#i want to grab him by the horns and chuck him across a field

[caesarclowningaround]

spinning Caesar Clown around in my brain like a washing machine on its final spin only it's not stopping or slowing down. spinning him so fucking fast, the rhythmic thud of him hitting the sides sounds like the jumanji drums

[skellebonez]

Because I'm sure this is going to be inevitable, how about some angst for the Chaos Trio (Mei, Jin and Yin)? With 61 and 52

Oh I have been looking forward to Chaos Trio angst since you sent me this, anon. Despite how they act in show... I think Jin and Yin are not exactly harmless. Especially if you mess with people they start to consider family.

The Cursed AU and the Chaos Trio in it come from @winterpower98!

Warning: blood and head injuries, enemy demons limbs (not detailed).

That is not a good hiding spot./I am a really bad actor.

Things had been going pretty well, all things considered. Jin and Yin had no problem getting Mei to join them in a little bit of... let's say "competitive insurance" as it were. They had to make sure they were secured in their own little tech related ventures, and after some financial setbacks they needed extra fallback. They’d planned the whole thing out with her help, more than 2 steps and everything! She was good at that.

The problem was that someone got a lucky hit.

They would have made it out with no problems, if they all hadn't decided going on Mei's motorcycle as a group (which, now that Yin thought about it, was probably incredibly dangerous and illegal with 3 of them on it... not that they cared about legality for themselves but somehow when it came to Mei that suddenly made them concerned). But nope. 1 bike. 3 people.

One lucky shot to the rear tire.

The three of them went flying, Mei landing very impressively on her feet whole Jin and Yin bounced on a bush and thanked anyone listening that demons were sturdier than humans. They didn't thank anyone for the pieces of bike that came flying at them all, and they were certain that they heard a piece make contact with something hard, maybe the nearby light pole, but couldn't be sure.

By the time they looked up they just knew they had a group of very angry demons that were pissed they stole and then wiped their code for... something, didn't matter to the twins what it was. They just wanted their competition out of the way. For solely selfish reasons. Nothing else. Not like they wanted it to see what it was and maybe figure out a counter attack so that certain overpowered people with monkey motifs would have an easier time in the future.

Not a chance.

As they fought off the attacking demons they insisted to themselves they didn't care that much.

"That is not a good hiding spot!" Jin yelled across the battlefield as Yin ducked behind crates. "Just chuck it for now and beat em with the blunt end of something else!"

"Just give me 2 seconds, I can fix it!" Yin yelled back, trying his best to reassemble a part of his sword hilt that had broken off.

"Come on, these guys ain't so tough!" Mei laughed out, easily dodging projectiles and backsliding and slicing and dicing as she went. No one was actually killed, but they were lucky because the only reason for that was the young woman wasn't exactly out for blood. They'd be feeling every single hit well into morning though! She was doing much better than the two of them. "Grab a pipe or something! Wish I had MK's magic building power though, I'd rather not be here all-YIN!"

The younger twin looked up from where he had been crouched, eyes widening as he saw the form of a much larger demon hulking over him and ready to batter him with a club.

Things had been going well. All things considered. Then someone got a second lucky hit.

Right as Mei dove in to push the younger silver twin out of the way.

For a second the fighting stopped. There was just the sound of wood hitting hard plastic and fiberglass as the club was sliced in half by her sword and the lopped off half continued it's trajectory and slammed into Mei's head to lead to her crumbling on top of Yin. Jin stood on too of a pile of crates, watching as a line of red seeped through a crack in her visor and stained the white of her suit.

And then his entire vision was red as he lunged at the demon and sliced, sending his arm flying in the opposite direction.

The demon screamed, holding the stump that was his arm from the elbow down, backing away as quickly as he could. "W-what the hell!?"

"Mei," Yin said softly, carefully clicking the emergency release button to make her helmet digitize away. Her eyes were closed, blood dripping from a slice running along her scalp... but as far as he could tell it was from part of the helmet being cracked and cutting her. She was most likely knocked out from the impact, breathing odd but steady in her unconscious state. "You... we're going to get you to the hospital."

His tone hardened as he carefully laid her on the ground, standing tall as he grabbed his broken weapon and a nearby piece of broken steel.

"You. Are going. To pay for that," Yin said coldly, stance no longer lose and half playful as it had been the whole battle. His stood tall, eyes wide and cold and the demons surrounding them felt a chill run down their spines.

Jin stood in front of him, blood from the other demon splattered across his face and chest in a stark contrast to his orange visage.

This... this wasn't the pair of Gold and Silver Demons they had heard about before. They were known for not taking almost anything seriously, making bad deals and pacts and weird blood oaths they wasted on bizarre favors. They were known for being good at tach but not much else, most demons in the area knew vaguely of their history with the Monkey King but even that ended in failure. Their plans were half baked, goofy, and lately they'd heard they'd gotten roped in with the Monkey King's successor and renewed flame of the Six-Eared Macaque.

The two standing before them did not look like the demons they'd heard about.

Mei hadn't wanted to seriously hurt anyone. The demons heard her yelling as much on the battlefield. But now Mei was hurt.

And the twins did.

It happened fast. They wanted to get it over with quickly. Mei had also not wanted to kill anyone at the very least the twins could do was keep up their promise from earlier in the day to avoid that. And they did.

That didn't mean there weren't lost limbs. Hands and arms. A leg or two. More than a couple eyes were lost. Someone lost an ear. Another a tail and horn.

Injuries they could recover from meant as warnings.

All it took was 3 minutes and the entire storage area they crashed in was a mix of grey and brown and red. Demons holding their injuries or running off.

The one who had attacked Yin and hurt Mei stood in awe and fear, looking down at the smaller twins who has decimated an entire group so fast.

"I-how!?" He yelled, backing up slowly. "This isn't possible, you're not this strong!"

"Who told you that?" Yin asked slowly, tilting his head and watching as the demon realized... he'd never heard they couldn't fight. "We don't fight like this because we don't want to. Never meant we can't."

"Why?"

"We are really bad actors," Jin said, wiping the blood off his weapon on an unconscious demon's shirt. "Why bother trying to hold back when we can just hide it by not trying?" He turned to the demon, glowering coldly as he watched his brother pick Mei up carefully. "Tell anyone who asks nothing. We'd like to keep it that way. Unless you want a round two where someone else doesn't hold us back."

And then they were gone.

~

"What in the actual hell happened?" Macaque asked in an even tone. Practiced even. A dangerous even.

"Well-" "You see boss-" "we kinda-" "-there was-"

Jin and Yin tried to think of a reasonable excuse, faltering as everything they thought of sounded worse and worse in their heads.

The two sat in Mei's hospital room, towels draped around their shoulders. They’d been smart enough to stash Mei's bike somewhere safe and wash off in the ocean before coming to the hospital, less covered in demon blood meant less scared humans when they rushed in with Mei in tow, and it was easy to make the nurses believe them.

Simple bike accident, friend hurt, help please.

With Macaque staring them down with his patented death glower, shadows growing and warping around the room in response to him, it was infinitely harder.

Of course Mei's emergency contact was MK. Of course MK could call Macaque before her parents (who were apparently on their way back from some kind of dragon family business trip when they learned). Of course Macaque would show up almost immediately and begin asking questions.

"It was my fault," Mei chimed in, voice slightly off from having awoken with a nasty concussion. "I thought it'd be fun to go on a joy ride late at night, I've done it before without issues! But, uh... I've never had two passengers before... and we hit something. Don't be mad at them?"

Macaque looked like he believed Mei as much as he believed Tang would lose interest in the Monkey King and switch his field of study to obscure methods of basket weaving. Which is to say: he didn’t. But he sighed, giving Mei a small smile as the shadows returned to normal.

"Ok," he said softly, tone much more gentle with the dragon descendant as he reached out to brush loose hair out of her face. "I won't be mad at them. I'll be very disappointed-" his tone hardened for a second at those words as he turned to the twins with a glower again. "-but I won't be mad. Do you need anything?"

"Maybe a candy bar from the vending machines outside?" Mei asked with a smile.

"Sure," Macaque laughed and shook his head, moving to the corner of the room. "I'll be right back."

He sunk into the shadows, a cool trick that the twins would always be impressed by, and they breathed a sigh of relief at knowing they were alone. For now.

"You didn't have to do that," Jin said, frowning at Mei in concern. Maybe it was just because he was now the eldest in the room, but some kind of protective feel pulled at him.

"I know," Mei said with a tired laugh, laying back into her pillow. "But you guys are like... my bros. I gotta stand up for my bros."

And that made both Jin and Yin pause. They looked at each other, eyes widening as they both came to a realization that was probably a very long time coming at that point.

"Yeah..." Yin said, a soft smile forming on his face. "We'd do the same for you... you know, if you didn't take that hit for me you probably would have kicked everyone's ass way better than us! We barely got out by the skin of our teeth!" A full truth and a blatant lie, but he hoped Mei wouldn't pick up on that second part.

"You know it, boi!" She didn't.

It was odd for him in particular. Yin had never really thought of himself as an older brother before.

First time for everything.

[fizzingwizard]

Episode 41 was another fun one! It doesn’t seem related to the main plot, but that’s ok because we needed more world-building. And it does give us a bit of character development. Most importantly of all, it’s the DESPERATELY needed Sora-focused episode. And it’s all hers. We really needed this for Sora and I’m really happy with how it went down. It’s a simple, easy to follow story, and yet it was still cute and funny and good for Sora.

My one complaint would be that, though it’s great to see Sora be awesome and see her friends appreciate her, she didn’t seem to have something she needed to “overcome” like Jou and Koushirou, or something she had to prove like Yamato and Mimi. There’s definitely an important theme for Sora which, like the others, is related to her Crest. It just didn’t have the gravitas I felt it needed. It was a much sillier episode than Yamato’s, for instance. (But nowhere near as silly as Jou’s.) Still, overall very good.

Pic of the day:

A vision of perfection.

More below!

First off, the animation in this episode is really nice. Almost uniform througohut, and some seriously great expressions. CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

The kids are taking a break (yay!!!! again!! I sweat the producers are reading my blog, HELLO PRODUCERS, THANKS FOR GIVING ME EVERYTHING I ASKED FOR, lol). Taichi and Sora spend it teaching the Digimon to play soccer. Interestingly, some of the Digimon evolve in order to play x’D I guess I can see why Gomamon can’t really play unless he’s Ikkakumon. Plus Tailmon is already Adult level anyway.

It’s really fun to see how much Sora and Taichi both love soccer and love playing it together. Koushirou has a cute moment explaining to the others how awesome Taichi and Sora’s teamwork is.

Sora blows the whistle on Tentomon for grabbing her because you don’t do that in soccer. I think this is a little unfair given that Tentomon can’t really kick the ball that well since he’s got bug feet xD

The whistle Sora has, for some reason, is Jou’s, given to him by his brother so that if he runs into a bear in the woods, he can whistle for help. Lol. That is adorable and hilarious. Still wish it was Hikari’s whistle though

Speaking of Hikari, she and Takeru are happily engaged in making flower crowns together while Patamon smushes the grass.

All of a sudden, these weird, veiny meteors come crashing from a huge island floating in the sky, leaving a crater in the field. Could be dangerous!

Taichi: I’m not afraid. Besides, I’m curious.

Yamato: Be careful, Takeru.

Takeru: Yeah, be careful, Hikari.

omg too cute

I mean look at these expressions and body language. It’s fantastic. I love how Taichi looks like he’s trying not to get too close as he pokes the object with a stick and how Koushirou is like hiding behind his computer lol.

They discover it’s not a meteor, but a fruit. (And look another adorable Taichi face!) Question is, is it edible?

Agumon: Sure is!

Taichi: D:

no seriously I love Taichi being freaked out by his own partner. Lol. It’s one of the best things about Taichi & Agumon. I ate it up in Tri lol

So, I expected Yamato to be the downer of the group here along with Jou, but he’s just concerned that the fruit is too small for everyone to share. Aw what a mom.

It’s also pretty funny that, when a floating island appears and a mysterious fruit falls down with enough strength to leave a crater in the ground, the kids’ reaction isn’t to wonder about what’s going on, but to try to figure out how to eat it lol.

At this point they’re just so used to floating islands that it’s lost all novelty. They’re like, “oh, floating island, been there done that”

Agumon comes up with the obvious solution and Taichi and Sora fly up to the island together to get more fruit. Why only two of them go... is convenience for the episode xD

But it does lead to some good Sora moments and Taichi/Sora friendship. First, Sora is absolutely adorable. Even Agumon comments that she seems in a really good mood and Taichi can tell it’s because of how much she loves playing soccer. The way Sora talks to him, all fast and excited, is just so cute. You can tell she really loves soccer, especially with Taichi.

This episode kinda made me ship Taiora ;_; it was honestly more Taiora than any one episode in the 99 show...

Meanwhile, another giant object starts falling off the island towards the rest of the kids, and Palmon makes THE WEIRDEST SOUND. Like SO WEIRD. I think Yamada Kinoko passed out and made this noise while recording or something bahahahaha

Anyway it’s a refrigerator. Now appliances are falling out of the sky. I don’t understand why it makes the same size crater as the fruit despite being way heavier.

OMG baby Taichi’s hairrrrrrr I cannot

Soon they come across Flymon (why do Sora episodes always involved bugs...? This is the third time lol) who’s abducted a very helpless looking Digimon. They decide to help. Agumon gears up his Baby Flame but is stopped by Sora, who realizes that if they attack they might hurt the victim as well. I assume this is meant to tell us that, while Taichi’s brave and a strategist, another pair of eyes from someone like Sora whose first priority is others’ welfare is a big help.

... except that Sora’s plan for “tackle them” doesn’t seem to me that much better xD It still results in the poor abducted Digimon falling through the sky to her doom... I guess it’s better than falling out of the sky and alsobeing on fire tho

They catch the Digimon, who is Pomumon and just as pathetic as he looks. Meanwhile they’re being attacked by... Tropaliamon? Tropicanamon? lol I already forgot, a big bird with the ability to MELT ENTIRE FORESTS.

Pomumon explains that Evil Tropical Bird-mon and his Flymon invaded the island and started turning all the Pomumon into fruit. When the fruit ripen, they eat them. Pomumon is now the only Pomumon who hasn’t been fruit-ified.

Agumon: ... so... does this make me a cannibal?

Taichi: Maybe now you’ll be mindful of what you eat!

Okay and now the most AMAZING interaction ever, between Yamato and Mimi, and seriously it is a TRAVESTY that they don’t interact directly in the 99 series, I mean LOOK AT THE GOLD WE GET HERE,

Mimi says she hopes there’s fruit or juice in the fridge. Yamato makes an expression like someone just insulted his mother.

They then proceed to argue over what constitutes “juice” and Yamato’s all fired up about it and Mimi’s just like “lol not listening”

IT IS HILARIOUS. Quality content. Mimato shippers eat your heart out

And... this is all they do for the rest of the episode. bahaha. I DON’T EVEN CARE. I love the idea that they fought over this the WHOLE time and never even opened the fridge. The others just had to listen in baffled astonishment xD

Taichi and Sora fight Evil Tropical Bird-mon to save the Pomumon, but Taichi and MetalGreymon get knocked into the pitcher plant that turns Digimon into fruit.

Metla Greymon doesn’t quite fit into the fruit, his horns are really stretching it out lol.

and asdfghjkkl;’‘ TAICHI GETS TURNED INTO A FRUIT TOO, HE’S A DEFORMED BLUEBERRY, HIS GOGGLES THO, LMFAO

i really shouldn’t be as amused as I am

now... I have to say it - the one thing here is, the show has already played its trump cards like Omegamon and WarGreymon. I am sure they have more in store before the end, but the point is, it’s hard to believe Taichi is struggling against Digimon who seem like they shouldn’t have a chance against him. It’s like, you can defeat DoneDevimon, but not Evil-Tropical-Birdmon? You can escape the influence of Millenniumon’s miasma, but not a pitcher plant?? lol

Sora gets ANGRY when Taichi becomes Taichi-fruit. Her Crest of Love glows and brings out Garudamon. Taiora fans around the world screamed.

One way or another, this leaves Sora on her own (yay). And she is a busy girl. She wants to save Taichi first, but Pomumon also needs her help, and Garudamon needs her support while fighting the enemy.

Pomumon: don’t worry about me! I can fly on my own! *fails miserably*

Sora’s face says “I just don’t understand this world,” lol

They are then attacked by Flymon, and Pomumon still pretty much expects Sora to protect him. Sora’s like, “Fine, I’ll deal with Flymon, but you have to go save your friends,” and when Pomumon asks how, she just says “GOOD LUCK” and tosses him away, which honestly made me laugh out loud, you go girl

she’s like QUIT BEING SO USELESS DO SOMETHING ON YOUR OWN and just chucks him

buhahahaha

Pomumon, despite being useless, is able to free one of his comrades. After a brief discussion about how useless they are, they go to save the others.

I believe I can fly

I believe I can touch the sky

think about it every night and day

spread my wings and fly away

Sora thinks back to yet another soccer game where another student did a foul, I guess, on Taichi, and knocks him to the ground. Seeing Sora get so angry and protective of Taichi - omg, it totally squeezes my heat, gah. And it also makes her look so cool. Not just the girl in the back who comforts you when you fall down - also the one who runs up and tells the bully to back off!

that hair tho

Even though he’d been hurt, Taichi encouraged Sora not to quit playing and to win the game. In present time, Sora recalls that instance and uses it to push herself onward:

At this point, I could’ve gotten annoyed: as much as I loved the Taiora friendship and seeing their teamwork, it’s Sora’s episode, and I didn’t want her to succeed because of “what I learned from Taichi.” However, it’s very similar to Koushirou’s episode, where it was the faith Taichi had in him that gave Koushirou the confidence to find the courage he already had. It’s similar for Sora. Plus, since she’s got the Crest of Love, it makes perfect sense that love for her friend would be a motivating factor here.

On top of that - the things Sora thinks about Taichi are then echoed by Garudamon, only about Sora. Sora won’t give up because Taichi never does - and Garudamon won’t give up because Sora never does. You can see the chain reaction: friends building each other up through their support and faith in each other. Very sweet.

buhahahahahaha the freaking taichi blueberry

I really expected Taichi would be a little more wigged out about having been TURNED INTO A FRUIT,  but once he’s free he’s like “Thanks, now let’s get back to the fight!” lol

to be fair there were only a couple minutes left in the episode, no time for freak outs i suppose

They save MetalGreymon who goes to back up Garudamon, but then Sora comes up with a plan.

Of course, it’s related to soccer.

Obligatory Cool Girl Soccer Star Sora shot

They kick the ball to lead the Pomumon’s seed? attack directly into Evil Tropical Bird-mon’s mouth. This... seems to be our kids’ favorite play this season, lmao

While choking on seeds, Garudamon and MetalGreymon launch their attacks and finally defeat him. Yaaaay goodbye weirdass fruit transmogrifying cannibal Digimon bird thing

Taichi tells Sora she’s awesome T______T It’s soooooooo sweet. My Taiora heart leapt

and my Taishiro heart whispered “he said カッコよかった to her but saves すごい for Koushirou <3 “ lol

Soooooo cute. MVP

Garudamon agrees that Sora is awesome

Ending card

So... the honest truth is yeah, this episode wasn’t necessary for the plot at all, and it would have been nice if it had been. But not all of the others’ center episodes were plot-related either. The important thing was for it to be wholly Sora’s episode and give her some Crest-related development. It did both those things.

I really would have liked a conundrum for Sora to fix, but I think the problem there is, since before now she wasn’t getting attention at all, they hadn’t set much of a foundation for that conundrum. The first time around, it was “oh, Sora is kind, so she wants to help anyone she sees” and there was a bit of personality clash with Yamato. Though it was small, it was a good bit of development and useful for two characters. It also led to Yamato and Sora’s friendship strengthening. With Taichi and Sora, we’ve been told they’re friends and teammates, but have not seen many strong examples of that. And, if there’s a fight between them, it could easily turn into a Taichi episode... that’s what I think anyway. So I guess the focus point for this episode was showing how Sora’s deep love for her friends strengthens her already, and maybe there’ll be more complex problems in the future, perhaps when she gets her next evolution... We’ll see.

Anyway. Good episode. So glad to see this show seems to be pretty solidly back on the rails. We only have like 20 episodes left though, seems like a lot but it’ll go fast.

That’s why I’m a bit surprised to see that next week looks like another not really plot-related episode:

Takeru and Yamato are going to a theme park. There’s no context for why they’re not with the others, but my guess is Takeru wanted to go and Yamato took him... easy as that xD I guess we’ll see, but I really hope this doesn’t mean the team is splitting up again.

However, we really do need quality time with Yamato and Takeru as well, so I’m all for this. It’s like the show really has got some self-awareness about how lax it’s been developing characters and relationships thus far and is now cranking it HARD to fit everything in we’ve been missing. Good.

[chasseurdeloup-retired]

The Fast and Furious: Stripe Drift || Jane and Kaden

TIMING: Current LOCATION: Kaden’s apartment and then some fun travel PARTIES: @jane-the-zombie and @chasseurdeloup SUMMARY: FOLLOW THAT MIME! CONTENT WARNING: Reckless driving (motorcycle)

Kaden was running out of sick leave, but he couldn’t possibly go to the station or the shelter covered in black and white stripes. The field would be just as bad. But somehow work had to get done. He could do desk duty from home, right? Only, uh, well, he needed his files. Or anything. There was no way in hell he was calling Gary. He already felt like shit, the last thing he needed in his life was Gary. He sure as shit wasn’t calling Stryder and he had a feeling Sarge was going to have more questions than was worth his time. Which left Wu. He just had to figure out how to get the files without her seeing him. At all. Not even a little. He asked her to leave them at the door. So why was his phone ringing? “Hello? Wu? Are you bringing the files? You can just leave them at the doorstep. I’m very sick, super contagious. Really best if you just drop them off.” he said, adding in a few coughs for extra effect.

“I’m outside, Paw Patrol,” Jane replied, leaning against her bike, files tucked under her arm. Last thing she expected to do today was pick up desk duty for animal control. She pinched the bridge of her nose. Those coughs sounded as real as could be, and she didn’t really feel like walking all the way up to Kaden’s apartment building. “Come on Langley, come and get’em, I don’t really give a shit if you give me cooties or whatever?” If she didn’t know any better, Jane would have accused him of playing hooky. And if she didn’t know that Kavanagh would rather cheerfully throw herself out a second story window rather than miss work, she’d tease him about wanting to spend more time with his girlfriend by pretending to be sick.

“Outside?” Kaden said, his heart dropping to his stomach. He couldn’t have her see him like this. Leaving the apartment hadn’t gone well before, but at least he hadn’t run into anyone he knew. This, Wu? She’d never let him live it down. “Can’t you just stop being an asshole and drop them off? I’m not feeling w--” A chill ran down his spine. The one that meant a werewolf was nearby. Or maybe… “Hold on.” He grabbed his scarf, gloves, and jacket despite the heat, trying to cover up what he could, and peeked out of the door. There was a scuttle, a familiar inhuman movement. A small creature on all fours. The mime that had emerged from the cookies. It was at least ten inches tall now. And it was booking it. “Putain!” He reached inside to grab a knife, but when he looked back, the creature was gone. “Get back here!” he yelled, forgetting the phone was still in hand as he ran down the stairs to try and find the thing. He saw it stretch and morph, pulling itself through the underside of the door. Fast. Far too fast. He ran after it, watching it crawl past Wu and her motorcycle. “Not this time, connard! Not this fucking time!”

Jane was about to mock Kaden for being a big baby when something distracted him… And then he was yelling. “Langley? Langley!” She snapped into the phone, and started striding right to the front door, only for a cat to slip out, followed by Kaden. A striped Kaden. She hung up the phone. “Are you striped?!” Jane asked in amused disbelief, except then she got a good look at what she originally called a cat. “What is that! What is that! Argh!” This was the bad place. The thing stretched and skittered across the pavement way too quickly for it to ever be possible. “WHat the hell is that!” It seemed to grow just a bit bigger, it’s black and white body a stark contrast against the pavement. Jane was moving after it before she even realized what happened, and next thing she knew she was at her bike, chucking the helmet she didn’t wear at Kaden. “Hop on, let’s go.”

Oh fuck, Kaden almost forgot he was striped and covered in the stupid face paint. Almost. Either way, Wu sure reminded him. “Maybe. It’s not by choice, alright! We gotta follow that--” Before he could finish his sentence, he found himself catching a helmet. A helmet? For what? He looked down at it, then back up at her. And her motorcycle. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Wu. There’s no way I’m getting on that thing with y--” Out of the corner of his eye, Kaden saw the creature scurrying away, further and further, about to be just out of vision. A string of French curse words flew out of his mouth as he shoved the stupid fucking helmet on his head and climbed onto the stupid fucking bike behind Wu. “You better drive saAAAAAAAAFE,” he screamed as she took off speeding, his arms barely locked around her before she started.

“You said the same thing about the rollercoaster!” Jane laughed - yes, laughed. She wanted to figure out what that thing was, despite everything. She just barely waited for Kaden to grab onto her before she revved the bikes engine and was off like a shot. The damn thing only seemed to go faster and faster and faster. Jane was known for speeding - in fact, she frequently pushed the bike up to 90-100 miles per hour at night with no helmet on. She caught up easily, gaining on the stupid little mime thing. “What is that!” Jane didn’t know if he could hear her scream over the sound of the bike, the adrenaline and - oh crap, was he screaming too? - Jane wove around a large pickup truck, hardly paying attention as the driver laid on the horn. Come on, come on, come on! And then they took a sharp turn down another large stretch of road. “Will this thing ever stop running?!”

Kaden felt his stomach rolling and reeling as the motorcycle darted through traffic. Putain de fucking merde, was that a truck? That truck almost cut them off. He was going to die. This is how he died. Not by werewolf, mime, or even by banshee, but a fucking motorcycle driven by an almost zombie adrenaline junkie cop. “Slow down, what the fuck! THAT’S A CAR, THAT’S A-- STOP!” he shouted while she clearly ignored him and sped around with no cares in the world. Meanwhile, he was pretty sure he was one fucking swerve away from a heart attack. “And where the fuck is your helMEEETTT.” The sharp angle of the turn nearly sent him spilling off the edge and his arms wrapped around her tighter. He was likely using entirely too much hunter strength but right now he didn’t give a fuck if he bruised one of her ribs or two, he wanted to live. “I don’t fucking know but try not to kill us!”

“My helmet’s on your head!” Jane called back. But it wasn’t like she wore it anyway. She really only carried it around because Marley bought it for it and gave her a look every time she saw her not wearing the damn thing. The only reason she slowed down a little was because Kaden had a death grip on her torso. “Ow - ow - ow! Can you stop! Loosen up!” This wasn’t at all like when she rode with Marley. Except she didn’t have time to think about the pain in her ribs because the fucking mime thing burst off the road and into the field. And, automatically, Jane followed. She surged the bike off the road and down onto the dirt bellow, careening after the fucking thing like it was some really fast rabid dog. “Hold on tight! We’re off roading!”

“I loosen up when you slow the fuck down!” Kaden screamed in her ear. It surely didn’t hurt as much as any time Regan screamed ever, but he hoped it hurt a fucking little after the sheer amount of fucking panic he was experiencing. “We’re what?” Kaden asked as his eyes went wide. Was she really turning onto the dirt. Off the road? Off the-- They were going off of the road. Away from the road. “No,” was all he said at first. And then the ride got bumpier and it was clear she wasn’t turning around. “No, no, no. Wu, no. WU, NO!” All Kaden could do was scream more as they flew through the dirt and grass, his voice breaking up and bouncing with every jostle of the motorcycle. At this point, he was almost okay with letting the fucking thing live. It was fine. He could be a mime forever so long as he never had to do this again.

Dirt, grass, and small rocks kicked off behind them as she sped through the field abd after the mime fiend. Jane watched in some horror as the mime stopped, stood upright…. And then melted into what looked like a black sticky substance. “Uh-oh.” Jane was going too fast to stop, and next thing she knew, they were flying through the sauce on the bike. The bike slid, and for 10 solid seconds, Jane was certain they were going to crash. At least Kaden’s wearing the helmet. But Jane steadied them, swinging the bike around as dirt and mud sprayed back behind them before forcing the bike to jerk to a stop. Jane cut the engine just as she spotted the black, sticky sauce moving across the ground, before disappearing down into a nearby drain. Jane pressed her lips together in a thin line, before wincing. Her ribs? Bruised. But maybe she deserved it. Her thoughts sobered a little when Daniel’s voice echoed in her head -- you’re out of control, Wu. She looked behind her, a little guiltily. “How you doing, Paw Patrol?”

Kaden was pretty sure his screams reached a new decibel as the bike spun out of control. It was nearly impossible to remember that he had to be conscious not to break Wu’s ribs as he clung onto her. It slowed and he thought it might have stopped, but he couldn’t tell because his world was still spinning. Was he seeing this right? Did the mime monster turn to ooze? And, yaah, pretty sure it slithered away. “What the fuck?” he said at the sight of the sauce disappearing into the drain. Then he remembered. They were stopped. He let go of Wu, scrambled off the bike as quickly as possible and considered heaving right then and there. “What the fuck, Wu?!” she said back to her, shouting once again. “Were you trying to get us killed?! Do you normally do this?! Why?! WHY?! I know you’re going to bounce the fuck back but I’m not! And why aren’t you wearing a helmet, if your head gets damaged you won’t come back at all! If you end up as a fucking pancake on the side of the road, no amount of zombie anything is going to let you live!” Kaden screamed again and turned to let a new slew of curse words in multiple languages fly while he tried to get his pulse back down to a respectable fucking level.

Jane winced as Kaden started screaming at her, talking about pancakes and zombies and helmets as well as a multitude of colorful things in multiple languages that she only half-understood. Crap. “Hey, hey! You said follow the mime!” Jane said, hands raised in slight defense. Of course, he was right, but she wasn’t about to easily admit that. “I only own one helmet, I thought it would be better for you to wear it instead of me.” Jane prodded at her ribs, wincing again, before glancing back at him. “Sorry, though. I would have gone myself if I knew you weren’t going to like it. I do normally drive like that - hey.” Jane squinted, leaning forward. Something was off about his face - wait. Wait. “The stripes are gone. Off your face.” She leaned against the seat of her bike, pointing. “You’re clean.”

“I know what I said but I didn’t think you would drive like th-- Wait, what?” Kaden looked down and took the gloves off his hands. His hands. That were flesh colored. And not striped. No black, no white. Pink fleshy skin tone and blue veins. He squished it a bit to make sure. He pulled up his sleeves to check and still, no sign of stripes. “I’m clean? Putain, I’m clean! No more stripes. What about my face? Is my face okay, too?” He pulled out his phone and fumbled with the screen until he opened the front facing camera. There was his face. No paint. No dumb black triangles or silly eyebrows painted on. “The screaming worked, holy shit!” Regan was right! Again! Somehow! He ran over to Wu and picked her up into a hug. “No more stripes!” he said, beaming. And recalling pretty quickly that he bruised her ribs. And that she was his colleague. “Right, sorry. Just excited,” he said as he quickly put her down. “It didn’t go away for a few days, so yeah. Uh, ride back? Slower? Much, much slower.”

“Your face is fine too - oh.” Jane watched in amusement as he pulled out his phone to look at his face. “The screaming? What do you me - Whoa!” And Kaden has seized her, picking her up in a big hug that hurt her ribs. Laughing loudly, Jane shook her head. “Hey! Ow! Put me down!” But her words mixed with laughter as he seemed to sheepishly put her down. She snorted. “No kidding, huh? I guess what they say about Hunters having a killer grip is true.” She poked at her ribs again, feeling the pain shoot through them. Ouch. That was going to hurt for a bit. Well, she certainly had worse. Jane grinned at him when said she could drive back, bending to pick up the helmet off the ground and held it out to him. “Don't worry, I promise I'll only speed a little.”

[svucarisiaddict]

how about mike and the reader going to a baseball game and the reader being amused that mike is so passionate and into the game

“What the hell, ump?” Mike stood yelling with a group of guys he had befriended. “Get your eyes checked!” He threw his hands in the air as he took his seat beside you.

You smirked then took a sip of your beer as the runner got struck out. Sliding your gaze to Mike he was leaning over talking to the college kid that was sitting beside him. It was rare that he just let loose and have fun. This was his first MLB game which was hard for you to comprehend him having lived all over the country.

“I’m going to go for another beer. Want anything?” you asked when there was a break in the conversation.

“Oh, hey. I’ll go,” Mike offered starting to stand.

“No. Stay. Enjoy yourself, okay? You deserve it.” Giving him a smile you patted his cheek. You stood and scooted down the aisle past the other spectators. By the time you waited in line for the restroom, grabbed a couple beers and hot dogs the game was into the 5th inning. “Here you go.”

“Thanks, babydoll,” Mike said as he accepted the food and drink. “This has been a great day.” He took a large bite of his hot dog.

“Of course. It’s nice to see you have such a good time,” you responded as you wiped ketchup from the corner of his lip.

The game was tied going into the seventh inning stretch. Mike raised his arms over his head revealing a small area of his taut belly. Your gaze raked appreciatively over his body; From his strong jaw bone to his cut arms that he had on full display in a tank top, to his perfectly sculpted legs that were clad in long shorts. Even his feet were sexy.

His arm dropped to your shoulder. He put his lips close to your ear and whispered, “keep looking at me like that and we won’t able to see who wins the game.” He dropped a kiss to your head. Mike started clapping when the game restarted.

The crack of the bat made you put yourgist attention back in the game. The ball sailed over left field right to your section. Mike quickly put his glove on and made a jump for the ball catching it easily. He beamed at you then gave you and the others around him a high five.

“Not bad for your first game. I’ve been to hundreds and never had one even come close to me.” Your brow furrowed when his smile dropped.

“I’ll be right back,” he said. Mike stood making is way over across the aisle. He knelt down beside a little boy who looked like he was about to cry until Mike held the baseball out to him. You couldn’t hear the conversation but you got the gist.

“That was very sweet of you. I think you made that little boys week,” you commented.

He just shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not a big deal. Just being a decent human being.”

Mike could never take a compliment. He usually found a way to deny or brush it off. It was a bit frustrating at times.

As the game entered the bottom of the ninth, it had become tied again. Mike, you and half the stadium was on their feet. The batter approached the box and took a couple practice swings. “I can’t imagine the pressure he’s under right now!” you yelled over the noise of the crowd.

Mike nodded in agreement. “I would rather interrogate a perp for hours than to be in his position.”

Just then the batter swung hard. The bat caught the ball sending it into centerfield. A collective groan filled the stadium when the player caught the ball only to be followed by the crowd going wild when it was dropped a second later. The runner raced around the bases as the outfielder scrambled to pick the ball up and chuck it the second baseman.

There was a race between the runner and the ball to home base. He slid in as the ball was caught by the catcher. When the umpire signaled he was safe the stadium exploded in yelling, whooping and cheers.

Mike picked you up in the excitement. When he put you down the two of you celebrated with the other fans around you. The party spilled into the parking lot with people honking horns, yelling, and high fiving still. Mike gave you a piggyback ride to the car to make the journey quicker.

When you made it to the car, there was a line of traffic trying to leave. It was moving at a decent pace considering the number of vehicles and spectators. “So, I’d say your first major league game was successful.” Kicking off your sandals you rested your feet on the dash. You started inspecting your tan lines on your legs, arms, and feet.

“I’m ready to buy season tickets,” he concluded. “Geez babydoll. You got a lot of sun today.” Mike looked over you quickly before looking back to the traffic.

“Yeah. Typical. I’ll have some interesting tan lines that is for certain,” you replied pulling the strap of your tank and bra aside.

“I’d be more than happy to put some cooling lotion on the hard to reach parts, and on the easy to reach ones as well,” he said suggestively.

“Oh, there’s no doubt in my mind. You’re always so quick to lend a hand,” you replied with a smirk.

“It’s a tough job, Mrs. Dodds but someone has to do it,” Mike said before running a hand up your thigh.

“Not burnt there,” you smirked as his fingers stroked the inside of your thigh. “Or there,” you confirmed as his fingers stopped a fingerbreadth away from the juncture of your thighs.

“Maybe I should take a look when we get home. Just to be sure.”

“Not a bad idea,” you said and nodding in agreement. “And I should probably give you a quick once over as well.”

“I like how you think,” Mike said with a sly grin.

The rest of the ride home was spent teasing one another with words and touch. The game was a great time but the ride home was the most memorable part of the day for you, and Mike as well.

[spackeets-written-madness]

One Scholar to Another

A small gift to a friend that wanted to learn more about Cyssa Scourgepaw’s general personality so I wrote this. Something that happened in the past.

Description: Midona both loves and hates Trehearne, her niece, Cyssa Scourgepaw sets out to talk with the other scholar and form a deal. Fandom: Guild Wars 2 Characters: My own, Moma and Surinus ( @nonsense-with-sottises ), Midona, Auderen and Kyrus ( @the-bubble-opera ) and Trehearne Setting: Core, 1325 ae Words: 2214

It was not often that the two warbands met, but when they did, Midona Strifeheart, Pact Commander and Legionnaire of the Strife warband insisted on cooking for all of them; and made sure that there were seconds as well as plenty of space. The other warband in question was the Scourge warband, a skeleton warband much like Midona’s own and run by her niece: Legionnaire Cyssa Scourgepaw. Midona herself also brought some additionals with her: Surinus Ripmind and Paulina Ripclaw, both from another warband and having been invited by Midona to meet the rest of her ‘family’ and have dinner.

Cyssa Scourgepaw was standing next to her own partner, Moma Scourgewind as they both watched Surinus talk with Midona and Kyrus. The pink-haired charr turned to her ruddy-furred partner. “Bet you he doesn’t last three days with her,” she commented. Moma simply chuckled and nodded. 

Unfortunately her comment was heard by another of her warband and Faustus Scourgefang included himself into the conversation. “You don’t have to be mean,” he said as he walked closer to the pair.

Cyssa turned to her bandmate with a done look and slightly raised brow. “Have you met my aunt?” was the only thing she asked with a slight hint that he might have missed a point.

Faustus thought a bit. “Hmmm, well...She ain’t so bad, rough around the edges - though the same can be said for most charr. She’s also kind, motherly, endearing and -” he paused and looked at Cyssa’s expression. It clicked. “Ah… You meant her enemies.”

“Yes I did you blockhead, are your horns too big that they hamper brain-space?” the young necromancer insulted the engineer.

Faustus ignored the insult since it was not the first time he had been insulted by his Legionnaire. “One of these days, I’ll pick up when you mean one thing and not the other,” he commented. 

“And I will celebrate that day.”

Any other conversation was interrupted by a loud snarl conjoined with a sudden and terrified yelp, the three standing around turned their heads to see Paulina holding Fabias Scourgetail by the front of his shirt. “Normally I’d threaten to step on your tail, but I see that you’re a few inches short.” They heard Paulina snarl into the face a very scared looking charr.

Faustus kind of looked at the scene and seemed to pale at seeing his brother in trouble. “I-I’m going to go save my brother,” he said and quickly walked towards the larger female charr that held his brother. 

“Good idea,” Cyssa agreed. She still looked done. Very. She scanned the room they were in, Auderen was snooping around, Lunia was helping Faustus with Fabius and Decima was talking with Maximus. She then looked away because Kyrus called her name to say hi, then looked back and found Maximus’s head in a vase. Cyssa’s face screamed ‘are you kidding me?’ Decima was already trying to get her bandmate’s head out of the vase.

Cyssa spun on her foot in the opposite direction and began to walk away. “Midona, I’m going to my study, call me when dinner’s ready,” she said loud enough for her aunt to hear.

“Alright, dear!” Midona called back after putting a brief pause on the conversation she was having with Surinus. She then went back to her conversation as her niece slipped off to leave her idiots alone.

Dinner soon came and too quickly in Cyssa’s opinion as she wanted more time studying her books on Orr. But here she was, sitting down and eating her dinner. Moma was seated directly next to her on her right and her aunt was to her left. There was a lot of conversation around the table, and a lot of it Risen and Pact based since well, they were at war with Zhaitan.

Some things said by Paulina and Surinus were more Pact as a whole, what they were doing, war efforts, all that fun stuff. Cyssa wasn’t paying attention because she was currently listening to Midona rant about Marshal Trehearne, and the slyvari’s tendencies to go on Priory-esque historical rants about Orr in field while they were doing something rather important. It of course annoyed the soldier since she didn’t particularly care about the history of the place she was killing things in. Cyssa listened to her aunt rant about this guy that she both loved and hated for the duration of dinner until it ended.

Dinner came and it went, then they cleaned up and went to bed to be well rested in the morning.

When morning had come, Midona and her warband were already gone along with the two Rip warband members. After Scourge warband all got ready for the day and packed up their stuff for travel, they all waited outside with some haveing done some stretches.

“Soooooo, Legionnaire? Where to? Fields of ruin? Caledon Forest? Somewhere else fraught with danger and things to introduce my magic to?” Decima asked Cyssa. Decima Scourgemind was the warband’s mesmer and their tower since she was the largest in the warband.

“Depends, how for it are you guys to going to Fort Trinity to help with the invasion?” Cyssa countered.

Her whole warband cheered and started chanting ‘battle! Battle! Battle! Orr! Orr! Orr!’ like a bunch of crazies. After they had checked their Asuran tablets to see if they had the waypoint discovered, they poofed to the fortress. After they arrived, Cyssa instructed them to get familiar with the place before they headed off since she mentioned that she needed to see someone.

It did not take her long to find Marshal Trehearne’s office and she stepped into the open spaced location. 

Guards stopped her before she got any further. “Halt, only the Commander, officers, or those with appointments are allowed to speak with the Marshal,” one said.

“State your name, rank and placement in the Pact,” the other ordered.

Cyssa didn’t seem troubled by being stopped, in fact, she looked ready for that. “Cyssa Scourgepaw, Priory scholar, ex-Legionnaire to the High Legions and niece to Pact Commander Midona Strifeheart,” she said. 

The two guards looked at eachother, then her. “How do we know you’re not pretending to be her niece?”

“I can go get her if you’d like, but you wouldn’t like the scolding that follows.” Cyssa snapped.

They didn’t take too kindly to her threat and were about to call more guards when a sylvari came up to investigate the situation. “What is the problem, gentlemen?” Marshal Trehearne asked as he walked up to the entrance.

The two guards saluted him. “Sir! This charr is claiming to be the Commander’s niece!”

Trehearne paused to take a thorough look at Cyssa, he then seemed to recognise her. “Are you, Cyssa Scourgepaw?”

“That’s what I told Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee here,” Cyssa replied.

The slyvari’s face lit up with a small smile. “Ah, Midona told me quite a lot about you! And that your most distinguishing features were your bright pink wardrobe along with matching pink hair. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, I’m Marshal Trehearne,” he introduced himself.

Cyssa nodded. “I see that she tortures you with lectures about me as you torture her with lectures about Orr’s history,” she jabbed.

He took the jab well, in fact he just looked a bit sheepish. “Well, I do suppose that’s fair.”

“Speaking of Orr, that’s why I’m here. I wanted to compare notes on the history of Orr with you. Mostly as a trade to get your lectures off my aunt’s back before she chucks you into the ocean,” Cyssa said.

“She had also mentioned that you commonly want things by trade for something else. Usually benefiting yourself and another close to you,” he mentioned. The Marshal didn’t seem too annoyed at what she said. He just beckoned for the shorter charr to follow him.

Cyssa followed him. “Oh but sometimes my trades benefit everyone. Sometimes,” she admitted while she sat down on a chair, and placed her books down on the table. Trehearne sat down across from her after he grabbed his own books.

They ended up trading and comparing for nearly thirty minutes before Trehearne had to get back to work, but he promised that he wouldn’t prattle to Midona about Orr for awhile as long as Cyssa kept coming back for them to continue trading knowledge. After that, Cyssa went back to collect her warband and get started with killing dead things. She found them after some searching since they were all scattered throughout the fort, but she had found them and off they went to Orr.

The Scourge warband set foot on the plagued dirt of the risen lands, the call of undead birds filling the stale, briny, ashen air, almost always seemed to follow them as they walked over the sodden dirt. Despite the land being up for years, the dirt never dried, which resulted in it being very akin to a swamp. As they walked over the slightly dried path, they all had their weapons out and at the ready, scanning the rocks and dead coral for any Risen. The land itself was dead, but it also wasn’t, risen just like the army that shambled over it.

The seven charr in the warband had both pairs of their ears trained for noises that would betray Risen. Auderen - being a sylvari - mostly waited for the cue from the others since they had far better hearing than himself.

The minutes ticked by.

Suddenly Lunia let an arrow loose, at the same time, the rest of the warband launched their own ready spells at what would have been a Risen ambush. Lunia’s salamander drake, Ember, also launched herself at a Risen. It was glorious chaos. The warband ended up separated slightly but still in view of each other while they beat back the attempted ambush.

Moma and Maximus in typical elementalist fashion, had set everything aflame and also caused the earth to fight back as well. Decima had made clones of herself to explode and help her focus her magic beams on the various walking corpses. Fabius and Faustus had set up some turrets in record time to assist the warband, Lunia had made it rain arrows and Auderen had picked off stragglers. Cyssa had ended up wandering a little further than intended, since she wanted to make sure that she’d kill everything in the immediate vicinity.

After several more minutes, everything was well and truly dead. Again at least. This allowed the warband to take a breather and made sure that they were all accounted for. No one was badly injured, a little scrape here, a bruise there, but they were able to move along. 

Decima was doing a headcount and realised something. “Uhhhh, guys? The Legionnaire is still missing,” the mesmer said and at once everyone paled and immediately began to look for her trail.

It didn’t take long until someone called out. “I found a Risen downed by some very familiar corruption!” Auderen shouted slightly, which caused everyone to abruptly run over.

They followed the trail a bit further along. Then they heard the voice of the one person they didn’t want to meet right at the moment: Commander Midona. “Scourge warband! Where is your Legionnaire?” Midona asked as she runs up to them with a small entourage of Pact soldiers with her. She kept it formal for now.

The warband all kind of look at each other and quickly got into an argument about who was going to tell her. This resulted in the Commander looking very done as she listened to them banter. 

Maximus stepped forth after a few more moments of arguing. He saluted her first then he spoke, “Commander Strifeheart, we were almost ambushed by Risen, took them down but Legionnaire Scourgepaw wandered off in the battle and we’re following her trail.” He gestured to the dead Risen that had the tell-tale marks of Cyssa’s specific magic. 

Midona said nothing as she quickly took over the group as they continued to search for her niece. They followed the trail to a clearing that had a number of dead Risen that surrounded a rock. On that rock sat the familiar pink clothed necromancer whom didn’t seem to concerned that she had nearly given several people heart attacks. She was jotting something down when they appeared, after she was done, she closed her field journal and stood up from the rock, grabbing her staff. “About time you guys found me, I didn’t leave small crumbs,” was all Cyssa said to the group. Then she decided to give Midona a loose salute after she noticed that there were Pact soldiers with her aunt.

Midona looked like she was about to strangle her own niece, but decided against that for a very heavy and frustrated sigh. Moma shared a similar reaction.

“So, what’d you find?” Fabius asked.

“Oh I found an Orrian tablet that I hadn’t read about before so I stopped to study it,” she answered casually. She then walked past her aunt to head back to the trail. “Oh yeah, Commander, I got Trehearne of your back about his lectures. You’re welcome,” she called over her shoulder as she walked past and led her group off to no doubt continue to down Risen.

[quietpagan]

TH What Falls and What Grows ch. 14

What falls and what grows,

What reaps and what sows,

Cares nothing for beauty or bane;

In changing field,

The flower must yield,

And the weed will grow in again.

  The three of them just stared at each other for a few moments, Draal’s shoulders tensing as Blinky ogled at the felines.

“They, erm…like me,” he muttered, scratching the back of his neck.

“Oh my God…”                                            

He looked bad, but better than when she’d kicked him out. The arm and eye she’d turned to stone during their duel were almost completely healed, to the point where he only had a few stiff fingertips. His torn nose hadn’t finished, but that hadn’t stopped him from putting a bent piece of rebar through the damaged tissue anyway. When he stood he stood tall, without any stoop or limp, and Alex was actually relieved to see him well. Filthy, but well.

He’d made efforts to keep himself clean, but he was in the human underground, not the troll tunnels, and sometimes mere effort just wasn’t enough.

“You realize where you’ve been living,” she asked. A bit of damp grime unattached itself from the ceiling and splattered on her shoulder. “I do have a sense of smell, Trollhunter.” “Yes, and so do we. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up. We can’t stay here long.”

Draal followed behind her and a bemused, somewhat unhappy Blinky with little complaint. Honestly, he just looked happy to see someone who wasn’t a cat.

“I doubt I would receive a hearty welcome home, Trollhunter,” Draal murmured as they walked, his strays trailing behind him like a parade. “Take care to remember that I was banished.”

“It was more like unofficially ostracized. There was no actual banishment or casting-out,” Alex said. She took point, looking around each corner before going forward as Draal pointed out which tunnels to take. “It is tradition.” “It was implied. You can come back at any time.” “They will not be happy about this,” Draal murmured mournfully.

“I have a big sword,” Alexandra replied. Blinky, at her side, looked mildly worried.

“He does have a point, Master Alexandra,” he said quietly, turning to her to try and block Draal out.

“No matter his state, he was dishonored, and thus is unable to return without having earned it.” Alexandra snarled at him in demonstration.

“I also have pointy teeth.”

“And they are very menacing, yes, but you can’t just start swinging fist and foot at all who disagree with you! You are a part of our Heartstone now, a member of our collective tribes, which means that you have to follow the rules that our society dictates! Just because you are the Trollhunter does not give you the right to go gallivanting about, doing whatever you want!” His tirade stopped when he noticed her grinning. “And what, precisely, has you so amused!” Alex laughed, the sound echoing in the damp tunnels.

“I was wondering when you would start yelling at me again,” she said, to his astonishment. Up ahead of them, the tunnel brightened. “You’ve been tiptoeing ever since the whole ‘Changeling’ misunderstanding. I forgave you for that a while ago – I was just waiting for you to accept it.”

Blinky sputtered and blushed, as she knew he would, when they stepped through the torn grate and out of the tunnel.

Alexandra went first, watching the underside of the bridge for any unpleasant visitors. She hated this place now.

Mid-afternoon was raging above them, the noise of cars and their radios echoing inside the canal. Traversing the canal in broad daylight was a fantastically bad idea, given the likelihood of being seen by the humans on the bridge, but they were running out of options. Sunset was hours away, and the sewers were completely unsafe.

Several of the cats that trailed behind Draal spread out, wandering around the edges of the canal.

“Hold on,” said Draal to Blinky, behind her. “You knew she was a Changeling too?” “I was grossly mistaken,” whispered Blinky morosely. “I accused her of such in front of the entire market, to my eternal embarrassment and shame. She proved me both a liar and a fool and wait just one blasted minute, what do you mean ‘too’?! You thought she was a Changeling?” Alexandra’s hair stood up, but she couldn’t tell if it was from the conversation or if she felt someone watching them. The underside of the bridge looked empty, but she knew Bular to be adept at keeping himself unseen. There were also goblins and other Changelings to worry about. She didn’t like the feel of this.

I hate this fucking bridge.

“Is she not?” “Of course not!” Blinky fervently hissed. “I made a humiliating miscalculation, and she proved it with a gaggletack, even! But if you suspected the same thing, why did you not come forward?” Alexandra didn’t hear an answer, meaning that Draal must have merely gestured. She wanted to focus on the conversation but couldn’t, and she turned around with a last, suspicious glance.

“I’ve got a bad feeling,” she said, interrupting the two. “Do you want to risk it, or head back?”

“I would like to get out of this blasted tunnel sometime today,” said Blinky. “This is an…uneasy place, however.” “I cannot go back,” said Draal, gesturing to the other end of the bridge. Alexandra smacked him on the arm, and then wiped her hand on her vest.

“You can stay by the staircase until I can sneak you in,” she said, “But I’m not just going to leave you here.” Draal looked mildly stunned, but Blinky was smiling.

“I can take care of myself, Trollhunter,” said the larger troll.

“But my being Trollhunter means that you don’t have to,” she replied quietly. Draal shifted uncomfortably.

Softy, from the darker end of the tunnel, the faintest, slowest “Waka chaka…” echoed from the gloom.

All three of them stiffened. Alexandra grabbed their arms with her four, and gently pushed them out of the grate.

The goblin down the tunnel looked to be alone, so far, and was watching her curiously. She kept eye contact with it as she backed through the bent bars, not looking away until the others caught her, preventing her from walking backwards into a ray of sunlight.

The shadow of the bridge bowed somewhat from the movement of the sun, and they walked completely silently along the darkened line. Perhaps, if they could get to the other side without triggering the goblins’ ire, they might make it without a fight. They just needed to stay quiet and slow.

All of the cats scattered suddenly, every one of them bolting away from the group and out of the canal, and Alexandra knew…

…’By the pricking of my thumbs’…

…that they were about to get their asses beat.

“RUN!”

Draal caught the horngazel as she pushed it into his hands.

“You’re the fastest, get that portal open NOW!”

He loped away, leaving her and Blinky to trail after him with their stupidly short legs.

Above them, laughter rang.

“Do you just hang around there all day, waiting for someone to come out?”

Bular landed on the concrete with a resounding CRACK, the ground sending up little shards. Alex summoned her sword and chipped off a piece of his arm before he could draw his own weapon, and then booked it as fast as she could away from him, teleporting just a few feet ahead.

Better prepared as she was, she still didn’t want to risk Blinky and Draal’s lives by engaging and possibly dying in a fight.

Bular easily caught up with her, however fast she ran, and he slammed his head into her side, chucking her a good fifteen feet across the shadow. Glow from the armor trailed after her but she could feel the puncture from his horns, and it bled alarmingly across the concrete. Her bottom left shoulder wrenched as she landed badly, and only Draal’s alarmed bellow saved her from getting her head caved in when Bular tried to jump her. She twisted her sword up at the last second and he fell heavily upon it, the blade piercing his hip.

It was odd, how sunstaining smelled. It was slow, like burning dust in an old heater, but although it lacked the decay of flesh it still smelled dead.

The leathers Bular wore protected him from being sliced in half, but his scream of anguish echoed across the canal, and as he fell to the ground his right leg and half his hip and tail turned to stone. Alexandra was too busy trying to stop her own bleeding to celebrate the hit. The adrenalin and pain were making things too fast and too shaky. She smelled blood and it made her heart race sickeningly.

“Trollhunter! Here,” Draal yelled, a bright blue light behind him indicating the opening of the portal. Flashes of green and rough, deep shrieks told her more than she needed to know about how many goblins there really were, and all of them were trying to get through the door.

Bular twisted and grabbed her foot as she tried to run, pulling her over his jagged body to slam against the ground on his other side. She pushed her foot against his face and got a foot full of screaming teeth for her effort, even if she was able to push herself away. Bular levered himself to standing, using one of his swords as a cane, the other no less deadly for the shaking hand that held it.

Alexandra scrambled to her feet and watched his eyes.

At the end of the canal, a flash of blue caught her gaze and she pulled off her helmet, throwing it as hard as she could at Draal, who was coming to help her. It caught him on the collarbone and she held out a hand.

“Don’t,” she said quietly, knowing that Draal would hear her.

“You’re still injured and I need you to go home,” she hissed. “Please keep the portal open, and don’t let anything else in!”

Out of her periphery, the blue mass that was Draal backed up and kicked an invading goblin into the wall, leaving a smear of green. He and Blinky settled firmly against the open portal, slapping away goblins, and she turned all three eyes back on Bular.

The shadow of the bridge had lengthened with the late sun to where she could not dart around Bular without him reaching her, even with his injury.

Six feet to the left, sunlight shimmered with heat.

If I tackle him, I can get him into the sun, she thought, shifting her feet uneasily as Bular carefully watched her movements. He was being curiously and disturbingly silent.

Blinky know I’ve got the Leoht Stone, it’ll be fine, it’ll be fine, it’ll be fine! Maximum effort!

Alexandra ground her feet into the concrete and launched herself at the son of Gunmar, slashing at his face so that he was forced to lean backward and unbalance himself. She tackled him around the middle and the weight of her threw him across the shadow. She thought that she was succeeding, until his arms grabbed her around the middle and suddenly they weren’t so much being pushed by her tackle as falling, directly down onto the concrete. He used her momentum to fling her over his head, and she desperately dug her sword into the ground to keep from rolling backward. She skid to a jolting stop just inside of the shadow.

Bular flipped onto his stomach and pushed himself up with a snarl. He began to lever himself up again, and then stopped, his eyes focused on her right leg. She glanced back at it with a single eye.

The heel was in the sun. And Bular didn’t know about the stone!

With a panicked yell Alexandra summoned her sword and threw it at Bular’s face, rolling toward him in time to catch the hilt as he knocked it away with a shake of his horned head. He grabbed her by her own horns and slammed her face into the concrete. The smells of cement and aggregate and flood residue mixed with stinging blood in her nose and the sudden welling of tears, the sense curiously heightened as the ground eight inches in front of her face blurred dizzingly.

Bular leaned down, using the side of her head to balance himself, and the acrid smell of old blood and digested flesh spread over her face in a warm, close gust.

“I. Saw,” he whispered in her ear.

Utterly immobilized beneath his immense weight, her helmet shivered and screeched as Bular’s claws dug into it.

“I’m half tempted to let you go, just to watch you die by those you’re sworn to protect.”

“How chivalrous,” Alex muttered, the words muffled with half her mouth ground into the dirty concrete. Out of the corner of one eye, Blinky and Draal were occupied with the invading horde of goblins.

Hell with it.

She half-transformed her head and body. Bular was thrown off balance by the sudden lack of horns beneath his hand and he fell for half a second, and that was all she needed. Body made smaller for a critical instant, she pulled her legs over her stomach and shoved them into his abdomen, turning back fully and levering his body off of her.

But even half stone-turned and slower he was massive, and he lashed out with one foot as she tried to scramble away from him.

The heel connected with her injured side, and in a panic Alexandra teleported.

She landed ten feet in the wrong direction, and sunlight blinded her.

Whoops-a-fucking-daisy was the only thought that crossed through her mind.

The sunlight beat down on her troll skin for the first time in years. Her body was warring with her, it knew that despite its immunity it shouldn’t be in the sun, and she fought the instinctive urge to turn to her human form, but –

- Blinky and ­­­­Draal were just in the shadows, staring at her with open mouths, and never had the heat of the sun felt so cold. She was well aware that Blinky knew about the Leoht Stone, but…still. She knew the stone was a lie, even if he didn’t, and never had she intended him or anyone to see her like this.

Back in the shadow, Bular chuckled. Alexandra trembled as he murmured the word she had always hated; the word she trained herself not to flinch at; that motherfucking word that she had not been called by anyone still alive in over fifty years:

“Impure.”

She almost threw up with the beating of her heart so hard in her throat, but as Bular laughed she drew herself up, brushed off her armor, shouldered her sword, and walked calmly in the sunlight away from his stricken form. He made no effort to follow her; the sound of his laughter was enough to dog her footsteps. But where she walked he could not follow, and his eyes burned as they watched her. She’d injured him the worse, but he’d won this fight.

Blinky and Draal both drew away from her when she re-entered the shadow, as if they were expecting her to turn to stone then and there. Alexandra winked at Blinky and stepped through the portal, and was shut back into safety.

Her skin was still warm from the sun. Blood and pain were still pulsing from the wounds on her side and face and bitten foot, and she slid down the wall with a groan.

“I love Sigrid the Shadowless,” she murmured to her knees. “Good work with the goblins, gentlemen.”

“A most fortuitous choice of gem,” said Blinky faintly. When Alex looked she saw that he was actually a bit pale, on the bits that weren’t smeared with green gore.

Alex laughed and nodded.

“I’m not quite ready to spend eternity with those ghostly assholes,” she said, clutching at her side as she banished the armor. Draal knelt beside her and poked at her abdomen.

“We need to take you to Vendel,” he said. “Although…does he know?” Alexandra, who suddenly found herself having difficulty staying awake, forced herself to rouse.

“Hmm? Know ‘bout what?” “That you are a Changeling, Trollhunter. Are we really not talking about this?” Alex pushed herself up with a groan.

“Draal, I’m not a Changeling,” she said firmly, banishing the armor and unlocking the back of the amulet. Her fingers fumbled as she pried the Leoht Stone out of the casing but she managed to shove it underneath Draal’s ridiculous rebar hoop.

“This stone belonged to the Trollhunter Sigrid the Shadowless, and it grants the user the ability to walk in daylight. I’d say it was pretty useful. Help me up.”

Alex pushed her arm against Draal’s chest, forcing him to grab it and pull her to her feet, where she actually swayed.

Blinky swooped into action, activating the crystal staircase and hopping down them as quickly as he could.

“Draal is correct that you need medical attention, Master Alexandra. Wait right there, please, I shall fetch AAARRRGGHH…”

Alex ignored him and started down the stairs, leaving smears of blood on the glowing crystals.

A trickle of blood tickled the back of her throat and she coughed. Damn, her nose was broken again.

The loud echo seemed to loosen Draal’s tongue, at least. Alex had wondered vaguely how long he could stay quiet.

“Why did you lie to Blinky,” Draal said as he helped her over the wider gaps in the stairs. She hopped a little on her unbitten foot and glared at him.

“I didn’t lie,” she said calmly. “I’m not a Changeling.”

“I once had an understanding with an Impure,” he returned. “I recognized your scent, eventually, and your habits.”

Alexandra stopped, and so did he, and he backed up when she turned to him with glowing eyes.

She wanted to throw Draal against the wall and threaten to remove a limb, for calling her that – but it would do no good. Her heart wasn’t into threatening someone she finally would admit to considering a friend, and she knew that being as monstrous and violent as possible, although it was significantly easier, was not a better alternative to actually being open and honest for once.

Her fists clenched, but she did not draw her sword.

“Don’t call us that again,” she said quietly. “I honestly don’t care what you think of Changelings, personally or in general, but don’t call us that again. There is nothing about me that is impure.”

She grabbed Draal’s filthy arm again to see what he would do, and when he didn’t flinch or back away further she leaned on him again.

“Why didn’t you tell Blinky,” she whispered.

“I…I spent many long days pondering what to do, when I realized what you are. You were chosen by the same amulet that chose my father, and which had refused me. You spared my life, and saved it again today. Whatever you may be I believe you have earned your right to be here, and to have your secrets.”

Alex nearly wanted to cry.

“Damn straight I have,” she murmured furiously. “I guess this means I won’t have to threaten you with decapitation?” The giant blue idiot’s laughter shook the crystal stairs, just as AAARRRGGHH and Blinky reached the bottom and began to climb.

“If it would make you feel better, Trollhunter,” he said. Alex let go of his arm and allowed AAARRRGGHH to pick her up like some blood-smeared, eight-foot baby.

What an asshole.

 Vendel was not amused to have a bleeding Trollhunter brought inside the Heartstone, and even less amused to hear about the Bridge. Blinky filled him and AAARRRGGHH in on what had happened as AAARRRGGHH placed Alexandra down on a stone table.

Vendel moved aside a few odd-looking bits of his work and held an old eyeglass up to Alexandra’s side, peeling back the edges of her blood-sodden vest to see the puncture. After a brief glance he set his staff against the table and moved forward for a closer look.

“Were you even wearing your armor,” he mumbled grumpily. Alexandra hissed as he poked at the hole.

“As a matter of fact I was, but Bular decided that my stomach was a good spot to smash his face into.”

“Hmph. I am waiting for the day I hear that you have gone the same way as poor Unkar the Unfortunate. You certainly seem to encounter Bular enough to make it a distinct possibility. Disrobe.”

“What can I say,” Alexandra croaked, sitting up with difficulty and trying to get her wrenched arm out of her vest. “I’ve always had a thing for tall, dark, and murderous.”

Vendel put a massive hand to her back to balance her, and rolled his eyes.

“Deya save us from a Trollhunter with a sense of humor,” he said. Alex dropped her vest on the floor and he lay her back down.  

He worked in silence from that point, save for the occasional mumble, and Alexandra did not dare relax. Finally laying down was tricking her brain into thinking that it was time to actually sleep for once, and she needed to be alert for the right moment to make her escape. Getting medical attention from someone who knew what he was doing, instead of buying a poultice or a healing crystal at a stall and hoping that it would be enough, was great, but not when Vendel was suddenly perfectly in place to see how quickly troll medicines worked on her Changed physiology. She couldn’t relax, not now. Draal was still waiting at the portal entrance, and she needed to get out before Vendel wondered why her skin was healing so much faster than it was supposed to.

He made sure that her shoulder wasn’t dislocated and set her nose back to its usual crooked place, but otherwise paid closest attention to the puncture on her side. After an agonizingly long time, Vendel declared the wound too shallow to have missed anything more than muscle and fatty tissue, and he slathered something tingly over it.

“How long have I got. Be honest.”

The old troll snorted as he wiped his hands.

“With any luck, several centuries more,” he said, surprisingly softly. “With each battle you make you seem to strike a crippling blow. Perhaps next time you’ll actually kill the vicious brute.” “’Thought you didn’t ask me to kill Bular,” Alex murmured. Vendel shook his head and walked over to the side of the cavern.

“It seems that I do not need to, Trollhunter,” he said. “By yourself you’ve come closer to it than most of your predecessors.”

He put a hand to the wall of the Heartstone and bent his head. After a moment of silence, a tiny chuck of yellow crystal broke off of the wall to his left, and he deftly caught it.

Alexandra stared with wide eyes as he walked back to her and pressed the crystal shard, as wide as her hand was long, against her side.

“What did you just do,” she asked. Vendel used his staff to pick her filthy vest off of the floor.

“The Heartstone shares its essence with us,” he said, “and on occasion will also share pieces of itself to hasten a troll’s recovery from sickness or injury. Keep that on your side, and hopefully I will not have to see you in here anytime soon.”

Alex was just glad that she was allowed to leave so soon, but he stopped her with a sharp tap on the shin.

“Don’t move,” he said grumpily. “There are a few medicines I have to give you, and I’ll have AAARRRGGHH take you back to your chambers. The less you move, the better.”

Alexandra innocently languished on the stone table while he slowly stomped away, and when he was finished packing her a medicine bag she swung her legs over the table and hopped off, failing to bite back an anguished yelp but managing to snatch the bag from Vendel’s hand and book it to the exit.

“Trollhunter, get back here!” Alex gimped away as fast as she could.

“Thanks, I feel great!”

She heard Vendel mutter something angrily, his staff thunking against the floor, but he did not pursue her.

“Then I will heavily advise you to not walk until tomorrow morning, at the earliest, for all that I expect you will listen to me.”

“Of course, but I’ve still got to go fetch Draal,” she said, the door closing behind her just as she heard a startled yelp.

“What?!”

  Alexandra could have said a lot about the troll equivalent of twiddling their thumbs, when she laboriously climbed up the stairs to find Draal balancing bits of rocks and crystals into little stacks, but for the lost look on his face she said nothing except an order to carry her back down.

The market wasn’t as empty as she would have liked when they entered, and enough trolls were out and about to notice Draal the Destroyer’s homecoming. She’d made Draal put her down, not wanting to be carried in plain sight for the second time that night, and her slow, painful pace hampered their progress.

“What is he doing here,” said a one-eyed troll. Alexandra shooed Draal past him and elbowed aside another who was in their way.

“He’s here because I asked him to come back, and you don’t actually need to be assholes about it,” she said firmly, making a few members of the crowd tut disapprovingly.

“Everybody have a good evening,” Alexandra yelled, glaring at the trolls in their way until they backed down. She slowly led Draal through the marketplace and into the residential quarters, where he picked her up again without her needing to ask.

Her rooms smelled better, at least, since she’d gotten the gnome to start taking out the mess that the cats made. He still lived in a hole in the wall of her bathroom, but enjoyed the wrappings of whatever foods she’d bought over the day, and the cats had learned not to try any play with him lest they get a tiny, painful bite on whatever offending foot tried to bat at him. She saw him skitter back into his hole as Draal set her down and closed the door.

“Just stay here,” she said, gently shooing two cats away with her foot. The felines clearly recognized Draal as the person who had brought them to Alexandra, and they crowded around him. “Your old place was taken over, I already asked. Unless you’d like to stay in your father’s rooms?” Draal, knuckling a happy cat on the head, murmured a negative.

“I have not visited those rooms in years,” he said quietly. “It would not feel right, even now that he is gone.”

Your father sucked as a dad, Alex thought, resolving to bring some of her cats over to Kanjigar’s place just so that they could shit on his floor.

“I’ll take his room,” she said instead. “Everyone will be expecting you to stay there, not here. I’m still picking through his library, anyway.”

“You are bleeding on my floor, then, Trollhunter,” said Draal with a faint smile. Alex picked up her bitten foot, examining the tiny smear of blood that came from the toes.

“It adds to the décor,” she said. Draal snorted and lightly shoved her; the strength of the blow sent her tumbling roughly onto the nest. She kicked Draal in the leg when he sat next to her and grabbed her coddled-together medical kit from the floor. The brief, vaguely fond exchange was almost too friendly for Alexandra’s comfort, too close, too familiar – but in all honesty she didn’t have the energy or the heart to keep more of a distance.

Bloodied vest and pants were added to the pile of leathers on the nest, and he dabbed a sweet-smelling tincture over the ragged puncture in her side. The fragment of Heartstone that Vendel had given her was applied to the wound.

“Hold it there.”

Alexandra patiently held still as he tended to her wounds, feeling the aches in her body slowly build up as she allowed her muscles to finally relax. The tension that seemed to hold her upright fled, and every hit and bruise made itself known.

Alex almost fell asleep while Draal was wrapping up her foot; she awoke to find herself slathered in poultices and ointments, with a fluffy black cat curling up between her left horn and her cheek and Draal settling in behind her.

“Should call yourself ‘Draal the Cuddlebug’,” she mumbled sleepily. A crystal-laden arm slid under her back and pulled her onto her side, just as the other one crawled over her torso and pushed her back against his chest.

“No. No. You have your own bed now, let me go.”

Something that felt like a face pushed into the back of her head, and she summoned her helmet just to spite him, moving her head so that her back horns poked him in the cheek.

“Get your goddamn rebar out of my fucking hair, you jackass.”

“You are welcome to leave, Trollhunter,” Draal murmured. His arms loosened enough that she could wiggle out without difficulty.

“I don’t want to exacerbate my injuries,” Alex said. She was seriously enjoying the warmth that he gave off, especially since she was still undressed and chilly from the poultices.

“Good excuse.” “Shut up and go to sleep.”

  A/N: Bitch you thought. I thought. We all thought. I’ve got the original chapter where she really did admit to being a Changeling stored and I’ll post it after a bit as a ‘what-if’ chapter, but after much deliberation it would have complicated the story too much at this time of the telling. Usurna and the Tribunal would have been alerted and Alex doesn’t have enough support within Trollmarket for that kind of reveal yet. Also, making her trust Blinky and Draal with something so close to the chest after she’s only just started to open up didn’t really rub me right for her character. She’s been secretive and reticent about getting that close to people for decades and she’s not going to change that in just a month or so without some serious character development and friend-making.

AHHAH HAH YAASS I LOVE fight scenes and I’ve been hoarding this scene for months.

What Blinky doesn’t know, and wasn’t around to witness first-hand, was that the stone of Sigrid the Shadowless doesn’t make a troll immune to sunlight, but turns them human temporarily (in my headcanon). Vendel knows this, at least, but fortunately he wasn’t around for this fight.

I don’t think that the Gumm-Gumms in the actual armies had much to do with the Changeling spies, so after so many centuries I doubt that AAARRRGGHH would have recognized her scent. But Draal damn dated a Changeling, so he’d recognize her scent after a while, especially since he was living with her after their fight. I’ll also make mention that she doesn’t smell exactly like a Changeling anymore, and you’ll see why in the next chapters. She’s funky smelling if you really concentrate, mostly troll but with a little Changeling mixed in.

For Deya’s origins I looked up the Welsh legends of Changelings and edited a little bit. It’s actually quite fascinating. And did you know that there’s a place in Cornwall called Mên-an-Tol that has a circular rock and a legend of getting your real baby back if you passed the Changeling kid through the hole? I’m not kidding.

And we’re back to grumpy cuddles. This will not be an Alex/Draal fic, I think, it’s just platonic cuddles. Alex would probably jump him if he asked, but she’s got enough on her plate without worrying about a whole relationship on top of everything else. Both of these assholes are a bit starved for physical affection at the moment and will get a little cuddly and close, but I’m not really feeling a whole relationship here. I’m not making nudity a bit problem for Alex; she’s never been shy about her body and I don’t think she connects completely with her troll form yet.

[dndfuckhouse]

session 16 - a cultist’s work is never done

> 🎵  DND Ambience - Evil Temple / Michael Ghelfi 

Picking up where they left off the group finish chatting wistfully about their hometowns and the various methods of procreation known to them and look towards the now unlocked metal door at the end of the chamber.

Before the party shuffle through Keva attempts to check it for traps, finding nothing the group push it open and peer down a corridor behind it. Staring down they see a similarly cobbled hallway, though it seems to curve at a point obscuring their vision further, otherwise it looks clear as any they’ve walked so far, bracketed by magic torchlight on its walls.

Han chucks a stone down to check for anything fishy...it seems to roll down the hallway with ease. The group then debate if they should send someone ahead first to stealth and check it out. Finn offers again to float down in his mist form.

Han: should we have one person stealth forward? the rest a couple of feet behind? Finn: if you're that paranoid i can go ahead in my mist form again. Rokka: that sounds like a good plan han! Psalm: that's a good idea finn Finn: 2 good ideas what will the party do

Finn: chip i do my thing Cimmorro: FINN VAPE? Han: finn juul WHERES MY JUUUUUUUUUUUUL Cimmorro: WHATS A JUL?  are u flammable,  watch as he burns over a torch or something

Psalm: idk that much about vaping Plum: sarita wtf do you go to college

Finn transforms into his mist form and floats down the hallway, it winds and turns giving him the feeling that he’s slowly traversing downward, the corridor seeming to widen in size. After some time he comes across what looks like the opening to another chamber, a set of black metal double doors in front of him. Not spotting anything suspicious on his float down he floats back towards the party.

After about 10 minutes time pass, the group get worried and decide to follow ahead, bumping into the cloud of finn on his float back, he quickly transforms back into his regular form.

Keva: she flinches and makes that paul rudd face when she remembers its finn Psalm: psalm has nothing to say about running into the finn cloud Plum: i wonder if plum isn't tall enough to bump into it Rokka: rokka gasp for air before holding his breath so he doesn't breathe in finn which he fails to

Finn: >finn looks a bit confused as to why theyre all here "needless to say the path is safe but you're all aware of that by now. a bit reckless for being so paranoid if i may say so." Rokka: just worried about you finn Finn: did that much time pass? Rokka: felt like it Psalm: not that we didn't just fight clones of ourselves after being a bit reckless or anything Finn: "i see. in that case i apologise." >contemplative sprite

The party move to inspect the large set of double doors, they seem to have a ornate design to them, looking at them they spy the shape of horns and talons melded across it, the door doesn't appear to be locked either. Eyeballing the design psalm picks up that it definitely appears infernal in nature at the very least, the design could be reminiscent of devils of some sort, though he cant really place anything specific.

Deeming the door un-trapped the group ready themselves as Psalm uses mage hand to open one of the doors. It creaks a little bit but nothing else seems to happen, looking down the party see the corridor continue beyond it, opening into what looks like a very large chamber. Han briefly throws a stone again to test the corridor, no reaction again.

Rokka: "COOL A CHAMBER" rokka waltz in Han: both han and i age 20 years Finn: finn just. constantly calculating whether they're dumb or not Plum: i hope theres no single lich in here looking for a partner

Han: psalm: WOW KINDA DARK IN HERE ! Psalm: no please

Finn: well since han threw the rock and it was fine i wanna walk, wait should we wait for pokemon? Finn: I MEAN. POKI Cimmorro: .

> 🎵  Maternal Heart / Silent Hill 3 OST.

The party choose to walk through the door, as they walk down the small corridor they spy small ...what look like vents close to the ground. Taking note of them they walk further to the precipice of the corridor where it opens into the larger chamber. As they get closer they see what looks like a large pool in the centre, filled with a red liquid and surrounded by red runes, letters and symbols on the floor.

In front of it stands a staircase that leads up to a higher platform shaped like a circle over the pool, it seems to be bound with a tight thick rope. Staring the group notice that it seems to lead up to the top of a tall black pillar in the centre of the pool, pointed at its tip and faintly stained with red, it's quite the structure.

Looking about the rest of the chamber they see thick black and red ornate curtains adorning the walls and a set of columns in front of the pool. They also see at the end of the room, three short corridors behind the pool with a large black ornate door at the end of each of  them, seemingly also connected to the red circles around the pool.

To the left and right look like sets of staircases, both leading upwards somewhere, listening close the party can hear what seems to be some sort of whispers or chanting.

Cimmorro: cimm's just gonna "SOME PEOPLE HAVE BEEN BUSY HERE HUH!" and walk over to try and read shit Psalm: can i try reading too Keva: keva stays at the edge of the room lmao she is Skeeved Plum: so is plum “y’all are just walking in??” Rokka: i also stay back Han: han also stays back with keva, esp after seeing the pool lol Finn: i wanna check if its blood for real

Psalm: maybe we should've collected the blood from the clones, just to see if it's the same substance although i'm not sure how that'd help, i'm honestly just a bit curious Cimmorro: we'll find out if it's from the same pool if something comes out to grab the both of us. would be amusing Rokka: that sounds terrifying Psalm: sounds pretty amusing to me Cimmorro: cimm smiles at psalm "yeah atta boy that's the spirit" Psalm: *grins* Plum: i’d rather not have to deal with another one of you again Psalm: i dont blame you Finn: finn kind of just goes [raised eyebrow] to himself overhearing cimm

Finn: NO JUST A LITTLE LICK. like connor Jez: who Finn: dont worry about it jez Han: dont worry bro its just a nightmare

Plum: finn hasn’t been in a bite one of us or die situation yet where’s the romance anymore get it together guys Guest Appearance By Celebrity Aqua: Cmon finn drink the rancid bog blood

Cimmorro: finn, is your field trip going fun so far mate Finn: if this is your idea of a fun field trip i really don't want to go on one with you 🙄 Cimmorro: there goes my ideas for a first date then Finn: "d-date?" finn tries to brush it off quickly though

The party move to investigate the chamber, slowly the more reluctant ones walk in and peer about as well after watching the others waltz inside. 

Psalm and Cimmorro inspect the arcane writing and runes, between the two of them staring at the red on the floor they discern the writing to be magic circles of some sort, enchanted by something in runes they can't quite comprehend, they do recognise bits of infernal throughout however. They also read what they assume to be a name of some sorts, a ‘Mephistopheles’

The lines seem to give some sort of power to the pool and the three doors at the end of the hallway, though they aren't sure what exactly. They get the feeling they’re part of some ritual similar to the last they encountered, involving the shedding of blood on top of the pillar. 

Han walks in and cranes her hear to discern where the sound of chanting is coming from. She hears it coming from the left staircase, but it feels like its kind of echoing around the whole chamber anyway. Rokka joins her in using his canine hearing, in combination with the chanting he hears the faint sounds of a conversation also coming from the left. Additionally, behind him back where the party came he also hears the sounds of faint talking coming from one of the vents, the one on the right wall in the corridor

Rokka: rokka's ears perk at hearing sounds of people talking and hurries back to tell the others in a semi-whisper tone "guys! guys! there are people here! in the vents! and right corridorrrrrrr" Psalm: does the chanting sound like anything to you?

Finn and Plum walk in and eyeball the pool together, staring at it the liquid seems viscous enough to be blood. Finn moves to dip his finger and takes a taste, he quickly detects the blood of more than one person, it seems to have been collecting here for a while. In his mind Finn is briefly tempted to taste some more, though he also notes that it tastes a little tingly on his tongue, a bit unusual

Finn: "what i can tell you two is that this is fresh blood. of multiple people." finn seems to be unable to tear his eyes away for a good minute,  i choose not to share the unusual taste tidbit. Plum: "easy there soldier" and i hit finn's leg Finn: >finn snaps out of it and looks at plum apologetically

Looking at the pillar the two also notice stains on the sides, seems like the blood drips down from the top into the pool 

Keva moves to take a few cautious steps up the staircase on the left side of the chamber, from this angle she can see that it opens up to what looks like another corridor, though cant make out much else.

Han takes the moment to cast detect portal, quickly she gets a ping from each of the three ornate doors, at the same time Psalm casts Comprehend Languages on himself to see if he can more directly read the runes as well as decipher the chanting.

Han: everyone shut up, those doors are portals to somewhere Plum: uhhh.... how do we figure out where they lead Han: “no way other then activating them and walking through”  han is uncomfortable here lol

Finn: i watch psalm curiously Psalm: mans is just touching the floor Finn: finn: that man sure is touching the floor. crazy. Psalm: i 'll tell you what they're saying in a second Finn: i nod @ psalm and wait, oh wait i guess he wouldnt know if im nodding so ill just say Okay Psalm: hwuhahwa

Psalm: should draw psalm and finn doing each other's nails since they both definitely wear nail polish

Now able to comprehend the chanting, Psalm notes that it seems to be in some coded language, he makes out certain sentences along the lines of "beloved may our lord be, seeing all within his purview" he’s a bit far from the corridor so its hard to hear specifics. The runes on the ground now that he can read them look like some sort of prayers relating again to mephisto directly, but also mention a benefactor, bringing up in scripture some sort of all-encompassing voice. 

Psalm: i think we have an old fashioned blood ritual summoning on our hands

Keva moves to quietly make her way further up the staircase in the meantime, as she does the sound of soft chatter becomes slightly louder combined with the prayer which sounds a bit father away. Slowly she comes out to a cobble corridor, peering to her right she spots a shut wooden door, locked with a silver latch. To her left the corridor goes on, and near the middle of it she sees a group of 3 people, donning red robes and hoods, though two of them seem to be more ornately decorated than the other. 

> 🎵  Null Moon / Silent Hill 2 OST.

As she looks she notices that they appear to be discussing something, she also notices that the corridor seems to be aligned with jail cells perhaps? though its hard to see into them from this angle, making out only dark sack shapes. She cranes he ear to try and listen in on the conversation, 

???: you hear the tiefling muttering something to the one not as elaborately dressed as him “...ou need to be more careful with the brood. Emruz was so very upset one of them had escaped, though now our lord says it was all apart of his design. Sometimes I wonder why she stands as second, she never trusts enough in fate. Of course it was all as planned, his grace would never make a mistake ...” he turns his head to the drow standing beside him “oh please Ida you must discipline the acolyte too, i know you dont like to speak but i'm not good at …” he seems to trail off  Ida: the drow tilts her head in his direction, her eyes staying shut.  ???: “Oh grace, nevermind…” he turns back to the other hooded figure. “For now you’ll stay at your post until Emruz makes a decision...she is leading the prayer right now for our grace, it shall be decided afterwards, understood?” the hooded figure nod, while the tiefling seems to sigh in response “ahh...come Ida i need to check the sigils within the heating dens…”  Ida: The drow nods in response

Keva watches two then walk of to the right out of her vision, listening she hears the sound of a door shut and close as the other hooded figure walks to the left, followed by the sound of a chair getting dragged across the ground and a thump. Once again silence returns to the halls, aside from the faint sound of chanting from down the corridor. She quickly slips back down the staircase and informs the group of what she saw.

Psalm: heating dens? what kinda kinky ass cult Plum: onsen

Rokka moves up the right staircase to scout it out as well, similarly to how Keva did towards the left, he clambers up quietly to poke his head around. In the meanwhile the party thinks on how they ought to proceed.

Rokka: whats the worst that could happen? rokka dies? Finn: HGBDFUNDFOMDFG

Psalm: i'm not sure how to proceed if i'm being honest Plum: neither am i,  im wondering what sigils and heating dens are, like if more people are about to die while we're here

Keva: any way to figure out where the portals go? Plum: i dont think so since everything here's in code Han: “..theyre probably how sammy ended up out on the street” hans still staying back and just. her eyes keep coming back to the pool of blood

Psalm takes a moment to think over the name ‘Mephistopheles’ and what he knows about it, he recalls now that its the name of one of the archdevils that presides over the nine hells. He’s a being said to be thoroughly wicked and cunning but all the same unstable, bards singing of his unchecked temper. It unnerves him to see his name invoked in a place like this. 

Finn moves to walk up the stairway in the middle of the pool to investigate it further, looking now he can tell the ropes tied around the circular slab form the letterheads symbol. Standing at the top of the stairs he also notes that he is within easy distance of the pillar in the middle, he walks back down after taking his look.

Psalm: oh right i relate that new information about Mephistopheles as well just to set the mood Keva: great

Han follows suit in continuing to poke around, she turns back to the corridor they came from and looking near the ground she eyeballs the holes in the walls, they appear to be small vents of some sort. They look big enough for someone to crawl through but only someone of plum’s stature or smaller, through the right one she hears a very faint conversation ebb out. 

Moving to crouch down she tries to stick her ear in and tries to make out the conversation, though all she can hear faintly is the sound of one voice speaking. Briefly she hears"...thus you know just precisely where to strike..." before it becomes mumbles to her ears again.

Rokka reaching the top of the staircase quietly looks about, directly to his left he sees a figure dressed in a red hood and garb, black gloves and shorts underneath. They seem to be standing guard near a wooden door, seemingly unlocked, hands folded behind them. To his right the corridor continues down for a ways before opening out to what looks like a small chamber, halfway down its length he see two more red cloaked figures speaking in whispers, if he squints he can see what look like jail cells lining the corridor, similar to Keva’s corridor, hard to tell from his angle.

Rokka: rokka hurries back to the others and alerts whoever is closest to him about what he saw "guyyyyyyyyssssssssss" Cimmorro: rokka u good Rokka: there are people hereeeeeeeee i saw themmmmmmm  Cimmorro: it looks like keva saw some others as well Han: rokka be like 😨

Psalm: i think our best options are to probably not fiddle with the inter-planar doors for now and pick one of the staircases Plum: agreed Psalm: we should also potentially destroy this altar, but maybe on the way out provided things go well

Psalm: @ han "are you coming? we've investigated the entire room, nothing spooky here to get you"  Han: hans just like uuuughghh and catches up

Cimmorro: i was gonna say this looked like we're on a road trip and han is taking a group pic for us

Han: ;LKHAS;LKHFASDF shes actually taking a selfie of herself

The group decide to head up the left staircase after discussing the number of guards they saw. They devise a plan to roll some ball bearings to distract the one they assume is still somewhere in left corridor, before quickly taking him out at a range silently.

Cimmorro: you guys want him to come over here? what if something comes out of that pool Finn: cimmorro, what makes you so sure someone will come out of the pool? Cimmorro: it's ridden with magic bro Finn: the blood did have a ... unique taste. it was good, but there was something unusual to it. i'm not sure if you can make anything of that. Cimmorro: HGUHFDBKJVHB cimm just standing there like "you said unusual, that's even more suspect??IF YOU ASK ME??" Psalm: i'm pretty sure if something was supposed to come out of the pool it would've come out by now Rokka: i would like to have nothing come out of there

Cimmorro: lure the guy out and knock him out then? Psalm: just whisper "such a shame Mephistopheles caught ligma" into the vent and bait him out vaporising him instantly Cimmorro: BRO

> 🎵  A Stray Child / Silent Hill 3 OST.

As the group discuss their plan to take out the guard Finn attempts to think on taste of the blood again. It seems more than likely that the blood is enchanted in some way by the circle around it, though it doesn’t strike him that the purpose of it is for summoning, it would have most likely had a much more rancid taste if connected to something so directly. The pool is more than likely containing the blood of many for a purpose, effecting the recipients in some way, beyond that he isn’t sure what.

Rokka: DAMN AND WE WERE ABOUT TO OFFER PLUM TO SPILL THEIR BLOOD THERE? Finn: maybe i shouldn't drink the magic blood Psalm: just take a sip Cimmorro: finn become rat poison checker

The group move to stealth their way up the left staircase, Psalm, Rokka and Plum find difficulty in keeping quieter than the others however. The others manage to cover for them however.

Finn: CAN WE COVER FOR OUR CLOWNS Psalm: CAUSE TROUBLE BY ACCIDENT GANG Plum: https://youtu.be/duPJqfKiA78

Psalm: HE CAN'T COMMUNICATE IF HES DEAD, what if it's theyord's favourite mook and he just wants to check up on him and then he's just dead, our entire operation is screwed

Keva rolls the ball bearing down the corridor, after a beat the group hear the sound of wood grinding on the floor and a few footsteps as the hooded figure steps out towards the sound, bending over to stare at it on the ground.

Quickly psalm and keva step out of the stairway, flinging a throwing knife and a blast directly at the hooded figure, the knife swiftly lodges itself in his neck and the blast seems to suck the rest of the life out him, taking him out quickly. The group slowly move now to investigate the corridor, Han staying at the top of the stairs to keep an eye on the chamber behind them.

Psalm: han making sure we don't die

Walking down they now see a series of cells lining the walls, piled with large sacks, a few laying empty. Some of the sacks have the faint colour of blood seeped through, giving the group a bad feeling about what could possibly be inside of them, seems most of the cells are locked. 

Plum: they mumbles to themselves "give me a fucking break..."

Halfway through the corridor they turn the corner and see what looks to be a guard post near the jail cells, a shabby wooden desk and a series of lock boxes on top of it. Seems to house the keys to the nearby cells, to the right they also notice another branch off, a wooden door at the end. They assume this is where the tiefling and the drow walked off towards earlier.

Keva moves to check out the body of the guard, all she finds on him are a dagger strapped this thigh and a red letterheads token in his pocket, nothing much else, she pockets the token. The group then discuss how to hide the body so its not left on the ground in the open.

Finn: we could put him in one of the bags as to not arouse suspicion but its certainly grotesque. Psalm: thats a pretty good idea, cover our tracks 🤔 Han: that criminal background huh

As they discuss this Finn moves to put his ear towards the locked door at the top of the corridor, pressing his ear close to the door he doesn't hear anything other than silence from inside. In the meantime Plum and Keva nab the keys to the jail cells from the guards desk, moving to unlock the one closest to them, Cimmorro wanders over to assist. 

The three work on untying the ropes and opening the bags inside. Cimmorro moves to inspect one of the corpses on how long its been decomposing but is struck by how close the abhorrent smell is, completely distracting him. Finn walks over and its also disgusted, Rokka moves down to keep watch on the door that the drow and tiefling walked through earlier in tandem with Finn.

Looking through the bags Plum attempts to identify the bodies within, their bag specifically appears to house a human male with dark brown hair, keva's bag seems to contain an elven woman, neither of them recognise the victims at all. The three quickly look through the cells for a bag with enough space to shove the guard inside, Plum takes quick notes on the features of the people they find as they go along, soon they find one and are able to successfully shove the guard inside.

As they go about this Psalm continues walking further down the corridor to the end where it opens into another small chamber, it seems filled with storage supplies and large cages, for what purpose hes isn’t sure he’d like to imagine, as he looks about he sees the letterheads symbol scrawled into the wall as well. 

At the far end of the chamber is a set of double doors, made of black metal, it seems this is where the chanting is coming from as he hears the sounds of  numerous voices speaking together in he assumes are prayers. To the right he also see more stairs leading upwards to what looks to be another corridor, though he cant fully tell from below.

He moves to listen to the voices coming from the double doors hearing similar hymns to what was being chanted earlier, but he also hears another voice higher pitched speaking above them in common, she seems to be preaching something about "a time of revenge blossoming soon, the process shall begin to bear fruit" he moves away and relays his observations to the group back up the corridor

While they wait Finn attempts to see if he can hear anything coming from the door hes watching but can only make out a very muffled muttering of some sort and soft shuffling.

Psalm: finn always on the lookout for hot guys pog Finn: we arent only thirsting for blood in this house Cimmorro: wow finn looking for cult bukkake Han: if they arent above a 6 finn cant hear them Finn: jez im going to

Finn: i let the others know that i heard some muffling and shuffling behind that door. but very faintly. Han: theyre making out in that room Cimmorro: GIJFSIBJSOPFBJOSJW

The group decide to head up the stairs Psalm found and move down to the small chamber at the end of the corridor.

Han: han is following but constantly at the back Keva: han the vigilant Rokka: not all heroes wear capes Finn: OKAY NOW I FEEL BAD ABOUT LEAVING HER ON HER OWN Han: 

Keva offers to take point, and stealth's up the stairs, getting a look at the corridor at the top of them. Peeking her head out she sees similarly to the last corridor they walked, another row of of jail cells with what look like more sacks inside. Halfway down she spies what looks to be another guard, his arms crossed periodically looking to the left and right

The group get in position to take him out,  Keva and Han both fire off their arrows, psalm backing them up with a blast, the arrows strike the guard in the side before he is knocked down by the blast, quickly taken out. Han and Plum briefly jog back to the guard post from earlier to grab the keys again so they can hide this guard with the bodies as well. 

Accomplishing that the group see now that this corridor connects between the left one and the right one from the initial pool room, they decide to use this to take out the guards they saw in the right corridor carefully, party members on either end of it. From this new vantage point Keva sees there are three of them in the right corridor now.

Psalm: 16 to hit, god i dont like this im assuming i haven't missed yet.... when the boss comes i'll miss every shot guaranteed, bruh the boss is going to kill me

Psalm, Finn and Rokka head back the long way and crouch by the stairs near the far end guard while the others stick to the bottom to take out the two halfway through the corridor.

Han and Keva shoot of their arrows and with their combined might manage to instantly bring down one of the guards. Psalm blasts the one near the stairs, surprising him but he seems to be still standing afterwards now alert. before he can do anything however Finn rushes in and skewers him, quickly silencing him

Finn: FINE IF YOU WANT ME TO SO BAD ILL GO STAB THE GUY Cimmorro: jude is going to sex town

Cimmorro uses sacred flame on the other guard standing halfway through the corridor but only manages to lightly singe his hair.

Cimmorro: he just does it to provoke Rokka: ;DLKFJSLDKFJLSKDJ Cimmorro: really the only thing he been reading in those sacred libraries is the urban dictionary

He strikes again this time doing a bit more than singe the guard’s hair, Han and Keva both try and fire a series off a quick shots once again after he does, Han's goes wide however, only kevas striking, still leaving the guard standing. Quickly afterwards Rokka and Psalm run out at the same time, Psalm is able to step out and blast the remaining guard from the opposite end, taking them all out before any could retaliate. 

Psalm: ROOMIES Han: oh my god they were roommates... Rokka: I'll move as close as I can and then cheerleader for psalm Psalm: ^_^ greatly appreciated Rokka: Go roomie!!

Han: hey we've been smart and careful about this, we could've been. REAL dumb Finn: honestly we've been really smart, ALMOST LIKE. CAUTION IS A GOOD THING DSHJFBSDUFGSFH

The group about quickly hiding the three bodies among the jail cells again, completing that Keva rummages through the guard desk in this corridor for anything of note. Inside she finds papers detailing some sort of guard training…seems there are at least over 20 acolytes being trained in the ways of assassination around here. 

Psalm: oh can i read the papers or did u just tell everyone what they said  Han: keva found them and told everything else to read iirc(edited) Keva: i did not say that in the rp but yes let's assume yall saw it bc i can't read i forgot lmoa Han: LKH;LKHSAWEFSD Psalm: WHAT'D YOU EVEN LOOK AT THE PAPERS FOR THEN

As she does Finn goes to listen to the door at the top of this corridor, he hears no sounds coming from the inside, it appears unlocked as well.

Finn: now if it were cin, he'd open that door. Han: . Chip: jude reminding us of our good fortune rn

Han goes to investigate the small chamber at the end of the corridor they just came through, looking about she sees storage crates piled high and bags filled with more bags, looking inside them she rifles through small amounts of rations within. Around are more cages and a large metal screen of sorts, it looks to be disuse however, she wanders back down the corridor.

> 🎵  Sewer, Echo, Approaching / 2Mello.

As she does Psalm presses his ear to a door that branches off from the middle of the corridor, listening if he can hear anything or any activity beyond it. As he does he hears the sound of a voice coming through, though all you can really tell is that it sounds like someone giving instruction of some sort.

Cimm, Plum and Keva decide to walk back to the blood pool room, Plum wants to try casting identify on the pillar to see if they can garner any further insight on its functions. In the meantime Psalm asks Rokka, Finn and Han if they can make out anything coming from inside the door hes listening in on. The group stretch their ears once more, though Han in particular recognises the cadence of the voice through the door as the one she heard speaking when she was trying to listen through the vents.

Han: while they're all standing ears pressed to the door han hesitantly asks "is blood letting and stuff like... generally associated with. what you said. cults?" even quieter "actually what are cults lets start there" Psalm: you're asking me? Han: all of you, i guess. you all seem to have more different opinions about this than me Psalm: well from what i just know generally, rituals like these are commonly associated with the more er, 'evil' cults let's say, it does tend to get played up in fiction but since we are also 100% standing in a room with a blood pool and runes on the floor praising a demon you could say that it's played up for good reason. Rokka: rokka just tilts his head like ?? Han: han just looks. kinda processing "what do you mean, "played up"?" Psalm: romanticised i suppose Finn: finn just leaning against the cell. listening. Psalm: like how you'd expect things to be more exaggerated so that they're actually entertaining in a book or play, otherwise it wouldn't be interesting. 

In the meanwhile the other group make their way into the large chamber, Keva stands at the bottom of the stairs leading out while Cimmorro and Plum make their way up the one over the blood pool. Plum reaching the top, stands near the pillar with their hands, taking the time and casting identify upon it. As they touch it an unwelcome feeling fills their senses, like whispers in their ears. 

The pillar is definitely enchanted, it seems the process directly enhances the person who drips their blood upon it. As long as it is collected within the pool below it seems the enchantment keeps its hold indefinitely, combined with the whispers and information they’ve gathered from before, you get the feeling this is used in some way for whoever wrote the runes on the floor to communicate to those that have bled upon it.

Chip: CIMM LIKES TO FEEL TALL Cimmorro: SHUT UPPP ILL KILL YOU

Satisfied the group head back to the corridor with the others, keva noting that it seems the chanting is still ongoing in the background, as they do they walk into the conversation the rest of the group is currently having.

Psalm: That being said though, we are still very much in a situation like out of a novel you could say. And it's not like i have much experience with cults myself...for all i know they're all like this Han: han visibly looks like she regrets asking "like a novel huh" Keva: keva walks in and sees that she has missed smth

Psalm: oh right, a cult is just a group of people that religious practices that aren't commonly accepted, or in most cases, evil. Forgot you asked. Usually they worship a figurehead, potentially a person or otherworldly being, so they're not that far removed from the average religion. Han: han is borderline sweating Keva: wait, we've been chasing after this cult this entire time and you didn't know what a cult was? Han: well. no not really. Finn: finn closes his eyes. I Cannot 

Psalm: why the interest though? i suppose it is a bit messed up in here, and if you didn't know before i guess it's pretty shocking,  what with all the blood and everything Han: just uh. curious is all. Psalm: i see. well if you have anymore questions. Cimmorro: [raised brow]

Half the group subtly eyeball Han to see if she’s lying about her questions coming from a place of mere curiosity.

Han: me just throwing these breadcrumbs Psalm: can't just not eat them off the flor Plum: someone eat them!! Cimmorro: gang beats up han with insight Han: everyone at han rn [raised brow] Cimmorro: 

Finn: han: asks a simple question, the party: lets get her boys Rokka: rokka just rly wanna know if he gotta comfort u or naw

- finn watching from where you are leaned against a cell you easily see through her lie, you get the feeling the question is related to a past experience of hers perhaps, you understand the feeling of wanting clarification well - psalm and keva it seems clear that shes lying and that she has a deeper reason for asking about this, though you dont really know why - rokka han seems upset by all these damn cults, u understand this place sucks

Cimmorro: prolonged strained silence

The group dont inquire any further into her odd reactions at the moment, Finn moves the conversation along, asking if any of the party would like to help him check out the room at the top of the corridor or if they’d like to check out the door they were just listening in on.

Han: "ye shall we storm these dudes" (points to door) Keva: you were all cautious before and now you wanna just barge in? Han: whispers to keva "i was half joking" Keva: you're hilarious. Han: thank you ^_^

The group decide to go along with Finn’s suggestion, preferring to run into as few people possible for the moment and shuffle down the corridor, the group all stand behind psalm as he creaks the door open with mage hand. Peering inside they all see a small room with no one around inside, piled high are a bunch of beds, seems this looks like where the acolytes sleep.

Han: everyone takes a long rest Finn: HBZUFGMIOGF;HFHGJHOW MANY BEDS ARE THERE THIS TIME Han: finn rn like: . Finn: finn: i do not see it. i do not perceive it.

Rokka: rokka barges in and dives into a bed like "ahhhhhh yes" Han: goes back to look out position Psalm: rokka you really want to be rolling around in the beds of people that drain the blood out of innocents for rituals? Rokka: a bed is a bed Finn: A MAN OF SOLID CONVICTIONS Cimmorro: we're in some hazbin hotel kinda shit and u just gonna sleep here Psalm: that's terrifying resilience. i'm impressed, if not a bit scared

> 🎵  Highway, Fog, Visitation / 2Mello.

As the group look about the room watching rokka walk in, Han notices behind them all down the corridor, the sound of a door creaking open. Quickly she moves to push everyone inside the room as quick and quietly as she can, though she’s sure they were heard.

Cimmorro: this cult guy barrelling down the corridor upon hearing han

Han: HAN LEVELS UP FROM STRESS AND FAZES OUT OF EXISTENCE

Closing the door behind them inside the room they look about flustered. They all take a beat to listen and hear the sound of footsteps coming closer down the corridor. they decide to dive under the beds and hide, though there isnt enough for all of them. 

Psalm casts Invisibility on Han while the rest of them pile under, she quickly moves and sticks herself as close to the wall as possible. Finn in particular also quickly shifts into a bat and hangs himself from a corner of the ceiling

Rokka: rokka rolls off the bed with an OOF then rolls under the bed he was on Cimmorro: plum who is the smallest has the hardest time shuffling under the bed and stubs their toe Rokka: stubs toe and screams FUCK, it echoes down the hall

After a beat they all listen as the footsteps near closer and closer to the door, they hear a shuffling before it is opened up by a hooded figure, human, though his cloak looks more ornately decorated that the guards from before.

Han: whats boytoy doing Jez: whipping his dick out,  he came here to jack off bro we all gotta watch him Han: SOME ME TIME Plum: YOU CALLED EM BOYTOYBHHJ Rokka: HSUT UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPSHUT UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP Psalm: HE CAMEM HERE TO JACK OFGF i'm unsubscribing from pornhub right now Plum: jez, jez, what haunts you Cimmorro: LKVGDASJKLGJDSJBSJFNB Rokka: this is like a bad wattpad fic Cimmorro: yall wanted to share beds we're getting a different kind of sharing today Finn: . Han: save a citizen share a cultist Finn: WHAT IS HE GONNA DO WATCH OUR BEDS ALL DAY Cimmorro: HES GONNA WANK IT BRO Rokka: SHUT HT EHLEL UP

He walks inside and peers about the room, eyeing the floors and the walls stepping around and staring carefully. It almost seems as if he makes eye contact at one point with Han but he continues moving his gaze past her. 

Olst: “Where on earth have those louts gotten too” he clicks his tongue and turns to walk out of the room  “Discipline is in order, hopefully our grace feels the need to be more quick with his hand…” his mumbling putters off as he shuts the door behind him

Plum: THEYREEE DEAD Psalm: OH MY GOD I JUST REALISED WHO HE MEANT OH MY GOD WE KILLED HIS FAVOURITE MOOKS Han: THE GUYS WE KILLED ;KASDFKH;LKHWKH3EF Rokka: im laughing MY FUCKING ASS OFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

The group one by one slowly emerge from under the beds, Han takes a moment before peering out the door, seeing the man walk down the stairs towards the blood pool room. She whispers out “coasts clear” before walking out the room still invisible to follow him, Finn in bat form follows after her to also trail him.

Psalm: psalm to himself like... god maybe i should've explained how invis works first Han: han said coast clear and fucked off Finn: i wish i could've asked psalm for an explanation on invisible i have no idea when this runs out

The group meanwhile decide to check out the room the man came from in the meantime since he just left it, walking back to the middle of the corridor, sneaking past. Keva stops briefly at the top of the stairs to listen in on any conversation from the blood pool room

As she does Han and Finn follow the hooded man, she slowly scuttles down the staircase standing quietly at the bottom and hanging out of sight with Finn. There she sees 3 other figures, each wearing ornate looking cloaks, one they’ve not seen before. As the human approaches the others he speaks

Olst: “the acolytes are becoming lax in their duties, this is because you aren’t strict enough with them” he stares directly as the tiefling as he says that, to which he babbles back ???: you know th-that is not my responsibility Olst..” the human tuts and clicks his tongue. Emruz: The woman on the far end pipes up “quit your gripping your voice is as annoying as venom, you can discuss the trivialities later our grace has requested all of to assemble now and I’ll have quiet as we do” the two glare at each other for a moment Olst: he relents, responding with an “..of course” The four of them gather near the front of the of the pool and stand at attention.

Han watches them close their eyes, as if waiting for something for a few beats. Keva moves on to where the rest of the group are stationed in front of the door down the corridor. 

Rokka: yo is theyorde going to rise from blood pool Psalm: GOD CAN YOU IMAGINE WE WERE FUCKING AROUND IN THERE Finn: finn and han listening to this shit:  Psalm: YEAH CAN YOU IMAGINE THE TWO THAT HATE THIS SHIT THE MOST ARE THE ONES WATCHING THE BLOOD POOL MEETING Han: MOST FUCKING BAGGAGE Finn: FINALLY WE HAVE A COMMON ENEMY FOR SOCIAL LINK RANK 1

> 🎵  The Final Combat / Darkest Dungeon OST.

Han continues watching before suddenly she sees all of their eyes snap open, they all tilt their heads up before clasping their hands together out of some sort of reverence. The longer she watches the more it looks like they’re listening to something. Slowly her and Finn see smiles begin to form on their faces, albeit who’s mouths they can actually see. After a moment they bow their heads again, before unclasping their hands.

They see the woman on the far left immediately cackle and gesticulate with her hands with joy 

Emruz: “I KNEW IT I KNEW IT, ony two more days’ time, our grace is amazing indeed finally we will bring down those who stand upon their ivory towers, bring them crashing down to a place wherein we might exact our revenge and force their penance.” Ida: Next to her the drow contemplatively nod in agreement while ???: The tiefling keeps his hands clasped together in reverence muttering “ohh it is true it is true, finally we are ready to enact his great design, the results of our tireless devotion…” Olst: the human next to him chuckles as well “the streets above shall run red as they so deserve, the brood will overtake them at every turn, their defences shall be their very ruin”

The four walk up to the blood pool and touch its outer rim bringing one other hand up to their lips, they speak a coded hymn out loud, as they do they their hands glow a faint red before they are surrounded by a flash. Once complete they step away again, the elf woman speaks up once more 

Emruz: “may their soak in their own fluids” before she cackles wildly again.

---

Notes:

🗡 Keva pocketed another「  Red Letterhead Token ✨ 」 🍺 Plum holds the「 Jailer’s Keys ✨ 」 💀5 guards seem to be lax in their duties....

- 48 Hours until 📜🩸 The Reckoning 🩸📜 -

[meisteralready]

A Supermarket at 45 rpm

1982. Reagan was still just an actor in the white house, my hometown baseball team would win the World Series, and I was turning nine years old. We didn’t have cable, my Mom and I lived in an apartment in Fenton, Mo, St. Louis County. South of the city. That summer was awesome. I think it was sunny everyday. I went camping for a whole weekend for the first time with someone other than my family. I also kissed a girl for the first time. It was on a trampoline late one afternoon in Eddie Weber’s backyard. That summer, I bought my first record as well, a 45 rpm.

All summer long, we kept hearing the same song, at the pool, in movie theater parking lots, at the field house where we would go or sno-cones after soccer practice. It started off weird, the song did, with what sounded like someone hitting empty coke bottles. The guy singing had a strange accent. It was a rock song, but it had a lotta flute in it and no, it wasn’t Jethro Tull, In the lyrics, he talked about vegemite sandwiches. I found out the name of the song was “Down Under” and the name of the band was Men At Work.

I remember being in the car with my Mom and the song came on. I quickly asked her to turn it up, which caught her attention, for this was not something I did on the reg. She chuckled at various references in the song especially “where the beer would flow and men would chunder", which I only found recently meant to puke. Mom stated, halfway in the song, “I think these guys are from Austraila”, and when the famous vegemite line was uttered, she laughed, “Oh, yeah, they’re Aussies,” adding, “your father and I knew a lot of blokes like that.”

I didn’t quite know what that meant, but she beamed with pride. My Dad and Mom, when they were first married, lived in Sydney for a few months, then Melbourne, before having to come home because my grandfather got sick and Mom found out that she was pregnant. It was hard for them to leave Australia, they were a young couple in the prime of their lives, living abroad in a friendly country (Well, friendly at least to white people at that time, aside from how they treated aborigines), and they seemed to be deeply, madly in love.

Their photo albums from that time were like highlight reels for happiness with pictures that made it seem like they’re living in heaven on earth. After they moved back, Grandpa did die and grief-stricken, Mom miscarried. Three years later, I was born, but they were miserable together and eventually got divorced. Yet Australia, was this gem of their time together and, even today, the greatest times of their lives.

Back in 1982, The DJ on the radio in the car confirmed that, indeed, Men At Work were from Australia and that they were HUUUUGEEE there. Now at that time, the only other band I knew that was from Australia was AC/DC and I was told by John Hrdlicka, my next door neighbor with the most christian mother i had ever met, that AC/DC actually meant After Christ, Devil Comes. My cousin Kathy had an album of theirs with Angus displaying his devil horns, so that, in essence, confirmed it. To a eight year old, Satan was some heavy shit.

A week or so later, Mom and I went to Schnuck’s, our neighborhood grocery store. This was the early 80s, we didn’t go out a whole lot, and going to the supermarket was a BFD. A Big Fucking Deal. Sometimes we’d see a friend of mine from school or Mom would flirt with the store manager to get double coupons on a week where there wasn’t double coupons. And Mom usually let me get something, like candy or a comic book or the like. But this time it was different.

Mom, by now six years divorced, still beautiful, and very liberated, was talking it up in the meat aisle with a guy wearing a wide-open, chest-hair-filled polyester shirt. I didn’t know him and it didn’t seem like anybody else did as well. They displayed all the signs of attraction between two people, something that, years later, I would come to recognize. He would lean in to her to tell a joke, my Mom would lilt in her laugh and shift her hips side-to-side. I didn’t even know if the jokes were good, and, being nine, kicked at the rollers on the shopping cart, and was generally, loudly bored. After an elongated “MoooOOOoooM,” she turned to me, quickly dug into her purse and handed me four bucks.

FOUR BUCKS. That was pretty incredible. Outside of Christmas cards or birthdays, it was the most money I had ever held in my hand. I was dumbfounded. “What do I do with this?” I asked. Mom, never breaking her gaze from her Meat Market Adonis shooed me away with a “whatever you want.” I walked away amazed and let them continue their budding romance next to the pork steaks. I had to get one more meat joke in.

The supermarket was now, a whole new world to me. I was willy wonka and this was my chocolate factory, everything seemed at my disposal. WHAT TO BUY WITH ALL MY RICHES? I went to the comic books - nothing new there, I had all the latest editions that were on the shelf. I looked at the candy and nothing was overly biting me - I believe I had one of those sno-cones only an hour or so earlier. I went closer to the liquor aisle, no, i was pre-pubescent wino. Near the liqour, Schnucks was trying out something new, something I had never seen before outside the local Sam Goody - a section for 45 rpm records.

Now, in the history of vinyl, these were the waning years of the record single. Tape and later CD singles would be the 7 inches’ demise, falling to an all-time sales low in 1985. And supermarkets, being the dinosaurs of change, added a 45 record section in the last dying breaths of the medium. It is though, historic to me for it was where I bought my first record, next to a guy buying a fifth of Seagram’s Gin and Similac.

I looked through the two rows of singles - Hurts So Good by John No-One-Had-Yet-Heard-of Mellencap Cougar, Abracadabra by Steve Miller Band which did not reach out and grab me, and many, many copies of Always On My Mind by Willie Nelson, which I almost bought because Willie looked like a space cowboy on the cover wearing a silver jacket, changing out his regular red bandana for some teal blue sari-looking one, all the while with weird sand dunes in the back that made him look like he was one Mars. He probably picked the album cover while stoned. Who I am kidding, everything done by Willie Nelson was done while he was stoned. Shit, if I could do that, damn right, I would. But all of us can’t be Willie Nelson. I think. What was I talking about?

Right, the record. So, I’m flipping through the singles and come across Men At Work. I knew I like the song and I distinctly remember the price tag reading $3.30. Right in my wheelhouse. So I walk up to the register and put in on the conveyor belt, and right as it was getting zapped by the mysterious green light that under the glass plate that somehow knew all the prices of everything everywhere, the cashier asked me if I was interested day-old roses that were on sale for a quarter a piece. She listlessly waved her hand toward it in such a way that I still have hope today that she finally found a job that fulfills her. Feeling rich and proud of my very unlike-eight year old purchase, I think I literally said, “Throw it on my tab.” My flirt with the cashier didn’t go as well as did the older gentleman with my mother. She sighed and I was immediately embarrassed, my only wish was to be back in the meat aisle.

I turned, defeated, to find my Mom. She and Mr.-70s-held-over were near the front of the store by the half-priced store-brand cereals that were on the endcap. I sauntered over with the rose hidden behind my back. Mom was tearing what I guess was her phone number on a piece of paper from a pad in her checkbook. This pad, usually used only for to-do lists, now included romantic encounters. As she handed it to this poor-man’s-Chuck-Barris, I pretended to be interested in a box of knock-off fruity pebbles, which I think they were called Fruit Rocks. He swaggered away and i presented my Mom with the rose. She smiled so brightly. I can still feel that kiss she gave me on my forehead.

I don’t know if that guy, who I will now always call Fruit Rocks, ever did get a hold of Mom, but what I do remember is getting home and Mom happily loading up that single on the record player. you see, I was not able to touch the hi-fi for at least another two years. The first time was when I bought my first long-playing record, which Prince’s Purple Rain, but that’s a whole other story.

That night, though, I had Mom play Side A of that 45 over and over. “Down Under” definitely brought the Thunder, which, coincidentially, is now the name of an Australian all-male stripper revue. Mom & I danced and laughed at each other for hours. I never got the drug references in the song, of which there are many, for example, “Lyin’ in a den in Bombay. With a slack jaw, and not much to say”? Really? You do the math.

OPIUM.

Dancing the night away back then with Mom is a great memory. I HATED the B-side of the record, though. I can’t even remember the name of it. It was pure crap. Some song that I have erased from my memory. I detested it so much that I got a steak knife and intentionally scratched “I HATE THIS” into the grooves. I mean, I could do it, right? It was mine. I BOUGHT it. Over the next couple months, I lost interest in the 45 and eventually, lost track of the record.

Fast forward to 2009. My Mom, after a long and truly courageous battle with an illness, passes. Yet, she lived long enough to see her only grandchild born, something she always wanted. My daughter Evangeline, who adored her. Evie looks just like Mom, and is just as funny as she was, just as kind, and is just as beautiful.

It took me a long time to go through Mom’s stuff. It sat for years. In 2015, I began. God forbid anything ever happened to me, my kid wouldn’t know what any of this stuff was. I catalogued things, wrote a bit about each box I would go through, made little quicktime movies. It helped a lot. Tremendously cathartic. One night last summer with Evangeline visiting, I open up a box marked “silverware”. It was in my Mom’s handwriting, which was always beautiful, the way all Mom’s seem to write.

Inside was no cutlery at all, instead, loose odds and ends and on top was something small, flat and wrapped in bubblewrap. I opened it. It was that old Men at Work forty-five, one side still scratched to hell with the price tag reading $3.30 staring me dead in the eye. I had never mentioned it before, in all conversations I ever had with Mom, even as an adult, that this was my first record. But she knew. She protected it. She cared.

I began to weep, softly. Evie, a little alarmed, stopped playing with her toys on the floor, came over and hugged me. She asked me what was wrong. Kinda just like what Mom would do. I told her this very story. She cried a bit as well. Eve was only two when my Mom died. She has fleeting memories. She said that she missed “Meemaw”, what she could recollect of her. She said she was sad because she could not remember her voice. We, regrettably, neglected to take many videos of her and Mom.

After a bit, Eve reached into the box and pulled out a small package. It was a rubber banded manila envelope of cassette tapes. it was marked “Austraila”, again in Virginia Meister’s expert penmanship. These were taped audio letters, sent back and forth, from Mom & Dad to each of their parents in America, while they lived abroad. One side would be of my parents’ adventures in Oz, with the other being the whole family relaying stories of back home.

Evie and I sat the rest of that night and listened to them while flipping through the treasured photo albums. She remembered her grandmother’s voice and for the first time in my life, I heard the voice of my grandfather whom I had never met.

And we played that Men At Work 45. And we danced and we laughed at each other. But we only spun “Down Under”, never that B-Side, because that other song? That was pure crap.

[hellraiserdeano-blog]

Evil Has Always Lost Chapter 13

The hunter's stood staring at The angel's, Dean Winchester hold's up a hand in to the air his green eye's looking into Luciers firey red one's. Lucifer watches him his left hand twitching as fire begun to raise around the battle field "None of you will escape this area, i will kill you all! This is what GOD want's" he snares as The Doctor look's at Lucifer "You are afraid of us, I see through your eye's" He remarks as Lucifer glares at him, Dean Winchester closes his hand and throw's it forward as The Hunter's charge toward The Devil and the angels who in Turn run toward them. Lucifer heads straight for Sam Winchester, Sam Winchester block's Lucifers fist with his dagger as Lucifer smirk's at him "Sammy, Sammy, Sammy! Boy, you've got ball's now!" He punches Sam in the stomach sending him slamming Again a truck that flips over, he walk's toward Sam ignoring the others as Sam Winchester gets to his feet; Lucifer swing's again but Sam blocks the punch and knee's Lucifer in the jaw staggering the Devil slightly as Lucifer snatches Sam By the throat lifting the 6'2 man off the ground "I can snap your fuckin' neck right here in front of Dean, we all know your his only real weakness! and I like how weaknesses like to be right there with y--" Sam kick's him in the face and stabs Lucifer through the chest as Lucifer gringes for a moment then uppercuts Sam knocking him to the ground pulling the dagger out he begin's laughing "I have to Say Sammy, you have big ball's" He throws the dagger through a car window "Oops, you have no weapon to kill me with now" He grin's as Sam Winchester stand's up "I don't need one" He say's as Lucifer is shot with an arrow he turns to see Rudy and flings a fire ball sending Rudy crashing into a tree as Sam Winchester jumps onto Lucifers back pulling the arrow hard through his chest Lucifer Roars before snatching Sam By the hair and slinging him to the ground then turn's pulling out the arrow and stabbing it through sam's right arm as Sam Winchester screams in pain his hand burning, Dean Winchester stop's fighting Michael the archangel and turn's around running at Lucifer who look's over his shoulder at him "Dean, you think you can save Sam? you couldn't even save your Daddy!" He drives the arrow harder through Sam's hand as Sam screams in pain his arm beginning to catch fire. Dean Winchester runs kicking Lucifer in the face as Lucifer staggers to the ground he notices that blood was pooling from his mouth then he snarls turning and elbowing Dean in the jaw sending him again a tree "You think because GOD embued you silly little war dogs with power that you have any shot of killing me? you just got lucky! and Luck can only go so far!" He runs at Dean as Dean Dodges the punch Kneeing Lucifer in the ribs lucifer staggers back fire in his hand he slams it into the side of Deans face before grabbing his head and kneeing him over an over an over an over in the face as Dean stagger's back again the burning tree. Batman slam's an angel again the truck bed of a ford his Gloved claws digging into the angel's neck "You were holy, but you betrayed GOD" he growl's as the angel kicks batman in the nut's Batman smirk's up at him as The Angel look's confused hes punched and sent over the hood of the truck, Batman jump's up on to the hood an leaps off driving his gloved claws in to the angel's neck as the Angel screams in pain confused as to how mere mortal gloves could hurt him "I bet you're wondering how my Gloved claws can hurt you, It's because I made them with angel Blade embedded in the tip's, The thing between us is that I alway's prepare for any threat--even a lowly Angel" He slam's the claw through the angel's heart as it explodes with white light, Batman jump's up an dodge's arch-angel Michael's spear as Arch-Angel Michael stares at Batman "You killed my brother, I can't forgive you" He warn's as Batman smirk's at him "And I can't forgive you for trying to force a human to agree to be your meat-sack! you are NOT a god!" he fires a grappling hook as it wraps around Michael the arch-angel's spear as Archangel michael look's up at him "Human weapon's are primitive, i am an Arch-angel, angest me you are no match" he says as Batman just smiles at him "You may be an arch-angel of God, But I am Batman" He let's go of the grappling hook as it sends him toward Arch-angel Michael as Arch Angel Michael glares hes kicked hard in the face blood spews from his mouth and he staggers dropping the Spear as Batman quickly runs at him jumping and kicking him in the face Arch Angel Michael ragefully slam's an elbow into Batman's side breaking his ribs, Batman skid's to a stop cringing at the pain then uppercuts Arch-angel Michael as Arch-Angel Michael backed up suddenly the Joker slams an elbow into Batman's back as Batman staggers forward and onto his knee the Joker grin's wildly "He-He-He! Batsy~ Did you miss me?" He grin's pulling out a knife as Batman reaches into his utility belt "I thought you were killed by Lucifer" He growl's as Arch-angel Michael holds out a hand toward batman "Time to die, Ape!" He shouts as Batman activates the batarangs an his cowl's visor pulls over his eyes "You can not kill what Is night, Michael!" He stand's up suddenly then slings batarangs at Joker and Michael running at The Joker the first two explode in Michaels face as The Joker finds himself drop kicked to the ground, Batman throws a smoke bomb at Michaels face as He swing's around on the grappling hook slamming his fist into Arch angel Michael's neck sending the Adam mulligan Arch angel to the ground. Grant Mitchell punches a angel in the gut hard then slams a knee into it's jaw before back handing another, Marck Fowler Jr. punches another angel in the jaw then grabs him by the hair slamming several punches into his jaw as Phil Mitchell punches a angel the angel trading back punches with him, Phil stomps the angels abdomen then slams a left hand down as The angel tackles Phil to the ground punching him Phil blocks the punch headbutting the angel as Grant Mitchell rams an angel blade through a angels throat and punches another one in the jaw. Luke Van Helsing points the crossbow at the Arch-Angel Gabriel "You Arch-angel's are pretty much dick's" he says as Gabriel smirks at Luke "Oh, is that so? I myself, am a great trickster, but Don't worry," He stares at Luke Van Helsing "I'm not here to trick you but to kill you" He pulls out a arrow as Luke cracks his neck "Who said I'd give you a chance to strain the bow" he fires a arrow right through Gabriel's chest Exploding Gabriel in a hail of light. Clyde Barrows fires his M1911A Bar Rifle at the angels one by one they explode in a hail of bright light, The Doctor stood beside Chuck watching the fight between the hunters and angels as Metatron rubs his chin "Oh ho ho, The angel's are slowly dying off, won't be long and lucifer will be by himself" He sumurises as Chuck look's over at Metatron "You're forgetting The Joker--hes a hard one, I think it's better this way" he smiles before turning his attention on Lucifer. Lucifer grabs Dean by the neck punching him several times in the face as Sam Winchester jumps on Lucifers back wrapping arms around his neck Lucifer slams his head back bashing Sam in the face then slams an elbow two times into Sam's ribs and chest before slinging Dean Winchester to the Side as Lucifer turn's toward Dean fire surround his feet "Dean, Dean, Dean, Don't you understand? No one cares about you, Mina never gave a damn about you, she think's you're a selfish cunting arsehole--which you are, and Sammy here, whooo boy, The thing's in his head would make you dead inside--If you weren't dead already," he grin's at Dean horn's growing from his forehead kicking dean hard in the face "God abandoned you just like he abandoned everyone else, Mommy was a slut daddy was a down right villian, your grannnndpa was a sinful decietful old man, your grandma a whore--The winchester clan, full of sin an I enjoy the taste of it all, Your vanity knows no bounds little Deannie, four years old long hair blonde--And still a cry baby in the end" Hev slams a foot into Deans face then crouchs down chocking Dean with his right foot "Look at me Boy, you couldn't Save Sammy that day, and you sure as hell did a poor job against Jake; Let's just face the facts Dean, the world is better without Dean Winchester to Fuck it up--Think of everyone you got killed" He leans down face to face eye to eye with the struggling Dean "Jo is dead dead DEAD because of you, Mina died because of sam buuuut, you kinda have a hand in that one too, kevin tran Dead because you believed gadreel was saving Sammy boy, Wrong! You've made so many mistakes that I find this whole Gods warrior crap to be hilarious!" He stands stomping Deans face then turns toward Sam Winchester "Well, Little boy, you ready to man up and play with daddy?" He walks toward Sam. Batman slams a fist into Jokers jaw as Michael the Arch-angel grabs him from behind the Joker slashes Batman across the face several times only to be kicked away an a knee driven into his head as Batman flips upside down slamming Arch angel Michael on to his head, Suddenly Harley Quinn slams her baseball bat hard in to batmans skull as the cowl rips blood spews from his forehead as he lifts up slaming his left shin in to her neck knocking her down Joker runs up ramming his knife into Batmans ribs as Batman roars in pain elbowing Joker hard in the ribs and pulling the knife out Arch angel michael appears before batman only for superman to slam into him sending the Arch-angel crashing again the now dreaded wall of fire as Arch-angel Michael stands looking at superman "Who are you? how dare you assault God's arch-angel!" He glares as Superman float in the air arms crossed eyes stern and fierce "How dare You betray your God and attack his creation" he hits back causing Arch-angel Michael look shocked as Superman glares hard then with might slams into Arch-angel Michael as Michael pounds away at Supermans back finding it useless Superman slings the Arch-angel through the wall of fire as Arch-angel michael screams Superman slams through the fire and pounds away at Adam Mulligans Vessel as Arch-angel Michael is finally double axe handled and slams into the ground, Superman slings the Angel blade through Arch-angel Michaels chest adam mulligan exploding with white light. Batman stands up and stares at Joker who grinned at Batman's halfexposed face "Bruce Wayne, HAHAHAHAHA!this is GLORIOUS! not only am I getting to Kill the Batman but Bruce Wayne is here to die! HAHAHAHAHEHEHEHEHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" he grin's sadistically as Batman glared at him his voice modulator broken "Joker, how long have we been fighting? and still you won't stop til One of us dies, I must break my one--Code" He rips off the top part of his bat suit then the cowl "I will kill you Joker, I will make you Bleed, you will pay for what you did to Jason" He glares hard as The Joker rips open his suit and throws the dress shirt to the ground "Oh, Batsy, its like Ecstacy to my ears, Come on KILL ME! hahahaha! Embrace who you truly are!" he grin's as Batman walk's around joker then breaths before performing the dragon stance and motioning for Joker to come at him as The Joker cracks his neck then runs at batman swinging batman spin kicks him then leaps backwards driving forward kneeing Joker in the jaw, The Joker grins at him then punches Batman in the Abdomen as Harley Quinn runs at Batman "Get off my Puddin'!" She screams Batman ducks grabbing her by the arm and Joker by the neck he smirks up at Joker then flip's hard slamming both to the ground wrapping a grappling hook around Harleys waist he fires her on to a telephone pole then grins at Joker who looks at him "What are you grinning about!?" he demands as Batman points down the Joker looks down as hes sling shotted upwards by another Joker screams as Batman slings another grapplin hook around Jokers neck then swings around a light post and ontop of it he pulls hard snapping The Jokers neck into before letting go, The Joker's body lands hard on to the ground with a Thud. Harley quinn screams in horror looking at The Batman as Barman sits down on the light post staring down at the Joker's body he felt relieved of a burden he'd carried for 20 years. Sam Winchester coughed up blood after being punched in the gut, Lucifer smirk's at him "Whose going to save you this time?" he grin's as Sam slam's the demon blade through Lucifer's chest it only makes Lucifer grin "Did you think having An Arch-angels power would allow you to kill me using my very own demon blades?" He grins hard Suddenly, Dean Winchester spins kicking Lucifer in the back of the head as Lucifer falls to his knees he stands up turning toward Dean Winchester who looked rejuvenated "What is this? You have ball's now, boy? You really should have stayed down, Daddy's gonna thrash you!" he grins as Dean Winchester glares at him slamming a sudden bright light so hard into Lucifer it sends the king of hell straight through the firey wall "Hand's off my brother, you son of a bitch!" Dean barks much to Sam's surprise.