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scarletwidowsbaby · 11 months ago

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Little Pet

Summary: Something nefarious this way comes. Will you run before it's too late?

Pairings: Vampire!Nat x Hunter!Fem!Reader x Heretic!Wanda

Genre: Dark and slightly smutty but no sexy times.

Warnings: Sexual suggestions, blood, fangs, lingerie, dark magic. Minors dni, this is not for you.

A/N: This has been sitting in my drafts for a while but I gave it a bit of a touch-up. Hope you enjoy!

It was only dusk and you were already regretting taking the job.

You had been hired by the local innkeeper to investigate the mystery around the abandoned manor on the backside of the forest’s mountain. Many adventurers had come in search of the manor, yet none had returned.

The fact that he was paying you three thousand coin per adventurer that you found was… possibly also the deciding factor.

As you stepped onto the surprisingly well-kept lawn of the place, your hunter instincts went off. Something nefarious was here, lurking in the shadows, watching and waiting. You pulled out your sword as you entered through the giant double oak doors.

Immediately, your blade began to burn hotter than a thousand suns, forcing you to drop it. Thankfully, you had your fireproof gloves on from your latest encounter with a feral dragon, and weren’t burnt.

“So sorry, dear.” A voice echoed in the grand pitch-black entryway, high ceiling above decorated with paintings akin to the skills of the Sistine Chapel.

Not even God could save you now.

“Come closer, dear. Let me see you in the light.”

You noticed a speck of moonlight from a small window to the high right, almost casting a spotlight on the tiles in front of you. You cautiously stepped forward into it, unsure why, yet the voice’s chuckle was… unnerving.

“Why, look at you. A female hunter? Shall we call you Huntress?”

Your gaze steeled - there were more of them - before you felt a sharpness on your neck, a blur passing behind you.

“Oh my. How… sweet.”

You put your hand on your neck, your glove in the light showing a thin line of your blood.

“Vampires.” You muttered beneath your breath.

“Oh, not just vampires.” A new voice said, a clear glee entwined in her thick accent. “I do wish you would figure it out already.”

Suddenly, your body was lifted by an invisible force. You couldn’t move, save your eyes, and you were whisked through the house before you came to a throne room. You were practically thrown to the ground in front of it, a pair of sleek boots in your gaze.

“It’s so wonderful to see another human try their luck here, isn’t it love?” The person, woman, in front of you chuckled darkly.

“Let her lift her head, my dear. I want to see the life in this one’s eyes before I take it away.”

The invisible force acting on your body released your head and you immediately lifted it, coming up to see two women. The one on the throne held a classic lop-sided smirk, her ginger-red hair flowing down her shoulders in simple waves. The other, standing beside the throne, was very clearly something else, with her brown locks tied back in neat braids done by a professional.

“A… here… tic…” You strained the devious hybrid species’ name through your lips.

“There we go. She figured it out!” She snarkily laughed, her eyes glowing as crimson as the bloodstains on her sleeves.

“You are clearly a very skilled huntress. What is your name, sugarcube?” The seated vampire asked, her eyes set on yours.

“Y/N.” Your name was pulled from your lungs by the heretic.

“My my… No wonder Wanda liked the feeling from your sword… you are known for such giant feats of destruction in our world, Y/N the Huntress.”

You guessed that Wanda was the heretic, given the grin that came onto her face. “Now now, love, I think you should introduce yourself. Give this huntress a good fright, yes?”

You looked back at the throned woman, noticing a familiarity to a few wanted posters on the borders of the Darklands. “No…”

“Yes…” She grinned, nodding her head as her sharp nails came to grip your cheek. “I am Natasha Romanova, Countess of the Mstiteli Clan. And you, dear huntress… are now mine.”

She pulled you up by your neck and made a neat slit across your skin, sinking her fangs into your vein whilst Wanda ripped your armour from your body with her magic. Wanda grabbed your wrist and pulled up your sleeve, making a neat slit perpendicular to your arm and delved into it.

Tingling sensations spread from both areas, sending shivers down your spine. It was fast, and ruthless, as they didn’t stop even to let you breathe. You were trapped in the cycle of stuttered breaths, euphoria, and the effects of blood loss.

When you rose, your body felt exactly how it was - weak, drained of energy, of blood. You felt your ankle had been chained, the cold metal stinging on your skin though it contrasted vastly with the softness of the bed beneath you.

“Oh, now that’s a hangover headache for the ages.” You winced, lifting your hand to your head to simultaneously relieve the ache and brush a few strands out of your face.

“Is that what humans feel like when they’re blood is consumed? Intoxicated?” You jerked your head up - bad idea - to see Countess Natasha lying next to you in nothing but a black nightrobe and dark red lingerie. She gingerly brushed her fingers over your neck, which had small gauze patches on either side.

“You.” You growled before instinctively reaching for your sword, only to feel another hand there.

“You were right to melt her armour and sword, my love - she is such a feisty one.” Wanda giggled, her own nightrobe and lingerie adorned on her body.

Wanda flicked some magic to your hands and they obeyed, pulling up until the wisps of red tied your wrists to the bed frame. “Though you can think of hurting us, now you can’t.” She grinned deviously.

“Now, sugarcube… what to do with you…” Natasha teased before she carefully began to peel off your gauze patches.

“Hey! That hurts!” You huffed before Wanda ripped the one near her fangs off with a sharp tug.

“OW!”

They both chuckled and cooed at you like you were some soft malleable thing.

“Calm down, detka. You’re such an impatient little thing.” Natasha rolled her eyes.

“I’m not your ‘baby’.” You huffed, rolling your eyes before she quickly gripped your jaw.

“Do that again and I’ll take away the pleasure from being fed on.” She whispered darkly into your ear, pressing her thumb and finger into your neck to pinch your airways.

You paused, relinquishing, and she pulled away. “Good. Now, for ground rules: This coven is a respected coven. You are the only human we’ve ever taken in that won’t be turned, no matter how sexy you’d be as a vampire.”

“You see, baby girl… We own you now.” Wanda summarised, putting a small bit of ointment on your healing bite wounds.

“Nobody owns me.” You retorted.

“That ends today. Well, I should say tonight.” Natasha chuckled, tracing the outline of your face.

“Yes, it does. So, we will explain the hierarchy to you: Natasha is Countess, so she will often be busy with coven affairs and our coven’s safety. Then, it’s me, considering I am her wife-”

“Wife?!” You exclaimed before Natasha’s finger pushed down on your sternum, her supernatural strength keeping you down in the bed.

“Yes, my adoring, lovely, brilliant chef of a Sokovian wife. Now listen and be respectful.” The countess warned you.

“As I was saying, I am second in the hierarchy. Then it is James, Steve, Sam and Scott - they are our ‘muscle’, even though some of them look like tanks and others not so much. After them is virtually everyone who is not an unturned child. Those we have accepted and who will be turned upon legal age.”

You listened carefully before you noticed an item in Wanda’s hand - a necklace.

“This is something you will wear at all times unless in the shower. It is imbued with Natasha and mine’s scents and blood, should you ever need to be healed.” She said, clasping it over your neck and not afraid to let her hands wander a bit down.

You turned your head away from hers, feeling some sort of spell over your body like the blood within the red stone was charged.

“You feel it, don’t you?” Natasha smirked from above you, her hair tickling your neck as it hung down. “The power of us, the Mstiteli Clan leaders, though only a single drop of blood each. The power of vampires. You could have never defeated us, Y/N. Not even with your enchanted sword.”

“I did enjoy breaking those enchantments.” Wanda added.

You closed your eyes, trying to take everything in since you were still a bit dazed. “Nobody told me that you were Mstiteli. If I had known that-”

“You wouldn’t have come. We know. But we loved chatting to that innkeeper a few nights ago. He was just divine.” Natasha licked her lips and you understood the double entendre.

“A few little drops of amber ash doesn’t hurt a fella. And without you to return and claim your prizes, we’ll keep getting willing meals right at our doorstep.” Wanda smirked.

“Such delicious, tasty meals… Speaking of, I want to have some more…”

You looked at the two warily. They stopped. What?

Natasha snickered darkly, cupping your cheek. “Oh, you really are as sweet as they come. No, what we did was a dominance show. Now, we go gently.”

Gently wasn’t the right word for her to use as she practically smashed her lips against yours, delving her tongue in to test if even your saliva was as sweet as your blood. Your hands, still chained above your head, were no match for Wanda’s power as she sank to your stomach, kissing and sucking at the exposed skin.

“So divine…” She murmured, a flick of her magic warping your reality.

“Hey! Bring my clothes back!” You yelled, mostly from embarrassment as you now wore the same nightrobe adorned on them but in crimson red… and without lingerie.

“Patience, dear. We want our filling first. We will always come before you.” Natasha said, the words burning in your mind as she locked eyes with you.

Then, she leaned in and reopened the wound with such precision of her fang she could be a surgeon. She sucked at your neck whilst keeping a firm hold of your body, her arm snaking underneath the nightrobe and around your back.

“Come up here, Wanda. You were the one who wanted us to make our marks clear and present.” She chided her wife, who you hadn’t even noticed feeding on your wrist.

“But she’s so beautiful… I want to sink my fangs into every inch of her, litter her body with my bite.” Wanda said and you could tell she was the far more possessive one.

“Neck first.” Natasha said firmly.

You felt like a blood bag. Nothing more than for something they can feed on and toy with, squish around in their hands to bring out every bit of life source.

Then, you felt that tingle again. That rush of endorphins coursing through your veins, making you whimper beneath their touch.

“Hush. Fuck, you’re delicious.” Wanda moaned against your neck, digging her fangs deeper.

You quietened down like a good little pet and let them have their fill once more, your jostles of movement stopping quickly as fatigue set in. They were both grinning as they pulled away from your neck, fangs and lips smeared with your blood.

“Wanda, go get some hot towels.” Natasha muttered, the heretic speeding away to bring a tower of hot towels.

She leaned into your ear, kissing it gently. “Now hush, little pet. Time for you to rest some more…”

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x fem!reader #natasha romanoff imagine #natasha romanoff smut #natasha romanoff x you #natasha romanoff fluff #natasha romanoff x wanda maximoff #black widow x you #black widow x reader #wanda maximoff imagine #wanda maximoff fic #wanda maximoff fluff #wanda maximoff x y/n #wanda maximoff x female reader #wanda maximoff x fem!reader #wanda maximoff x you #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff x natasha romanoff

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picturejasper20 · 20 days ago

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Jim Lake Jr is a character that we see going through multiple changes through the series Trollhunters. He starts as a teen who wants to have ¨some adventure¨ only to found out that he has been chosen to play a very important role in protecting both humans and trolls alike as the ¨Trollhunter¨.

While different aspects of him are explored and evolve through the show, one of his biggest inner conflicts would be his ¨atlas complex¨, what would be his feeling like he has to take the whole responsibility of the world on his own shoulders, that to an extent is understandable considering his role as protector.

Even before he became a Trollhunter near the age of sixteen, Jim acted more mature and responsible in contrast to other teens of his age. In his introduction scene from "Becoming" he is seen cooking breakfast for both him and his mother, Barbara, and cleaning everything before going to school with his friend Toby. In the first episodes it gets explored that this comes from how Jim’s father left Jim and Barbara when Jim was little and never came back. This forced Jim to grow up quicker than other kids from his age, taking on bigger responsibilities with Barbara usually being busy working at the hospital.

His father leaving clearly had an important impact on Jim growing up. While it isn’t explicitly stated, Jim very likely blames himself for his father leaving, probably thinking it was his own fault or he did something wrong. He has this mindset that he has to ¨take care¨ of his mom, even if makes himself be distracted or not pay attention enough to other aspects of his life as pointed out by Strickler in the first episode.

This tendency of feeling like he has to depend on his own and blaming himself for different things that happen drives a lot of the decisions he makes as Trollhunter. He often has the habit of believing that he has to take all the responsibility on his own, going on missions on his own in spite of how big the risk can be.

Through the show Jim goes through this constant struggle between doing things on his own vs allowing his friends to help him fight alongside him and supporting him with the problems he is dealing with. More than one time Jim finds himself in trouble for his risky behaviour of going alone and eventually realizing that he should have asked for help from his team first.

It isn’t that Jim does this because he considers his friends ¨weak¨ or his is too proud to let help him. This comes from his desire to protect them and wishing for them to not get hurt for something he would think that it is his own fault. He doesn’t want to feel like a burden to other people, which it tends to end up with pushing others away as result.

One of the biggest examples of this is at the end of Season 1 in "Something Rotten This Way Comes" when Jim sees that Aaarrgghh has been turned into stone (which is seen as death for trolls) by Angor Rot when trying to defend Toby. A few episodes before this happened Jim had accidentally contributed to getting Angor Rot’s soul destroyed and making Angor Rot completely lose control ("It's About Time"). Because of this, he blamed himself for what happened to Aaarrgghh and feared losing other people he cared about.

Before anyone could notice, Jim decided to activate the gates that opened a portal to the Darklands to rescue Claire’s brother and defeat Gunma on his own. After he went through, the portal got closed, meaning others couldn't follow him from the other side. Jim is able to find and save Claire’s brother in the first episode of Season 2 but he isn’t able to make it out when the bridge gets fully destroyed. ("Escape from the Darklands")

In this first half of Season 2 the consequences of Jim’s decision get explored as his friends try to find a way out to rescue him. They have to face multiple obstacles which involve going against the Troll Market leader and making a deal with the Janus order. Finally in Episode 5 "Homecoming" they are able to get Jim out of the Darklands along with Nomura, who became an ally for Jim during the time he was trapped in the dimension.

In the episode that follows "Hiss Hiss, Bang Bang" the team confronts Jim for his risky decision at the end of Season 1 after Angor Rot’s defeat. They express feeling angry at Jim’s actions and a bit of betrayal since they are supposed to be a team. In response Jim admits that what he did was a very impulsive decision and he did it because he blamed himself for what happened to Aaarrgghh.

In "Hero with a Thousand Faces" explores this further as different sides of Jim manifest as copies of Jim and cause trouble at Claire’s parents barbecue because of a magic stone that was inside the amulet. The side that represents how Jim views himself as a hero, ¨Trollhunter Jim¨, begins to absorb other copies of Jim, seeing them as weaknesses. ¨Trollhunter Jim¨ reveals that Jim is really hard on himself and part of him believes that he would be better off if he didn’t rely on his friends along with other things. By the end of the episode Jim begins to accept that it isn’t the case and accepting helps from others is okay.

For a while Jim seems to be doing better with his atlas complex, however he still struggles with certain things. At the start of Season 3 he hides to Blinky that he has been training with Strickler to find ways to defeat Gunmar since he knows Blinky wouldn’t approve of Strickler’s methods. He still tries to hide his trollhunters duties from Barbara because he wants to ¨protect her¨.

In "Parental Guidance" Barbara is able to recall the events of Season 1 before her memories got supressed. When she remembers what happened, she decides to call Claire’s and Toby’s parents and confront the teens for what they have been hiding from them. At first Jim finds it hard to tell his mom about his duties but he explains to Barbara and his friends’ parents eventually. Through the episode Barbara reminds Jim multiple times that is her role as parent to look after him and not the other way around and he can be honest with her. She is seen helping the teens with fighting against the goblins and giving a hand in other ways in later episodes.

When Jim goes through Merlin’s plan of turning himself into half-human half-troll to defeat Gunmar, he falls into a similar pattern like he did back in Season 1 ending in "Jimhunters". At first he is thrilled about his new abilities as half troll until he realizes that it brings a lot of changes to his life: He can’t stay under the sun nor he can’t eat the same things he used to as human. All these things make him feel very confused and ran away from home.

His friends and family look for him at school where Jim is wandering and thinking about how different his life is going to be from now on. Claire and Toby find Jim in the roof and trying telling him that he is still him even if his is part troll. Barbara and Strickler join some minutes after and Barbara asks Jim to come back with her. When Jim is still unsure of what to do, Blinky and Aaarrgghh show up and Blinky tells Jim how proud he is of him, calling him ¨son¨. This is what finally clicks with Jim, as he approaches and hugs Blinky, telling him that he is scared.

By the end of the episode Jim doesn’t push others away and sees that they are going to help him with these new changes, as they remind him that he is still him after his transformation. This would act as overall conclusion of Jim’s overall character arc in the series, realizing that asking for help and relying on others is a okay thing to do and he doesn’t have to carry all his problems on his own in contrast to how he believed at the start of the show.

#trollhunters #jim lake jr #tales of arcadia #character analysis

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angelxd-3303 · 7 months ago

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And now, may I present to you today's episode of:

Random stuff in my sketchbook ✨

Up first, Darkland royals showing off their joint slay:

Next, the obligatory DnD shenanigans:

Including an adventure with the fae turning the party into farm animals to mess with a farmer (I was the cow):

A fan favorite; Mario Bros being joined at the hip:

Tfp humans +my ocs being shenaniganizers next!

And how can we forget my favorite MonkeyWrench trope: drawing Mario and DK as Tarzan and Jane:

What can I say, it's a beautiful movie lol. Also my recurring obsession with robots:

Elita One my beloved🩷

And of course more sketches of my Poppy Playtime au:

There ya go, I wanted to post art stuff, but Mother's day is always kinda rough for me. So, I decided to pick some drawings and sketches I liked and share them with you instead. Hope you can forgive the bad quality on some of the sketches; I tried to clean them up.

Hope you're all having a a great day friends!

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self-loving-vampire · 19 days ago

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what are the 12 categories of dungeon in your dungeon design document? i'm currently getting really into dungeon design so id like some help making my own document.

1- Abandoned dungeons.

These are abandoned/destroyed ruins whose original purpose is no longer being fulfilled. New creatures may have moved in, or maybe there's undead remnants of the previous inhabitants.

This could be something like an abandoned mine, a lost temple, etc.

These dungeons tend to not have a lot of active defenses, but may have a couple of lingering hazards or traps still around.

2- Occupied dungeons.

This is a dungeon actively serving as a base for a faction of organized, intelligent creatures. These may have traps in key locations (such as the exterior or whatever treasure vault they use) and may feature things like regular patrols and defensive plans if there is an alarm.

For example, this could be a hobgoblin war camp, an evil lord's castle, the hidden lair of a slavery ring, etc.

3- The Beast's Lair

This is a very small and simple dungeon type focused on serving as the lair of a special beast and whatever family it has (using single monsters in encounters if generally not the best idea). As an example, the lair of a vicious skincrawler dragon could go into this category.

That monster doesn't have to be the only encounter in the dungeon either, but is the obvious "boss".

4- The Haunted Dungeon

A haunted house, destroyed castle, ruined torture prison, or some other site of past death and misery that sees its tragic history continue even after the deaths of everyone involved. While these dungeons usually involve some monsters (primarily undead but oozes and vermin are still common) much of the danger comes from the lingering haunts that can give the players a glimpse of what happened to taint this place with evil.

5- The Natural Cave

A large cave system that isn't dominated by a singular overpowering monster. These generally don't have any traps at all, but may instead include natural hazards and obstacles to traversal such as underground rivers, climbs, and more. Usually there is a variety of wild creatures inhabiting it but intelligent individuals or groups may also have a place here.

6- The Vault

A dungeon designed to be a death trap meant to protect something (forbidden knowledge? legendary artifacts? a grand treasury?). These dungeons typically have more of a focus on traps and puzzles, but may also be protected by constructs, bound extradimensional beings, and undead depending on who built it and why.

7- The Tomb

A burial place in which the dead have risen. This is most often the result of necromancers but could be some other form of disturbance. The main focus here is obviously undead, but some may also protect their tombs with traps, curses, and constructs.

8- The Frontier Dungeon

A quirky type of dungeon set in extreme, often large locations. For example, a deep mine could break into the Darklands and lead to a whole second world existing under the one the characters know, or they could find themselves lost on an island populated by bizarre new creatures, and potentially allies who can tell them what is going on and help them survive.

This one obviously blurs the meaning of what a dungeon is a little, and depending on how it is designed it really could just be a wilderness adventure instead.

9- The Aquatic Dungeon

A dungeon that is mostly or completely underwater, presenting some inherent challenges. This could be anything from a shipwreck to a flooded sea cave or maybe a submerged temple from before the cataclysm that sank it.

10- Planar Dungeons

The varied and strange locations of the planes can make for great and unusual dungeons. Invading the great fortresses of Hell is a classic, and also just one of the more obvious routes. There's a lot of possibilities.

11- The Legendary Dungeon

A dungeon so grandiose and special that it spawns far-reaching legends and has a distinct place in the lore of the world. These dungeons tend to be greater in scale and significance than most. The important thing is for it to be epic in its features and relevant to the central conflicts of your world. It should have the vibes of being "the final dungeon" of the adventure.

For example, it could be the tomb of a rising dark god, the lair of the oldest dragon, the flying palace of the wizard king who has conquered half the world, etc.

12- The Bizarre Dungeon

This category encompasses the weirder ideas for what a dungeon could be. It includes things like living dungeons, portal-filled demiplanes, dungeons with weird magical effects applying to all within, and even stuff like abstract dungeons or dungeons that exist within an individual's mind.

Note that these 12 categories are not the only types of dungeons that exist and that this list is primarily content-focused. It is also possible to categorize dungeons by size (for example) instead.

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monstersdownthepath · 2 months ago

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Herald of Ydersius: The Emperor of Scales

CR 15

Chaotic Evil Huge Outsider

Adventure Path: Serpent's Skull: Sanctum of the Serpent God, pg. 82-83 (image from the same book, pg. 78)

"Okay, Lissala I can understand, but do you really expect me to believe there's a god called Ydersius?" You ask, brushing off whatever horrible wounds you were inflicted with when Kurshu caught you falling asleep during her history lesson. You don't see me grimacing in sympathetic pain, because your head is swiftly engulfed in a giant snake's mouth.

"There was a god called Ydersius," I sheepishly correct, before delving into further detail. You do not hear me, as you have been engulfed by a giant snake. "One of the primary deities of the Sekmin, colloquially known as the Serpentfolk. Possibly THE primary deity, in fact! And depending on what you consider to be 'alive,' he's still around..." You are not present for the rest of the lecture, as you are now taking 2d8+12 damage from being swallowed whole. Make a Fortitude save.

Anyway, the Emperor of Scales serves much the same function as the previous serpentine Herald we've seen, Kurshu, in that he, too, is searching for his god. Unlike Kurshu, though, he knows approximately where his god is! Somewhere in the Darklands of Golarion struck blind, deaf, and numb, but still alive in a strange way, still capable of answering prayers and gifting divine power. Between the Kurshu and the Emperor, the Emperor got a better deal, through and through... even if his current state is also a pathetic shadow of his former self. At least his god still "talks" to him, and still fuels his impressive power.

When Ydersius was decapitated and left to die, the Emperor's body fell away from his head to leave a ragged wound behind. When his god went blind, so too did he. When his god continued to live despite his mutilation, so too did he, the ragged edges of his neck twisting into a mass of living snakes. Now this abomination floats through the Darklands like a gory jellyfish, destroying everything that comes between him and his ultimate goal of finding and restoring Ydersius to power and raising the Sekmin up from the dark once more, but every now and then he must pause his march forward to receive guidance and recharge his stores of divine power. Thus the Emperor alternates between centuries of torpor to both rest and receive visions from Ydersius, and searching for his god's lost skull to eventually reunite it with the thrashing, headless, mindless body that also stalks the Darklands like a mobile, living hurricane.

Despite his wretched state, the Emperor of Scales is among one of the most powerful Heralds in the game, and in fact may have once been THE most powerful Herald, as before Ydersius was felled the Emperor was stated to possess a towering, muscular body adorned in golden armor. He benefits both from the two-page spread that comes with appearing in an Adventure Path and Paizo putting some respect behind the Herald of the Old God, and is one of the few Heralds with no real weakness, having high offense, high defense, good mobility, powerful melee, plenty of unique abilities, and an excellent selection of spells. About the only thing he's lacking in ranged attacks, but you're about to see how little that matters...

We'll begin with his defenses, which are actually quite formidable. He doesn't have insurmountable DR, but his DR 15/Good and silver will likely catch the players off-guard anyway, because who'd expect the giant Chaotic Evil snake to have the same weaknesses as the Lawful Evil devils? (and the neutral evil daemons but shhh) Thus, the first round of blows against him will likely have enormous chunks of their potential damage lost if they're not negated entirely, forcing everyone to swap to different weapons or have their properties magically changed.

The rest of his defenses are no joke, either. His numerous flailing heads grant him All-Around Vision to prevent any flankers from building up, 26 Spell Resistance and high saves (+19/+13/+15) makes him hard to harm with magic, and he's immune to Acid, Fire, and poison... but his most notable immunity is one possessed by few other Heralds: Immunity to mind-affecting effects. Between this, his immunity to paralysis, and his flight speed (60ft/round), typical magic tricks that easily close out battles around levels 10~13 have no effect on the Herald of Ydersius, forcing the party to rely more on brute force to deal with him.

Brute force or Necromancy or Transmutation or-- you get the idea. My point still stands.

In addition to direct defenses, he's also got some indirect ones: Acidic Blood and Maddening Hiss. The former spatters everyone who comes within 10ft of the Herald with 2d6 points of Acid damage every round unless they succeed a DC 25 Reflex save, which is going to be a constant annoyance for the melee fighters. The latter, however, will affect everyone in the battle, the cacophonous hissing causing 1 round of confusion for everyone within 100ft of the tangle of serpents each round they fail a DC 25 Will save instead, but thankfully the hiss at least grants 24-hour immunity to anyone who makes the save even once. Get a little closer, and you also contend with Frightful Presence, possibly debuffing the entire party with shaken and making it that much harder to make the countless saves he forces just by coming a little closer.

Finally, he's got both Blur and Mirror Image available at 3/day to just add an extra layer of obnoxious attack interceptions. Pile on all these miss chances with his 3/day Blindness/Deafness, and the poor suckers trying to make weapon attacks are basically never going to hit without RNGsus on their side even if they can consistently exceed his 30 AC. This isn't even the end of his access to magic, just his access to defensive magic; he has both Chaos Hammer and Unholy Blight at 1/day each to blast opposing alignments, and can use Poison at-will if he wishes to slowly, painfully kill someone with Con damage, which is his typical go-to if none of his other methods are working. Capping it all off is Suggestion at 3/day and Mass Suggestion at 1/day, both useful out of combat AND in it to rid people of methods which would impede his goals or harm him.

The usual Suggestion? 'Don't use Delay Poison.' Remember when I said he had no weaknesses? That was a lie. This one simple spell available to half the casters in the game is the Emperor's biggest counter, because if you HAVE it, then the battle with him is significantly less scary. But if you don't? You're in for a hell of a time. EVERY attack the Emperor of Scales throws out inflicts some kind of poison (and, again, he has Poison at-will), and he's got NINE attacks per round, assuring at least two or three failed saving throws. These nine attacks are stacked onto a body with a 15ft space AND reach (mostly; his primary bite only has a 10ft range), so his intimidating Full-Attack is hard to avoid and harder to deny.

His primary bite deals 2d8+8 damage and each of his eight snakebites deals 1d6+4, but every single one poisons and Grabs the victims hit, and if you look at his statblock and say "wait, the snakebites don't have Grab!" I point you a little further south and show you one of his feats: Snatch. This feat gives ALL claw and bite attacks a Grab and a pseudo-Constrict (against Small or smaller creatures for the Emperor), even his snakebites, meaning up to nine grapple checks a round! Snatch also allows the Emperor to hurl away anything he's bitten, either forcing them into unfavorable positions on the battlefield (like over a pit) or simply to deny them their own melee actions against him. Snatch also works well for any flying monster, the Emperor included, and his numerous limbs means he can grapple the entire party at once before hauling them 60ft into the air and drop them for some free damage!

Speaking of free damage: Anyone caught by the Grab of his main bite is in danger of more than just the damage. He can remove the grappled victim from combat by swallowing them whole, casting them into his gullet for 2d8+12 damage AND a dose of his acidic poison each round, leaving the rest of the party vulnerable to a cascade of snakebites and Snatch shenanigans.

This does segue nicely into talking about his poisons, which you'd do well to remember are delivered by ALL of hits bites. Two different poisons, in fact, one for his main mouth and one for his snakebites. The poison in his main mouth is the scarier of the two at first glance, forcing a DC 25 Fortitude save once per round for 10 rounds to avoid taking 2d6 Acid damage and 1d4 Str damage per tick, but thankfully despite its extreme duration, it still only requires 2 consecutive saves to cure... unlike his snakebite venom. At first, it looks much tamer in comparison: A DC 20 Fortitude save avoids it, it lasts for only 6 rounds, and it deals 1d2 Con damage. All-around weaker, right? Well, perhaps you need a refresher on how poison works in Pathfinder: Multiple doses of the same poison stack. Each dose of the same poison beyond the first adds +2 to the DC and +1/2 the duration. So someone suffering from one dose of snakebite venom has to succeed two consecutive DC 20 Fortitude saves for 6 rounds, but someone suffering from two has to make DC 22 saves for 9 rounds, three has DC 24 for 12 rounds, four has DC 26 for 15 rounds, so on and so forth.

An especially unlucky soul tanking all eight snakebites and failing all eight saves would thus need to make DC 34 saves for 27 rounds, each failure sapping 1d2 Con from them and making it that much harder for them to actually succeed those saves to form a painful feedback loop. And this is while the Emperor's main bite is ALSO dealing Str and Acid damage! Anyone swallowed also has to contend with the 10 rounds of Str and Acid damage quickly becoming 15, then 20, and 25 every time they fail to escape his gut! But if all of this sounds scary, remember that the common level 2 Delay Poison completely removes this threat for essentially the entire day, giving everyone involved enough time to patch up and secure a scroll of Neutralize Poison before the delay spell ends and the bitten victim dies horribly.

If unable to use his poison, the Emperor is far more manageable. The individual damage from his attacks rapidly stacks up, but HP damage is much easier to cure than stat damage! All that being said, though, the Emperor still has enough tricks to pose a serious threat to any level-appropriate party. Between his acidic aura, his spells, his Frightening Presence, Maddening Hiss, and poison, he can attack every save available to a player in some fashion. In my mind, all of this combined with the fact that he serves as Herald to humanity's oldest enemy (besides itself), means there was only one real choice to cap off End of the World Month: Heralds of Horror!

You can read more about him here.

#monster spotlight #Horrible Heralds Month #cr 11 to 15 #pathfinder #dungeons and dragons

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pianokantzart · 10 months ago

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So if the bros actually are in Sarasaland for the sequel, why are they there? And if Daisy does appear, what would her role be? Perhaps something similar to DK’s role in the first movie?

Whatever it is, I hope they establish her as more than just Luigi’s love interest. I’ve seen some people mention how much they want her to appear in the sequel, but it’s only so she and Luigi can make goo-goo eyes at each other and nothing else.

If they are in Sarasaland, I'm going guess either

They need Princess Daisy's help either to find a macguffin or for political allegiance.

They got lost somewhere in their journey (maybe due to a malfunctioning warp pipe) and now need help finding their way home / to The Darklands to save Princess Peach.

In either case, I do imagine Princess Daisy would serve kind of a DK-ish role where she joins them partway through their adventure to give them a leg up. She acts as the muscle, mostly working in the background while having obvious on-screen importance in terms of turning the tide of battle.

As for her interaction with Luigi, I'm with you. Either I want her to have a respectful (albeit a little obvious) crush on Luigi that he stays entirely oblivious to for the entire movie or... better yet... I want them to handle it exactly the same way they handled Peach and Mario's relationship.

There's no moment that sparks fly, but you can see tiny things clicking into place: soft moments of connection and little instances of Daisy paying especially close attention to Lu's emotional state. From a distance it looks like just a strong friendship forming, but if you look harder you can see something a little stronger than that brewing beneath the surface.

#but fr Mario and Peaches relationship is one of the most 10/10 relationships I have seen on screen #on the premise that it's so natural and subtle and soft and innocent #maybe that's just the aro/ace side of me who is annoyed by movies always revolving around the romantic aspect #so them having the romance kind of there but so in the background it can be missed was nice.#There was no payoff of a kiss or a romantic date or even a blushing bashfulness #Mario wasn't there to woo a princess or even be a big hero he was there to save his brother #Peach knows that and wants to help him #but at the same time the way he loves his brother so strongly and is so determined to save him draws her in #endears her to him in a very respectful ''oh you're a kindred spirit'' sort of way #it's nice. I like it a lot #never shipped Mareach before but the movie got me into it #if they are just as slow and subtle in the way they handle Luaisy I would explode from happiness #Mario Movie 2 #Mario #Princess Peach #Mario 2 speculation #mareach #askbox #anon

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skulleroskeleton · 8 months ago

Text

Happy Mother’s Day!

Here’s Terra from Darkland Adventures

#deltarune #darkland adventures #deltarune au #toriel #terra da #mothers day

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your-local-simp-writers · 2 months ago

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Hi hi! I wasn't sure if your requests are open but i loved your Riku x reader one and I wish to request a Riku x reader if that's okay. Reader is like a lost keyblade wielder stuck in the darklands with aqua and is from Destiny Island. Reader and Mickey were adventuring together one time and they got separated resulting her meeting aqua in the darklands. Riku saves reader and maybe something before the Keyblade war, they share a paopu fruit and kiss, (like when Kairi gave Sora a paipu fruit except its Riku and Reader)

YES! OML, THIS IS SO CUTE!!!! If you haven't gotten to know who we are don't be shy here is our "༺☆༻ Introduction ༺☆༻"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shadows and Stars

Word Count: 1701

Warnings: None

Riku x Fem!Reader ︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

The Darklands stretched endlessly before you, an inky expanse of shadows that swallowed the light. As you wandered deeper into this desolate realm, the oppressive atmosphere pressed against your chest, each breath a reminder of how far you had strayed from the warmth of home. Every step echoed with the sounds of your solitude, the once vibrant laughter from Destiny Islands fading into distant memory.

You had ventured into this shadowy abyss alongside King Mickey during one of his missions, your hearts united in the fight against the encroaching darkness. But the chaos of battle had torn you apart, leaving you lost and adrift, far from the familiar shores of your childhood.

With a heavy heart, you navigated the twisted pathways, the darkness swirling around you like a living entity. You felt small and vulnerable, each rustle of the shadows setting your nerves on edge. Just when the weight of despair began to settle too heavily on your shoulders, a familiar silhouette broke through the gloom.

Riku emerged from the shadows, a beacon of light cutting through the darkness. His silver hair glimmered like moonlight, reflecting the faint glow of the few scattered stars that peeked through the dark clouds. When your eyes met, relief surged through you, igniting a warmth that chased away the cold grip of fear.

“Riku!” You called out, your voice breaking the silence as you rushed toward him. Relief washed over you like a tidal wave, and before you could stop yourself, you threw your arms around him, feeling the solid warmth of his body beneath your fingers.

“Y/N,” he said, his voice steady and soothing. As you pulled back to look at him, the seriousness in his gaze softened, replaced by a smile that made your heart flutter. “I was worried about you.”

“I was scared,” you admitted, your voice trembling slightly. “I thought I’d be stuck here forever.”

“I’d never let that happen.” The conviction in his voice was a balm to your soul. “I’ll always find you.”

“How do you always know exactly what I need?” Riku asked, tilting his head slightly, a thoughtful expression crossing his features.

You chuckled softly, feeling the tension of the past few days begin to melt away. “I pay attention,” you replied, heartened by the connection that felt so effortless between you two. “You’re not as hard to read as you think.”

“Can you let me see your eyes?” he asked suddenly, his expression earnest and searching. You felt a blush creeping up your cheeks, but there was a comfort in his request, a reminder that vulnerability was a strength when shared with the right person.

“Of course,” you replied, brushing your hair back from your face, your heart racing under his intense gaze. You could see the myriad of emotions swirling in his eyes—relief, worry, determination—and you felt a magnetic pull toward him, as if the darkness surrounding you faded away in the light of his presence.

He stepped closer, and the shadows around you seemed to retreat as you stood face to face. “I’m glad you’re okay,” he said softly, his relief evident. “I didn’t want to lose you.”

With the weight of his words settling in your heart, you whispered, “I didn’t realize how much I needed you until now.” The admission felt like a release, a truth that had been buried beneath layers of fear and uncertainty.

Riku’s gaze turned serious as he reached into his pocket, producing a paopu fruit, its vibrant colors almost luminescent against the dark backdrop. You recognized the symbolism immediately—the fruit was a promise, a symbol of connection and shared fate.

“I thought we could share this,” he said, offering it to you with a soft smile. “You know what it represents.”

The sight of the fruit brought back memories of laughter and joy from Destiny Islands, moments shared with Riku, Sora, and Kairi. You took the paopu fruit from his hands, your fingers brushing against his, sending a thrill through you. “Just like Sora and Kairi,” you murmured, feeling the weight of what it symbolized settle in your chest.

“Exactly,” Riku replied, his eyes never leaving yours. “No matter what happens, we’re connected. I won’t let anything pull us apart.”

With a shared smile, you took a bite of the fruit, its sweetness bursting on your tongue, filling you with warmth and hope. Riku followed suit, and in that moment, the darkness around you seemed to lift, if only for a heartbeat.

Time slowed as you leaned in, the distance between you evaporating like the darkness around you. Your lips met in a gentle kiss, tentative at first, but it deepened, filled with the sweetness of the fruit and the unspoken promise of your connection. It felt like a world reborn in that single moment, the shadows dissipating as light surged within you.

When you finally pulled away, breathless and wide-eyed, Riku’s expression mirrored your own surprise and wonder. “Y/N…” he began, but the words faltered, lost in the depth of your shared moment.

“Let’s escape this place together,” you urged, your heart racing with newfound determination. “We’ll find a way back to the light, back to the Islands.”

Riku nodded, resolve hardening in his eyes. “Together, always,” he echoed, and you could feel the strength of his promise resonating in your bones.

As you turned to face the path ahead, fingers intertwined, the darkness began to recede, revealing a breathtaking view. The once oppressive shadows transformed into gentle hues of blue and green, the scent of saltwater filling the air as you neared the shoreline. The familiar sounds of waves crashing against the shore beckoned you home.

“Look!” Riku said, excitement bubbling in his voice as he pointed toward the horizon. “There it is!”

Your heart raced at the sight, the outline of Destiny Islands rising majestically before you. You could almost feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, hear the distant laughter of friends, the promise of safety and comfort. The palm trees swayed gently in the breeze, their leaves rustling like whispers of joy.

“Let’s go!” you urged, a burst of energy propelling you forward. You sprinted toward the water’s edge, laughter escaping your lips as you glanced back at Riku, who was quickly catching up.

“Remember those races on the beach?” you teased, a playful smile gracing your face. “I always won!”

Riku chuckled, the sound bright and infectious. “You were fast, but I had my tricks,” he retorted, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I could always find a shortcut.”

“Shortcut, huh?” you replied, nudging him with your shoulder as you reached the shoreline. The waves lapped gently at your feet, the cool water sending shivers up your spine. “I’ll have to keep an eye on you next time.”

As you both reached the water’s edge, you paused for a moment, letting the familiar sensations wash over you—the warmth of the sun, the gentle breeze rustling through your hair, and the distant call of seagulls above. It felt surreal, the weight of the Darklands slowly lifting as you stood together.

“This feels right,” you said, looking up at Riku, who stood beside you, his expression softening as he took in the view. “Like we’re finally home.”

Riku turned to you, a deep warmth in his gaze. “We are home, together,” he replied, his voice low and filled with emotion.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a golden glow over the ocean, you both stood side by side, fingers still intertwined. In that moment, the world felt right, the shadows of the past fading away as hope blossomed in your hearts.

You watched as the sky transitioned from brilliant gold to deep indigo, stars beginning to twinkle in the vast expanse above. “Look,” you said, pointing up at the sky. “It’s like they’re guiding us home.”

Riku followed your gaze, a soft smile crossing his lips. “Each star is a promise, a reminder of those we care about,” he mused, his voice barely above a whisper. “Sora, Kairi, even the ones we’ve lost along the way. They’re all with us.”

The thought stirred something deep within you, a bittersweet ache mixed with gratitude. “They would be proud of us,” you said, feeling the warmth of Riku’s hand enveloping yours tighter. “We fought for our friends, for each other.”

Riku’s gaze turned serious as he faced you, the determination in his eyes unmistakable. “I promise to protect you, Y/N. No matter what darkness comes our way, I won’t let anything tear us apart again.”

Your heart swelled at his words, the sincerity etched on his face a balm to your soul. “And I promise to stand by you, Riku,” you replied, squeezing his hand. “Together, we’ll face whatever challenges lie ahead.”

As the stars above continued to twinkle like diamonds, the tide began to rise, washing over your feet. The cool water enveloped you in a comforting embrace, mirroring the warmth that bloomed in your chest. You stepped deeper into the surf, feeling liberated, like a weight had been lifted from your shoulders.

The rhythmic crashing of the waves became a melody that resonated within you, filling the space between your hearts with harmony. It was a promise of adventure, of friendship, of love that would endure the trials ahead.

“Come on!” you called, laughing as you splashed water playfully in Riku’s direction. “Let’s celebrate!”

“Hey!” he exclaimed, laughter spilling from him as he dodged your playful attack. “You’re on!”

With that, the two of you raced along the shoreline, the warmth of the sand beneath your feet, the stars shining brightly above as you embraced the magic of the moment. The weight of darkness fell away with each joyful step, replaced by the promise of light and a future filled with hope.

As you and Riku continued to laugh and chase each other under the starry sky, you realized that, no matter the shadows that had once threatened to consume you, together you could face any darkness. And as the waves lapped gently at your feet, you knew that your hearts were forever intertwined, bound by the love and light you had found in each other.

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dragon-creates · 2 years ago

Text

I started this short bowuigi little mermaid au thing a few days ago as a little something to help me feel better cause my depression was basically being like ‘hey, wanna feel ten times worse than usual?’ It was to be a short little thing to self-indulge with, YET IT SOMEHOW IS OVER 5K WORDS, FUCKING HOW?!?!?!?!? Anyways, enjoy. (Edit, to the person who pointed out that Junior said Luigi's name before Bowser finds out, you're a real one and I just fixed it thanks xx).

In the surface land, Bowser is trying to get Princess Peach to marry him because he sees her as the ‘perfect bride’ for him to be happy but she’s not having it.

“Isn’t she lovely Kamek, her golden hair, the way she glides when she moves. Plus, she would be a perfect mother for Junior!”

“Sire, she threw a shoe at your head the last time you proposed to her.”

“…and?”

“Seriously Papa?”

Yeah, Kamek and Junior are starting to get sick of it.

Meanwhile, in the ocean, Mario and Luigi’s parents rule the seven seas. While Mario is more adventurous and outgoing, Luigi is more content to stay under the sea (you’re allowed to hate me for that terrible pun).

See, unlike Ariel, Luigi is deathly afraid of the surface land as he’s heard about all about the terrifying Bowser and what he’s willing to do to get what he wants to he wants to stay as far as possible from there.

“There’s nothing to be scared of Luigi, I’d be able to keep you safe if we were ever near the surface.”

“N-no way! W-what if B-Bowser’s there a-an-d-d gets mad a-at us f-or t-t-t-trespassing! I-I’ll be fine here with Ma and Pa.”

(Luigi also has long hair cause I’m a sucker for long-haired Luigi.)

Que King Boo, a ghostly underwater sea monster who wants to take over both the land and sea but isn’t powerful enough to do so. He knows that Luigi means a lot to his family, so he decides to pull a devious trick to distract them from their duties so he can take over the throne.

“Well, well, well, despite how much of a cowardly shrimp he is, this little prince could be of use to me.”

He uses Polterpup (a ghost sea-lion pup that is able to turn into a dog if he goes to the surface land) to distract Luigi, making him think that a dog had fallen into the sea and needs help. Luigi follows the sound of the distressed barking, hoping to help the innocent animal when suddenly, he’s captured by Boo’s minions and with the limited power that he has, he uses it to turn Luigi into a human to make him unable to return home. That way, while Luigi’s family will be looking for their son, he can try and take over the underwater kingdom and use that power to take over the surface land. Just to make sure that Luigi doesn’t tell anyone, King Boo steals Luigi’s voice and sends him to the edge of the Darklands.

“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Try going home and telling your mommy and daddy about this one princey! Oh wait, you can’t!”

However, since King Boo’s powers are still weak there is a way that the spell can be reserved so he purposely neglects to tell Luigi that the spell can be broken with true love’s kiss.

Luigi is distraught and terrified, already afraid of the surface land and is now forced to live there with no way of being able to ask for help.

Feeling guilty, Polterpup decides to help Luigi get used to his human legs and brings him a rag from a ship to help make into some makeshift clothes.

Meanwhile, Bowser and Junior are minding their own business at the shore of the Darklands when suddenly, Junior sees an unfamiliar human struggling to stand on his own two feet.

“Look Dad! There’s a human, like Peach!”

He gets a bit over excited and runs from his dad to go see Luigi.

Luigi, still frightened and wary of surface creatures (and the fact that this is Bowser’s son! So, if the king sees him with Junior, he could burn him to a crisp!) he gets spooked easily by the child and fumbles his way onto a rock. Polterpup stands in front of Luigi to create some distance with the overzealous child. Eventually, Bowser makes his way over to see what all the fuss is about.

“Junior, what have I told you about running off?!”

“But look Papa, it’s another human! I’ve never seen another human before apart from Peach!”

Bowser suddenly notices Luigi, who ducks behind Polterpup, trying to hide as much of himself as he can.

Bowser is taken aback, like Junior, Peach is the only human he’s seen so he’s never had the chance to formally get to know another one. He sees that the human is a bit skittish, so he tries to be as unintimidating as possible.

“Uh, hey there, sorry about Junior, he has the tendency to get overexcited sometimes.”

“Hey!”

Luigi is still unsure; he’s only ever heard tales about how the king of the koopas was able to be rid of his enemies just with one swipe of his claw. So, seeing him up close makes him want to piss himself.

Bowser can see that the human is still nervous, though he’s a little bit offended, he can’t really blame the human for being scared.

“Did you, uh, get in a shipwreck? Cause I can see that the only thing you’re dressed in is a sail.”

Luigi finally peaks his head out and nods a little bit, wondering why the koopa hasn’t done anything to him yet. Junior is suddenly asking him a lot of questions.

“Woah, you got in a shipwreck?! That’s so cool! Was there tons of thunder and lightning?! Did your ship light on fire?! Your dog is so cool! Is he a ghost?!”

Startled again, Luigi nearly falls off the rock until Bowser catches him. Luigi suddenly starts trembling both from fear and the cold. The king notices this and tries to ask him if he’s alright to try and loosen the tension, but the human is silent.

“What’s wrong? Can’t talk or something?”

He says that sarcastically and laughs a little to try and make the human do so as well, but he takes one look in the human’s eyes and realises that he actually can’t.

“Oh, I see.”

Luigi is hugging himself at this point, wanting to run and hide but he was getting colder and colder by the minute. Bowser then decides to take the human back to the castle to get him warmed up and a little bit less scared.

“Don’t worry, Kamek and Kammy will know how to help you. You’ll be feeling better soon.”

That gets Luigi to look up at the king with curiosity as Bowser carries him back to the castle with Junior and Polterpup by his side. The great ferocious king was holding him ever so gently and promising to help him, he doesn’t know how to feel at this point.

As soon as Kamek and Kammy see Luigi shivering and drenched, they are instantly ‘grandparents mode activated. They take Luigi from Bowser and lead the human into bathroom, (Bowser totally didn’t want to carry him there) Kamek makes him tea and gives Luigi a few biscuits while Kammy is drawing a warm bubble bath for him.

“Here you are now, its not much but it will help fill and warm you up a little bit.”

Luigi has never tasted land food before; he finds it to be quite nice. He even enjoys the bath, letting the water heat him up and blowing on the bubbles. Kammy finds the site adorable.

“The poor thing, washing up from a shipwreck must’ve been so terrifying for you, especially if you heard about the reputation of the Darklands. Don’t worry, we just want to help you feel better and feel comfortable here.”

Kamek comes into the room holding a few dresses and suits, asking the human which one he’d like to wear for dinner. Although Luigi didn’t need to wear clothes as a mermaid, he does know that land creatures wear them all the time. He instantly chooses one of the dresses (because gender norms don’t exist, and Luigi is allowed to wear whatever the fuck he wants!)

Later, Kammy is helping Luigi get changed while Kamek, Junior and Bowser are in the dining room talking about Peach again.

“All I’m saying sire is that it might be due time to stop pursuing the princess. She had already disagreed to your other proposals, and I don’t see her agreeing any time soon.”

“I can’t just give up on her Kamek, Peach makes me feel things that I’ve never felt for anyone. I will marry her, one day.”

As if right on time, Kammy and Luigi are there, the former ushering in the shy man.

“Don’t be so nervous darling, you look lovely!”

Luigi then steps into the room, wearing a beautiful green dress (a green version of Ariel’s pink dress) with Polterpup by his side to keep him company.

Bowser is starstruck, he’s never seen a human look this beautiful before.

“Y-you look amazing.”

Luigi blushes, still nervous but the compliment gives him butterflies.

“Come sit next to me human!”

Junior takes his hand and leads him next to his seat, which happens to also be next to Bowser’s at the head of the table. To try and take his mind off the fact that he’s sitting next to Bowser, Luigi starts focusing on the plates and cutlery, he’s never really seen that many human artefacts before so it’s all so intriguing to him (expect when Mario brings back some from his adventures, but he doesn’t really know what they are either.)

Bowser becomes amused at Luigi’s curiosity for the simple objects he had, his appreciation for things that seem to be mundane gives him a swell of pride.

“I guess my silverware is kinda nice, isn’t it?”

Luigi immediately puts the fork don’t and hides under his hair, afraid that he might have disrespected the king, but Bowser is quick to reassure him that he doesn’t mind.

“It’s just that no one else I know is fascinated by these types of things, so its nice to see someone that it.”

Luigi peers out from his hair, a small smile forming from the king’s praise. Kamek picks up on the tension and decides to do some *matchmaking*.

“Since our guest will be staying for a while, perhaps we should help him feel more comfortable with a tour of the kingdom…Bowser?”

“Papa, are you listening?”

Bowser breaks out of his trance, not even realising he was staring at the human. He couldn’t help it; he’s not seen that many and this one was just so fascinating.

“Ah, yes, a tour sounds great! If you would like one?”

Luigi thinks for a bit and nods. If he was wrong about the king, then maybe he was wrong about the kingdom and surface land and should give it a chance.

Kamek nods at that, pleased with his work. Kammy shoots him a thumbs up for his work.

Later, while Luigi is getting ready for bed, he watches Bowser with Junior as they play in the courtyard. Bowser notices him watching and waves at him. Embarrassed that he was caught, Luigi shyly waves back and backs away from the balcony. He’s wearing a cotton nightgown that Kammy had given him, as well as a glass of water from Kamek in case he gets thirsty during the night. This is also his first time laying in a bed, he’s never felt anything so soft in his life! He falls asleep as soon as he puts his head on the pillow, feeling a bit more hopeful after today.

Back in the ocean, Mario and his family are frantically searching for his brother, terrified that something bad happened to him. He decides to go to the surface land, specifically from the Mushroom Kingdom, and ask their princess for help and if he’s washed up there. It also helps that he’s heard so much about her kindness and beauty and…wake up Mario, focus on the mission at hand.

Back on the surface lands, Bowser takes Luigi on a tour of his kingdom, Polterpup by his feet through the all thing. At first, Luigi is still a bit unsure about the koopas, but soon he becomes a bit more curious. He goes up to some of the food stand giving away free sample and decides to try a little bit of fruit, it’s a bit tangy but still pretty good. He even sees a puppet show for the first time, not knowing how the little puppets are moving, he pulls one of a koopa’s hand, fascinated with how it works. A few koopa children then come up to him and ask to do his hair, having never seen another human before with his like his. He agrees and let the children tie up his hair in a French braid along with a few faux white flowers to go with the new dress he’s wearing. Bowser is watching from afar, his jaw dropping when Luigi’s hairstyle is revealed, his heart skipping a beat when Luigi does a twirl.

“Wow, you…you look beautiful greenie.”

Luigi blushes at the compliment.

The two suddenly hear music and see a few performers starting to play on their instruments as koopas, goombas and shy guys join in. Bowser takes Luigi’s hand and asks him to dance, the man nods his head, feeling a bit more at ease with the king now.

Soon the two join the crowd, laughing and having the time of their lives as they dance away to the music, Polterpup occasionally runs through some of the koopas legs.

When it ends, Bowser guides Luigi to a hidden river, the only place with water in the Darklands (apart from the shore). They share a little boat ride together as they share some of the food they bought at the market, while Polterpup takes a nap. Bowser then remembers that despite the time they shared together, he still doesn’t even know Luigi’s name.

“I feel terrible not knowing your name, and we don’t have anything that you can write with…Oh I know, how about I go down the alphabet and you pick out the letters of your name?”

Luigi nods and though it takes a while, the king manages to spell out his name.

“Luigi huh? A beautiful name for a beautiful human.”

Its Luigi’s turn for his heart to skip a beat. All his life he’d heard about the koopa kingdom and their dreaded king, now it turns out that he’s actually a gentleman who’s been showing him nothing but respect. Ever since this man washed up at his kingdom, Bowser has been feeling things that he’s never felt for anyone. Flustered, vulnerable and a need to protect and love. He’s never even felt this for Peach. The two start to lean in when their boat suddenly tips over, the two falling out. Bowser is quick to pick up Luigi, who begins to wring out his dress while Polterpup begins to shake his non-existent coat. As Bowser carries Luigi back as Polterpup floats beside them, the two fail to see two boos that were the ones who knocked over their boat.

Back in his lair, King Boo is seething!

“That blasted little shrimp! At this rate, these two will end up snogging all over the place and my plans will be ruined!”

He decides to go to his last resort, a mind control crown that he had hoped to use on one of the rulers to conquer the sea and surface, however this crown also held many of his other spells (including Luigi’s) and he wasn’t strong enough to use it more than once to use a spell as powerful as mind control. It was always extremely fragile, though he would still have some power, if it broke then all of his previous spells from over the years would be released, so he held it off for as long as he could, and it seems that now he has no other choice.

Meanwhile, Mario has finally arrived at the Mushroom Kingdom, hoping to find help with the princess. She’s just as beautiful in the rumours he’s heard about her. The princess is shocked to find an adorable red merman in a river near her palace, but she can’t deny his plea for help when he looked just so sweet.

“My brother, he’s gone missing! Is there any chance he’s been around here lately?”

“I’m sorry, you’re the only mer-person we’ve seen here. But don’t worry, we’ll keep a look out and help you find him!”

“Really?! Thank you, princess!”

“Y-you’re welcome.”

Back at the Darklands, Bowser is thinking about his new feelings for Luigi, not knowing if he should act on them since he didn’t want to betray his love for Peach. Kamek, fed up at this point, goes up to give Bowser his thoughts on the matter.

“If I may say sire, some people spend most of their time chasing after treasure on a map that leads them in circles, that they neglect that the diamond in the rough is right in front of them. Just a thought from a silly old koopa.”

As Kamek leaves, Bowser ponders over his surrogate father’s words. For years he’s yearned for Peach so the point that he became blinded by what he thought he wanted and put her on a pedestal. Now, there’s someone that doesn’t see him as a monster and might love him back. He makes his decision and starts to go to Luigi to tell him how he feels when he suddenly feels a weight on his head, and everything goes dark.

The next morning, Luigi wakes up feeling more refreshed and happier than he has since he first turned human. He’s been thinking all night about the maybe-kiss that he and Bowser were about to share and had been contemplating his feelings on the matter. He soon found himself realising that he would mind kissing Bowser, in fact, he would really like to kiss him and spend every day with him, Junior, Kammy and Kamek. Besides, there was nothing stopping him from travelling to see his brother and family, maybe it could all work out? He fell asleep last night with a smile on his face and butterflies in his stomach.

He’s about to run down the stairs to meet Bowser when he hides behind a pillar when he sees the king speaking with Kamek, wearing a strange crown.

“Y-your highness, are you sure this is the best idea?”

“Peach castle is currently unprotected; it would be a good opportunity to strike and take her as my bride.”

“I see that, but after the last few days and our past with the Mushroom Kingdom, shouldn’t we think this through a little bit and-”

“-It has always been my intention to make Peach mine, no matter what and I won’t let anyone get in my way. Especially some scrawny human who washed up at my sure. Once the invasion is complete, the wedding will start immediately.”

“…very well sire.”

Luigi, heartbroken and betrayed, flees to his room, not knowing that King Boo was there the whole having used his ghostly-ness to remain invisible while controlling Bowser with the crown.

As Bowser takes off with his army and airship, Luigi stays behind at the port to cry as Polterpup tries to comfort him, having to face the truth that he was right in the first place, Bowser was just a heartless monster.

Junior is on the airship per his father’s orders to be at the wedding. He searches for his dad, wondering why he had the sudden change of heart about Luigi and his invasion. He creaks open the door to his father’s room when he sees King Boo in Bowser’s mirror, cackling to himself at the fact that his plans are nearly complete.

Realising his dad is being mind controlled by the strange ghost thing, he makes his way down to the clown cars and sneaks away in his own small one to get to Luigi as quickly as possible.

The Mushroom Kingdom is taken aback when Bowser suddenly arrives, not fully prepared for battle since he would usually leave some type of indication that he was coming, but here, he was just blasting through with every intention of not leaving until he gets what he wants. Mario wants to help but Peach tells him to stay hidden. Unable to just do nothing, Mario rushed as fast as he can to get back home to get his father.

As soon as Peach sees Bowser, there’s something different about his atmosphere, something way more menacing and demanding. As usual, he wants Peach to marry him, but this time he doesn’t ask.

“One way or another, you will marry me Peach and we’ll watch your kingdom turn to ash.”

“You’re not even going to bargain.”

“It’s not like you can do anything about it.”

A pit forms in Peach’s stomach, something’s wrong, very wrong.

Junior makes it back to, running to the sobbing man as fast as he can.

“Luigi! Luigi! There’s some weird ghost thing that was in my dad’s mirror! I think that’s why he’s attacking the Mushroom Kingdom so soon! What do we do?!”

Luigi’s eyes widen in horror. King Boo! He had to be behind all this. Without any second thoughts, Luigi climbs in Junior’s clown car, along with Polterpup, and the two head to the Mushroom Kingdom as fast as they can.

While Bowser/Boo is adamant about the wedding, the koopas there are a little less comfortable about it due to how strange and intimidating the king was acting. As the service starts, Peach pulls out an ice flower from her bouquet and attacks Bowser, she lands a few hits, but Bowser uses his fire to melt the ice. Peach keeps trying to fight though, at least to distract him while she thinks of a plan. The koopas also help, agreeing that their King was not himself and didn’t want anyone in the Mushroom Kingdom getting severely injured.

Luigi finally arrives with Junior, jumps out of the vehicle and lands on Bowser’s shoulders while he’s fighting Peach. Seeing a crown that wasn’t on Bowser’s head before, Luigi grabs it and smashes it to the ground, falling off Bowser’s shoulder from the impact of the throw.

Suddenly, Bowser sees himself at the Mushroom Kingdom, not knowing how he got there since the last place he remembered being was back home. Princess Peach and the koopas stop, sensing that Bowser’s atmosphere was back to normal as he looks towards Luigi.

“Luigi, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine…wait…I can talk!”

“You can finally speak again!”

“My voice its back!”

“I don’t understand, what’s happening?”

“It’s King Boo, he-aahhh!”

Before he can get another word out, there’s a sharp pain in his legs. He fells his bones bending and breaking in the most painful way and King Boo suddenly appears, turning him back into a merman before he can get another word out. Luigi looks to Bowser, afraid of what he’ll think of the man once he realises what he really is. But Bowser is too wrapped up in shock of what its happening and worry for the man that he loves.

King Boo grabs Luigi and drags him back into the ocean, the latter screaming for Bowser as the koopa tries to grab him as Luigi is forced back into the water, Polterpup chasing after his new owner. The king turns to Princess Peach.

“Princess, I know this may be confusing, but I really need your help, please, I love him!”

“Don’t worry, I think I might know his brother and what’s going on.”

Back in the ocean, Luigi is struggling against King Boo, trying to escape his grasp but somehow, the ghost’s grip is tighter than he though. Polterpup tries to fight his old master but a few Boos that had been hiding easily grab him.

“Oh, don’t worry little shrimp, it ain’t you that I’m after.”

“KING BOO THAT IS ENOUGH!”

The pair stop when they see Luigi’s father, the King of the ocean along with Mario stop them in their path.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the red prince and the ruler of the seven seas.”

“Let my brother go!”

“No can do princey, precious little Lulu is all mine until you give me what I want.”

Luigi’s father growls at that.

“My son does not belong to you!”

He goes to use his magical trident, but a few boos grab Luigi and use some type of electricity on him, making the youngest prince scream out in pain.

“You see, the thing is your majesty, one wrong move and your precious little boy won’t be, how do I put this? Part of your world anymore.” (I am so sorry for that awful pun.)

The sea king was at a loss, he knew he would be putting everyone at risk by handing the trident and the throne to this made ghost but…he couldn’t lose his youngest son, from the corner of his eye, he could see Mario agree. He hands the trident over to King Boo, begging him not to hurt his son. With a mad gleam in his eye, he grabs the trident and lets Luigi go. To the green merman’s horror, the poltergeist points the artifact to his father and brother, watching in devastation as he turns them into dust.

With a strangled scream, he goes to attack King Boo, though surprised at Luigi’s reaction, manages to throw him to the ground. He’s about to use the trident on him when he suddenly feels something hit him. He looks up to see Bowser under the water, who had thrown a spear at him and raises the trident to him. In a moment of panic, Luigi grabs King Boo, making him point the trident at his boos instead and disintegrates them. Not wanting to witness King Boo’s anger, Luigi swims up to Bowser and guides him above the water, not witnessing the Boo’s fury with his new powers below him.

The koopa and merman reach the surface of the water, Bowser trying to reach out to Luigi.

“Bowser you have to go, now! Before King Boo gets you!”

“No, I’m not leaving you behind again!”

They feel a rumbling all around them. Suddenly, King Boo rises from the sea as a giant with the two on his head, cackling like a mad man. Bowser and Luigi jump back into the water, trying to escape until King Boo starts to form a whirlpool, separating them. Luigi falls into the whirlpool, landing at the bottom as Polterpup rushes over to him as King Boo taunts him.

Bowser is still paddling in the water, trying to get to Luigi when a ship comes up beside it. Inside was Princess Peach, some toads, koopas and Kamek. They throw a rope down to Bowser and help him up. Kamek looks to the king.

“I used my magic to help steer that boat but I’m barely holding on! I need you to guide the bowsprit and drive it into that mad boo!”

“But’s a ghost, he’s already dead!”

“I’ve managed to enchant so that I can trap him in this!”

Kamek holds up a pale purple gem, sparkling with some type of magic that the magikoopa used. Princess Peach then speaks up.

“I’m managing the sails while the toads and koopas are defending us! Bowser, are you able to guide the ship!”

“You can count on me Princess, take this as the beginning of a massive apology to you!”

Peach nods and everyone gets to work. King Boo is shooting at Luigi in the whirlpool, the merman trying to dodge as much as he can but knows that he is not strong enough to do anything. Enraged by what the Boo is doing to his love, Bowser drives the bowsprit into King Boo. The poltergeist screams with both pain and fear, knowing that if he can feel that then somehow, he has been defeated.

The seas calm down as the boo disappears into the gem. Bowser tries to look for Luigi, but the whirlpool is gone, and the merman is nowhere in sight. Kamek keeps him from jumping out as the princess guides the ship back to shore.

In the ocean, Luigi grabs the trident and rushes back over to where his father and brother were with Polterpup following him and sees the two have been returned to normal. Overjoyed, he hugs them both, all three of them crying now that Luigi is safe and home.

“I missed you so much Lu. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here when you went missing.”

“It’s okay Mario, I’m safe now, It’s okay.”

He gives the trident back to his father and the three mermen return home.

A few days later, Luigi is hiding behind a rock, Polterpup beside him as he watches Bowser from the shore of the Darklands, pining to see the merman again. Mario and his father watch from afar.

“You know, a while ago, Luigi would have fainted at the thought of going to the Darklands. Now, seeing how he looks at that koopa king, he’s gotten more braver than I ever imagined.”

“Peach told me that he jumped on Bowser’s shoulder’s just to get the crown off him.”

“Oh yes, how are you and that princess getting along?”

“Ah-I-wha-Dad!”

“I’m just teasing. Though, he hasn’t been truly himself since he came home.”

“I guess he left a part of himself since leaving the Darklands. After all, when you love someone, you give a piece of yourself to them, and in return, they grant you something even more freeing.”

“Then I guess there’s only one problem left.”

“And what’s that Dad?”

“…How much I’m going to miss him.” Mario raises an eyebrow in confusion for a moment before his father points his trident at Luigi.

Luigi feels a tingling sensation on his fins, looking down to see that there are no fins at all, his legs had returned! He turns to his father and brother, his smile beaming as the two nod to him.

Bowser is staring off into the distance, thinking about Luigi when he sees brown hair peeking out of the water. His heart stops when he sees Luigi emerging from the water in a sparkling green dress and his hair flowing in the wind. Bowser runs to him, picking him up and spinning him around in his arms and holds him as the two finally share a kiss.

A year later, the two are finally married on a giant ship, Luigi wearing a poofy wedding dress while Bowser is dressed in his finest suit. Luigi’s family and kingdom are watching from the ocean while toads and koopa finally come together as one. Princess Peach hugs Luigi, glad to have another human companion and blows a kiss to Mario in the ocean, who blushes at the gesture and waves back. Junior is also glad Luigi is back and is going to be his stepdad. He and Polterpup have also become close friends, the two playing together when they can. Kamek and Kammy are finally happy that Bowser has found love after all this time.

Mario asks his father to use to powers to lift him with the water to see his brother one more time. Luigi smiles softly and gives his brother a hug.

“Don’t cry big bro, I’ll see you after the honeymoon, you’re acting as if I’ll never see you again.”

“I’m sorry, its just, I’m so happy for you.”

“I love you, Mario.”

“I love you too Lu.”

He gives Bowser a menacing glare along the lines of ‘hurt my bro and I’ll end you’ before Peach comes over and kisses him on the cheek, making the red merman faint into the ocean. Luigi laughs at his brother’s antics as he waves goodbye to all the other mer-folk as the ship sails away to its next destination.

Bowser and Luigi give one another a soft look and share one more kiss.

The end.

You're allowed to yell at me for the shitty puns.

(Edit: also I love that you guys enjoyed it and you’re free to write something for this as it was only meant to be a drabble after having a bad day. As long as you credit and tag me, y’all can use this idea and write your own Bowuigi little mermaid fic ☺️)

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legobiwan · 7 months ago

Note

Mario and Luigi "no one is going to hurt you"?

This one...ballooned. I tried to get it out last night, but fell asleep during the endeavor. This is an attempt to explain/rationalize/make sense of some of the behaviors we see during TTYD, especially as it concerns Mario and Luigi. I'll say right now, neither brother is his best at this point, and I have a bit of a hypothesis as to where each of them may have been, emotionally, during this game. I think TTYD is a turning point for Mario, while Luigi's emotional lynchpin comes, to no surprise, after the events of SPM. Anyway, I'm not going to try and edit this any more than the perfunctory attempt I made. Here you go. A Mario-centric drabble that is most definitely not a drabble.

~~~~~~~~~

My dear Mario,

I have finally learned what the legendary treasure is. It is the spirit of a demon! The X-Nauts plan to revive this thousand-year-old monster and use its power to take over the world! They’re collecting the Crystal Stars so they can open the Thousand-Year-Door..they’ll find this demon’s spirit..but the only thing that can keep it locked away is the Crystal Stars themselves! You must not let them get the Crystal Stars! Please, Mario...you must put a stop to their horrible plans!

-Princess Peach-

Mario rubbed at his eyes, scraping away a week’s work of fatigue.

Shit.

When Peach had first told him the X-Nauts (and what a stupid name that was) were planning on taking over the world, he had laughed it off. Ever since he had landed in the Mushroom Kingdom, every fifth jabroni from the castle to the Darklands had been some kind of aspiring universal tyrant, babbling on and on about taking over realms, how their new regime would be the mightiest, how they should fear me or fear my army or fear my power, all accompanied by cackling laughter suitable for Saturday morning cartoon. The threats were white noise to him now, another meaningless boast in the endless series of hopped-up, dent-headed, peas-for-brains bad guys who popped out of the brickwork like potholes on the Cross Bronx.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t been taking this whole adventure seriously before this. After all, the last time he got sent on a quest to find stars, he ended up facing off against an army of sentient weaponry bent on…well, yeah. World domination.. But those guys had actually meant business, less wanting to rule the world than reforge it, in the most literal sense, in their image. Hell, Geno wouldn’t have been sent down all the way down from Star Heaven or whatever it had been unless Smithy and his crew were the real thing.

But now Peach was kidnapped and demons were involved. And they needed the Crystal Stars to trap the demon, but those same stars would also release the demon in the first place. Mario pulled his cap close to his eyes, sagging against the public notice board in Rogueport Square, the rotten wood protesting under his added weight. Across the plaza, the gallows swayed in tandem with an oncoming breeze, the smell of spoiled fish and brine wafting over and mixing with the lingering odor of cheap booze and sweat that was the hallmark of Rogueport’s business center.

Delightful.

Vivian had remarked, once they resurfaced from that whole mess in Twilight Town, that the port city had a certain grimy charm to it. Mario huffed, kicking away a crumpled can of Banditbar Ale. Yeah, this place had charm, all right. All the charm of a Staten Island landfill.

“Why yes, Vivian, I spent close to twenty years as the premiere actress with the Mushroom Repertory Theater, although back when we first started, it was known only as “The Toad Troupe.” Flurrie laughed in her distinctive trill, her voice resonating from what Mario placed as the archway leading to the west side of Rogueport. “A silly name, but our founder was devoid of that creative spark that captures the imagination and whisks the audience away on a journey with you. Of course, he was a rather talented fundraiser.”

Mario grunted, sliding around to the backside of the noticeboard, which was covered in layers of colorful graffiti and three decades worth of dirt. One bright, recent message spelled out a rather graphic enthusiasm for certain body parts, ones Mario wasn’t even certain Goombas had. Not that he was about to ask. Half the population here would shank him for even thinking of the question. Goombella would drop a book on his head.

He slumped at the thought of the petite, boisterous grad student. Goombella, Flurrie, Koops - even Yoshnar. Not one of them had questioned it, had shown any suspicion that the Mario they were celebrating with, were feasting with in Twilight Town was not, in fact, their supposed friend. Sure, they commented here and there that Mario was acting a little strange, was a bit more bombastic than normal, but no one stood up and announced, that’s not our guy!

Granted, he had only known these people for a week. Not nearly enough time to get the measure of a person in the real world, but that had never hindered his traveling companions before. Geno and Mallow seemed to think the world of him.

Mario curled his fist. He should have interrogated Doopliss when he had the chance, should have pulled the truth right out from under his smug-faced bedsheets. Was it a mimicry of only the body, or did Doopliss’s magic also copy the whole of a man, as well?

And why did his friends believe that egotistical, grandstanding fraud had been him?

“Where is Mario?” Flurrie asked, her voice closer now than it had been a minute ago. She had a habit of elongating her vowels to the point of absurdity, so Mario became Mahrio, emphasis on the ah. He had given up trying to correct her after the first hour of their acquaintance. Some things weren’t worth the fight.

Mario snuck a careful look around the edge of the noticeboard, biting his lip as a mess of dirty splinters poked through his skin. His traveling companions were gathered near the entrance to the Toad Bros Bazaar, Koops worrying at his hands as he fretted about Mario being kidnapped, or worse, continuing to Keelhaul Key without them.

“Don’t worry, Koops,” Vivian soothed. “I’m sure he’s just gathering information or reading an electronic message from Peach.”

Goombella looked up from her notebook with a small frown. “I hope it’s not important intel. I need to write that data down so I can report back to Professor Frankly.”

“I can’t go back to Petalburg without…” The voices faded out of earshot, the door to the shop closing with a brash jingle.

Mario unclenched his teeth, letting out an unsteady breath. He’d have to come back with them at some point. Maybe Doopliss saw something in him he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge, but Mario knew he’d be in way over his head if tried to take on the X-Nauts and this demon alone. Do like you always do, Mario. Suck it up, put on a smile, and say as little as possible. It had gotten him this far, whatever that counted for. Now, as for this Flavio -

“Hey, bro!”

A hand clapped itself on his shoulder. Enemy, his mind blared, Mario grabbing at the interloper’s wrist, spinning the man around until he slammed into the announcement board with a pained “Oof!” Not one to let an advantage go to waste, Mario lunged forward, pushing his forearm into the man’s chest, close enough to his attacker’s trachea to leave no question as to the unspoken threat.

“Mario, what the hell?” A familiar voice squeaked.

Anxiety spiked in Mario’s gut. Luigi? What in the world was his brother doing in -

Mario closed his eyes, letting out a soft hiss between his teeth as the realization hit. Damnit. The Waffle Kingdom. Princess Cannoli or whatever her name was. Mario released his hold on his brother, pinching the bridge of his nose as he took a step back. I don’t have time for this. Luigi shouldn’t have been in Rogueport at all, somehow making his way to the crime-infested city in the days after Mario had received the letter from Peach asking him to come investigate a treasure map.

And look where that got her. Kidnapped by aliens with crappy names. He knew Luigi could handle himself, or at least, he could in Brooklyn. Coming to the Mushroom Kingdom had done a number on his brother’s confidence, however, and whatever predilection for gangly awkwardness Luigi had had before had grown since they vanished from New York.

He didn’t have time to protect his brother and save Peach and save the world from a demon.

“Bro?” Luigi reached a tentative hand towards Mario’s shoulder.

It didn’t add up, this whole Waffle Kingdom business. Not that he didn’t believe in Luigi, but nothing over the past year had convinced him his brother was ready to set out on his own, the whole incident with the Boos aside. Now he was on a quest which, on the surface, sounded far too close to Mario’s own exploits in trying to gather the seven crystal stars. He knew his brother could be insecure, but this was really…

Mario’s eyes went wide as he slapped away his brother’s hand, planting his feet into a defensive stance, fists raised.

It was Doopliss. It had to be. Had the identity-pilfering ghost been following him from the beginning? Or were those Shadow Sirens working for him, feeding him enough tidbits about Luigi to make a convincing copy? That would account for his brother’s strange tales, the majority he didn’t have the stamina to focus through, there being too much on his mind with all the plans and kidnappings and cursed chests.

“I beat you before, you son of a bitch, and I’ll do it again,” Mario growled, pushing his sleeves up his arms. “Give him back.” He needed to get this over with now, get his brother in his own body as soon as possible so Mario could track down the last stars. Damnit, why did Luigi have to wander off like this?

“Woah!” Luigi held both his palms up at shoulder height, scrambling backwards, knocking over a trio of half-filled bottles with a bright clang as he came up against the graffiti-covered noticeboard. A pungent yellow stream seeped from one of the fallen bottles, trickling into the eroded mortar between uneven cobblestones.

“No one’s going to hurt you, Mario. There’s - “ Luigi grabbed a tuft of hair peeking out from under his cap. “There’s no one here but me. Well, me and Torque. And the rest of Rogueport.” Luigi gave an awkward laugh. “And, you know, Torque’s not here here, he’s inside the bar. But you get what I mean.” He gave his brother an uncertain smile, holding two thumbs-up in front of his chest.

“Where have you been? What were you doing before this?” Mario demanded, voice rising.

The miserable droop in his brother’s shoulders was unmistakable. “I…told you already? The volcano, the sacrifice? Blooey and Jerry and the bridal dress? I mean, I know it’s not as important as what you’re doing…” Luigi trailed off, finding sudden interest in the variety of grisly stains tattooed on the ground, tracing a disturbingly crimson outline with his foot.

Mario grit his teeth. That was something Luigi would say, right down to the shaky little inflections. Was his brother always this insecure? Had he been ignoring something deeper going on with Luigi for the past year? Something unpleasant curdled in Mario’s gut. He hadn’t wanted to face the fact that Doopliss mirrored his identity, warts and all. Was this the Luigi his brother saw in his reflection every day? Did Luigi even know how sad this looked?

Maybe it was Doopliss. Then again, from what little he remembered from his brother’s stories about his supposed Waffle Kingdom exploits, his own traveling companions were less than impressed with Luigi’s tactics, which seemed to be the literal definition of stumbling into good luck.

As much as he hated to think it, Doopliss probably had better things to do than wreak havoc on a quest that may or may not have its basis in reality. It was true Luigi had made an astonishing number of enemies in a short period, but Princess Eclair seemed like something straight out of one of those adventure books they had liked so much as kids. He wasn’t thrilled at the idea of his brother hanging around Rogueport, but as long as all this Waffle Kingdom stuff was harmless - well, it would at least keep Luigi out of the underlevels and far, far away from the Thousand Year Door and whatever evil lay behind it.

The communication square in his back pocket vibrated. It was probably Goombella demanding to know where the hell he was. Mario brought his arms to his side, stretching out his fingers. He needed to focus. Whatever happened with Doopliss was in the past and he could waste away his time navel-gazing once this entire ordeal was over.

Letting out a shuddering breath, Mario stepped forward, placing a firm hand on Luigi’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Luigi. It’s - “ Mario pursed his lips, weighing his words. “A lot has happened in the last few days.”

Luigi let out a watery chuckle, running his sleeve under his nose. “Don’t worry about it,” he shrugged, gaze still fixed to the ground.

Great, like your brother needed another kick to the ego. Way to go, asshole. Mario dug his fingers into Luigi’s shoulder. Maybe Doopliss’s replication of him hadn’t been that far off the mark, after all.

“Hey, Lou,” he gave his brother a gentle shake. “Why don’t you introduce me to your new friend? Squort or Morque, was it?”

“Torque,” his brother mumbled.

“Torque! Great! Let’s go meet him!” Mario said too brightly, taking his brother by the arm, all but dragging him towards Podley’s bar.

“Come on, Mario, you don’t have to - “ Luigi huffed, trying to pull himself out of his brother’s octopus-like grip. “I know you don’t want to - “

Mario shoved the door to the bar open, wrangling Luigi inside, depositing his brother next to a Spike Top with a wrench on his head. The little creature made a series of rapid clicks with its mouth, somehow conveying annoyance without uttering a single intelligible word or facial expression. The Spike Top glowered at his brother, if the dead, beady-eyed stare could be called that, before turning around with an exaggerated shuffle.

Six to one, that’s Torque, Mario mused, feeling a momentary pang of sympathy for his brother. Oh Luigi, we have to talk about this one of these days. But that was for later. After the crystal stars, after Peach was safe, after the world was saved. Right now, he needed a minute to collect himself, to form a plan to find Flavio and get to Keelhaul Key, and an excuse to give his companions for his sudden absence.

“Hey Lou, is that your friend?” Mario gestured at the little Spike Top. He didn’t wait for an answer before continuing, “How about you tell me that story?”

Luigi eyed Torque warily, the Spike Top making a slight turn so its face was again visible. Luigi gave a sheepish wave in his direction, Torque responding with a loud click of its jaw and a series of buzzes that reminded Mario of a horde of angry cicadas.

“Heh, he’s excited to hear it again, too,” Mario pressed on, willing himself to be oblivious to the mounting tension between the odd pair.

“Well,” Luigi rubbed at the back of his neck, avoiding looking anywhere near Torque. “If you’re sure…”

“Surer than sure!” Mario exclaimed with fake enthusiasm, throwing his hands up like he was tossing two baseballs into the air.

His brother gave a small smile, slipping his thumbs behind the straps of his overalls as he uncurled his defensive hunch, voice dropping into a more comfortable storytelling baritone. “Okay, then. It all started like this. Just as our boat arrived on Circuit Island…”

Mario let his brother’s tale wash over him, making appropriate sounds of acknowledgement when necessary. He knew this lapse would come back to bite him in the ass later, but he’d rather have a world he could fight with his brother in than no world at all. He took in a long breath through his nose, holding it at the top for five seconds before releasing it in the opposite manner, careful to not make it sound as if he were sighing in annoyance at his brother’s narrative.

Finding Flavio was his first task. And messaging Goombella, although he was tempted to put the inevitable tongue-lashing off for another few minutes. Flavio first, he decided. The name was familiar, and sworn he had heard it bandied about when he first arrived in Rogueport, barreling through every shop and back-alley headquarters he could find in a blind panic. He knew he needed to find someone who worked on a ship, some sea-faring type, although in this town, that could be anybody from a pirate to a fortune teller to a criminal on the lam.

It wasn’t like he could just walk around asking if anyone had seen a man with a peg-leg and eyepatch. For as quirky as the Mushroom Kingdom could be, it rarely conformed to his Earth-bound stereotypes.

“The Skuuuuul Captaaaaaaaaain!” a boisterous voice warbled from a corner table. Mario made a perfunctory nod at his brother - yes, I’m listening - scanning each of the bar patrons until he landed on a short, well-dressed man teetering on the back two legs of his chair.

“Festiiiivaaaaal!” he bellowed in discordant tones, hugging a bright red gemstone in the shape of a skull with one atm, raising a half-full mug of Chuckola with the other.

Then again, maybe he didn’t need to go around asking about pirates, seeing as one landed in his proverbial lap. The knots in Mario’s stomach unraveled, each freed line replaced by a bit of fluttering optimism he hadn’t felt since his victories in the Glitzville Pit.

Doopliss was out of the picture. His companions were back and his brother, if not exactly happy, was at least distracted and, more importantly, safe. The man with the fluffy white cravat and maroon jacket caressed the cheekbones of the skull gemstone, singing another loud nonsense verse into its ear.

Mario let himself smile. He was going to come out on top of this, hell and high water.

#hello there #writing #mario #luigi #ttyd #i dunno guys this is what my brain came up with so here you are #this all started from an idea i had about Mario feeling super insecure after the whole doopliss incident #anyway i won't get to publish anything else today but be on the lookout tomorrow for the next edition!#thank you all for the asks it's really helping to get me bak in shape!

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