#SHIPPING CALL || LIKE THE FOX I RUN WITH THE HUNTED AND I’M SURELY THE LUCKIEST MAN ALIVE;

[foxfxce]

Tag Drop 3

[eyelinerda3euro]

The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction

In the temperate and tropical regions where it appears that hominids evolved into human beings, the principal food of the species was vegetable. Sixty-five to eighty percent of what human beings ate in those regions in Paleolithic, Neolithic, and prehistoric times was gathered; only in the extreme Arctic was meat the staple food. The mammoth hunters spectacularly occupy the cave wall and the mind, but what we actually did to stay alive and fat was gather seeds, roots, sprouts, shoots, leaves, nuts, berries, fruits, and grains, adding bugs and mollusks and netting or snaring birds, fish, rats, rabbits, and other tuskless small fry to up the protein. And we didn’t even work hard at it — much less hard than peasants slaving in somebody else’s field after agriculture was invented, much less hard than paid workers since civilization was invented. The average prehistoric person could make a nice living in about a fifteen-hour work week.

Fifteen hours a week for subsistence leaves a lot of time for other things. So much time that maybe the restless ones who didn’t have a baby around to enliven their life, or skill in making or cooking or singing, or very interesting thoughts to think, decided to slope off and hunt mammoths. The skillful hunters would come staggering back with a load of meat, a lot of ivory, and a story. It wasn’t the meat that made the difference. It was the story.

It is hard to tell a really gripping tale of how I wrestled a wild-oat seed from its husk, and then another, and then another, and then another, and then another, and then I scratched my gnat bites, and Ool said something funny, and we went to the creek and got a drink and watched newts for a while, and then I found another patch of oats.... No, it does not compare, it cannot compete with how I thrust my spear deep into the titanic hairy flank while Oob, impaled on one huge sweeping tusk, writhed screaming, and blood sprouted everywhere in crimson torrents, and Boob was crushed to jelly when the mammoth fell on him as I shot my unerring arrow straight through eye to brain.

That story not only has Action, it has a Hero. Heroes are powerful. Before you know it, the men and women in the wild-oat patch and their kids and the skills of makers and the thoughts of the thoughtful and the songs of the singers are all part of it, have all been pressed into service in the tale of the Hero. But it isn’t their story. It’s his.

When she was planning the book that ended up as Three Guineas, Virginia Woolf wrote a heading in her notebook, “Glossary”; she had thought of reinventing English according to her new plan, in order to tell a different story. One of the entries in this glossary is heroism, defined as “botulism.” And hero, in Woolf’s dictionary, is “bottle.” The hero as bottle, a stringent reevaluation. I now propose the bottle as hero.

Not just the bottle of gin or wine, but bottle in its older sense of container in general, a thing that holds something else.

If you haven’t got something to put it in, food will escape you — even something as uncombative and unresourceful as an oat. You put as many as you can into your stomach while they are handy, that being the primary container; but what about tomorrow morning when you wake up and it’s cold and raining and wouldn’t it be good to have just a few handfuls of oats to chew on and give little Oom to make her shut up, but how do you get more than one stomachful and one handful home? So you get up and go to the damned soggy oat patch in the rain, and wouldn’t it be a good thing if you had something to put Baby Oo Oo in so that you could pick the oats with both hands? A leaf a gourd shell a net a bag a sling a sack a bottle a pot a box a container. A holder. A recipient.

The first cultural device was probably a recipient.... Many theorizers feel that the earliest cultural inventions must have been a container to hold gathered products and some kind of sling or net carrier.

So says Elizabeth Fisher in Women’s Creation (McGraw-Hill, 1975). But no, this cannot be. Where is that wonderful, big, long, hard thing, a bone, I believe, that the Ape Man first bashed somebody in the movie and then, grunting with ecstasy at having achieved the first proper murder, flung up into the sky, and whirling there it became a space ship thrusting its way into the cosmos to fertilize it and produce at the end of the movie a lovely fetus, a boy of course, drifting around the Milky Way without (oddly enough) any womb, any matrix at all? I don’t know. I don’t even care. I’m not telling that story. We’ve heard it, we’ve all heard about all the sticks and spears and swords, the things to bash and poke and hit with, the long, hard things, but we have not heard about the thing to put things in, the container for the thing contained. That is a new story. That is news.

And yet old. Before — once you think about it, surely long before — the weapon, a late, luxurious, superfluous tool; long before the useful knife and ax; right along with the indispensable whacker, grinder, and digger — for what’s the use of digging up a lot of potatoes if you have nothing to lug the ones you can’t eat home in — with or before the tool that forces energy outward, we made the tool that brings energy home. It makes sense to me. I am an adherent of what Fisher calls the Carrier Bag Theory of human evolution.

This theory not only explains large areas of theoretical obscurity and avoids large areas of theoretical nonsense (inhabited largely by tigers, foxes, and other highly territorial mammals); it also grounds me, personally, in human culture in a way I never felt grounded before. So long as culture was explained as originating from and elaborating upon the use of long, hard objects for sticking, bashing, and killing, I never thought that I had, or wanted, any particular share in it. (“What Freud mistook for her lack of civilization is woman’s lack of loyalty to civilization,” Lillian Smith observed.) The society, the civilization they were talking about, these theoreticians, was evidently theirs; they owned it, they liked it; they were human, fully human, bashing, sticking, thrusting, killing. Wanting to be human too, I sought for evidence that I was; but if that’s what it took, to make a weapon and kill with it, then evidently I was either extremely defective as a human being, or not human at all.

That’s right, they said. What you are is a woman. Possibly not human at all, certainly defective. Now be quiet while we go on telling the Story of the Ascent of Man the Hero.

Go on, say I, wandering off towards the wild oats, with Oo Oo in the sling and little Oom carrying the basket. You just go on telling how the mammoth fell on Boob and how Cain fell on Abel and how the bomb fell on Nagasaki and how the burning jelly fell on the villagers and how the missiles will fall on the Evil Empire, and all the other steps in the Ascent of Man.

If it is a human thing to do to put something you want, because it’s useful, edible, or beautiful, into a bag, or a basket, or a bit of rolled bark or leaf, or a net woven of your own hair, or what have you, and then take it home with you, home being another, larger kind of pouch or bag, a container for people, and then later on you take it out and eat it or share it or store it up for winter in a solider container or put it in the medicine bundle or the shrine or the museum, the holy place, the area that contains what is sacred, and then next day you probably do much the same again — if to do that is human, if that’s what it takes, then I am a human being after all. Fully, freely, gladly, for the first time.

Not, let it be said at once, an unaggressive or uncombative human being. I am an aging, angry woman laying mightily about me with my handbag, fighting hoodlums off. However I don’t, nor does anybody else, consider myself heroic for doing so. It’s just one of those damned things you have to do in order to be able to go on gathering wild oats and telling stories.

It is the story that makes the difference. It is the story that hid my humanity from me, the story the mammoth hunters told about bashing, thrusting, raping, killing, about the Hero. The wonderful, poisonous story of Botulism. The killer story.

It sometimes seems that the story is approaching its end. Lest there be no more telling of stories at all, some of us out here in the wild oats, amid the alien corn, think we’d better start telling another one, which maybe people can go on with when the old one’s finished. Maybe. The trouble is, we’ve all let ourselves become part of the killer story, and so we may get finished along with it. Hence it is with a certain feeling of urgency that I seek the nature, subject, words of the other story, the untold one, the life story.

It’s unfamiliar, it doesn’t come easily, thoughtlessly, to the lips as the killer story does; but still, “untold” was an exaggeration. People have been telling the life story for ages, in all sorts of words and ways. Myths of creation and transformation, trickster stories, folktales, jokes, novels....

The novel is a fundamentally unheroic kind of story. Of course the Hero has frequently taken it over, that being his imperial nature and uncontrollable impulse, to take everything over and run it while making stern decrees and laws to control his uncontrollable impulse to kill it. So the Hero has decreed through his mouthpieces the Lawgivers, first, that the proper shape of the narrative is that of the arrow or spear, starting here and going straight there and THOK! hitting its mark (which drops dead); second, that the central concern of narrative, including the novel, is conflict; and third, that the story isn’t any good if he isn’t in it.

I differ with all of this. I would go so far as to say that the natural, proper, fitting shape of the novel might be that of a sack, a bag. A book holds words. Words hold things. They bear meanings. A novel is a medicine bundle, holding things in a particular, powerful relation to one another and to us.

One relationship among elements in the novel may well be that of conflict, but the reduction of narrative to conflict is absurd. (I have read a how-to-write manual that said, “A story should be seen as a battle,” and went on about strategies, attacks, victory, etc.) Conflict, competition, stress, struggle, etc., within the narrative conceived as carrier bag/belly/box/house/medicine bundle, may be seen as necessary elements of a whole which itself cannot be characterized either as conflict or as harmony, since its purpose is neither resolution nor stasis but continuing process.

Finally, it’s clear that the Hero does not look well in this bag. He needs a stage or a pedestal or a pinnacle. You put him in a bag and he looks like a rabbit, like a potato.

That is why I like novels: instead of heroes they have people in them.

So, when I came to write science-fiction novels, I came lugging this great heavy sack of stuff, my carrier bag full of wimps and klutzes, and tiny grains of things smaller than a mustard seed, and intricately woven nets which when laboriously unknotted are seen to contain one blue pebble, an imperturbably functioning chronometer telling the time on another world, and a mouse’s skull; full of beginnings without ends, of initiations, of losses, of transformations and translations, and far more tricks than conflicts, far fewer triumphs than snares and delusions; full of space ships that get stuck, missions that fail, and people who don’t understand. I said it was hard to make a gripping tale of how we wrested the wild oats from their husks, I didn’t say it was impossible. Who ever said writing a novel was easy?

If science fiction is the mythology of modern technology, then its myth is tragic. “Technology,” or “modern science” (using the words as they are usually used, in an unexamined shorthand standing for the “hard” sciences and high technology founded upon continuous economic growth), is a heroic undertaking, Herculean, Promethean, conceived as triumph, hence ultimately as tragedy. The fiction embodying this myth will be, and has been, triumphant (Man conquers earth, space, aliens, death, the future, etc.) and tragic (apocalypse, holocaust, then or now).

If, however, one avoids the linear, progressive, Time’s-(killing)-arrow mode of the Techno-Heroic, and redefines technology and science as primarily cultural carrier bag rather than weapon of domination, one pleasant side effect is that science fiction can be seen as a far less rigid, narrow field, not necessarily Promethean or apocalyptic at all, and in fact less a mythological genre than a realistic one.

It is a strange realism, but it is a strange reality.

Science fiction properly conceived, like all serious fiction, however funny, is a way of trying to describe what is in fact going on, what people actually do and feel, how people relate to everything else in this vast stack, this belly of the universe, this womb of things to be and tomb of things that were, this unending story. In it, as in all fiction, there is room enough to keep even Man where he belongs, in his place in the scheme of things; there is time enough to gather plenty of wild oats and sow them too, and sing to little Oom, and listen to Ool’s joke, and watch newts, and still the story isn’t over. Still there are seeds to be gathered, and room in the bag of stars. by Ursula K. Le Guin

[trashcreatyre]

I'm gonna explain one of my TMA playlists bc I've been wanting to do that for several months, and how else am I supposed to procrastinate my animatic project at one in the morning?

(here's the link to the playlist bc I think its pretty slappin')

General:

Body Terror Song By AJJ-

I know that it could technically be a flesh song, but I feel like its a bit more vague than that? if that makes sense?

The Afternoon By Lemon Demon-

there's gonna be a lot of Lemon Demon songs in this lol- This one is also pretty vague, but for some reason it kinda reminds me of Michael specifically? I don't 100% know how to describe it.

thrifted youth By dalynn-

Most of the descriptions/reasonings in the general section are pretty simplistic and vague huh? I guess it just kinda fits the vibe? I might be saying that for a lot of the general ones-

Aurora Borealis By Lemon Demon-

this one reminds me of the season five, kinda feels like a jmart song. (also you'll probably notice that there's not much in the ship theme in this playlist. I like to keep my ship playlists separate from my more general ones, don't know why.)

Under My Skin By Jukebox The Ghost-

just kinda fits the vibe y'know? other than that I don't really know.

Turn the Lights Off By Tally Hall-

i can't actually remember why I put this one specifically- that's a bit unfortunate-

When He Died By Lemon Demon-

This one mostly just fits the vibe, makes me think about the really old Victorian era statements.

Ancient Aliens By Lemon Demon-

again, fits the vibe.

She Doesn't Sleep By Anthony Amorim-

Feels like a random statement tbh. also reminds me of Not!Sasha too.

Nightmare Fuel By Lemon Demon-

funky song- fits the vibe- I don't know what more I can say-

Everybody Loves Me by OneRepublic-

I don't remember actually???? I think It was an Elias one??? but thinking about it now that doesn't really make much sense???? I'm gonna keep it tho, fits the vibe, at least it does to me.

Bloody Nose By Jack Conte-

fits the vibe :)

Christmas Kids By Roar-

I think I saw an animatic to this one time? now I can only think of the season one archival staff,,,, my beloveds,,,,

La nuit en matin By OH MU-

imma be honest, I have no idea what this one's actually about, but It lowkey reminds me of the intro music during end of season three- y'know, the clown vibes :D

9 to 5 By Dolly Parton-

Archival staff moment

American Healthcare By Penelope Scott-

I guess it could technically be seen as an End themed one? but I put it on bc I felt like it fit the vibes (are you getting sick of reading vibes? i'm getting sick of typing it)

Butch 4 Butch By Rio Romeo-

mostly just the rat filled piano line,,,,,, and also it fits the vibes to me.

Oblivion By Grimes-

Kinda feels like a statement?? In a way?

Murders By Miracle Musical-

the vibes. hopefully thats the last time i type that for this-

oh yeah woo yeah, we're onto the specific Entities now B) lets start with the one that probably has the most, if not, it sure feels like it-

The Spiral:

Spiral Eyes By Rewenge-

yeahhhh,,,, I know it doesn't really fit the vibes all that well, But the title fits and I like it so-

The Distortionist By Ghost and Pals-

this one is SUPER obvious, but it fits REALLY well in my mind.

Out of Her Head (Outerlude) [From The Film Possibly in Michigan] By Korban Baxter-

I can literally picture this one- I lowkey wanna do an animatic of this one one day.

A Crow's Trial By Vane Lily-

OKAY- so this last one is because it's the song from an absolutely GORGEOUS animation/animatic by Akidachi on YouTube, I ADORE this animation. please watch it omg-

again, I'm like, 90% sure that The Spiral has the most songs on this playlist, definitely not a bias or anything. next up is the mf uhhhh-

The Corruption:

Spiral of Ants By Lemon Demon-

no explanation needed.

Maggot By Slutever-

Mostly just the name, but it's a good song too so-

Sick On Seventh Street By Sarah and the Safe Word-

fits the vibe title and actual song wise.

in retrospect under my skin probably could be here-

The Web:

Redesign Your Logo (Bonus Track) By Lemon Demon-

Feels like a very web song,,,

Boris The Spider By The Who-

Spider,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Spider Dance By Toby Fox-

Yes,,, like from undertale,,,,,,,

i think thats it for the web (i swore there were more,,,,)

The Lonely:

Nobody By Mitski-

C'mon, you didn't think I WOULDN'T put this one on, did you?

This December By Ricky Montgomery-

idk what it is exactly about this one, just,,,, feels correct?

Blue Jay Way By The Beatles-

MANNNNNNN- i love this song, my mom hates it- that's unrelated- but I always just feel like there's fog or like, an eerie sea, or something- while listening to it. it feels very lonely-

I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew (1909) By Eddie Morton-

I have no idea why spotify suggested this song to me, but I will never not find it funny. Anyway- reminds me of the crew on Peter's ship :)

The Stranger:

Rattlesnake By Kabaret Sybarit-

Idk, feels like smth Nikola would sing at jon- idk how else to explain it-

A Mask of My Own Face By Lemon Demon-

pretty self explanatory lolll

The Slaughter:

War Pigs By Black Sabbath-

war.

The Hunt:

The Hunter By Slaves-

maybe this one is because it's because it's litterally called the hunter, and that they say hunter a bunch, but it is fun to listen to-

Teeth By 8 Graves-

I cannot remember my reasoning at this current moment-

The Flesh:

Body By Mother Mother-

the lyrics do be fittin doe

The Dark:

Everything Goes Dark By The Hoosiers-

i mean- everything goes dark- what more do you want me to say-

Dr.Sunshine Is Dead By Will Wood and the Tapeworms-

i think its mostly the song's vibe and the title.

The End:

The Trick to life By The Hoosiers-

the trick to life is not to get too attached to it.

Memento Mori: the most important thing in the world By Will Wood-

remember death.

YOOO OKAY NOW WE'RE ON THE ONES THAT I HAVE ACTUAL THINGS TO SAY ABOUT NOW- at least for the most part-

Characters:

i think i'm gonna go from least to most for this- (spoilers, Jon has the most ones because I care him)

Cryptid Hunt- Demo By Averno, Sushi Soucy-

this one makes me think of the WTGFs,,,,,

You're at the Party (Bonus Track) By Lemon Demon-

makes me think about Micheal Shelley,,,,,,,

Saint Bernard By Lincoln-

Alice "daisy" Toner moment-

Mary By The Happy Fits-

mary keay,,,,,,

there used to be a gerry one too, but the more I heard it in the context of the playlist and him, It just didn't fit,,,,,

Ew it's Elias/jonah time-

The Fine Print By The Stupendium-

capitalism- jk- kinda- Idk, just feels like it fits because he really just kinda,,, doesn't care about his employees-

How Bad Can I Be? from the lorax-

I had to-

Boss 3 from the terraria soundtrack-

Listen- I don't know why- but- it has elias/jonah vibes- the vibes are fowl, but the song is good.

Ruler of Everything By Tally Hill-

Panopticon/eyepocolypes time-

Ayooo it's jon time- I really hope I can write out my thoughts in a way that makes any kind of sense- /foreshadowing

A Sadness Runs Through Him By The Hoosiers-

Goddddd,,,,, he's just kinda filled with sadness and survivors guilt, just like, all the time huh?

Home By Cavetown-

the lyrics are just- very him- like- I just gjbdjgsflkjns-

Broken Crown By Mumford & Sons-

frick- the foreshadowing was accurate- the best I can describe it is that the lyrics just???? y'know??? hhh why am I like this sometimes-

Sweet HIbiscus Tea By Penelope Scott-

i'm willing to bet that he never wanted to be the main character-

Honey I'm Home By Ghost and Pals-

I saw a Jon centric animatic to this one time- I can't for the life of me remember who by, But everytime I hear the moth lines, my brain goes ":0" Because I remember there was a time when people kept drawing moth jon- I don't know where that came from but I thought it was very cool.

Who Are You, Really? By Mikky Ekko-

I'm like- actually starting to get frustrated with how poorly im articulating my thoughts right now- this just isn't funny anymore-

Sleep By My Chemical Romance-

I'm not actually sure why for this one- I just remeber putting on my black parade CD, hearing this, and being like, "damn, that do kinda be jon tho-"

I hope you enjoyed my ramblings- tbh, all this sounded and read out better in my head. My words might not make sense, but I do like how the playlist is. also im very tired, maybe this would've been written better if I wasn't struggling to keep my eyes open lol. I'm gonna fall asleep now- or maybe i'll post a spiral themed doodle dump again, who knows. I don't know.

[wastelander997]

Ideas for a Star Fox movie (long post)

Long post ahead but, like the title says, here's some of my personal ideas for a Star Fox movie

-We start the movie with Andross working in his laboratory at Cornaria, soon realizing he's... not all there. We see him mess around with globe, crushing it a bit in his hands. He wants the world, no, the galaxy to pay for something but we don't know what yet (his wife died due to the cornarian government being moronic and he wants to take it out on everyone and everything, but that's revealed much later)

- We cut to Fox as a kid. It's nice and peaceful at first, with James playing with his son in their backyard while Peppy and Pigma are there. Fox's mom goes to the car to go to the store, but Fox forgot to give his mom a bracelet he made for her. He runs up to give it to her before she can leave... and the car blows the fuck up, killing Fox's mom instantly and probably traumatizing Fox for life. At this point, Andross makes his move, shooting up his lab with a laser pistol and trying to make his escape. Andross realizes the car bomb meant for James killed Fox's mom instead. James tries to take Andross out, but Andross manages to escape by shooting at James, managing to scrape his face and blinding him in one eye. Andross escapes while James comforts his son, Peppy and Pigma not exactly sure what to make of this scenario.

- Cut to years later, Fox is joining the cornarian academy in his father's footsteps, and sees his dad and his crew off on their mission to stop a corrupted Andross. We follow James, Pigma and Peppy until they get to Andross, where Pigma betrays them. He shoots Peppy just enough that he can't control his ship and ends up floating away, watching helplessly and calling for backup as James McCloud is brutally murdered by Andross. Help arrives in time to save Peppy, but it's too late for James.

-Fox... takes the news pretty hard. After a long while of mourning and a heroes funeral for James, where Peppy tries his best to comfort Fox, Fox demands that the government do something about Andross. Because its the government, though, they don't do anything because, to them, it's just one soldier. They're training a thousand more... or 999 more, as Fox gets kicked out when he attacks one of the government officials. Nothing too violent, just a good hard deck across the schnozz. This act catches the attention of Falco Lombardi and Slippy Toad.

- Falco and Slippy were both dropouts, Slippy because he wasn't the best flyer and a bit of a coward (even if he was a great mechanic) and Falco because he was too hot headed and headstrong, not following orders well, even if he was arguably the best pilot around.

- Fox, Falco, Slippy and Peppy end up journeying on their own for several years, establishing themselves as a mercenary service, until they find General Pepper (an old friend of Peppy's), who's ready to go to war with Andross. Just hearing Andross's name is enough to make Fox almost snap then and there, so he offers their services. Pepper's like "why should I except help from a bunch of drop outs?" But Peppy manages to convince Pepper by telling them about the team's accomplishments, and Fox's legacy.

- Pepper gives them the Great Fox, which is in pretty bad shape, and so is Rob 64. Star Fox wants a better ship, but Pepper says that this is the only ship he can trust Star Fox, as they're mercenaries for hire. Slippy is actually excited, just because of Rob, who he slowly rebuilds throughout the movie.

- This is where the crew finds the arwings, which are hidden in the cargo bay. The four look over the ships and realize they're excellently crafted for flight, maneuverability and combat. So, with a montage set to a remix of the Cornaria theme from Star Fox SNES, the four rebuild and revamp the arwings using supplies found around the Great Fox.

- Meanwhile, Star Wolf is offered work by Andross, which they accept cause it's good money. But Wolf and Leon don't know that Pigma betrayed James McCloud and Andross killed him, believing he died in a random fire fight (Wolf was James's rival before his demise, and holds a certain guilt that they never got a proper one on one duel. He and Leon are value loyalty above all else. )

- For the most part the movie is sort of a scavenger hunt, flying around and slowly uncovering Andross's plan, which is to use a satellite on Planet Venom to control everyone in the galaxy, and make them all his slaves, so no one can ever act irrationally again. No passion, no heart, anything. He essentially wants to make the galaxy full of emotionless robots.

-During the scavenger hunt portion, Star Fox proves their worth by helping Bill Grey (Fox's friend/roommate who actually graduated the academy) and the rest of the cornarian army defend Planet Katina from a massive attack by Andross's, and helps Katt Monroe (someone who wasn't part of the academy, but was friends with Falco and they meet outside curfew to just hang out) sneak through Planet Zoness when she says she has info on Andross's plan, which is how they both find out his plan and why he went insane and wants to destroy everything. (The wife story I mentioned WAY at the beginning of this)

- Fox puts on a content face and is normally the most level headed one in the crew. But when Andross contacts them before going to Venom, Fox (justifiably) loses his shit. The only other time he gets this mad (aside from the government fiasco) is their first encounter with Star Wolf on Planet Fichina earlier in the movie, where Star Fox actually loses because Fox gets filled with rage as Pigma taunts him, saying things like "Your father died squealing like a baby!". Fox loses his mind and tries to just fuckin obliterate Pigma, but he gets outsmarted and defeated by Star Wolf. The only reason Fox survives is because Falco and Peppy save him.

- The final battle begins on Planet Venom, with Star Fox, Bill, Kat, and a good chunk of the cornarian army doing a full frontal assault. It all goes smoothly, the Great Fox even helping out when things get really hairy, until they eventually reach where Andross plans to launch the satellite. They're ready to take it out, when Star Wolf attacks.

- When Wolf and Leon find out Pigma is a traitor and realized Andrew is obviously siding with Andross, they take matters into their own hands. During their final fight with the Star Fox crew, Leon and Wolf end up bailing on Andrew and Pigma, leading to those two getting killed by Slippy and Peppy respectively. Then Wolf challenges Fox to a one on one duel, the fight he never got with his father. Fox wins the duel, and Falco ends up destroying Andross's main satellite.

- They all begin to leave, but Fox hears his father tell him it's not over. As long as Andross is alive, he'll try again. So Fox does the only thing he can. He says he'll go it alone from here, going into Andross's base and letting the exit get sealed behind him.

-Andross, despite starting as a normal, if deranged, scientist, did an experiment to merge himself with his ship, giving him control with a thought. Unfortunately this proves to be harmful, over the movie he fuses with it, and that's how he becomes the giant monkey head and floating hands we know, which Fox sees as he flys in.

- Andross: "YOU WANT REVENGE, JUST AS I DO! THAT'S WHY YOU'RE HERE TO KILL ME!!!

Fox: "... I thought that was it. I really did... but no, Andross. I'm here to save the galaxy (goes into all range mode) killing you is just a nice bonus.

- Because the fights in a big circular arena, Andross tears the tiles off the wall and throws them at Fox, as a nod to his SNES days.

- During their fight, Fox and Andross talk about revenge, and how Andross let it turn him into a monster, while Fox just let it power his resolve all the more.

Fox: "and if there's one thing I can thank you for Andross... *he barrel rolls in front of Andross with fully charged up blasters* it's showing me what I will NEVER turn into." *and he blasts Andross on the face*

- Andross is a bitch though and pulls the self destruct technique, and it plays out like the ending to Star Fox 64, with Fox getting caught in the exploration, but seeing the ghost of his father and following it out. James goes on about how he and Fox's mom are so proud of him, and that he's become so strong. Fox sheds some manly tears here for good measure.

- Fox escapes and, again, it plays put like the ending to 64. Only a bit bigger, as EVERYONE was there to witness Fox save the entire galaxy. His crew, Pepper and his forces, Bill and Kat, even Star Wolf (all two members that remain) watch from the shadows with approval.

- The film would end with Pepper offering Fox a spot in the army, but Fox says they prefer to fly solo. Pepper, grateful for their services, gifts them the Great Fox and the Arwings regardless. The Star Fox team runs off, ending the film.

- There's a post credits scene. If you want, there could be two, one to set up a smash bros movie and this one, which I'd have in there just as a joke. Pepper goes back to his office to relax, only to realize Star Fox left the bill for their services. He opens it, practically has a heart attack, and faints.

So... there ya go. What do you guys think? Good? Bad? Would you watch it or burn it? Let me know, please.

Until next time, see ya'll later.

[redrobinhoood]

catch me i'm falling | one-shot

A/N: There’s not enough angst in the Foxiyo fandom and I’m here to fix that. Full work posted here, optional AO3 link.

AO3 Link | 1,800 words (approx)

Summary: Riyo regrets the view from her window. All it has ever done is give her a look at her world as it falls apart. [Unrated, Major Character Death]

For the second time in her life, Riyo regretted the view out of her window. The first time, Fox had been called on with the highest priority and run to his command. She had been preparing for bed by herself when she noticed a new light from her bedroom window. Opening the blinds, she had beheld the Jedi Temple in flames. That night, she had sat in her living room until dawn, clutching a cup of tea as she watched the Temple burn. She hadn’t seen Fox again for a week, until he’d appeared at her office with empty eyes and very little to say. Then, he had held her as she cried for all they had lost.

Now, she had been preparing for bed, alone once again, when she heard the muffled explosion. She ran to the living room to watch as a plume of smoke rose from the side of the Jedi Temple. She could’ve sworn she saw a green blade dancing with a red one amongst the smoke. But that was impossible, the Jedi were gone. She saw the patrol transport move towards the blast site and wondered what was going on. She wondered if Fox was there. He had been ordered to secure the Jedi Temple for reasons unknown. Surely he was still on-site. She swallowed the panic rising in her throat, returning to the bathroom to brush out the unnatural curls that her senatorial hairstyling had left behind. Seconds later, the second explosion shook her mirror and she ran back to the window to see smoke rising from a neighborhood bordering the Temple. The holonews held no answers for her. Now, once again, she couldn’t sleep. She slipped on a loose pair of pants over the romper she had been wearing and sat down on the couch to watch the smoke billow into the night.

A knock on the door disturbed her. She glanced towards the clock to check the late hour, then rose and walked to the door. She brought up the image of a white and red clone on her doorstep and pressed the button to speak.

“Hello?”

“Senator Chuchi, it’s Jek.”

Of course it was, she could see very clearly his distinctive marks from wear and tear across his armor. She couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that the late visit had brought to her. Still, it was Jek. She opened the door. “What brings you here at this hour, Jek?” She hadn’t seen him, nor any of the clones besides Fox, in weeks. They had been overwhelmed by the formation of their new Empire and the government was in chaos.

Jek sighed and took off his helmet so that she could see his face. He wasn’t crying, nor had he been crying, but he looked like he was on the verge of bursting into tears. “Thire sent me. Commander Fox is dead.”

For a moment, she wondered who Commander Fox was and why she would want to know if he was dead. Then it hit her that it was her Fox, her beloved commander, and she felt something inside her break. Jek reached out for her as she swayed, steadying her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck for support, focusing her gaze on the looping tattoo on his neck as she tried to remember how to balance on her legs, how to stand. She’d known that this day may come, that every time she said goodbye to Fox it could be for the last time, but nothing could’ve prepared her for the sheer numbness that was filling her.

“I want to see his body.” The words spilled out before she could think of them in her mind. She almost hoped that he would refuse her, allow her last memory of Fox to be of him leaning down over her on the couch, afternoon sunlight streaming across his features, to kiss her before departing to his station. Was that really only hours ago?

Jek took a deep breath, pulling her closer into a proper hug. “Okay.”

---

He brought her to the wreckage of the patrol transport she had heard crash earlier. Small fires still burnt amongst the twisted remains and the smell of burning metal filled the area. Jek refused to leave the speeder, but pointed her to the white and red armor of Commander Thire, who was talking with the fire suppression team. She made her way over to him, wishing she’d grabbed something with sleeves so that she could’ve covered her nose. He noticed her before she was upon them and stepped back to greet her.

“Riyo.” He sounded tired. The blatant use of her name threw her off for a moment, but she pushed on to stand beside him.

“Thire.” How long had it been since she’d seen him? She knew that he had been involved with the hunt for the Jedi who had attempted to assassinate the then Chancellor, taking perhaps the most proactive role in the Coruscant Guard in the Jedi Purge besides Commander Stone, who had been killed at the Jedi Temple on the night it burned. She wondered how he could sleep at night. Maybe he couldn’t.

She turned her attention from the commander into the wreckage beside them. There were scattered bits of burnt plastoid littering the ground and a few shapes which she recognized as burnt bodies. She bit her tongue as she continued to scan the site. Peeking out from underneath part of the wreckage she could see a pair of familiar boots. Rys. How many times had she seen those boots next to her? She’d know them almost as well she knew her own shoes. She understood why Jek had elected to stay in the speeder. Beside him, a little way away from the wreckage, she saw a set of red armor. She stepped forward but Thire grabbed her and pulled her back. The numbness inside her lifted, making room for crushing despair.

“Please. Please, let me see him. Please. Please. Please!” She fought against his grip as she sobbed, screaming at him to let her go. He didn’t say a thing, just held her until her voice was hoarse and her struggles had stilled. When Thire’s grip on her loosened she nearly fell to the ground. She would have fallen if he had not caught her and pulled her close to him. She didn’t notice the fleeting glances that some of the clones on-site sent her way. None of them approached.

“Riyo, you won’t be able to unsee this. Are you sure?” Thire finally said as he steadied her.

“Please, Thire. I owe him this much.” She wished he’d take off his helmet so that she could plead her case to a man and not a suit of armor. Yet, she couldn’t bear to see Fox’s face staring back at her; or Rys’, or any of the clones that had been on the gunship.

Thire nodded and helped her to her feet. He walked over with her to the red armor- she refused to think of it as Fox- and stood behind her as she fell to her knees beside the body. She reached for the stretch of black between Fox’s chest plate and helmet, slipping her hand under his neck. She was horrified when it bent unnaturally under her touch and she realized how he must have died. Swallowing her fear, she reached instead for his helmet, trying not to jostle his head as she removed it. Thire had knelt down behind her and he now lay his hands on her shoulders. She took Fox’s face in her hands and ran her thumbs numbly across his cheeks. How many times had she done this while he was alive; taken off his helmet and ran her hands across his face as if it belonged to her. She was thankful that his eyes were closed, though a look of sadness was still etched into his brow and lips. She realized that he must’ve begged to be spared in his final moments. She could never picture her proud Fox begging for his life, but maybe he did, for her. She continued to run her thumbs across his face as she took in his features for the last time. She almost missed Thire reaching out from behind her to prod at Fox’s throat.

“The crash didn’t kill him.” He’d taken off his helmet. His voice was level, detached, as if he was going through his thought processes out loud for her benefit. “Neither did our men, there would be bruising. But he was dead long before this ship hit the ground.” He brought his hand back to her shoulder. “It was a nearly instantaneous death, Riyo. He would’ve barely felt it.”

“You know who killed him then.” She didn’t turn around and Thire didn’t answer. “Please, tell me.”

“I did. I was the one who found him, on Mustafar. I brought the medical capsule. I saved his life. This is all my fault.”

Riyo finally turned to look at Thire. He wasn’t crying, but the blank look on his face was worse. She’d been afraid to see Fox in Thire’s face, but felt more afraid when she realized that she couldn’t. “Thire, please.”

“Vader.” He looked out at the debris around them and Riyo felt a chill run down her spine despite the heat. She let out a shaky breath and buried her face in the crook of Fox‘s neck. She almost hoped that she would feel his arms wrap around her as they always had before. But she was too late.

---

Her apartment felt empty. It had always felt empty without Fox there, ever since the first night he had stayed in her bed. She kept waiting for him to walk in the door and tell her how he had faked his death so that they could run away together. But that would never happen. She knew that it had been Fox that she’d buried that day. Not that she’d buried him. His body had been taken by the Republic.

She sat as she usually did now, alone in her chair with her datapad and Fox’s helmet in her lap. She had been permitted to take that much, and Thire, the new commanding officer of the Coruscant Guard, had later brought her his bracers. As she reviewed her notes, she ran her fingers across the plastoid, tracing the painted stripes or the exaggerated features.

A message chimed across the top of her datapad from Senator Organa. She opened it.

‘Are you with us?’

Maybe it was inappropriate for him to take advantage of her grief. When Bail had asked for her thoughts on the Empire before, she had turned him down- fearing retaliation. She wasn’t afraid anymore. Riyo clutched the helmet to her so hard as to dig the plastoid into her skin as she responded.

‘Yes’

Vader would pay.

[writingkeepsmewhole]

I Do Not Know

This is part 13 of halfway I know it’s been forever since I posted anything for this but eh why not I was bored haha I know it’s crap and not that great but I need to rewatch the show and get a feel for everyone again but either way I hope you liked it tell me what you think please.

Fic Summary: Reader is faced with questions she can’t answer.

Bellamy Blake x Grounder Reader

Warnings:None

Taglits: @booknerdinator3000 @kingofpythons @dontstopxx @jodiereedus22 @littlegirl-fox

Part 1  Part 12

Bellamy decided to bring Lincoln back to the first ship the sky people came from. We were lucky he didn’t wake up on the way. It took all three of us to tie him up. Octavia quite the whole time.

“Can we save him?” She asks me once we are done.

“It’s never been done before. Once you become a reaper you never come back from it. We have tried this many times before and they always die.”

“Well we have to do something we can’t just let him die.”

“We need Clarke’s help.” Bellamy says his forehead wrinkles.

“Oh right like she’s gonna help us she’s never been a fan of him and you know it.” I say looking at him, shocked he would even suggest it.

“The moment she finds out I’m here she’ll report it back to her mother and I’ll be locked up again.

“That’s not going to happen, I won’t let it. Besides that it’s the only plan we got at this point so not unless you have a better one.” He says softly. 

“No, go get her, I'll stay here.” Octavia says moving to climb back up the ladder.

“Will you stay with her?” Bellamy asks me once we are alone.

I nod not having any words to say to him. If he wasn’t going to listen to me I wasn’t going to waste time talking. I had other things to worry about. My closest friend was going to die and I couldn’t stop it.

“Hey.” Bellamy says touching my arm.

I look at him, his eyes looking black in the dim light.

“It’s gonna be okay.”

“It won’t. Go.” I say looking at the door then moving to climb up the ladder.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“Yes and I’ll be here.” I say us, both going our separate ways.

By the time Belamy returned Lincoln had woken up. He fought his restraints like a while animal.

When Clarke climbed the ladder he jumped out at her screaming.

“Don’t worry he’s tied up.” Bellamy says to her.

“I can’t believe we're back here again.” Clarke says in shock.

“Can you help him?” Octavia asks from sitting in the corner.

I stood close to Lincoln waiting for him to break free. I’ve seen it before with reapers.

“I don’t know.” Clarke says taking a step closer to Lincoln, it only makes him get wilder.

“I knew mount weather controlled the reapers.” She says shocking me with the knowledge

“The mountain men can control them?” I ask, wondering how anyone could control them.

There was no getting through to them, no since.

“Yes, but I didn’t know they were creating them.”

“If they can do that to Lincoln then what are they doing to our friends?” Bellamy says with his eyes meeting mine.

“Well you know what they are doing to my people. Outsiders don’t mean much to them.” I say  as Lincoln screams louder, him jumping in my direction.

I take a step away from him, him pushing as hard as he can to reach any of us. I take a breath when I watch him start to twitch his head drawing towards his shoulder and chest.

“He’s convulsing.” Clarke says it almost sounds like a question.

“So what does that mean?”

“He’ll die.” I say honestly.

“He’s going to die.” Octavia says looking at me.

“Well he’s not going to live either. You can’t come back from this.”

“What happened to his leg?” Clarke asks as if neither of us were talking.

“I shot him.” Octavia says.

“Clarke he’s lost a lot of blood, can you do something?” Bellamy asks.

I sigh and shake my head as I feel my eyes prickle with tears. I look away from them, all of them and stare at the wall, not wanting to cry.

“Can you shine the light on his neck?” She asks about the flashlights Bellamy and Octavia were holding.

“Needle marks.”

“So you think he’s been drugged?” Bellamy asks.

I glance at Lincoln then at his chains. I stop when I see them bow out from the wall.

“Wait.” I say seeing Clarke trying to get closer.

Hearing a loud pop I quickly move between them. I gasped loudly as I felt Lincoln wrap his free arm around my neck and began to squeeze.

I start punching him hard in the ribs, him only making his grip tighter. My heart and head pounds from the lack of air, but I don’t care. I faintly hear someone yell the sounds becoming muffled by the sound of my blood rushing through my veins. I keep pulling back and hitting him over and over again my arms seem to grow heavy and move slower and slower. It doesn't take long before everything goes black.

I wake up feeling someone leaning over me. My last memories rushing back into my mind my heart jumps into fight mode. I don’t think, as I push myself from the floor and into the person over me. I wrap my hands around their throat ready to kill them before they kill me.

It’s not until my mind clears do I realize I’m choking Clarke, her scared eyes begging me to stop.

I quickly drop my hands and take a step back, us both breathing hard.

“Sorry.”

“What happened?” Bellamy asks, coming into the drop ship.

Us on the lower level.

“She tried to kill me.” Clarke says threw gasps pointing at me.

“I attacked her.”

“Why?” Bellamy asks shocked, by my confession.

“Instinct.” I say shrugging, not knowing how else to say it.

“I was checking on her and she choked me.”

“Well she was under attack last time she was awake.”

“Why do you always defend her?” Clarke says sounding hurt, her moving to walk past him and outside.

“She’s right.” I say looking at him.

“You shouldn’t defend me, I’m the enemy, remember.”

“Well you don’t act like it. Come on let's go check on Lincoln.”

“He’s still alive?” I ask us to move towards the ladder.

“Yeah, Clarke has been keeping him that way for now.”

I nod at him following him up the ladder.

He was right Lincoln was alive. I was surprised to see him asleep.

“What happened?”

“He died. Clarke gave him CPR.”

“CPR?” I ask looking at him not knowing what that meant.

“She got his heart pumping again.”

“How?”

Bellamy smiles softly, seeming amused with my lack of understanding. Walking up to me he gently grabs my hand and places it on his chest.

“By pushing in his chest like this.” He says placing his hand over mine and roughly doing what he just said.

“It pumps his heart making it start again.”

“She is a healer.” I state looking up at him, his dark eyes meeting mine.

“Yes.”

“I should probably stop attacking her then.”

“That would be nice.” He says smiling.

I smile back as a silence settles over us. The only sound is our breathing. With my hand still placed over his heart I can feel it speed up as his eyes travel down to my lips.

I’m confused when my face heats up. Things like this never seem to affect me. But I kept finding myself affected by Bellamy in one way or another. 

As if we were the same mind we both take a step closer to each other. I tighten my grip on his chest grabbing a handful of his shirt. He moves his hand from mine, running up my arm sending a warm tingle in its wake.

I take a slow breath as he leans down, blocking my view so all I see is him. It’s my heart that starts to speed up when our faces are only a few inches apart.

“Umm am I interrupting something?” Octavia asks, making Bellamy pull away from me. Him clearly his throat and scratching the back of his head. His face flushed.

Sighing I let my hand fall from him and turn to face her. I have to resit the urge to roll my eyes seeing Clarke standing behind her. Her glaring daggers at me. 

“Nothing that can’t be done later.” I say earning a weird look from all of them.

“Do you always have to talk so plainly?” Clarke says crossing her arms.

“Yes, it saves time not having to explain myself.” I say smiling at her.

She glares at me which I ignore

“Did you have something to say to you, are you just here to annoy the both of us?” I ask her bluntly. 

I felt like at this point I had been as nice to her as I could be and got even more hated for it.

“They are here.” She says not needing to explain who, Abby coming in the door behind her.

“Y/n glad to see you haven’t betrayed us.” She says looking at me.

“You haven’t done anything for me to betray you.” I say arching his eyebrow at me.

I shrug and follow them up the ladder having a good guess as to why they were here. I was surprised to see Nyko standing over Lincoln.

He was now restrained to the floor.

“Is he okay?” Octavia asks, dropping down beside him.

“I promised you I wouldn’t hurt him.”

“What happened while I was out?” I ask turning to look at Bellamy.

“Octavia went and got Nyko to heal Lincoln but he was only going to kill him.”

“Because you can’t save a reaper.”

“But I did.” Clarke says making me a bit annoyed with her joining our conversation. 

“Look at him, he is alive because of me.”

“And we are going to keep him that way.” Abby says, dropping next to him.

“We can cure the reapers, it's just about keeping them alive while they detox. With this we can make a deal with the grounders.”

I snort and shake my head.

“What?” She asks, glaring at me.

“You still call us grounders, you don’t bother learning anything about us but you want to make deals with us? You're more pig headed then I thought.”

“Alright that’s enough.” Bellamy says making us both look at him.

“Y/N go take a walk.”

“I didn’t-.”

“Just go.” He says making my heart drop.

I clenched my jaw at him and the way my body reacted.

“Fine, I’ll go hunting.” I say moving away from them and back down the ladder.

I leave the drop ship, my anger getting stirred up. It was foolish I new that but I didn’t like when he picked Clarke over me.

I walked through the forest not really looking for anything to hunt. I really did need to take a walk to think. I was starting to feel like I didn’t know what side I was on. 

But I always felt that way I was always never enough. Never belonging to a clan and it made me who I was.

Now I wasn’t so sure. I cared for Bellamy and Octavia. I even enjoyed Raven but the rest of the sky people could burn for all I cared. But what about my people? What people? I had Lincoln nothing more.

I was alone and I was growing too attached to someone who seemed to care for me as well or at least like me enough to want me around.

But that person always seemed to pick someone else over me. Well maybe not always he does defend me from time to time. But Clarke is his leader. A selfish one but a leader nonetheless.

So what should I do? Return to my cave? Back to the wild where I belong or do a I go join the sky people and learn about all their strange ways. I was caught between a rock and a hard place and I couldn’t stand it.

“How’s the hunting going?” Asked a voice cutting through my thoughts.

I look down from my perch in a tree just within hear shot of their camp. Bellamy stood below me, gun in hand but he was relaxed.

“It’s not. Come join me.” I ask but it sounds more like a demand.

“I don’t think I can climb this tree.” He says looking it over not seeing the foot and hand holds I do.

Sighing I start to climb down but stop seeing him put his gun on his back.

It takes almost too long but he finds his way up and next to me.

“Wow you can see everything up here.” He says looking around smiling.

“It’s why I climbed it. I needed to think.” I say earning his attention.

“Think about what?”

“What I’m doing with my life. Who’s side I belong to?”

“Why does there have to be sides?”

“Bellamy we both know you don’t believe that I remember the speeches you have given since your time here you don’t like my people the same as I don’t like yours.”

“You don’t like people?”

“Some I like some.” I say earning a smile.

“I don’t like all of them either. Something tells me you are talking about one person more than everyone.”

“We all know me and Clarke don’t like or trust each other.”

“Why?”

“Because trust is earned not given. I have tried to show her who I am and it’s not what she wants.”

“Well what do you want?”

Sighing I look up at the sky or at least the small pieces you can see through the leaves.

“I do not know.”

[mrneighbourlove]

Scarlet Contract: Part 3

"So Volcania. You get a job yet?"

"No Revy. I have been helping mama bear hunting though. I want to learn how to swing an axe soon."

Dinner was going well with the family so far. Scarlet passed the mashed potatoes around, smiling to Seija. "Wonderful cooking dear."

"Thank you!" Seija chirped, the owl Direnor happy that everyone was enjoying her cooking. "I hope you like the braised turkey---"

A loud crash was heard from upstairs and the head of the orphanage groaned. "Excuse me, for one moment." She rose from the dinner table gracefully and walked to the bottom of the stairs on the other side of the house. "If I come up there and you've made another mess, there will be no dessert for an entire month!" Seija's screech was so loud that everyone's ears rang. "If I told you once, I told you a million times, this dinner is not to be disturbed, we've had it planned for weeks!" Once she was done with her threat of no sweets, she returned to dinner with the same old smile. She had grown more of a backbone with Revy around the house.

Revy smirked as she patted Seija on the back. "Good job."

"Hey Revy. Why didn't you cut Adda's head off?"

Scarlet frowned, but Revy shrugged. "Eye for an eye was good enough. I'm more about justice rather than revenge."

"The newest additions are a little wild." Seija still poofed a couple of feathers when the 'taboo name' was mentioned. Clearing her throat, she patted down the feathers in her wild hair.

"Why would you even want to talk about her. I'm a much better topic of discussion. Hero of Uskar. Slayer of Evil Dragons. Destroyer of the Undead. Hunter of Pirates. Savior of Orphans." Revy put a foot on her chair and stood dramatically. With age she had really come into form.

"That you are, my sweetie, but if you put your dirty shoes on my chair again, I am going to be Seija, Swatter of Sweethearts without manners." Seija tapped her foot under the table, pointing at Revy's foot.

"Oh come on, they aren't that dirty. And its a step down from being on the table." She chuckled back. "So ma. You been at the palace lately?"

"No."

"Well, Liz and Lex say they still have invitations to go out to Hyrule from the Lord of the Gerudo's second in command."

"Interesting. You know, your father want's you to have children." Revy laughed allowed. "Well, Seija can't provide that. And no man can beat me in a fight for the right!"

"You could always turn into a man like that adopted sister of the late king." Volcania took a sip of her drink.

“Well, too bad she’s dead from what I hear. So, can’t learn her voodoo changing magic.” Revy dug her canines into a piece of fresh ham.

"Have a dick that way”, Volcania quickly said under her breath.

Seija blushed so darkly and feathers instantly poofed, going everywhere all over the table.

At the feathers going everywhere, Revy shot her younger sister a look. “Feather duster is under the left pantry.”

"Your bird, your mess." Volcania shot back.

"Sorry." Seija cheeped to Revy. "The... um... dick comment, caught me off guard." That, and fantasizing about a man who looked like Revy was... appealing. Being bisexual was certainly challenging when presented with sexual escapades that could possibly come true due to magic.

Revy locked her eye with Volcania. “I know you think you’re old enough to be rude to me, but you’re not. Be respectful to your sister in law, or I’ll put you in your place.”

"Oooh, scary. What are you going to do? Sit on me again?" Volcania stood from her chair with a huff. "Make one dick comment, I swear..." She went to look for the bin.

Scarlet shook her head. “Don’t tempt her Volcania.”

Revy tilted her head, looking at the weariness on her mother. “You look tired mom.”

“I feel tired Revy.”

"You aren't feeling ill, are you?" Seija asked Scarlet with concern. "We could take you to see Naira. I'm sure she'd make time for you even though she's retired now. She still does consultations."

“Not sick dear. Just tired. Thank you for dinner. It was scrumptious.”

The family shared a night of catch up, with Revy meeting her mom at the door. “You know mom, you should take a job working for Liz. Get out on the sea more if it makes you happy, you know?”

“I can’t do that to Borghild or your father.”

“Alright. You just let Seija know if you need anything from us.”

~

It happened over a series of days. The tattoo was getting darker. A warm pulse was felt upon Scarlet's skin. The magic was calling to her. Then came the soft whisperings, instructing her to go to Hyrule. Scarlet was to speak to the second born prince. He would show her what she seeked.

Scarlet ignored it at first, but when she did, it started to burn her. Finally, she knew she could no longer keep it out of mind.

Grabbing a letter, she did her best to fake it. No one was going to believe she was hearing voices in her head. Once that was done, she gathered her family together. “I need to tell you all that I will be traveling to Hyrule on business.”

"Business?" Borghild looked sullen. "This is such little notice."

"Must be another one of those Gerudo meetings, lovie," Rat did not look too happy either, but understood that when duty called, it must be answered. "Or is this about Queen Luimaya?"

"I don't want you to go." Borghild squished her face into Scarlet's boobies, pouting. "Stay here. Let them send someone else."

"Borgie, there's not another Iron Knuckle here."

"I'mma Iron Knuckle someone's head if they keep sending her on these long work trips."

“I should explain myself further. Prince Ralnor of Hyrule wishes to speak with me in person. I imagine with the trip there and back will take a while.”

Revy patted Borghild’s back for extra comfort. “You can ask Liz for transportation. She has the fastest ship I know.”

"What does blondie want to talk about that's so important that it couldn't be expressed in a letter?" Borghild grumbled, holding tight to Scarlet. "Tell his royal prissiness to come here instead." "Now, now, Borgie, we all know that Missy Orana's brother is a little---" Rat earned himself an annoyed look from his bear wife. "... okay, he is a little pompous, but he wouldn't ask her to come if it wasn't important."

“I won’t be gone forever. And if anyone would like to join me, they can.”

Revy glanced to Seija, squeezing her hand. “Think the kids would like the experience to travel to new lands?”

~

The long ride to Hyrule gave Rat time to think. Scarlet had always avoided the topic of mortality. Borghild, on the other paw, she knew that days were limited for everyone. Seeing that Borghild grew up with the threat of the Frost King, it was important for families to have all their affairs in order. There were times when one did not return from a battle. While Rat was no longer worried about perishing in a fight, he was concerned about old age. He was battle worn with old aches and pains that haunted him. Sometimes, it was harder to breathe on colder nights. The ex-pirate worried for his family. So, before the trip to Hyrule, he had visited Naira one afternoon while Borghild hunted and Scarlet prepped the ship with the girls. It seemed he was still in decent health, but he had to lessen his load. In other words, Naira advised him to do less manual labor and to be careful with his lungs. He supposed the smoking during his gladiator days did not do him any good.

As the ship docked, Rat was greeted by Corsaire.

"Rennigan!" Corsaire hugged his brother-in-arms tightly, absolutely delighted to see him. "You're turning into a silver fox!"

"Hey, now!" Rat chuckled as he returned the hug. "You's gots some silver in your hair too."

"Yeah, yeah, but my Orana likes it, says it makes me look sophisticated."

"Does she like the gray on your ass too?"

"Now you're just being smart!" The two men exchanged a hearty laugh at the teasing. It was good to see each other.

Commodore Elizabeth checked her notes for cargo. Of course, she wanted to help Scarlet, but she wasn’t going to leave without business to do as well. “Get those weapons on my ship. And watch that gunpowder.”

Scarlet got off the ship, smiling faintly at Corsaire. All these years and she still felt guilty around the man.

"... still can't believe Mojo and Juju combined have eleven grandchildren already!" Corsaire was rambling on about the rest of the crew. "They visited a few months ago and I have never seen such a rowdy bunch at the dinner table. I thought my own were bad, but they managed to start a food fight... twice!"

"Seer would have made such a fuss, you a-know that man doesn't like to waste food." Rat snickered at the tale. "He and Ocax are very doting grandpas to the girls."

"You'll have to stop by and see Pockets at the animal sanctuary! He's doing very well." Corsaire then remarked, "And Acrobat still runs all the ropes for the ships in the port."

"I'll be sure to a-stop by and say hello to 'em." Rat then asked, "And is Faris here? Me'd like to see him too."

"As far as I know, he is. I think Teb's wanderlust has settled down ever since Skyla graduated vet school."

"Aw, he's proud, isn't he?"

"... everyone is getting old as balls."

"Aye, too true!" The men once again shared a loud laugh.

"Well, you haven't changed too much, Scarlet." Corsaire told the woman. "No gray yet."

“Gerudo genetics. I guess.”

Liz came down to greet her uncle in arms. She had grown into a frightening woman with age, but always gave family the curtesy of a smile. “Admiral Corsaire. Thank you for welcoming my ship into bay personally.”

"Tis 'bout time you came to see me." Corsaire got her in a head-lock, pulling her in close for a hug. "Where's my hug? Uncles get hugs, don't they?"

"Goodness, Cap'n, don't choke her."

"Rat, it's just Corsaire now."

"Eh, old habits die hard."

When Corsaire loosened up, Liz squeezed him in a tight bear hug, crushing the air out of him. With an evil, evil smile she set him down. “Only reason I don’t kick your ass is because you outrank me by one level. Good to see you Uncle!”

"OOF!" Corsaire grunted at the tight hug and coughed once. "Gracious, lassie, me's older now, be easy on your uncle. Don't damage aged goods." He then reminded her in a teasing tone, "I will always outrank you, you're younger than me, missy."

"You's both being silly, come on, Scarlet has business at the castle."

Scarlet had never been to Hyrule castle. Whenever she traveled to Hyrule it was to see Corsaire, which they usually stayed at Orana’s zoo of exotic critters. Entering the castle walls, she felt like she didn’t belong. Half way through, she felt anxiety fill her. Before entering the throne room, she snapped her fingers, and magically placed her Iron Knuckle armour on her. Its shell kept her protected from the outside world. Physically and emotionally.

"I know you stated in your letter notifying us of your arrival that you had business with Prince Ralnor?" Corsaire inquired of Scarlet. "I'll escort you to his office after I show your family to their rooms. I'm sure Orana will be so excited to see you all. She'll be here later, she's overseeing the delivery of a few new Molagani tiger cubs."

"Ah, she loves 'em critters." Rat knew it was true, Orana would never lose her love of animals. "I'll help the girls unload, so just take your time, Scarlet." He noticed the armor and deemed she was nervous. "You'll do a-just fine."

“Thanks.” Scarlet took a few breaths and continued to walk forward to her destination. She had no idea what to expect.

Once Corsaire showed the family to their rooms, he took Scarlet to Ralnor's office door. "I already told him to be nice, so don't sweat it too much." Corsaire assured Scarlet. "He's not as bad as everyone says."

Scarlet did so. With a deep breath, she walked into the room. Not wanting to be rude, she took her helmet off with both hands then stood to attention. “Prince Ralnor. I’m Scarlet of Uskar. I’m here at your request your highness.”

Ralnor, in his older age, had only become more terrifying with time. It appeared that a permanent scowl was itched into his face now. He seemed to be glaring almost always. As usual, he was buried in his work, making sure the kingdom ran smoothly.

When Scarlet entered his office, he glanced up from placing his signature on a few documents. "I've been expecting you." Ralnor placed the feather back into the vial of ink. "I trust your journey here was well?"

"Yes. My god daughter has an excellent ship for travel."

"Commodore Elizabeth is exceptional at her work. I'm sure my sister's husband is very proud." Ralnor still had slight distaste for Corsaire but the man had proven himself trustworthy and loyal over the years. Standing from his desk, the prince made sure the door to his office was locked. Then, he examined his bookshelf and carefully selected what appeared to be a novel. It was actually a secret lever, which opened a hidden pathway down to the catacombs. He was getting old and could not climb up and down the damn ladder in the hole in his office closet anymore. So, he had this constructed by the monsters themselves. "Follow me."

Scarlet was incredibly weary, but went ahead in following the old prince.

"I don't suppose those rumours about you having torture dungeons are false are they?"

Ralnor actually chuckled at her inquiry.

"I am extremely talented in the area of extracting information and being persuasive." The prince used insinuations to make Scarlet understand that the rumors were definitely true. He was highly cruel, manipulative without notice, and fiercely protective of his family. The one to fear most in the Dragmire family was not Covarog, but Ralnor. The second born prince was willing to do whatever it took to keep everyone safe and happy, regardless of the fallout. "There are several colorful rumors surrounding my name. Believe what you will, though I do promise you, the one regarding me making a deal with the devil is false. I did, however, made a deal as you did."

"Oh." Scarlet wasn't sure that made her better.

"I suppose if you think about it, he could be called a devil, a fiend, a monster... many names." Ralnor led Scarlet into an open dome with several tunnels connecting it to their original path. "Though he prefers the horrid title of... Bonegrinder."

"Ah, did someone call for this old snake?" Bonegrinder was in his usual spot, hanging from the ceiling. From the last time Scarlet had seen him, he had grown significantly larger. And more intimidating. "You have brought him a guest, he sees!"

"You've met this one before, you old coot, you know her, you called her here." Ralnor rolled his eyes, annoyed at the Anagari's antics. "I brought her here, now, what do you want?"

"Now, now, his dealing is with the lady, not you."

"And you honestly think I'm going to leave her alone with you?"

"You wound this old Bonegrinder so!" The Anagari pretended to be hurt. "He doesn't eat those he makes deals with."

"Maybe he should stay? For reassurance?" She didn't say her own, but that was what she was implying. The monster was gigantic. She didn't like the idea he ate anyone.

"If it pleases the little child, he can stay." Bonegrinder then corrected. "Well, the little child is no more. More of a little lady."

"... little? She's taller than me."

"Compared to him, she is little."

"Good goddesses, give me patience..." Ralnor muttered under his breath.

Scarlet nodded. Looking around, she didn't know if she was supposed to sit or stand. "What is it that you summoned me for?"

"This old snake has summoned you for what he told you all those years ago, little lady." Bonegrinder snapped his fingers and a whoosh of fire appeared in his palm. There was a figure of Luimaya and on either side, a benevolent force and a malevolent one. "It is time for you to take your place among your sisters and fight for the cause of your queen."

"Oh... Adda? That doesn't make any sense." Scarlet sounded confused from head to toe. Looked it too.

"HAHAHAHA!" Bonegrinder started to laugh and Ralnor stood there, still looking as irritated as ever.

"Great, you made him laugh." Ralnor grumbled. "That means he likes you."

"Oh, no, no, she was never and will never be a queen, her heart is too black! No, little lady, the queen you will serve is none other that Queen Luimaya, and yourself." Bonegrinder explained to her. "The time of Gerudo Kings are over. The time of Gerudo queens has arrived... and you shall lead the Gerudo of Termina and those of Taiyo Town into the last battle for peace on this world for the sake of Luimaya."

"Me?" Scarlet's face grew pale. "I can't possibly do that."

"Of course, you can. You are a descent of the original twin sister who founded your tribe, Gerudo Yashuranda." Bonegrinder told Scarlet. "Just as Ganondorf is. You, my dear, if he has to explain it in greater detail, are a direct descendant of the first sister of Ganondorf. The ever vibrant and tender-hearted Amala."

"No way. Even if that was true, I haven't done anything good with my blood." Scarlet looked excited by something. "You must have me mistaken for my girl Revy! She's a hero through and through. She'd make a better leader, let alone queen, then me."

"Your little girl is not the one this snake seeks, little lady. If she was the one he needed, then he would have made a deal with her. No, Scarlet, you," Bonegrinder gestured to her. "Are the one who shall lead. Your little child desires to be a hero for good reasons, yes, but is too prideful by the accomplishments. You are the one who is humbled, despite past mistakes, and strives for a better tomorrow. A true leader can admit their faults. This is you."

"Rather have her there than that bastard anyhow." Ralnor remarked, thinking of Malik. Even after all this time, he still held contempt for the man. Especially since Covarog's heart attack. He was furious when he heard of what happened and even more so that Malik refused to believe Zarazu about the Tri-Force being an object of darkness now. Or becoming one. "He's always looking for the next power grab."

"Forgive me, but its not humbleness. It's meekness. Always has been." Scarlet looked down. What was she doing here?

"Call it what you wish, but it is what has been foreseen and what will come to fruition." Bonegrinder asked Scarlet. "You think of your family and those who you care for, but you also think of your people. Adda will desert them in a heartbeat. You will not."

"No! She didn't. As I recall Hyrule was the one who bombed them to hell. Adda was able to cull the chaos that was tearing us apart before... before she was betrayed." Scarlet stopped speaking when she saw his head tilt. It unnerved her.

"Are you sure... she didn't strike first?" Bonegrinder knew exactly what Adda's motives were and how all the Gerudo women had suffered for it. "Defending her without knowing all her wrongs. What a friend she lost."

"I committed those wrongs too."

"Did you? Or were you ordered?" Bonegrinder loved to play mind games. "Stop tormenting her." Ralnor growled at the snake. "Say your peace and get on with it."

Scarlet didn't like being here. She didn't like explaining herself. She didn't like being treated better than Adda when she did just as many wrongs as her.

"You made the deal, little lady, and thus is what will become." Bonegrinder stole a glance at the prince. "Even pretty prince here won't deny the fact that a war is coming." "... unfortunately, that is true." Ralnor glared at the Anagari before giving Scarlet a defeated sigh. "Are you familiar with the tale of the Maker and Destroyer brothers?"

"No." Scarlet sounded sad. Was she stupid for not knowing? "Should I?"

Bonegrinder took the time to tell Scarlet the ancient tale of the two brothers fighting. He even told her of Luimaya's role, knowing she could be trusted. Chaos was hot on their tails and would one day challenge the Mother Goddess for the right to this world. The fateful day of prophecy had chosen warriors on each side. She was one of the selected few to join Mother Goddesses' ranks. "You are the one who shall lead the Gerudo into a new age, Scarlet." Bonegrinder assured the woman's doubts. "Regardless of what you think of yourself, there are those who look up to you. If you do not fight, then the Gerudo will fall. Every kingdom will fall. One by one. Until nothing is left."

“I... why me? Honestly. Why me.”

"Because despite your mistakes, Scarlet," He used her name to grab her attention. "You still try for the better. Live for the better. Not for yourself, but for others. That... is a rarity to find in this world. Regardless of your past attentions, you still have a good heart."

Scarlet frowned, barely able to make eye contact. “I’ll try.”

"If not for yourself... perhaps for your daughters? If you fight, they will have a better chance of survival." Bonegrinder left her with that inquiry to think upon while she was here in Hyrule. "Now, you must travel to Taiyo Town to speak with that hardheaded commander of the reagent queen's." The Anagari sounded rather annoyed at the idea, but knew it was necessary.

Scarlet felt something tugging at the back of her mind. As if she might not return to Hyrule. A thought crawled in her head. “Prince Ralnor. Is Adda still alive? Where do you keep her?”

"Unfortunately, she is still alive." Ralnor did not look too enthused about Scarlet's question. "Why do you wish to know her location?"

“I wish to speak to her.”

"No." Ralnor frowned, crossing his arms. "She is not allowed visitors."

“Please. I don’t know if I’d have a chance to have proper closure with her.”

"She is not allowed visitors." Ralnor repeated this time more sternly. "She is a dangerous, criminal who has a way of getting into the minds of others. I said no."

"Do you not think it would be a good form of revenge to see her 'sister' living life so wondrously?" Bonegrinder asked the blondie prince. "Definitely make her sick."

Scarlet frowned. “Can’t you do this my one request for helping you?”

"Forgive me for sounding crass, but you were once part of her unruly band." Ralnor stated, the distrust clear in his voice. The second born prince trusted very few around the castle. He preferred to stay guarded that way. "Give me a reason why this isn't a little escape ploy of yours? Or even worse, a game of his."

"Now, now, you wound this old snake so, why would he ever free that 'better-than-thou' bitch?"

"Because you like to see me squirm."

"That he will not deny. But no, pretty prince, you should not be alarmed. This is no game. Merely a bitter taste of medicine."

"..." Ralnor glanced at Scarlet and then to the Anagari. "Fine. But you go with her. And my spies will be watching."

"Even pretty faces can tell lies." Ralnor started working his way back up the hidden staircase the two of them descended. "I'd advise you not to listen to Adda. No matter what she says."

“I understand.”

As Bonegrinder showed her the correct way through the tunnels to the prison cells, it was a maze underneath the castle. It was built that way in case of a prisoner escape. One would be hard pressed to find an exit. "He will remain back here, little lady, to spare your friend a fright. But heed the pretty prince's words," Bonegrinder warned her. "Don't let her get into your head. Keep it short. If you do not return within 5 minutes, he will come get you."

The door creaked behind Scarlet, and she felt her shoulders dropped.

________________________________________________________________

Crossover with @ridersoftheapocalypse

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[pernatius]

Lost in Space Part 2: Ch 1

Summary: After returning to Earth, an unnamed Space Explorer must face the consequences of going past Quadrant 5.

Attempting to write 10k words for part 2 by the end of the week. 

Part 1:

Ch 1

Ch 2

Ch 3

Ch 4

Ch 5

____________________

I sigh. I watch my breath move away and disappear before my eyes. I shiver, but instead of hugging myself to keep in what little warmth I have, I look down at my shaky hands. I imagine my blood dripping down my fingertips. I then lay them down, hoping to paint the cold floor beneath me. I know full well it’s all in my head, but I try to anyway. I try until I can feel the skin underneath my nails tear. When that happens, I grip either shoulder. This isn’t because I now know it’s best to keep warm. I did so because of how trapped and lonely I feel. 

My eyes move up towards the wall I’m leaning against. I imagine a window and the rich blue sky waiting on the other side. I then go on to imagine how long I’ve spent here. By this point, I could’ve already stayed here for days, weeks, or even months. Time has lost its touch on me. The walls haven’t changed. No cobwebs or even a speck of dust has touched them. Even the door right across from me doesn’t have a sliver of time’s touch. Its knob hasn’t moved an inch since I got here. Even the air vent above lacks any indication of how long I’ve been here. There’s no sound coming from them, especially no voices. It strengthens the lack of hope, though. It causes my head to lower. 

Because of this, I scoff. I scoffed at how lucky I was back then. At least back at the Tauvoxes’ ship, I felt alive. Even if it was fear it’s better than feeling dead. 

Light touched me. It blinded me. I tried covering my eyes with my hand, but with his hand wrapping itself and clutching my wrist it became impossible. 

He led me. I walked by his side and took note of the many doors that stretched from both ends of the hallway. They’re all closed, which meant many others are facing the same torment I had just been released from. I imagine the hundred or so helpless others sitting at the very edges of their rooms with their heads down. Most hug themselves to keep warm or what little hope they had left. Some just lean against the wall, hoping for death to take them away from the mind-numbing torture. Sure, maybe some deserved to be here. Maybe they broke out of the limits of humanity, but no one deserved this. No one deserved the drain. Whatever they had done to get themselves here it couldn’t have been enough to forget they’re human too. They have families. They have friends. Maybe a pet at home like a dog. Maybe that dog used to wait at their front door until they got home from work. Maybe that dog now has their head down and is whimpering because they were promised a walk too long ago. Whatever the case they have memories. They have lives, or at least they had lives before being sent here. True monsters could be on the other side of those doors, but it’s not like they wanted to be one. Life just forces people to become one. I might not be called a monster to most, but it doesn’t matter what most think because in their eyes they see me as one. In his eyes especially. 

He sat right across from me and just like with The Director shades covered his eyes. They showed me the helplessness sketched on my face. “It doesn’t take much to realize you aren’t handcuffed. You can try to run out of here. Hell, you can try to sock my nose. However, if you’re smart you wouldn’t do something so rash. We attached a chip on the back of your neck not too long after your court case. So, if you try to do anything other than answer me you will be electrocuted.”

“Does it matter? Whether or not I answer I’ll just be sent back into that room to be left to myself. To be tortured.”

“Rightfully so. You had disobeyed direct orders, caused the death of your entire crew, and nearly brought all of humanity into another war. Thank God for that band of Space Pirates…”

His words faded from my hearing. Instead of sitting in the interrogation room, I’ve bent down in the middle of a farmers market. Underneath a small rock, a flower sways before my eyes. My hand pushes the rock away, grabs the flower, and plucks it out of the ground. I then ran over to my mother. Well, it was more like scrambling to her as I tried not to trip because at that time my shoes were somehow always untied. Once I’m next to her, I tug her baggy pants. When that doesn’t get her attention, I call out her name. Still, her attention is directed towards the woman running the little shop. They’re laughing as the owner places my mother’s purchased fruits and vegetables into a bag. Because I was just another selfish child, I kicked my mother. This gets her attention, but not the type I wanted. She turns and lowers her head as the owner is talking to another customer. My mother mouths, “When we get home-”

“Here’s your bag,” the owner interrupted her with a soft voice. 

With that, my mother’s demeanor shifted right back into its lighthearted self. She smiles and says her thanks, but that’s the end of that side of her. Once we get home she scolds me. With the flower crushed in my hand, I can feel my throat tighten. I’m crying in front of her as she points her finger and shouts at me. She could’ve scolded me for at least another hour, but a phone call cuts her off mid-sentence. 

I threw the flower down and continued to cry into my pillow. I don’t know how long I cried. Maybe a few seconds. It could’ve been five minutes. An hour possibly, or maybe even two. How long it was doesn’t matter. I calmed down eventually. Well, the crying portion of my emotions ended. From being a tearful mess I then turned to frustration. “You’re always making me cry. I wish something made you cry for once, mom,” I shouted.

It wouldn’t take long for me to regret that statement because what had come next was an explosion. My childhood home was swallowed up in a blaze of fire. I tried looking for my mom, but I was too late. A piece of the roof punctured right through her, but she was still alive. Her body twitched and I saw tears in her eyes. I wanted to help her. I tried to, but I was too weak. So, I ran. I pushed past some crops and ran until I slipped and fell in some mud. 

As I tried wiping off the mud from my face, I cried. I cried until I saw something appearing in the mud, it reflected something. It reflected something unworldly. Looking up, I see a spaceship. 

The trudging soon began. My shoes were covered in mud, grass, and sewage. They smelled and were on the verge of breaking apart. I’ve worn the same clothes for days. We’ve been trudging for days. Blisters sat underneath my feet. Scars scattered throughout my ankles and some even managed to get to my shoulders and chest. The others and I haven’t eaten much. Our rations ended a week ago, so we’ve been surviving on whatever we’re able to find whether that means killing a fox or going dumpster diving. 

It was supposed to end about a month ago, but the hideout was found out. The people that made it there first were either killed by the blast or, if they managed to escape before it hit, became their prisoners. 

“Go west? Are you insane,” our group leader questioned. 

She stood in front of him. She’s about my age, two years older. Her name is Ashley. I, of course, didn’t know it at the time, but she would become the one I risked everything for about two decades later. “Can’t you see they already know we’re heading south?”

We’re all young. Most of the group barely hit puberty. He was the oldest, so it was only natural for us to make him the leader. However, other than me he was the most stubborn. “Even if they do, what other choice do we have? Five hideouts have been discovered in the past month. If we go back west we’ll be shot down as soon as we step foot there, or worse we’ll become their prisoners. Let’s say you’re right. At least south we have some cover.”

“They’ve been hitting in one unit. There’s no way they’d split up in two separate directions.”

“And you know this how?”

“I’ve been watching them from afar. I haven’t seen any of them-”

“Wait. You’ve been splitting up from the group,” he yelled. 

“Yes,” she muttered under her breath. 

He steps closer to her and lifts her by her collar. Because of the huge height difference, her feet are seen dangling. She begins to cry. The others either just watch or look away. “You’ve been sneaking off from the group? For how long?”

Her crying causes my heart to drop and fists to shake. I wanted to do something, but I was just too scared. He was older, taller, and way stronger. 

“I-I don’t know...a few weeks?” The last word in her answer is spoken with a squeak. 

“You could’ve been caught for these past few weeks,” his grip tightens on her collar, “You could’ve given away our location these past few weeks.”

“I’m sorry,” she whimpered. 

Seeing him move his hand into his pocket, I already knew what he was planning to do. So, I didn’t waste any more time. I buried down my fear towards him and instead replaced it with the fear of that knife making it into her chest.

“Stop.” It was my turn to get in front of him. I looked at him with begging eyes, but he ignored me. He pulled the blade back and swung. 

He cried out and let her go. I caught her before she hit the ground. As she and along with the rest of the group tried to process what just happened, I grabbed her hand and led her away from there. The last thing I see of them is them trying to help him pull the branch out of his ankle. 

For months we all struggled. For months it was all about survival. It was about becoming a hunter rather than the hunted. It felt like years, but the years I’ve spent with her felt like hours. She made me happy the first time in a while. It’s the type of genuine happiness that causes your cheeks to cramp from all the laughing. I hadn’t felt that happy since before my father’s death. She was my first in just about everything. She was my lover. We’ve been together for basically my whole life. Until everything crumbled down. It crumbled because of me. 

“And you did it all for her,” he broke me out of my memories. 

“Yes,” I said confidently. 

“One life isn’t worth the lives of millions.”

My eyebrows furrowed. One twitched. The space between them scrunched up. “What are you trying to say?”

“What do you think I’m trying to say?”

“You think I would let her die? You think I would just sit back on my ass and let my wife die?”

“You were the one that caused her predicament. It’s only deserved you-” 

Before he can finish I punch his nose. He stumbles out of his chair and clutches his now crooked nose. Blood dripped out of the site, but I didn’t get to savor his pain for long because the consequences he described earlier began. An electric shock hit me. It went up and down my spine, causing me to stumble out of my chair as well. 

Knees bent and shaking, I cry. I cry for it to stop. It does, but I still feel it. It’s over, but I still feel my spine burning and head pounding. So, I fall to the floor and try to dig my nails in it. I watch my tears splash onto it as well. 

He moves in front of me. He bends down so that my eyes can meet with his shades. “Was it worth it?”

[mobius-prime]

221. Sonic the Hedgehog #153

Oh god, is Sonic, like… okay? Is he all right up there? What horrific manner of trouble did he get himself into this time to have his face become deformed like that? Also, I like how this cover implies that Sonic is being hunted down by someone shooting lasers or something, when literally nothing even close to the sort happens within the issue. I know it's perhaps getting a bit stale to point out every time the cover art doesn't reflect the stories inside, but dammit, it makes me laugh so I'm gonna keep doing it.

Songoose (Part 1 of 2)

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Ron Lim Colors: Jason Jensen

Eggman has a new agenda to enact. He's offered Nack the Weasel a large sum of money in exchange for assassinating someone very important within Knothole, and despite Nack's apparent reservations about waltzing into a place where he's wanted for quite a few crimes, he seems pretty jazzed to accept the offer nonetheless. Within Knothole, Sally has arranged a mock battle training exercise between the Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix to strengthen team bonding and combat skills, and oversees the training along with General D'Coolette, discussing the various combatants' strengths and weaknesses.

Uh oh, that doesn't sound good. In fact, at that moment they get a call from the king and queen, still halfway around the world, and apparently the king is also exhibiting similar symptoms to the general, prompting Sally to muse on whether their illnesses are related. She wonders if they should cut their trip short and return home, something which the king is against but the queen tentatively supports, but the conversation is interrupted when suddenly, the general seizes up and then collapses onto the ground. That's… probably not a good sign. Worse still, "Antoine" doesn't even seem to care, though of course we know why.

So this is actually a plot point that's kept up throughout a lot of subsequent issues - apparently, Tails' crush on Fiona is still going strong, despite the fact that he literally "fell in love" with a robot duplicate of her which had nothing in common with the real her. It's honestly a very weird detail to seize upon, as while Fiona being a real person and a unique character in her own right is interesting, and the fact that she's joined the Freedom Fighters even more so, Tails trying to like… flirt with her and become her boyfriend is just a bizarre place to take it, especially considering the age difference. I mean, don't get me wrong, I know it's not uncommon for a kid to end up with a crush on an older teenager, but multiple writers from here on out write Tails as being actually infatuated with her and unable to "let her go" after her robot duplicate broke his heart. It just doesn't feel like Tails to me and it's frustrating, to say the least. But anyway, moving on, everyone agrees it's a good idea to go to Mina's concert tonight and disperse. Sonic catches up to Fiona and tries to explain that Tails looks up to her, but she just makes a snarky comment about Sonic being one to talk about respect given how he acted the other day towards her - yeah, apparently he still hasn't told everyone that it was his evil double flirting with all the girls. Also, we never actually saw Evil Sonic come on to Fiona before, but I guess it just happened offscreen. She then admits to him that she hated him for a long time for leaving her behind in Robotnik's prison camp all those years ago, but changed her mind after seeing him sacrifice himself for the planet during the Xorda invasion, making her realize that he never left her behind on purpose. Aww, that's actually nice! Fiona has the potential to be a really interesting and complex character, and, well, honestly she's one of my favorites of the later comics, so I'm glad to see her getting more screentime.

That night, Sonic and the others show up backstage at the venue to give Mina a friendly pep talk before her show. She hugs Sonic, thanking him for the encouragement, and Ash immediately becomes very jealous and butts in to remind everyone that he's Mina's boyfriend and band manager and that she needs to go to the stage now, prompting a clueless Sonic to wonder what his problem is. However, Mina's performance actually kind of reveals that Ash has a good reason to be suspicious of her interactions with Sonic, as the sappy, lovey-dovey lyrics of her songs all reference the color blue in various ways, and are clearly influenced by her previous infatuation with Sonic. But things aren't as happy and peaceful as they seem, as a suspicious figure lurks in the crowd…

So Mina was Eggman's target, huh? Strangely enough, Nack, with a totally clear shot to the stage, misses and hits a tree several feet above and to the side of Mina. Like, it's not even played off as "oh, he was trying to make the tree fall on her, or someone bumped his elbow" or something - he just straight up misses for no reason, sets the tree on fire with the blast, and then tries to make a run for it. Some assassin you are, especially considering your alternate name is Fang the Sniper! Sonic, Bunnie, and Ash immediately race onstage to check on the startled but unharmed Mina, and Bunnie focuses on putting the fire out while Sonic races after Nack, catching and knocking him out easily. Nack wakes up hours later in Knothole's jail, where Sally and Sonic attempts to question him on his motives, and he decides to be all flippant and act like it's no big deal that he was caught, as he'd rather spend some time in prison than ruin his "cred" by giving up the name of his employer. I'm sorry, Nack, but what freaking cred are you even talking about? Like what, are you gonna go around telling prospective employers that your skill set includes missing a target forty feet away, setting a random tree on fire, and then immediately getting arrested? Sally merely points to the cell across from him, where he's quite perturbed to see the three other weasel associates who helped him kidnap her a year ago, and she invites him to go ahead and spend his time in jail sharing space with them after he knowingly left them to take the fall for his failed plan. Of course, he spills the beans on Eggman immediately.

Well… I suppose that's not even out of character for Eggman, considering his original counterpart also hated music. Sally decides to assign Sonic as Mina's personal bodyguard for now, while the other Freedom Fighters keep an eye out at the next night's concert to make sure nothing comes near Mina. Ash isn't pleased at all with Sonic being close to his girl, and stomps off, with a bemused Sonic commenting to Mina that he's pretty sure her boyfriend doesn't like him. Gee, what gave you that idea, Sonic? Sally's caution is warranted, however, as back in New Megaopolis we see Eggman preparing his next plan of attack in the wake of Nack's abysmal failure - he's rebuilt Heavy and Bomb, and is ready to sic them on Mina! Man, it's been a while since we saw those guys, huh? Now that I think about it, after they got reprogrammed by Eggman before, Sonic just kind of straight up killed them when they tried to attack the royal family, and no one seemed upset about it at all. Well, maybe with them back, they'll get a chance to be freed and find redemption… or maybe the writers still don't care and they'll get fridged again. Guess we just gotta wait and see!

Fairy Tale (or the Adventures of Pirate Sally)

Writer: Romy Chacon Pencils: Art Mawhinney Colors: Josh Ray

Wow, it's been quite some time since we last had a "telling a bedtime story based on real events in the storyline to kids" episode, huh? Apparently, Rosie's three young charges have caught a bad cold, and as she brings them medicine to try to help them sleep they all start begging for her to tell them a story. She's reluctant, claiming she's not good at stories, but relents when they persist in asking. She invents a magical world of pirates and wizards, where the "Elfen Fox" falls onto "Pirate Sally" and "B-Bot's" ship, having had one of his two magical tails stolen by the "Rogue Assassin," who doesn't really live up to her name if all she's doing is going around stealing things. Man, what is it with wildly ineffective assassins this issue? Pirate Sally and B-Bot decide to help out the fox, and along the way meet their new allies Ant the Foole and the Blue Knight, who help them defeat various baddies based on the main villains of the comic's storyline. Finally, they make it to the Evil Wizard Kintobor's lair, whom they fight against as a team and help the Elfen Fox take back his missing tail.

I actually love this story, entirely because of the way the kids just start roasting Rosie's storytelling skills as soon as the whole thing is over. Hey, look on the bright side Rosie - now that they're preoccupied with coming up with a way to fix your terrible story, they won't be pestering you for more anytime soon!

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

If the Incorrect Smash Bros Quotes (ISBQ) crew did a rendition of NerdOut’s Infinity War Rap Battle, who would portray each character?

*The piano introduction begins as we see the opening to World of Light... but with a twist. The Smashers are swept away by the Light of Galeem... except for Mario, Fox, Link, Samus, DK, and Captain Falcon. Kirby sacrifices himself to save them, scattering them to the wind. They must unite... to save the multiverse and stop Galeem once and for all.*

Chorus:

And now it’s time, to make things right,

Amending our mistakes.

The Ashes fall, so we answer the call,

There’s one last stand to make...

Whatever it takes.

-

*Cut to Mario, pulling himself through Mushroom Castle, being hunted by Galeem’s monsters*

Mario:

We’re the first of our kind, but we sure ain’t the last.

Pushing forward but we don’t forget the past. 

*Mario punches a monster to smithereens*

Our fight is far from over and we’re running low on options,

If I don’t return with my Cap I’ll be coming home upon it!

*Mario charges forward, blasting through a monster towards the door*

I’ve learned that history can’t be reversed,

Galeem was a judge for whom we could not rehearse.

I’ve got to assemble a team I can trust in again.

*Mario blasts through the last of Galeem’s monsters, busting out the main door of the castle*

Leavin’ a legacy behind that isn’t dust in the wind!

-

*Cut to Link standing alone in a forest clearing, Galeem’s monsters surrounding him. He is kneeling on the ground, Is head resting on the pommel of the Master Sword which is shoved tip first into the ground in front of him*

Link:

Set back, never felt we lost it. *He stands up, staring down at the Master Sword.

Break storms, not a game for profit.*He draws the Master Sword as the monsters begin to rush him.*

I, *flashback to the deaths of Mipha, Revali, Daruk, and Urbosa* Lost family to find the way.

Hold it down for my people, *slashes apart the first monster to reach him* I won’t die today.

Illegitimate, nothing to fiddle with, *slams his shield into another monster’s head and stabs it through the skull*

Just a little bit of faith and we’re out the predicament,

Stand behind me,

Give it your all, VOW! *stabs a monster*

We’re never gonna fall down. *decapitates another*

Still got one shot, Leaps high into the air, charging the Master Sword with lightning and bringing it down like a hammer*

Let the energy all out!

-

*Cut to Fox alone in an abandoned city as it rains. He walks down the street, consumed by his own failure to lead the Smashers.*

Fox:

Walking alone in the night!

There’s red in my eyes!

Can’t shake it outta my mind!

Lost everything I love, *stares down at his hands*

Is this what I’ve become!?

*his communicator starts ringing and he sees that Mario is trying to contact him. He stares at it forlornly, unsure of what to do.*

I know I don’t deserve a second chance.

*His hands tighten around the communicator*

But maybe there’s a shot that we could take it back.

For all they stole away... *he looks up to see a possessed Falco and Wolf coming at him*

I’ll do what ever it takes! *draws his blaster and fires*

-

Chorus:

And now it’s time, to make things right,

Amending our mistakes.

The Ashes fall, so we answer the call,

There’s one last stand to make...

Whatever it takes.

-

*cut to DK, alone in the jungle, sitting on top of a mighty ziggurat, his head in his hand*

DK:

When lives are on the line, man there is no try.

When it was time to fight, I was just wondering why.

Why the Beast inside chose to run and hide.

Went from wrecking ball to someone I don’t recognize.

*sees a flying Galeem monster heading towards him*

But if you bet on my demise, well surprise, surprise. *He stands*

I’m still here and still I rise. *he crouches to jump.*

No dry eyes, among my allies,

My drive’s revived. *he leaps at the flying creature with a massive jump, preparing to intercept it’s flight towards him*

Won’t stop till history’s revised.

-

*Cut to Samus desperately trying to fix her ship*

Samus: 

We lost it all, now all that’s left, *Samus stands satisfied with her work.*

This job, this mission I can’t forget.

We can’t stop till we bring them home! *stares at a picture in her hand. A picture of the Smash Bros. The family that she chose.*

90% of all we know!

*she stashes the picture and turns to face an approaching monster*

Gotta get back to how it was!

Some move on, *summons her power armor* but not us.

Whatever it takes I’ll pay the price!

Take my soul *blasts the monster into oblivion* I’ll give my life!

-

*cut to Captain Falcon racing down the road in the Blue Falcon He's doing what he does best, hunting*

Falcon:

Listen,

I learned my lesson so it’s time to settle down! *rams the Blue Falcon into a Galeem Monster*

If there were a weapon I could contrive to turn this Hell around, *Boost Fire Spins cutting through several others*

I would have kept at it every single night to figure it out,

And said Sam Bros: Brawl, now!

But I’ve gotta think of how we’re gonna make the Angel bow! *leaps out of the Blue Falcon*

Remember Shulk said, 1 outta 14 Million, *flashback to Falcon talking with a worn out Shulk before the disastrous fight with Galeem*

I’m a Hunter who’s proud. But not that brilliant.

Let’s plan on living as we take back the hours that were stolen from our-

FALCON PAWNCH! *Falcon Punch’s a monster out of existence*

-

Chorus:

And now it’s time, to make things right,

Amending our mistakes.

The Ashes fall, so we answer the call,

There’s one last stand to make...

Whatever it takes.

And now it’s time, to make things right,

Amending our mistakes.

The Ashes fall, so we answer the call,

There’s one last stand to make...

Whatever it takes.

[zephryine]

Fluff alphabet

Hailey hunt and Barnaby first the jupiter and talbott the. merula and Pheionex. And lastly penny and Caleb.

Attractive( what do they find most attractive about each other.)

For Hailey its Barnabys smile she loves his smile and her heart melts every time he's excited for something.

For Barnaby it's Haileys big brown eyes he always gets lost in them when there in a conversation and Hailey has to snap her fingers when he's Just sitting there and staring into her eyes. Another thing is how Hailey is bilingual she speaks French and it drives him crazy when she speaks it and he is confused in what she is saying.

Baby( do they have a family together)

If course they do. They have there son a few months after there wedding and after 3 years they have a daughter.

Cuddle ( how do they cuddle)

Well the cuddle every single cuddleing position and something barnaby catches Hailey off guard like if she is reading on the couch he will grab her by the waist and pull her on to him and lay down on the couch together.

Dates( do they go on dates)

Yes it starts out with them dueling then it goes from there to a picnic under a willow tree at sunset and ends with them riding abraxans

everything ( you are my...)

Hailey: you are my love

Barnaby: you are my flower

Feeling( when did they fall in love)

Umm see it's complicated on how they fell in love at first Hailey was too busy with the vaults to even think about love. When the celestial ball came around bill was nagging her to find a date. So she just took Barnaby she was too busy thinking about what she could be getting done with the vaults to even notice Barnaby was trying to make a move. But then one day rowan was like "take a break from looking for a while and live a little" so she did. that was the day she realized she was madly head over heels for barnaby. It was accually the day rowan had the impirus curse on her.

How Barnaby fell for her was when he found out ismelda had a crush on him and was thinking about who he would have a crush on her and realized he wanted her to always be happy and always wanted to around her.

Gentle (are the gentle. If so how?)

Ok we all know Barnaby's a gentle bloke so when he is around Hailey he is very gentle. He acts like she is a baby puffskien. In every class they have together he hugs her at the beginning some of the professors think it's cute especially Hagrid he ships those 2 like crazy. Snape on the other hand... He need a to get a pepper up potion so he doesn't get sick on how lovey dovey they are. But Hailey she is not that gentle

Hands( do they hold hands)

Oh boy. Well see they act like children when they hold hands. Hailey gets confused with a metamorphamagus when she blushes. With Barnaby he is very confused and asks her. "Are you sure you're not a metamorphamagus?"

Impressions (what was there first impression)

Hailey: just another one of merulas goons... He is accually kinda cute

Barnaby: dang she is short and spunky...in a cute way.

Jealous ( they get jelous)

Barnaby gets jelous cause he over heard one of his roommates saying how beautiful they think Hailey hunt is and was wondering if she was single when they first started dating.

Hailey gets very jelous cause she is a hot head Barnaby thinks it's cute and he has to reassure that she is the one. And one of her roommates started having a crush on him. And well she threatened her they way barnaby did when they first met.

Kiss(how do they kiss? And who initiated the first kiss)

Umm well Barnaby initiated the first kiss and it was cute cause he asked her for permission to kiss her. She turned red and nodes really fast. And every time Barnaby surprised her with a kiss it was sometimes a french kiss.

Love( who said I love you first)

Well accually they said the loved each other when they decided to become a couple. And it was when they realized that they could lose each other. So they ran around the Castle looking for each other. And when they found each other they both turned Red clenched there fists looked down and screamed I LOVE YOU. And the entire school heard it and just stared.

Memory ( what is there favorite memory)

It's probably the time when they went on there second date during the Gildory Lockheart incident. NOT THE PART AT MADEM PUDDIFOOTS TEA SHOP it was when Barnaby kissed her cheek.

Nickel( do they spoil one another)

Barnaby spoils her with flowers ( casa blanca lillys)

Peppermint toads and any thing that reminds him on her

Orange ( what color reminds them of there other half)

For barnaby it's pink. Cause Hailey always wears a pink off should crop top with high waisted jeans

For hailey it's emerald green cause it's the same color of his eyes.

Pet names( what do they call each other)

Barnaby calls her love or little flower

Hailey calls him prince charming 😂

Quaint ( what is there favorite old fashioned thing)

Well they both enjoy old fashioned donuts.

Hailey enjoys the old-fashioned dress style she always wears dresses from the eaightys when they go to a formal event.

Barnaby likes how Hailey dresses old-fashioned when they go to formal events

Rainy days( what do they do on rainy days)

Sometimes they go to town in there nicest clothes and dance down the streets. Another thing the go outside to the magical creatures resurve they live in and get on any creatures that can fly and go above the clouds. And do the titanic thing.

Sad ( how do they cheer each other up)

When Barnaby is sad all Hailey has to do is sit next to him kiss him on the cheek and ask if he is ok

For Hailey all Barnaby needs to do is come running in the room and say "THE CRUPS SMELL SADNESS IS EVERYTHING OK?!?!" And bursts into laughter

Talking ( what do they mostly talk about)

They talk about there day they both have different jobs but Hailey works with Barnaby in the magical creatures resurve they live on. And when Hailey returns from work as an auror she is welcomed by a hug and kiss and a question about how her day was. And when Barnaby comes back into the house from a had day of working on the magical creatures resurve Hailey also hugs and kisses him and asks him about his day. And they also talk about there families and about anything that comes to mind

Unencumbered ( what helps them relax)

See with Hailey ever since rowan died she gets small panic attacks and starts crying and what Barnaby does is he goes over to were ever she is and hugs her untill she stops crying

With Barnaby since he has had a terrible child hood I imagine he has anger issues so what Hailey does is she goes up to him rests her hands on his chest and looks up him wraps her arms around his neck and and hugs him it's kind hard without him holding her by the waist cause he is tall and she is short.

Vaunt ( what do they like showing off)

With Hailey she likes to show off he charms skills and when she can't get a spell right she gets angry and throws her wand.

With Barnaby he likes to show off his affection for her in font of there friends. And all the girls except jupiter and merula are in awe while every one else is like " ok we get it you a cute couple not stop kissing and reminding some of us we are lonely'

Wedding ( when, how do they prepose)

Hailey and Barnaby preposed to each other at the exact same time it was really cute. And there wedding was a cheap wedding they used herbivicus to grow a lilly path for hailey to walk on Andre created the outfits. They put up fairy lights and had there wedding under a willow tree. Hailey had adopted sickelworth and he was the ring bearer. Bill was the one who married them. And they used white fold up chairs and there wedding was in the winter so it snowed on there wedding day. Jacob was there but only for a split second to congratulate them and left.

Xilaphone ( what is there song)

For Haileys end it's I won't say I'm in love from the Disney movie hurculies cause she was too stubborn to admit she was in love with him.

And for Barnabys end it was lost in the woods from frozen 2 cause when Hailey is gone for a long time with her auror job, Barnaby is lost without her

And for both of them it is Neverland by zendaya

Zebra ( what pets do they have)

Well they mostly have magical creatures cause they live in a resurve but one thing no one would ever thaught they would have us a fox from the muggle world.the resin being is cause Hailey liked muggle creatures she thinks they are unique from all the other magi creatures.

Well this took all day to write so I hope you enjoyed.

[aweebwrites]

The Raiju and the Dragon

Warning: mentions of blood, light gore, off screen murder.

______________

(YO! THIS IS A BIRTHDAY FIC FOR MY BEST PALL @thelucariosfish! HAPPY DAY OF BIRTH MY CHILD!)

____________________

Winter was finally leaving the summit of the Howling Mountain. Bits of plants could be seen poking through the snow covered ground as the trees began greening too. The scanty chirping of birds echoed through the quiet wrapping around the mountain. Through that near silent, snow-covered mountain, something was moving. It's coat was as white as the snow itself, blending it in perfectly. It's large paws were cushioned by the snow, keeping its steps silent. It's large ears perked up, twitching at the slightest sound as both of its tails flicked in opposite of the other. The fox was on the hunt. It's intelligent blue slitted eyes were glowing and focused on the path ahead as his nose twitched. He caught the scent once more. The fox quickened its steps, the electricity wrapping around its body cackling quietly with his excitement.

The fox approached the edge of a cliff on the mountain face then crouched low, looking over the edge for his prey. He made a low purr once he spotted them. The fox smirked.

'Foolish humans.'

They were another daring set of documenters. They must also want to see the secrets the Howling Mountain holds. They will walk into the arms of death. A dark skinned figure appeared next to the fox.

"How many?" Cole asked Jay, the Oread not having vision as precise as the Raiju he shared his mountain with.

The only signs that Cole wasn't human was his pointed ears that stuck out through his black hair and that he was out in the cold wearing just a linen robe.

"Seven." Jay says, thinking of all the way he could trick the pesky humans. "Zane should be happy. He'll have leftovers." He says, looking across at the mountain nymph.

"Yeah. But he doesn't particularly like when they run and hide. He thinks a waste of time and energy but he also has to eat. Do you think you can get them somewhere they can't run very far?" Cole asked him and Jay hummed.

"Shouldn't be too hard. I should get going before they disturb Kai. They're walking dangerously close to his lair…" Jay says as he shifted into a crouch.

"Oh skies and all, don't let them. He went on a rampage last time one of them woke him early from hibernation and scorched half the mountain. Do you know how hard it was to heal the mountain and convince the animals to come back?" Cole says exasperatedly and Jay giggled.

"Don't worry. Should take very long. Zane's in the Birch Forest, right?" Jay asked and Cole nodded. "Good. Tell him to wait near the Birch Barrier." He told him before leaping off the cliff, flying through the air as a compact ball of lightning.

The Birch Barrier was a particularly thick cluster of trees in the forest that formed an impassable semicircle. He made sure to keep out of sight then land a little further down the mountain. He then made his way back up, following the physical and scent trail the humans made. Once he caught up, he glanced back at his tails, watching as they merged into one. He then shrunk his body to that of the size of an average fox, not one as tall as the humans themselves. He then took a wide berth around them and waited up ahead, sniffing along the snow.

"Look! A fox!" One human whispered as they spotted him.

"Record it. This may be as good as things get here." Another says.

Jay resisted rolling his eyes then turned away from them and began walking ahead, leading them towards the Birch Forest.

"Follow it! There may be a den! Or kits!"

Kits huh? Maybe not now but in the future if things go well for him and his chosen. What an odd litter they would have. He would love them all the same. Jay shook his head to clear his thoughts. There he goes thinking about kits when he doesn't even know how he felt about him. But that changes this spring.

"It's just an ordinary fox though. Why not look for more interesting things?"

More interesting huh? Jay stopped then raised his head, sniffing the air. He then opened his jaws- and roared, startling the humans.

"Holy shit!"

"Shhhh!"

Jay took off in a run, pretending to be spooked.

"Shit! After it!"

These humans must be amatures to simply go chasing down an animal- worse in its natural habitat.

"Trap it! We can bring it back with us!"

As if he was that easy. He zigzagged through the trees, snickering as one of them fell. He came to the halfpipe rather quickly, backing himself up slowly with a growl as the humans formed a semicircle.

"We got you now. Zoos will pay a fortune to have you." A woman says with a smirk.

Jay rose a brow then dropped the defensive behaviour.

"Alright. That's enough play time." Jay spoke, freaking them all out.

"Holy fuck, did it just talk?"

"What the fuck?!"

"Ugh. You humans are always so loud." Jay says, lowering his head so he can rub at his ear with a paw.

"This is too freaky. I'm out." One human says then turned around, walking straight into the furred chest of Zane.

"Yeah no. My friend doesn't like that idea very much." Jay says as he stood on his hind legs, transforming as he walked towards the humans, now frozen in terror where they were, looking up at Zane in all of his hungered rage. "You see, he hasn't had a meal all winter. While he needs at least one person a month to feed on, he had to bypass eating for two additional months... For reasons." Jay's muzzle shortened as his body grew, until he was standing before the humans who were looking at him in just as much horror.

He looked like them. Sure he had the ears still, both tails and furred hind legs, as well as his claws and fangs… But he looked very much human with his curly brown hair and freckled cheeks. His smile was playful.

"I hope you don't mind sacrificing yourselves for the greater good. And if you do..." He says, looking at them with wide, innocent looking slitted, glowing blue eyes.

The humans looked back to Zane who growled from his place towering over them. His antlers branched out high from atop his disfigured deer head, his maw filled with jagged, razor sharp teeth. His arms were disproportionately long and skinny with claws the length of entire palms extending from his fingers. His chest was covered in fur in the middle but his ribs stood out along with all the bones in his body. He stood on powerful hind legs with just as long claws as he looked them down with sunken in, glowing, sky blue eyes that promised death and agony in the process.

"... Well. Too bad." Jay finished off, patting the shoulder of one man as he walked by.

The wendigo roared and the humans screamed.

Jay turned around to watch Zane take a solid bite out of one of their shoulders, taking bone and all. One managed to slip by, running in their direction but then a wall of rock and earth suddenly cut him off, trapping him inside with Zane.

"Nice work." Cole says and Jay smirked.

"I hardly had to do anything. These lot are a lot boring. The last ones I had to get more creative with." Jay huffed. "Don't hurt their equipment Zane! I want to add them to my collection!" He called out and only received a grunt in return.

"I'll need the bones for the soil! Don't forget!" Cole called out and received a purr in response, the sound bringing a smile to Cole's face, despite the terrified and agony filled screams that sounded.

"The natives are safe this and next month. I want my pick of whatever they brought on the ship though." Jay says as he walked away.

"Let's hope they have cake. I do like that human pastry." Cole says, following him and Jay snorted. "Nya should be awake by now, right? The water usually gets warmer before land after all." He says as they began to descend the mountain.

"Yeah. She should be up. She might even want dibs too." Jay says, watching as the docks came into view from their high elevation.

"They no doubt have weapons. She'll want to add them to her hoard." Cole nods. "Meet you there?" He questioned Jay who sighed in relief.

"Yes! I thought you were going to let me walk all the way down there!" He groaned.

"You should. All you've done all winter is eat and sleep." Cole joked.

"It's what foxes are supposed to do Mr-I-don't-have-to-eat-but-I-eat-anyway." Jay huffed and Cole chuckled before vanishing like he always does.

Jay rolled his eyes then unleashed his powers, letting the lightning consume him then shrink, leaving him flying down the mountain and towards the yacht that was docked a little off shore. Their island home was far off the coast of Ninjago, human territory. It was one of a chain of several islands known as the Dark Islands to humans. Solely because they are all shrouded in mystery. No human that visits any return yet they always do. Not that the natives mind. They have a saying: better them than us and urge the newcomers up the mountain into Zane's claws. When none arrive within a month, the village sacrifices one of their own along with other things to appease the rest of them. They had nothing Jay wanted however and the villagers didn't have the best access to gold and shiny things for Kai. Nonetheless they made an effort with their best livestock.

Jay landed on the boat, looking around curiously from the outside and went in. He knew how boats worked Unlike the others, Jay was a city fox. He wasn't sure if he was born but he was raised in human territory. He got up to a lot of trouble growing up but his mortal parents wanted him to not be found. Apparently they murder his kind for 'safety reasons'. He figured out without them that's what happened to his real parents. He lived with them for 50 years before they passed together, on the same day of old age. After that, he had no more ties to the human world. He hates hiding. So he took the first boat he could find heading to the Dark Islands to live like he wanted, without hiding. What he didn't expect was to run into a Sea Serpent, a Wendigo, two dragons and a Nymph. He was glad he did though.

"Find anything interesting?" Jay asked the nymph who was rummaging through the kitchen area.

"I've found a few packaged cakes actually. The sleeping area has some potential for you." Cole suggested and Jay nods, head there.

Immediately, he spotted a laptop.

"Jackpot. Finally!" He purred, picking it up and looking it over.

Borg Technologies. They're still around huh. A very good brand. He tucked the device under his arm and began looking around for anything else interesting. He was certainly keeping these blankets and pillows. They were surprisingly soft and would make a great addition to his den. After a moment, the yacht suddenly lurched. Neither entities were surprised.

"Looks like Nya is here." Cole says around a mouth full of Twinkies then headed out.

"I already have what I need anyway." Jay says, following him out.

They both looked out at the sea, spotting an arch moving in the sea covered in scales of all sorts of blues that glittered in the rays of the sun. That a bad omen to anyone who dare to cross her territory but a good one for them.

"I'm not surprised to see you two here." They turned around to see Nya there, her large head lifted out of the water as her slitted blue eyes looked them over. "Zane got them to eat, right?" She asked, raising up more out of the water, keeping her head over the boat before her body began to recede and morph.

Just like all of them, she had two forms. Her sea serpent form was long and large with a long fin-linke spine that spanned from the back of her head down to the very tip of her tail. She also possessed a few sets of gills just under her head and near her middle that were protected by toucheer scales. She had talons, much like Kai but she only had two front paws, mainly used for sinking heavy duty ships trying to get to the Dark Islands. Her teeth were straight and needle like but very sharp and deadly, as well as her ability to crush an armored ship with just a few could of her body around it. In this more humane form however, she still possessed no legs and appeared to look like a mermaid. Her tail however looked more like an eel's but with scales. Her hands are as webbed and as claw like as her sea serpent form and her gills along the side of her neck and chest were firmly closed, allowing her to take in air. Her hair was black in Kai's brown but just as short.

"This one is bigger than average. Zane got himself quite the meal, huh?" Nya asked as Cole walked over to pick her up.

"Yeah but it's good. He hadn't eaten for all of winter. He needs the extras." Cole says and Nya gained a smug look.

"I wonder why?" She teased and the Oread that held her flushed.

"Hush you. I never teased you when you finally asked that pretty Naga out." Cole huffed, the flush still in his cheeks and Nya laughed.

"Skylor is more than just a pretty Naga." She says but patted Cole's shoulder. "Let's go see what I can get out of this scrap heap." She urged and Cole rolled his eyes hut carried her in.

"Not you." Nya says, stopping Jay when he moved to come along.

He looked at her confused.

"I can send Kai about to wake up. You need to head back and finally end the pinning." She says and Jay flushed and stuttered. "None of that denial crap. We know it's true. Now go! You know how grumpy he gets when he wakes up alone." She reminded.

"I'll take your stuff back, don't worry." Cole reassured and jay looked down at the items in hand then dropped them, the laptop landing on the pillows.

"Fine, alright." Jay huffed then flew off in his electrical ball- only to stop by the village.

He put in a request just after Kai fell asleep for winter months back. The village settlement was next to the thawing river that cut through the plains. They all lived in cleverly crafted huts of straw and clay but that was the least of his concerns. He stopped by the blacksmith, the ball of lightning he was in exploding outwards sending the villagers into panic. He stood there, before the smithy glowering intimidatingly as the other villagers hid and ran. The smithy emerged moments later, hurried and carrying something sheathed in red cotton. She knelt before him, shakingly holding the object up, fearful of them as they should be. He looked down the material then flicked it back. His eyes shone seeing the results.

Perfect.

He accepted it and the woman quickly scattered back, keeping a respectable distance as the braver few peaked out, whispering as they beheld him, waiting for him to speak.

"... Your village will know peace for two moons." He spoke and no-one dared to even utter a breath.

He nodded his approval at the smithy then left, zooming through the air as an orb of lightning yet again. He pretended not to hear their cheers as he did. The people knew they weren't gods but they held high respect and fear for them. They were the original rulers of this world after all. Creatures as the humans caller them. That and they refused to leave their home but feared Zane the most. So they struck a deal. One of their kind a month for protection from the others of their kind who wanted the island. Not that they would let them take their home anyway but they didn't need to know that.

Now, Jay was buzzing with excitement as he flew over the snow-covered peak to the back of the mountain. There, a large cave resided, its entrance covered with snow still. The only way in was a small hole Jay dug into the lair of the red dragon of the mountain. Jay flew in, landing on his hind legs. He walked further into the deep cave, his slitted eyes blowing wide so he could see properly. Close to the back of the cave was a massive red dragon that held wicked looking horns and spikes. One black claw was almost as tall as he was. He could easily crush him and in a twisted kind of way, Jay could swoon at that knowledge. He walked over to him, unable to stop himself from stroking his hand along the large red scales covering his head and body, loving the way the colours shift and dance like the fire Kai was. He couldn't stop his purr as he rubbed up against his snout, his tails wagging eagerly.

Heh.

How embarrassing would it be if-

As if sensing his thoughts, his large amber eyes opened, glowing in the dark of the cave. Jay stumbled back, face completely red.

Shit! He should have known better! Nya did say he was waking up! He could hear his heartbeat speeding up too! He was such an idiot! A low chuckle filled the cave.

"Well. Isn't this a surprise." Kai purred without moving, his body waking up still. "Missed me that much Sparky?" He cooed and Jay love-hated how his sleepy voice made his tails positively curl.

"I thought you were gonna sleep through spring too. Had to make sure you actually planned on getting up." Jay excused but that sounded lame to even him.

"Oh? Was that why you were purring as much as you were?" Kai teased and Jay was impossibly red.

He huffed and looked away.

"S-shut up. You were warm is all." He defended.

Kai's chuckle filled the cave again. Jay yipped once he was pushed towards Kai, glaring back at his spiked tail before looking up with Kai with wide, doe eyes. This was a perfect opportunity though! What was he doing?! He could finally confess his interest to be mates! Kai always brings out this defensive side of him. Kai brings out a lot in him and he liked that...

"Denial isn't a good look on you Jay… Tell the truth… That wasn't friendly at all…" Kai hummed, shifting his head closer.

Jay was sure he was looking like Kai with how red he was. He opened his mouth to defend himself then bit his tongue. He fiddles with the cotton in his hand then swallowed.

"... So what if it wasn't?" He whispered, looking up at Kai who looked surprised.

He wasn't expecting that to actually work, or for it to actually be true! The Raiju always held a special place in his heart. Little did he know he was the most precious piece of his hoard. It was why he always slept late for winter and woke early for spring. The idea of leaving him alone for that long was unappealing but he couldn't very well put him atop his small mountain of gold and gems and demand he stay there… Though… Maybe he can now…

Jay bit his lip, tails twitching nervously. Kai has been silent for a while now. Does he…? Does he not like him in that way? His ears flattened on his head as his heart broke.

"I-I'm joking though! Don't take it so seriously!" Jay laughed, sounding forced as he plastered a grin on his face.

Kai snapped out of his thoughts and looked down at Jay. He frowned at the forced grin on his face that didn't belong there. Maybe he should say said something before this gets worse.

"You weren't." Kai says, factually and it was all Jay could do to keep the smile on his face. "You have feelings for me, don't you?" He asked the small fox.

Jay bit his lip, his fangs pricking into his skin and sending blood trickling down his chin. Kai forced himself to move one Jay says nothing, stretching his sluggish body and spreading his massive, horned wings. He then suddenly shifted down, becoming smaller, more humane. He pushed himself up on his hind legs, folding his wings against his back then walked over to Jay, grasping his chin with his clawed hand.

"Jay…" Kai says softly, tilting his chin up so he would look at him. "Don't take it that your feeling are one sided. You've always had a place in my heart. It's just…" Kai trailed off as Jay's heart pounded against his chest.

Kai… He's interested?

This was everything he could ask for. But his but was unerving. He looked at him seriously, capturing him under his amber gaze and Jay couldn't help but gasp at their intensity.

"Jay, if we do this, do us… I won't let go. I won't let anyone else have you. You'll be mine and only mine." Kai warned and- what was so bad about that?

Here he was offering him far beyond he could ask for and all he dreamed off. Jay found his voice.

"... And what's so bad about that?" He asked in a whisper as he stepped closer. "As long as you know… I won't be letting you go either. I'll slaughter anyone who even looks at you like I do…" He says softly, holding onto Kai's scaled arms.

Kai couldn't help the pleased purr that rumbled from his chest at that. Everything Jay says and do never ceases to get to him.

"Jay…" He says his name with a growl, pulling him close by the waist and Jay flushed but went willingly. "You have to understand. Dragons mate for life. There's only one for us. I want you to be it. Skies above knows I do. But you have to understand. There's no backing out after this. You should think-"

Jay cut him off with his lips, wrapping an arm around his neck as he kissed him. Kai growled against his lips then cupped the back of his head, swiping his long, forked tongue against his lips. Jay let him in with a soft sigh that morphed into a moan as Kai kissed him deeply, his tongue leaving no spot untouched. He melts under the heat that radiated from the dragon, bringing his other hand up to wrap around his neck when a loud clatter sounded. Kai pulled back, keeping Jay pressed against him protectively as he snarled, amber eyes looking around for danger as smoke billowed from his nose. He looked down- only to have his eyes blow even wider at what he saw.

"Jay, this is…" Kai whispered as he reached down and picked up the sword by its hilt, looking over its sleek design.

The blade was broad with a dragon breathing fire moulded on the side. He looked over the delicately carved hilt to the pointed tip in awe. The entire sword was made of gold. It would be the first weapon he would add to his hoard. Growing up, both he and Nya had the same interest in a hoard. It often lead to them stealing from each other and nasty fights. For the sake of his sister's happiness, he turned to treasure instead. Gold, gems, shiny things. He likes how they look when the light of fire hit them. He longer for a weapon in his hoard for a while and now… Now…

"I call it the sword of fire." Jay spoke up, regaining Kai's attention. "It took the blacksmith all winter to make but they knew better not to disappoint me. It's yours. Think of it as a courting gift." He grinned and Kai looked at him, at the beautiful fox he didn't know what he did to deserve.

Kai dropped the sword, surprising Jay.

"Huh? You don't li-" Jay cut himself off with a yip of surprise once Kai suddenly pounced on him, leaving him sprawled out on the ground with Kai over him.

Kai kissed him again before he could ask what, delving his tongue deeper into Jay's mouth, leaving the Raiju to turn to putty under his paws.

Not too far away, Zane sighed peacefully, his sated hunger bringing him back to a more peaceful appearance. He still had his horns but they were smaller, less branched out. He looked completely human aside from that, his skin pale and flawless as his platinum blond hair stuck up. Not as wildly as Kai's hair at least. His pointed ears caught sound of something. Someone. Jay! He took into a sprint, his claws reappearing. He sounds hurt! But- He stopped in front of Kai's snow blocked cave, were the sounds were coming from. Kai was there! Were they fighting?! He was quick to bring down the snow blocking the cave to find out.

What he saw… He really should have expected. Without a word, he brought the snow back up with his powers and walked away. Frankly, he was lucky Kai didn't scorch him for interrupting his coupling with Jay.

"Zane!" He looked up and smiled to see his own mate, greeting Cole with a kiss. "What's up? Why are you outside?" He asked, holding an arm full of pillows and blankets, as well as the laptop, all no doubt for Jay.

"I initially planned on checking on Kai's progression in hibernation but…" Zane grimaced. "I have gotten more than I bargained for." He says with a grimace and Cole snorted.

"Looks like I lost that bet. I should have known better than to bet against Nya when it comes to her brother." He says, amused. "Well, I would have helped her with that underwater mountain anyway." He smiled as Zane kissed his forehead.

"Let's leave those two alone. We have work to do." Cole says, leading Zane away.

____________

(Oof sucky ending. Tumblr don't @ me rn I stg. Anyway I spent wayyy too much time on the base of the story rather than the pure plasma I intended. I hope you like it anyway!)

[minyardfluff]

Here is my gift for Megs @st-draco for the @tfc-net 1 Year Anniversary event! She requested something involving steampunk/dystopian society, so here is a graphic with an accompanying ficlet below the cut! I’m so sorry it took literally almost a year but I hope you like it! <3

Steampunk AU where The Fox is an airship in need of a pilot and Neil is an airship pilot who doesn’t need a crew (or at least that’s what he tells himself).

War has broken out between the upper and lower classes worldwide, leaving no inch of land unscathed and no person unaffected. In this new age, Nathaniel Wesninski has been raised an airship pilot. His father was a famous battalion leader, the right hand man to General Moriyama. Growing up, Nathaniel knew he’d one day have to join his father’s ranks, but he didn’t care too much. Mostly he was just happy he was being taught to fly airships, even if Lola did punish him when he did something wrong - he just learned to do it better next time. At 12 years old, Nathaniel and a few other boys his age were given the chance to fly a ship called The Raven. It was evident that Nathaniel and two of the other boys, Kevin Day and Riko Moriyama, were the best of the lot so they were invited back for an additional chance to fly the next day; however, before that day came, Nathaniel’s mom stole one of his father’s airships and ran away with him in the night.

Fast forward five years and you’ll have found Neil Josten, suddenly alone in the world, pushing his mother’s body out of the airship to fall into the flame-infested landscape. It gutted him, but he didn’t want to risk landing so soon after they were attacked nor could he bear to leave her lying on the floor of the gondola in a pool of her own blood. A few months after that, Neil was in a bad state, both mentally and physically. Having only one person on board meant every responsibility fell to him; keeping stock of food and parts, repairing the ship, navigating the ship, checking the radar for other ships, listening to the radio for insights on war zones, making sure he doesn’t accidentally fly into a wildfire zone so his gas cells don’t blow up. It was hard enough with two people, now that he was the only set of eyes, ears, and hands, it was downright brutal.

It happened when Neil was executing a plan he and his mother had run many times before. He learned from the radio about a skirmish nearby that resulted in three airships crashing to the ground with no survivors detected. It was the perfect opportunity to scavenge for parts. 

Neil slowly lowered his ship as close to one of the downed ones as he could, stopping it so it was hovering just above the earth, then lowered his goggles, grabbed his satchel, and pulled his gas mask over his face. Any place with a recently crashed airship, let alone three of them, was sure to be filled with toxic gas. He opened the hatch in the floor and threw down a rope ladder, quickly climbed down, and scurried to the nearest ship.

He made quick work of loading up his satchel with different sized bolts and gears, when he heard a loud crash followed by some muffled swearing.

Neil jumped between the ship and a large piece of metal that had come off it and crouched down. It wasn’t long before the voices got closer, they were still muffled - most likely due to also having to wear masks like himself - but he began to be able to make them out.

“-d’you try to climb that, it was obviously unstable!”

“I was going for a higher vantage point! He has to be around here somewhere.”

All of Neil’s senses, already on high alert, went into overdrive at that statement, but he forced himself to stay calm. Just because they were looking for someone didn’t mean it was him. There were many dead bodies laying around that they could be searching through.

The thing is, though, that when you’re being hunted, you tend to keep track of the people who are hunting you, and it just so happened that there, standing no more than five steps away from Neil, was Kevin Day.

Neil choked on his breath and must have made a sound because Kevin and the man he was with both swung around and stared right at him.

Neil’s heart was rabbiting. The moment drug out and he could almost pretend that they hadn’t seen him, except Kevin took a step forward, “Hey are you a pilo-”

Neil shot up out of his crouched position and used his momentum to angle the piece of metal he was hiding under to fly in the direction of the two men. He took off at a sprint in the opposite direction, but he wasn’t fast enough. He saw the sun glint off the metal pole only moments before that pole was swung into his stomach. He doubled over and fell to his knees, his body trying to dry heave and pull in air at the same time and being unable to do either.

His attacker stood over him with a bored expression on his face, as if he hadn’t just sealed Neil’s fate.

“Dammit, Minyard! We need him alive!” The older man scolded as he and Kevin caught up to them.

The attacker shrugged and lifted the metal pole over his head. Neil glared at him in defiance and Andrew held his gaze. The moment stretched on, then, Andrew’s expression tugged down in a frown and he swung the pole like an ax down towards Neil.

“Andrew!” Kevin yelled and made to lunge at Andrew, but Andrew stopped the pole from hitting Neil just inches above his head.

Neil, through sheer determination, had managed not to flinch and continued to glare at Andrew.

“Oh no, you might actually be interesting,” Andrew appraised him, then threw the pole off to the side.

The older man came around to stand by Andrew and Kevin was a bit off to the side. Neil could make another run for it, but they were now in his path between himself and his ship. Besides, there could be countless others around here. He couldn’t stay here, but he was better off waiting for an opening. He slowly stood up and looked between the three men warily.

“Andrew can be a bit violent,” this was the older man speaking, who Neil guessed was also a pilot based on the cap he wore on his head accompanied by goggles. “My name is David Wymack, I’m captain of the-”

“Fuck you,” Neil cut him off, “I don’t care who you are, I’m not going with you!”

“You’d be an idiot to refuse us.” Neil shot his eyes over to Kevin, “your ship is in shambles. You clearly either don’t have a crew or anyone on it needs to be fired, but going by your own ragtag appearance I’d say it’s the former.”

“Your men killed any crew I ever had,” Neil sneered.

Wymack glanced towards Kevin, who had gone pale, and cautiously replied, “You know who we are?”

“Of course,” Neil glared at them, “Kevin Day, prodigy of The Raven Fleet who was honorably discharged a month ago after an injury.”

Neil noticed Kevin flex his left hand, but it was Wymack who spoke, “Kevin was discharged after he fell off his ship, he was lucky the ship had been grounded at the time. That’s the story you’re talking about, right?” When Neil gave a curt nod he continued, “Kevin didn’t fall. He was pushed.”

___________

so. I’m actually awful and can’t finish a fic (not even a ficlet) to save my life, but this is so overdue and has been weighing on my conscience since it’s a gift for someone and I want to be able to give them something rather than nothing who knows maybe this is worse than nothing so I’m being optimistic and decided to post this, incomplete as it is -- but Neil joins the Fox, ensnares Andrew’s and everyone else’s heart, Andrew gives Neil the adorable little fox figurine from the graphic, Riko and Nathan die in an airship battle, and everyone lives happily ever after~

[tenyatrash]

Day 4: The Spy and the Storm

This is my (late) entry for Day 4 of the BNHA Noir Week 2019. Tumblr hates my ao3 links so let’s try this instead. @bnha-noir-week Rain, Thrill, Prison 

In which Stain has a visitor and Hagakure has a plan. 

Ships: None

Characters: Hagakure and Stain

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 1517 Chizome opens his eyes, not sure what’s woken him.

There’s lotsa options when your life has coalesced into a waking nightmare like this.

Air that’s always too cold or hot. The smell of mildew that seeps in with the rain and hangs in the dead air of small cells and dank showers. Crummy grub, always on the edge of rotting, that’s served by angry mugs on cheap plastic trays. Hours, days, months, years of nothing, lives so dull that the occasional flash of violence glints like a diamond in a vein of coal.

He never thought he’d end up in prison, always assumed he’d go out in a blaze of glory, tommy guns singing out his name, press and public talking ‘bout his mission in hushed tones as he rotted in the dirt and others took up the call. He coulda been a martyr. A dark knight, a scourge of righteousness against this city and all the false heroes and fakes that call it home.

But luck’s never favored him, so maybe he outta have known he’d end up stuck in here, betrayed by his own lousy body.

There’s a baton in the distance somewhere, the metal of the weapon clanging against cold iron bars in an almost soothing rhythm. Damn, he’s been in here too long, if the sound of a guard is making him think of music instead of mayhem. Still, the sound is nice. Far enough away not to clang in his ears like it must be to the others on the hall, close enough that it mixes with the sounds of rain beating against cinderblock and reinforced glass like some half-dreamt memory of song.

He rolls over on the plastic mat that the state calls a bed and looks up at the ceiling, where the wetness of the rain and his own cursed breaths combine into condensation that drip, drip, drips down to the rusty grate in the floor.

He squints at the entrance to his cell, to the metal bars that do nothing to keep out the screams and groans and panting ramblings of his fellow prisoners, yet do plenty to keep him in. He’s looked at those bars plenty over the past few months, gotten to know every flake of peeling paint and every ridge of bumpy metal, imperfectly forged for imperfect people. He knows every detail of this bleak little slice of damnation, and that’s why he knows something is off with this here picture.

Sure, the bars look right...mostly…

But there’s something weird in the way the metal shines, or in this case, doesn’t, under the swinging fluorescent lights. The scarred prisoner slowly sits up.

Hell, it’s almost like…

He approaches the bars, tryna stay nonchalant about the whole affair, as if he doesn’t notice the small puffs of breath that turn the normally shiny metal dull and push a little life into the dead air that surrounds this crumbling tomb.

He heads to the discount sink that sits above a bolted down metal contraption they call a toilet, red eyes flicking up, tryna make out a shape in the gloom of the rain-shrouded slammer. It’s the damnedest thing, really. The longer he stands here, listening to the dull cacophony of the joint, the more certain he is that there’s breathing, steady and soft, just outta view.

Must be some two-bit stealth quirk. Make em invisible but not unnoticeable.

He’s seen better.

He’s killed better, in his day.

But for now, he’s mighty bored and mighty tired of living this life, so he takes the chance anyway, and starts a conversation.

“How long you planning on eyeballing me, punk?”

The ghost at the bars takes the bait. Must be a really lousy spy after all.

“Well, gee...I hadn’t gotten that far really. I was kinda expecting you to start monologuing, or drawing on the walls or something, in a real revealing way? But mostly you just seem to sleep and squint, so I guess talking is the new plan.”

Chizome rolls his eyes at the dumb as nails assumption that criminals and villains were so simple, just clockwork pieces that lit up and wrapped up stories in neat little packages so the hero could sleep easy and the citizens could be safe and simple in their meaningless lives.

“You watch too many gangster flicks, kid.”

Toru snorts and laces her fingers together, unseen.

“Maybe. One of my friends really likes ‘em, so I guess I’ve seen a few.”

The killer known as Stain heads back to his bunk, wadding up an extra uniform to use as a pillow as he props up his body against the smooth cold of the wall that separates him from the outside world.

“So...sneaking in here, watching me, waiting like some rat...what’s the angle on that?”

Toru shrugs, not that he can see.

“You attacked a bunch of my friends, awhile ago. Your League buddies did too. Just wondering what was up with that.”

Chizome squints and thinks back. He’s attacked plenty of people, false heroes one and all. Well, maybe with one or two exceptions, but he never claimed to be no saint. Still, those low-lives in the League too? Well then, that must mean Endeavor, or the pipsqueaks at UA, and he has a hard time picturing a no-good bastard like Endeavor having many who’d call him friend.

UA it is, then.

“Oh, and you here for vengeance, maybe a thrill kill? That it, lil girl?”

“Nah.”

“Why not. You could get away with it, you know. Wait ‘til I’m nice and close, slip your hands, or a rope, if you’re weak, I guess, round my throat and choke me out right against these bars. The rain would drown out my struggling, and probably go a good way towards washing away your sins too.”

Toru won’t say she doesn’t consider it, least for a tic. After all, he’s sure made her life rough, really taken the shine off of her high school education. Made it damn near impossible to dream or date or do anything other than train and suspect and hide.

Still, she’s trying to be a hero, right? And heroes don’t seek into the muck like that, even if they can get away with it. Plus, could just be a trap. If she’s close enough to kill him, he’s close enough to get her blood, and she’s not real interested in dying on a grimy prison floor.

“Look, just cause you’re a killer don’t mean everyone else is.”

He smiles too wide, rotten teeth glinting like dull knives against the blueish glow of the storm that rages outside the window and inside his mind.

“Oh, we’re all murderers kid. Every last one of us, we’re all monsters tryna claw our way outta hell. You just haven’t had your shot yet. Haven’t hit your limit. But you will.”

“Maybe that’s true, but it won’t be today, and it won’t be you.”

Huh. Kid’s got some backbone after all. A glimmer of steel buried in all that youthful optimism. She might not die too young, after all. Pity it won’t be enough. This city is a machine that runs on blood. Hunting heroes is a sport, breaking innocence a past-time for the fox hunters that fill back alleys and boardrooms in equal measure.

At least he had a reason, a real one, a dream to make the city shiny and new. He spits against the floor, not caring over-much if it offends his audience. All this remembrance is making him bitter and he’s not so sure anymore that the break in monotony is worth the annoyance of remembering all that good work left undone.

“Well, what do you want, then? I got things to do.”

Yeah right, he looks real busy sitting in the dark without so much as a book to read or a fellow jailbird to pummel or play.

“I want the inside line. On the League, on your plans, on the whole damn thing.”

They already think she’s a spy. Not all of them, not her closest friends...but enough. It’s quirk discrimination, is what it is. But maybe that’s just how these things go. She just needs to prove herself, to put this whole thing to bed. And hell, if they think her quirk is so good for spying...maybe it’s time to put it work, for herself this time. She’ll ask for forgiveness once it’s done. Better than permission that won’t ever come.

“Oh? And just what are you going to do with those bits of intel?”

“Whatever it takes.”

Chizome smiles, for real this time, leaning hunger-pain arms against knobby knees as he leans forward, ready to make a dark offering. Maybe his work doesn’t have to end, after all.

“Really? Well, I guess we’ll need to go back to the beginning then.”

Toru listens, and learns.

When she comes out, into pounding rain that runs like rivulets against shivering skin and gives her fleeting form, she wonders at what she’s learned.

She’s gained a lot. Only time will tell what she’s lost.

[rorykillmore]

i can't remember if you've said, but where do you think your characters will settle post-shift? what are their new living spaces going to be like?

sokay i talked about this a bit in an ask from tony but i’ll just refer back to it and expand on my ideas a bit! especially since i have some revamp stuff more fleshed out now

lucille’s gonna be living in victorian london! i think she’ll kinda miss living by the water though so she might get a place by the river or something. and she’s gonna probably start composing music and finally make a career out of that because that’s something she’s always wanted to do, and every now and again maybe i’ll give her a monster encounter or something since. she does have a shitton of monster hunting experience by now,

her place’ll probably incorporate a lot of the style she’s developed living on her own in her beach house, so it’ll be a touch modernized by london’s standards but still very. elegant in aesthetic. and i like your idea about her and maria rooming together so maybe we can do that!

siobhan’s staying in the southwest. in the same damn saloon, in fact. so there’s not much new to describe about hers or the denny guardians’ living situation; though maybe they’ll like... have an expedition to explore some of the newer towns at some point? road trip!

though i also said i wanted her to get the chance to visit the triassic period location with raptor red and that still stands; i think that could lend to some interesting dynamic development

sara is gonna be staying on the waverider and maybe sometimes visiting port royal if that’s where nyssa’s gonna be hanging out. so not much new to say here either, except that her life might be less... exciting than she’s used to. she might be restless for awhile. ‘cause, y’know, no more time travel, no more timeline that needs protecting. the legends’ll be kinda robbed of their purpose so she’ll need to find a new one. she might revert to more traditional vigilanteism in chicago perhaps or just, maybe they’ll tour around trying to get leads on the organization and that can be their new thing, who knows!

the cats don’t really need much of an update...

dolores and alana are both staying in beacon heights so i’ll just group them together! for alana, it’s probably pretty convenient that it’s closer to metropolis, because she’ll be spending a lot of her time there trying to help the mld get a handle on things anyway. dolores is too content in beacon heights to really want to move around, although i do have vague plans for her to get involved with our Future Location. maybe in some campaign for sentient ai there. it actually might be a good place to continue to make use of host printing stuff

and now for my characters who are ACTUALLY moving around more,

sophie’s gonna be in chicago, of course, running her own club/speak-easy, so she’ll probably live somewhere close to there! i envision her like... moving into an apartment building and renting out a big ol’ penthouse and living it up. that might be where she conducts some of her shady business related to the club and keeping it protected from the organization. oh i actually forgot i added a cool hotel location to chicago; she might rent out the penthouse THERE. and then she can interact with some of the guests and stuff too.

camille’s gonna be living in metropolis still, so technically not much is changing there, but... she might not be home all that often. once the revamp hits i’m really envisioning her traveling a lot, actually. because one of the challenges of the revamp is like... figuring out how to establish mass communication (there aren’t cell phone towers or wifi in a lot of these locations, unless someone icly starts an initiative to install them!) and spread news from place to place and keep everyone connected. i thought it would be cool and make sense if that task sorta fell to the daily planet, so, yeah! camille might be all over the place, staying in different hotel rooms or crashing on people’s couches, that kinda thing. it’ll be interesting to see who she meets along the way

sly, as we’ve already discussed a bit, is gonna be in port royal! he’ll be on the mainland some of the time but i’m also considering... bring in his (canonical) pirate ship and just letting him fuckin’ have at it with whatever crew he assembles. while he’s in town, i think he’d be the type to try to keep things safe and vaguely ordered (i know we discussed him and nyssa being kind of, like, thief-vigilantes) and while at sea he might be doing things like rescuing people from pirates and... maybe even discovering the location of the Plot Thing in that area, so that later he can help guide people to it

cordelia is gonna be in st. denis (or technically just outside of it) since that’s where the academy is being moved! it’s... gonna be a bit of a lifestyle change for her and everyone living there because the people of st. denis. aren’t so culturally appreciative of witchcraft as the people in new orleans are. so i’m interested to play with the conflict of her and the coven kinda... clashing with some of the locals, and what kind of plot stuff that might draw to the area. they might ESPECIALLY get off to a bad start because fate and i are planning on implementing venomplot soon after the revamp, so like. whoops if cordelia bonded with the symbiote gets noticed somewhere in town,

susie and villanelle are both gonna live in paris! fuckin’ naturally.

susie... despite the fact that she could live pretty much anywhere if she wanted to, probably would be happy with somewhere pretty modest. she really isn’t used to anything lavish. although one thing i was definitely considering was having her start some kind of dance academy there, so maybe she’ll live there if that becomes a thing?? what’s really nostalgic for her about paris is that it’s... pretty much stuck in the time period she comes from, too, so there’ll be that to grapple with

and villanelle. honestly i have this whole complicated thing in my head for how villanelle operates on denny, the hoops she jumps through to keep herself under the radar. essentially the situation is going to be: she has a pretty standard apartment in metropolis, which is the address her rifter id is registered to, and the place she’d bring anyone who was like, casually visiting her or whatever. that apartment is... she takes care to make it appear lived in, but it’s pretty standard and impersonal.

her flat in paris is not registered under her name, is much harder to track, and far fewer people get to see it, but it is definitely more resembling of a place she’d actually call home. it’s very... her, very similar to the place she has in canon, probably. expensive and stylish and ~trendy~, very much a 25 year old girl’s apartment if you discount the weapons she keeps in the drawers. i still think it’d be funny if fox had to live with her for a bit as a parallel to him taking in her younger self,

i’m not quite sure where laura will end up yet; i’m considering a few options. one is -- i haven’t set the details of this particular location in stone yet, but she might be an interesting candidate to hang out in whatever fantasy world we develop! because technically, she’s more magical than anything else. i’m also vaguely considering london or future world for her (and she should definitely have an encounter with those fucking. zombie people who live outside of st. denis, FEAR) but yeah we’ll see. might depend on who she falls in with.

[somuchkdrama]

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho

Episodes 3 & 4

Dae Woong the Man-Child

@rocknghorss: Daewoong is such a frustrating man-child!!! I get that Miho is.. screwing up his game with noona but why can't he treat her more nicely?

@dramajib: I think he's being plenty nice as it is actually. Like he could just ditch her entirely, but he's put up with her (until now anyway). Mostly out of fear, but still. It's not just noona she's screwing up for him, basically since he met her he's got no money, can't go home for (misguided) fear of her eating his family, he's discovered that most of his friends were fake friends..

rocknghorss: I know :( I'm just biased...

dramajib: Ahahahaha aren't we all. 

That whole ship thing at the end of episode 3 took me by surprise though, I was like... Dae Woong is a selfish manchild, sure, but he hasn't been MEAN up to this point. And that was really mean

rocknghorss: it was! He'd had a pretty disappointing day, but still, that was downright mean.  I guess from his point of view, everything was Miho's fault. So why not? Especially since as far as he knows, the water can't actually hurt her.

dramajib: It's awful. I hope he gets very contrite and fixes it somehow. Preferably NOT by diving in the water and swimming after the boat and getting pneumonia

rocknghorss: Lol.

The Greatest Love Story: Aunt and Elevator Guy

rocknghorss: Speaking of fixing things, I like how Miho is inadvertently fixing Daewoong's relationship with his Grandpa

dramajib: And helping his aunt and the elevator guy

rocknghorss: Oh yes lol. Although! I was a bit confused about why elevator guy thought that aunt was married?

dramajib: In the previous episode, when she runs away cos she thinks his daughter is his gf, he sees her standing in front of the mannequin at the men's underwear section of the department store, and when the sales woman asks her if she's buying undies for her husband she says yes, cos embarrassed

rocknghorss: Oh. I'm glad you remembered, b/c I was completely lost.  That said, I was quite amused just how EXTRA they both are. The soft lit sunset behind elevator man as he was (I guess) wallowing in despair was ridiculous and I loved it.

dramajib: It's so cheesy I can't stand it but I also simultaneously love it

Dramajib Goes Off On Noona

dramajib: Kristin have you finished episode 3? I haven't watched 4 yet but I have an itch to talk about noona and all her noona issues

rocknghorss: I’m down for discussing noona (and continuing to call everyone by their title rather than their name for the rest of the drama lol) whenever

dramajib: Hahaha sorry I'm just useless with names!

rocknghorss: No worries Ekta :) It’s all good! I can’t be bothered to learn names of characters nowadays... I’m too lazy

rocknghorss: I was wishing the other day that Seunggi’s character had a shorter name lol

@triangularlily: Doesn't Miho just call him Woong a lot of the time?

rocknghorss: Ooh you’re right.  Kristin you’re awesome. My thumbs thank you lol

triangularlily: Hahaha you’re welcome.

<note: at this point some of us hadn’t yet finished watching episode 4…>

dramajib: Since we're all done with three: KRISTIN, I TAKE BACK everything I said about noona. What a cunt!

rocknghorss: LOL

triangularlily: LMAO EKTA.

triangularlily: Like she is horrible but I kind of like her actually? When she is tired of waiting for Woong so she just drives away??

rocknghorss: Man-child Woong and Noona kinda deserve each other right now…

triangularlily: I guess I like that she isn’t like bending over backwards to get the guy like a lot of second leads do she is like super confident and scheming about it instead. But maybe I will take back my words too cause I really don’t remember her character at all

dramajib: I was SO PISSED with noona's dress scheme in episode 3, hence my indignation. Like, fine, I was all on her side at first because it IS ridiculous the way Dae Woong is behaving out of the blue and not giving legit reasons. I did love how she drove away.

But when she pulled the dress thing, when she KNEW she wasn't wearing that dress, and she let him lose his chance at auditioning, she lost me as a fan cos that's just cruel. You know this is the big break he's been working towards, and if you really cared about him you wouldn't sabotage that just to throw shade on your competition

rocknghorss: I both hated and enjoyed her pettiness.  Just like Kristin said, I kinda liked that unlike many “villainous” second female leads, she was unrepentantly nasty to her “competition” and wasn’t shy about it. I hated it of course, because it was just gross and had the consequence of more meanness thrown Miho’s way

<...some time later…>

dramajib: Okay I just finished episode 4, and I'm wavering again about Noona. Like, everything she says to Dae Woong about wanting him to be clear about his feelings is totally valid and fair. But the way she behaves about getting this lead role in the film is horrendous - and I don't quite understand why she calls him when she finds out that Mi Ho is the girl elevator guy had his eyes on

Hip Hop Guy, Guest Starring Ma Wang

dramajib: I am epicly confused by incongruent hip hop ost second male lead's deal. Is he just trying to restore balance? Kill Mi Ho? Steal her bead? Is he falling in love with her? Like what is going on there

rocknghorss: I’m watching 4 now. When you guys watched it did it seem like the monk knew that hip-hop guy was some sort of Demon Hunter/supernatural being?

triangularlily: Hmmm idk like he seemed very matter of fact about it like oh u can put the fox back nice!

rocknghorss: Right? It was kind of weird but I guess if the monk does actually believe in a nine tailed fox, why wouldn’t he believe that some random veterinarian could bring the fox back to the painting? Lol

dramajib: I love that his name is now hip hop guy. We’re so good at naming characters

rocknghorss: Lol. We are

dramajib: But didn’t Mi Ho call him a fake monk?

rocknghorss: Ooh, you’re right! But maybe that was supposed to be an insult, since he’s been keeping her captive in the painting?

dramajib: Yeah, that’s what I thought at first too. Also cos he keeps telling her story potentially incorrectly?

triangularlily: Oh true yeah

dramajib: Maybe hip hop guy gave them the painting in the first place? Cos he also gave them to the temple dog to guard it?

rocknghorss: I don’t know guys. Hip-hop guy’s backstory is the most confusing so far

dramajib: Right?? Cos I’m like.. Who even is this guy? He’s been passing as human since before Mi Ho got trapped in the painting, which means the girl he killed was even before that, so is he like in exile now? Is he good? Bad? On a different moral scale altogether?

triangularlily: I’m really trying to remember but can’t

dramajib: lol not the most memorable villain I guess. If he even counts as a villain.

triangularlily: I think he’s technically the second male lead lol

rocknghorss: Hm. Maybe he’s being punished like in Hwayugi.  The way Iron Fan was?

dramajib: Oh noooo the Iron Fan thing was TRAGIC I don’t want to sit through that again!! Ma Wang being mopey in his little throne room ugh

rocknghorss: Ugh yeah. Everything about Hwayugi was tragic.

dramajib: Well not everything. Ma Wang’s fashion gave me life

triangularlily: Lmao

rocknghorss: Lolol Fashion was good, it’s true. But how is he the second lead if he’s trying to kill/capture Miho is what I want to know

triangularlily: Lmao

dramajib: Well he loved Mi Ho’s lookalike, so I can see him starting to grow fond of Mi Ho. And like, try to keep spiritual beings together instead of letting her fraternize with humans

triangularlily: Yeah I think its something that develops and maybe we should talk more after u finish 4 Marie

triangularlily: Cause there is some development in that area in ep 4

rocknghorss: Ah. Oky doky!

<...some more time later…>

rocknghorss: I finally finished episode 4 you guys! And started episode five!

rocknghorss: And I find it super cute that the way the audience is supposed to know Miho is falling in ~love~ is that she wants to feed/eat with Woong, not just freeload off him

dramajib: I love her interaction with the neighbourhood mean girl ahjumma. And the whole hunting down coupons thing

rocknghorss: Yes! Mean girl ahjumma was hilarious.  Her voice was perfect lol

dramajib: Did finishing episode 4 give you any further insight into hip-hop guy?

rocknghorss: Ehhh. Hip hop guy is pitiful. I’d like to understand why his role appears to be “monster hunter” because that was still not cleared up unless I missed something.  But I can definitely see why he’s billed as the second male lead. He’s got it bad for her, in his own way

dramajib: I assume we get more of his back story? Because as it stands, it seems like the way he's hunting her down is probably the big plot point, and I don't really get it yet either

rocknghorss: I think we do? I can’t really remember.  He seems to lack a lot of urgency in getting her back to the temple tho.  Like if it was that big of a deal why is he slowing around and letting her decide on her to go back?

triangularlily: Yeah I cant remember either I think we do

triangularlily: *get more backstory I mean

dramajib: At first it seemed like he'd been waiting to catch her forever. Then it seemed like he was guarding society and making sure she's safely locked up. Now it's like he's hunting her for his own pleasure. So confused

rocknghorss: That’s exactly why I said hip hop Guy was pitiful btw. I think he likes her or is confusing her with her previous incarnation(??) and is struggling not to confuse his feelings for the other girl with Miho. So he’s got this artificial choice of duty or love, but he doesn’t even know Miho really.

triangularlily: Yeah he also has been by himself for so long. Like the whole can’t make human connection thing

rocknghorss: Yeah!

dramajib: The connection thing - was living with humans his choice, or forced on him? And if it was his choice, he's also chosen to live isolated, soooo… Not that I don't feel bad for him, I'm just being contrary for the sake of it

triangularlily: Yeah I just mean I can see how he became a bit twisted is all

dramajib: That whole scene where he's sitting with her in his house and telling her what her options are was sad. But I also don't trust him so I'm like... Are you just telling her things so that she'll choose to do what you want her to?

Ending On A Less Angsty Note

dramajib: But I also love that grandpa loves Mi Ho without even meeting her yet

rocknghorss: Yupo.  He’s just super enamored that someone was able to make his grandson grow up.  Grandpa doesn’t want much lol Also! I like that he doesn’t rib Aunt too much about her crush. Even though she’s wayyy too into it (again apparently lol)

dramajib: Lol aunt and elevator guy are great though. I can't wait for his daughter to find out that Dae Woong is going to be her cousin

triangularlily: Looool I didn't think about that

rocknghorss: Hah