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brutal-nemesis · 3 years ago

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Arthropod Day 2021: 🦀Time For Crab 🦀

Malacostraca Moment 😳🦀

So fun story I wanted this to be on a Saturday because SIDEWAYS SATURDAY but when I was deciding on the date I looked at the calendar for July without realizing it. Happy Sideways Stuesday I guess?

Castys Masterlist

Ingredients: drowning mention, animal attack (kinda chill tho it’s not really violent), dehydration, autocannibalism mention, parasitic insects, partial nudity, heckin surgery (but it’s CONSENSUAL (⊙ˍ⊙) who am I), suicide for convenience (immortal)

“This looks like a lovely spot for a vacation; thank you guys so much for finding it for me.” The small dingy had just landed on a sandy beach enclosed by dark rocks on either side, a lush forest leading deeper into the island. Casyts’s captor glared at him before harshly tugging the rope tied to his wrists, trying to get him to stand and step onto the beach with her.

“Shut your trap, Ragnarok, or I might change my mind about gagging you. Now get up or I’ll have my men drag you.”

Castys sighed and rolled his eyes, getting up and following her so his rope burn didn’t get any worse. “Aye aye, Yvonne.”

“That’s Captain Veldna to you,” she growled, jerking him forward. He stumbled a bit, but he was able to catch himself before he got sand up his nose. He debated trying to yank the rope out of her hands and running away or stealing the boat, but her very strong men were right behind him and that would probably just end in him having extra bruises. So he just followed her like a stupid little goat as she led him towards the rocks, hoping she wouldn’t leave him tied up so he could at least enjoy his time being stranded. But no, this was about sending a message to his crew or making him suffer or something. He didn’t really remember, he’d been dazed as hell when he’d initially gotten captured during a fight between their two ships. Blood loss was a bitch sometimes.

They forced him to sit with his back against a large rock, yanking his bound hands above his head and worming a large nail through the knotted rope before hammering it into the rock. “Not gonna lie, this seems a little extra. I’m not going to go anywhere, so, like, just let me-” Yvonne slapped him harshly across the face.

“You’re not here to have fun, you annoying little parrot.” She looked over at her men, who had just finished tying his ankles together and nailing them down in a similar fashion to his wrists. “If you lot are done, let’s leave.” She turned back to Castys, a wicked grin on her face. “I wonder how many times you’ll die before your crew finds you?”

“My money’s on eight. Do you want me to keep track and tell you next time we see each other? If only I could write in a diary what horrors I suffer sitting on this warm rock that you tied me to during high tide so I won’t even drown later. Now that-agh!” Yvonne stabbed him in the stomach, and Castys bit back a scream as she twisted her blade.

“The sound of your silence is something I could get used to.”

“Well, the real question is, is silence actually a sound-” Castys’s very valid observation was cut off by the bitch yanking out her sword and promptly kicking him in the stomach. He couldn’t help but cry out, doubling over as far as he could. Yeah, yeah he should probably just shut the fuck up and let them get on their merry way before he got more unnecessary injuries.

“Enjoy your vacation, Ragnarok,” Yvonne spat. As one last gesture of maturity, she kicked sand at him before walking off, and some of it definitely got in his stab hole, so that was nice. He watched them row away, sighing. Now it was just boredom city, but hey, at least he had a nice beach view. The sun was a few hours away from setting, not that it mattered that much since his skin was dark enough that he probably wasn’t going to get sunburned.

Being tied to a rock on the beach was...just about as boring as he expected. His arms got all tingly after a while from being stuck above his head, so he couldn’t even properly relax, and a man could only watch little waves roll for so long. He had a nice view of the setting sun, and hey, that means the light of dawn wouldn’t be shining in his face. While the sun was still a little ways above the horizon, he heard an odd rustling noise over in the vegetation, different from the background sounds he had gotten used to. He looked over, hoping it was a friendly man with a knife.

It was not a friendly man with a knife. But it wasn’t something bad, either. “Oh shit hello crabs!” Castys watched as they scuttled out of the treeline onto the beach, glad to have something fun to watch. One of them was slowly making its way towards him, and Castys wondered if he would be able to convince it to snip his bindings. “Hey there mister crab man, come on down, and please for the love of god untie me.” Yes, yes he was talking to a crab, because why not go full send on the insanity right away? It would be so much more fun, and it’s not like anyone else was here to judge him. “Yeah crab get in my zone-wow you’re kinda big.” He’d thought the crab was closer to him, but nope, it had been farther away but giant. Not like giant giant but not, like, normal crab size. It was almost as big as his torso maybe, but he was never great at estimating the relative sizes of things.

“You’re large but you’re a gentleman, ain’t ya? I don’t know why, but you just seem like a polite fellow.” The crab stopped not too far from Castys and just looked at him blankly. Or maybe it was making a face at him, but he couldn’t read crab body language. Could anyone read crab body language? Crabs, he would hope. “Could you bring me some tea, good sir? Or just...water. Water that’s not salty. I don’t actually like tea it literally tastes like nothing but you know what I would drink it now because I am thirsty.” There was a moment of silence. “Not like thirsty in the weird way some people are. I have no idea what that’s about. But like, I want water. Or...oh my god, Mr. Crab, bring me a coconut!” Castys closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Yeah… that would be nice. Food and water and it’s prepackaged and I don’t know how I would eat it because my hands are tied but I’ll figure it out.”

A sudden sharp pinch against his wound jolted Castys out of his daydream. He looked down in horror to see that the crab was holding something in its claws. Something pinkish-red that was dripping blood down onto the sand. The bastard. The crab brought the piece of his flesh to its mouth and just ate it while staring right at Castys. “That,” he blinked in surprise a few times, “was incredibly rude.” The crab stayed still, watching him as it did its weird mouth movements that were maybe chewing. “You are absolutely not a gentleman. I rescind everything. You little garbage boy. Rapscallion. I bet you never get invited to the crab raves.”

And the crab. Had the audacity. To reach out its stupid pincher. And do it again. “Little bitch!” Castys yelled, squirming against the ropes in an attempt to scare the thing off. Shockingly, it did not work, because wounded, dying prey squirmed all the time, and...that’s pretty much what Castys was in this scenario, wasn’t he? He was just stuck sitting here while that stupid crab ripped off little pieces of him with its stupid crab pincher and put them in its stupid crab mouth. If he was lucky, this would make him bleed out and die faster and then he wouldn’t have an open wound anymore, which would be a bonus. Though, it had sand in it, and then if it healed…

A problem for another day.

Not the next day, though, or the one after, because, hooray, he was still tied to a rock, so even though he did die a few hours later, he couldn’t do anything about the Sand In His Insides. He made up a song about it, but singing it loudly did absolutely nothing to scare away the crab, whom he had named Crabstard (Crab Bastard). Crabstard seemed to think Castys was his new best friend, coming back regularly for meals. Castys liked to imagine killing and eating Crabstard as a show of dominance, but that made him wonder...would eating Crabstard be a form of autocannibalism? Because Crabstard had eaten him...

He wasn’t sure what was worse, Crabstard and his stupid giant pinchers, or the mosquitoes. There weren’t a ton of them, but their bites were just awful, littering his arms and legs with swollen, white boils, which were unusual and also very concerning but what the fuck could he do about it. Because of course he couldn’t scratch them, and they itched so much it hurt and he just had to endure it. Just like he had to endure fucking everything. The heat of the sun, the awful tingling in his arms, the soreness of his wrists, Crabstard pinching off bits of his flesh, the maddening pain and itch of all his bug bites, the hunger and thirst, the boredom, and the...the loneliness.

No, he was fine, he was fine with just himself, it was always just him anyway. He wasn’t imagining his crew rowing to shore and untying him and tending to him in his cold, dark cabin, because he couldn’t get his hopes up, because they probably weren’t even coming for him. They were just going to leave him behind like everyone else and fuck he was wasting water like a useless idiot and he couldn’t stop or even wipe them away and he probably deserved this for everything he’d done so what did it matter?

And, great, the next day he started hallucinating a passing ship and a rowboat coming for him. Thank you, dehydrated whore brain! Let’s get our stupid little hopes up! Dang, the people on the boat kind of even looked like some of his crewmates, which was rude of his brain to make this so realistic looking.

It wasn’t until his first mate, Kaveri, was untying him that Castys realized that this was real, that they’d really...really come for him. “I’m so glad we found you, Captain.” She pulled him into a hug as soon as he was free, and he hugged her back as best he could with his sore arms.

“I’m glad y’all did, too.” He leaned back when she let go and looked down at himself, wincing. “Well, before we get back to the ship, I am going to deliver a much needed death upon mys-“

“Captain, Captain, wait,” the ship’s medic, Sixtus, called as he ran over. He knelt beside Castys, taking his arm and examining the bug bites closely. “I knew it. These bites all over you are...they contain fly larvae. We’re going to need to dig them out before you heal yourself.”

“...what if I’ve died since I’ve gotten bitten. Like, earlier.”

“Well.” Sixtus breathed in sharply. “We will just have to wait for them to, uh, let us know where they are.” He sighed. “For now, let’s get you back to the ship and I’ll get out the ones I can. I don’t have the tools for it with me.”

“Can I kill Crabstard first?”

“Crab...stard?” Kaveri gave him a concerned look, and Sixtus felt his forehead.

“He’s a very impolite giant crab. He is my rival. I wish to vanquish him.” The other two shared a look.

“Do you know where this...this crab is?” Sixtus tried.

Castys held up a finger and opened his mouth, pausing for a second before shutting it and blinking a few times. “I. I do not. He just scuttles out of the trees to commit crimes every now and then. He has no friends.”

“Alright, in that case, no. You’re in no condition to wander around the island looking for a crab.” Sixtus held out his hand. “So, come on.”

“Fiiiine,” Castys groaned, letting the taller man help him to his feet. He was a little unsteady, but he was able to make it to the boat with Kaveri’s help. As they rowed away, he turned back to the island one last time, cupping his hands around his mouth as he yelled, “Fuck you Crabstard I hope you starve and die in a pit and the other crabs eat you!”

Once they made it back to the ship, Sixtus ushered Castys into his office, instructing him to sit up on the examination table and take his shirt and pants off. Kaveri helped him, opting to stay in case Sixtus needed a hand. He examined Castys thoroughly, using a lightstone to get a good look at the swollen bug bites littering his body as well as the number of small wounds in his side.

“These from the, uh, crab?” Sixtus asked as he gestured to them.

“Yup. Him and his stupid pinchers.”

“Alright, I know you don’t really get infections, but I’m going to clean these out just to be safe.” He paused. “Also it just feels. Really wrong not to. It’ll bother me if I don’t.”

“Do whatever, doctor man.” Castys did his best not to let his pain show as Sixtus dabbed at his wounds with a stingy liquid. It really didn’t hurt that much, but when Kaveri placed her hand on top of his as he gripped the edge of the table, he didn’t wave her off. He’d let it be Fuss Over The Captain Day. For their sake. Because they seem to have been worried about him.

“Alright, I’m all done with that, so if you could lay down, Captain, I’ll get started with removing those larvae. Kaveri, get him some rum and then hold him down.” She nodded, leaving and returning soon after with a small cup.

“You know, I haven’t had water in days,” Castys mused before winking at her and downing its contents. Kaveri shook her head.

“You literally emptied my waterskin while we were rowing back.”

“Oh dang, I forgot. Nevermind I’m actually not funny and am just stupid.” He scooted a bit and laid down with his hands behind his head. “Get rid of my worms.”

“They’re not-they’re not worms, Captain, they’re insects, since-” Sixtus stopped himself, folding his hands in front of his mouth. “Nevermind.” He cleared his throat. “Arms at your sides, please. Kaveri, if you would.” She nodded, holding down his shoulders as Sixtus turned Castys’s arm, locating the first larva he was going to remove. Castys breathed in sharply as the knife sliced into his arm, doing his best to keep still as Sixtus slid a pair of tweezers into the wound. The rum dulled his senses enough that it didn’t hurt as much as it could, but it certainly wasn’t painless, and he couldn’t help but gasp as Sixtus slowly pulled a small, wriggling grub out of the incision. He dropped it in a metal tray, cleaned the wound, and picked up his knife.

Then the process started all over again.

Castys didn’t bother counting how many times those tweezers probed around inside him, how many wet little plops he heard as another larva dropped into the tray. He focused on staying still, on the prickle of the rough wood table against his bare back, on the feeling of Kaveri’s hands on his shoulders, more comforting than restraining. They reminded him that he wasn’t alone in his suffering, for once. But he wasn’t supposed to need comfort, he was their immortal captain, the one who’d been through everything before and was strong enough to go through it again, the one his crew could always depend on to be strong. And here he was, teeth gritted against the pain, his forehead resting against Kaveri’s arm, fists clenched to mask their shaking, all over a few cuts and some little maggots.

“Alright,” Sixtus wiped his brow with the back of his hand, “I think that’s all of ‘em. That I can see, at least.” He looked down at Castys. “You had seventeen of those things in you, Captain.” He grimaced. “And possibly more, so please let me know if you feel anything, uh, wiggling. But for now, you’re free to...die.”

“Can’t believe I got a new world record for worm friends.” Castys grabbed the small leather pouch that usually hung around his neck from his pile of clothes, pulling it open.

“They’re not worms-”

“Thank you, Sixtus.” With that, Castys stuck his finger in the pouch and touched his death stone. He came back to life feeling infinitely better, but Kaveri and Sixtus still insisted he rest after he cleaned himself up. He grumbled, but he let Kaveri force him into his bed and bring him something to eat. Once he was finished, she collected his plate and stood awkwardly by his bedside.

“Do...do you want me to come back, Castys? Will you be alright?”

“Look, I’m honestly fine, you’re good. I’ve been through a lot worse, and I’m all healed up now so it doesn’t really matter.”

She pursed her lips. “I suppose, but that doesn’t mean that that didn’t still take a mental toll on you, and…” she sighed. “Just...call me if you need anything, alright?”

“Will do.” She nodded, but as she started to walk away, Castys realized there was something he’d rather not leave unsaid. “Wait, Kaveri?”

“Yes?”

“Th...thank you. For, uh, finding me.”

“Of course, Castys. We’ll always be there for you.” Castys opened his mouth to reply, but he stopped himself and just smiled and nodded, his shoulders only falling once she’d left.

He wished that were true.

Castys Cult: @as-a-matter-of-whump @blackrosesandwhump @fanmanga1357-blog @thehopelessopus @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @hearse-song @muddy-swamp-bitch @whumpasaurus101 @yet-another-heathen @galaxywhump @starnight-whump @his-unspoken-words @misspelledwitch

#i wrote something #arthropod day #arthropod day 2021 #castys #immortal whumpee #dehydration cw #animal attack cw #painful caretaking #partial nudity #parasites cw #surgery whump #suicide for convenience #yes the rocks are basalt #welcome to castys's irrational hatred of crabs he now has a blood feud with any and all crabs #using my favorite life hack called ''these crabs are BASED on coconut crabs but since they are fantasy crabs they will do what i want''#the botfly larvae are botfly larvae ✨ grubby boys #i did write portions of this while on an actual beach so like 😎 kinda pog #wasn't gonna do the rescue bit but castys got sad and also that meant SURGERY #*gives sixtus my obsessive wound cleaning tendencies and adherence to biological classification schemes*#this random man can have these little traits of mine. as a treat #also i realized like a day after i named him that he is in the clan of lads who's names end in -us #six letter names that end in -us are simply peak boy name i dont take criticism #i literally have FOUR of them: erebus jairus corvus and sixtus

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summonerscenarios · 4 years ago

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Hello, whenever you're able to, can you make the reactions of the Summoners + Gullinbursti and Agyo reacting to MC2 coming back all scratched and bruised? I love when the boys get worried about the MC

First request post of 2021 let’s go~! dfghgfd honestly don’t we all love seeing ppl worry about the poor MC? I mean the amount of trouble they get dragged into is ridiculous lmao I’m sure there’s some kind of award for that at this point. Hope ya like it hun!

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Shiro

Shiro’s worried - of course he is. Seeing any of the Summoners getting scratched up or injured in fights is enough to warrant concern about them; however, his reaction really depends on how you ended up getting scuffed up. If it was due to jumping in to help someone or getting into an accident he’s going to be very concerned about your health and well being. If it was because you were super reckless and went overboard doing some stupid shit? He’ll absolutely know and you’ll know he knows as soon as you walk through the door and spot him waiting for you. He’s got the disapproving parent face down to a T which you’ve joked about on more than one occasion, but it's clear he’s still genuinely worried once he catches sight of how banged up and bruised you are.

He keeps a few things like plasters and that on him for the little injuries (and for when the D-evil’s get hurt I’ll die with this idea thx), there’s also a first aid kit or two stocked away at the safehouse thanks to the last couple of instances of people (namely you and Kengo) coming back in beaten up and in need of some bandaging up, so thankfully he’s fully prepared to help you. He makes sure you’re sitting down both to get you off of your feet as well as to see where all the scratches are so he knows exactly what he’s working with. Surprisingly, Shiro’s pretty adept at patching you up without hurting you too much - turning your hands and arms around in his hands to make sure he gets every cut and scrape without pressing down too hard as he wipes them over and patches them up. The whole time he works he’ll ask you about what happened this time, listening to you telling him all about what went down as he works, nodding along and humming to let you know that he’s still listening to you whenever you pause.

Shiro knows that he can’t always stop you from getting hurt, especially when there’s so many things out to get you (and so many things you actively jump into without any regard for your wellbeing whatsoever, like seriously please at least try to keep yourself he worries a lot), but he can at least always be there to patch you back up and get you back on your feet when you’re injured, so he takes this kind of stuff seriously. Even once you’re patched up Shiro makes sure you sit down for a little while to rest a bit - if you have any open cuts the only thing that running around jumping back into trouble will achieve is making it take longer to heal. In the meantime he’ll make some drinks to convince you to stay put, giving the two of you the chance to chat about something that isn’t injury-related as you drink and talk in the safety of the guildhouse.

Kengo

Okay I’m gonna be honest, Kengo’s not entirely surprised to see you all busted up when you run into each other. It’s not like he hasn’t had his fair share of scuffles for various reasons (sometimes he doesn’t even mean to get dragged into them!...sometimes) and he knows that you’re very much the same so it’s not like he doesn’t realize you aren’t gonna come in roughed up sometimes. The two of you have got a pretty mutual understanding - if you need some help patching up you’ve got each other’s backs, namely to avoid getting reamed out by the others for getting into said fights in the first place. Which is exactly why when you guys bump into each other and he sees that you’re sporting a shiner and a busted lip to boot he knows something went down, but he doesn’t worry too much when you flash him a grin and tell him that he missed a hell of a fight, easing his worries that it at least didn’t get too out of hand.

There’s nothing a washcloth and some water won’t fix - at least that’s what he says as he slaps a bowl full of water down in front of you once you’re sat down on the floor and kneels down to get on your level. He leaves your eye be once he makes sure it’s only bruised and not something more serious and focuses on the cuts since they’re the bigger issue. His hands are rugged and his grip’s a little rough when he accidentally brushes over some of the bruised parts of your skin, but Kengo tries his best to be careful, guiding you to tilt your head in his direction with one hand as the other brings the washcloth up to your busted lip. It stings when he touches it and your expression scrunches up at the unpleasant feeling, but you ease up a little as he cleans up the wound and wipes away the blood smearing your mouth.

Kengo tries to keep the mood as light as possible; he tries to crack a couple jokes to cheer you up but a few of them earn him a playful punch to the shoulder though it makes taking care of you go a lot more smoothly.The cuts at least look better once they’re cleaned up of the blood and marks, and while Kengo does wish he at least had something to wrap em up with he’s glad that you’re at least looking a sight better than you did when you’d initially showed up.

Ryota

WORRIED. VERY WORRIED. When Ryota catches sight of you he almost immediately drops whatever he's doing and rushes over to you to make sure that you’re okay, expression alight with alarm when he can see how scuffed up you are up close. At the sight of his reaction worrying over you, you feel a bit guilty that you didn’t try to clean yourself up before you arrived, since the bruises and bleeding cuts don't exactly paint the most reassuring picture to the poor boy. Still you try to reassure him that it’s really not that bad - you’ve had worse bruises and most of the scratches are surface wounds anyway; Ryota still frets over you until you at the very least sit down, looking at some of the bruises on the side of your face with brows furrowed in unspoken concern.

Ryota’s asking you what he can do to help the whole time - is there something he can get you? Something to cover the cuts? Maybe some ice for the bruises? He’s pretty sure he could rush to the cafeteria and get some to wrap up in a cloth so you can soothe the ache ,or at least lessen the pain. You end up taking him up on the offer, and he comes back with a pouch of ice, pressing it to the bruised side of your face so gently it’s like he’s scared of hurting you even more. It certainly helps to ease the pain a little, and seeing you visibly relax at the touch it seems to calm his nerves down as he comes to sit down beside you, talking to you as you take the ice pack from him and keep it pressed to your face.

He seems to remember something as you’re talking and spins around to rummage through one of his drawers, turning back around with a box of plasters in hand a few moments later with a triumphant smile on his face. Soon enough you’ve got plenty of plasters with cute little patterns decorated on them on each and every one of your cuts regardless of how big or small they are. By the time the last one’s carefully placed over a cut around your finger the earlier tension’s definitely eased and you can tell he feels less worried now that you’re taken care of, offering you a warm smile when he looks up from your hand at you.

Toji

Toji’s dealt with more than a few injuries himself before, having to teach himself how to take care of different kinds of wounds over the course of his lifetime. Alongside this however he’s also grown quite adept at assessing how serious someone else's injuries are when he sees them. Perhaps that's how he’s able to notice something’s wrong when you try to sneak back to your room trying to nurse your wounds after getting pretty scuffed up through no real fault of your own. It’s not as though you can really hide them from him though, with a couple bruises, cuts and a generally mussed up appearance it isn’t hard for him to take a guess that you aren’t in your usually injury-free state. When you try to assure him that you’ll be find once you’ve patched yourself up Toji sighs, rubbing his temples, then proceeds to gesture for you to go ahead into your room, and thinking he’s actually letting you off the hook you don't hesitate to slip into your room and leave it there. Only a few minutes later he comes knocking on your door with a bag of what you soon find out is some medical supplies - bandages, plasters, rubbing alcohol and some other supplies you guess is for cleaning wounds.

Calls you a dumbass the whole time but in a low-key lovingly sort of way.

Okay but seriously though, if you got hurt due to recklessness expect him to talk your ear off the whole time - he doesn’t care if you think you’re being heroic, because you’re not gonna be a hero for very long if you get more injured than you can handle. You getting hurt is no joke to him, even if the wounds are relatively minor by comparison; even as he says this though he’s surprisingly gentle as he tends to your wounds, not being overly harsh despite the scolding tone of his words. You can tell that deep down he is genuinely concerned about your wellbeing as he patches you up, as when you hiss at the cleansing wipes he runs over your cuts you notice he pauses for a second before continuing.

He’s pretty practiced at this by comparison to the other Summoners, so it really doesn’t take very long until you’re all cleaned up and doing better than you would have been if you’d just stuck it out in your room. But don’t expect to get away without one last drawn out lecture on taking better care of yourself - you’ve only got one body and all it takes is a stray knife or the wrong place for you to get seriously hurt. It’s honestly pretty rich coming from someone who so often delves into the shadows for the sake of succeeding in battle more times than you can count; however, for what it’s worth you can tell he’s giving you this talk because he doesn’t like seeing you getting hurt, and wants to ensure that you aren’t willingly putting yourself into harm’s way - he wants you to stay safe, even if he doesn’t outwardly say tell you that.

Gullinbursti

I mean usually Gull’s the one who ends up getting hurt barging in to take the fall in your stead, so when you end up coming back home covered in scratches and bruises it likely happened when he wasn’t around to intervene. Needless to say, he hates the sight of you injured in any way - he feels as though he’s failed to fulfill his purpose to keep you protected from harm, and you’re honestly surprised to see just how distressed he is by you getting hurt. You get hurt all of the time, with so many close calls to your name you’re sure you’d earn an achievement or two for it - but you guess most of those instances have been while Gull wasn’t around, which explains why he gets so troubled at the sight of you standing before him, cradling a few more bruises than you’re able to cover up when you come face to face with the boar transient.

You have to really convince him that you’ll be fine without going to see anybody like a doctor or school nurse or else Gullinbursti won’t even hesitate to hoist you up into his arms and charge right over to the person who can get you healed up, be it one of the other Summoners or a medical professional. He doesn’t seem entirely convinced when you tell him that you’re fine - you just need to grab a couple things you’d stashed away specifically for these instances and once you’re finished you’ll be right as rain...minus the scratches, of course. Similar to Ryota, he hovers around you whilst you’re cleaning yourself up, looking for an opportunity to aid you in some way, whether that’s going out to retrieve something or holding things for you while you move to grab the next things you need. It’s actually pretty cute seeing him trying to dote on you, watching you clean yourself up and bristling when you grit your teeth as you apply the disinfectant.

In your opinion, you do a pretty bang up job of bandaging yourself up, though as you’re putting the last of the plasters on your palm you feel the back of his hand brush against the side of you, stopping just short of one of the particularly nasty bruises you’ve got blossoming across the skin. When you tilt your head to face him and ask him what’s wrong he wonders aloud if you’re in pain - it makes you pause, because you’d be lying if you said they didn’t feel at least uncomfortable, so instead of answering you lean over and pat his cheek, assuring him that you’re okay and that he doesn’t need to worry in the hopes to reassure him.

Agyo

Agyo absolutely panics when you come through the guildhouse door all busted up and bruised. When did you get hurt?! It couldn’t have been close to the guild, the little lion dog takes guarding the safehouse seriously, so surely he’d have spotted you while he was out making sure everything outside was okay! You’re covered in scratches and bruises when you stumble into the room and greet the fluffy transient, and the poor boy just about faints at the sight of you grinning as you rub at the side of your face where you’re supporting a particularly large bruise, half-heartedly whining about how it stings and how you were so sure you could have dodged the hit. Agyo really wishes someone else was here, someone who has a good enough idea on how to take care of you when you’re hurt; since he’s the only one around at the time he decides to take the situation into his own paws, ushering you further inside the room so that he can get a proper look at just how bad the damage is, getting frustrated when you try to tell him that it’s really not that big of a deal.

He tries to put on a brave face but you can tell that he’s really worried - your injuries are only scrapes and bruises at worst, but you’ve got a hell of a lot of them. Agyo has the least amount of experience with dealing with injuries; he’s gotten hurt before back in Wa No Kuni, and he’s also seen people coming to the shrine sick or injured but it was always his grandpa who took care of those duties while Agyo got things to help. So Agyo plays to his strengths, and remembering some of the things he’d seen used before, brings out the first aid kit for you to use, hoping that whatever’s inside will help in some way. Most of them don’t even need anything to cover, with only a few cuts actually managing to break the skin, but for the sake of easing his nerves you humor him a little and cover as many as you’re able.

Most of your fingers are covered in plasters by the time you’re done, with them having received the brunt of the damage at the time, and you hold them up for him to see, waggling your fingers as if to show him that you’re all better. It does seem to do the trick, as at the sign of your plaster-covered hands he huffs and plops down to sit beside you, shaking his head as he asks you how you even ended up like this - surely you didn’t run headfirst into trouble, right?...right? When you don’t answer him, instead feigning ignorance and whistling as you look away, the poor lion dog gives you an exasperated look and starts persistently prying for answers, grumbling about losing guardian points when the sight of him getting so riled up makes you laugh a little.

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andrewmoocow · 4 years ago

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Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 16: Enemy of my Enemy (originally published on May 3, 2021)

AN: At long last, Black Rutile strikes! I have been anticipating writing this inevitable confrontation between her and the Crystal Gems for ages, and now finally everything I've building up to these past two parts will come together in a neat little package! We got a big battle, a villain song, fusions, who could ask for more?! But I'm getting ahead of myself, let us finally begin.

Synopsis: Jasper is unofficially sworn into the Crystal Gems when some old foes come together.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven

Estelle as Garnet

Michaela Dietz as Amethyst

Deedee Magno-Hall as Pearl

Noël Wells as Black Rutile

Lauren Ash as White Topaz

Grace Rolek as Connie

Jennifer Paz as Lapis, Zuli, Mean Lapis

Shelby Rabara as Peridot, Squaridot

Uzo Aduba as Bismuth

Matthew Moy as Lars, Dante

Kathleen Fisher as Fluorite

Enuka Okuma as Rhodonite

Ashly Burch as Rutile Twins

Erica Luttrell as Padparadscha Sapphire

Christine Baranski as Hessonite

Della Saba as Aquamarine

Charlyne Yi as Eyeball

Larissa Gallagher as Bluebird Azurite

Jinkx Monsoon as Emerald

Melissa Fahn as Demantoid

Kari Wahlgren as Pyrope

Kimberly Brooks as Jasper, Biggs Jasper

Aparna Nancherla as Nephrite

Michelle Maryk as Larimar

Ian Jones-Quartey as Snowflake Obsidian

Amy Sedaris as Teal Zircon

Martha Higerada as Topaz

Dee Bradley Baker as Lion, George, Elaine, Cosma

AJ Michalka as Stevonnie

Nancy Linari as Martha

Featuring Catherine Tate as Lepidolite

Alan Oppenheimer as Professor Poindexter

And Burt Ward as Mangolin

It has been a hectic past few hours for Steven. He was having another nice day when suddenly, Hessonite, Squaridot, and the Off-Colors all came flying out of Lion's mane, telling him that Lars needs to see him just as the Destiny Destroyer crash-landed on the beach.

Not too long after, Lars was rushed to the hospital and Steven decided to follow him in the ambulance. Steven had never been to a hospital before, so it was a little frightening for him to be somewhere on Earth that he had never been before, especially since many humans go there regularly.

"Hello, did you admit any patients into this place recently?" Steven hurriedly asked the receptionist.

"Name please." the college-aged receptionist answered, barely glancing up from her phone to meet Steven's panicking eyes.

"Steven Universe!" Steven gave his name.

"You're going to have to be more specific Mr. Universe." the receptionist stated.

"He's got pink skin, a scar over one eye and his hair is a portal to a pocket dimension where there's like a couple of trees inside." Steven explained. The woman just stared at Steven in confusion for a bit before going back to her phone. "Anything the matter, miss?"

"I'm happy you said all of that with a straight face." the receptionist said, putting down her phone to go on the computer. "One sec Universe." She looked up the most recent patients on the monitor and turned it to show Steven his desired patient. "Are you looking for Mr. Laramie Barriga?"

"Yes, that's him!" Steven exclaimed. "I was there when he got taken away in that ambulance! Where is he now?"

"Room 723." the receptionist answered. "Take the elevator, make a left and then a right. Got that?"

Before the woman could turn back, Steven had already vanished to find Lars. "Kids." she grumbled.

As Steven raced through the hospital in search of his undead friend, numerous unfamiliar sights greeted him. A doctor's office contained a child receiving a flu shot, a man in a wheelchair let Steven pass him by, a woman was on her way to an operating room, and a doctor solemnly fixed an empty hospital bed while a family was mourning.

Finally, Steven reached Room 723 just as a nurse was passing by the room. "Hello, I'm a friend of the patient occupying this room, and the Off-Colors told me what happened. Can I please come in and visit him?"

"You may." The nurse replied and opened the door for Steven. "Doctor Laurie, our patient has one more visitor." She said to the doctor standing by a bedridden Lars along with his parents, Sadie and Shep. "He said a bunch of "Off-Colors" told him everything."

"I'm here Lars!" Steven exclaimed as he rushed into the hospital room to be by Lars's side. "Hessonite and the Off-Colors told me what happened after they came flying out of Lion's mane!"

"Steven, finally!" Lars cried happily as he grabbed Steven's shoulders. "Listen, I need to warn you! You and the entire planet are doomed!"

A little while later, Lars was given a clean bill of health and was allowed to go home by ambulance. He sat on one side of the ambulance with his parents while Steven sat on the other end, and Lars continued to reveal what happened on Homeworld.

"What I'm trying to say Steven is that there's this Gem who's been inspiring others to rebel against you and Era 3!" Lars explained. "She's gathered up tons of your old enemies so they can get revenge too, and they're coming for Earth!"

"Lars, I understand your concern," Steven calmly stated. "but you're getting a little wound up over nothing. Almost everyone loves what I've done to the Gem race. There's nothing bigger going on, outside of Aquamarine being annoying."

"Seriously, you don't believe me?" Lars flatly asked in disbelief. "Well, do you at least believe what Hessonite said?"

"I believe that you teamed up for a fun space adventure!" Steven answered before his phone started ringing. "Whoops, got a call from Garnet." he said before answering the call. "Hello?"

"Steven, you need to come to Little Homeworld quick!" Garnet urged Steven from the other end. "Rogue Gems are on the attack, and they want us dead! Me, Amethyst, Pearl, Lapis, Peridot and Bismuth have already helped evacuate everyone, but we still need you to save the day again!"

"I'll be right there!" Steven bravely declared before hanging up and turning to the driver. "Sir, I need you to take us to Little Homeworld!"

"It's an emergency!" Lars added while showing him a picture of the Gem village.

"I don't see why not." the driver replied as he made a detour to Little Homeworld.

"You sure about this Lars?" Dante asked his son. "I mean, you just survived falling from space, I don't think we can handle you risking your life again so soon!"

"I promise you guys, I'll be back home when this is all over and I'm back in space." Lars assured his parents and hugged them.

"Be safe Laramie." Nancy said. "But then again, you got Steven to help out."

"Yeah, he's got me alright." Steven assured Mr. and Mrs. Barriga.

"Okay kid, we're here." the ambulance driver declared as the vehicle came close to Little Homeworld. "This is probably the first time I've escorted someone to stop an alien invasion."

"Here's good, thanks, sir." Steven said before the two boys bust the ambulance doors open and raced off to Little Homeworld.

What the pair discovered when they finally reached Little Homeworld was utter chaos. Almost everything was in ruins, smoke billowed everywhere, Light Warriors, Cluster Gems & Cactus Stevens were pillaging & demolishing, and at the center of it all was Aquamarine and Eyeball.

"Steven Universe, what a most pleasant surprise." Aquamarine purred as she turned to face Steven and Lars, batting her wand in her hand. "And look you've even brought Lars as well."

"Aquamarine, Eyeball." Steven laughed nervously while looking at the chaos behind the pair. "Did you, uh, maybe come to reconsider?"

"Reconsider, my facet!" Eyeball yelled before her fusion partner stopped her.

"But we did come with a few new friends." Aquamarine answered smugly.

"Well, that's certainly a start." Steven grinned before a massive hand made of water grabbed him and its creator brought him up to face her. "Hey, you're one of those Lapises! What brings you to Earth?"

"Sorry kid, I'm one of those new friends." Lapis 1J9G announced before dropping Steven to the ground and folding her arms as she landed right next to Aquamarine. "And we're afraid not even half-listening to you will work this time."

"See Steven, this is what I was trying to talk to you about!" Lars exclaimed, gesturing wildly to the three Gems. "A bunch of Gems want to get back at you! Though I thought there'd be more."

"I believe he's referring to me." Emerald bragged as she stepped forward with a panicking George in her hand.

"George!" Steven shouted. "And you, I know you! You're uh," He began getting off track as he only ever saw Emerald through a video screen. "Sorry, I've only met you that one time and now I've kinda forgotten-"

"IT'S EMERALD!" Emerald shrieked furiously. "How could you forget about me after Era 3 made the Diamonds let Lars off with a slap on the wrist for stealing my Sun Incinerator?!"

"Oh, calm yourself Emerald." Pyrope calmed the elite Gem down as she held aloft one of George's sisters, who was in full panic mode and pulling on her pigtails.

"Indeed," Demantoid added, also holding one of George's sisters in her enhanced arm. "You wouldn't want to make yourself less presentable for our victims."

Just then, the six Gems moved aside and kneeled to their leader, whose very appearance completely rocked Steven's world. Black Rutile walked towards Steven with a bowie knife to a rose while White Topaz followed her. When she cut the rose's head, Black Rutile finally faced Steven with an evil smile.

"I know you, you're that reporter!" Steven exclaimed. "Why are you hanging with these guys?!"

"I'm hanging with them?" Black Rutile scoffed at Steven. "I believe you're mistaken; THEY'RE hanging with ME!" She then threw away the rose's stem and steepled her fingers together. "Anyways, do you have any last words?"

"This is not good at all certainly fits." Steven declared nervously before the eight Gems slowly began marching towards the boy, eager to finally get their revenge.

However, their plans were quickly cut off before they could be put into action as Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl swooped into saved Steven and Lars from the rogue Gems.

"We trusted you, you psycho!" Pearl roared while her spear clashed with Black Rutile's knife.

"And everyone was dumb enough to trust you." Black Rutile replied snarkily. "So as you humans say, hello pot, meet kettle."

"Seriously, what makes you think we're worse than you are?" Amethyst asked.

"Something about how your ways will make the Gem race a bunch of puny hippies or whatever." White Topaz answered. "No hard feelings when we destroy you and everything you worked so hard for?"

"What did I tell you about getting friendly with the enemy?" Black Rutile hissed at her Topaz bodyguard before turning back to the Crystal Gems. "Now, let me repeat myself. Any last words?"

"My future vision tells me you will fail." Garnet declared defiantly. "And we will find a way to make that future happen."

"Such noble sentiments from a couple of Gems who are gonna die!" Black Rutile replied as her knife turned into a sword that she prepared to slash the Gems with until a loud rumbling sound was heard. "What was that?"

"Need a hand?" Peridot asked as she, Lapis, and Bismuth appeared on a makeshift flying machine made out of scrap metal that she controlled with her ferrokinesis.

"So that's where you ran off to!" Pearl exclaimed while Bismuth picked her up by the hand to toss onto the metal pad.

"No time to talk, we have to move!" Lapis exclaimed, picking everyone else up with her water powers. When everyone was on board, the pad zoomed off.

"Uh, why aren't we stopping them?!" Lapis 1J9G exclaimed before preparing to fly off when Black Rutile stopped her.

"Let them run." Black Rutile smiled deviously. "I want to see how they can lie their ways out of this situation. But in the meantime, I have another idea."

Before the Crystal Gems knew it, they finally returned to the beach house where Hessonite, Squaridot, and the Off-Colors awaited their return.

"I still can't believe it!" Steven gasped in denial of their current situation. "I get that not everyone would like what I've done with Homeworld, but I don't think I'd make them angry enough to want to kill me!"

"I tried to warn you, Steven." Lars declared sassily. "But you just didn't listen! Probably because you're so in denial of wanting to accept that not everything will go your way."

"Lars, this is no time for backtalk, Earth could be in danger!" Pearl scolded the pink-skinned human as the group walked into the house to think of a plan. "That Rutile seems to have thought of everything! I mean, she's a Rutile for crying out loud, they barely held any power in Homeworld!" However, Pearl then turned to the Rutile twins standing right next to her. "Uh, no offense you two."

"None taken." The twins replied.

"Still, she's got quite an army at her side." Lapis said. "She's got one of those Lapises I fought on Aozul 2, she's got Aquamarine, Eyeball, Pyrope & Demantoid, an Emerald, and that's not even accounting for the minions they got!"

"But what does Black Rutile want with us?" Peridot and Squaridot asked in unknowing unison.

"According to her Topaz, it must be something to do with that Steven did to the Gem race." Bismuth analyzed. "But who knows what she'll do next?"

"I know." Garnet declared. "I've looked through dozens of possible timelines trying to uncover Black Rutile's true plans. This is what I feel could be the worst possible one."

"What does it look like?" Steven asked before Garnet kissed him on the head, temporarily bestowing Steven with her future vision and a glimpse at what could be to come.

It took centuries of careful planning but at long last, Black Rutile had finally won. Once the Crystal Gems were finally destroyed and she indoctrinated the Gems they had enslaved to her noble cause, she then reawakened the Cluster that was slumbering within the Earth's crust, ultimately finishing what the Diamonds were too cowardly to do and destroying that annoying little planet once and for all.

Within mere weeks, the Diamonds met their demise, and Black Rutile installed herself as the new ruler of all Gemkind. And with the beginnings of her dictatorship came the Gems reverting to their old ways during Era 4. The caste system was reinstated but also reinvented at the same time. Now, it was Black Rutile above everyone else.

As countless Gems were tormented into building a grand statue to their magnanimous leader, a lone Pearl solemnly marched through the throngs of enslaved Gems under the orders of Emerald, until she was brought before Black Rutile, who was sitting on a throne as black as her body & her heart while the shattered remains of all who opposed her hanged above her in one big bubble.

"My Rutile, I come with the most glorious of tidings." Emerald decreed as she shoved Volleyball forward. "We have succeeded in terminating the resistance, but I feel you'd find particular interest in shattering their leader yourself."

"Ah yes, Pink Diamond's little Pearl." Black Rutile snickered as she descended from her throne to meet Volleyball. "Who would've guessed a submissive little slave would try to start a revolution? Well, anything to say?"

Volleyball, however, was too terrified to speak, having just witnessed her fellow rebels being shattered before her eye and now faced with the thought of being destroyed herself.

"What's that? No grand speech about how hope will live on or that there will be others like you that will rise against me?" Black Rutile asked rhetorically. "Oh please, I've destroyed every last threat to my power on both this planet and the Asteroid Field Formerly Known as Earth." She declared, gesturing towards the shard-filled bubble floating over her throne. "What's another pile of shards to add to the collection?"

With that, Black Rutile extracted her bowie knife from her gem and used it to jab Volleyball in hers, ending her life within mere seconds.

"So ends the legacy of Pink Diamond." Black Rutile purred as she collected the Pearl's shards in a bubble. "A real shame. She had so much potential and wasted it on being a total brat and threatening her own kind."

She then returned to her throne, where she lifted the bubble towards the bigger bubble, and the two merged. Now Volleyball's remains joined the tons of Gems that Black Rutile had heartlessly shattered. Ruby, Sapphire, Amethyst, Pearl, Peridot, Lapis, Bismuth, Hessonite, Citrine, Spinel, the Diamonds, all nothing more than shards. But her proudest achievement was the small gathering of pink dust that was once Steven Universe.

Returning to the present day, Steven was left utterly aghast at this possible future, but it made his resolve to stop Black Rutile even stronger. "We have to keep this future from happening!" he declared. "All we need to do is gather up an army of our own!"

"I'll call Connie and see if she's free to save the world again today." Pearl stated as she picked up her phone and started dialing.

"Which Gems do you want me to recruit out of everyone we evacuated?" Garnet asked.

"I don't know, just pick anyone!" Steven exclaimed.

"That's the Steven we know and love!" Amethyst replied, cheerfully giving Steven a noogie when she came to a realization. "Hey wait, if Black Rutile is gathering up Gems that have a beef with us, then what would you think if she tried recruiting Jasper?"

"Y'know, Jasper did say she was eager to fight again." Steven agreed with the little Quartz. "Maybe we should try and get to her first."

"I'm not sure Steven." Pearl said as she got off the phone with Connie. "Besides, I don't think Jasper would ever want to side with us."

"Black Rutile has gathered as much information as possible on all of us, and Jasper has likely been given the same treatment." Squaridot stated. "So it's just as likely that she'll try and ensnare Jasper to her side."

"We have to get to Jasper before Black Rutile does!" Steven hurriedly declared before turning to the Warp Pad behind him. "Gotta go, I'll be back soon!"

As Steven left for the forest via Warp Pad, the other Gems just gazed at the pad where he once stood.

"Good luck Steven." Pearl muttered before turning to Lion. "Go fetch Connie, okay?"

Lion nodded obediently and let out a roar, creating a portal that he leaped through to get to Connie.

Meanwhile, deep within the woods of Beach City, Jasper had been watching all that was going on in Little Homeworld from on top of her cave. As she watched smoke billow from afar, she couldn't help but feel that Steven brought this upon himself for enforcing peace for all Gems.

"He could've just ended colonization and leave it at that, but no!" Jasper muttered to herself while leaping down to the entrance of her cave. "He had to make them all into peace-loving weaklings!"

"Couldn't agree more." Jasper heard a familiar voice concur with her opinion. When the orange Gem turned around, she discovered Black Rutile leaning on a nearby tree with Aquamarine standing on a branch above her. "Jasper, correct? I don't think we got properly introduced to each other."

"If you're here for another interview, then forget it!" Jasper bellowed at Black Rutile before bringing her attention to Aquamarine. "And I see you got that little brat with you too."

"You are indeed correct Jasper." Aquamarine declared. "In fact, I'm not the only one who she recruited because of how dissatisfied I am with Era 3. Many Gems have been rallied by my master here to rebel against Steven's oppression and create a utopia."

"Are you sure about that?" Jasper asked with an eyebrow raised. "Sounds to me like you're starting some kind of cult?"

"A cult?! Stuff and nonsense!" Black Rutile assured the quartz. "We are simply fighting for our rights! Would you like to join us?"

"Jasper, don't!" Steven exclaimed as he rushed to the cave, where he saw Jasper standing with Black Rutile. "Please, you have to listen, Black Rutile is not to be trusted!"

"Don't you dare listen to him!" Black Rutile insisted. "He's the son of Pink Diamond, and it's both their faults you went from mighty Gem warrior to a lonely shell of your former self! Don't you see, you could finally get your revenge on Pink!"

"Revenge on my Diamond?" Jasper growled. "Fat chance! Why would I ally with some low-ranking Rutile just because she hates Pink like almost every Gem on this planet?! I'd rather be a peace-loving weakling than one of your lackeys!"

"Low-ranking?!" Black Rutile argued. "I'll have you know Jasper, I was one of a kind among Gems of my type because I worked my hardest to receive White Diamond's highest honors and join the upper-class of her court! You're just a mere Jasper who probably didn't even know Pink in person for the selfish, bratty sociopath she w-"

Before the Rutile could finish, Jasper summoned her crash helmet and sent her flying out of the forest with a single headbutt. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, YOU ROTTEN QUARTZ!" Black Rutile cursed Jasper. "YOU JANKING CLOD!"

As Aquamarine chased after the flying Rutile, Jasper turned to Steven with a grumpy look in her eyes. In contrast, the starry-eyed Steven squealed excitedly while staring at Jasper. "Quit looking at me like that." Jasper snarled. "Let me guess, you want to recruit me too?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Steven declared eagerly.

"Yes indeed, my Ministry of Maliciousness shall soon destroy the United Defenders of the World and conquer the world at last!" a weirdly animated mad scientist with three circles arranged in a triangle decorating his bald head declared as he gestured to his fellow supervillains. Amethyst was watching this happen on television with some of the other Gems in Steven's room.

"Apex Predator!" A muscular man decorated in animal skins fired his highly advanced hunting rifle at nothing in particular.

"Electric Ellen!" A young woman in a black suit with lightning bolt patterns demonstrated her powers for the other villains.

"Automato!" A bronze robot with green optics simply stood by his seat at the table of criminals, his soulless eyes unblinking.

"Scare Master!" A large man in a monster costume that continuously leaked hallucinogenic gas and wearing a yellow ring let out a ghoulish laugh.

"The Unidentified Felonious Extraterrestial!" A cybernetic insectoid alien made a shrieking noise, exposing the smaller head in its mouth.

"And of course, your illustrious leader!" the scientist introduced himself. "The world's greatest criminal mind, Professor Poindexter, Ph.D.!"

"Uh, why are we watching this show?" Zuli asked Amethyst while she sat next to Lapis.

"This is what our current sitch reminds me of!" Amethyst explained. "Mangolin's archenemy Professor Poindexter gathers up each of the United Defenders of the Globe's enemies to form, like, a team of supervillains!"

"Why is the animation so lazy?" Peridot wondered as she leaned on Biggs Jasper.

"It was the 70s, limited budget." Amethyst said. "Ooh wait, here comes Mangolin!"

The cartoon then changed scenes from the Ministry of Maliciousness to the United Defenders of the World, which included Mangolin, Uber-Chap, Battle Goddess, Pyro-Nado, Shamrock Cavalier, Gizmo-Chick, and Vincent the Visitor.

"Termite terrors, Defenders!" the pangolin-themed hero Mangolin exclaimed. "Our foe Professor Poindexter has assembled our enemies to destroy us once and for all! We must do something!"

"They just explained that to us!" Nephrite said. "What, do they think the viewers are stupid or something?"

Just then, the group of Gems heard the Warp Pad go off, signaling that Steven has finally returned.

"Hey, Steven's back!" Teal Zircon exclaimed before racing down the stairs to see her half-human friend again, and this time she was in for a surprise. "Hey Jasper, remember me? Your new best friend?"

"I regret this decision already." Jasper cringed at having to ally with Teal as the other Gems came back downstairs. "Oh look, a whole menagerie of useless clods! Why even bring them all together when I can just take Black Rutile's forces on myself?"

"Jasper, no need to brag about your strength." Lapis said to the more muscular Gem. "This is serious, the whole planet is at stake here!"

"And I should care because?" Jasper snarled in disagreement.

"Um, this is your Diamond's planet?" an exasperated Pearl replied. "Surely you wouldn't want anyone to touch what Pink owned, right?"

"I suggest you don't talk that way to a Gem like her." Rhodonite said to Pearl. "She looks like she could go wild on us at any moment."

"Just calm down everyone." Fluorite advised calmly. "I know we're all stressed because of our current situation, but let's not start arguing."

"And who are all of these?" Jasper asked as she gestured to the Off-Colors, Hessonite & Squaridot, Zuli, Snowflake Obsidian, Little Larimar, Nephrite, Topaz, and Biggs Jasper. "I suppose they're all from that stupid school of yours?"

"Well, most of them are." Steven pointed out. "And maybe when this is all over, you could finally give Little Homeschool a chan-"

"Pass." Jasper coldly declared. "Shouldn't we be getting ready to fight right now?"

"Jasper's right." Bismuth agreed. "We're all in this together, for Earth."

And right on cue, Lion finally returned with Connie on his back, her sword at the ready. "How convenient that I finished most of my work in time for another chance at saving the world!" Connie stated as she dismounted from Lion and hugged Steven. "So, who are we fighting?"

"Come with us to Little Homeworld, I'll show you." Steven answered before he began to walk towards the Warp Pad. "Gems, let's get a move on."

And so, the Crystal Gems and all their assorted allies marched towards the Warp Pad, ready to take back Little Homeworld from Black Rutile's rebels and defend the planet once more. When Steven spread out his arms, off they all went in a beam of light.

"Ugh, I'm so bored!" Eyeball complained, pacing around while the rest of the alliance mindlessly caused more damage to Little Homeworld out of complete boredom. "I suppose they finally realized they were stupid to stop us and skipped Earth without telling?"

"Patience Ruby." Aquamarine advised her fusion partner. "They should be coming soon."

"What makes you so sure?" White Topaz asked Aquamarine as she revealed her weapon, a pair of brass knuckles.

"Steven came running for Jasper thinking she can join his side." The little blue Gem answered. "What an idiot, am I right?!"

Suddenly, Aquamarine was in for a scare as Little Homeworld's Warp Pad activated from right behind her, and on it were the Crystal Gems.

"Okay Black Rutile, we're here." Steven declared with Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Connie, Lion, Peridot, Lapis, Bismuth, Jasper, Hessonite, Squaridot, Lars, the Off-Colors, TZ, Zuli, Topaz, Snowflake, Larimar, Biggs, and Nephrite behind him. "All of us!"

"Oh, you finally showed up! Good timing." Black Rutile sarcastically applauded her foes. "And I see you got a little rag-tag bunch of over-eager losers by your side too."

"Hey 2F8D, so this is what you've been up to." 1J9G cattily greeted her ex-partner. "Being a pacifist baby and letting yourself be Steven's slave."

"I'm not a slave, neither to him or you!" Zuli yelled at 1J9G. "I came to Little Homeworld not just to learn how to appreciate Earth, but to learn how to make actual friends! Not be submissive to overly-controlling jerks!"

"I thought I could trust you Aquamarine!" Topaz went next. "I thought you changed by meeting that Ruby and fusing with her, but now I see you'll always be the same little monster you always are!"

"Oh stop Topaz, you're too kind!" Aquamarine said to her former Topaz.

"Crystal Gems, assemble!" Garnet bravely pointed forward to prepare for one last attack, but Steven stopped her.

"Wait!" Steven exclaimed. "Before we all get into one big fight, I want to know. Why do you hate me in particular? Outside of Era 3, I mean."

"You really want to know?" Black Rutile replied. "Well, allow me to put this in the only way you'll probably understand." She turned to White Topaz while fetching some kind of device from her gem. "Music please."

White Topaz turned the device on and music began to play, cuing Black Rutile to start a song. "When one era ends, another begins. It's such a big change for all us Gems." She sang. "But some aren't new fans of the old ways, and prefer to look back on the old days. But I on the other hand got a chance, to make this the Crystal Gems' last dance. And now I pray through endless days, to finally get rid of you."

"Is she singing?" Lars gasped at the musical number that just began as drum music kicked in. "Did she have a machine made for that purpose?"

"When I first emerged for my Diamond, White the master tactician!" Black Rutile began telling her origins through holograms on her visor, showing a just-emerged Rutile in a Kindergarten standing before White Diamond. "She revealed to me in secret signs, the markings of a great Gem! And she was indeed no clod, could reduce entire armies to sod! And all the fools that dared cross her, she'd just shrug and then shatter!"

"I studied well, got my tools of the trade, always got nothing but an A-grade!" After Black Rutile did away with the hologram showing her emergence, she started revealing the hard work she did to gain her high status among White Diamond's subjects. "But then he walked in and called himself Pinky, soon everyone got down to one knee." A stylized version of Steven's first arrival on Homeworld came next, and the stylized Black Rutile wasn't very pleased. "What never died was my ambition, and my keen intuition. Both of them gave me a complex, and made me want to rule the universe."

As the song went on, Steven began learning more about the consequences of his actions and how much Black Rutile truly despised him. "Every glimmer from your smile makes me want to puke!" his new foe complained. "Who to slay, who's the one, who's to doom? You know the only one would be my new archenemy, Steven U!"

With that, the chorus soon began with Black Rutile's minions joining in, sans White Topaz. "Wither the rose! Growing shadows! Sow a world of chaos!" the seven Gems sang in harmony. "Wither the rose! Only highs, no lows! In a world of chaos!"

"Is this the time for a song?" Connie asked. "Why don't we just attack them while they're singing?"

"Black Rutile is going to put on an admittedly wonderful song!" Padparadscha exclaimed.

"Ha!" Black Rutile laughed as the musical break reaches its end before turning to her Cluster Gems, cyborg Cactus Stevens and Light Warriors. "Come on minions, hurry along, this little school will soon be gone!" she commanded them before hugging herself in excitement. "I could squeeze myself with glee! Next the Diamonds and then this galaxy! I would really stop at nothing, shattering, treachery and lies! Whatever it takes to reign supreme, you really can't blame me for trying."

The tune soon began to reach its climax. "Wither the rose! Growing shadows! Sow a world of chaos! Wither the rose! Don't you doze!"

"We shall restore Homeworld's true order!" Aquamarine soon joined in.

"Vengeance will soon finally be ours!" Eyeball added sadistically.

"Saying sorry just won't cut it!" Emerald chorused.

"Dismantling the new superpowers!" Lapis 1J9G stated.

"Armies rampaging across the stars!" Demantoid declared.

"Covered in so many scars!" Pyrope boomed.

"Nothing but eternal war," Black Rutile concluded. "Join us as we make our own colony!"

"Genocide, slaughtering, jingoism, in enemy blood we shall wade!” The seven Gems announced. "Homeworld Gems come celebrate, as we make this bratty starlight fade!"

The song finally ended and the alliance of hatred took a bow before Black Rutile changed her knife into a broadsword with a massive blade and a tiny handle. "Now that we explained everything," she stated before pointing her sword forward. "CHARGE!"

The two sides finally clashed at Little Homeworld for the fate of Earth. Lapis & Zuli took to the skies against 1J9G, Pyrope & Demantoid led an unwilling Light Army, Emerald sped forth to personally confront Lars, and Black Rutile, White Topaz, Aquamarine & Eyeball personally confronted Steven, Garnet, Amethyst & Pearl.

"Fire!" Demantoid commanded some Light Warriors bearing laser cannons to shoot at Teal Zircon & Nephrite, but Jasper and Topaz were there to shield her from the blasts. "You!"

"You saved me!" TZ exclaimed. "Guess you really do think of me as your best friend, dontcha Jasp?"

"No, I still find you one of the most annoying beings I've ever met." Jasper replied. "But still, better to side with someone as irritating as you."

"I thought we were all friends!" 1J9G exclaimed as she clashed her water with Lapis and Zuli's. "I only joined these guys just so I could get you back!"

"Why would we ever take you back?!" Lapis stated.

"When we ran into 3E8C after years, she showed me that she and Steven were the best of friends!" Zuli added. "Not an overly controlling jerk who refuses to let me have fun!"

"See what she means?!" 1J9G said. "He's brainwashed all of you!" The only response she got was a punch to the face from Zuli.

Down below, Lars and Connie sparred against Emerald. "Don't think Steven will be there to save you today!" Emerald taunted, snapping her fingers and revealing electric powers to fight with. "He'll just throw you away, just like how Pink always threw everything away!"

"Sheesh, sins of the mother much?" Lars dryly commented.

"Steven is nothing like that!" Connie argued. "If you knew him, you'd know he's the sweetest, most caring guy you could ever meet!"

"Oh blah blah blah, I get it, he's too pure for this universe and he must be protected at all costs!" Emerald said. "Black Rutile has shown me what he truly is like."

Finally, the Crystal Gems battled with Black Rutile and her three most loyal followers. Garnet went up against White Topaz, Amethyst vs Eyeball, Pearl vs Aquamarine, and finally Steven vs Black Rutile.

"Why are you doing this?!" Steven asked Black Rutile while in utter denial. "I brought peace to the galaxy, I ended the Diamonds' oppression!"

"And stripped all Gems of their livelihoods in the process." Black Rutile coldly replied as her sword clashed with Steven's shield. "Look around you kid, these Gems came to my side because they have no status, no allies, no power over others! And now, they come to Earth for retribution against you!"

"But this still isn't right!" Steven claimed. "I understand that some may not be comfortable with what I've done, but that doesn't excuse you for all this."

"Kinda like how you excused the Diamonds for all they did just because they were sad, or something stupid like that." Black Rutile insulted.

"That's because they were!" Steven exclaimed. "They were in mourning!"

"Mourning the so-called death of an annoying brat I had the displeasure of sharing a planet with!" Black Rutile yelled as she began fighting in a way that resembled capoeira and gymnastics. "This all could've been avoided if you just put your enemies out of their misery, or at least punished them, rather than just excusing them with a stupid song and acting like everything was just water under the bridge!"

"You're thinking of retributive justice, where the offender did something wrong and the punishment is just as severe in exchange." Steven replied. "We Crystal Gems practice restorative justice, where we actually talk to the offenders and try to see how we can help them without using lethal force."

"Well, whatever you're talking about, you can call me a proud supporter of retributive justice." Black Rutile declared herself. "As in, me and my pals are seeking retribution against you and your posse for what you did to our society, and will do so by any means necessary. Because you think everything can just bend to your will if you just make everyone around you cry?! You really are no better than Pink!"

"Well, I'm trying to be better than my mom, both Pink Diamond, and Rose Quartz." Steven responded, blocking another attack from Black Rutile. "But I'm pretty sure they'd both find a sociopath like you beyond saving."

"Me, a sociopath?! You barely even know me!" Black Rutile yelled before bunting Steven's shield away when he tried to throw it. "Well, you're certainly right on me being a bit selfish, but look at you. I mean, you've made excuses for murderers, bigots, and toxic friends, yet anyone who's just doing what they're made to do is instantly made a pariah just because they don't like you and your dumb little sidekicks!"

Behind Black Rutile's back, however, her alliance was slowly beginning to fall apart, yet she didn't seem to care. Hessonite, Peridot, Biggs, and Squaridot hid behind a wall to avoid the Light Warriors' attacks.

"Got a plan, you guys?" Biggs asked the other three Gems.

"I have." Hessonite replied. "The Peridots shall distract them by taking control of Demantoid's limb enhancers while I swoop in and steal back the Light Prisms! Then perhaps we can turn the Light Army on them."

"I'll see what I can do." Peridot stated, but then Squaridot put a green hand on her shoulder.

"No, allow me." Squaridot stated before using her ferrokinetic powers to meddle with Demantoid's limb enhancers.

"No no, not again!" Demantoid yelled as she was dumped out of her mech, and the Light Prism she was holding hostage fell out with her only to be caught by Hessonite at rapid speed. "My Prism!"

"Demantoid you child, you could've just fought back instead of letting yourself get defeated!" Pyrope said, unaware that her Prism was stolen as well. "Wait, what?"

As Hessonite returned to Peridot and Squaridot with the Light Prisms in hand, the Light Warriors dropped their current activities and began to surround the three Gems peacefully. "Now that you know who's really in charge here," Hessonite bragged before she pointed at her fellow Garnets. "FIRE!"

"No, it can't be!" Pyrope squealed in utter defeat as the Light Warriors pointed their weapons at her and Demantoid.

"Hold me close Pyrope!" Demantoid added while hugging Pyrope in fear before the Light Warriors charged, attacking the pair and poofing them once and for all.

As for Emerald, she was now getting ganged up on by Lars, Connie, and the Off-Colors, who all took turns using Connie's sword against her. "You're all just humans and Off-Color Gems!" Emerald screamed as she desperately tried to fight back. "What makes you think you all can stop me?!"

"'Cause we're all more walk than talk!" Lars declared, once again using his musti-yuddha skills to knock Emerald to the ground. "Connie, care to do the honors?"

"With pleasure!" Connie replied, hopping up on Fluorite's head and jumping high into the air before zooming down with her sword pointed directly at Emerald.

"I hate you all." Emerald snarled bitterly before Connie poofed her, ending the threat she possessed to Lars and the Off-Colors.

High up in the air, the battle of the Lapides raged on with 1J9G using vapor from the clouds as makeshift weapons against her former friends.

"We could've stayed together if 3E8C hadn't been dropped on Earth like an idiot!" 1J9G yelled. "I just wanted us to stay friends!"

"Well, if you want to keep your friends," 3E8C stated, forming a massive water hand from a nearby cloud. "then you should act like a friend." The hand grabbed 1J9G and tossed her to the ground, creating a massive crater that caused a building to start falling over, and one piece of sharp rubble was aimed straight at 1J9G's gem.

"So this is it, huh?" 1J9G monologued to herself as death was mere moments away. "I feel like this is karma for being a horrible friend like they keep calling me. In that case, I'm sorry. Maybe somewhere else, we could've stayed together."

As 1J9G accepted her demise, the rubble was punched out of the way by a massive silhouette in the dust, and it settled to reveal Jasper as her savior.

"Get up you!" Jasper roared at the Lapis.

"But, we're on different sides!" 1J9G exclaimed. "Why did you save me?"

"It's what a certain someone would've done, but he's too busy at the moment." Jasper replied. "Plus, I know what it's like to be alone too."

"Oh look, that Jasper is becoming just like you!" Black Rutile yelled as she watched her alliance break up. "But then again, they set themselves up for this the moment I recruited them all, so what are you gonna do?"

"But still, we're fighting a losing battle!" White Topaz advised her Rutile. "What do we do now?"

"I think I know." Black Rutile smirked before snapping her fingers at one of her surviving allies. "Aquamarine, grab the boy and take him to the nearest mountain!"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Aquamarine purred before she grabbed Steven with her wand and began flying off, with Eyeball also in tow, and Black Rutile & White Topaz on a mini-hovercraft. "Oh, where will you be without your precious little abomination?!"

"Steven!" the Crystal Gems all yelled.

"Topaz, subdue the Lapises!" Black Rutile then commanded White Topaz, who gave a shaky nod before leaping up and grabbing Lapis & Zuli, followed by pinning them to the ground.

"Don't worry guys, I got this!" Connie said before mounting on Lion and riding off after Aquamarine.

"The only one who should defeat him is me." Jasper said as Connie fled, right before following the human. "Wait up girl!"

At the mountain, Steven was dropped by Aquamarine at the highest cliff, where Black Rutile stood by with a boulder next to her and White Topaz.

"What do you want now Black Rutile?" Steven asked as he got up to face the evil Rutile.

"Simple, toss you over the edge and throw a boulder to crush you to death, since you can fly apparently." Black Rutile declared. "I've been waiting for ages to destroy Pink Diamond, and you, my little friend, are just the thing to satisfy my vendetta."

"But why do you hate Pink so much?" Steven exclaimed. "Let me guess, she treated you like trash just like almost every other Gem I've faced?"

"No, she didn't treat me like trash!" Black Rutile answered. "She treated everyone around her like trash, yet the Diamonds almost always let her get away with everything! And here you are forcing Gems against their will to change their very way of living! Hey, at least you didn't fake your death to recklessly endanger the lives of others, because I'm going to endanger yours!"

Black Rutile then picked up Steven by his shirt collar and walked to the edge of the cliff, where she dangled him over such dangerously high heights. "You know what's ironic?" she smiled cheerfully before it turned to a hateful scowl. "You're able to get humans and Gems to get along, yet you're neither of them yourself."

With that, Black Rutile released her grip on Steven's shirt and he began falling from the cliff, followed shortly by White Topaz tossing a boulder that fell right above him. "NO HARD FEELINGS!" she yelled.

"So this is how I'll die, falling to my death off a cliff while a boulder is going to crush me." Steven realized as he fell to his doom. "Maybe Black Rutile's right. Maybe this is punishment for only thinking of myself all the time, and never taking others' feelings into account. Punishment for letting all these enemies run free instead of punishing them. Punishment for being an awful person in general."

However, just as Steven shut his eyes, accepted his demise, and did not even use any of his powers to escape, a voice cried out to him. "STEVEN!"

"Connie?" Steven exclaimed as she warped in via Lion's portal and reach out to him. "Don't worry, I'm with you till the end of the line! Just grab my hand!"

Steven gave a big smile, realizing that even with all his faults there were still people looking out for him, and took Connie's hand, causing the two to merge into a mass of light.

"Well, that should take care of him." Black Rutile declared, dusting off her hands and beginning to walk away. "Come along you three, let's go reawaken the Cluster and wipe this planet off the face of this universe for good."

"Uh, my Rutile?" White Topaz said while she, Aquamarine, and Eyeball gazed over the edge of the cliff to discover a pink light rapidly approaching them. "I think Steven is….not dead."

"Wait, seriously?!" Black Rutile yelled before Stevonnie leaped up the mountain and onto the cliff where the four enemy Gems stood. "You fused with a human?!"

"Bet you didn't see that coming!" Stevonnie declared as they swung their sword to try and poof Aquamarine, but she swiftly dodged and fused with Eyeball to form Bluebird Azurite.

"Of course I knew you can fuse with humans kid, it was in my data!" Black Rutile exclaimed before turning to White Topaz staring in amazement at the fusion. "Topaz, fuse with me!"

"Wait, we get to fuse too?!" White Topaz giddily exclaimed. "Eee, I can't wait, we've been practicing for so long!"

"Just shut up already." Black Rutile snarled before extending her hand. "Now, may I have this dance?"

"Gladly." White Topaz responded, taking her superior's hand before they began dancing the tango, their gems glowing as they danced until they formed into a giant light that resulted in a new, much larger fusion with four eyes & arms, spiky hair that went down to her back, a black-and-grey uniform and Black Rutile's white cape.

"BEHOLD FOOLISH LESSER BEINGS!" the new fusion bombastically declared. "THE GODLIKE SUPERIORITY OF THE MIGHTY LEPIDOLITE!"

"One fusion against two fusions." Stevonnie muttered. "Have to admit, those aren't very good odds."

"You bet." Jasper declared, zooming up the mountain to stand by Stevonnie's side and pounding her fists together. "For them!"

"You followed us?" Stevonnie asked Jasper.

"I don't like the Crystal Gems, but I hate them just as much." Jasper explained roughly. "Now come on, let's finish this!"

"Oh, a fair game, I see!" Lepidolite asked as she summoned two pairs of claws on each pair of her hands that extended from her knuckles while Bluebird summoned her ice cutlass. "Well, game on!"

Lepidolite clashed her claws with Stevonnie's sword while Jasper grabbed Bluebird in her massive hand and smashed her face into the rock face. However, despite Lepidolite being surprisingly evenly matched with Stevonnie, there was one thing they had that she lacked. Control over the fusion itself.

"So you can fuse with humans?!" White Topaz exclaimed cheerfully while Lepidolite slashed at Stevonnie before she switched to Black Rutile. "Did you even listen to Aquamarine's report, why are you acting like this is so new to you?!" Black Rutile yelled. "Why do you always have to be so dense?!"

"This is almost like Malachite." Stevonnie compared the abusive control Black Rutile had over White Topaz to the strained but peaceful relationship between Lapis and Jasper. "Listen, why can't you just work together?!"

"Because she's a completely moronic clod!" Black Rutile yelled through Lepidolite.

"Even if she treats me like trash, she's still my boss!" White Topaz added. "After all, isn't that what master/servant relationships are kinda like?"

"Master, don't!" Bluebird yelled as Jasper kept beating her up. "You're going to make them do some speech about the stupid power of friendship or something!"

"Well, you want us to work together?!" Lepidolite said, now no longer personified through Black Rutile and White Topaz's arguing. "Then work together we shall!"

Lepidolite then grabbed Stevonnie by their arms and once again threw them over the edge of the cliff before walking off to assist Bluebird. But just like when Steven was tossed over the cliff, things went horribly wrong for them.

Stevonnie reappeared in a massive gust of wind, now bathed in a pink glow and with a furious snarl replacing their confident grin. "Why won't you listen?!" they yelled, lunging at Lepidolite and striking their sword straight into her chest. "I'm not the real monster, YOU ARE!"

"No no no no no no!" Lepidolite screamed as Stevonnie's sword cut into her body and striking her straight in Black Rutile's gem, causing the two to ultimately defuse. As the pair of Gems were dropped to the ground, White Topaz laid on her back, utterly stupefied. Black Rutile on the other hand was terrified beyond all recognition, a far cry from the confident mastermind she normally is.

"W-w-who are you!?" Black Rutile shivered in fear of the pink Stevonnie, who now had a psychotic smile on their face. "WHAT ARE YOU?!"

"I'm-" Stevonnie began when they suddenly stopped and gazed at their hands. "I don't know." With that, Stevonnie finally un-fused back into Steven and Connie, just in time for the other Gems to arrive.

"Steven, Connie!" Garnet cried as she, Amethyst, Pearl, Peridot, Bismuth, Hessonite, Lars, Squaridot, and the Light Prisms were carried up the mountain by a massive water elevator created by the trio of Lapides. When they reached the cliff, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl all rushed to give the two kids a big hug. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Connie replied shakily. "First we fused into Stevonnie to fight Black Rutile, who fused with White Topaz to create this big fusion called Lepidolite, then after we were tossed over a cliff, Stevonnie turned pink and-"

"Wait, pink?" Pearl wondered. "It's just like all those other times Steven lost control! What could it be?"

"That's exactly what I'd like to know too!" the utterly defeated Black Rutile yelled. "What is that, a human thing?"

"Uh, no everyone! Everything's fine!" Steven began lying. "It's just a human thing, but I'm the only one who can do it!"

"Alright, keep your secrets brat." Black Rutile declared before she snapped her fingers again. Getting up from Jasper's beatdown, Bluebird picked up Black Rutile & White Topaz and carried them away. "Your little power fantasy will soon come to an end!" she declared. "And Gems, I'd keep an eye out on that monster if I were you! He could become a bigger threat to Earth than I am!"

As the three Gems got farther away, everybody turned to Steven with nervous looks on their faces.

"Steven, is there anything you need to tell us?" Connie asked her best friend.

"Uh, anyone wanna go out for pizzas?" Steven tried to change the subject, and everyone went silent in response.

"What is this pizza you speak of?" Hessonite piped up.

Later that day, reconstruction of Little Homeworld had quickly begun. With Peridot and Squaridot's help, the Cactus Stevens were now fully organic once more and helped in the repairs, alongside the Light creatures created by George and his sisters.

"Wow George, you, Elaine, and Cosma are one great team!" Steven said to George as they looked upon the Light Army's hard work. George turned to Steven with a confused look on his face. "Oh, I came up with those names for your sisters based on this TV show with a character also named George."

"Hey Steven, the pizzas are here!" Lapis called for Steven.

"Ooh, gotta go you guys!" Steven said before leaving George and his newly named sisters to work. "See you again soon!"

Steven returned to the Little Homeworld Warp Pad, where the Crystal Gems and the Off-Colors were setting up a little picnic with pizza boxes all around. "You see, this is what we need more of." Steven said. "Just us hanging out, no Gem monsters or evil Gems threatening and scarring our lives."

"Are you sure you're okay kid?" 1J9G asked Steven.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Steven replied. "Wait, what are you doing here? Weren't you on Black Rutile's side?"

"That Jasper saved my life because she knew what it was like to be alone, so I'm coming here as gratitude." 1J9G stated. "I came with Black Rutile as 1J9G, and I'll learn to become a better friend as Laz. You like the new name I got?"

"I love it!" Zuli exclaimed happily. "It's so wet!"

"Well, if you say so." Steven said awkwardly before he found Lars and Hessonite collecting the inactive gemstones of Emerald, Pyrope, Demantoid and all the Cluster Gems. "And what are you going to do with those?"

"We'll take the Cluster Gems back to Homeworld." Lars answered before pointing to Emerald and the Garnets. "As for these three, I'm not sure yet."

"They'll be safe with us." Garnet said, taking the three Gems out of the bubble. "And who knows? Maybe they'll become students of Little Homeschool."

"Speaking of which, Squaridot." Hessonite said to her Peridot sidekick. "You said that you were given the chance to come to Little Homeschool before you joined me? You think the offer still stands?"

"You know what?" Squaridot said. "I think I'm gonna stay here. Thank you Hessonite for everything." She then hugged the orange Garnet. "And tell Citrine I said hi if you find her."

As the group all sat down to their victory picnic, many eyes were still on Steven, who paid more attention to his slice of pie.

"Seriously, that boy just ain't right!" Jasper said as she prepared to leave.

"Yo Jasper, have a little more tact!" Amethyst scolded her fellow quartz while turning to Steven. "But what if Black Rutile is right? What if Steven becomes a threat to Earth?"

Steven still didn't pay any attention and kept on eating, but the Gems guessed that he might've been deliberately distracting himself. But why?

Elsewhere, Black Rutile had now touched down deeper in the forest, letting Bluebird Azurite drop her off in front of a cave. "Ah, this should make a good hideout."

"Why can't we just flee on your dropship?" White Topaz asked.

"I'm pretty sure it's been seized by now." Black Rutile said as she sat down on a rock formation, slouching and pressing her fingers together. "Tell me, my friends, what do you think is Steven's greatest weakness?"

"He can't fend for himself!" Aquamarine stated as she and Eyeball un-fused.

"He always has to get his nose in everyone's business." Eyeball remarked, rolling her eye with arms crossed.

"Uh, he's got boatloads of trauma that no one bothers to bring up?" White Topaz asked meekly.

"Correct Topaz, very good for once." Black Rutile congratulated her Topaz. "Now, as you see, he can't deal with his whole worldview changing, since learning there were so many Gems against him shattered everything he almost knew about his actions." She declared. "But what if we did the same, but we turn the humans against him?"

END OF PART 2: GRADUATION

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 3: FRAGMENTED MIND

And that was Enemy of my Enemy and Part 2 in general! This was a really long one, filled with ideas that I've had in my head for ages! The whole group of past enemy Gems was inspired primarily by the Evil League of Mutants from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I imagined the bad future to be similar to Deliver Us from Prince of Egypt, and the justice debate was basically the Ship of Theseus scene from WandaVision. And that's not even getting into what I have planned for Part 3, but that's another time for another day. And if the subtitle is any indication, you all know what's coming.

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ivorytowerblr · 3 years ago

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NaNoWriMo 2021: Nov 24th

OKAY. NOW WE ARE COOKING WITH GAS. Maybe not pacing wise but definitely words happened today. :D :D :D

Title: Warcraft: Invasion (Vol 1 of Reborn AU) Word Count: 29765 (of 50000) Includes: Violence, mature sexual content, strong language. Summary: It was a dark and stormy night when the rift opened. From it spilled warriors of an alien culture bent on finding and destroying the cause of a sickness that plagued their world, all unknowing that the true cause was right under their noses all along.

Five years after the birth of his son, Llane Wrynn, Crown Prince of Stormwind, would learn of a terrible threat to his people, his nation, and his very world. The only natural thing to do is send his son to the protective walls of Northshire Abbey and, all unknowing, to the protection of a great hero, the prodigy-knight Mara Fordragon.

When sickness ravages your very world, you have no choice but to do whatever it takes to cure it, even if it means traveling to another world by means of the foulest of dark sorceries. It means standing at the side of a butcher, a monster, an abuser, a warrior, a chieftain, a hero to your clan. It means putting aside what is right to do what you must.

All these threads and more weave together to bring about a war like any other; two worlds will never be the same again.

Previous: 1st . 2nd . 3rd . 4th . 5th . 6th . 7th . 8th. . 9th . 10th . 11th . 12th . 13th . 14th . 15th . 16th . 17th . 18th . 19th . 20th . 21st . 22nd . 23rd .

There was a noise, like that of skittering, falling rocks, and Garona rose swiftly, leaving the rest of her rations for her work. She glanced around, and spotted an outcropping of rocks. She moved towards it, swiftly and silently, listening. Within moments, she could hear another, steadier sound of walking with steps unlike any orc she had heard before.

They will see my worg first, but I can surprise them and take them down, Garona thought. Though, they sound large, and strange. Is that... a horse? Could I fight such a monster? Visions of the large, muscular beasts with flashing eyes and terrible metal shells swam in her head, and she gripped at her knife.

Garona’s heart pounded as she waited, watching as that terrible shape came along the road, nose long and eyes huge, its head bobbing in its restraints. As it drew closer to her resting spot -- and her worg -- the beast paused, hooves tapping and dancing against the hard road. Its rider gripped at the beast.

“Well, I’ll be switched,” said a voice, young and male. “What’s a wolf doing all the way out here?”

Garona eyed the man. He wore plain, woven cloth, though the colours were almost eye-wateringly bright, orange and red, and trousers made not of leather, but some kind of cloth as well, though it seemed tough, even at a glance. The beast continued to dance, and he patted its neck bravely before slipping from the saddle, and wound the leather straps that allowed him to control it around one fist.

“That wolf’s got a saddle, doesn’t it?” the boy continued. “Means someone rode it out here. Hello? Anyone there?”

So, either this boy is the most idotic scout in existence, or... they aren’t any kind of warrior or hunter at all. I think I can take him, even if he fights me. Garona kept her knife low, and rose from her hiding spot. “Someone did ride it out here. Me.”

The boy jumped and clutched at his chest. “Man alive! I didn’t hear you at all, where did you come from?!”

“Those rocks, just over there,” Garona said, gesturing. “Who are you? Why are you looking for me?”

“Oh, well,” the boy said. “I’m Duncan. Senturus, that is, like my dad before me. Oh, well, not the Duncan part, he’s John--”

“Duncan Senturus,” Garona repeated, keeping her voice stern to stop from laughing. “Why are you here?”

“Lord of the Tower, you sound like my grandmother,” Duncan said. “Master Medivh sent me to look for a visitor to the tower. He wanted to make sure you didn’t get lost. You are the visitor, aren’t you? Almost no one ever comes here, and no one comes on a wolf.”

“I am, yes,” Garona said, and sighed mentally. So much for sneaking in to get answers... or did Gul’dan tell him I was coming on purpose to sabotage me? Or to test me? I can’t kill this boy, he hasn’t done anything wrong, even if he is riding a monster. “I appreciate that your Master is concerned for me. I was just resting and admiring your bridge.”

“Oh?” Duncan looked towards the stone bridge. “Ah, that. It’s been there for time out of mind, but it doesn’t lead to anywhere special. Some of the roads here are a bit twisty, we lose traders here if they aren’t warned. Come on, then. We’ll take the main road.”

Garona nodded and approached her worg, petting its nose and face before mounting up again. “You should ride ahead so your... horse... doesn’t attack.”

“Ol’ Betty here?” Duncan said. “She’d bolt if I wasn’t holding her reins. Wolves are predators, aren’t they? She doesn’t want to get eaten.”

Garona eyed Duncan and his horse both. “Are they not fearsome warriors, like those that ride them?”

“Warriors? You mean like knights?” Duncan turned to his horse and flipped the leather cords -- reins -- around and grasped the saddle. He put one foot in the stirrup and hopped three times before heaving himself into the saddle. The horse was of a size with Garona’s worg, but it seemed larger, sturdier, and more intimidating. “I’m no knight, ma’am. Betty’s a work horse, not a charger. She’d as soon as run from a fight then start one. Wouldn’t you, love?”

Garona observed Duncan pat the horse’s neck affectionately, and the horse bob her head up and down before starting to walk. Garona clucked to her worg to ride downwind from the creature. “So, there are different kinds of horses? We only have one kind of worg -- what you call wolves -- where I’m from. The hungry kind.”

Garona’s worg whined softly, and she scratched at his neck, trying to be comforting. Duncan’s horse danced a little, but kept walking with some encouragement. “You must go through a fortune in meat, but at least you wouldn’t have to do much in the way of haying. Yes, there are lots of different kinds of horses. Littler ones, like ponies, or big draft horses. Some slim ones that are fast, for couriers and racers, and the big, scary ones bred up for knights. Those are probably the ones you’re thinking of. Those ones are trained to defend their rider, there are all kinds of stories about a knight and her horse fending off a whole army.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Garona said. “So, what do you do if you aren’t a knight?”

“Oh, bit of this, bit of that,” Duncan said cheerfully. “I help out with the stables sometimes, we don’t have many horses though. Enough for the Huntsman and his staff to bring in game. No one’s supposed to hunt without permission of Master Medivh and it’s easier for the Huntsman to take care of it for everyone so we get fresh game. The Master don’t eat much, and we don’t have many guests.”

“:..and how many people do you have here?” Garona asked, curious. “Do you have knights?”

“Nah, nah,” Duncan said, waving ahead of him. “Just the village. When Master Medivh first came here, there weren’t anyone here, just a big, musty tower. A man can’t live on books alone, can he? So people started comin’ here, through the twisty roads and the like, so that they could sell food or wool or skills.”

“That sounds like how you build a village,” Garona observed. “Communities of people living together in one space, sharing out their skills. Your neighbour grows enough gresht for the whole village and people bring them meat and skins so they don’t have to worry about hunting.”

“Sounds right, aside from whatever ‘gresht’ is,” Duncan said. “Probably a plant. We do that, some people grow enough flour for bread so everyone gets some, but it means they ain’t gettin’ up at the break of dawn to milk the cows.”

“Just like that, whatever ‘cows’ are,” Garona said, and Duncan laughed. “So, there are many people here?”

“A... let me...” Duncan calculated. “Fifty or so. Seventy, if you count the little ones.”

“That’s a small village,” Garona says. “Do you have warriors? People who can fight if you were attacked?”

“Uh, well,” Duncan began. “I suppose not, though anyone can pick up a pitchfork or a staff, can’t they? HIt someone until they leave us alone? The Huntsman has a weapon, but he mostly uses that for hunting. Some of his assistants set traps and snares, and they have knives.”

A tiny village, not even a full clan’s worth of people with one hunter and no warriors, Garona thought as she rode, shaking her head a little. These will not be the reinforcements that Medivh promised Gul’dan, so then where are they? Does he have an army hiding somewhere?

Duncan fell silent, and Garona let it linger, listening to the wind in the trees and for the sounds of people. Occasionally, a bird called out, but the road was quiet. They had been riding for another hour by the time the village came into view: Garona could see wooden structures, different from those they had found in the Sorrowlands. These ones seemed taller, with roofs pointing upwards and made from stiff, tightly-packed grasses. The hard dirt road became lined with stones, and people were walking about or working in their homes.

“There it is,” Duncan said, sitting up a little straighter. “Tower’s Shadow Village. Come on, then. The Master’s waiting.”

Garona let her gaze drift over the people within the village; some stopped to stare at her in turn, while others simply went about their business, doing some chore or another. Duncan led her towards the base of the tower where a large building was jutting out, a balance and a mirror to the balcony far overhead.

“That’s the coach house,” Duncan said. “With the stables as part of it. They’ll look after your wolf. Worg. Whichever.”

“I’m not certain what the difference is between a wolf and a worg,” Garona noted. “I think they’re used interchangeably. Though, will the horses not be fearful of my mount if they are not the knight’s chargers you spoke of before?”

“Right,” Duncan said. “Maybe... they could stay in the kennels? Though we’d have to figure out what to do with the dogs.”

“Why don’t we ask them and find out?” Garona asked, impatience seeping into her tone. “You can use your stableboy expertise to figure something out.”

“Right, yeah.” Duncan raised his voice, hollering towards the coach house. A voice yelled back, and Garona waited, drumming her fingers lightly against the pommel of her saddle. A pair of men came out to meet them, one short and stocky, the other tall and very thin, oddly fragile looking. “Ewan, San’shir, I found her. She’s got a big wolf though, not a horse.”

“The Master said she would,” the tall one said. “We cleaned out one of the kennels, and we’ve got meat stockpiled.”

“Thank you,” Garona said, and dismounted. She gathered her packs. “You should know that worgs actually eat less meat than you might think, they’re bred for riding and as hunting companions so they are better at conserving their energy. I don’t understand much more than that, though. It was explained by the Thunderlord when they gave us these.”

“That’ll be handy, no one was looking forward to eating bread and barley soup for weeks while you’re here,” the short one said. “Come on, elf. Let’s get this taken care of.”

The tall one -- an elf, or so it seemed -- rolled his eyes, and Garona was startled to see that they were glowing amber orbs with no white showing. Duncan dismounted his horse and gave her a pat on the flank before giving her to the short man.

“Are they...” Garona paused, gathering her thoughts. “They aren’t human, are they?”

“Couldn’t you tell?” Duncan asked, giving her a curious look. “San’shir’s an elf, his family’s lived out here for at least fifty years, not that you can tell much with elves. He was here before the Master was. Ewan’s a dwarf, he came with the blacksmiths. Can’t stand smoke or metal, which made livin’ in Ironforge torture for him, so he likes it way down here where he can help with the horses. Sometimes he goes out with the Huntsman. He’s good with the falcons.”

“He is... swift enough to hunt?” Garona asked, trying to keep the disbelief from her voice. “Quiet enough.”

“Deadly over short bursts, he says.” Duncan shrugged. “Come on, the Master’s waiting.”

Garona nodded, and followed Duncan past the coach house to a small side entrance. Without knocking or waiting, Duncan flung wide the door, and walked inside. Garona hurried after him, and found herself in darkness. Cold prickled along her arms, and she gripped her packs a little tighter.

“Duncan Senturus, what is going on?” Garona asked, keeping her voice steady. “Where are you?”

“Bloody... stupid... ha!” A spark pierced her vision and then a candle flickered to life. “Sorry, the Master has us keep things pretty dark down here in the mud room. We don’t have many visitors and the rest of us all know how to find our way in the dark. Until you get used to it, you’ll want a candle.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Garona murmured, and looked around at what little she could see. There were pegs jutting from the wall, and a cloak hung from one of them. On the floor, several pairs of boots were lined up neatly. “Do I leave my boots here? Am I to walk these halls barefoot?”

“Huh?” Duncan turned, and Garona squinted. He shielded the candle with his hand. “Sorry. We have slippers I don’t know if any will fit you though, so you can leave your boots on. We’ll just sweep up after. It’s not like you’re muddy.”

“The road did seem very dry,” Garona noted as Duncan turned back to lead the way out of the entrance. “Does it rain very much here?”

“Oh, it can,” Duncan said. “We get snow too, though not much. Cold can get trapped in between the mountains and the trees the way it doesn’t in other places. There’s a jungle southwest of her, and the swamp’s not the nicest place, but it’s not exactly freezing there either. Lordaeron, now. They have a lot of snow. Up to your knees, sometimes. Your waist. I don’t think I’d want to live there, not during the winter months, that’s for sure.”

“I see,” Garona said. She paused, considering. “What’s snow?”

“Light, is that even possible?” Duncan shook his head, and the candle bobbed. “Let me explain to you about snow.”

Garona rolled her eyes, but followed him down the hallway and up a set of stairs as he lectured her at length about what seemed to be an oddly contradictory set of traits regarding snow’s so-called temperature, consistency, creation, and usages.

#nanowrimo 2021 #fanfiction #warcraft #warcraft series: reborn au #i was trying to push to 30k but my vision is blurring #i'm also most of the way through this chapter which is a little mind-blowing

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bowsie22 · 4 years ago

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Pingxie Week 2021 Day 2

Summary: For a city with such a high rate of criminal activity, Wu Xie has always been safe. Now if only he could figure out why? Photography student Wu Xie/Triad leader Xiaoge

It was weird. Despite being open for eight months, Wushanju had never been robbed. The stores around it had all been robbed multiple times in that period. He’d never been attacked on the street, despite multiple robberies happening every day. Pangzi put it down to Wu Xie’s stupid luck, but Wu Xie thought it was weird. Anytime he was cornered, or a Triad member came into the shop for their protection money, there was always a moment. A moment where the men would stare at him like they knew him from somewhere and they’d run. Literally run from him like bats out of hell. It made no sense. And he knew it was a weird thing to be upset by, but he was.

Which led to now. Wu Xie, in a moment of stupidity, decided to go into the city at night to complete one of his final projects for a photography class. Sure, he had his own store/gallery/studio, but that was more due to his uncles making sure he could look after himself. And to a lesser extent, Pangzi. But he still had to finish college, no matter what Sanxing said. And after taking his two-year break, possibly due to an emotional and mental breakdown after the disappearance of the love of his life, Wu Xie was more determined than ever to ace his courses and make his uncles proud. And again, to a lesser extent, Pangzi.

Hence the moment of stupidity. While the city was beautiful at night, it was also dangerous. Especially for someone was still trying to get himself back to full health after the aforementioned disappearance. Not that Wu Xie couldn’t defend himself. He had learned something from Heiye and Pangzi.

So, he wasn’t too nervous about being followed by the two men creeping behind him. Honestly, they weren’t subtle. He wasn’t surprised by the bruising grip on his wrist, as the men pulled him into an alleyway, slamming him against the wall. Wu Xie groaned as his head bounced off the wall, attacker one holding him against the wall, attacker two standing in the mouth of the alleyway, cutting off any escape attempt.

“Ok, suppose my luck had to run out sooner or later.”

Pangzi always said that his sarcasm would hurt him. Never mentioned a mugger slapping him around the face though. Spitting out the blood, Wu Xie realised a second too late that he should have aimed away from the expensive looking shoes.

“You little bitch.”

A punch to the gut had Wu Xie gasping for air, the one to the back of his head had him on the ground and the following kicks to his stomach and chest had him spitting up more blood. Typical. The first time he gets robbed and he’s going to get murdered too. Attacker one grabbed his hair, forcing Wu Xie to his knees. That was a knife against his throat. Oh God, he was really going to die here.

“Whatever you’re doing, make it quick. Traffic is starting to pick up.”

At those words, a car drove past, Wu Xie wincing as the lights shone in his eyes.

“Shit!”

He was thrown to the ground, the two men backing away from him. Looking up, Wu Xie could make out the scales tattooed on their necks meaning that they were from the Zhang Clan. Shit, why were the Triad attacking him, he thought robbery was a bit beneath them? More concerning, why weren’t they doing anything anymore? The two were staring at him, wide eyed and pale. Wait a minute, why were they scared? They were the ones who attacked him!

“Shit, it’s him. We’re not meant to touch him. He’s going to kill us!”

“No, he’s going to torture us and kill us in the most painful way possible. The top of the list. The one person in this city, this country that you are not meant to touch and you chose him!”

“We were behind him! It’s not like we were given a picture of his ass! Look, don’t worry I know what to do.”

Wu Xie had a head injury. That was the only explanation for attacker one to slip a business card into his pocket and beg him to visit their boss and explain that this was all just some terrible mistake. What kind of self-respecting Triad member did that? Reaching for his phone, Wu Xie decided that it would be a tomorrow problem. Right now, he needed to contact Pangzi and make sure neither uncle heard about this.

“Are you serious? No!”

Pangzi swiped the card from his friend’s hand, glaring at the younger man.

“Like hell you are walking into a Triad building. To do what? Speak to the boss, demand reparations of some kind?”

“Of course not Pangzi. I just want to know what happened last night.”

“You didn’t hit your head that hard Tianzhen. You got attacked last night and had to be treated for bruised ribs, a sprained wrist and get stitches on that head wound.”

“I know all that. I meant after that.”

“After that you were concussed and probably imagining things!”

“So, I imagined that business card into reality?”

Groaning, Pangzi dropped the card in front of Wu Xie, recognising the stubborn pout on Wu Xie’s lips.

“There’s nothing I can say is there?”

“You can say that you’ll drive me there and wait outside like a good friend.”

“Damnit Wu Xie.”

Wu Xie was used to people staring at him. He was emotional, loud and the nephew to two of the wealthiest people in the city. But something was different about this. Normally people looked down at him, the rich boy who used his uncle’s money to open his own shop/studio. Or he was looked at like something to be used. Get into the Wu heir’s good books and you have an in with the brothers.

Here though, people looked afraid of him. Steeling himself, Wu Xie stepped away from the entrance, heading for the receptionist. Taking the card out of his pocket, Wu Xie pasted his biggest, friendliest smile on his lips and waited for the young man to hang up the phone. Considering he worked for the Triad, the man looked fairly unthreatening. Long hair, glasses, nice jaw bone, Wu Xie supposed he was attractive, if not a bit twinky. Hanging up, the man smiled nervously at him.

“Hello sir. The boss will see you now.”

“What?”

“Kan Jian here will show to you to the head office.”

Wu Xie was so distracted by the man’s blazer with the sleeves ripped off that he was standing in an elevator before he knew what was happening.

“I’m sorry, what the hell is going on?”

“Don’t worry sir, the boss will explain it all. Just two more floors aaaannd here we are!”

The elevator doors opened onto an office that even his uncle Erbai would be jealous of. A wall of windows looked over the city, there was a fully stocked bar against one wall, a couch beside it, while a large TV took up the majority of the wall opposite. Directly across from the elevator doors stood a large, wooden desk, mahogany if Wu Xie were to guess, these desks usually were. More importantly behind that desk sat the boss, the head of the Triad. And Wu Xie’s waste of an ex who had abandoned him two years ago.

“Xiaoge?”

His ex-boyfriend was the head of the Triad. And still, Wu Xie was annoyed to say, stupidly handsome, especially in an all-black three-piece suit. Wu Xie had always been weak for a man in suits, especially when it was Xiaoge.

“It always felt like you were hiding something from me. Never would have guessed this though.”

Accepting the drink from the other man, Wu Xie tried to ignore the eyes running over his body and the frown on Xiaoge’s face.

“Wait! You’re why I’ve never been robbed or attacked. Until now at least. Why?”

Xiaoge settled onto the couch beside the younger man, an odd look on his face. Wu Xie knew Xiaoge, knew that he always needed a minute or two to think over his words.

“It was the only way I could keep you safe. I always knew I’d have to take over. Zhang Rishan gave me a few years to be normal. I wasn’t expecting to meet you and fall in love. When I took over, I sent out a picture of you and informed everyone that touching you meant instant death. Clearly, not everyone understood.”

“This is why you had to leave, isn’t it?”

“This life isn’t safe. If I involved you, you’d be in danger. I had to keep you safe Wu Xie. You were and still are the most important person to me. If you got hurt because of me, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“Wasn’t that my decision to make!? Xiaoge, I was a mess after you left. I didn’t eat, I didn’t look after myself, I dropped out of university! You leaving ruined me. And now you tell me it was to protect me and you did it because you love me so much? What am I meant to say to that?”

“Tell me what to do. Wu Xie, please. I’ll do anything to make it up to you if you’ll let me.”

Wu Xie looked at his ex, mind racing. He knew what Xiaoge was expecting. That Wu Xie would give him some impossible task. But damnit, Wu Xie loved him. The last two years had been the most difficult of his life. Wu Xie had spent the entire time feeling like something was missing, searching for Xiaoge in every crowd, dreaming about him every night. Even just being in the same room as the other man made him feel better.

“Dinner. At the fanciest restaurant in town, tonight.”

Xiaoge looked at him, a small smile on his face, the one Pangzi always used to call his Wu Xie smile.

“Dinner, that’s it?”

“That’s it. And a very long, overdue conversation.”

“I can do that.”

“Good, see you tonight Xiaoge.”

Wu Xie turned to the elevator, making sure to add extra sway to his hips, aware that the older man was watching him. When the elevator doors closed behind him, Wu Xie realised that Pangzi was going to kill him for this.

Eh, worth it.

#pingxie #pingxie week 2021

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brownstonearmy · 3 years ago

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2021-07-10: Careful What You Wish For (Part 1)

Tuesday September 8 (morning, cloudless and still)

A few days after the Harvest Festival, the town is beginning to get back to some sense or normalcy amid a period of transition. Lawrence Stout's trial has been scheduled for next week, an event that Q (just Q today) has been keeping their eye on after serving court papers on him. Shepherd Dunwall has been ousted from his position as Mayor, and Spleenifer has similarly been forced to give up her appointed administrative position to make room for the new faces of Brownstone politics. Although one of her jobs may no longer be intact, her flock of ducks, goats, and other assorted animal companions have survived all that has has been thrown at them so far.

Now Norm... There's been a lot keeping Norm busy these days. Last night he was stationed at the local cemetery to keep watch on some of the graves after several graves were disinterred. Although he didn't see any actual grave robbings happen, he did see his share of dug-up graves. Six graves had been exhumed as of his shift, though one body was still left uncovered on the premises: Grumbus Huang, a human.

Of the five graves that are missing their residents, two are human, one is elven, one is halfling, and one is dwarven. There does not appear to be any sort of common factor between the missing deceased. All of the graves appear to have had someone digging them up except for one. That grave in particular looks like the digging force came from INSIDE the grave. Perhaps more worryingly, that grave belongs to the Yance Elbereth, the drug-trafficking peddler of antiquities Norm assassinated some time back.

Best not dwell on that realization, so let's see what's happening at SHART HQ. Dave has a list of work orders needing to be completed and lets the party choose one. There's an issue with the water from one of the town's wells getting befouled, a large animal carcass in need of moving, and what might be a sewage leak in the vault of the local bank. The party opts to remove the animal carcass, if only to get a better idea of if this creature might be what is digging the graves up.

The address is easy enough to find, but even easier to smell. A deceased adult rock worm looks like it was bludgeoned to death and ripped out of its burrow. A mostly-dried layer of poop cakes the immediate area, and there are bushes, trees, and even a building that has been destroyed. Norm reckons it looks like a tornado came through the area, but only touched down briefly. As for the building that was destroyed, it was a storehouse used by the Brownville Devil Boys gang to hold some of their illicit wares.

Since that carcass isn't going to move itself, the party sets to work attempting to relocate it via a SKILL CHALLENGE! Spleenifer tries a bit of animal handling to identify the areas that aren't good areas to attach a rope. Whether she failed or succeeded depends on your viewpoint, as she presses a part of the rock worm and causes a goodly amount of caustic bile to erupt from the worm's mouth. Q makes a medicine check to make sure the worm is actually dead and is reasonably confident that it is. Norm uses sleight of hand to rig up a secure hoist for the corpse. A few skill checks later, the corpse hefted into the wagon and Norm hauls it off for disposal.

As the rock worm leaves the premises, there's an indistinct voice from inside the hole vacated by the worm.

"Hello! How are you?" Spleenifer calls into the hole. The voice appears to belong to a woman explains that she is feeling quite weak and that she woke up in the dark some time ago. The woman explains that she threw herself off the bridge after leaving her young daughter on the steps of the orphanage. She would like some help getting out of this place so she can retrieve her baby.

Spleenifer tosses a rope down the hole, but the woman is too weak to climb it, so Spleenifer has to pull the rope up herself. Q keeps an eye out for potential traps, because this is definitely a situation that seems like it would kill a few characters early in a horror movie. As the woman reaches the surface, she looks like she should be dead. Her body is bloated and cut, her skin is bluish gray, and she's missing several patches of hair. The woman doesn't register as being undead to Spleenifer, and Q notices that the woman's wounds seem to be healing rapidly and the olive complexion is returning to the woman's features.

Once out of the hole, the woman thanks the party and heads off toward the orphanage. Q and Spleenifer follow a reasonable distance behind because clearly this is suspicious behavior. Norm arrives back at the scene just in time to see his companions sauntering down the road, so he also follows the action at an even reasonable-er distance.

Two tough-looking dudes are guarding the the front door to the orphanage as the lady approaches. Q takes a circuitous route to stealthily get close enough to overhear what's going down. The lady is pleading with the toughs to let her enter, but nobody goes in because of the boss's orders, it seems.

Q discreetly and silently attracts the woman's attention for a quick chat away from the tough guys. The woman's kid is named Hannah, and Q is already familiar with an orphan named Hannah because of the tiny otyugh called Stinky Calypso, and thus Q offers to try to sneak into the orphanage to find Hannah.

Meanwhile, Spleenifer walks as obviously as she can right up to the tough guys and asks to meet with Brother Clifton, the operator of the orphanage. "Brother Clifton called me here about a matter of a tentacle monster," she says. But the tough guys don't budge.

"He's tied up at the moment with meetings," is about all the information she was able to glean from them.

Q is absolutely NAILING their stealth rolls and is an undetectable force on the wind who is headed to Brother Clifton's quarters to assess the situation from another perspective. Books and papers are scattered on the floor of his quarters as though someone was recently ransacked only the documents in Brother Clifton's desk. Q finds a few things of note, though: a roster of all the individuals residing in the orphanage with the name "Curtis Hanover" circled, and a fancy-looking paper with wax seal addressed to Brother Clifton that looks like it should be part of a letter but appears to be blank.

Spleenifer is busy loitering near the tough guys while pretending to wait for Brother Clifton to get free from whatever meetings he's tied up in. From what she's able to overhear, the tough guys are having some sort of coded conversation but Spleenifer is reasonably certain they are expressing regret about having to be present for something that probably involves killing children.

Norm arrives on the scene, also ready to get in on this action. He recognizes the tough guys as having gang affiliations and that's all the information he needs to go on. He rounds the western corner of the orphanage and clambers on the roof, and he is able to overhear from the guard's Thieves Cant that there's at least two more gang members inside. The gang members inside the orphanage are apparently trying to do something with Brother Clifton and some kid. Norm leaps off the roof and does a non-lethal death strike to knock out both tough guys after a swan dive rolling into the ground with one dagger-wielding arm still outstretched.

Spleenifer enters the front door, while Q and Norm meet up and pick the lock to the back entrance to make sure no bad guys escape. Q pumps Norm up with a rousing (but whispered) speech about overcoming adversity to make sure Norm succeeds.

Once inside the rear hallway, Norm and Q are able to hear muffled sobbing coming from the children's quarters. It doesn't sound hysterical, so the duo press on toward the door at the end of the hall leading to the kitchen. Q presses their ear to the door and hears part of a conversation, but the only thing they can make out is Brother Clifton saying "I don't know who it is!"

Q cracks the door open like a ninja in the movies and sees Brother Clifton tied up in a chair while another tough guy is slapping him around. Just behind the door is another bad dude, but this guy has Hannah restrained and a knife at her throat.

"Where is Magnusson's kid?" the guy closest to Brother Clifton demands. It will be possibly the last thing he ever speaks, because this is the part where all the party members converge and the real action starts.

Norm sneaks past Q through the cracked door and sneak attacks the Brother Clifton's captor. The guy goes down like a sack of potatoes. Don't worry! The guy's just knocked out, not dead.

While this is happening, Q has whipped out the Didgeriboop and played the sleep song. It doesn't knock out Hannah's captor like they hoped, but both Hannah and Brother Clifton faint. And Hannah's fainting allowed her to slip momentarily from the captor's grasp.

Spleenifer bursts through the door on the opposite side of the kitchen and shouts "Save the children!" while almost tripping over a table just inside the door. But she takes one big step and now she's running on top of the weirdly-placed table and takes a flying leap at the guy who had a knife to Hannah's throat. In mid-air, she grapples the guy with her thighs, swings him around and bashes him into the fireplace.

After the bad guys are subdued, it's decided that now's a good time for an interrogation. The grappled guy is definitely ready to talk, especially with some thigh pressure applied to his skull. According to him, the guy who gave the order to run another operation was named Dion and operates out of a BCR warehouse. Norm recognizes Dion's name as belonging being a high-ranking member of the BCR. Perhaps even the second in command.

Norm excuses himself to check on the room with the muffled sobs to make sure all the kids are okay. As soon as he opens the door, Norm is hit with a pillowcase full of books and the group of four boys (aged 6, 7. 10, and 14, in case it ever comes up in the game again) shove past Norm and try to escape. But Norm is able to persuade them that he's one of the good guys and that they are here to rescue the kids from this assault.

Back in the kitchen, all the bad guys are rounded up, stripped of their gear, and tied up in the same gross rope used to haul the rock worm corpse away. Brother Clifton is roused from his slumber and asked why all this gang interest in Curtis Hanover is going on. He tells the party that Hjalmar Magnusson is a gang leader and someone by the name of Rooney was hoping to save Curtis from the predations of gang life by permanently polymorphing them. The BCR is targeting Curtis to get control over the Devil Boys gang.

The adventure concludes for the evening as the naked bundle of bad guys are dropped off in front of Silas's office with a signed note from Norm. But what happened with that weird kinda dead woman and her kid? Stay tuned next time for more!

#Dungeons and Dragons #shits and giggles #adventure log #orphanage #graverobber #hostage #hannah #stinky calypso #rock worm #rooney #curtis hanover

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