#Ignore all the flowers in my inventory I was going to look for caves and fog a bit sidetracked | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

votederpycausemufins · 3 years ago

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College has stopped kicking my butt enough for me to post another chapter of the the Scattered au fic. this one is meant to be a parallel to last chapter, so you might want to reread that one.

scattered au is by @hermitcraftheadcanons and their community

reading tag list: still just @helleborusangel right now. Send an ask if you want to be added on.

Xisuma pulled himself out of the water, coughing a bit from what had gotten past his filter. He tried to look around only to squint at the light from the surface. He didn’t think he had swum that far up, but for all he knew, he was able to push himself that far to finally escape the warden. So when something suddenly attacked him and didn’t immediately kill him, Xisuma quickly fought back.

While initially swimming, he thought he had felt something though wasn’t sure, but this was much more clear. And slimelike, it seemed, since that’s what it felt like when he attacked it. But the following grunt of pain from the attacker sounded much more human like.

Xisuma did his best to focus on whatever was there, but he was seeing double. He looked back and forth, trying to tell if it was just from the intense lighting change or from there actually being two… things there. And it seemed it was the latter when the things looked at each other.

“Well, that’s probably not good.” The two things spoke in unison, which didn’t help the headache that Xisuma could feel coming on. Still, he was able to focus enough to get a good look at whatever was there and was a slime hybrid of sorts similar to Jevin, though instead of his very clearly blue slime, these two - one? They were more of a sea green. Plus from what Xisuma could guess, they were able to split like a regular slime, something Jevin couldn’t.

“Sorry.” Xisuma spoke up, it finally clicking in his mind that he had likely damaged them enough to make them split. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I thought you were attacking- I mean, maybe you were, but this does seem to be where you’re staying, so I guess I invaded your home a bit.”

“I guess. So, are you from around here?” The slime pair asked, making Xisuma shake his head. “Huh, neither am I… are we… This is the first time I’ve split so-”

Xisuma tilted his head a little. “I guess it is pretty safe here. Have you had any deaths so far?”

“I thought that was going to be my first.”

“So that would explain the lack of death messages as opposed to Gemini or Pearlescent. Do you know either of them?”

“No, sorry, not really.” The slime people answered. “Well, uh, there’s just enough here if you need basic tools, but not much else. I’ve got a pickaxe- crafting table.”

Xisuma looked between the two. “I think both would be nice. I spawned underground and had trouble with getting anything at all.” And before he could say more, the slime people were handing him those two items and a few more.

“You’re on your own for food though. Berries aren’t the most filling, so I’ve been eating them all up. They taste nice though.” And to prove their point, each of the slime people went after a berry, though they went after the same one and ended up fighting over it.

Xisuma nodded and went up to one of the walls. This would be much easier than getting the warden to do all his mining, seeing as how he would now be in control. He started to staircase out of the cave, placing what few torches he had until he found more coal. Technically he didn’t need to, but then something could spawn and head down and attack the slime pair. And Xisuma didn’t want to never return and just leave them there alone forever. So when he finally did get up to the surface, Xisuma went straight back down. “Are you sure you want to- er, what are you doing?”

The slime people looked back over to Xisuma and shrugged. “Trying to fuse back together or something. Why did you come back?”

Xisuma wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but the next thing he really knew, he was going back up towards the surface, his arms full from holding the slime pair, one cradled in each arm. Sure, they said they would be safe alone in the cave, but X couldn’t help the feeling that they wouldn’t be safe so far away. He was pretty sure it was just from his worry about everyone else, and this was just one person he could protect, but Xisuma couldn’t help but wonder if there was something else going on.

Hypno leaned against Etho, who was doing surprisingly well considering their current situation. Both of them were low on hunger, only managing to stay alive from what little they could get from the flowers and grass they picked and ate. Etho somehow managed to find a pig wandering around and killed it for some raw pork, handing it to Hypno to eat. They couldn’t cook it, but Etho was less worried about the hunger the meat would satiate and more about the fact that Hypno wasn’t fully himself.

After the initial shock of finding horns on Hypno’s head, the pair looked him over. Hypno made mention of an ache at the base of his spine, and Etho found a few concerning bumps on Hypno’s upper back. Until they actively looked into it, Hypno hadn’t noticed anything wrong, which led to them checking Etho, and also giving the ninja something to plan for on his next respawns.

Etho was glad they didn’t notice much with him, but with little to do, he explained to Hypno his encounters with Ren, Impulse and Grian. Out of the three, Impulse had seemed the most normal, only having red eyes instead of the golden brown he usually sported. Ren had seemed fine at first, but then in the attack from the creeper, the shifter had killed Etho, acting like an attacked wolf. And then Grian for the most part had been acting like a bird, though near the end…

A moobloom trotted over, pulling Etho out of his thoughts. It nuzzled against Hypno, who happily reciprocated. Still worried about the other hermit and the effects the environment was having on him, Etho forcefully separated the two, needing to attack the animal to make it flee.

“What was that for Etho? It was just being friendly.”

“Right now, we need to be cautious of everything. Especially those cows and all the flowers around here. Because in case you forgot, growing horns like that is not normal. Plus, we could use the food right now.”

Hypno huffed. “We’ll use up more energy trying to kill it than we would get from anything it drops. It’s better to let us willingly help us than-”

Etho suddenly held up a finger to shush Hypno, letting them listen to the breeze. “Do you hear that?”

Hypno listened, only hearing a few moos from the nearby moobloom. “The cows?”

“Well, okay yeah. But it’s more what I’m not hearing.” And then Etho pulled out his communicator. Hypno watched as Etho stared at the screen, mask moving ever so slightly as he mouthed counting up. But nothing was happening. At first, Hypno didn’t get what was so important until he pulled out his own communicator. No death messages were coming in. Specifically none from Impulse.

“Impulse got out.” Hypno said, whispering in disbelief. “Someone must have found him.”

Etho nodded. “Yeah, but the question is who.” And then almost immediately, it was answered.

Zedaph was slain by impulseSV

If there was one thing that was a benefit to respawning in the same place every time, it was the fact that no matter how many times Impulse died, the guardians wouldn’t disappear. Meaning that after a few attempts, he finally killed one of the monsters giving him grief. Just being able to slay one of them felt freeing with all the torment he was currently being put through, but that wasn’t the only benefit.

When the guardian died, it dropped two things, a prismarine shard and some cod. Impulse greedily grabbed at the items, stuffing the shard in his inventory and then stuffing the fish in his mouth. After not eating in so long, the fish seemed like the most heavenly food in the world, though Impulse had other ideas on why that was the case.

Here and there, guardians had completely ignored him. Sometimes he felt like he was getting a full breath of air even though he was still stuck in the water. He hadn’t missed the webbing between his fingers and toes growing each respawn nor the scales that appeared and itched like crazy. Half of Impulse would have preferred drowning forever instead of whatever this was, but his other half realized that it was likely his only way out.

Another respawn left him fumbling for his prismarine shard, using it to dig into the nearby blocks. Along with the claw-like nails he had gained, Impulse was able to break another block, making him smile at first, but then his expression dropped. With the way the temples were constructed, the walls weren’t that thick. Instead of gaining an air pocket, he had just broken into another chamber.

“Impulse.”

In anger, Impulse took the prismarine shard and used it against the next guardian he saw.

“Impulse.”

He started by using it like a knife and jamming it into the eye of the beast, making it flail and spread its spikes.

“Impulse.”

As the world around him seemed to fade into blues and golds, Impulse kept attacking, needing to get his anger out somehow.

“Impulse. Impulse. Impulse.” And then Impulse felt like he was falling, but he still thrashed around, trying to stop whatever it was. Then the next thing he knew, it was like gravity had increased drastically, leaving him pressed against the floor. Something moved and he attacked it, surprised to find it feeling much fluffier than the guardians had been. There was a sound, like someone talking, but why would anyone be talking with him stuck all alone. Etho maybe? Was he back?

As the creature died in his hands, Impulse looked towards the sound. The first thing he noticed was that Etho’s eyes were now both red. Even the sclera were red. He had also dyed his hair blond, and gotten rid of his mask, and well that wasn’t Etho at all. Impulse kicked his legs to try and swim closer, only to finally realize he wasn’t underwater anymore.

The moment Impulse realized he was out of the sea temple, he started taking gulps of air. His lungs had already started breathing it all, but now he was trying to get as much oxygen as he could before he drowned again. A part in the back of his mind told him he couldn’t drown right now, but his mental state wasn’t the best right now.

“Hey Impulse. Calming down now?” Tango was asking, and Impulse looked over, glad to see his friend. He nodded, which got Tango to smile before looking off towards the horizon. Impulse briefly followed Tango’s eyes before his hand moved and he felt the soft wool of the carpets beneath him. It almost felt overwhelming how different it was compared to the past week plus that he had been stuck in the temple. But it was also good, so he wrapped himself up before following Tango’s eyes once more.

“What’s that way?” Impulse spoke, voice feeling unfamiliar from disuse and possibly alterations that matched everything else going on with him.

“Zed. I’m hoping he’ll be able to find us again since I have made a bit of a path.”

Impulse tilted his head before noticing his inventory had many more items. “Did he get killed or something?”

“Yeah, you sort of killed him when we first summoned you in.” Tango explained, and Impulse felt horrified. Him? Kill Zedaph? For a prank or something, sure, that was believable, But this had been from pure bloodlust at the time.

“I killed him? Oh no! I didn’t know! It had been a guardian at first, and then I was falling, and then I was-”

“Hey, calm down.” Tango replied. He took a step toward Impulse, obviously to comfort him, but then Impulse was surprised to see his friend change their mind and step back again. “Zed and I figured something like this might happen. We would have made beds to set our spawn, but we haven’t been collecting wool that much, so at most we would have had just one piece.”

Impulse chucked a little after realizing there were no sheep around. “What? Did Zedaph finally grow his hair out enough?” And he expected Tango to laugh in return, but the frown that appeared didn’t bode well.

“Impulse, do you… realize what you look like?” Tango asked, and then Impulse looked down at his hand and flexed it.

“What’s happened with Zedaph?”

Tango took a few steps to the side and a moment later the nearby leaves of a tree caught fire. “Zed and I have had both of our more animal-esque traits acting up. I’m burning just about any flammable thing that gets close to me and his wool is growing out of control. There’s other stuff too but…”

“But even if you’re not ending up like me, you’re still dealing with your own things.”

“Hey! I’m back! And it looks like Impulse has not killed you!”

Hels cut down a hoglin that was in the way of he and Wels as they travelled the nether. Wels was reluctantly following, his copy being the only reason he was doing so well right now. Well that, and the fact that he was promising some sort of shelter. They went a bit further, and then Wels spotted something that was clearly man made, making him try to run forward for shelter before he was grabbed by Hels. “Don’t run ahead idiot. I just know that you’ll manage to die if you try that and we’ll have to start all over.”

“Well I’m sure I could find a way to survive fine on my own.”

“Sure you could.” Hels said, obviously sarcastic. “And your death messages make that so very believable. Tell me, have you noticed anything odd about your situation, other than being stuck in the nether.”

“Well, chat hasn’t been working right and I can’t regenerate my health.”

“Right… Well, what have you been eating?” Hels asked as they finally reached the door to the helsmit’s base, opening it to let Wels inside.

“Mainly crimson fungi or the rare pork if I can chip enough health away from a hoglin.” Wels answered, linking himself to the respawn anchor sitting inside.

“That fungi is only edible to hoglins you know.” Hels said, closing the door and then crossing his arms.

“Well obviously that’s not the case here.” And then Wels made his point by munching down on a mushroom he still had in his inventory.

Hels pursed his lips before yanking the fungi out of Wels’ hand and then smashing the knight’s head against a nearby wall. “Spit that out right now or I’ll go again until I break your tusks.”

“My what?” Wels asked, reluctantly spitting out the half chewed fungus.

“You’re an idiot. How did you not notice you were growing tusks?”

And Wels didn’t have an answer, just letting his hand go to his mouth and feel what were definitely tusks. “When did-”

“Who knows. My guess is it's something with this world. It’s not like any of us want to be here.”

Wels looked back over to Hels at that comment, a questioning look on his face. “Evil Xisuma approached me a few weeks ago. He was planning to get into the new season before the rest of you so he could keep from getting banned and put some action into play with his brother and a number of the other hermits. I wasn’t as interested in his plan, but having fun on the server on my own seemed like a good idea to me. A few others were planning to join us, but I’m sure they haven’t followed along. So as far as I’m aware, it is only Evil Xisuma and I trapped here with all of you.”

“Well, at the very least neither of us are stuck here alone.” Wels spoke, trying to give a positive spin on things.

“I would have preferred to be alone.” Hels replied. “You’ll use up more of my resources. That being said, my guess is you’re necessary for whatever is going on around here to stop. So until that’s fixed or I learn otherwise, I am reluctantly helping you.”

“Alright, that sounds fine for now. And you said Evil Xisuma is here too, correct? Any clue where he could be?”

Bdubs stared down at the void below his feet, glad to have stopped moving, though his gut was still getting used to that change. The guy in pink armor next to him was reluctantly patting his back as another wave of nausea hit and he started to dry heave. “Th-Thanks.”

“Whatever. I just know what being stuck in the void is like so I have a little sympathy.”

“Well glad to know I’m not the only one stuck in this situation. Not that that’s a good thing.”

“Right.” The armored person deadpanned, looking down at the void as well.

Bdubs was quiet for a little before looking over to his savior. “So then, I don’t really think I caught your name in all our yelling to heave both of us up here.”

The other person raised an eyebrow at Bdubs, as if to ask if he was serious, then being a little surprised when he was. The person hesitated, looking down, not to the void but more at their lap, then a hand fiddled with their hair before they finally looked back at Bdubs. “Name’s Xannes.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Bdubs!” And he held out a hand, pausing as he noticed the state it was in.

Xannes took the hand carefully and shook it, before helping it back to Bdubs’ side. “Side effect of the void. I’m more protected because of my armor, but you don’t have that.”

“Well now I’m actually upset about not having armor, even if it were pink.”

Xannes looked incredulous at that before putting his hands on his hips. “Hey, this is simply a… lightish red.”

“You mean pink.”

“Lightish. Red.”

“Lightish red is red mixed with white. And what does that give you? Pink. You’ve got pink armor.”

“Alright, so maybe it’s supposed to be pink.” Xannes conceded. “But my color is red, and this isn’t my armor, I’m simply borrowing it. So for anyone else, it would be pink, but as long as I wear it, it’s a lightish red.”

“Whatever you say.”

Xannes sighed and then carefully took Bdubs’ hand again. “Alright, so looking again, this doesn’t quite look as natural as being stuck in the voice can make it. Obviously that’s because none of this is natural. Even though it wouldn’t help me in the long run if it were working, I have tested plenty with my communicator and learned a number of things. First, we are not the only ones in a situation like this.”

“Yeah.” Bdubs agreed. “I already met Scar stuck on one of the islands below.”

“Noted.” Xannes nodded. “Well, others have similar odd spawns. I- Someone named Impulse had been stuck in a guardian temple, a Docm77 has been sent to his death by goats. X-Xisuma has been dealing with a warden.” Xannes started to explain, voice getting quieter at the last example, though Bdubs didn’t notice.

“And the void stuff?”

“If I knew more about what was going on, I could tell you. But as it stands, I can just tell your limbs seem to have a form of void-bite and your eyes are as dark as the void itself.”

Bdubs leaned back a little in shock at the comment. “Wait, really?” And then he was fishing into his shirt before pulling out a knife, Xannes’ eyes widening at the weapon. Bdubs held the blade up, briefly putting it back down to shine it against his shirt before using it as a mirror and then staring into it. Sure enough, his eyes seemed to go on forever into their sockets, pure darkness filling them.

“How many knives do you have?” Xannes asked, tearing Bdubs’ gaze from the weapon.

“Huh? Oh, I’ve got plenty. Want one?” And he pulled out another, only the tiniest bit worried about being stabbed by the unfamiliar person. But instead of stabbing him, Xannes simply threw the knife off the edge, watching it fall down. “What was that for?”

Xannes didn’t really reply, just holding a finger up for Bdubs to wait. Reluctantly, he did, but then got restless as time seemed to drag on. Any time he attempted to talk, he would just get shushed, making it feel even worse. Finally, out of nowhere, the knife suddenly fell past them, making Bdubs jump back enough that he nearly fell off their gateway and into the void, but Xannes grabbed him before that could happen and pulled him back in.

“Well then, it seems like a loop around the void lasts around two and a half minutes.” Xannes stated, shifting to turn his body and move to a different part of the gateway. “I guess it would be less on a second loop after already reaching terminal velocity, but it's good to know. I know something has been flying past here ever so often but I was still sort of stuck on the side of this thing for most of it, then I was dealing with you, so… you get the idea.”

“You telling me everything’s looping up and down like us?” Bdubs asked, looking around the sky, or what passed for it in the end.

“Us and anything non-living. I’ve already seen that there have been three void related deaths by Scar, Etho and TinFoilChef.”

“Well so far I’ve only seen Scar and you.” Bdubs replied. “I guess those other two are stuck around here too.”

“The chef, yes, but I’m not so sure about the other.” And Xannes handed his comm to Bdubs, showing a list of death messages, all belonging to Etho. “I have a function that lets me sort these messages. It’s very handy.” And then he reached off to the side, catching a comm as it fell from the air. “And this would be yours. I’ve seen it here and there… To be honest, it seems like it takes more than two or so minutes. We might need to test more.”

Bdubs swapped their communicators before looking down at the abyss below. “Well, Scar’s somewhere down there, I already found him once. I’m gonna see if I can get to him again and you can do whatever while I’m falling.”

Xannes rubbed his chin and then nodded. “Alright, go ahead. I’ll look out for you. If you respawn, wait a loop for me to catch you because I don’t have omniscient reaction time.”

“Sounds good to me.” Bdubs replied with a smile, then jumped into the void once more, ignoring the fear that came with it.

Scar rolled around on the end stone, trying to get to sleep. Sure, beds didn’t work in the end, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t sleep. It just wasn’t restful enough to keep phantoms away or set a spawn. Not like he needed to set a spawn three blocks away from his current one.

But right now, there was too much noise. The endermen were slowly losing their cool with Scar and he was also hearing the whispering of the vex. To be honest, that was probably why huge endermen were acting as they were. Void magic didn’t like to work with other magic.

But even with all of that, Scar really wanted to sleep for another reason. The whispers of the vex weren’t the only new thing with him. He had polished the pillar near him as just something to do other than wait around. The end rod in particular he shined until it was just mirror-like enough that he saw his green eyes were now vex blue. From that, he checked himself over a bit more and found that his eyes weren’t the only change. He seemed to be an inch or three shorter and his skin was definitely paler than before. He didn’t have wings again, but he knew it would only be a matter of time.

Scar really didn’t want to use any more help from the vex yet, knowing it would speed things up. He wanted to keep hope out for seeing Bdubs again before doing anything since it could be his last chance before a deal was needed once more. If he could just-

“Convex.” A much clearer whisper spoke, making Scar jump a little. “Are you sure a deal is such a bad thing at this stage in time?”

“Oh no no no no no.” Scar insisted, standing up and waving his hands in refusal. “I’m sure I’ll be better use to my friends if I’m not mostly stuck working with you guys.”

“What if you were not working for us?” The whisper asked, making Scar pause.

“Wait? I’m Convex because I can’t become true vex because of Xisuma and him tainting me and Cub with the void or something. I would think now being stuck in the end would make it worse, not better!”

“You still cannot, that is true. But a new evoker is being trained, one also tainted by the void. And I believe you would want to work with them.”

Scar inhaled sharply at the implication, knowing that it must be a hermit they were referring to. He fumbled in pulling his communicator out and then scrolled through all the death messages before finally seeing what he wanted. Death messages to vindicators and evokers, both about Mumbo. “So clarification on this deal?”

“You will still be considered Convex, but on a higher level than before. Not quite at the level of standard vex however. But during this, you will be linked to the new evoker, and cannot be released unless they themselves will it. And you should not will your release either.”

“Yeah, yeah, if that’s all, sure!” Scar agreed quickly, so excited he didn’t really take the time to think it over. Then suddenly he could feel more magic flowing into him. So much it felt like a red hot iron pressed all over his body, especially at his scars. And then it was gone, and he was left panting on the ground.

He didn’t know how long he had been there, but suddenly his name was shouted and Scar managed to lift his head up. He saw Bdubs rocking down towards him again and suddenly felt stronger again, getting a burst of energy and moving towards the builder. New wings spread from his back and let him fly, keeping him above the void as he grabbed his friend and then slowed them before reaching the abyss below, then slowly dragging them back up.

“Bdubs! Are you okay?!” Scar asked the moment they were both on the endstone, only staying on his feet for a second before his knees buckled beneath him.

“Am I okay? Am I okay?! I’m on the sweet sweet ground again!” And then he kissed the stone beneath him. “What about you? You look… not Scar but sound normal.”

“I can explain more in a bit. There’s an end city just over that way and I want to get something so we can start towards the main island. I’ll see if there’s elytra for you.”

“Oh no. I don’t think I ever want to fly again. If anyone, give it to Xannes.”

“Who?”

“Okay, guess my story first.”

On the main island, TFC dodged another attack from the dragon. She had been attacking less frequently, which was good and bad in his eyes. No attacking meant less dying, but TFC needed her attacks to even attempt destroying all the crystals. Because there was no way she was dying to fists alone with them still around.

That all being said, TFC had a sneaking suspicion on why exactly that was happening. His prosthetics were built to match his remaining limbs in function, but gradually over the past few respawns, they were becoming off balance. In trying to fix them, TFC realized he was less human than before, claws on his hands and feet, and tenderness at his tailbone and shoulder blades.

TFC was old, that much was true. And because of that, he had seen all sorts of situations. While for the most part the problems of this world were new to TFC, adaptations were not. A number of present day hybrids were a result of that. Heck, mob variants were also sourced from suce and occurrence. So yeah, TFC was not too surprised about seemingly becoming a dragon hybrid.

Thinking it over, in the long run it would likely give him just enough of an upper hand to defeat the dragon, but there was also the concern of how long it would take to get to that point and how far these alterations would go. If this went too far, the world itself could mistake him for a new ender dragon, and even after killing the real one, no portal would form due to his existence.

Well, if that was the case, he would need to figure out what it was that made the existence of the dragon close the portal and see if he could reverse it. Especially since he recalled at least one or two hermits were supposed to be stuck in the end with him. Though that did give him another idea. Maybe he didn’t have to keep fighting if the dragon opened the portal herself.

The next time TFC respawned, he waited, giving her time to rest. When he was sure the dragon was fully healed again, the miner made his way to the podium and waited. The dragon swooped a few times, giving some warning shots, but she didn’t attack TFC directly, and he made no move to attack the crystals. She didn’t look happy, but TFC had plenty of time to wait.

In a bout of frustration, ink was spilled over the floor, making Mumbo even more frustrated than before. He didn’t understand the need for learning another language just for spells. He was sure that knowing the characters that appeared with enchanting would be enough, but apparently the illagers had their own writing system. At the very least, Mumbo recognized a character or two that Scar or Cub must have had written down, but it still felt like he was learning a new language from scratch.

With ink all over the place, Mumbo paused to work on cleaning everything up. He had ruined nearly all his materials, so now he would have to attempt to get more or find an illager who would assist him in such a task. Paper was easy enough to get, a farm already set up in the mansion, but Mumbo hadn’t automated it yet, so there wasn’t going to be much to reap. And squid ink wasn’t something they just had on hand.

Mumbo reached the farming room and grabbed what sugarcane had grown, taking the reeds over to a crafting table then cutting and pressing them into paper. He only managed to make six pages from all of that and didn’t have the material to bind them into a book.Instead of leaving the room, Mumbo put the paper into a nearby chest and then pulled out his redstone materials.

As Mumbo built, he decided to multitask by using redstone dust to practice some of the characters he needed to learn. He couldn’t remember the normal order of the characters, so he just wrote them at random. He never really focused on the characters, so he didn’t notice when a few in a line started to glow a bit. In fact, he was just pausing his writing to work on fixing a bit of redstone, his head stuck in the contraption.

His hand blindly reached for some string to add as a tripwire, but he was about half a foot to the wrong side of his pile of materials. When Mumbo’s hand started to go further, it was stopped by some thread being placed in his hand. The redstoner said his thanks and then strung it up before pausing and pulling his head out.

Standing nearby was someone Mumbo immediately recognized, not knowing anyone else with a bright red sweater like that. Not caring that he was currently covered in redstone dust, Mumbo jumped at the newcomer and hugged them tightly, so glad to see a familiar face. “Grian! You’re okay! How did you get here? Where are the bots? Are you alright?”

But pulling away again, Mumbo watched as Grian just blinked at him, seeming a little confused. “I think you may be mistaken and confused, my mustachioed friend. I mean, I am okay and I got here because of you, but I’m not sure what you mean by bots and well, you were trying to take to someone named Grian.”

Mumbo furrowed his brows. Looking them over again, he could tell this had to be Grian. His clothes and hair and everything were the same. He couldn’t quite tell about their eyes because they were wearing a mask, but it matched the one he had seen Grian with in the past, a black mark on its face instead of the purple Eflyn expected. The only thing unfamiliar were the wings. Shape and pattern wise, they matched the wings Grian had, but the colors of the feathers were no longer red yellow and blue, but purple grey and black.

“Well then. If you’re not Grian, then who are you?” Mumbo asked, and the person giggled slightly.

“I could have swore you already knew, but I guess not. The name is Xelqua, but don’t go throwing it around to just anyone.” And just hearing it reminded Mumbo. It had been a name Grian had told him before.

“Well, if you don’t want me throwing it around, I’m going to have to call you something.” Mumbo spoke up, Xelqua seeming to agree. “Since I already mistook you for him and he’s not around, how about I call you Grian.”

��Hmm.” Grian thought about it before shaking his head. “Just you and me, you can call me Xelqua. Otherwise just Watcher is fine, okay?”

“But I-” Mumbo started to say, and then there was a clatter, making Mumbo and Grian look over at the door where Eflyn was standing.

“Well. It seems we have another guest then…”

Joe had paused in his material gathering. It was just going to be for a little bit, but he needed to clear his head. And the best idea he had for that was climbing the tower at spawn the correct way. Sure, he could try climbing from the outside or something, finding a window, but at this point these were definitely Watchers, and Joe was very much aware that they were not to be messed with.

Joe needed to pause on a platform to hold his head, a headache forming. It had been coming and going for a while, but it didn’t feel so bad now, the tower already lit up pretty well. As he waited, his other hand clutched at the wall as best it could, just feeling the texture of the wall, as if to check that it was real. “Guess you really couldn’t have been swayed, now could you?” Joe asked, speaking into the empty air around him. “Well maybe after this mess we can try it again.”

Joe climbed a few more parts of the parkour that acted as steps before nearly falling to a sudden splitting headache. He half considered letting go and trying again, there being enough hay lining the floor below to break his fall, but he had already gotten so far. And maybe if he could get to the top of the tower…

It had been ages ago when Joe had first met a Watcher. From what he could tell, it was even the first Watcher to exist. One that eventually disappeared to time that not even the other Watchers knew what happened. He wasn’t an expert of whatever the Watchers exactly were, but it had been enough that he recognized Grian as one pretty quickly when they first met in season six. Though that was partially from that not being their first meeting.

Yes, Joe had been along for a very long time. Which is why he was not happy with everything going on. But he had a bargaining chip in the form of knowledge, so getting to the top might be the one place to try and use it.

His headache passed and the glow from his eyes faded. Joe pulled himself back onto the platform and then adjusted his glasses. Just a bit more to go until he was at the top.

Doc woke up in a wood hut, lying in a bed. His back and head hurt, getting worse when he attempted to move to get up. He tried to remember what happened last, but suddenly being knocked unconscious wasn’t the best thing to try and remember. Looking around in a way that didn’t hurt as much, he was able to see a chest as well as something lying on the ground to his right.

Some crackling implied there was also a furnace running nearby. Mixed with that was some slight banging of metal from crafting and the hum of a tune that was familiar to Doc, but he couldn’t quite place it.

Another attempt to sit up left Doc yelp slightly in pain, stopping the humming and crafting sounds, getting replaced with footsteps that came towards him. “Are you awake this time?”

“Grumbot?” Doc asked, vaguely recognizing the robot that appeared in front of him. He only really distinctly knew his larger form, only seeing him and his brother at this size when they were just about to leave their previous world.

“Yeah. looks like you are. We have some bread if you’re hungry.” Grum spoke in a quiet voice that felt so odd compared to how energetic the hermits usually were. That being said, it had been a while since he had seen anyone else, so it might have just been from what others were dealing with. “I also left some of the wheat as wheat if you prefer that.”

“What? Why would I want that? Bread sounds fine.”

“Okay, I wasn’t sure if you were like dad or not.” Grum said before he went over to the chest, giving Doc a moment to think things over.

“Dad as in Grian or Mumbo?”

“Grian.” Grum answered, pulling out some food. “He was with us on the mountain. Everything was getting to him, so he started eating seeds instead of other stuff.”

“Okay. Is he out getting supplies or something?” Doc asked and then Grum’s face shifted to something sadder. “What happened to Grian?”

“I don’t know.” Grum spoke, managing to be quieter than before. “He just disappeared and Jrum and I were stuck alone on the mountain. And then I messed up.” And it took all of Doc’s willpower to not sit up and possibly hurt himself in the process with how sad Grum sounded in that moment.

“Why? What happened?”

“Someone figured out how to send messages in chat by accident. Jrum and I noticed, and we were going to try it out for ourselves, but it didn’t go right. And now Jrum… Jrum didn’t respawn right.”

And with that comment, Doc realized what was on the ground nearby. Jrum’s body was laid out, screen dark and body unmoving. “How long has he been like that?”

“A few days I think. It got really snowy so I couldn’t quite tell. Then I got busy digging through the snow until I found some ice to break.”

“And that must have been the waterfall I took down off the mountain.” Doc said, making Grum look a little sheepish.

“Sorry about hitting you when I fell. I freaked out a bit and then you were there and I couldn’t react in time. I’m sure if it was anyone else, they would have been in worse shape.”

“Why’s that?” Doc asked, though he had an idea based on which side of him ached more.

“Well, your metal parts helped protect you plus I think your thicker skull helped from a concussion.”

“My what?”

“Oh, I thought you…” Grum said, trailing off. “Um, so I think more weird stuff is happening than just being stuck wherever.”

“Yeah, I knew that.” Doc said. “Creeper instincts have been kicking in like crazy.”

“Well, your death messages mentioned goats a lot. It looks like because of that, you’ve started turning into a goat hybrid as well.”

“I’ve what?” Doc asked, incredulously. He ignored the pain from moving when he started feeling himself over, finally finding horns coming from his head. “Oh… huh…”

Grum forced Doc back down to a resting position before feeding him some bread. Here, how about I tell you what I know about, then you can tell me what you know.

“Sounds good to me.”

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osmw1 · 6 years ago

Text

Dimension Wave Chapter 12 — A Shadow Creeping from the Darkness

“Cleaver!”

My Iron Chef’s Knife glows red as I shout the skill name out loud. I begin to spin then use the centrifugal force to cut down the Darkness Lizardman with great strength. Swish! The knife goes cleanly through the Darkness Lizardman’s right hand and, along with the bastard sword it was carrying, it falls to the ground.

“I bagged one. You all good there, Shouko?” “Completely fine! Wild Dance the Second: Bloom!”

Once Shouko opened her glowing fan, flower petals dances through the air like some sort of special effect and tear into the two Darkness Lizardman. One of them gets cut down but the other swings its bastard sword at Shouko. She catches the blade between her fan and cleanly snaps it into two.

“Recharge…”

As Shouko mutters, her fan begins to glow white. Then, she attacks the Darkness Lizardman by thrusting her fan. She probably didn’t need the helping hand, but at the same time, I stab the Darkness Lizardman with my Iron Chef’s Knife. Our combined efforts take down the monster.

“Are you injured, Kizuna?” “No, not at all. I did better than I thought I would but fighting two at once might be too much.”

I did get hit once, but it was nothing. Not to mention, I earned more Energy than I lost, so it’s a net profit. Then suddenly, Shouko’s folding fan glows even brighter. Her offensive skills often need to charge up before they can be used. It can be anywhere from 10 seconds to three minutes. The longer it gets charged, the brighter and more powerful her fan is. While it’s charging, she fights and blocks normally. If I had to nitpick, I’d say that the fan is kinda mediocre at both offense and defense. Most of the offensive skills are area of effect and so it doesn’t do a lot of damage. Plus, it doesn’t block as well as a proper shield would.

“Alright, then I’mma gut them up. Cover me, alright?” “I have your back.”

I point my Iron Chef’s Knife towards the Darkness Lizardman I killed. I start with scaling the monster and quietly mutter out a skill.

“Speed Gutting…”

It takes a lot less time with the skill activated. Plus, it’s not mentioned in the description, but there are two other effects that it grants you. The first one is that it increases the success rate. That’s why even when I do it so quickly, I get as many items as I would when I gut carefully. The second hidden effect is that the user feels a lot lighter and nimble. I’m guessing attack speed and gutting speed are both calculated the same way. Anyway, I gotta hurry up and butcher all three of them. We might be safe now, but who knows what’ll happen.

Clink!

The sound of Shouko parrying the enemy’s attack rings out. She’s already engaged in another fight. Enemies are coming quicker than I expected. Gotta hurry this up. We decided ahead of time that when I’m breaking down corpses and there are less than three baddies, then I’ll finish up before helping to fight. I get that it’s my job, but I’m still getting anxious about ignoring Shouko. I gotta do what I gotta do though.

“All done. And it looks like you’re fine too.”

As I finish gutting the three monsters, Shouko lands the finishing blow on the Darkness Lizardman. Needless to say, I go and cut up that fresh carcass too.

“How are you doing with your Energy levels?” “Aren’t you using skills more than I am?” “I have Energy Production X, so this is no problem to me at all.”

Two levels higher than me, huh? That’s an ex-frontliner for you. Even her skills are way beyond mine. Meanwhile, I finish up gutting and put the items in my inventory.

“Whew…”

I take a deep breath in the middle of this lull. All around us is forest, pitch black. The paper lantern Shouko brought with her is the only light source around. There’s not even a single star to shine down upon us. We’ve set up camp in the cave we found along the way. It’s been two hours since we’ve started, and I think we got the hang of it.

“Kizuna, how are you feeling? Are you tired yet?” “No, I’m good.” “Do not push yourself, okay? Even slight mistakes will cost us our lives as Spirits.” “This is nothing compared to the gaming sessions I was subjected to by Tsugumi.” “I see. Then, shall we continue for another hour?”

According to Shouko, Darkness Lizardmen are pretty good for experience. We’ve encountered a good number of them and so we’ve got a good number of items too. On the contrary, we encountered no other players to far. And, thanks to Shouko, we’ve been steadily chugging along. The biggest weakness right now is how dark it is. Maybe it woulda been better if I’d taken Night Vision. I have more than 20,000 Energy right now and I’m earning more at a good pace.

“…?” “What’s up? Did something happen?”

Shouko has an odd expression on her face. It’s the first time I’ve seen her like that and so I asked.

“No, but I hear something.”

You hear something? I perk up my ears too. Of course, I don’t have any skills or anything for better hearing, so I don’t actually hear any better. But…

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud.

She’s right. Footsteps of some kind.

“… over there!”

Shouko swings her fan at seemingly nothing. But, as she struck something with an audible smack, a somewhat transparent figure appears with a puff of smoke.

“Please, hold! I am not thine enemy!”

A ninja-looking figure clad in all black appeared. I bet he used a camouflaging skill like Hiding or something. And really? “Thine enemy”? What a clichéd character to roleplay.

“Your lies will not work on me. What are your true intentions for creeping up to us?! Speak!” “’Tis a misunderstanding! I am merely trying to escape a boss monster!” “A pathetic excuse!”

Shouko didn’t relent with her hounding, so I’ll cut it short. In any case, Shouko is being very suspicious of this figure in black and so I try to be the liaison.

“Well, let’s give him a chance to explain himself. Alright?” “If you say so, Kizuna…”

I soothe Shouko’s suspicions as I turn towards the ninja.

“So? Why were you hiding from us?” “Thou art mistaken; I did not mean to hide from thee. As I have said, I had been chased by a boss monster as I was gathering materials with dark attributes. Unfortunately, I encountered something more than I can tackle by myself and so, I escaped with my camouflaging skill to misdirect the monster.” “Hmph. Assuming you’re telling the truth, then where is the boss monster?”

I have a bad feeling about it, so I had to ask.

“It is in front of us, in the cave.” “I knew it…”

I had a feeling that might be the case when I first heard his excuse. Nervously, I take a look at the cave, but I can’t see well since it’s so dark.

“It is visible for me as I have acquired Night Vision.” “I see. Well then, my next question is what do we do about it?”

This Forest of Eternal Darkness blocks players from using teleporting items like “Tome of Returning” to send us back to town. There’s only one path and it leads directly to the cave. And that cave has now been taken over by a boss monster.

“What do you take us for?! We will not so simply perish!”

Shouko is unusually flustered. But she’s right. Us Spirits don’t die. Rather, when we lose all of our Energy, we just get really, really weak. We get sent back to level 1, you could say. Thinking about our situation carefully, it flusters me a little too. If we mess up, then we’ll lose all of the Energy we’ve earned up till now. Anyone got a good idea or anything?

“Please, take me with thee. I shan’t perish either!” “Hold on. I know why we won’t die, but why you too? Other races have penalties for getting defeated, right?” “It is for I am a Spirit.” “…”

I applied my palm directly to my forehead. They say there aren’t many Spirits in this game, yet there are three of us in this dungeon with practically nobody in it? Talk about a miracle.

“So are we.” “Pray tell, are we the same peoples?” “I would say that I am very pleased to meet another one of us, but not under these circumstances.” “I agree.”

If we had only met in different circumstances. Well, whatever. We’re still in this together.

“However, we should brace for this adversity we are about to face, though I do not mean to force it upon you. It is more so whether we are able to or not.” “Yeah, Shouko’s got a point.”

I don’t think any old plan would work against this monster. No matter how weak it might be, it’s still a boss. I’m not sure if our weapons would be any good against it. I really doubt we’d win in a head-on fight. Not to mention, we can’t rely on ninja boy. Why? Well, he literally was just running away from the boss.

“Let me atone for this sin through death!” “Hold your horses. Don’t jump to that from the get go.” “Oh, little Miss…”

… little Miss? I mean, I guess I look like a grade schooler. My character, I mean.

“It’s Kizuna. Don’t call me ‘little Miss’.” “It is my pleasure. Please call me Yamikage.” “… you a ninja or something?” “I did not know there were still ninjas.” “It’s because we’re in a game…” “O-Oh, but of course…”

Our introductions were short, but sweet. The guy clad in all black is Yamikage. Quite the stereotypical ninja. We’ve got a tomboyish GIRL, a traditional Japanese lady, and a old-timey ninja. … god, this is such an embarrassing party.

“Is the boss still in the cave?” “I see no signs of it moving.” “And just to make sure, what’s its name?”

I then quickly give Shouko a look. She always pays attention to the details, so she’d be useful now. But it doesn’t seem like she understands what my glance at her meant. You could almost see the question mark above her head.

No good, huh?

Well, we’ve technically only met today. I guess it was too much to expect to be able to communicate through our eyes. And by the way, what I meant was to check with her whether that name is correct or not. Who knows if Yamikage is laying? Maybe he’ll try to monster player kill or something.

“’Tis the Lizardman Dark Knight.” “The answer’s almost obvious but can the three of us beat it?” “That is unlikely.” “Aye, ‘tis an impossibility.”

It wouldn’t be a boss monster otherwise… It has been decided from time immemorial that boss monsters in MMOs are extremely difficult. Some raid bosses need nearly 10 people at once to be defeated. We might be up against something like that. But it doesn’t mean we’re completely out of ideas yet. It’s just that we might have to resort to cheesing the boss.

“Whatever. Do y’all have any ideas on what we can do?” “Aye. Perhaps we can run past the monster.” “You know, you escaped away from the monster by the skin of your teeth, right? Do you really think we can outrun it?” “’Tis another impossibility.”

So, we can’t escape it. Then, Shouko puts up her hand. I look straight at her.

“What’s your plan?” “How about we have someone act as a decoy?” “It wouldn’t be too difficult. But who’d it be?” “Since I have brought it up, let me take that role.”

It doesn’t sound like a bad plan, but I don’t like it. Shouko had already lost a lot of Energy by being defeated by another boss. It’s just my personal opinion, but I wouldn’t like to have that happen to a Spirit buddy.

“I’m against it.” “Nay for me as well.”

Surprisingly, Yamikage voted against that plan too. Maybe he’s looking at it from a Spirit’s perspective too.

“But why? Is it not our best plan?” “If we were to use Madam Hakoniwa’s plan, then let me be the decoy.” “Forgive me for being rude, but I believe both you and Kizuna lacks the defense. Besides, I have defensive skills with my folding fan. If I am lucky, then I shall be able to escape too.” “But, I had brought this problem to you. I cannot have Spirit comrades sacrifice their—”

I can’t believe that’s what they’re arguing back and forth about. They’re both so willing to make the sacrifice.

“I’m against either of you doing it. Why the hell are you guys so willing to throw down your lives?! What we should be focusing on is how to get all of us out alive, right?”

Both of them stare at the ground. This would totally be an emotional scene if this were a manga or something. Plus, there’s not much meaning to it if no one’s actually dying. We don’t know if Yamikage is going to accidentally MPK us either, let alone plotting doing so. Our first priority is to think of a better plan.

“Oh, right. I forgot to ask, but what skills do you have, Yamikage?” “I possess Night Vision I, Camouflage I, and Drain VII.” “Drain?” “It is dark magic which steals the enemy’s HP and MP.” “Huh. Didn’t know there’s a skill like that.” “Aye, that is correct. And as I am a Spirit, I would be absorbing Energy instead.”

That’s pretty handy, eh? But to have it at rank VII? That’s really high.

“Do you have a lot of Energy or something?” “Nay, such is not the case for me. I am but at around 20,000.” “20,000? That’s pretty much at my level then. How the heck did you get to rank VII already?” “I am losing 3,000 Energy each hour.”

… huh? To put it in other words, Yamikage’s spending Energy just to live? Our skills cost Energy to acquire. But because we can also take as many skills as we want, us Spirits can activate enough skills to be in the red. That’s how Yamikage’s losing 3,000 Energy per hour.

“Can you manage to earn anything?”

I guess you could call this high risk, high reward–style gameplay.

“I profit about 1,000 every day.”

So he says with a smug smile.

“Kizuna, he’s…”

Shouko is totally worried about his situation. I’m sure Yamikage can manage though. Well, I’d like to believe there are quite a few players who would do something like him. You could even say it’d be the more fun that way. By the way, our Energy levels are 20,000, 25,000, and 23,000 for Yamikage, Shouko, and I, respectively. Shouko also produces the most Energy out of all of us. In that case, Shouko’s plan might be our safest plan, but I wouldn’t never go through with it.

“Anyway, we can’t do anything if we can’t see the monster.” “Though, I am able to.” “Seeing is believing, as they say. I’d rather be able to see for myself. Let me get the skill too.”

I open up my menu and check under unacquired skills.

Night Vision I A skill for nighttime action. Activating the skill will counter any nighttime debuff. Consumes 200 Energy per hour. Costs 200 Mana to acquire. Unlock requirement: Be active for more than 24 hours during nighttime. Upgrade requirement: Be active for more than 168 hours during nighttime.

I take the skill and a look towards the cave. Since it’s only level I, it’s still pretty dark all around. But at least now I can see the outlines and silhouettes of the trees and stuff around us. … and there really is a boss monster there. It’s a humongous Lizardman clad in black metallic armor. In its hands are a massive lance and shield. There’s no way the three of us can beat it. And it doesn’t look like a folding fan can break its weapon either. And, did I mention that the guy is gigantic? Its physical appearance is definitely appropriate for a boss.

“… oh!” “Is something the matter?” “Maybe, just maybe…”

I tell them the plan that suddenly popped into my mind.

“Will this truly work?” “Probably. It’s an old trick I got from a game.” “Aye, but how shall we get its aggro?” “I think I might have an idea about that.”

This pinch we’re in might actually prove to be a good chance for us.

contents: /prologue/ /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /ch006/ /ch007/ /ch008/ /ch009/ /ch010/ /ch011/ /ch012/ /next/

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mindfulwrath · 8 years ago

Text

Silver, Part XI

Welcome to the Bad Decisions Club, we have jackets.

Words: 3,597 Warnings: none???

Part I Part X

Jekyll was so furious he couldn't see straight. He got back to the Society mostly on muscle memory. His head was full of red fog, bloody and fire-lit. His hands were clenched on the drawer, the wood biting into his flesh. He barely felt the pain. He barely felt anything at all.

The titters of surprise as he entered the Society only reached him distantly. Griffin and Helsby rushed up before he'd made it four steps. The moment he'd stopped—mostly to keep from trampling them—Pennebrygg and Flowers and Bird burrowed out of the woodwork to descend upon him.

"Yes, I'm fine," he said, deflecting their barrage of questions. "I'll tell you all about it later. Excuse me. No, I'm not injured. I really must get back to my lab. Excuse me. Yes, first thing in the morning, please do let go of my sleeve. . . ."

Thus dribbling politenesses, he managed to work his way to his laboratory door, dragging the lodgers along with him like Jupiter with its herd of moons. It took nearly five minutes for him to extract himself sufficiently that he could actually go into the laboratory and close the door behind him. He locked it immediately. He stood by it, holding very still, until the twittering voices of the lodgers had moved away.

The apologetic smile slithered off his face like a silk ribbon. He turned and went to the cabinet to the left of his desk, put the drawer back in its place. He plucked the bottle of wine off the desk.

He threw it out the open window as hard as he could. It shattered on the roof opposite. He stuffed his knuckles in his mouth and screamed into them until his breath ran out. He sank to his knees, folded until his forehead touched the floor. He wrapped his arms around himself, shivering, hissing his breaths through bared teeth.

For uncounted minutes, he remained there, shaking uncontrollably, dripping tears onto the hardwood. His chest was caving in. It hurt so much he thought he would die.

He never really understood you anyway.

"Be quiet!" Jekyll snarled, his voice cracking. "For God's sake, for once in your miserable life, shut up!"

For once, Hyde did as he was told.

Jekyll stayed curled up on the floor, letting the attack run its course. It was enough just to be safe. It was enough just to be himself. Despite everything else, at least he had managed that.

When his breath was coming a little easier and his knees had started to ache, he unfolded himself and went to close the window, shutting out the cold. Only his own reflection looked back at him from the glass. He creaked his way to the cheval glass and sat down with his back against it, exhausted. At some point he would have to go home. At some point he would have to fashion some sort of explanation. He supposed at some point he would have to find a new primary sponsor for the Society.

That money already dried up, said Hyde, coalescing over his shoulder. When you think about it, you haven't lost anything.

"You would say that," Jekyll said, too tired to argue with him. The pain was back in his chest, hollow. He wondered if his heart might be giving out. He wouldn't have minded terribly.

Because unlike you, I've always been able to look the truth in the eye, Hyde said. He didn't even know you. Not the real you. The moment he caught sight of it, he abandoned you. No real friend would do that. He was always unbearably clingy. He was always jealous of your work. It's not surprising he tried to make you abandon it for him.

Jekyll leaned his head back against the glass, his eyes drifting closed. A pair of arms draped over his shoulders, his chest. Hyde leaned his head against Jekyll's, soft as eiderdown.

Lanyon was always a small-minded fool, he went on. You know he never understood you. He was always trying to hold you back, always thinking he knew better. He was always ignoring your wishes. It's his fault this happened. He's the one who set us back. We're better off without him.

"He meant well," Jekyll said, without much conviction.

Of course, said Hyde. One phantasmal hand stroked the inside of Jekyll's arm. But we all know what the road to hell is paved in. We're on a different road, Henry. The road to the truth. It's only getting harder because we're getting close!

"You can't possibly know that," said Jekyll.

But you do, said Hyde. Isn't that the way of things? We've been at this long enough to know that's the way of things. You've just got to keep going, bear down and push through. And when it gets to be too much, I'll be here to ease the strain. I'll always be here for you.

Hyde's other hand carded through Jekyll's hair, tender and casual, fingers brushing against all the most pleasant spots.

"You're in an awful lot of trouble," Jekyll mumbled, leaning into the touch.

For now, said Hyde. You'll find a way to get us out of it. It's not a catastrophe, after all. It's only a setback.

"Only a setback, yes," said Jekyll. He really was incredibly tired.

That's right, Hyde said, soothing. All of this will blow over soon, and then everything will go back to normal. Better than normal, because you'll have less dead weight dragging you down. Onwards and upwards, Henry.

"Always," he said. He yawned. Hyde kissed his cheek chastely.

Go home and sleep, he said. After all you did to pull us out of the fire Lanyon set under our feet, you deserve it.

"Sounds like a wonderful idea," Jekyll said vaguely.

Of course it is, said Hyde. It was my idea, after all.

Jekyll cracked a smile. "Vain as ever."

What can I say, it suits me~

With a deep breath and a drawn-out groan, Jekyll heaved himself to his feet, shedding Hyde like a cloak. He rubbed his face and rolled his shoulders.

"God, what a mess," he muttered under his breath.

Sleep first, Hyde said. Then pessimism.

"There's no time for that," said Jekyll. "Either of them. We've lost an entire day. Again."

And again thanks to Lanyon. At least go home and change clothes.

Jekyll looked down at himself. He was still wearing Hyde's clothes, spattered with blood and grime. He winced.

"I walked into the Society looking like this, didn't I," he said.

You did, said Hyde. Knowing your lodgers, though, by morning they'll have convinced themselves you fought half the criminals in London bare-fisted and won.

He snorted. "You're not far off the mark," he said. He wrinkled his nose. "I suppose I had better change."

And have a bath. You smell horrific.

Jekyll rolled his eyes.

"You are simply determined to waste my time, aren't you." He checked his watch; it was nearly three o'clock in the morning.

I'm only trying to help. You can't very well go meeting sponsors looking—and smelling—like you do.

"Fine," he sighed. "If it will keep you quiet."

But of course, my dear doctor, said Hyde. The show's all yours.

Despite the hour, Jekyll was almost knocked off his feet by Poole just moments after opening the door. The man flung his arms around Jekyll and burst into tears.

"Oh, Dr. Jekyll!" he exclaimed, overcome by emotion. "Oh, sir!"

"Poole," Jekyll said mildly, uncomfortable but extremely flattered.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, dear me, where are my manners," Poole said, releasing him upon the instant and stepping back. His watery blue eyes were red with tears. He looked like he hadn't slept at all since Jekyll had last seen him. Jekyll sighed and embraced him.

"It's all right," he said, patting Poole's back while he sobbed. "I'm all right."

"Oh, we were terribly frightened, sir," Poole said, muffled by Jekyll's shirt. "After what happened to poor Mr. Guest, we were scared witless for you!"

"Yes," said Jekyll, a needle of guilt piercing through his chest and letting out all the warmth that had been welling up there. "I can only imagine."

Poole sniffled mightily and stepped back again, holding Jekyll out at arm's length like a father would hold his son.

"You're not hurt at all, sir, are you?" he asked.

"Not at all," Jekyll assured him. "Only a bit shaken up, that's all."

"Good," said Poole, with a decisive nod. "And if I should ever get my hands on that wretched Hyde, I shall—I shall give him a piece of my mind, sir, you may be sure of that!"

Jekyll laughed, overwhelmed with fondness for the man. He patted Poole's shoulder and extracted himself.

"I'm sure you would, Poole," he said. "Alas, I doubt you'll ever get the opportunity. We are well and truly rid of Mr. Hyde."

"He's dead, then?" He sounded entirely too excited at the prospect.

"Near enough, Poole," said Jekyll. "Near enough that it doesn't matter."

"Well!" said Poole. "And thank God."

"Thank God," Jekyll agreed. "If you'll excuse me, Poole, I think I would like a bath and a change of clothes."

"Of course, sir," said Poole, snapping to attention. "I shall have a bath drawn at once."

"You're a blessing, Poole," Jekyll said. "And I don't deserve you."

"Nonsense," Poole tutted. He bustled off, leaving Jekyll standing in the darkened entryway. Jekyll rubbed his face, feeling the exhaustion stealing up on him again.

"Oh, hell," he muttered.

Between the hours of four and nine a.m., Jekyll finally managed to make some headway. He finished his post-fire inventory of the Society's assets, wrote several letters to potential sponsors, and drafted some sensationalist pieces capitalizing on his presumed kidnapping. Apparently he'd been on the front page, which was excellent news. It was just the sort of publicity to bring in the crowds. He took a short break for some sort of breakfast, which unfortunately sent him into the kitchen, because he couldn't reasonably cajole anyone else into bringing him something.

As he'd feared, Rachel was there. She stiffened when he entered, and he nodded politely to her.

"Good morning, Miss Pidgley," he said.

"Morning," she said.

There were croissants. He nabbed a couple and checked that there was enough water in the kettle for tea. He started it to boiling. Rachel's attention rested heavily against his back the whole time.

"Heard you got kidnapped," she said at last.

"Only briefly," he said. "It's nowhere near as exciting as it sounds."

"They said Hyde did it."

"I'm sure they do."

"And you're just going to let them go on saying so?" she asked sharply. "Because you and me both know he didn't. I talked to him last night."

"Before, or after he stabbed Mr. Utterson's clerk on my doorstep?" Jekyll inquired politely.

There was a moment of silence.

"He never," said Rachel.

"I assure you, he did," said Jekyll.

"But he didn't kidnap you!"

"Not in as many words, no, but things were rather tense for a time."

"But he wouldn't! Edward's harmless, he just thinks he's a—a depraved villain! He's practically a kitten!"

"And when cornered, even kittens have been known to scratch men's eyes out," Jekyll said diplomatically. "As I've said, it wasn't a kidnapping in so many words. He . . . needed my help to get out of London, and I helped him."

There, that was a satisfactory lie. He could embellish it as necessary, but it was best to keep it as simple as possible in the mean time.

"Why?" said Rachel.

"Oh," said Jekyll, turning to her with his most pleasant face on. "You didn't know?"

"Didn't—didn't know what?" Rachel said, guilt and apprehension creeping onto her face.

"Apparently Dr. Lanyon laid a clever trap for Mr. Hyde," said Jekyll. "Police all round his house and in my laboratory here. His intent was to blame Hyde entirely for the fires so that the rest of us could continue on unfettered, but evidently he had some difficulty catching him out to do it. I'm not entirely sure what happened—Edward was rather out of sorts—but I gather there was some breach of trust that sent him skipping merrily towards his doom. I think they would have hanged him, you know."

Rachel had gone very pale indeed. She looked like she might start crying.

"That's—horrible," she said.

"Yes, isn't it," said Jekyll. "I suppose you're lucky you got to chat with him last night, before it all happened. I'm surprised he didn't come to you for help. I was given to understand the two of you were close."

The kettle whistled. Jekyll poured himself a cup of tea, dropped two lumps of sugar into it. He stirred, unhurried, until the spoon stopped crunching at the bottom of the cup. He tapped the spoon against the side of the cup and placed it neatly next to the sink.

"Ah well," he said. "I doubt we shall ever see him again. After what he did to poor Mr. Guest, I'm sure he has no friends left here."

"S-sure," said Rachel. "Of course not."

Jekyll smiled at her, pitying.

"We were all taken in, Rachel," he said. "Perhaps me most of all. There's no reason to feel guilty over it. It's not your fault he was a liar."

"Nobody ever said it was," she said, turning her back on him. Her voice was thick and shaking. Jekyll sipped his tea.

"No, certainly not," he said. "The croissants are phenomenal, by the way. Good morning, Miss Pidgley."

He left. It took until he got back to his lab for the guilt to catch up with him.

"What is wrong with you?" he hissed at himself, sickened. "Why would you do that? God's sake, it's not like she knew!"

Himself didn't answer.

After that, there was a near-constant stream of lodgers poking their heads in to check on him. Most of them made some pretense or at least excuse, but there were a few who didn't even attempt to hide their blatant nosiness. Jekyll dealt with them all deftly and politely, giving as little information as he could get away with. They'd weave some grander story for him outside the door, and he would roll his eyes and sigh and very carefully neither confirm nor deny it when it inevitably got back around to him. It was a practiced dance, as comfortable as it was tedious.

He had to admit, though, that the attention was nice. It was flattering to have such explicit confirmation that he would be missed if anything ever did happen to him.

For the sake of getting out of the place for a few hours, he attended his scheduled lunch with several well-known philanthropists and did his damnedest to convince them to hand over extremely large sums of money to the Society. The silver on his tongue was a little tarnished from disuse, but the presumed kidnapping made a good enough excuse for that. The old farts were decidedly more interested in that than in the science, which was enough to make him clench his fists under the table but not enough to mar his charm. He would have talked about damn near anything if it meant wringing a few more cents out of them.

In the end, they left him with promises of support, coupled to the usual nice young man comments. Jekyll saw them off courteously and then returned to his lab to collapse. He was good at this, but by God was it ever exhausting.

He had just laid his head down on his desk (certainly not for a nap) when there was a knock at his door. He stifled a groan and sat up.

"Yes, come in," he said.

Jasper slunk in, looking sheepish and apprehensive.

"Er, hi," he said.

"Hi," said Jekyll, unable to keep from smiling.

"I hope I'm not disturbing anything."

"Not a bit," said Jekyll. "What can I do for you?"

"W-well, it's only, I heard about last night," he said. "So it's more like, I wanted to know if . . . there was anything I could do for you."

God, yes, everything, he thought, heat wicking up his spine. He took a deep breath and pushed it back down.

"That's very kind of you, thank you," said Jekyll. "At the moment, I seem to have it all under control, but I'll certainly let you know if I think of anything."

"Right," said Jasper, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sure. I—I'm glad you're, y'know, all right."

"So am I," said Jekyll.

There was a moment. Jasper squirmed like someone had poured ants down the back of his shirt.

"Um," he said. "There . . . there was sort of something I wanted to talk to you about. If you've got time."

"Always," said Jekyll, folding his hands and sitting forward.

"It's . . . sort of unprofessional," he mumbled.

"Ah," said Jekyll, torn between frustration and hope. "Let's have it, then."

"Well, it's—it's to do with Mr. Hyde," Jasper said, turning crimson.

"Ah," said Jekyll. "That."

Jasper looked up at him in horror. "Oh God," he said. "Don't tell me you already knew?"

"Alas, I did," said Jekyll. Jasper buried his face in his hands, moaning.

"All this time?" he said, muffled.

"I thought it would be impolite to mention it," said Jekyll. "After all, your business is your own, no matter how cavalierly Mr. Hyde chooses to disclose it."

"It wasn't anything!" Jasper whimpered. "It was stupid and—and—"

"Everyone makes bad decisions from time to time," Jekyll said. "Especially when extremely drunk."

Jasper let out another piteous moan. With a sigh, Jekyll got up and went to him, laid a hand on his shoulder.

"If you're feeling guilty, there's no reason for it," he said gently.

"He kidnapped you!"

"I wouldn't call it that."

Jasper sniffled. He took his hands away from his face, revealing how miserable it was.

"I wish I hadn't saved him," he said. "If I'd've known, I never would've saved him."

"You know, despite everything, I'm still glad you did," said Jekyll.

Jasper gawped at him, huge honey-golden eyes welling with perfect astonishment. "You are?"

"Yes," said Jekyll. "I'm of the opinion that the truest heroes rescue anyone who needs it, regardless of whether or not they deserve it. I think it says a great deal about you that you were willing to risk your life even for someone as . . . undeserving as Mr. Hyde."

"'S nothing," Jasper mumbled, although a smile was tugging at his lips.

"It's far from nothing."

Jasper wrinkled his nose. He glanced at Jekyll and immediately looked away again.

"Um," he said. "With everything . . . before that."

"Yes?"

"Just, um, I dunno. I was—sort of angry with you. And maybe that's sort of why it happened like it did. And I'm really sorry. I just—yeah. Dunno why I felt like I had to say that, but there it is."

The way he was blushing and fidgeting, Jekyll thought he had a pretty good idea.

"Jasper, you're half my age," Jekyll said. Admittedly, it was mostly to remind himself.

"Seven twelfths," Jasper mumbled.

"That's not better!"

"It's one twelfth better."

"It—for God's sake," said Jekyll, at a complete loss.

What about Rachel, he did not say. Won't she be upset, he didn't ask. I thought you and she were definitively involved, he didn't mention.

"I'm not asking for anything," Jasper said, dead in earnest, with his huge puppydog eyes and his nervous hands and his sheepish little smile. "I just—I only wanted to clear the air, is all, because I had to tell somebody or I'd go mad and you're the only person here I can really trust. That's all, honestly, I swear, and I'm really sorry, I know it's not fair—"

It really wasn't fair, it was so damnably unfair, he couldn't even take a night as Hyde to get it out of his system, and rather than fixing the issue the last encounter seemed only to have whetted his appetite. He could still feel the hands in his hair, the breath on his neck, the vast hollow ache in his chest, and it was killing him.

Hell with it.

He took Jasper's face in his hands, cutting off the endless stream of embarrassed babbling. Jasper went still, captivated.

"Jasper," Jekyll said, "do you want to ask me for something?"

"But—you said—"

"Forget what I said."

"I—I dunno," Jasper said. "I mean, there's Rachel, I sort of . . . I mean, there's Rachel."

"Rachel doesn't have to know," said Jekyll. "If you don't want her to."

"That seems like an awfully bad idea," said Jasper, meeting Jekyll's eyes at last.

"It's up to you," said Jekyll, while his heart thundered in his chest and his blood glowed in his veins.

"I guess I've already . . . sort of. . . ." Jasper was drifting in closer, as though by gravity.

"So have I," said Jekyll.

Jasper kissed him. It took his breath away, so much sweeter and softer and more real than it had been as Hyde. Jekyll melted, knowing it was wrong, knowing it was cruel, knowing it could only end in misery. It didn't matter. Right then, nothing mattered but Jasper.

If Hyde was unavailable, then Jekyll would have to do.

#tgs #the glass scientists #fanfic #silver #there will be no catching of breath #not in MY house

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bleusarcellewrites · 8 years ago

Text

Unwavering Devotion // Chap 1

I’m just gonna leave this here, yes, hi, excuse me, bent fic for me to unstress myself and write something silly and simple and trashy, excu se moi.

Nothing much to say? Klance Flower Shop Au ft. Pining Keith, Bad In Comunication Lance and Teasing Older Brother Shiro!

Ps; Sorry if Keith sounds OOC....but I don’t give a shh; this is my playtime fic. A L S O; LONG POST.

Ps.2; Excuse any typos...and stuff. yeah.

Disclaimer: Voltron doesn’t belong to me.

The lonely half worn out rose lay on the wooden counter.

“Cough, cough.” It says in a high pitched voice, “I’m...I’m dying and I ...will never see my beloved one last time.”

Suddenly, from the bottom of the counter, a small bluebell flower pops its head and shakes as it catches the sight of the fallen rose.

“My rose!” It shouts, voice deep and scratchy, “No! Who has done this! I will kill them all! I swear on my tiny life!”

“My bell…” Rose whispers in awe and hope, “My bell, you have come to delight me with your presence in my last seconds in this world, how noble.”

Bell shakes as if in disbelief, “No! Stop talking like that! You will survive! You - You have to –! There must be someth –!”

A sudden sharp agonized shout coming from Rose cuts it off abruptly and Bell watches in horror as another petal is ripped out from its lover.

“No…” Bell whispers terrified, “No!”

“The madman is back.” Rose whispers weakly, trying to rise up from the floor before flopping back limply, “Please….run, before he catches you, it’s too late for me.”

“But –!” Bell tries to protest but a big wide shadow suddenly takes over and both flowers just stay still as the threateningly figure of the pale hand hovers above them dangerously.

“I love you.” Rose whispers softly before the pale hand picks it up and starts pulling out its reminding dark weak petals, no longer holding its vivid red color it once had.

“No!” Bell cries out as it falls to the surface of the counter in defeat, watching in despair as its lover takes its last breath in the hands of a monster, “Goodbye...my rose.”

“Keith!”

The nineteen years old jumps in surprise, his dark blue eyes wide in surprise as he drops both flowers in his hands and turns his head to meet his big brother’s unamused eyes.

“Uh…” He says incoherently, wiping the flowers behind his back off the counter to hide his play time, “Yeah, I’m working.”

Shiro snorts. “Sure, buddy. Bell says otherwise.”

Keith looks back at the counter and frowns when he notices that the Bluebell flower is hanging on the edge of it.

“You tattle tale.” He mumbles and Shiro laughs.

“That's what happens when you keep killing its lover.” Shiro declares, closing the back door of their inventory behind him, “Why do you keep killing Rose anyways?”

“Because it's ironic!” Keith says shrugging with a small playful smile, “Bluebell is the one who always dies first, Rose needs to die from time to time!”

“Whatever you say, buddy.” Shiro laughs, dusting his apron distractedly before he raises his eyes and grins at Keith, “Alright, playtime is over, you have a customer, Mr. Rose.”

Keith scoffs at the nickname and resist the urge to flip his brother off before he turns to meet the customer.

Bluebell.

Keith blinks a few times to come back to present and even then, the blue eyes that remind him of the Bluebell flower are still staring at him, curious and with a hint of amusement.

Keith’s almost 100% sure Shiro turned the air conditioner because he’s suddenly hot and what the actual fuck.

“Uh…” Bluebell starts and Keith scolds at himself in his mind when he realizes he already has a nickname for the brunet in front of him, “Hello.”

He hears Shiro’s muffled laughter behind him as he leaves the room and retreats to the back room. Keith makes a mental note to kick his brother later.

“Yes, hi!” Keith answers finally, right after he pushes down the butterflies in his stomach, “Good afternoon, sir. How can I help you today?”

Bluebell scratches the back of his head nervously and bites his lower lip as he looks away from him.

“Well, I uh...I basically fucked up big time this morning you know,” He sighs, dropping his shoulders sadly, “I was having a bad morning before work and I was really mean and such an ass towards a beautiful woman and I wanted a way to apologize.”

‘Dont pout’ Keith tells himself in his head, ‘He’s straight. That’s fine. Just don’t pout. Don’t pout. Don’t fucking pout, Kogane.’

“Of course.” He answers, forcing himself to smile as he walks around the counter and stand besides Bluebell, “That’s a nice thing do, sir –”

“Uh, please, call me Lance, dude.” Bluebell says and Keith is this close to pout because he liked the nickname already, “No need for formalities, you’re basically my age, man.”

Lance smiles and Keith needs a moment to remember how to breathe.

Keith blinks and ignores the way his heart flutters at the sight of Lance’s bright face before he smiles back softly, a little more genuine this time. “Alright, Lance. I’m Keith.”

Lance raises his hand towards him and shakes it firmly.

“Nice to meet you, Mullet.”

“Mu –What?”

This is what he gets for naming people with nicknames in his mind.

“Yeah, Mullet!” Lance answers cheerfully, “I can totally see that tiny pony tail being a mullet, you don’t fool me.”

Keith just stares.

“I don’t have a mullet.” He deadpans and Lance waves him off playfully.

“Okay, Mullet.” Lance smirks as he walks away towards the corner of the room and starts eyeing the flowers there. “Do you know if these will be okay? Do they work as a ‘sorry I was an ass earlier’ flower?”

Keith laughs. “Yeah, sure.” He answers, crossing his arms over his chest and tapping his fingers against his forearms.

They do not work as that.

Or maybe they do but Keith has no shitting clue if it’s true because he know shit about flowers and their meaning.

Shiro tried. Oh, God, did he try but no matter what he did, Keith would just not pick up his brother’s passion for flowers. Did Keith think that flowers were pretty? Of course, sure, whatever. Did Keith know that he was not supposed to bring a white flower to the hospital because it means ‘death’?

Of course he didn’t but that’s not the point.

Lance arches an eyebrow at him in question, “Are you sure?” He asks suspicious and Keith shifts under his gaze.

“Psh, yeah!” He says, waving his hand in the air nonchalantly, “Of course they work. They are pink, see? They totally work for an apology.”

Lance purses his lips, narrows his eyes at him and turns back to the flower.

Lance reads slowly the displayed name, repeating it under his breath in wonder before picking up one of the pink flowers gently. He looks it over for a second before turning his head and reading the displayed named of the flowers next to them, repeating the action from before.

Keith watches him from the side, eyes growing soft as he sees the way Lance inspects the two flowers in concentration, as if making sure that they were the best of the best. His bright royal blue eyes entirely captivated by the two flowers and Keith’s heart melts at the satisfied smile that appears on Lance’s face a few seconds later after he finishes his inspection.

His girlfriend sure was lucky, Keith can’t help but think with a light hint of jealously.

“Well, they are cute enough.” Lance declares, side eyeing Keith with a smirk, “Are you sure they are meant for apologies?”

Keith scoffs and puts a hand on his hip and grins daringly. “Okay, who is the florist here? You or me?”

That earns him a shit eating grin and Keith knows. He just knows that he shouldn’t have said that.

“Alright, alright, Mr. Florist.” Lance says, raising his hands in mock surrender, “Then I’m going to take these two beauties, please.”

Keith nods pleased, because he needs to pretend he still got this under control, and takes the flowers from Lance’s hand.

He turns around quickly, heading towards the counter in hopes that Lance hadn’t noticed the dark blush on his face as soon as their skin touched.

He’s a mess. Keith has to bite the inside of his cheek before he feels ready to talk and his blush only gets worse when he hears Lance’s soft laughter behind him.

“That will be six dollars, si - Lance.”

“Thank you for the flowers, Keith.” Lance says brightly as he takes the small simple bouquet of two flowers from Keith’s hands and Keith has to suppress the shiver that goes down his back when their fingers touch.

“You - You are welcome.” Keith says, smiling sheepishly and Lance hums at him.

“Say, what was their name again?” He asks mischievously and Keith eyes widen in surprise.

Like hell if Keith knows but he won’t tell that to Lance.

He can always Google the flowers later.

Or ask Shiro.

No, Google is the better option for sure.

“We both know the answer to that.” Keith answers, faking smugness and confidence as he leans forward on the counter and hoping that Lance doesn't notice the blunt tiny white lie, “I’m a florist, remember?”

Yeah, you have been for three weeks now, genius.

“That you are.” Lance confirms, his eyes roaming all over Keith’s face before meeting his eyes again, “See you around, Mullet.”

“Uh, y-yeah, I guess? Bye…” The brunet is out of the door before he can even finish his sentence, “Heh, Bluebell.” Keith finishes softly, letting out a sigh as he watches Lance’s form disappear down the street.

Not a second later, Shiro’s popping his head from the back door, a curious pout on his lips.

“So, Mr. Florist, did you notice that you sold him a carnation that meant regret and another one that means mother’s love, right?” He asks, a smug playful smirk on his lips and he laughs as he watches his little brother freezes in realization.

“They...are pink though?” Keith tries, smiling sheepishly when his brother facepalm himself with his flesh hand.

“Yeah, like your face when you saw ‘Bluebell’.”

“Oh my god, go back to your cave in the back of the store, go!”

“Does this mean your playtime Bleubell is now named Lance?”

“Go away, Shiro!”

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sapphire-scientist-a · 8 years ago

Text

* {So, recently, I held a offsite rp on Discord! Mostly because of my limited time frame and rl issues, it was far easier on me to keep track of that. The logs* for the event will be under the cut! It’s long so buckle up.} * Minor edits for spelling and spacing

@sans-icle @observantfragment

Sapph

* Observer.. I think it's time I should be getting back. I have things I need to do and.. well a promise to keep.

Observer

[Observer smiles] Of course my gem,I'll go get AP. [he retreats farther into the lab,poking his head into APs room] Its..time to go ,ready to see papyrus..

When Observer walked up AP looked up from his phone, smiling as he pushed some hair out of his face. He slid off of the bed he'd been sitting on, trotting over the small distance, grabbing the container of Papyrus' dust and stuffing it securely inside his hoodie, which he barely managed to zip up all the way.

Turning to Observer, he gently linked arms with him, resting his head on the much taller's arm.

Mmhm, I'm as ready as I'll ever be, time to see my boy again aaaaaaa,,

Sapph

Sapph was nervously waiting for them to come, bouncing on one foot and then the other. But once he saw them there was almost a trill from him although the changed human form of AP didn't go unnoticed. There was a bit of a wide eyed eyebrow raise at him} * Everyone ready? It might be a long walk back to my place. We don't want to leave anything we might need behind.. {* And there he is back to nervously shifting on his feet, looking a bit apprehensive and worried}

Observer

[*Observer nodded,he needed to make a note to himself about giving AP some of his shirts..goodness the idea was a cute one,when he noticed sapphires anxienty he frowns ] My umbrella is in my inventory if it rains...[He leads the other two out into the tunnel,the waterfalls white noise echoing through the cave,a few blue buds have poked their way out of the ground the left wall of the tunnel. ]

AP waved a bit at the wide eyed ermine.

The anons got me, ehhehee.. I hope it doesn't look too weird, As they walked AP gently ran his hand over the bright blue flowers. Ehhehee, they're very pretty~ it's been a while since I've seen any actual flowers like this,

Sapph

{* And the ermine waved back. Although there was a small head shake given to Observer. It was the rain he was worried about. But other than that he didn't acknowledge much of else as he was led outside, slightly trailing behind the other two. There was a smile at APs words however, the closer they got to the edge of Sapphs void space, the more distant he was becoming. The crackling noise was becoming louder as well, as if something was trying to break through}

Observer

"There will be more soon,these are just sprouting [*He smiles at Ap. then goes quiet for much of the walk,looking up at the ring of white spots that served as stars,he dropped a joke once or twice..just to see to he could get sapphire to laugh. But nothing happened. The crackling noise sent him on edge,he puts a hand on APs shoulder to stop him while looking back at sapphire] "Love..are you..alright...do you know what that noise is"

AP stopped when Observer put his hand on his shoulder, quietly standing close as he could get to him as the crackling noise was, frightening to say the least. Made him a little paranoid, and the look on his face showed it. mm, w-what's that..?

Sapph

{* Sapph may have smiled a bit at the jokes, but there wasn't that tinkling laugh of his. There was a wary look at the sky but he did speak eventually} * Pyrite had texted saying that the others were coming though and not to worry about it.. It's probably hard to break in here, all things considering... {* With that, Sapphire moved to stand in closer to them, gently urging them on.} * At least we'll have help soon..

Observer

[Observer frowned,clearly uneasy,he takes Aps hand and sapphires and continues on] I'm sure your excited to see coin again..! [he smiles at sapphire] Seems today is a big day...[Observer was unsure of what sapphire meant by help,but he was hopeful..if not very anxious . something...someone whispers by ,if he was human,would have been his ear] [The thought of seeing papyrus again fills you with determination]

AP felt much less anxious at knowing the reason behind the noise, gently giving Observer's hand a squeeze.

at the very least im glad that pyrite made it here alright, i haven't heard much from him so i was a little worried there for a bit..

Sapph

* Mm not that excited. More nervous than anything.. But I suppose that is excitement in on itself..

{* He hesitantly urges them across the boundary line, almost scared to do so. Its a silly feeling, he knows it, but there also still the feeling of a cold hand up his back. But he ignores this. It's all in his head, hehe}

Observer

[*Observer smiles,everything really was going to be alright..hopefully..who knew what these new comers would be like,he loved sapphire..but trust..that would be hard to give even to others his love knew.] *everything will be alright..

Sapph

{* Really we all know it depends. But once they cross the line, Sapphire does seem to relax some. Familiar scent of snow and powdered crystal hangs in the air. A oddly sweet scent but one easily gotten used too. He is a bit more confident and relaxed the farther they travel.}

* Pyrite isn't one for talking to much unless he has something to say. It's something that run in the group, I guess. I'm just hoping everything is going to be fine with them though..

{* While they are traveling and talking, the cracking and groaning sounds from over head seem to deepen a bit. Slightly alarming but it seems like the whole is concentrated in one point rather than all around. Although hairline cracks are radiating out from the miles away little anomaly.

It is a sight to behold, however. A nebulous mass of energy always is}

Observer

Observer seems to grow anxious,eyes darting about and locking onto the energy,"Are....." [*stay determined] Observer frowns,eyes darting to an empty space to his right,just for a second if anyone’s really paying attention,there's a red shimmer,it lasts for a mere moment ..Observer shakes his head, "Where was i..ah right..are you sure it's safe to be in here while..." He gestures at the mass of energy" That’s..happening"

AP honestly felt a little anxious after seeing the energy buildup up ahead, squeezing a bit on Observer's hand. He'd noticed the shift in hue in the other's eyes, but wouldn't say anything, more so worried about the space-like area before them.

i emm... hope that's not dangerous,

Sapph

✬ it's not

{* Pyrite's voice was honestly a shock, where had he come from? At least the missing half of the other's face was just about healed up, however, there was still a palm wide crack on the top of his head. it may never really heal.}

✬ it's rather far away, i'd just ignore it. it's not like the whole sky is gonna fall in

{* There is a smirk at his words, almost like it's a joke of some sort. Sapphire is hesitantly staring at his adopted son before finally giving into the urge and running over to hug him. Pyrite accepts this although there's not much of a hug back on his part either.}

Observer

"If you say so...would you two like some alone time ..?" [*Observer shifted closer to ap,putting a hand on his back,eyes darting down to him..he wasn't completely s on the idea..honestly sapphire seemed upset...it was worrying Observer,did he upset him somehow? was it the baby...? No it couldn't be..what could be wrong]

AP nodded, knowing it wasn't dangerous made him feel a bit better. Although he did raise an eyebrow a bit at Observer.

what's up? something bothering you..?

Loosely lacing his arms around Observer, he watched the interaction between Sapphire and Pyrite, smiling at the sight of the two's reunion. Hopefully, Papyrus would recognize him as a human if he wasn't changed back by then so he could hug him like that.

Sapph

{* Either Pyrite is Oblivious to Sapph nervousness or is choosing to actively ignore it, it is hard to say. Either case, Pyrite is actively pulling Sapph back over to the little group, eliciting a small, startled cry from him. And maybe it would have been unheard if the whole of the Void that was Sapphs just hadn't went deadly quietly.

It was a sight to actually watch as strange orange and red tinted lines radiate from the center of the anomaly in the sky. There was something slightly sinister about them as it almost looked like they were forming a strange shield to the space. It was enough that even Pyrite was taken aback, slightly teleporting away from the group to stare at the sky.

Although if anyone was looking elsewhere they might have seen familiar glittery purple eyes staring right at Sapph, who was entranced by the spectacle, and didn't notice he was being made a target. It was only until the stinging pain engulfed his whole left side of his face was the only warning that something was going very wrong. }

Observer

[Observer pressed closer to Ap,this brought back memories. he was scared. But..just stay here,everything is fine] I'm fine dear, how really you holding up.. ? [he smiles at ap] Reminds me of the sun.. [*The fake smile is back,he's nervous.. Something feels wrong,there's a sharp whisper. a voice urging him to do..something? it wasn't clear..His grip tightens on Aps hand]

AP would be lying if he said this wasn't frightening, gods it was terrifying to him, even if he knew nothing was going to happen with the flickering, flashing lighting he couldn't help pressing his face into Observer's just to get it out of his line of sight so he didn't freak out.

i'd like to say i'm doing okay, but not really, just trying to keep myself distracted from it.. it's really scary to be honest,

Feeling the grip on his hand tighten, AP gives Observer's hand a tight squeeze in return.

Sapph

{* Thanks to the distraction in the roof of the Void, Sapphire small cry of pain went ignored. It wasn't like the others would have heard it, probably, because at that time a orange beam of light shot down from the anomaly and crashed miles away. But it was forceful enough that a small shock wave was felt even from there. And alt lead forceful enough that the loose snow was stirred up into a small blizzard. It only took a minute or two for it to die down but, by then, it was way to late.

There was a slight sound of cracking, akin to crystal or bone or rather crystallized bone snapping and changing. Looking back, there would be the chilling sight of Sapphire curled on the ground, black ink staining the ground, mostly pouring from the missing regulator on Sapphires left side. His right eye was dead but the left, a shocking gold light was appearing in the normally blank left. And it was completely fixated on Observer.

And there was almost a crooked grin marring the normally friendly face.

And Pyrite was nowhere to be found. Almost like he wasn't even there to begin with.}

Observer

[Observer held ap,hoping to keep the shorter human steady,as the snow was snow stirred] "Your family has quite the knack for dramatic entrances,my love. [Observer calls back to sapphire,when there's no answer he merely assumes sapphire is transfixed . He squints against the blizzard until it ends. He looks back,about to ask sapphire if he's ready to proceed,as clearly Pyrite has left them..then he stops and nearly screams,letting go of AP,panic filling every inch of him,to his right he can hear a voice snarling for him to stay away,that it was dangerous!..l.But for once it seemed Observer could care less about his own safety,not that he thought he was in danger,Because...Sapph had proven he would never hurt him. Sapphire loved him. He stops in his tracks when he really notices the light and grin,Observers eyes lock into sapphires]ssapphire......?

AP was surprised when Observer let go of him, looking back to see what had caused it only to see the almost uncanny look on Sapphire's face. It didn't quite feel like him but... It had to be him, right?

sapph..?

Sapph

{* There wasn't a answer, really, other than a slight staticy sound. Of course, even that phased out when Observer drew closer to the point that ear drum busting silence was filling the area.

And, with a sound almost akin to a shotgun blast, it broke into a frenzied state of utter chaos.

Naturally it would have been too fast to follow normally, but for some reason there was a slight flux of time that made things seem rather freeze framed. The figure of Sapphire sprang up, dripping ink hands reaching for Observer's neck. Whether or not it made contact with his neck, there would be a rather cold feeling of static coursing through Observer's being. It would feel like a limb falling asleep. Of course, even if the one hand missed, there was another hand almost stabbing at the weak spot in Observer's abdomen. All the while the golden glow grew brighter, and the wicked smile deeper. At least it seems like AP is being sparred for now.}

Observer

The voice screams at him to move yet his body seems to be frozen,unable to move as the light grew brighter,he was like a deer in the headlights . Someone screams and it takes observer a moment to realize it's him,he's screaming, Pain very familiar pain rips through his abdomen.Observer lets out a whimper,"Sapph.?.....why " He isn't able to say more,the pain is too great. a memory of a situation similar to this but so different*This is what it feels like to be back stabbed Observer barely registered the hand around his throat so distracted was he by the pain.

Needless to say, AP was horrified at the scene before him. Shrinking back and whimpering, all the while as much as he wanted to help Observer he knew that he couldn't put not only himself, but the baby in that kind of jeopardy.

He'd hardly realized he was crying by this point; there really wasn't anything he could do, he wanted to yell or scream at him to stop, to try and snap him out of it or something.. But he couldn't, every time he tried the attempt would get caught in his throat with the choked sobs that emanated through every inch of his being.

If he didn't do something, Observer was going to die and it was going to be because he was a coward that was scared for his own life and the child's whom he's carried thus far. But he'd be damned if he let his Wingdin die like this, by someone he loved and trusted.

In a jolt of adrenaline and as a last ditch effort AP rushed himself over to Observer, making an attempt at the had around Observer's throat before wrapping his arms under Observer's armpits and trying yank him away from Sapphire. At this point he just wanted it to stop, it didn't really matter how. And even if he didn't do this, he was likely going to be attacked next if it panned out how he thought it would.

y-you cAN ONLY TAKE HIM OVER MY DEAD BODY DAMN IT.

Sapph

{* Beyond all of this, there was a quiet little noise as the beam of light cut off. The strange cracks were still in the sky, as well as the strange shield, but other than that the rest of the Void-space was calm other than the current hell that was happening at the edge with Observer wand AP.

At the screaming, the being, for this really couldn't be Sapphire, tilted their head. There wasn't any response except for the loud static buzzing sound. It took a few seconds of glitching facial expressions for one to settle on disgust at AP. Observer was still firmly between them although it didn't seem like that was a problem as the pools of ink seemed to form into some sort of drippy ribbon to wrap around AP's legs. And then there was a growing pressure as it tried to rip him off of Observer.

Of course, if that was unsuccessful, it and Observer would both try to disappear into the ink only to reappear several hundred feet away. Seems whatever is going on is focused solely on Observer alone.}

Observer

Observer was terrified,and the static in his body was making it near impossible to move,He tries to grab the hand around his throat and pull it off,wheezing through the pain. His eye sockets dart back towards Ap,full of terror and a look of pleading for help. He forces his other arm to grab onto Ap with an iron grip until he's ripped away as the thing tears them apart and he's dragged into the ink and forced those several hundred feet away.

AP had held on as tight as he could've in that moment, at least until he was torn apart from Observer. He hadn't wanted to let go, he wanted to help, but he couldn't, at the very least now he couldn't. All he could do is watch, and wait, since presumably the ink-like tendrils hadn't dissipated from his legs, and they were latched on pretty tight as well... He decided it wasn't a good idea to move, as much as he wanted to. He was human still, he could bruise, and bleed and all other kinds of things that skeletons can't have happen to them in the same way humans could. He didn't want to die like that, to something that proved just how weak and defenseless he was against whatever this thing in Sapphire's body was.

Sapph

{* If anything, that is exactly what this creature had wanted. But it wasn't like that would ever be spoken. The ink seemed to slack off as it traveled to join the main body. Although now the tendrils were fulling wrapping themselves around both figures, trying to draw in Observer into the mass of static and bubbling ink. Sapphire's form kept changing at each glitch; fangs and claws elongated, the cracks on his face deepened, and dirty looking crystals seem to sprout from the dribbling ink as it ate away his flesh to expose the glittering bone underneath. Until, finally, something seemed to stabilize with this creature. Its voice was smooth, akin to Sapphire's, but there was still a bit of a growly hitch to it as well.}

❅ W̨el҉l̢ m͠et͏,͢ ͠ęh͟?̸

{* There was a hint of a manic giggle to those words, the determined eye bursting into full life as the gold of it seemed to trickle and swim in inky darkness. Observer would notice a vice like grip tightening and loosing until, suddenly, he was tossed upwards before being grabbed by a hand formed from ink to be slammed back into the ground.}

Observer

Observer tried to scream again but he couldn't,He tried to squirm out of the ink,but he couldn't. the vice like grip managed to get some noise out of him,but just barely"Sapph..-" He was cut off as he was thrown,being sent into a daze by he force of being slammed into the ground. By the angel it hurt...stars exploded in his head,he couldn't see anything and he couldn't think for several seconds,why this real..he had no idea...this felt so surreal. Observer makes an attempt to teleport,to escape back to AP. maybe they could still escape

On the other hand, AP, having previously been forced into a standstill. He couldn't help, but dear lords how he wanted to. Watching Observer be practically hacky-sacked around like that was horrific to him; the sheer fact that the being was able to do such a thing to someone such as his Wingdin was almost just as terrifying...

Staring down at the inky substance latched down on his legs, he tried to wiggle out of it a bit, but honestly he felt petrified. Any movements that he did get out of this were janky and rigid at best, he couldn't do it, not like this.

Looking back up to the scene before him he faintly heard the being speak, it sounded like Sapph. But this cruelty, wasn't that at all, no matter how much it seemed like Sapph the denial and internal struggle for another answer - a better one - raged on in his head.

Sapph

{* Observer would find his teleport successful; it got him away from the bubbling mass of ink and now glowing blue liquid. Although it just made the being angry, bubbling and hissing as it hunted to see where Observer had gotten too. Long, thing lines of ink bubbled out, corrupting surrounding crystals and snow with a deep purple black. And when the crystals were fully infected, they would take upon the same glitchness at the host although if one looked closely enough, there might be eyes forming as well. But they were not readily visible. Other than giving a sense of being watched.

AP was still ignored, although there were thing ribbons of ink slowly climbing up his legs. But thin enough that he might find himself able to run if he could. The figure in front of him would give a bit of a pausing snarl as another beam of light shot down from the anomaly in the sky. The hunt for Observer would be doubled ten fold after that. But if it couldn't find him, there was one greedy looking eye trained right on AP.}

Observer

[*Observer landed with a soft thump twenty,maybe thirty feet away near one of the crystal's. He drags himself behind it,not noticing it shift colors as it was infected,too focused on keeping pressure on the wound on his gut,his white turtle neck would now have a large red stain,He slowly peaks out from behind the crystal..if he could just get to AP. They could get away,Observer looked around,ducking behind the crystal again,breathing heavily,it hurt..so much..at least it wasn't as bad as before with him. He couldn't run like this..He couldn't..Observer inhaled as he peeked back around the crystal,trying to locate sapphire...he only had one choice..

Seeing Observer disappear like that wasn't necessarily surprising, but releaving at the very least. Attempting to clear away the inky ribbons from his legs and just move in general. Once we was done clearing away from of it and was able to move to some degree he bolted for the nearest place to hide, not even noticing the eyes that watched him.

Sapph

{* Of course, once a eye finally latched on to Observer's location, the being melted into a pile of ink and glitching. Everything went still and quiet again until, loudly, there was the metallic noise behind Observer once again. Familiar claws would then dig into him from behind, latching on tightly, painfully.

And Observer would feel something poisonous leaking into his system now, aiming for his soul. All the while a faint, twisted, sort of laughing could be heard. It was as if Observer was nothing but a bug to this creature, one to crush or control. There was deep cracking resounding; like ice moving. But one would find that it was just Sapphire’s bones being lost to the all consuming inky mass as they shattered into pieces. Much like small parts of Observer’s soul would be doing now as well.

There wasn’t much to do, other than to watch. Time didn’t seem to be a thing, anymore, and the long seconds started to feel like eternity. Eye kept watching AP, sizing him up in the off chance that Observer would get away. Although there was a quiet hiss as an orange light zinged across the ground. A soft crunch of snow just reveled a black boot with an orange sole. And then copper orange eyes peeked into the bolt hole that the former skeleton had found. If AP would look up, there would be a rather cocky grin on a charming looking face.}

☬ We̛ll̷, se̸e͢m͝s͢ l̸i͠k҉e t͏h҉i̶s̡ ̨is ̛s̛o̵m̛e ͏s̛h̴i͘t,̷ ̧eh?

Observer

Observer wheezed,whimpered and tried everything in his power to escape,something else in his head whispers,encourages him..stay strong..stay determined ..the creature had grabbed onto him before he had gotten the chance to aim..or even summon a blaster..he had to fight back,it was his only chance and yet now..the laughter made his soul turn cold...he couldn't see Ap...meaning..Ap had..gotten away..they were safe..they were safe..he could feel himself breaking apart,the feeling was familiar yet unfamiliar,no hope...no hope No hope..but maybe enough determination to survive...? Observer twisted his head back,glaring at his former lover,or what was left...trying to..he attempted to send some of attack,to squirm away despite the claws..but the toxins were making him feel sluggish..his soul was already damaged and the pieces breaking away were taking a toll,so distracted was he that he didn't even notice the orange.

AP had indeed looked up, picking himself off the ground from where he curled himself up in the hole, and seeing the other person there he'd practically flung himself against the other; didn't matter who it was, as long as it wasn't Sapph, or whatever that was controlling him.

He nodded a bit, quietly, but reluctantly, peeling himself away from the orange figure. Staring for a moment to see who it had been. This was..? Coin, probably.. As far as he knew there would only have been Coin and a few others, including Sapphire's Papyrus coming over. He'd moved away some of the hair that came with this human form from his face, mostly so the other could actually see his face.

hahaa, y eah,, it's quite the bit of shit if i do say so myself.

Sapph

{* There was a quiet, static chuckle from Coin as AP flung himself at him. There was a head tilt as the other moved away and a hand was brought up to materialize a orange screen in the air as Coin seem to run some sort of diagnostic on the figure before him}

☬ M̕m̨, ̨l̕es͟ş ͏sh͝it th́an͞ ̸bȩfore̡,̵ ͡tho͞u̴g͠h͏.̧

{* Once done with his scans he seemed rather pleased at himself at something and the screen faded back into non-existence. The taller fragment then gave AP a devilish little wink.}

☬ M͏m,̷ ͡Sáns. ̀Go̵es ͢by ̀A̛P̸. Curr͏e͠n͘tl͘y̡ so̵ fa͏r ͠a͝l̀oǹg ̛with Obse̴rv́er'̵s kid. D͡ué som͢eti͝me ͟in M͜arc͘h,͟ I͏ t͟hin͡k?̡ ☬ Do͟n'́t h͞o̵ld ͟mę co̴mpl̵e͢tely ̕t̷o͏ th͜a͞t, ͞ţh͠a͞t i͢s ͏a͢l̸ẃays͢ in͢ f́ĺux̷.

{* He really didn't give AP time to comment on that, however. With a flourish, he spun around on a heel and turned to face the mess going on in the distance. There was a deep breath as Coin quickly brought up his hands along with several spares, screens exploding quietly into life. Million lines of code flew across the screens as Coin seemingly sank into a familiar rhythm. He only paused to speak one more time.}

☬ Asr͢íel,̨ ͏ma͝k͜e̡ ͟sur̡ȩ t̨o͏ t́ake ͜ça̸re̡ of ͟ơur̸ ̴gu͟est̕ ̨f҉o҉r̢ ͘m̛e̛~ {* And he was suddenly gone, as maroon eyes peeked over to stare at AP.

Meanwhile, Observer would find himself slowly being melded in the ink, a toxic little voice trying to enter his mind and being. There wasn’t much actual words from it other than feelings of deep pain, sickness, and the clamoring of millions of anguished voices crying out. And maybe one would be familiar to Observer, if he was paying attention as well. But, in either case, there might not have been time for him to do so as the ink started forming hard crystals and the being started trying to shred Observer from the inside out. The only sense of relief would be that the pain was becoming numb.

That was, until some orange light lit up the area, lines and blocks of code slamming into the figures. Observer would find himself slightly fading out until he was freed from the grip of the pulsing ink. He would still be injured terribly but, also, surrounded by a halo of orange as the healing coding kicked in and worked on fixing the damage wrought.}

Observer

[Observer felt himself beginning to fade. Into the ink..into the voices...his mind grew foggy,there's a screech in the back of his mind,someone hissing at the toxic voice,a snarl of rage....one last attempt to break free before he just..began to sink..he wanted to ask..why,what did he do..but.]

[His voice escapes him,at least the crystals let him feel numb,maybe his death would be painless. He tries to call for help...but something clogs his throat. Keeps him quiet. ]

[Suddenly everything's orange and observers eye sockets widen. His eyes dart around,until suddenly,an inch from his chest a small red piece of glass..no..no a SOUL appears,Observers hands seem to move on their own,closing around the damaged red heart. Observer feels a rush of energy,and for a moment he isn't sure if it's the soul or..the code..heavy weight is added to his back and he starts to become overwhelmed,so much is happening..a voice suddenly hisses in the back of his mind]

[Let me take over for now]

[*and yet observer resists,and the other presence lingers,awake and finally.finally able to feel. Finally no longer in the risk of falling to pieces..]

AP's mouth gaped a bit at Coin's description of him. Honestly he was still kind of curious why everyone called him 'Sans' even though his name is technically 'Comic'.. Oh well, it did seem to be one of universal constants so who was he to judge. Either way, the information was indeed accurate, which AP confirmed with a small nod of his head, watching the orange figure go off to deal with Sapphire, or at least what he assumed wasn't entirely Sapphire; and then looking to Asriel, the prince. He'd never met his own Asriel before everything happened so he didn't know much about any of them.

Regardless he walked over to the tall goat monster and quietly introduced himself with a bit of a nervous smile plastered to his face, generally sticking close just in case if something were to happen he could be protected or pull the lanky goat monster out of the way if need be seeing as he was much stronger as a human.

Sapph

{* Said lanky goat gave AP a low hello before standing beside him and easily towering over him. He might have been lanky, but he was still as tall as Asgore would be. He seemed to be holding a strange sword-like weapon as well, ready for anything. This wasn't some innocent little goat kid anymore.

But it wasn't needed. Farther away a small ring of orange code lines had been formed where a faint orangish blur and the inky monster were fighting. Although once Coin was able to pin it down with what looked like orange darts filled with some type of fluid, he began to have the upper hand. It was impossible to really see him moving until he finally came to a stop with a large orange screen in front of him. And then he began tearing into Sapphire's coding, erasing and replacing various sectors.

The glitch show it was putting on was, in any other circumstance, a awe inspiring show. It was amazing how fast Coin could rip apart code and replace it. And it was obvious that whatever had been in the darts was working; the inky mass wasn't moving a inch even though what was happening should have had it bubbling and screaming. All it did, instead, was drip away and exposed what was left of Sapphire in its wake. It was hard to get a visual on him from so far away but he did look to be a mess until more orange light and coding lines sprung into existence.}

Observer

Once the healing code finished,observer sits up,dazed,it actually takes him a minute to process the situation,he stares at himself,where the injuries had been previously was just ripped fabric. Observer tips over under the weight of new limbs before catching himself,his body seems to move of its own accord,forcing him up,staring wide eyed at the scene before he spins around on his heels and runs,he soon regains control of his body and realization that he was free and had a chance at fleeing kicked him,adrenaline certainly helping as the fragment ran towards his perceived destination

AP edged out of spot he'd been hiding in so he could see what was going on more clearly even if that wasn't saying much since he didn't have vision in one eye and needed glasses, which had broken and became unusable long while ago. The figures just seemed like blobs of color, more so dots really, small colored moving dots. He also made sure he didn't stray too far from where he'd been standing before, even if he did have the urge to kick it into high gear and sprint as fast as he could towards them. He knew he didn't have the stamina for that, and using up that much energy in this form would be a waste, plus he'd have to take a bath... When was the last time he'd taken a bath again??? After all even I'm his usual form his skull and bones had yellowed from the lack of proper cleaning.. Maybe he'd have to see about a bath once this was all settled..

Sapph

☬ No̷, ͏y̸o̡u͟ don͡'̷t̢.̴

{* That would be all the warning Observer would get before four orange darts pinned him down. It was painless, even as he would fall, but still, there was obvious that he wasn't going anywhere soon.

With the crow contained, Coin finished his work swiftly to finish up, orange code finally fading away to show a mostly put together Sapphire. There was dark, gaping, wounds still. But Coin gently took his former lover into his arms, popping out the broken node and replacing it with a slightly bigger one. And then, once the new one had started faintly glowing, popping out the undamaged node and repeating that movement.

Then, and only then, did he walk to the crow, Sapphire's prone form tucked under one of Coin's arms. He was wordless as a few spare hands removed the darts and picked up the crow firmly, Observer's code still frozen in place. Then he began a silent march back to AP and Asriel. When he was close enough, the human would get one deposit of crow, no more or less, before Coin motioned the little group to follow him}

Observer

There’s no noise of alarm as observer feels the darts hit his back,he lay there motionless until the hands grab him if he wasn't frozen he would have thrashed,panic seizes him as he's carried,which only lessen when he was deposit we near ap,he shifts the new limbs on his back instinctively..not having time to process them just yet,the voice in the back of his head whispers questions about the human,but observer whispers something that sounds like "Later.." He looks at ap,then back towards the border as if asking if they should attempt to get back home or follow .

AP made small grabby hands for Observer as he was brought over and dropped in front of him. Slightly scrambling over to him and attempting to help him up a bit and holding onto his hand.

you okay dins?

He quietly urged Observer to follow Coin too, even if he wasn't 100% sure how safe it was, he figured he was safe enough. After all, if Coin was going to do something bad he would've done it before when they were all vulnerable

Sapph

{* Coin was more than happy to motion them to follow, a look in his eyes that almost read that they had better, really. Of course, he was patient as he waited until they decided to follow.

And even if they didn't, they might find their way blocked currently. By orange and purple magic. The whole area was apparently on two lockdowns.}

Observer

[*Observer stared ap,shaking his head slowly and giving the others hand a squeeze,away..he wanted to run so badly..maybe he could teleport..no at least one of those lock down would stop him,and he wouldn't abandon AP..never again,Observer averted his gaze,moving to follow coin,as much as he hated to. They had no choice in the matter,he felt tiree..so tired. Once they were home he was sleeping for a good 15 hours..or so he hoped..]

[ AP was undoubtedly tired too, but none the less he was definitely more stable than Observer was at the moment. That being said, he quietly slipped an arm around Observer's torso in an attempt to help support him as they walked. Truthfully, AP was pretty tired too, he could feel the crash coming on as well. They'd probably need to get some sleep when they got there, a nice long nap, maybe he could curl up with Wingdin, maybe.. He'd have to ask when that moment came. ]

s'okay, wing, everything will be alright, 'kay?

Observer

As Ap wrapped his arms around observer,he would brush against something..sticky..and feathery..Observer relaxes at the touch,leaning agonist the other but not too much,putting one of his arms around AP in return,yet he was having a hard time believing everything would be alright,his suspicions of other gasters..his mistrust...it had been proven to b true with sapphire..and that hurt,by the delta it hurt so much. "How can you know.."

Sapph

{* Coin didn't waste time taking them back to Sapphire's house, which, this time, it actually looked like a house rather than a tiny cottage. There were lights on inside, and noises as well. But the curtains on the windows were drawn. With a summoned hand, Coin opened the door for everyone before motioning them on in.

Stepping inside, AP and Observer would be meet with a cheerful warmth and lighting. Nova has outdone himself with the design and all. Straight ahead would be the living room were a merry fire burned in the fire place although, as they would draw near, there would be a figure off to the side sleeping, Pyrite sitting in the floor asleep as well. There were sounds somewhere upstairs, probably someone showering.}

[ AP nuzzled Observer a bit, mostly as an act of reassurance rather than affection despite the short lingering that came before he pulled away from the nuzzle as they walked. ]

i don't, im just trusting my gut on this one honestly,

[ As they entered the home AP visibly relaxed a but, seeing the calm and peaceful surroundings compared to everything that just happened was relieving honestly. The fire was especially inviting given how cold he was, being human all this time out in the void didn't help him with his issue of being prone to any kind of frigidness. The warmth and cracking of the fire in tandem with each other sounded and felt immeasurably pleasant to the former skeleton. Just smiling a bit and giving Observer a gentle squeeze with the arm that was still around his torso. ]

see? everything looks so nice, everything's okay for the moment, i know you like to worry but im letting my guard down regardless of how you want to go about this, alright?

Observer

Observers eyes scan the area,hesitating by the door,he would only move into the household if prompted by AP,He tried to get a better look at the sleeping figure,not too focused on pyrite,whom he currently found he did not care for very much anymore,in fact he found himself not caring for anyone here but AP and his baby,the thought stung,but it's not like they cared anyone about him either,so quay did it matter,why didn't they let them go home he didn't understand...he tried too count the figures based on sound and sight,Coin,sapphire,the other figure,someone up stairs..the atmosphere was so suffocating ,something shifts and ruffles on his back,he's suddenly brought back to reality by Ap's voice,his grip had slowly been slipping,he murmurs something but it's too quiet to make out,maybe the other would notice the new limbs now that they weren't in the dark of the void.

Sapph

{* There was a gentle click as the door closed behind them, spare hands sitting Sapphire down in a open spot. Seems like Coin wasn't too concered about things for right now while. But Asriel soon took over, pulling up a ruby red screen and eyeing the lines of code with maroon eyes.

Coin, instead, took the time to dig up some blankets for the other two, motioning for them to sit while he offered them to AP and Observer. He was still quiet but, now, it seemed like he was waiting for someone to address the matter at hand.}

[ AP did indeed take the opportunity to sit when prompted to by Coin, being on his feet for a good while combined with being frightened half to death had made him rather exhausted. If Observer had decided to follow in the sitting he'd be softly cuddled a bit after draping one of the blankets around Observer as best he could without disturbing the inky colored wings too much. AP spoke up a bit; despite his exhaustion he wanted some answers regarding what the hell just happened out there. ]

what exactly, happened out there..? he was fine on the way there, even if he was a little distant it was nothing like that.. so much was going on but i don't know what, happened..

Observer

Observer followed ,once he sits he just stares into his lap at his hands,the wings are unfolded ,he murmurs something and the word "betrayed" could be made it,he doesn't seem to be registering the contact from AP,seems he's lost in thought again. his eyes dart to where sapphire is and the look could be described as threatening,even if it was for a split second,he shifts closer to ap,putting his head on top of aps. the wings themselves did a pear to actually be made of ink..some what anyways..[*.distracted little bird..]

Sapph

{* Orange eyes slid over to stare at Observer for a moment before looking back to AP. And then around the room before Coin addressed the question. Almost as if he was looking to see who was asleep or awake for a second.}

☬ Th̛e͢re͏'s..͏.̵ not̛ m̀u͏ch to͡ exp̵lain, ŗea̛lly.͢ ̷I g̵u͠es̀s҉. ☬ O̷n҉e ̕o͏f ̵h̛is nód̶e͏s͏ b͘r̛oke ☬ T͠h͢at͏'s a̡b̨o͢ųt it

{* Coin nervously shifted in his seat, looking away a bit; he was obviously uncomfortable for some reason right now. It made his willingness to explain obvious.}

Observer

That doesn't explain anything.. Observer stares at coin,eye glowing a deep blue,excess magic sparks in the air and observers wings seem to shift,the underside suddenly has several eyes open ,all staring with red pupils right at coin,despite being in shock the fragment also seems to radiate rage,his eye moves towards ap,and in fear of scaring him he seems to force himself to calm down,yet the glow from his eye doesn't die down,his breath is shaky and something drips onto thee floor...bone..observer takes another deep breath,no melting,not here. "We deserve to know the rest,he attacked us,he could have killed me..he going to..."

[ AP just hummed a bit in response to what the others were talking about, taking a moment to glance at Observer's wings and really register that they're actually there, he knew he'd felt his hand and arm brush up against something but he hadn't exactly expected the inky wings... Looking back to Coin made him furrow his eyebrows a bit, though it may have been hard to see with his hair covering most of them. ]

so... he didn't want to attack us then..? maybe.. I'm not sure how the nodes work and all but are they suppressing that thing or something, because whatever that was didn't feel like sapph at all, it felt like someone completely different.. He's always so soft and gentle, there's no way i can believe that he was in total control there,,

[ Honestly at this point he was just searching for an answer that didn't involve Sapphire intentionally wanting to kill them. ]

Sapph

{* There was a staticy sigh from the mango as he looked around the room again. And then he raised a hand, coding in some sort of sound barrier. The noises from the fire disappear as it materialized. Looking at them from the outside would just seem like they were sitting around, casually talking. It was a unneeded precaution from Coin. But it made him feel safer if the droop of his shoulders were anything to speak for him. He didn't even seem to care about Observer's reaction. He's seen far worse things before.}

☬ Of̢ ̛cour͜s̕e̴ h͠e d̡id͞n't. ͡I͝f͢ y̸o̷u ̶k͠now a̛nyt́hìng a̕bou̧t h͢i͠m͠, you ͡k͢n͜o̴w̡ he hate͡s v͟iol͡e͘nce̶.͠ ́A̕t ͞al̀l.͟

͢☬ ́Th̕er͠e ͡i͜s.. ͘somè ͏s̀ort ̶of ͝b̵e͜in̨g͘ that c̕a͞n t̨ak͡e ̨c͏o̢nt͡ro͜l ̢o̵f͞ him̀ ̸if th͟o͏se no͝d͞eś m͟a͝l͝fun͢ctìon͠. Or̶ ̶bre̴ak. O͞r gȩt̡ ҉d̛am҉a̸ged.̷ N͠orma̢lly ͝tha͜t r͘espo̶n̛s̛e͠ i̛s d̶e҉lay͠e͢d́ ̀b̷ut͢. ͜I̶ ̡don't͝ ͞ḱnow͏.͟ Maybe҉ he'҉s҉ ̵b͘een̴ ͞s͠treşs̡e͡d̶ ͞and ͠th̶e s̢e҉lf͡-repair d͘i̛dn'̵t ͠ki̷ck̨ ҉in. ́ ☬ Ei͏t͝h̷er ͜case,̧ ̡it̛'͝s͢ fix͟e̕d͘.̢ Tha͝t̕'s ̧a͏ļĺ ̡t͝h̵a̡t̷ ͘m͞at̴ters.͠ ́Ì'v͠e wiped h͠i̴s̵ m̡e͡morięs̷ f͡or̨ no͜w,̢ ͡too͘.͘ ҉He̵ does̛n'̢t n͝e̛ed ̷t͠h͡a͟t̸ ̷re͟playi͟n͢g͟ ̧i͜n ͞his h͏e̛ad.͠

{* Coin kept the barrier up while he sat back in his chair. It was unknown when he started to lean forward. But, now that he gave that short explanation, he decided that was enough. If they wanted to keep pumping him for information, he would give it too them. But his throat was getting sore from all this talking as well.}

Observer

Observer slumps,shoulders dropping and eyes going hollow,not just dark like some skeletons..they just looked...empty,expression Har go read,but he finds he can't believe coin for some reason,he had seen sapphire attack another fragment,he had never really gotten the full story..now he probably never would..something..someone whispered in the back of his mind,coaxing him to contuine asking,even if he was so tired,"Why did you bring us here,why are you all here."He's exhausted,you can hear it now in every note of his speech.

Hearing the newfound exhaustion in Observer's voice, AP glaces over to give Observer a once over. Giving Obsy a gentle squeeze with the arm wrapped around his torso; AP rested the side of his head against the crow's shoulder followed by a small hum of a response to both Coin's explanation and Observer's inquiry. He was tired, didn't feel like speaking much, especially as he seemed to grow slightly more despondent, spacey, by each passing minute. Probably from the fatigue of walking that much in a day piled upon the fact that he isn't entirely used to this body of his and also the pregnancy thing, especially as a human it was clunky and exhausting to walk around like this. And since he'd sat down, his body was yelling at him to get some rest, human bodies didn't have the same capabilities for not sleeping as his skeletal one most often did...

Sapph

There is a bit of a world weary sigh from Coin as he stands, a small screen materializing out of nowhere. A few short lines of code are input before the output of a few pillows and large, rather warm looking blanket appears. They are offered to the crow and the human in a almost gentle manner.

☬ ͏I'͏m he͝r͝e be̵ca̷use͏ ́t̀here̵ i̶s ̷n͜o҉w͘hére̸ el̢se ̷t͞o ͠go͘ ☬ ̀A̡n̡d̛ ͞I̶ ám͝ ̢he͝re͟ ̷be̛c͜a̵uśe ̀t͏hi̸s͟ ͜is͞ th̶e la͘st͜ ͜pl͢a͏c͜ę f́oŗ m͢e ̶to̷ ̵go͠,̨ ̧too͏ ́☬ And y͝oų ̧a̶re͢ ̧h͏ere ͠b́e̷ca͜u҉s̀e, ̷de҉s̴p͡i̢te w͘h̛a̵t҉ yo҉u͡ ̀mig̨ht ͜be͜ ͏t̢h̷in͜ki̷n͜g r̢įg̢ht͏ ̨now҉,́ it i̶s͞ t̶h͡e̛ safe̶s̀t̡ pĺac̴e I ̛ḱnow ☬ An̕d̕ ͠I̧ ţhin̷k ͢t̢h̡e̵r̵e i̶s͘ ̀a̵ ͢bit̕ ͜of҉ ̨unfi͟n͠i̡shed ̕bu̷si͘n͟e͞s̢s͞ Sa͝pphi̵r̶ȩ ͝ne̡e̴ds̀ ̨t̴o g̕e͟t toǫ

If the offered bedding wasn't taken, AP would find them gently set beside him for him to spread out. The couch they were on was big enough to be a bed for both of them; there was no need to move out of the living room for now. Once his hands were free there was another screen summoned as Coin went to remove the barrier from around them.

Although he did have one more thing to say.

☬ ͞W̧e̷ ̛ca͡n̴ tal͠k͏ ͟m̀ore af̴ţer you ŗe̶st͢, ̡I'm͟ not ̶going a͜ny̴where ͠s͘oon

Observer

"Thank..you.." Observer took APs hand,waiting for him to make the next move,after a few moments he nudges the other towards the couch,wings shifting,"You need sleep.."

[ The sleepy AP took the hint to lay down and did so, making sure to pick up the blankets that had been placed next to him first and softly tugging at Observer's shirt for him to follow suit since AP was practically falling asleep already, his eyes had been fluttering open and closed with varying times of how long they were closed before opening them again. But he pretty much clonks out as soon as he laid down. ]

Observer

Observer didn't lay down,sitting next to ap,wings splayed out on either side,he blinked and seems to be forcing himself to remain awake,staring at the surrounding area and monsters,before shifting to examine the tares in his shirt and the new wings,despite the shock and everything,he's refusing rest for now

#event ;; the virus appears #* {you two can reblog this!!!!}#long post;;#discord rp logs;;

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entergamingxp · 5 years ago

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Journey to the Savage Planet review

The first time I throw down a cannister of GROB, I’m not entirely sure what it is. As it explodes into a satisfying puddle of goo, the exotic creatures around me – my scanner tells me they’re Pufferbirds and they “like, love me”: it’s already reciprocal – screech a joyful, if alien, screech and waddle straight to it. Awed, I waddle right after them.

Journey to the Savage Planet review

Developer: Typhoon

Publisher: 505

Platform: Played on PS4 Pro

Availability Out January 28th on PC, Xbox One and PC

Moments later, their little bodies start contorting and their cheerful chirps fade. With dawning horror, I realise I’ve mindlessly thrown down this unspecified foodstuff without knowing anything about it – even though I’m playing a game with the word “savage” baked right into the title – noticing for the first time it’s labelled “bait” in my inventory. It’s too late for recriminations, though, isn’t it? These poor creatures are jitter-bugging their final death throes. I’ll be branded a Pufferbird Poisoner, I think. The Avicide Assassin. Spare me no leniency, I’ll wail, as they drag me from the dock. Don’t let me-

The convulsion ends in an obnoxiously noisy fart and a cloud of blue atoms spills out from beneath the Pufferbird’s backside. Its neighbour swiftly follows it up with a clamorous bottom-burp of its own. There’s another trouser toot from the corner of the cave – I hadn’t even spotted that one – and the faint luminosity of untapped atoms now presses softly against the dark walls of the cavern. I step cautiously towards them, still wary of upsetting the fowl, and gather my first resource – carbon – of the game.

The critters here, like, love you. Well. Most of ’em.

Not all experimentation in Journey to the Savage Planet ends so innocuously, of course, but this initial encounter sets the template for what will probably be several hours’ worth of “ooh, I wonder what happens if I do THIS?”. I spend/waste a lot of time idly skipping through the striking regions of planet AR-Y 26, ears pricked for the telltale “gloop-gloop” sound that lets me know something gross but edible is pulsating close by. Other times there’ll be a gentle tinkle to tell me a rich vein of coveted resources – carbon or aluminium, perhaps – is close at hand, or a hypnotic musical sting will indicate a secret is hidden nearby.

The similarities to titles like No Man’s Sky and The Outer Worlds are numerous, and several mechanical aspects of the gameplay echo those of others, too, but to be fair to developer Typhoon, Journey to the Savage Planet cultivates its own charm. And oh – it’s so gorgeous here! There are craggy mountains and snowy vistas and leafy glades and icy caverns stuffed with indigo crystals. There are giant mushrooms and scolding lava falls and bulbous, explosive shrubs and hallucinogenic trees and plants that shoot fiery lasers at you. Pulsing sacs of… well, I don’t know what they’re made of, really, but they’ll drop seeds that can be trampolines or sticky traps or flowers strong enough to withstand a grapple tether. The game never tells you any of this, of course; it’s up to you to fiddle with the curious items in your inventory and experiment with the bright, bold world around you.

Over the moon.

Most of AR-Y 26’s animal life is delighted to meet you, whilst others are unaffected by your presence. It troubles fewer still, which means you’ll only occasionally need to charge your infinity-ammo pistol and remind the critters you don’t necessarily come in peace. Journey to the Savage Planet isn’t a shooter in the traditional sense which is probably just as well; the floaty gunplay and frequent recharging mean intense combat sequences with tougher foes can be frustrating, especially if you’re looking to take down a boss or relieve a nearby vault of its precious cargo. So unless I’m collecting very specific resources that are only shed when certain species shrug off their mortal coils, I prefer to leave the wildlife be.

A lack of meaningful peril means you can indulge the whim to ignore your in-game objectives as often as you wish. Co-operative partners can float about as they please, free to explore different areas unchained from their companion. Regularly upgrading your equipment means there’s always a reason to jump into a handy transporter and revisit old ground, utilising your new tools to unlock areas that had hitherto been inaccessible.

Perhaps most amazingly of all, not once did I begrudge this; despite its dizzying verticality, the maps are contained enough and accessible enough to ensure you’re rarely far from your next objective, making backtracking a welcome distraction rather than a chore.

youtube

Mostly, though, you’ll spend your time leaping across AR-Y 26’s fascinating flora and fauna as you scout for resources that’ll help get your stranded ship up and running. You’re working for Kindred Aerospace – the fourth-best interstellar exploration company on earth, no less – which had mistakenly presumed this planet was devoid of intelligent life. The discovery of alien architecture suggests otherwise, but it’s up to you to traverse the world, collecting samples and data as you go, and locate what you need to get back home again.

Very occasionally, I encountered a problem. Sometimes, Savage Planet’s beasts glitched through the environment, once making it impossible to dispose of a key enemy to unlock a vault until I’d left and returned to the area via a transporter. Without a map to help orientate yourself, the waypoint compass system can be a little confusing, and on a couple of occasions, my handy respawn buddy spawned me in mid-air, which sent me spiralling to my death again. Not sackable offences, granted, and they didn’t happen often enough to mar my experience, but something to bear in mind, perhaps.

Savage garden.

And it’s funny, too; honestly, genuinely comical. I know, I know – humour is in the beholder’s eye, and I’ve already told you about the farting. Beyond that, though, Journey to the Savage Planet is stuffed with gentle Portal-esque self-deprecation, often breaking the fourth wall and offering up some of the most impressive, and entertaining, FMV in-game videos and advertisements I’ve ever seen. The AI voice in your ear, EKO, is both informative and charming without ever becoming an irritant, but if you suspect you’d prefer a more solitary experience, you can tweak her chatterbox-ness in the settings.

There are missions and objectives to complete, of course, and items to unlock and upgrade via the wonders of your 3D printer, plus there’s plenty of collectibles, too (oh, how I love collectibles!) Succumb one too many times, however, and you’ll lose the resources you’ve collected thus far and be forced to make a Dark Souls-esque dash to retrieve them.

But good grief, there’s something so special about being untethered this way, free to float and stomp and cheese my way around this remarkable place, poking my head into the nooks and crannies as I meander along, admiring the friendly fauna I pass by. I don’t know why EKO’s so keen for us to find the fuel and get home. I’m pretty sure I never want to leave here.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/01/journey-to-the-savage-planet-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=journey-to-the-savage-planet-review

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ciathyzareposts · 5 years ago

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Missed Classic: The Price of Magik – Won! (With Final Rating)

By Ilmari

Underground

Last time, I had just explored a house from top to bottom and defeated a giant slug with some salt. Beyond the slug opened up a completely new playing field. It seemed the game was funneling me towards some direction, since there were so many one-way connections between rooms (in truth, there was always a route I could backtrack to the house).

I love the decoration

The first interesting encounter was a golem wearing a silver mail with the word FIN written on it. It took me a while to find out what the creature wanted, but finally I traded my robes with the mail.

There’s a union for every trade

The FIN spell turned the target into a fish, and it came soon handy, when I arrived at a river. A ferryman took me to the center of the river, I turned into a fish and dived. My reward was another spell (SAN).

Rest of the underground

Beyond the river I found a tunnel, the end of which was guarded by a bloodworm. Fortunately, my trusty bat friend scared the monster away.

Next, I came to an altar, on which rested a talisman, above which floated a 10 000 kg weight. If I tried to take the talisman, the weight crushed me. The simple solution was to cast FLY spell, which was enough to keep the weight floating, even if I took the talisman.

I didn’t know cherubs looked like this

A few rooms further I found a statue of cherub. The statue was holding a trumpet, which I knew to be a focus for BOM spell. I couldn’t just take the trumpet, but I had an idea I could test what BOM would do (you don’t need to be holding the focus for casting a spell, it just needs to be in the same room). To my delight, the spell turned the statue alive. The cherub was scared and left the trumpet behind.

Somewhere else

I came to a glowing portal, where I had to offer a gift to Myglar, the evil wizard, before I could proceed. Myglar accepted any item as a gift, and then I could move through the portal to a grassy plain. The weirdest thing was that a brass monkey dropped on my back and refused to move. Taking into account that Brass Monkey is a cocktail and having a monkey on a back refers to being addicted, I think this is meant to be a joke. Ha-ha.

Getting the monkey off was equally ridiculous, and I had to check the clues to get it. I had to backtrack to house – fortunately I could use the ZEN spell for quick movement – and go to its kitchen area, specifically to a cold room. After a few turns, the monkey got too cold, escaped and left me with a crystal and a black ball. The black ball wasn’t that interesting – it was a sort of one-time protection to any spell – but the crystal ball was a focus for ESP spell, which let me send an astral projection to an adjacent room for one turn.

My mapping session ended, when I came to a portico, filled with giant ants. With no idea how to defeat them, I turned to test some of my new spells and items. I tried various things with the talisman I found and rubbing it sent me to a new valley, completely separate from the rest of the game. This place was almost empty, but I did find a riddle:

My father is dark

My mother’s unknown

I dwell in high places

And where the ghosts moan

Returning from the valley, I continued checking the spells. BOM was especially useful, since the house was full of things I could animate. Most of them revealed new spells, some unleashed monsters, and one gave me a spell focus (claw, focus for SAN). But the most interesting result came from a picture of Stonehenge.

It really took me there!

Map of Stonehenge

At the middle of Stonehenge I found a blue box with the spell IBM written on it. This scene broke the mimesis for me. Had I been transported from a nameless fantasy realm to Earth? Why is there, presumably, a computer in Stonehenge? Did IBM have blue computers? And what does it all have to do with the spell itself, which frightens its target? In any case, I could use IBM to scare off the giant ants.

The final rooms

Beyond the ants I found new rooms. They were otherwise empty, but one of them contained a locked room. I could now try the ESP spell, which allowed me to project an astral projection of myself to some direction and returned me back to my body after one turn. Thus, I saw that beyond door there was a dead idol. I could not do anything physical in my astral form, but I could cast spells. Thus, it was only a matter of casting BOM to make the idol alive and of casting HYP to make it obey my command to open the door.

Next problem was an ice room that was too cold for walking through. The solution was simple – I just flew through it.

Is this supposed to be gargoyle or moonbeast?

After few rooms I came across a gargoyle and a moonbeast. Moonbeast was more aggressive, so I decided to deal with it first. I had trouble figuring out what I was supposed to do to the beast, so I checked the official clue sheet. The solution was waving a mirror, so that the moonbeast would be scared of its reflection.

Gargoyle was more peaceful, but it also prevented my move forward. The gargoyle wanted me to solve a riddle – it didn’t tell me what riddle, but since I had come across only one riddle in the game ( see above), I guessed that would be it. I had no idea of the solution, so I again turned to the clue sheet. Turns out, the correct answer was FEAR.

Only one more room to go! I entered the lair of evil Myglar – who instantly killed me with a lightning. I restored and sent instead my astral projection to the room. I tried casting SAN – a spell that makes a person completely sane – and it did make it impossible for Myglar to cast any spell, but he still had a dagger he could use. I then tested DED – a spell to “kill” all magic. After casting it, Myglar’s magical enchantment of eternal youth collapsed, and the evil wizard died.

Somewhat surprisingly, the game gave me an opportunity to decide whether I wanted a good or a bad ending. In the good ending, I received all the powers Myglar used to have and led the world into a new era of magic and prosperity. In the bad ending, my supposed magical powers were actually just figments of my disturbed mind and I was sent into an institution where I spent the rest of my days imagining myself as a magical ruler over my fellow inmates. Now, that came out of left field.

Spells (if I’ve “officially” found them) – foci (if I own them) – what they do: ESP – crystal ball – send an astral projection to a room next to you, ? – candle – ?, ZAP – ashes – throw a lighting, DET – elder cross – detect danger, XAM – prism – checks if target is focus for some spell, ZEN – mirror – rapid movement, MAD – grimoire – make target mad, HYP – staff – hypnotises targets, FIX – valerian – heal the target, DED – wheel – cancels spells, FLY- broom – makes target fly, DOW – pendulum – check if target is magical, BOM – trumpet – turns statues and pictures alive, SEE – feldspar lense – finding secret doors, KIL – axe – makes target go berserk, FIN – silver mail – turns target into fish, SAN – claw – makes target sane, IBM – blue box – frighten the target

Inventory otherwise: mandrake, skull, knucklebone, ring, eyebright flowers, cage, robes, knife, wolfsbane, shovel, plate armour, crowbar, talisman, black ball

Final Rating

Puzzles and Solvability

If we ignore the rather silly puzzle of monkey on the back and some of the more obtuse puzzles at the end of the game, all the puzzles were easy and solvable, once you knew what all the different spells did. Indeed, one might say that the biggest puzzle in the whole game was to learn how to use different spells and what effects they had. If I could have asked for something more, it would have been a more creative use of combinations of spells, since the rare times I had to do this (for instance, when creating an astral projection to cast spells in a room I couldn’t access) felt very satisfying.

The problem is that the game allows the player to skip a lot of these puzzles e.g. with a liberal use of XAM and ZEN spells. It’s one thing to provide alternative solutions and a completely other thing to let the player beat the game without solving puzzles, especially as solving these puzzles doesn’t lead to a different outcome from not solving them.

I haven’t spoken that much about the combat system, which the Price of Magik shares with its predecessor, Red Moon. Suffice to say that it serves even less function than in the previous game, since here no monsters need to be fought with. This means also that most of the spells, which often are meant to be used in combat, serve no purpose at all. Seems like a waste.

Score: 4.

Interface and Inventory

The interface is probably the best I’ve yet seen in Level 9 games. Just to name a few innovation, the game introduces (I think) the OOPS command you can use to correct your previous move, completely discards the need for stacking items by removing the inventory limit (finally!), allows for more complex commands in the style of Infocom and even lets me command other creatures. These additions are sufficient enough to increase the score from Red Moon.

Score: 5.

Story and Setting

The story is, to put it nicely, mostly irrelevant. You are told of an evil wizard in the manual and you finally face him at the very last room of the game, and in between you just keep exploring and augmenting your arsenal of spells. Well, to be fair, there are a couple more references to Myglar, but surprisingly few considering I am supposed to be walking in his home.

The house of Myglar is a good setting and has at least some thematic cohesion. The latter part of the game loses this cohesion, when you leave the house and the player has to trudge through yet another featureless cave system.

Score: 3.

Sound and Graphics

Graphics are what they have mostly been in Level 9 games: waste of disk space. At best they have some link to the room descriptions, often enough they don’t, and constantly they are bland and boring to look at.

Score: 2.

Environment and Atmosphere

The premise and the mechanics of the game seem at first quite promising, since the mapping of Myglar’s house makes for a relatively atmospheric experience. Then the player is sucked through a picture to Stonehenge, finds an IBM and uses it for magic. In the end, if you choose the “bad ending”, it’s all revealed to be a hallucination.

Score: 2.

Dialogue and Acting

Some reviews suggest that the text would have been better in a version with no pictures (or, I guess, in Amiga version). I can rate only what I see, and I see terse sentences with barely enough meat to make an OK room description. Not very engaging.

Score: 2.

4 + 5 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 30.

This lands the game somewhere close to Red Moon and Emerald Isle, which seems quite appropriate.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/missed-classic-the-price-of-magik-won-with-final-rating/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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agreementtale · 5 years ago

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Chapter 8: There are two rules in life:

Step one eat the whole pie

Step two take care of Mother (A laugh a day) In progress

-> Bath (Too yellow) Bleaching (Maybe?)

-> Sewing clothes (Can you even?)

-> Pie => Get cinnamon (Where?) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-> Tidy the house (Doesn’t count)

-> Fix her relations with other monsters (especially Flowey)

Step two 3 gather materials => Boot, Toy, Ribbon(on inventory)

Step three 4 go to ‘icy place’

Step four 5 befriend the hell out of monsters

Step five 6 break the barrier

They eyed the list, unimpressed, ten days after they wrote it and the only thing they managed to do was eating pie… She was the one doing all chores, more interested in them learning school things than helping her around the house… it was frustrating, but they wouldn’t give up.

Seemed that the only incentive she needed to tidy the house was a guest, since they got there the house was spotless. They tried helping her on the kitchen without success, after their lucky strike the first day, she always beat them to washing the dishes… Always with a concerned expression, if they were present she would wear a uncertain smile, but they could see right through it.

She didn’t trust them.

They didn’t blame her.

“Is there something on your mind, innocent one?” She asked making a move to grab something.

They promptly handed her the dish towel “Just kid stuff” they watched her drying the dishes with the old towel, everything in Toriel’s house has either rather old, but incredibly well conserved furniture, books and utensils, or plain fresh, ingredients mostly.

“If you have a problem, you can always come to me, child” She said patting their head “I am your mother after all” They could barely suppress the pride on hearing that remark, but now wasn’t time for this, she wasn’t happy, they shouldn't feel proud yet, not when it was their responsibility change that in the first place.

“Can you teach me how to sew?” Clothes were on the old category, smelled like old, but wasn’t bad for the touch, neither caused them any skin reaction, they tested, and were fairly well conserved. But her clothes, on the other hand, were ripped around the edges and had a few holes on them.

“Of course” They actually had tried to fix them and surprise her, only to find out they definitely did not knew how to sew “I can insert this on our curriculum for this semester” They could feel warmth radiating from her voice just at the thought “On the condition you only use a needle in my presence” she added, half teasing.

“Ok” whatever they had done on the other resets, this run gained the cup of having their fingers stabbed by needles… those little pointy things were evil “Only with supervision” which was odd, sewing seemed like a useful capacity to have.

The thought of them ignoring a survival ability like this made them question their wisdom.

If it was survival, they had to learn it.

It’s not like they could rely on other people to do it for them all the time. Who on these days knew how to sew anyway?

“Then I’ll be delighted to teach you” That is outside of their wonderful mother, of course.

“By the way, yesterday I wanted to cut myself some pie, but I couldn’t find any knife” Not a single one since they appeared, they kept waiting to catch her using one, but she seemed not to like using the it, which strike them as odd.

“Well… you could have asked me child, I would give you a piece” If she was uneasy, she didn’t show, maybe they could be a little more clear without alarming her.

“And today there aren’t any knives on the sink either” She stopped putting the plates away.

“You… are a very observant child” Now she was unease, great…

“I am old enough to use a knife, you know” She didn’t answer “and I like pie!” she chuckled a little.

“I have no doubt about it” just a little, a smile that didn’t reach her eyes “but I still worry”

“I could have a dull knife if it makes you feel better” They would feel better with a sharpened one, but a dull knife was better than no knife.

“How about a pie knife?” uneasiness again creeping into her voice.

“Perfect!” Anything to not listen that borderline painful intonation.

She placed a kiss on their forehead, and moved back to the shelf, her hand way above her field of vision to grab something high, what must be at least 3 meters. She must have noticed their confusion.

“See, I was hoping to find children, even younger than yourself” she handed them a simple silver pie knife, it wouldn’t serve as a tool, but now they knew where she had the silverware hidden, carefully they put it with the other cutlery “I had to make sure the house was safe for the little ones” it wouldn’t needed to be this tall for children...

Maybe younger humans wouldn’t be her only concern.

Smart move.

“Are you playing with your brother today?”

“Yep” It had become a routine.

“Come back before dark this time” Every morning she would give them lessons, every afternoon they would explore the ruins with Flowey.

“Ok” They were sure that the ruins hadn’t any more equips, but random encounters with monsters and regular exercise had made them happy on the small place they called home.

“And I mean it this time” She followed them to the door “If you are late, you are getting no dinner, young one” it was an empty threat, she was always so relieved they came back she mysteriously forgot to keep her word... That is until the next day, when they got no dessert for making her worry, pity, they liked desert.

“Bye mom” They waved at her, asking themselves if she would follow today, Flowey had confirmed she had done it the first week they went out, at first he got jumpy with the idea, but then he got used to it.

Now it seemed she got used to the idea as well, since she hadn’t followed them for two days in a row.

“She’s not joining us this time?” As always, he waited for them on the distance, from a position she couldn’t see.

“Maybe” he looked a little grumpy, did he wanted her to follow them around? “How was your morning?”

“Awful, that Froggit keep following me, don’t matter how many tunnels I use, he always find me, every single day”

You mean that one?” They pointed to the innocent monster, listening to Flowey’s frustrated screech.

“Stop following me you idiot!” The Froggit just hopped closer looking them in the eyes.

“Hi” they waved.

“Don’t encourage him!” ignoring the Flower, the Froggit croaked back.

“Are you the guy from before? The one with a strong headbutt?” until today, that Froggit and the ghost were the only ones that got away before they could spare them.

Froggit croaked timidly, while Flowey grumbled.

“You want to show me the place around?” the frog croaked decisively, leading the way, they promptly followed.

“Are we really doing this today?” Despite his ‘tired of your bullshit’ air, he followed.

“Why? Have anything better to do?” since they fell he seemed to spend all of his time with them, except for when they were on the house, then he just waited outside, that had to change one of these days…

“Don’t let him outsmart you again” he warned morosely.

“Why so serious?” they joked.

“Can’t believe that I would end up as a babysitter for two dummies” he murmured, the Froggit did not paid any attention to it, going ahead on strong jumps.

“It’s not that bad” They were heading to a part of the path containing the pitfall traps, the Froggit dodged them expertly, they let him lead the way, despite having it memorized by now.

“It is when a frog is the smart one” They only smiled and let him rant about their stupidity on not becoming stronger and stubbornness on not escaping her house while she slept.

This Froggit was a particularly smart one, he managed to avoid all the traps, follow Flowey until he tracked his way back to them. It almost took away the sting of dying… almost.

He led them to other monsters, apparently his own family, they spent a nice afternoon complimenting and playing catch. Flowey complained about a wasted afternoon, but after he found a playmate, they caught him smiling every once in a while, a little Froggit, small enough to fit on his leaves, jumped and dodged his vines, while he pretended to be a giant monster.

With the diming of lights they waved goodbye to their new friends and headed home, he followed without any complaints, it gave them an idea. They asked him to wait for them on the entrance of the spider baking sale, his good mood allowing the detour without too much of a fuss.

Getting there they quickly approached the biggest web, whispering to the spiders about the two items they needed, leaving a few coins on the web. Spiders were resourceful, they remembered that.

Going back to Flowey they made conversation for the rest of the way home. The reflecting stones on the ceiling of the cave were already dim for a while, it was night out there, they kinda missed seeing the moon and stars.

“You will miss dessert again” the flower said, bringing them back to reality.

“That’s fine” although they liked the homemade sweets, their mission was more important.

“I though you liked cookies”

“And caramels, and chocolate, and sweet sweet pie” their mother knew how to cook, the memory tantalizing, they could almost taste it, all they had to do was get home in time and they would have a delicious reward.

“You’re drooling” They clasped their mouth shut and tried to clean themselves, only to find out they were not drooling, what a liar! They shoot him an irritated look, he meet the stare with his ‘whatever’ face.

“Greetings children” They both looked at the old monster hidden behind the tree, they with mildly surprise, he with growing anxiety.

“Hi mom” they promptly gave her a hug, he mumbled something, but her fur made it inaudible.

“And you should be Flowey” he nodded, making an effort not to tremble on his roots “The little one told me all kinds of good things about the valiant brother that protected them all this time”

“…m… ot… …t” he didn’t met her eyes, all the time looking at the ground, his damaged petals seemed to wither under her gaze, they never saw him that emotive before, not when they called him brother, not even when they called her mother, maybe he was more scared than they realized.

“Pardon me?” If he was that terrified, maybe they should give him a way out? She was never going to hurt him, they’ve been putting in a good word for him every night, but he didn’t know that.

“I’m not valiant” He repeated still quietly, his stem trembled, he looked small. They let go of her arms, determined to save their brother, but quicker than they could react, she beat them to him.

“Of course you are” She said gently, kneeled before him, they did not know if he got even smaller, or if it was just the subconscious comparison to her massive size that made him appear like that “You are very brave and very kind, young one, I can see that” they stood at her side, maybe it would turn out ok, if they didn’t interfere “Why don’t you join us over dinner?”

Like a sudden wave of fireworks in an empty night.

His face lifted to meet hers, an expression of wonderment and uncertainty, his petals gained color, on his eyes the shine of a precious memory, his mouth opening slightly to give her a reply.

Then it was gone… like the dying lights on the dark sky.

“Thank you, but… I’ll… I’ll just…”

“Please, I insist” She remained calm and gentle.

Avoiding her gaze “I would just destroy your floor” he laughed humorlessly “and dirt your house” He looked defeated, that wouldn’t do. They knew this expression, they had worn it too, he had tried it more times than what he could afford to fail.

“It is not a problem, we can–/”

“I can’t be uprooted, my roots have to have something firm to cling on” he interrupted her. Well, he didn’t have to be uprooted, they could put him in a pot.

“Then–/”

“Pots won’t do either” Or not… thinking about it, it was a too obvious of an answer for him not to have already tried “It’s too compact, I can’t breathe, the roots get squeezed” It had to be a solution somewhere.

“We could–/”

“Eating outside it’s a bad idea” they just had to think outside the box “without fire it would be all too dark to see”

“I could easily–/”

“A fire would be a bad idea” She was getting more frustrated at each interrupted attempt, he had already gave up “the Whimsuns would be attracted by it and catch fire”.

“We could–/”

“Thr–/”

“A boot!” they interrupted his interruption, with a raised finger “We could use a boot!” wasting no time, they took the Old Boot and the Toy Knife out of their inventory.

“To what? Stomp the fire down?” They used the piece of plastic as a shovel, filling the boot with dirt.

“It’s big, so you have enough space” they struggled to pierce the ground, ruining the knife, but getting earth enough to fill the recipient “There you go!”

Flowey eyed them incredulously “That’s like a pot, but worse”

“Please child, at least try it” She encouraged him, opening space for them to approach.

“Humor me a little, please?” he still stared at them, without any expression “pleeeeease?”

Rolling his eyes he lifted is vines, entering the boot. It was a fun sight, he looked bigger, but so much thinner than they had imagined.

“So?” they asked expectantly.

“It’s like a pot” he paused, looking them in the eyes “But worse” they gave him a displeased face, he had to at least try! “It have no space, I’ll suffocate in here!”

“You can untie those strings for more space” they pointed to shoelaces “or even pass your roots through these holes” he looked at them and tried a few experimental wiggles, poking two of his main vines out of the boot.

“What about now?” she asked him, he looked uncertain again.

“Maybe?” a few more movements and him using his roots to put more earth on the makeshift pot morphed his expression to something lighter “I guess…”

“Wonderful!” she said haply.

“Finally! Now we can share a room again!” They caught the boot on their arms, like a precious treasure.

“I just agree to a dinner” he seemed to adjust to the new environment, holding on their arms with a vine for extra support.

“And a sleepover!” they added with little jumps of happiness.

“She didn’t invite me to stay the night, stupid!” he said between hisses as he struggled to maintain balance, they stopped jumping.

She coughed “Flowey, please refrain to name calling, this child found a solution for a puzzle both of us could not, they are anything but stupid” he gulped “Besides, they are right, you two can share the room as long as they wish for”

“And I’ll tell you right away, brother, if it depends on me we are sharing it until the end of times!” He scoffed at them, but they could see how his petals looked vivid, his posture upright, his stem and leaves doing little happy wiggles.

After all this time, a dinner in family was all they wished for.

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#AgreementTale #undertale #fanfiction #archieve of our own #long fic

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