#fair warning i can't kill but i can ink | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

moonfurthetemmie · 1 year ago

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Ok so fair warning. The plot part of Sunfall is suuuuper long and kinda incoherent. Like, it's basically brain vomit. This is also what 99% of all my AU notes look like.

its also REALLY fucking long. did i mention that. it's really, really long. 5k words.

side note, if there's anything you think i should tag for, feel free to ask. i think my joyfriend is watching twilight with people, and I can't brain in the slightest right now, so I can only think of one cw tag.

A new universe Happened, with a new Tree of Feelings and a new Nightmare and Dream. This one got fucked up, though. Like, super extra fucked up.

The new spirits had nothing to do with it, and had no idea what was going on until it was too late. They managed to escape the AU before they got killed along with their home, but in doing do they release the thing into the rest of the multiverse. It follows them around, sensing their magic and wanting very much to take it.

Everywhere they go, people think they brought this thing with them on purpose. The thing isn’t super powerful yet, but it’s gaining power.

Some people that see it are sent into fits of terror, rage, or are filled with seething hatred. They turn into horrid beasts that attack anything that moves; including each other.

Others are transfixed; something about this thing is so mesmerizing, it fills them with a sense of peace, happiness, love. They transform into seemingly angelic creatures, that peacefully wander…until they sense a person. Or one of the corrupted beasts. If one of these senses you, you won’t know until it’s too late. They’re just as deadly.

The newbies make it onto the news. Which immediately catches Dream’s attention. He’d been hearing strange rumors but What In The Goddamn

He goes to investigate himself, and realizes real fast that these two are not bringing this thing with them on purpose.

The new spirits are very young. they’re adults, but like. early twenties. They’re very confused as to what happened, and where they are. Why is there another spirit??? is there another tree?? what the shit

They introduce themselves as Orion and Corvus, and explain what they can, but they really don’t know what happened. there were probably signs but they didn’t. see. or notice.

Dream’s both very irritated with them and also like ‘well i didn’t even know shit like this could happen so i don’t know what fricken signs there’d be’ and he offers to let them stay in JR. They agree, gladly; they’ve barely had a chance to rest between running from this thing and trying to figure out how to get rid of it.

Unfortunately Dream is one of the few people who realized they were running from the Death Cloud(TM) turning people into horrid creatures and not causing it. There’s a loooooot of people who are mad Dream took them in and he’s getting so much shit about it.

Corvus and Orion are very adamant that they’re going to need the other guardian from Dream’s AU to help with this. They’ve been trying to fight the creatures the thing spawns, and it, but with no success, save for dispatching a few of the beasts. They’re sure Dream on his own won’t be enough. They do not understand why he thinks negativity is bad and are just getting more stubborn every time he’s like ‘no, I’m not getting nightmare’s help. We don’t need him.’

Eventually he caves but goes ‘you’re going to have to find him yourselves and convince him to help. I’ve been trying to arrest him for the past one hundred years and I have no idea where he is. He probably won’t be too eager to help since JR is involved, either.’

He was right, but they manage to convince the Meme Squad and Dream to meet in some neutral place or something. There is no neutral ground in this situation but whatever. Dream also brings Ink and Finch. For security purposes n shit.

They end up meeting by Dream and Nightmare’s Tree. Corvus and Orion are a little nervous about it, given what happened to theirs and the fact that the thing (which people have started calling ‘the Maelstrom’) seems to be following them around, but it’s probably fine. Right? Right.

Anyways hi Nightmare & Co., tldr ‘shits fucked and we’re going to need people who know what they’re doing and can deal with weird emotion shit. And apparently we aren’t qualified on our own, so. help please??? We’re in way over our heads’

Nightmare is wary, and he’s not so sure about this. He doesn’t want the multiverse to get eaten by a magic emotion cloud, either, but he’s not sure what he could do about it. He also doesn’t trust Dream and JR at all, shockingly.

He’s not given much time to consider, though, because speak of the devil: The Maelstrom has arrived.

Usually, when it shows up, it goes for any people in the area, or looks for Corvus and Orion.

This time, it almost immediately attacks Dream and Nightmare’s Tree

“WHOA WHAT THE FUCK”

“Oh my god we have to stop it-”

Unfortunately just being near The Maelstrom is fucking with the magic in the Tree, and the second it touches it, the Tree just…turns to sludge. And the magic it had is released, and the Maelstrom absorbs all of it.

When the thing had first come into being, it was about the size of your average car. It had been slowly been growing, and was closer to the size of a two-story house by the time it attacked Dream and Nightmare’s Tree.

It damn near tripled in size after absorbing that Tree’s magic. And they can hear laughter coming from it. Beasts seem to suddenly materialize out of nothing, most of which turn to them.

Corvus and Orion get ready to try to do something about it, but Dream’s like “You two are going to get yourselves killed. We need to leave now.”

They do, though not without a few scrapes from the beasts.

They end up back in JR, and they’re all very quiet until Cross goes “s. so. How do you plan on dealing with an evil sentient cloud, exactly???”

Corvus and Orion shrug helplessly

Dream looks pale. “...I’m beginning to suspect I know why it was following the two of you around. We need to find some way to deal with it, and quickly. I get the feeling time is not on our side.”

After that the entire meme squad is pretty much on board. They’d managed to miss a lot of the Maelstrom’s bullshit (to be fair, lots of things happened in a rather short period of time) and only knew there was some fucked up cloud thing turning people into horrible creatures. They didn’t know it was radiance and corruption. They also didn’t think it was going to try to eat other sources of positivity and negativity so um!!! That’s not good!!!!!!!

They try to make a plan, but things are worse than Dream thought. The entire multiverse is demanding to know why JR isn’t taking care of this dumb fuckin cloud!! Someone says they saw him, his captain, and his personal assistant meet with the two girls that showed up when the Maelstrom did, and the Meme Squad.

Dream is also having his crisis about positivity not being as great as he thought in real time so he has to deal with the people’s fear and paranoia and shouting, and his crisis, and The Maelstrom getting bigger and stronger, and also Nightmare, Cross, and Error being like “boy i sure am glad that radiance is pure and shit and all the creatures made of radiance are peaceful and totally on our side” while trying to make a plan with everyone.

Most of JR is going through a similar ‘crisis’ as Dream, though he’s definitely feeling it most. Dream is keeping as many of his people updated on the Maelstrom’s shit as he can.

The Meme Squad didn’t realize any of this was happening, though, and are surprised when they find they can walk through JR almost completely unimpeded. They get a few dirty looks from time to time, but no one gives them shit. They ask Dream if he’d actually told everyone that they weren’t to be arrested or whatever and Dream just blinks and goes “...I honestly completely forgot about that, between everything going on.”

“you forgot you were trying to kill me for the past century?”

“No, I forgot to tell the guards that you’re free to roam the castle.”

“...you were actually going to???”

“Nightmare i have four or five things i have to pay attention to right now please do not start this right now. You can bitch about it as much as you want after we deal with The Maelstrom but if you start now i’m going to have a stress-induced heart attack and then we’ll both be fucked”

“Understandable have a nice day”

Stress what stress what are you talking about

Much too soon, Dream gets a report that the Maelstrom is attacking a very densely populated city. Literally the best plan they have right now is Ink’s (very not serious) suggestion of “clouds are made of gases, right? Maybe if we cool it down enough we can have an evil emotions ice cube instead of a cloud and we can lock it up in a deep freezer in Antarctica or something.” but fuck they can’t let it kill everyone, or turn all of those people into beasts

Dream, Corvus, Orion, the Meme Squad, and many other JR people including Ink and Finch go after The Maelstrom. The manage to lure it away from the city, but there’s already so many beasts. The ones it seems to be creating out of thin air are small and very weak, but it can make a lot of them, very fast. Many of Dream’s people are either killed or turned; sometimes both, as their former teammates have to cut them down.

Dream is severely injured in the fight, and his injuries, made from a far out-of-control magic that directly opposes his own, are basically eating away at him.

Corvus and Orion, though? The poor fools get petrified. Orion got smacked with some of The Maelstrom’s corruption while she was trying to fend off one of the beasts. One hit, and suddenly she was stone. That uh…that scared Corvus a little. She managed to dispatch the beast before it destroyed Orion, but she was too panicked. She saw the blinding, poisoned radiance coming and just froze.

Between them being turned to stone and Dream looking like he’s dying from his wound, it was decided it was time for a tactical retreat.

The survivors of the attack didn’t come back feeling at all victorious. They weren’t even sure they’d managed to chase off the Maelstrom. They’d lost all those people for nothing.

Dream knew he’d need a back-up plan in case shit hit the fan, and he did have one, but none of those accounted for the possibility of Corvus and Orion getting turned to stone, so he’s going to have to rethink that. He starts making notes of what’s happened, and puts together everything they know about the entity, so Corvus and Orion can see them when they’re revived. He’s not sure what will happen to Corvus and Orion’s memories after they’re stone for who knows how long, so he doesn’t want to take chances. He knows they can be revived, though. He’s not sure how, but he can still sense their auras, so he knows they’re not dead, and if they’re not dead then whatever this is must be reversible somehow. Right…?

Once the others have recovered from the fight, they carefully return to the site of battle. Much to their relief, almost all of the beasts are ignoring the lovely garden decorations, and they manage to bring Corvus and Orion’s statues to JR. It’s a bit of an Ordeal, but they manage. They’re carefully stored in a secret area under the castle that’s usually reserved as an emergency shelter.

Dream talks to Nightmare, Finch, Ink, Cross, and Error, and goes ‘ok so. Corvus and Orion are going to need someone to keep an eye on them and protect them while they’re like that. I won’t be able to, and…well, I don’t think JR is going to survive this. Not with how the people are talking.’

Cross and Error don’t really want to help Dream, just on principle alone, but Dream unfortunately has a point. Finch and Ink tho are down

Nightmare doesn’t make Cross and Error help, but he says ‘you two know more about the tree and its bullshit than most people. you’re like, some of the most qualified people to do this.’

Dream’s got more time than they thought, though, and he and Nightmare follow the Maelstrom and try to learn as much as they can about it and the creatures it spawns. They do their best to keep the others from knowing, too; they’ll insist Dream and Nightmare Not Do That, so Dream doesn’t kill the both of them faster and Nightmare doesn’t get the pair of them killed.

It’s strange to be working together like this after all this time, but they don’t want to risk anyone else’s safety. They’re dying anyways, they might as well do it. Nightmare’s the one that actually follows the thing and watches, with a body cam and a radio so Dream can see what’s going on and Nightmare can tell him anything else he sees/figures out. Dream writes down everything he can. He’s not in any shape to be in the field but by god is he going to do what he can to help. They both note that no one else has turned to stone.

They get a lot of info; a very impressive amount of info given their (literal) deadline, but eventually Dream succumbs to his injuries, taking Nightmare with him. Before that happens, though, Cross and Error decide to do what they can to help out, and Nightmare asks them to help Finch and Ink sort through the notes Dream’s making (“About what??” “just listen-”) and organize it and maybe translate things into common english instead Dream English if need be.

As much as Dream wanted to organize it as he went, they didn’t have time. So it’s a mess.

Cross, Error, Ink, and Finch do as they were asked, and are. A little scared, actually. Holy shit. They got all this?? Nothing on how to beat the thing, but it’s still way more than they knew before.

(they notice that Dream’s hand writing gets steadily shakier. The later notes are almost unreadable. He must’ve been in a lot of pain. Cross and Error wonder if Nightmare started to feel it at some point before they died.)

There’s…not much to do after that, though. There’s no telling when the new spirits are going to wake up. The four of them aren’t sure they’ll be around long enough to see them wake.

After a while, Ink goes ‘yknow i think someone was working on cloning whole people. We could clone ourselves’

Finch: have they even managed to do that yet

Ink: i don’t know but we could ask. They’d probably jump at the chance to have a bunch of willing test subjects too

Cross: oh fuck yeah, mad science

Error: doesn’t cloning mean creating an embryo or something

Cross: Cross: i know what you’re getting at and i am no longer excited

Finch: We could probably find surrogates.

Error and Cross: Dubious eyebrow raise

Ink: or they could grow the clones in a big test tube

Finch: I’m pretty sure that only works in movies

Error: That’d be way cooler, though. And we wouldn’t have to find someone who’d be willing to be the surrogate of clones of the two people who were closest to JR’s most wanted criminal

Ink: and i mean, really, all you’ll have to do is recreate the amniotic sac fluid and find a way to get an umbilical chord to connect to a thing of fetus nutrients

Finch: that is a horrifying mental image

Cross: The umbilical chord takes nutrients and shit from the blood of the pregnant person so really you’d just need a giant bag of blood

Finch: Jess Christ

Cross: If it was his blood it’d have to be wine, and I don’t think that’s good for a fetus

Error: I think it would cause a fetus deletus

Finch: I’m going to have a fucking aneurism

anyways.

The four of them go to find the Cloning Scientist™

Hey wait who’s that

It’s BLOO

Yeah the scientist person was basically putting out fliers that was like “VOLUNTEERS WANTED: TRYING TO MAKE CLONES” and Blue was like “well i’ve got nothing better to do. sure”

He’s also just showed up

It’s very awkward with him, Cross, and Error but the girls and Finch are like ‘excuse me we were looking for the person who’s researching cloning?’ and the scientist started fucking vibrating

Thats SO MANY MORE PEOPLE than they expected!!! Holy shit!!!!! Fuck yeah they’ll make clones of you!! Or, try to. They think they’ve perfected the technique but there’s only one way to find out for sure, and anything could go wrong. So like jot that down

Conveniently they’ve also figured out how to incubate a fetus in a giant test tube, which they tried with animal clones first, so they don’t need to find surrogates, or carry the clones themselves! Which, that last one wouldn’t be an option for blue anyways, but he’s just here to donate his cells to science so he doesn’t care about that. They did this partly because ‘fuck yeah test tube babies’, and partly so that if something happened, they’d only lose the clone and not risk the surrogate’s life also. Pregnancy complications are scary

Blue has had no fuckin idea what’s been going on; he’s heard some things, but the shit hasn’t reached his AU yet so it’s mostly been from the News. They fill him in. He goes 👁️👁️ ‘what’

Very fun! Anyways

The other four are like ‘s. So. what do we do now’

Finch goes ‘mm. I should probably tell my boyfriend about this’

‘,,,is he interested in cloning shit or something’

‘Nnnot as far as I know?’

‘,,?? Im confused’

‘.....who do you think is going to have to take care of the clones when they’re born’

Three blank stares of ‘oh, shit.’

‘Oh for fucks sake you three’

Currently Blue doesn’t have to worry about this. He is not intending to train the child to protect and watch over a pair of idiots who could decide the future of the multiverse when they wake up. He’s more than happy to let the Scientist take care of the clone.

The five of them go check in with the cloning scientist a few times. Blue out of curiosity, and the others to mostly just make sure nothing’s wrong. Finch and the girls have even offered to help fund them if they need it, and while the scientist isn’t sure they want to take Cross and Error in particular up on that offer, they do appreciate it. Things are going along pretty well!

As the months tick away, lots of things happen.

Finch has some people take a look at Corvus and Orion, and see if they can find some way to revive them. So far there’s been nothing, except basically a rehash of what Dream said about them still being alive bc I Feel Auras, but there was a tentative suggestion of putting them in a room with an AOE magic suppressor to try to degrade whatever ‘curse’ this is faster, if they can’t find a proper counter-spell or cure or whatever.

Hacker also decides that yeah he’ll absolutely help Finch take care of his clone. He’s not like, amazing with kids, but he’s not going to make Finch deal with it himself. They can probably figure out a lot of it together, right? Also there’s Randy

Cross, Ink, Error, and Finch get together and go “I don’t think any of us know how to take care of kids maybe we should like. Do this together or something. Group support or whatever.”

The people know Dream’s dead, but they’re still pushing for JR to do something. Maybe he’s gone, but surely they can figure something out? Unless this was all planned from the beginning!

Yeah, that’s really stupid; but they’re terrified. Not knowing who to blame, they pin it on someone.

Plus, JR is trying to find a leader! Finch is a good fit, but he’s not sure he can juggling that and watching over Corvus and Orion and raising his clone, even with Hacker’s help, so he’s basically like ‘nah not it’. Ink knows enough about the inner workings of JR that she hypothetically could, but not only does she not want to, no one else wants her to. Which leaves…about 50 people who are qualified and yelling ‘pick me pick me!!’ There’s not a whole lot they can do without a leader. All the lower people in the hierarchy can decide what they want their underlings to do, sure, but they’re having a hell of a time trying to coordinate with each other and fucking cooperate. It doesn’t help that many of them are insisting that it’s useless to try to fight this.

Unnervingly, for every person who says this in fear, there’s another who seems to be at peace with the thought.

Also, one of the unexpected benefits of the clones getting to incubate in test tubes means that you don’t need an ultrasound to see how the little shits are doing! It didn’t take the scientist very long to notice that Ink’s clone was doing something weird. They called literally everyone, because Blue has expressed curiosity in the clones and the others have other investments that they refuse to disclose (suspicious, but whatever. science), when they realized they had fucking TWINS

“GUYS ink’s clone is two”

“,,,,what”

“TWINS”

“....what the fuck”

“I KNOW :DD”

They were so excited. Ink was not so excited, but it was kind of cool. The scientist had to bring a proper baby doctor in to take a look (who was also kinda fascinated by the test tube babies) to tell if they were twins or not, since it was basically just a lump of tissue at that point, so while Scientist called everyone to see, there…really wasn’t much to see, except the medical doctor being fascinated by the clones’ development and how well Scientist managed to execute this, and Scientist furiously scribbling notes and talking a mile a minute about how “Well with how the clones were made, it should’ve occurred to me that identical twins were a possibility. But what were the chances-”

“About 32 in every 1,000 live births,” the doctor calls from across the room. “This is so much more helpful than an ultrasound! A shame we can’t do this for every baby.”

“-Twins!!!” the scientist says grinning, like an excited parent. Ink, the actual to-be parent of the twins, looks like she’s writing her will in her head.

Finally, after roughly nine months, the five who got cloned get a call from the cloning scientist, who is VERY excited. The test tube fetuses are now whole ass babies!!!! They have successfully cloned a human! Five of them, even! ...or. Six? Five humans, six clones. Yeah.

Cross, Ink, Error, and Finch can’t take their clones yet, because the Doctor is back and needs to run tests to make sure they’re healthy, which Scientist is very very excited about. They also want to keep an eye on the little guys for a few days to make sure everything’s fine.

…On the second day Finch calls Cross and Error in a panic and says the Maelstrom found its way to JR.

The come rushing, only to find Blue there too. He says Scientist called him and said they needed someone to grab the clones and get them out of the AU, and that they weren’t sure they themself would make it out. He was not expecting the Maelstrom to have shown is misty ass but uhh. That’s not good

The three of them find Finch quickly, who tells them to grab the clones and run. He and Ink are on their way to get Corvus and Orion, but people are already turning into beasts. the Maelstrom has gotten powerful enough that its mere presence can cause transformations, even if you’re not aware of it. Be careful.

When they get to the lab, the scientist and doctor are already dead. There’s a pair of beasts in there; one of each kind, who seem more focused on each other than the screaming baby clones, thank god.

They definitely notice the adults, though. Cross gets the things’ attention and tells Blue and Error to get the clones out of there. They have to yell at Blue a few times to get him to move; he’s just been staring in horror at the bodies. When they get him to snap out of it, though, he moves fast. The clones get out quick, and Error has Blue go through the portal with the last of them while she helps Cross dispatch the beasts.

Later Blue and Error will wonder how the heck they made that go so smoothly between the two of them, given gestures at their relationship, but it’s done now.

They try to get to the shelter where Corvus and Orion are, but there’s too many beasts and panicking people in the way. They, grudgingly, meet up with Blue and the baby clones

“,,,,error why are we all in Blue’s house”

“Well i wasn’t bringing him, Ink, or Finch to our house, and there’s not exactly anyone else we know who even lives outside of JR. Did you want me to drop him and the babies off in the baby section of walmart???”

“ok yeah that’s fair”

Ink and Finch found even more beasts in the shelter. And blood. They realize that people had tried to hide here when the Maelstrom showed up, but weren’t spared any more than those upstairs had been.

They try not to think about how many of the beasts were people they knew, and just try to kill them before they can get to Orion and Corvus. The spirits are locked in a room that only Finch has a key for, but all the beasts seem eager to get in there. Many are trying to tear the door down.

It’s almost an hour before Cross, Error, and Blue see Ink and Finch. They look grim, and are covered in the beasts’ blood, but Orion and Corvus are safe. After they get nice long showers, they all trade stories.

There are six entire homeless baby clones in Blue’s living room. Five are already spoken for, but…?

Blue’s clone is fast asleep. They’d been the first to fall asleep once they’d been taken to safety. Some of the others were still crying, but Blue’s clone seemed content.

After some careful consideration (read: making excuses to himself despite knowing better) he decides he’s going to try to take care of them.

The others are like ‘you can. Find someone to adopt them’ but he’s apparently made up his mind. Why is entirely beyond them but Finch invites him to the parent support group thing

Cross and Error take lil Xena and Java home, and Finch and Ink are like ‘welp time to head home’

And then stop and blink

They lived in jr. in the apartments. Which was under attack a little bit ago. um.

‘,,,,actually blue can you take these guys a sec.’

‘Yeeaaah go make sure things are ok’

Nothing is okay, the castle is wrecked. Several portions of wall have collapsed. There’s beasts everywhere.

They might be able to get through the rubble to rescue some of their shit, but not with these beasts. Finch wants to at least look for survivors, but it’s too risky.

Congratulations you two, you are now homeless. Finch can at least move in with Hacker, but Ink doesn’t have anywhere to go, unless she wants to try moving in with Blue, Cross and Error, or Finch and Hacker and Hacker’s adoptive dad and sister. Which she really doesn’t. She’ll have to stay with someone for a while though.

She ends up staying with Blue until she can afford her own place. She doesn’t really want to ask Cross and Error and is real sure they wouldn’t let her move in anyways. Even if it looks like JR is completely gone and she wouldn’t get them arrested.

They gotta do something about Corvus and Orion, though. They’re just kinda sitting in Blue’s yard right now and the Maelstrom is definitely trying to get at them, so they really, really can’t stay there.

They get moved several times before, after a lot of research on the side and some very risky stealth trips to the ruins of JR’s various labs and shit, they figure out how to make a room that can conceal Corvus and Orion’s auras. They stick a magic suppressor in there, too. Just in case it does help revive them.

Some of the research that Dream and Nightmare did was lost in the attack on JR, but Ink and Finch managed to save most of it, and between the four of them they did actually remember some of what was missing and wrote it down. They’re sure there’s still stuff missing, but they’re going to try to learn more about the Maelstrom anyways so,,

They make as many copies of the notes as they can, though. Just in case. The main bulk of it, the thick notebook Dream had started his notes in and that the others had carefully sorted through, stays with Corvus and Orion. Cross, Ink, Finch, and Error each have a copy. They give one to Blue too just in case because these notes are all they have on how they could possibly deal with this thing, and how it works. They can’t lose them.

As the clone kids get older the adults are very transparent about what they are. It feels like something they probably shouldn’t hide. The kids don’t fully understand for a while though.

Finch and the girls also take their clones to see statues Corvus and Orion. They add more complicated stuff to the story of who the two are as the kids get older, until it’s Everything.

Eventually, when the kids are no longer kids and are whole ass adults, and the older versions are middle-aged at best, Orion and Corvus de-petrify

They may not have been frozen in ice for the past ~20 years, but dear god their brains are mushy. Corvus keeps flirting with everyone, including herself when she sees her reflection. Orion is dazed and keeps mumbling something about calamari. Neither can stand on their own. Anyone who gets too near Corv gets “i bet you’re sooooo strong <333 you should carry me <3333”

They’re still loopy and dumb when the older ones get there, and Corv is like ‘omg it’s you guys <3333 hi <333’ while Orion goes ‘you were there too,,,,,with the fucking,,,,,squid cloud,,,’

The older ones completely ignore Corv’s flirting. Sorry sweetie but you’re still like 20 you’re too young for them now. Corv is SO upset

Once the spirits recover some (and corv is absolutely mortified by her own behavior while Orion tries not to snicker) the others catch them up on what’s happened

“The fuck you mean you cloned yourselves. Also who the hell is that guy”

“that’s blue he’s just some guy. He also cloned himself but only for science”

“What”

And now Corvus and Orion have to take a crash course in all the info the older ones have gathered in the past two decades, and also maybe get better at fighting. They were decent before but it wasn’t enough, and now the thing has gotten stronger.

#Sunfall DS #Character death #3000000 years to get out of class :agony:#i'm not going to tag everyone that's too many goddam characters right now #my head horte (<- is probably dehydrated)#After this i wanna do The Maelstrom and the Beasts #but i also wanna finish a related thing i'm making first....#anyways. please enjoy this chaos #Any other content is going to come tomorrow. but feel free to ask my about anything.#wink wink nudge nudge #i love these little shits i want to talk about them give me excuses to talk about them. please.

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surveillance-0011 · 4 months ago

Text

WAIT OK I THOUGHT ABOUT IT

Krubis: Ditto ditto ditto annaki splat nova the gear + abilities i have on it for him are an awesome setup my thought process is ink mines = the lil mines he has when he burrows and inkjet is adjacent to the charging through the walls n shit maybe enough. Also dabbles w/ the bellas namely recycled mk II but maybe mk I as well le shrug. Good enough but tends to charge in/strategy what's that. Team Beach so he can nap and/or die right there on the sand. Would bicker with Ranchy on whether Dularmoland constitutes as an "amusement park" or not bc Ranch got slightly offended at the idea Krubis would not choose to reserve Dularmoland to himself "AFTER ALL OUR HARD WORK MAN" "A RESORT isn't even A THEME PARK those are TWO DIFFERENT FUCKING THINGS."

Douglas: Luna Blaster + Light Tetra Dualies Zipcaster #1 fan. More competent than Krubis mainly when it comes to strategic thinking and every weapon's strengths but similarly gets in over his head a lot gets very complacent and is also kinda scummy will place a bomb down on your super jump spot will camp will SQUIDBAG. AND I MEAN IT. Team Amusement Park yeeaaay arcade yeayyy rollercoaster but partial to team beach bc swimming.

Skrendels: Slosher Splatana Stamper Mini Splatling Roller something like that but generally fall into the heavier weapon categories. Total menaces usually good and when they aren't they're still ruthless. Team Amusement Park also

Giblets: I don't know about a main but he'd probably be trying something new every week. Squeezer may bee? and/or he'd try to be the sniper for his team when gurgula's not around. knows exactly what to do in theory but is ultimately clumsy and prone to freezing up. Still relatively skilled. Better at support +backline than being front and center. And as mentioned above team palace to be ALONE, FOR ONCE, GODDAMNIT!

Nipulon: Guy who only does ranked. Kill him. One of the Gals probs .52 Deco. Scary good and unlike the others generally plays pretty fair but he is still here to win. idk about fest team maybe amusement park to try his luck at the arcade in peace

Garmantuous: Dynamo Roller or Heavy / Hydra Splatling though with cartel shit for an au and not actual gameplay then uh grizzco roller or some modified clusterfuck. And honestly this would have to be a crossover au for sure for this guy i think he'd play one round and be like "i don't like this" or only do salmon run i don't think he'd enjoy any of this unless he was actually in it shrug. would be scary if he got into it though. idk what team shrug shrug shrug

Gurgula: This would probably have to be an au where everyone is splatoonified because he's not a gamer be fucking for real rn. even then he would not care for SILLY LITTLE GAMES he'd just have a gun to use it for WHAT GUNS ARE FOR. KILLING IF NEED BE but he'd end up being dragged along or partake to save face. Scary scumbag E liter main your parents warned you about or h3 nozzlenose depends on the day. Team beach as mentioned before if he even bothers to participate but he's got a reputation to uphold. he can't look like a total antisocial loser.

Autism so strong I’m contemplating what splatfest teams my favs would be on.

I feel like Krubis would just choose beach so he could lay the fuck down for once and not have to worry about breaking anything with his drills. Amusement park eh idk if that’s Gus thing and palace would be too stuffy

Not like that’s stopping me from keeping his fit on even tho I’m team palace but I’m probs switching over to giblets bc he’d actually choose this team

#i have to go to work in like half an our so im rambling while i can.#.txt #also they probably wouldn't be inkfish save for douglas(octoling + non i.f. octopus hybrid) and gurgula (also octoling)#but if they were. Krubis skrendels Garm. all inkings.#and then i wouldn't know what to think for nipulon + giblets #irony's sake giblets being an inkling would be inch resting but he's more. Octavian adjacent #if he's not still a worm he would maybe even just be like. long Octarian like a freaky tentacle worm maybe octo sniper or somethin

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annies-hoodie · 3 years ago

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anyone want to play splatoon

#fair warning i can't kill but i can ink

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penguinlop · 3 years ago

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Did you take request? If so, can it be gn?

Um..hehe, can I get yandere scaramouche when he know that reader has a lover that sadly die, but for some reason reader can't moved on. Not like they want to, and each day scaramouche could tell that reader is thinking about them.

Doesn't matter if he punish them or anything, each pain will just be met with "if scaramouche indeed killed me then can I finnaly see you darling?"

And while they were obedient, scaramouche definitely can tell that reader think of him as "replacement" ya know? Perhaps it's his eyes resemble them or his hair or whatever you can possibly think of.

If you didn't take a request feel free to delete this but please tell me cuz I know I'm gonna be waiting.

Yandere Scaramouche x GN Reader

/// Carved From Dreams - Part 1

Summary:

Slightly inspired by the myth Pygmalion

Your mind still recalls when you were a woodblock printer for the God of Eternity. With Raiden Ei's powers, your prints became those beautiful prototype puppets. But, unfortunately, you foolishly fell in love with your creation, so when he dies, and you are left devastated, The Balladeer uses your sorrow and his appearance, which perfectly mirrors your former lover, to get you wrapped around his finger.

Warnings: Angst, Death, Depression (more to be added in the 2nd part)

word count: 5.8k

Snezhnaya is cold.

Too frigid to relax. One always needs to be on the move, or else the hoarfrost will gobble you up.

Though a fox envoy, your memories of being a servant to the God of Eternity have all but faded into the glimmering snow. Yet for some reason, each night as the heavenly moon peeks a glance at your half-sleeping form shrouded in satin and silken sheets at Zapolyarny Palace, everything seems to come back.

The sea of white. Those poignant kisses that left burns on your beating heart. Never-ending tears. The mikos must have passed on the tale of an aloof kitsune whose robes were stained purple for an entire summer.

Perhaps it is like muscle memory, or maybe all of it became engraved into your mind that afternoon at Tenshukaku. Yes, the experience was akin to red wine tainting a wedding dress. You may try to forget. You may try to scrub out the haunting darkness until your skin peels off and your bones show, but the mark will always be there. Even if it’s just seen by you.

Nevertheless, it is something that lasts for an eternity.

You could recall the way paper became skin, how colored ink became violet eyes and plush lips, how each stroke became strands of hair.

He was sketched by you, carved by you, inked by you.

But honestly, could something so fair and radiant truly stem from a simple woodblock print crafted from your hands? You still ask yourself that very question. Yet one thing that you can be certain about is that Her Excellency, the Electro Archon, really did amaze you. Back then, the scarlet sun was setting; as she examined the nude, slender puppet, her face didn’t show a sliver of awe nor a shred of doubt. It was as unmoving as her goal.

You opened your eyes.

Still nighttime. Still too cold.

A chilling breeze invaded the room and you shivered as you pulled up the silken sheet to your chin and tiredly scrutinized your surroundings. He left the window open again. You shifted your body slightly to look at the Harbinger better.

The eagerness to lock the window and close the curtains was strong; however, in these scarce moments, as he obeys slumber’s will, he appears so insecure and pure. The word innocent crossed your mind. A princely face that lacks nothing except a touch of celestial divinity weeps for a tender heart and glazed dreams. His pale skin glowed in the moonlight.

You breathed lightly and didn’t dare to get out of the bed. A single disturbance would awaken the ruthless man. If you committed the transgression, a severe punishment wouldn’t be a surprise.

Besides, you didn’t really want to awake him, anyway, since in these fleeting moments, the Balladeer reminds you of the crack of thunder and brilliance of lightning.

So bright and clear like Akihito. A mere prototype puppet before him.

___

That summer in Inazuma, it was especially hot.

“Don’t be worried, Ei! If anything, my former ward is a shut-in.” Your master, Yae Miko, was always rather blunt. Even as a fellow kitsune, you couldn’t keep up with her demanding, mischievous personality. “You know I don’t like this nonsense you're concocting, but how could you think such preposterous notions? That I would bring someone who can’t be trusted!”

“Miko. Please.” Beelzebul vexingly sighed at her friend’s behavior and gave a cross response. “Everything must be perfect for my plan to take form. No one besides a few must know.” The Electro Archon monitored your eyes shifting from place to place, taking in the lavishness of Tenshukaku. She walked towards you and lifted your chin. You tried to stop your fox ears from twitching. Her touch was, not surprisingly, electrifying. “Miko tells me you're a skilled artist.” She grabbed your hands and inspected them. “Calluses. You practice your craft often, I see.”

“Yes, Your Excellency, I make a variety of woodblock prints. Some depicting the Shrine, some tales from the past, others mere imaginative scenes. I sell them in the city and during seasonal festivals.”

“Good, good.” You couldn’t really tell if she was pleased or not. She spoke so plainly. “Now, answer this question, and I will see if you are fit for my task as Miko so claims.” Your archon’s lilac eyes glowed brightly like an angelic spring morning, but they were solemn. Hands still being held by her were gripped tightly as if begging for you to speak earnestly.

“What does eternity mean to you?”

Abruptly, memories of lazy days at the Shrine came into your mind. Days when you tried to help your master with utter mischief. Times when you would simply listen to the koto being plucked at dawn or the shamisen being strummed at dusk. Echoes of the jingles from the suzu bells being performed by dutiful maidens in red hakamas and white kosodes rippled in your mind. Those nights when you would venture into the ruins of Araumi and sleep under a cherry blossom tree, dreaming of Kitsune Saiguu, bring sugary nostalgia.

But in actuality, the aftermath of the Cataclysm was your childhood. The ghosts of family members who succumbed to the potent abyss scratch your skin. They craved your innermost thoughts. You were so young when it occurred, but you remember how the shrine maidens would pet your fur to soothe the nightmares that plagued you. Vague images of eyes feasting on your form brought shudders. Faint sounds of talons clawing a wall gifted shrieks. You would only shift back into a more human form when Guuji Yae was around.

One morning as the sakura blooms seemed to float higher and higher into the misty sky, your master gifted you ink as black as shadows, paper as delicate as clouds, and a brush as fine as thread, and instructed you to paint whatever pleased you. Her blush-colored hair in the somber winds of Mt. Yougou blocked her stunning face for a moment. Her gold headdress—just polished— shined excessively.

“Come now, my dear. This will help you.”

You crafted scenes from fairytales. Skillful strokes told the story of a young fox walking through a riveting forest of cherry blossoms. Your family was there. In your work, the branches of the Sacred Sakura no longer wept over the fact that ichor from the one with a feeble heart and an oil-paper umbrella soiled the land that day. The lamentable cries of lightning didn’t startle Narukami Island when you were engrossed by your canvas.

Every piece you made became more beautiful and picturesque as your nightmares became more ravenous. You thought that if you shared your work, you would experience more bliss, so you moved to woodblock printing for faster production. That gullible hope died out soon.

“What a twisted child. The more they suffer, the more exquisite their work becomes.”

Ink stained the tatami flooring. Paper scattered your room. Slabs of wood were unattractively laid everywhere. One would've had to be careful not to step on a carving knife. Blisters, calluses, and splinters littered your hands. Even the shreds of ripped work still created masterpieces.

You transformed and curled into yourself, your tail blocking weary eyes from the light of the dimly burning lantern.

Just as you were about to remember more, an electrifying touch brought you back. You pondered for a moment.

“Eternity, to me, means achieving absolute happiness. Abandoning the waking world for one of euphoric dreams.”

Ei uttered the next few words so softly.

“It’s as if I’m staring into a looking-glass, and for once, I’m seeing myself. Not who I want to be… Not Makoto.”

That night, there was a sorrowful thunderstorm. The mournful tune of tragedy kept all of Inazuma awake.

___

The God of Eternity only had one request for you: The design of the prototype puppet mustn’t have the same appearance as herself. It may look similar, but not exact.

It’s just a test, after all.

After a variety of sketches, the one you presented to the Raiden Shogun was elegant.

Her reaction to some would be considered rather dull. A nod was all that was given. But the approval was thrilling.

The path to eternity had begun.

You remember the way the shrine maidens teasingly snickered as you tiredly hacked down a few sakura trees. Huffs and puffs, your heated face covered in sweat, drew their attention. The pink petals billowed in the air before they landed on your attire. You haphazardly dropped your axe, collapsed on the ground, and sharply exhaled. Pain ravaged your arms and back.

“My, my, not exactly what you signed up for, is it?” You rolled your eyes with slight annoyance. Your master articulated her words so gracefully, but anyone close to her could pick up on the underlying tone of amusement.

“It isn’t every day that someone works for their Archon,” you playfully defended yourself, waving your hand to shoo her away.

“That may be true.” Yae put her hands on her hip and sighed. “I think Ei is acting like a child throwing a tantrum with this ‘plan for everlasting eternity.’” Her eyes shifted to the trees that were victims of your slaughter. All of the fallen petals made exquisite pools of pink. “Yumemiru wood. Good choice.”

___

You stayed up all night making the first print, though not one that would be of much use to Her Excellency; it was a sentimental souvenir. Your heart thumped with excitement and anticipation.

It was second nature to you already. To paste the sketch drawn on washi onto the wooden block, to carve the surface, to repeat the whole process until you had a woodblock for each color to be added.

Your creation would have lavender eyes lined with crimson, lithe arms, and a gentle smile. His black robes loose on his body revealed his bare chest adorned with the lilac emblem of the Shogunate. Proof of his lineage, which stems from the divine, and evidence of his purpose, to house a celestial heart.

As the hours passed, your vision blurred. You didn’t mean to, but you ended up dozing off and dreamt of a young man strolling below tranquil wisteria trees. There was a slight fog on the narrow path. Dark hair flowed as he turned around to greet you. The geta sandals he wore echoed a low click sound as they met cobblestone. Lavender eyes matched the scenery. His chest ignited, his heart pulsated with power. He reached for your rough hands and placed them on his slightly exposed torso.

Gleaming tears spilled down his regal face. He mouthed something to you, but you woke up gasping for air.

Ugh! I fell asleep. You almost spilled the inks you made and nearly cut your hand on your tools.

The heavenly moon lit the room with nightly opulence. A feathery chill ran down your spine, a breeze pecked your cheeks.

Huh… It seems that you had left the window open again.

___

That afternoon at Tenshukaku, you weren’t sure what to feel, but frustration was certainly an option.

The way the Raiden Shogun observed you so intensely became seared into your distressed consciousness. She was like a teacher testing their pupil as you applied the ink onto the paper with the help of a baren. After you embossed your name and the number one onto the print, you handed it to the grim deity.

“It is finished, Your Excellency.”

Ei stared at the work of art for a second. Perhaps examining the youthful face of the man who would aid in her arduous pursuit to be closer to the Heavenly Principles. Maybe she was astounded by the vibrant hues of purple that made up hair and eyes. You couldn’t tell. Her face was as blank as the stack of unused kozo paper laid on the tatami mats.

As fast as lightning, her plum eyes became incandescent, her eyebrows furrowed, her braided hair came undone a bit. A gust of wind nearly knocked you over. The luxurious room quivered. The dendrobiums closed their ruby petals. You hissed at the intense light diffusing from her.

In a second, the print vanished, yet you knew what had transpired. Skin from paper, eyes from ink, but still, he would lack a benevolent heart.

You didn’t have a moment to relish the fact that your art had come to life, because as soon as he opened his eyes, the puppet withered away into dust.

Mouth now agape, hands clenching your clothes, you snapped your head back to Beelzebul to receive much-needed answers.

“It will take some time before one can even last more than a second,” she said, tone completely casual. “We must continue. This is why I chose a woodblock printer. The mass-production aspect of the craft will speed up the process immensely.”

“But–”

“Let’s make haste.”

About fifty prints took their first breath that entire evening. Out of all of them, only twenty prototypes weren’t wholly ephemeral in nature; however, they showed no sign of function. Perhaps you should’ve asked if you were supposed to paint strings on the puppets.

Ironically, though she was someone who should have all the time in the world, the God of Eternity didn’t want to wait until the nonfunctional ones vanished back to dust to further her progress. She cruelly threw their pale bodies onto the floor like a child discarding an old doll for a new toy. They laid there like corpses stacked in a pile. Some had their lifeless eyes still open, as if attempting to resurrect. Even as you continued your monotonous work by applying the ink, using the baren, embossing your name and the number which belonged to that specific prototype, only just to repeat the process, those unchanging melancholic eyes stifled your mind.

You winced as you heard the sickening thud of one of the bodies falling. Their heads and limbs moved unnaturally with the sudden movement. One underneath had disappeared, allowing for gravity to simply follow its laws.

Prototype number forty-three, or so you believe, was one of the ones on top, but he tumbled down the heap and ended up right next to you. A few strands of hair covered his face. His limp arm stretched out completely. A slightly bruised hand was open, as if begging for you to hold it.

You lifted your head from your work to stare at the man you had sketched, carved, and inked. How handsome he is.

A reserved sigh was emitted from the woman with a noble body and amethyst irises. You paid no mind to her as you stood up and cradled the forsaken being in your arms before placing him back onto the morbid mound.

Calloused hands cupped the lifeless face of the prince. “I don’t want you to be alone. Have sweet dreams with your brothers.”

You used your index finger to close all their eyelids carefully. You thought you did it to give them some peace as they decay. But really, that harrowing lavender color prickled your soul for what felt like an eternity.

___

It took about a month before you and Ei managed to create a puppet that seemed to be promising. Unlike the others, you asked if you could give him a name, as you would be the one in charge of watching him to see if he’d be fit to move on to the next stage.

After hundreds of times, the ordeal wasn’t as bewildering as that first afternoon. It became like an everyday chore. Numbness was all to be felt. But the second he gasped for air, took in his surroundings, and grinned excitedly, you blinked. Shock seeped into your heart and mind. Huh, this one is rather distinct from the others.

You decided on the name Akihito. It was fitting. That smile of his was so bright and clear.

Time passed by quickly; you wished the kamera was invented sooner. The burning yearn to go back and somehow capture those moments has disturbed you for centuries. You remember how you brought him to Konda Village and taught him how frail crystalflies are, how warm the day is compared to the dignified night, and how to paint what’s on his mind.

It was the simple things with Akihito. He would ask about someone’s day, how they were feeling, have they eaten yet, have they smiled at all. He made the citizens of Inazuma laugh so easily.

Once, you brought him to the Shrine, and he held your rough hands. You mindfully noted how delicate his were. He stopped every second to talk to passersby. He even gave his spare dango to a weeping child near the torii gates.

“Why must you stop so much?”

“Because the present moment is so fleeting. We must treasure it through our interactions with others.”

He soon knew more about the maidens at the Shrine than you did, and you had spent your whole life with them.

You remember your cheeks heating when you watched his face brighten as the mikos performed the sacred kagura dance.

The realization that you liked spending time with him — not just because he's your artwork, nor just because it's your job — wasn’t as tough to swallow as you thought it would be.

___

Your room was nothing short of a chaotic mess back then.

Inks, most commonly hues of purple, always stained the tatami flooring. Kozo paper was always scattered around. Slabs of yumemiru wood were always haphazardly strewn all over the place. Whenever Guuji Yae came to visit you, she had to be extra careful not to step on your tools.

The word embarrassment wouldn’t be able to properly describe what you had felt when Akihito asked to visit your dwelling. Besides Tenshukaku, your little abode was also your studio.

Without thinking one day, you had told him that the majority of your equipment and original prints were there.

He smiled. Of course, he did. That’s what he’d never stopped doing.

“May I pay your room a visit? I would love to see your process.” Akihito pleaded to you. Well, that’s how the sensation of those handsome, lavender eyes growing rounder with questioning awe felt.

You resigned. You couldn’t say no to those eyes and that enrapturing beam.

You briskly turned your head away from his inquiring stare and looked down at the ground. You attempted to distract yourself by scrutinizing his geta sandals instead. “It’s kind of an eyesore, though…Everything is rather cluttered.” The urge to say no was immense, but you couldn’t shake off the feeling that you felt safe sharing everything with him.

“I don’t mind. I can even help you clean your room! If you want me to. You have done so much for me. It’s the least I can do!”

Courage must have possessed you because you met those bright eyes and fondly brought your right hand to his face.

“No, you are the one who has helped me so much.”

You realized what you had done and tried to pull away swiftly, but he caught your rough hand and tugged you into a warm embrace. The sudden affection caught you off guard.

By the end of the idyllic day, your room was spotless.

You made sure to leave the window open, for there was a pleasant breeze.

___

It was around noon time when it occurred. Another month had nearly passed.

Those breathtaking lavender eyes closed, his eyebrows raised slightly, he chuckled. You rested your head on his lap. You two were under a cherry blossom tree in the Araumi region. The regal young man caressed your skin and pet your fox ears. Akihito’s form was hunched slightly to shelter your eyes from the sunlight that was slipping through the branches. Light pink petals fell on top of his head; they contrasted with his indigo hair. He gleefully giggled, and you joyfully sighed and booped his nose.

___

“Why don’t you paint as much anymore?” your master questioned you one evening. Her hands were on her hips, her white and scarlet sleeves swaying from the movement. There was a hum in her voice.

“I suppose I’ve been happier lately.” You looked directly into her violet eyes. “I took up art so that it could help me like you said it would. It’s just that, now, I don’t need to worry about the nightmares anymore.”

Yae Miko took your hands and drew comforting circles into your skin. “Be careful, dear, those who abandon the waking world for one of enchanting dreams only mourn when they return to reality.”

A frown fell upon your confused face. Shouldn’t she be happy for you?

“By the way, your hands have become soft.”

___

The temperature was searing when the God of Eternity invited you back to Tenshukaku. You gave your report on his progress.

“He reminds me of Makoto.”

She always spoke that name whenever it was morning; it was as if the luminous rays that bring fertile life to Teyvat were as jubilant as her deceased sister. Makoto was her sun. Ei was merely another planet revolving around such brilliance.

“She, too, was gentle and loved by everyone. I believe he will be a fitting vessel.” Beelzebul lifted her hand before closing it tightly and concentrating. She then opened her fist, and a purple chess piece began to float. “This is my gnosis; it represents my divinity and status as an archon. As I will be placing my consciousness into my sister's sword, the Musou Isshin, I will need a place to house my celestial powers.”

You had already been informed about this ordeal, but seeing the gnosis in person was a rather bewitching experience. The sheer energy it radiated was terrifying. Why was it so captivating? The luminous glow of the minute yet potent object was hypnotizing.

Your pupils must have dilated.

However, you couldn’t stop the dreadful feeling of drowning in nauseating darkness as you neared it. The heaviness was too similar to those plaguing nightmares you had.

You didn’t even notice you were about to snatch it until Ei swatted your hand away.

“Apologies. I should’ve been more careful. I know how entrancing it is. A whole war was fought between gods to gain one.”

Your ears fell down. How embarrassing. “I’m sorry, Your Excellency, it won’t happen again.” Sheepish words rolled off your tongue as you scratched the back of your neck.

“No need to apologize. Now, let’s bring in Mako—“ She cleared her voice. “Akihito.”

You slid open the shoji door. Inside another room was the one with a pure smile. Akihito was working on an ink painting. Not a single dark drop tainted the chabudai or the tatami flooring. So mindful. Rigid branches, budding blossoms, and a kitsune dressed in a yukata weren’t anything praiseworthy, but there was a splendid air about the focus in his eyes. You mastered many mediums of art as a means of income and as a means to escape the woes that life brings, but in his case, anyone could tell that he did it to experience joy.

He was having fun.

“Far from a masterpiece, but I wanted to capture that memory of us under the cherry blossom tree in Araumi. I didn’t get to finish myself, but I’m more than happy that I was able to draw you. Even if you don’t look as… attractive due to my skills.” Words so timid yet sincere were whispered. “I know I may not have a heart… but I believe I understand what I feel.”

A light thud sounded as you sat down beside him and rested your head on his shoulder.

“Akihito, my love, we mustn't make Her Excellency wait.”

“I know.”

___

The clock signaled that it was already past noon.

It was, yet again, another afternoon at Tenshukaku.

He laid down on a futon placed on the ground and undid his robes slightly to expose his chest. That violet marking, the symbol of the Bakufu, was far too jarring on his fair skin. Indigo hair, the color of the night sky, was sprawled out like lightning scattered throughout a storm.

He shut his eyes and breathed in, then out.

Ei knelt down beside him, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and placed her index finger near his hairline. She touched every curve and dip of his forehead, nose, lips, neck, and chest as she grazed her finger down his body. One can tell that everything about him was designed with a purpose. Your deity placed her palm flat on his chest before curling her fingers in, just below the stately symbol. Light scratch marks began to swell.

There was that familiar glow. Looking back, you curse yourself for not having grown used to it after so many puppets, after seeing the gnosis, after this.

But then again, how could you, when the memory that follows is the image of the God of Eternity shoving her fist into his chest.

Piercing skin that was once paper.

There was no sweat, no clenched fists, no furrowed eyebrows. The poor creature displayed no pain so as to not frighten you.

Was it a success? That single thought raced into your mind. You bit your lip anxiously.

The gleaming lilac halted. Her pristine hand left his body. For once, her face bore an expression. Pure disappointment.

Those lavender eyes suddenly shot open and moved around frantically, his lips parted slightly, attempting to speak. You quickly rushed to him and touched his hand.

“Hey, it's okay… It’s over.” A tender lover you were. You rubbed delicate hearts into his palm.

Akihito’s back arched. Those petrified eyes wouldn’t stay still. He harshly snatched his hand from your soothing touch and uncontrollably gripped and pulled his sleek hair. That slender body wouldn’t stop jerking back and forth. That fair skin was turning as white as snow. Fingers contoured into grotesque shapes. His mouth opened and closed desperately.

He’s trying to speak. He’s trying to gain control. He’s trying to survive.

You hastily turned your head to his other creator and shrieked at her.

“Do something! H-He’s dying!” Oh, how big and small you felt that day as you insulted your god. “It’s always like this! You…You monster! You always have to just stand there with that horrible blank expression. You never cared about any of them!” The wretched sentences you seethed were merely the bubbling surface. Deep inside, you felt so much anguish and pain that words couldn’t have even been formed from your mouth to communicate to her. Too many “yous” were wailed that afternoon.

I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to be alone…

That phrase flew around and accumulated in your mind like a blizzard.

The Electro Archon looked at the scene with a vacant face. “There is nothing I can do. It seems I overestimated him, this project, and, most of all, you.” Beelzebul tilted her head and pitied your trembling form. It reminded her of that fateful event. “He is malfunctioning due to the gnosis. There is no use in taking it out now. The outcome will be the same.”

You clicked your tongue, annoyed at her indifference. She had nursed that face for so long that it had left her naught but a hollow shell. She was more of a puppet than they were.

You briskly tuned out her words and cradled his body so tightly in your arms, bringing your forehead to his. Akihito’s bright, clear face and limbs were littered with ink-like markings, a sign that his body and mind were yielding to heinous forces. They were devouring the gracious man alive.

You tried to turn his face so that his eyes would look directly into yours. But, even then, he kept staring at the ceiling, as if searching for something more.

“Cel—”

“Celestia.”

Your eyes widened. “Yes, what is it, my love?” A sorrowful smile was plastered onto your face as he began to murmur. Tears ran down. They fell onto his face sloppily.

A weak arm tried to affectionately touch your sobbing form. You brought his hand to your wet cheek, answering his wish.

“I’m...I’m sorry, but now that I have a heart…. I know for certain that I can say that I-I love you.”

That nimble hand withered away.

You hugged him so tightly and wept, “Please, don’t go… I can’t face them without you. Not without the person I love.”

Though his smile was no different than that time at the Shrine, that time napping under the cherry blossoms, and that time watching the mikos dance, the main thing you couldn’t help but notice was how those lavender eyes were the last to fade away. Like always, they still had that shine that defined him. That sparkle that revealed how much he valued the present moment.

You nestled your face into his black robes, bunched them together, and held them firmly like a mother holding an infant. Trying to conserve the warmth, scent, anything.

It was one summer afternoon at Tenshukaku that you realized how transient eternity really is.

___

Your master knocked on your door. She begged you to answer. “Dear, you must come out. It’s been weeks.” Autumn was arriving. Children would soon be dressed in adorable kimonos for the harvest festivities to come. All for Her Excellency's blessings and everlasting reign. Crimson leaves would stain the land.

It would soon be too cold to relax.

There was another knock. Why does it matter if you wallow in your grief or not? Nothing truly changes with you. Your life was set in stone the moment your parents perished to the abyss.

Ink once again stained the tatami mats of your floor. Paper once again was scattered around your room. Those slabs of wood were once again unattractively laid everywhere.

Everything that had occurred with Akihito disappeared. All those happy changes were gone in an instant.

Yet, the only things that didn’t revert back were your hands. They stay changed. You couldn’t bring yourself to draw again. No more rough calluses or blisters; they will forever remain as delicate and supple as velvety petals. Just like they were that afternoon he melted away from your scorching touch.

“The mikos are worried about you.”

Perhaps you were being too harsh, but that flowery, saccharine voice of hers made you gag. A cacophonous ring it had, like funeral bells tolling. You nearly put your right hand over your left on your throat to halt the bile from rising and consuming every waking specimen. But what left did you have to regurgitate? You vomited your singing heart as he mumbled those last words. You yearned for those lazy, scenic days spent with him.

Taunting laughs stung your brain. You scrambled to grip Akihito’s black robes tighter in an attempt to control the heavenly and abyssal images that pester and pick.

“What is it?” You spat it out finally.

The mouthwatering smell of fried tofu delectably laid atop udon started to cloud the vicinity.

Oh, she’s good.

“I figured I’d bring your favorite.” Yae Miko placed the tray outside your room, but she didn’t leave. A deplorable phantom, she was. Was she here to mock you? To once again sabotage your life?

You flung the door open, seized the steaming bowl of kitsune udon, and savagely threw it at her.

But of course, the Guuji was always more agile.

“You could’ve burned me, you know?” That tone of amusement, that laugh of hers that treated everything like a humorous joke, irked you terribly.

Oh, when did you become so unruly and rebellious? Childhood was long gone.

“I hate you! Why did you bring me to her? You knew her plan would end up like this, yet still, you brought me to Tenshukaku!” Tears started to well up. Those skeletons of the bygone times dug their claws into your ankles and wrists. “You were like a sister to me. I was filled with joy when you were placed as my guardian.”

You collapsed to your knees.

“Why did you do this to me?” Those black robes once again became damp from heartache. “I even introduced him to you, and you didn’t do anything!” Each syllable was exclaimed so shakily, so breathlessly.

She hummed as you continued to babble and sob. “Well, I did give you a small warning that one time. But I will shoulder some of the blame if that will pacify you.”

Those violet eyes looked towards the ground. “I suppose I thought that if you, someone I know, were involved, we could lessen the damage Ei would cause with this foolish project.” Your master reached out to hold you. “My bad, my dear.”

Your blood boiled. You gritted your teeth, got up, and stomped closer to her. The broth soiled your attire. The wet fabric clung to your body. The fried tofu became disgusting mush under your bare feet.

You breathed heavily, chest heaving. Your fox ears twitched. Protracted sharp claws unintentionally ripped Akihito’s precious black robes. “Don’t. Patronize. Me.”

Too many unrelenting, intrusive thoughts invaded your head. You wanted to slap the arm that was reaching out to you. You wanted to push her to the ground and bellow out all that mauled what was left of your mind. You would go as far as to say that you even wanted to pierce her chest, snatch her heart, and make her feel what your love with indigo hair experienced.

Yae Miko gazed directly into your eyes. You nearly fell again when you saw the purple color. Everything went away. The bloodlust. The vengeful spirit. Your jaded soul even fled.

All that was left was the kitsune who tried to nap on their lover's lap. All that was left was a child who lost their family. All that was left was the artist who painted their plight. All that was left was the creator who laid those princes to rest and closed their lavender eyes.

All that was left was you.

You stumbled slightly, nearly slipping on the puddle of udon, as you treaded to your master and accepted her embrace. Sharp guilt formed.

“I’m sorry... I miss him. I was an idiot for falling in love.” your voice cracked.

A gust of air blew some of your disorderly papers lying on the ground to the door. From the corner of your eyes, you could tell which one was the one closest to you.

It was a scene of rigid branches, budding blossoms, and a kitsune in a yukata. The artwork was nothing praiseworthy, it was even unfinished, but you bawled and whimpered because you knew that fluttering sensation of felicity you felt when you saw it for the first time would never come again.

Another puff of wind came in.

It seems you had left the window open again.

Thank you for reading!! ღゝ◡╹ )ノ♡

Part 2 is already in the making! This was originally supposed to be one big oneshot, but I decided to split it due to its length

#genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #scaramouche #scaramouche x reader #yandere scaramouche #yandere scaramouche x reader #scaramouche imagines #kunikuzushi #kunikuzushi x reader #yandere kunikuzushi #genshin imagines #genshin x reader #yandere genshin x reader #yandere genshin impact #yandere #scaramouche angst

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morathicain · 3 years ago

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morathi, pat in ep4 is a menace i swear this man is *trying* to kill pran. there are sooo many moments when he flirts in a way that crosses the line from playful to playfully serious. he just does it wayyy too often for it to only be jokes. and it’s not even just his words, like pat’s mission this whole ep is to simply be close to pran (literally how many times did he get kicked out of pran’s room this ep lmao), which kinda says a lot considering he thinks he likes ink.

also that scene when pran’s removing pat’s makeup? it’s those moments where pat says something just flirty enough that you can see pran make this kind of expression.. like the small hopeful side of him, the side of him he tries to bury that wants pat to like him too just barely makes its way to the surface. which is exactly why the end of this ep killed me. idk what awards they have over there but if nanon doesn’t win something for his performance in this scene i’m rioting lmao. seeing him try to hold back tears in front of pat wrecked me..

also also! idk if this makes sense because pat definitely believes he likes ink, he believes that whatever those feelings he gets when he’s around her must be “like,” but! when he asks pran “if you were her would you like me”.. if he wanted to list reasons *she* could like him he could’ve said oh because i’m considerate, funny, etc and he even could’ve stuck w his usual “because i’m handsome” thing, but he didn’t. instead he lists all the things his done for *pran* and then asks *pran* if he would like him. it’s like his subconscious knows his feelings for pran but the lil thoughts moving around in his head don’t lol. at least that’s how i saw it? also, i’m gonna give you fair warning that i’ll probably be back tomorrow to scream about ep5 when i watch it😭 i know you say not to apologize for writing too much but this really is a lot this time so i’m sorry😭 i hope you have a peaceful day/night~~ -🥞

Welcome back, Pancake! =^^=

Pat IS a menace, I am with you on that. I'd either kiss him or hit him until he can't flirt anymore if I were Pran (and then run away as far as possible) and I have to salute his self restraint. All Pat wants is to be as close as possible and make Pran happy. LIttle does he know that he's responsible for several almost heart attacks of his boy. But he does make Pran happy and laugh and this is what always breaks my heart. And Pran's tears, yes. Nanon for ALL the awards!! <3 And I'm completely with you on the last part. Pat wanted a reaction from Pran. He didn't want to know if Ink might like him but if Pran does or would. And since he doesn't yet realise it, he can't understand that saying yes is impossible for Pran right now, but he still hopes and wants it to happen. Otherwise he wouldn't list all the things he's done for Pran. Which - again - Unfair AF!

Really, pls don't apologise! I am so happy you decided to come and scream at me about those episodes and the show, you made my day better with your message =^^=

Also glad to know you're now at the part where the boat we share is barely a wooden piece we're now holding on while losing collectively our sanity <3

So, have ALL the fun with episode 5 (you already know you're gonna lose your mind but you have NO idea HOW much this is true!) and feel free to come back screaming again, I am here, waiting =^^=

Have a wonderful day/night and all the strength for the next episode <3

#ask #bad buddy #Pancake

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47crayons · 3 years ago

Text

THE WICKED WITHIN—A COMIC SANS WIP REINTRO

!!!!! it's here :D the wip that started to consume me and has been continuing to do so since, now with a much better sense of what exactly is Happening

current tww taglist let me know to be +/- !! @a-completely-normal-writer @writing-is-a-martial-art @wannabeauthorzofija @magic-is-something-we-create @croctears @writeblrfantasy @opes-magnas @author-a-holmes @zoya-writes@fuyugomori @ink-fireplace-coffee

transcript is under the cut!!!

[transcript: a powerpoint presentation of black text on white background, written entirely in comic sans.

start slide one the top left corner reads in red, "warnings (most relevant) war, death, drugs (& addiction), poison". in the center, "the wicked within", and underneath it in smaller font, "a comic sans reintro by @47crayons". the comments around the entire slide read "a family that is so found!!!", "gang rivalry :D and gang content in general", "crime found family basically", "childhood friends to STILL FRIENDS", "all queer cast :p", "eat the rich (not quite, but it’s the right sentiment aldskjfls)", "kickass women, yeah bay bee", "nuanced relationships between different groups :D", "morally grey characters!!!", "so many different governments!!!", "a (mostly alsjflksdj) stable relationship!!!" end slide one

start slide two in the beginning of time… there were four gods: eltenjer, he/him, earth; skari, he/him, fire; aenged, they/them, air; thilda, she/her, water. i didn’t /mean/ for them to have genders, but a quiet breeze whispered “psst. i use they/them.” in the beginning? so you mean… they’re not there anymore? kind of! the gods need followers to survive, and after several unfortunate events, they lost the majority of their followers. the aforementioned unfortunate events: the great ruination, in which natural disasters caused several years of famine and other hardship. the restoration era, in which renovation led people to believe they can live without the gods. if the gods are dead, what’s the point? the gods aren’t /really/ dead, closer to dormant. they can’t actively interact with the mortal realm, but IF they had followers, they would come back to life. oh. did i mention that they control the magic. end slide two

start slide three the dormant gods who can't do... anything control the magic??? hey, no one said magic always has to work. foreshadowing alert huge foreshadowing alert. let’s talk about how magic works, shall we :D people use the Spirit to do magic. people have a Vessel (representation of stamina or how much Sprit can be used at once, can be trained!). people also have a Strength (a type of magic that works well with the user, these have varying frequencies which also depends on location). there’s too much i could say here, but the important thing is the main characters’ Strengths. the right depicts an image of a flowchart showing that gods need followers and produce sprit. people need spirit to do magic. end slide three

start slide four okay but where are we??? where could the magic be so fucked? well, here, of course! the left side shows a line art map, split into five parts going clockwise: portingdale, worchester, the hooks, elderwood, unlabeled. the legend shows that there are mountains in portingdale, forests in elderwood, and rivers that run from portingdale to everywhere else. the place where the four labeled regions meet is called the Inner City. the text on the right reads. welcome to Kjer! there are 3 districts. but wait! there are five? sections? and one isn’t even labelled. worchester used to be a district,,, but it left after the war began. the unlabeled section is the disputed region (re: war). let’s talk more about this war. elderwood wanted easier access to water (see: the rivers in the Wetlands) elderwood & portingdale have been fighting there on and off for over half a century. the hooks has three wards: west (hella rich), south (lower income), north (somewhere in between). end slide four

start slide five whomst. skip to the next slide if you want the actual characters. character basics: the unnecessarily-winded-and-cram-a-lot-of-lore-in version. in the North Ward of The Hooks, there are three main gangs. Kaer Styen, meaning “wicked ones”, Ghetfaer Skarnen, meaning “trickster lords”, Ad Knesten, meaning “the grumbles”. that was so many capital letters i don’t like capital letters alskjdflksjd. they have rivalries and conflicts from time to time, but it’s pretty rare. the tww cast is kaer styen !!! their main means of profit is a drug called jezdin. relieves physical and mental pain. lethal in high. quantities/ when tampered with. can also be addictive. they operate out of a dingy tavern-like building, and they live upstairs!!! okay so this is purely for vibes. how did u know. end slide five

start slide six the Gang. literally :3 Kaer Styen, my beloved. the first thing in each of their bios is their Strength (re: the magic slide). artbreeders!!! i fixed quite a few of them, but my artbreeder skills are questionable at best. this slide is split into three columns. the first column shows a white person with short, brown, curly hair and a firm, but not angry, facial expression. len, he/him, pan. Shifter (can manipulate physical properties). cynical, very cynical (because he has killer instincts). “oh people are dying? am i dying? are you dying? why should i care?” in a relationship with cal. the second column shows a person who appears east asian with long, black, wavy hair and fair skin. chloe, she/her, aroace. Chemist (chemistry but magical). literal archery god. also she’s so quiet it’s SCARY. seems welcoming, emphasis on /seems/ she’ll destroy your ass. knows what you’re feeling. she just. knows. the third column shows a white person with dirty blonde hair. they are smiling. cal, they/them, bi. Whisperer (can persuade others through speech/music). so casually funny all your burdens disappear for a hot minute. gets very attached very deeply. grew up in Portingdale which becomes Important later. end slide six

start slide seven cont. also they have piercings!!!! maybe i will make some picrews later (listen, i KNOW i’ve said this before but. maybe i’m for realsies this time, okay?) this slide is also split into three columns. the first a smiling white female with light blonde hair. eden, she/her?, demi lesbian. Healer (healing magic <3). seen hell and doesn’t want others to suffer. still believes in the gods’ existence. we Don’t talk about her awful parents. raised by a lovely woman in the South Ward, known as Nana. this eye (left) is almost PURPLE which i didn’t do on purpose but is honestly such a cool idea. the second column shows a partially smiling black man with short curly hair. jereth, he/him, gay. powerful life magic thing (will be spoilers if i talk any more). joins them at the beginning. honestly kind of scared of them (who wouldn’t be), but wants to live up to expectations. throws himself into stuff to avoid Thoughts. the third column shows a woman with brown skin, black wavy hair, and a small smile. she is NOT a member of Kaer Styen, but i’m talking about her here all the same. adalaide, she/her, bi (i didn’t like the e in adelaide alskdfjlsj). Melder (metals and the like). heir to the Portingdale throne (assuming her dad doesn’t disown her). Cal’s ex from a few~ years ago she’s still a lil’ hung up on them. technically an antagonist but i love her. so all my characters are queer sue me </3 end slide seven

start slide eight some semblance of plot? coming right up!! the four (jereth isn’t there yet!) are attacked in the Inner City. turns out it’s portingdale soldiers. and then they discover that portingdale has been poisoning the southern rivers (affects worchester and the south ward) because worchester doesn’t really contribute to Kjer as a whole. word gets out, and elderwood, naturally, is even angrier at portingdale (remember, they've been at war). so, they try to stop portingdale from being power hungry enough to poison the entirety of a country while learning about why worchester is so isolated while ALSO trying not to get killed by everyone who hates them. end slide eight

start slide nine memes :> the first is the meme of spongebob reading a sheet of paper and burning it. the paper reads, "going into worchester by yourself is going to get you KILLED", and spongebob is labelled "chloe". the second is the levels of brain template labelled "jereth". from the weakest to most powerful: "trying to figure out his magic", "doing it by accident", "saving everyone's lives". the third is the sleeping person and brain meme. brain: "you're going to portingdale". cal: yeah, i know. brain: you'll see adalaide. cal's eyes are wide open in fear. the fourth says "corporate needs you to find the difference between this image and this image". the first image says, "family", and the second one says, "len, chloe, cal, jereth." eden says, "they're the same picture". the fifth is the spiderman copycat meme where jereth is copying len. end slide nine

/end transcript]

#rbs very much appreciated!!#the wicked within #tww reintro #writeblr #writing #wip #rose writes

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stargaze-issei · 4 years ago

Text

ᴅᴀʏ 𝟷𝟼; ᴍᴏsᴛ ᴀᴛᴛʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ

-> shimizu kiyoko.

𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭; kiyoko evokes memories of her lost love.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬; mentions of death, grieving.

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭; 1.4k

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞; angst.

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞; yeah u should listen to mr loverman by rick montgomery bc i wrote it while listening to that song 😃 yes i killed the reader what y'all gonna do bout it

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kiyoko couldn't remember a time withouth your bright smile in her days, scaring the gray clouds away. you would sit outside her house, right by her side, sharing laughs and secrets. kiyoko kept those memories lock inside her mind, as her most precious secret, and she would always do it, no matter how long it passed.

"kiyo look! i made a ring with a flower!" her eyes, hid behind a big pair of glasses, showed amazement. she didn't care that your hands were covered in dirt after playing on the garden for hours while she read, safely on a bench, following your every move. "give me your hand" you demanded, grabbing it by yourself without giving her time to react.

despite your usual energic being, like most eight years old, whenever you were around your friend, she felt like fine china. a sudden feeling of fear ran down her back, accompanied by a warmness in her belly. you took her ring finger, placing your newest work on it with more care than ever in your life, affraid you would hurt her. to you, and everyone actually, kiyoko was like a porcelain doll. her fair skin, her beautiful face, her sweet voice, confirmed your hypothesis. the first time you saw kiyoko in the playground, you had to ask your parent if she was a real girl, because you've never seen someone that pretty.

"o-only married couples share rings, y/n" she said quietly, going over your gift with her free hand. leaving aside her complain, she seemed to be delighted with it.

"then we'll get married, and i'll give you all the rings in the world!"

shimizu had those words inked on her brain for quite a while, even now ten years later, they would come back. she wasn't sure if it was a memory or a dream anymore. her phone vibrated on her night table, showing a text from tanaka saying he was on his way there, with a sigh, she got up from her bed, thinking on making something to eat for her boyfriend. on days like that, she would prefer being alone, but she couldn't say no to him. he was good to her.

the girl walked down the hall which connected the living room with the dorms, looking at the walls, searching for you with her eyes. a smile formed on her lips when she saw the picture, you eternally kissing her cheek, grabbing onto her face, making her smile more brightly than ever in her life. she thanked her mom internally for taking that picture, after all, it was the only one you two had. her fingers reached your image, following your traces as if that way, she could actually feel your skin against her again. kiyoko always regretted not kissing you one more time, not holding you in her arms for a second longer.

"try to sleep, or you'll end up falling asleep in the middle of the race tomorrow" kiyoko smiled at your sleepy voice, she knew you were sleeping when she decided on calling you, despite knowing you wouldn't get mad, she still felt a little guilty for waking you in the middle of night.

"i can't sleep, i'm too nervous" it was your turn to smile, thinking on how cute she must've looked while talking. it was almost a routine, her anxiety appearing before an important competition. "can you talk to me, please?"

her wishes were granted, you started talking about the last show you watched, in a low, soft tone. you were aware kiyoko felt safe with you, safe enough to sleep with you, and how she found comfort on you. you still felt reluctlant to her only being able to sleep at the sound of your voice, but her kitten like snores came sooner than usual. you found yourself laying in bed, eyes closed, listening to her sounds, and a while later, you too fell in morpheous arms.

a knock on the door scared her memories away, leaving her on the verge of tears. she hurried to the bathroom, trying to wash off the hints of sadness in her face before letting ryunosuke in. he kissed her as a greeting, hugging her by the waist. kiyoko wanted to get away, like the act was disrespectful to your memory. she knew she was wrong though, you wouldn't want her sulking for the rest of her life, thinking of what could've been if life wasn't so damn awful.

"brought dinner" smiled her boyfriend, not realizing what was she going through. it itsn't his fault, kiyoko thought, he doesn't even know she existed.

they set the table for two, talked a little while eating and watched a movie. tanaka wasn't good at taking hints, but even him sensed there was something wrong. he excused himself at midnight, saying he needed something from his house for work tomorrow, maybe she needed some time alone. kiyoko was grateful, because she kept thinking she was cheating on you. so stupid, i can't cheat on someone who isn't here.

kiyoko laid in bed once again, hugging a pillow. it always happened around this time of the year, she should be used to it by now, according to her old therapist. except that she wasn't, not at all. you were always on her mind, but these days she just couldn't escape. it killed her to think about all the broken promises, the things left unsaid. you had plans together, so many plans. in middle school, she longed the day you would travel with each other, conquering the world by your side. she wanted to go back home and find you there, kiss you every night and every morning, have children with you and grow old together as you had done until that day, to know it would never be possible was enough to make her feel miserable.

she kept a box under her bed, almost empty, with the last few things she had of you. a shirt you wore to sleep, a rushed note saying how much you loved her and an old stuffed bear kiyoko won for you at a carnival. that was all she could find in her house of you after the incident, all she was allowed to keep. the first few months she couldn't even bring herself to look at your belongings, how was it possible that your whole existence was reduced to this? you were so much things to kiyoko, nowhere near what those stuff represented. you were love, you were happiness, you were freedom, you were all kiyoko wanted in life and you were ripped away from her.

at two a.m, she found herself once again awake, but she was well aware of the fact that you weren't there to save her anymore. what was she supposed to do when she needed you, more than ever? in a mess of tears, she went outside, headed for her car. the air was cold, hostile, like it was warning her to stay home. the mostly empty streets were perfect for her desperate speed, barely stopping at red lights. she made a road of twenty minutes in ten, a road she hadn't done in quite a while. nonetheless, she knew what she was looking for was still there. kiyoko ran out her car when she got there, crossed the gate, gaining a suspicious look from the guard. she walked towards you, knowing the way a little too well for someone who didn't visit in years.

your name read in the grave, and the remaining force she had in her legs was suddenly gone. tears drowned her sight, holding tightly to the ground beneath hear. sometimes, kiyoko questioned herself if you really existed, she lost all contact with your family after, not being able to see anyone who looked like you, but in that moment, all her supressed memories came back. your first kiss, a peck on the lips, so fast that it might've not even happened, only it did, and it was followed by deeper, better kisses, and eternal love declarations. the first time she held your hand, how flustered you got over her taking the initiative. falling asleep in your arms, you caressing her hair. you kissing her strech marks, promsing you loved her just as she was. the image of your happy self, bursting into cheerings everytime she won a race, filled with pride. all your picnics together, beach days, roadtrips, night snick outs.

everything was real, kiyoko was sure of it. your love for her was real, her love for you couldn't be stopped, not even by death. it hurt so bad, all she wanted to do was see you one more time, feel your warm body against hers. she needed you with her, and it was tearing her apart.

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neko-naruto · 2 years ago

Text

And the truth came out

Summary: Sans decides to check out on Underlust one last time, never to step foot in there again, but, he finds his counterpart a lot more sober than usual and naturally, a conversation starts.

Warnings: Referenced sex, prescription drugs, check tags for further warnings.

Authors Note: "Hello Undertale Fandom!" shouted into an empty theater, anyways, if any of you are left (I know it can't just be me, right?) I'm just dropping this here for you, not sure how receptive ya'll are of Underlust at the moment, but I missed it, wanted to put on the good ol' headcanon goggles and write- anyways, reblogs are appreciated greatly and keep me going

---

"I wasn't always like this, you know that right?" Lust asked quietly, running phalanges along his humerus.

"I find that hard to believe, all things considered buddy," Sans said, he sat beside his counterpart who gave a weak laugh, it sounded forced.

"Yeah, fair enough, I have been sucking and fucking for so long it only makes sense, but, before me and Papyrus got dispatched and given our injection of Lust, I was just like you," Lust said, the somber tone he held was shocking to Sans who continued to listen in silence, flitting between eye contact and the prescription pills in Lusts free hand, "lazy, carefree, cracking jokes and capable of love- we uh, we're very, very different now."

"For sure," Sans answered with, Lust leaned back on the pavement below them, crossing one leg over the other, he looked content with himself to an extent as he twirled the bottle in his gloved hand.

"But, that's life, you fall asleep feeling buzzed and wake up feeling ill, that washed over real fast though, then I was just horny," Lust continued to explain, Sans could only nod, "not a whole lot of fun, I had an entire life planned out, just me and a hotdog stand, slacking off and keeping my brother safe; that didn't happen though," he popped open the bottle of pills and downed one, "not sure how much you know about that."

"Not a lot I s'pose, but hey, you ain't wrong about life doing that, just be grateful your Frisk didn't genocide you, over, and over, and over," Sans said, he gestured a little bit with his hands for emphasis, he stuffed them back into his pockets promptly and continued to stare at the bottle of pills- Lust noticed and quirked a metaphorical brow.

"Curious 'bout the drugs?" Lust asked, shifting from resting on his back to propping himself on his elbows, a light blue rose to Sans face upon being caught staring, Lust nearly breaks out laughing, "you don't have to be so pussy! Not like you caught me taking it up the ass," Lust handed the bottle to Sans who glanced over the instructions.

"You need hormone pills? Not to be crass, but you seem like the kind of guy whose had more than enough sex to kill a nun," Sans said, the confusion in his tone was visceral, even as he shook the bottle gently to punctuate his sentence with the sound of pills against plastic.

"No doubt about it, but yeah, a lot of us monsters are destabilizing without those magic pills, laced with our last source of Lust that's running out by the minute," Lust explained as he took the bottle again, dropping the second pill on his tongue, he could already feel his marrow start to buzz, it was addictive, "did you know that Souls can decay?" Sans shakes his head, he has so many questions bouncing off the sides of his skull all at once.

Sans had a hard time choking out an answer, "souls can decay?" Lust gave a nod.

"Yeah, when a human dies, the soul is usually in pristine condition and can be preserved for longer with the dying art of science, well, its dying in my Underground at least," Lust sounded rather sad as he explained, "I used to study biology in my spare time, try and find out why I was always so sad, then came the injection, couldn't focus afterwards."

"That sounds terrible," Sans manages to answer with, "you can come to my Underground instead- or join Ink, he'll help you, he'll fix whats wrong with you," there's a type of hope in Sans' tone, but his offer comes across differently than intended to Lust.

"No can do, I have to stay here and suffer out the rest of my days, I have a brother to protect no matter the cost and a human to learn from," Lust explained, the buzz in his bones got stronger, he could feel his mind begin to haze, but everything was starting to feel so much better at the same time, "I should be leaving before those pills really start to kick in," he stood up and brushed down his pants, Sans followed.

"Suit yourself, call me up next time those pills wear off man, I'll always have an ear to lend, if I had one that is," Sans grin is unmistakable and it makes Lust smile for just long enough to feel happy, Sans pulls him in for a brief hug and he bristles against it momentarily before sinking into the simple touch- he feels hazy now, he's going to make a bad decision if he doesn't leave, "see ya 'round," Sans pulls away and cracks open a portal, he turns to leave but Lusts grip lingers on his wrists.

"You're sure you don't want to hang around a little bit longer?" Lust asked, his tone was oozing need despite his better judgement, Sans noted the magenta hue that had already started to overtake the royal purple of his pupils, they were a bit larger than usual, and his touch felt fiery.

"I'm sure," Sans said, prying away phalanges and hopping through the portal, he turned to face Lust, finding that vibrant magenta had already started to tint his skull; he closes the portal.

Sans knew that meant Lust was getting, well, lusty, to put simply, he just didn't know that there were drugs involved to keep him that way up until tonight. He didn't know that they really did live in a fuck or die world over there, he simply assumed it was just an overstatement to keep anyone who didn't belong out. He could've just, never entered, never learned, and never tested, but, he's almost glad he did, even if Lust doesn't remember to call him up when the drugs fade.

It's kind of weird.

One event change and he would be living a completely different life.

He starts on his way to the libarby, they must have some books on biology in there- if Lust can't figure out why he used to be so sad, then Sans will. He'll try to at the very least, he's still not entirely sure of how far he'll get, but expectations of living be damned, he can sure can do shit for a friend.

#undertale #undertale au #underlust #sans undertale #lust sans #underlust sans #undertale sans #fanfic #fanfiction #fan fic #fan fiction #writing #short fanfic #tw sex mention #tw drugs

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shanastoryteller · 7 years ago

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wow your writing in the gods and monsters series is amazing! i've always loved greek myths and you bring them to life and add a different twist that makes it better than anything i've ever read about mythology!! if you have time, could you do a continuation of the Hades and Kore story? Kore/Persephone is one of my fav goddesses and i can't wait to see where you take her story!

(continuation of: x, x)

The first time Kore throws herself into the River Styx, sheis reckless and stubborn and feels like she has so little left to lose, only anoverbearing mother she yearns to escape.

The first time Kore throws herself into the River Styx, shefights and swims and survives. She is picked up on the shore and carried tosafety in Hades’s arms.

The second time Kore throws herself into the River Styx, sheis reckless and stubborn and feels like she has everything to lose. She letsthe water take her, and she drowns.

The second time Kore throws herself into the River Styx, itkills her.

Kore wakes up after falling unconscious while being carriedby the King of the Underworld. Her skin is fully healed, no longer blisteringand burning. She’s naked under the soft blankets, but she was naked when shedove into the river, so she’s not too worried about it.

“I didn’t know you were a goddess,” someone says, and sheturns her head to see a little girl sitting by her bedside with black skin andgrey eyes and hair. She’s glaring at her, “I wouldn’t have tried to kill you ifI’d known. You shouldn’t touch my water – it’s not good for you. It will killyou. It does not care what you are.”

“It did not kill Achilles,” Kore says, pushing herself up sothe blanket falls to her waist.

The young Lady Styx huffs and gets to her feet, pushing openthe long wardrobe on the other side of the room. “It did, actually. What myriver takes, it keeps.” Kore raises an eyebrow. Styx doesn’t explain further,only places a dark blue gown on the bed. “Hecate put some of her old things inhere for you. She’s taller and thinner than you are. But you are a goddess. Youcan make it work.”

“I can,” Kore agrees, amused. She pushes herself out of bed,and her hair falls into her face.

Her hair has been a dark brown her whole life.

She strides over to the wardrobe and pulls it open, starringat herself in the mirror.

Her hair has turned pure, snowy white. The hair on her headof course, but the rest of it too. Her eyebrows, the light hair on her arms andlegs, going down her navel, the hair between her legs – all of it white.

“You’re lucky nothing worse happened,” Styx scolds. “Myriver usually does much worse than that.”

Kore touches one of her new, pale eyebrows. “That is anexcellent point, Lady Styx.”

With some clever magic, Kore pulls on the now perfectlyfitting gown. Hecate doesn’t tend to bother with them, only dresses up ifthere’s some sort of celebration that requires her attendance – something thathasn’t happened in a long time, ever since she irritated Zeus and Poseidon tothe point that they called for her head on a spike. The gown is old, even bytheir standards, but its beautifully crafted, stars plucked from the heavensand sewn into the bodice, waves from the seven seas curling around the longskirt. “This is very valuable,” she says, “Is Hecate sure she would like me tohave it?”

Styx shrugs, “She said it was a young woman’s dress, andhowever she may look, she’s not a young woman any more. It’s my favorite dressof hers – I was quite cross that she gave it to you, but I did almost kill you.So I suppose that’s fair enough.”

“Ah,” Kore says, not quite sure how to respond to that. “Isee.”

Styx grins at her and grabs her hand. The child goddess’sskin is freezing to the touch, but Kore doesn’t flinch back out of fear ofbeing rude. “Come with me now. Hades wants to see you.”

The girl leads her through the twisting hallways to apolished wooden door. It’s not the throne room, where Kore thought that thegirl would take her. She’s seen the grand inner chambers of Poseidon and Zeus’shomes before, of the lesser gods even, and Kore braces herself for somethingjust as grandiose and intimidating.

Styx opens the door and pushes her inside before vanishing.

Kore blinks and looks around.

The room is smaller than she expected. It’s lined withshelves packed with scrolls, and mounted on the opposite wall is large mapthat’s constantly shifting and changing, and it take her almost a full minuteof looking at it to realize it’s a map of the underworld.

“You’re looking better.”

Kore’s eyes snap down, and it’s only then that she noticesthe figure of Hades, King of the Underworld, hunched over his desk. His hairpulled in messy low ponytail, and there are dark bags under his eyes. He’s in asimple black chiffon, one no more presumptuous than any mortal noble wouldwear. He’s the most unassuming, unremarkable thing in already unassuming,unremarkable room.

Suddenly, she feels over-dressed.

“Thank you,” she says, not knowing what else to say. Shefeels – awkward, almost, in front of him, which isn’t something she’s ever feltwith anyone. She wants to climb into his lap and rest her head against hisshoulder. She wants to force him into some proper clothes for a king. She wantsto put him to bed and make him sleep until he loses those bruises under hiseyes.

She’s never wanted to do any of those things for anyonebefore. She doesn’t even know him.

Although – she knows he came for her. That he found an intruderinto his realm and picked her up and soothed her, carried her to safety andwashed her of the corrosive water of the Styx. He placed her in his palace anddid not touch her as so many other men would have touched her.

So perhaps she does know him. At least a little.

He rests his chin on his hand while he looks at her. “Hermescame with a message from your mother, demanding your return.” She doesn’t evenhave the time to panic before he continues, “I denied her. If she wishes tospeak to me in person, I told her she is welcome to step into my realmherself.”

“She won’t do that,” Kore says, “She fears your realm. Shefears how her power means nothing in your domain.”

Kore had never known her mother to fear anything – exceptthe land of the dead. She’d grown up thinking Hades must be a hulking, formidablefigure to pull fear from her mother’s breast, but that’s clearly not the case.

He smiles, and it’s the first hint of sharpness she’s seenfrom him. “I know. There will be consequences, of course. But those are myconcern. You are a guest of my realm, Goddess of Spring. Walk where you please,and do as you please. No one will stop you.”

He’s already looking back down at his papers, eyebrowsdrawing together as he scratches out a series of numbers and rewrites them.It’s a clear dismissal, but Kore can’t bring herself to move.

She’s never met this man before. Yet he stands against hermother, yet he welcomes her to his realm, yet he permits unrestricted access tohis home, yet he grants her every freedom he’s able.

“Thank you,” she says again. He gives an absent nod, alreadyreaching for another scroll.

She leaves as quietly as she came.

Hades in unsurprised when the first wave of deaths occur.Charon is run ragged in his efforts to ferry them across the river. It’s madeall the harder because Styx keeps her river churning at a fast pace to dissuadeany of the impatient souls from attempting to swim across.

“This is only the beginning,” he warns them. Styx pulls onCharon’s robe, and the ferryman lifts her and settles her onto his hip eventhough his arms are shaking from navigating the boat across her river.“Demeter’s wrath is – far reaching.”

“Is the girl worth all this trouble?” Charon grumbles.

Hades smiles and tugs on the hood of the man’s robe. “Youwere.”

Styx yawns and snuggles into Charon’s side. “I like her.We’ll keep up, don’t worry.”

Hades can’t help but worry. Styx and Charon are young yet,and he hates to do this to them. He won’t go and confront Demeter, however –that’s not his battle to fight. For now, the best thing he can do for Kore isweather the storm of her mother’s anger.

The best thing he can do for Kore is give her time.So that’s exactly what he’ll do.

He goes to Hecate after, a map clenched in his fist. “Timeto expand?” she asks when she sees him.

“It will be,” he says grimly. “it’s better if we can getahead of it.”

Hecate doesn’t disagree. They spend the next three daysplanning it, and a week hence they’ll pull the edges of his realm wider. Ifthey do it right, it will almost double the size of the underworld. If they doit wrong – well, it’s best that they don’t.

He returns to the castle exhausted. He wants to go straightto bed, but he should review the lists of the dead so that they can all be sentto the right parts, to the areas of his realm that will fit them best. If heleaves them in the waiting area too long, not only will they get restless, butit will fill up, especially with the volume they’re going through. A fullwaiting area tends to end in disaster, restless souls causing disasters evenwhen they don’t mean to.

He walks through his palace, souls and other beingsinclining their heads as he passes. He’s already resigned himself to fallingasleep as his desk when he pushes open the door and sees a head of white curlsbent over his desk. “Lady Kore,” he says, surprised. He’d given her access toall parts of his realm. He still hadn’t expected to find her in his office. “Issomething wrong?”

She’s got ink smudges on her cheek and her dark purple dressis wrinkled. “I’m nearly finished,” she says, eyes unfocused. “You’ll want tocheck it over, of course. But I’m a quick study. I’m quite certain I’ve gottenit right.”

Hades doesn’t understand. He walks over to her, and spreadacross his desk are the new names of the dead, and Kore has written a numbernext to each name. The numbers are the same that flash across the map hung onthe wall – each one corresponding to a sector of his realm. There are scrollsand scrolls of names that are the product of Demeter’s temper tantrum, onesthat had built up while Hades had worked with Hecate to ensure that there wasenough room for everyone.

All but the one currently spread out on his desk iscomplete.

“You must have been working on this for days,” he saysblankly. “You didn’t need to do that.”

She smiles at him. She has such a pretty smile. “You didn’tneed to let me stay, or shield me from my mother.”

“That’s not the same thing,” he says. He had decided he wasgoing to help her. That didn’t mean she needed to help him in return.

Kore reaches up, her fingertips lightly dragging against thedelicate skin beneath his eyes. “You’re exhausted. Go to sleep. I’ll finishthis up.”

“You don’t need to,” he says again, and he can’t stoplooking at her. He doesn’t know why.

She tucks his hair behind his ear and says, “I want to. Getsome sleep.”

He walks back to his room, but all he can think of is Kore’sfingertips on his skin.

The weeks drag into months, and the death toll grows everhigher. Throughout it all, Kore is there.

She’s at the river’s edge to help unload the new souls fromCharon’s boat. She’s there when Styx falls into an exhausted sleep, letting thegirl rest with her head pillowed on Kore’s lap. She’s there, every day, byHades’s side, effortlessly shouldering half the work to keep his realm running,to keep everything smooth.

“You know,” Hecate says, sitting across from Kore as shepours over the map of the realm and the population counts of different area,“this is the most successful seduction attempt of Hades I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m not seducing him, I’m helping,” she says absently, thenlook up at her, “Wait, is he seduced? Because I could be. If he’s interested.”

Kore hadn’t known she could want someone beforeHades. The thought of touching Hermes or Apollo curdles her stomach, but Hades– that excites her. She’s never felt this way before. But she didn’t thinkHades felt the same. He doesn’t touch her, doesn’t look at her. They spendalmost every minute of every day together, and not once has he sent her acovetous glance.

Then again, if he were the type of man to covet her, shewouldn’t love him.

Because she does love him. She’s known that since thebeginning.

Hecate laughs and taps her on the nose. “My dear, he’swalking on clouds, even as your very presence threatens to plunge this realminto ruin. I would consider him quite thoroughly seduced.”

“Does he love me?” she asks, and she sounds young, and it isa childish question. But it’s important. If Hades loves her, she has a plan. It’sa plan that’s been lurking in the back of her mind since that very first day,since Styx let something slip that Kore is sure she didn’t mean to. But – shewon’t do it if Hades doesn’t love her. She won’t repay his kindness withbetrayal if he won’t forgive her for it.

Hecate is silent for a long time. She sounds surprised whenshe says, “You know, Kore, I think he does.”

Hades loves her.

She loves him.

There is a marriage in her future, if she does this right.But it will be no gilded cage – she’s tired of looking to other people to saveher, looking to Apollo, to Hermes, to Hades.

She’s going to save herself.

Kore hasn’t used her powers here, unsure of how spring wouldconflict with death.

She does it now, in the middle of the night, when Hadesslumbers.

There’s no life in the earth surrounding the palace, but itdoes not worry her. She is the daughter of Demeter, she is the Goddess ofSpring. Life from death is what she does best.

She takes off her shoes and digs her feet into the ground,closes her eyes, and uses every ounce of her power to turn this barren landinto – something else.

The trees are first, great towering things that fill theedges of the courtyard. Then grass, then flowers in every color she canimagine, all in full bloom. Shrubs and rose bushes, delicate ivy crawling upthe sides of Hades’s palace. She covers it all in fauna, in life. Then shefalls to her knees, pushes her hands into the earth, and makes something new.

It’s small, but it’s there. She rejects all that her motherhas made, and, for the first time, makes something completely on her own. It’sbarely a tree, barely as tall as she is. It blooms red, and as she forces it toage, the blossoms grow into heavy, round fruits, just as red as the blossoms. Itis only a single tree, in the middle of the courtyard. She hopes it will beenough.

“Lady Styx,” she says, “I need you.”

The child goddess appears before her, rubbing at her eyes.Her yawn cuts off midway through as she gapes at the lush garden that nowexists where before there was only barren earth. “Did you do this?” she asks,looking down at the kneeling goddess.

Kore holds out her dirt covered hands. They’re trembling.She’s parched and dizzy with the effort it took to make a garden in a placewhere living things aren’t meant to thrive, to exist at all really. Styx takesthem in her own cool hands. “Do you trust me, Lady Styx?”

The child goddess nods.

“Good,” Kore sighs, nearly drooping in relief. “I need youto do me a favor. I’m going to jump in your river.”

“You can’t!” Styx says immediately, grey eyes wide. “You’retoo weak! It will kill you!”

Kore smiles.

“Yes. It will.”

Hades is pulled from his bed and thrown against the stonewall with such force that, if he were not who he is, he would be dizzy from it.He blinks up at Hermes towering over him. Charon shimmers into existence behindthe messenger god, scythe raised to behead him. “Don’t,” Hades said.

“You dare tell me what to do after what you’ve done?” Hermeshisses.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” he says, and points.

Hermes turns. Charon still has the scythe raised. “Whydidn’t you stop her? What is the pointof you if you simply let her die?” Hermes reaches out a hand – Hades doesn’tknow what Hermes is planning to do, and he’s not interested in finding out.

He’s up in an instant, grabbing Hermes’s wrist before he cantouch Charon and holding it just tight enough that his bones creak in protest.“None of that now,” he says mildly. “What’s all the fuss about?”

“You need to come to the river,” Charon says. “The rest ofthe twelve gods are there. They are angry.”

“Demeter as well?” he asks. He’s surprised. He didn’t thinkanything could entice Demeter to face him once more.

Hermes tries to pull his arm back, but Hades doesn’t lethim. Charon is still standing within hitting distance. “Of course she’s here!Her daughter is dead!”

He stares. “What are you talking about? Kore is fine. She’shere.”

“My lord,” Charon says quietly, and this is impossible, evenif Kore had died she would simply end up here,there is no true death unless he wills it.

Unless –

“STYX!” he roars.

She doesn’t come. For the first time, Styx does not comewhen he calls.

“Come with me,” Charon begs, “Please, my lord. Come withme.”

Hades goes. They go through the courtyard, and he’s soastounded by the changes that his legs forget to move at the sight of it all.There’s a garden in the land of the dead. Flowers bloom. Tree branches hang lowwith heavy fruit. But he’s drawn to something else – there’s a small tree rightin the center that looks almost as if it’s glowing. He reaches out and touchesone of the round red fruits that he’s never seen before, and as soon as hisfingers press against the firm skin it drops into his hand.

Charon tugs at his arm, desperate, “Please, my lord, wedon’t have time.”

He nods, absently tucking the fruit in a pocket of his robe,and following Charon to the edge of the river.

Hermes, as the messenger god, is the only one able to enterhis realm without his permission. Across the grey and angrily churning riverstand all the others – Apollo, Artemis, Hestia, Athena, Hera, Poseidon,Hephaestus, Aphrodite, then at the end stand Zeus and Demeter. Hermes next toApollo, arms crossed.

“What have you done?” Demeter spits, and Hades is sure thatZeus’s hand on her arm is all that prevents the goddess from attempting to leapacross the river and tear his head from his neck. “What did you do to her?’

“Hades,” Hestia says quietly, “she – we all felt it. How didshe die?”

Demeter howls and leaps at Hestia. Poseidon stands betweenthem and holds her back, an utterly bored look on his face. “Brother, anexplanation, if you please. Some of us have our own realms to attend to.”

“Lady Styx,” he says, forcing a calmness he doesn’t feelinto his voice. “Please come here.”

There’s a moment when nothing happens, and if she makes himto track her down within his own realm, he will be cross with her. But then she appears in front of him, shoulderhunched nearly to her ears, and her grey eyes wet. “I only did as she asked!Don’t be mad at me!” she hiccups and says, quieter, “Please don’t be mad atme.”

All at once, the entirety of the fury that had been buildingin Hades’s chest leaves him. The sorrow is just as strong, but no matter what,getting angry at Styx will solve nothing. He bends down on his knee and reachesout to touch her shoulders. She flinches away from him, and he pauses. “LadyStyx,” he says softly, “I would never hurt you. You know that, don’t you?”

She nods, a quick, sharp motion. He slowly holds out hishands, waiting, and doesn’t bother to hide his relief when she places her cold,trembling hands in his.

“Did Kore jump in your river?”

Styx nods.

It’s what Hades expected, but he has to close his eyesagainst the tidal wave of grief that threatens to overwhelm him. The River Styxis the barrier between life in death, and as such it is neither. Those who diein the river do not go to the underworld. They are simply unmade, their bodiesdissolved and their souls broken into a thousand lost pieces. “Why?”

“She said it was the only way,” Styx look anxiously into thedepths of her river, “She’s running out of time. I told her she didn’t have alot of time, that she had to do it quickly, that I would not be able to helpher.”

Hades doesn’t understand.

“What is she talking about?” Apollo demands.

Hephaestus rubs his wrists, “Styx, are you saying – that’simpossible, she wouldn’t have enough time – she wouldn’t even be able to think to do it.”

Just then, cutting across the air: “I hadn’t expected anaudience quite this large.”

Everyone turns toward the voice.

It’s Kore.

Her eyes are now as white as her hair, and she’s almosttransparent. Across her body are tiny cracks of pulsating grey – places whereshe’s used the clay of the river to push her soul back together again. “You didit!” Styx cries, running to the edge of the river.

“Thanks to you,” she smiles, “Your river tore me apart, asit must, but you did a very good job of making sure enough of me stayedtogether so that I could find all my own pieces.”

“What are you playing at?” Demeter snaps, eyes wild. “Getout of that river, this instant!”

“She can’t,” Hades says, heart clenching in his chest. “Sheisn’t alive. Not really. She is simply of the river – if she leaves it, shewill be of nothing.”

Is a cursed river spirit the only escape she could see? Itis a clever one. Demeter won’t dare touch her, can’t touch her, for all that bound Kore to her mother died alongwith her, but – but it is not a life.

She walks across the surface of the river until she’s almostclose enough for Demeter to touch. “I am Kore no longer,” she says, faceimpassive. “I am of your body no longer, my power is not from you any longer. Iam not something you can control anylonger.”

“No,” Demeter snarls, “Now you are dead. Is it worth it?”

The woman who used to be Kore smiles. “Yes.” She turns andwalks back across the river, to Hades. She holds out her hands. “Did you bringit?”

“Bring what?’ he asks, mystified.

Styx pushes into his side and digs into his pocket. He letsher, and she pulls out the strange red fruit he’d taken from the equallystrange tree. “Here!” She tears it in half. In the fruit are bright seeds thecolor and shine of blood.

She meets his eyes, and her smile softens. “Sorry aboutthis. You’re going to have to learn to share.”

“What are you talking about?” he asks. He hasn’t felt thishopelessly confused in several millennia.

The woman who used to be Kore takes one of the fruit halvesfrom Styx. “I am the Goddess of Spring. Life from death is all I know.”

She bites into the fruit, and the juice drips down her chinlike blood. Her eyes are the first to change, no longer a terrifying white buta warm brown. Her skin darkens and color bleeds into her hair again, her curlsturning the same bright red as the fruit. The grey clay flecks off her skin,and it’s whole and unblemished.

She steps from the river onto the shore. She does notcrumple. She does not dissolve into dust.

She tosses her hair over her shoulder, and with a twist ofher wrist a red gown covers her body. She lifts her skirt and stamps her feetinto the ground, laughing. Trees sprout up around them. Flowers bloom alongwater’s edge.

There is nothing that happens in this realm without hispermission. But he couldn’t stop this if he tried.

“I am Persephone!” she declares, eyes bright. “I am Queen ofthe Underworld.”

Her power is now tied up within his realm, the roots of thetrees she grew are far reaching. She’s twisted the rules of her power and his,and stolen part of his realm out from under him, found every loophole andescaped her mother’s grasp by becoming something she could never touch orunderstand, by becoming something that was already a part of her all along.

If he hadn’t fallen in love with her already, he would now.

“Might you need a king?” he murmurs, stepping closer. Theother gods are yelling from across the river, but he can’t bring himself tocare. “Ruler of the underworld is such a heavy burden to bear alone.”

She grins, all teeth, and when he gets close enough shereaches a hand around the back of his neck and pulls him down until she cancover his mouth with her mouth.

His arm curls around her waist, and she lets him support herweight as he continues kissing her, as she continues kissing him, as they beginthe rest of their lives as King and Queen of the Underworld.

Half of the gods across the river are laughing, and theother half are furious, but Hades and Persephone are unconcerned.

They’re gods. There’s no need for them to stop and breath –they can continue standing on the river’s edge and kissing until everyone getsbored and leaves.

No matter how long it takes.

Hades thinks this is a most excellent beginning.

Later, she agrees to spend half the year with her mother tocool her temper. But her grin doesn’t leave – it is her choice, it is a decisionshe makes that neither her mother nor Hades can go against.

She is Persephone, daughter of Demeter, Queen of the Underworld,wife of Hades, Goddess of Spring.

She is Persephone.

All the choices she makes are her own.

gods and monsters series, part xxiv

read more of the gods and monster series here

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