Still Alive (But Barely Breathing)
If someone had told Red Hood that he was going to climb through the wrong window at one of his many safe houses, he’d have laughed and flipped them off. Not just because it probably would have been the Demon Brat saying it and disregarding the little fucker would certainly get under his skin. And piss off Bruce. No. Jason was definitely too careful to make a mistake like that.
Well, until tonight.
To be fair, he had been shot. Twice. A through and through in his side, hopefully not damaging anything important, and once in the arm. But that might’ve been a graze. Going by pain, it hurt less than his side. Somewhere between “I need a bandaid” and “stepping on an infinite number of Legos with sharp teeth” on the pain scale. Honestly, he didn’t even want to look until he was safe. It’s not a problem if I can’t see it. And he was currently not safe judging by the sword the resident of this apartment held at his throat.
The first thing he noted was that she wasn’t afraid. In fact, she seemed hella pissed. Her beautiful blue eyes flashed in the moonlight. Most people, when they saw the helmet, along with his stature (Dickface said he was built like a tank) and intimidating presence, well, they got a little scared. This woman stood resolute, calm and determined in the face of danger. She had the presence of an Amazonian warrior. Now, Jason wasn’t much of a betting man, but he’d have put money down on her winning this fight.
Too many voices were vying for dominance in his mind. A part of him thought that if he could get the sword away from his throat, he stood a fighting chance of getting away. Another part considered his injuries. He was lightheaded already which was not a good sign. He needed to get out of here and get help fast. Another part geeked out over the sword. It was exquisite. This woman really had taste. The ornate filigree handle looked like a Swiss rapier, circa late 1600s. But the blade was not fragile like a rapier. In fact, it looked more like a sturdy longsword. Like she had taken pieces of history and meshed them together to create a sword that was beautiful but deadly. Another very small voice thought she was beautiful. He tried to ignore the last one it definitely wouldn’t help him here and hatch a plan to escape. She stepped further into the moonlight and all thoughts flew out of his head. He could have sworn her eyes were ice blue. Now they were a familiar bright green; practically glowing. Where had he seen that color before?
Trying to think made his head all fuzzy. Oh well. Time for some introductions. He felt like a seasoned warrior out to meet a new friend or foe. Attempting to speak felt like an impossible task.
“Hi.” He choked out, his voice gravelly and menacing with the helmet on.
“Hi Mister Red Hood!” A boy’s voice rang out from behind the woman. Oh shit. There was a kid. How did he not see a kid? Why was there a kid here?! He glanced around and noticed the sparse furniture along with a few moving boxes stacked in the corner. He… did he have the wrong apartment? This was his safe house in the Narrows. As far as he knew, no one lived on his floor or in the apartments above or below his. That’s what made this safe house perfect. It was convenient. It was safe.
The woman whispered something to the boy. He couldn’t tell if the words she spoke in a foreign yet all too familiar language were what made his blood run cold. Or the rapid blood loss was getting to him. Right. He needed help. Now. That forced him back into focus. He could feel his thoughts slowly slipping away. He grabbed onto the edge of the windowsill he’d just climbed through, grunting in pain at the sudden gush of blood coming from his side.
The woman tentatively lowered her sword, concern etched on her face. Good. This was good. He was… what was he doing? A wave of dizziness washed over him and he fell backward onto the floor. Black started forming around the edges of his vision. The woman rushed to his side and leaned over him. Her touch was light as she quickly assessed his wounds. Her hair enveloped his vision, so all he could see was her beautiful face. She was talking to him, face to face, er well, helmet, but he couldn’t hear her. Her voice distorted and muffled.
His last thought was, “Damn she’s pretty.” Before succumbing to sleep.
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Volga gets some spotlight for a change (hdw au)
Comes after Volga confronting Cia (and Link on Skyloft, but it’s slightly less necessary to understand this)
...
Volga seeks out and fights the strongest. That is his objective.
He goes where the sorceress tells him, leads monsters into battles as she deems fit. He sees others only as adversaries, evaluating them solely on the threat they pose, the strength they wield.
Nothing else matters.
Only his orders, and strength.
The Hylian army is at their gates, working steadily through the valley, and despite the sorceress increasing Volga’s power, they’re still advancing, calling upon the Great Fairy to aid them. Volga himself is forced to retreat back to Cia’s side, and he stands silently beside her, waiting for her orders.
She’s watching the battle with a look in her eye that grows steadily more enraged, her knuckles whitening on her staff. It isn’t long before she orders him back out, commanding him to find the princess and crush her.
Volga nods, preparing to obey, when the sorceress stops him, a manic look in her eyes.
“This time you will destroy them,” she snarls, and thrusts her hand against his chest.
Power rushes through him, greater than what he had received before, and Volga roars as it fills his veins, turning into a dragon and leaping into the air.
This time he will be the strongest.
Volga glides across the valley, making a beeline towards the army’s leader, the princess’s sword flashing across the battlefield. He lands with a roar, and she quickly turns her attention to him, eyes widening as she leaps out of the way of his first attack.
Volga is merciless, using his weapons of both spear and claws, shooting fire and dive bombing with his dragon form. The princess is annoyingly stubborn though, avoiding nearly all of his attacks, parrying blows and dodging flames.
Some distant part of Volga is impressed.
He snarls as she avoids yet another thrust of his spear, and the princess looks at him, something odd flashing in her gaze.
“Volga! Come to your senses!” she suddenly shouts, parrying an attack. “I know you to fight with honor! What glory is there to be found in using dark magic to win all of your battles?”
“Don’t mock me!” Volga snarls, slamming a clawed hand towards her. How dare she?
“Open your eyes!” Zelda shouts as she dodges, still not giving up. “I believed you to be a proud dragon warrior, not a mercenary for darkness!“
Their weapons clash, and Zelda looks up at Volga without fear, her blue eyes bright.
“Think of your family, Volga. Look past the darkness clouding your vision.”
Volga falters just a hair, a snarl dying in his throat. There is certainly no darkness clouding him, merely the extra power the sorceress provided, but Zelda’s words of family carry a spark of something different. Something... important?
Volga shakes his head, frowning.
...What had she said again?
The spark fades, and Volga roars, hitting her backwards with a clawed hand. The princess is thrown to the ground with a cry, but before Volga can press his attack, there’s a flash of blue and green, and the Hero stands in his way, sword raised.
He has a stricken expression on his face, but Volga barely registers it, roaring again as he goes to face the both of them. The princess regains her footing as the hero slams his shield up to block Volga’s spear, and the three of them resume the fight.
Other monsters join the attack, and the hero’s attention is drawn to keeping them away from his princess, mostly leaving her and Volga to fight alone. Volga draws constantly on the sorceress’s power, and it’s soon obvious the princess begins to flag against his brutal attacks.
She fights on though, tenacious as ever. Soon enough Volga finds their weapons locked again, her eyes fixed on his face.
“Knight Volga, I thought you a protector, a dragon of honor,” she says, voice breathless but earnest. Blood drips across her eye but she doesn’t loosen her grip to wipe it away. “This isn’t who you are, drawing on dark power, fighting in wars for a cause you don’t believe in!”
That persistent spark of something comes back in Volga’s mind, flickering in his thoughts, buzzing in his memory. It makes him falter, just a little.
“Please,” Zelda repeats, still straining against his spear. “For Link’s sake.”
The name rings familiar, and Volga stumbles as a face flickers in his mind, blue eyes shining through the murk. Looking at him in trepidation as information spills from hylian lips, scales glittering in places they have no right to be.
What is this memory?
He can’t recall the events that led to it, or what came after, or even where he was when it occurred. In fact... all he can really recall is the sharp urge to fight the strongest, destroy the enemy, do as the sorceress commands.
Who is the boy with scales on his arms, and hair nearly the same color as his own?
“Volga,” the princess speaks again, less strained now, and Volga belatedly realizes he’s stopped fighting. “Fight past this darkness. I know you are more than what Cia is letting you be.”
Cia.
The name is like a clap of thunder in his head, and suddenly the darkness he’d denied was choking him is all too evident, coursing through him alongside his fire, constricting his thoughts and twisting his actions. Its influence is overwhelming, and Volga clutches a hand over his chest, thoughts whirling as memories rush back.
Cia invading his home and forcing him under her service, ignoring his wishes to be left alone. Using her magic to make him fight, starting a war over lust for his son, putting him on the opposite side of his own kin.
Purposely obscuring the fact that he had a son.
Volga snarls, anger rising as flames drip from his lips. Cia used dark power, foisted upon him without his say, using him as nothing but another pawn in her game and his son—
“No... no!” Volga shouts, gripping at his head with both hands. “I won’t be ruled by darkness!”
He won’t remain Cia’s puppet for another second.
Volga lashes out at the darkness coating him, tearing at Cia’s influence in his chest. He can feel her power fight back the moment he pushes against it, darkness reaching up to claw at his mind, but Volga tears back with claws of his own, refusing to succumb to it again.
He pushes back with his own power, not that of the sorceress, fire clashing with darkness.
A roar builds in his throat as he gains a solid foothold, and he pushes it out, Cia’s dark power leaving him all in a rush.
And he is free.
Weakness follows the loss of power, but even as Volga drops to a knee, he feels more clearheaded, more alive, then he has in weeks.
And it’s overwhelmingly refreshing.
Volga curls his fingers into the dirt as he regains his bearings, clutching his spear as he raises himself up off the ground again. The princess stands a few feet away, watching him with a hopeful look on her face, and Volga huffs, looking away.
...right into the eyes of the hero.
His son.
Volga stares, the boy staring back with an uncertain look on his face. The hero’s gaze is interrupted by a monster slashing at him, and Volga shakes himself, then looks around the battlefield, taking in what he’s missed.
His gaze falls on the princess again, and something burns in his chest, a need to finish what he started. Volga raises his spear in challenge, pointing it at her and the hero.
“This time I will duel you properly. I will win this fight under my own power,” he declares.
He has other business, important business even (Cia will pay, he swears it), but his pride insists he finishes this fight. He wants to show the two of them how he really fights, no dark powers, no false strength.
To finish the fight he began in an honorable manner.
The princess hesitates at his request, exchanging a loaded look with her hero. But he nods, and she nods as well, pointing her sword back.
And they start the fight anew, dragon, princess, and hero.
The fight is invigorating, to say the least. Volga’s very scales seem to buzz with excitement as he battles the two, the old fire coming back to his blood. They’re an incredible team, truly powerful, and fighting them helps immensely with continuing to wake him up, forcing any remnant of Cia’s power from his bones.
They weave in and out in tandem, one of them striking, and then darting out as the other attacks. Despite the remaining weakness from the loss of darkness, Volga matches them blow for blow, his blood singing as he duels the two.
He hasn’t had a fight this challenging in years, and it reminds him of older days, of other duels.
A smile on a tanned face, ruby-red eyes, hair the color of new-fallen snow...
Volga promptly pushes that image aside. He needs to focus on the here and now, and his strength is fading, the hero and princess still pressing their attack.
As much as he hates to admit it, Cia’s actions have left him low on strength, and as enjoyable as this fight is... he’s fading. Rather fast.
And suddenly, he finds himself on his knees, a sword pointing at his neck.
Volga looks at Zelda, then over at his son, both of them breathing hard. An odd feeling of pride runs through him as he looks at the boy, and he almost smiles. Only one other person has ever been able to truly best him in battle, and it’s clear both of them learned from her.
Impa taught them well.
...It was no wonder Cia wanted one dead and the other her captive.
Anger courses through him at the reminder of the sorceress’s treachery, but his energy is spent. Too spent for him to reasonably mount a successful attack on her.
His vengeance will have to wait.
The princess opens her mouth to speak, but Volga beats her to it, closing his eyes as blood runs from a cut over one of them. “I accept my defeat with honor. I lose, but I do so without regrets.”
He exhaled and looks up at the two of them, and his son meets his eyes again, blood and dirt smeared on his face.
Volga gives him a singular nod, then despite his weariness, turns into his dragon form and takes off into the skies. He needs to rest, and recover from his wounds before figuring out what to do next.
And... process the ramifications of having a son.
Impa...
Link and Zelda watch him go in silence, Volga’s wings bright as a comet as he glides away. They’re both breathing heavily from the battle, small injuries bleeding, burns stinging. Zelda is smiling though, and there’s a hesitant sort of hope in Link’s eyes as they watch the dragon grow smaller in the distance.
Zelda squeezes Link’s shoulder as Volga finally disappears from their sight, but they don’t have time to dwell on what just occurred.
Cia still needs to be taken care of. But then...
Link supposes they’ll figure it out.
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Last year I wrote a story about a streamer who shrinks based on chat donations. I meant it as a one shot, but guys…. GUYSSSSS.
I think about this story ‘s universe a lot. I have lore notes just collecting dust and I need to share it or I might go absolutely mad XD Made these visuals charts to get the basics across but if you’re interested in my lore and semantic ramblings, feel free to read below the cut.
Consider this my unofficial pitch bible for Down Played.
General premise: Monica Diaz is Twitch streamer with steadily growing fan base. Her tag is MiniMushroom and her aesthetic is cottage core. She loves all things magical and tiny, especially toadstool mushrooms, that’s the image most associated with her “brand.” She’s approached by a mysterious benefactor who has developed technology specifically for Monica to test and utilize for her streams. It’s called Byte-Syzed Tech and it connects to a user’s twitch stream and based on the user’s preferences, gives the audience the ability to change the user’s height. The one shot I wrote takes place during Monica’s first live use of Byte-Syzed tech on stream. If I were to develop this into a full story I’d probably go back a bit and start around when Monica is first approached about using Byte-Syzed tech then continue to follow Monica adjusting to using Byte-Syzed more often. How she deals with the size change on camera, off camera, how her social and personal life are affected, all that good stuff. I think it would like a slice of life feel good kinda story.
Characters:
- Monica - Main character and primary user of Byte-Syzed tech. Surprisingly enough, she’s actually a law school grad who probably would have put her degree to use if she didn’t accidentally gain a massive following on twitch. Funny how life works out. She stands at 6’4 and always was fascinated with the idea of being small (Basically, she’s a g/t nerd who doesn’t know what g/t is) so being gifted Byte-Syzed and being able to use it on stream is kinda a dream come true.
- Kim - Monica’s girlfriend, roommate, and stream moderator. Kim and Monica were high school sweethearts but drifted apart in college due to personal matters in Kim’s life including having to drop out of college. Kim and Monica rekindled their relationship a few years later and Kim cites Monica and her encouragement as a big reason why she’s been able to get her life back together. She’s currently back in college working on getting her degree in Mathematics.
- The Twitch Team- Moni hosts solo streams but also very often collabs with three of her online friends. Ariel (@Lifeisthebubbles), a Vtuber who is the only one Moni has met in person. Corey (@McDonuts) an NB asmrist on youtube who started streaming games for fun. And Phin (@UrguyPhin) Corey's bf and the competitive gamer of the four. All three of them were streaming with Monica when she first used Byte-Syzed and have since gotten used to pausing their games so an ever shrinking Monica can adjust her set up.
- The Benefactors- Keeping their (Plural, there are two of them) exact identity to myself for the time being, but basically they’re mad scientists with the best intentions. Their antics have garnered attention across the internet as they have created and gifted inventions to up and coming online creators that seem to defy all laws of physics. Anti Gravity chambers, a literal money tree, a mask the morphs the wearer’s face, and now the Byte-Syzed size changing tech. Despite their inventions going viral, their identities have remained hidden. So what is their deal? They’re just big fans of these creators and for lack of drawing skills have gifted them weird inventions instead. Nerds… Due to the nature of Byte-Syzed and the possible effects it can have on the human body, Monica and Kim remain in close contact with them.
How Byte-Syzed Works in Universe: This I wrote tons of notes about when I first thought of the idea. Byte-Syzed can be divided into three key components; The program, the arm band monitor, and the sync suit.
The Program is installed on the user’s computer and connects directly to the arm band monitor and sync suit. The program has user friendly set up that allows the user to input the direction of height change (Shrink or Grow), The minimum or maximum height change, How height change occurs (By views, chat commands, donations, etc.), and rate of height change (How much height is gained or lost with each instance of viewer interaction.) EX: If height is based on donations, the user can set it up so they lose 1 inch for every 10 dollars donated. They can set the minimum height to 6 inches, so once they’ve received enough donations that they have shrunk down to 6 inches, Byte-Syzed will hold at that height. More donations may come in after, but the height will remain at 6 inches for the duration of the stream.)
The Arm Band Monitor, is the device the physically changes the user’s height after connecting to the Byte-Syzed Program. It also monitors and display’s the user’s current height and vitals. All data collected from the arm band will then be saved and can be referenced later if the band is connected to the computer. The arm band must be kept on at all times during active use and active reset of Byte-Syzed. Active use is the time in which Byte-Syzed is being used in a stream and the user’s height is actively changing. Active reset refers to time after the stream has ended and the user is either set at their new current height or in the process of returning to their normal height. After a stream has ended the user will remain at their changed height until they press the reset button on the monitor. Once the reset button is active, the user will return to their normal height at 1.5 times the amount of time it took to change to their current changed height. EX: A user has finished a stream that was 4 hours. They hit the reset button which will return them to normal over the course of 6 hours. (4x1.5=6) This only applies for time Byte-Syzed was in use, not how long a size change occurred. EX: If the user’s stream was 4 hours, but they reached their minimum height in 3 hours, the reset function will account for the 4 hours the stream lasted. This is a safety procedure to reduce stress on the user’s body. Note: If the reset button is not pressed, the user will remain at their changed height for a period of 12 hours. After 12 hours, the reset function will kick in automatically.
The Synchronized Suit or Sync Suit is directly connected to the Byte-Syzed program and will grow and shrink with the user at the same rate as the user. Normal clothing can be worn above it but they will not change size with the user, only the sync suit. The sync suit Monica received came with the suit, shoes, and a headset with a built in microphone to keep audio input even over the course of her size changing. More sync suits are in the process of being designed and produced, with the goal of making sync suits that resemble everyday clothing like t shirts or skirts.
Fun Story Ideas:
- Origin story. How Monica met the benefactors and was gifted Byte-Syzed, her and Kim’s gripes about using it, actually going through with it and the pros and cons she noticed, the end of her first size changing stream and dealing with being tiny in her own room and her girlfriend’s hands. Etc etc
- Monica finished a late night stream using byte Syzed and forgets to press reset when she goes to sleep so instead of growing back over the course of the night she wakes up at her tiny size. After realizing her mistake she begins the growth process but now has to do it while attempting to do her regular day time activities.
- Monica is approached by a doll company to collaborate on a new doll based on her, only issue, their studio is several hours away and they want her to model at both her full height and at the height of the dolls. After some consideration Monica and Kim decide to take a road trip to the studio and use Byte Syzed at the studio under Kim’s careful supervision. What could go wrong?
- Months have passed and Kim and Monica have grown well adjusted to the major size difference between them after Monica finishes a byte syze stream, however curiosity has gotten the best of her and Kim wonders what it would be like to be the tiny one for a change.
If you have read this far, you have my eternal gratitude. Thanks for reading this far, I really hope you liked it XD Maybe if time and motivation allows I can flesh the story out.
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