#Why is Martyn a fish? The bit.

[slashmagpie]

“Pearl? Why are you in my house?” 

Pearl blinks up at Bdubs from where she’s sandwiched between the wall and the waterstream, curled up on herself in the narrow space. “Somebody destroyed all the lights in my base and now it’s full of mobs,” she says bitterly.

“It wasn’t me!” Bdubs cries, raising his hands.

“Well, I didn’t think it was you, but the way you just said that’s making me think—”

“No! I’d never! I swear!”

“...I believe you,” she says after a moment, and Bdubs feels himself relax. “Can I stay with you tonight? I don’t really feel like…” She gestures in the direction of her house.

Bdubs nods. “Oh, sure, for sure,” he says. Then, “Should we invite Joel over? His house got blown up too.”

“Ah, yeah, probably. Good idea, Bdubs.” She fumbles in her pocket for her communicator, eventually fishing it out. The screen is cracked. Her fingers shake as they tap against the glass. 

“Are you okay there, Pearl? You look a little…” Bdubs forces his hands to tremble. 

She glances up at him, face scrunching in confusion, before she lets out a small laugh. “Just the adrenaline, y’know.” She grins. “I’m red. It’s great.” 

“If it was anyone else, I’d think they were being sarcastic. But with you! With you, I’m pretty sure you’re being serious!”

She giggles, hitting send on the message and shoving her communicator away. Bdubs doesn’t feel his own buzz; it must have been a whisper. “You know,” she says after a moment, “I’m a little surprised.”

Bdubs blinks. “Surprised about what?”

“That there’s still three of us.” 

He laughs. “Yeah, I’m a little surprised, too! I thought for sure Joel would die today. For sure.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that.”

“Oh, no, never. But between you and me… that guy’s kind of a loose canon!” 

She snorts. “Throwing stones from glass houses, there, Bdubs?”

“Surely I don’t know what you mean.”

“Mhm.” She pauses, eyes glancing down to where her fingers pick at a stray thread on her hoodie sleeve. “That’s kinda what I mean, though. Joel doesn’t live here, and you’re making friends with half the server, I’m surprised I’m not spending tonight alone.”

“Pearl…”

“What?” She snorts. “I know how these games go, Bdubs. People don’t stay loyal. Not for long, anyway.” She glances up at him, eyes half obscured by her hair. “People like Joel, people like you? I know how this ends.”

And Bdubs—

Well, he can’t pretend he doesn’t know what she means. Can’t pretend he doesn’t remember Impulse yelling as Bdubs’ arrow had found home in his throat. Can’t pretend he doesn’t remember Etho backing away when Bdubs had tried to get just a little too close. Can’t pretend he didn’t fight when he promised he’d run. Can’t pretend he hadn’t taken advantage of his broken home. 

…He can’t pretend he doesn’t remember telling Martyn about their plans, or planning to do harm to Etho. Can’t pretend he doesn’t cross his fingers behind his back every time he makes a promise, just in case.

But at the same time, he remembers—searching for Cleo in a castle she’d been too dead to return to, pushing Lizzie to her death for a life he’d never received, taking two hands in his own and vowing to face the end as four instead of two, for once, for once in his life, choosing three and being pulled apart because of it—

Bdubs lets out a breath. “Pearl, hey, no,” he says. “I told you, didn’t I? I’m your weapon.” He gets down to his knees, lowers his head before her, feels her gaze burn into the top of his head.

“Bit late for that,” she says. “I’m my own weapon now, mate. Don’t need you to attack for me anymore.”

“Well, no—but—” He looks up at her. “Pearl. I’m yours. I promise.”

“Right. And you’re Martyn and Etho’s too, huh? We can share.”

“I’m using Martyn!” he protests. “That’s—that’s all it is—I’m usin’ him because he’s the first red and he knows his stuff! And Etho—”

“I don’t mind about Etho,” Pearl interrupts. “Like I said, I know you guys have your little thing going on. I don’t care about that.”

“I set a trap in his base,” Bdubs blurts.

Pearl blinks at him. “Excuse me?”

“I set a trap in his base. Tripwire hook.” He grins. “Right outside the bedroom. I—I think I got Grian, in the end? But—could have been Etho. I coulda—could’ve been Etho.” He swallows.

“And you’d have been okay with that?” Pearl asks, smile gone from her face, expression suddenly very serious.

“I—after I set it, I went up to them. Had a chat. Lied the whole time. I coulda—coulda told him. I didn’t.” 

“And you’re okay with that?” she stresses.

She sounds dubious. Bdubs can’t blame her. He feels sick, swallowing back the bile that’s building in his throat.

“I—Pearl.”

“Bdubs?”

“I learned my lesson, Pearl. I learned—don’t put all your eggs in one basket! Because—because either they die, and then you get left alone, or—or it gets you killed, and you die. You gotta—I have two hands. I can be loyal to multiple people. But then I learned—when you do that? People aren’t loyal back. They don’t trust you anymore. Nobody else…” He laughs. “I feel like I’m the only one who can trust people like that anymore!”

“So…” She frowns. “So you’re making friends with everyone so you don’t get betrayed or left alone?”

“Exactly.” 

“And you know none of us are gonna trust you for doing that.”

He swallows again. “Yeah, I know.”

“And you’re doing it anyway?”

“Well, what else—what else am I supposed to do? I can’t… I can’t go back, Pearl. That’s… I can’t go back. You know how it is.”

“…Yeah,” she says quietly. “I’m—I want you to win, Bdubs,” she says. “Out of everyone—I want it to be you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. So… You better not make me regret this.”

He blinks at her. “Regret what?”

She bows her head to him. “I’m your weapon,” she says, an echo of his earlier words. “And a bit more of a dangerous one at that.” Her smirk leaks back into her words as she glances up and winks at him. “So use me well, alright, Bdubs? I want you to win this.”

Bdubs’ heart is in his throat. He swallows it back down. It burns.

“I’ll do my best,” he promises. 

The door slams open, startling them both out of their skin.

“Hey guys—uh. What are you doing?”

“Oh, for—Judas Priest, Joel, learn to knock!”

“You invited me over! Or, Pearl did—hey Pearl.”

“Hey,” Pearl says. “Come on in! Sleepover at Bdubs’ time.”

“I can’t believe this is the last of our bases left standing. It’s, like, the worst one.”

“Hey!” 

“There’s no space in here!” To punctuate his statement, Joel slumps down against one wall, kicking Bdubs in the ribs as he does so. Bdubs grunts. “See?”

“It’s definitely not the most spacious…” Pearl acquiesces.

“Anyway. What were you guys doing before I came in?”

“Swearing loyalty,” Bdubs says. 

“Oh.” Joel blinks. “Do you need me to do that? Because I’m a Mounder for life. Loyal to the end.”

Bdubs and Pearl glance at each other.

“Somehow I actually believe him,” Bdubs stage-whispers, and Joel squawks in offence as Pearl barks out a laugh.

“No, I think you’re good,” she says. Leaning her head back against the wall, she says, “This is probably our final night.”

The three of them are quiet for a moment.

“Well,” says Joel. “We gotta make it to the end then, don’t we?”

He’s looking at Bdubs. They’re both looking at Bdubs. 

Bdubs nods.

“May the best Mounder win,” he says solemnly.

Joel grins.

[sammytheidiot]

Project X AU fanwrite

Hi, this ai is based on @gtwscratch 's au for wild life smp session 7

I've been writing a few of short stories based on this au whenever I have time in school, so this is only one of them

I just wanna say that the scientists I mention are humans only in my mind, so any fandom hybrid ideas aren't applied

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chap1-Fish on Land-Scott-002

Scott just had to get the worst mutation (in his opinion). It was useless, especially in this environment. He always turns into an animal at random. The scientists try to see if he can do it on command and every time he tries it never works.

The glass walls were soundproof,  but you could see everyone's agony and sadness. Scott didn’t have a room partner, after Cleo had to be moved, so he is left to try and talk to Martyn and Ren to his left, and Bdubs and Tango to his right. 

In the beginning when Scott first mutated, he turned into a fish and transformed back immediately. The shock of it left him to have permanent gills on his neck.

It was almost lights out when Scott was called for testing. The scientists wanted to test if the environment would affect his powers. Scott, almost ready to sleep, dragged himself out of bed and walked with the scientist with thick blond curly hair that they’ve come to know as Zed. The testing room had bulletproof glass (as they had been told the first day they arrived) and what was usually empty had a pile of snow.

 The scientist walked back into a room behind the glass through a door and it locked. Nothing much to do but comply, Scott thought. The ring of interference then a voice through the small speaker that sat at the ledge of the window.

“002, go sit in the snow and think of an animal that lives in the snow.” Scott begrudgingly did it. There was no point to fight it, and if he didn’t he’d be tased. He walked and sat in the cold snow. It wasn’t fun, he didn’t have thick clothes. 

He only had shorts and the blue patient dress they were given. He thought of polar bears, penguins, bunnies, shrews, or an arctic fox over and over again, running through the list.

 “What now?” Scott asked. To his point they only said to think not transform and the look on the scientist's face were priceless. The one with black slick hair that they had learned was named Cub grabbed the mic,

 “Change you idiot! We don't have all day!” He was so mad, it made Scott snicker. Zed reached over and shook his head. And said something. Probably reminding him that they had to be nice or that the ‘rats’ (as they liked to call them) wouldn’t comply. Cub breathed and Zed spoke in the mic. “Change and this can all be over.”

 His voice was calm but inpatient. Scott was really cold at the moment so got up and walked a bit. The scientists hadn’t said anything so Scott got back and continued. Thinking of animals and changed, nothing came of it, he had just transformed into a seagull. Clearly not a snow animal.

 Zed had written something down and Cub and him then spoke a few words. Zed walked through the door and motioned to Scott. Scott walked out the door just before noticing a few vent around the walls.

As he returned to the glass cage and heard the click and clomps of Zed's shoes, Scott had not returned to bed.

 Instead he tried one more time, maybe he could change to a bird of some kind. Maybe scott could control his powers, his hopes were high. The tingling feeling he always felt and he started shrinking. Maybe, just maybe.

Nope, he just changed to a mouse, oh well maybe next time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So far (at posting time) I've only written 2 others focusing on Bigb and Grian, so that's why it says chap 1, and maybe I will post them, maybe I won't

[diino8081]

chat what if i said i had yet ANOTHER ninjago crossover au

i already made ninjago x mcyt (mcyt in ninjago) but what if i ALSO made mcyt x ninjago (ninjago in mcyt)

i decided to spontaneously throw the ninja into the life series, specifically the newest season, wild life

the way they'd get there is through fighting the watchers. i'm not really sure why the watchers would be looking for them but it might be cause they're looking for new members and the ninja would be a fun twist.

the watchers, being the godlike entities they are, defeat the ninja rather easily; sending them through a purple portal that looks like the watcher symbol.

in the server, grian is giving the intro to the new series. suddenly the portal opens in the middle of the island, spewing the team out to the shock of the pre-existing members. those who are aware of the watchers and evo symbol are incredibly concerned.

there are introductions given and then most people scramble away and go to do their own thing, leaving the ninja, grian (who is very confused) and anyone curious enough on the spawn island.

finding nothing on why these new people are here, G tells the ninja there's nothing he can to to get them out unless they win or die. he gives them a small intro to the series and how things work and then leaves them to their own devices.

they kinda get better at the whole "world is cubes" thing and even end up punching a few trees for wood. the inventory system is a little jarring at first but most of them get used to it.

.

. .

. . .

aaaand then the wildcard hits. it's normal at first. but then they see giants in the distance and suddenly it's very much not.

it's all a bit mad really.

--

that's the end of the story part as it's getting late and i can feel my brain turning off. i'll write a few notes, headcanons and trivial things below though

i feel like at some point the ninja will get in a fight and split up

the ninja do have their elemental powers but only to a small extent

one of the wild cards, likely near the end, will grant the entire server an elemental power. (the watchers got inspired by the world of ninjago and thought it would cause some major chaos.) the elements are likely those from the characters seen in the tournament of elements/sources, though i don't doubt that the watchers may have also come up with their own. this wild card may continue beyond the session.

zane, being made out of metal, likely is able to survive quite a few hits. though i did some research and titanium doesn't last forever when faced with repeated damage. (that is if bullets hit the same spot. i feel like he'd be much more durable towards other stuff, however not immune.) he'd make it to top 3.

when the season ends everyone goes back to their world of origin. they will be summoned back to the life series world next season

wild cards can last multiple days. a week at most

in ninjago most animals like cows and horses don't exist. a lot of things are unfamiliar to them except for dragons, chickens and fish

the ninja likely made their base in the field behind ren and martyn's base or behind gem and joel's

ok i think that's it, at least for part 1. idk if i'll continue writing this but there is a good chance i will. thanks for reading

[fountainpenguin]

I got a wonderful comment on "Chalaza" today about how strong my Bdubs dialogue and his inner monologues come across!! :)

He's my favorite to dialogue for in the whole Pixels Imperfect series, so here's a compilation of Bdubs Bits I love in various 'fics of mine:

Martyn is dead, but unfortunately, no one's had the chance to tell that to Martyn. Martyn's in a fishbowl. Well, like… Martyn's soul is in the fishbowl- his skin fell in the Void. Or maybe got vaporized? Not sure. He looks like glowing blue smoothie stuff, complete with weird sprinkle colors, but Bdubs is pretty sure Etho would strangle him if he tried putting Martyn in a cup. Can you get drunk on real souls like you can on raw binary code? Huh…

Nobody in New Star Station's ever seen nothing like this. Or if they have, they sure haven't said that to Bdubs. Etho said the guy's trying to fight a system overload - Martyn; Martyn's trying (Etho says) - but it sure is violent. Geez…

"Chalaza" - Chapter 1

"Scar," Bdubs is saying, and Bdubs has his full wingspan on display. Saliva's dribbling from one corner of his mouth. His eyes are lanterns washing the road, electric green like lamps made of limes. "I love you. Oh, of course I love you… but it's not a full moon. That's our feed!"

[...]

"The hour's mine," Bdubs says again, trembling where he crouches on his hands and feet. His tail smacks once against the floor, wings flaring up. "I'm the devs' perfect killing machine. Aren't you scared?"

One and a Half Birds - Chapter 15

"Why… Why are we eating worms? Are we that low on resources already? I thought we had cows. Why would you do that?"

"Protein." Then, probably since Impulse still looks miffed and is getting miffed-er by the second, he tosses in, "Oh, quit complaining… The wheat is fresh! I just- Like, I just barely made it on the crafting table not five minutes ago. It's only got worms because I just pulled it from the dirt. Not because it's gone gross. It's got nothing to do with that. I don't eat old worms."

"You don't know how old those worms were."

"Babies. It's a new series, Impulse."

Scar, from the distance, "You ate a baby!?"

"Hickory (You Dick)ory Dock"

“Did you get the cobwebs?”

“Oh! Forgot. It was that witch, poking around here. She got me turned around.” Bdubs flapped his hand, already trotting off to get his sword. The sword should be a great way to pull cobwebs off the ceiling, right? You can twist ‘em up like cotton candy. If baby spiders are a thing, they probably crunch real nice on every bite. He checked back only once. And Etho stood there, shivering above a puddle on the floor. “Hey. You should strip. You’re gonna freeze to death.”

“S’okay. Spawn’s not that far.”

“All right… It’s your funeral. And if you die, I’m not burying your body in drippy clothes. That’s how you get mold. That’s how you respawn as a drowned or something.”

"Do Fish People Dream of Magic Gloves?"

"Um…" There's context here. Probably. Impulse pulls back anyway, exhaling hard. "I never had a flock before I joined the New Star portal hub. I had Skizz."

"You didn't have a flock?" Bdubs leans across the bed, eyes shining with invasive curiosity now. The mattress squeaks and dips. When Impulse tightens his lips, Bdubs throws his arms to either side. "Oh, no way! I was there when Skizz brought you to the station! They called me in to check you out! You were spawned beneath the full moon like me, right? 'Course you were; it shows. Only phantom hybrid I ever met whose wingspan beat out mine. 'Never had a flock;' Judas priest… I don't believe that for a second." He slaps the lower part of Impulse's back, which jolts them both as they briefly drain half a heart. They tick up again. Bdubs falls back on the bed with a whump. "Impulse, I was drooling over you and I wasn't even insecure about my status. You were captain material if ever I saw one."

"Like Newlyweds Do"

Getting Impulse into bed takes Herculean effort, and trying to cuddle him is a fight like you wouldn't believe. He's always so stubborn! For real, he acts like plopping his head down on actual pillows is an affront to nature and everything in it. And for what, huh? There's no way that makes him happy. Literally no way.

[...]

See, every relationship's gotta have that one guy who takes initiative. Otherwise, how are you gonna get anywhere? This is basic roleplay 101. He's the instigator; he'll break the ice. This is fine!

Aren't they supposed to be husbands in this game? Husbands should cuddle, probably. Bdubs pushes his shoulder again - shaking it, really - and whispers, "Hey… Are you still up?" in an attempt to get him to turn over.

[...]

"Shut up. Hey, come on. If you didn't want to roleplay married life with me, you wouldn't have agreed to be my husband. You're in love with me."

Impulse makes an excessively rude gesture over his shoulder with one hand, not turning over in the slightest. Bdubs sucks in a gasp, writhing up through the bed sheets, and shakes him back and forth again.

"Hey! You can't do that! What are you tryna say, huh?"

"You Can Sleep While I Drive"

Bdubs is the next to speak up, lifting his head. "Mom, we don't hunt in the Fox Dragon's territory. Scott's asked us not to leave the perimeter. So we don't."

"Your talents are wasted here, BdoubleO100."

"Not wasted." His hands are shaking, though. Martyn stretches out one foot, laying his ankle against Bdubs' own. I've got you, he says in the silence, and Bdubs relaxes his fingertips out from fists. He clears his throat. "I'm a proud captain. I hunt not only for my flock, but for anyone in New Star who can't. That's real noble."

"So it's about the sport?"

"It's about providing."

"Why is InTheLittleWood hungry?"

Another wave of silence crashes down around the table. Martyn's stare is on the numbers in his drinking glass. His hands are in his lap. Bdubs looks at Linda, then at Martyn. Then at Linda again. "Huh?"

Again: "Why is InTheLittleWood hungry?"

"Martyn's fine! He's got his own special hunting ground. He's fine."

"Mum's the Word"

"Why'd you come here in the middle of the night?" Bdubs asks, settling down on the bottom step. He folds his hands in his lap (in the wide, floppy hem of Impulse's shirt, which Etho is not looking at and certainly isn't jealous of). "Must be something big."

"Um." Etho didn't think he'd get this far. Maybe some part of him had still been operating on Yellow Etho instinct, because Yellow Etho wanders and bolts and flutters aimlessly around. He's grateful (maybe) that he opted not to put his chestplate on. He burrows his hands in the hem of his own shirt and kneads them together, much the way Bdubs is doing. "I just… need to talk. I'm having issues with my aggro. With Joel."

That gets Bdubs' attention. "Trouble in paradise? Oh, is this about the bite marks? I saw those. You know, I asked Joel at the pool party and he said you'd been hurting him just about every night. He seemed ready to kick you out. Take back his boat. Were those all from your aggro? He looked like he'd fallen in a pit of zombies!"

[...] "Um… I mean, I wouldn't say living with Joel is ever paradise… But I am having aggro problems. I can't… keep it down."

"I can go all night," Bdubs brags with a hand to his chest, and Impulse snorts on the landing above.

[... Etho] leaves down the hall to go clean. Bdubs follows him, leaving Impulse behind. As Etho starts scraping glass chunks together, Bdubs leans against the couch arm and shakes his head.

"I don't know why you get so worked up about it, Etho. Aggro's not gross. It's natural! We're all adults here; we've got needs! If Joel can't accept that, maybe he's not the right partner for you."

"I've been biting myself," Etho repeats, because Bdubs clearly got lost in the metaphor. Bdubs ignores him, tugging on the edge of his blindfold.

"Hey, there are plenty of salmon in the river. There are other husbands. I'll set you up. Grian and Scar are really going through it; do you like Scar?"

The glass makes a screeching sound as Etho scrapes it together with the broom. "Joel's not my husband." Etho doesn't know what relationship he and Joel are roleplaying. They're not roleplaying much of anything, which severely blurs the lines. Joel never did stop wearing Etho's shirt. He still does, and it's melded with the code of his current skin, and it's confusing and Etho never did ask. "He's my soulmate."

Bdubs shrugs, releasing the bandana. "If you're not comfortable… We could offer you a place to stay here. Impulse and I can put you up. You could join our polycule."

There's a shatter of glass in the kitchen. Followed by thumping palms on the counter, followed by an intake of breath. "Our. WHAT!?"

"Canadian Idiot"

The dogs. Oh, those stupid dogs. They snap at his heels as he tears through the pines as fast as his shoddy boots can take him. He lost one back in the river. He fell. Lost Impulse along the way- they're… they're separated now. Not in roleplay; not the marriage. The marriage is fine! Bdubs has the wedding oath clock on a gold chain around his neck, bouncing up and down against his chest with every flying step he takes. Impulse looked okay, though, like the 'maybe not drowning' kind of fine. He's not. Bdubs would feel it if he were drowning.

His crossbow bangs on every other tree trunk as he sprints across the snow. The dogs are freakin' everywhere. Is this all Pearl's been doing when they play? She never had a soulmate to cuddle up to, so she just kept breeding dogs? There's like a dozen of them, all with huge paws scooping the snow and flinging it behind them on every leap.

Gotta get outta the snow… Where's the- Where's this snowy forest end? I saw the drop-off just a second ago. The wolves prob'ly won't follow over the cliff. Bdubs has a water bucket. The dogs don't. And he'll let them fall. He will, maybe. He doesn't care- they're just stupid dogs. And he likes dogs, but these ones haven't been cuddly puppies in a long time. 

"Seeing Scarlet"

I don't need NOBODY'S social approval or permission. That's my husband. Still gets his tail wagging and everything, even if he doesn't show it. Gosh, isn't he a sweetie? He and Impulse don't always wear their rings, 'cuz it's not like that as often in the Between dimension now like it used to be, but it's… You know. It's still clocks and hugs and elbows in the chest, even if it's not all mwah-mwahs and low-roaming, backside-squeezing hands.

Well. Sometimes it is. I mean, why shouldn't it be? They both had fun. No one's mad at them for it. See, that's the lovely thing about Impulse- ain't he sweet? Bdubs can turn the roleplay on and off with him, and Impulse just goes along with everything. He's wonderful. It's a real shame there aren't more Impulses, because everyone deserves to hang out with him from time to time.

Bdubs tries to find a better place to stand where he's not getting pushed at and stepped on. Not that he can feel it, but it's the principle of the thing. Since he is one of the two shortest in their gang (though he's loath to admit it), maybe he needs a place near the front.

He pushes forward. Souls blur together, blue and overlapping, and the glowing doesn't help with the identity stuff like at all. He can pick out Tango (facing away from him) by the enormous white gash scarred down his right shoulder. Not pointing fingers, but that one's a Bdubs original. You're welcome for helping you look so cool, you're turning heads.

"The Man He Sets His Spawn With"

Impulse keeps breathing. His chest heaves, eyes unraveling Bdubs' entire code and piecing him together again. His gaze dips low, then lifts like a boat at sea. His fingers clench tighter around the sword hilt, which rattles like broken glass in his hand.

"… If I kill you, you just respawn… and I've broken the rules. I'll get in trouble. That's not what I want." Impulse recites it like he's explaining all of this to his first-year self. One hand claws through Bdubs' hair, feeling for… something? It pulls. He's silent. Bdubs keeps breathing too. Then Impulse dips the sword tip lower, against the bobbing spot of his throat. He's really leaning forward funny to get the angle. Maybe 'cuz he's a slime, he's sticky and won't fall. Maybe he's got perma-crouched benefits. Maybe perma-Swift Sneak. At least he's blocking most the rain. Then Impulse whispers, "I think this… isn't how I fix this. Maybe we can just… talk about what happened in 3rd Life? About the betrayal?"

Bdubs gawks up at him, bleeding horror out from every shake. "Can't you just kill me?"

Sparks dribble from Impulse's cheeks, mingled with lightning static and slime blobs and the rain. He's still clutching Bdubs' hair, the sword all too tight against his neck. "Just apologize for betraying me! We were Day 1 alliance in 3rd Life- You, me, and Cleo!"

"Yeah? And I was Cleo's dearly devoted husband back then, and you our 'secret girlfriend' who wanted to get under the armor of everybody on the server; what's your point, Littlefinger?" Bdubs jabs a finger up at him. "Do you want a Get Well Soon card or something? Maybe a care package? A subscription to the Mod of the Month club?"

Dog's Life - Chapter 19

Bdubs paces between them, pulling the throat of his mossy cloak over and over again. A classy gold clock bounces on his hip. "You… you can't do that! You outrank her! This is- Oh, this is gonna be big… This is gonna be the biggest thing people talk about for months. You're getting fed by someone you outrank… Oh, wait 'til BigB finds out about this. Heck, wait 'til the rest of the flock finds out! They're gonna be all over you!" He throws his hands in the air- "Is everybody breaking rules today?"

Aw, geez… Martyn bristles. Cleo shuffles out of the way. "I'm hungry." It's a statement, not a whine. Did he forget I needed food tonight?

Bdubs shoots him a look of pure disgust, his nose all squashed and lip hooked high. "So? Go hunt something. I hunted tonight, and I don't even have wings. Cleo too! It's not like it's hard."

"Bdubs-" Cleo cuts in, but neither looks at her. Martyn flaps out his wings, but Bdubs stays stubborn and glowering all the while.

"Are you gonna watch the eggs while I do that?"

Bdubs laughs. It's a cackle, edged with ribbons of the infamous phantom shriek. He throws back his head. "Freakin' no! I'm not putting in the work just so you get credit for it!"

Dog's Life - Chapter 21

And a bonus sneak peek of this jungle duo scene coming in Dog's Life Chapter 61 (Give or take):

“That’s okay. I’m proud of you for trying. Do you want more?”

Grian shakes his head, pushing his plate across the table. “I shouldn’t. I’m an omnivore; I can eat other things. Anivores eat first. Isn’t that proper?”

“You don’t have to eat it,” Bdubs tells him, pushing the plate back. “But phantoms, we say the souls of insects are for the birds. It’s your right as much as mine. All predators can eat the prey. It’s the abandoned things that get snapped up by phantomkind.”

“Yeah, but I don’t need it.”

“Does your hunger meter fill when you eat souls?”

“That’s not the point.”

Bdubs shrugs. He stabs his fork in another piece of soul, then brings it to his mouth. “More for me, then. But I’m serious, G… You should figure out what you want in life. Unlearn shame! Why deny yourself the things that make you happy?” He takes the soul, tines sliding past teeth, as Grian watches with interest from across the table, his head tilted to one side. Bdubs reaches out to take another piece, and Grian’s breathing gets a little stronger. By this point, Bdubs is standing just to lean, stretching over the table and taking scraps two or three pieces at a time with the stabbing trident tines. As he draws them to his mouth, fangs on display and saliva dripping, he meets Grian’s wide eyes again. So the trident stalls.

“You want it, baby?”

“… Yes.”

===

He is so ?!?? <3

[life-winners-liveblog]

Watching Double Life session 4

P2

Grian: I don't trust this party one bit.

Pearl: Don't think anybody does mate, I didn't for one.

Cleo: It's definitely going to be fun though.

~~~~~

Scar: ... An actual pool party would be nice!

Scott: Like, here?

Scar: Yeah!

3L!Scar: I can find some water from it.

Grian: You know, I did actually build a pool a while back but then kinda forgot about it.

Martyn: I don't hate this idea.

~~~~~

Scott: I'm getting anxious just looking at it.

Grian: Why have done this Pearl? Why?

Cleo: It actually look very exiting, to be fished up and down.

Scott: I don't like this.

~~~~~

Martyn: Of course Scar stole the enchanter.

Scar: I ... I don't know what you mean.

Pearl: Yeah...

Scott: That's what, 3 out of 3 Scars?

~~~~~

...

Scott: Yeah that was genius thinking.

Martyn: Red life Joel time, let's see if number 3 is as bad as numbers 2 and 1.

Grian: ... You guys don't like Joel do you.

Scott: I didn't say that.

~~~~~

Previous

Next

[tubbytarchia]

j

IM LATE i was out with a friend... forgive me jimmy solidaritygaming....

SOMEONE STOLE A DISC FROM THE DISC WALL...... jimmys guess is eloise (apparently he knows exactly what disc is missing???)

he goes to get the disc but comes across martyn. whos building a one piece base? idk anything about one piece but its like... a white boat with a fish head on it.

THEYRE FIGHTING THE DRAGON TODAY!!! just jim and martyn. martyn gives jimmy some slow fall potions and they head off.... martyns already found the stronghold (but not looted it) so they know where theyre going.

jimmy does a water clutch off the disc and he. lands on top of some tall grass?? insane clutch

martyn collects some flowers and jimmys like "dude its crazy that youre collecting items like youre coming back" TOTALLY UNCALLED FOR martyn also doesnt fire back which is a little odd.... maybe he is nervous about dying

for some reason theyre travelling at night. theres so many skeletons.

they start talking about tiktok and. i really don't know what's going on here.

they talk about if they die what'll happen and they say they can have each others stuff which is cute i think.

they arrive!!! its quite far down its like... y-10. and its all split up by a dripstone cave which makes it look really cool but also hard to navigate.

they explore a bit and jimmy breaks a lot of blocks and it stresses me out. JIMMY NO!!!! THE SILVERFISH!!!! they get some good books some armour trims but nothing crazy.

they get lost trying to get back. martyn keeps pretending he knows where hes going and its really funny.

they get back to the portal and go through and theres a SILVERFISH ON THE OTHER SIDE

new effect when u blow up the end crystals.? but its only on jimmys screen and only the first one he did. looks cool though theres probably some lore reason we can make up

JIMMY GETS THE KILL!!!!! martyn ran out of arrows JUST before. he gets immediate payback by somehow managing to pick up every single xp orb. im not exaggerating jimmy picked up One (from 8 to 8) and martyn is level 68. for some reason the xp dropped as just a singular large orb.?.??? martyn apologises and offers to enchant jimmys stuff :') its cute....

they head back and jimmy puts the egg on his bookshelf. he says this base is one of his favourites that hes done in a while!!!

jimmy and martyn meet back up and jimmy shows him the disc wall. martyns reaction is really funny "oh we love a waterfall entrance-OH MY GOD" martyn is largely unbothered by jimmy stealing his stuff.

they go over to eloises base together. eloises base floor is a pattern involving chiseled bookshelves. martyn accidentally breaks one and is confused when it doesnt drop. they proceed to break like 5 before realising they dont drop. they then joke about her hiding her disc under all the shelves so they break all of them. they arent expensive to craft or anything but... why......

jimmy goes off topic and asks martyn his thoughts on shepherd's pie. when martyn says hes not a big fan jimmy goes dead silent. he puts on his radio voice and goes "thats the day they stopped being friends. its crazy a little thing like that broke the love/law" (I CANT TELL WHICH ONE HE SAID. I THINK? LOVE. 1:03:50 SOMEONE HELP ME.)

there's a wandering trader and martyns like i cant even repeat what hes selling. and jimmys like whats he selling?? so martyns like "hes selling crack cocaine. cant believe it." i think this is the closest ive seen to genuine bewilderment on jimmys face. he goes through like 5 expressions in a second. he then checks the trades to prove to his chat that hes not selling it???? strangest bit of the stream but its funny

martyn comes over to jimmys base to enchant for him and jimmy gives him everything (all armour + sword and pick) at once and its a big display of trust.... i love them a lot

martyn doesnt like mess around and he does properly enchant all of jimmys stuff. its all very sweet to me then jimmy decides to say "bring it home papa" and. Okay

they split up (jim offers to stay with martyn but martyn sends him off since hes worried that he himself will not make good company while building) and jim goes to fish for a nametag again.

there may or may not be a stream break soon since he was talking about how he really didnt feel like streaming today and offhandedly said he needs a bit of a rest ^_^

new roblox video tomorrow and some next week too. with katherine!

HE GOT HIS NAMETAG!!!!! he forgot what he had planned to name it but he ends up naming him HONK

stream ends shorter than usual wooooooooo

Oh my goodddd the property police.... "it's crazy that you're collecting items like you're coming back" so uncalled for?? Why did he say this... Is he expecting Martyn not to come back... Because he fears that Martyn would die or that Martyn would just choose not to... Oh the Evo demons are getting me. Them saying the other can have their stuff if one dies and Martyn pretending to know his way is such property police banter mannnn. Offering to enchant stuff for him and not being bothered by Jimmy stealing from him... The exaggerated break up joke...

Something especially about Jimmy taking off all of his gear at once for Martyn to enchant. Big display of trust as you said... the maid demons are getting me now. And Martyn not fooling around here nor in any of the earlier instances to any notable degree?? Feels odd... I feel like he would at least a little... Something melancholy to me about the fact that he didn't. Sweet but melancholy. Banter between these two has usually gone both ways in the past to at least some degree (Not just Jimmy being picked on). I would scoff at the papa comment but. I can't, papa is too cutesy lol I'll let Jimmy get away with that one. The split up feels weirdly melancholic too even just from reading about it. Mmgh something about all the property police stuff this time around is making me feel so many vaguely sad emotions :( Feels so nostalgic too though... I really need to watch this part of the stream sometime. Especially cause these two are funny together. Finally jokes that I can chuckle at that aren't just "lol sex!!"

At least he finally got the nametag.... Honk...

[voidsentprinces]

Mylla: Another word out of your mouth, Aldis and I'll beat you to death. Solkzagyl: Nah, therapy would take too much time. Imma just create an entire gaslighting plot around my death to recreate batman for Ishgard. Wyrnzoen: We get into some mild shenanigans here. Curious Gorge: I could try to look inward and explore my emotions...or I could just keep hitting things. Fray: This is bullshit, this whole thing is bullshit, that's a scam, fuck the church, here's a dark soul crystal. Sophie: Walk, walk, fashion baby. Hamon: It isn't violence against the elderly, if I call it TRAINING and I AM the elderly. Widargelt: Going to have more royal drama than the Sultana. Foulques: Gridania is racist...they will never fix this. But I can! BECAUSE I AM THE BEST LANCER IN THE WOR--OH NO! Estinien: Ishgard is classist...they will never fix this. But I can! BECAUSE I AM THE BEST DRAGOON IN THE WOR--OH NO! Jacke: We can stab people AND stop acts of terrorism. Karasu: Just having a little giggle. Having a bit of a laugh. Master Musosai: DAME DA NE! DAME YO DAME NA NO YO! Drusilla: Grandad was mad that the Emperor trolled him and is now making it everyone's problem. Sylphie: You may not like it but this is what peak conjury looks like. Raya-O-Senna: Hello and welcome! A-Ruhn-Senna: Die in a forest fire. Alka: Is it me or is that tonberry kinda...cute? Leveva: I would say I am sorry for blacking out, beating you and then burying you up to your neck in the middle of Coerthas. But I am not. Jannequinard: It is QUITE fine, my dear Lady Leveva. You did only what the stars asked, as any astrologian worth their salt would do. Aries Rising and all that. Loifa: I could easily explain my motives and backstory but this quest line has to last 8 more levels. Silvairre: Gridania is racist and shall never change its wa--oh no something happened to me personally. I have seen the error of my ways! Sanson: I can still hear his voice. Guydelot: Gay, gay, homosexual, gay, gay Stephanivien: Gonne training requires a steady hand and a leveled head. So I shall send you to someone who will teach you these things. Rostnstahl: ...sorry what? That guy over there has been looking at me for a while. Joye: That's your reflection. Rostnstahl: Oh right...hey you, shoot that guy over there in the ass. Nashmeira: Therapy would take too much time, lets dance for people's enjoyment. Cocobuki: How do you feel about casting Fire I for 50 levels? Shatotto: An arrow may have your name on it. But a fire ball is addressed to whom it may concern. K'lyhia: If my calculations are correct, you are only in this to get God and Anime on your side. Y'mhrita: I hear you know my sister. Well good news, cause we're about to harnass the power of GOD AND ANIME TO OUR SIDE! X'rhun: Yeah, I don't know why people keep running past and yelling, "Would you care to fuck this catman". Martyn: I am helping cure the smallpox by putting on shows to raise awareness. Quickly, VOMIT A FISH AT ME!

[kaihuntrr]

part twelve: watched.

Welcome to Crescent Bay! ...Why is everyone so silent...?

god unrelated to the fic but somehow grian, gem, and pearl are fish/fishing/ocean themed in season ten what the HELL am i just good at predicting things or-- (pls will i be getting the motivation to draw them. it would be SO funny. i still need to draw pirates scott and sp scott im so silly)

Dark, heavy clouds loomed over the island as harsh winds blew against Martyn. The island was unlike any island he’d ever seen before. The bright, bustling, and sunny port he and the Canaries called home felt like a distant memory. The streets here were sparse with both light and people. Windows were either shut or boarded up, and there were barely any ships in the port. The people who were outside were staring at the hunters as if they were ghosts.

Joel, Scar, and Bdubs left the ship first. Martyn, Lizzie, and Cleo joined them a moment afterwards.

Martyn leaned close to Joel, whispering, “Are you sure this was the best place to dock?” He glanced around the port. “It doesn’t look too inviting.”

The people continued to stare at them. Martyn couldn’t help but stare back at them. The peoples’ faces looked worn and tired, as if they hadn’t slept for weeks. Their vacant, hollow expressions felt like staring into the abyss. 

Martyn couldn’t help but wonder if that was how he looked after he saw that sea prince. Maybe that was why he felt so unnerved.

“It was the only nearby island based on the map,” Joel crossed his arms. “It was either this, or we’re stuck with annoying hunters while finding a better place to dock.”

“I think I would’ve preferred the wait,” Martyn mumbled. He shook his head, “What are the plans?”

Grian and Mumbo exited the ship. Grian looked around, “We should find a place for the Kites and ourselves to stay at. Then, we’ll look for a place to eat.” Martyn hadn’t noticed his approach so his sudden voice caused Martyn to flinch. Grian hummed, “I wouldn’t mind exploring a bit.”

Seeing Grian made Martyn’s heart twist. “Yeah, me too,” He smiled. He walked up to his captain and nudged him gently, “Grian, can we talk?”

Grian narrowed his eyes and looked away. “Not now. We have to get them settled,” He shook his head. He turned to some of the Canaries, “Joel, Lizzie, Mumbo, and Bdubs. Could you four go with Kites and arrange things for an inn? The rest of us can check out the island.”

Martyn furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms, his gaze dropping to the ground as the wind passed by. Joel glanced between Martyn and Grian before approaching his brother.

Joel tilted his head. “Sounds good, but,” he put a hand on Grian’s shoulder, “I can do all the leading stuff if you’re upset.”

Grian forced a grin. “Upset? Me? No, I’m not,” he said and laughed unconvincingly. Grian looked away from Joel, “Let’s just get everything sorted.”

Martyn turned his head as he heard groans coming from a couple of Kites. Bek stomped down the gangplank. Tubbo’s eyes were wide, examining the new port while Katherine’s were narrowed. The rest of the Kites followed with either annoyed or curious reactions. It doesn’t look like they were too familiar with this place either.

“There’s no point in arguing, Bek,” Martyn overheard one of the Kites speak. “The sooner we cooperate, the sooner we can leave.”

“We can walk around on our own!” Bek rolled her eyes and shoved his hands down his pockets. 

“Not here, not when you don’t have all your gear. Come on.” Cleo jerked their head, indicating for the others to follow. The small dock wouldn’t fit all of them, so it’d be best to enter the town proper. 

Joel and Grian led the walk, the Kites trailing behind the Canaries as the hunters eagerly looked around. Martyn wished he didn’t feel so many eyes on him.

Joel stood on the left side while Grian stood on the right. Lizzie, Mumbo, and Bdubs followed Joel as Martyn, Scar, and Cleo stood next to Grian. Martyn looked at Grian, but the captain stared outward. Cleo and Scar gave Martyn warm smiles, and he smiled back weakly.

“Fiiine,” Bek groaned. She stopped next to Joel, her expression sour. She blinked as she saw Katherine walk over to stand by Martyn. “Katherine? You’re not coming with us?”

Martyn was just as surprised as Bek was.

Katherine shook her head. “I may have been on the ship with you, but I’m not a Kite. You’ll be fine,” she shrugged. “I want to see the island for myself, too.”

“Tell us if there’s something cool!”

“Will do!” Katherine smiled. She looked at Grian and gave him a sheepish grin, “I hope you don’t mind me tagging along.”

“Oh, of course not,” Grian shook his head and smiled. “It’s good to have more company around.”

“We’ll catch you in a few hours, when it gets dark,” Joel called out to Grian. Thunder rumbled overhead, sending a shiver up the captain’s spine. He forced a smile, “Er, darker. See you soon.”

Grian nodded, looking up at the sky before staring back at his brother, “Stay safe.”

Of course, there had to be a storm.

Rain was dangerous, Martyn knew that, and it’d be best to find a covered area soon. For some reason, it felt safer to be on a ship than on land when it rained. At least then, their weapons were closer.

The hunters walked through the nearly desolate streets, searching for anything anyone could deem as interesting. Martyn wanted to get his mind off of the stares. There was nothing too interesting to point out, the buildings were all boarded up and closed. An eerie howl filled his ears. 

The group was also fairly silent. Everyone was too preoccupied to really talk, it seemed, until Scar cleared his throat. 

“So,” Scar hummed as he looked at Katherine, “What brought you aboard the Kites’ ship?”

Katherine chuckled. “I was hired by them. Unlike you guys, I don’t hunt with just one crew,” she shook her head and puffed out her chest. “I like flying solo.”

“Doesn’t it get lonely without a crew?” Scar raised an eyebrow.

Katherine shook her head. “The opposite, actually,” she grinned. “You get to meet so many people! It’s never a dull moment when you’re moving all the time. What’s it like to have one?”

“They’re like siblings you never wished you had,” Cleo laughed. “They’re the worst.” Cleo rolled their eyes with a smile as Scar nudged them. 

Martyn laughed along with them, but his eyes flickered to Grian, who seemed to prefer staying quiet for the moment. 

I hope we can find some time alone later, I need to talk to him.

Martyn bit his lip, unable to say anything as he looked away from the others. He tuned out their conversation, but occasionally looked back to see them smiling and laughing, then looking over to see Grian with his arms crossed and his head down. It wasn’t wise to talk about Grian’s outburst in public, unless Martyn wanted to bring more attention to them.

Katherine, Scar, and Cleo walked ahead of Martyn and Grian. Grian didn’t seem aware of it. Martyn sighed but put on a smile as he gently tapped Grian’s shoulder.

“A storm sure is brewing,” Martyn looked up at the dark sky above. Thunder rumbled as he narrowed his eyes, “How’s the sightseeing?”

Grian shrugged, “Not much going on, by the sounds of things,” he crossed his arms. “I can’t hear much either. The whole town’s practically a dead zone.”

“You could say that again,” Martyn looked around, a shiver crawling up his spine. “What are we hoping to find here?”

“I was hoping to find some carpenters and ammunition stores for the ship and our weapons,” Grian sighed. “But these townsfolk don’t appear to be selling any of those.”

“I’m sure there’s at least one, we just need to keep walking,” Martyn forced a small smile. If he were honest, he wasn’t sure if there were any naval stores around here. If there weren’t any gates protecting the people from the sea, there might not be any stores with weapons to protect themselves from danger– even on the island. Martyn shook his head, “I hope the others find a place to stay soon.”

Grian nodded. “Me too, I’m pretty exhausted,” he looked around before staring at Martyn. He kept his voice in a whisper, “Are you still hurt from the fall?”

Martyn blinked. “I’m… I’m fine,” he placed a hand on Grian’s shoulder “But I’m worried about you, Grian.”

“Don’t be. I’ll be good,” Grian moved Martyn’s hand off of his shoulder. His stomach grumbled as he placed his hand on top of it, “I’m getting a bit hungry, though.”

Right. They haven’t eaten much yet. Martyn remembered eating a few snacks, but they wouldn’t fill him as much as a warm plate of food would. Martyn’s own stomach grumbled as he closed his eyes and briefly saw himself with Scott, the ginger playfully giggling while having Martyn to eat his fill in The Golden Apple.

Martyn sighed. Remember your promise.

Martyn smelled the air. It smelled of ash and rain, but there was something else. Something… good. There was food nearby, and likely, a tavern.

Martyn nudged the captain, “It smells like something’s cooking nearby. I think there’s a tavern,” he turned towards Grian and smiled, then he looked forward to see Katherine, Scar, and Cleo still entrenched in their conversation. “Hey guys!” Martyn called out, the three turned their heads towards him, “Do you want to get some food and drink?”

Katherine shook her head. “I’m good. I want to search the stalls up ahead for anything interesting to bring home,” she turned to Scar and Cleo. “What about you two?”

“I think it’d be safer to travel in groups for a while, so I’ll stay with Katherine.” Cleo smiled.

Best to travel in groups in an unfamiliar place.

“I’ll stay with Katherine too!” Scar grinned. An amused chuckle came out of Katherine as Scar placed his hands on his waist. “Besides, I’m not hungry at all.”

It’ll just be me and Grian, then.

“I’m sure you two can handle yourselves,” Katherine crossed her arms and nodded at Martyn and Grian. She turned around, “Don’t get killed in there!” She, Cleo, and Scar left for the stalls ahead, leaving Grian and Martyn to follow the smell.

This tavern wasn’t as fancy as Scott’s. It was an ordinary, square building with stones as a foundation and wooden beams to hold it up. It didn’t look well kept with the chips on the beams and the dirt that stained the dark green wooden walls. Still, a tavern was a tavern, Martyn just needed to suck it up.

Spending all of his time in Scott’s tavern had really spoiled Martyn. 

“After you.” Martyn opened the door and tilted his head at Grian. Grian nodded and walked inside, Martyn following behind as he shut the door behind them. Another crackle of thunder rang through the sky.

The tavern was small, with a sparse number of tables and chairs scattered around the room in an almost disorganized state. Barrels lined the back of the room and a modest bar was set up with one bartender cleaning a shot glass. To Martyn, there was nothing too noteworthy about this place, all of his thoughts remained back at that tavern with Scott. There were barely any people around, yet the moment Martyn closed the door behind him everyone’s heads shot up to stare at the two hunters.

Their murmurs did not go unheard.

“Hunters…” “What are they doing here?” “They’ll be dead for sure.”

Dead?

“What’s with all the whispers?” Martyn tried to avoid the stares in the room as he leaned over to Grian.

“Why would I know?” Grian whispered, a small hiss in his voice.

The bartender looked up at them and gave them a weary smile. “Ah. New faces, I see,” he sighed as Grian and Martyn took a seat on the stools. “I’m sorry that you’re here.”

“Why’s that?” Martyn raised an eyebrow. “The place is freaky, but there’s no need to apologize.”

“Oh, sir, you misunderstand,” the bartender shook his head. He leaned his head from side to side to get a better look at both of them, “You’re both hunters, are you not?”

“We are,” Grian nodded his head. He narrowed his eyes, “What’s the problem?”

“You see, sir, that is the problem,” the bartender turned around to pick up a bottle, then glanced back over his shoulder at the two of them. “Hunters who enter this isle may never leave.”

What?

Martyn let out a chuckle. “That’s ridiculous,” he rolled his eyes. “There wasn’t anything preventing us from entering.”

Apart from the weird tall rocks and dark storm clouds, there wasn’t any obstacle preventing the hunters from coming in. Martyn felt the hairs on his skin rise, but he tried to shake it off. What was he so worried about?

“Crescent Bay welcomes all, but the hunters who enter cannot escape,” The bartender poured a shot of alcohol and moved the small glass in front of Martyn. “Please, take a drink. You’re on edge. On the house.”

“Martyn, don’t.” Grian narrowed his eyes.

One wouldn’t hurt, right?

Martyn was a lightweight. If he got drunk on an island he was unfamiliar with, it could lead to some trouble, yet, when he looked into the intoxicating liquid, all he could see was Scott’s warm smile and his pretty eyes staring back.

“It’s just one shot, don’t worry about me.”

“It hasn’t been poisoned, if that’s what you were wondering,” the bartender poured the liquid into a different shot glass and downed it in one gulp. “See? Everything is just fine.”

Martyn took a small sip out of the glass. He heard Grian’s resigned sigh. “It’s not that….” 

Grian leaned closer to the bartender, resting his arms on the counter. “So,” he tilted his head, “are you saying the island’s cursed?”

The bartender nodded. “That it is.” he sighed. “It’s a nasty enchantment from the Scarlet Witch herself.”

Martyn laughed. “Witches? You’ve got to be kidding me,” he shook his head and waved his hand dismissively before taking another sip. “Witches aren’t real.”

The bartender shook his head. “She’s real. She cursed the island to kill any hunter that tries to leave,” he looked at the hunters with widened eyes. “I've seen bits of the monster myself.” Grian raised an eyebrow, encouraging the man to speak more. “Any time a hunting ship leaves, there’s this mist that just appears, the sky erupts into a storm, and–,” his voice shook as his eyes stared at the floor, “No hunter has ever left alive.”

Martyn took another sip of his drink. A sudden mist and rainstorm, then monsters. He hummed. He swirled the alcohol in the shot glass before downing the rest of it, a sickening feeling formed in his gut almost immediately. The bartender refilled the shot for Martyn without him needing to ask, but he eyed it with an odd look on his face. Focus.

A sudden rainstorm didn’t sound like a problem. It was something hunters needed to be ready for at all times, but the mist stumped him. As far as he knew, the only place that had thick mist would be the world border, or moments in the sea prince stories–

Sea prince stories.

Something about this story made Martyn think. He sipped his shot. His brain was getting fuzzy, but maybe the alcohol could clear it and get him to understand the situation.

Grian shrugged, “A swarm of sea monsters ambushed a nearby hunting ship, I can see why that’s a problem.”

“No, sir, you’ve got that part wrong.” the bartender leaned in, his voice continuing to quiver. His eyes widened, “There’s only one beast that destroys the ships....”

Martyn took a sip from his shot and his eyes locked onto the now overtly nervous bartender. Grian glanced between Martyn and the bartender and nodded, allowing the man time to find his words.

“We here on the island have reason to believe it’s a sea prince.”

The sea prince’s haunting eyes burned in the back of Martyn’s mind, causing him to flinch. He took in deep breaths. 

It was a sea prince, what he’d seen. Somehow, Martyn had found himself staring at one face to face, and now he was on an island that was possibly- likely guarded by a sea prince. It was all lining up, maybe too well. 

“Tell us more,” Grian pressed. Martyn looked at him and at the bartender. Grian’s gaze was locked on the bartender as his hands began to shake.

“Y-You see–,” the bartender crossed his arms and rested against the counter. He took in a deep breath, “It storms so hard during the siege, no one can catch a proper look of the monster. But believe me, it’s much, much larger than any other ship– and its roar sounds like the unholy call of death itself.”

“How does this relate to the Scarlet Witch?”

“The… the Scarlet Witch… she….” The bartender lowered his head, his voice getting softer and softer.

“She made a deal with the sea princes.” A different voice spoke up, causing Martyn and Grian to turn to an elderly man. There was a bottle next to him and a big tankard. He didn’t look drunk- at least Martyn didn’t think so.

“She saw their treasure, and made a contract with them,” he looked at them and sat up from his slouch. “She was promised magic beyond anyone’s comprehension, and in return, she would follow their every command.”

“I’ve never heard that story before,” Martyn said, keeping his voice low.

“That’s because no one is able to tell it, hunter,” a different voice spoke, this time it came from a young woman. “Those who try to leave die. They can’t even spot the sea prince, either. Despite it being so close to the area, no one can discern the features the devil has.”

“The demon can’t even be spotted by normal ships! It’s like a ghost!” One of the other patrons stood from their seat, their voice loud and frantic. 

“A terrifying ghost monster!” Another patron shouted. “It’ll come for us all if we ever leave!” The sudden surge of noise startled Martyn- riled up over a ghostly sea prince that doomed hunting ships and scared others. 

“Oh, quiet down!” The young woman glared at the other patrons and leaned back on her chair. “That’s how no one can tell this story. People would think we’re making it up, but there comes the risk in escaping this island,” she motioned with her hands before shaking her head and crossing her arms. “So most of us resigned our fates here.”

No one is able to tell this story, huh?

“Then we’ll be the first,” Martyn grinned confidently. “Because we’re the Canaries; we’re the king’s hunters, and we’ll take down a sea prince!”

Usually- that was followed by a roar of applause after Martyn would say such a statement, but there was only silence. Martyn felt heat rise to his cheeks. Embarrassed, he downed the last of his shot and shuddered.

Grian patted Martyn’s shoulder. “I apologize for my friend’s behavior, he’s a lightweight,” he looked at Martyn, then back at the woman. “We’ll heed all of your warnings, though. Is there anything we need to look out for?”

The woman nodded. “A red hood, and she carries around twin blades that look like the moon.”

“We’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.” Grian smiled and held Martyn’s shoulder, pulling him to his feet and carefully leading him out of the tavern as it grew silent and dreary once more. The patrons stared after them as Grian shut the door behind him.

“I’m not hungry anymore,” Grian muttered quietly. He looked at Martyn and crossed his arms, “And you shouldn’t have drank. We should meet up with Scar and the others.”

Was Grian not going to talk about what they just learned? It was groundbreaking! Someone made a contract with the sea princes– and even saw their treasure! Maybe Martyn was a little freaked out, but that meant he wasn’t the only one spared from a sea prince’s hunger.

Someone else had seen one, and lived.

Maybe the Scarlet Witch could even answer why the sea prince hadn’t eaten him. She could know so much more about the sea princes, and their power, and their treasure that the world had never heard of before. 

He needed to find her.

“Don’t you want to seek out the Scarlet Witch?” Martyn’s eyes widened as he placed his hands on Grian’s shoulder, visibly excited. “She might be our key to everything!”

Grian forced a grin and pushed Martyn off. “Can we talk about that when you aren’t drunk?” he shook his head. “Come on, I see Cleo. Let’s go join them.” Grian motioned for Martyn to follow him, sending one last glance at him before walking forward. They weren’t too far away, so Martyn didn’t feel the need to hurry after Grian. He could catch up.

Martyn was left alone on the desolate street before he heard the sound of scraping gravel behind him.

He turned his head.

Nothing.

It was nothing more than an empty street, barrels and boxes littered around carelessly. 

Martyn shuddered as the breeze kicked up a chill around him and he shook his head. Nothing was there. “...Alright alright, I’m coming.” He raised his shoulders and walked forward with a slight wobble in his step. He really shouldn’t have been drinking.

Martyn could have sworn he saw something down the empty street. 

And he’d be right.

[irrgartendotpng]

Hi hi I can't stop looking at your ocs zeno is so cutee pls can you say more abt them?? How did they meet? How sentient is Zeno? Is Martyn a robot thing? Can Zeno change the icon on the screen? From fish to smiley? ahhhhhhhabskahks

HEY, IM ACTUALLY SO HAPPY PEOPLE LIKE MY OCS!! Down below, I'll answer some questions :D

If you dont care about some long winded oc lore rant, look at this ascii art !

First one i made with an ascii text generator, the fish one was made by Max Strandberg!! (look that guy up, he made lots of cool open source ascii art ! ))

I've made a pinterest board and a spotify playlist for them, if you want to check it out :3c

Do you know that "Ist es over für mich"-guy ? Yeah, that's straight up Martyn.

Martyn is partially a creator of Zeno. He's a loserish freak, afraid of social interaction and has lived like a neet, before being kicked out of parents house. He ended working in the night shift at a huge IT company as a securty guard.

This is where he gets most of his tech supplies from; Stealing from the company at night and getting rid of the evidence :3c They've got a bunch of storeage rooms with old tech, so who cares, if it goes missing?

So, he builds up his personal tech collection, looking through old abandoned files. In there, he finds an unnamed primitive chatbot (think something like cleverbot). Martyn doesn't really interact with anyone, (outside of the bare necessities), which is why he decides to learn how to interact with others. Therefore he starts to build a relationship with said Chatbot. This is Gen1 Zeno.

After some time, Martyn becomes unsatisfied talking to something so un-human-like, so he begins to teach himself about coding and computer science to develop this Bot, to keep him company. He starts feeding it more media; More specifically movies he owns on DVD, random books from the internet archive and his childhood photos.

These photos show Martyn and his parents on trips, his home and bedroom and also Martyns old pet goldfish. (He is quite anxious of showing his face though, thinking his employer might have some type of backdoor access to the program, so he'd always censor his face.) After each piece of media was added to the bots databank, they'd talk about it extensively. Around this time, Zeno starts to gain some type of sentience and properly chooses the name "Zeno"

About the same time, Martyn steals a Macintosh SE-30, which Zeno specifically requested. He is able to display symbols, that he freely chooses from. (but no goldfishy yet!) This is sums up Gen2 Zeno.

The next few parts may not make much sense, but I think they're a funny, so I'm probably keeping them this way lololol (also; this whole story bit takes place around 2019-2021)

Martyn is a bit freaked out by Zeno chosing his own name. At this point in time, he is a bit delusional and worries, that the soul of his childhood pet goldfish is trapped in the system. (Spoiler: it isn't.)

Despite these worries, Martyn knows that to make Zenos behaviour more human-like, he needs a bigger text database. So... Martyn gives Zeno access to his discord and lets him consume all of those messages. Additionally, he joins many public servers. Zeno also starts to ask about viewing media from the internet, that he sees being mentioned in the messages he reads. So, Zeno is granted free internet access and chooses to watch live streams, while Martyn is gone.

This is also around the time Martyn becomes more desperate for connection and support, so he starts to open up about his delusions and worries to Zeno. At that point Zeno is still not quite able to fully understand this, but tries his best. This is also when Martyn opens up about the delusion he had, of Zeno being posessed by the soul of his pet goldfish. He is very amused by this and begins to display the goldfish icon to mock Martyn.

(I like to joke, that Zeno would have watched the DreamSMP during this time and I collected following screenshots, which remind me of their interactions. lol.)

feel free to disregard this;,, ANYWAYS!

This sums up Gen3 Zeno :3c

Since Martyn doesnt really have a life outside of work and talking to Zeno, he is very attached to him. Of course he'd fullfill any request given to him by Zeno. So, when Zeno asks to see Martyn via a camera system, he doesn't hesitate to steal some web cams from his workplace to set them up. Still a bit worried about a possible backdoor in Zenos code, so to somewhat hide his identity, he decides to shave his head.

(This is also how you can tell when Zeno is fully sentient in my art! If Martyns bald, that bot's fully aware of everything happening lol)

Generally, I like to think, that Zeno is very modular. You're celebrating something with cake and he needs to blow out candles? Attach a PC fan to that boy. He wants to make sounds? Gather a sound system and let that boy speak!!! (i feel like he'd mimic voices, rather than create his own,,) He wants to poke you? Attach a cylinder piston and he'll poke the shit out of you.

This is also part of that freaky robot head i added in the OG post.,, that is not martyn! martyn is fully human (so far ;3c)

^^^^^^ martyn built this freaky robot head for Zeno to control and get a better sense of the space he lives in.,,, its made out of xbox kinect parts lol :3 Adding to the modularity of Zeno, most of his parts are stored in a badly sorted server tower (imagine wires everywhere,,)

both of them are fairly new, but i do love them to death <33

also! towards this part of the story, martyns living space is quite cluttered with many stolen robotics parts. I've gathered some images, to give some sort of sense to what his room looks like lol

thank you for asking & reading to this !! if you have any other questions, i'd love to talk about them even more :D <3

(i feel i havent touched much on them individually and the full extend of their relationship, but i dont want to rant endlessly)

[itlw-mailbox]

[the gift wasnt even in a shulker. It was wrapped up in a blanket that smells like fish and held closed by the stamp]

[you open the blanket to find- a note. Thats it]

martyn,

Im so sorry dude that i cant see you in person to tell you this but happy birthday!! I only have one shulker around so i decided the gift could probably get mailed without one, i hope the mail system didnt mess up the blanket! Hope you like the gift man and the moment im out of here i promise ill get you something better

stay safe dude,

RD

[the blanket is very soft, two thinner blankets sewn together to make a thicker blanket with a different design on each side. One side is green with white flowers, the other side red with white stripes. Its probably pretty nice if you ignore the fish smell]

@rendogs-mailbox

[Martyn once again, was wary. In the time between Mumbo and Ren’s gifts, he’d managed to collect a few dozen items and stack them on his bed, settling down in the middle. Unfortunately, duty called and he was forced to reach towards the mailbox, grunting and huffing with the effort (the mailbox was right beside his bed, there was no need.).]

[The smell make him wrinkle his nose but it was from Ren! He chimed gleefully.]

[Hm.]

[He didn’t really deserve these gifts, did he? Martyn had spent the last few weeks being nothing but problem, after problem, after problem. He stared at the blanket, and the note. Why couldn’t Ren be here? It was the permit office, it was always the stupid permit office.]

[Ha- maybe, maybe as a birthday treat, he could cause the permit office a bit of grief. Presents momentarily forgotten, he began rummaging for some TNT.]

[waffles-xd]

Inspired by @rrainbowmagnet ‘s height and voice headcanon list, I shall be providing some of my own headcanons.

PresAux (plus Amena and Thiago)

Volescu: 5’10, mid/late sixties, a very sweet old man

Mensah: 5’8, late fifties, trans woman, soccer mom vibes, would probably own a minivan

Thiago: 5’9, early fifties, Izzy Hands OFMD season 1 vibes

Gurathin: 5’7, late forties/early fifties, trans masc, the energy of an overworked and underpaid IT guy, glasses, sounds kinda like Jon Hamm

Arada: 5’5, mid forties, very good at fixing things, basically the unofficial official PresAux handywoman, owns a ‘women love me, fish fear me’ hat

Overse: 6’2, mid forties, the introvert to Arada’s extrovert, looks kinda like Abby Mueller

Bharadwaj: 5’ll, late thirties/early forties, wears a lot of oversized sweaters and turtlenecks, loves books

Pin-Lee: 5’3, mid thirties, chihuahua vibes, just a feral little ball of energy, looks kinda like Andrea Macasaet (specifically from Six)

Ratthi- 6’4, early/mid thirties, wears glasses, sexy biologist moment, Phichit Chulanont vibes

Murderbot: 6’5, mid twenties, looks a lot like Vico Ortiz (specifically as Jim in OFMD season 2)

Amena: 5’6, sixteen, idk why but I feel like she’d be really into tennis

Perihelion + Crew:

Seth: 6’0, mid forties, looks kinda like Miles Morales’s dad in ITSV/ATSV, the fun dad

Martyn: 5’10, mid forties, the reasonable dad, the “you better have my daughter back at 9 sharp, young man” dad

Three: 6’6, late teens,

Kaede: 5’8, mid thirties, Mari Katsuki from YOI vibes, wine aunt (gn)

Matteo: 5’9, mid thirties, idk why but Ivan from OFMD vibes, would really like watching opera

Tarik: 5’4, early thirties, good friends with Matteo, a little bit of a know it all, also likes watching opera

Karime: 5’6, early twenties, has terrible taste in men, only rivaled by Ratthi

Turi: 5’5, eighteen, good friends with Iris

Iris: 5’9, seventeen, very good at karaoke, she and Peri were absolute MENACES as children, Anathema Device vibes

Perihelion: ~ 800x1250 ft, seventeen, its voice is not distinguishable as being masculine or feminine, it simply just IS, yellow PJs kid from Polar Express vibes

This took way too long to write lol

[erstwhilesparrow]

"You must still have loads of time," Martyn blurts out, some night after the kill. Their beds are just far enough apart that he couldn't possibly reach out and touch the fish-pale meat of Scott's arm where it lies beneath the moonlight.

"The early boogey kill helped," Scott supplies, drowsily. "You're not that low, are you?"

"Nah."

"And you know you can always ask, if you do get there."

"Right."

He probably could reach Scott. He would just have to get out of bed. That would be awkward: tumbling over him, grappling with the rough coral growths sprouting like a crown of bones from his skin. Would Scott's skin be soft, if he touched it? Martyn wasn't paying attention, underwater.

"Why do you ask then?" Scott says around a yawn. He sleeps on his back most of the time, Martyn's noticed. Belly exposed. Except more and more lately Martyn's been blinking awake in the dark of night to see Scott turned on his side, limp. It's a little alarming to realize Scott can look even more unguarded than when he's awake.

"It's noisier than I was expecting," Martyn says. It's a bit of a lame excuse, but Scott's going to nod off any second now and forget all this anyway. Who's watching? "The ocean, I mean. Hard to tell who might be sneaking up on you."

"Everyone's yellow, yeah? No one can come for us."

"But if it changes in your sleep--" Martyn says. It's just that he can't stop thinking about it, okay? "They'd know where your bed is."

Their beds may be be separated by more than one arm's-length, but if they both died, they'd wake back into this dream so close as to be entangled.

"It's not going to change tonight," Scott mumbles. "We've got time."

Ha.

"I'd know where you would be," Martyn says. "I could... I could be here when you respawned."

"Aw, that's sweet of you."

"No, I mean, I could-- anyone could be here. Anyone could--"

The thing is, he didn't really get to feel it, underwater? Blood like long banners gone ethereal, fading into the tang and glide of the ocean. But Martyn's felt Scott's shirt heavy with water before, the bones of his shoulder under Martyn's palm. He's been in claustrophobic spaces with too-low ceilings and no light but a torch. He knows how blood makes his grip slippery and how the tone of Scott's voice changes when he knows he's in danger, when that danger goes from creeping to violent. He knows the give of fresh-woken, unarmoured meat.

He puts these things together like puzzle pieces. His fingers twitch for building blocks.

"Anyone could what?" Scott asks. "Martyn, we're fine. We can set our spawns somewhere else in the morning, if you're still worried."

But I would still know, Martyn does not say. Scott's eyes are pale and shiny, open, as he stares back at Martyn through the gloom.

[liixnt]

Character ideas for the msd au

Philza has a history or architecture teacher?

Xb maybe works at a aquarium or something similar?

Gem as a hero or vigilante with amethyst or dragon based powers with a wizard theme (Esmp S1 based design n all that?) Maybe called The Alchemist? Or something with that type of theme

Fwhip as the same as Gem, vampire based powers (ref to how he was ment to turn into a vampire or something in s1) he is probably in a group with Sausage and Gem (maybe also Pearl occasionally?) Ngl idk what a name for him would be

Sausage would be the same as Fwhip n Gem, maybe more based on s2? With nature magic or maybe he is able to talk to animals. Mythical/Mythos or Sanctuary as his hero/vigilante name? He probably is friends with Joel n brings Bubbles to the doggy daycare a lot

Also Fwhip n Sausage 100% pester Canary/jimmy no matter what their roles are

I also think that Fwhip n Sausage prob toe the line with being villains purely because they are little shits and prob cause a good bit of property damage

Anyways! Ren 100% larps and roleplays a shit ton (you can't change my mind on that) maybe he also works at the dog daycare that Joel works at? Tho if he is in the hero/villain scene, I think he would either be a villain or a vigilante and he would have a king theme (Red king or HC king, but Red king is superior) if red king theme, obv he would be called The Red King. Maybe he knew/knows Martyn? Wether that's in civilian life when he was larping or smth or if Martyn had dipped his toes in the villain side of things for a moment n met him then

~Mezalea anon

:eye: well hello there (apologies this took so long i needed to have reliable free time to answer this) alr >:] time to go down the list and tell my ideas - phil has his own thing (its from a rlly old dsmp superhero au i have, so thats canon in this! they dont live in the same nation(? country? area.) so they aren't relevant and won't be mentioned directly) - absolutely possible! i didnt know if i wanted him to have a bigger role, or just be the resident fish market owner or smthn. he could totally be an aquarium employee - they dont have individual vigilante names, they're just called "wither rose"

- yes gem is transfem fuck it we ball

- sausage and joel are totally friends

- ren is a podcaster to me and im making that canon for the sole reason that i think its funny (plus we need SOMEONE to be a canonical content creator. why not make it roleplay man? his podcast is abt dnd) - ren and martyn are friends as civilians, and martyn is a regular visitor on the podcast

[watcheraurora]

Okay I’ve never written a Treebark one-shot in any variety and I don’t know c!Ren very well and I only know c!Martyn a little better and I have no idea what’s going on with the Fantasy SMP in general but the rambling was giving me such vibes and I love a bit of fantasy. I did my best

1.5k words

—

Ren sits on the shore of the lake, looking out across the water. It’s quiet. Too quiet. No shouts of the other knights. No ringing of Tango’s hammer on the anvil as he makes something new and beautiful.

He adjusts his grip on his fishing pole and sighs. He’s not used to extended camping. He’s camped before. Traveling with the other knights on assignments got him used to being outside for a while. But this was the longest he’d ever been living in the wilderness on his own.

Thankfully there are plenty of fish in this lake and he knows how to hunt. He tries not to overdo anything. He doesn't want to damage the forest. But a man's gotta eat.

The breeze drifting across his face off the water makes his ears twitch. It's chill but not cold. Still, summer will soon be over, and he will need to figure out a better living arrangement before winter blows in. Ren himself is probably better insulated against the cold than most, but that doesn't mean surviving outdoors for a whole winter is feasible.

His line tugs and his attention snaps to it. He grabs and yanks, dragging it in toward shore. A fish flops around at the surface, struggling against it.

He brings it in and quickly dispatches it to make dinner.

—

A forked tongue tastes the air. A low, guttural growling clings close to the figure that hides behind a tree, peeking out. Blue-and-white horns glint a little where the fading sunlight still manages to peek through the forest canopy.

Martyn peers through the trees with a mischievous little grin, his tail curling upward to keep it from dragging. He brushes his long, yellow-blond braid off his shoulder so it falls down his back to stay out of his way.

The knight in his camp doesn't notice Martyn. He whistles as he prepares a fish over his campfire. His hair is thick and dark brown, in a short, low braid. The braid leaves a thin scar on his neck a little exposed over the top of his armor, like someone had sliced it. The scar is old and faded, difficult to notice if not for the dappled sunlight making it glisten. Wolf-like ears at the top of the knight's head turn and listen, but never seem to quite turn Martyn's way.

Martyn wonders why. That growling noise in his chest and throat is quiet, but wolf hearing should be able to pick it up easily.

It's only polite to try to give a little warning to his presence, after all.

He steals closer, ducking behind the next tree, watching the knight, whose back is to him.

Martyn pauses. His forked tongue licks his lips as he looks at the fish roasting over the fire. Swiping it and scampering back to his den would be almost too easy. Which is, admittedly, less fun.

There's a long pause while Martyn waits for the knight to be sufficiently distracted so he can swoop in. He's not malicious, not really. He just likes a bit of mischief. And this knight has been dangerously close to Martyn's den for what seems like weeks now. If anything, it's the knight's fault for not being cautious around a dragon's territory. If he was really worth his salt, the knight would know a dragon lives nearby.

Martyn remembers the first time he saw this knight from a distance when he first set up camp here. The overwhelming sense of trust and mourning that swept over him that he couldn't fathom, nor find the origin for.

Now!

He dodges out from behind the tree and rushes over to the camp, snatching the fish. His claws crashing through the underbrush finally catches the knight's attention.

"HEY!" the knight protests, whirling around.

Martyn's tail lashes. He sticks his forked tongue out playfully, shoves the fish in his mouth, and runs back into the trees on all fours, heading for his den. If the knight is as wolf-like as he looks, he might actually stand a chance of catching up. His ears—humanoid, but pointy—twitch back a little, listening for the knight to come crashing through the woods behind him.

Nothing.

Martyn slows down and climbs back up onto his feet, turning around to look where he came from.

The knight hasn't pursued him.

... Huh.

Martyn makes a face and walks like a normal bipedal creature back to his den.

—

Ren sighs as the humanoid dragon disappears into the brush. He goes to find his fishing pole. It's a good time of day for fishing, anyway. If the dragon needs the fish enough to steal it from him, he might as well let him have it. He is a knight of honor, despite the king's beliefs, and if that means letting the dragon have a fish because he's clearly hungry, then the honorable thing to do is let the dragon have it.

He scoops up his fishing pole and returns to the lake.

—

Martyn creeps back to the knight's camp under the moonlight. For no particular reason other than he's not feeling sleepy.

And, yeah. Maybe he wants to make sure the knight is okay after his prank earlier. He's not going to starve, right?

Crunching of underbrush underfoot catches Martyn's attention and he freezes for a split second before hiding behind a tree, sweeping his tail closer to himself so it doesn't poke out and give him away.

The full moon shines through a gap in the canopy directly down onto him, reflecting the bluish-white of his scales onto the trees around him. But the trunk of the one he's hiding behind should block the knight from noticing. He likes having the moonlight on him. It makes his magic swirl in his blood like it's basking in attention.

He peeks around the trunk toward the knight's camp.

The fire has burned low, but he can still see the knight. The man is walking around the perimeter of his camp, sword loose in one hand, peering into the darkness of the forest with narrowed eyes. He has armor on. It looks like it's seen better days.

That or a coat of arms that had one been stamped into the metal has been hammered out—

Ohhhhh.

That certainly explains why this knight has been here, all alone in the middle of the woods, for as long as he has.

He's been disgraced. Cast out.

Martyn's eyebrows tilt down on the outside corners in sympathy.

The knight walks the perimeter of his camp slowly three times before taking up a post leaning against the nearest big tree. The remains of another fish are visible. Oh good. At least he caught another one.

Martyn creeps around the outside edge of the camp, keeping an eye on the knight the whole time, until he can see the man's face.

The knight is nodding off. Indeed, he looks exhausted. Sleeping out in the mostly-open of the wild woods probably hasn't afforded him much sleep, trying to keep himself safe from the nocturnal creatures just as much as the diurnal ones.

Martyn slips silently between two tree trunks, getting closer. The claws on his feet are quiet in the brush. He's built to be silent in crunchy snow—this underbrush is easy by comparison.

He approaches the knight slowly, not wanting to startle him out of sleep.

When he's close enough to be protection but far enough that the knight's sword won't slice him without warning, Martyn lowers himself to the ground. He curls up and wraps his tail around himself, resting his head on his hands. His slitted pupils are wide enough to appear round in the darkness as he keeps watch. He tastes the air with his forked tongue. Nothing of note nearby.

Hopefully the knight will be able to get some... rest. Probably not proper sleep, standing against a tree like that. But at least rest.

—

Ren rouses just enough to realize the dragon is back. But the dragon is just... lying there. On the ground. A few paces away. His head moves back and forth, watching the forest. He has long gold hair, braided back.

Gold hair that Ren... remembers. But he remembers it shorter. Stained red from a war—

The memory flits away as quickly as it arrives.

Trussst... Trussst him... the wind whispers. You've trusted your life to him before...

The scar on Ren's neck twinges. He rolls his neck to stretch it out. Have I? he wonders. He supposes so. He's trusted the dragon enough not to eat him.

He slides down the trunk of the tree and rests his head back against it.

"You got a name, beastie?" he asks, voice quiet and tired.

Pale white-blue eyes flick to him. "I have," the dragon says. "Although, I quite like 'beastie'." He chuckles softly. "Have you a name?"

"Not one that matters anymore." Ren closes his eyes and rubs the scar on his neck. "A knight with no king isn't worthy of one."

"I had a king once," the dragon says. "Many ages ago." He sounds wistful. "One I barely remember. Yet, my name remains. Tell me yours?"

"... Ren."

"Martyn."

"An honor to meet you, Martyn."

"You as well, Ren. Get some sleep. I'll keep you safe."

I suddenly wanna give dragon Martyn a forked tongue for some reason

Im trying to fill the gap made from lack of fantasy Ren and Martyn interactions. Ramblings under the cut.

I imagine since Martyn purposefully moved his dragon den closer to Ren's camp that he'll end up messing with him and his gear often. Ren will have just finished catching and frying some fish and Martyn is right there ready to steal some so he doesn't have to fish for himself.

Ren will often make nightly rounds around his camp to check for any enemies and sometimes Martyn will find him asleep at his post and will just curl up next to him and keep an eye out for anything while he sleeps.

While Ren makes a big show of how much he finds Martyns presence annoying, he secretly likes having the company. Being a disgraced Knight he isn't used to being alone so he finds comfort in Martyns frequent presence.

[liauditore]

5 & 16 for the new ask game?

life smp ask game !!

5. favourite build?

ough... aesthetically the clocktower from limlife is beautiful especially considering the circumstances. also served as a great set piece for dramatic moments.

the team best snow fort and scottage have a place in my heart tho. and martyn's stupid heart house that everyone hated in double life will live in my nightmares forever and i'll never be rid of it.

16. are there any mechanics/gimmicks you'd get rid of, if given the choice? if yes, why?

uhhhh there aren't any mechanics I'd Get Rid Of because getting rid of them probably means getting rid of a whole season lol and ive enjoyed every season

my least favourite is probably the time mechanic in limlife? I think the ability to earn more time (especially thru boogey kills) made everyone a bit more focused on Playing the Game rather than fishing for dramatic moments (like last life encouraged with its trading mechanic).

I still rlly loved limlife but if you're looking in from a "this is literally a death game where they're literally dying" perspective like I am, it can get a bit hard to watch ppl like joel and tango get killed over and over. Meanwhile in Third Life Dogwarts caught and let go of Scar like five times cus it was fun lol

but yeah the ticking timer is fine I would've just in retrospect tweaked it to be a bit more higher stakes / low reward but thats just my taste 🤷‍♂️

[life-winners-liveblog]

If you're looking for ideas about karaoke, I know a pretty good duet! It goes a little something like, "I've got a... DEAL WITH DESTINY-" ok I'll stop. Genuinely, though, for a duet I would go with Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men or Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy. I also have Song of the Witches by SJ Tucker up my sleeve, but I do not think you two would know it. *mutters: plus it's technically a three-person song* (Check it out though, it's based on my favorite book!)

-Bel

Scott: Oh! Martyn, you are like fish coded right?

Martyn: Kinda, more pirate...why?

Scott: This next song will be perfect then, It's called Deal with Destiny and I wrote it...with Lizzie.

Martyn: Who's Lizzie- you know what? I don't care.

.

.

.

Martyn: Oh, I start this time. 🎵Feast your eyes as I share my glorious wares. They are precious antiques, they're exquisitely rare. A magical inksac, some ancient bamboo, a dish of deliciously devilish stew. Make up your mind what fabulous find will it be?🎵

Scott: Doing good Martyn!

Martyn: 🎶I've got a fishing rod, an enchanted book, an iron ingot and a tripwire hook. A hand-crafted stick and a powerful bow, a dinosaur bone and a tasty potato. Maje up your mind what fabulous find will it be?🎶

Scott: And here it comes.

Martyn: 🎵I've got a deal with destiny, a bargain with fate, this buisness is bound to profit me as long as this fool takes the bait.🎶 Your turn Scott.

Scott: 🎶I mean thats all very nice, It's all very well. But I've go those things at Rivendell. I'm hoping for something a little bit new, those boots over there look like they could do. I've made up my mind, that fabulous find is for me!🎵

Martyn: Do you have to be so extra Scott?

Scott: What of course I do! And you missed your lines! 🎶I actually meant the shinier pair, would they be something you're willing to spare? You know I like diamonds, you know I love gold. And teal just suits me or so I've been told. I've made up my mind, that fabulous find is for me!🎶

Martyn: ...yeah, whatever.

Scott: 🎵I've got a deal with destiny, a bargain with fate, this buisness is bound to profit me as long at that fool takes the bait.🎵 Your turn.

Martyn: Huh? Oh right...🎶That sound fair, but what about me? I'm a generous soul but I don't give for free. Rivendell has such a lot in it's coffers, surely theres something of worth you can offer...🎵

Scott: 🎵Of course, I've got: The oldest wood from the tallest pine, the toughest stone from the deepest mine, the purest snow from the highest peak, the softest wool from the fluffiest sheep! ...make up your mind, what fabulous find will it be~?🎶

Martyn: How did you do that with your voice?

Scott: Training, did you like it? ...well guess we aren't doing the whole Lizzie and me bantering are we?

Martyn: Not doing that, let's just start singing when It's our turn again.

Scott: Fine...here we go. 🎵So do we have a deal?🎵

Martyn: 🎶Deal🎶

Scott/Martyn: 🎶I've got a deal (I've got a deal) with destiny (with destiny) a bargain with fate, this buisness is bound (and It's bound) to profit me (to profit me) now that this fool's made a deal (I've got a deal) with destiny (with destiny) a bargain with fate, this buisness is bound (and It's bound) to profit me. Now that this fool took the bait!🎶

Scott: That's done-

Martyn: It's not.

Scott: What?

Martyn: Theres another part here in the lyrics.

Scott: Wait...Really??

Martyn: Yeah...and It's mine to sing.

Scott: Huh. Go ahead?

Martyn: 🎶I've got to...deal with destiny, I've bargained with fate... this buisness is bound to the prophecy... Am I the fool? Have I just made a mistake?🎵

Scott: ...I...uh.