#cavernous to really bridge that gap while she was still being ?

[halfyearsqueen]

begonia, goldenrod, and peony!

BOTANICAL HEADCANONS .

begonia :   how cautious is your muse ?   are they prone to noticing red flags ,   or paranoid to the point of untrusting most everyone ?   why or why not ?  

her being cautious is a thing that grows with time and from a lifetime spent in court atmosphere with constant and ever present opposition that ? offers no mercy due to her age. like it is for good reason, but it doesn't necessarily mean she's closed off in that sense because she wants other people, who are friendly to her cause and the rights of her and her children, to feel like they can trust her. she is cautious in the way a girl then woman who spent her life in politics would be. careful to display any sort of weakness but charming, and willing to extend the possibility of trust. but once she gives it, she very much does expect it to be returned as wholly as she extends it. but yes she does notice red flags, because again, she has to to keep her footing in such a vicious political atmosphere. but like - i feel like when it comes to people she trusts and has grown to love, unless they become so glaring she can't ignore them, she is prone to overlooking them. which is why when she gets betrayed during the dance, it IS such a devastating blow.

her anxiety and her caution is only really ebbed by the security she has in her allies, in the people who have sworn themselves to her and to whom have given her their loyalty, which is something she wholly expects honor to make them carry through with it. it is only until after the dance that her caution degrades into pure paranoia, which is brought on ? by a lot of things. the fact she begins to lose her children in incidents where she didn't ? purposefully send them to war. and the fact she begins to be betrayed left and right. like at that point ? she sees only the red flags. she only sees the potential threat against her and aegon. like she's giving everything in the service of proving her worth to take her father's throne, and to give her children that security and the potential to ? make the realm better with time, and ? to have that ripped away from her so brutally upends and changes the way she thinks of every little thing because it was all ? for nothing. like she's known about the capacity for cruelty that most men had, but she didn't expect the blow to land on her children. she didn't expect them to bear the ramifications of her unwillingness to give in and like as the dance progresses, it becomes less about her giving trust, and more about side eyeing everyone wearily wondering what they're going to take from her next. like the ' cold , grasping cruelty ' she's said to have had after taking kings landing is because everything was ripped from her so brutally she's a bleeding wound of a woman, so desperate to mount the steps of the iron throne she refused to sleep after all she had lost for it. and to her it wasn't taking the throne, it was taking it back after spending a lifetime at it's feet.

goldenrod :   does your muse believe in luck or fortune ?  why or why not ?   where do they believe these things come from ?  

she believes that luck doesn't favor decent, good people, but favors the cruelest of them. her mother suffered her entire life to give her father a son, and was met with tragedy after tragedy, tragedies she didn't deserve, and she was the best person she'd ever known. she believes that luck matters little in the world they live in, and even were she to be met with good fortune, because she was born a woman, she would need to fight to safeguard it, and prove that she was worthy of what she was given, and not simply taking what belonged to a man. and even that isnt without cost. she doesn't consider being named heir as something lucky, or a show of good fortune, because it was borne from tragedy. from the loss of baelon and her mother. she believes that it ? comes from the systems that were in place since the beginning of andal history. the notion the son is favorable, the boy is the child wanted and the child meant to know what luck or fortune is. the child meant to inherit from the father. she doesn't believe the gods chose who's lucky and who isn't ( she doesn't ? see why they would care about the affairs of mortals or care to keep them in check ) and if they WERE responsible for the state of her luck, she doesn't see how she was allowed to succeed at all. she believes that luck is a thing that is visited at random, and most of all, to men. but she doesn't believe that is enough to dissuade her. she believes that success is a thing that is sweeter when it's earned through work, and that the harder road can be pushed through. she believes it exists, but not for her. never for the women who attempt to step outside of what is allotted to them by men.

peony :   what would a   ‘  happy life  ’   look like in your muse’s eyes ?

all of her children safe, and happy, and growing. being able to rule in a time of relative peace, being able to reconcile with her siblings and actual forge something close to a familial bond with them. being able to teach jacaerys how to be king. being able to finally meet her niece and nephews - being finally able to move out from under the weight of the rivalry with her stepmother and actually ? have that sense of security she's always associated with the throne. having her daughter, having visenya. being able to put her ideas into practice and being useful to the kingdom at large. politics aren't a burden for her, they're ? what she's good at, because she likes being able to have the authority to execute the changes in a way that makes them actually last, that she's had thoughts about, but has never had the absolute authority of the ruling monarch. being able to give her half siblings place of honor in her court, raising them up so they could rule together. it's a family not divided by ambition and set against each other due to ? a throne aegon does not even want. purely because it was her birthright. the wistfulness she feels toward reunification with the other side of her family is because it was never toward them.

[mythicamagic]

Snake Charmer: Sesskag fic

Summary: Sesshoumaru is extremely amused by the prey currently trapped in his den. Kagome just wanted a vacation. Naga Sesshoumaru fic. Sesskag AU.

Rated M

Read on Ao3, fanfiction.net or Dokuga

AN: Sooo I might make a series of stories featuring Monster! Sess or Monster! Kagome. I've already written a vampire one and a werewolf one. Shall see! I hope you enjoy this. 

Snake Charmer pt. 1

Impossibly blue skies free from clouds stretched out above her head that bright and cheerful morning. It was hot. Uncomfortably so, but Kagome welcomed it despite the sweat beading at the back of her neck. Clad in a two-piece bikini hidden by her cute blue summer dress, the cotton thankfully thin and breezy, she drank in the sunny scenery greedily.

Hawaii sprawled out, with its rolling hills, high cliffs and exotic greenery. True, it was a little tourist-centric where they were staying, but the Japanese college students could hardly complain.

"I'm so excited for cliff diving~" Eri grinned, practically buzzing as they walked down a road beside the ocean. "Kyle said he'd meet us there, right? Do you think he'd be more attracted to a confident girl, or should I pretend to be scared?"

Yuka rolled her eyes, adjusting the strap of her bag over one shoulder. "From the way you were flirting last night at the hotel, I don't think he'll care either way."

"Maybe just fake a dizzy spell so he can catch you in his big strong arms~" Ayumi giggled.

"And what about you? I'm sure his friend will be there."

"Oh, don't get my hopes up!"

The three laughed, noticing their friend's silence once the girlish giggles died down.

"What's wrong, Kagome?" brows knitted with concern, Ayumi gently tapped her shoulder.

Shaken from her reverie, Kagome dragged her distracted gaze away from the ocean. "Hm? Oh… nothing," she smiled. "I was just thinking about what that man tried to say to us."

"You mean the Native we saw earlier?" Yuka arched a brow. "Forget it, none of us know Hawaiian and when he switched to English it was a lost cause. None of us can string a sentence together."

"It's true, I forget most of mine when we left school," Ayumi sighed mournfully.

"I flunked English," Eri smirked.

Shaking her head, Kagome folded her arms and frowned, "maybe so, but I could pick out a few of his words. 'Water' and 'no' with some kind of motion with his hands. He approached us while Kyle was talking to us about the cliff diving location with that map. Maybe it's a dangerous area, and the man was trying to warn us?"

"If it was a warning, Kyle would have told us. He said it was fine, just that we should be wary of any rocks, but he knows the area. It's standard stuff," waving this off, Eri quickened her pace, heels clanking on the hot road.

"He knows the area better than a guy who lives here?" Kagome drawled, sharing a glance with Ayumi. Her more sensitive friend bit her lip, giving a weak shrug.

"Let's at least check it out," she said, adding more under her breath; "Eri is really excited. We can humour her a little by meeting with Kyle again today. None of us has to jump."

Releasing a breath, Kagome set her concerns aside for now. It wasn't like she wanted to be a wet blanket about it. Still, the man's wide, imploring brown eyes continued to nag at her mind. Such an expression could bridge the gap in communication. She'd practically felt his concern.

---

Kyle was a tanned, brown-haired boy travelling around the world. He struck Kagome as the adrenalin junkie type. Eri fawned over him, positively smitten. It was rare for a foreigner from London to be so well versed in Japanese, and they'd met through an online dating site, organising a get together while he was in Hawaii. Thus Kagome and the others had been dragged along. Kyle was practically their tour guide and means of verbal communication with English speakers.

His friends were less fluent in Japanese. The three shirtless blonde-haired young men flustered both Yuka and Ayumi, talking in broken sentences.

Kagome couldn't say she minded the male attention as they walked together to the cliffs. Obviously, they weren't up for anything permanent, just fooling around. Kagome had indulged in that sort of thing before. Unfortunately, it was quickly becoming boring. Men just couldn't get a clue. Whether it was a long-term boyfriend or a one-night stand, a playboy or attentive virgin, she found her experiences frustrating on a level she couldn't quite understand. It was lacklustre.

Perhaps today would be different. It would've been nice to hang out with Kyle's friends and get to know them if she could just rid herself of the man's warning.

"This is the spot," Kyle grinned, showing his dimples.

The group had stopped atop a cliff with a few trees littered near the edge. Yuka peered over the lip of the side, holding onto a branch.

"Wow, that's uh… quite a drop."

Kyle rolled his shoulder, muscles coiling. "It looks worse than it is. So! Who's going first?" he grinned wider, clapping his hands and rubbing them together.

Eri laughed nervously, hugging his arm, "shouldn't you go, oh fearless leader?"

"I believe in ladies first," sea-foam blue eyes strayed to Kagome, who remained a little uncomfortable.

"What about your friend?"

"Ah- she's a little afraid. I don't think she'll be jumping," Eri dismissed.

"Aww c'mon," Kyle broke away from her to gesture to Kagome, inviting her closer. "At least take a look. No point in walkin' all the way here and not seeing the view at least."

"I can see it fine from here," Kagome gave a smile that showed her teeth. "Thanks anyway."

"Kagome."

Judging from her friend's expressions, they clearly wanted her to act more respectful.

Biting back a sigh, Kagome forced a more amiable smile upon her lips and stepped closer to the edge, peering down.

To Kyle's credit, it was a stunning view. She'd never seen water so crystal clear and blue. She couldn't tell how deep it plunged, but the waves rolled pure white, not a blemish in sight. No deadly rocks either.

What had the man been warning us about?

"What do ya think?" a playful voice rasped close to her ear. Kagome felt the heat of his body draw near.

Her lips pursed, "it's beautiful," she allowed. Maybe she was being too much of a stick in the mud, it wasn't like her.

"Then- why not take a closer look?"

Hands shoved.

Blue eyes flew wide as Kagome felt her body careen forward, hair swooping back. Letting out a fearful scream, Kagome felt her feet drag and fly free from solid earth. Gravity pulled her down.

Falling was surreal, disorientating. She'd pretty much left her stomach back with her friends it lept so violently. She couldn't tell up from down, but the ocean swooped in closer and closer.

Instinctively, Kagome sucked in a huge breath.

Making impact with warm waters, she plunged deep beneath the surface, bubbles obscuring her vision.

Almost immediately, still, serene waters swirled into motion.

Kagome's heart thundered with alarm, bracing herself. She mindlessly kicked her legs out of instinct the second something started pulling her downwards. Trying hard to break away from the current, her efforts proved to be in vain as it swept her up like a whirlpool.

Kagome closed her eyes. It became impossible to know where she was, how far the surface lay beyond her reach. Her lungs strained.

Getting desperate, Kagome abandoned all logic and started to swim with the current rather than fight it. If she was going to die, she'd rather it be while doing something. Staying motionless didn't suit her.

Aching lungs grappled for air, and Kagome felt herself weaken. Desperate motions slowed. Her mind hazed with fog, becoming dizzy.

Gradually, she began to resemble a motionless rag-doll.

Something strong and sturdy wrapped around her waist, pulling her body.

Kagome weakly felt the sensation of being yanked. Shadows entered her murky gaze like she'd passed through a tunnel, lights soon reaching her again. And then she was suddenly flicked up and released.

Gasping the second her head broke free from salty waters, she sucked in sharp breaths and coughing violently. Kagome then promptly collapsed.

She blearily noticed the dim lighting and smooth rock she found herself splayed upon, shuddering. I almost died.

It took a few moments to adjust and control her breathing, but eventually, after laying there and recovering from the experience, Kagome shakily roused herself enough to sit up. Looking around, she found a cavern of sorts awaiting her. The layout was spacious. Rock walls sprawled around her, a single circular opening high above in the ceiling allowing a circle of concentrated sunlight to pour down into the ocean pool she'd surfaced in.

Kagome pulled herself onto a rocky platform, following a walkway around the water and leaving wet footprints on cool stone in her wake. Thick shadows lay beyond the opposite side of the pool, with a multitude of paths in the rock-face branching off in different directions. They looked as though they'd been hollowed out by a huge earthworm. Kagome wagered they were a maze of sorts.

No way am I going in there.

Glancing up at the natural skylight, Kagome bit her lip. Such smooth rock would be too steep and slippy to climb, and she doubted a helicopter passing overhead could spot her inside. She wasn't even sure how far she was from the mainland. Silence reigned within the lonely cavern, save for lapping water within the glittering pool. She couldn't hear any tourists or speedboats outside.

Kagome swallowed.

The pool.

She didn't exactly like the idea of chancing another swim. However, diving in again to reach the open ocean could be her only chance of finding help.

Putting it off for now, Kagome wandered around the edge of the pool, rubbing her arms absentmindedly. She felt shaken from the high fall alone, never mind nearly dying from a random whirlpool.

"That's what that man was trying to warn us about," she mused to herself, glancing at the water. "I hope Kyle doesn't push anyone else in. That bastard!" she seethed. She'd always been a strong swimmer, but if he had pushed in Ayumi, even with regular waters, the situation could've been dangerous. The idea of it only pissed her off even more. "When I get outta here, I'm giving him a piece of my mind. I bet he'll say - 'ohh it was just a joke.' Ha! You can tell that to my fist, buddy!"

A shadow moved to her left.

Kagome jumped, snapping her gaze to it. Sweat pricked at the back of her neck.

"H-hello?"

Nothing.

Well, it had been out of her peripheral vision. What a convenient time for her mind to start playing tricks on her.

Taking a deep breath, Kagome let the air whoosh out of her lungs. "And now I'm seeing things," she rambled, grasping her hair and wringing out excess salty water. "That's not unusual though, heck I think I see things passing by in the kitchen all the time. Totally nor- AH!" Kagome started badly, looking directly at the shadows. A sleek, long thing swept out into bright sunlight across the floor before retreating smoothly. It had been pale, covered in a sheen that resembled scales.

Was that a… tail?

Kagome took one step back. Then another. Whatever it was, it had been quite large.

She didn't want any of that. None.

Pivoting sharply, Kagome hurried directly towards the pool. Climbing down a rocky incline, she bent her legs, muscles coiling and springing free as she leapt, body arching into a dive.

She made it into warm waters, kicking her legs madly. Gliding down from rippling surface to murky bottom of the pool, Kagome swam towards an opening in the rock wall. Something large and solid slid beneath her stomach then- closing around her waist and yanking.

Kagome's mouth opened in a gasp- pulled from the water with a hard tug. She coughed the second she surfaced, spitting out saltwater and holding onto the thing wrapped around her waist.

The tail.

Kagome's eyes widened, squirming and trying to get free as water dripped from her body, watching the pool drift further away as she ascended. The white scales felt smooth, warm beneath her touch.

Gritting her teeth, Kagome tried to dig her nails in, only to find them repelled by deceptively firm coils.

"You do not possess claws nor fangs sharp enough to cut through my hide, little human."

Kagome jolted, whipping her head up.

Half-lidded, piercing golden-yellow eyes stared back.

She gaped.

Slit pupils dilated.

The man observing her with a wry smile possessed beautifully ethereal features. Pointed ears, exotic magenta marks slashing across his pale cheeks. A silver fall of long hair spilt down over broad shoulders, hanging off the high rock he lounged upon that overlooked the pool. He'd propped both elbows on his bent tail, resting a strong chin upon one hand. The tips of his fingers resembled long, frighteningly sharp claws. Kagome blinked, trying to make sense of his form. His head and torso resembled a human male- physique impressive. From the waist down, however, an impossibly long snake tail sprawled out. She wasn't sure how vast it spread, a little preoccupied.

"Listen pal, I don't know what stage play I've stumbled across, but great effects. Top-notch. The puppet feels really lifelike," she minded some slick hair from her face. "The contacts are hot too, but I'd really like to be set down now."

"Would you?" he purred silkily, tail twisting to flip her upside down. Kagome gasped as black hair cascaded in front of her face, hanging towards the distant pool. "Unfortunately, this one has no interest in releasing you. It has been some time since prey has willingly stumbled into my den like a lost filly."

Kagome's mind raced. Prey. Shit.

"I-I didn't stumble in. The whirlpool-"

"Ah, yes," he hummed, rising from his perch languidly. His form moved smoothly, top half easing closer without fear of toppling from the rock his larger half wrapped around.

"Hn… few mortals are foolish enough to jump from that cliff at noon."

"I was pushed," Kagome seethed, bristling as he prodded and turned her like prized meat hanging off a hook. "Hey! Watch it!" She swiped an arm out, cheeks flushing. "Put me down this instant!"

The Snake-man tilted his head, "curious that of all people, my prey this time happens to be a woman from my homeland."

Kagome had been too startled to really think about it, but they were indeed conversing in Japanese.

"So you're a Japanese demon, huh?" she squeaked. "Awesome. We can talk more about that when the blood isn't rushing to my head. Put. Me. Down," a growl hissed free from her teeth.

His lips spread into a half-smirk, half sneer, exposing sharp, glistening fangs. He turned her upright once more, only to coil more segments of his strong, pale tail around her. A part of it twisted and slid around her knees, parting them.

Something twinged between her legs- a bead of sweat, hot and salty where it rolled down her thigh in a lazy trickle.

Kagome's eyes widened as the moving tail constricted beneath her chest, restricting the use of her arms and squeezing the air from her lungs like he'd trapped her within a huge fist.

His body loomed close, face hovering near. His touch felt oddly human upon her chin: grip as firm as any other arrogant male's.

"The harder you struggle, the tighter my grip," he uttered, gaze and voice almost gentle in their rich cadence.

Kagome fought to keep her breathing even, becoming still. He seemed intelligent and well spoken. If that was the case, talking her way out of the situation might be her best bet.

"For the record, I'm Kagome," she said, trying not to tremble. "W-what's your name, Mr Snake man?"

Ivory lashes fell shut and swept open in a slow blink. His lips parted, hesitating, as though out of practice with speaking it aloud.

"Sesshoumaru."

The Killing Perfection.

It sounded like a bad omen.

Kagome swallowed and kept blabbing. "Oh, that's cool. Your parents must've been anticipating a nice blood thirsty baby. I'm sure they're very proud."

His expression darkened, and Kagome quickly shut up. Clearly, that had been the wrong thing to say.

Sesshoumaru tipped his head to the side, breath fanning over her ear. "For the record," he uttered, archaic speech clearly unfamiliar with the term but imitating her, "my kind are not referred to as 'Snake Men.' I am a species of Naga."

"I-I see, sorry for using the wrong term," Kagome jolted as something flicked out close to her ear, nearly brushing the shell.

His tongue. Was he tasting the air?

Sesshoumaru made a low, pleasurable noise in his chest.

"You know… unless you're into playing with your food, maybe there's a reason you haven't eaten me yet," Kagome was ever the optimist.

"Pray tell: what would that reason be?" he asked, nose brushing and gliding into her hair. She felt his body roll as he inhaled deeply, having a ripple effect down his entire tail.

Kagome shivered. Oddly, the heat of him wrapped around her sent thrills racing up her spine due to every movement being intimately felt. The anticipation, fear and adrenaline mixed into a cocktail of absurdity. She felt its effects pour liquid heat into her lower abdomen.

"You want someone to talk to. Even people called 'The Killing Perfection' can get lonely. A-am I right in thinking you're the one who pulled me from the water?"

"Indeed."

Though she knew it wasn't out of any concern for her, Kagome nonetheless felt a stab of gratitude. "Thank you for that, I mean it. You're terrifying but much preferable to drowning."

Golden eyes danced. "Your compliments leave much to be desired."

Kagome's lips twitched. "Do you see what I mean, though? Maybe you just want a delightful conversationalist."

"Hn, perhaps," Sesshoumaru adjusted her, so that she loomed above him, his head dangerously close to her chest, "or perhaps I do just enjoy playing with my food."

Kagome jolted and gasped as a regal nose glided up the valley between her breasts, lips skimming, a teasing drag. She tried to squeeze her thighs together- prevented by a segment of his tail that rose and undulated slowly against her core, rubbing. Shamefully, Kagome moaned. Her wet dress, plastered to her form- pitifully could not hide the hard peaks of her nipples as her body heated.

"You respond quite enthusiastically to me, woman," Sesshoumaru purred, tongue flicking out to lick a long, wet arch up her chest, collarbone and neck. "Have you considered...you might enjoy my 'playing' with you?"

Panting, she quickly stopped her squirming hips. "L-let's talk about this," she swallowed, catching her breath. "We could make a game out of it. A real one."

Thankfully, his tail stopped.

"I am listening."

Okay, keep talking Kagome. She shifted, looking at the glittering slashes of magenta cutting over his tail like stripes. It was safer than getting distracted by his enchanting eyes.

"Is there a way out of here other than the pool?"

His silky voice caressed her hearing. "Yes."

"T-then let me run for 15 minutes. If I find the exit- you let me go. If you catch me, then fair enough, I'm yours to eat or... or whatever," Kagome muttered, cheeks heating. "But I can and will defend myself during the run."

Sesshoumaru's claw-tipped fingers grasped her chin, turning her face back to look at him.

His eyes were hypnotic in their richness of colour. Slit, inhuman pupils only drew her in instead of repelling. They smiled even as his lips remained still.

"Nothing would please me more," he purred, free hand gliding down her stomach, making it twitch. "You possess a silver tongue, girl. I have not met a prey that could hold a conversation before."

"Thanks, you're not so bad yourself- when you're not talking about eating me."

Chuckling with rich tones, the Naga loosened his tail, unwinding it so that she slid over his coils down to the walkway next to the pool.

Standing on her own two feet again, Kagome righted herself, glancing up at the looming Naga.

"Run along, little filly," he uttered languidly. His soft, masculine voice oddly put her at ease even as she prepared to run for her life. Perhaps this was how he lulled prey. Kagome chose not to examine why she'd responded so... favourably to him. It was the humidity. The adrenaline.

Kagome headed for a tunnel, realising half-way her mistake. It was pitch black inside, and she had no light.

Almost as immediately as she'd stepped inside- green flames flickered to life upon the walls. Torches lit her way, scattered further ahead.

Steeling herself, Kagome took a breath, bursting into a run.

[eevee-haze]

Aight so It's... not news to literally anyone that I like Ink sans a lot as a concept, and his birthday is today, so I figured what better way to celebrate his birthday than to make a brand new AU (or at least post the info for it)! Or I guess three since I'm working on Swap and Fell variants for it as well.

One of my main questions about the Underground was "how do they handle seismic activity" which was how this AU started forming. It's probably not at all scientifically accurate in the least, but oh well. I call it Rifttale. Cause the earthquakes cause literal rifts in the mountain lmao. I'll put the rest under a read more since this'll get long.

The idea of Rifttale is that Mt Ebott is located on a fault line, and all the hollowing out the monsters had to do made the mountain extremely unstable, and that problem only increased the more the underground's population grew. It's pretty dangerous underground in Rifttale what with the constant threat of cave in due to poor structural integrity and the fact that they don't really have much to work with to make their homes and businesses quake resistant. A fair portion of houses get rubble rained down on them and something always needs fixing.

All four sections of the underground remain, but the layout and placement are different. (And probably larger scale) For example, Snowdin is located near the top of the mountain since snow from the peak falls in through the cracks left in the roof of the cavern, and Hotland is at the very bottom of the mountain, where lava has surged up from the seismic activity. Both Waterfall and New Home are around the mid section, but are separated by a thick wall of rubble that followed a quake that happened maybe days before Frisk fell.

Sans

The man of many jobs adds two more responsibilities to the list rather begrudgingly in this AU. As one of the only Monsters capable of gravity manipulation and teleportation in Snowdin, he and his brother are tasked with being emergency responders in case of an earthquake as well as assisting with any initial construction steps in order to make bridges across newly formed gaps. Sans often gets called to other regions for his services too, but he really doesn't appreciate it.

Frankly he's convinced the mountain's going to crush them before they get the final soul they need, which is part of why he agrees to keep Frisk safe so easily. He doubts anything will change about their predicament with or without them. A No-Mercy route in Rifttale would see him saying things like "Couldn't have waited for the mountain to get us?" Or "I think I would have preferred a cave-in."

Something Rift!Sans doesn't really tell people is that he's blind in his right eye. When he and Papyrus were little, he shielded Papyrus from falling rocks during a quake, and one of them got him good just above his right eye. Most of the injury healed but it left a nasty crack in his socket which prevented him from actually being able to see. He can light the socket, and does so strangers don't needlessly worry about him, but it can't light up all the way like his left does.

Papyrus

Ah yes the sunshine boy. Personality wise he's not that different in this AU. He still wants to be in the guard and he's still confident and friendly, but sometimes he gets a little subdued and worried about Sans since Rift!Sans is much more obvious about his emotional/mental struggles. Another notable part is that he's being kept out of the guard mostly because he's more useful in the emergency unit. He's strong and capable enough to be a guard, but he's too soft, so they gave him a job that was helpful while playing to his strengths.... though like a silly he doesn't see the admirers he has and still hopes to become a guardsman one day.

Frisk & Chara

These two are interesting in this AU. Chara was around 13-14 when they died and spent years underground with the Dreemurrs before their death. They have a strong distaste for their own kind for several reasons, among which being the way they were treated (that led them to run away in the first place) and the fact that they forced such nice creatures into what is essentially a death trap.

They're a bit of a gremlin, but they're certainly not all bad like they consider themself to be.

Frisk on the other hand is a quiet child of roughly nine years. Adventurous and curious, but also blind. They hadn't seen the hole when they were exploring and ended up falling down. They rely on Chara to lead them around the more treacherous parts of the underground since they can't see it. (Chara is able to touch Frisk and tends to tug them by the wrist when guiding them.) Chara starts off really unhappy about guiding them, and depending on the route will even refuse to do so, not that it matters in a No-Mercy route. That's because in the No-Mercy route the Player is more of an active component. Frisk physically can't fight back on their own, and Chara would never help them do so. Essentially the Player is just an entity used by us creators to manipulate Frisk into a No-Mercy route since it wouldn't happen otherwise.

Asriel & Flowey

Personality wise the two really aren't all that different. Asriel is the slightest bit more skittish thanks to his timid nature and the uncertainty that comes with the constant tremors, and Flowey is the slightest bit more bearable. He still doesn't have much in the way of emotions, but it's pretty obvious their situation is bleak without him making it worse (As such, while he has tried No-Mercy in the past, most of his runs were seeing what effects smaller changes had. The volatile environment made it interesting regardless).

Though he's notably far more annoyed about losing his save and reload powers in Rifttale because he'd been in the middle of trying something when Frisk fell.

On the more technical side, Flowey doesn't tend to get around much when there aren't bridges over the chasms. While he can cross them himself, its a pain if they're too awfully wide. This means that the severe quakes tended to impede him a lot.

Toriel & Asgore

As a result of the meddling Flowey was doing, Toriel reclaimed her place as Queen and has been talking things over with her husband about everything that happened. Stuck in the ruins she hadn't gotten the news that Asgore amended his statement later on to say that they would only take the souls of humans that fell if they were hostile or after they died of natural causes. None of the children who fell were killed by monsters. (Many died in partial cave-ins or from falling into lava or the like, though so a quick death from a monster likely would have been preferable.)

Toriel still thinks that going out and just collecting the remaining souls they need would be faster, but Asgore argued a few points on that such as doing so likely angering the humans and giving them a further negative bias as well as the fact that whoever went to get the souls may well die like their children did.

They're still working things out but it's better than how it was before.

Toriel still spends a lot of her time in the ruins, but now its more out of a sense of duty since most of the children fell into the ruins first. She actually guides Frisk up until they meet Sans where she passes escorting them to him since he is more capable of ensuring their safety, and she needs to hurry ahead to make preparations for their stay and inform Asgore.

Alphys

Predictably not much different personality wise. She's actually one of the safer monsters since she never leaves her lab and it's reinforced to withstand rockfalls to some degree, not to mention the basement level with the true lab in it (though its hot as heck down there cause of the magma nearby.) Her primary goal is more geared toward keeping the underground as stable as possible so that they can hopefully last until they get the last soul. That's not to say the amalgamates don't exist, they do, but she's at least been looking busy as sort of an excuse why she hasn't answered back any of the letters. No time for mail when she's trying to save people, after all.

Undyne

Captain of the Royal guard, still. The guard does still exist, it's just less numerous and has more focus on recruiting strong members. After all they exist in case a hostile human arrives instead. So naturally Undyne is even more of a badass than normal, and she's ready in the event of a No-Mercy run. Even in a pacifist playthrough she's a bit wary of Frisk, notably not wanting to leave Alphys alone with them in case they were hiding their true intentions. This means she's the one who ends up escorting the human through the first little bit of Hotland after Waterfall, whereupon Mettaton would take over.

Mettaton

Considering a Human-killing robot was no longer needed, he was created with maneuverability in mind. The idea was that he could help others when needed, much like the emergency rescue portion of the guard, but Mettaton much preferred to focus on his career of course. He’s part of the reason Sans keeps being called to help out in other regions which gets him a healthy amount of resentment from the older skeleton.

Gaster

No major story involvement, but he does have plot importance. Gaster was the Skelebro’s father, and while he made them artificially, he did care about them a lot. Not much about him still remains and very few remember any details about him since he was quite a reclusive skeleton. He was close friends with the Riverperson however, so that’s who ended up essentially raising the two skeletons after Gaster fell into the Core. They provided for them despite being gone a lot.

Misc. Details

Children that stayed for an extended period were often called the “New Hope” a term coined when Chara first became a part of the Dreemurr family

Not all children opted to stay with the royal family, hence their belongings being stored in different regions

There were hostile humans that fell as well, but most met their fate in the lava and their souls were burnt up before they could be retrieved.

Frisk had fairly negligent parents. They weren’t outright abusive, but they really didn’t pay much attention to them.

Portions of the Waterfall part of the Underground have large nets bridging the gaps to catch the garbage that falls down that way nothing gets wasted falling into the chasms.

The Delta Rune on Sans’s coat is a reflective sticker. They told him he needed to wear something reflective for visibility’s sake and because he wasn’t willing to mess up his jacket, nor go without it, he cheated the system.

Papyrus wears a battle body just like normal, but he hot-glued some of the reflective material from human clothing that ended up falling down onto it so that he could both look cool and follow rules

Despite being a very neat and cleanly skeleton, Papyrus often ends up dirty as a consequence of his job. Because of that he takes care to meticulously clean both himself and the house before they go to bed.

[barnesandco]

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (4/14)

Story Masterlist

The plum seller at the farmer’s market saves Bucky from being captured for the attack at Vienna that he didn’t commit, but is she really all that she appears to be, or are ulterior motives involved?

This is an entry for @star-spangled-bingo​ 2020. Word count: 2100. Square filled: “They’re on the roof. I’m compromised.”

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Mild swearing (three sh*t’s to be exact)

A/N: Not really feeling this one, but okay. Please let me know what you think...

The sound of sirens starts a chain reaction. Bucky hurriedly takes both mugs of hot chocolate and pours them down the sink, and she grabs her bag and hands him his before they run out of the back door. His heartbeat grows louder in his ears just as the sirens do. Police have no business for miles around -- they can only be here for one thing. Capturing them.

“Down the path, go straight through the fork in the trail,” she says, Bucky realizes she must have studied the map, and they stumble down the trodden track behind the cabin, displacing mushrooms and twigs along the way. Coniferous needles whip at his cheeks, cold of the night biting his nose.

“There’s no path going straight. Left or right?” He hisses through his teeth, coming to a dead stop at the fork. She almost bumps into him, and braces her hands against his shoulders to avoid tipping over. 

“That’s the point, Barnes. Go.” Taking the lead, she stomps into the thick foliage, looking back when she sees he isn't following. She’s about to emerge from the bush when he looks up at the inky sky, stars swimming in its surface. 

“Helicopters.” A thump sounds from the cabin, now at a healthy distance above them. Battering ram. That’s enough to convince him, and he joins her off the beaten path, but she has no time to celebrate before a searchlight skims over the forest, missing them by nary a hair’s breadth. 

“We need to get under deeper cover. They’ll start searching the woods soon.” She tells him over her shoulder, going as fast as the dense undergrowth will allow, littered with tree roots, blueberry bushes, and the occasional porcupine. Bucky follows closely, eyes on her swinging ponytail and the brief glimpses of her lip between her teeth as she tries not to fall. We can’t outrun them, he wants to say, keenly aware that they will have realized that they were in the cabin, and hence also deduced that they cannot be far off. However, he says nothing, permits himself to be guided deeper into the woods -- as if he has a choice -- trusting her apparent knowledge of the region.

For several minutes, there is no sound except that of the crunching twigs underfoot. As long as he blocks out the drone of the helicopters, that is. Even the crickets have gone silent, as if holding their breath for the intruders of their peace. 

Her breaths come in short pants as she navigates the terrain in front of them, until she stops, abruptly, and he has to grip her waist so as to not fall into her and push her over. That’s when he notices there’s something in her ear, and he can hear a male voice emerging from what he presumes to be a communications device.

“They’re on the roof. I’m compromised. Get out and mind the choppers.”

Before Bucky can ask her what the hell that was, and before he comes to his senses enough to take his hands off her waist, she has turned around and begun to look back towards the general direction they came from. Panicked, she takes her bag off her back. “Shit, shit, I’m an idiot,” she mutters furiously, dropping it and kneeling on the forest floor as she rummages through it. Bucky stares down at her and then looks back nervously, surveys their proximity, his mind initiating a countdown for when this pause will become dangerous. Eventually, she produces two cloaks, both a strange, camouflage material, dotted with holes. Something in his mind clicks as he remembers, but the confusion must show, because she rushes to explain.

“Anti-infrared fabric. It’ll keep us hidden from the thermal imaging cameras. Thank God I remembered in time.” She drapes it over her shoulders, and he mimics her, tucking his hair under the hood as they continue.

The green of the woods blurs into the sight of the same green fabric cloaking armored Soviet vehicles lying in wait for the enemy. Siberian snow contrasting against its green, him observing both in the cold of winter as the world would go quiet. Still, patient, watching.

Stubbing his toe against a tree root the size of his arm sends a lighting bolt of pain through his foot. The sound of his stumble prompts a curious glance from her, eyes falling under the shadow of her hood. She faces forward and marches on, picking up speed as the helicopters hover above the cabin, which is now barely visible as a speck of light between the forest canopy. Bucky thinks he can make out a few bodies, bustling like the anthills around his feet. Can imagine people talking into radios and contacting headquarters.

“There’s a cavern under a cliff half a mile further,” she murmurs, as if to herself, and Bucky’s about to ask her how she intends to get down said cliff when a chorus of barks tears through the forest, ensnaring them like a lasso.

“Sniffer dogs. Run,” Bucky says, grabbing her left hand in his right, metal one stretched in front of him to push aside branches and shrubbery, the downhill motion aiding their efforts. More barking ensues and their panting grows heavier, louder, drowned out by a helicopter soaring overhead. Bucky’s senses pick apart his surroundings, informing him that the other helicopter has also stopped hovering, and is headed east. The chase is on.

He spares her a brief glance between paces, their hands firmly clasped together, her eyes wide and fearful. Shimmering pools of determination, they meet his icy blues before returning to the path ahead. Her heart is pounding so hard she is sure it will break out of her ribcage, pulse roaring deafeningly in her ears, nothing break through but the barks of the dogs that seem to come ever closer. 

She gasps when they pass a landmark - a particular pile of rocks - and pulls them both to a stop. Bucky’s hand is clammy with cold sweat but hers -- just as slippery, calloused, perhaps from guns and knives like his, yet so much warmer and so soft -- does not let go of him. 

They turn to the left, but the faint beam of a flashlight shines past them. The dogs’ running is audible now, in addition to their barks; Bucky estimates at least six, a proper squad. Looking at each other, they know they can’t outrun them. She pivots on the spot frantically, searching for escape, her eyes lighting up at the sight of something. A chance at getting away.

“Come on.” She tugs at his hand, dragging him towards a large plant with purple flowers. “Get in.” He looks at her incredulously, as if to say you’re shitting me.

“Dead serious. There’s a gap right there. Try not to disturb the shape of the bush too much,” she says, practically pushing him in. The bush is spread around the base of a tree, and she crawls in after him, so they’re sitting shoulder-to-shoulder against the tree trunk.

Her whole side is pressed against him - he can feel her pulse throbbing through her body, panic tangible. Her profile comes into stunning focus as she leans across to see if the hunters have caught up. Cheek so close to his nose that he feels his exhale reflected back, if he dares to breathe at all. They are frozen in time, his eyes fixed on hers although she is not looking at him, then moving to the bridge of her nose, the movement of her bitten-pink lips as she breathes. 

She pulls back and covers her mouth with a now-free hand as the dogs run past them, then halt, turning on the spot, and yapping incessantly. Bucky feels he might vomit his heart out of his chest; his hands clench around the tree roots he’s sitting between and he bites his tongue, fear seeping into his mouth along with the taste of blood.

The dogs circle, moving in and out of sight, unsure whether to continue because the scent is right there. Bewildered, Bucky looks at her questioningly, asking silently why they haven’t been torn to shreds. She shakes her head, holds a finger against pillow-cloud lips in a hush motion, then point to the flashlights as the owners catch up to their dogs. The helicopter seems to have gotten the memo as well. The purple flowered bushes flicker, but don’t betray them, shielding against the searchlights. She pulls her hood tighter around her head.

The dog trainers are yelling to each other now, clipping on leashes as they patrol the area. One -- their leader, presumably -- speaks into a radio.

“We’ve lost the trail, but they weren’t definitely here. Dogs aren’t going mad for nothing. They can’t have gone far.” A colleague’s flashlight illuminates the words Joint Terrorism Task Force on his jacket. 

A dog stops a few feet away from their hiding place. Sniffs at the ground. Lifts it head and turns, smells at the air around, almost looking her in the eyes. She shuts them, and Bucky can hear her try to bring the crescendo of the drumbeat her heart is playing to a full stop.

“There’s nothing more here. Let’s head back to the cabin, regroup. Maybe try to get a tip out of one of the captain’s buddies,” the man in charge calls, so everyone pulls their dogs closer, and they begin to go back the way they came. Bucky looks at her as she opens her eyes, watering from how tightly she had closed them. She holds up ten fingers, hands shaking, and Bucky nods. Begins counting.

597, 598, 599, 600 seconds -- ten minutes -- later, and he lifts his head from where it had been resting on the tree behind them, and taps her shoulder.

“Why didn’t they find us?” He asks. She motions towards the purple flowers around them. 

“Bittersweet bush. Also known as woody nightshade. Poisonous if ingested for humans, but just the smell is enough to confuse dogs. It hid our scent,” she says. A leaf tickles her face and she wrinkles her nose while adjusting the bag on her shoulder. Bucky is dumbstruck, fairly certain the awe is as prominent as a neon sign on his face, as he watches her check her pockets. He has to physically shake the shock off him, as they creep out of the plant they owe their lives to.

“This way.” She starts moving. Ears peeled for threatening movement, he imitates her cautious footsteps. They can’t risk another dog chase, although she is certain they’re far enough to no longer be able to hear or smell them. The woods have fallen silent once again, and he thinks he can hear a nightingale’s song ahead.

He treads so lightly she has to look to ensure he’s still there, and she finds comfort when his eyes look back. 

As they draw closer to their destination, she holds out a hand to stop him. 

“Careful. It’s steep, and the rocks can come loose.” She points down, and he sees only darkness below.  They begin their descent slowly, steadily, kicking up pine needles and dirt as they move. It’s going fine until Bucky slips on a mossy stone, tumbles forward, and into her. She latches onto him as they fall, landing on top of him and they roll down. Instinctively, Bucky tucks her head against his chest with one hand -- the other belting around her waist -- and tucks his own chin down into his collarbone so neither of them split their heads open on a rock. Her small hands, now bleeding, hold his biceps as they fall, fall, fall.

Then, as suddenly as they started, they stop, coming to rest on a flat ledge on the steep mountainside. Right in front of the mouth of a cavern. He can’t believe their luck, feels the adrenaline bubbling in his spine after the night they’ve had. She pushes herself off of Bucky, coughing up soil and spitting out leaves. Chest heaving for air, he stays where he is, on the forest floor, bag digging into his aching back.

It’s a small shelter, sufficient for the scarce remainder of night, as it’s unadvisable to keep travelling right now, but rest is the last thing on his mind, while he gets up to join her where she is spreading out a sleeping bag. “Who’s talking in your ear?” He asks, gruffly, and she stops. Freezes, and turns slowly with a sigh. 

“Sam Wilson. One of the captain’s buddies.”

[paisley-print]

CHAPTER SEVEN: The Infected

 CHAPTER ONE: THE HUNTER / CHAPTER TWO: THE HUNTED / CHAPTER THREE: THE STARVED / CHAPTER FOUR: THE JAILBIRD / CHAPTER FIVE: THE POISONED / CHAPTER SIX: THE DESCENDANT 

-

Synopsis: Din and Ino must fight to stay alive after then enter into the creatures den. These creatures prove to be a much more cunning then anybody originally thought. 

Note: Last of us inspired!

TW: Violence, Gore, Blood, Poisoning.

- 

Stone bridges carried them across the water surrounding the city. Magma chambers just beneath the surface heated the water to boiling temperatures. The two of them charged on until they reached the mouth of the city. Scratching, scuttering and tapping could be heard all around them as they threaded carefully between the labyrinth of buildings.

The next few moments happened so fast neither one of them had time to react. One second Din was above ground and the next he was plummeting below it. Massive chunks of solid granite rained down on him. Din managed a roll at the very last second and dodged the worst of the debris. He let out a deep groan and wiped soot off of his armor as he stood.

"Are you okay?" Ino asked, trying to peer through the cloud of dust from above.

"Never better," he grunted, dull pain shooting up his back. Beskar was unpleasant to land on, granite would have been softer. He looked at his surroundings. Directly in front of him was a mold ridden tapestry and a rotten straw bed. He must have been in some underground dwelling. To the left was a hallway lit by more flowers…. the city was overrun by them."I'll find a way back up- just stay there."

Ino wanted to argue, but remembered the promise she made him. "Alright, please be careful" she said then watched as he unholstered his gun and disappeared into the dark cavern below. She deployed her own weapon. The metallic hiss echoing through the city as she pulled it from its sheath.

Her feet stayed planted, her sweaty palm held tight around the hilt of her weapon while she waited for him. She was never quite aware just how long a minute really was until she was forced to endure them like this. Each second dragged for an eternity, while the noises high above her seemed to grow even louder in his absence.

"Ino."

Finally, she thought.

She lowered her sword and followed his voice into a crumbling building. She sighed in relief as she saw a flash of beskar climb the stares and disappear. Her legs felt heavy and the sword in her hand sagged as she reached the second level. He was standing with his back to her, looking out the window while she approached. Upon hearing her, he pivoted and closed the gap between them, taking her by the waist and pulling her into a tight hug. "Are you alright?"

Ino thought it weird, but wasn't complaining. "Yes. Are you?"

He pulled back slightly and placed a hand on her cheek like before. "Close your eyes" there was an urgency to his voice. Before she had time to speak, he had already taken the sword from her and placed it on the ground.

Ino was extremely confused "why? Are you hurt?"

"No" he said, stepping to the side and boxing her in between the stone table and the wall. He took hold of her shoulders and spun her so she was facing away from him. His voice was soothing "Just trust me."

She placed two hands on the table, steadying herself. Alarm bells were going off in her mind. Something wasn't quite right. She was going to protest when she felt his hand push her golden curls away and lean so close his hot breath tickled her neck. "Mando I think we should wait until

"Breathe Ino-" he shoved her hard against the table.

Her hip bones dug in painfully into the side. She whimpered and attempted to push herself up. He reacted to this pushback by taking a hand to her throat and squeezing much too hard. She gasped and struggled beneath the weight of him. Thinking quickly, she grabbed the dagger hidden within her boot and jabbed backwards.

It hit its mark, connecting deeply with something soft and fleshy in texture. The moment she felt his grip on her loosen, she kicked back and lunged for her sword. The thing standing before her was not The Mandalorian, at least not fully. She watched in horror as it morphed into a humanoid creature, with dark slits for eyes and a large jaw. Multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth jutted from it. It pounced at her, nearly reaching her….only stopping when it connected with the hilt of her sword. It had impaled itself fully through the chest. She stayed frozen like that, two hands held out in front of her, watching as this creature fought against death until the very end.

When it finally stopped moving, she threw its limp body to the side. Her legs quivered and failed her multiple times until she forced herself to a standing position. The creature's black blood dripped disgustingly down the front of her tunic. This wasn't in her studies. None of this was. Had she known they harbored this ability, she would have never suggested this trip. She knew she needed to find Mando, but there was one thing to do first, lest this entire trip had been in vain.

Gagging, she pulled the sword from the creature's body, then took its wrist in her hand. She pushed a boot into its shoulder and made a cut just below the armpit. The arm came loose with a solid yank- emitting a wet crunch as tendons snapped and the joint popped from its socket.

She tied the arm to her belt and took off running down the stairs. Her mind still racing with how those autopsy books could have gotten these creatures so wrong. It hit her in an instant, the flowers. "Mando!" she called, darting into the street. "The spores from the flowers! They cause hallucinations! The Sastriths use them to mimic! Don't trust them! Mando! "

Shit Shit Shit- where was he!?

She reached the crater where he had fallen, got down on her stomach and threw her legs over the edge. One hand held onto the ledge before she dropped, wobbling slightly but landing on her feet. She took off sprinting down the hallway he disappeared in. "Mando! Mando!" a sharp blow to the side of her head caused her to fall and crash against the wall.

Another Sastrith had her pinned - it unhinged its jaw and screamed at her…. it was her own scream…. It threw her own scream back at her. This caused a flip to switch in her mind.

How dare this thing taunt her?

She let out a guttural yell, took her sword and forced it through the creature's skull. With a flick of her wrist, it cracked in two and tumbled into a pile of oozing flesh beneath her. "Doshin' fucking bitch" she growled. Her veins held pure fire as she continued on her mission to find The Mandalorian. Watching that creature's life drain from its eyes made her feel powerful. Today was not the day she died she decided.

Two more Sastriths lunged at her, but she killed them easily with a jab at their guts and an upward pullback. She continued on, careful not to slip on the contents that spilled out of their abdomen.

She found herself in a dining hall. Large wooden tables, covered with spores and dust, stood crumbling throughout the room. She heard him before she saw him.

"Ino." He was slumped against the wall on the far side of the room. Even from this distance, she could tell how heavily he was breathing. A strained voice came sounding through his modulator "H-help."

How would she know? She had never felt so incredibly helpless in her life. Having to watch him struggle like this… "I need to know it's you," she approached him with great caution. "You have to take off the helmet."

He shook his head weakly and coughed "c-can't"

Blind terror ripped through her as he dropped his blaster and let his helmet sink lifelessly to his chest.

This broke her. Against her better judgment, she rushed to him. "Please, please please" she begged, dropping to her knees, placing two hands on either side of his helmet and pulling. His arms jerked up, leather sliding smoothly over her skin. An ear-splitting scream left her lips at the feeling of her hand being ripped open. Hot liquid poured into her wound and started pumping upwards through her arm. She jerked away and crawled towards her swords she had let fall.

The Sastrith was right behind her; a clawed hand came up and wrapped itself against her ankle, pulling her away. It flipped her onto her back. She forced her arm as far as it would go, fingers just inches away from the metal.

The Sastrith just barely managed to draw blood when she brought the sword up and landed a powerful strike to the side of the creature's head. It fell back, stunned. In a blind rage, she threw herself on top of it, lifted both hands above her head, and brought the metal down on the creature's face. It screamed. Ino repeated this motion once, twice, eight times, fifteen… The pain in her arm fueled each devastating hit. In the back of her mind she knew the thing was dead, but she kept going. Blood spattered on her face, in her mouth, across the floor. Nothing stopped her attack on the now faceless husk that was the monster.

A hand landed on her shoulder. She whipped around, slashed at it. Metal scraped against metal in a high-pitched shriek. She did it again and again until the sword was wrestled from her grasp by The Mandalorian. He placed two hands on her shoulders to calm her "it's me - it's me. Ino."

She retreated, kicking back on her feet and falling. Her face was twisted with anger as she yelled, "get the fuck back!"

"No, here look" he took hold of the dark saber on his belt and deployed it. "See?"

It took her a moment to trust the information given to her. She eventually gave in, falling to a pathetic pile on the floor and shaking violently with sobs. Din's arms wrapped around her and immediately she knew it was him. He held her to his chest, her face buried in the brown fabric of his tunic. "I thought you died," she sputtered.

His hold on her grew tighter, fingers coming to brush against her rib cage. He lowered his helmet to nuzzle the side of her neck. "It's okay, you're okay. I got you. I'm right here."

She pushed him away, doubled over and vomited blood onto the floor. He moved to reach for her, but she put a hand up for him to stay back, only to retch again and choke out more. He caught her just as she slipped towards the floor, her eyes rolled beneath half-closed lids. The last thing she could hear was his terrified voice calling out to her before everything went black.

[jackdawyt]

Hello Thedosians, I am here today to explain 6 fan theories that must come true in the next Dragon Age instalment.

Saria and I have been researching and tinfoiling away on many popular fan theories that plenty of others have theorized as well. Please note, these are all theories, and we would love to hear your ideas in the comment section below. There is no right or wrong when it comes to speculation.

But without further ado, put those tinfoil hats on, and strap seatbelts to your ears because we're going to take them on the ride of their lives!

Theory: I believe the Blight emerged from a Blighted Titan

The origin of the blight is quite the mystery throughout Thedas with many sources having their own validation on how the blights began:

Chantry-folk talk about a Maker casting a blight onto his failed creations as a plague for punishment of man's excessive pride.

The blight was to be the tool by with the Maker would end all of creation. They preached that it came from the Void, a place of nothing. (Codex entry: Lyrium).

In Threnodies, The Chant of Light exclusively condemns the kinsman of the Tevinter Imperium for the blight's existence.

Threnodies 8.13: "The Chant says that the Maker created the blight as he cast down the seven magisters who blackened the Golden City. Twisted and corrupted, the seven found the Old God Dumat snoozing, their taint spread onto Dumat, cursing the dragon and unleashing the first blight onto Thedas."

However, Tevinter's Imperial Chantry claims that The Chant of Light is a fabrication, a lie to spite the Imperium. Henceforth, the Imperial Chantry believes that the darkspawn have always existed, even before the blights. The main culprits for the blackening of the Golden City and mankind's corruption are the lies of the Old Gods, not mortal pride.

Contradicting the chantry's tale of the blight. As history recalls, it was the Dwarven Kingdoms that were the first to fall to the darkspawn. While the Dwarves don't care for the blight's origin, or what causes it, a pair of Dwarven scouts do believe that the Darkspawn were created by a queen broodmother - the first in existence - responsible for breeding all darkspawn.

Perhaps at the very heart of our world sits a queen—the first mother. Instead of focusing on her children, we should target broodmothers and ensure that future reinforcements will never be born. Codex entry: The Eternal Battle: Darkspawn.

Even The Grey Wardens believe that the Blight is a spiritual corruption that pervades all that it touches, and that all Archdemons must be destroyed in order to stop any future Blights.

Now, According to Solas this is untrue - he indicates that killing all the Archdemons would not stop the blights, the hordes of Darkspawn would still continue to ravage Thedas. He knows that there is something much worse that's behind the blight.

So, the majority of humans in Thedas believe in either the Maker creating the blight, or the blight already existing in the Black City. While the Dwarves don't care as long as the blight can be stopped, and the Grey Wardens are adamant that the Archdemons' death will end the blights.

In short - it seems no-one in Thedas knows what caused the Blight, and those few who do dare say a word. *Stares at Solas*

However, there is something that we do know regarding the origin of the blight! The substance known as "red lyrium" is intrinsically tied to the blight, because red lyrium actually has Blight within it, spreading the taint:

"Red lyrium... it has the Blight."

—Bianca Davri

Regular lyrium is the blood of the world-shaping Titans, the substance empowers magic because it is a conductor that "bridges the gap between the dreamer’s world and the waking world." - (World of Thedas, Vol. 1).

It's used by mages to strengthen magical spells and abilities, while Templar's use it to maintain their immunity to magic, and repel spells.

However, Red Lyrium is blighted Titan blood - corrupted and distorted - carrying this plague throughout the land. Unlike regular lyrium which requires you to digest it in order for it to impact you, just being around red lyrium will significantly affect you.

The substance is most unique, it can thin the veil, allowing spirits and demons to interact with the "real" world. Prolonged exposure will change not only your mental outlook but your physical appearance too. When a templar ingests red lyrium, it improves their powers, grants them new ones and pushes their strength beyond measures.

Once consumed you can become easily become addicted. The more a Templar ingests, the more likely it is for the red lyrium to manifest - descending the subject into pure madness and crystallizing their body until it's pure red lyrium, not being recognized as having once been a human.  

What's most concerning is how Red Lyrium came to be, the mystery still alludes us today. However, we can assume that it comes from a Titan, more apropos - a blighted Titan.

Based on Codex entries, we know that in the time before the veil, the Kingdom of the Elven hunted and declared war against the Titans.

"In this place we prepare to hunt the pillars of the earth. Their workers scurry, witless, soulless. This death will be a mercy. We will make the earth blossom with their passing."

Mythal, the God of Justice, personally slew a Titan, destroying the dwarf kingdom.

"Hail Mythal, adjudicator and savior! She has struck down the pillars of the earth and rendered their demesne unto the People! Praise her name forever!" - Trespasser DLC.

With the defeat of a Titan, the Ancient Elves discovered lyrium from its body. The elves continued to fight with the Titans, mining their bodies for lyrium and "something else". Potentially, their hearts that control the will of the Fade.

"The runes say the Evanuris fought the Titans. They mined their bodies for lyrium and... something else. It's not clear." - Trespasser DLC.

Lyrium has plenty of benefits to a mage, however, if Titan's created the Fade, perhaps their heart's can change the will of the Fade and that's why the elven people needed to slay one, so they can acquire a heart and change their reality.

Believing that the Titans were slain, the elves resumed their lyrium mining operations, until something changed. The normal lyrium became red lyrium, affecting the workers at an alarming rate, nothing could stop this.

"For a moment, the scent of blood fills the air, and there is a vivid image of green vines growing and enveloping a sphere of fire. The vision grows dark. An aeon seems to pass. Then the runes crackle, as if filled with an angry energy. A new vision appears: elves collapsing caverns, sealing the Deep Roads with stone and magic. Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast. A voice whispers:"

"What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all." - Codex entry: Veilfire Runes in the Deep Roads.

The blight spread through red lyrium onto the Elven workers, killing and turning them into tainted ghouls. With their meddling, the Evanuris already knew what the Blight could do even to them and their people...

"One day Andruil grew tired of hunting mortal men and beasts. She began stalking The Forgotten Ones, wicked things that thrive in the abyss. Yet even a god should not linger there, and each time she entered the Void, Andruil suffered longer and longer periods of madness after returning." Codex entry: Elven God Andruil.

They figured out that the Titan was not really dead and since the Blight infects only living beings, they had no choice but to seal the mining place.

The Evanuris returned, using red lyrium as a weapon, becoming mad. Mythal protests and is betrayed and "slain", Solas forges a trap for the remaining Evanuris, creating the veil and sealing the tainted "gods" away. Not only did the veil's creation lock away the blighted Evanuris, but the veil was needed to prevent the Titans from waking up.

"He broke the dreams to keep the old dreams from waking."

- Cole

In some regards, Solas saved the elven kingdom by severing the connection the Titans had with their "children".

Finally, we make it to the theory: I believe that the blight originated within a Titan.

Before the veil, the Titans exacted their revenge, blighted and breaking the seals of its prison with its newly acquired slaves - the elven people. it mentally called the dwarves and made them break the seals from outside thus freeing it and in turn, it infected them with the taint and made them its slaves - a corrupted form of a hive-mind.

It planned to strike vengeance upon the Evanuris. After some time, through its newly acquired slaves, it found the prisons of the sleeping Old Gods and decided to infect them too. planning to unleash the Taint upon Thedas.

The Old Gods, slaves of the blighted Titan and the generals of its army: they command the entire Darkspawn horde and in turn, they are commanded by the Titan to do its bidding.

Whether the blight came from the Titans like a defensive mechanism, or a plague to defend itself from hostile forces, or if the ancient elves/forbidden ones concocted the blight by using blood magic on a slain Titan. It's still unknown.

The blight could be a natural infection. Red lyrium might just be Titan cancer, a piece of their biology mutating mid-life and turning into something destructive and dangerous. That's why the blight has so many Titan properties. It has a Hive-Mind because Titans have Hive-Minds. It Sings, because Titans Sing.

With the veil in place, the Titans returned to a remorseful slumber. Angry because they can't reconnect with their children, awaiting the chance to embrace them once more. This yearning anger has manifested throughout the years with the growth of red lyrium, and the blight's progress.

The Titans have a strong connection to The Fade, or at least an association with it. When the Magisters used blood magic to physically cross the Veil and enter the Black City, the reestablished connection between the physical world and the dreaming Fade unleashed the blight again.

With the veil's destruction, surely a blight the likes of which have never been seen would be released onto Thedas. The Titan's pain will be heard by all.

We are here

We have waited

We have slept

We are sundered

We are crippled

We are polluted

We endure

We wait

We have found the dreams again

We will awaken - Whispers Written in Red Lyrium.

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Theory: I believe Solas is a Spirit of Wisdom/Pride in the time of Arlathan

Let's start at the beginning. His name:

Solas - In elven, means: 'Pride’

Pride is mentioned a lot in ancient elven texts, and it's used in the common dialogue of ancient elven tongue. But the only time Pride is mentioned throughout the knowledge of spirits and demons, Pride is represented as a demon.

Pride Demons are known as probably the most powerful demons out there.

"because they, among all their kind, most resemble men; as clever and manipulative as the desire demon, with a penchant for cruel irony that is almost human"  -Beyond the Veil: Spirits & Demons.

In it's corrupted form, it's a malicious beast, known for it's 7 eyes. Much like the Dread Wolf’s depiction in it’s given mural…

Now there's a lot of spirits we have met in the Fade throughout Thedas, in this case, Wisdom Spirits are known for giving knowledge. Knowledge of either lore or history from the past ages.

The thing about a spirit’s nature is that it's evident who they are, and what their name describes them as, so it's easy to interpret their purpose. Cole as Compassion fixes up relationships, mourning those of the dead, and help resolve hard situations in which is hard without the need of Compassion.

The hard thing to notice is that if a Pride Demon resembles so much of humanity, and Wisdom is the opposite spectrum of Pride. Wisdom would also resemble this trait, of being human. Making Solas that much easier to tie into our reality.

"Wisdom and Purpose are too easily twisted into Pride and Desire" -Solas

The Chant of Light, says, the Spirits are the first children of the Maker. He turned his back on them because they lacked a soul – they could twist the Fade to their liking, but lacked the ability to imagine and create, and thus emulate their creator.

The only entity we can come across in ancient elvehn would be Elgar'nan,

‘Elgar’ translated in elvhen means "spirit"

‘nan’ translated means "revenge, or vengeance"

So it directly translates as ‘Spirit of Revenge/Vengeance’, whom Elgar’nan’s purpose as a God is as well...

Thus, the Evanuris could all be implemented as spirits first and came into existence to a body…

The Fade began as an "ocean of dreams" and was reduced to a well when the Maker used its "emerald waters", lyrium. He "took from the Fade a measure of its living flesh" and created men.

"They made bodies from the earth. And the earth was afraid. It fought back. But they made it forget ." — Cole

Solas begins to tell the Inquisitor that the Evanuris were remembered as Gods due to war against someone else. Either the Forgotten Ones or the Titans, it doesn't seem to matter when the result seems to resonate in Solas much more than we would expect...

I believe that when Mythal came to seek Solas for more wisdom when he was a spirit. She actually needed him for this war. What I mean is that he would now become seated as a left-hand man to Mythal - a general to help the People into the justice needed for their power.

Solas; probably being convinced, for the time being, comes into a body:

He did not want a body. But she asked him to come. — Cole

He becomes a guardian to her side, a servant of Mythal. Mythal describes those into her service more of a gift than a boon. So those who felt convinced for seeking knowledge or power must have been willing to be at her side just like Solas was.

“You didn’t do it to be right, you did it to save them.”

Solas, what is Cole talking about?

A mistake… One of many made by a much younger elf who thought he knew everything…”

Solas, as a Wisdom spirit had no desire to enter this world with a body, (such as limiting things), but for whatever reason 'she' asked him to come, she being Mythal.

‘He wants to give wisdom not orders. He isn’t that kind of wolf’ — Cole

Solas loathes his purpose. He’s Pride, but he hates it, he wants to change, wants to be Wisdom, but that’s not his purpose at this moment….

He envies Cole’s purpose as a spirit of Compassion:

‘You don’t have to envy me Solas.’ — Cole

He is sad to see his friends depart this world, knowing things are being forgotten, broken, and lost. He will endure, and he will be their Pride.

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Theory: The Griffons Are Alive, And The Wardens Know It

The Weisshaupt conspiracy:

Fortress Weisshaupt has stood through the ages as the Grey Warden’s headquarters, it is located in the southern Anderfels. During the height of the Wardens' power, the fortress was a thriving place, accommodated thousands of Wardens and a large stable of griffons.

Griffons are heroic winged beasts that joined the fights with their Grey Warden counterparts in the previous blights, as warden and beast shared an unbreakable bond throughout Weisshaupt's history.

Each of the defeated Old God’s remains are memorialized in Weisshaupt’s treasury, declaring the grand victory that the previous wardens had claimed in the name of the group.

The castle is a reflection of everything the Wardens have stood for, throughout the ages. However, in the current Dragon Age, Weisshaupt has become a barren place with a garrison of only a few hundred, the griffons are long extinct, and the reigning First Warden is rarely present.

The Grey Wardens have become irrelevant in the current age with the last blight that occurred over 10 years ago. In actuality, the Wardens have become a hindering, reckless group. During the crisis of Corypheus’s ascension to Godhood, the Orlais Grey Wardens submitted themselves to Tevinter, so they could defeat the two remaining Old God and “end the blights” once and for all.

Once Thedas’s only protectors, and now blinded by their own cause. The Wardens couldn’t even see the real enemy in front of them. And since those events, the group has become even more corrupt with rumours reporting on broken ties between the leaders at Weisshaupt, and how a civil war awaits each of them.

“Rumors abound that they severed ties with their leaders at Weisshaupt, and that a bitter war now rages between them.”

“What becomes of Hawke/Loghain/Stroud/Alistair is unknown – save that all news out of Weisshaupt soon ends.”

“Does the sudden silence indicate a battle within... or something far worse?”

Morrigan, Epilogue

Weisshaupt fortress remains silent, having gone dark from the rest of the group, but why? What caused the Wardens to stop communicating with each other? Was it merely to stop the corruption of the group from spreading, or is something even more aloof?

Have the Wardens finally met their own demise? Has each brother fought their sister? What has truly become of the Weisshaupt Wardens?

Well, perhaps it’s not as suspect as everyone in Thedas is making it out to be. The Wardens have always been a highly suspect group with many secrets, most of the general public don’t understand the Joining, there are plenty of things that the Wardens keep hidden from the average Thedosian.

So, what exactly could the Wardens of Weisshaupt be harbouring, that would force them to isolate themselves from the rest of the group?

Well, in 9:41 Dragon, several Warden-Recruits are assigned to Weisshaupt and begin a research project into records from the Fourth Blight. While there, one of the recruits discovers the diary of Isseya, a Grey Warden from the Exalted Age which reveals that there is a clutch of live Griffons hidden in the Anderfels. The new Wardens successfully rescue the griffons and resolve to return them to Weisshaupt where they will have the facilities to help the griffons re-establish themselves.

Valya; one of the recruits who found the griffon clutch, shows hesitancy at informing the wardens of her discovery. Valya says of the First Warden, Chamberlain of the Grey and High Constable:

"I don't trust them to place the griffons' well-being over power or politics." (pg 280).

Could the Wardens of Weisshaupt be fighting over what is to come for these griffons? Who controls them? How they will be raised? What will their purpose be?

The sheer existence and resurgence of Griffons in the Dragon Age could have caused the need for a sudden silence across the group, if the people of Thedas knew this secret, it could be dramatic.

And with the corrupted Wardens in the South, it may not be in Weisshaupt’s best interest to share this information with the rest of the Wardens for fear of this secret being revealed.

Perhaps this has caused a rebellion inside the Fortress, splitting the group’s leaders over the future of these griffons, and if the people of Thedas deserve to know. With factions within the Grey Wardens both agreeing and disagreeing with sharing this news to the rest of the Wardens.

A civil war brews in the Wardens HQ, will what’s left of the Griffons preserve in this Age? Or will the ignorance of the Wardens once more be an obstacle for the existence of these beasts?

Can the Warden’s rise up to their former glory? Or will they soon meet their demise? As it stands, Weisshaupt remains in the dark, the Wardens are waring amongst themselves, while the fabled Griffons return to the Dragon Age.

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Theory: I believe the Evanuris will return once the Veil is torn.

Solas' plan involves tearing down the Veil and restoring the 'time of the elves'. It is stated that when the Veil is torn, the Evanuris will return. But why does that not bode well?

'They were fickle, they amassed wars against one another' — Solas

The Evanuris are known to be power-hungry tyrants that used the bidding of their slaves for power. The more power they received, the more the threat they posed against the world.

'Had I not created the Veil, the Evanuris would have destroyed the entire world' — Solas

It is stated that Falon'Din began wars to amass more slaves, and filled lakes as wide as oceans for those who wouldn't bow low to his shadow.

Andruil, made armors of the Void, hunting the Forgotten Ones in the thrill of the hunt. And brought back plagues and speaking about madness, things forgotten.

‘One day Andruil grew tired of hunting mortal men and beasts. She began stalking The Forgotten Ones, wicked things that thrive in the abyss. Yet even a god should not linger there, and each time she entered the Void, Andruil suffered longer and longer periods of madness after returning.

Andruil put on armor made of the Void, and all forgot her true face. She made weapons of darkness, and plague ate her lands. She howled things meant to be forgotten, and the other gods became fearful Andruil would hunt them in turn.’  — Translated from ancient elven found in the Arbor Wilds, source unverified.

Ghilan'nain made monstrous beasts that threatened both the skies of the heavens and the depths of the earth. Even rumored to have used the body of slaves and animals as armor.

Elgar'nan cast down the sun unto the earth, seeping the life's blood onto the land. Eidolons were made by thousands of slaves built upon mountains, screaming his worship upon the lands.

'You said that the Elvhen Gods went too far. What did they do they made you move against them?' — Inquisitor

'They killed Mythal' — Solas

The Evanuris plotted out the kill the All-Mother of the Pantheon. They were crazed by reaching for ultimate power, by killing even their own kin to do so.

“She cared for her people, she protected them, she was a voice of reason, and in their lust for power, they killed her” — Solas

The Evanuris warred against one another commonly, this civil war began first with them being generals against the Forbidden and Forgotten Ones.

'Long ago, there were two clans of gods, the Creators, who looked after the people, the Forgotten Ones preyed upon us' - Merrill

'After the war ended, they became respected elders, then kings, and finally Gods, the Evanuris.' — Solas

They banished those of that kin and were rose up into godhood for their power. Sent them to belong in the Abyss, and thrive on things forgotten to somehow bring their People into glory. However, that did not last, slaves represented power in the Pantheon.

Such power was not given freely, all were threatened by each of their knowledge and striked against one another to become divine. When Mythal became a voice of reason to protect her own People, they killed her and began planning to gain power against all who opposed them, making them almost unstoppable.

Solas then began a plan to stop this once and for all:

'Fen'Harel was clever. He went to each side and told them the other had forged a terrible weapon, a blade that would end the war.' — Merrill

Solas trapped both the Gods, by putting them in their respectful places, banishing them to an eternity of torment.

'He sealed them both in their realms forever.' — Merrill

'And when they went too far, I formed the Veil and banished them forever' — Solas

'You banished the false Gods, you didn't kill them?' — Inquisitor

Solas then created the Veil to trap the false gods into their respective prisons.

'Hiding, hurting, and to wake them.' — Cole

The Evanuris were now trapped from destroying the world, Solas begins to state that he finally freed the elvhen people, but their results ended in destroying their world as well...

But there are still some remnants of being alive to return once again:

“You meet Mythal did you not? The first of my People do not die so easily” — Solas

Since the Evanuris will return, I believe their remnants must already grasp some remains of beings of Thedas. Just as similar as to when the Breach stirred the Titan, the Evanuris could be having the same effect as well.

"There are no gods. There is only the subject and the object, the actor and the acted upon. Those with will to earn dominance over others gain title not by nature but by deed."

"Let Andruil's bow crack, let June's fire grow cold. Let them build temples and lure the faithful with promises. Their pride will consume them, and I, forgotten, will claim power of my own, apart from them until I strike in mastery." —  Codex entry: Geldauran's Claim

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Theory: I believe the Dread Wolf will Rise.

'When He rises, everyone will see' — Sandal

It is already claimed in the teaser trailer that the Dread Wolf will rise. Solas, the next antagonist will rise up against his opposers in the next instalment.

However, the Dread Wolf rising doesn't have to be him doing so physically, but rather, rising up to take responsibility in ending our Veil-like world to restore his elvhen People.

'I will save the elvhen people, even if this world may die' — Solas

Particularly, what will Solas 'rise up' to do when ending our world? The mural we saw looks as if the Dread Wolf is rising much higher above the elvhen bald-figure, and poses as a threat with its red eyes. Could Solas be looking for a source of power to rise against the Veil?

'The shadows will part, and the skies will open wide.' — Sandal

'I would've entered the Fade using the mark you now bear, then I would have torn down the Veil. As this world burned in the raw-chaos, I would've restored the world of my time, the world of the elves. ' — Solas

At the beginning of the Inquisition, Solas kept at a nearby village to retrieve the Orb that carried power over a period of time for millennia. Solas' plan was to retrieve the Orb after Corypheus had died unlocking it, and then have the mark which the Inquisitor bears.

His plan the whole time for this world, was to destroy it and revive the world of his time with the elvhen and also the evil Evanuris.  He gave the orb to Corypheus so it could gain enough power to tear down the Veil, which is what he wanted all along. He would have risen up to power and created a plan to destroy the Evanuris before they got their chances of gaining ultimate power.

I believe not only his first personal plan involves him rising up to power against the Pantheon. But that he also 'rose' from a slumber he took. Solas now has awoken to a Tranquil-like world, and will begin his journey to go against the forces of this world. Seeking help where he can reach with spirits and the elvhen, and then opening the Veil in the sky and render the Fade into the Waking world as one.

'I was too weak to unlock it after my slumber' — Solas

He seemed quite sad when the orb broke after all the orb was key to opening eluvians and the Fade.

After defeating Corypheus, Solas’s last chance after the Orb broke was to reach out to Mythal and gain enough power to tear down the Veil. He takes the remnants she bestows to him, and he begins his journey to rise up against the Veil. He starts by taking over control of the eluvians, unleashing spirits to fight against the Qunari threat.

Solas isn't messing around this time, he finally has some amount of power to break the Veil and restore a world before it becomes bad. But how will he rise?

Thedas knows very little of the Dread Wolf, known as a treacherous, merciless, figure that is heavily feared in Dalish tales, the Evanuris fear it too.

'The pages of this book-memory?- warn of a terrible danger, a wolf with slavering black jaws and pits for eyes. The Evanuris-the elven gods-stand in a ring around it, as if preventing it from attacking.

"Beware the forms of Fen'Harel The Dread Wolf comes in humble guises, a wanderer who knows much of the People and their spirits. He will offer advice that seems fair, but turns slowly to poison. Remember the price of treason, and keep in your heart the mercy of your gods."'

— Note: The Treachery of the Wolf

This depiction of Solas having pits for eyes, and slavering black jaws, they warn those of the terrible danger coming. Wherever the Evanrus are hiding, they are surrounding this Dread Wolf to prevent any attacks. What could be speculated is the factor that Solas and the Dread Wolf could be different aspects of each other, like Corypheus puts an aspect in his Red Lyrium Dragon. This, could be closer to a red lyrium wolf.

What if, as described in the codex, Solas is going to finally reach the place were the Evanuris are hiding, use this aspect of himself, the Dread Wolf, to rip open the Veil?

However, the Veil is to be known recently to be weaker than it has ever been since the Breach:

The Tevinters once theorised that the Veil is thin in places that have seen great bloodshed. — Codex entry: Tears in the Veil

Demons seize every opportunity, every tear in the Veil, to enter our world. The Breach is living proof of the chaos it can unleash. In Hushed Whispers was living proof of how the world can become...

But it is theorized that the Veil tends to be weaker in places that feature, or have experienced, extensive death or use of magic.

‘Small tears occur naturally when magic weakens the Veil or when Spirits cluster at an area that has seen many deaths’ — Solas

The tear occurs because spirits are attracted to death and they press against the Veil. The Veil is particularly thin at night when most people sleep and spirits are most active. The use of blood magic can allow the Veil to be torn so that demons may physically pass through it into the waking world.

Once the Veil is torn in places, it is extremely difficult to mend, and some might even say impossible. "Mending" these Tears, i.e. strengthening the Veil, is extremely difficult. Depending on the level of damage done to the Veil, it can be closed through several methods ei. The Anchor.

One place that is particularly known to have the Veil thinner, is Kirkwall. A lot of chaos was constantly influenced upon that city, and that is ultimately where we first located Red Lyrium as well…

It is well known that the Veil is thin in Kirkwall, small wonder given the suffering in the city. But we've discovered the magisters were deliberately thinning it even further. Beneath the city, demons can contact even normal men. Did they seek the Black City to compound the madness of their previous efforts? Or was it something else? We've found a chamber where the Veil is at its thinnest, long-since looted, but the power is still there. — Band of Three,  The Enigma of Kirkwall

What is known is that places around Thedas where deaths/chaos have occurred more than frequently are now further weakening the Veil. For Solas, that only means an easy key to breaking the barrier that separates the Fade from the Waking World.

“You’d murder countless people?” — The Inquisitor

‘Wouldn’t you to save your own?’ — Solas

The sky may have never healed ever since the Inquisitor sealed the breach, which may prove worthy for Solas’s plan to destroy the veil. His execution to tearing down the Veil might work once and for all.

And the sky is healed. Healthy, whole, there’s just that left to remember.. - Cole.

A new dawn is appearing, the dawn is coming upon Thedas.

‘One day the magic will come back - all of it. Everyone will be just like they were.’ — Sandal

Solas will rise as the Dread wolf to take the Veil down, and whether his plans are fully executed, could be the end of our time…

‘We aren’t even people to you?’ — Inquisitor

‘Not at first, you showed me I was wrong, you were people and you deserved better. Like all the rest I used after one hopeless battle after another.’ — Solas

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Theory: I believe that Mythal is the true Antagonist of Dragon Age.

'For a reckoning that will shake the very heavens. She was betrayed, as I was betrayed, as the world was betrayed! Mythal clawed and crawled through the ages to me, and I will see her avenged!' — Flemeth/Mythal

All Mother, all Protector, a voice of reason, who calmed Elgar'nan's rage, has been betrayed by her own kin. She is the Goddess of Justice and is due for her bidding.

In Ancient times of Arlathan, Mythal, born out of a sea of the Earth's tears.

"In most stories, Mythal rights wrongs while exercising motherly kindness." — Morrigan

She was the aducator of her Elvhen People. Making sure threats were kept at bay, and opposers stuck down for justice.

“Let fly your voice to Mythal. Deliverer of justice. Protector of sun and earth alike.

Pray to Mythal and she would smite your enemies, leaving them in agony" — Morrigan

Mythal was a speaker for all people and even the Evanuris, yet her actions were recorded to be sinister like the rest of the Evanuris:

'Other paint her as dark, vengeful.' — Morrigan

Being more than the other Evanuris gave Mythal an edge, a way to take any of them on and win. hence her dark side being interpreted in tales. She demonstrates this ability in confrontation with Andruil.

So Mythal spread rumors of a monstrous creature and took the form of a great serpent, waiting for Andruil at the base of a mountain.

When Andruil came, Mythal sprang on the hunter. They fought for three days and nights, Andruil slashing deep gouges in the serpent's hide. But Mythal's magic sapped Andruil's strength and stole her knowledge of how to find the Void. After this, the great hunter could never make her way back to the abyss, and peace returned.

— Translated from ancient elven found in the Arbor Wilds, source unverified.

This also makes her nigh impossible to defeat, but she has one glaring weakness: her desire to protect the People. In the time of Arlathan, Titans were threatening the Elvhen, and Mythal sought out the Titan to stop the chaos of their lands.

"Hail Mythal, adjudicator and savior! She has struck down the pillars of the earth and rendered their demesne unto the People! Praise her name forever!"

—  Codex entry: Veilfire Runes in the Deep Roads

So, when the People kill their first Titan, and in the process unleash the Blight:

'The vision grows dark. An aeon seems to pass. Then the runes crackle as if filled with angry energy.

A new vision appears: elves collapsing caverns, sealing the Deep Roads with stone and magic.

Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells, is cast.'

—  Codex entry: Veilfire Runes in the Deep Roads

Mythal, having a closer association with the Land (the Stone, the Titans) knows exactly what has happened and sacrifices herself to keep the Taint at bay. She splits herself into aspects and buries them as a magical seal against the Taint, replacing the lost Titan. One aspect she keeps on the surface world, to remain among the People. This sacrifice made her vulnerable and the other Evanuris did not hesitate to strike.

'they killed Mythal, a crime for which an eternity of torment is the only fitting punishment.' — Solas

Then Solas moves against the Evanuris, creating the Veil and banishing them into their respective prisons until the bidding of Mythal comes. In which, she has put herself into aspects that effect chaos throughout the lands, buying time for power, until she becomes one again. It awakens and takes form when an uncorrupted piece of Mythal is found by a Tainted priest, their form becoming malicious and broken, until an effective ritual to retrieve the soul uncorrupted...

Flemeth, as we know now to be Mythal, has been manipulating the Ages ever since, she enforces the effective immortality unto her bodies of her daughter to live an abnormal life to endure the ages, all the while.

'Seeking the Justice denied to her' — Flemeth

Mythal has been quite busy after her death when Solas created the Veil, it seems that

'Mythal still endures' — Solas

Solas is now enforcing her plan, it seems to pain him that his mistakes cause further action to take place with Flemeth.

'I am so sorry' — Solas, Epilogue

Solas respects Mythal. He once sealed away the Thedosian versions of heaven and hell and shook the world to its foundations in order to avenge her murder. Now, his own mistake—getting the Orb to Corypheus—means that he himself will now have to take her life and do her bidding.

She plans to seek revenge for the Evanuris, she does not care for the Veil-like world, she believes it was a last-minute effort against an enemy, she seeks to bring all into the new Age, where she rules, the Dragon Age.

'A soul is not forced upon the unwilling, Morrigan, you were never in danger from me.' — Flemeth

[katedoesfics]

Lacuna | Chapter 9

The morning fared far better for Kahli than the day before. She drank more slowly than she did before, not ending up nearly as drunk as she had, which made the morning far more bearable. So much so that she decided to make her way to the commerce guild to see what work she could pick up to occupy her time.

In the plaza, however, she was stopped by Mayor Gale.

“Just the person I was looking for,” he said.

“I get that a lot.”

Gale laughed. “Listen. I want to further develop Amber Island. That cave there used to lead to a ruin, but due to an accident, the entrance was closed. This was some forty years ago, now. Since then, there’s been various rumors of it being haunted, which is obvious nonsense. But! I think it's about time we used it in our favor. The Haunted Cave of Portia; got a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

Kahli shrugged. “I guess. I don’t really do haunted things.”

Gale laughed. “Nevertheless,” he continued. “There used to be a power generator in there somewhere. I was hoping I could commission you to fix it up and give it some juice. Arlo tells me we’ll need to install a battery. Do you think you can do that? Then I’ll get one of the Hulu brothers to get that place runnin’. This will make a fine tourist attraction! Just what we need to bring in some extra income.”

Well, she got her next commission, and it sounded easy enough. How hard could it possibly be to put a battery into a generator? And fortunately, she had a couple spare batteries lying around that she came across in the ruins. This would be her easiest job yet.

After stopping at the workshop to retrieve the battery, she made her way to Amber Island at a leisurely pace, enjoying the warmth of the approaching summer in the air. When she arrived at the bridge, she paused to examine it. It was still standing at least. She stepped carefully, first with one foot, then followed with the other. It held under her weight, and she bounced slightly. It seemed she did a decent enough job after all. She strolled confidently over the bridge and made her way to the cave. Just outside of the entrance, she found Liuwa.

“Hey, Liuwa,” Kahli said in greeting. “Mayor Gale send ya down here?”

Liuwa crossed his arms. “Yup. Surveying this place. Gonna set up a haunted cave here. Going in?”

Kahli nodded. “I’m fixing the generator.”

“Well, be careful,” he warned. “It’s still dangerous inside. Gotta get the Corps down here to clear it out. Some rats have made this place home over the last few years.”

“I think I can handle some rats,” Kahli said smugly, and she stepped into the cave.

It was damp, dark, and musty, but with a flashlight in hand, she navigated the winding path inside. It didn’t take long, however, before she encountered the first few rats inside the cave.

They were no mere rats. They were large; nearly as tall as she was, with red fur. They were far more humanoid than standard rats, and to her surprise, they wielded various swords and blades.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Kahli muttered. Her voice echoed off the cavern walls, catching the attention of a group of bandirats, and they immediately lunged to attack her.

She jumped out of their way, but quickly found herself closed in by the five bandirats. With nothing more than her flashlight, she had no choice but try to make a desperate escape. There was no gap as they closed in around her, however, so instead, when they raised their weapons, she charged toward them, catching them off guard. She plowed her way through them, knocking them backwards, then turning quickly on her heels and letting her fist fly into the faces of the nearest rats as they sprang back to their feet.

She easily knocked two the ground with two swift punches, one after another, and using the butt of her flashlight to her advantage. But just as the first two went down, the other three charged at her. She ducked, dodging the first one’s attack, then swung her leg around her to trip the other two as they neared. When they fell to the ground, she sprang up to punch the first one she dodged, then swung her leg around to swiftly kick the two fallen bandirats as they tried to get back to their feet.

But their battle was not over. Her first two attackers had regained themselves, and they, too, lunged at Kahli. She dodged their initial attacks, narrowly missing one sword and grabbing the bandirat’s arm, pulling it forward. Its grip on the blade loosened and the sword dropped, clattering loudly against the ground.

Kahli scooped it up quickly just as the second rat lunged at her, and the sword plunged into the creature’s gut, quickly ending its life. She yanked the sword out and turned on her heels, plunging the blade into the first rat, rendering it lifeless.

The remaining three bandirats had returned to their feet, and they lunged at her once more, either unaware that she now had a weapon to her advantage, or simply uncaring. Kahli swung the sword out and across, slicing through the three bandirats in succession, and they dropped to the ground, writhing as they bled out at her feet.

Kahli stared at the five bandirat bodies as she caught her breath. She examined the blade in her hand, then shrugged. She wiped it against her pants, clearing the blood off of it, then continued on her way.

She encountered another group of bandirats, but with her new sword in hand, she delt with them quickly and easily, leaving their lifeless bodies on the ground. She didn’t know when the Civil Corps would make it to the cave, but she was sure they would not be expecting to find bandirat bodies scattered everywhere. Ha, she thought to herself. That’ll show Arlo.

Her path finally ended, bringing her to the far end of the cave where a lifeless generator stood, just as Mayor Gale said. She worked to replace the battery and it hummed as it came back to life. But to her dismay, she was not alone in the open cavern. She heard hissing behind her, and she turned to see not only two more bandirats, but a larger bandirat with them.

The two smaller bandirats lunged at her first, but they were hardly any problem. She was used to this, now, and she quickly disposed of them as she had the others. The larger bandirat, however, proved to put up more of a fight. But he was far larger, even larger than she was, and she used this to her advantage, easily dodging his attacks and using his slower movements against him, running behind him and out of sight. She plunged her sword into one of his legs, but she failed to remember two other limbs; his arms. He twisted around in pain, his arm sweeping in one swift motion to knock her back. She flew several yards until she slammed against the cavern wall, then dropped to the floor.

It took a moment for her to regain herself, and when she did, the bandirat was standing before her once more. She threw herself to the side, nearly dodging his next attack, and just as quickly, she sprang to her feet and plunged her sword into his other leg.

With both legs wounded, his movements were severely slowed, and he dropped to his knees. He thrashed his arms wildly around him, however, in a desperate attempt to throw her against the cavern wall once more. Kahli moved quickly to dodge his flailing arms until she was behind him once more. She threw herself at him, plunging her blade into the bandirat’s back, and he shrieked and shook his body in an attempt to dislodge her.

Kahli yanked the sword out of his back, jumping down to the ground as the bandirat turned to thrash at her once more. Kahli thrust her sword up just as the bandirat came down on top of her, and the sword plunged into his chest.

His agonized screams gurgled and he was quickly silenced, his body growing limp and dropping to the ground on top of her. Kahli groaned and wiggled her way out from under him, yanking the sword with her and dislodging it from his chest. She leaned against her legs for a moment to catch her breath, then looked at the defeated bandirat at her feet.

“Take that, fucker!” she yelled at the lifeless body. She let the sword sit on her shoulder proudly. “Ain’t no one fucking with me!”

With nothing more to do in the cave, she opted to continue following the path through the cave. The cavern lightened as she neared what she assumed was an exit, daylight guiding her way, and she pocketed her flashlight. She blinked in the sunlight when she stepped outside, the rays warming her face, and she basked in her own glory for a moment until a voice brought her back to reality.

“Kahli?”

She looked at the three figures that stood before her; Arlo, Sam, and Remington. They stared at her, mouths gaping, and for a moment, she completely forgot that she was covered in blood… and rat fur.

“What the -” Remington muttered.

Arlo’s brows knit together. “What are you doing in there?”

“Fixing the generator,” Kahli said simply. She looked around, realizing then that she was just outside of town. “Er,” she hesitated. “The one on Amber Island.”

“The cave complex extended all the way to here?” Sam said.

“But why are you… covered in blood?” Arlo asked slowly.

“Oh, you know,” Kahli started. “Just took care of the banidrats for you.”

Sam crossed her arms and grinned. “Well, color me impressed.”

“I found a bunch of shit in there, too,” Kahli said, throwing a thumb over her shoulder. “Looks like the stuff everyone’s missing.”

“So the bandirats were behind the thefts?” Remington asked. “I knew it! They’ve been crowding around town for a while now.”

“We were following some leads that brought us here,” Arlo said. “We were just about to head inside.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Are you hurt?”

“I might have a concussion,” Kahli said with a nod. “I’m feeling pretty good.”

Arlo frowned.

“You are so metal,” Sam laughed.

“This isn’t funny,” Arlo hissed at her.

“Look at her! She is literally wearing the blood of her enemies!”

“I found a cool sword,” Kahli said, stretching her arm out.

“You wish you were as cool as her, Arlo,” Sam said.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Arlo muttered. “Don’t go in without me. I’m taking her to Dr. Xu.” Arlo pulled at Kahli’s wrist. “Let’s go.”

Kahli let him lead her into town. She skipped to his side. “Do you like my sword?”

Arlo rolled his eyes. “Yeah. It’s great.”

“I got it off a dead bandirat.” Kahli snickered.

Arlo glanced at her. “You are odd.”

Kahli grinned. “Don’t hate me ‘cuz you ain’t me!”

“What exactly happened?”

“Big bandirat,” Kahli said. “Huge motherfucker. Threw me into a fucking wall.” She laughed. “I showed him.” She stepped in front of Arlo and reached up to poke his nose. “And I showed you!”

Arlo blinked at her. “You what?”

Kahli crossed her arms. “You said I couldn’t kick your ass,” she said. “But I bet I could.”

Arlo sighed and put his hands on her shoulders, turning her around and pushing her forward. “Sure. Show me tomorrow.”

Kahli nodded. “Oh, I will so show you,” she said.

They stepped into the clinic and Dr. Xu looked up at them. He smiled in greeting, but it quickly disappeared when his eyes fell on Kahli.

“What the - what happened to her?”

“I dunno,” Arlo said. “I think she has a concussion.”

Kahli held her sword out. “I killed a rat.”

Dr. Xu sighed. “You’re not recruiting this poor girl, are you?”

“I swear I had nothing to do with this,” Arlo said.

Dr. Xu pulled Kahli over and sat her on a bed. He clicked on a flashlight and shined it in her eyes, and Kahli whined. Dr. Xu straightened and waved a hand at Arlo, dismissing him.

“She’ll be fine,” he reassured him. “I’ll keep her here for the day and keep an eye on her.”

Arlo hesitated. “Are you sure? Maybe you should -”

“Arlo,” Dr. Xu said in an exasperated tone, but he smiled. “I got this. She’s fine.”

“It’s okay,” Kahli said. “He’s just mad because I did his job for him.”

Dr. Xu laughed loudly. “Well, just don’t go joining his crazy team, alright?”

Kahli nodded, then giggled. “I wouldn’t want to embarrass him like that.”

Arlo sighed. “Right. She’s fine. Bye.”

Kahli waved to him as he left the clinic. “See ya later, alligator!”

[therealsymmetra]

Message

Holy shit I still know how to string words together? Shocking I know. 

Memory is a weird thing, even weirder when you involve the Hive. 

Zero & Joker are @jorgancrath‘s

“We’ll have to get into the terminal remotely, Braytech sure as hell divided their files up to make sure no one had complete access at one time, might have be easier when the facility was up and running, but now it’s just a pain,” Zero says flicking through files on a holopad as Blake surveys the Mars horizon.

“It’ll be fine once we get there, I’m guessing some Cabal and maybe some Hive to clear out, no big deal,” Blake says, straightening from her slightly hunched position.

“You say that now,” Zero says and she can hear the smile in his voice.

“What? You think we can’t handle it?”

“No, just in case Rasputin decides to blow us all up, that’s on you,” he replies.

“That would mean you did something to piss him off so who’s really responsible for our impending doom?”

Zero laughs, summoning his sparrow and hopping on.

“You up for a little race to the end of the universe?” “We already survived that hon.”

“So, you won’t mind when you lose?” He takes off and Blake huffs, mounting her own sparrow and chasing the Titan through the icy wastes of Mar’s wilderness.

He’s fast, but she is sneaky, having Viper map the area and finding her a quicker route to the server room they speed towards. She ducks off the main road, leaving Zero who doesn’t seem to notice until she pops up a few yard ahead.

“Cheater,” he accuses over the coms, Blake barking a laugh.

“I just call it clever,” she says looking back over her shoulder, she sees him throttle down, the motors kicking up ice and snow as he starts to skid.

“Blake watch out!” he calls and she turns, bailing off her sparrow as the world drops off in front of her, the vehicle goes flying as she rolls across the ground and stops a few feet from the ledge.

“Shit…” She breathes, watching as the sparrow plummets into the depths.

“You’re clever alright,” Zero says as he trots over to her, offering a hand to help her up.

“Shut up,” she says in good humor, taking his hand and pulling herself to her feet.

“Great start already,” he says as the both of them approach the cliff, looking down to where an old crumbling staircase used to stand, the steps now mostly broken down by the harsh Mars climate.

“Looks like that’s where the waypoint is headed,” he points to an outcropping a couple dozen feet down, looking slightly more sturdy than the stairs themselves but not by much.

“Down we go then,” she says looking up at him and leaping over the edge, hitting her boosters before she hits the metal and landing with a slight huff as the Titan glides down behind her. The door itself is set into the cliffside, sturdy and metal, a thick layer of ice covering it.

“Should I handle this?” Neo chimes and he nods, the ghost hovering forward and scanning the keypad, the door popping open although the ice mostly prevents it from sliding smoothly.

Zero and Blake grab on and yank it open, ice cracking and falling away, a gust of air rushing out like the room beyond is depressurizing.

“After you,” Blake says and she can nearly feel him rolling his eyes behind his helmet as he steps in, Neo lighting up the small space. It turns out it was indeed depressurizing a small containment room, something to probably prevent dust and dirt from being tracked into the servers, although that practice was long since futile with the hive presence.

The door on the other side of the small corridor clicks open but like the first takes some muscle to open, thick ropes of slime slack down from the ceiling, pieces of hive matter tink off of the two Guardian’s armor, clearly, they had found a well fortified nest.

“Do you think the terminal will even be intact when we reach it?” Zero asks, stepping forward slightly, Neo lighting up the inner chamber.

Blake feels the shiver run down her spine, a strange restlessness that seems to  settle in her bones, a hum in her skull that doesn’t feel like it emanates from her brain. It always happens around hive, ever since she was risen in a hive nest in the America Dead Zone. Flashes of running for her life, her second life, out of a collapsed building as screeches of thrall echo around her makes her shiver, but she knew what she and Zero were headed for, and having him by her side makes it easier to stomach.

“You alright Snake Eyes?” He uses her old callname and her head snaps up, a lazy smile on her lips despite him not being able to see it.

“Yeah, this shit just churns my stomach,” she brushes off, moving past him and into the room. It’s a simple area, long and rectangular with lockers on either side, benches in front of them, some kind of area for the old workers of Braytech to set their things and head in for work. It’s barely recognizable however, beneath the piles of hive paraphernalia, the strange moving mollusk like shells that scatter the walls and lockers, slime and grit littering the floor and making it hard to find footing.

“Let’s just get this over with,” she sighs and makes her way down the hall towards the only other door in the room. The lights no longer seem to work, Viper and Neo’s own lights doing the job to illuminate their path through the oddly quiet corridor.

“Schematics say it’s not far in, there’s a work area on the other side of this then some catwalks over the energy core, the servers are on the other side,” the golden glow of Zero’s holopad brightening the face of his helmet.

“At least it’s better than the Arcology,” Blake sighs, pushing open the second door.

It was then that the full wave of hive energy seems to hit her, the hunter bracing it as to not alarm her companion, the feeling of what she could only describe as something moving under her skin, although she knew for a fact nothing was there; Viper had done enough scans to prove that. The room on the other side is somehow darker than the first, it seems their ghost’s light doesn’t even penetrate as far as it had before. On the other side the sound of heavy feet on the strange crunchy terran can be heard, as well as the hive language. Most nests Blake had seen, including the one she woke up in, were illuminated by void crystals or the sickly green lanterns that the hive utilized, but this place was different. Blake signals for the ghosts to extinguish their lights, it would give them away too early, switching on the nightvision of her helmet instead which lights up the cavern in a soft blue hue.

The room was tiered, the upper walkway they had entered on splitting off in two different directions and curving downwards to the lower tier where old work terminals sat, unfortunately not the ones they needed. Two knights seem to patrol the end of the ramps, while various thrall mill about in the center below them. There really wasn’t a way to communicate to Zero without speaking, so instead Blake fell on the old military hand signals they had learned from their first life. She tells him to go down the right wing and hold at the bottom, wait for her signal to fire, if they could divide the knight’s attention then they would be easier to take down, as long as more thrall didn’t try and overwhelm them. Soon enough they both crouch at the end of their respective rampways, and Blake sits ready, before signalling for Zero to fire. The muzzle flash of their rifles light up the darkness, Blake’s night vision adjusting to accommodate it. The knights wail and the thrall stir, getting ready to rush them only to be easily mowed down by the two Guardians who have cornered them in the oval shaped room. It wasn’t long before the firing stops and the room was quiet again, but as they reload and ready themselves to move on they can hear the screams of more hive below them.

“This next area will be precarious, the catwalks might be damaged or overrun with hive,” Zero says and Blake nods, she can feel the vibrations of approaching enemies in her bones, they’re angry.

“Let’s move fast,” she says pushing forward, the next door was forced open and overgrowth caused it to be unable to be closed. Zero moves ahead of her easily, outpacing her shorter legs with his longer ones, and sure enough the catwalks are indeed perilous. They sat at a slight angle, the tethers that kept them suspended over a massive drop to an energy core below long since rotted away, but now they were kept in place by hive architecture. Slick goo and crumbling growths added an extra obstacle, and below the shuffling of thrall and acolytes can be heard, no doubt honing in on their location.

“Let’s just go,” Blake says, a shortness to her voice that she hopes Zero doesn’t think is directed at him.

She takes a running start, boosting herself over most of the gap and landing deftly three-quarters of the way across. She turns and throws a thumbs up to Zero who goes to follow, gliding most of the way only to land a foot or two behind her. However as he moves to find his footing, the crust beneath his boots slough off causing him to scramble for a handhold. Blake lurches, grabbing for him as he kicks up into the air with his booster, tethering him to the catwalk as he comes back down and finds somewhere stable to stand.

“Shit’s slippery,” he says under his breath and Blake huffs a laugh before pulling him along, still holding onto his arm. While he wasn’t bulky per-say, not for a titan at least, he was still on the taller side and the armor was enough to weigh him down.

“Almost there,” she says, the screeches below them becoming louder as they travel.

“Right, this is getting ridiculous,” Zero says as they shimmy their way to the platform on the other side, thrall starting to converge on the catwalk, the bridge groaning under the sudden weight as Viper zips ahead, opening the next door which seems less hindered than the first few.

They reach the other side and dart past the door and into the server room, the entrance closing behind them.

“We’re too far in, be careful, the light is thin here,” Viper says and Blake can feel it, a coldness unlike that from the ice, one that goes deeper, one she got too acquainted with when the light left.

The server room was like a forest of towers, various colored lights blinking across their faces and a low hum fills the Guardian’s ears. At the center a few yards away is a terminal, and behind it another myriad of hive debris.

“Well we made it,” Zero sighs, a loud thumping at the door behind them as the thrall start to clamor against the metal.

“Let’s hurry then,” Blake says as the two of them make their way through the rows of servers.

As Zero starts to work Blake heads behind the raised area that the access point sits on, where the hive had seemed to completely infect the vents and walls of the room.

“It’s amazing Rasputin let all this get this far in here, maybe these aren’t very important,” Blake says, poking through the debris with the toe of her boot.

“It’s all been pretty important so far, but the shit doesn’t seem to be on the servers themselves, maybe he’s not bothered?”

“He was built to protect humanity right? So wouldn’t that be a threat?”

“Well, yeah, and now I see why, these servers are essentially decoys, there’s nothing on them, we need to let Ana know her info isn’t here.”

Blake throws her head back, letting out a long exacerbated sigh.

“Of fucking course.”

“Well at least we get to go home now,” Zero says with a laugh, still browsing the seemingly empty files.

Blake shakes her head with a smile when a shiver runs down her spine, her body is gripped with ice, the sound of her heart in her ears as she feels something in her head, like the entire world around her just shifted to the right a little and she’s left feeling disoriented. It’s then that she sees it out of the corner of her eye, too late to react as a blast shakes the ground at her feet and sends her flying. Her ears ring as she hits the ground hard and something crunches under her, her hand going numb and she knows she’s broken it. There’s darkness around her, stinging her eyes even beneath her helmet and she knows it’s a wizard.

She bats at the air, trying to clear it while she cradles her broken hand against her chest, Viper materializing to repair it, she starts to regain feeling when there are fingers around her throat. She’s lifted into the air and she can hear Zero shouting off somewhere to her left, as her vision clears she’s looking into the ridged chitin plating of the wizard’s face, teeth exposed and mouth open as if it were saying something. It’s then that she hears it, can understand it.

It’s written on your bones light bearer, tattooed in the sinew and muscles of your body, etched into your brain.

Blake’s helmet it wrenched from her head, exposing her face to the cold Mars air and suddenly the sounds of her surroundings are clearer than before. There is a chorus of thrall, and she knows they’ve breached the door. She wants to look away, wants to find Zero, it sounds like there are too many for one person to take on, she needs to help.

You are a weapon, sleeping, silent, unknowing. But she will wield you. She will wield you. Your bones belong to our Witch-Queen.

Blake feels something clench in her chest, like a fist taking hold of her heart, throttling it, making every inhale frigid and painful. She doesn’t realize there is another hand on her, stroking her hair, and the ice spreads, drilling into her temples, making the light around her warp and become discolored. Her body which had once been struggling starts to go limp and all at once she’s dropped to the floor. She tries to will her limbs to work, but like she was dunked in a frozen ocean they don’t respond. She can see Zero and even as fear for him grips her she can’t move, he is swarmed with thrall, all of their skeletal bodies clinging to him, jaws trying to clamp down on his bulky armor. She can see the muzzle flash from beneath them, knocking some to the ground as more replace the ones who have fallen. She tries to roll herself over but still her arms and legs don’t respond, too heavy, too lethargic like she’s been laying on them and restricting blood flow. The lights of the server room pulse, a strange technicolor hugh bursting like lense flares across her vision, throbbing to her own heartbeat. She hears Zero call out, cry out, and she want to scream for him, to draw attention off of him. But then as the mound of thrall depresses, assumably Zero collapsing under their weight, there is a loud sound of metal on metal.

The clang echos through the chamber and Blake’s head, making the lights tremble around her, black spots are starting to cloud her vision but she can see a fire erupt from beneath the thrall which are sent flying. She can see Zero straighten, and while he is haloed in solar energy his posture is still frantic, searching for something it seems as he tosses his flaming hammers at the still advancing hive. He finds what he’s looking for, she knows because he’s coming to her, still a bright orange as he bends over her.

Her teeth are chattering and breath is hard to draw, she wants to reach out for him as he bends down to her, but she still can’t move. It feels like a darkness as paralyzed her chest and it’s spreading, the dark blotches spread and she can hear Zero’s voice.

“Blake?! Blake keep your eyes open, stay with me, please,” his voice is panicked, she wants to soothe him, calm him down, tell him she’s okay even though she isn’t.

Time passes as she blinks, and she’s no longer on the ground. Zero has her clutched in his arms and they’re moving quickly through the darkness, Viper and Neo she can see hovering on either side of his head facing forward. The fact that Viper isn’t trying to heal her scares her, it means that they have already tried and whatever is happening isn’t a wound that they can close. Blake starts to get feeling against, mostly in her fingers and hands, useless without the ability to move her arms. Maybe it was just being too far away from the surface, maybe the stifling hive severed her connection to the light and being closer will warm her, but her head is still spinning, and soon it’s too hard to keep her eyes open.

She doesn’t know how long she’s out, but finally her eyes open again. It’s quiet, a low hum of tech equipment and the sound of a distant radio is all that can be heard at first. It’s also dim, but not dark, and she’s not in her armor. Blake blinks a few times, terrified to try her limbs only for them not to respond, but to her relief they do, although not quickly. She realizes she’s somewhere in Braytech labs, a tall vaulted ceiling looming over her, something soft but still utilitarian beneath her. She closes her eyes again, a migraine of some sort making it hard to keep them open for too long. It’s then that her ears can hear talking.

“She just… I turned and there was a wizard, I hadn’t heard it come in, but it had her by the throat. She didn’t scream, she was struggling but soon she just went limp. I don’t… I don’t…” She knows it’s Zero, can hear the trembling in his voice as he speaks “I don’t want to lose her again.”

Her breath catches in her throat and she attempts to shake off the pain and drowsiness, she needs to tell him she’s alright, but she can’t find her voice, much less the energy to even push herself up.

“It looked like she was dead when I found her again, staring up at nothing, completely limp, Viper was zipping around like crazy, like something was very wrong. They said she was in pain but they couldn’t find the source.”

At this point she can hear his voice cracking, and she realizes he’s on comms with someone.

“Please come out here, she’s resting, I don’t want to move her anymore than I already have, Ana said we can stay as long as we need to. She also said no one has had this happen before.”

She manages to turn her head to see Tio, the Titan looks like a scared kid, not something he usually lets himself be in front of others, but then again he thought he was alone. He’s pacing in front of large floor to ceiling windows which overlook the Mars expanse, clearly listening to someone talking that she can’t hear. It’s then that he stops and looks out the window, only to see her watching him in the reflection.

“She’s awake, call me when you get here yeah? Thanks, Joker.”

She feels a flood of embarrassment at the name, great, the kid called Jack; of course he did Blake who else would he call in an emergency? She lets her eyes close again for a minute before opening them again and trying to put on a smile for him.

“You’re awake, fuck, Blake, I thought…” she shakes her head before he can finish.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easy,” she flinches at how hoarse her voice is, like she had guzzled sand.

“What even happened? I turned around and you were being manhandled like a ragdoll.”

Images, blurry and distorted flash through her brain. She can remember it perfectly until she tries to focus in on specific events, only for it to get blurry. She tries to remember what the wizard said to her, but she gets only static. Had she really understood her? The harder she tries to remember the more it hurts, she flinches and moves a lethargic hand to her face. What did she say to me? What did she say? She tries to focus on the words, the syllables, their meanings, but nothing but pain and static fill her head.

“Blake? Blake, hey what’s going on?” She hears Zero’s voice change, panic rising again only for her to stop trying to remember. The pain goes away.

“Shit,” Zero stands and she looks up at him confused, he looks worried, eyebrows pulled together in the center as he paces over to a duffle bag at the end of the cot. He comes back and holds out a washcloth.

“Your nose it bleeding,” he says and she quickly swipes at it. Great. Another mystery of her own brain, she thought she was over these. She sighs, exhaustion settling over her again.

“You called Jack?” She asks and Zero looks sheepish.

“I didn’t know… I’m good Blake, with computers, I can’t fix people.”

She laughs, which hurts.

“He’s on his way, he sounded upset.”

Of course he did.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see him, she just didn’t want him to see her, not laid up like some kind of injured lamb.

“Well I’d rather head home so-” she moves to sit up but still the energy evades her and Zero moves to push her back down.

“No, no, Ana said this hasn’t happened before, she wants to make sure your head doesn’t explode if you leave the planet or something crazy like that.”

“They can’t make me stay,” she says “Ana knows that.”

“Yeah, but… Please stay? For me? For Joker? For like, everyone who likes having you, the real you, back with us again?”

She sighs, he’s doing it again, the big watery puppy-dog eyes, the ones that get her every time. She sighs heavily, she is exhausted, she feels like she’s run a hundred miles underwater.

“Fine.”

He smiles, the sad, dopey eyed look dropping immediately.

“Thanks, I’ll be over there trying to figure out where those files we were trying to get to might have been moved.”

She nods, smiles, lets him walk away and sit down on another cot at the windows before she lets the smile fade. That wizard said something to her, she knows she did. Whatever it was it was important enough for her to be told, but too important for her to remember. Either way, she had forced her brain to remember what didn’t want to once before, she would find a way to do it again.

[ruffsficstuffplace]

The Keeper of the Grove (Part 77)

Note: Incoming Drama.

“I’ll tell you in a Honey Dream,” Qrow said. “It’s a lot better if we have visual references, so you see the full effect of it.”

So, after setting up a dreamcatcher, and some convincing Winter that dreamer’s honey was safe, they were off into the blank, white space that was the dreamscape’s “lobby.” After a few moments to help Winter get her bearings, Qrow started narrating.

The world changed all around them, flashes and scenes of the First Settlers’ societies, and Fae settlements 1,000 years ago, the wilderness of Avalon steadily disappearing as the former expanded rapidly and makeshift settlements and towns turned into the gigantic city states they were now, while the latter made their cities and settlements one and the same with the giant trees, the massive caves, and the underground caverns.

“In a big, convenient coincidence for me that all three of your questions can actually be answered with the one story, because they all connect to one thing:

“The Viridian Valley.

“Our two species aren’t strangers to working together for a common goal.

“However, it’s usually with the Fae manipulating things from the sidelines to keep you guys from wrecking Avalon with your industry or scientific endeavours you don’t know the consequences of just yet, but we know all too well; sneaking in and posing as humans to combat politicians, movements, and organizations that’d make life hard for all of us; and sometimes even spreading rumours and legends to keep people out of places we’d rather they not be poking their noses in, such as the Valley as it is now.

“In short, we Fae have been using you humans as pawns. But before you go complaining about us being evil puppet masters, know that all we’ve ever truly wanted is one thing:

“To be left the fuck alone.

“Your First Settlers arrived and threw the entire realm for a loop—widespread ecological damage, the permanent disruption of the flow of magic, and not to mention there were all those times you made in to where we Fae were hiding out, looking for more resources and land.

“And even though our weapons were no joke even then, your guns and giant-ass industrial equipment weren’t, either.

“This is why we’ve been so secretive about everything, primarily with making you humans believe that we Fae are just fairy tales, people’s personifications of all the wildlife that is waiting to fuck your shit up out in the Country:

“Because we were and are still terrified that if you knew of the things we have, what we could do, what we are capable of, we’d have an alien force spreading out throughout our territories like wildfire, using our own magitech against us as you improve it at a pace we can’t even begin match, take over Avalon as the new dominant race and build your cities over the ruins of ours and the corpses of our kind.

“Don’t get us wrong: we know that not all of you humans are greedy assholes who just want to take everything they could possibly get from the world, damned the costs to everyone else.

“But seeing examples of people like Valentino and his ilk, the damage they could do in such a short time with the full blessing of most of your people… it was enough to make the Council and most of the Fae—Celestian or Eldan—agree its best if we just keep to our side, we corral you humans in yours, and we both keep on living.

“Then all of that changed with the Viridian Valley, the first and so far the only openly joint Fae/Human settlement in Avalon’s existence.”

They were now in the familiar layout of the Tree of Life, except with humans walking around with the Fae, both species deploying a combination of their technology as they changed the muddy swamp they were standing in, planted and hyper-accelerated the growth of trees, and raised the skeletons of both their architectural styles all around.

“The conditions couldn’t have been better for it:

“There have always been Fae that have been against how things are being run, but never really had the chance to do much of anything, because they lacked the numbers, the magitech, or the support, wondering if there was any sort of game changer they could use to their benefit.

“The humans were just going into their Neo-Rennaissance all because of the tech we Fae had been seeding and slipping into your society to encourage you to stay in Heartland and minimize the damage you were causing to Avalon, and they were wondering what more they could do with all this fantastic new magitech popping up everywhere.

“All that was needed was someone to bridge the gap, to lead the breakaway, to hold these two rebels, anarchists, and radical visionaries long enough to start to build something new.”

They were underground in the Valley’s main wellspring, a mix of Fae weavers and human scientists trying to harness its power with a mix of their magitechnology and elemental weaving techniques.  At the head of it all was a leopard Fae, her hair and skin white as snow, hands glowing with purple magic.

“And that someone was Salem.

“This is the only time you’re going to hear her name from me, by the way, as the one time it’s not going to jinx you to hell and back if you say it is if you’re just learning that, or teaching it to some poor sap before they doom themselves.

“The Valley was supposed to be a Libertarian Paradise: ‘No Shepherds nor Council. Only Progress.’

“No regulations, no governments, no traditions, no laws, no limits to what they could do, no guides on what they should do, how they would use the Valley’s titanic wellspring—your Old World Ayn Rand’s Objectivist wet dream where it was every one for themselves as they strived to push the boundaries of magitechnology and what you could do.

“And they didn’t just push, they fucking annihilated it, and we’re still trying to figure out where exactly to draw the new line, if we even can anymore.”

The scenes flashed and changed, showing images of all the achievements of the original residents of the Valley:

The incredible speed and size that they could make the plants, animals, and minerals grow, the new and exotic combinations and creations that they could birth. Strange and alien fusions of their technology that they used to sculpt the landscape however they pleased. Both species with fantastic prostheses, their augmented bodies radiant with magic and vigour, even the dead rising up from the mortician's slabs to the joy of their loved ones, and the delight of the makers and scientists on the side.

“For less than a decade, it worked.

“Unfortunately, it turns out that a philosophy saying ‘the Strongest, Smartest, and Most Successful deserve everything, everyone else gets jack shit’ philosophy is great if you’re one or all of those, but not so much if you’re not.

“Pretty soon, the majority of the settlers were discovering that they really liked having protections against people robbing them blind or stealing their ideas and profiting from them without giving them a dime, taking care of them when they got sick or injured and couldn’t work let alone haul themselves to the hospital, and just generally keeping things safe and sane so they wouldn’t have to constantly watch their backs.

“And those at the top like Her found they really wanted to keep the power they had ‘rightfully earned.’”

Now, mass protests, chaos out in the streets and the wilds. Decrepit slums far off in the wilderness with shining, luxurious cities in the distance. Genetic experiments escaped from laboratories rampaging throughout the streets, marauders and looters taking advantage of the panic, humans and Fae forced to fend for themselves with whatever they had.

“So, among other measures to keep the masses from trying to leave, rising up, or calling the rest of the realm and telling your Holy Shepherd and/or the Council to ‘GET US THE FUCK OUT OF THIS HELLHOLE!’, She got her makers and scientists to make her the perfect attack dogs:

“Soul Eaters.”

This time, they found themselves standing in a laboratory, fluid-filled vats with the prototypes for the monsters all around.

“They worked perfectly. Aside from being really hard to kill, incredibly lethal, and way faster than anything that big should be able to move, they were also very smart, and were capable of completely absorbing the magic from everything they killed to grow stronger, smarter, and better.

“And unfortunately for all of us, they evolved to the point where they realized they really didn’t like working for Her and her flunkies.”

The scene changed. Death and destruction everywhere as humans and Fae ran or futilely tried to fight against the swarms of Soul Eaters pouring in everywhere, wherever or whoever you were in the Valley, the corpses of their victims dissolving into magic as they consumed and absorbed their entire being, each death only making them even stronger.

“We don’t know exactly how Gabija and her friends defeated her, overthrew Her kingdom and survived long enough for the Council to find a way to cross the Endless Sea and help clean up the mess. Hell, maybe She just got eaten by her own Soul Eaters, seeing as She was one of the most powerful weavers to have ever lived, and by now we all know just how much those motherfuckers love magic.

“But what we do know was Gabija was really good at killing them, and all the other horrors in the Valley, whatever they were.

Gabija rushed into the scene with her scythe, the weapon glowing its iconic, ethereal silver as she slaughtered the Soul Eaters, saved the survivors with the help of an elite team of humans and Fae armed with weapons, magics, and magitechnology, all alien, slapdash hybrids that seemed to have been cobbled up on the spot and held together by duct-tape, multi-paste, and prayers.

“The Keepers were never meant to be a permanent position. The Council figured, we’d have just Gabija, maybe a second after she retired or got killed, then phase it out entirely once we shut the Pandora’s Box that was the Valley.

“Then we discovered just what kind of shit the Fae and humans could achieve working together, how many of them were almost impossible to contain and/or kill, and that the Soul Eaters had gotten smart enough to know how to hide, gather their strength, and only ever attack when they were pretty sure they could stand a chance of killing us all.

“And most importantly, Gabija and her descendants seemed to be our best shot of keeping them inside the Valley, prevent them from escaping, or getting into the wrong hands—Human or Fae.”

“So what’s Weiss got to do with all this?!” Winter snapped. “Why, if you’re so scared of us humans yet fond of manipulating us for when it benefits you, are you suddenly so fine with your Keepers having relationships with our species?”

“Because,” Qrow said, “like Ruby said, you humans and half-human hybrids are the key to keeping the bloodline alive.”

Images flashed in front of them, images of all the Keepers and their mates, starting from Summer and Taiyang, stretching all the way back to Gabija next to a silhouette with a question mark.

The Keepers were all more-or-less the same, younger, slightly different clones of what was in essence the same Fae. Their mates varied greatly—male, female, gender ambiguous, tall, short, heavyset, thin, and of no shortage of combinations of Old World ancestry—all unified by one key detail:

“Human...” Winter whispered. “… They were all human.”

“Or like you and Weiss, they were hybrids that were more that than Fae, to the point where sometimes they never even had the slightest clue until we got them here.” Qrow added. “But whichever of the those they were, they also had one other consistent trait:

“Power.”

They returned to Maharlika Avenue, Taiyang blocking and reflecting Cinder’s laser beam with his ironbark arms, standing tall despite the rapidly disintegrating buildings around them, holding them off till Ruby could fire Weiss’ supercharged ice beam.

They came to the wilds of the Valley, where Samaria and Myala were fighting a giant snake larger than the trees they were fighting around, dashing and ducking through the branches and trunks as they slashed and shot at her opponent, siphoning its life essence and steadily poisoning it to death as it struggled to bite them even once.

They were in the middle of a raging storm at the peak of the Flood, watching as a giant named Reynault stood on the deck of a boat with the Keeper, other watchers, and weavers, aiming his massive cannon at an even larger sea dragon surging towards him with its gaping maw open wide, the both of them letting out earth-shaking roars.

More and more scenes flashed before their eyes, the Keeper’s mates, all human or mostly human hybrids, all utterly decimating the worst the Valley had to offer, by themselves or alongside the Keepers and their companions.

“We don’t understand why the hell it is that Keepers only ever seem to be able to produce more of them with humans or hybrids. Whatever we’ve tried, it just doesn’t work—parent Fae of equal or greater power, hybrids that were more Fae instead, and/or donating their cells to other parents.

“Don’t get me wrong: the kids from those unions and experiments generally grow up to be incredibly powerful watchers and weavers themselves. Just look at Yang and the shit she’s capable of, even if she only ever could rely on the Fae and hybrids hiding out in the human settlements.

“But they’re just no Keepers of the Grove.”

“We’ve studied the shit out of them and their mates, tried to find that Something, that gene or specific configuration of traits that let them kill Soul Eaters and other nightmares with ease, absorb the ridiculous amounts of power without going crazy or dying from the surge, and all with a complete and utter lack of any sort of selfish or evil intentions whatsoever.

“But 1,000 years later, we still have no idea what makes them best friends to all and slayers of giant monsters and threats to all of Avalon, which is why we need them so badly, why we take such great pains to take good care of them...”

The returned to the blank space of the dreamscape.

“… And why we are so damned eager to do everything in our power to make Weiss want to stay, to be with Ruby.”

Winter and Weiss were stunned silent.

“If it helps, we were making plans to get you back into the human territories,” Qrow added. “The Council was supposed to tell you about them and everything I just told you after you got back from the Eve of the Ether fair, because we could tell you two were getting serious...

“… Though with the all the heat and attention everything the Valley’s getting now, your fake death being exposed, and the Heralds running around, those plans have all shot to shit, if not utterly vaporized.”

Weiss turned to Ruby, her whole body shaking with anger, her eyes blurry with tears, her expression changing, from shock, to betrayal, anger, to confusion, to fear, and finally, sorrow.

Ruby frowned. “Weiss…?”

“That’s why you just took out my guards that night, didn’t you...?” Weiss asked, her voice trembling. “Why you spared me, saved me for last and offered me that fucking deal, kept breaking into my room to terrorize me until I got so sick of it I’d want to go with you just to get away from the hell you’ve made of my life...”

She was crying now, her words broken up by sobs. “Why you were so nice to me… why you did your damndest to make as much of my life here as comfortable as possible… why you gave me that stupid plushie of your mother...”

She tried to blink the tears out of her eyes, struggled to speak. “You didn’t really mean it when you said you loved me, di you…?! All those times you kissed me, my first night in the Valley when we slept together, that fucking massage when I was so sore-stiff I couldn’t move—you probably didn’t even need to strip me naked, did you?!”

Winter blinked. “Wait, what...?”

Weiss ignored her, unable to see anything through her tears but Ruby standing in front of her those big, doe eyes of hers confused and terrified.

“Ruby…” Weiss whispered, “do you really love me...? Or am I just a part of your fucked up legacy...?!”

“I do!” Ruby cried, her voice trembling. “I meant every single word I said! I’d never lie about that, because I hate lying, and more than I hate lying, I love you!”  

“Prove it, then!”

“Okay! I will! Just… could you tell me how…?”

Weiss groaned as she grabbed the sides of Ruby’s face. “How else, you dolt?!” she screamed, before she kissed her.

Her lips were hard and unmoving like a rock, like the first time. Weiss kept on pressing, waited to see what she’d do, until she felt hands grab her shoulders and pull them apart.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Weiss cried.

“PROVING IT!” Ruby shouted back. “Because if you really love someone, you don’t kiss them back when you can just tell they don’t want you to, you stop!”

Weiss wrenched her hands back, her expression changing, from anger, to self-disgust, to horror, until finally, regret.

Ruby sniffed, tears pouring down her cheeks, voice trembling as she whispered, “I love you, Weiss…! Please, believe me…!”

The dreamscape faded around them, and they returned to the real world.

Note: I spent a full 30-minutes refining the ending for this. I hope it ruined you as much as it ruined me.

[ecotone99]

Falmouth [RF]

FALMOUTH

Cool and with a sort of dark charisma, one unfettered by intricacy, Joseph stood at a slight tilt. Standing against a wooden bench, a courthouse bench, a bench which ached, and made its guests ache with a disquiet not too dissimilar from the entire atmosphere of Falmouth, Falmouth Massachusetts this was of course. He had been drinking the night before and could now feel skin on the sides of his mouth hanging, in myriad bits like small dead fish. Joseph, an assistant to the trial lawyer standing adjacent to the aching bench, was trying desperately to listen to the verdict, but was subdued by this awful, unruly sense of abject guilt. You see, he stood completely to the side of the trial, that trial being about the intentional burning of a gentile’s barn in the January prior, and he felt like he was so profoundly alone, with such an emptiness that fairly put the fear of “what’s his name” into him, even more so than when he witnessed his father dying. A slow death that was of course, not at all sudden or violent, but a death by way of bone cancer, a slow eating, much like the inner sensations Joseph was feeling at that very moment.

He had awoken this morning at 5am, awoken from a bizarre dream, one that he had never had before. In the dream he was in an abandoned village, sheet metal strewn all around and not even a stray, mangy dog in sight. And then when he got to the edge of this village, to a bridge occupied by train track and littered with sunlight, he saw a tall lanky man sprinting towards him out of the tree line behind, all the while, a strange Asiatic voice played over some distant Gramophone, a voice telling of a great storm that was soon to come. Broken from his deathly gaze by the sound of the judge’s gavel, Joseph’s knuckle was pinched when his forearm slid from the courtroom’s window ledge, and hit a wood box below, a wood box of unknown origin, akin to one of those queer human organs that even the most learned of men, men of science and of deep thought cannot give a good excuse for. The judge’s verdict for the young arsonist was death by hanging. A strong applause broke out in the courtroom, the young arsonist looked at his shoes, as if he were a stubborn carthorse being whipped, and with that, Joseph began to clap as well.

​

* * *

​

Outside of the courthouse, people scattered, to and fro, with little regard for the day’s blessing of sunlight. Joseph merely sat on a grimy step to the side of the building, he twiddled a matchbox between his fingers, letting it slip from one gap to another. Its shape was so immaculate and, in a way tempted this kind of activity so urgently that Joseph saw it as something that was “doomed to happen”, as the book says. Doomed by its own architect, doomed to be played with and to be opened by only those who swing from gallows. The arsonist’s family stumbled out in shock, nobody shed a tear except for a little girl of about 8. She was tugging at the arm of her father, as if to bring him into a collective song of mourning, but in defiance he merely flicked her away.

Joseph, having become sickened by the whole ordeal, moved across the road away from the courthouse, towards a dilapidated restaurant. With this he remembered an old tale he once heard of Falmouth. As a child he was told that the entire township of Falmouth, being a fishing village, made a pact with a colony of sea devils that were found on a reef near a cavernous lighthouse, right on the edge of the peninsula’s gaze. This pact involved a trading of goods. If met, the sea devils would cull fish from far out at sea into the harbour, alongside this, they would gift the Falmouth paupers with gold and jewellery found in the midst of off shore shipwrecks, although seldom they were found. In return, the towns people would offer up a human sacrifice, a woman being the candidate mainly, who would be brought down to mate with the alien species. After a while, there would of course be a new breed of half human half fish living in Falmouth, this being the explanation for the townsfolk’s wasted look. But that was merely obscure aspersion of course. The town’s odd look and life philosophy could be fully accounted for by an overabundance of alcohol and a sparsity of puritanical religion. Not to forget a long, sluggish mile of time; an endless sea of time that one could not truly utilise nor rid his or herself of. And so now, Joseph was sitting in this horrid bar, looking down at a glass of beer, warm, with nothing but the virgin Mary upwards, a slate of gold-plated metal down below (so as to assist with drunkards of short stature), and a sea of vagrants from side to side, all male, all filled with loathing and angst, and all with quandary's that amounted to nothing more than a hill of beans, at least in the eyes of a bureaucrat such as Joseph, a bureaucrat with problems that were analogous to nothing less than Singmaster’s conjecture when placed in front of a layman not worthy of a paltry slap on the head; “names?” You may say. And to that, a sufficient “such as”, such as enemies, such was the company in the bar on that hot summer evening. And you may say: “What awful, terrible, ungodly problems could a twenty something miser possibly have?” and to that it is to be said: “Not I, but you and everyone else, not I but you, the ‘all-encompassing you’, the you that is ‘en masse’ as the fellow says, abandon all hope ye who enter, for the problems of man are your problems, not one man or a few or even a million men, but all men.” and that is what made Joseph writhe in agony. Not I, but you, the next man, those who follow him; and environs.

On the pavement, Joseph stared from afar at the young man waiting to be hanged. There was a low humming in the crowd, the low humming of a godless machine torn asunder on the inside, but untouched on the outer. It really was a marvellous sight, this odd, sprawled mess of bodies, bodies and heads shifting with awkwardness, as if robotic limbs required to impersonate humanity’s touch & pose. It called to memory Joseph’s time on Portland bill, and then after that, months later, his time in the great war, watching the minenwerfer passing overhead, overhead forever and ever until impact, and with that the entire landscape would light up, and the madman next to him would have a hate on his line, not because of the light in the distance, but in spite of it. Looking at his watch and then backwards, Joseph saw the building with the restaurant and bar in it, this building, this disgusting creation, this odd structure standing alone, one that did not sway when the wind blew. Joseph saw the building as something like one of those curious man-made holes you find in a lonesome desert. They go forward in a line up until the number 60, and then they stop. All responsible for each other except for the very first. He imagined that you’d find a building equally as ugly as this one in the next two towns over, and then four, and then six, and so on. Looking back, he could see that the young man had still not been hanged, some had drifted away out of boredom, but Joseph would stay, perhaps even after the boy was dead, he would stay to look at his eyes, he would see if they changed colour. He thought again about that ghastly building, this obscene hunk of brick and metal. He theorised that this building was the Architectural equivalent of a dictator, keeping the populace of Falmouth docile and uneducated. He thought perhaps, were it to be burnt down, down to a crisp, if he burnt it down, the people of Falmouth would be liberated, they would be free and in the days that followed, they would bring Joseph all kinds of homemade meals and desserts, like the days following a bereavement. The deliciousness of those days would be a new experience to Joseph, such as that of childlike embarrassment or a first love. And he imagined that after the gifts were digested, he would be overcome with guilt, with an alien guilt so overwhelming that he’d be forced to run to the next town and confess. He'd confess to all the misdeeds he’d ever committed: Stealing an apple at age 10, kicking a dog at age 14, and arson at age 28. And after that, the confession made; but the emptiness not quenched, he might even admit to committing a whole slew of murders and robberies that occurred on the east coast in the ten years prior. He would confess and cry out in shame, he would curse God and the stars, and if they dismissed him, if they declared him a madman and a liar hungry for attention, he would spring forth. He would find the closest general store, buy a kitchen knife and, having stabbed himself in the stomach and wrists, he would go quietly and hastily, into the sea.

THE END

submitted by /u/MrBerlinAlexander [link] [comments] via Blogger https://ift.tt/2TDNsy4

[mortivern]

Lillie’s wearing a new outfit today. She’s ditched the old Sunday school getup that she had before (that her mom picked out for her apparently?) and has on a new set of…well, they’re kinda schoolgirl-ish clothes, but way cuter. A nice skirt and blouse. She seems way happier. More confident. I guess getting kidnapped by your own family will do that. Or will it? I’m not really sure. Gladion stopped by earlier that morning to drop off the Sun Flute, saying that we would need it along with the Moon Flute in order to summon the legendary beast that would take us to Lusamine. I tucked it into my bag. Hau made a comment that Lusamine must be pretty generous if she would be willing to loan us an ancient artifact. Lillie just sorta looked at her feet. Gladion snorted.

We took the same chartered boat we arrived in over to Seafolk Village, the main establishment on Poni Island. It’s on these floating docks with house-boats tethered to them. It actually reminds me a lot of Pacifidlog Town, which I stopped by when I visited Cadence in Hoenn—both towns that seem to be built into the sea itself. I know Pacifidlog is built on the back of a Corsola colony. I wonder if it’s the same here? Even though it’s a super low-key town and doesn’t seem to be a tourism hub (not a lot of money coming in and out of Seafolk Village, I’d imagine), people here seem super chill, sure of themselves. I really dig it. Hapu met up with us later in the day for some fish and chips (a hearty dockworker’s dinner, she said proudly) and told us our next step was to head to the Poni Wilds. Lillie said she was tagging along and was excited to see it. Hapu said that no one could call Lillie lily-livered! Lillie didn’t get the joke. Hapu seemed flustered. Nervous lesbians.

We rode some Mudsdale that night along the Ancient Poni Path for Hapu’s home. Her grandmother plied us with fried plantains and some sort of salty canned meat cooked up in a fried rice, with malasadas for dessert and Salac Berry ciders the entire time we were sat at the table. I talked with Hapu and her grandmother about our journeys, how helpful Hapu had been lending Vera and I some Mudsdale to cross Ula’ula’s unforgiving terrain. How I looked forward to sparring with her someday! I looked over to Vera to see if she had anything to add, but she was sitting on the sofa in the living room, petting their Meowth. I think she was too drunk to hold a good conversation anyway.

Next morning we woke up to a note from Hapu that she had gone to the Ruins of Hope down Poni Breaker coast. Her grandmother was awake, and made us some egg and salted meat breakfast burritos and strong coffee. When we had eaten and our bags were ready to go, she took our Ride Pager and registered her Machamp. Said he could push boulders for us if need be. We talked about being swept up by strong, muscular men until we reached the coal-black sands of Poni Breaker Coast. The shore stretched as far as the eye could see and then some. Vera elbowed me and said that there was probably a better way to get to where we needed to go than walking, or even riding a plodding Mudsdale through the wet sand. She paged a Sharpedo over and jumped on. I gave chase not long after. We raced around the dark waters of the bay, laughing and chasing each other. The jet streams from the Sharpedo stirred up the sands beneath, revealing glimmering bits of Nuggets and Star Pieces. We dove for them until we were exhausted, then jetted down the coast so that we weren’t too too late to our meeting with Hapu.

When we got to the Ruins of Hope, we found ourselves faced with some sort of….ancient puzzle. Huge stones were blocking our path, but there were gaps in the bridge that looked like they’d fit the stones perfectly. I took this as an opportunity to page that Machamp that Hapu’s grandmother gave us. He swung me into his capable arms and shoved the boulders around until we had clear passage to the back room. Hapu was kneeling in front of a shrine, apparently communing with the local Tapu. When we approached she told us that she had been selected as the new island Kahuna, to replace her dad’s old man, who passed away a few years ago. I offered my congratulations and said that I’d hold her to that battle that we talked about! She grinned that lesbian grin and said that we’d best be heading to Exeggutor Island to find the Moon Flute. Lillie appeared from behind her and said that the Tapu hadn’t made itself available to her and offered no insight as to how to cure Nebby, so that she wanted to tag along with us to see if maybe being near the flutes would do something.

Hapu arranged a boat for us to Exeggutor Island. I hadn’t actually seen one of these in person before, and boy let me tell you, these sentient palm trees are fucking HUGE. And apparently they’re part Dragon-type, too?? They were thrashing around when we got there, the whole lot of them. And no small wonder, since they were being chewed on by a horde of Pinsir! After bargaining with her for ten minutes to get her help, I finally convinced her to chase them off. In thanks, one of the Exeggutor actually gave us a boost to the highest part of the island, which was super helpful since it looks like the path climbing up had long since crumbled. We grabbed the Moon Flute. I couldn’t help but feel like I was gonna be smitten—smote?—I don’t know, given some kind of reckoning by some sort fo deity for just…taking an ancient artifact.

But nothing happened, nor did anything really happen until after we had picked up Lillie from Hapu’s place and headed down the road to Vast Poni Canyon. A row of Team Skull grunts were squatting across the length of the entire row, arms locked, demanding to know where Guzma went and why we had taken him. From above us we heard a deep, raspy voice command them to stop. It was Plumeria, the Skull admin with the bad pink and yellow ska hair. It was interesting to see the grunts react to her presence. It was a mingled fear and adoration, one that I’ve seen many of my younger sibs look upon me with. She was the big sis of the team! She chastised them for trying to chase us away when we were only trying to help find Guzma. They scattered once she told them to find something more productive to do with their time, then pressed two Poisinium Z’s into my hand. Plumeria paused as she passed Lillie, and apologized for treating her the way she had. Lillie nodded curtly, but once Plumeria walked away I saw Lillie smile. Boy oh boy does she ever continue to give me Kio vibes. Speaking of! Where is my sis? I should send her a message. Give her some heads up about what might be happening with this whole Necrozma deal and Ultra Beasts and legendary Pokemon and…whatever else is waiting for us. I’ve gotten pleasantly numb about it to be honest. The edibles that I bought back at Seafolk Village might have something to do with that. I barely registered fighting the Ultra Recon Squad and their Poipole again. They asked if they’d fight Necrozma when it inevitably came, and soon. I said sure. Like I had a choice.

Vera and I led Lillie and our Mudsdale down through the deep, winding Vast Poni Canyon. There were layers and layers and layers of stratified earth, which had to date back several hundred thousand years. When was Alola founded? Somewhere around three thousand years ago? Had to be longer, right? I don’t know, it was weird to think about how long this island had been around without humans, and was I even supposed to be here, were these legendary creatures trying to tell me to just like. Fuck off back to the mainland. Vera kept us moving at a steady clip deeper and deeper into the canyon. She was quick to tell me about little holes and caverns hidden behind rocks or brush, and instruct me to go through and see what was in there. I don’t know if she just wanted to find what was there and keep it for us (or herself) or if she was trying to keep me kind of present and engaged, but it kinda worked. By the time we got to the trial, I felt energized enough to tell Lillie some dirty jokes. She laughed at some of them.

I guess Vera’s reward for keeping a sharp eye out was that she caught a Jangmo-o, a scaly little dragon that thumped its tail against the ground and rattled its scales at us as we approached it. It called for help often—and successfully—but Vera finally caught her in a Luxury Ball. I think she’s still mulling over what to name her. But this nameless Jangmo-o quickly evolved into Hakomo-o, so it must have been right on the brink of evolving when she caught it. I was prepping my team to enter the trial site when Vera firmly put her hand on my arm and said that she’d take the lead on this one, and let me know that I’d be invaluable as backup. I think she could tell I was still not 100% present. And to be honest, I was happy to take a back seat and watch this Hakomo-o violently flinging the attacking dragons away from us. This thing had a dangerous glint in its eye and was unafraid to make its presence known, rattling its scales every chance it could to warn oncoming Pokemon. I was apprehensive about it being a good fit for Vera at first, but really it seems like both of them want to be left alone and will give people plenty of warning about it.

The Hakomo-o battled the totem Kommo-o with all its might, and I swear to you this, the timing couldn’t have been more dramatic, but as this Hakomo-o was down on the ground after taking a direct hit from the totem, it evolved into a Kommo-o as well, locking arms with the totem. Both of them were rattling their scales so loudly that we all had to cover our ears. But in the end, Vera’s Kommo-o overthrew the totem and sent it scurrying for the canyon. We took our Dragonium Z’s and took a moment to sit and rest. It had been a long, grueling day of hiking. We were ready to head back to town, but needed to catch our breath for a moment. Lillie handed out some malasada. I ate mine while I watched my sister cleaning the scales on the Kommo-o, which rumbled contentedly, even though she was keeping a close eye on Vera.

Lillie has her own place to stay in Seafolk Village. Vera said she couldn’t sleep, and was going to spend some time with her new teammate, trying to figure out her name before we headed back to Vast Poni Canyon tomorrow to make our way up to the Altar of the Moone. Why do they spell it like that? Why couldn’t they just say “Altar of the Moon?” I shouldn’t make fun of other languages. I can’t speak another language! I should call Ren. I’m not sure what tomorrow brings. Should I call Mom and Dad? Of course not, that’d just worry them. I think I’m going to pop a few more of these edibles and take a walk along the beach. Clear my head. I mean, what else can I even really do?