#I would write this au ngl

[thetorturedlovergirl]

Au where in “The Woman Who Fell To Earth” instead of falling in Sheffield, 13 accidentally lands in front of an Echo of Clara.

[deadbaguette]

Day 6: Steampunk ft. Patrochilles!

(Everything for this month will be very quick and not rendered most likely! So please take my doodles <3 )

Steampunk AU:

Not many thoughts for this one.. I love steampunk-esque stuff but I have no idea what the lore would be in this kinda Au😭 I might draw some other characters eventually like for my high fantasy AU because it’s an excuse to mess around with some designs.

[marggri]

Emilio

[confessedlyfannish]

Two Years Later

Part One | Part Five (Previous)

The beginning of the end is the cough.

"Hey B, a minute?" Superman calls as the League exits the conference room.

"Oooh, someone's in trouble!" Flash smirks, ducking past Batman.

"Am I? In trouble?" Batman asks dryly as the door closes.

Instead of the classic display of his midwestern "aw shucks" disposition that would have Superman ducking his head and giving an awkward chuckle, the hero simply smiles slightly. Batman cocks his head, instantly on alert.

"Superboy is coming down with something," Superman explains. "Hopefully it won't mess with the surprise, but—"

"Superboy is sick?"

"It's a sore throat, nothing major. But for Friday, we should play it by ear."

"That's fine. Have you taken him to The Fortress?" Batman asks shortly. Superman's shoulders rise and fall.

"It's a cold, B," Superman says patiently. His smile is strained. "He's had them before."

Batman stares him down. "After he started developing powers?"

Superman meets his gaze, uncowed, "I'm not sure," he says pointedly.

"I mean before."

Clark's eyes dart away. "He hadn't had his powers that long before he..." they never really have figured out what to call it. How do you call a kid disappearing for six years when it had only been a couple of weeks to everyone else? Did it count as a disappearance when no one had noticed he was gone, not even the boy in question?

Robin, purposefully insensitive in order to push everyone past it, had taken it to calling it Superboy's vacation. And if he caused a bit of hurt simultaneously by its mere mention, then perhaps that was the boy's way of working out some resentment regarding their sudden age gap. Something the two worked to bridge, but still struggled with.

After Superman had formally asked Batman to stop looking into it (knowing full well he'd continue informally), they'd stopped needing to find a name for it.

"I'd have to double check," Clark admits, powering through. "But we gave him some cough syrup and it's been helping."

"And?" Batman asks, crossing his arms.

"And what?"

"You noticed something. What is it?"

"I hate when you do that," Superman says, not an ounce of ire in his voice. He leans against the conference table, staring out at the vast galaxy before them. "When he was ten, he couldn't take pills. But he took two Tylenol before Lois got him the Robitussin. Dry."

Batman comes to stand next to him. "You have six years of medical history unaccounted for," he points out, as gently as he can while filing that bit of information away. He still remembers the sick look on Kal's face when he'd seen the marks on Jon's skin. "That's why you need to take him to the Fortress."

"He's been back home for two years," Superman says. His reflection's brow furrows. "You don't seriously think he's been incubating some kind of alien virus for two years."

"I think the Fortress will rule it out," Batman says, clamping a firm hand on his shoulder. "Or you could bring him here."

"No," Superman says. "I don't want to freak him out. I'll take him tomorrow. Just..." Batman squeezes once, firmly, before letting him go.

"The robitussin's been helping," he explains for him.

Superman nods. "Yeah. It has."

And he had come to Batman anyway, because even if the cough syrup was working, even if he and Lois wanted to pretend everything was fine, he knew he had to take Jon to the Fortress. But he needed Batman to give him that final push, and Bruce was willing to do so.

"DM?" Batman asks suddenly.

"Hm?"

"Make sure it's robitussin DM. That's the one that actually works for a cough."

"...Will do, B."

--

Initially the Fortress confirms it's a cold, but as the week progresses, Jon's cough only gets worse.

And then a few days later Superman lands in the Batcave. He's supporting a pale Superboy with one arm and has the other wrapped around Lois Lane.

"Batman." His face and tone are forcibly calm but his eyes are wild.

"What happened?" Batman asks, rising from the Batcomputer as Lois comes around Superman's side to help prop Jon up.

"He couldn't breathe," Lois says as they get closer. She hands him a small glass tube. "He hocked that up but the Fortress didn't recognize it besides," she swallows, "besides his blood."

Batman stares at the murky brown substance in the tube. It has a high viscosity, crawling along when he tips the beaker back and forth.

"It's coating his larynx."

Batman pockets the tube and opens the line to the Watchtower. Wonder Woman's face appears on the monitor, on duty today.

"I need you to alert the medbay. I'm bringing Superboy up. Evacuate all nonessential personnel and have anyone left in quarantine gear. Five minutes."

Diana nods, hanging up without a word.

Batman sends a quick comm to the rest of the team and Alfred (most currently at school, thankfully, as it buys him some time), alerting them that the cave is in quarantine. He clicks a fingerprint activated trigger that places a steel wall on either entrance to the cave because his kids are unlikely to listen, and keeps an ear out for the two requisite thuds as the panels descend and a hiss as the artificial oxygen begins to circulate. As they do, he opens an equipment drawer and pulls out two heavy-duty gas masks designed with a Scarecrow attack in mind.

"You're kidding," Lois says when he hands her one.

"Had any symptoms yourself?"

"No!"

"Good. Let's keep it that way."

Jon smiles weakly as Lois grumbles, Batman sliding in easily to replace her as Jon's support when putting the thing on proves to be a two-hand job.

"How are you feeling?" he asks, voice clear despite the respirator attachment custom-made to fit his mask.

"Alright. A little scared," Jon says, voice raspy. Beside him, Superman gets his own mask settled on his face.

"I mean physically," Batman clarifies.

Jon flushes. "Oh. It hurts a bit. Feels heavy. Like I'm swallowing around something." He's breathing very shallowly.

They get him over to the zeta tube and Batman sets the destination. Then he turns to Lois with purpose.

"You should stay here—"

"Absolutely not," she says loudly. "Even if it is contagious I'm already exposed. He's still a minor and I'm his mother and I'm coming."

Jon makes a noise of protest. "Eighteen!" he says, before breaking into a coughing fit, doubling over. Batman holds a handkerchief to his face.

"Fine. Let's go," he says shortly.

"You're okay," Superman murmurs, rubbing Jon's back. His mask hides the bleak expression belying his words, already well aware of what Batman is not saying: if advanced Kryptonian technology doesn't recognize the substance blocking Jon's airways, the Watchtower will likely not either.

"Recognized, Superman, 01."

"You're okay." Clark repeats.

"Recognized, Lane comma Lois, A-58."

"It's going to be fine," Lois joins in.

"Recognized, Batman, 02."

Bruce says nothing, carefully folding a brown-tinged handkerchief.

"Recognized, Superboy, B-38."

[twistedappletree]

Arranged marriage zhuiling AU where instead of being arranged to marry each other, Jiang Cheng keeps trying to set Jin Ling up with random girls from other clans after Jin Ling mentions he’s interested in marrying ‘someone’ because he doesn’t know Jin Ling meant Lan Sizhui, so Jin Ling keeps doing the most ridiculously annoying and unappealing things to scare off every girl who comes to Koi Tower and Jiang Cheng is ripping his hair out because you little brat, you said you wanted to get married???

Eventually, both of them are so exhausted from the miscommunication that Jiang Cheng investigates and finally finds out what’s wrong, then tells Jin Ling he has one more potential spouse for him to meet. Jin Ling is a pouting lackluster mess over it until his entire world stops when the doors to Koi Tower open and Lan Sizhui walks through.

[jaxieus]

Johan things from twitter

Punk/emo Johan and eating a burger

Johan playing the ps2

[kiynania]

Shadow:Truth or dare?

Tails: Truth.

Shadow: How many hours have you slept this week?

Tails:

Tails: Dare.

Shadow: Go to sleep.

Tails: I don't like this game.

[maenecoon]

tw (mostly mild) depictions of violence and blood, bc it's involves vampires, also major spoilers for a fic im working on rn

so

i may or may not have a vampire kimchay fic idea

except the execution of it is going to have me combusting into flames??

anyways, thoughts about kim finding an annoying baby bat in the forest. he wants to ignore it, but he can't. so fine, he takes it in.

except...

kim definitely doesn't know how to care for a feral bat.

anyways! cue sweet/fluffy/bat-and-vampire shenanigans! like babybat so sated with blood that he becomes a little drunk, or at least the bat-version of drunk. babybat who flies into the window trying to escape because he's not good at echolocatio. babybat who sneaks into kim's closets to bite holes in every single one of his silk shirts.

vampire!kim somehow being whipped af for this cute but annoying little shit that he's somehow adopted. feeds him blood pudding and gives him many head scritches. shows him his red string murder board and rambles about his murder plans and all. vampire!kim who started off detesting or tolerating this pest at best but unable to imagine starting a day without the weight of babybat curled up on his chest.

then the murder plan happens. kim wants korn (his father/sire) dead, bc who doesn't, and he sneaks in to "kill" him.

he's gone in, wooden stake and holy water and all.

he goes bat-shit crazy. bodies of full-sized vampires drop to the floor around them as kim works with ruthless efficiency. he's memorised the techniques of his father's men and their weaknesses. he's dreamed about this for centuries. and it's pays off.

and then enters korn.

korn was always going to be the issue.

kim had no plans of returning alive - he knows to end lorn by all means necessary even if it means his own life - but korn has gotten more powerful. sire bonds are difficult to break, and even if kim has been diluting the bond and doing his absolute best to weaken their link, korn still has kim in an iron grip.

(if you'd read my phayurain vampire fic, there's this thing about sires being able to control their fledglings because of a bond they share when a vampire (sire) turns someone into a vampire (their fledgling). )

anyways.

when suddenly a weight in his pocket starts to stir. it's the little shit, the bat. and kim's all panicked because little shit is small and harmless and now barely the size of half his palm? like, kim's on his knees and has his hands shaking with effort not to plunge the stake into his own chest, by the command of korn.

it takes just a second, but bat flutters out of kim's pocket. bat, with all the rage that a bat can muster, swings himself right on korn's face and digs his fangs into korn's eyes. the eyes are part of what maintains the sire-control that korn has over kim, and kim is able to use that split second to drive the stake into korn's heart.

the moment that korn falters, falling to the ground with a thud, is the moment that the bat drops to the floor.

kim thinks like yeah, fuck, that must've taken a lot out of this poor baby bat, and god that fall looked bad, when all of a sudden the bat is expanding. almost like his bones are breaking (and kim winces because that sounds anguishing) and reforming and he keeps growing bigger and bigger and bigger until kim realised that this was no bat.

this was a vampire, trapped in the form of a bat.

this is his fledgling, his fledgling who was supposed to have died.

chay.

yeah anyways!! fun little story that i'm working on rn!! lmk what you think/want to see, if you got to the end of this! !

[hyperfixationsgoweeeee]

This is a fking stupid joke that I just thought of and ya know what...it's fine. Let's just say that Trav is the one who took the photo (with Rabbid stealing it, in which he wrote that) and he made Paperlor hold up the sign without any of the other's knowing...

This just could've been a sketch- Yet I had to do this much effort, especially on Paperlor cause like- If you look the paper guy looks a lot different than the others (Cause paper) uhhh- yea- This was at least fun to do Credits tho! Freelance, UT, Magomon, and Applecore ~ @cherry-blossom-qf

Magonyan ~ @puffballwarrior-blog

Paperlor ~ @otterronpas

Bloons ~ @cloud9v

[13reasonstoeatthatcake]

I really want to know how Lilith Sorrengail feels about trying her best to get her youngest daughter away from whatever it was that her dad supposedly found in the Archives after Brennan 'died', just to get said daughter even more involved with the tyrrish rebellion two: electric boogaloo.

[taddymason]

ao3 is down rn so i cant comment on the new chapter but jay lost an eye and his soul he truly is having a time. amazing chapter i looooved it!!!! cant wait for jay to kill cinder next chapter hehehe

thanks! I love how things have escalated in this fic

I read somewhere that losing your left eye means losing your soul, so... Yeah, he's definitely having a bad time.

[teecupangel]

So, we have done the whole "Desmonds ancestors can hear Desmond" deal, but have we thought on how inheritantly horrifying the concept is? Suddenly one day, your body is no longer yours to control and the being who took it seemingly feels no remorse as "This is just a game", "It's not real" and "man, the controls sucks ass, i wanna just throw myself off the roof in anger!". The ancestor can do nothing but curse or pray at the being. Altaïr curses it and Ezio begs and prays that it won't hurt anyone he cares about. The being forces his hands to be stained with the blood of city guards who were just doing their job, but got in the way of the spirit. "Man, fighting and killing guards is pretty fun".

There is rarely any escape or reprieve. All they can do is hope it will end. For Altaïr it came quickly, but Ezio was cursed for a lifetime and went in search of the Library of Altaïr in hopes of finding a solution. He refuses to die a puppet.

.

Desmond just thinks it's all part of the Animus and his feelings being reflected back. If we want just a smidge of comfort. Maybe the ancestor can feel the beings feelings of fear and loss of control and wonder if the being uses them to escape something?

Idk, just kinda realised how horror themed the "Ancestors hear Desmond" asks could be. XD

The Ratatouille AU where the ancestors can hear Desmond while ‘playing’, its more unhinged cousin, the Ratatouille AU where Desmond can hear us and the outside POV of Al Mualim thinking the Apple broke Altaïr and the sidestory of Altaïr accidentally connecting with Ezio while looking for Desmond (I hope I didn’t forget anything else)

.

This isn’t real.

Ezio has come to loathe that thought.

He was real.

The world around him was real.

Everyone he sees was real.

The blood in his hand was real.

Who was this puppeteer that dared say he was just a memory.

That everything Ezio held dear and tried to protect was a memory.

He controlled Ezio’s limbs, forced Ezio to watch as he moved against his will.

Killed against his will.

There could have been a better way.

They weren’t Ezio’s target.

They were just doing their job.

They were doing this to survive.

Yet they were cut mercilessly, by Ezio’s limbs.

The Assassino.

The nightmare of Italia.

This wasn’t the life Ezio wanted.

This wasn’t the reason why he continued to wield the blade of an Assassin.

He wanted to avenge the cruel unjust deaths of his father and brothers.

He wanted to protect his mother and sister.

He wanted…

Ezio wanted…

I want to be loved.

I want to be acknowledged.

I want someone to see me for who I am.

He wasn’t…

I’m not…

“I’m me.”

I’m me.

“The rest is up to you, Desmond.”

Ezio could feel it.

The surprise…

His puppeteer knew this Desmond that Minerva spoke of.

No.

How can she see me?

A prophet.

What a cruel lie.

He wasn’t Desmond’s prophet.

He was Desmond’s puppet.

As long as he remained useful…

He will continue to be a puppet.

When will it end?

How sure was he that the puppeteer wouldn’t force Ezio’s blade against those he loved?

He could feel it.

The emptiness.

The puppeteer watches because he has nothing else.

He is a captive.

And now he holds Ezio captive.

Until he no longer has use for him.

When that happens…

Will he be abandoned as well?

Will the stories of the madness that plagued Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad after becoming a mentor be his fate?

The controls are different. He doesn’t move like Altaïr.

Will the puppeteer take his sanity when he leaves him as well?

.

(I intentionally made this more confusing than it had to be because I wanted it to have the vibe of a person slipping into insanity after being in the presence of an old one. Yeah, I was going for a Lovecraftian vibe XD I focused on Ezio and Desmond’s controlling him but I guess let me know if you want a Desmond and the voices he hears horror-esque version???)

[mag-loopy]

Nameless Bard design for the xv moon/night AU!

I’m still trying to come up with a name for him- might settle for Carmen in the end.

In this AU, Nameless bard is Venti’s twin brother.

Parts of his veil is inspired by a moth :)

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

Day 6: Show/Fear

Prompt List

Pt. 5 of The Empire of Samadhi AU

Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4 | Pt. 5 (you are here) | Pt. 6

(This is day 6 of the Monkie Destiny Challenge Prompt Month October 2023)

Wordcount: 2k

Summary: Red Son is the son of an old empire, Mei is the daughter of a new one. Red Son, consumed by fire, was put into an induced stasis sleep to stop the world from burning until his family can find a way to safely remove the fire. They find a way but he never wakes up. Hundreds of years later he awakes to discover his power resides within another as she stares at him with wide eyes on fire.

Welcome to the Show. 

(This one’s a bit of a spookier one in light of this festive All Hallows’ Eve month. So warning for some mild body horror and creepy description. Please check the tags if you want more detail)

Their landing was awkward. 

Red Son ended up at the bottom of the pile with his face pressed into the floor with the other two on top of him. He knew immediately the destination was wrong when he felt wooden floorboards rather than dusty ash against his cheek. 

They had landed somewhere they weren’t supposed to. 

“Get off.” Red Son attempted to throw the two mortals off him and was kicked in the face twice by Mk before he managed to shove them both off onto the floor. “Idiots.” 

He lifted his head to look around and found they’d landed in a theatre of some kind. It was empty but the lights were on, bringing a warm sort of atmosphere. 

“Uh,” said Mei, with Mk draped over her lap like a limp rag-doll. “Hey, Samadhi Sifu… I think you took a wrong turn.” 

“I didn’t do anything,” Red Son spat. “Some idiot hijacked my portal.” He pushed himself to his feet, cursing under his breath. “They never would have been able to do so if I was at my full strength.” He straightened up after brushing small bits of gold dust from that shattered plate off his hanfu. It didn’t matter much due to the fact it was already covered in soot, but that couldn’t be helped. Merciful Buddha, he wanted a bath. 

“Ow,” said Mk, like he was the one who had gotten kicked in the face. Mei patted his back. 

Red Son glanced around the theatre. It was mostly built from wood. At first glance it appeared to be new, but the closer he looked the more blemishes and broken things there were. It was an old theatre. The curtains were threadbare. There were chips in the wood. The lanterns only lit the space dimly, just bright enough to create shadows without really lighting all that much. All the seats faced a massive white screen at the head of the room. It reminded Red Son of a shadow puppet screen, only much, much bigger. 

“We’ve got another thirty minutes here until my spell kicks back in,” Red Son said, glancing around for the doors or at least some sort of exit. He heard shuffling behind him and turned to see Mk falling off of Mei’s lap and face down onto the floor before popping back up, sitting cross-legged next to her. 

“Well, at least there’s no spooky monkey here,” Mei said. 

Upon being reminded of what exactly they’d been, not running, but retreating from, Red Son’s ire at whoever had portal-jacked him was washed over and drowned out by a very different sort of feeling. 

Mk and Mei seemed content to stay on the ground as Red Son started to pace in front of them. He muttered under his breath. 

Mk looked pale. Red Son had no doubt he’d be looking even paler if he’d known just who had been reaching for him. 

Red Son feared nothing. Not death, not life, and no living being. 

But his hands were shaking. 

From the cold, he hissed to himself through gritted teeth. He would never have been shaking if he had his fire. He wouldn’t be so vulnerable if he had it. The white lady hadn’t seemed like a threat at first. She seemed a mild annoyance at best. He couldn’t sense any massive power coming from her, so how did she manage to get to him? He needed to rethink. Reevaluate. He needed to think. He needed to get his fire back or they were going to die. 

“Well, well! That was quite a show!” 

Red Son’s head snapped back to look where the voice was coming from. It seemed to bounce and echo over the walls, coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. Shadows seemed to tilt, getting darker, stretching further.

Mei was on her feet in an instance, Mk scrambling up close behind her, staggering a lot more. 

The shadows seemed to converge on the stage, onto the screen rising up like ink until a shape was painted across it and then received form. 

It was a shadow puppet. 

A monkey. Merciful Buddha, Red Son had seen enough monkeys already today. Its mouth had been cut into a wide, unnerving smile, stretching over nearly half its face. 

"I see you all met the Lady Bone Demon's puppet.” The puppet slumped sideways, limp, head tilting to almost upside down. It was strange. It moved in a way shadow puppets normally didn’t, to Red Son’s knowledge. 

Red Son scoffed, folding his arms over his chest. “You look more like the puppet here.” 

“Oho!” said the shadow puppet. “Good-” it flipped, revealing its other side, where the only difference was there was an slashed X in the place its eyes should have been, “--eye.” The puppet laughed. It doubled over with shrieking laughter at an awkward angle that didn’t look right. 

Red Son found himself recoiling a bit. The thing sounded insane. Granted not as insane as him when he laughed, his cackle was much more impressive. 

Out of the corner of his eye Red Son saw Mk grab Mei’s arm. 

“Mei,” Mk said, his voice slightly shaky, urgent, “that sounds like-” 

“I know,” Mei said, her voice grave, on edge. 

“What are you two talking about?” Red Son snapped. 

“Is that the Dragon Heir I see?” The puppet twisted itself as though it were hanging upside down from a branch. Sure enough the shadow of a tree rose up to assist the illusion. “And another puppet!” Its smile looked almost thrilled looking at Mk. “Isn't this all just so interesting? But who’s the third? I’ve never seen you before.” It dropped back down, into more of an animalistic, unnatural crawl. The shadow seemed to grow bigger as it crawled towards them, but it never moved off the screen. 

“Who I am is none of the business of the likes of you,” Red Son said. “You know very well who you brought here. So cut the theatrics and state your business or we will burn your little theatre to the ground and you along with it.” 

The puppet seemed to find that very funny, laughing and twisting. Red Son could feel something in the wood of this place. Something in the shadows growing thicker and moving. 

“Oh, but the show is the best part!” 

Mk cried out. 

Red Son spun around to see shadows wrapping around his ankles and wrists. They lashed out around his arms binding him tightly and then pulled before any of them could react. 

“Mk!” Mei yelled, reaching for him. She grabbed his wrist just before he was pulled into the shadows. 

The rings lit. Mei practically spat out fire. “Let go of him.”

“There’s the famous fire!” The puppet seemed to smile wider, bigger, it sounded like it was a twisted form of excitement. “What a performance you gave that day!” 

The strands of shadow snapped when Mei’s fire neared it and she caught Mk before pulling him to his feet.

“Mei,” said Mk, clinging to her. 

“I know,” said Mei. “It's him.” 

“What are you two peasants talking about-” 

“You know,” said the puppet, drawing their attention, “really, it was rather impressive how you played right into her hands, bud.” It walked across the screen, but this time it continued off it, onto the wall. The laughter echoed. 

For a moment Red Son thought the shadow was talking to Mei, but then Mei was stepping in front of Mk and shielding him with her arm, flames flickering dangerously above her. 

“Mk had nothing to do with it,” Mei snapped. 

The puppet laughed again, tumbling through shadows and bouncing from one place to the other around the room. It bent in unnatural directions. “Nothing? Nothing? He caused this.” 

Red Son had to admit, he was curious. Curious as to how the man half-cowering behind Mei was responsible for… well, it was rather hard to understand what the puppet was referring to. 

“I didn’t,” said Mk, but he didn't sound very confident about it. 

“Do you think she would have gotten your precious friends if it weren’t for you? You think she would have gotten to your pathetic Sifu without your help?” 

“He’s not pathetic!” Mk shouted at it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about-” 

“All your second chances, all your do-good kindness lead to this. If it weren’t for you the Lady Bone Demon would have never gotten her hands on the rings.” 

“But,” said Mk, his voice small, “I didn’t do anything…” 

“And you think that’s a good thing?” The puppet laughed far too much in Red Son’s opinion. It lost its effectiveness after a while. At least on him. Mei and Mk just looked more and more unsettled and anxious. “You and your Master, so alike. Neither of you said anything to each other, did you?”

“What is he talking about?” Red Son asked, looking at Mk curiously. 

Mk shrunk back from his gaze. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Mei said. “Whatever happened doesn’t matter. So you better shut your mouth, Liú.” 

The puppet stood for a moment, frozen still. Then it’s head snapped off the wall to look at Mei. 

It became less of a shadow and more of a tangible thing. Its eyes were lifeless, its skin was more alive looking than a puppets should be. It had lace designs stretching across its skin in dark cracks across its skin. Its mouth stretched just as wide, but despite its upward tilting motion it didn’t look like it was smiling. It didn’t look completely like an object nor completely alive, some mix of both. Red Son could see both its eyes at once now, the slashed X over one of them looking like a gaping black hole. Its one eye was a pinprick amongst a pool, just as black, its pupil surrounded by a ring of purple. 

“You’re cursed,” Red Son realized. 

Its head snapped to look at him and Red Son felt frozen in place by it. The weight was nowhere near that of his fire contained in the rings above Mei’s head. But it was uncomfortable all the same. This thing in front of him was twisted and wrong and there was a lack of sanity in its one working eye that made it feel as though something would snap at any second. It looked as though it should be twitching but all it did was stay deathly still, not breathing but very clearly alive. 

“Not our problem,” Red Son forced out, despite the way the words tried to lodge in his throat with the things one eye on him. “Dragon Girl, we’re leaving.” 

“There’s no doors,” Mei muttered. 

Red Son whipped his head around to check. And she was right. He hadn’t realized it at first, but there were no doors, no windows, no holes or cracks in the wall to slip through. 

There was no way out. 

It was a claustrophobic feeling. But Red Son wasn’t about to let a sealed room intimidate him. 

“Very well then. Let us make one.” 

“I can’t let you leave,” said the puppet that Mei called Liú. “They’ll come soon.” 

“Elder Liú,” said Mk, “we can help you.” 

“I can’t let you leave,” it said again, its mouth moving with the words unlike its shadow had when it spoke before. It was a horrifying sight. Shadows moved behind them, creeping closer. “I can’t let you leave. I can’t let you leave. I can’t let you leave-” 

Red Son snorted. “You can’t stop us.” 

It just kept repeating it over and over again, ignoring him. The shadows stretched higher. They curled over top of them. Red Son watched them creep out of the wall, wrapping around the puppet, over its mouth and face and dragging it back into the wall. 

“Guys,” Mei said, glancing at her feet. “I think we’re in trouble here.”

“Then use my fire,” Red Son said through gritted teeth. 

“Oh yeah,” Mei said, “right.” She shook off the shadows that had started to cling to her foot and the rings blazed brighter above her. 

“Wait! Stop!” said Mk. 

“What?” Mei said. Then yelped, because a shadow lashed out and wrapped around her arm. 

One latched around Red Son’s leg and the shadows suddenly seemed a lot thicker and stronger than before. 

“They’re shadows,” Mk said. “The more light you give them the stronger they’ll be.” 

“How does that make sense?” 

“Just look, the more light there is, the more shadow can be seen. Unless we could get enough light to get rid of every shadow, more light would just be making it worse.” 

“Then what’s your suggestion,” Red Son snapped, clawing at the shadow that had attached itself to his wrist. 

“Less light,” Mk said. “They can’t touch us if there’s no shadows to shape in the dark. We need to break the lanterns.” 

“This is a terrible idea,” Red Son said. 

“Do you think I have enough control over these rings to light up a whole room?” Mei asked. 

Red Son did not think that. 

“That’s what I thought.” 

“Fine,” Red Son snapped. He snatched some fire away from Mei. The shadows had crept up to his hips now, wrapping and slowly sludging further up. He burnt some off his wrist so his hand was free. “Aim for the lanterns.” 

Mei missed twice. Red Son’s feeble second-hand fire couldn’t reach very far but the sparks landed and managed to light the lantern. 

“No,” the voice echoed, “what are you doing? Stop- stop I can’t exist without them-” 

“It's okay, Elder Liú,” Mk said, “we’ll get you out of here.” 

“Stop!”

“Ugh,” said Red Son, straining against the shadows that were now up to his shoulders. “You’re disgustingly reassuring, aren’t you.” 

“I try,” Mk said. He was trying to hide it but Red Son could hear the panic in his voice. 

The last lamp went out, burned to nothing, but light still remained. 

“Dragon Girl, the rings.” 

Mei cursed. 

“Mei-” Mk’s voice was cut off as the shadows wrapped around his mouth and started dragging him down. 

“Mk!” 

“THE RINGS!” Red Son yelled at her.

“I GOT IT,” Mei roared back. 

The shadows wrapped around Red Son’s mouth and started pulling. 

The rings flickered. 

“NO!” the puppet appeared in front of Mei’s face, reaching. 

All at once the light went out. 

Red Son fell flat on the floor, followed by two thumps. 

“HA!” said Mk. “I told you! How can you get grabbed by something when you’re already in it! It's like swimming!” 

“Water has currents that can grab you,” Red Son snapped at him. 

“Shadows aren’t tangible like water.” 

“You make less sense the more you talk.” 

“It worked, didn’t it?” Mk huffed. 

“Woo! Mk!” Mei cheered. “I’m gonna see that last bit in my nightmares! Haha! Where’d Old Liú go anyway?” 

“Um, I’m not sure,” Mk said. “Let me check.” 

There was a moment of shuffling and silence in the pitch black. Then Mk’s bright voice came. 

“Found him! He’s small now. Looks like a real shadow puppet.” 

“What? How can you see?” 

“Huh, I wonder if we could un-curse him like how we unpossessed Mk,” Mei said, ignoring Red Son’s question.  

“He feels like he’s made out of dry stuff,” Mk said. “I don’t know if it's safe to try.” 

“Just give him to me,” Red Son scoffed, blinding feeling around for Mk. “I’ll seal him in so he won’t jump back out the moment there’s shadows to jump from if you’re both so worried about it. You can figure out what to do with this thing later. We’re going to be pulled back any minute now.” 

Red Son heard a sound that took him a moment to place as Mk’s muffled laughter. 

“What? What are you laughing at?” 

“Nothing,” Mk said. “Here, hold still, I'll hand him to you.”

Red Son sighed and held out his hand impatiently. 

He could feel Mk standing in front of him, hesitating. 

“What now?” he groaned. 

“Just… be careful with him. Don’t hurt him okay?” Mk finally handed him over. 

“Whatever,” said Red Son, casting the spell to seal the puppet in its current form. “He’s none of my concern, living or dead.” 

Mk didn’t reply to that, but he could practically feel his worry.

“There,” Red Son said, shoving him back at him. “He won’t be any trouble for now.” 

“Great,” said Mei. “So do we need to talk about why Liú looks like a monkey? Or…?” 

The ground lit up underneath them. 

Mk yelped, his face illuminated and rushed to stuff the small shadow-puppet into his hanfu. 

The room lit up in flames.

| beginning | next |

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

dawg my body is so ready for seeing your human versions of the gang. like the need to draw these sillies is JUST TOO DAMN GREAT--(please don't take this as "OMG HURRY UP", i'm just very excited to see your interpretations!)

well shit now i gotta buckle down on brushing up + improving upon my human scribbling skills, which - meager to begin with - have deteriorated due to Puppet Disease (and i say this with playful exasperation. i've been needing an excuse to Practice and this is a damn good one)

though i will say! i'll be adhering to the ~canon~ human versions we've been gifted via Clown's pokemon au. ofc since we don't know what Howdy, Poppy, Sally, and Eddie look like, i'll have to think of something myself

[mqfx]

maybe if i write it down asap i can forget about it and then a year or two from now i'll be surprised while going down my archives. anyway

premise summary: the last two factions of a continent at war are at a stalemate and are planning peace negotiations. the emperor (JW) sends his envoy, a fallen prince from one of the defeated kingdoms (XL) to treat with the enemy rebels (led by HC). each party brings their head generals, FX (from XL's side) and MQ (from HC's side) as a show of trust and commitment to the negotiations.

as talks begin, it's clear that the envoy and the rebel leader are quickly becoming more than tentative allies--which would be great for the peace of the continent! if it weren't for their generals nearly sabotaging every chance due to their clear and volatile hatred for each other caused by years of fighting on the battlefield.

but what will they do when they each find out the truth: that both sides are using the talks as a cover for their plans to betray and annihilate the other? can they put aside their differences for the sake of their masters and their kingdoms, or will they plunge the continent further into war?