohol.

Fig talks to Gilear who, if you remember, also noticed that something was up with Sandra-Lynn and Garthy. Fig doesn’t give details but basically confirms it and says that at least he can take solace in the fact that him getting cheated on was probably more on her than because of anything he did. Gilear responds by telling Fig a little about Sandra-Lynn’s short-lived adventuring career: Apparently, Sandra-Lynn was a rising star in the adventuring world back when she went to Aguefort but her career was thrown off the rails when she joined a party as a replacement and ended up romantically involved with one member of a couple. The couple was very powerful and the one she was with didn’t treat her very well. Eventually, she was kicked out of the party and her name was smeared by the couple. After that, she couldn’t really find another party to join which is why she works for the Ranger Corp now. Gilear knows who the couple in question is but declines to tell Fig.

And the Kristen/Tracker trainwreck continues. Kristen gathers flowers for Tracker and finds her sulking in wolf form. Kristen did a decent job on the flower picking but whiffs her persuasion roll with another Nat 1! Tracker says that Kristen is always going off about being introspective and doing the right thing, but sitting on this, paralyzed with inaction was just as much of a wrong choice as taking an action and, also, it just plain sucked. Kristen kind of tries to “yes, dear” her way through the lecture but then gives Tracker the flowers in such a way that implies that eventually Tracker will get over it which Tracker does not care for at all. She stalks off for a second time.

Fig decides to tell Telemien that Gilear is dating Hilariel (his daughter) and they leave to take a walk and talk about poetry. Gorgug (who is very exhausted by all of the elven nonsense going on) goes to the Van and asks Ayda if she can cast Sending for him to Zelda. After accosting him (you can take the girl out of the pirate city and so on I guess) she says she’ll do it for 150 gold. The message essentially says, “Hey. We’re safe. Sorry about screwing up. I’m working on it. Miss you.” He rolls Persuasion with disadvantage and a 12 gets him left on read all night.

Tracker has cast the Moon Haven spell and everyone (except Gilear) piles into the Van. Kristen, who’s sleeping alone tonight for obvious reasons, walks into Ragh’s room and sees that he has brought a high elf teenager. She quickly leaves to give him privacy and then decides to take Adaine’s room for the night. While she’s awake, she notices that Gorgug is still awake too. He says he messaged Zelda and he hasn’t gotten a reply yet. Maybe it’s a time zone thing? Kristen is pretty sure it isn’t a time zone thing. Gorgug also notices that Kristen came out of Adaine’s room and not Tracker’s. They hug it out over both being in the doghouse with their respective partners.

Fabian, who had previously failed his Con save with an 8, gets to re-roll because of the super fine, elven forged, 800 thread count sheets he brought into the Moon Haven (that Riz refused because it seemed inappropriate while Adaine was in jail) and he got a modded 20, finally getting over his levels of Exhaustion. Our boy isn’t back to his old self but he’s getting there.

In the morning, Riz is very anxious to leave and very over all the elven and Bad Kid shenanigans. Ragh is also very ready to leave, but that’s mainly because he wants to escape his (first ever) hook-up who is a liiiitle too into him being a half-orc if you know what I mean. Kristen decides to give one of her classic, patented, inspiring speeches which is just a glorious trainwreck that’s half public apology, half total ramble, 100% uncomfortable for everyone involved. Then, she offhandedly asks Telemien if he can see Kalina in the photo. He can’t but, guess what? She can. She freaks and asks Tracker to hug her cause she’s freaking out. Tracker obliges until Kristen pushes her luck and asks if she’s slept off being mad at her, at which point she up and leaves for the THIRD TIME. Even Fig is like, “Yikes, girl.”

Ayda isn’t sure if this is a good time (it’s not) but she got a reply back from Zelda. Zelda said that she couldn’t answer because she was at a party and says trying to build a cell tower is crazy. “It’s all whatever Gorgug. I don’t blame you.” The gang walks Ayda through the nuance of the text and why the prognosis is looking negative on the Zelda front. She offers to hurt Zelda for Gorgug. Gorgug appreciates the sentiment but declines. Ayda also says she can research Planeshift for Fig once they’ve rescued Adaine.

But back to the matter at hand. Telemien explains the defenses of Calethriel Tower: It’s defended by a lot of arcane spellcraft that will protect against most magic attacks but is vulnerable to physical attacks which the elves would see as too base to defend against. All of the defenses are powered by Elemental Pylons (which are basically like power transformers). Also, Gilear tries (and fails) to ask for Hilariel’s hand in marriage by inducing vomiting in himself which makes slightly more sense in context but only slightly.

When they get to the edge of the valley where the tower is, Kristen sees that the Pylons are pretty far away from each other (like, miles away). There’s no way to hit both towers and then get to Adaine before someone realizing something’s up. The group mentions that they’re also supposed to be breaking out Aelwyn but Fabian is a lot less gung-ho about that part of the plan than he previously was, pre-existential crisis. They talk it out for a while and end up coming up with the following plan: The hirelings will go to one Pylon to destroy it. Gorgug, Fabian, and Riz will destroy the second Pylon at the same time. Once the Pylons are down and the magical defenses are weak enough that they can use magic without it being countered, Fig (disguise expert), Kristen (in case Adaine or Aelwyn need heals, which they will), and Ayda (who has teleportation and invisibility spells) will go in and get the sisters. Then, everyone will meet at the Van and teleport out (or at the very least, get together to plan a different way out).

Abernant Family Reunion

Meanwhile, in Calethriel Towel, Adaine is having a Day. She’s been put in a Torture Orb which isn’t that bad for the time being but it is very annoying and Boggy is pretty upset. She’s actually not being prevented from casting spells because the elves wouldn’t expect her to have slots yet and she can’t really regain them without trancing. She can sense that the prison is full of permanent magical effects (powered by the Pylons she doesn’t know about) which is unusual since those are really hard to achieve.

The elves’ hubris in not completely stopping her from casting spells works out to Adaine’s favor. She casts Dispel Magic and needs to hit a 15. She gets a 19 and her orb disappears. Unfortunately, that sets off an alarm. She needs to hide but she’s not exactly Riz. She decides (to my immediate delight) to hide in Aelwyn’s room. She only rolls a 6 but that only means that Aelwyn clocks her when she rushes in, not the guards. Speaking of the guards, on a 15 perception check, Adaine can see that there actually aren’t a ton of security mages. It just seems that way because they can immediately teleport to wherever the problem is from these doorless archways.

Anyway, Kier rushes in with some green, 8ft tall, magical construct guards. As she does so, Aelwyn motions for Adaine to stay silent. Kier asks Aelwyn if she knows where Adaine is and Aelwyn basically says, “How should I know?” (which is a question and not an outright lie, smart in case any kind of lie detector spell was running). Once Kier is gone, Aelwyn telepathically messages Adaine (which is a cantrip she’d be able to do even without spell slots) and asks if Adaine has any spell slots left they can use to escape. Adaine says she has 4 first level spell slots and her frog, but her spellbook was taken (as was her jacket). Aelwyn says it was probably taken to the vault on the first floor but it would have been locked down because of the alarm was triggered. Then she and asks if their mom found her and Adaine said she did, briefly.

Up close, Adaine can see more clearly what she glimpsed for a second when she was brought in. Aelwyn is doing BAD. She’s shaking just from the effort of keeping upright and having trouble putting together thoughts. Completely unprompted, Adaine tells Aelwyn that nobody deserves the torture she’s going through and that it’s barbaric and undeserved. Aelwyn immediately starts tearing up (as much as she can being so dehydrated) and says that she can’t remember exactly what it is that she did--both to the world in general and to Adaine specifically--but it was also barbaric and undeserved. She apologizes and is self aware enough to realize how messed up she must have have been that it took months of literal torture to get her to a place where she realized that she had things to apologize for--even though she can’t really remember what they are at this point in her mental deterioration. Adaine, in turn, is aware enough to realize at this point that their parents didn’t just screw her up; they screwed up Aelwyn too by treating her like the golden child. Aelwyn reflexively defends their parents, saying that they tried their best and that they were just trying to make them better by having high expectations but Adaine, who’s had a year of therapy to unpack her trauma, gently rebuffs her. “Expectations without love? What’s that?”

At this point in the conversation, Aelwyn starts repeating herself like an NPC that’s run through all their scripted dialogue options. Adaine realizes but is very patient with her until she’s found and brought back to her cell. However, her cell is close enough to Aelwyn’s that they can message each other. She also uses Ray of Frost in her Orb to make a kind of Slip and Slide to keep her spirits up and she’s able to avoid taking a level of exhaustion in there.

Later, Kier comes in with Adaine’s dad so they can talk. And by that I mainly mean so he can talk at her because she still wants nothing to do with him. Anguin tells Adaine to stop being stubborn and just do what’s asked of her to avoid execution. She also doesn’t know how he is OK with how they’re torturing to Aelwyn. He says she’s being a drama queen since Aelwyn committed treason and she’s not being literally physically beaten or injured. Adaine starts trying to respond to that and then decides to just demand a lawyer. Anguin thinks she’s being ridiculous because things like lawyers and democracy are Solesian concepts and ridiculous, unlike Falinel’s totally normal system government which involves immortal dancers and moon phases.

Adaine, in probably the most high-elf-y display we’ve seen from her, formally curses her dad in the name of the seas and the moon and sun. Then she casts Tasha’s Hideous Laughter on her dad (wasting one of her very few spell slots in a very in character way) because she truly cannot help herself. After Kier quickly dispels it, she demands to see the Solesian Ambassador. But you’re a citizen of Falinel, says Kier (though she can’t hide that the threat gets to her a little). Yeah, but I go to Aguefort, says Adaine. As soon as his name is invoked, a hologram of Aguefort pops up like Clippy and says, “Hey, it seems like you’re F’ing with one of my students. Now, I’m the baddest bitch that’s ever lived. Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?” Kier smirks and chooses the hard way. The hologram blinks out, an alarm starts going off--

And that’s where we end for the year!

*Note: Anguin and Adaine also were contenders for Detention and the Honor Roll respectively but it would have been for basically the same things as last week so I chose other people.

Detention

Kristen for The Worst Apology Ever

I’ve been concerned about this whole Sandra-Lynn/Garthy thing blowing up since it happened, man. I read the writing on the wall. And I knew, if she didn’t get ahead of it, this was gonna splash back on Kristen. And then she decides, not only is she not going to get ahead of it, she’s gonna actively jog further behind it? Truly wild.

And it’s even crazier because, yeah, it would be an awkward conversation to have but it wouldn’t have reflected badly on Kristen (who didn’t do anything), just on Sandra-Lynn. And, yeah, not great for group dynamics but, you know what’s way worse? Tracker being mad at Kristen AND Sandra-Lynn. Tracker’s not even so mad on her Uncle’s behalf as she is about how Kristen decided to handle the situation which, yeah! Duh! How did you think cutting your girlfriend out of the loop would go?

And, listen, a lot actually was going on. The Fabian ordeal then Ragh got possessed, Riz got ambushed by Kalina, they fought Wicklaw again and Adaine got kidnapped. All of these things happened very close together than they’re all #1 Priority type things. She for sure had time to tell Tracker (and should have) but it wasn’t the most pressing thing going on. There is an apology that includes the words “there was a lot going on” that actually works but DAMN, this was NOT it chief.

Honor Roll

Aguefort for Having his Students’ Back

Listen. Aguefort is a crazy, mercurial, semi-feral agent of chaos who I would never leave children in the care of.

HOWEVER, when he comes through he REALLY comes through and man did he come through for Adaine.

Of course, it remains to be seen what his help will actually look like but he gets this spot for bringing a spot of hope into a pretty terrible situation in a very cool way. Well, that and the Drama of It All.

Also, I’m just relieved he’s at least somewhat keeping track of the child assassins he’s sending out into the world.

Random Thoughts

Adaine Re: Boggy: He’s with me how dare you?

Brennan says near the end of the ep something like, “I didn’t think we were gonna spend a whole episode dunking on eleves,” but, honestly? Valid. I really can’t stand elves in most media (even though I usually play elves or half-elves) because they’re so pompous and holier than thou and constantly talking about how fleeting everyone else's lives are. It drives me nuts. Moonshine in Naddpod is my favorite elven archetype in anything because she totally inverts the trope.

“I can’t believe I’m half this.”/”You are not half this these are high elves.”

I love how Fig has absolutely no concept of how this “make me a creature” thing is supposed to work. Does she think Aguefort is just gonna release it into the world without telling her and she has to just, like, find it? Not that that doesn’t sound like something he might do, but still.

Gorgug gets so sick of the insane elven pronunciations and talk about how he’s gonna die at 20 and general nonsense that he has to go lie down in the Van which is The Mood.

Fabian receiving a long, elven greeting from his grandad and then giving the most kid-like response--“Yeah so I’m in high school and I have a school project I need help on and it’s like 60% of my grade”--was very funny.

A couple lore points from this episode:

Fabian’s grand-dad crafted a sword for the king of Falinel 3000 years ago which is why he was gifted the land they live on.

Calethriel Tower was originally a monument by a grieving widow to her husband died in war with Highcourt 500 years ago.

For more detailed physical descriptions and info on the lore, you can check out jamiebluewind’s post on that here.

And then you can also find new character descriptions here and transcripts of the two big RP scenes in Calethriel tower here and here.

And I just wanna give another big shoutout to @jamiebluewind who saved me a lot of backtracking with these descriptions/transcripts. I really appreciate the effort it takes to do that and it’s a super useful resource to have.

“Sheetsmith” High elves are truly insufferable. I’m with Gorgug on this.

I love Fig’s continuing efforts to be Gilear’s cheerleader. Their relationship is so great and it’s come a long way. I also love his brief moments of insight and competence (like, lol, remember in ep1 when Fig disguised herself as her mom and he drove her to school anyway? I loved that) so I was really cheering for him when he successfully did his diplomat stuff at the top of the ep and during his talk with Fig.

Fabian saying he wants his V-Card “removed” like it’s an infected appendix or something. I’m curious to see what, if anything, he says to Aelwyn when they see each other again, seeing as they’ve both hit rock bottom since the last time they met--which, to remind you, was at an insane house party where they were both at like a 14 out of 10.

I think it’s really great that, despite how much the Bad Kids clown on each other, they’re all super patient with explaining social nuances to Ayda. And I love that even though Ayda is pretty unclear about what the appropriate response is to anything, she is pretty ride or die but quick to rein it in once someone talks to her.

“It’s probably fine if Gilear has a grape.”

It’s very important for me to note that the funniest thing that happened this episode was a player action, not a character action and it was Siobhan--after about an hour of sitting in relative silence as the rest of the group did their thing--pulling out a present for Brennan--a set of Sugar and Dice Candy Dice. “So you can eat your fucking dice!” Amazing.

Brennan, as Telemien, recited some poetry and either Brennan just had that memorized or he was freestyling poetry with a consistent meter and rhyme scheme which is just too much for me to handle rn.

Kristen’s “inspiring” speech included the line, “Friendship is thicker than water and we need water to live.” Classic Kristen.

I truly cannot wait for Hilariel to re-enter the story. I want her takes on so many things and I want to know what her relationship with Gilear is like so so so bad. I wonder if he’s gonna tell her what happened with her dad. I didn’t really get the sense that she and Telemien stay in touch very much. But, in fairness, I don’t think she’s kept up with anything/one much in the past 20ish years. Imagine a wedding arc. Now that I’ve thought of it, I want it more than I can imagine. You know Fig would appoint herself Best Man.

The friend group thing where someone says your name wrong once and you pray it doesn’t become A Thing, even though someone’s already in the process of changing the group text title to that. Anyway, you know everyone’s gonna be spelling Fabian’s name Fah-Bee-Ahn in their group text for the foreseeable future.

Fig Re: Gorgug using the Pirate Sending Spell to Zelda: You can end with raunchy promises.

What party was Zelda going to in the Red Waste mid-quest? Was there even really a party? Or was it maybe a Gold Gardens type thing? Based on my experiences being a teenage girl, I would not be surprised if that text was written by committee.

“She’ll come back?”/“Sure.”

Kristen taking Adaine’s vacant room was such an evocative image. I can see it perfectly. Just her curled up alone in this immaculate room with little Adaine-y touches, sad about two things.

The Bad Kids in the forest had maybe the biggest Teenager energy that I’ve seen in any episode of FH so far. Like, that Tracker/Kristen argument alone.

“If you wanted me to build a cell tower I would do it immediately and I would know how.”

I don’t know if there really haven’t been many Kristen and Gorgug scenes or if I’m just forgetting but I loved their one on one in this ep. They’re good scene partners.

I also really liked Gorgug’s talk with Ayda who has been a great addition to the squad. And I love how easily she jumped from, “You’re a good person from what I’ve seen” to that John Mulaney sketch where he’s like, “That guy sounds like he sucks. Do you want me to murder him for you?”

Brennan gave everyone some XP this ep so they’re very close to level 9. Lol at everyone suggesting they Fight Club each other to grind the last bit they need.

“My friend is kidnapped and the rest of my friends are just dancing and eating grapes!”

Telemien’s abject revulsion to the point of throwing up at the operation of a gun (which is why Gilear induced vomiting before asking for Hilariel’s hand btw) was a Choice on Brennan’s part.

“The body protects itself and secretes more hit points.”

Telemien offers to get the best eleven eyesmiths (sure) to make Fabian a new eye and it shouldn't even take long. Unfortunately, in elf-time, that could mean anything from 1 - 100 years.

WHY CAN KRISTEN SUDDENLY SEE THE SHADOWCAT? WHAT IS GOING ON? I’m like thisclose to thinking that it actually is transmitted through bodily fluids like some people were saying. But, seriously, what’s changed since last time the picture was taken out? This was post argument with Tracker. Is that a factor? Or does it just feel like it might be because it was the last major thing to happen before she was able to see it? I want to sit down during the break and make, like, a conspiracy theory board to put together all the data we have on this so far because I feel like every single new piece of info we get is something unexpected but I falso eel like we’re gonna hit ourselves when we realize what it is.

Fig is very ride or die for Adaine this whole episode. She basically had no spell slots but was ready to go after Adaine right away, she offered to go in to get her alone as a “one woman Adaine retrieval team” while everyone else dealt with the Pylons, and when Ayda said Adaine was her best friend, she was like, “Well Adaine is kinda my best friend.”

“By the transitive property, are we best friends?” [Yes] “I grow richer by the day.” I love her so much.

Even though Telemien is like more than a thousand years old, he’s apparently never met a goblin because he calls Riz a “strange, green, mouse thing.”

Riz: Who among us hasn't killed someone?

That "on mushrooms" bit had big "cell tower" energy.

Gorgug: Your grandfather is pissing me off.

Siobhan, to Lou who just Rolled an 8 on His Con Save: We're gonna get you new hands for Christmas.

“It’s Gilear’s day baybee!”

I loved Riz and Fig teaming up to give Gilear as much help as possible for his botched attempt at asking for Hilariel’s hand. “Did he just call himself a throw-up boy?”

If you think about it, it actually is extremely funny that Adaine would demand a lawyer. She’s lived in Falinel almost her entire life but she studied abroad for one year and all of a sudden she’s like, “I have rights!”

Gilear very specifically said that Sandra-Lynn was with, "a member if the couple" and not which one it was. That was such an intentionally vague phrasing that I'm surprised Fig didn't call him on it. Also, I'm curious whether Fig actively knows who it is (maybe a teacher at school) or if he just knows she would go track them down for shenanigans once she had a name.

Also, speaking of Fig, wild that her Catfishing of Dr. Asha is one of the only relationships standing at this point.

OK, I ate my vegetables now I get to talk about Abernant Family Drama.

Those of you who have been following me since I became active in the d20 fandom probably know that one of the first things I wrote were a series of meta-bordering-on-drabbles about what a future relationship between Adaine and Aelwyn could look like because, from episode one, my thought was, “There’s not one messed up sister in this house, there’s two.” I have been on the Abernant Sisters Against Their Parents train since S1 y’all and I thought it had a decent chance of happening but then Aelwyn’s iconic S1 episode happened and we learned she was working with Kalvaxus and she got thrown in jail so there wasn’t much time for development from her.

But then, it became clear that the Abernant family was gonna be all up in this arc and I got excited again. I mean, I tempered my expectations. The confrontation could have shaken out in a couple of different ways. And I would have enjoyed watching Adaine verbally destroy two family members instead of just the one, don’t get me wrong. But y’alllllllllll.

I thought Adaine and Aelwyn would put aside their differences and end up on the same side eventually but I wasn’t expecting Adaine, with absolutely no prompting, to take the path of compassion so quickly and absolutely. And, in turn, I didn’t expect Aelwyn to be as apologetic and forthright as she was. And, man, her whole situation is heartbreaking. The idea that you were so messed up that it took a year of torture to be able to recognize that you were living such a fundamentally flawed life? And then reaching that point but at the cost of your stability and the information needed to make things right? Literally not knowing what’s real and what your fevered brain has made up? That’s so tragic, man.

And Adaine was so gentle with her. The patience as she started repeating things and the kindness as she firmly cast away any remaining delusions Aelwyn had about their parents and upbringing. I am so constantly upset by how well the cast in general but Bren and Siobhan specifically just spit out these fully formed masterpieces that I would need to take a full hour to think through before even opening a Word Doc. It’s really magical.

I have no idea how much mental damage a healing spell can fix, if any, but I’m very interested to see what an even slightly more stable Aelwyn looks like, post all of this. Like, say she gets completely stable due to a combo of therapy and healing magic over time. What is her personality even like at that point? Does she revert back to a version of her old personality but with the acid aimed at someone who deserves it? Does she start from scratch from this baby deer learning to walk place she’s at right now?

Very good DM move from Brennan to have Adaine’s low stealth roll to be Aelwyn noticing her and not the guards so we still got the Aelwyn confrontation and not a quick and frustrating capture.

Aelwyn asked Adaine if, “mother found you,” which makes it sound like she checked in with Aelwyn before she fled. I continue to be very interested in the clues we’re getting to what that woman is up to. Maybe Aelwyn knows more info that the gang could get once she’s a little better or via a detect thoughts or something similar.

I want Anguin to look me in the eye and tell me to my face that not letting someone rest for a full year and not letting them eat or drink and literally keeping them on the brink of death isn’t torture so I can jump through the computer screen into Falinel and strangle him with my bare hands. Like, boy, you’re not even going to go with, “This is justified torture?” You’re gonna say it just straight isn’t? Man I can’t wait for the Bad Kids and/or Aguefort Himself to get sicced on this bastard.

OK, I don’t wanna end on a point about Anguin so, instead, think about Adaine and Aelwyn keeping each other company from nearby cells via the Message cantrip. Isn’t that bittersweet? Closer than they’ve ever been but physically separated and it took literal torture for them to get there.

Oh! And, actually, I almost forgot but this is also a good note to end on. Shoutout to Adaine for switching from Elven to Common when talking to her dad, just to be that little bit more of an annoyance to him. You gotta rebel how you can.

That's it for 2019, guys! We don't have another ep until January 8. Have a good New Years in the meantime and I'll see you then!

No Nat 20’s were rolled this ep. Gorgug rolled 1 Nat 1 and Kristen rolled 2 (or three if you count the one she rolled with disadvantage).

#fantasy high #fantasy high live #fantasy high spoilers #dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #forgot the cut

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dungeons-and-sides · 5 years ago

Text

Patton

This is the story of the catalyst that sent Patton out into the world, where he found his new fam-ILY. It is long, unbeta’d, and angsty. Please note the warnings, as I am very worried at all times about upsetting people. I have never posted anything really before, so I don’t know what all might need to be tagged, so I’m going overboard. Let me know if you see something else you’d like a warning for.

Content warnings, onscreen: frequent mentions of blood, non-graphic mentions a ‘friend’ being an asshole, hints at depression and negative thinking

Offscreen: suicide, arson, people being treated very poorly in a prison-esque place

Words: 6758

Patton skipped through the streets, grinning at anyone he happened to make eye contact with. The time he’d spent in Lliira’s temple, his home away from home, before his shopping trip hadn’t been enough to make this bearable.

Ordinarily, he would make more of an effort to greet everyone and catch up when he went out for supplies, but today he was looking forward to getting home. Today, he skipped home a little more stiffly, his purchases clutched to his chest, determined not to seem bothered. His smile was tight, and didn’t quite reach his eyes, but he had no intention of loitering long enough for anyone to notice.

He usually looked forward to the small talk. He took pleasure in the simplicity of the mindless how’ve-you-been, how’s-the-family, how-about-the-weather chatter. It was a bit more… Silent, at home; and while he understood it was what Mitchell needed, it was very far from what Patton preferred.

When they’d lived with the others, there was always background noise. There was always someone a few homes away singing, or praying, or hollering for the family to come in for dinner, or playing games.

After they’d moved to the other side of the valley, he’d taken to talking to himself under his breath. Sometimes he just danced to Lliira, on the tips of his toes to avoid being too noisy.

The small talk with the others was routine. Pleasant. He knew exactly what they were going to say, and took an odd sort of pride in seeming open and friendly with his answers without giving too much away.

Yes, they were doing fine- no thanks to that weather last week; have you ever seen such a storm at this time of year! Yes, Mitchell was as stubborn as ever about outings- had he mentioned, they probably won’t make it to dinner Saturday night, but thanks very much for asking! No, they didn’t need any help right now, but he would certainly reach out if anything changed.

Patton knew they were only trying to help, to rebuild the connections that used to be there, but Mitchell certainly didn’t want their help, and today he wasn’t sure if he could handle it. He honestly did not know if he could be interested in whatever they were doing day-to-day, to listen intently to someone’s account of doing their laundry.

In particular, he really was not in the mood to overhear the elders gossip about what a pity it was that they’d moved, that he didn’t have a family- nevermind how often he told them that he did, that Mitchell was his family, that they were all they needed.

They meant well. Their gossip stemmed from a legitimate worry that he and Mitchell were secluding themselves- which they were- out of grief for their parents- which they were not.

He was proud of his parents, and would never regret their willingness to risk their lives to help others. Mitchell just… needed space from other people. It was only the bonding they’d done over their parents that allowed Patton to come with him.

Now well past the market, Patton allowed himself to drop the pretense of Happy Pappy Patton. Following the Goddess of Joy did not make him as permanently happy as people seemed to assume.

He gave himself a moment to sigh, slouching slightly as he abandoned his normally perky posture. Setting his groceries down at his feet briefly, he rubbed his eyes harshly, blinking away the stars after. He reached down for his bags-

And froze. He had stopped moving before he even registered why; instinct beating out his rationalization. Footsteps, moving through leaves. Too big to be a halfling, but irregular, as if dragging something behind them. Nothing ever came out this way, so it wasn’t from here. And whatever it was, it was coming towards him.

Patton reached nervously for his staff, ready to defend himself, but it wasn’t there. He had left it at home, had never needed it on this trip before, had wanted his hands free for more groceries.

He took a step forward, towards the noise, and held his hands up in weak fists. Maybe if he looked ready to fight, they would leave? Anything that much larger than him and injured would likely lash out without warning.

He hated conflict of any kind, and Lliira was against violence, so he had never bothered to learn any offensive spells- not that that mattered, not with his staff at home, useless. Combat had been right out. Whatever was coming towards him maybe didn’t need to know that, though.

A Dragonborn burst through the trees ahead of him, stumbling to a stop when they realized they were no longer alone. They were breathing heavily, and Patton would normally attribute that to their having traveled for a while, if they weren’t also clutching their side, blood soaking their shirt.

The irregularity in their footsteps was also answered. The leg on the same side was turned out awkwardly, as though it had been twisted in the wrong direction and left there.

Patton’s fists immediately unfurled into placating hands, raising them up further.

“Hey there, kiddo,” he said, switching to Common. He spoke softly, hoping not to scare it. The Dragonborn was well over two times his height, and much more broad, but any creature that injured was likely to be wary of a stranger.

“My name is Patton. I’m an acolyte of Lliira, goddess of Joy, and you don’t look very joyful right now, pal. You look hurt; do you need help?”

The Dragonborn didn’t react. Maybe they weren’t familiar with Common? That would make helping them kind of difficult. Their scales were dull, and their face was deathly pale. They may not understand what he was saying, but they were running out of time to get medical attention before they were liable to lose consciousness, and there was no way Patton could carry them back home.

“Okay, bud; I know this is scary, but I need you to come home with me so I can help you, okay? I can heal you, but you have to come with me so I can use my staff. Without it, I don’t think I’ll be able to do enough to really help you.”

When they still didn’t acknowledge him, he took a breath, and reached out one of his hands very slowly, beckoning them forward.

“Please let me help you,” he begged. “I promise I won’t hurt you, and neither will anybody else. You’ll be safe. Please?”

The Dragonborn regarded him closely for a long moment, the sudden intensity of their gaze the only indication they’d heard him. They closed their eyes for a moment. Then, reopening them, they motioned slightly with the arm not holding their side, a small ‘after you’ gesture. Patton grinned in relief, and clapped his hands together.

“Oh, thank you!! Don’t you worry; we’ll get you fixed right up! You just follow me, okay?” Patton gathered up his groceries and led the way, his new friend shuffling along awkwardly behind him.

---

He was midway through a bit of a ramble about Lliira and how wonderful she was when they made it home. Patton went to usher them in, and abruptly stopped. Their ceiling was only just four feet tall. It was plenty of room for a halfling, but not nearly enough for a Dragonborn, even crawling. He turned to face them sheepishly.

“Sorry; the ceiling’s kinda low. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but halflings run kinda small! We’ve never had anyone as tall as you visit, so I didn’t even think about it! Just... wait right here; I need to get everything sorted first. Do you need anything in the meantime? Water, a blanket, a snack?”

The Dragonborn shook his head ever so slightly, eyes closed. They looked like they were focused on just staying upright. Patton raced inside, throwing his bags and cloak onto the kitchen counter. Mitchell didn’t seem to be home; there was no light coming from under his door.

Hesitating slightly, Patton decided to go with his gut and bring out some water and a loaf of bread. He wasn’t sure what the diet of a Dragonborn looked like, but surely anything would be helpful after bleeding out for gosh knows how long. His staff was just inside the door, so he grabbed it on the way back out.

His friend was leaning heavily against a tree, favoring their injured leg, and didn’t react to Patton’s return. Setting down the bread and water, he lifted his staff and quickly cast Mold Earth, shaping the dirt in front of his house into a sort of low bed, large enough for the Dragonborn to lay down, and still have room next to them for Patton to work.

Patton stepped forward carefully, one hand still holding his staff, the other reaching out to them.

“Hey, bud. I made you a bed, you see? Time to lay down now so I can work. Then we’ll get you fixed right up, okay?”

He waited for a response, but none came. If it weren’t for the shallow rise and fall of their chest, he’d fear the worst. He took a chance and moved closer, keeping his voice low.

“I'm right here, pal. I’m going to touch you, okay? I just need to get you lying down; I don’t want you to fall and hurt yourself more while I’m working. I’m not going to hurt you. I just need you to move over here, alright?”

Nothing. Praying that they wouldn’t fall on him, Patton gingerly reached out and grabbed their hand. He tugged slightly, testing. After a long, tense moment, they pushed themself away from the tree weakly, eyes still shut tight. Patton grinned.

“There you go, kiddo! Are you sure you’re not a follower of Lliira too? Because we’re called Joy-bringers, and you sure are bringing me joy right now! Just a little further. I made you a nice little dirt bed- gosh, that sounds ominous, doesn’t it? Like the set-up to a dirt nap. None of those, please!

“I hope it’s comfy enough; I’ve never made a bed before. I’ve made a few little tables before, if I needed to set something down, but that’s about it as far as furniture. I do make bridges sometimes, if I’m trying to get over something big.” He paused. "Well, big compared to me."

Patton helped them stagger to the makeshift bed, and eased them onto it. Once they were settled, he took a deep breath, and lifted their shirt. Oh, dear. That was… not wonderful.

The severity of it had been hidden by fabric. He’d only really healed the occasional scrape and bump before. Every so often, he got called in to heal a fractured limb of some kind, but there were rarely visible effects, and nothing this gruesome. Wincing in sympathy, he squeezed his eyes shut and cast Cure Wounds.

Slowly but surely, the wound began to stitch itself back together. The blood stains remained, but at least it wasn’t actively bleeding anymore. It wasn’t perfect, and still looked a little raw, so he also threw in a Heal Wounds.

Thankfully, it didn’t look like there was any lasting damage, as far as Patton could tell. He let out a shaky breath, shook his head to clear it, and used another Cure Wounds on their leg.

“Well, that’s as much as I can do for you, kiddo. How do you feel? Better?”

The Dragonborn nodded ever so slightly, still out of it from the blood-loss and whatever else they’d been through. Patton patted their head gently, and brought them the bread and water.

“Now there’s something to be joyful about. Here’s a little something to settle your stomach. Let me know if you need anything else. I don’t know if you really like bread and water, but anything is better than nothing! You take small sips; I’ll be right back.”

Patton stepped back inside, taking a moment to rest his forehead on the doorway to the kitchen. That was a lot of magic, and a lot of stress, in a short period of time. He was going to need a nap after this. A long one.

Squaring his shoulders, he busied himself with collecting some rags and a bit more water to clean up the blood. Patton skipped back outside, carrying everything bundled in his arms. The water and bread still sat, untouched, on the bed next to the Dragonborn. Moving them to the side, he took a seat next to their hip.

“Now, I know you’re all fixed up, but you still look a little messy, so I’m going to get you all cleaned up, okay? I bet you’ll feel a lot better once you’re all clean. I’m going to take off your shirt, okay? Can you sit up a little for me?”

Without opening their eyes, they sat up slightly, yanking their shirt off roughly, before laying back down. They dropped it on the ground beside Patton, and rested their arm over their eyes. Even that much seemed to have winded them.

“Thanks, bud; but don’t overexert yourself, okay? You need to get your strength back. You really should have some water, at least, but for now you could probably use a long rest, huh?

“I’m still going to try and clean you up. Let me know if I’m hurting you any, okay? I’m not too used to cleaning scales, but I don’t want any blood getting stuck between them, you know?”

Patton waited for a refusal of some kind, but when it didn’t come, he set to work. Wetting one of the rags, he wiped gently over the worst areas. Hopefully, he could get most of it out of the way, and then go back to do the little crevices.

“It might distract you if you talked some. I wonder, can you tell me what happened? I know it’s none of my business, but you seem awfully far from home, and I’ve got to say that I am curious as to how you ended up so hurt. It’s okay if you can’t tell me, or if talking is too much right now; I just figured it’d be a good starting place.

“Besides, talking about bad things helps them feel less big, in my experience, and I’m a really good listener! You could start with your name if you wanted. Otherwise, I can just keep calling you my kiddo. Again, if you want to, that is. No pressure, sport. As you can probably tell, I’m more than capable of talking enough for the both of us!”

There was a long pause where Patton worked in silence. That was fine; he knew not everyone liked talking, especially to strangers. He’d give them another minute or two to decide if they wanted to talk, and if not, he’d find something to talk about.

Most of the newer blood was gone by now, leaving only the uncomfortable dried bits, when the Dragonborn spoke. Their voice was low and quiet, rumbling in their chest like thunder.

“My name is Camxakasendalor Ellionn. You may call me Ellionn.”

Patton squealed in excitement, alarming Ellionn so much that they lifted their arm up and stared at him in concern. He blushed.

“Sorry kiddo; I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just excited. I really like your name! It makes me really happy you were comfortable telling me!!”

“It is the least I could do, given your kindness. As for the source of my injuries...”

“Aw, shucks, Ellionn! You don’t owe me anything; I’m just happy to help! I just figured I’d ask, if you wanted to tell me.”

“I disagree, but I appreciate the sentiment. My injuries are the result of a decades-old decision."

"Decades? That looked awfully fresh for something that old, kiddo."

"You misunderstand me, although I do understand your confusion."

Ellionn paused to shift uncomfortably. They were, ostensibly, healed, but the area was likely still tender.

"I used to work as a sort of prison guard, for someone I had never met. I answered to an elf, who took joy in being rude and cruel. I kept watch over those that my employer deemed dangerous, or guilty, and the elf kept watch over me. I was told these were people who had committed a legitimate crime. I was happy to stand guard until they were set to stand trial."

Patton sat down next to their bed, sensing that this might be a long story. Ellionn had seemed hesitant to start, but now the words were pouring out.

"I found out after having worked there for ten years that, while some were legitimate criminals, many of those I had kept captive were merely people who my employer held a grudge against, or wished to get rid of quietly. None of his personal enemies ever stood trial. They stayed in their cells for years, decades, before being dragged away.

"When I discovered what I had been apart of, I demanded to see my employer, to know what right he had to condemn those he disliked. I was told that, if I had such strong feelings about it, I could see him personally- as one of his prisoners. I knew it would do no good if I were also imprisoned, so I held my tongue.

“A few weeks later, a high-priority group came in. They were under very high supervision, at all times, despite being too small to pose a physical threat. They were fed rarely, and treated worse than the prisoners who had committed actual crimes.

“I got myself transferred to their guard, and slowly earned their trust. I warned the prisoners to begin saving some of the few food scraps they were given, and get used to sleeping during the day. They were there for years; four of them, packed into a small cell.

The other guard fell asleep at his post one day. I took the opportunity. I let them escape. I waited until they were far enough away, then sounded the alarm. They were never found. I knew those in charge were suspicious of me, so I had to play the part a while longer. I stayed for another year, biding my time, then left. They took my departure as proof of my guilt. Powerful men like that do not forget slights, so I have been on the run since.

“They found me today. I lost them about an hour before you found me.”

Ellion let out a deep sigh and laid his head back, out of breath from his story. Patton could feel his mouth hanging open slightly, but he couldn’t find it in him to care. Goodness, how brave they must be! How strong! He ought to thank Lliira for his new friend; someone so kind must bring a lot of joy. He took a breath to say as much, but Ellionn beat him to it.

“Forgive me, but I feel a bit tired. I think it would benefit me if I slept for awhile.”

“Oh, of course!” Patton scrambled to his feet, gathering everything up, including their rather mangled shirt. He left behind the water and bread, in case they needed it.

“Just holler if you need anything, bud! I’ll be just in here. I still have to put away my groceries, after all! Sweet dreams!”

Patton made his way inside, careful to leave the door open in case Ellionn tried to call for him. He leaned his staff against the wall again. Rolling up his sleeves, he set to work cleaning everything up, including himself.

Apparently, it was hard to clean up a significant amount of blood without also getting covered in blood.

When everything was clean and put away again, he snuck a peek at Ellionn. Out like a light. Their being shirtless gave Patton an idea. Another glance at their old shirt, stiff with blood and torn right through, solidified it.

He grabbed an old blanket they didn’t use anymore, along with a needle and thread. Nothing of Patton’s or Mitchell’s would ever fit a Dragonborn, but maybe he could put together a new shirt for his new friend. At least they wouldn’t be covered in dried blood anymore. Nothing brings more joy than finally feeling clean after feeling icky for a while!

He sketched out a rough shape, making it a little bigger than he thought necessary, just in case. He cut out the pieces carefully, and sewed them together.

It was a bit rough, since he didn’t know Ellionn’s measurements, but anything had to be better than nothing. In the midst of looking for some prettier thread, to do a design on the front, he heard a shout from outside. Abandoning his search, he rushed outside, grabbing his staff just in case. Mitchell was home- and he had a dagger to Ellionn’s throat.

“Mitchell; no!! He’s a friend!! I’m helping him!”

Patton ran over and tried to insert himself between them, staff held in front of him defensively. Ellionn made no attempt to move. They seemed eerily calm for the situation; their eyes leveled on Mitchell’s face.

One hand was still resting on their stomach, but the other was wrapped around the water pitcher Patton had given them. It looked as though they’d had some water, which was good, although being held at knifepoint probably didn’t help them feel any better.

Mitchell, to his credit, pulled back slightly, but his dagger remained at the ready.

“Your friend? Patton, if you’ve known this thing for more than an hour, I’ll eat my own shirt,” he scoffed.

Patton shuffled uncomfortably. “They’re not a thing, kiddo. And just because we haven’t known each other long doesn’t mean we’re not friends. They were hurt, they needed help, and I helped them. That means we’re friends now. Right?”

He turned, looking earnestly at the Dragonborn. Their eyes, previously locked onto Mitchell’s dagger, flickered over to meet Patton’s. After a moment, they nodded, before looking quickly back to the knife. Patton beamed, turning back to Mitchell.

“You see? We’re friends; and I promised my friend they’d be safe with us! I would have brought them inside to be comfier, but I didn’t figure they’d fit all that well. We should look into getting a taller house, so we can have taller friends visit!”

Mitchell rolled his eyes, making no move to put away his dagger.

“Congratulations. You’re officially the most naive person I’ve ever met. You know this thing could just be tricking you, right? As soon as it’s better, it could kill us and steal all our crap.”

Patton frowned. “Mitchell, that’s not a very nice thing to say about someone you just met. In fact, you still haven’t met, because you’re too busy being mean! Introduce yourself properly, at least.”

“Why should I introduce myself to every random thing you bring home?”

“Because you are being extremely rude and judgmental, you’re still threatening them, and you’re calling a clearly sentient creature a ‘thing,’ which goes against the definition. Don’t you know that?”

Mitchell scowled, caught. If there was anything that would stop Mitchell in his tracks, it was questioning his knowledge. Patton continued, ignoring his sour expression.

“Ellionn, this is Mitchell. I told you about him on they way over, remember? Mitchell, this is Ellion Cam-xa-kas-en-dalor.” He sounded the name out slowly.

“That’s it, right?” Ellionn nodded, amused.

“Sorry; I just only heard it once, so I wasn’t sure. Since we’re doing introductions, my name is Patton Hugbringer, follower of Lliira, goddess of joy, happiness, dance, festivals, freedom, and all sorts of nice things, really! You already knew the Patton part, but I like my full name. Plus, I’m always happy to talk about Lliira. Nice to meet you, Ellionn!”

Patton grasped their hand gently and shook. Ellionn smiled at him faintly, then their face dropped.

“You.. your family name is Hugbringer?”

“Well, yeah! I think it fits; don’t you? Hugs sure do bring people a lot of joy!”

Ellionn seemed to be deep in thought, so Patton turned back to Mitchell, preparing to scold him further, when they spoke up again.

“Have you two parents, a male and a female?”

Patton froze, then forced himself to turn away for a moment. He could feel two sets of eyes burning into the back of his head- one concerned, one angry- but he refused to face them just yet.

Cleaning up would give him something to do, something that didn’t involve thinking about this. The pitcher. They’d already had some of the water. Surely, he could refill it by now.

“I did,” he answered finally. He laid his staff along the side of the bed and gathered up the pitcher, and the bread as well, as an afterthought. He hoped that would be the end of it, but of course not.

“Forgive me for intruding on a… clearly delicate subject, but… did your parents perhaps have friends who were called ‘Bookgatherer’?”

The water pitcher Patton had just picked up fell to the ground, splashing all over his feet. The bread bounced slightly, rolling away. He didn’t notice. He didn’t hear Mitchell yell, didn’t hear him immediately drill Ellionn for more information about their parents, didn’t hear Ellionn’s gentle concern for his sudden lack of response.

There was a sort of ringing in his ears. Did Ellionn know what had happened to their parents? Were they alive? Did he know why they left?

Slowly, he tuned back in, Mitchell’s increasingly frantic voice becoming more and more clear. He became aware of a hand on his arm- Ellionn’s, who was watching him carefully, and entirely ignoring Mitchell’s raving.

Silently, he raised one hand to Mitchell, signalling him to pause in his interrogation. He seemed ready to object, but an uncharacteristically sharp look from Patton silenced him.

“Bookgatherer is Mitchell’s family name. Did you… know our parents?”

Ellion’s face was stoney. “Do you recall the group of prisoners that I befriended, and let escape? The group of four who were too small to pose a threat?”

Patton pressed his hands against the dirt bed, needing some help to support himself. They were locked up in a cell? For that long? Who could they have upset so badly to be treated like that? Who was cruel enough to treat their parents like that?

Mitchell seemed ready to burst from frustration, so Patton quickly gave him a simplified version of Ellionn’s story.

“Okay, fine; so you’re a great person. Congratulations. Now where are our parents?”

“I don’t know,” said Ellionn, regretfully, “but I imagine that the same people who were looking for me are still looking for them, as well.”

“Do you know what they did? Why they were in there? Anything even remotely useful?”

“I am sorry, but I didn’t think to ask. I knew they didn’t deserve to be trapped there, so I was focused on getting them out. I do not know where they went after they left.” Ellionn looked as remorseful as they sounded.

Even as lost as he was, Patton couldn’t stand them being so upset. “No, it’s not your fault!! It’s not like you ever could have known this would happen! You already did a wonderful thing by letting them escape; there is no need for you to feel bad!”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree,” Mitchell sneered. Patton was worried about him. Sure, Mitchell had never been particularly… nice, or overly friendly. He didn’t always care as much as Patton did about other peoples’ feelings. But this? Being downright nasty to someone he’d never met before? This was new. And Patton didn’t like it. Before he could bring it up, though, Mitchell was speaking again.

“You said the people who were after you are also after them?”

“That is correct. By letting them go, I angered the same people they seem to have upset.”

“So, if I give you to these people, they’ll be able to bring me to whoever they work for?” Mitchell was pointedly not looking at Patton at this point.

Patton felt his blood run cold. “Mitchell. Kiddo, no; think about this for a second. Clearly, whoever these people are, they’re not nice. They locked our parents in a cell for years!! They would have killed them if Ellionn hadn’t let them out. What makes you think they won’t do the same to you?”

Mitchell rounded on him, clearly anticipating his argument.

“Just because you don’t care why our parents left us doesn’t mean I don’t. Your pal here broke a law. You’re just too stupid and naive to consider that maybe your family is more important than some felon. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to trade this thing for some information.” Patton recoiled, angry tears pricking at his eyes.

“There’s no way of knowing if they’ll even tell you the truth! What if they take you and Ellionn, and you still don’t learn anything? I can’t…” Patton trailed off, tears streaming. He wiped his eyes harshly, and started again.

“I won’t let you do this, kiddo.”

“For the millionth time, I’m older than you! You’re not a dad! And you’re too weak to even try to do anything to stop me. Keep it here while I go find whoever is searching for it.” With that, Mitchell turned and ran off, presumably to try and find the people who’d injured Ellionn.

Ellionn remained still, watching for Patton’s reaction. They seemed resigned, as if they were dreading his next move. Patton took a shaky breath, and picked up the items he’d dropped, seemingly unaware that he was still crying. When he did speak, it was low, emotionless.

“Can you run?”

Ellionn seemed startled. Whatever they had expected, this wasn’t it.

“Your friend seems determined to give me up. You intend to fight him on this? I was under the impression that you did not tend to disagree with him. Is he not your clan- your family?”

Patton screwed up his face against the fresh onslaught of tears. Ellionn waited patiently. When the feeling had passed, for the most part, he relaxed his face again. Still, though, he spoke in a quiet monotone.

“He is. He’s all I have left. But I can’t support this, and he knows that. He just doesn’t think I’ll do anything about it.”

“And what is it you intend to do?”

“Can you run,” Patton repeated, more urgently this time. There was no telling how long it would take Mitchell to find these people, but it was damn near certain he would find them. He was extremely adept at tracking, and a large, bleeding Dragonborn would have left a lot of traces to follow back. Ellionn searched his face for a moment. Whatever they found, it must have been enough. They nodded.

“I can run well enough. Your healing was extremely thorough.”

“Stand up then.” Patton grabbed his staff, and waited for Ellionn follow his instructions. Once they were standing, he dropped his Mold Earth, and let the dirt bed fall back to the ground.

“Wait here.” Patton headed into the house, and grabbed a handful of supplies. Water, some dried fruits, some bread. The shirt he’d made, although it looked like there wasn’t going to be time to make it pretty. The sharpened stick they used to cook sometimes. A blanket, in case it got cold. He bundled as much as he could in the blanket, and carried it out to Ellionn.

They’re still waiting for him outside, hovering uncomfortably. Patton handed them the shirt first, and waited for them to put it on before handing them the rest.

“Take these. I still don’t know what you eat, but anything is better than nothing. Water is always good. And I know you’re a grown boy, but even a sharp stick might keep them from getting too close, you know? Or if you need to get more food.

“Lay on the blanket at night, not under it. You’ll feel warmer if you’re not on the cold ground. Go in a straight line for a bit, to get some distance, but after that shake it up a little. It’ll make you harder to find.”

Ellionn patiently endured Patton’s fussing for a while longer, then stepped away gently.

“I should go. Your friend may be back soon, and I would like to be gone by then.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I just feel awful for putting you in this position, and Mitchell is so mad…”

Patton rushed forward and squeezed them in a short, fierce hug. Before he could pull away, he felt Ellionn wrap their arms around him carefully, returning the hug. When he did step back, he was moments from crying again.

“Okay, kiddo. Take care. Be safe, make good choices... I’m proud of you.”

Ellionn gave a small wave, then quickly made their way into the trees, heading in the opposite direction Mitchell had. They were out of sight a minute later, but Patton remained outside, staring after them, for much longer.

Eventually, he shook himself out of it, and headed inside to get rid of their old, bloodied shirt. There could be no evidence that Ellionn had even existed.

---

When Mitchell got back, Patton was sitting inside, staring at the wall, and showed no sign of having moved in quite a while.

“Where did it go,” he yelled, barging in. “You had one job, you idiot! I know you’ve got an issue with violence or whatever, but you can literally control dirt! You could have just buried it for a while until I got back!”

“They’re not an it. They’re a living person, who did nothing to you, and risked their life to help our parents. I told you I wouldn’t let you turn them in,” Patton said, monotonously. He made no effort to face Mitchell, but continued staring straight ahead.

“Wait. Did you actually let them leave?”

“I didn’t let them leave. I helped them leave. What you’re trying to do is wrong; I don’t care what your reason is. It’s cruel and unnecessary. I told you I wouldn’t let you do it. Even if it wasn’t cruel, I am a child of Lliira. She’s the goddess of joy, yes, but she’s also the goddess of freedom and liberty. I help people. I do not leave them to be thrown in jail for helping other people.”

Mitchell picked up the closest thing to him, the empty water pitcher, and threw it against the wall. It shattered easily, shards covering the floor.

“Are you fucking kidding me? We’ve been wondering for fucking decades where our parents were, why they left, what they were doing, and when we finally get a chance, you get rid of our one bargaining chip?? And are you forgetting your stupid friend is a wanted felon?? They ran away from their job! They let wanted criminals go! It is our legal duty to turn them in!”

Patton finally stood, eyes blazing.

“Those ‘wanted criminals’ were our parents! Do you care so much about finding out what they’re doing that you don’t care if it’s ‘rotting away?’ Are you so determined to find out where they are you’re willing for the answer to be a cell? Is that what your supposed ‘legal duty’ is worth to you?”

He’d never raised his voice before, and never to Mitchell, but he was screaming now.

“Yes, I let them go. I begged them to go. As a Joybringer and a kind person, I would rather let a hundred people go free than do something horrible just because it’s the law.”

Mitchell’s eyes went wide in shock, then narrowed.

“Are you so determined to do the ‘right thing’ that you’re willing to give up our only family?”

“You’re my family,” Patton cried, “at least you’re supposed to be! The least you could do is act like it! Why can’t you just accept that our parents did what they thought was right? They were willing to do something against the law to do the right thing, and you won’t even consider that maybe they had a point? What if they’re felons too? What if you find out they broke a thousand laws, just to do the right thing? Would you turn them in too? Even if it meant ruining their happiness? Their freedom?”

Mitchell stood and glared at him.

“You’re being idiotic; these things aren’t comparable. You’re so determined to be a good Joybringer for your little pacifist god? I’ll show you what I think of your ridiculous Lliira.”

He turned on his heel and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Patton, eyes blurry with tears for what felt like the hundredth time that night, shuffled his way to his room.

He collapsed onto his bed and sobbed- for Ellionn, for their parents, for Mitchell, for Lliira, for himself.

Tomorrow, he would get up, collect and dispose of the pieces of the now-broken pitcher Mitchell had thrown. Tomorrow, he would find Mitchell and make him see reason. They’d never seen eye-to-eye on anything that put goodness against the law before, but that hadn’t stopped them from being family, and Patton was sure they could reach an understanding.

Tomorrow, he’d deal with the aftermath. Tonight, though; tonight he cried.

---

When Patton went out to find Mitchell the next morning, he expected him to be at the temples. He did not expect to find him at Lliira’s temple.

He did not expect the temple to be nearly ashes, for it to have burned down overnight. The kindling and empty bottles of absinthe surrounding the entrance ruled out the possibility of an accident, but the abandoned bucket of water outside hinted at remorse.

He did not expect to find Mitchell within those ashes. What was left of him.

Mitchell, who he’d grown up with, and considered his only remaining family. Mitchell, who valued knowledge above all else. Mitchell, who, in a fit of rage, set fire to a place of worship and learning. Who, it appeared, upon being unable to undo the mistake, had decided to go down with the ship.

---

The elders gossiped for ages. How tragic, they said. What horrible thing could have lead him to make such a choice? What would lead him to leave his only supporter behind? They mourned, but they did not grieve. How could they? Patton had been their only link to Mitchell; he’d never interacted with them willingly.

Those they’d grown up with came by every day, at first, then less often, then gave up altogether, as they realized Patton was not going to answer. The pile of food and sympathy gifts outside remained untouched, the windows dark, the doors locked.

After a week, whispers started. They questioned whether Patton was alright. If he was still in the house. If he had followed Mitchell’s lead, as he always had. If they ought to go check, before it perhaps became so obvious that they’d never get the smell out of the house.

A small group went down together. The door was open, but the only things that had touched the food and presents were the animals. A quick look inside told them that the house had been abandoned, along with everything in it. Wherever he’d gone, he’d taken only his staff, the clothes on his back, and his mother’s necklace.

---

Ten years passed. Very little changed. Patton kept to the woods in that time, usually, only coming into the outskirts of town to get supplies. He sometimes casted Speak With Animals to make friends with whatever creatures he came across, if he was feeling particularly lonely.

He forced himself not to think of Mitchell, or Lliira. He no longer danced to her, or prayed. Even acknowledging her was a painful reminder. It got easier as the years went on, but there were nights when he couldn’t escape them.

One night, when his thoughts threatened to overwhelm him, he gave in and followed a loud, thumping bass to a nearby town. It didn’t seem to be very populated. There were a few stragglers loitering outside the bar, including an older man leaning against a tree who winked at him knowingly as he passed, but it looked like most everyone was inside having a nice, if chaotic, time.

He headed inside and made himself at home at one of the tables, making small talk. He’d probably leave soon and head back to the forest, but for now, he took advantage of the blaring music drowning out any negative thoughts.

#patton hugbringer #patton sanders #ts fic #dnd fic #fun fact for people who read the tags:#'mitchell' is named after the unseen #asshole bf of Elliot in cartoon therapy!#ellion Camxakasendalor is like 'elliot' from ct #and 'cam' from the cam-cam #but made into a dragonborn-esque name lol #eVErYtHiNG hAs A MeANiNg

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danetobelieve · 5 years ago

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Fangs For The Memories || Ricky and Winston

Really, as far as roommates went, Winston was pretty much as good as one could get. Ricky liked having them around, and they got along well enough, but sometimes it was nice to have the house to himself. Winston had mentioned they were going to spend the night at their parents, so Ricky was enjoying the concept of some home-alone time which meant time he didn’t have to spend in hiding. Rifling through the refrigerator, Ricky decided it was as good a night as any to treat himself to the nice piece of salmon he’d bought the other day, and he was in the process of firing up the stove to sear it when he heard the front door slam open. Several things went through his mind in quick succession; one, that he wasn’t wearing a shirt, and two, that his false teeth were in their case in his nightstand, and not in his mouth which was currently filled with very bright very sharp fangs that were on display for his very human roommate to see. He slammed the refrigerator shut and busied himself in the spice cabinet, keeping his back to Winston, “Oh hey dude…. You’re back early. Everything good?”

Winston was very wet still. After hanging out at their parents they’d been distracted by Pokemon Go and through a weird series of events with Skylar -- a girl they met through chance really -- they had been attacked by a gollum-esque creature and Skylar had revealed a rather sharp looking set of fangs. It was … well it was a lot to take in. Winston was trying to explain what they had seen just hours before, and on autopilot they had driven straight home to change. After all the Cave of Voices wasn’t the ideal place to go and fight weird animal things (which Winston was in the process of convincing themselves that’s what they must be) without getting a little wet. Brushing sand out of their hair, they slipped in the front door and pulled off their coat, hanging it to dry before heading towards the kitchen. “I had a very … weird experience.” Winston frowned gently as they strode into the kitchen.

Ricky carefully kept his back to Winston, grabbing some spices from the cabinet and mixing them in a small bowl. Without turning he reached over and twisted the volume down on music he was listening to; he knew it was probably louder than was standard for a normal conversation. “A weird experience?” He called over his shoulder, patting the spice mixture into the large salmon filet. There was no easy way to exit the conversation and make his way upstairs to put the most crucial piece of his human disguise back on. He turned over his shoulder to look at Winston and furrowed his brow at their appearance, “why are you wet?” He kept his lips as close together as he could but knew it’d be a hard conversation to follow if he couldn’t read Winston’s lips as they were talking. His hearing wasn’t completely absent on land, but it was bad enough that he usually needed to supplement with lip reading “Didn’t think it was supposed to rain tonight?”

Winston had left a basket of clean laundry in the utility room, slipping in, they began to peel their now damp clothes off of their skinny body, throwing each item of clothing straight into the washing machine and stepping into a fresh, clean pair. “I am getting to why I am wet, but have you ever been to the Cave of Voices beneath the Hanging Rock?” Winston was sure that Ricky wouldn’t have been there, “I was up at mom and dad’s and they were boring so I was playing Pokemon Go and I wandered over there.” They paused as they pulled on a warm pair of joggers and zipped a hoodie snuggly around them, pulling the hood up and slipping their glasses back on before going to take a seat at the breakfast bar. “So I go in search of a Pokemon I want, I end up in this little sea cave, and there’s that girl who helped me at the internship with those hard of hearing kids, Skylar, I’m sure I mentioned her a few months ago.” They weren’t really paying attention to what Ricky was doing, focussed more on explaining their weird day. “But that’s not the weirdest part. There was something in there.”

Ricky stiffened slightly when Winston mentioned the Cave of Voices. As far as he knew it wasn’t the permanent home of anything dangerous but it definitely had enough supernatural visitors that it wasn’t a place humans should be hanging out regularly. “You went to the Cave of Voices for a Pokémon? That place is super dangerous, Win. The tides will drag you out to sea real easy if you’re not careful.” It was Winston’s mention of something else in the cave that really gave Ricky pause however. “what kind of something?” He turned to face his roommate, cupping his chin in such a way where his fingers obscured his mouth. He didn’t think anything had taken up residence in the Cave recently but if something had it was something that was going to have to be addressed sooner rather than later and he didn’t really feel in the mood to have a knock down drag out fight with yet another alghoul. “You want some dinner? I’ve got enough for two here.”

Raising an eyebrow gently, Winston couldn’t help but admit that they wished they had known that before hand. “Now you tell me that it is dangerous?!” Winston replied exasperatedly, “If I’d known about the tides I would never have gone there.” They were too nervous taking risks as it was already. Risk averse might as well be their double barrelled middle name. “But like I was saying, the tide was not the problem, the problem was this something, and what kind of something I couldn’t tell you. Maybe if a bat and orangutan had a baby then it would’ve looked like this, but it also just looked like a jacked Gollum.” Winston wanted to tell Ricky the whole story, to explain about Skylar’s veneers and everything with her mouthful of teeth, but they didn’t feel as if that was really their secret to share. “It came after me and Skylar…” they paused and shrugged, “I’ve called animal control and informed the sergeant at the office.” After all one of the perks of working at the police department was if anything went wrong then they would be able to talk to someone they knew personally. “They said they’d send someone down there to check it out, but I don’t know if they really believed me.” Pausing for a moment, they adjusted their glasses and nodded. “If you’ve got enough, I wouldn’t say no.”

“Haven’t you lived here your whole life?! You should know that tidal caves are some bad news bears up in this bitch. I’m glad you two made it out okay but that shit coulda gone south if the tides were super strong.” Ricky grabbed a pan from the rack and lit the stove, listening to the click click click of the pilot before the burner caught and the flame whooshed to life. A pat of butter went in the pan as he carefully listened to Winston’s story, mentally trying to catalogue what it might be that was lurking down in the cave. “Did it hurt you guys? Wild……. animals can have all sorts of nasty diseases. We should get you to the hospital if you got bit or scratched.” He knew a lot of the lesser necrophages were disgusting disease vectors, and even a scratch from one of them could lead to a terrible infection. “Well. I believe you. The legends about that place” and the entire town, he thought silently to himself, “put some pretty gnarly shit down in there. I haven’t been in since I was a high schooler,” another convenient lie, “and I don’t plan on going back anytime soon.” Given the description Ricky thought it was probably a ghoul that had attacked them, which made him feel slightly better. Ghouls weren’t that terrible. “Two salmon dinners coming right up then.”

“Hey,” Winston snapped back, shaking their head indignantly, “I know it was a bad decision, I don’t need you to call me out like that. Besides, I’m just fine at swimming, I’d have managed. I’m more concerned about the fact that Gollum is down there and apparently without the one ring.” Raising their palms, Winston showed Ricky their palms which were still grazed and raw from their fall in the cave. “I have a few bumps and bruises, it really went took it out on Skylar worse, she was in a worse state then me but we both made it out.” Winston was surprised that Ricky accepted their story so easily. “I can’t reconcile it within my own head, it was like something out of a game dude, there’s… there’s …. I just can’t get it straight. I know rationally that this makes no sense. But I saw what I saw.” Not to mention Skylar’s fangs. This town was getting weirder and weirder by the second. Picking at the drawstring of their waist band, Winston smiled gratefully before taking their glasses and anxiously polishing them. “Thanks, I appreciate this dude.” They knew they must’ve interrupted a quiet night alone, which was a rarity for the both of them.

“It’s literally your roommates job to call you out when you do dumb shit. It’s like in the roommate handbook. You need a beer to settle your nerves?” Ricky pulled two out of the fridge and popped the tops off, sliding one across the counter without waiting for a reply before turning back to the meal he was cooking. The kitchen was starting to fill with the smell of pungent spices as Ricky thought about his next move. He prided himself on being honest with the people around him; but there were some very specific loopholes to that policy and they all dealt with the supernatural. Which is why he was less than pleased with his choice to gaslight his roommate. “I’m sure Gollum himself wasn’t lurking in the Cave of Voices.” He kept his voice pitched light and breezy, “it’s dark, it’s cramped, and it’s more than a little creepy. The human brain likes to fill in all sorts of blanks with the insane when it’s confronted with something terrifying. You probably just startled some poor forest creature who got stuck in there by the tide. You’re lucky you don’t catch rabies.”

Winston was about to say that they didn’t want a beer, but Ricky put one in their hand anyway and the cold, malty liquid felt good. “Thanks dude, I know it is your job to make sure that I’m not doing anything that could potentially kill me.” Ricky was a good guy. He had done a lot for Winston in the small amount of time that they had been living together. Winston was distracted, otherwise they might have noticed that Ricky was keeping his back to Winston. They might have noticed that they weren’t directly addressing them and they hadn’t seen their teeth yet. But they were kind of preoccupied. “I don’t think it was Gollum either, probably an animal and a bump on the head or something, i know that your brain tries to turn everything into a narrative and the fear probably just y’know, changed my perception.” They had been convinced earlier that whatever it was hadn’t been an animal, but this was the real world. It had to be an animal. There was nothing else that it could be. “I know, I know,” Winston replied glumly, their left thumb picking at the corner of the label on the beer, rolling and unrolling it restlessly, “I just can’t shake the feeling that there was something more to it then a rabid animal.” It wasn’t really their problem. They weren’t a member of animal control.

“Your mother would kill me if I let anything happen to you and frankly I’m convinced that she could do it with little effort on her part.” Ricky plated the salmon and slid one of the plates across the counter to Winston, setting a fork down next to it. “Fear is a powerful thing. But I know deer and badgers and the sort go down there to forage at low tide and then get trapped in the cave. You might have just startled one of them that was already at the end of its rope and its fight or flight response kicked in.” He waved his own fork glibly as he laughed off Winston’s story, trying to put them at ease while pushing them towards believing they hadn’t seen a necrophage and instead had just seen a frightened animal. He realized too late, however, that between taking a bite of his salmon and laughing brightly he’d left his mouth open for far too long, and he no longer had his back to his roommate. He snapped it shut and took a sip of his beer, hoping that Winston has been too distracted by the delicious food to look at him.

Winston didn’t think that their mother would kill Ricky. They were certain that their fate would be far more gruesome then an easy death. “Well don’t worry because I won’t let anything happen to you, and my mother isn’t about to find out about this.” Turning the plate round, Winston scooped up their fork and picked at the slice of salmon that Ricky had cooked for them. Ricky didn’t seem to eat much other then fish and meat, but they knew how to cook it and they did a damn good job. Winston just assumed that Ricky was fussy and out of deference to their friend had elected not to bring the topic up, incase it embarrassed them. “Maybe, but I’ve got to admit that it didn’t look like any sort of deer or badger that I have ever seen before, this looked like a cross between a monkey and a bat.” Winston looked up just in time to see Ricky’s gleaming mouthful of fangs. Wait … fangs? Winston felt their eyes widen and realised that they had caught Ricky’s eye for a moment. A look of shock on their face before they looked at their plate and shovelled a huge mouthful of fish into their mouth. “Mmhmmm this is great fish dude,” they said inbetween bites, doing what they could to avoid admitting to what they had just seen. But they’d seen those very same teeth on Skylar, hours before. What the fuck was going on?

Given the profound look of shock on their face and the renewed vigor with which they ate and commented on the fish, Ricky knew pretty immediately that the jig was up. “Winston…” he sighed wearily as he set down his fork and took a drink of his beer. “Yeah. I know it’s great fish. I can cook fish like a motherfucker. Because fish and meat are pretty much all I can eat. Listen. I know you saw and you can stop trying to hide that behind food comments and eating. Mostly because at the rate you’re going you’re gonna finish that fish in two bites. So. Yeah. Let’s talk.” He’d really planned on going a lot longer without having this conversation. But. Hopefully Winston’s cool head would prevail “if it makes you feel better… it definitely wasn’t a badger or a deer you saw.”

With a mouthful of fish, Winston looked up at Ricky and let out an uneasy laugh. “Yeah, I know you eat fish and meat, because you’re a giant baby living in a man’s body and you hate your veggies, you’re a fussy eater and you’ve probably got like a gluten intolerance right?!” They let out a high pitched anxious laugh and shoved more fish into their mouth. “But you’re right, really good fish, you did an amazing job, like you always did. HA ha what amazing fish.” They chewed extra slowly on the tiny amount of fish that they had left. “I’m sorry Ricky,” Winston said glancing at their wrist and realising they weren’t wearing a watch, “but I’ve got to dash, my parents are expecting me for dinner and they’ll be upset if I’m late…” they tried to force their heart to slow down, but it wasn’t working. They didn’t have time to focus on something else and just breath. “Anyway, I’ll catch you later.” They were standing and grabbing their rucksack and keys. They would stay at their parents house tonight. They would also be checking to see if they too had a mouthful of sharp teeth. “Thanks again for the fish dude.”

It became readily apparent to Ricky that this was going to be at least a two part conversation, as Winston gathered their things and started to head towards the door. “Winston.” Ricky called out from where he was sitting picking at his fish, “my….. fussy eating” which seemed to be the terms they were going to couch this in for the moment, “Is a secret for a reason. There are people who would use that as an excuse to hunt me. Literally. So if we could keep this between us for the moment. I’d appreciate it.” He took another swig if beer and glanced down at his phone as Winston headed for the door, “also. It was probably a ghoul. Down in the cave. Sounds like one. Don’t go back there again. It’s not safe til that things been taken care of. Be careful.” All he could do was trust that he and Winston had enough of a bond that his roommate wouldn’t go blabbing to the whole town.

Winston was pulling their rucksack onto their back and had their hand wrapped around the handle to the front door. “Ricky,” Winston said turning to face him, “Ghouls aren’t real. In the same way that ghosts, vampires, werewolves and magic aren’t real. This isn’t supernatural or the Witcher. None of these things exist in the real world. If they did exist, don’t you think that the internet would’ve spread the word about them? You think that a secret that big could be kept?!” They laughed nervously, suddenly unsure in everything that they had just asserted was the truth. “I won’t tell anyone about your fussy eating,” Winston said sourly, “I know how to keep a secret,” they pulled the front door open and felt a cold breeze roll into their house. “Besides, I’ve always got your back, even if you … are a fussy eater.” With that they were taking a step out of the front door and heading towards their car. They needed answers. They needed time to think and try and wrap their head around this. Ricky had used the words ghoul for fucksake?!

#wickedswriting #para #chatzy para #p: ricky #my soft soft heart #fangs for the memories

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fixxofvixx · 6 years ago

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POSSESSION - VIXX Taekwoon AU - Chapter 1

So, I wanted to release something on the day of the anniversary but I had a bit of a busy weekend and it was suddenly Sunday. BUT, here is the first chapter for my new fic! This will take over for Demon Leo when that is finished.

I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think!!!!

🏰🏰🏰🏰🏰

No one knew where they came from or even what they were. There were hundreds of tales about the mysterious six beings with the inhuman grey eyes that would cleanse a town of demonic possessions or rid a village of an evil creature. No one laid claim to calling for their help. They somehow just knew that a town was being plagued.

Of course, they were not saints. Along with the tales of vigilante-esque heroism there was a dark side. The stories ranged from midnight sacrifices of virgins to orgies held in the place they called home.

You knew the truth, of course. You didn't know what they were but you knew what they weren't. They were definitely the farthest from a saint anyone could get. They were also far from human. But they held fast to their duty to rid the world of demons.

You also knew to keep your distance unless they called on you.

They never came personally. They only sent a messenger in the form of a midnight black horse. You occassionally heard the whiney of the large steed beckoning you to their sanctuary. The stallion always came with a note attached to its saddle listing what items the six needed this time.

It had been a couple of weeks since you had heard anything from them. You assumed that they had taken a job far away and would most likely be away for a while.

As if on cue, you heard the familiar sound of hooves on the cobblestones outside your window. A chill ran down your back and you knew what was coming. Giving a quick check to the manner of your clothing just in case it was another caller, smoothing the layers out from where you had been sitting, you made your way towards the door.

You had expected the usual riderless black horse with the note attached but this time was different. This time a man sat atop the horse. He was hunched over and his breathing was erratic. He was unmistakably one of the six considering the tunic he wore. Quickly running up to the horse, you touched the man's arm. He jerked and raised his head slightly. Milky grey eyes stared back at you. Blood covered the majority of his face under his hood but you could tell who it was.

Leo.

The only one out of the six that set fear into your heart.

He never talked much when you had to visit the group but his constant stare was enough to speak volumes. He didn't want you in their world. He didn't care if you could heal the injuries that they received from time to time. You posed a threat to their existence.

Ignoring the fear, you reached for the man on the horse. He practically fell off the horse and ungracefully tumbled to the ground. He was too tall and too heavy for you to catch him anyway.

"Leo?"

"Don't say my name, woman. Just help me up." His tone was short and you could tell he was in pain. His manners were as absent as always.

"You could say please." You grabbed his arm and tossed it over your shoulder. You helped as much as he could but he did most of the work. Opening the door, you guided him towards your bed. Your healing supplies took up the majority of the room in your two room house. That left only one corner of the house to actually live in.

He all but collapsed on your bed with a grunt of pain. Now that he was sitting in front of you on your small bed you could see the dark spots on his black tunic that was obviously blood. You had only patched him up once on his forearm but now it looked like he had sustained several torso injuries. The cloth wasn't torn but he was bleeding beneath. You reached for the release on the top of his tunic near his neck and pulled it down. Your fingers almost reached the point where his necklace came to rest on his chest and his hand snapped up and grabbed your wrist. You gasped sharply and froze.

"Don't touch the pendant." His strained voice held enough warning for you to listen. This member of the six always commanded with authority, second to no one even though Hakyeon was the leader. It's not like you wanted to touch it. They always removed it when they were in their home so you'd never had to deal with it.

"S-Sorry.....um, I need to see the d-damage so I can fix....you."

He narrowed his eyes at you and released your wrist. He took the pendant and pulled it around the chain until it hung between his shoulder blades. You hesitated for a moment more and peeked up at his face. He was still as stoic as always. His eyes were studying your face intently.

With shaking hands you pulled the zipper until his tunic was open. You pulled open the edges to see the damage underneath. You gasped for the second time when you saw claw marks littering his chest and over his ribs.

"What the hell happened?!"

"It doesn't matter what happened. Can you fix it?"

This time, you narrowed your eyes at him.

"I can.....if you fix your attitude." His sudden appearance at your door had apparently given you courage.

A spark traveled through his irises and a sliver of fear ran up your spine. They eventually dulled to their usual milky grey color and he visibly relaxed.

"I apologize."

"Thank you. Now, take the tunic off and lie down. I'll get the supplies that I need." You stood and hurried to the large table where you kept all of your medical supplies. You grabbed a small basket and began tossing things into it. After that, you filled a bowl with water and took a clean cloth from the cabinet. Once you reached Leo again, he had removed his tunic but still sat straight up on the bed.

"Lie down, it will be easier to treat the wounds that way."

He hesitated but eventually complied. His long frame looked huge on your tiny bed and his feet hung over the edge. You placed the basket and bowl on the floor, reaching for the cloth first to clean the wounds. As soon as the cloth touched his skin he took a sharp breath and grabbed your wrist once again.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

You panicked. You tried to pull your wrist from his hand and failed miserably. You were so confused. You didn't understand why he was angry.

"W-What do you m-mean?"

"Are you trying to kill me or something? Why the hell is that so cold?!" You looked at the cloth and realized your mistake. He was complaining that the water was cold.

"I-I'm sorry. I don't have hot water. But, I can warm it up on the stove! Give me a few minutes." You started to stand but he still held your wrist. It wasn't painful but he obviously wasn't letting go.

"It's fine just....hurry."

"Yes, of course." He finally released your wrist and you continued disinfecting the many wounds. When they were clean, you began to prepare to sew them up. Your actions were halted when he spoke again.

"Why don't you have hot water?"

"Can't afford it."

"That's absurd. I know damn well we pay you enough to have at least that. Yet, you have this tiny house with one bedroom and no hot water? What are you squandering your money away on?"

"Well, if you consider having to pay the taxes here squandering then that would be your answer. The taxes in the village increase almost every other month. I'm lucky that I receive any money from helping you all so I can keep this house. What money I have left over is for medical supplies and food."

He was quiet again so you set back to your task. You knew he would probably refuse any pain blocker for the procedure but you also didn't want him complaining the whole time. You eyed the bottle that contained the liquid of your own making that would effectively knock him out for at least an hour. He would be pissed most likely but you could deal with that later.

Quickly grabbing the bottle, you poured some onto a cloth and then just as quickly closed the lid. You looked at him and his eyes were closed. He looked much less intimidating at the moment and that spurred your courage. Without another moment of hesitation, you covered his mouth and nose with the cloth. His eyes shot open but before he could react, the liquid on the cloth took effect. He had barely grabbed your hand when it fell limp at his side. Breathing a sigh of relief that it had worked, you removed the cloth and began to work on the stitches.

Finally, after about 45 minutes, every cut on Leo's torso had been stitched. You were sweating and exhausted but it was done. You spread the healing salve over the stitches and covered them with bandages. You gathered the remaining supplies and took them back to their rightful places on the other side of the house.

As you turned to head back, there was a knock at the door. You heart surged, unsure of who would be at the door now. Perhaps one of Taekwoon's brethren?

Your heart stopped when you opened the door and found the village sheriff standing there.

#vixx #leo #taekwoon #new fic #taekwoon fic #vixx leo fic #taekwoon au #vixx au #vixx fic

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supersleepygoat · 7 years ago

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Finding the Something More

Pairing: Sam x Bi!Reader, Gabriel x Bi!Reader (all platonic)

Requested by Anonymous: Hey can I request an angst fix with a fluffy ending with either Sam or Gabe? Either the reader just came out as Bi to her parents who disowned her or she caught her girlfriend cheating on her??

Summary: You are having the worst week of your life. Your girlfriend broke your heart and your parents kicked you out because of it. To top it off, you get attacked by a supernatural creature. However, the men who save you from the monster may be able to save you in more ways than one.

Word Count: 2,599

Warnings: Angst. Fluff. Violence. Language.

Masterlist

Submit your REQUEST here

You are sitting cross-legged on a park bench. The wood is wet from when it rained earlier and it’s making a shiver creep into your bones. You look over your shoulder at the twenty-four-hour diner across the street. You open your wallet. Somehow, fifteen dollars will have to last you until… until who knows when.

You grab your bag and walk over to the diner. You must have been too lost in your thoughts. You failed to notice the large stranger reaching for the door at the same time you had. When you accidently collide with him, you both apologize. He holds the door open wider and gestures for you to go through first, ahead of him and his companion. You offer him a shy smile as thanks and move into the dinner.

While you wait for your take out, the bell above the door rings and it catches your attention. The air in your lungs is all but kicked out of you when you hear an all too familiar laugh come in through the door. Against your better judgment, you look toward the sound.

Your ex-girlfriend is arm-in-arm with another woman, probably the other woman.

“Y/N?” your name falls from her well-known lips. Her voice is hesitant. It is as if she is uncomfortable seeing you so soon after everything happened. That makes two of you. “How are you?” your ex questions you with an awkward half smile.

You let out a humourless laugh. She ruined everything and now she wants to make small talk?

“I’m just great,” you finally gain the nerve to look back up at her.

“I heard about – Did you work things out with your parents?” She asks as if she doesn’t want to know the real answer.

“That’s really none of your business anymore,” is your merciful reply.

The woman draped over your ex tightens her grip on your past lover’s arm. She offers you sly smile. She is reminding you of her claim. It’s a subtle gesture that signifies her victory – and your defeat.

You push yourself off your chair and shake your head in frustration. You push past the two women who took everything from you and head for the door. In your haste, you bump into the same tall stranger from before. You look up at him to apologize, but the words are stuck in your throat. All of the rejection you had faced in the past few days, both from the woman you love and even your own parents, cripples your ability to speak. The man can see the unshed tears in your eyes. In empathy, his face falls and mirrors your own. He is about to say something but you slip away and leave the diner.

“Order up!” the waitress calls for you to pick up your much-needed food. But, you’re already gone.

Gabriel groans. “Why are we wasting our time looking for this kid, Sam?”

Sam rolls his eyes in response.

“It’s one measly bag of fries! I think the kid can survive without it,” Gabriel continues. “She probably ran home and got her mommy and daddy to make her a new batch of fries. Let’s just go back and grab our food. The sooner we get back to the room and feed that brother of yours, the less bitchy he will be!” Gabe says remembering how grumpy Dean was when they left him back at the motel to go pick up dinner.

Sam continues to ignore the archangel as he looks to see which way you would have gone.

“Come on, Sam!” Gabriel whines. “I want you and your brother to finish this damn hunt, so we can move on! We don’t have time to go running after a random angsty teen. I mean, a Rugaru hunt is always a fun pit stop. But, we have bigger fish to fry! Or have you forgotten about my big bro and his plan to storm troop his way into our world and-”

“Do you ever stop talking?” Sam finally exclaims when he’s had enough of Gabriel’s ramblings.

“Nope,” Gabe says with a pop. “Admit it, you missed me. You missed this,” Gabe says as he gestures between him and Sam.

Sam only rolls his eyes, again.

Before Gabriel can start in on Sam again, the men hear scuffling and a short yelp come from behind the diner. Sam hands Gabe the bag of your fries and rushes off toward the sound. Now, it is Gabriel’s turn to roll his eyes. He opens the bag and starts munching on the salty treats as he lazily follows Sam into action.

When the men turn the corner, they expect to see the worst. Rugarus always leave a mess. Instead, they see you holding your own against the creature that was once human. A surprised Sam looks over to Gabe. The archangel merely shrugs with an impressed look on his face before eating more of your fries.

You may be a good fighter, but you are still ill-equipped to handle whatever the hell this thing is. Eventually, your attacker gets the upper hand and tackles you to the ground. Your squeak of surprise as the creature bares its teeth and tries to bite you, brings Sam back to reality. Sam lunges forward and pulls the monster off of you. You scramble backwards. You watch as the monster turns its deadly focus onto the tall stranger.

You are frozen in shock. But, it’s more curiosity than fear. You know you should be scared. That thing just tried to eat you. Yet, fighting with that freak was the first time in the past few days in which you weren’t stuck in your dark thoughts. Kicking that guy’s ass was an oddly satisfying distraction from your crumbling world. You were able to let out the pent-up hurt you hadn’t let yourself feel or even acknowledge. Also, you suddenly realize that there may be more important things in this world to worry about.

Sam is still tussling with the Rugaru. “Oh, for crying out loud!” Gabe exclaims with bored irritation. He throws the precious bag of fries onto the ground. Gabriel finally intervenes when Sam struggles to ignite his lighter. Gabriel effortlessly reaches out a hand and smites the creature. You watch as a bright light shines through the monster’s eyes and mouth. When the light fades, the monster crashes to the ground in a lifeless heap.

“Alrighty then! Now, that beastie boy here is taken care of, hows-about we get a move on. The world ain’t going to save itself from my petulant big brother!” the fair-haired man jabbers as he claps his hands together.

“Dude,” Sam whispers as he gets himself off the ground. Sam motions his eyes in your direction and Gabriel follows his gaze. You are still on the ground, sitting there stunned.

“Oh, right… I forgot about the damsel,” Gabe says with guilty eyes.

“I’m not a damsel!” you inform the men as you are broken out of your trance and get up to stand to your full height.

“My bad, doll face! Nice moves by the way, very Buffy-esque,” Gabriel sings with a wink.

“Um thanks,” you hesitate. How are these guys so calm right now?

Sam moves in front of Gabriel and steps toward you. “I know you probably have a lot of questions. But trust me, you’re better off forgetting this ever happened. I’m sorry this happened to you but it’s safer if you don’t ask too many questions.” Sam’s tone is comforting. Plus, the firm hand he places on your shoulder is more reassuring than you thought possible. Despite everything that has happened to you, you feel safe under his touch.

“That thing wasn’t human, was it?” you ask in fear that you already know the answer.

“Winner winner chicken dinner!” Gabe chimes.

“Dude!” Sam warns his friend to shut his mouth. You simply nod your understanding. Unfortunately, learning monsters are real isn’t even the worst news you’ve gotten this week. “Look kid,” Sam continues in a softer tone as he addresses you directly. “Maybe you should head home. Forget this happened,” Sam pleads. He doesn’t want you to know the full extent of what is really out there. Especially since he assumes you have an apple-pie life waiting for you at home.

You huff out a sad laugh. “Yeah, sure thing.” You offer him a smile that doesn’t reach your eyes. It’s clear he wants to get rid of you. If these men can so casually kill a real-life monster, then they clearly have bigger things to worry about. They don’t need to know you have no one waiting for you. They don’t need to know that no one would have missed you, had that thing actually killed you. It’s better if you just get out of their hair.

“She doesn’t have a home, Sammy,” Gabe says as he picks up the discarded bag of fries and resumes snacking on its contents.

Your eyes snap up to the shorter man. “How do you-”

“Relax, kiddo. I know all sorts of things,” he winks at you and taps his temple with his forefinger. “I didn’t see it at first… but I hear you loud and clear now, darling,” the man continues. He stares at you as if he is reading you like a book. It is slightly unnerving.

Sam looks at the archangel, then back at you. You meet his gaze for only a moment before casting your eyes to the ground. “Is that true?” Sam asks.

You nod and shrug.

“What happened? Where are you staying?” Sam asks. If you didn’t know any better, you would say he sounds sincerely interested.

You flop your hands down to your side. “My parents, they like to say they are accepting and ‘progressive’,” you add air quotes to emphasize the ridiculousness of the claim. “But, when they found out their precious daughter is bisexual, their true colours shone through. And, their true colours weren’t in favour of the rainbow.”

You were hoping to leave it at that. But, the men only stare at you expectantly. Their eyes urge you to continue. It is oddly comforting to have someone listen to you, to care about your story. So, you continue. “I came home a few days ago a total mess. I had just found out my girlfriend had cheated on me. I loved her but… yeah.” You trail off. The idea of the woman you love wrapped in the arms of someone else, clouds your ability to think straight.

“Anyway, I was too messed up to care that I hadn’t come out to parents yet. I just wanted them to help me feel better. But, when they found out that my heart was broken over a girl, they stopped trying to comfort me. As if non-heterosexual heartache doesn’t count as real heartache,” you scoff.

“Mommy dearest said this is a phase. She said there is no such thing as being ‘bisexual’. And, that I must be gay but am too chicken shit to admit it. My dad,” you voice breaks for moment. “My dad said that over his dead body is his little girl going to be with another woman. Only, he used much more colourful language. So, they gave me an ultimatum. Either I stay and be who they expected me to be or I leave and don’t come back. So, I left,” you try to shrug but the men can tell you are anything but indifferent. “I couldn’t pretend anymore.”

There is a moment of silence before Gabriel speaks up, “What dick bags!”

You cannot stop a small giggle from escaping your lips. “My sentiments exactly,” you agree. “But as it turns out, I may have made a mistake. They may not accept me or see me as having a legitimate identity. But, I don’t think I’m ready to be on my own yet.” You finally admit to both the strangers and to yourself.

“You never answered my other question,” Sam states with a soft voice. “Where are you staying?”

“Around,” you shrug again. Sam’s eyes bear into you. You can all but feel him pull the truth out of you with his pleading hazels. You sigh in defeat. “I found me a mighty nice park bench across the way. Well lit, not too uncomfortable,” you try to maintain a casual tone but shame slips out with your words. You’ve only been on your own for a few days. You are already out of money, have no friends to crash with, and to top it off, you got attacked by actual monster. This is not how you imagined your life turning out. “I thought about swallowing my pride, crawling back to my parents with my tail between my legs. But, that’s not me. I’d rather be on my own then live with people who can’t acknowledge me for who I really am. I know my heart is legitimate. I know I am worthy of something more than what they have to offer me.”

Sam runs a frustrated hand down his face. “What’s your name?”

“Y/N.”

“I’m Sam and this is Gabriel-”

“How do ya do?” Gabe cuts in. He bows with his greeting and it makes you giggle again.

Sam levels Gabe with a look that tells him to keep quiet. “Look, I’m sorry that happened to you. You don’t deserve that. No one does.” Sam places the comforting hand back on your shoulder.

“Yeah, screw them! Some people just act like dicks when they are forced to face something they can’t wrap their narrow little minds around. Remember kid, I know all sorts of things, and you’re the real deal. And, as for your girl? Her loss!” Gabriel interrupts Sam to speak his mind.

You can’t help but smile at his directness. You have been waiting a long time to hear someone reassure you that none of this was your fault.

“That said,” Sam continues once Gabriel finally stops talking. “You need to be somewhere safe. You can’t keep living outside. It’s too dangerous. We may have taken down this monster but there are always more. Not to mention, there are humans that may try to take advantage of you being out here on your own like this,” Sam says with caution.

“I can take care of myself,” you state firmly.

“Oh, we saw that clear as day, sugar,” Gabe chimes in.

“Being a good fighter isn’t everything,” Sam informs you. “You need people to back you up. Do you have any other family you can stay with?”

“I told you, my parents-”

Sam smiles and shakes his head. “Family doesn’t end in blood, but it doesn’t start there either,” Sam says. His smile grows as he thinks of the man who said first said those words.

“There’s no one. It’s only me,” you whisper.

“No,” Sam says in denial. “Look, I know someone who may be able to help you. She has a habit of taking in strays who need to find their way.” Sam looks to the Rugaru corpse on the ground behind him. You did put up a good fight. He doesn’t want to throw you into the life if you don’t need to be. But, a roof, proper food, and Jody’s maternal instincts may be exactly what you need, what you deserve. No one will force you into hunting. Maybe you can get a job and help in other ways, like Alex. But, any way Sam thinks about it, he cannot leave you here like this. “You ever been to Sioux Falls, kid?”

Forever Tags:

@phonegalhelp @arses21434 @mogaruke @spn-ficfanatic @winchestersister55

#supernatural #spn #spnfamily #fanfic #sam winchester #gabriel #reader insert #sam x reader #gabriel x reader #bisexual #bisexual reader #angst #fluff

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layne324 · 7 years ago

Note

Pet, for Rachel, you choose.

I’m gonna change buy to find.

*Ami!!! I need your help!!!!*

I say, headbutting Dark Charger’s door.

°Whadya do now?° She responds worriedly, the door hissing as it slid open.

I hurry inside and sprint for the Lab, nearly knocking her over as I run by. The bulge in my shirt squeaking slightly as I make my way to the nearest empty Bio-Habitat, blood trailing behind me with my every step. I carefully kick open the door and walk inside, using my foot to close it behind me.

Once inside I cradle the small being with one arm, quickly Mancing a lush micro forest with a small, deep pool in the center, little more than a large puddle, with my empty hand.

*Ami, Get the Vet-Kit!*

I call out as I move toward the pool, walking in and slowly submerging myself until the squeaking in my blood soaked shirt became short chitters and raspy purrs in the cool waters.

Ami came in a few seconds later followed by a small floating table littered with medical supplies. I nod, motioning for her to enter the pool, the table hovering down to level out with the waters surface.

°What’s wrong with it?° She asked, her eyes turning orange as she prepared to scan for injuries.

* I have no idea, hell I don’t even know what it is.* I reply, carefully pulling it out of the water and placing it on the table, still cradled in my shirt.

* But it has a heavy laceration from its neck down about half its body and possibly internal damage, but I don’t know to what extent.* I continue as I cautiously unwrap my shirt.

Laying on the table, bleeding and breathing heavily, was a light, sky blue creature with small, silky-smooth scales, and vibrant autumn colored eyes.It had a small, snake-like mouth and triangular ears, almost like a foxes.It looked almost like a cat. Well, a cat with aquatic looking wings protruding from between its shoulders, and fins at the tip of its tail.

Ami began working quickly, scanning for internal injuries and treating them first. A small three needle syringe extending from her arm as she took a blood sample and injected anesthetics simultaneously.

°Whatever it is, its not from Remnant. DNA appears to be a cross breed of multiple different species. Almost Draconic, but not.° She stated, her eyes returning to their usual blue.

* It looks like a tiny Nightfury.* I say, calmly holding the small creature down so that it doesn’t struggle against Ami. A light sea foam glow emanating from my hands as my Psychomancy keeps it mentally peaceful and content.

°DNA doesn’t match, closest thing it could be is a salamander or a mongoose. However, 99.9938% of its DNA is unrecognized and its dying. I have enough of a sample to clone it, but without a blood transfusion there isn’t much else I can do for it.° Ami replies, a hint of sadness in her tone.

* So try mine. Worst case scenario, it dies anyway right?* I ask.

° I guess, but that may alter its DNA similar to the way Chargone’s did.° She affirms me, as she jams a much larger syringe in my neck and begins to draw blood.

*Yeah, well….. give it…… a… dayrrtooofrrtwoffff…* I trail off, purple and black clouding my vision as dizziness washes over me. Blood failing to meet my brain fast enough to keep me standing, I stumble backwards and sink to the waters edge before losing consciousness.

My eyes flutter open as I wake up in my bed. Daylight shining through the view port and the warmth of the sun greeting my face. I roll over only to realize the bed is empty. Confused, I get up and head to the kitchen, only to be tackled by a blur of blue upon opening the door.

*Oh, right.* I groan as the small creature nuzzles against me, purring and chittering with glee.

°Hey, You’re up.° Ami says, the walls blinking in response. ° You were out for twenty-two minutes.°

*Thanks,* I say, picking myself off the floor. The little guy crawling up my side and resting itself on my shoulders like a scarf, a wing getting caught in my hair as it tried to settle down.

*So, whats this guys story Ami? He seems pretty alive to me, so how’s he reacting genetically?* I ask, petting the little guy as I meander towards the kitchen.

°Well, he accepted your blood pretty quickly and has adapted to any mutations remarkably well, all things considered. I say he, but it appears he’s parthenogenetic, so call him whatever you feel comfortable with.°

I nod, pulling him off my shoulder and placing him on the counter to examine him.

°For now, I’m calling his species Omnis Hybrida, because he shares characteristics with amphibians, reptilians, draconians, and mammals, as well as a few thousand others.

Besides your advanced regeneration, he doesn’t seem to possess your abilities, and there’s a fifty-fifty chance he’ll lose that after your blood has cycled through him.°

*Okay, good.* I say, placing him on my back and piggy-backing him to the front door. *Let’s suit up, and make sure not to crush him alright?*

°So, what are we gonna do with him?° Ami asks as she appears by the door, clasping herself around my body and making a small backpack-esque compartment for the little creature.

*I’m gonna bring him to Rachel’s.* I say with a smile, walking outside into the warm Misrtali air.

°Yay, Hothothothot.°

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stereksummerexchange · 7 years ago

Text

How Is Your Heart?

For @marauders-mess, who requested NSFW AU’s of the emissary!stiles or feral!derek variety - here’s a bit of both! Hope you enjoy it :)

by @sylvesterelle

Explicit - AO3

Derek thought it’d feel like weightlessness. That’s how it felt after the fire - like so many of the strings grounding him had been cut, like he was one strong breeze away from oblivion.

So when the unthinkable happens and the unbreakable breaks, Derek doesn’t understand what he’s feeling. Doesn’t understand that instead of weightlessness, there would be nothing but weight. The weight of his pain, of his loss, of the sudden, inexorable truth of his own isolation.

And then Derek doesn’t understand anything at all.

Or: the AU where Derek goes feral after the death of his alpha and only the power of ~true love~ can bring him back.

Derek thought it’d feel like weightlessness. That’s how it felt after the fire - like so many of the strings grounding him had been cut, like he was one strong breeze away from oblivion.

He coped by holding on to Laura with everything he had. He poured his strength into their connection, not only as sister and brother, but as alpha and beta. Laura was his anchor in every sense of the word, an unbreakable tie, a final stronghold against whatever lay on the other side of humanity.

So when the unthinkable happens and the unbreakable breaks, Derek doesn’t understand what he’s feeling.

Doesn’t understand the crushing pain exploding in every bone, muscles screaming from the strain and mind suddenly empty of everything but the barely conscious cry of too much and I can’t and please.

Doesn’t understand that instead of weightlessness, there would be nothing but weight. The weight of his pain, of his loss, of the sudden, inexorable truth of his own isolation.

He doesn’t understand it, but he feels it. Feels it until his teeth crack from clenching and his vision tunnels to black. Until his skin tears and the shift rips through his body, bones breaking and rearranging in a last ditch effort to survive the pain.

And then Derek doesn’t understand anything at all.

They get the call during one of Stiles’ summer emissary lessons.

He’d started training soon after Scott and the pack put Peter down once and for all, unwilling to ignore whatever spark Deaton said he had if it could be used to protect his friends.

They’d started simple – theory of magic, taxonomy of supernatural creatures, duties and traditions of a pack emissary. Only recently has Deaton let him in on the good stuff, all the protective runes and floaty light balls and Harry Potter-esque spells that fill Stiles with shameless nerd joy.

He’s in the middle of practicing his levitation at the vet’s office when “Werewolves of London” rings through the room, shattering his concentration. The jar of dog treats drops back to the table and Stiles sighs as he digs his phone out of his pocket, ignoring Deaton’s disapproving look.

“This better be good, Scotty,” Stiles says. “I was in the middle of kicking gravity’s ass.”

“Oh sweet bro, you finally got it?” Scott asks, dopey grin carrying loud and clear over the line.

“A whole 3 inches, buddy – just you wait, I’ll be floating your furry ass in no time. But what’s up, you know I’ve got wizard training until 6.”

“Sorry man, but I think you’re gonna have to cut it short. We’ve got a problem.”

Stiles frowns, exchanging a glance with Deaton. “Hold on, I’m putting you on speaker.”

He sets the phone on the table and leans back, crossing his arms. “Alright, what’s going on?”

“Isaac and I heard howling during our perimeter run and followed it back to the Hale House. There’s a wolf here and we think it might be an omega, but there’s something wrong with it, dude.” Scott says, voice concerned.

“Like foaming-at-the-mouth, rabies-infested wrong?“ Stiles asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know dude, maybe. It looks sick – it’s all skinny and dirty and won’t respond to either of us. It straight up tried to eat Isaac when he got too close to the porch. And the howls, man, I’ve never heard anything like it.”

Deaton frowns, leaning closer to the phone. “Did they sound aggressive, like it was calling out for reinforcements?”

“No man,” Scott says, “it sounded miserable.”

Ten minutes later, Stiles is turning off the main highway and onto the dirt road that leads to the Hale house, hidden but for a blackened chimney rising above the trees. Deaton agreed that the wolf needed further evaluation, but declined to come with Stiles.

“What, you’re just going to send me off on my own to deal with some strange, possibly feral, probably dangerous werewolf?” Stiles had asked incredulously as Deaton handed him a few herbs and bundled him out the door.

“You’re more than capable to handle a single rogue omega, Stiles. And if anything does go wrong, Scott and Isaac will most likely be able to protect you.”

“Most likely?” Stiles had squeaked, but Deaton had already closed the door.

Now, with a sigh, Stiles reaches over to rummage through the lacrosse bag on the passenger seat, double checking he has everything he needs. Mountain ash, mistletoe, rowan, and several types of wolfsbane – enough to incapacitate and more, if needed.

Hopefully it’s not needed.

Stiles can see the wolf standing on the porch as soon as he pulls up, its hulking figure blocking the charred doorway. He - or she - is big, way bigger than any natural wolf has a right to be, but beautiful; it’s almost completely black, marred only by the silvery gray patch on its chest and the tips of its ears, with eyes the same purplish-blue of lightning during a summer storm.

Deaton explained what that color in a werewolf meant in Stiles’ very first lesson, and he reflexively tightens his grip on his bag as he eases out of the Jeep. The second he sets foot on the ground, the wolf’s head snaps in his direction. It bares its teeth in a silent snarl, and Stiles can’t help the shiver that runs through him when he meets the wolf’s gaze. There’s nothing human in those eyes, but there is something - not quite a familiarity, but an awareness that raises goosebumps on his arms.

The wolf tracks Stiles’ movements as he cautiously moves to join Isaac and Scott at the far edge of the clearing.

“Hey,” he greets them quietly, eyeballing the fresh blood on Isaac’s hand. “I take it we haven’t made any progress with Stranger Danger?”

Scott shakes his head. “Not even a little. It nearly took Isaac’s arm the last time he tried to approach.”

Stiles nods and considers his options. The easiest thing would be to sedate it with a mild dose of wolfsbane, but he’d have to get pretty close and he’d prefer to avoid getting his face chewed off today, thanks.

Unfortunately Deaton made clear that this was part and parcel of being an emissary - the magic and the runes and the occasional threat of death or light maiming included. Stiles sighs in resignation as he slips his bag off his shoulder, digging around till he finds the tin marked ‘wolfy Xanax’ in sharpie. He stands back up and hands the bag to Scott.

“Cover me, dude.”

The wolf starts growling Stiles advances, scraping its nails against the wood and baring bloody teeth in warning. Stiles hesitates for a moment, internally debating if it wouldn’t be better to set a mountain ash perimeter around the house and call Deaton for backup, when a gust of wind ruffles through his hair and kicks up leaves, swirling in the direction of the house.

The wolf abruptly stops growling, lifting its head to sniff at the air. Whatever it scents makes its eyes grow brighter, a plaintive whine building as it searches for the source.

Stiles takes advantage of the distraction and moves forward, muscles tensed and ready to jump out of the way in case the wolf lunges. But it doesn’t lunge – doesn’t even start growling again. Just sits there with a slightly dazed look on its face, whining high in its throat.

When Stiles gets within arm’s reach and the wolf hasn’t done anything more threatening than aggressively sniff the air, he pauses, slipping the tin of wolfsbane back into his pocket.

“Stiles, what are you doing?” Scott calls from behind, voice filled with concern.

“I just want to try something – give me a second.”

Slowly, Stiles reaches out a hand. The wolf rears back at the movement, eyes wide but making no move to attack. Stiles resists the urge to flinch and keeps his palm flat, trying to project the calm, collected vibes Deaton has so fruitlessly been trying to teach him.

Tentatively, the wolf leans forward, nostrils flaring as it inches closer. Stiles stays still as the wolf bumps its nose against his palm, rubbing against him until Stiles’ hand is cupping its face. He gently rubs a thumb against the wolf’s cheek and makes soothing noises in the back of his throat, taking the opportunity to look the wolf over.

Up close, it looks more pathetic than terrifying. Stiles can see the leaves and ash matted in his coat, the imprint of ribs against its side, only partially hidden behind the tangled fur.

Stiles crouches down, giving the wolf a searching look. “How long have you been on the run buddy? Where’s your pack?”

The wolf gives a small wag of its tail, but no other sign it can understand him.

Stiles frowns, taking in the wolf’s eyes that show alertness, maybe even intelligence, but no recognition. “You can’t shift back, can you? Do you even know who you are?”

“Hey, you calmed him down – awesome!” Scott calls happily behind him, bounding across the clearing. “Should we take him back to Deaton’s or-“

Before Stiles can shout a warning, he’s knocked on his ass, the wolf caging him with its body and snarling at Scott, who’s frozen mid-step in front of the porch with his eyes comically wide.

Well, comically in any situation where Stiles is less likely to have his face bitten off.

Scott raises his hands in a placating gesture and backs away, grimacing as the growling continues until he’s back at the tree line.

Slowly, the wolf lets its hackles drop and turns back to Stiles, pushing its nose under his hand until he resumes stroking over its back. The wolf makes a pleased noise deep in its chest and pushes in closer to snuffle under Stiles’ ear.

“Uh, good Wolfy, good-,” Stiles takes a second to peek under his tail, “boy. I’m not going to hurt you, just relax and we can - oh god, that’s your tongue, that is definitely your tongue, c'mon man, at least buy me dinner first,” Stiles jokes weakly as the wolf licks at his face.

Stiles can see Scott and Isaac stifling giggles across the clearing and he musters up his best glare - the effect lessened, admittedly, by the 200 pounds of fur perched in his lap.

“Aw, he likes you,” Isaac coos, pulling out his phone to send incriminating photos to the rest of the pack.

“I will strangle you with your scarf,” Stiles replies calmly, patting the wolf on the head as moves on to his neck.

This close, he can see the dried blood on the wolf’s muzzle and paws, the burs tangled in his fur and scratching at his skin. He can’t tell how long the wolf has been like this, why he’s on his own, but he’s willing to bet it’s been a long, long time.

“Who are you, buddy?” Stiles asks, ruffling his ears. “What happened to you?”

The wolf just whines against his neck and wiggles closer, licking an affectionate stripe up the side of his face.

Read the rest on AO3

#stereksummerexchange17 #sse17 #sterek #submission #fic

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eycless-archived-blog · 8 years ago

Text

As soon as Mike hears the sound of his rustling blanket, he knows that Black Hands has returned. Eyes open slowly, half-lidded with yet another sleepless night. On him are wide ovals of vague light. He looks as innocent as he always does.

❛ Hey. ❜

Black Hands blinks slowly. ❛ HELLO... ❜

The man stares for a moment longer, then sits up, blanket tented around his knees as he runs a hand through messy hair. Tired... so tired... but he's used to it. He can handle it. The entity still hasn't moved a muscle aside from the shift of his eyes; they've followed him, bathed his face in a soft white glow. It's a beautiful allusion, a hint of purity sheathing restless features.

❛ ...what...? ❜ The man whispers, before he clears his throat and tries again, firmer this time: ❛ What? ❜

The entity moves to sit next to him, feet pointing so that they can touch the ground as he anxiously fiddles with his fingers. The kill had been difficult, as much as he'd enjoyed it in the moment-- the wrong mindset had led him to believe that killing wouldn't be difficult, that he could go on in his kind's ways without feeling the crushing guilt that came parcelled with taking a life. He was wrong. How can he always be wrong about this? Will he ever learn?

Mike takes note of his uncomfortable silence, watches as his eyes round at the top to give the illusion of an arched brow. Sad-- no, more honest than sad. Forlorn.

❛ I'll taaake it you paid Tyler a visit. ❜ Silence. Then, a tight-lipped: ❛ INDEED... ❜

Quiet becomes their theme as they sit in the dark living room. The light from Black Hands' eyes dims, leaving them shaded in shadows as they crouch together in the emptiness. Somewhere in the silence, Mike thinks he hears a sound-- looks down to see the entity's shoulders shaking. Awkwardness takes over him, teeth gritting lightly as he considers his options, for he knows what's happening - vaguely - but doesn't understand how to remedy it. Emotions are difficult for him; it's no lie to say that Jaydon has been the first contact he's had with them since the loss of Anna. Or, at the very least, genuine ones that didn't result in anger.

A hand settles hesitantly on the Eyeless' shoulder. ❛ ... it's... okaaay... ❜

The whimpering stops. Movement of his head is gradual as he turns it upwards to look at him. Silent staring is all he does for approximately three seconds... before he loses his resolve. Whimpering turns to giggling, and even through choked sobs his laughter increases until the feeling of relief in his stomach is so great it feels as if he could fly.

Once he's settled enough, Black Hands sniffles and wipes his eyes, ❛ YOU'RE... YOU'RE STILL SO HORRIBLE AAAT THE COMFOOORTING THING... ❜

Mike chuckles despite himself.

He doesn't protest as the being shuffles closer, hesitantly lays his head on the shoulder it's somewhat forgotten. Ever since he'd gotten closer to Noname, he really hadn't felt as much desire to be platonic. It's nice to fall back into his old habits, even if only while the demon appears to be absent. Cheek nuzzles, a hand moving to pull back the blanket so that he too can be beneath it. It's here that he notices the slight cringe on his host's face.

❛ 'S OKAY. III'M NOT GOING TO KISS YOU. ❜ Cringe dissolves into a humoured expression, ❛ Thank God. ❜

He's allowed further in, side meshing against Mike's hesitantly. More than the blanket envelops him then, a sense of familiarity so warm and comforting that he feels safe for the first time in a long time. Noname quells the whispering voices and the willowly tendrils... but sometimes he makes them tighten too. Taut around his ankles, around his wrists, trying to keep him from feeling, from touching, from staying and loving-- at the very least, they take note of Mike and leave completely.

❛ Hey... I was thiiinking... ❜ Mike suddenly speaks up. The entity's head shifts , eyes blinking up at him. A quiet ❛ mm' passes his lips as he takes note of the expression on his face. It's distant, thoughtful, faraway-- is he here right now? And if not, then where is he? ❛ ...you... you saaaid you could do that stuff with memory, right...? ❜

The Eyeless sits up straighter now, though the blanket is still tight over his shoulder. The more he immerses himself in the conversation, the more he forgets about what he's done. It seems a favourable pastime as opposed to laying next to a sleeping partner and stewing in self-loathing for several hours-- there's no way he's falling asleep tonight.

❛ ...YOU'RE... GOING TO HAAAVE TO ELABORATE. ❜ ❛ Well. You said... you said you could 'delete' them. Diiidn't you? ❜

Eyes squint. If this is going where he thinks it is, he wants no part in it. He's seen enough of a dead man for one night.

❛ MIKEY... ❜ Without even having to specify what he means, Harmon replies: ❛ Please. ❜

The man never says please. There are two rules about Mike Harmon: never beg and never kneel. If he breaks either one of them, there is a definite chance that he is desperate. Black Hands blinks at him (must he blink so much? He's so aware of it at this point--) and then sighs. A deadpan explanation is breathed through an unwilling mouth.

❛ YOU... WAAANT ME TO DELETE YOUR MEMORIES OF TYLER JOSEPH, DON'T YOU? YOU WANT ME TO... CRAWL INTO THAT... WIBBLY-WOBBLY BRAIN OF YOURS AAAND... ERADICATE HIM ENTIRELY, DON'T YOU? ❜

Mike stares. Then, Mike nods. ❛ Mhmm. He's-- he's just- I hate him so much, Black Hands... it's fucking eating at me. Even knowing he's dead now didn't give me the euphoric rush III thought it would. I just wanna... not know about him. I don't want the cunt to exist. ❜

The entity sighs, brushes a hand over pointed hair. It bounces back with about as much resistance as he feels he has the energy to treat Mikey's request with. He's already gone ahead and killed the man. What's a few more minutes of energy to thoroughly erase him? He stands on his knees, begins feeding himself into the man's palm with a grunt of ❛ FINE, FINE ❜ as he disappears.

He hasn't been back inside in so long.

Dodecahedron. It's what Mikey's mind has always been. As Black Hands stands in the centre of his mind, he takes note of all the the oddities he'd left behind. The clawing hands that protrude from the walls of his brain; the footsteps that seem to echo from nowhere and everywhere all at once; the edges that give way to wobbly nothingness, as if his mind simply dissolves into a black, empty space that he could walk along forever in an unchanging line.

No time to focus on that. He has to at least look at where he'd originally belonged. Eyes peer down the dark hole that leads to his previous place of residence-- to think he'd called The Funnel his home at one point. With a deep breath, the entity feeds himself through it, spits himself into the 'bomb shelter of space' (as he'd once so eloquently described it to Noname) and stares. The lone swingset in the centre gives him chills. How many years had he spent rotting here, trying to kill Mikey? And then, in a twisted manner, trying to save him instead?

Now that he has a form of his own, an existence of his own, he notices that the 'hatch' of The Funnel doesn't seem so black and unreachable. Knowing that he can leave freely now makes the being want to tear up-- regardless of the road he and his Mikey had gone down, he'd earned his right to leave. After spending a few more seconds looking around, he does so, and it is with a breath of relief that he approaches the place he knows memories are stored. This foolishness about molecules carrying memories get him every time-- it really is as simple as a computer sometimes in terms of storing it all. Not everything about the human is complex.

It resembles a filing cabinet-- except it's tipped over and the 'receipts' of his past are scattered everywhere. Whenever he tries to pick a loose one up, it always seems to evade his touch. He can't reach it. Just as Mikey can't reach it either. Part of Black Hands is grateful that the man will never see the mess that is his own head. He isn't a disorganised person but the Eyeless certainly would have guessed otherwise had he never met him.

Pulling open random segments of mind until he finds the familiar name engraved on its pulsating wall. Tyler. Joseph. There he is - and there he torturously remains. It is with ease that the creature peels back the layer of wobbliness and bears witness to a dozen well-kept receipts. Why they're so well-placed he doesn't understand-- perhaps it explains why the man can't seem to move on, why he remembers every little disservice Tyler ever did to him. The lies, the manipulation, the blatant mistreatment-- part of him wonders how Mikey could ever forget. Never mind. He'll make sure he does.

The memories make an odd sound as they're peeled from the wall of the mind, akin to a sticker being pulled from its pad. That peeling, cellotape-esque noise, slightly wet to the ear but not to the pad of a finger; all of them screwed into a quivering ball in between black fists before he unapologetically throws them back into his cavernous mouth and grinds them into nonexistence. He doesn't even feed on them-- why would he want more remnants of the worm floating around inside of him?

Mind shakes, as if overtaken by an earthquake. He floats to avoid the shift of Mikey's existence. Does he even realise what he'd asked him to do by requesting such a thing? He had quite literally just changed the way his brain functioned. To him, as of this moment, there was no such thing as Tyler. Just as asked, the singer no longer exists-- and, after the reports of his disappearance or death, however people choose to report it, die down (which Black Hands will be certain to make sure the man avoids), there would be nothing left to trigger Mikey's awareness. Even if his music still rang in his ears, his brain would make a new 'file' for the man - and only what was known to the public would be accessible.

He won't have to remember the vile treatment he was forced to endure for the sake of 'friendship'. He won't have to recall the growing sense of worthless the longer he'd been emotionally abused and abandoned. He won't have to think about his hatred for the parasite any longer-- because he doesn't exist to him any more.

Despite his horrible deeds that night, Black Hands smiles. With Mikey's potential peace comes his own.

Let him FINALLY rest now.

#﹔ ᶦ ʷᵃᶰᶰᵃ ᵈᶦᵉ ᶜᵒᶰˢᵗᵃᶰᵗᶫʸ⋅ ( OOC )#﹔ ˢᵒ ˢʰᵉ ᵗʰᶦᶰᵏˢ ˢʰᵉ ᶜᵃᶰ ʷʳᶦᵗᵉ⋅ ( DRABBLE )#long post #( OKAY BUT THAT MARKS THE END OF TY'S DEATH.#COMPLETE ERAUSRE.#HOW FITTING FOR A COMPLETE FUCKING TUMOUR LIKE IT'S AS IF MY BABY HAS OVERCOME CANCER OR SOME SHIT #but no i can't help but be a lil smug because at least i have a tangible PLOT as to why tyler 'never existed' so #mwwwwwaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh #excellent canon )

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