#and sausage keeps ending up back in mythland?????????

[your-local-crypt1d]

Here's a bunch of Wither Rose Alliance headcanons I've had rattling around in my brain

I love the idea that fWhip is still a vampire on Empires it's just either common knowledge and not brought up or it's never mentioned because no one knows.

More specifically, though, Gem and fWhip are dhampirs, which are the offspring of a vampire parent and a human parent.

Dhampirs are on a spectrum between human and Vampiric, fWhip sits on the very far end of the vampire side (the only thing distinguishing him from other Vampires being his tan skin and blue eyes), meanwhile Gem sits very close to the human side of the spectrum, the only hint that she's not human being pointed ears and little fangs.

fWhip is also allergic to sunlight like most other Vampires, the difference between them and him, though, is his sister is the headmistress at the Crystal Cliffs Academy. Gem enchanted a Redstone pendant (another kind of conduit for magic) with mild fire resistance, so when fWhip walks in the sun he won't automatically burst into flames.

To me, Sausage is their brother but adopted and Pearl is a family friend that's basically their older sister just not by blood either.

Sausage came from a formerly noble family that fWhip and Gems parents were close with, but they quickly adopted Sausage after it was found out his parents were abusive. That's where the formerly part comes in, the twins' parents stripped Sausages' parents of all their titles as part of their punishment.

As mentioned, Pearl was never adopted but fWhips mother was her godmother, as her and Pearls parents were close. Pearls mother was also a head guard stationed in mythland, so by nature of her job she knew there might be a day where she won't return home.

Pearls mother was named Opaline, Moon is their surname. That's who Pearl gets her fighting prowess from.

For some political headcanons, Mythland, the Grimlands, Gilded Helanthia, and the Crystal Cliffs used to be one massive united empire known as the Wither Rose Dynasty. The Grimlands and Mythland were the two original kingdoms in the Dynasty, then the Grimlands set up a colony of sorts in the mountain range nearby as there was a high concentration of magic up in the Cliffs thanks to all the amethyst, making it much easier for people to learn magic, so the Academy was established.

It eventually grew to be a colony and then its own separate governed nation because the students who graduated from the academy would most often stay just below the academy in a lower part of the mountain, using magic to construct their own homes and harnessing the power from the amethyst geodes.

I liked the ideas in this post for Gilded Helanthia and I want to give credit where it's due on that, my only expansion would be that Gilded Helanthia in their first decades of independence were part of the Wither Rose Dynasty for protection against the Overgrown, and so technically the Emperor could step in on political issues if he so chose, but he was pretty hands-off and allowed them to govern as they wanted.

That Emperor was fWhip and Gems father, AltairMay. It's a tradition in high Grimland society to name your firstborn after a constellation, and while fWhip and Gem are twins, she's technically older by a few minutes. The name "FailWhip" is more or less a poor translation between Mythic and Common (aka English), in Mythic it's meant to mean someone who keeps getting back up after being knocked down, taking blows and always prevailing.

fWhip and Gems mother, MelodiaRose, passed away in childbirth. AltairMay was a vampire and he'd been Emperor of the Dynasty for hundreds of years, and watched his loved ones pass away, but the death of his wife left an irreparable hole in his heart. It's believed by historians that her death was the first domino that would lead to the fall (split) of the Wither Rose Dynasty.

20 years later, said event occurred. AltairMay was too exhausted to run four separate kingdoms and decided to split the empires up between his children, Pearl to be coronated as Queen (chosen by her people in a vote) a month after the split, Sausage to become king of Mythland, the headmaster of the Crystal Cliffs academy to also take over as head of state (again a voted thing), and for him to simply just be the "Count" of the Grimlands from then on. He Intended for Gem and fWhip to start taking on some of his responsibilities to lessen the work load, then for Gem to take over as countess when he died, but that's not how things worked out of course.

Gem ran away to study at the Crystal Cliffs academy, leaving fWhip behind to take over as count. I haven't really decided why Gem ran away yet so if any of y'all have any ideas please share.

I do like the idea of Gem meeting Scott through Xornoth during her time at the academy, the elven princes becoming her closest friends at the time when she basically had no one else.

One final headcanon to finish this post off, Bubbles is an eldritch horror who plays dog and you cannot change my mind

[lunarsands]

ESMP Fanfic: A Garden’s Path - Ch 4

In this chapter:

Characters: MythicalSausage, TangoTek, JimmySolidarity, ScottSmajor, Sir Carlos, Shrub, KatherineElizabeth, and introducing: The Children of Mythland

Relationships: MythicalSausage/Scott Smajor, TangoTek & SolidarityGaming, Shrub/Katherine Elizabeth

Tags: PTSD, adoption, fluff, wholesome

Chapter Summary: Sausage’s untimely dealings with a stray Warden interfere in spending time with Liana. She takes it in stride – there’s always time for more tea parties, right? However, something else haunts him… But Liana doesn’t believe in ghosts, after all! Who else would be better to help him move on from those whispers of the past?

(Also available on Ao3!)

[ Prologue ] [ Chapter One ] [ Chapter Two ] [ Chapter Three ]

---

Chapter Four – The Parties and The First Dreams

Sausage shivered as he brought up the rear behind Jimmy, the stray Warden ahead of them and Tango at the front luring it along the tunnel with the sound of pops and sizzles from his fiery hair. With the need to keep the Warden moving as top priority Sausage hadn’t reattached his prosthetic yet, keeping it tucked through his belt on his right side for the moment. The lack of lava pockets in the area paired with the surrounding stone made the cold seep into his bones; within a few more minutes the chill began to draw out an ache in his stump. He reached over to rub at it but a sniffing noise from the Warden made him go stock still.

Jimmy noticed this from the corner of his eye – and he halted, too. He gave Sausage a single nod in acknowledgement. Only when the Warden uttered a dismissive grunt did the two allow themselves to breathe and continue forward. However, Sausage didn’t truly relax until the Deep Dark appeared ahead of them. He kept an ear out but there wasn’t even so much as a single squelch of Tango’s feet on the sculk due to the careful way the Blaze hybrid carefully tread on it. As soon as the Warden fully crossed over the deepslate bordering the sculk it dug downwards to return from whence it came.

A tense minute passed as Tango and Jimmy searched around the immediate area, but after signaling to each other that there were no shriekers in the vicinity, they ran at each other and whiffed a high-five – on purpose, which had become their custom congratulatory ritual to avoid injuring each other by mix of fire and water.

Sausage let out a sign of relief before turning to head out. He nearly jumped out of his skin a second later when a boom of thunder crashed through the tunnels. “Ohmygod! That shouldn’t travel like that all the way down here!!” He clutched at his chest in genuine distress.

Jimmy assumed the man was being overdramatic as usual. “Gee, Sausage, just be glad that doesn’t rile up Wardens, or Mythland would be overrun with ‘em!” He clapped Sausage on the back in a patronizing manner. “You’ve looked nervous this whole time, by the way. Has settling down made you lose your touch or something?”

A jumble of responses bounced around Sausage’s mind, then he made a point to grasp the end of his right arm and blurt out, “Yeah. This touch, Jimmy!” He twisted his face into an infuriated glare.

He was, however, only pinching his lips together to hold back a guffaw at his own joke, but the expression served to make the Codfather think he had severely offended the Mythlandian.

Jimmy hastily stepped back, reacting as expected. “Sorry, man. I – uh – kinda forgot about that for a second. You – You haven’t let it slow you down, y’know? F-From what I’ve seen you’re still good ol’ King Sausage, mighty ruler of Mythland!”

Tango popped up beside him to rescue Jimmy from his unintentional fumble, as well as to get them walking. “Speaking of, have the caves and sculk pockets and possible Ancient City under your kingdom been fully mapped out?”

“Uhh…” Sausage coughed to hold back his initial response of, ‘I already explored the whole thing in another world so why would I do it again?’ and instead said, “Well, there are some old maps that a previous ruler of Mythland drew, but obviously sculk spreads over time so they might be a little outdated and not one hundred percent accurate anymore – which, you know, actually might be why a Warden emerged here when no sightings had been reported before. Obviously I’ve been focused on my family lately, so updating musty old maps hasn’t been at the top of my list, and I’m not about to take the kids on an adventure this early in their lives, oh no!”

Tango cackled. “Relax, your highly-est-ness. What I’m saying is that we could do the mapping for you! Navigating the Deep Dark is like second nature to me, and my codly friend here has – obviously – been learning from the best!”

Following Tango’s lead Jimmy chimed in, “And – And you can look at it this way: we can make it safer for your kids by finding all the dangerous spots and blocking them off! Then you guys can have a family adventure without worry!”

Sausage spun around so he could regard both of them. He noted their eager smiles. “Are you guys just looking for an excuse to explore Deep Darks that you haven’t been in yet?”

“Yes,” Jimmy and Tango chorused in sweet tones.

Sausage turned to resume walking, surreptitiously slipping his prosthetic free and holding it by the forearm section with his left hand. He then tilted his head up and clasped his chin – with his prosthetic hand, controlling it remotely. “Hmm. Hmmm,” he uttered with drawn-out, thoughtful inflection. “Hmm…”

He heard eager and anxious squeaks from behind him. He grinned; at least their antics had helped to calm his nerves. “Hmm. Well…”

“Well?” Tango echoed.

“Yeah?” Jimmy asked.

Smoothly switching to walking backward, Sausage pivoted to face them again so he could show the comical position of his arms. Then he pointed his prosthetic at them – while pointing one prosthetic finger at them, as well. A brief giggle escaped him as he was amused by his own absurdity. He needed to remember to try this one on the kids. “You do seem qualified for the job, so I’ll let you do it! But I want you to start at the borders and work your way inward. Small villages and settlements need to be protected, too! I have enough guards and soldiers in the capital to protect the castle and close-by towns.”

By this time Tango was cracking up at the sight of the prosthetic hand waggling around, but pulled himself together a second later to respond, “Sure, sure, solid plan. We’ll get on it just as soon… as…” His voice trailed off as they reached an elevation high enough to hear the rain that had ended up accompanying the thunder from earlier. Tango emitted an irritated noise.

Sausage lowered his arms and looked at Tango questioningly. “What is it? Do you have other plans? You don’t have to do it right away. Mythland is huge! This is probably something that could take years, considering how out of date some of those maps are! And you’ve both got your own responsibilities I’m sure, and—”

Jimmy interrupted. “It’s not that, Sausage. Listen.”

Sausage stopped rambling and did as told, angling his head as if his left ear might be better at picking up on what had made Tango abruptly turn surly.

“Rain,” Jimmy said. “Tango hates the rain. It’s not exactly something he experienced in the Burning Dark.”

As if to emphasize the point, Tango let out an irritated growl before muttering, “Stupid water that stupidly falls from the entire stupid sky, rrr-gak!”

Sausage was puzzled, then he noticed the increasing amount of smoke coming off of the staves that encircled Tango’s head. An unintentional laugh burst out of him. “Oh, I see! Because of the whole Blaze thing! Wait, but wouldn’t it just evaporate when it lands on you?”

“Yeah,” Tango squawked, “If it’s a light drizzle! But it rarely drizzles! It’s always like that dumb sky of yours sees me and goes ‘Well, time to dump buckets full of rain on this guy in particular! Hoo-hoo, let’s show the Blaze man what the surface world is all about!”

Jimmy uttered an awkward sound. “Um, sorry, Tango. I kinda like the rain…”

Tango flailed his hands at the Codfather. “That’s because your fish brain thinks the droplets hitting the water are bugs! Fish food instincts! You fishy-fish… fishman!”

Jimmy now laughed softly at his friend’s incoherent rage. “Gee, Tango, maybe you should step out into the rain for a little bit to cool off!”

Tango’s rage subsided into annoyed muttering for the rest of the walk up to the tunnel that exited out into the larger cave where they had started. Sure enough, the view of the world outside featured a sky full of clouds and pouring rain. Tango risked a closer look, then meeped in distress and jumped backward as wind blew some raindrops onto him.

There was a flash of lightning that was immediately followed by thunder. The main storm was directly over them. Sausage took a peek outside for himself. “Hm. Those are some heavy, dark clouds. Looks like it will be storming for a while.”

Tango made yet another annoyed sound then meandered further away to the back of the cave to sit up on a ledge. Jimmy stayed near the cave entrance and even made himself comfortable in a puddle that had begun to form in a lower-lying spot. “Might as well get comfy, then. If you both want, I can go to the village to get food before it gets too dark and we can camp here until it’s over. We probably should have planned for that, but you were in a big hurry, Sausage. You can’t really rush a Warden wrangling session, my friend.”

“What do you mean, get food?” Sausage asked.

“Well, we were too busy to be hungry,” Jimmy replied, “But if the storm keeps up for that long, then we’ll want dinner at some point, right?”

“What?? But we should have plenty—oh, no.”  Sausage’s expression became mortified, then he began to look panicked, patting around his body like he was searching for something.

“What is it, Sausage? Wha—”

“I said I’d be home for lunch, Jimmy!! It’s going to be past dinnertime if I wait for the storm to stop! My little princess is missing her first full day with her new papa!!”

“Sausage, you—”

The Mythlandian whimpered indecisively. He took his prosthetic from his belt and looked from it to the cuff-covered end of his stump, wondering if it was worth the time it would take to get it reattached, or just leave immediately. Jimmy was about to volunteer Tango to help with it, since Tango had redstone knowledge, and it might distract the Blaze hybrid from his misery, but Sausage then shoved the prosthetic down the front of his shirt and rushed out into the rain without another word.

Jimmy blinked but made no attempt to go after him. Tango made a point to scrape his boots on the stone as he drew his legs up. “So, umm, hey. What’s this ‘princess’ thing, now?”

~*~

As soon as the rain had started Scott ushered the children in from the garden where they had been playing after their shopping trip and subsequent delayed lunch when Sausage hadn’t returned on time. There had been a brief protest from Liana, who was accustomed to mainly snow as precipitation and wanted to experience Mythland’s version. He had warned her that lower elevation storms could come with other dangers.

A lightning bolt that struck the weathervane on the tallest tower accompanied by a bone-rattling crash of thunder sufficed to send her wailing after her brothers, who had retreated to the dining room to decide on an indoor activity to pass the time. After checking on her Scott settled into his seat when the boys chose to do some individual reading; he offered to read a book with Liana but she fidgeted, then said she wanted to be brave and watch the storm.

She picked a window just outside the dining room – good for staying in Dad’s line of sight, at least – and cautiously looked outside. At first she peeked up over the windowsill, then she stood up to observe, and finally she dragged a chair over to sit. She was soon swinging her legs and leaning her upper body from side to side to match the motion while occasionally saying, “Ooh!” after a particularly bright flash of lightning.

Scott was glad she had so easily found a way to keep occupied and remain in one spot, since he soon found himself tending to reports that came in regarding a few rivers that had a history of overflowing in torrential rains. For the moment all was in hand, so he sent responses recommending to place a watch on standby and let him know when noted locations looked like they would become a risk. In the event of a breach, he could fly to the location and build up ice dams to prevent anything worse happening.

He explained this to the boys before he sent off the last responses, offering to train Elowen in flood mitigation procedures when the budding ice mage felt he was ready. He also gently requested for them to watch over Liana if he did have to leave, because Sir Carlos and Bubbles might also have to go out to assist citizens. He reassured them that the storm was unlikely to reach drastic proportions, but he wanted them to be prepared for his absence just in case. Obviously there would be plenty of guards and castle staff to help them with anything in these instances.

As expected, Azahar took on an air of assuming responsibility for his younger siblings. Elowen declined the lesson for the moment, and the two went over to join Liana. They patiently listened to her excitedly list how many lightning bolts she had counted in the sky compared to how many looked like they had struck the ground somewhere.

Scott had hoped a message from Sausage would arrive along with the reports, yet as time ticked by neither word of him or a message from him came in. Scott knew Liana would be disappointed, but it seemed like Sausage’d had the sense to take shelter to wait out the storm until it was safer to fly.

He was set on this belief up until Liana called out, “Daddy! There’s a giant bird flying this way!”

Scott looked away from the latest missive that had just been delivered, puzzled by how she could have seen such a thing from that window’s particular angle – then he saw that she was out of the chair and crouched down, her cheek against the windowsill and her head fully sideways to view what was apparently just enough of a sliver of the sky. He signed off on the scroll and let the attendant take it from the table themself while he went over to attempt a look.

Liana moved aside and pointed. Scott ducked down, trying to catch a glimpse of what she had seen, but he was too tall to find that same angle. He gave up and went to the doors of the garden. Maybe it was only a bird. On the other hand, birds usually find a place to roost during storms. He knew his husband wasn’t always as wise.

What Scott saw was definitely not a bird, but at least was someone in a reassuringly slow, planned downward glide. The danger of lightning still concerned him, though, so he lowered the temperature about half a meter from the ground to transform the rain into padded snow. He added an extra layer of snow for good measure – the softer the landing, the better.

He heard Liana’s delighted cry from the doorway; of course, the children would be drawn by his actions. “You said you did magic, but I didn’t know you could change a whole storm!”

“Not the whole thing,” Scott explained distractedly. “Just a small area right now.”

Liana merely giggled and began scooping up the snow that had fallen closest to the doors. “It feels like real snow!”

“It is real – Liana, I’m sorry, but now is not the time to play. I’ll make snow for you when it’s safer, okay? Please go inside.”

“Okay, Daddy. Make sure you catch Papa!”

“What—” He had been so intent on ensuring the snow would be deep enough that he hadn’t been paying attention to an exact trajectory of where Sausage might land.

His husband’s voice faded in to an audible range. “Innncominggg!!”

Scott looked skyward just in time to see Sausage lop-sidedly gliding directly at him. By reflex he did as Liana suggested and spread his arms; he caught Sausage, all right, and both of them tumbled through the snow for his trouble. Sausage grinned awkwardly down at Scott when they came to a halt, the elf ending up the one with his backside in the snow. “Nice catch, my dearest.”

Scott playfully shoved him off. “I love you, but it was dumb of you to fly in this.” He then noted how careful Sausage was about getting back to his feet, which is what made him realize there was a lack of prosthetic arm. He frowned. “What happened to your arm now?”

“Oh, heh, it’s fine! Mostly. Um. I didn’t have time to put it back on because I was in a hurry to get home. Do you know how easy it is to lose track of time when you’re purposely trying to find the Deep Dark? I figured it was better to just carry it home so you could help instead of leaving it up to slippery-fingered Jimmy, or lose even more time with Tango asking about every single little redstone detail that even I can’t explain—”

“I’m pretty sure you could have trusted either one of them, Sausage – even if it did take longer! They’re not the worst people to wait out a storm with, and maybe you should know more about all those little details. Anyway, where is your arm? You’re not carrying anything in your hand!” Scott began to look around the little furrow they had left in the snow. “Did you drop it? I’ll melt this so we can find it easier, hold on.”

“Oh, oops, uhh…” Sausage patted at himself.

Before he could play at theatrics again, however, Liana yelled from the doorway, “Papa, did you lose your metal arm? Don’t worry, I bet Daddy can make you one out of snow! Like he made all this snow!”

Sausage let out a forced hearty laugh, aware of how Scott’s shoulders went stiff. “He could maybe, but it would melt any time I ate soup! Fear not, though! I have it right here!” He reached under the collar of his shirt and pulled out his prosthetic – only to utter a long, “Uhhh…” upon seeing that the thinner struts around the inner basket had been warped by the collision and subsequent roll with Scott. “Ah. Heh. Hm. I, um, didn’t think that part of it was so… crushable.”

Scott eyed the damage and grumbled, “That’s because it’s meant to be held in shape by the rest of your arm.”

Elowen’s face appeared at the doorway next, seeming concerned by this news, but Sausage calmly said, “Oh, well. At least it didn’t get smashed by a Warden or anything like that. I’ll put on a spare and see if I can bend it back into shape by myself. If not, um, I’ll just send a little message to fWhip when the rain is over.”

“He’ll be happy to hear from you,” Scott said wryly. He then pushed Sausage toward the doorway. “Now let’s get you inside and dry you off. You’re soaked and you are very late for lunch. If you’re lucky, we can fit in an afternoon tea before dinner.”

Liana and Elowen giggled at the sight of their papa being scolded. Everyone headed upstairs since Scott was now also soaked from the rain – and Liana had managed to sneak snow into her skirt pockets which, of course, promptly began to melt.

~*~

Scott lightly scrubbed Sausage’s hair with a towel then moved to dry his bare shoulders as Sausage sat on a sturdy footstool, dressed in a fresh pair of trousers and house slippers. He was inspecting the four spare prosthetics laid out on a cloth-covered table at the side of the room, away from the window where rain water might get on them. fWhip currently had two other previous models that he was tinkering with, intending to improve them so there would be proper spares, but for now the choices were limited to the non-so-perfect versions.

The very first model was there for sentimental value, at this point mostly good for use as a paper weight and probably should have been stored in the treasury. There was one with sketchy redstone connections, and one with very sketchy redstone connections. Then there was the fully plated one with minimal moving parts for diplomatic emergencies if his regular prosthetic failed right before he needed to deal with foreign dignitaries – or very particular Mythland nobles.

At the moment Sausage was trying to remember which of the middle two had the most-sketchy redstone. They looked very similar and he hadn’t thought to mark them – or flat-out return them to fWhip to repair or scrap. The answer was obvious to him: try them on and find out.

He picked up one and tried to make himself memorize the slight dent on top of the forearm casing. As Scott went to pick out a shirt for him, Sausage slipped the upper part over his stump. He felt a zap as it made contact with his skin. “Ow. Heheh, that kind of tickled.” He tested the finger movement and found it stiff. “Hmm. Not as flexible as I remember.” He slipped it off and placed it on the opposite side of the fully plated one to distinguish the two.

Then he picked up the other dubious one and eased the slightly patina-coated copper basket into place. “Ow! Well, that was more than a tickle.” He eased it away in case he had merely pressed it on too tightly, then tried it again. “Ow. Nope, definitely not this one.”

Scott shook his head in amused exasperation as he returned with a gold-embroidered, violet shirt that had no sleeve on the right side, ideal for accommodating older versions of the prosthetic. “Dear, I’ve encouraged you not to do things like that.”

Sausage laughed. “Okay okay okay! I was only kidding around!” He cleared his throat as he lowered the definitely-malfunctioning prosthetic onto the table, now putting it on the far side of the prototype. “But, honestly, the choices aren’t great. I’m going to have to insist fWhip finish those other backups.”

“You could also be more careful with the one you have. You should have just taken the few minutes to ask for help to put it back on. …Come to think of it, why did you remove it in the first place?”

“Well, you know I can control it remotely, and so why risk ourselves when risking my arm is only a minor inconvenience compared to, say, one of us being smashed to pieces by a Warden?”

“WHY were you using your arm as Warden bait in the first place?!”

“It – It – listen, listen listen. It seemed like a good idea at the time! We improvised a noise machine, and—”

“Nope. Stop right there,” Scott commanded. He had caught sight of motion by the door. Azahar was signaling him. Scott nodded. The boy grinned and disappeared from view. Scott draped the shirt over Sausage’s shoulders before sweeping around to the other side of the table. “I’m going to have strong words with those two next time I see them, but for now—” He picked up the fully plated prosthetic. “Just go with this one. The elbow bends, you can hold it out well enough, and you don’t need it to eat. You can still have a nice meal with our new daughter without a fully functional arm.”

“Fine, fine.” Sausage sighed in mock-resignation, slouching down. “It’s not like I wanted to run around to play in the garden and carry her on my shoulders or anythi—”

Scott gestured emphatically toward the window. “Sausage! It’s still pouring rain!”

“I know, I just—”

“Shush already and finish getting dressed. You can always read stories by the fireplace,” Scott suggested.

Sausage perked up. “Oh, yes, of course! I have endless stories of my own to tell! Like how I single-handedly defeated a Warden today!”

Scott conjured a snowball to fling at him. “You get one – one – joke to tell the kids a weeks – tops! Don’t encourage them like you do my brother.”

“Deal. But they get to make all the jokes they want to, because I want them to have fun with it! You’re so mean, though.” Sausage pouted at him before pulling on the shirt. “If I had to go and cause myself to lose an arm I want to be silly about it with my children. That was an unspoken part of the deal.”

Scott switched to giving him a patient smile. “Very well. Don’t worry, there is plenty of time now for all the silliness you can fit into a day.” He let Sausage arrange the shirt to his liking, then helped him don the less-familiar prosthetic. Scott finished by hooking Sausage’s dress cape across his shoulders, then retrieved his own cape from his wardrobe. “There. No reason to not be a bit fancy. We did find some nice new clothes for everyone, after all.”

Sausage grinned brightly. Scott then had to make it not seem too obvious that he was trying to stop his husband from running the whole way down the hall – but at least he took the stairs slower, with Scott tugging on his left arm once reaching the bottom step. Scott smile and hooked his arm around Sausage’s, ensuring a calm walk to the dining room.

Sausage gave him a befuddled look after the tug but followed it with a small shrug and accepted the hint to carry himself with kingly dignity rather than new-father enthusiasm. As they rounded the corner, however, he was befuddled again by the sight of Azahar standing at the doorway with his hands behind his back, wearing a herald’s tabard and cap. The latter sat oddly on his head as if covering something else. Within the dining room, the table was set for dinner with the addition of tea cups at each place. The chairs had been rearranged so that there was one at the head of the table facing the doorway and two to either side, instead of one at each end.

Azahar called out loudly in a fake deep voice, “Now welcoming the wonderous and kind Dad and Papa of Mythland!” From behind his back, he produced his violin. He played a few notes in imitation of a trumpet’s fanfare. “Please, my lords, be seated,” he directed in a less-booming voice.

Scott nodded to him. “Thank you for the introduction, good sir.” Sausage continued to feel confused, but a goofy smile rippled across his face as he and Scott headed inside. He reflexively went to the head of the table, but when he pulled out his chair he realized he wasn’t meant to sit there this time. He nearly giggled as he sat next to Scott instead.

Azahar then announced, “The Princes of Mythland shall join us shortly.” He played another short fanfare. “I shall now introduce our hostess, the beauteous and imaginative and loquacious and optimistic and—”

A voice hissed from somewhere to the side. Azahar politely cleared his throat. “And many other such things that she may be known for. I present to you: Princess Liana!” He played a longer fanfare as Liana appeared, accompanied by Elowen who was dressed in an oversized blue robe and matching cap that also seemed to be covering something else on his head. He was one step behind her with his hands held out over her head. She wore a long purple dress with ruffled tiers down the skirt. A lighter shade of lace was strung along each tier and on the short, round puffed sleeves. Atop her head was a slightly-uneven tiara made of ice, which Elowen was obviously trying to hold into shape.

When Liana reached the chair at the head of the table she curtsied to Elowen. “Thank you, High Wizard of All Ices. You may go now.” Rather than immediately leave, Elowen helped her climb onto the cushion that had been occupying the chair.

He then carefully bowed, keeping a hand on his cap to stop it from falling off, then he shuffled backward until he had made it out the door. Azahar followed until they were both out of sight; a few seconds later he used his herald voice again. “Our tardy guests have arrived! Welcome, Azahar the Musical and Elowen the Chilly!”

The boys ambled into view, tugging their clothes into place: the very outfits they had worn to their debut gala, which they clearly had been wearing under the tabard and robe, along with having been wearing their crowns under the caps. They entered the dining room and bowed low. In his normal voice, Azahar said, “So sorry for the delay, Lady Princess.”

“Our carriage was set on fire by a fire-breathing elk!” Elowen provided.

Liana tutted at them, waving a dismissive hand. “All’s well an’ good, Princes. These things happen. Please be seated.” The boys did so, with Elowen sitting closest to her so he could subtly reach toward Liana’s head to stop the tiara from melting.

Sausage had a beaming smile by this point, having put his elbows on the table and carefully interlaced his fingers to rest his chin on the back of his left hand. “You look very lovely, princess Liana. That dress is perfect for you.”

Liana’s pretend airs almost fell apart when she noticed the difference in his prosthetic. “Papa, your—” She hastily stopped herself with a little cough. “’Scuse me, Papa of Mythland, I can’ts help but see how fancy your metal arm is today. It’s interesting that you gots diff’rent ones.”

She was keeping her tone calm but her eyes sparkled with an obvious question of being allowed to see the possible others later.

Sausage replied suavely, “I wear this one for the most special of events, such as dining with very important people, like yourself.” Liana’s face lit up with a grin. Sausage’s smile quickly matched it. “I can tell you more about it this evening – perhaps after we eat? I wouldn’t want to take time away from what you have to tell us about your day, dear Princess,” he said, indicating his own interest in what he had missed.

The day’s exploits were described and the family continued with the somewhat-theatrical game up until the kitchen staff started bringing out food. Liana suddenly became quite focused on taking extreme care with how she ate, not letting a single crumb fall onto her new dress.

Her efforts continued through to dessert, although it was obvious how her façade slipped as her eyes widened and an excited smile overtook her face when presented with a piece of cake. Somehow she reigned herself in. “Why, I do says, the castle baker has outdone herself today. A very y— lovely cake is before us. Ev’ryone should enjoy it!”

A chuckle escaped Azahar. Liana’s gaze darted to him; a tiny frown twitched at her lips, either a warning or precursor to a pout if he went out of character. He salvaged the moment by saying, “Pardon my amusement, Princess Liana. I had allowed myself a thought toward the fashion of these days, and an amusing memory crossed my mind. Do you know of the shop off the main thoroughfare? Perhaps a maid has brought word? Well, they had on display a gown of the most garish shade of green that you can imagine!”

Scott was impressed at the cleverness as the conversation that followed segued back into a recounting of the shopping trip and the items they had each picked up. Elowen was more direct in his list, technically dropping his pretend act but Liana didn’t call him on it because she was just as excited to tell Sausage what she had seen and found that day.

The pretend game came to a natural end, with Liana now excited to show Sausage all her new clothes – and show him exactly what Azahar and Elowen had gotten. While Scott and the boys opted to take their time relaxing after dessert, Liana led the way up the stairs, exuberant yet careful not to trip or catch her dress on anything. Her attention slipped at the top step, however; thinking that she had reached the floor, she turned to ramble about her fitting at the tailor’s shop, only to trip.

Just as she began to fall backward, Sausage caught her by the waist and lifted her up with a grin, then set her onto her feet. “Careful, little princess. Even a pretty dress is replaceable. You are priceless.”

Liana grinned back at him. “Thanks, Papa!”

The incident didn’t stop her from running to her room, leaving him behind. By the time he caught up she was in the process of changing into a casual dress that was a shade of green close to Sausage’s usual royal robe. “I still wanna keep it nice, though,” she explained in a serious tone. Sausage nodded and hung it up in the wardrobe for her alongside other new dresses. He smiled about how they had replaced her tattered old ones.

By that point Azahar and Elowen had come upstairs to also show their new clothes. Sausage sat on the floor of the shared room with Liana hovering behind him, while Scott stood in the doorway, glad that Sausage was still participating in some way. Elowen held up a new shirt and showed how his new leggings reached below his ankles where his old ones had started coming up short. Azahar spoke of how his new shirts were more comfortable, less tight against his broadening shoulders.

Sausage offered compliments on color combinations and applauded the choice of embroidery designs on items they had picked out themselves. He then helped to swap out the ill-fitting clothes for the new.

This is where Liana pointed out how Azahar could give clothes that no longer fit him to Elowen to play in, and she could take some of Elowen’s clothes because she didn’t mind wearing things that weren’t dresses, clothes were clothes after all, and what if she did want to climb trees or run around in the mud sometime – you can’t do that in a pretty princess dress, or her new dresses, but maybe in her really old clothes, and—and—

Scott smiled throughout her motivational speech, amused yet again at how she was the perfect match for Sausage’s verbal energy, which brought about a mental image of Sausage as a young child. It came in contrast to the disquiet air hovering around Sausage at the moment despite his own delighted smile at Liana’s rambling. Scott couldn’t put a finger on what it was. If things had gone poorly with the Warden he was certain Sausage would have said something. The way his husband was caught up in the children’s enthusiasm made it seem it wasn’t the morning’s incident nor missing the day out with them that was the cause.

He would have to keep an eye on that.

~*~

The rest of the week was spent on little tours to help Liana familiarize herself with the castle grounds and the city, where she continued to charm pretty much everyone she met. She invited castle staff to tea parties, although most of the time the invitations had to be politely declined due to the already scheduled work, but Liana would find other toys visiting her to join instead. Even Bubbles would find a seat at the low table allocated for playtime.

By the following week, however, Sausage had begun to excuse himself from participating, too – briefly explaining to Liana that he had some very important kingly matters that needed his attention right away, like the one on her first full day in Mythland. His tone was regretful; he truly wanted to spend time playing with her, but the thing he couldn’t say was that in the back of his mind he had something else gnawing at him, and work was a needed distraction.

Regarding the schooling he would be missing out on in Liana’s case, Sausage had Sir Carlos direct her lessons more toward reading and language skills as agreed on with Scott, leaving more in-depth topics like math, magic, and Mythland’s history for later months. This did make Liana’s school sessions shorter than her brothers’, giving her enough free time to cheerfully play her favorite pretend games with plushies while waiting for her dads and brothers to join her.

On the fifth consecutive day of Sausage being unable to attend, however, Liana was quiet as she slowly circled the extra table in the library – now designated for tea time, since it was the easiest place Scott could keep an eye on her while also supervising the boys. She set six places instead of the usual five, going so far as to lower the cups onto their plates extremely carefully so they wouldn’t clink too loudly. Not that she lacked care the previous times, but usually she would hum to herself or talk out loud about which flavor tea she would serve and which flowers she would arrange together for a centerpiece, as well as patting at the cushions lying on the floor to make sure they were soft enough for everyone to sit on.

This time when she was done she sat in one of the big armchairs by the fireplace to wait. She swung her feet and seemed to be trying to refrain from humming, although a note slipped out every now and then. She would hastily silence herself. Scott glanced over during these moments and noticed how her head moved as her gaze would go from the hearth to the empty fireplace.

Scott had been walking behind the boys to check their progress on a history test Sir Carlos had written for them. They were both sailing through the questions with little hesitation, so he leaned between them to whisper that they could call him back over if they needed anything. Then he went over to Liana and knelt beside the chair. “Do we have a new guest today, Liana? I saw you didn’t bring your bunny to read to him while you wait for us. I heard Sir Carlos say he would be back in time to join us. Did he say he would bring a friend?”

Liana squirmed slightly and continued to look at the hearth rather than at him. “No. I just wanted to have a place for Papa so’s he could have some tea, too. Maybe he cans finish work in time today…”

Scott patted her arm. “He has been trying. I am sorry about this. We had expected to have a lot of free time for both of us to spend with you, Elowen, and Azahar aside from breakfast, dinner, and story time before bed. Sometimes unexpected things happen, and kings have to make sure every family in the kingdom is protected.”

“Mm-hmm,” Liana quietly agreed. “I know. But… kings should gets af’ernoon snacks, too. An’… an’ he didn’t come to lunch, neither. Are kings s’posed to not eat lunch when they gots a lotta work??”

Scott chuckled. “I assure you he eats while working.”

“But we’re s’posed to only eat at the table!” Indignation rose in her tone, which actually made Scott feel better – it meant she was returning to her feisty self. “We eat lunch at the big table, an’ have tea on this table, an’ there’s a table in the garden for snacks when it’s not rainin’! I wanna have a tea party in the garden one day, but ev’rybody has gots to be there!”

“Well, I’ll check with Papa before dinner and find out for you how much work he has left. We’re still waiting for that special order tea set for you, after all. We could make a garden tea party the special event when we get to see how it turned out.”

“Okay.” Liana went back into a sulking mode. “But only if Papa cans be there.”

“I’ll make sure of it.” Scott stood up and smiled down at her. “I’ll go see if your brothers are done and then while we wait for Sir Carlos I’ll tell you a story about my first lessons learning ice magic.”

As he started to turn, Liana’s hand caught his sleeve. “Daddy, cans I learn magic, too?”

He smiled gently back at her. “You can definitely give it a try. Just remember, not every elf can use magic. That’s why Azahar and Elowen have different studies at times.”

“I know,” she replied with the level of seriousness small children have. “I prob’ly don’t wanna do ice magic, anyway.” She let go of his sleeve and promptly went back to staring at the fireplace.

She had managed to convey a finality that stopped Scott from asking which other type of magic she would like to try. He found himself turning away, taking two steps toward the other table, then glancing at Liana again.

Now there was another feeling in the air he couldn’t put a finger on.

.

When Sir Carlos returned he was accompanied by a member of the kitchen staff who carried a covered platter for him. “Dear Lady Liana,” he clucked, bowing to her as she hopped down from the armchair. She curtsied in return. “Upon my way to the castle I was entranced by the scent of fresh pastries. I procured a number of them so that we might enjoy them with our tea.”

The staff member walked forward after a nod from Scott to set the platter down in the middle of the tea cups. Liana’s eyes widened. She ran over to crouch down until her gaze was level with the edge of the table, staring with anticipation at the platter. Lifting the cover revealed a dozen mini tartlets filled with a red jam. Liana tilted her head. “What flavor is that?”

“Raspberry,” Sir Carlos replied, his tone bright. “A fresh shipment came in from our southern allies.”

Liana did not seem enlightened. “What does ras’berry taste like?”

Scott chimed in since he could guess the best comparison she might be familiar with. “Raspberries are similar to cloudberries. Depending on how they’re prepared, they can be a little tart or made sweeter.”

Liana scrunched up her face. “That’s kinda confusin’. Cans I taste one to find out, or do I hafta wait until tea?”

“You may taste one,” Scott said. He was curious how she would react.

Liana’s hand hovered over the platter as she attempted to choose the best one for sampling. She started to reach for the one that looked the smallest, then seemed to consider picking up the biggest. However, she ended up stepping away to run over to the boys instead to ask, “Have you tasted these before?”

Azahar offered a thoughtful expression. “I’m pretty sure we have.”

Elowen nodded. “Yeah, I remember Uncle Xornoth gave us some at our gala.”

“What gala?” Liana asked, momentarily distracted from the matter of tarts.

Elowen answered, “The one where we first met Uncle Xornoth and when we got our crowns, remember?”

“Oh, yeah, I ‘member now.” Liana just sort of blinked as if now overwhelmed by imagining a gala’s worth of tarts. “Maybe Uncle Xornoth cans come to my garden tea party so’s I can meet him soon.” This new thought distracted her further.

“Maybe,” Azahar replied. “He’s a busy king like Papa and lives, well, far away as you know. But anyway, you can have one all to yourself right now to make up for us already having some.”

“Okay.” Liana went back over to the tea table, although it was another few seconds before she selected one. She carefully picked it up as if afraid it might crumble, then put it down on one of the plates. She glanced toward the door, then toward Scott, then at the door again. She inhaled loudly, then announced, “I’m gonna go ask Papa for permission, too!”

She grabbed the plate and raced out of the library before Scott could stop her. Sir Carlos clucked in alarm, “Sire, she—”

Scott shook his head. ”I think it would be worse to stop her. She might slow down if no one is following her.”

Sir Carlos clucked more quietly. “As I recall… Yes, that is a sound strategy for overly-energetic children.”

.

Despite her haste, Liana was holding the plate with care to avoid damaging the precious treat. An idea had possessed her that had little to do with getting permission. She made her way through the halls, remembering on her own the way to Sausage’s office.

There were guards stationed to either side of the closed door. One remained on watch as the other looked down at her curiously. “Good afternoon, Princess. All is well with your father, but he is busy right now.”

“I know!” Liana proclaimed, “But I wanted to bring him a – a ras’berry tart. Even kings should gets a snack when they’re busy, an’ he’s too busy for tea right now, too.”

The guard smiled patiently, and even the other paused his eagle-eyed gazing along the hall to give a nod. “Very well, Princess. Please enter.”

They opened the door for her. Liana gave a careful curtsy, a firm grip on the plate. “Thank you!” After she entered, the guards closed the door again.

Liana made her way past displays of armor and ignored the assorted curios on the bookshelves, marching straight up to Sausage’s desk, where she found him not scrawling on a thousand scrolls but lightly snoring as he slept, his head resting on his left arm with the metal fingers of his other hand sitting in a small pool of ink that had spilled from a knocked-over bottle.

Liana huffed. She set the plate down on a nearby chair then turned with her hands on her hips and declared with exasperation, “Papa! If you needed a nap instead of wantin’ tea, you coulda just said so!”

Sausage’s latest snore turned into a startled snort. “Hm? Huh? Wha—? Oh. Oops.” He blinked down at the spilled ink, then realized who was there. “Li-Liana. Sorry, am I missing tea time again?” He rummaged around the desk until her found a handkerchief to wipe his hand. “And well, I should be working instead of napping, but I didn’t sleep well last night, so my body decided I should have a nap!”

“Well, that means you should has a snack so’s you’re not too sleepy. Sir Chicken brought—”

“Sir Carlos,” Sausage gently corrected.

Liana nodded. “He brought special tarts, an’ I wanted you to have one!” She held out the plate and nudged it onto the side of the desk. She peered at the scroll Sausage had fallen sleep on, her eyes moving across to the puddle of ink. “I don’t think that’s gonna be accepted-ible as a message from a king. Do you wants some help, Papa? Daddy said he helps you sometimes. I’m a princess, so’s I should be able to help, too!”

As he picked up the ink bottle, Sausage was about to suggest she return to the library, then he smiled and carefully picked the scroll – with its ink pool – up. “I think there is something you can do for me, actually.” He folded the scroll and tipped it so the ink would run along the crease into the bottle in an effort to save what hadn’t started to dry. “I’ll give you this to write and draw with, and then I’ll tell you what the rest of my work here needs to be done, and then we’ll have tea – but I’ll be able to eat this delicious-looking tart while you take over for me.”

.

The library group’s awaiting of Liana’s return was punctuated by the quiet clucking of Sir Carlos as he graded the quizzes taken earlier and the occasional sound of a page turning as Elowen flipped through his spellbook. Across the table Scott stretched himself taller to get a glimpse of the pages, interested to see which spell Elowen might chose to practice. Azahar sat with a tea cup in hand and now sipped his pretend tea while also watching his brother from the side.

Azahar lowered the cup and said, “School is supposed to be over. Let’s not let this delicious tea and tarts go to waste!” His tone and volume indicated he was perhaps trying to summon their little sister simply by saying it.

Elowen peered over at him. “Liana isn’t back yet. Why play tea party if she’s not here? It’s her game,” he stated matter-of-factly.

Azahar smiled over the rim of the tea cup. “Well, I want to practice violin when moving so I can do that if we go look for her.”

Scott had a reasonable guess as to where Liana had gone, but he wouldn’t dissuade Azahar’s idea by mentioning it.  And so, a short time later he and Elowen were following Azahar through the halls as he played a simpler tune than he had recently been practicing. Since there was the added complication of needing to avoid walking into a wall he figured he should stick to the basics.

The tune only wavered once or twice when he mistook a tapestry for a doorway – likely due to seeing it out of the corner of his eye, his brain too occupied by striking the correct notes to process the difference between rectangular shapes.

They saw no sign of Liana until they neared Sausage’s office. They came to a halt about six steps shy of the door when she stuck her head past the guards and yelled, “Cans you please go play somewhere else? Papa an’ I gots work to do!”

Azahar stilled the violin’s strings. “We were looking for you – you forgot to come back to the tea party, and we didn’t want to have it without you.”

Liana stepped fully into the hall with her arms folded over her chest indignantly. “I’m not havin’ it without Papa! Maybe if you princes helped, too, he’d finish work faster!”

The guards stepped aside, letting the whole family enter, unsure what else they were meant to do in this situation. Scott and Azahar looked over Liana’s head while Elowen peeked past her to see a scattered pile of drawings on the floor while Sausage had a tidy pile of scrolls on one side of his desk. He gave them all a sheepish look in return, having heard Liana’s comment. “We’re almost done. I did tell her a minute ago that it was okay to go ahead to the library. Didn’t I, Liana? Your brothers don’t have princely duties aside from their lessons, which means you don’t have princessly duties aside from your lessons.”

“Then Daddy should help you! He don’t gots lessons!”

Scott stifled a chuckle. Sausage, meanwhile, laughed loudly. “He helps already by being a teacher. That’s his job now. He used to help me all the time with things. But you have a point.” Sausage tapped the quill he had just picked up against his lips. “Maybe we should start sharing paperwork. And I can teach lessons like running through the garden, how to climb trees, and fetch with Bubbles!”

“Papa, that’s playtime!” Liana protested in a scolding tone. “Lessons are for readin’ an’ learnin’ hist’ry, an’ how to do magic, or how to make pretty songs! Those are things princes do!”

Scott asked, “Out of curiosity, Liana, which of Papa’s paperwork have you been doing?”

She scurried over to her mess of papers to show examples. “Well, Papa was readin’ out requests from townsfolk. Like, he said the farri-ri-er needs iron for horseshoes. So’s I drawed some horsies that already gots shoes so’s she won’t need so many yet.” She held up two pieces of paper containing three drawings each of a six-year-old’s approximation of horses wearing iron boots on all four hooves.

She searched for another piece of paper then continued, “An’ the shipsmaster wants iron for bands on shippin’ barrels, so’s I drawed iron bands for him!” She presented a paper where nearly the whole thing was taken up by circles. She uttered a child’s long-suffering sigh. “Ev’rybody sure needs a lotta iron!”

Azahar volunteered information to her. “We learned in our lessons that iron is the main export of Mythland. But that doesn’t mean we send all of it away. People across our own kingdom use plenty of it.”

It was now that it occurred to Liana to ask, “Where does all that iron come from, anyway? Sheeps grow back wool! Shiny gold comes from the ground, but it runs out when it gets dug up!”

Sausage saw an opportunity to finally move the conversation elsewhere. “Sir Carlos can tell you. He’s the one who knows the most about Mythland’s history – even more than me!”

“And,” Scott said, “He’s probably done grading those tests by now, so he’ll be free for you to ask him. You should hurry before he becomes too busy with the next lesson plan. I’ll help Papa put all these drawings together with their requests and send them off. Just like you said to, Liana.”

He waved the children off as Azahar led the way back to the library. Then he turned to Sausage. His tone switched from light-hearted to serious. “You’ve been very focused on work lately. Too focused. We were supposed to be delegating some of the less essential things so we could have time with the children. Isn’t the foreman at the Iron Castle supposed to be handling requests?”

Sausage stammered the excuse, “I’m just reviewing the summaries. It made Liana feel helpful since, you know, there’s not much to actually do here except sign my approval.”

“No, this is different. I noticed when Azahar took up the violin – which meant less sword training on the schedule, but you really threw yourself into it after that warden incident two weeks ago. Is there something you need to tell me? Did Jimmy say something and it set off something like that wall-building competition, like the old days? If I’m wrong, you know you can tell me anything.” He tried to sound encouraging rather than just sound worried.

Sausage put the quill aside and stared at the top of the desk for a moment. Then he reached his left hand over to hold his right shoulder. “It was the thing with the Warden, you’re right. No one said anything in particular, although Jimmy did accuse me of going soft. Which, I mean… He’s right, but that reason isn’t why. It was the… well. You know how it is with caves, when you’re underground and there’s… Just darkness and… stone all around you where there’s not much room to move…”

Scott could tell Sausage didn’t want to be exact in his word choice, so he said it for him. “Cold.” He walked behind the desk and started to massage both of Sausage’s shoulders, hoping he would only feel warm comfort in the gesture. “I get it. You want a distraction, and working has always been your way – and you don’t get to do as much architecture as you used to. But I think you should stick to delegating, and throw yourself into raising our children instead of dwelling on what you need to fix.”

Sausage nodded, his expression slightly crestfallen. “I know. I was trying to limit it to, you know, a time when they would be with you anyway. Sort of like shoving all my, uh, worries into scrawling on scrolls so it would be off my mind for the rest of the time.”

“That makes some sense – up until you’re late for tea,” Scott gently teased. “Liana will just keep refusing to start without you, so you might as well schedule a break for her sake, at least.” He earned a sigh in response. He leaned further into the shoulder massage then added, “They’re waiting right now. You can leave these, or I can take over. Or… even better…”

Scott reached past Sausage to the desk and, grinning, swiftly began picking up the remaining unrolled missives before Sausage could stop him. “Bring your work with you! Then Liana and the boys can help with illustrations and—”

He stopped, hand poised above neatly cut out squares of paper that had designs drawn along the borders. One had swirls, one had flowers, and one had precisely shaped rabbits. Scott’s smile softened.

Sausage’s face flushed a little. “I – I thought it wouldn’t hurt to start thinking of invitation designs, even if it’s a few years away.”

Scott set down the missives to hold up the cards for a better look. “No, you were on to something when you said we should make our own tradition. Why wait until she’s ten? We can just hold it on her upcoming birthday. That gives us about four months to plan everything. Which also reminds me that Elowen’s birthday is coming up soon. Let’s not overshadow that.” Sausage nodded in agreement.

“But right now…” Scott gathered the sample invitations and tapped them into line with each other. “…we should attend today’s tea party. No excuses. I’ll help you make up the time whether we bring this stuff to the library or not.” He took Sausage by the arm to pull him from the chair.

~*~

Elowen’s birthday began with a bumpy start: that being the bouncy motion of someone jumping up and down on the end of his bed. This was followed by Liana’s voice calling out, “Elowen! Elowen! It’s birthday time! Happy birthday!”

He stared blearily over at her. She jumped up and down exactly one more time. “Liana,” he mumbled, “I can sleep more on my birthday if I wanna…” He tried to pull the blanket up while turning onto his side; her weight kept it from moving far enough, although she shuffled her feet from one to the other to avoid falling off.

“But you’re s’posed to be excited for birthday breakfast! It’s the best thing about birthdays!”

Elowen tugged the blanket again, then gave up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He now got a better look at her. “Liana, why do you have powder all over you?”

“I was helping!”

“It’s in your hair. What were you helping to do?” Elowen sounded doubtful of any skill she might have been lending, having become familiar with her way of involving herself in things during the past month and a half since her adoption.

“Birthday breakfast! Come on!” Liana hopped off the bed. She failed to stick the landing and so ended up on her knees, but she picked herself right up and ran out of the room.

Azahar, awoken by the ruckus, commented, “There’s really no stopping her. Might as well get up now.”

As they started to take out clothes for the day they heard Sausage call out, “Liana, come back! Why are you covered in flour?!”

Another voice that the boys recognized as one of the castle cooks said, “Sorry, Your Highness. We’ve been trying to catch up to her to clean her up, but she’s, well, quite fast.”

“It’s fine. You may return to your duties. I’ll handle this.”

The boys stopped what they were doing and covered their ears. The cook hurried past their door. Sausage then bellowed, “LIANA! GET BACK HERE AND CLEAN UP, YOUNG LADY! THIS INSTANT!!”

The boys lowered their hands and went back to changing clothes. A giggling Liana came running past again. “Sorry, Papa. But it’s Elowen’s birthday!”

“I know it is, but you can’t just make a mess of yourself. You need to look nice for his birthday, too.”

“Okay, Papa!”

They heard her run past again on her way to her room.

“Hold on, I’ll help you get it out of your hair.”  Sausage paused at the doorway to glance in at the boys. “Good morning! Birthday Boy, Azahar,” he greeted with a smile. “Getting ready to see what your sister has cooked up this time?”

“Looking forward to it,” Azahar replied as he buckled his belt. “I’ve never known someone to get so excited about breakfast like that.”

“Hmph. Yeah,” Elowen mumbled, making it clear that he would have preferred to still be sleeping.

Sausage gave a nod of agreement. “Well, I’ll see you downstairs. This, ah, this might take a few minutes…” He disappeared from the doorway, although they could hear him light-heartedly scolding Liana.

Within those few minutes Scott appeared. “Good morning, boys. Elowen, would you like me to braid your hair for your big day?”

Elowen patted at his shoulder-length hair thoughtfully. He realized it was still unruly from sleep. “Maybe one braid. On this side.” He pointed to the right side of his head, then sat down on the corner of his bed. Scott picked up a hairbrush and length of gold ribbon from the dresser then sat sideways on the bed behind him.

“What would you like to do today?” Scott asked while carefully brushing the tangles out of Elowen’s hair. “Papa’s whole day is free so you get to decide how we spend it.” With expert motions he gathered up just the right number of strands for braiding, mindful of Elowen moving his head when he talked.

“Can we take some of Bubbles’ troops out for a long walk in the forest? We haven’t gone out really far since Liana came home.” A mischievous smile crossed his face. “The troops are for watching her, then we can climb some trees without her running around all crazy.”

Azahar let out a laugh in agreement. “Good idea! Maybe we should post some around the castle to do that, too!”

Scott tied off Elowen’s new braid with the ribbon. “Particularly the kitchen, I hear.”

“At least on birthdays,” Elowen said. “So everyone can sleep as late as they want that day.”

Scott stood and put the brush back. “We’ll let you sleep late on her birthday to make it fair.”

Elowen looked aghast. “Dad! She’s gonna have everyone up at dawn probably!”

“I’ll tell her that birthday breakfast will be served late. Now let’s go find out what that even means.”

After collecting Sausage and a slightly-less-dusted-with-flour Liana, the family headed to the dining room. Liana, of course, insisted on running ahead so she could gesture to Elowen’s seat with a beaming smile on her face as the kitchen staff, attending the dining room for the special occasion, moved to the walls to await their cues to lift the covers on the platters in front of each person. “Look! Look! For you! It’s the best!”

Elowen put his hands on the back of his chair, contemplating more mischief by waiting, but yielded to his sister’s bright, expectant eyes and sat down. The staff member behind him stepped forward to lift the cover, releasing a waft of steam and revealing a stack of five fluffed up, round foodstuffs on his plate that were decorated in a cascade of different berries in fruit syrup. He knew what they were and was pleased to see them, but Liana’s hyper elation about it seemed a little unwarranted.

“Pamcakes and berries!” Liana crowed.

“Pancakes,” Scott corrected.

“Yeah!!” Liana pointed to Azahar’s place. “I made some like that for you, too, ‘cause I missed your birthday! But there’s less berries because it’s not your birthday.”

Azahar sat and offered her a gracious look. “Thanks for thinking of me, Liana. You’re awfully excited about these. Did you not have pancakes very often at your old home?”

“Not super big ones like these! Even when I spilled batter on the pan and there were only a bunch of tiny ones they still came out huge!” Liana hopped up onto her chair.

Scott, having a suspicion about her comments, asked, “By huge, do you mean how high they rise up when they cook?”

“Yeah!! I didn’t know pamcakes could be so tall an’ fluffy!” Liana replied. “I only ever saw flat ones! Like really, really flat! I don’t think those were actually cakes at all!”

Scott chuckled. “Elven pancakes and Mythland pancakes are made differently, Liana. Elven ones are meant to be thin and flat. The ones here are what is referred to as ‘hearty’. Humans like hearty food as fuel for their work.”

“Heart-y?” Liana pronounced the word with uncertainty. “But there’s no hearts in them! There’s eggs an’ flour an’ van-il-la! An’ sometimes berries! The cook ‘splained it to me when I said that if one berry is tasty, then putting all the berries in should make it more tasty! But if you put in too many berries, they get messed up! So’s I put the berries on after the pamcakes were done.”

Sausage seemed stunned by the whole conversation. He abruptly asked, “Wait, have we not had pancakes since she got here? That is unacceptable! I’ll make sure they’re on the menu regularly from now on!”

“Papa!” Liana’s voice took on a whiny edge. “They’re for birthday breakfast! Y’know, special!”

A gleeful look entered Sausage’s eyes. “Well, it’s got to be _someone’s_ birthday on whatever day we have them! We can have pancakes in their honor!”

Liana didn’t seem sure what to make of his reasoning. She sat down and scrunched up her face in thought, remaining that way as the food was presented to everyone else at the table, and she stayed in quiet contemplation as she ate.

Elowen wouldn’t say it out loud, but that was a pretty good present.

Finally, after the dishes were cleared away, Liana announced, “I wanna know everyone in the castle’s birthdays so’s we cans have pamcakes on those days!” She pointed to the door the staff had exited through.

Sausage uttered a laugh that sounded like he was partially crying. “Okay, okay. We’ll do it that way from now on!”

.

The family was soon on their way for a nice walk along forest paths, enjoying the fresh air and being away from responsibilities. As requested, a half dozen of Bubbles’ spare troops accompanied them. The children had fun running along the paths, throwing sticks scavenged from the ground for the dogs to fetch and letting themselves be chased around giant mushroom stems. Sausage and Scott strolled arm in arm behind them, smiling at the joyous hollering.

At one point they all stopped at a tree with particularly large, low-hanging branches which Elowen and Liana wanted to climb on. Elowen managed by himself but Liana needed extra help up, so Scott went over to help her find the right hand holds.

Sausage meandered away when one of the dogs went sniffing into some underbrush, curious – and in some ways wary – of what the dog had caught wind of. He followed for a minute or more, going further off trail, until he saw the brief twitch of a fluff gray tail. The dog took off running, panting excitedly. Sausage shook his head at the lacking of training but smiled in relief. No actual danger; merely a squirrel.

He turned to go back to the trail but didn’t see it right away, underestimating how far he had gone. Should be easy enough to find, he figured. Just wait to hear Liana shouting about something. He walked in what he figured was the general direction. If anything, the dog would return to his side and he would ask it to sniff out his family.

Presently a gust of wind rustled the leaves. Sausage looked up and noted how densely packed they seemed in the area, making it impossible to see the sky. It was chilly in all this shade. He hugged his arms over his chest without thinking about it, gaze still turned upward for a glimpse of the sun. In doing so he wasn’t paying attention to what was in front of him and he strode right into an oak tree’s trunk. It set him off balance, so he instinctively threw out his right hand to catch hold of it and steady himself. The bark split and came loose under the hard metal of his prosthetic fingers, costing him the anchor point and putting him further off balance. He stumbled in response, fetching up against a larger dark oak tree. His gaze went to the branch that he had narrowly missed hitting his head on, directly above his crown.  The trunk at his back felt so cold from perpetually being in the shade. He hastily turned away from it, moving backward while keeping his eyes on the tree as if something felt wrong about it.

This caused him to bump right into another of the thick, looming trees. They were so close to each other. The world was so dark under them. There seemed to be no other world beyond them, it was only him and walls made by the trunks. The shade was so cold. …So cold…

He heard Scott’s voice calling as if from a distance. From the other side of that wall…

It was the sound of dogs barking that snapped him out of it. He saw the small pack come charging between the trees, tails wagging and tongues out to lick at his left hand. Instincts kicked in again to get him moving as he gently patted them on the head in turn.

“There you are!” a relieved Scott called out, pushing a small branch out of his way as he passed between the trees just fine like the dogs had. The children followed behind him. “And here we had worried about Liana wandering off.”

“I— sorry— I—I was just keeping an eye on the little guy who ran off after a squirrel,” Sausage explained, casting a glance over the dogs to find the one in question. He couldn’t really pick it out from the pack swarming around him.

Scott was studying him intensely but only said, “We should head back home anyway. Elowen scraped his arm on the way down from that tree we were at.”

“O-Oh no!” Sausage turned his attention fully to his younger son. “How bad is it? You sure it’s just a scrape?”

“Yup,” Elowen replied, sounding proud. “Look, I already covered it!” He held up his left forearm, where his shirt sleeve had been torn all the way to the elbow but the injury in question had a layer of frost over it, preventing any bleeding. “Ice bandages are cold, but I did it myself!”

No one saw the spot over Sausage’s right eye twitch. “That’s really impressive. Good job! But we’ll still go home. Maybe have a snack and then we can run around in the garden instead. We should also practice tree climbing there so that doesn’t happen again!”

~*~

Whether from too much syrup in his stack of pancakes or from the experience out in the forest, Sausage found himself tossing and turning in bed, half-aware of his discomfort but asleep enough to have flickers of a dream dancing through his subconscious.

The whispering. Quiet, insidious. His right hand, reaching out. A dark blade within his grasp.

A smile. All teeth, no joy.

Two figures stepped forward, blocking his way. Their auras were bright and he squinted against the glow, but he was stronger. He would not be stopped.

They fell, revealing his goal behind them. A sword of ice held ready to meet him.

So cold, like the look in the eyes of the wielder. A look of betrayal and no forgiveness.

The whispering spoke to him again. “So, this was how you chose to get what you wanted?”

Pain ripped through him – not from the ice sword, but from the look in those eyes. Sausage was poised to strike in return, right arm raised. He forced his body to halt. “No. This isn’t what I wanted. Take it back. Take the power back!”

“It is yours to keep. It is a part of you now. Go on. Finish what you started. There is only one way to end it.”

“No!”

“But it suits you; so it does now as it did then. You brought it with you. You could no further cut it away from yourself than you would your own heart. Grasp it. Embrace it. Hold it in your hand.”

His hand. His  h a n d.

Sausage bolted upright and reached out with his right hand, grabbing onto empty air—

—Except he didn’t. Because he couldn’t. Because he had no right hand. Yet he could swear he felt it…

He darted a glance over to Scott to make sure he hadn’t awoken him. Making sure that his husband remained undisturbed, Sausage left the bed and padded out of the room, foregoing a robe over his night clothes in his haste. Not wanting to disturb the children, either, he silently made his way to the library where the layers of books would dampen sounds like whispers from echoing off stone walls. Once there he stoked up a small fire in the fireplace to ward off memories of ice that were making him feel cold.

He sat in the armchair closest to the hearth then undid the buttons on one side of the cuff covering his stump. He rubbed his thumb over the scar that ran along the end. He used the change in texture to remind himself that the arm was, in fact, gone; it was merely a phantom sensation that had him imagining something was there.

He pressed his fingertips into his skin closer to his shoulder. That was a real feeling. He wasn’t able to hurt anyone like this…

And yet the mix of memory and dream played through his head over and over, continuing to haunt him. Maybe he shouldn’t have gone into that cave. He should have just left it to Jimmy and Tango. He shouldn’t have gone with them to where it was so deep and cold and closed in, where it was dark and isolated and away from everything where no one could reach—

The impression of a small hand on his knee brought him back to the present. Liana stood beside the chair in her nightgown and bare feet. Indigo eyes looked up at him in concern. “Papa, are you okay? I was gettin’ water an’ saw the fire in here, an’ there’s not s’posed to be fire in here without anyone! Aren’t you sleepy?”

“L-Liana, hi,” Sausage stammered, though to his own surprise he kept his tone gentle rather than awash with the turmoil that had been on his mind. “I had a bad dream and I just wanted to sit for a while without bothering Dad, so I came here. I’m – I’m okay. You should go back to bed, though. Little princesses need their rest.”

“But you’re gonna need a nap when you’re workin’ again if you don’t sleep! A princess cans take a nap whenever, but it doesn’t seem like a busy king can! ‘Specially when…” Her gaze drifted to the loosened cuff. She continued in a soft voice, “…when he only gots one arm.”

For a moment Sausage felt self-conscious and couldn’t remember if he had told her that he didn’t sleep with the prosthetic on. He then wondered what her perception of him might have been while he was sitting there zoned out holding his stump. He pushed a smile onto his face. “Well, I might need a nap every so often, but I can still do plenty of things with one arm. Like… I can still pick up little girls who should be in bed!” He shifted his weight in the chair so he could lurch to the left and scoop her up with his arm, then shifted to sit back with her in his lap.

Liana giggled and hugged him with all her tiny might, then crawled to the side and placed a kiss on the end of his stump. “I kiss it and make it all better, okay, Papa?”

Sausage’s eyesight blurred with tears. He suppressed a small choked sound then stammered again. “Th-thanks, Liana. I think that’s just what I needed.” More than you know, he added to himself. He returned the favor by making a show of noisily trying to kiss her on the forehead, inspiring another giggle as she fended off being tickled by his beard. Eventually he did land a kiss somewhere in her hair. “All right, back to bed for both of us, my little princess.”

Sausage gently hugged her and moved to put her down so he could more easily get up from the chair, but she clung to his left arm. She didn’t seem upset about anything despite her face being pressed to his shoulder, but Sausage settled into the chair again anyway. He instinctively moved his right arm to hold her across the back – a different kind of forgetting the lack of arm – and instead leaned his head against hers. He let her snuggle up to his chest for a little while, although at some point they both fell asleep, leaving the fire to die down on its own.

The library seemed warmer by then, anyway.

~*~

The sound of Scott’s voice quietly saying his name, along with the shaking of his shoulder coaxed Sausage awake. He didn’t respond right away since he felt the weight of Liana on him. The little girl was still fast asleep. Scott, sensibly having a thick robe over his night clothes, stood over him and upon meeting Sausage’s eyes he whispered, “Did she have a nightmare?”

“No,” Sausage said, his voice gruff from sleep, “I did.” He tried to shift a bit, intending to get up while still holding Liana, but the leverage to do so eluded him.

Scott stepped in, reaching to pick her up, but then she awoke with a yawn. “’Mornin’, Daddy! Papa was sad about his arm, so’s I kissed it an’ made it better!”

“Oh?” Scott replied. He went ahead and half-picked her up, half-helped her down from the armchair, guiding her far enough away so Sausage had space to use his left arm to get himself up. “That was wonderful of you to do, Liana. Did you follow him all the way here just for that?”

“No, I was gettin’ water. But I forgot it when I saw fire in here!”

“That explains the cup in the hallway,” Scott said, clasping his chin and nodding at the solved mystery.

“Yeah, I saw Papa an’ wondered why he wasn’t sleepin’. See, that’s why he needs a nap when he’s workin’!”

Sausage laughed awkwardly as he stepped over beside her. “I guess you’re right. I’ll have a chat with Dad about it later. Or maybe right now,” he amended when Scott shot him a stern look. “But you need to go get dressed before breakfast. No hugging as an excuse this time! We’ll be along soon.”

“Yes, Papa.” Liana hugged him anyway, then hugged Scott, and finally scurried out of the library. Less than a second later they heard her announce, “I forgots my water again! It’s spilled on the floor now!”

“It’s fine, Liana,” Scott called after her. “We’ll take care of it! Please go upstairs!” He waited a moment before turning to Sausage with what was now an imploring look.

“I – I’m okay, I promise,” Sausage assured him. “It was just one little dream. I just needed to walk for a bit, a-and needed to sit for a bit and… and needed to be by myself for a bit…”

Scott’s gaze went to Sausage’s right side, eying how the cuff was hanging open.

Sausage covered it with his hand. “I just… um…”

Scott stepped up to him and enfolded him in an embrace. Sausage lowered his face to Scott’s chest and sighed; he let his shoulders go slack as Scott said softly, “You don’t have to tell me about the dream. But you don’t have to sneak out or be alone. I know it’s not easy if something reminds you of what happened. And I know we can’t predict what might be a reminder. And… I know you, when you’re left alone with those thoughts. I’m glad Liana happened to be there. Remember, you and I are here, we’re here for our children, we’re here for the future.”

“I know,” Sausage mumbled into the front of Scott’s robe. He allowed the elf his own moment, recalling how things got dicey even after the loss of his arm. His left hand moved upward to embrace Scott in turn. After another second or two Sausage again spoke through the fabric of the robe. “Um. We should get going. Before the kids walk by.”

Scott drew back. “Right. Sorry. I just—”

Sausage cut him off with a smile, “We both just want a lot this night – morning – whatever time of day it is. You know what else I want? To start planning the biggest tea party the empires have ever seen!”

~*~

It was a lovely day in The Undergrove, with a sunny view from one of the outside balconies on the rainbow mushroom castle where Katherine and Shrub were having a picnic together. They could hear the chirping of numerous local birds – although, presently, they heard a deeper croak and a jet-black bird glided down to land on the checkered blanket.

It croaked again and danced closer to Shrub so she could see the scroll held in its talons. “Guardian Shrub! Undergrove!” the bird announced.

Shrub leaned to take the scroll. “News from Mythland, huh?” She unrolled it and scanned the words.

Katherine scooted over. “Is it private, or general news?”

A smile spread across Shrub’s face. “Nope! One probably went to the Overgrown, too! It’s another debut gala invitation!” She held the missive up for Katherine to read as she looked over Shrub’s shoulder, consequently nestling closer to the gnome. They took a second to smile softly at each other, then Katherine skimmed the words on the scroll.

“Aww! Scott and Sausage decided to adopt a little princess! How sweet! So, she likes bunnies and playing tea party? She sounds adorable!”

[To be continued in Chapter Five: The Twins and Them ]

[do0zy-artz]

Fist Fights - Chapter One: Chance Encounter - 3k Words

Jimmy, caught off guard by fWhip trying to steal his Codfather's head yet again, ends up pinning his sworn enemy to the ground. Things onky escalate from there, in ways neither of them were expecting (but in ways they certainly both enjoy.) Part Eight of Doozy's Fwhimmy Oneshots

It's starts when Jimmy’s out in the swamp, looking for any slime he may have missed last night during his slime hunt. There had been a lot going on, so he wouldn't be suprised if he missed a few slimeballs here or there. There hadn't been much light to protect him or his slimeballs, not out these deep in the swamp.

It's starts when Jimmy is minding his own damn business, in his own damn empire, looking for any stray slime. It starts with the sound of of wings flapping above him, and someone planning to land nearby. Wings, not elytra; those sound entirely different. And only two of the emperors have wings.

He knows it's fWhip before the half dragon even lands, and before he even grabs for the Codfather's head itself. But of course, this was supposed to be a quick fly-by prank, fWhip probably hadn't been expecting Jimmy to react until he was long gone.

Unfortunately for him, Jimmy was still rather alert from his slime hunting. So yeah, he was listening to his surroundings, and he heard that sneak attack coming.

He moves away before fWhip can even hit the ground, let alone even touch the Codfather's head. As soon as the half dragon lands, Jimmy’s already on the offensive, a hand halfway to his sword.

fWhip, probably wanging to avoid a fight, makes a last ditch grab for the Head. Jimmy, who decides he's having none of that, tackles the Count to the ground before he can do much else. He goes down a lot quicker than an emperor probably should, even with the meek little fight he puts up.

The half dragon had ambushed him without any weapon, and it's almost embarrassing how easily Jimmy overpowers him. Like, Jimmy has him on the floor in a few minutes level embarrassing. (The Cod has no idea how he thinks this guy is scary really, because that was sad.)

While fWhip is a skilled fighter, that's only with a weapon. He's bascially useless in hand-to-hand, something Sausage has told Jimmy plenty of times. The Mythlander likes bragging when he wins their spars, and his favorite guy to annoy (read: Jimmy) lives right next door.

fWhip's also not light by any means, especially not with the wings stuck on his back. Jimmy’s just fifty pounds heavier and at least five inches taller. Weight advantage and all that. So, yeah, pinning him to the ground and keeping him there is a lot easier than it looks.

He growls, and traps the Count under him, trapping his legs under him. His hands land on either side of fWhip's head, and he makes sure to not accidentally claw his opponent in the face. Even if he really wants to in the moment.

fWhip snarls, and tears the Codfather's head off in a last ditch effort, making the whole pinning him to the ground thing kinda useless. But Jimmy keeps him down regardless, knowing the Count will just take the head and run off if he lets him.

The two of them stare at each other after that, chests heaving from the struggle. And Jimmy, despite the rather cross expression on his face, finds whatever they're doing to be a little....intimate. He is kinda pinning a man to the ground and watching him heave for air. That is a little....tense. Especially when he can't tear his gaze away from fWhip's....

Apparently, his fellow emperor is on the same page.

fWhip reaches out, and places a hand on the Codfather's cheek. Jimmy feels himself freeze up at the contact, staring down at the Count in shock. Okay. He had not been expecting that. He also wasn't expecting fWhip to start thumbing his cheek, or anything like that. Which he's doing, by the way. He's holding Jimmy’s face and tenderly running a thumb over his cheek. Totally normal and not unexpected behavior. Yep.

(And he wasn't bothered by it, not in the slightest...)

"What're you doing?" Jimmy asks, feeling a lot more captivated than he had just a second ago. That was bad, and weird. The Codfather himself should not be captivated by fWhip, of all people. He needed to stop that, like, right now.

fWhip shrugs, his eyes never leaving Jimmy’s. Who realizes that those eyes are a very pretty, and very alluring, shade of blue. Ya know, now that's he's paying attention to them and all. "Winging it, I think."

Jimmy watches fWhip as he wings it, feeling a hand go to cradle the back of his head. Another hand stays on his cheek, tenderly feeling the scales on his face. He watches what fWhip does next like a mesmerized idiot, unable to pull his eyes away from the Count below him. For some reason, one probably a lot more obvious than he realizes, Jimmy finds himself entirely on board with where this was going.

fWhip pulls their faces closer, but stops halfway. He looks up at a puzzled Codfather, searching for something on his face. It takes Jimmy a minute to realize, but what he's looking for is permission. Permission to kiss him, to go through with whatever this is. Permission to change their relationship in ways nobody ever expected, like the moments before hadn’t done so already.

And while the sentiment is sweet (like...incredibly sweet and respectable and wow Jimmy was not expecting that tenderness from fWhip so soon, or like, ever,) Jimmy would've already punched fWhip in the face if he wasn't a hundred percent on board. He thought they knew each other better by now.

So, Jimmy gives his permission by leaning down, and kissing fWhip absolutely stupid.

fWhip's a little caught off gaurd, but it only takes a second before he's kissing back. He matches Jimmy’s energy perfectly; pulling him close and kissing like his life depends on it. His right hand, the one holding the back of his head, is quick to tangle itself Jimmy’s hair, tugging at it and keeping them both in place.

Okay. Wow. Jimmy, the Codfather, is currently kissing Count fWhip of the Grimlands; his sworn enemy. And fWhip's kissing him back. And he likes it. This was not where he was expecting this day to go, but Jimmy can't say he's disappointed by it...

(He finds that he's actually quite the opposite of disappointed, but that's something to unpack later.)

Jimmy groans into the kiss, fWhip pulling him down even further. He kisses the Count harder with each second, the cod getting into it more than he ever would've imagined. He almost wonders why they didn't do this sooner.

fWhip breaks the kiss first, panting as he does so. And oh yeah, Jimmy can kinda go longer without air than he can. Whoops. But his face is flushed red, and it isn't long before all Jimmy’s thinking about how pretty he looks like that. Pretty enough that he wants to kiss him breathless over and over again.

Unfortunately, fWhip feels the need to ruin the moment. Because of course he does. The Count's eyes flick to the side of his head, where the Codfather's head rests, and Jimmy is reminded of how they got here in the first place. And that fWhip is stubborn and won't leave his empire without another fight. (Because Cod forbid he just accepts defeat and goes home.)

Okay then. No more kissing, back to fighting.

Jimmy moves off fWhip before the half dragon can kick him away, and grabs for his head in the process. While he's doing that, fWhip manges to get to his feet, only a few seconds before Jimmy’s standing and out of the mud. He uses this to his advantage, and trips the cod with his tail before he can properly get his balance back again. Jimmy had maybe been a little too focused on trying to get the garment back on his head and fly away to pay attention to his enemy.

The Codfather yelps as fWhip unbalances him, slipping back down into the mud. On his way down, he grabs at a very excited Count by the leg, one probably preparing to gloat over his theft. Like Jimmy wouldn't take him down with him. Literally.

They tumble downwards in a heap of limbs, each emperor trying to kick the other off of them. In the process, fWhip almost rolls them both into a pool of water, and Jimmy has to quickly steer them away from it. He does not know how deep that water is, and does not want to deal with a drowned idiot today, thank you very much.

This time, Jimmy does not win their scuffle. He's still holding onto the Codfather's head tightly, leaving him with only one hand to fight with. fWhip uses this to his full advantage, rather unfortunately. He grabs Jimmy by the wirst, and it really all goes downhill from there for the Codfather.

fWhip ultimately ends up ontop of him, fumbling to stay upright. Jimmy reaches out, and steadies him by the waist. In the struggle, the Codfather's head falls to the side again, left to be forgotten in the mud once more. The Codfather barely notices that though, more focused on Their positions have flipped, and now Jimmy’s the one being pressed to the ground. Though, again, due to how he bascially towers over fWhip when standing, the Count isn't really pining him to anything. He's moreso straddling the Codfather, which matches the energy of the situation surprisingly well.

The two of them look at each other for a minute, Jimmy watching as the metaphorical gears turn in fWhip's head, and he realizes exactly the position they've landed in. The Count turns bright red once it's dawns on him, the color still looking just as delightful on him as it did a few minutes ago. Then, fWhip's eyes flick down to his lips, and Jimmy decides he needs to be kissed stupid again as soon as possible.

"I want my hat back." Jimmy huffs, glaring up at his...enemy. (If enemy is even the right word anymore..) He doesn't even try to make the glare convincing, not in the slightest. And why would he? Acting like he wants to stab him isn't going to get fWhip to play along. Unless it would. Jimmy doesn't know that quite yet.

"Then fight me for it." fWhip smirks, moving their faces closer again. And oh, he wants this. Maybe just as much as Jimmy does, maybe even more. He wants this, and that's all that really matters in the moment.

"Gladly." Jimmy can't help the smile that forms on his face. Not even a second later, he's lettibg fWhip kiss him again; the Count leading this time. They're kissing again, and this time Jimmy never wants it to stop. It's not as long as kiss as the first one, but it's still quite intense. It still involves hands tangled in hair and bodies pressed closely against each other. It's everything it was before yet nothing like it all at the same time. fWhip kisses him harder, and Jimmy’s matching his pace without a second thought.

(Jimmy thinks, that if fWhip wanted to swallow him whole, he would let him. A weird thought certainly, but a true one nonetheless.)

Jimmy bites his bottom lip, causing a small noise in the back of fWhip's throat. At first, he's not sure he heard it, or that the sound was even real at all. So, curious (and wanting to be a tease,) Jimmy does it again. And, lo and behold, fWhip had made a noise. He'd moaned, even.

Apparently biting makes fWhip moan. Jimmy notes that away for later, and then refocuses on making out with him. (With a few more cheeky lip bites thrown in there, of course.)

They break apart again soon after, not quite as breathless as they had been before. fWhip, still straddling him, looks at the Codfather with something like wonder. Jimmy, staring back at the horrible man above him, imagines there's a similar look on his own face.

Then, it's like they suddenly come back to their sense. It's like fWhip remembers who exactly he's been straddling, reality crashing down like a wave. He scrambles off the Codfather, leaving Jimmy to sit up with the same fanatic expression on his face. They were enemies, sworn ones, even. They were supposed to hate each other, not do...whatever the bloody hell that was!

Jimmy grabs for his Codfather's head quickly, feeling like fWhip will snatch it up if he doesn't. He had come here to steal it, after all. But fWhip doesn't seem to care about the Codfather's Head anymore. Instead of trying to fight him for, like Jimmy would expect him too, fWhip just sits there. He runs a hand through his hair, staring at Jimmy with a weird look. He's still within grabbing range, yet the Count makes no move for the head.

And, well, Jimmy doesn't run away from him either. Nor does he call him out for his poor attempts at thievery. The Codfather also just sits there. He doesn't think he wants to move, or start another fight again, either.

(Their last fight for his Head had turned into them kissing...into them making out in the damn swamp of all places...

Cod, what had they been doing?)

fWhip mutters under his breath, barely audible as he scoots even further away from Jimmy. He resists the urge to reach out and pull him back. "God, what are we doing?"

"Making out?" Jimmy asks with a shrug. He knows that's not what fWhip meant, but he didn't know what else to say. Jimmy doesn't know what all that was about, either. (But he's not opposed to finding out...)

"Obviously." fWhip rolls his eyes, flicking an small bit of muddied water in his direction. The Codfather dodges it with glare. He doesn't need more even more water on his clothes. fWhip pushing him into the wet ground had made sure that he had plenty.

Jimmy sits up fully, tearing his gaze away from the Count. He wanted a real awsner, then fine. He'd get one. "I don't know what we're doing, just that I like it."

fWhip smirks, leaning in again. Close, but not quite close enough. (Jimmy wants him to inch even closer, maybe even close enough....) "Oh, so you like kissing me?"

Jimmy rolls his eyes, vividly recalling how a certain someone had seemed to enjoy the kissing way more than he had. "Says the one who moaned."

"Shut it, codboy." fWhip growls, his face turning red for the thirs time that day. He's embarrassed, and Jimmy can't help but feel proud about causing it. Getting one over on fWhip doesn't happen often, especially not for him. "You weren't exactly quiet, either."

"Do you wanna make me," Jimmy raises an eyebrow, watching as the Count gets to his feet. And how he almost slips in mud three—wait no, make that four—whole times. (If fWhip landed on his ass Jimmy was going to start laughing, make out sessions be dammed.) "Or is there somewhere you need to be?"

Speaking of make out sessions, he would love to keep doing just that. But, fWhip rarely comes down to the swamp just to bug him these days. Not since the whole....demon situation from a few months back. The Count had made a habit of coming down before, but the increasing danger of the situation had broken said habit. And Jimmy would be remiss to deny that he'd....kinda started to miss the visits; even if fWhip did annoy the ever living shit out of him half the time.

fWhip adjusts his googles, setting them right on his head again. Jimmy was a little suprised they came out of their fight slash make out session entirely unharmed. "Unfortunately, I was supposed to be at Sausage's ten minutes ago."

"And stealing my head was just a detour?" The Codfather raises an eyebrow, watching as fWhip scowls at his newly muddied outfit. He doesn't know what the Count was expecting. They fought in the middle of a swamp, clothes getting wet was an inevitably result. It's honestly a wonder they didn't fall into one of the deeper pools of water around here, with how much rolling around they did.

"More or less." fWhip wipes grime off his coat the best he can, glaring at the mud that's seeped into the fabric. Yeah, that's gonna be a bitch to get out later. "But I'd love to make you shut up some other time."

Jimmy can imagine at least ten different ways he'd like to be shut up, each one more scandalous than the last. In an amazing show of self restraint, he does not say this—or any of those ten different ways—out loud. He settles on a rather open ended flirt instead, to keep his dignity in tact.

"How about on your way home?" He asks, still feeling, for lack of a better phrase, pretty worked up from the makeout session. He gives fWhip a look, and prays the half dragon gets the memo. "My huts a lot nicer than the swamp."

fWhip eyes shimmer with something as he back further away, flexing his wings out behind him. Jimmy wants to chase that something, to find out what it is, more than he wants almost anything. "I'll think about it." The half dragon says, a smile on his face, and then launches himself into the air.

fWhip files towards Mythland, leaving the Cod Empire just as quickly as he'd arrived. Jimmy can't help but watch him as he flies further and further away, becoming nothing more than a dot in this distance. Eventually, the dot disappears completely, and it's like fWhip was never there at all.

He picks the Codfather head off the ground, wipes the grime off it, and sets back home; his orginal search for slime long forgotten. He has to make his house look presentable if he's going to have a guest, now doesn't he?

[tinapaysmp]

@orinberry Watch me do the Elmo meme again until my laptop battery dies. So this all started around a month ago when I was cramming and making plans for mcyt yuri week. Needless to say I already have my list of characters to swap (somehow I'll figure out how I can make Jimmy the King of Pixandria while Lizzy's the Queen of Mazelea and still be siblings) and I've made that KathGem fanart as well. (You'd want to look into that fanart since there's a few hcs there.)

However, with Scott and fWhip there's still a lot for me to workshop on since I'm not done with both povs and I'm the type to be obsessed with worldbuilding.

So far this is what I got:

Important to note that how I want to handle this swap au is that they have their "core personality" but they have to react and be affected by their environment like how I discussed Pearl on this post (and by extension Sausage in the tags).

Elven fWhip, much like his OG counterpart, wasn't meant to be heir of Rivendell due to their uncle not liking him but ended up as heir anyways after Gem got shipped off to the Overgrown.

Scott meanwhile is a human who was raised as the only heir of the Grimlands and his father's gunpowder industry. He's still suppose to be Aeor's champion, having Alinar as his past life.

You could imagine the kind of crisis the both would have finding that out, with fWhip learning that his boyfriend is his god's chosen one.

I could imagine a lot of teasing coming from fWhip eventually though. Like he'd joke about Scott being destined to be his hero or something.

Scott would've asked so many questions to fWhip all because of his predicament. He's the count of the Grimland's, he wasn't meant to be an elven chosen one. He's not even an elf.

As for the WRA, Scott's approach is in-line with most of his allies of trying to have better PR and generally trying to do what's best for his people. Pearl wants a better look for Mythland, Wizard Katherine wants to avoid war, idk about Sausage I'm still trying to figure him out but we'll see.

But, Scott would be the type to mess with people a lot in this AU. Being the Count he doesn't mind playing into the intimidation of his empire, but he can be really nice.

fWhip on the other hand, his reign is heavily focused on developing much of Rivendell's infrastructure and connections to other empires.

He's forced to keep out of any conflict by the council for the sake of Rivendell's image. Even Gem scolds him to not drag Rivendell to any unwarranted conflict.

He's still the type of guy to jump from one interest to another, and at one point his interest swung to redstone and gunpowder and what other nation does it better than the Grimlands?

Scott was the first one to try flirting with fWhip, although very casual, and wasn't expecting fWhip to flirt back. Elves have a reputation in the Grimlands to be a bit stuck up.

Either way this led to a lot of talking between the two of them and Scott was lucky that fWhip was a very unconventional elf who didn't mind dating mortals like him.

They became lovers in secret without any of their councils knowing.

fWhip thought that Gem would've scolded him for going after a mortal, nobility or not. But after confessing that to her, it only led to him learning that his sister have eyes for a certain Head Wizard.

Rivendell and the Grimlands were generally in good relations centuries after Gilded Helianthia's independence (read here for reference, ignore any inaccuracies). But one day fWhip signed in joining the WRA. This outraged some people in the elven council due to the Alliance's reputation throughout history. But fWhip assured everybody that the mortals ruling these nations are to be trusted.

[siriannatan]

'Not the books' - SausagePix

I was in a PixSausage mood today :}

An arranged marriage was not a gift Pix wanted for his twenty-second birthday. He knew he would have to get married one day, as any responsible ruler should. But some warning would be nice since apparently, his fiance was going to be attending his birthday party. And they were expected to get along and dance together and be a cute, perfect couple...

Yeah, NO, Pix said and locked himself in the royal library. It was locked so rarely it'd take his parents a long time to find the second key. Enough time for him to properly block the door and then find the most desolate and forgotten spot to hide and avoid the whole thing as long as he could.

"Pixy, please be reasonable, Sausage is a very nice young man, I assure you, you'll love him," his mother tried convincing him to get out as Pix tried to push a too heavy for him, even with no books, bookshelf in front of the door. 

Deciding it was just a waste o time Pix huffed and glared at the mess he made. "Then you should have told me ahead of time," he yelled and ran into the depths of the library. His new duties to do with Vigil were already a lot. Without having to add being engaged and all that came along with that. So he ran to hide as well as he can as apparently his future husband and his family approached the library. Along with, judging by the noises, his father who has found the key too quickly.

He was pretty sure he found the perfect spot no one remembered. At least judging by the amount of dust on literally everything. He did prepare a stack of books, sorry books it's for the greater good, in case he had to 'defend' himself. Not that he expected he'd have to...

"Are you Pix...AAA, not books!" That is until someone found him and he tossed at least three before he stopped. Noticing a few interesting, and scary facts in the low, magical light. 

One, the stranger was about his age, tall and muscular. And part dragon. And wore clothes not native to Pixandria. Did he just throw books at his future husband? "Go away," Pix huffed, only then noticing he had no way of escaping. "I... Go away," Pix huffed, backing as far as he could into the corner. "I have no interest in getting married..." he added on, despite being quite interested in talking to Sausage. Guy's a half-dragon, of course, Pix wants to ask him some questions. And he's like hella handsome...

Sausage was visibly saddened hearing Pix didn't want to get married. "Oh... may I ask why? In case I can fix it?" he asked, looking really pitiful, with his wings slumped and slightly wrapped around his impressive frame, tail around his ankles. Pix felt really bad being the reason behind his being sad.

Pix awkwardly stood up, still trying to keep his distance. Coughed awkwardly and decided he was probably not getting out of being married to this man so might as well try and befriend him. "It's not your fault... I kind of learned about this whole arrangement today... And may have overreacted," he said, fighting the flood of possibly inappropriate questions he wanted to ask about Sausage and his gorgeous, maroon scales with dark green sheen. At least in the dim light. "I apologise for the book throwing..." he added. Just then noticing how beautifully blue other's eyes were. And how tall he was, a head taller than Pix... A shockingly attractive thing.

"Oh... I was under the impression you knew," Sausage lit up a little bit. "I'm Mythical Sausage, future king of Mythland and... your future husband I guess," he ended with really cute, awkward laughter. "I hope we can get along..."

"Me too," PIx blurted out and let Sausage walk him out of the library. Holding the arm he was offered a bit awkwardly.

His parents were likely angry but ultimately let it pass since he seemed to get along with Sausage. Or didn't want to make a scene. Ultimately, Pix spend most of the day talking with Sausage and showing him his favourite places in the castle, they were not to leave until it was time for them to get ready for the proper party in the evening. Sausage turned out to be an excellent conversationalist and a proper gentleman. And was really warm and at all not bothered by the Pixandrian heat.

As he got ready for the ball Pix thought that maybe this whole marriage thing wasn't going to be all that bad. And maybe hoping he could sneak a kiss from his husband-to-be at some point in the night. Just because he was curious about his pointy, sharp teeth that flashed whenever he laughed.

[rose-lizzzy]

It was time.

Shrub knew the wither rose alliances plan to send the cod alliance into the dungeon leading to the end. She knew most likely they would be easily influenced to kill the dragon once there.

That's when Xornoth finally decided to acknowledge her again, while she was working on decorating her tunnel.

"So the dragons still alive, useless gnome. I thought you were going to kill it. Adding plants to a cave isn't freeing me."

Shrub lets out an exasperated sigh. "I was going to, but was stopped!"

"That was a week ago." The demon retorts impatiently. "You easily could've gone back and found another portal. I could be free by now."

"I know! I'm ready to be rid of you too! But they built a freaking maze around it! And the other ones in the Ocean Queens domain and I can't swim! I'm afraid of water!"

It was clear Xornoth was still upset, not accepting the excuse. "I can't believe I chose such a useless host."

Shrub was starting to get angry again. She'd done so much for him! She's not useless! "What about the other two? Can't you get them to do it?"

"Since you are clearly incompetent, I might as well get them to take care of the dragon, since you won't."

"Finally you're gonna do something yourself? Not gonna make me do it?" She snaps.

"You can stop now." He takes over her body with a growl, teleporting to Mythland where his two other servants were waiting.

"My Xorny is here!" Joey exclaims when he appeared in front of them.

"It's time." Xornoth starts, ignoring the jungle emperors advances. "You must complete your part of the deal."

"The dragon needs to die!" Sausage agrees.

Xornoth grins. "Perfect."

Further north, in the mountains, Pearl entered the wizards tower to show off her new style, to find both twins on the couch by the fire, with Gem very pale and not looking well.

"Hey guys! Wait...what's going on?" She worriedly joins them, putting an arm around Gem.

"I.. I'll explain ..but first...Fwhip..can you grab some potions from my apocathary..?" The weak wizard asks her brother, who immediately agrees and heads out.

Gem turns to pearl, gripping onto her green dress "Pearl...you need to keep him from hurting her. She's a victim...he can't hurt her." She pleads, her words making no sense to the farmer queen.

"I...alright Gem but what...who are you talking about? What happened?"

Before she got a reply Fwhip hurried back, handing her a health and strength potion, which the wizard downs.

Quickly after the potions were consumed, her body stops trembling, and color returns to her face.

"Alright.." she starts, feeling her strength return. "Thank you Fwhip."

The tinkerer nods, and then his expression immediately turns hard. "now who did this to you."

After a pause, Gem gives in and just says it. "...Shrub. But here's the thing..."

Before she could continue, Fwhip was up and at the door. Luckily, Pearl was faster, standing between him and the door.

"Pearl. Out of the way. I need to fry a gnome."

The warrior shakes her head. "I won't let you. Not yet."

Fwhip glares at her "She hurt my sister! I need to teach her a lesson."

Before either of them could continue, they heard an owls call, and Gem passes them, slipping out the door and taking the note from the owl waiting outside.

"Scott needs us in Rivendell ASAP. I might as well finish explaining there. Fwhip, you can get your revenge later. We need to go."

The trio takes off to the nearby kingdom, Pearl keeping a close eye on the tinkerer.

They meet in the church, to exchange the different information each has.

"Good you're all here." Scott starts. "I have some news I need to share with you all."

"While we're here..." Gem adds, "I too have some information. And we also did a good thing!" She grins at Fwhip, who was still obviously stewing in anger.

"Yeah yeah, we trapped the cod head in the end. They won't get to it."

"In the end?!" Scott gasps

"That's where the dragon is!" Katherine adds.

"Well they won't get to it, we made an elaborate dungeon!" Fwhip snaps, his anger getting out.

"Fwhip!" Gem scolds, and the tinkerer shrinks back into quietly stewing.

"Alright so that's not good, we need to go protect the dragon..." Scott groans "But I might as well tell you all first. There were ruins, I found out there's a whole good stag bad stag, and Xornoth is in fact my brother."

"What." The crowd echoes.

Gem steps forward "Interesting, I have information to add to about Xornoth. We have three members who have fallen to corruption." She starts, and the emperors minus Fwhip and Pearl mutter confusion. But even the two who didn't react as much still gave the wizard puzzled looks.

"This person has been undercover, serving as a host for Xornoth, the very first victim to the corruption. In fact, they were corrupted before we even met them. Since the beginning I had noticed a dark aura around them, but I figured it was the corruption around, the fact that corruption took their land." From this the others started to understand who she was referring to.

"Shrub is corrupted by Xornoth." She outright says it. "I confronted her, took her in to try to heal her, and Xornoth took over her and in turn grabbed me and tried to hold me captive."

There was a lot of silence, everyone taking it in.

"Well." Pearl breaks the silence. "That's an interesting turn of events."

"Alright...well...we need to deal with saving the dragon first, and then we can deal with her."

"Let's go!" They all charge out of the church towards the end portal to protect the dragon.

[waytooobsessedwithmcyt]

Can you elaborate on your WRA head cannons please?

Guess what's been sitting completed in my drafts because I thought I posted it but I just saved it

I'm sorry in advance for how long this is going to be, Tw for attempted suicide

WRA parents named courtesy of my friends being asked to think of a random name

Gem and Fwhip are both trans in this and are semi-identical twins (yes that's incredibly rare but the important part is that it's possible)

Pearl was born in Mythland which included Gilded Helinthia at the time. Her parents are Rowan and Delia, she was born before the rest of the WRA.

Gem and Fwhip were born two years after, deadnames were Piscis and Feyl. Feyl is from some fanfic that I really wish I remembered the name of because it's been driving me crazy, and Pisces is just another star sign. I mostly chose that name because I like the idea of some servant running into the king's room and telling him that he had twins, and his response is "ok name the girl Feyl like we planned and, it's May right? That's the Pisces month right, name the other one Pisces"

"sir no that's Gemini season"

"Don't correct me just go name him"

Anyways Gem and Fwhip's parents are named Amy and Felix but Amy's name doesn't really matter because I killed her off before the roseblings even got to 5.

When Gem and Fwhip are 4 and Pearl is 6, Delia and Rowan get into a fight because Delia kept not letting Pearl near Rowan and trying to basically make it so that when Pearl takes over, Delia will still be in charge. Delia kills Rowan so Pearl will become queen when she's younger and Delia can basically rule in her place until she's 18.

Delia makes up some bullshit about going to the Grimlands to secure an alliance since they're a weakened country, but she never comes back, the Countess of the Grimlands dies, and the Count suddenly has a new bride. Pearl doesn't hear about any of this because the emergency elected council have been trying to still let her have a normal childhood

Delia and Felix have a kid and name him Sausage and as soon as he's born, Delia pressures Felix into pronouncing him heir, typical Roseblings angst fanfic of family abuse starts.

When Gem and Fwhip are 12, Gem makes an escape/suicide attempt and "falls" off a bridge into a river. She manages to survive and swim to shore in a forest. Gem keeps running deeper into the forest until she finds a cave, the cave is where one of the wyverns who fly around her tower in canon live. I've named her Quartz and she sees a crying child and immediately adopts it.

Flies her to the Crystal Cliffs and blah blah blah other characters who technically exist in canon but I made up their entire character because they were just named NPCs. I'll get to them later but I promise their names are from canon I didn't just name someone Loon because I hate them

The next big thing to really happen is when Fwhip and Pearl meet for the first time, they're technically step siblings if you stretch so unfortunately no Gempearl this time. Pearl goes to Gem's funeral because they're technically allies and she's basically required to. Delia is ignoring her the whole time and won't acknowledge that she's her daughter. Fwhip and Pearl both end up sneaking away to the same spot to avoid the family and they have a real miniature funeral for Gem because Fwhip is so insulted by how much they're misconstruing her character.

Although Sausage is the favorite child and never gets physically abused, he's by no means having a great childhood. He was like 7 when he was told that his sister killed herself and Delia managed to trick him into thinking it was his fault. Fwhip doesn't like Sausage because he associates him with Delia, and Pearl doesn't like him because she sees him as the person who stole her mother from her.

Despite the Council's best efforts, Pearl is still having a shitty life, she's fourteen which is already an awful time to be alive, but also her only friend is from another empire and never takes time off to hang out with her. She's doing great in every class but she's being taught by a tutor who can't exactly give her the social network she needs. And on top of that her father is dead and her mother disowned her and her 18th birthday is looming over her because then she'll have to rule the kingdom basically on her own.

Fwhip's throwing himself fully into working on inventions and stuff, whatever the most unhealthy coping mechanism you can think of, he's doing that, he also cries every time he gets called a girl but still cis though

Gem meanwhile, managed to transition through magic but unfortunately for her, her coping mechanisms might be worse than Fwhip's. The NPCs I mentioned earlier come into the story now and that's Aries, Victor, and Loon, typical hurt/comfort ensues, I'd go more in depth to it but then this would just be a therapy session for me. Might elaborate if I get another ask (wink wink nudge nudge /nf /silly)

Gem and Fwhip are 13 now and the Grimlands decides that it hasn't fucked up enough people's lives and decides to pick a random empire to blame the kidnapping of their prince on, everyone else is thinking "Like 50 people saw him fall off a bridge what are you talking about" but nobody cares and Grimlands declares war on the Crystal Cliffs

Gem also meets Scott around this time although he's just informed that she's a runaway from the Grimlands, not that she's the literal princess. Scott's family goes to the Crystal Cliffs for diplomacy and royal stuff. Scott is the human age equivalent of 16 when Gem is 12, I definitely based their relationship off Secret Life a bit, he sees her and instantly goes "oh! That's a bisexual redhead, I think I signed a contract to befriend all of those" (non canon but it's weird how many times he's done that) Gem starts learning magic around this time and accidentally scorches a bit of his hair because I like the idea of Scott having a strand of his hair that was burnt while Gem has a strand of her hair that's eternally white from the frozen incident. Thematic parallels that I made the fuck up my beloved

Scott kinda becomes a therapist and manages to stop Gem's attempt to kill herself

The Crystal Cliffs Council (alliteration wow) is indecisive because

They heard what Gem said and they are not sending her back there

Gem transitioned and literally the only person who would recognize her would be her twin so it's fine (yeah this sounds like I plagiarized Greek plays and I did)

We have magic what the fuck are a bunch of humans going to do

Also in this au I took away one of Gem's legs for absolutely no reason other than I felt like it. Basically she went through her dumb teenager phase like anyone else and her and her friends sneak off to a nearby abandoned village to practice magic DURING AN ACTIVE WAR WHICH IS BEING FOUGHT SPECIFICALLY OVER GEM

(Gem and Fwhip were fourteen when this happened, Pearl was 16 and Sausage was 10)

Anyways Gem trips over a mine and manages to get at the perfect place to blow just her leg up. (I don't know where that spot would be don't ask me) And her friends manage to get her back to the Crystal Cliffs and she gets a prosthetic leg and a lecture.

Anyways this experience kinda shook Gem because obviously and after that she never makes a suicide attempt again. Yay for character growth

Next big thing that happens is when Pearl turns 18, instead of getting to inherit the kingdom, Delia chooses to come back and claim that Sausage (12) is the rightful heir.

Pearl disagrees and the majority of Mythland is on her side, but Delia won't budge so Pearl and half the kingdom split off to form Gilded Helinthia. Delia wants to start a war but nobody is letting her because all the armies refuse to move to stop them.

The Helinthians slowly move outwards and switch to farming

Skipping ahead to Gem and Fwhip's 18th birthday, Gem and her friends are planning to let Fwhip and Gem reunite. Scott is the Elf equivalent of 19 and is very against this idea but he can't really stop them. Gem brings a crossbow not really expecting to use it

Victor uses invisibility to get them into the castle, Gem checks Fwhip's room and when she can't find him, Aries hears some faint talking and Gem realizes he's at "family" dinner.

They sneak into the room and it's just Fwhip and Felix. Gem's finger instinctively tightens on the crossbow and she's unfortunately a great aim and her father's dead in a few seconds

They panic and Victor loses the invisibility spell. Fwhip immediately recognized his sister. Wholesome fluff

Anyways after the legal drama of Fwhip getting Gem to not be persecuted for patricide and Fwhip's own transition, Sausage, now 14, comes back and the trio have a nice reunion. Delia is dead but this time they can't trace the murder back to Gem. Fwhip is crowned Count and stops the war. In the last few months of it, the rest of the council was killed because they knew that it would be ending soon and went all in, so Gandalf is trying to find a new wizard and he takes a liking to Gem, who is sorta elected sorta "are you going to argue with the cat? Cause I'm not"

And then the Empires SMP story starts, at the start of the cod war, Sausage is 21, Gem and Fwhip are 25, and Pearl is 27

[whimsicaltwine]

ok so i've seen a couple people freak out over my tags on this post and i'm a bit insane on this saturday evening and so now i'm going to elaborate a bit. for context, the tags in question:

(this got long, so i'm putting it under a readmore)

several things about this. first, sausage. I've been rewatching season one again lately, and am at about when xornoth starts showing up in fWhip's pov, and one thing that has been striking me are the conversations between him and Gem that Sausage is not privy to. Worrying about him and discounting him go hand in hand, in many of these; early on in canon, they tease him, pointing out how he's silly (he is) and a bit too inclined towards conflict (he is) and it's all lighthearted and he doesn't mind but it creates a dynamic where you get the sense the two of them are shooting each other exasperated glances and rolling their eyes at him. They groan or laugh, Sausage keeps clowning around to get a rise out of them, and they go sure, Sausage, whatever you say, Sausage, and look at each other like exasperated but fond parents might at the antics of their toddler.

Somewhere along the line, these little looks, the ones that don't go over Sausage's head, the ones he thinks about at night when he compares himself to them and finds himself lackluster, the ones he tries not to think of that way because he also really honestly does have fun annoying them, turn into judgemental conversations behind his back and then worried ones. They talk about how he can't really do magic at all and then how his relationship to Xornoth is concerning. After it all, they take him back, but the rift Sausage's actions caused doesn't go away; it smooths over, they acknowledge he suffered, too, and that they love him enough to let him into their lives again, but all of that still happened. So just. With the context of all that - leaving him. Running away from the end of the world in what they believe is a life or death choice and not trying to pick him up on the way out. They love him!!!! They love him so much and they think of him often after everything and wish he was there but the fact of the matter is that in the moment, when they had the choice to get him, they did not. And the last thing they did was hear him do that thing he does where he says things in a lighthearted or joking tone (oh, haha, look at how wild and out of pocket this is, roll your eyes at me and sigh fondly) when really it's a plea to talk about them, if not a cry for help, and not listen. Neither of them listen. aoauauaufhafjaklfjajdflkj god I'm obsessed with the wra ok

Second thing: on stream sometime in season two, we got this from Sausage that I had to really hunt through my notes app to find:

“So technically, I’ve done a lot worse, in my, in my past, uh, life, uh, it, you know, throughout Mythland’s time period after the cataclysms. Ok, I did a lot worse, ok, I literally murdered people, uh, to fix things, ok, that technically messed up timelines and time frames and a lot of things happened that weren’t supposed to happen, but you know, that, taking a statue is absolutely nothing, it’s absolutely nothing. I technically murdered some people - I’m not gonna say who I murdered, I technically tried everything I could and I did a lot of bad things, ok, there’s a lot of things that I don’t even wanna bring up.

Sausage is trying to stop the apocalypse, yeah? And here he says he tried killing people to do that. Now, what kicked off all that? Which people would be the most logical to kill in order to prevent everything? How did it feel, looking into fWhip's eyes with his sword drawn? Even if it wasn't his fWhip, even if this version had a few memories different or a few scars in different places. He must have looked confused as much as he did angry and shocked because Sausage was supposed to be better now; he was supposed to have his best friend back. How did he scream, before the life went out of his eyes? How did Sausage cry? How many times did he have to try it in different universes before he could gather the fortitude to go through with it?

sometimes out of the blue ill remember that actually wra never got reunited. like thats our closure. he ran off to other timelines and got lost and could never find his way back home. that moment in the bar from season 1 was the last time those three ever talked. and they really did spend the rest of their lives never sure of what happened to the other.

[convexicalcrow]

I continue to be Not Normal about Sausage's Empires streams frfr. o.o

THE FEAR THAT GRIPPED ME WHEN BRATWURST WAS STANDING THERE, DEMANDING TO KNOW WHO THE H WAS WHO LIVED IN THAT TOWER I

IT WAS JUST THE VOD

IT WASN'T EVEN LIVE

BUT THE URGENT NEED TO NOT SAY THEIR NAME WAS VERY STRONG IN THAT MOMENT NGL

AS IF SOMEHOW HE WOULD HEAR ME IF I SAID IT

God, he's so good at this is almost unfair. D:

I am 100% gonna have to download and save these streams bc they deserve to be preserved as examples of amazing live psychological horror storytelling. It just builds and builds upon itself each stream. It's so good. It's so good oml.

Just like how Pearl's Hermitcraft streams really cemented the horror of s8 and Moon Big for me, these Empires streams are doing the same with Sausage's lore. It really makes the episodes hit different when you have the streams in the back of your mind.

oh my gods

I need something calming after that holy fuck. o.o

[wishycos]

I have a theory on Empires SMP Sausage. It’s kind of loosely based, but for now I believe in it.

I believe that we are still watching Season 1 Sausage.

In Season 1, Sausage was able to create portals or stuff for alternate realities. Like once when he tried to decorate the castle and completely messed up and ended up in Mythland. I think that he could have used that to jump forward in time accidentally, wanting to go to an alternate universe where none of this happened. When he realized there was no universe like that, he found the new group of people that look very similar to his friends. Except False.

Then he starts to build Sanctuary. Let’s think about the name of his empire this season really quickly. A sanctuary is a place for protection. Somewhere things are safe. Sausage keeps saying that he wants to “save his people”, and he’s building Sanctuary first so that they have a place to stay. What if “his people” are all of his old friends? What if he’s building Sanctuary so that he can go back and save all his friends before the disaster happens and then protect them?

But this is all just a loosely based theory that I wanted to share with you guys :)

[vyeoh]

this is your chance: wax poetic about an Empires or DSMP character of your choice to a fan who is new to both. Explain why I should love them. I need guidance in this new and meme-populated land.

okok this is a lot of pressure haha. Spoilers for EmpiresSMP and DreamSMP below, obviously. I wrote a lot so prepare yourself, anon

I watch a lot of empires POVs but the ones I most anticipate every week are Scott and Sausage.

c!Scott (I'll call him Smajor for the sake of simplicity) starts off the series chilling, not really getting involved with the rest of the server, and staying aggressively neutral. After all, he's an elf. He has lived far longer than most of the other rulers already, and will most likely outlive them for many years. So, the best thing is to stick to his mountains and not get invested in the dealings of mortal affairs, maybe sometimes causing problems on purpose and dipping because what's life without a little spice right.

But then, this demon comes to the server, Xornoth. He's going around causing havoc and wants to send the world into an eternal winter, but he doesn't bother the kingdom of Rivendell much so Smajor stays tentatively cautious but ultimately unbothered. But then, the puzzle pieces start falling together. The first thing that the audience noticed was was Xornoth sounded like Smajor, but we mostly thought that this was just due to cc!Scott voicing both of them and there was nothing more to it. However, then, the people the demon starts possessing start chanting in elvish. The demon hates mortals, and the elves are conveniently one of the two confirmed not fully mortal races in Empires.

This culminates when Smajor stumbles across a cave that contains the backstory of the patron god of Rivendell, Aeor. Basically, there's two opposing forces, Aeor and Exor, and both have a champion. In a previous life, those champions were two brothers, where Aeor eventually prevailed and banished Exor. In this life though, the champions are - you guessed it - Smajor, and the demon Xornoth.

So now Smajor is like. Well fuck. It's my literal god-given destiny to be responsible for defeating this demon who is technically my brother, and if I fail the server gets plunged into an eternal winter. And I have no fucking clue what is happening because I've just been here on this mountain actively trying to stay out of the issues outside my kingdom. We watch him panic and teeter on the verge of spiraling for an entire episode, and when the followers of Xornoth go to the End to kill the dragon, releasing Xornoth's full powers, he fails to stop him. Smajor is a character who was used to being the smart one, the prepared one, the one who has the least deaths on the server. But he's also a character who runs away from his problems and ignores them. Before and during the dragon fight, we hear the desperation in his voice, as he's thrown into a situation he is wholly unprepared for, and it's bigger than him going to the Cod Empire to kill their king, or assisting in other people's plans to kill the codfather. He can't run from this. cc!Scott plays this scene so well as well, as I've said before, one of the best parts of Scott's acting is how he's never super dramatic, but he's so effective in the little things like inflection to make you feel, viscerally, the panic and dread.

So after the dragon fight, Smajor realizes, I can't do this on my own. I've tried and failed. So he gets allies. We watch him, someone who has so strongly been an isolationist, learn the benefits of allies and watch him learn to trust others and watch him learn how to get that trust in return.

My favorite thing about Smajor's characterization is that he's an incompetent protagonist, but not in the way of the "plucky young adventurer". He's capable skill-wise, and fairly jaded and very pessimistic. However, his issue is that up until recently, he did not care about the rest of the server at all, and by the time he learned to, it was way too late.

Also, in 3rd Life, cc!Scott and cc!Jimmy were canonically married and they reference it sometimes in Empires. Like, Scott goes over to the Cod Empire every so often both in and out of character to kill and/or flirt with Jimmy, the ruler of the Cod Empire, which may develop as a secondary plot into the future who knows. So ty Scott for giving the gays what they want o7

Now onto Sausage: his is a story of Icarus, his hubris and ambition being his downfall. He's one of the two followers of Xornoth, who promised him endless power in exchange for his servitude. He started the series being eccentric, but not outright unhinged, but slowly gets more and more extreme as the series progresses, as he gets brought more and more to Xornoth's side.

One of the best parts of Sausage's character, in my opinion, is how his gradual corruption affects the people around him. Initially, he got into a conflict with the Cod Empire and was allied with two other people in the Witherrose alliance. They were allies, but also close friends. The fandom liked to joke that the three had sibling energy, and I'm pretty sure the ccs played to that even more lol.

It was painful to watch the other two members, Gem and fWhip, watch Sausage get corrupted right in front of them, and see them desperately clinging on to this old idea of Sausage in their head because if they faced the truth, it would mean that their friend was gone. Eventually, they do finally cut him out of the alliance, leading him to fully commit to the side of the demon. Sausage felt very clearly betrayed by this, and declared the remaining two Witherrose alliance members to be enemies.

He gets more and more possessed, and we even see the other Empires, his enemies even, slowly realize that something is very wrong with the ruler of Mythland. He starts doing more and more evil things, like killing people more, making sacrifices to the demon, and eventually helping to kill the dragon to free Xornoth. So things are good for Sausage, for a bit. He won, and is more powerful than ever. Then he finds out: he's going to die. Xornoth's possession is slowly killing his soul, and eventually, his body going to be fully taken over and he himself is going to be trapped in the spirit realm. So how do you react to this? Over the next few episodes, we watch Sausage struggle between "the demon is literally killing me" and "the demon has given me so much, and I love it", all while Xornoth takes over more and more of him. We hear him exclaim that "don't worry!! I'm still about 15% there!" while trying to downplay every time Xornoth completely takes over his body. We watch him willingly oppose anyone who is trying to end the thing that is killing him.

My favorite thing about Sausage is that he is undoubtedly evil and proud of it, but he's also undoubtedly human. If you like to watch evil characters go absolutely feral, he's the guy for you. He makes the deal with Xornoth in the beginning, knowing and fully embracing the evilness of the demon, but at the same time he knows what he's doing is detrimental to both himself and everyone around him, but he's gotten in way too deep at this point, and to be fair the demon has held up its end fo the bargain, right?

Also, I would be damned if I don't talk about cc!Sausage's editing. Every one of his videos is like a movie. The way he does camera angles and uses music is so skillful- every lore scene feels like something out of a high fantasy action saga (think: LotR). Every big lore event I always wait in anticipation for Sausage's ep because his editing truly takes lore to another level.

I'm just generally very excited to see where this series goes. Empires is such a good mix of talented builders and good lore. Part of the reason why the series is so immersive for me, beyond any other lore smp, is that they have the settings to back it up. There is a certain charm to the DreamSMP's objectively terrible builds (with a few exceptions) but in Empires, the settings help sell the plot so much.

Another part of why I love EmpiresSMP is how much the ccs are involved with the fan community. I'm sure you've seen the memes about Scott being on tumblr, and Sausage regularly goes through the EmpiresSMP fanart tag on Twitter and likes art, even ones not related to Mythland. Most of the ccs, in fact, have brought up tumblr content on stream at some point or another. Like, several ccs have said that they read tumblr lore theories and hcs and stuff and sometimes take inspiration from them. Fun fact: Rivendell's church was inspired by my pinned drawing; confirmed by Scott Smajor himself. It's just such a good cycle of ccs and fans being excited about each other.

As for DreamSMP, I'm gonna be honest here, the only person I really am invested in in Technoblade. I started watching when he joined the server, and he's the only person whose lore I keep up to date with.

Techno's fun to watch because he's like the Deadpool of DreamSMP. Virtually unkillable, very skilled and scary, but consistently cracks jokes and breaks the 4th wall during plot. His POV is just fun. Like, he does wild plans and gives speeches and some of the stuff that happens to him should be called deus ex machine if it wasn't for the fact that Technoblade is the one who's doing it, and all the stuff is grounded in the fact that cc!Techno is just that good at the game.

However, the fact that he rarely takes anything seriously makes the few times Techno is 100% serious so much more impactful. His whole character has a basis in being perceived as inhuman and being treated as such, and therefore in return trying to hide his humanity. So, when he shows that humanity, whether that's fear, anger, or genuine love for his friends, it really makes you go "oh shit."

Techno's often said not to have character development, but I'd argue that while he remains steadfast in his moral code, he develops leaps and bounds as a person. Like, at the beginning, he's brought onto the server to help Wilbur and Tommy overthrow a government; them knowing he's 1) an anarchist and 2) very very powerful. His character was more of a plot device at that point and was treated as such in the canon. Wilbur and Tommy straight-up lie to him about their plans to establish another government after they overthrow the current one, while he was led on to believe that they were abolishing all governments in the area. But he isn't a plot device. He's a person, as much as he only shows the terrifying, blood god side of himself.

After the establishment of New Lmanburg (the new government its a long story), his friend Phil joins. And for the first time, we see him be fully human with someone and we see someone treat him like a human. Like, we saw glimpses before, with Wilbur and Tommy in Pogtopia, but Phil is the first person we noticeably see he trusts 100%. Then Doomsday happens, and Techno essentially retires to the tundra. During this time, we see Techno learn to be more human, first with Ranboo, then Niki when he establishes the Syndicate. In fact, the two of them, along with Phil, canonically throw him a birthday party, which is a far cry from his treatment in Pogtopia.

Techno's development is one of a god learning to be human, and I just think he <3

[lunarsands]

ESMP S1 Fanfic: A Garden's Path - Prologue

Characters: Mythical Sausage, Scott Smajor, Bubbles the Dog, Sir Carlos, appearances by the cast of Empires SMP S1 including Xornoth, featuring blaze-hybrid emperor TangoTek, and introducing: The Children of Mythland (specific characters to be tagged when they appear in each chapter)

Relationships: MythicalSausage/Scott Smajor, LDShadowlady/Smallishbeans, Shubble/Katherine Elizabeth, Jimmy Solidarity & TangoTek

Tags: Empires SMP S1 AU, scosage, adoption, fluff, wholesome, so much wholesome fluff you would not believe, a bit of angst here and there, Sausage has a few nightmares for Plot reasons, acknowledgement of amputation (not sure how else to tag that but just in case)

WARNINGS: fantasy racism (human vs elf), loss of parent (with adoption inevitably comes orphans), minor character death in a later chapter

Summary: Having weathered a new set of trials and finding love together, Sausage and Scott look toward a whole new future and adventure together: raising some adopted children. Surely after everything else they can handle two sons, a daughter, two or three others, a foundling infant…and a handful more along the way.

Set in an AU where Scott’s sacrifice at the end of Season 1 led to the creation of an alternate timeline. Scott retains his memories of the previous version of the world – as does Sausage, due to his ability to traverse parallel dimensions.

(Also available on Ao3!)

Prologue: The Aftermath

[ A/N: This is a sequel to an illustrated story by Cynthrey! :D Since I will be avoiding some of the spoilers for that story, we’ve decided to run them concurrently. You can read The Champion of Exor AU for information on things like: Why is this scosage? What is Tango doing here? Why does Sausage have a prosthetic arm? Now also available on Ao3!]

---

It had seemed like just another of Sausage’s exaggerated theatrics when, during a Wither Rose Alliance meeting, he bemoaned being unable to properly hug anyone with only one arm. Gem and fWhip had expected a different turn to the conversation when the wizard had asked how he had been adjusting after returning to some of his kingly duties. He certainly seemed like his old self, gesticulating as he talked, although now it involved waving his left arm around and merely lifting what remained of the upper half of his right, the sleeve of his shirt neatly rolled and pinned above where his elbow would have been.

The loss of one arm hadn’t slowed Sausage down for long, aside from the initial few months of recovery. Gem’s healing spells along with some holistic elven care had him back on his feet and in full architect form soon enough. With Scott’s help, they had rebuilt the parts of Mythland that had suffered from Sausage’s own actions. This included renovations around the castle, where walls were either removed or relocated to allow for open spaces, in particular a grand garden that featured some of the new orchid varieties Sausage had promised to bring to Mythland, and artful layouts by Scott’s hand of many other flowers and decorative hedges. The combination brought some natural healing, as well, to bodies and minds.

fWhip sat back in his chair as he watched Sausage while he went on about construction difficulties. The inventor clasped his ginger-bearded chin with one hand while beginning to tap on the papers in front of him with the other. He could remember just how Sausage’s right arm would look similarly flailing around with animated speech. fWhip abruptly flipped over a piece of paper and began sketching out a rough blueprint. The movement of the quill caught Gem’s eye and she glanced over at the drawing talking shape. Her eyebrows went up, then she smiled but refrained from offering more than a quiet and intrigued, “Ooh…” to not distract fWhip. He was in The Zone though, tuning out Sausage, and even grabbed Gem’s papers to have extras to scribble more details.

Gem now made sure to throw comments at Sausage to keep him distracted after she saw fWhip write a note of ‘deadline: wedding surprise’ with a big question mark. “You can do it,” she said, which could have been taken as directed at either of them. Sausage, of course, assumed she was talking to him and he proceeded to rattle off several reasons for why he probably could not and should not be doing any extensive cave explorations just for some emerald ore, because how would he manage both a pickaxe and a shield, unless he tried strapping a shield to his upper arm, but anyway how would he switch over to a sword fast enough if there were any monsters and also he was still retraining how to sword fight with his left hand instead of his right – and so on.

When the meeting ended, Gem had thought to offer any help fWhip might need with the project, but he was off and not-literally-running, pouring over the papers as he walked with only a hastily spoken, “Mm-hm, mm-hm, see you next time.” He stopped to lean on a barrel to make another notation, then tucked the papers inside his jacket to protect them as he stepped into the bubble elevator.

They’d had to replace ladders in various places since those were a little difficult for Sausage to use at the moment, but if fWhip’s plan worked, that would only be temporary.

~*~

Although the prosthetic had a solid copper casing in the shape of an arm proportional to Sausage’s left one, the prototype was still simple and more of a rush job than fWhip would have liked, but the deadline seemed to come up faster than expected, and the salmon forge wasn’t predictable enough for such precise work. As it stood, he nearly made Sausage late for his own wedding, but he had to insist they take the time to get it working so he could not only properly hug Scott, but properly hold his hand while exchanging rings.

That thought convinced Sausage to hold still despite glances toward the clock while fWhip cinched up the metal rig that went over his shoulder to hold the prosthetic in place against the stump of his right arm, then connected a series of redstone wires between the two parts. Sausage flinched at the small jolt as the redstone fired up, but then wonder dawned on his face when he was able to slowly straighten the arm and bend the fingers partway.

fWhip did warn him to think of it as a simple tool and not a full replacement; the range of movement was severely limited and wouldn’t hold much weight, and there wasn’t enough grip strength in the fingers to pick things up, but it would serve the purpose needed for that day. Sausage thanked him for even that much ability, and after fWhip helped him get his single-sleeved dress shirt and similarly modified ceremonial doublet on, he covered the prosthetic with his cloak and they hurried out to the garden for the ceremony.

Scott, waiting with everyone else, wore exquisite traditional elven wedding robes, a circlet made of gleaming ice crystals with a short veil attached atop his head, and clearly looked like he had been worried that Sausage had gotten cold feet. Instead, he saw the grin on his groom’s face that gave away that he was up to something and Scott couldn’t help a smile of his own, wondering if that giddy expression was for more than just the fact that their wedding was even happening. The elf’s own look of surprise, then of joy, when Sausage lifted the arm from under his cloak to cup his substitute hand underneath Scott’s hand, then slip the wedding ring on, was worth the minor discomfort of the not-quite-perfected redstone signals.

And then, once pronounced man and husband, Sausage carefully put both arms around Scott to hug him the way he had longed to since the moment he had woken up after the battle and found that his love was shared.

The redstone wiring failed partway through the reception, causing need for an impromptu sling to hold the prosthetic up until fWhip could remove the rig later, but Sausage didn’t mind. It had worked for just the right amount of time that it needed to, and anything else he could do fine with just his left hand – or with Scott’s help.

There were a few more designs that fWhip tried out after that, with variations on how the redstone wiring read signals and how the assortment of gears moved. Ever the adventurous type – and maybe just eager to have two working hands again, because what was a builder with only one arm – as well as possibly an unhealthy amount of pain tolerance, Sausage made for a good test subject. He put up with the occasional shorts in the wiring that left the prosthetic hanging useless, weathered the zaps if the power distribution was off, and let fWhip tinker without being picky about how the arm looked.

During the final test of getting conscious signals from Sausage to transfer to the prosthetic, fWhip resorted to a different sort of experiment with Gem’s help that involved embedding a transmitter inside a magic crystal that was attuned to the Mythlandian’s personal magical frequency, creating a small device that fit over Sausage’s ear and could be hidden behind it. This linked up with a matching crystal inside the prosthetic, and greatly increased Sausage’s control over the parts of the arm.

From there fWhip refined the inner workings. Smaller gears, a new type of copper wiring, some of the same old redstone technology, and then a series of overlapping struts on the outside to form the shape of flexor, radialis, bicep, triceps, and other assorted muscles but retaining superior functionality. He added a few aesthetic details as well, like invoking the vambrace he used to wear on his forearm that contained a second attuned gemstone for a backup.

The rig also no longer needed to go over his shoulder, with a basket-like inner structure that fit snug against what remained of his arm and the outer struts still forming a muscle-shaped support over it. An extra, simple strap was attached to the basket that could be tightened just in case, making it easier to remove for sleep or if it was irritating him for any reason. Sausage would wear a fabric cuff to cover the end of his stump for a little padding and protection for the scarred skin, the cuff itself buttoned on one side to also offer easy removal. He could choose to either drape a partial shirt sleeve over the top half of his upper arm or do away with sleeves on that side of his shirts altogether; the only drawback to the new design being that fabric could easily get caught in the struts if left sitting against them while he was using it. fWhip offered to test out full cover casings for temporary use in future versions, but Sausage still preferred functionality over appearance.

The real test came when attempting to pick up and carry boxes of supplies and materials, and how well the prosthetic held up while actually building. Of course, fWhip also cautioned against letting too much dust or small debris get into the arm, so Sausage was still limited on that front anyway, but getting to do at least a little of his favorite hobby was an improvement, and now he had Scott to help him – and to remind him when to take a break, or keep track of how much dust was getting kicked up. Still, even just drawing up architectural designs and taking measurements was easier with two hands.

fWhip was, however, resigned to knowing that part of the regular maintenance on the prosthetic would be cleaning the internal mechanisms. Although, to look at it another way, it served just as much of a learning experience for him to see what other types of improvements he could make to protect and perfect the internal parts even more.

~*~

With such a wedding as auspicious as a king marrying an elven prince, it was inevitable that there would be other parties of a more public nature, with the nobles of Mythland wishing to congratulate their ruler, and envoys from Rivendell visiting to honor their prince now become a king regnant. Things generally went smoothly, so on one occasion Scott and Sausage separated to mingle with crowds of their respective fellows to thank them.

Scott ended up accepting a gift from the Rivendell merchant’s guild of bottles of spiced cider, the best of each’s stock, and shared one with them over some idle chatter about recent Rivendell affairs until one of them made the casual comment, “Say, good move securing yourself a kingdom.”

Scott was about to question what they were implying but another of the merchants cut in with a laugh, “Ah, yes – why else a human then, hmm? What a quaint dalliance.”

A third asked, “He only has, what, fifty years left in him? Any lucky elf in mind for when that day comes?”

Scott forced his expression to be neutral then twirled his finger in the air. He froze their drinks, then caused frost to form over their hands so they were stuck to their goblets. He tossed what was left of his drink into the face of the first offender, then he spun around with his chin held high and walked away.

Meanwhile, Sausage had been chatting with some nobles from the far side of Mythland, and after showing off the latest version of his prosthetic, was fielding reports on the land holdings plus a little trouble with zombie hordes, which he promised to look into.

One of the men kept eyeing any of the elven guests who meandered nearby, then finally spoke his mind. “So, an elf became your choice? I can’t blame you. They have such… unusual color hair. Such pretty things…”

His tone made Sausage feel cautious that this was some type of judgment. “Well, there’s plenty of other things, just like you and me. Fighting skills, magic talent—”

“I suppose,” the man droned on as if dismissing those details, “They’re not all as delicate as they look. Say, are the ears like handles for when he’s—”

Upon the word ears, Sausage could guess where it was going and began to draw back his right arm. He then cold clocked the man right in the face before he could finish the sentence, buckling a few struts and popping a redstone wire somewhere in his prosthetic. The hand went limp and he had to lower the arm by pushing on it with his left hand, but he only glared as the offender’s fellow noble tried to help him, walking him away from the enraged Mythland king.

Sausage turned away as well and stormed off through the staring crowd, whispered gossip following in his wake about what the noble could possibly have said to make their king react like that.  He found a quiet spot with fewer people and started to inspect his arm. Aside from the struts making up the back of the hand and one by the wrist, he figured whatever wire had broken was key to letting him control the hand. He could only move the elbow partway so he forced it into a folded position, then removed his ceremonial cape and hung it over the arm to make it look like he was merely holding the cape as one normally would when feeling warm.

He figured that would suffice to ward off comments until he could contact fWhip to fix it. He should probably ask the inventor about reinforcing it so he could use it for such occasions without breaking it. He did feel a little foolish, however, that he had used it instead of his left fist, but the anger had struck pretty quickly, and his right side had been in a better position to hit first…

Well, what was done was done. He wasn’t about to allow such crude comments, and now people knew it. He turned back toward the crowd – in time to see Scott stalking by looking upset. He reached for the elf’s arm to stop him. “Hey – are you all right?”

Startled, Scott looked over at him, having not noticed he was there, then promptly hugged him and explained what the merchants had said. “It’s just so… callous of them to think I only married you because I wouldn’t become ruler of Rivendell, and that I would just… wait out your time…”

“Well, you… shouldn’t have to be alone after I go,” Sausage said softly. “It’s just a fact I’ll pass first. And I wouldn’t do anything like mess with magic to extend my lifespan, that would be crazy, eh-heh…”

Scott gave an earnest but gentle smile. “You’ve already thought about that, haven’t you?”

“Ah— haha. Yup,” Sausage admitted. “I won’t though. I know it won’t end well. We have the time together that we have.” He clasped Scott’s hand and brought it to his lips for a kiss to his knuckles.

Scott then hugged him again, only to realize there was something odd when Sausage returned the hug with only his left arm. The elf stepped back and looked down questioningly at how the prosthetic, hidden by the cape, was positioned. Sausage cleared his throat and slid the cape back to show the damage to his hand. “I, um, needed to defend your honor. The condescension runs on both sides.”

Scott sighed and helped arrange the cape back over the hand. “And we thought demons were the worst of our problems…”

“I know. Turns out it’s really other people. Come on, we’ll stick together for the rest of the night.”

“I like that plan.” Scott smiled, then paused and removed his own cape, draping it over the prosthetic as well. “Look how nice my husband is, carrying that for me.” He kissed Sausage on the cheek, earning a grin, then they rejoined the crowd.

.

It was sometime later when they were approached by the nobleman whom Sausage had punched, a sizeable bruise marring his face. “I expect an apology!” the man hissed. He flicked his gaze toward Scott and began to sneer.

“No,” Sausage said calmly, then yelled, “Guards! Escort this—” He spoke a word in Elvish “—out of here!”

Scott feigned a horrified gasp. “Sausage! Don’t call him that!” He had to suppress a smile until the man was hauled away, then he burst out laughing.

“What?” Sausage asked. “Was my accent that bad?”

“You called him a tree branch.”

“Oh. Well. Close enough.”

.

The rest of the event passed without incident, and soon enough the celebrations tapered off. With life getting back to normal and quiet, peaceful days ahead of them, Sausage turned his thoughts toward the future and the other possibilities that might await there.

~*~

One night, as Scott was helping him remove his prosthetic to get ready for bed, he decided it might be time to share some of his thoughts. He felt a little nervous, however, but instead of fidgeting just tried to lay still when Scott lifted it away from the protective cuff that covered the remaining part of his upper arm, the flicker of combined magic and redstone signals tapering off from his awareness. With the utmost care Scott placed it in its fabric-lined case where it wouldn’t be accidentally knocked over if either of them got up during the night.

Sausage sat up and leaned to reach and catch the elf’s hand before he could move around to the other side of the bed. “Can I… Can I ask you something?” Yet then, hesitating, he let go of Scott’s hand.

Curious about his tone, Scott sat down on the side of the bed. “You can, although it seems like you’re not sure if you want to. Everything okay?”

“Yes, I was just, um -- Well, I’ve been wondering… What, uh, what do you think about having… children?”

“Aside from the obvious issue with that?” Scott uttered a light laugh, but seeing Sausage’s face flush a little, he rested his hand over his. “Honestly? I hadn’t thought about it much before. Between the old world and this one, I always had other things on my mind.” He went quiet as he gave it some thought now, gently caressing Sausage’s arm in apology for seeming to tease him. “I guess… I mean we could… start considering adoption. Did you have something specific in mind? One, or maybe two – son, daughter, other?”

“Doesn’t particularly matter, just, ah— whoever we find that will accept us as we are, too. I mean, I don’t know how a child might feel about a father with only one arm.” Sausage looked at him sheepishly. “I would ask fWhip to reinforce the other one so I can pick them up and carry them around and stuff. Well, if they happen to be small enough for that. I guess age doesn’t matter too much, either.”

“Probably not an infant, though. We’re not equipped for handling anyone that young, and it might be easier to adjust our lives around an older child – you know, one who would know to be careful about your arm. There is one other consideration,” he added softly, a single possible repercussion coming to mind. “…Human, or elf?”

Sausage glanced down for a moment, understanding the implication, then smiled when he lifted his head. “Doesn’t matter. Whichever we find.”

Scott smiled in return and patted Sausage’s leg, then stood to dim the lanterns before going to his side of the bed. He had just gotten settled when more thoughts started occurring to him. “What would they call us? We can’t both be ‘dad’.”

“Dad and… ice-dad,” Sausage joked.

“No.” Scott pretended to act offended.

“I’m kidding! I called my father ‘papa’ when I was little. I’d be okay being that.”

“I’ll be ‘dad’ then.” He went quiet for a minute, weighing his next thought before saying out loud, “Should we tell them who we are right away? ‘Hi, we’re the rulers of Mythland, do you want to become royalty?’”

“That could be intimidating, or influence a match that doesn’t work out, depending on the people who run the place.”

“Right… It could be a surprise, maybe?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Then Sausage frowned sadly even though Scott couldn’t see it in the dark. “We won’t tell them the truth about my arm. That stays in the past. We’ll…make something up if anyone asks. Or just say that we don’t talk about what happened to Papa’s arm.”

Scott sought between them for Sausage’s left hand and gave it a squeeze. “All right.” He let a silent moment of that comfort pass, then said, “I’ll go to Rivendell in a day or so and find out what options there might be.”

“Sounds good. Maybe I’ll change some rooms around while you’re there.”

“Okay.”

They fell back into silence, if not sleep, with Sausage feeling grateful that Scott had been open to the suggestion, and Scott now realizing how much more of a future was available to them. His mind went to comments made by other elves about Sausage’s shorter lifespan. The idea of children meant their marriage, and the future of Mythland, could outlast them both…

~*~

Xornoth attempted to stare at his younger brother as if he wasn’t crazy, but darn if it wasn’t difficult not to. “You would like me to what?”

“Just to help me vet a few locations, if you will? I don’t know how appropriate it would be for a former prince of Rivendell to start touring every orphanage in the realm with his human husband…”

Xornoth chuckled. “Oh, but it’s appropriate for the current ruler to do it?”

“Well, I didn’t mean for you to go in person—”

“I understand your concerns but, Scott, why don’t you?”

“What?”

“Just go! Take Sausage with you and go meet some kids! Don’t worry so much about criteria, I’m sure any place will be overjoyed to know there will be dedicated parents looking after some young ones! Remember, I’ve seen you two together and the hearts are flying between you all the time now.”

The tips of Scott’s ears burned and he stared back at him as if he had never in the world expected him to say something like that.

Xornoth went and pretty much read his brother’s mind. “What? Did you think I would discourage you? You with your former inability to control elemental powers and him being a former demon? You’ve both gotten second chances and the world is wide open. You deserve a family of your own, too, if that’s what you want.”

“Maybe let’s not mention that second part ever again. Can I trust you to not bring that up? Our one rule is going to be we don’t talk about what happened to Papa’s arm.”

“ ‘Papa’? Oh, that’s adorable.” Xornoth laughed. Scott folded his arms, indicating he was serious. “Of course, I promise – I would no sooner tell about that than I would how I was once a demon, too.” He winked, but at those words Scott knew the secret was safe. Xornoth then began chuckling again. “Wouldn’t want to make Papa sad by reminding him about his arm, no… Ha! All right,” he said as Scott elbowed him, “Let’s get out a map and find you a town or two where you might not be easily recognized.”

Coming Next: Chapter One – The First Princes

[bird-of-fyre]

Empires SMP x Wynncraft AU

Been playing a bunch of Wynncraft (an MMO in MC co-owned and I think also created by Grian) and the two BIG plot devices in it are Corruption (Wyyn Province) and Decay (Gavel Province). Both are similar and have ties to the same catalyst.

What’s going on in Empires right now? Corruption. So my brain went brrr and we have this. Feel free to write for, make fanart, etc. with this AU just tag me so that I can see it!

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There are 2 realms in Wynncraft that are constantly at odds with each other. The Realm of Darkness (Dern) and the Realm of Light. When the two forces meet, corruption is formed and the battlefield of their war took place within the Nether. In Wynn, Human miners unearthed a Nether portal and entered, the magic within corrupting and changing them; they returned leading armies of undead that still terrorize the province today. In Gavel, a parasitic entity emerged from a Dern portal and began to infect the magic-enriched land with the Decay.

Corruption spreads like a weed through roots spanning under the entirety of Wynn; the only known force to stall it is Ice Magic. Decay spreads like an infection and slowly consumes the land, it is weak to Light Magic.

The land Empires SMP takes place on is going to be known as Empiria because I feel it deserves a name for this AU. A strange magic protects this land that is believed to be a result of the banishment of Corruption by the Gods before they fell into slumber. Empirians call it "Respawn Magic” as upon dying one is revived at perfect health (though scars may remain depending on the cause of death). Death to age is still a thing, however lifespans of most inhabitants are extended two decades with the exception of elves who live even longer.

Several Empires already existed  before the present day crew, these being the following: Rivendell, Mythland, The Overgrown, The Ocean Empire, The Lost Empire, and Smallhold. The rest only came to rise in the past decade

--------

Characters:

Fwhip: A human that hails from the Wynn province. Him and his sister Gem lived in Detlas together as their parents died in a battle against the endless armies of undead. Fwhip was fascinated by the corruption in their land and sought to study it, perhaps maybe even find out a cure. Gem stopped him from this obsession, reminding him that those that went down that path all ended up becoming harbingers of the corruption. They moved to the land of Empiria shortly around the present day where Fwhip found the Grimlands and the crystalized redstone that tainted it drew his attention. Gem wasn’t fond of the idea but it was a different kind of corruption than that back home so she let him study it. Somehow manages to come off as unhinged yet still in complete control.

Gem: Hailing from Wynn, Gem and Fwhip left for new lands to escape the corruption and undead armies. She settled in a mountainous biome full of amethyst crystals so that she could keep an eye on her brother as his fascination with volatile crystalized redstone worries her. She knew basic fire magic pre-Emperia but now is a bit more adept in her powers and has also learned many more spells. She joined the Wither Rose Alliance with Fwhip and Sausage simply to keep the two chaotic gremlins in line.

Jimmy: A Cod-Hybrid from the Ocean Empire and the adopted brother of Lizzie. He left home to found his own empire in the nearby swamp with his sister’s well wishes. His kingdom is small, but he is a kind and generous ruler that doesn’t see himself above his subjects. While working on paths he found a human washed up on the shore in poor condition; this individual was Joel, a nobody from a far away land who really had just given up on any form of future. Jimmy tends to be the person that generally gets picked on by other rulers for having the smallest empire and because he’s very gullible. Close friends with Pix, who he eagerly loves hearing stories of Corkus from.

Joel: Originally from the port town of Nemract in Wynn, Joel tried to start a religion called Jeremyism in memorium of a donkey he lost to the corruption that never took off due to the Bovemists and their own religion. He cheated some pirates in gambling so they took him hostage and forced him to be part of their crew, not that he was complaining, it was way better than the life he had before. Unfortunately, this didn’t last very long as a battle against some rival pirates during a horrible storm ended with him getting tossed overboard. He awoke on the shore of a swamp where he encountered a cod-hybrid who, with their sister, helped him get back on his feet. After experiencing the Cod and Ocean Empires he decided to start his own in the mesa across the ocean so that he can remain close allies with the duo that saved his life. Him and Lizzie marry a few years later.

Joey: A parrot-hybrid that rules over the Lost Empire as its emperor. He is extremely flirtatious and has questionable morals, but despite this he does care for his people. Fascinated by supernatural forces such as immortality and corruption and also always is looking to grow more powerful in any way he can. He has wind magic but doesn’t tend to use it very much.

Kathrine: A fae whose ancestors were originally from the Realm of Light in a time before the Decay took root in Gavel and Dernic forces made their way into the said realm. When she learns of the origins of several new rulers she is surprised as she had only ever been told of Gavel and Dern. Her and Scott are close, given both their ancestral homes were in Gavel.

Lizzie: An axolotl hybrid who rules over the Ocean Empire. She is a generous and humble ruler who takes pride in he empire and her people. She found a young cod-hybrid caught in a fishermans net when she was still a princess and saved him, declaring him her new brother (which he was happy about). When she was asked to help with a human that had washed onto the shores of Jimmy’s empire she had not been expecting to fall in love with the stranger and is now married to Joel. Wields powerful water magic and takes nonsense from nobody (including her husband).

Pearl: The carefree ruler of Smallhold, an Empire that originally started out as a poor farming village that was struggling on hard times. Pearl is a nymph who took pity on the town and used her magic to help the village through hard times, eventually having them elect her as their queen. Despite her title, she prefers to see herself on equal terms as her people.

Pix: A human from the province of Corkus with great enthusiasm, ambition, and taste for the occasional mischief. He left the island province for new beginnings after accidentally breaking several Corkian laws that would have ended him in prison. His dedication to The Vigil is something he learned from interaction and time spent with the Avos; a race of bird humanoids that were the only inhabitants of Corkus before humans settled there. Pix is fantastic when it comes to metallurgy and uses this knowledge to his advantage when it comes to the copper and other metals he uses in his Empire.

Sausage: Born in the province of Fruma to a poor family Sausage always desired more and often had dreams about becoming a royal and learning magic as only they were allowed the luxury of such. He acted as the robin hood of Fruma for a time before he was eventually caught by the Fruman army and shipped off to Wynn as a soldier to aid the said province in their eternal war against the undead. Unlike most Fruman humans entering Wynn, Sausage did not loose his memories and took the first chance he got to stow away on a ship to new lands. Unfortunately, the ship in question was destroyed in a storm and he washed up onto the shores of Mythland (a smaller town without leadership at the time) and was made its king a year or so thereafter. Given he has no magical abilities of his own due to his origins, he turned to Blood Magic as it’s the closest he’ll ever get.

Scott: The elves of Rivendell originally hailed from Aldorei in Gavel, leaving to escape the Decay. Scott was young when they left for the new lands and, unfortunately, several of the fleeting group were lost to creatures of Dern and Decay; including his older brother, Xornoth. There had been no time to retrieve the bodies of the fallen so those that were left behind were assumed dead or infected. While cold and normally detached from the affairs of others, he does care about his fellow empires. He has light magic but struggles to wield it properly.

Shelby: Gone from her village Shelby returned to find it overun by the Decay and the monsters that come with it. Unable to do anything for her people, she left for new lands. Gavel’s best and brightest couldn’t find a cure for the Decay in their homeland so she hopes that maybe, in this new one, that she might find something to save her people.

Xornoth: Once an elf, now a twisted demonic entity with a lust for destruction. Wounded and separated from his family in an attack while attempting to leave Gavel, he was captured by an acolyte of Dern named Bak’al who brought him back to the realm of darkness. It is here that Xornoth was slowly and painfully corrupted in both mind and body, becoming yet another agent of the beast that governs the dark realm.

[andiinaraethtash]

Chapter 17: Tell You You’re the Greatest (But Once You Turn They Hate Us)

Notes:

Wow, we are getting so close to the end. I still have a minimum four or five chapters to write, which is gonna be fun cause I just injured one of my hands so I can't type as well as I usually can, but we're almost at the climax in terms of the story posted so far. Hard to believe. I already have my next fic planned, too. Gosh, I need a break. Speaking of, I'm gonna be out of town the weekend of the third of September. So no update then. But I'll try to post the Tuesday before and the Tuesday after. No guarantees, but I will try. Tw: None in particular, really, just mild descriptions of injuries. Like, very, very mild. Chapter title from Enemy by Imagine Dragons.

After about a half-day of rest, Pix is right back to work. He’s not got much to do in the way of repairs—his people have that well in hand, all he has to do is make sure the work has been done—but he does have to update the Vigil. As soon as that's done, he ponders what to do, where to go—then finds that his mind keeps getting drawn toward Rivendell. Something is going to happen there, something important.

So he sends off word to the other empires to let them know firstly where he is going to be in case they need to find him, and secondly that they should join him. Then, he takes off, heading east as fast as he can.

The journey is long, but easy, and before he knows it, the mountains of Rivendell are coming into view. He spots Joey landing as Scott’s lodge comes into view, and knows that his message got to him. That’s good. Hopefully the others will be here, soon, too.

Rivendell somehow looks exactly like it had before, and yet very different. The large snow drifts are gone, melted away, but the village is still and silent, like it had been before. It’s still cold enough that Pix is grateful he’d thought to change into more winter-appropriate clothing, but not as bitterly cold as it had been the day before.

He lands and almost immediately slips, barely catching himself in time to avoid face-planting on the thin layer of ice that covers the ground. He catches Joey smirking at him and sighs. Nevermind that he’s used to the sands of Pixandria and not the ice of Scott’s winter, he’s still going to get teased for being less than graceful.

Not that he really minds. It gives him some sense of normalcy that has been missing for the past several days.

Brushing past Joey, he knocks on the front door, and is surprised a moment later when Sausage opens the door. As far as Pix knew, Sausage was in Mythland, but apparently not. Idly, he wonders what he’s doing here, but Sausage is speaking before he can figure out the reason.

“Oh, hello! If you’re looking for Scott, he’s up at the festival grounds with Jimmy, trying to practise getting his powers under control.”

Pix nods. “We were, actually, but if he’s busy—”

“Oh, I’m sure he won’t mind the distraction. Between you and me, he’s getting a little frustrated, and I’m wondering if he doesn't need a break. I’ll go get him.” Sausage walks out of the door, spots Joey, and does a double take. “Oh, hey, Joey. What are you doing here?”

Joey presses his lips into a firm line. “Pix said something was about to happen here. But if you don’t know what…”

“Something is coming,” Pix assures him, “But, no, neither of us know what. It’s just a feeling.”

“Very helpful. Hey, why don’t your ‘feelings’ ever tell us anything useful?” Joey asks, a sneer rising on his lips, and Pix and Sausage both open their mouths to answer, when they’re interrupted by Scott and Jimmy gliding down from the festival grounds.

“What’s going on here?” Scott asks, and Pix sighs.

“Not sure, but something is coming.”

Distantly, he hears rockets being fired off. Turning to see where they’re coming from, he’s surprised to see someone headed their way from the direction of the Overgrown. It seems Katherine got his message.

When she lands, she immediately looks to Pix. “I got your message. What’s going on?”

Pix sighs, tired of explaining this. “I’ll tell you when the others get here.”

“Is it bad?” She asks, looking nervous, and he shakes his head.

“I don’t know for certain.”

Beside him, Scott huffs. “Well, we might as well go inside to wait for the others. It’s not exactly getting any warmer out here.”

It’s true; as night slowly falls, the temperature drops, and Pix is already shivering ever so slightly. As Scott opens the door for them, Pix glances around one last time before ducking inside. The others would get here when they got here.

They sit around, chatting idly, for about an hour as the others slowly trickle in. They’re just missing Shrub when Pix hears a knock on the door, and Scott rises and opens it, only to stumble back, hand on his sword, because it’s not Shrub in the doorway. 

It’s Pearl.

Immediately the rest of the rulers are on their feet, weapons in hand, except for Pix and Sausage. Something stays his hand, and he is pretty sure he can guess why Sausage is hesitating to point a weapon at his last remaining friend.

Pearl looks worse for wear. She’s favouring one side, has soot and dried blood all over her, and she’s carrying something vaguely human-shaped, bundled in a purple blanket that looks like she stole it from the Crystal Cliffs. She’s shivering, and the look on her face… she’s terrified.

“Didn’t know where else to go,” she breathes, and Scott recovers enough to snarl.

“Well, if you thought you’d be welcome here, you’re wrong. Traitor.”

Pearl swallows heavily, shifting the burden in her arms, and Pix gets the feeling there’s something going on that he doesn’t understand—that none of them do. “Please. I’ll beg on my knees if I have to, but we need help.”

This time, it’s Joey who scoffs. “You lost your right to our aid when you sided with Xornoth.”

For a moment, Pearl looks like she’s about to snap at him with something about who sided with Xornoth last time, but she calms herself and turns to Sausage. “Sausage… You know I would never betray you. You know me.”

Sausage clenches his jaw so hard Pix can see the muscle in his temple jump out. “Do I?” He asks softly, and Pearl looks close to tears.

“I didn’t want to do what I did, I didn’t have a choice!”

“There’s always a choice,” Jimmy says, but Pix has a sinking feeling in his stomach. Of course her behaviour, her betrayal made no sense, it wasn’t like her because it wasn’t her idea. Someone else had made the choices for her.

Before he can say anything, though, Scott is talking, and he has to bite his tongue to keep from cutting the elf off. “If you didn’t want to do what you did, then why did you do it? Why, Pearl? We trusted you, we loved you, and you stabbed us in the back!”

“It was just a bunch of lies, I didn’t mean for any of it to happen—”

“Yeah, well, it happened, and now those lies have a body count.” Scott shoots back, and Pix finally steps forward, because this has gone on long enough.

He puts every ounce of authority he has into his voice. “All of you stand down, she’s not going to hurt us.”

Joey huffs. “What, like she did with the end crystals? That one you managed to get off hurt me, you know.”

“I’m sorry,” Pearl says as the pieces finally click in Pix’s head, and he turns to Sausage, who seems to have come to the same conclusion as him.

“Oh, gods,” Sausage breathes, and Pearl turns to him, looking hopeful, but Joel is talking, and Pix knows he won’t be able to get a word in edgewise.

“Sorry, are you? You tried to blow up the two kingdoms you were closest to, and you’re sorry? That’s all you have to say? Unbelievable.”

Pearl opens her mouth to answer, but someone else beats her to it.

“It wasn’t Pearl who planted them, Joel.”

The voice is a faint whisper, but it echoes like a firework through the room, because they all recognize it, and none of them can believe their ears.

Jimmy breathes, “Gem?” and Pearl nods.

“Exor had her. Now can we please come in? She’s not getting any warmer.”

_______

Katherine is the first to move. Even she is surprised when she does, but it’s instinctive to usher Pearl inside, and have her set Gem down in a chair. Pearl hovers nearby as Katherine checks her over, with Sausage right next to her, staring at Gem like he’s expecting her to disappear at any moment.

Gem is pale and her hair is nearly white, like the ice Katherine can sense in her heart is leeching out into every part of her. She’s not even shivering anymore, she’s just still and cold, and only the fact that Katherine can feel her chest rising and falling under her hands is reassuring her that she’s still alive.

She seems to have used up all her remaining strength to tell Joel off, and somehow that makes Katherine want to smile, though she restrains herself. Now is not the time for jollity.

At any rate, her eyes are closed, and she’s not responding to any of Katherine’s attempts to rouse her. There’s a long silence as she diagnoses the problems, which, surprisingly, is actually only one problem, and it’s the one that killed her in the first place: the ice lodged in her heart.

Finally, Scott breaks the quiet. “Is she going to make it?”

Katherine glances up, and isn’t really surprised to see that he looks incredibly guilty, shuffling backwards like he’s trying to put space between him and her in case he accidentally hurts her again.

Katherine sighs. “It’ll be touch and go. I need someone to go to the Overgrown and grab whatever supplies they can from the apothecary. We’ll need them to cure her. Scott, where are your potion stores?”

As Lizzie and Joel leave, going as fast as they can, Jimmy answers for Scott. “There, in that cabinet.”

Sausage turns abruptly, flings open the cabinet Jimmy’s pointing to, and starts pulling out every supply he can find, dumping them on the table. “What all do you need?” His voice is uncharacteristically solemn, and he’s still obviously in shock.

Katherine turns away from Gem for a minute to point out the ingredients for potions of regeneration and health. “Those will tide her over until Lizzie and Joel get back. In the meantime, we need to keep her warm.”

As Pix goes upstairs, undoubtedly looking for more blankets, and Jimmy moves to stoke the fire, Joey finally pipes up. “Well, while we’re waiting, why don’t you tell us exactly what you were thinking, Pearl.”

Katherine shakes her head, cutting off Pearl before she can even open her mouth to answer. “We should wait until everyone else gets here, they’ll want to know too.”

Joey humphs but acquiesces, and as Pix comes back down, arms full of woollen blankets, Sausage, who has set the potions to brew, turns to Pearl, wrapping her up in a big hug that hides his face in her shoulder.

“I knew you didn’t betray us, I knew it.”

Pearl, who’d stiffened when he’d first put his arms around her, relaxes into his hold. “I’m sorry,” she whispers, “I’m sorry I put you through that. You’ve lost so much already, and I made you think—”

“It’s okay,” Sausage whispers, so softly Katherine can only guess what he says after that. Not that she needs to know, either; this is something precious and quiet and not something to be shared.

There’s another long silence, before Pearl draws away from Sausage and lets out a long breath. “I think I need to sit.”

immediately, Katherine turns, eyeing her up and down to see if and where she’s injured, and immediately notes the bloodstains trailing down from a nasty-looking gash on her side, and the stump of an arrow poking out of her shoulder. Yeah, she’s been through the ringer, and Katherine gestures to the seat Joel had just vacated.

“Sit. As soon as the potions are ready, I’ll look over you. Until then, Sausage, can you help her clean up?”

Sausage nods, grabs some rags from near the wash basin in Scott’s kitchen, and dunks them in water. As he hands one to Pearl and starts wiping away the soot and blood on her face, Katherine turns back to Gem, whose eyes have opened to mere slits, but at least they’re open.

“Gem?” She asks softly, and immediately the wind outside, which had been starting to gust ever so slightly, picks up and starts howling. Shooting a glare at Scott and hoping desperately that Jimmy will notice and get him to calm down, she rubs her hands up and down Gem’s arms, trying to soothe her.

Pix comes and drapes another blanket over her shoulders, then lays another in her lap. “Easy, Gem,” he says softly. “It’s okay, you’re safe. You can rest.”

If anything, Gem manages to open her eyes a bit more, as if purposely ignoring what Pix is saying. “Wha…?” she murmurs, and Katherine is shoved out of the way so Sausage can kneel in front of her, grasping her hands and looking nearly teary with relief.

“Gem? It’s me. It’s Sausage. Can you hear me?”

For a second, Gem just stares at him, then manages a quiet, “Mm-hm.”

Sausage beams and wraps her in a hug as best he can. “Oh my gods, I am so sorry, we thought you were dead—how are you alive? You know what, that’s not important. You’re going to be fine. Katherine will fix you right up—”

The potions in Scott’s brewing stand choose that moment to start bubbling, and Katherine nudges Sausage to the side. “Here, Gem, drink this, it’ll tide you over until Joel and Lizzie get back.”

immediately Gem pulls away. Her movements are sluggish, but the fear in her eyes is sudden, real, and very, very visceral. Katherine and Sausage have to lunge to keep her in her seat, because she’s about to become well acquainted with the floor if she’s not careful.

But she’s staring at the regen potion in Katherine’s hand like it’s poison, and Katherine has a brief moment to wonder why before Pearl is nudging her aside, and cradling Gem’s face with both hands so she can look her in the eyes.

“It’s just us, Gem. We’d never hurt you. It’s not the potion Exor gave you, it’ll be fine. We won’t let anything happen to you, you know that.”

Gem stares at her for a long moment. Katherine holds her breath, but finally, slowly, Gem nods, and she’s able to help her down the potion. She shudders and gags, but she drinks it all, and almost immediately sighs, blinks, and perks up.

“Katherine?” She asks, and Katherine beams.

“Hi, Gem.”

As Gem’s eyes shift focus to Sausage—and Pearl behind him—Katherine sits back. Her emotions are a complex knot in her chest, and while she knows Shrub would advise her to work through them, she doesn’t have the time—

Wait. Shrub. It’s been nearly an hour since the rest of them had shown up, and no sign of her. Immediately, she stands, gives Gem’s shoulder one last squeeze, and goes over to Pix and Jimmy.

“Shrub’s still not here,” she says softly, and Pix immediately frowns.

Jimmy, too, furrows his brow. “That can’t be good. If she’s in trouble…”

Katherine nods. “I can’t leave Gem—Joel and Lizzie should be back soon with the stuff I need to cure her—but if you guys could go check on her… I’d really appreciate it.”

Pix looks over at Jimmy, who nods, then turns back to Katherine. “We’ll be back shortly, hopefully with good news.”

With that, they disappear out the door and into the night outside.

[siriannatan]

The Great Freeze - part 1 - SausagePix

In the face of my part of the world being unusually cold for May I decided to freeze EmpiresS1

"I agree with Lizzie," fWhip's words had the whole Emperor's Meet looking towards the vampire. He and Sausage sat on his left looked to be the least affected by the ice age Scott caused recently. just earlier that day actually. "There's no guarantee it'll even stop this thing and I'm certain Jimmy will not be pleased when he wakes up from his demi-god-puberty nap, and I for one do not feel like dealing with him if he gets angry you guys killed his boyfriend," he clarified in the same bored voice. An ice age was nothing Grimlands could not deal with.

"What would you propose we do then?" Katherine asked, standing up so suddenly her voice was nearly drowned by her chair clattering down to the fine fae mosaics large parts of the Overgrowth palace was decorated with. To make the situation even more ironic she was wearing a heavy coat made of Rivendell wool.

"I'll go to Scott and talk to him," fWhip said and calmly stood up. Unlike other rulers - not counting Sausage because of dragon fire and the one not present - Scott, Jimmy and Pix he probably handled the cold the best. "I'm sure I can convince Scott to stop this childishness."

Others were silent, shuddering under their coats. No one could refute at least trying to reason with Scott. Just no one wanted to go to the centre of the freeze. "I say we give fWhip a day, it'll give us at least time to make sure everyone's empires are okay. I'm even willing to make the flight to Pixandria since they are probably the worst off," Sausage offered when even Lizzie and Joel didn't say anything. This should keep Katherine's desire for war at bay for at least a little while. He had no idea why fWhip cared about keeping Scott alive or peace but was glad someone had an idea that did not involve marching troops through a snowstorm Rivendell mountains were at the moment.

Everyone seemed okay with the idea so fWhip quickly left the room without even giving Lizzie a chance to thank him. Sausage followed close behind him but even he could not keep up when fWhip was in a hurry. Vampires were rather fast creatures. Not that he minded. They were in an emergency situation and he had to check up on Pix. That could only go great based on their shared history...

As expected Pixandria was not handling snow and cold well. Lucky for them Sausage brought dragon fire along and managed to help the citizens Pix gathered in the shelters. They would be fine until more help arrived. Gem's communication stones were really helpful in contacting his advisors back in Mythland about organising proper help. There was no way the freeze would end overnight. That would cause another problem - floods everywhere. Unfortunately, Pix was nowhere to be seen while Sausage ran around the city helping the citizens who did not manage to reach the shelters along with the local guard.

He did eventually find Pix. In one of the more remote shelters by the farmland. He absolutely could not help him there so after reinforcing the place with some dragon fire he took Pix to his house. The guards were too busy to really fight him on that and most of Pix's advisors were in the other shelters, helping keep up the morale and keep down arguments and fights. Lucky for him Pix only fainted shortly before Sausage got there.

The last thing Pix could remember was the sudden unnatural snowstorm. He was still not sure what made Scott angry enough to cause it but that could wait. He instantly rounded up his guards and advisors into organising shelter for the citizens. He was helping the farmers before everything went black. Be it exhaustion or the cold...

He wasn't cold. This realisation had him wake up a little bit more and realise a few more things. He was in his house. Under possibly all the blankets and furs he owned. Shirtless. And not alone. His head was resting on the stranger's arm. Arm he recognised by a mix of scars and deep burgundy scales with a greenish sheen. Sausage... 

He was warm because of Sausage's dragon fire. He came to help even after Pix betrayed his trust and allied himself with Lizzie, Jimmy and Joel. Knowing him Sausage likely ran around the whole city helping wherever he could until he found Pix. And then exhausted himself even more by helping him. Not to mention how exhausting, even for a half-dragon flying through the snowstorms must have been.

With a shallow sigh, he found Sausage's arm wrapped around his waist, keeping him close to his ex-lover's warmth. He used to wake up like this quite often. The desert night tended to be rather cold but with Sausage there was no need for blankets and fires. They got especially cold after their break up. And the worst part was still that he could not see Sausage's dumb, handsome face.

He could probably turn around. Sausage didn't have that strong of a hold on him. But he would risk him waking up and not wanting to cuddle Pix anymore. Hot breath and beard tickled his ear making him shudder which caused Sausage to pull him even closer. His hold didn't get any stronger though so Pix decided to after all try and slowly and carefully turn to lie on his back. Somehow he managed to do it without waking him up.

Sausage was, just as he could feel on his back, shirtless. And still damn handsome even when sleeping with his mouth half-open and hair a complete mess. Be it from the freezing winds, flying or sleeping. Just as, if not more, handsome as the last time they woke up like this. Before they were angry at each other. Pix understood why Sausage sided with fWhip. He was his brother after all. But it still stung... it still hurt even now.

"You scared me..." Sausage muttered, one eye cracked open. Dark blue and thin vertical pupil focused on Pix. At least he didn't look like he wanted to get as far away from Pix as quickly as possible. "I thought you froze to death..."

"Why is the world all snowy anyway?" Pix would be not addressing Sausage being worried about him while they were in one bed. Shirtless. 

"Scott got upset Jimmy went for a puberty nap. fWhip's trying to convince the ice princess to calm the hell down," Sausage explained lazily. He seemed confident his brother could handle Scott's mood swings.

Pix just hummed not sure what else to say. He didn't want to cause Sausage to stop being willing to share a bed with him. He was frankly distracted from thinking by Sausage's sharp teeth as the half-dragon yawned, and some new scars that joined the already impressive collection on his chest. He could not stop himself from tracing the biggest new scar. "I should be the one worried... You're far too reckless," he muttered, finally daring to properly meet Sausage's eyes.

It was a massive mistake. The half-dragon was looking at him as if they never had their argument. Full of love and adoration and something else. Something new... With longing. "I missed waking up like this," Sausage admitted what they both felt. And pulled Pix closer, now all he could see was Sausage's chest. Not that he was complaining. It was a nice chest to look at. "I should have... I don't even know. Come and beg your forgiveness the moment the Salmon and Cod conflict was over. I should have flown here the moment Jimmy and fWhip signed that damn paper..."

"I should have done the same... I missed you too... Terribly. I could barely sleep. I twas so cold here without you coming over to just bother me without much reason..." Pix mumbled as he clung close to Sausage. He was not letting him go unless Sausage didn't want him. But that was likely not the case. Not with Sausage's face being suddenly very close to his.

"Do you mean it? I one hundred per cent did," he asked, looking and sounding frankly distraught.

Pix didn't answer, instead pouring all his feelings for Sausage into a kiss. He was prepared for anything. Rejection. Being pushed out of his own bed. Being laughed at. Somehow he was not ready for Sausage to kiss him back. It was slow and filled with all neither of them could put into words. All their love and worry for each other.

"Do we have to get up?" Sausage asked with a grin. Somehow while they kissed he moved Pix into his lap.

"I do still feel a bit chilly..." Pix started a bit unsure if it was for them to be selfish at a moment like this. "But maybe we..."

"Hello, hello," fWhip's monotone voice interrupted him from the communication stone Sausage brought with him. "Scott's handled, the freeze will slowly go down, see you guys at the next meeting. Over."

"Well, I guess it means we have time to properly warm you up," Sausage chuckled at his brother's antics. Nothing was ever simple with fWhip. Not that Pix was paying it any more attention, too busy cuddling up to Sausage and his warmth. Mostly Sausage though, he really missed lazy mornings with his dragon. "I missed you too Pixie," Sausage chuckled as Pix yawned.

[gardenergulfie]

Emptober Day 6: Struggle

Rating: G

Word Count: 2639

Relationships: Geminitay & MythicalSausage

Characters: GeminiTay (Video Blogging RPF), MythicalSausage (Video Blogging RPF)

Tags: Mage Sibs, Post Corruption Mythical Sausage, Magic, Jealousy, When you swear off dark magic but also have a really hard time actually swearing off magic, plus one of your closest friends who killed you to save you is a mage, Sausage is not having a good day, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Relapsing, Dark Magic

Sausage remembered nights spent with these very books, trying to learn to cast. There was this one spell about appearance altering that Kid Sausage had always wanted to cast. He found that spellbook quickly, its dark navy cover a familiar sensation in his hands. Now that he had magic he really should try and cast him again, he’d just have to ask Xornoth-

Wait, no. Sausage didn’t do magic anymore. He’d sworn it off after being freed from Xornoth’s control. No matter how tempting it might be he wasn’t going back on his word. No more dark magic from Xornoth.

With no small amount of regret, he put the tome in the “Donate” pile. Some other more magically gifted kid would have a better use for it. Sausage continued to work, trying to keep his mind away from the thoughts of magic and spell casting. It was really hard, being in a tower filled with magic.

Emptober Day 6: Struggle

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AO3 Link

Fic below the cut

It was a good day for Sausage. The feeling of heavy exhaustion that weighed on him constantly ever since he’d been revived was mercifully light today. It had been so light that he had felt good enough to visit Gem and help her with rearranging her tower library. She had a lot of books she didn’t ever read anymore so she was cleaning them out and donating them. She’d been a bit hesitant to ask him for help because of how recently he was revived and her worry of him overexerting himself but he’d convincer that he was fine! She’d been visiting him almost every day for the past week and seen his improvement herself. Besides, moving books around couldn’t be that hard. Gem chucked when he said that out-loud and said he would need to reevaluate that once he saw some of her tomes on the theory of magic.

He was at Gem’s tower now. He had ducked into the building right after arriving, not wanting to spend too much time around the outsides or in his own memory. Gem had greeted him cheerfully from where she was levitating books into two piles.

“Sausage! You made it!” She said, ending her spell and walking over to green him properly. She’d stopped infant of I’m, not sure what the right greeting was for a friend-turned-enemy-turned-friend. He solved that problem by giving her a big hug.

“Its good to see you too, Gem! I’m excited to get to work here! It’s been a while since I left Mythland.” He said excitedly. Gem extracted herself from his bone crushing hug.

“I’m really glad you could make it.” She said genuinely. Sausage felt the same hurt he’d get for most conversations with Gem over these past few days since his resurrection. He’d hurt her and yet here she was, having forgiven him and back to being his friend. It was bittersweet.

“Yeah! I’m excited to get to work here. Was getting restless being cooped up in my home. What should I start with?” Sausage asked as a distraction from his own thoughts. Gem tapped her chin, thinking for a bit.

“Well I need to go a reread my Astrology tones to see which ones I need to keep and which ones I can give away. While I do that, can you sort the tomes in the Illusion section via author? I only want to keep the ones by Mia L Kracklewisp. They’re the best Illusionist and honestly I really don’t use Illusion spells a lot so the other ones are just gathering dust.” Gem explained. Sausage nodded.

“Can do! Just watch, I’ll be done in no time.” He promised. Gem started walking over to a table with a large amount of books on it. She turned her head back to call out.

“If you need anything just ask! I’m just over here, turning my brain into jelly as I try and pick which Astrology books I want to keep out of a decades old collection. Why did I buy so many Astrology tomes?” She muttered to herself as she sat down.

Sausage got to work. It was easy finding the Illusion spell section, just follow the smell of citrus. Most illusionists added secret notes between the margins of their spell books in invisible ink and most of that ink was made with a lemon base. Sausage remembered when he was younger, holding pages up to candle light as he deciphered the hidden messages. He’d read most if not all of Gem’s magic related books in his youth. Sausage remembered nights spent with these very books, trying to learn to cast. There was this one spell about appearance altering that Kid Sausage had always wanted to cast. He found that spellbook quickly, its dark navy cover a familiar sensation in his hands. Now that he had magic he really should try and cast him again, he’d just have to ask Xornoth-

Wait, no. Sausage didn’t do magic anymore. He’d sworn it off after being freed from Xornoth’s control. No matter how tempting it might be he wasn’t going back on his word. No more dark magic from Xornoth.

With no small amount of regret, he put the tome in the “Donate” pile. Some other more magically gifted kid would have a better use for it. Sausage continued to work, trying to keep his mind away from the thoughts of magic and spell casting. It was really hard, being in a tower filled with magic.

When he finished sorting, he set the books down on Gem’s table with a heavy thump. Gem looked up from the tome on Advanced Cosmology and Lunar Spell-casting she was skimming through and met Sausage’s eyes.

“That was rather fast.” She said, looking at the pile of Illusion spell books on the table. “I must not have that many Illusion tomes.”

“You actually have a pretty good library of them. Most of them are just written by that one author you like so I left them there.” Sausage didn’t mention the fact that he knew exactly what author she liked and that he admired the spellwork they did. Better not to think about magic right now.

“Huh.” Gem said, peeking over Sausage’s shoulder to see the other, much larger pile of books behind him. “Well you’ve finished that task. It’s getting close to midday and I need to finish skimming this book before lunch. You’re free to do whatever you like until then.” She paused before continuing. “I know we’re having goat meat wraps with a chorus fruit pudding. There’s more than enough for two, if you’d like to stay for that.”

“Oh free food? Yeah I’ll stay.” Sausage responded before his brain could fully catch up. He was given free rein of the library while Gem was busy reading and he was trying not to think about magic. This was a bad combination. Gem went back to her reading and Sausage started walking around. He wasn’t looking at the book titles, merely moving around as to distract himself better. It really wasn’t working. Sausage was seeing books labeled “Conjuring Cakes: a Guide to Summoning Edible Food” and “Moss, Lichens and Molds: the Most Fabulous Herbology spells” and “Boommaking: How to Crush Your Enemies with Explosive Magic” (he was pretty sure that last one was a gift from fWhip). He found himself grabbing interesting tomes as he went, ones that would be useful to Mythland or just plain fun for him. Reading them couldn’t hurt, he’d read most of them before. He just needed something to past the time.

Sausage curled up in an armchair with his pick of tomes on the table beside him. He quickly lost himself in the spellwork, reading about complicated equations and runes. It was all great stuff but very familiar. Sausage remembered spending hours with Gem reading these kinds of books while fWhip was out tinkering. The two of them would curl up together to read these thick tomes after school. They both would dream about magic and what they would do when they could cast.

Of course, only one of them got that ability in the end. Gem had been blessed and Sausage had been left behind, no spark of magic in him at all. While Gem trained under the greatest mages in the world, Sausage was stuck rereading the same books, knowing that he’d never be able to cast these spells. It had made him so angry and bitter then and he could feel those emotions rising up again. It wasn’t fair that Gem got lucky while Sausage didn’t. Sausage deserved that magic just as much as Gem did.

Sausage looked back down at the page he wad reading, the paper showing a spell of levitation, the same spell Gem had been using earlier. Sausage remembered how easy casting had been under Xornoth’s control. Even before he was fully taken over, Sausage had been given a book of dark magic that even someone with no inane magic ability could use. There had been a levitation spell in there too.

Sausage wasn’t supposed to cast anymore, he swore off magic, even going so far as to give Gem the Great Staff of Mythland, the one other thing that let Sausage use magic. He was powerless now because he had been corrupted by that power before. He knew he wasn’t supposed to use dark magic anymore but he just felt so angry now. One spell wouldn’t hurt. Just a simple dark magic spell, not even calling on Xornoth, a spell of his own power.

Sausage started mumbling the incantation under his breath. His blood felt warm, uncomfortably so, but the book in his hand began to rise. There was a sound, the sound of someone’s surprised shout, but Sausage hear it fully, too caught up in the magic. He laughed loudly in joy. He’d done it! The powerless Mythlander still could cast magic! He wasn’t even using Xornoth’s power, not really. Even with his blood burning, he still felt too much glee.

“-age! Sausage! SAUSAGE!” He turned around to see Gem, anger at her for interrupting him fading away when he saw her face. She was holding her staff in front of her, magic beginning to swirl around it, and her fave showed only fear. Fear that he’d lost it again, fear that the demon was back, fear that she’d have fight him again.

The force of his guilt hit Sausage in that moment and he dropped the spell. He’d done what he wasn’t supposed to. He’d used magic and scarred the one person who’d forgiven him, the person who killed him to save him. What had he done?

“Gem… I…” Sausage stuttered out, trying to explain himself before stopping. There was nothing he needed to explain, nothing that could excuse his actions. He’d broken his own rule of no magic and it was his own fault.

“I’m going to go outside.” He said, standing up. Gem’s eyes followed him as he walked to the door, only able to shake the fear away and call out after him when he was already outside. Sausage hoped onto the mountain popper and started walking through the snow. He avoided the hatchery, Gem certainly wouldn’t want him anywhere near it after the scene he’d just made. His boots crunched against the icy snow as he just walked. Eventually he grew weary and had to sit down, the exhaustion catching up tp him again. He sat there on a rock for a while, just feeling upset and mad at himself.

“Sausage?” Gem had finally found him, the faun wizard walking up to him. When he turned to face her she stopped, seeing his face. He hadn’t been crying but he was sure that he didn’t look great. The negative effects dark magic have on the body was surely not doing him any favors either. The two of them stood in silence for a bit, neither of them speaking or moving closer or farther away from the other.

“….what was that back there? You were just reading and then suddenly you were casting dark magic. Did the book do something to you? Was Xornoth controlling you again?” Gem asked hesitantly, still nervous to speak. Sausage took a deep breath in. Alright then, he would explain. She deserved an explanation.

“No Gem it won’t either of those things. It was just me.” He started. “I was just caught up in all the magic, all the things you can do that I can’t and I felt angry. I let that anger influence me into make a bad decision. I broke my promise. I said no magic and yet i still cast magic, even worse dark magic.” Sausage hung his head. “Its just so hard when I see you doing it so easily and I know that I can too if I just break my promise and give in.”

Gem listened to his admission, understanding crossing her face. “It must be hard, knowing that you can do it but not letting yourself. How long have you been holding that back? How long have you wanted to cast dark magic after you promised not too?” Gem asked, sitting down next to him. Sausage thought of the weeks since his revival, of the habitual casting of magic and only just managing to stop himself, the constant thoughts that everything would easier if he just let himself do magic, the childhood daydreams of him turning into a mage that he had repressed long ago returning in full force. Honestly it was a miracle that he hadn’t given into his urges before this and also that he’d been able to stop so easily.

“I’ve wanted to do magic forever, my whole life. When I finally could, I used it whenever I could. When I was cured, I promised that I wouldn’t do it anymore. But honestly, I still wanted to do it.” He explained. “There were so many moments where I barely managed to stop myself form using it! It’s been calling to me ever since I tried to give it up. Every day I go without it makes me want it more. And I know it’s bad, I know it has horrible side effects and could put me back under the control of Xornoth but even still I still want to use it!” Sausage’s voice raised as he grew heated about this. Gem listened, always nonjudgmental.

“It isn’t going to be easy to just stop using magic. There’s been stories of mages who start using it and can’t bring themselves to stop, not for long. But there have also been stories of mages who have been ale to give it up, this is something you can do Sausage. This bothers you, not being able to cast magic, and you feel like you can’t fight it. But you can!” Sausage watched as Gem spoke. Normally Gem talking about his struggles with magic and her encouraging him came off as bossy and made him upset, but he wasn’t upset now. It seemed that Gem really wanted to help him. “We can find people to help keep you accountable, stop you from relapsing. We’ll remind you of how well you’re doing and how far you’ve come. We’ll try and figure out other solutions to your problem of wanting to use magic. We don’t have to rely on dark magic and you don’t have to swear off all magic, we can find something that works for you. I couldn’t find a way to help you do magic in the past but I’m stronger now. We can do this. You don’t have to struggle alone.” Gem’s voice was filled with determination and passion. Sausage fully believed that she’d try and help him. He really didn’t deserve this, not after he hurt her so much. Sausage pulled Gem in for another hug, giving her a tight squeeze that he hoped conveyed everything he was feeling that he just couldn’t say. Gem hugged him back.

“This really means a lot, Gem, thank you.” Sausage said honestly as he released Gem from the hug and stood up. He helped the shorter faun to her feet as she spoke.

“Of course! You’re my friend! I was to help you!.” Sausage felt the same bittersweet emotions he kept feeling but this time they leaned more towards sweet. She’s right, he wasn’t alone. Maybe he could fix what he messed up.

“Yeah.” Sausage said. “Now that the emotional talk is over, can we go back and get lunch? You said they were going to have goat meat wraps and I am so hungry for those right now. I might even just grab a wild goat and eat it right now.” Gem laughed at Sausage’s joke and together the two them headed back towards the tower