#maybe i could send one more before I go mimir...

[seariii]

Woops look at the time

[teevee-static]

Atreus and Angrboða snippet

This was conjured within the span of a few hours and hasn't been checked for clarity or spelling, but here I am posting it anyway.

This may or may not become a more complete story/fic. Let me know if I should put in the work to make it a more cohesive, fleshed-out story.

Also, I imagined Atreus and Angrboða being late teens here, maybe 18-19?

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Atreus and Angrboða knew something was wrong the minute they stepped through the realm tear. They were on the way to see Kratos, Mimir and Freya in North Vanaheim for a quest they had planned.

What he hadn't expected was to immediately walk right into an issue as soon as he stepped foot in the realm.

The second their feet hit the ground of the forest, the trees and other flora were screaming "Danger! Danger! Not Right! All Wrong!". The emotions were so immediate and overwhelming that the pair literally staggered in place, overtaken by the sheer force and desperation of the warning, before sharing a concerned look.

Their backs meet as they move into a defensive stance, bow and paint readied for any threat. The trees and plants continue their warnings as they fall into step with each other, moving clock-wise as they scan the forest surrounding them. The closer they looked, the more the forest seemed warped with an unusual fog, as if it were some sort of illusion or a poorly remembered memory. The longer they stared into the depths of the trees the more they noticed the feeling of being watched.

Their magic begins to hum in the air, the force reverberating through each other where their bodies connect. Atreus holds a nocked arrow close to his cheek while Angrboða's hands glow bright blue and violet from her paint, the two tense at the same time.

Then all Hel breaks loose.

All at once Seiðr reavers leap from the depths of the trees in droves. They leap towards the two Jötunns with their swords and massive clubs swung high in attack.

The pair meet the attack with vigor, Atreus shooting sonic arrows into the reaver's bodies with such speed that they're dead before they even hit the ground. Angrboða unleashes a rainbow of color into the faces of the reavers, the explosions knocking them back and into each other.

They continue this way only for a moment before they are nearly surrounded, to which the pair quickly roll away from each other, causing many reavers to accientally kill each other in a collision of their thoughtless swings and attacks.

On opposite sides of the field now, Angrboða and Atreus farm through the droves of reavers, now split in two. Just as Atreus sends his foot through the heads of two reavers and a sonic arrow through the head of another, the ground begins to shake with large incoming steps.

He turns to see Angrboða finish off the rest of the reavers near her, avoiding the poisonous explosion of one dying, before turning to look at him with recognition in her eyes. The fight's not over yet.

--

Kratos knew something was off the moment he stepped through the portal in Vanaheim.

He was not as intuned with the forest as Faye or Atreus, but he could tell something was wrong by the complete stillness of it.

"Somethings wrong here, brother. I just got chills all over my bloody face!" Mimir says nervously down by his hip. Kratos grumbles in agreement.

Kratos feels Freya step closer beside him, looking at the surrounding forest with a disturbed, nearly confused look on her face. "There's… some sort of Seiðr magic polluting the forest, but I don't sense any scorn poles…"

Her voice trails off as the silence of the forest breaks into the sounds of fighting. The clashing sounded loud, as if there were groups of people fighting.

Together Kratos and Freya dart toward the sounds of the fighting, and together they take pause at the sight of who they see fighting. They stand like that for a few moments before Mimir cuts through their silence, "Well? Let me see what's going on, brother!"

Kratos lifts Mimir from his belt and up toward the sight of Atreus and Angrboða clearing through a small army of reavers. The number of reavers attacking them is nearly disturbing, as Kratos had never seen so many all at once like this.

"Well, shouldn't we go join them?" Mimir asks, golden eyes looking to Kratos.

"No," Freya says before Kratos can respond, an intrigued smile on her face, "Not yet. I want to see how they fight together."

A deep part of Kratos wants to ignore her and go help the two of them, but he forces himself to take a breath. He made a promise all those years ago. He trusts Atreus to be careful. He's been exploring the realms by himself for years now, this is nothing the boy can't handle.

And Angrboða is completely capable of holding her own, as she had proven while being pursued by Valkyries and saving them from Ragnarök with Fenrir during the battle of Ragnarök.

So, trust in the two of them overrides his need to help, and so he merely nods and continues watching in silence.

The fight is chaotic and unusual, but at the same time controlled and perfectly in sync. Kratos notes that it almost looks like they're dancing with each other.

It reminds him of how he and Faye used to fight together, though those times weren't many. They worked in complete unison, predicting each other's steps perfectly, most often working together without a single word shared between them.

He sees that now as the pair split apart from each other to avoid becoming completely surrounded, which he praises them mentally for. He watches as they clear through the now split group of reavers with ease, every now and then an arrow or a ball of magic would shoot across the field, stunning an enemy about to attack the other.

They make quick work of the reavers, and theres merely seconds of respite before the ground-shaking steps of a troll can be felt rattling their bones.

With a roar the troll steps out of the forest and into the small clearing, a large stone pillar clutched in it's left hand.

"Angrboða!" Kratos hears his son yell, his bow attached to his back and taking a knee on the ground. For a moment Kratos is confused as to why his son would leave himself so open like that, but his worries are immediately silenced by what follows next.

Atreus cups his hands with a nod, and Angrboða shoots off into a sprint toward him. The second her left foot meets his grip, Atreus throws her over his head and sends her flying into the air.

Airborne, Angrboða switfly lifts her dagger above her head and lands right on top of the trolls head, stabbing gruesomely into the troll's left eye.

The troll mindlessly swings his pillar in a pain-ridden rage, trying to knock her off, but magnificantly Angrboða holds on with the dagger.

"Ulfr hlaup!" She shouts, the air buzzes with runic magic and the bright colorful forms of a pack of wolves howl mightily into existence. They set to work attacking the legs of the troll.

"Blástr!" Angrboða commands again and runic explosion blasts straight into the troll's eye.

The explosion combined with the wolves causes the troll to fall quickly backward, and without second thought Angrboða leaps backward, falling from the troll.

She spins her body in the air and lands right into the arms of Atreus, who seemed to appeared seemingly out of nowhere to catch her.

Together they watch the troll land backward with a mighty "boom!", then both the troll and wolves dissipate into the air.

"Well, they sure know how ta' put on a show." Mimir says in Krato's hand. Kratos can only grunt in proud agreement.

Freya laughs softly beside them, her face beaming in pride, "They are certainly a lethal pair."

They watch the couple for a few more moments as they speak to each other, though too quietly for the trio to hear. They watch as Atreus morphs into his wolf form and dart between Angrboða's legs, lifting her off the ground and facing backward on his back. He sprints around the clearing in circles and sharp turns as Angrboða cackles in amusement, hanging on for dear life.

He watches Atreus shift back into human form, Angrboða falling off his back and landing in a careful roll, then standin up beside his son. She brings Atreus's head down to her mouth and says something into his ear that makes him flush so badly it reaches up to his ears and down his neck.

Mimir clears his throat and bellows down to the couple from where Kratos and Freya are standing, announcing their presence.

The two of them turn, unsurprised by their presence. Atreus's cheeks are still red from whatever Angrboða had said, so Kratos assumes that maybe it had to do with them watching them fight together.

"Kratos, Freya, Mimir, good to see you again. Enjoy watching us whoop reaver and troll be-hind?" Angrboða asks cheerfully, leaning against Atreus's shoulder comfortably.

"You two fight well together." Kratos says warmly, and Angrboða blooms at the praise. Atreus smiles as well, clearly happy at the praise as well, before it dims a bit and he sobers.

"I've got to say, though, even after killing all those reavers and that troll, the forest still seems disturbed." He says, his voice lowly trailing off as if lost in thought as he scans the forest, searching for some sort of answer.

"Aye, something seems off here lad. Something that is certainly worth investigating." Mimir adds pointedly.

[dia-smthidk]

More things in depth just cuz.

I’d say for the overall, think of what you’re going to do, and how you think others will react, and than act on that. Such as, you probably wouldn’t want to be seen as the super good person, especially if there’s other mafias or organized crime of sorts around, than you might just get targeted by others, even if it makes average people think you’re just a nice great person. If you can, make as few enemies as possible, after all, you can’t go it alone. For example, yet again, a game. Sometimes you need to partner up with other players. Even if you have a strong group, if another one is stronger and has reason to, they might take you down, or you’d have to watch out for them.

And just over all, you need to trick others, like how I said before that you should almost direct people’s attention to specific things, such as, Jeffery. Jeffery is seen as a little defenseless easily kidnappable baby, if I’d have to say from the perspective of this world, someone might kidnap him to go against you, but in reality that’s a good thing in a way, since, well… for those of us that know Jeffery, he can handle himself. Almost like that, make people think what isn’t true, or make them think of a half lie. Don’t always lie, that only causes distrust, people will realize patterns, they will realize what you do or don’t do. After all, it’s a business. Not a fun little book club. People pay attention to things that have to do with them, so I guess mostly, it is situational. I’d suggest that most forms of communication between members be discrete but encoded at the same time, so that someone could be looking at one thing, and another person who knows the code is looking at the same thing, but seeing an entire different meaning to the message. Such as how once in character ai for example, I was doing a mha one and friends with Shigaraki, we would send each other letters, and I said we should encrypt them, so that no one would find out we knew one another, and even use a fake address and shipping and all that. I used a statement of ‘training went bad’ as if to say ‘they don’t suspect a thing’, or ‘training was good’ to say that they did suspect a thing, since it’s also the opposite message in a way. A positive being a negative, and a negative being a positive. Maybe phrases or words, or I’m just thinking too much lol

Also intimidation? Definitely a thing you need, but just remember that you can’t hold down too tight onto what people in your organization can or can’t do, because when people are pushed to a certain point, they rebel, that’s why you need the perfect mix of fear and respect, I suppose. Than again, that goes in an overall standpoint. Overall? You need to think five steps ahead, you need to know what is going on, how it will happen, what way you act to certain people, all that ✨Jazz✨

Eh I might go to bed now

yes yes you go mimir

whilst I later on once I need to go to bed will be reading all of this

[messenger-of-stupidity]

Hii how are you? I was wondering if you could make a fic where the pack boys and the mates aknowledge the circumstances of Sam's turning, and they all become istantly protective over him and show him solidarity.

By the way I love your work :)

I'm okay! A bit sore and really tired lol. And that sounds so wholesome!! (Please pardon any mistakes, I'm on my phone rn lol) also thank you so much! That actually means a lot 😊

---

Darlin stared at David, chewing on the inside of their cheek. The alpha in question was staring at the ground as he thought. Normally Darlin wouldn't have let the silence go on as long as it had with someone they couldn't get a read on, but this was important. Plus David took longer to consider the facts than Darlin did, and it had taken them a few days to really grasp the meaning of it.

"So that's your reasoning why you want to make sure Alexis doesn't even come close to our territory?" David asked slowly. Carefully. Darlin nodded and forced their hands to relax in their lap. They didn't look away as David met their gaze. He sighed softly and ran a hand over his face, and it took more focus to relax their body. "I can try, but I'm not having another Quinn incident. But maybe I can talk to William. Does Sam know you told me?"

That had been an interesting conversation. Sam had said that if he was being adopted into the pack because Darlin and him were mates, David should probably know. Darlin had to mention that secrets were difficult to keep, but the conversation had kind of faded off as Darlin remembered their return to Dahlia not being as quiet as they hoped. But Sam had assured them that if David told someone it was for a good reason. It was Sam's story to share and consent to sharing, so for once the stubborn shifter didn't put up much of a fight.

They nodded before standing up, grabbing their coat as they did. "Yeah. He also said he trusts you to share it as necessary." They added before walking away. They probably shouldn't feel relief at being able to get away from the intimidating presence that was David Shaw and their alpha, but stepping outside into the cold air helped with that. They grabbed their phone to send an update to their mate.

---

David sat down on the couch, adjusting to lay his head in Angel's lap. They glanced down at him for a second before their eyes quickly returned to the screen in front of them. If David had to hear Kratos say 'boy' one more time, he was going to fucking lose it. Bad enough that Angel was copying the speaking mannerisms of Atreus because, and he quotes, 'You kinda speak like Kratos, Davey. All grumbly and only when necessary.'

"What's wrong Davey?" Angel asked, skipping past the story that Mimir was trying to share. They were speedrunnning the prequel to Ragnarok before actually playing it. Davey glanced toward the TV, letting the graphics distract him for a moment before answering.

"What do you know about how vampires become a vampire?" He asked. He got what he was expecting, something similar to the Hollywood bullshit. Which probably meant turning wasn't discussed in the "super secret" mates group chat. Considering the circumstances, he wasn't surprised. "Not quite. Can you pause the game for a second, Angel? This is important." David was far from a teacher, but he gave the lecture of how turning occurred from his own knowledge to his mate. Angel nodded by the end of it, fiddling with the controller in their hands.

"Okay. So what about it?" They asked. David didn't even hesitate. Sam was friends with Angel and trusted David to share it. And keeping secrets from his mate wasn't something he was strongly in the habit of. He didn't go too much into detail like Darlin had when telling him, since it was Sam's choice to share what he wanted, but he gave the basic rundown. Angel sat there for a moment before a scowl darkened their features. "I'm about to beat someone's ass. Who was the mega bitch that did that to my Sammy?"

Ignoring the possessive phrasing... "Alexis Solaire. Apparently the first known progeny of William." He answered as he sat up. Angel set down the controller as they turned to face the window. David watched with a raised eyebrow at the force choke they sent towards the glass pane.

"Squish her head like a grape at a three year olds birthday." His mate muttered.

---

David let his beta know as well, already running under the assumption that Asher would tell his mate. Asher had a more mature reaction than Angel, instead setting his jaw and nodding. He would need Asher's help with keeping Alexis away from their borders anyways.

"Hey David? Is there something the Department can do about it?" Asher asked as David sat at his desk. David looked up and shook his head.

"Maybe if Sam had been uninformed and unempowered. But he wasn't and this was over a decade ago. There's not really anything else DUMP can do, unfortunately." He said. It warmed his heart the way that his beta was trying to find some kind of solution. But that wasn't the way the world worked all of the time. Asher growled to himself and started to pace.

"There has to be something. That's really fucked up, and Sam is an awesome guy." David rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair with a soft grunt of agreement.

"Yeah. But DUMP is more focused on protecting the unempowered from us. Remember the information about that bridging incident at DAMN? DUMP didn't do much about that either." It was kind of different considering the limits in jurisdiction, but while the Department complained about covert breaches and keeping information close to the vest, good people were getting hurt. David didn't like it either, but that's just how it went sometimes.

"Does Milo and Stealth know? They both know more about the inner workings of the Department than you and me." Asher suggested. David shook his head.

"It's you and I, Ash. Not you and me. Anyways, the only ones that know are Tank, Angel, me, and you and your mate. That's it. I'm sure vamps within Sam's clan know too, but I'm not going to just assume, nor ask." David corrected. "But you can tell Milo and his mate if you want, just make sure they know that this doesn't get shared, okay? If they come up with an idea, we can bring it up with Sam and William." Asher was already on his phone before David was finished talking.

---

"I can't really find much of a trace of any report. Just some information about the Solaire clan gaining a member." Sweetheart said into the phone as they scrolled through information on the computer screen. They heard Milo sigh.

"I guess that makes some sense. It don't exactly seem like the kinda thing someone would wanna talk about a billion times during reporting." Milo said. Sweetheart stood up from their desk and grabbed their bag, heading out of their office.

"That's true. But I also might be restricted since my team doesn't really focus on vampiric incidents unless it becomes a bigger risk. There aren't any reports of Alexis doing the same thing to someone else, so it was likely labeled as a one time situation and pushed under the rug if it was reported in full." They could hear Milo huff and they clicked their tongue as they waved to the receptionist and exited the building. This certainly wouldn't endear their career to their mate any further, but it was the truth. And Sweetheart didn't have the authority to open a cold case like Sam's to their higher ups.

"Well I guess the best we can do is just show Sam that he ain't alone. As much as I wanna do more. Apparently William agreed to invoke Alexis to keep her away from our territory so that's somethin." Sweetheart nodded in agreement to Milo's words as they started up their car.

"I'll be home soon. I love you."

"Love ya too, Sweetheart."

---

"Are you sure that your alpha won't mind me being here, Darlin?" Sam asked, his hands in his pockets. Darlin shook their head. It was Sam's first casual pack meeting he was going to, but Darlin was sure that it would be fine. Did they accidentally forget to mention that Sam would be there to David? Yes. But it was fine, right?

Sam held open the door for them but before they could walk in, Angel popped out. Their face lit up when they saw Sam.

"You're here! Can I hug you?" They asked. Sam glanced at Darlin, surprised confusion in his eyes. Angel was more of the type to just pounce on their friends and bear hug them. It took Sam by surprise the first time and he had stiffened. Angel had either not noticed or pretended not to.

"Uh yeah. Sure I guess." He answered. Darlin could hear the small tinge of relief in his voice and watched quietly as Angel hugged Sam with a grin.

"Come on, I'm showing Davey how to put on cosplay makeup." Sam and Darlin entered after Angel and Darlin's gaze immediately went to David. He looked absolutely miserable as Angel returned to David.

The meeting continued how it usually did, but it didn't escape Sam's notice how the mates and their respective shifters treated him. It wasn't bad, and not a major change so everyone would notice. But he was asked more if they could touch him. It made the southern vampire glance over at his own shifter mate more than a few times, but Darlin always just responded with a small shrug.

The meeting winded down to an end earlier than usual as Sweetheart mentioned that 'Some of us have to be awake early for paperwork Mister Alpha sir!' It brought a chuckle out of everyone and Sam got up to leave, glancing at his watch. He still had a good chunk of time before the sky would start lightening in preparation for the sun to crest over the horizon. He missed watching them, but... Sam sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Hey Sam? Can I talk to you about something?" A gentle voice said. He looked at the Stealth in front of him, Milo behind them. Darlin was talking to David about something, he wasn't going to pry, and he nodded his head. He followed the two out of the building, smiling gently at the curse that left Milo's mouth from the shock of the cold. Temperature didn't really have a strong effect on him anymore, but he could tell that there was a drastic difference between the warmth of the building and the cold night air from outside.

"Is this about how y'all are acting different?" Sam started. Stealth's hand moved in a side-to-side gesture as their lips twisted into an awkward smile.

"Kinda? I'm not exactly sure how to bring this up, so please pardon me if I fuck it up. But you're aware that Darlin told David some intel-" They were interrupted by Milo.

"Jesus Sweetheart, you don't gotta dance around." He said it lighthearted and earned an elbow from the investigator. "What we're tryna say is that David told Ash and me, therefore our mates by extension, y'know?" Sam nodded. He had assumed that, and he understood. "The only reason Sweetheart and myself were clued in was because Ash and David wanted to see if the Department could do anything about it." Milo added and Sam nodded again, slower this time.

"Unfortunately there's not much we can do, but I can help you file the magical equivalent of a restraining order against her if you want." Sweetheart added, their voice quiet. Sam thought about it for a moment.

"Why would you want to go through all that paperwork? I know it would be more than normal considering all the time that's passed." Sam said and he watched as the Stealth's gaze flickered towards the window. He followed the gaze and saw the remaining pack members inside, messing around.

"It's shitty what happened and I can't imagine how alone you must've felt. I just... we all just want to help you whatever way we can because you aren't alone anymore. We're here for you too, and any of us are at your disposal if you ever need something, Sam." The Stealth said as their gaze returned to Sam. He could feel a lump form in his throat and he swallowed around it, smiling instead.

"I appreciate that. I really do. But the extra work isn't necessary. If... if I ever change my mind, I'll make sure to send you a holler." Sam saw them nod before Darlin exited.

"They're loud and I'm tired, can we go now Sam?" They complained, eying Milo like the other shifter might try to stop Darlin from leaving. Milo laughed and held up his hands in mock surrender. Sam looked back towards the window, a laugh of his own bubbling up at the sight of Asher, his mate, and Angel pressing their faces against the glass as David rubbed his temples behind them.

Not alone anymore. He liked that.

"Yeah, we can go if you'd like Darlin."

---

I hope this lived up to expectations! I had a lot of fun writing it. Also I'm sorry it's kinda late lol

[ninjakittenhaswords]

OCtober 2021- Day 13: Burn

So I’ve had these ideas ever since I caught up to the majority of the GOW games and I can’t hold them back anymore. Y’all just gotta see it. Please give these a chance! Please!

The characters involved might be OOC but just bear with me.

Technically involves a dragon OC and a crossover but hey why not?!? LET'S GO!

-

He had no idea how he got there.

He was hunting and trying to scout the area without having his father hover over him and he managed to talk out of taking Mimir with him. Or at the very least run before he asked him to, but that was besides the point. It was fine for a while. He liked the silence that accompanied with the occasional crunch of the snow underneath his feet. He lost the deer he was tracking for a while now and honestly he didn’t feel like going back empty handed and explaining how it happened to his father.

Not too far, he heard sounds of a struggle. His crystalline eyes looked and in the clearing he found the source of the commotion. He crouched low out of sight while he saw them. Reavers. Atreus forced himself not to think about his first encounter with them. His eyes looked over to the absolute beastly mass that fought back. Its wings held up on its sides, some dark blue scales blended in with the almost inky blackness of its body and yellow eyes with thin pupils focusing on the enemy. It was something almost out of this world. Maybe it quite literally was out of this world. Oh he had to remember that to write down.

Atreus watched the conflict unfold while recounting his arrows and the number of Reavers there were. "Come on, beastie! It's just survival of the fittest out here." One of them taunted. The said beast just let out a loud hiss. Atreus could guess that it very much rivaled the hiss of a Tatzelwurm. Its tail swung side to side hitting the ones coming from behind, claws swiped at others while it went forward to the biggest of them. The hits must've been strong since they weren't getting back up easily.

"Feisty one, aren't you?" The big guy barked, dodging the charging dragon. It landed and spun on its feet, still managing to face him. The snow kicked up by its sliding stop. "Haha! Come on then! I want some fun before my brothers and I feast upon you!" The dragon let out a throaty sounding roar, bouncing backwards to avoid the oncoming hits before letting out some sort of poisonous gas and sparking it up, shooting out a purplish flame. It hit him straight on his front and the force of the shot knocked him a good few paces back into a sharp rock and Atreus swore that he heard some bones break upon contact.

The scaly beast panted with smoke sizzling out the sides of its maw. It looked around, presumably checking if there were any more threats which Atreus also found fascinating that a feral creature like them was smart enough to do such a thing. He watched as they decided the fight was finished and they turned, preparing to go on their way.

It didn't take long for the young god to notice that the other Reavers long since down got up, greyish with an icy blue glow coming off them. At that moment, Atreus knew he couldn't just stand by and marvel at the creature anymore. He stood up with an arrow set on his bow and he aimed carefully at one of the undead before sending it flying. "Þruma" Electricity powered the arrow and it landed with lightning leaving it, causing others close to the target to take some paralyzing damage.

The groans and growls left the Hel-Reavers and the crackling electricity accompanying the whistle of the arrow and the sound of the body thudding to the ground after it got shot caught the attention of the dragon and the undead ones. Two seconds in and he caught the gaze of the dragon, getting a full on stare from yellow feline like eyes. Now still wasn't the time to be dazzled by the beast who's eyes looked suspiciously familiar. He shook his head and turned his attention back to the enemies who finally faced him.

He could hear them becoming louder as they charged at him. Even though he was outnumbered, he had to remain calm like his father told him and just make his shots count. They stumbled towards him for a moment before finally running full on at him. Some of them bunched up together and he took another opportunity to use "Þruma" spell again, electrocuting plenty at once.

One after another, they fell and even then he ran out. A curse slipped from him and he pulled out his knife. He didn't want to close to any of them. Not like they'd beat him, but just the fact that he would be surrounded and overwhelmed. A panicked feeling seeped into his skin and he clenched his teeth. He has killed before and these were monsters he was fighting. Why was he scared now?

His arm moved to stab one in the neck with the blade, glowing blue blood seeping through before he pulled hard enough to leave a nasty cut, while his senses were telling him to just scream for his father. It wouldn't be unlikely if he actually didn't leave him alone and he was just careful in following him. Quite honestly he wouldn't mind right now. "Fa- Fa-" Why wasn't the word leaving him?!

It was sudden but he saw a tail quickly swipe across the bodies and he stumbled and fell almost flat on his back. He could smell a poisonous gas being lit up for a second before the Hel-Reavers were struck with purple flames. They fell from the impact and burned up, leaving very little time to get up from the extreme heat of the strange flames. His nose even burned from the smell.

Atreus panted heavily and didn't get time to calm down as the scaly winged beast pounced on him. Panic filled him almost completely as he was pinned. His knife was far from him and his arrows were still impaled in some bodies. The dark dragon looked him up and down with its yellow gaze. Atreus being so close noticed the specks of green in them as the pupils widened a bit in the stare-off it held with him. "Ah- ah."

The pupils contracted into feline like slits and he heard it rumble before looking away and his ear left exposed to the scream of the beast. Even their breath blew his auburn hair a bit before he felt the presence no longer. His eyes cracked open and he saw it taking a running start before it opened its wings up -those too were glittered with some dark blue like the night sky- and it flew away.

The young god stayed there for a moment before getting up, snatching the majority of his arrows and his dagger. With whatever adrenaline he had left, he ran and kept going until he could see the cabin in the distance. A shaky breath he didn't know he was holding in left him and so did the adrenaline. He tried to take a step forward and instantly felt no strength left to walk anymore. Instead he fell flat on his stomach, groaning in pain upon the contact.

"AH! Brother, the boy!" He heard Mimir call from afar. Not even seconds later, he felt the heavy footsteps come his way. "Atreus." He didn't even get to answer as he finally slipped from consciousness, still remembering that burning smell of flesh caused by the strange flame and the dragon with the shade of the night sky.

[rainsonata]

Doppelgänger 11/15

Chapter 11: Echoes 

Fandom/Pairing: Elsword; none Rating: T Word Count: 7,958

Summary: It was like looking into a mirror. What happens when one’s reflection talks back and throws uncomfortable questions? El Search Party struggles to find entrance into the Demon Realm, but Dominator has a plan.   

Alternative Title: Dominator fucked up and now everyone meets their alternative selves   

AO3 Link / FF.NET Link

— [Chapter 01] [Chapter 02] [Chapter 03] [Chapter 04] [Chapter 05] [Chapter 06] [Chapter 07] [Chapter 08] [Chapter 09] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13] [Chapter 14] [Chapter 15] —  

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Class Notes: 

Canon Path: Knight Emperor, Aether Sage, Daybreaker, Rage Hearts, Code: Esencia, Comet Crusader, Apsara, Empire Sword, Doom Bringer, Ishtar and Chevalier (Innocent), Bluhen   

Alternative Path: Rune Slayer, Oz Sorcerer, Anemos, Furious Blade, Code: Ultimate, Fatal Phantom, Devi, Flame Lord, Dominator, Timoria and Abysser (Catastrophe), Richter

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Oz Sorcerer

Dusk bordered at the horizon when Oz returned to camp. Dozens of tents rose in a mass of colors and arranged into smaller circles with a smaller campfire for each group. Oz saw tents of the close-ranged fighters placed closer to the edge of their resting site, the ones ready for combat to the sound of intruders. Those that relied more on magic or needed more time to prepare like Rune and Dominator placed their tents more inward from the edge of the area they resided in.

“Hey, ‘cuse me,” a male voice grunted. “Sorry, come through.” 

The smell of blood and dirt filled the air. Knight was hauling a wild boar that was easily twice his size. Blood was dripping down the carcass and onto Knight’s armor. His great sword was tucked into a scabbard strapped to his back, grating against the gravel as he dragged the ridiculous sized animal over his shoulder. A quiet gasp escaped from a lower tree branch whipping into his vicinity and swapped the young man. 

“Need help?” Oz leaned forward, “I can barely see your face from here.” 

“Yes,” Knight groaned under the weight of the boar. How could someone so short carry a monster of that size? She was impressed. 

With the help of Angkor (“I’m not here to do grunt work!” He huffed.), she helped him carry the dead animal across camp. It took all of Oz’s effort now to lower the boar over a pile of dried leaves. They placed the boar next to a campfire. She watched its beady eyes staring back at her, dead and fish-eyed in death. 

She didn’t know the Demon Realm had animals.

Then again, Angkor didn’t really tell her much about the realm that demons called home. Oz looked up to see the moons nestled among the clouds. Angkor and Timoria spoke of their old allies and enemies, but their narrative of the Demon Realm varied. She guessed that it was as big and diverse as Elrios was. It took her weeks to journey from Sander all the way to Ruben in search of the Ring of Mimir, so maybe it would take weeks to reach the other end of the Demon Realm?

“What are you doing?” Oz observed Knight taking out a dagger from his belt. Angkor scurried off in bat form when Knight started skinning the animal with precision.  

“Prepping for dinner,” Knight said. He let out a nervous chuckle. “Do you want to help?”

“Sure,” Oz placed her staff on her belt to make her hands free. “What do we do first?”

“Uh, right.” Knight looked happy? He moved aside to patted the ground to gesture at her into joining him, nodding his head, “I want you to grab a bucket or any containers you have. We’ll be draining its blood to make pig blood curd for soups and congee in the morning. Once we finish, we’ll be carving the meat and use half of it to make dried jerky for battle rations. I already cleaned it out before I started skinning it.”

“These? Do you make everyone you talk to do this?” Oz asked. Placing the bowls aside, she sat on the floor next to Knight. “What happened to your friends?”

“Most of them are still resting after the fights,” Knight chuckled. “And you looked like you weren’t busy. What’s so funny?” 

He stopped to give her a strange look. What? Was Knight already detecting her sad attempt to keep a poker face during his long lecture? He glanced over Oz before making note of Angkor, who was back to his bat form. Angkor settled on her lap as a bat and giggled when Oz tried to move it. Did Angkor gain weight? Oz placed her hand over her chest and pretended to blush. 

“See something you like?” She teased. 

“I’m surprised you’re helping me after some of my friends tried to hurt you,” Knight was not fazed. 

“This wouldn’t be the first time our enemies became our allies,” Oz mused. “Rune asked me to do the same when we first met.” 

“Oh… sorry about that.” He was embarrassed. 

“What are you apologizing for? It’s always good to have a refresher!” Oz exclaimed, “Your hands were full and you looked like you needed help.”  

Knight looked relieved and nodded to himself. It was subtle, but a distinct smile. The kind Rune had when he learned a new technique to manipulate his runes. He was taller than Rune, towering over her with sleeves rolled back while working. His hair was a short neat cut, matching his eyes and the rest of his armor.   

After they extracted blood from the boar, they let it sit in one of the metal bowls to solidify. They would then slide the curd into smaller pieces to be salted and heated in a pot. Knight handed her a dagger and they began dividing the meat into sections. Oz let the man take the lead and insert the sharp edge towards the spine, cleaning the meat off the bone in one swipe. Knight expertly placed the meat into a separate container for later use and hummed as he worked. For a moment, she caught serenity in his silence, taking pride in his hard work.  

“Is it always you who does this?” Oz asked. 

“Sometimes it’s Elesis or Raven,” Knight said. “The others have offered to help, but I’m doing it today. Are you okay with that?”

“You’re asking me now?” Oz let out a mellow laugh, “It’s gross, but you look so sad doing it by yourself.”

“I look sad?” Knight chuckled, “I’m used to doing it by myself. I had to do it when ‘sis was out of the picture.” 

Stupid, Aisha! She scolded herself. Now she made him remember a lonely part of his life. Oz took deep breaths and counted backwards from ten. He didn’t even look upset about it and laughed. 

“But thank you for offering to help,” Knight said. “Food will be ready sooner and we can focus on everyone recovering.” 

“When was the last time you visited Ruben?” Oz asked.  

“It’s been years,” he admitted. “Haven’t had much time to return with everything that’s been happening.” 

“Do you miss home?” 

“Sometimes,” Knight said. “But when I’m with my friends, it’s like I have a second home. You know what I mean? Don’t laugh, but I hope I can one day show them Ruben when things are peaceful again.” 

“No, that sounds like a wonderful dream,” Oz softened her expression and thought about the people she grew up with. She wondered if her teammates felt the same. 

Oz started setting the seasoned meats onto a dry metal tablet to be smoked when she heard Angkor squeak. She looked up to Aether stomping over to her. Dressed in a white skirt accented by purple, Aether wielded a staff and looked short out of breath. Did all of Knight’s friends wear white?  

“Aisha?” Knight didn’t notice the dark aura radiating from the sulking mage. 

“Elsword,” Aether stopped to catch her breath. The twin cowlicks sprouting from her roots drooped as she rested her hands over her knees before bringing her head up. Her face was flustered, “What do you think you’re doing?” 

“Helping Ciel prep for dinner. Oz is helping me.” Knight said and looked at her with pleading eyes. Did he just give Aether puppy eyes? He and Rune were cut from the same cloth. “Did Bluhen heal your arm?”     

“No one else can heal besides him, my arm is fine.” Aether huffed. “Did you just kill that boar by yourself? You should be resting. You’ve gone missing for two days!” 

“I’m not hurt!” Knight stood up for Aether to see. “Not a single cut! Ain healed most of my injuries!”  

“You can’t rely on him all the time for heals,” Aether glared. “I just talked to him and he said you should be resting. I bet you didn’t tell Ciel that, did you?” 

“I… no.” He said in a small voice. 

If looks could kill, Knight would have died twice fold from the intense looks the mage was sending to him. Oz held back her laughter as Aether scrutinized the red-haired man. Aether threw a side-eyed look to Oz as if debating if it was the dark mage’s fault for letting Knight do things by himself. 

“I helped him before no one else was,” Oz said before Aether could open her mouth. “We were almost done before you came here.”   

Glancing at the smoked meats and the pork blood curd finished steaming in the heated pot, Aether didn’t argue. She turned pink, embarrassed and offered an apology to both of them. Oz overheard Angkor chattering to her and hushed him to be quiet. 

“Do I look that awful?” Knight asked. 

“You look like a zombie,” Aether said. 

“Really? I was thinking more like a sad phoru.” Oz pointed to the bags under Knight’s eyes. Knight tilted his head to the side in confusion. 

“Go wash your hands and rest until dinner is ready,” Aether groaned before gesturing to Oz. “I’ll help her finish up the rest of what you already started.” 

“All right,” Knight walked past Aether. “Sorry for making you worry.” 

Oz wished he would stop taking blame for things in a feeble attempt to soothe anger from either side. It was grating on her nerves and didn’t suit him at all. It made her miss the slight flare of arrogance Rune had when thinking he found the perfect ratio of hot pepper flakes to apply to pork jerky, or when he set the entire demon army on fire. 

“Hey, worrying is our job.” Aether stopped him, “That’s what we’re here for.” 

Knight laughed.

There was silence between the two women when he left. Aether finished slicing the meat into thin pieces. Her slices were sloppier than Knight’s but cut close to the bone of the boar and marinated the meat in a metal bowl. Oz rotated the smoked meat for the other side to be cooked and checked on the pork blood curd. Their campsite smelled of smoked and seasoned meats.     

“So you do have a demon,” Aether looked at Angkor with the same fascination as one would with deadly forest fungi.

“Have?” Oz rolled her eyes, “He’s not a pet. More like a contract.” 

It was hard to believe Angkor was a demon god for the number of times he wouldn’t stop chattering demon gossip to her or demanding for more cookies. Oz wondered if looking like a child brought in the childish tendencies in the demon bat. His powers on the other hand were worth discussing and helped her in battles countless times. 

“How did that happen?” Aether asked. 

“Well, I was practicing dark magic when Angkor approached me.” Oz said, “He saw talent in me and offered a deal to me.” 

“And the clothes?” 

“That’s what you’re worried about the most?” Oz said, “I don’t mind. Maybe more ruffles than I wanted, but the gain in power was what mattered.” 

“You didn’t find the Ring of Mimir either?” 

“No,” Oz shook her head. The blood curd was done. She drained water from the pot and transferred them over to a container for storage. “Are you still looking for it?” 

“Yes,” Aether closed her eyes. “We were so close to catching the culprit. He ran off before I had the chance to get it back.”

“Do you think it will return your powers?” 

“I don’t know, maybe? I relearned the fundamentals of elemental magic, but there’s still more to be learned.” Aether said, “Hennon doesn’t have rights over that ring grandfather worked hard to uncover.” 

Oz tried to remember a time when she believed in having the ring restore her powers. After no leads to it, she turned to dark magic because she didn’t want to relearn something she had already lost. The Hennon of her world also had the Ring of Mimir, but that was the least of their concerns when there was an urgent matter of restoring the El. 

“So what’s with you and Elsword?” Aether asked. “I saw you two talking.”      

“Still obsessing over that boy?” Oz teased. 

“What?” Aether paused, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“You keep looking at him.” Oz teased. “It’s like I’m not even here.” 

Aether sat still, frozen in time, and forgot that she had a knife in her hand. The knife remained suspended in a fist hold grip, losing its use in her hands. Her eyes widened, shocked by the statement and Oz’s impatience. Talking to Aether was coming into contact with a reflection of herself when she was eighteen years old, infatuated and hopeful in catching the attention of a red-haired boy. 

“It looked like you two were having fun,” Aether turned pink. “You two share nothing in common, but you made it look easy to talk to him about anything.” 

“I just let him talk about things he’s interested in,” Oz shrugged. “Didn’t you travel with him for five years?”  

“Yes, but I’m not sure if I know him as well as I thought I did.” She confessed, “When he went missing, I mistook Rune for him. It was so obvious. I feel like an idiot.”

“They’re pretty similar,” Oz said. “Both of them act like idiots, won’t stop talking about meat, insist they’re used to doing things alone...”

“That’s the thing!” Aether threw her arms in the air, “He always does all these things by himself, acting like everything is his fault. It’s so frustrating! How many times do we need to tell him we don’t mind?” 

“I think that’s why Knight hides things,” Oz leaned back. “He probably didn’t want to make you all worry, even if it’s a stupid idea and you all care about him either way.”  

Oz collected the remnants of the skinned and deboned animal. The bones were saved to be used as a base for soups and broths. She was impressed by Knight’s work ethic that expanded even outside of his training. Left to live by himself at a young age, Knight must have learned to never let food be wasted. He and Rune were masters in hunting and finishing chores, but worked twice as hard in training.     

“I wonder if I scared him away, yelling at him like that.” Aether thought aloud. “I can’t stand seeing him get hurt again.” 

“You still like him,” Oz commented. 

“Don’t you?” Aether asked.     

“Maybe not in the same sense as you do,” Oz said. “We tried to connect a few times but decided it wasn’t working for us. He’s now with Chung.” 

“What?” 

Aether dropped the metal container with the blood curd. Luckily, it was sealed shut. Oz retrieved the container from the mage with a kind expression. 

“Elsword and Chung are dating,” Oz said. “Or Rune and Phantom if you’re keeping track of nicknames.” 

“No wonder they kept looking at each other,” she overheard Aether mutter to herself. “Does that mean our Elsword and Chung are…” 

“I don’t know,” Oz said. “Not everything is set in stone. Your timeline is already different than ours, so I wouldn’t give up yet. Knight might like Crusader, you, a random village girl, or even Add.” 

“Ha!” Aether snorted. “Unlikely.” 

Oz grinned. She liked her. 

“Let’s deliver these to Ciel and Abysser.” Aether started collecting the containers, one under each arm. “They said they were going to cook something tonight.” 

Would this be enough to feed all of them? After washing her hands, Oz joined in helping her, taking the containers that were left to bring over to their teammates. She couldn’t imagine how Knight could have completed this task on his own. The next time she saw Rune attempting to do the same, she’ll have to make sure she or someone else would help him. 

“It’s always a pleasure talking to myself,” Oz tipped her hat and feigned a formal bow. 

“You’re ridiculous,” Aether rolled her eyes but softened his expression. “I think it’ll be easier to talk to Elsword now that I understand him a little better.” 

“I think you already do,” Oz said. “You’re already thinking like him and helping people.” 

“Is that a compliment I hear?” Aether’s grin mirrored hers, “Don’t expect less from the great Aisha!” 

“Do you talk like that to everyone?” 

“...shut up.”

Oz snickered.  

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

Apsara

“And then Elesis set the pole on fire,” Anemos said. 

“A pole?” Apsara repeated. 

“She got her tongue stuck on one and tried to free himself by setting it on fire,” the elf explained. “The city wasn’t happy and we had to pay for the damage. Luckily, we had enough from the major mission in Hamel.” 

W-wait, that didn’t sound good! Apsara panicked as Anemos let out a noble woman’s laugh. It was good that they had enough money to pay for the damage cost, but was it okay to cause a fire in the middle of a city? 

“B-but, Flame was okay, right?” Apsara stuttered. 

“Oh, she was perfectly fine,” Anemos added. “Can’t say the same about the rest of the city. That was rough.” 

“There’s more?” Apsara squeaked. 

“Trouble always seems to follow your team, it seems.” Daybreaker chuckled. “It sounds like your friends ran into a lot of strange adventures and close calls.” 

Apsara nodded in agreement. She gripped her cup, running her thumbs over the edge and watching the tea steam rise and fall. It was her own personal tea set from what was left over of her ruined home in Fluone's Northern Empire. Bamboo and cranes were painted in dark green onto the cups. The tea kettle was decorated in a similar theme with a giant crane spreading its wings in bamboo bedding. It was a gift from her late mother before she passed away.  

Anemos was just as she imagined the other Rena to be. Kind, funny, always ready to share stories of her travels and offering great advice, although Anemos had a more playful side. A smirk grew at the edge of Anemos’ lips, sipping from her cup of tea. 

“I can say the same to your team,” Anemos said. “Unconventionally breaking into the Demon Realm and angering Dark Elves sounds like a rough trip.” 

“We were lucky that Rena was here to talk it out and help us work together,” Apsara beamed. “Without her, we might still be enemies!”

“It’s a good thing we understood each other,” Daybreaker said. “I didn’t think we would meet Dark Elves so soon.” 

“What are they like?” Anemos asked.     

Both of them are correct, Eun yawned. Luck has saved you and your friends many times. How much longer will it carry you until it runs out?  

Apsara shivered at the meaning behind Eun’s words. The nine-tailed fox was not one for talk and preferred being a spectator from the safety of her mind, but occasionally left a piece of wisdom for her to think on.   

Eun was right. They were lucky that she accidentally fell into the labyrinth of ruin that connected Elrios to the Demon Realm. According to Daybreaker, the language the Dark Elves spoke was closer to the Ancient Elven tongue, a skill not many elves possessed. After struggling to rescue Knight from the El, things were beginning to line up for them.  However, as lucky as they were, there were just as many misfortunes that fell on them and stalled time for the enemy to get away. It was something Apsara couldn’t forgive. They had to do more than fall on lady luck to seek justice for the lives of those impacted by the enemy.   

“Apsara?” Anemos broke through the martial artist’s train of thought. She had a gentle expression, “Was the medicine too strong? You look out of it.” 

“I’m fine,” Apsara rubbed her forehead. It still hurt where she fell on her face.  She was going to let it heal naturally.  It was barely a scratch worth using healing magic. “Hey, Anemos? How do you plan to return back to Elrianode?” 

“Tired of us already?” Anemos teased, placing her finger over her lips. “With the teleportation device broken, we won’t be going home until it gets repaired. Why do you ask? Was your trip a one-way trip?”

“I’m afraid it was,” Daybreaker said. “We were planning to find an alternate way to get back once we found the Dark El.” 

“Your team didn’t look good when we fought you,” Anemos commented. “Was a demon giving you trouble?”

“Nephilim Lord,” Apsara said. “It looked like the one in Velder, but bigger. You saw one before, right? It warned us about a fiery aura.”  

The one they fought was several times the size, asbestos white and covered in bright rainbow-colored armor-like scales. It had horns protruding from its body and had no need to move to efficiently burn through their defense. The most powerful of all Nephilim, it was sentient and lost control of itself until it was taken down by the El Search Party.         

Anemos frowned and bit her lip in deep thought, mumbling to herself in Elven. At the mention of Nephilim Lord, the gears in the elf’s mind began to turn. Her eyes were calculating and darted up to where the sky was. Apsara looked up to see where the older woman was looking. 

Cloud swirled collectively around the portals appearing and closing, deviating from one another. Apsara became dizzy looking at them and returned her eyes to Anemos, whose complexion remained serious.

“Was Nehphilim Lord the cause of this?” Anemos asked. 

“I don’t think so,” Daybreaker shook her head. “It’s been like this since Paradox fought with us. He seems to have control over those portals.”

“Maybe we can use those portals to go back to Elrianode!” Apsara exclaimed. 

“Assuming we can control them ourselves,” Anemos sighed. “Unless you know anything about time and space.”  

Apsara felt her cheeks turn warm and pouted. Was it unrealistic in trying to secure a way back to Elrios? She already felt guilty leaving behind the world she and her friends worked hard to protect. On the other hand, the Dark Elves were relying on them to sort out the unstable spike of energy coming from the shadows of Varnimyr, a place where even Eun was uncertain about their safety. Ever since they have arrived at the Demon Realm, they have dug their feet into the dark with little guidance of where to go. It was worrying not knowing if there was a way back.  

“I’m not even sure if one of those portals even works,” Daybreaker said. “We don’t know what’s on the other side. What if we end up in another world like you and your friends did?” 

Apsara stared into the dense forest surrounding the cavern area. She didn’t even think about the possibility of coming out on one end of a portal into a world that bore little resemblance to Elrios or the Demon Realm. They would have to start all over again from scratch and adjust to a world with new laws and boundaries like they did when they first arrived in the Demon Realm.   

It would be difficult to find a way back to Elrionode, Eun said. There is little else that can be done without taking a risk.  

“We haven’t had the best luck in making things go according to plan,” Anemos added. “We still need to find the Dark El first before returning. Those portals will still be here when we find it.” 

“Finding the Dark El won’t be easy, but I believe we’ll find it soon.” Apsara finally said. “We have even more people now to make it work. We’ll all be coming home soon.”

“How touching,” a new voice drawled. Devi emerged from the shadows, letting the flame light flicker across her amber eyes. She looked down at Apsara’s smaller form. “I never thought of myself as a wide-eyed optimist.”  

Apsara turned around to see a round face covered by dark black locks. The long ripples from the ends of her dress made Devi appear taller and thinner. Next to Apsara, she was covered in black and orange, resembling a dark butterfly spreading its wings in her dress billowing in the gentle breeze. Devi smiled, but her eyes held an unsteady gaze.           

Careful, Ara. Urgency rose in Eun’s voice, She’s dangerous. 

“A-ara! I mean me! Devi, I mean, uh, what do you prefer being called?” Apsara cried and lowered her head in a ninety-degree bow, “I didn’t see you there, did you need something? Of course, you did, that’s why you’re here. Are you mad at us for hurting your friends? I’m so sorry. You must be furious with us, please forgive us. I-”

“You talk too much,” Devi silenced Apsara with a single motion of a raised hand. “I barely caught any of that. Are you a mouse? I hear a lot of squeaking.” 

“A mouse?” Apsara felt dizzy. She lifted her head, moving her hands behind her head in a daze. “You mean the animal?” 

“You’re scaring her,” Anemos chided. 

“I’m not scared!” Apsara protested. “She caught me by surprise, that’s all! ”

“Am I not allowed to join tea with you ladies?” Devi poured a cup for herself and nestled herself between Devi and Anemos. Like Apsara, she drank her tea from a cup carefully held between her delicate fingers. She ignored the milk and sugar provided for Anemos and Daybreaker, who were less accustomed to drinking tea without them.

“Careful, it’s still hot-” Apsara stopped when Devi chugged the rest of the tea and blew hot air from her mouth. How scary, she thought.  

“Your tea is all right,” Devi said. “Needs more herbs.” 

Apsara stopped breathing. Her head was still spinning from processing that they were the same person. The way Devi carried herself was something only Apsara could dream of when she let Eun take over. She couldn’t sense Eun’s presence being the dominant one from her alternate, so the confidence was all Devi. 

Devi and the rest of the alternate El Search Party reminded her of the old folk tales she had read as a child. Doppelgangers from another world that bore resemblance to the people she knew. The doppelgangers in the stories were often demons or evil spirits in disguise, but Devi and the others were neither of them.    

“We’re running low on tea,” Apsara said.  

“You were talking about the Dark El,” Devi narrowed her eyes. She glanced over her shoulder to scan their surroundings before lowering her voice, “I don’t think I need to explain what it is or why it’s important. Where is it?” 

“We don’t know,” Daybreaker said. “We’re still searching for it like you. We’re only a few weeks ahead of you.” 

Devi cursed. 

“But since you’re here, we can look for it together!” Apsara said. “Nephilim Lord said it would offer us information about it if we search for the source of aura that’s been unstabilizing its home.” 

“It’s our best shot at the moment,” Anemos agreed. “With this many people, we’ll find the source of the aura in no time.”   

“You don’t think you’re being used to take care of someone else’s problem?” Devi looked at Apsara with skepticism. “Your girlfriend told me it tried to kill you.” 

It was true that Nephillim Lord tried to kill the El Search Party, but it wasn’t the first time an enemy was restrained under mind control or agitation. How much did Empire tell Devi about their circumstances?  

“We’re doing this because we want to punish those that tried to take advantage of the people living here,” Apsara said. “I won’t stand for that.”  

“Nephillim Lord was influenced by the aura,” Daybreaker explained. “We made a promise to help it out. The Dark Elves revere it as a god and protector. We’re not leaving until everything is back to normal.” 

“They have a better lead than we do,” Anemos placed her hands over her lap. She kept her voice low. “This may be our only chance.” 

Devi folded her arms back and grasped the handle of her spear. Still smiling, it was unnerving to see red flash through Devi’s eyes before returning back to amber. It took Apsara a moment to remember that Devi must have Eun too. Those two must be close for Devi to maintain the same facial expression even when Eun had its brief moment of existence. 

“For the monster’s sake, I hope it understands the consequences if it doesn’t follow through with its promise.” Devi mused.  

“Elesis told me you used different martial arts,” Aspara ignored the dark comment. “What are they?” 

“Is that what’s on your mind?” Devi rose a brow. “They’re secret arts from a book that specializes in dark energy. I’m curious about you as well. We’ll have to find out in a spar.” 

“Another time,” Anemos said. “There might be more fighting if we’re going to find the source of the aura.” 

“We thought the source of the aura was you and your friends,” Daybreaker admitted to Anemos. “But that wasn’t it. The aura is not from you, but somewhere else. We might be struggling to find it because it’s still dormant.” 

That meant they had more time to prepare for another battle, right? Apsara pulled the kettle to pour herself another cup of tea. Blowing the fumes away, she sipped as she gripped on her spear with her free hand. It was unclear what the source of the aura was, but she could feel its presence hovering over the region, a dull uncomfortable weight over her shoulders. It was going to get worse if it awakened. Their friends were still recovering from the last battle and they needed to regroup with a new plan.   

“Elesis mentioned your name when I talked to her,” Apsara looked at Devi, who was already on her third cup of tea. “What did you do to her?” 

Empire gave her a wide-eyed look when Apsara asked about her alternate. Her complexion was the same color as her hair before Apsara took her girlfriend’s hand and offered to change the topic.��  

“Hm?” Devi giggled when Apsara gave her a questioning look, “Oh, I may have provoked her into fighting me, called her princess, and now she’s angry at me.”

“You need to go back and apologize to her!” Apsara shook Devi by the shoulders and cried when the other woman cackled. “Devi! That’s not funny!” 

“They’re so lively,” Anemos commented. 

“With two of them, I’m sure they were going to be.” Daybreaker chuckled. 

“Are you happy with your progress?” 

Huh? Devi’s question was one that haunted Apsara, an anxious voice whispering into her ear in the darkest of nights, taunting her with doubt that fed off of her uncertainty.  Apsara felt Eun tense, rising from her subconscious and voicing its opinion of her counterpart, none of them were kind or generous. She ignored the fox spirit and had a thoughtful expression. 

Devi was terse, asking biting questions and offering brisk answers in return. Despite being squished in between Apsara and the two Renas, she never relaxed. Legs crossed with one hand kept close to her spear, Devi’s smile failed to reach the rest of her face.   

“You keep following these people, nowhere close to your goal and walking in circles,” Devi said. “Are you satisfied?” 

“I am,” Apsara examined the woman with sadness. She reached for Devi and placed one hand over her alternate’s forearm. “Why are you always sad?” 

“I’m not sad,” Devi forced a laugh. 

She was lying. 

“It doesn’t bother me that we keep getting sidetracked,” Apsara said with earnest. “I’m not even sure if we’re doing the right thing, but I want to help my friends stabilize the El because I know they would do the same if I needed help. Do you ever feel like that?”   

“I do,” Devi said. For the first time, she relaxed and looked at Apsara with a pensive expression. “We’re lucky to have people like them.” 

“I think they would be happy if we let them know that,” Apsara smiled. “Tell me about your friends.” 

And Devi did.   

---------------------------- 

Timoria

Smoke filled the campsite as Timoria hopped over to put out the fire with a pan lid. Hot air hissed from the top and she jolted back. Her tail curled up and her eyes grew wide, panicking and rushing to put the lid back on. Puffing air into her palms, Timoria shrieked when she bumped into Abysser from behind.  

“Sorry!” Abysser put up her two hands. “Didn’t mean to scare you like that. I’m not sure what has gotten into you today, but I can take over now.” 

“You said you felt light-headed,” Timoria accused him. 

“I feel better, I promise!” Abysser laughed. “Not sure what the fuss is about.” 

“You passed out from an explosion,” Timoria said. 

“But I’m still alive and kicking,” he grinned. “You don’t need to sacrifice your time to cook for everyone.” 

An overreaction? Perhaps, especially when her partner in crime was no longer human but now a fully fledged demon, but Abysser wasn’t replaceable. He was more than that, a chimera between a butler and a close friend. People have mistaken them to be related and it didn’t bother Timoria as much as she would have expected. Their bonds were no longer linked as a single unit, but she could tell when the dummy showed his teeth and cocked his head to the side in an attempt to reassure her that he was fine. 

What was Abysser thinking getting up close to shield her from Bluhen? Humans called it heroic, but she called it foolish and impulsive. The man who called himself a priest was suppressing his energy to create an explosion that could have wiped out a demon army. There was nothing heroic about a nearly dying face planted into the dirt. 

“You said someone taught you how to bake and cook,” Timoria said. “Why don't you teach me too? I’m ready to graduate from, ‘Lu, go pick some herbs.’, ‘Lu, can you set up the table?’, and ‘Lu, where’s the spoon?’.”

She made faces and lowered her pitch when she did her Abysser impersonation, pacing around the campsite. 

“Do I really talk like that?” Abysser scratched his head but softened his expression. “I didn’t know you wanted to learn.” 

“You make it sound like I never help,” Timoria pouted and tucked her arms under her long sleeves, feeling the pain crisscrossing into her bandaged fingers like pin needles. “Did I do a good job of cutting the vegetables?” 

Who knew humans consumed so much of them. She didn’t realize how picky Abysser was in how he wanted things to be cut and presented. One would think he was about to serve a meal to the king of Velder.    

“Never said you didn’t.” Abysser said, “I think it’s great you want to help. You did good for a first-timer.”

There he goes again, Timoria placed her hand over her hip. Making that face again, borderlining on smug in catching her showing consideration for others, brimming with the kind of pride she associated with parents to their children. Any outsider would have mistaken them to be related, but she never protested because she saw how happy it made Abysser. People still mistook her as a child, but she was getting taller, she was sure of it!

“Now we wait until it boils, right?” Timoria asked. 

Abysser hummed and nodded his head for an affirmation. 

Timoria hovered over with her wings out for a better view of the stew. She knew there was a lot of stirring involved, but she would leave that to Abysser. The last time she attempted, the campsite was nearly burned down and she didn’t trust herself to know when their meal would be ready.    

She went back to the stream flowing at the edge of camp to wash her hands, carefully cleaning the dirt under her claws. The demon lord felt the cold water run between her claws and relished the familiarity of it. It wasn’t the dark quarters of her old realm, but she recognized the moons passing by when she returned to see a figure waiting for her.  

Sitting at the edge of a fallen log was a demon adorned in white and royal blue. Pale locks cascaded past her thighs and touched the back of her heels. Cyan colored horns similar to Timoria's protruded from the side of Ishtar’s head. Bright eyes the color of starlight gazed past the horizon to meet Timoria’s.    

“Do you always talk to him like that?” Ishtar asked. 

“Who?” Timoria tried not to stare. It was blinding to look at her other self, ethereal under the moonlight and projecting the very image Timoria once wished to reclaim. “Ciel?” 

“You look like you two were having fun,” she looked sad. Was Ishtar envious of them?  

“I don’t expect him to do everything when he needs time to recover from a fight,” Timoria said. “Does he not let you help out?” 

“He does, but insists he can do everything.” Ishtar rolled her eyes, “I don’t think Ciel knows what I can do.”  

“I find that hard to believe,” Timoria said.  

Chevalier was a quiet man. Exchanging a polite smile to Timoria, he waited for Ishtar to talk first before replying back with an equally amicable response. He maintained an air of dignity, but Timoria sensed a difference in his dynamic with Ishtar than her’s and Abysser’s. His hair was a light shade of blue, but it was clear that he was still partially human. 

Ishtar and Chevalier’s relationship wasn’t one of malevolence if she was to believe Richter’s account and from her own observations. Timoria recalled how he and Ishtar fought back at the edge of the forest, perfectly synchronized on the same wavelength of El resonance. Bounded together by powerful magic that turned their souls into one, Ishtar relied on Chevalier as much as the butler did to her. It was not unlike the bond Timoria used to share with Abysser before they parted to become equals. 

“I suppose you’re right,” Ishtar mumbled. “I sometimes wonder if it bothers him doing everything for me.” 

“I think you would be the first to know.” Timoria thought about the time Abysser was depressed after being rejected by a phoru. She bit her lips, “but I think he would appreciate it if you showed him your thanks.”  

Her counterpart rose, parting her lips and rounding them at the realization. Nodding her head, she accepted Timoria’s explanation and scrunched up her brows in deep thought. Much to her annoyance, Ishtar towered over her by almost a head. To outsiders, Timoria was a child while Ishtar had the appearance of an older teen or a young adult.  

“What would make him happy?” Ishtar wondered out loud. “He likes phorus, but I’m not very good with them. I tried baking cookies for him once, but he choked on it and I guess humans don’t like too much red pepper paste-” 

“You put what in cookies?” Timoria interrupted. She tried to imagine what those cookies looked like when they were finished and presented to the butler. Poor Chevalier...  

“I wanted to make them red because he once said he liked that color,” Ishtar protested. 

“I’m surprised he didn’t try to rescue them and make them edible,” Timoria said. 

“He did,” she said. “I’m not sure how he did it, but it was delicious. Humans are more adaptive than we demons give them credit for.” 

It suddenly made sense why Chevalier didn’t let Ishtar take up on cooking duty. 

“Is this why he still treats me like a child?” Ishtar sighed. “I made him do extra work he didn’t have to do.”

“My Ciel treats me like a kid too,” Timoria said. “It’s annoying, but he once told me it was because I reminded him of someone he knew. Did yours ever tell you that?”

Ishtar shook her head.  

“Aren’t you the one bounded to him?” Timoria asked. 

“That doesn’t mean I make him share everything. He doesn’t like talking about the past,” Ishtar said. “It isn’t fair for me to ask Ciel to tell me everything about himself if I’m not ready to talk about myself. There are many things I regretted doing as Luciela. I’m afraid of what he would think of me if he knew half of it.” 

A sad smile appeared on Ishtar’s features, her eyes wandered over to Chevalier, who was standing at the opposite side of the campsite and talking to his counterpart. Abysser laughed at something Chevalier said, occasionally stopping to skim bubbles from the stew.   

“Does yours know what you did?” Ishtar asked, “What we did.”

Timoria felt her limbs growing limp, unable to even lift them up to do something with them. Her silence answered Ishtar’s question, unsurprised by the revelation. Ishtar sat beside Timoria and kept her legs tightly together, contemplating on how much to ask. Demons were aware of multiple dimensions existing, but to meet oneself was something not many experienced. 

“Then both of us are cowards,” Ishtar laughed quietly to herself. 

“How is that funny?” Timoria asked. 

“You’re a little small to be a demon ruler,” Ishtar smirked. “I was wary about whether or not you and your friends were a trick set up by Henir cultists.” 

“How rude!” Timoria exclaimed, “I want nothing to do with those boorish deviants! I don’t think it’s necessary for him to know about my past, but I do want to tell him eventually when we aren’t being chased by Henir cultists.” 

“You have them too?” Ishtar asked. 

“Unfortunately, yes,” Timoria said. “They made a fuss about the Dark El and now we have to go fetch it before they do.”

It has been days since Timoria last saw the creeps in black hoods, but that could be a bad sign if the cultists found more allies in demons that may see the El Search Party as a threat. To demon residents, they were foreign invaders from another world and Timoria was a traitor. It wouldn’t be the first time the Demon Realm witnessed a powerful leader backstabbing them. She didn’t like to think about what that meant if word started spreading around about the former demon ruler returning to the Demon Realm.      

“How does it feel to be back home?” Ishtar asked. 

“This is hardly home,” Timoria laid down on her back. “Haven’t had one since the attempted assassination. I don’t think Ciel and I can rest until we find a way to take back power over the realm that was stolen from me.” 

“Your bonds feel different,” Ishtar noted. “What made you separate?” 

“Ciel and I had an understanding,” Timoria said. “I didn’t want Ciel to feel like he was forced to follow me. We don’t need a contract to stay together and I saw him as my equal. It was his idea to abandon his human side.” 

“As equals, huh?” Ishtar repeated her words. “I think I get it. When you were gone, Abysser wouldn’t stop talking about you. He kept saying your name, which is infuriating because it’s my name too!” 

Timoria snorted, “That sounds like him.” 

“But I can see you mean a lot to him,” Ishtar said. “You better be grateful you have him!” 

“You’re one to talk!” 

She couldn’t believe she was being lectured by herself. Timoria sat up to stretch her arms, going on her tiptoes and reaching for the skies. Dinner should be ready soon. She could smell the inviting aroma from the stew she helped Abysser with earlier. She overheard Abysser talking to Chevalier.  

“Oh, so that’s how you do it.” Abysser rubbed his chin, “Why didn’t I think of that?” 

The demon lord showed his teeth, slapping one arm over Chevalier’s shoulder and twirling about to reach over for the ladle to try the stew. His hand was slapped away by his counterpart and whined. Chevalier tasted the stew, glaring at the bubbling water before tossing in a garnish of green onion and a pinch of salt. 

“I didn’t even know you existed until yesterday,” Chevalier said. 

“Ouch, that’s cold.” Abysser feigned a hurt expression. “You don’t even have questions about me or Lu?”

“I do, but isn’t it rude to ask these types of questions when we just met?” Chevalier said, “I think it’s more appropriate to ask how it’s even possible for you to be here.” 

“Blunt and to the point, I get it.” Abysser waved his hands, “I thought your Add would explain all of this to you.” 

“He would, but ours passed out.” Chevalier said. 

Fair enough. 

It was hard to have an impression of someone they fought once and only stopped long enough to deliver provoking taunts and snarky comments. Staggering over with his back hunched and a crazed look; if it wasn’t for the mechanical eye and flying plates (“They’re called Dynamo!” Dominator protested.), Timoria would have mistaken Bringer as someone else.    

“We jumped over here to find the Dark El by opening a portal with a device Add made,” Abysser explained. “You already know the rest.”  

“You’re not an illusion or a manifestation of the El.” Chevalier said. There was a sharpness in Chevalier’s expression when he examined Abysser with a critical eye.  

“From the Hall of El?” Abysser had a sly smile. “Yes, I was wondering the same about you and your friends too, but you are a chattier bunch and more fun to talk to.”

“Fun?” One could hear the blood vein threatening to burst from the side of Chevalier’s head. 

“For one thing, you and your friends weren’t threatening to kill us or attempting to absorb us into the El.” Abysser didn’t seem to notice the irked brows from his counterpart and chuckled, “Isn’t that right, Lu?”

Timoria tried not to laugh when Chevalier was taken back when looking ahead, only to lower his gaze to finally notice her. His eyes averted over to Ishtar pulling out a set of silverware and utensils to set up the table, then back to Timoria, who was patiently waiting for the half-demon to talk. She could see the gears turning as Chevalier processed that there were two Lus. 

Placing her hands over her hips and puffing out her chest, Timoria wore a grin identical to Abysser. This was going to be fun.     

“I’m not sure what I should be more insulted by,” Timoria cackled. “Being compared to Henir cultists by Ishtar or being mistaken as a false illusion.”

“Our enemies are always a few steps ahead of us. This isn’t the first time we had to fight people with the same abilities as us,” Chevalier was defensive. “You’re the first to join our side.” 

“Sounds a little like us, don’t you think?” Abysser asked.  

“They are us,” Timoria pointed out. 

“Not everything is the same,” Chevalier disagreed. 

“It’s the hair, right?” Abysser asked eagerly as if he had been waiting for Chevalier to ask. He beamed, “Doesn’t it make me look cool?” 

“No, you’re stupider.” Chevalier deadpanned.

Abysser dropped his smile and cried crocodile tears, “How could you say something so cruel to yourself? You hear that Ishtar? He doesn’t like himself!”

Timoria covered her face. Abysser really said that in front of Ishtar and Chevalier with no irony in his words. Placing the last bowl down, Ishtar turned to giggle when Abysser continued going on about how cold his alternate was. Chevalier ignored the rambling demon as he silently walked over to the side to chop more green onion for garnish. 

“I like him,” Ishtar said. “He’s funny.” 

Chevalier stared at Abysser and mumbled, “How are we the same person?”

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

Author Notes: There was a lot I wanted to get in, but cut out in the end because it wasn’t relevant to what I wanted to address in this chapter. It was challenging to write certain characters I never wrote before, but rewarding because I discovered them as a person in the process. Everyone’s comments were encouraging to read and helped me see that every character will be someone’s favorite. We still have a few characters left in terms of having them talk to their counterpart.

[kierongillen]

Writer Notes: The Wicked + the DIvine 42

Spoilers, obv.

Probably time for the periodic reminder that these notes are an assorted of random thoughts, and any attempt to take anything I describe herein as the sole reason we did anything is a mistake. I would hope by this stage of WicDiv we should recognise that, in that it's one of the book's major themes – as in, Be Careful When Jumping To Conclusions From Limited Information, but it's worth stressing. I was talking to a friend, and the idea came up that when the whole thing is over, to do a whole OTHER set of writer notes about the writer notes. As in, "Now this is all over, I can actually talk about some of the things I wasn't talking about at this stage." As we step towards the end, more of that big picture stuff is going to creep in. Not yet though – when thinking of this issue, I thought "Shall I write this?" and realised it still is too early.

I will be glad when this is done, for many reasons, but being able to just talk freely is one of them. I also suspect I won't be doing a huge amount of that. DIE has no writers notes per se, and that's the direction I'm heading.

Anyway - "Okay" is six issues, but the last issue is an epilogue. That means the arc is actually five issues, and this is its mid-point. It's also one of those issues where when after I wrote it I realised that the dovetailing material had created an unusually prominent thematic backbone. Last time I can think of one as strong would be issue 31, where the concept of Theft just percolated it. This is even strong.

This is an issue primarily about masculinity and the men in the story. Two of those men die. One man reaches the key turning point. Two other men have clearly key beats. This is rare in WicDiv, where the women tend to be at the centre of the plot.

Jamie/Matt's Cover: Which makes the cover being this somewhat pointed. Brunhilde, smeared in blood. All our covers are inspired by something inside the issue, and someone in it. This is in the tradition of issue 10's cover, which promises something obliquely.

Vanesa Del Rey's Cover: I love Vanesa's work – do read Redlands – so getting her to do a full-witchy Norns made a lot of sense.

Page 1

One page scene, which is telling. As the solicits put it "I just read the synopsis for this issue and gaped. We’re actually going to do all this in an issue? That AND that AND that? Honestly, this last arc really is going for it." When writing that, it was a question I clearly asked myself. How can I get all this in? Any one of the three set-pieces is probably enough drama for an issue, but they structurally speaking have to be here.

As each key scene is so big we give them as much space as possible, so everything else is crunched down. The scene structure is 1-5-1-6-1-4-3. And the last two scenes could really be read as 1-1-5 in terms of what the pages are doing – or maybe 1-1.5-4.5.. Each of the big stories actually get five pages – the 6 is actually 5 pages of page budget.

Anyway – TIGHT!

As the antagonists were missing from last issue, we catch up with them here, giving Baal a key baal image of standing on top of the shard. Look what Jamie does with the verticality of that first panel. Even on a five panel page, it feels big.

Matt's using a purple palette her – which is the Inanna palette that Baal turns to occasionally, for obvious reasons.

Still – even with a one page scene, we get two silent panels, plus the WicDivian use of mobile phone read out. I'll miss working with this team. It's easy to see what we do in the set-pieces, but it's the basic work which is a delight.

First of Jamie's strong expressions at the end of the page.

Christ. This much words on the first page. I'll cut down.

Page 2

Bible quote from John, subverted. I often think of these kind of truisms like that. The whole "What does not kill you only weakens you for final inevitable collapse" kind of thing.

Page 3-7

PoV shot to keep the reveal of the Creature for the page turn, leaving room for Jamie's quiet acting. I like trying to keep these kind of scenes quite low key, to ground the fantasy of it. What would you do when seeing something like the Creature? What would you do after five minutes of exposure?

The PoV hopefully reminds people of when we've seen this before – as in, Minerva. The Captions re-set the stakes, and adds more specific information. Clearly we could have said the "we need him on our side or not alive" at the end of last issue, but that would have complicated things, especially as it's a story route we're not going down here.

The heads thing is my biggest lampshading of the key thing in this arc – as in, not everyone knows everything, and the holes in the knowledge is significant. Trying to remember who knows what and when is one of the many challenges.

In terms of "this is everything I've ever loved" the visual reference I gave Jamie was the people entombed and dismembered in Aliens. The 2 panel reveal is a standard thing we've done since Phonogram. As I've said before, I quite like having a response next to an image rather than on the next page.

The catch up is a necessary paraphrase of the specials, including a little extra information. This arc features quite a bit of this (next issue especially) in terms of making concrete things which readers may not actually work out. There's stuff which I don't explain – but the 1831-Inanna-was-not-a-god would very much be among them. As I've also said before, I've always been interested in which things actually make people theorise and which don't, and I never saw anyone question that element of 1831 – I suspect a re-reading of 1831 the tells are clear.

(Her grasping that necklace in most of the scenes is one of the more subtle ones, but when you realise that she's not telling you a key fact, it's very much the sister issue to Woden's 14 in "When you know what the narrator is not telling you, it all changes." That her own transformation is completely skirted over is a huge absence.)

To state the obvious, the Why Some Bits Of 1921 Had To Be In Prose may also be clear now. If we'd shown the Zeitgeist, you'd have known who she was.

I love what Jamie did with the Metropolis-inspired element of the design on her on the wall.

Page 6 has another of "The characters know different stuff, so we have to be true to the characters, and then avert the derailment" captions.

Jamie has to work overtime in this whole sequence, of course – Baal's realisation of the awful horror of what he's done is happening at the same time as an information download. That the information download is what hits Baal ties it together, but does mean these are dense panel layouts. Jamie's choice of moments. The expression in the last page of 6 just kills me.

The last page of the sequence is just horrible. There is a lot of horrible in this issue.

Page 8

And the second of the one-page scenes. I originally had Mimir go up to the surface to make the call, but remembered I'd already established at least 3G coverage in the underground.

Let us applaud Jamie's design for the jury-rigged Mimir phone for a second, and the expression as he sends, and the shot as he walks back. There's a lot here.

Yes, I'm aware that it's a little strange that we get the heads free again (and three with bodies) and this is the only action by them in the next issue is this. They'll have their time soon enough.

This is another heartbreaker. Dominoes falling.

Page 9

Reference to Crisis on Infinite Earths, the 1980s DC event which basically formalised the modern crossover

Page 10-15

Another tightly packed scene, but also one I knew we needed space on. Abstractly the first two pages could be a single page. In fact, in terms of page budget, they are. We're using repeats (and tiny tweaks) on panels to extend a moment, so we give Woden the appropriate amount of time to actually think this through. Woden's mask has been a major boon for such trickery, and this scene wouldn't have played nearly as well.  Note how we turn to a rigid grid to ensure this actually works.

There's a lot of great expressions in this issue, but Minerva's "It's a name as good as any" is an under-rated one. The soft change from "be"ing Mini to "be"ing Ananke.

Page 12 reveal of the Valk's teleporting in the sort of colouring rush I want to stand up and applaud for.

Minerva's explanation to Woden is another thing we're doing this arc – as in REALLY making explicit things which the reader has been 100% shown already, and may have missed. (We've seen Minerva appear out of nowhere twice. We see that she has the same memories – she knows the number to call to contact Ananke. We've seen they don't share a consciousness because she has to phone to tell Ananke where she is when she arrives in 2013, etc) but it's such key stuff to the understanding of the story that it's important to state it outright.

Anyway, Woden's fucked. It's been a long time coming, and he gets consumed by his hamartia. It's not the cleanest example of it, but it's there. He had several chances to back out of this, but at the end, he still is trying to treat other people like objects to further his own needs.

The Maened death sequence connected to the hive mind was set up all he way back in issue 8, of course. There is a lot that's horrible here – the revenge against Woden is hollow. The Valkyries are still being used as tools, after all.

Still... that at this late stage that Minerva, for all her obvious monstrosity, can still get a fist-pump moment from the readers for killing another character is a sign of how loathsome a certain other character is.

Minerva provides the back quote here too. "I am oh so bored of men like you." Rarely has a quote fit an issue as well, I suspect.

I do wonder how long I would have stretched out the death sequence given more space. Probably for the best- this is metronomic, clinical, and horrible. The use of the grid and the hard cuts sort of reminds me of some of the dance-beat stuff we did.

Page 16

Another one page scene, and definitely one I'd have given more time to in another issue... but that moment with Baal and his family and him being seen was absolutely essential. Once again, Jamie does a lot with six panels – the thing one of Baal's expression in panel 5 is a hell of a thing. Laura's captions also do the heavy lifting connecting the scenes. This is a mode I'm more using over in DIE.

The middle panel is interesting for Jamie's choices – very wide, to show the fight scene in almost scrolling fighter way, but still giving space to see Laura and Cass arrive. There is a LOT here. Compare and contrast with the previous panel, which gives the more traditional comics action shot, used in a stealth mode. Jamie is very good here.

Page 17-20

Back in the underworld. Panel swap from the blues and whites of the previous page to the warm reds. In some ways, 17 could be seen as one of those one page scenes. This is Baal and Inanna. What can I say? No more than Baal can, clearly.

18 is the last elements of set up for next issue, but is also clearly setting up the end of the issue. The "Ever" from Nergal is obviously loaded – it's a Now Or Never.

"Faces are remaining distinctly unkicked." Oh, Lucifer, I missed you so.

The "It's gone midnight" bit from Cass on 19 is something I suspect I'll cut for the trade – it's an artefact from me trying to overexplain something. Reminding people of the failsafe from Imperial Phase is enough.

19 also is one of my favourite beats, in that it's not part of WicDiv's planned structure, and just listening to the characters. Of course, Cass would say something inappropriate about Woden's death. Of course, Mimir would be heartbroken. And, of course, Cass would realise. Being better is hard. Cass's "I'm so sorry" is an amazing panel from Jamie. I've been there.

20 is tightly wound too – I could have given more space, at the expense of the next scene. In the end, I decided this was the right way to go. I haven't changed my mind.

In the original draft Cass's last line was "Oh fuck." After Baal's line, it seemed too much... and  you always know things are going badly when Cass doesn't swear.

Page 23

Reference to Satre's perhaps most famous line.

Page 24-26

Nine panel grid, back again. It's taken a late period WicDiv life of its own, right?

There's little I can say about this – partially as I don't want to, partially because it's still too early. It's the sort of thing I may talk about in issue 44's notes.

It's a slow motion showcase of Jamie's acting. I'd never write this for almost anyone else. This is as real a sacrifice as we can get, and the longer we spend with the moment, the realer it is, but only if it's grounded visually.

Baph's own story was about his fear of death. He's the character who tried to kill other people to scramble out of this. He's come to a place where he does this. Normally WicDiv gods are consumed by their hamartia. I believe Baph is the first who actually overcome his. This scene breaks my heart.

(This Corrosion just turned up in shuffle, and the like a healing hand howl is a bit too close to the bone.)

Last page is astounding. Not a way I'd have pictured it in a million years.

Page 27

I believe uniquely for WicDiv, this is a continuing interstitial. As in, a response to the previous one. Issue 43 is going to be late, for the health reasons I describe at the back of the issue. It's at the printers now.

Thanks for your patience and thanks for reading.

[nemossubmarine]

Warhammer 40k: Wrath & Glory RP #33

We pick up from the morning of the following day, where Gorm wakes up first and goes around waking everyone up. The first thing Gimlet does is text his mom. Gorm comments on it, saying that Gimlet seems to be rather sentimental about his mother. Gimlet says that this mom used to take care of all the kids that came in to inquisition so obviously she still cares for his well-being. Gorm comments that it is similar to the wolf priest’s relationship with the Wolves, Gorm’s wolf priest mom is named Ulfgadar. Gimlet asks what about Gorm’s dad and Gorm says that obviously All-Father is the dad of all. This is their conversation in the breakfast room.

After breakfast, Gimlet asks Saef about vibing psychic stuff, and specifically what’s the distance Saef can vibe stuff from. Saef says that maybe like a kilometer? If it’s a big thing that is. Gorm also takes this moment to ask Saef about how to end conversations, specifically why some people say “good talk”, when it may not have been even that good of a talk. Saef says it’s mostly about signaling that the conversation has ended, sometimes that is necessary. Gorm comments that from now on he’ll end all conversations with “I don’t want to talk to you anymore”. Saef says sure, if that works.

Noticeably Uffe has not been around in the morning, and when our heroes go outside, they find Uffe and Vivek in a conversation some ways off. They join the two, attempting to listen in on their conversation, but manage to only catch a snipes (“if we ever run into each other…”), before Uffe notices Gorm. Gorm very handsomely asks Uffe if he slept at all last night. Uffe relays the conversation last between Gimlet and himself, and that Gimlet had heard them tossing around on board of Santa Maria, which makes Uffe not too keen to sleep. Gorm asks how Uffe dodged the question and Uffe says he claimed they were “night training”, though he doubts Gimlet believed it.

Vivek asks if he may talk with Gorm and pulls him aside. He explains the situation to Gorm regarding his conversation with Gimlet and that he may indeed be the man who is three men, but he only needs the Sergeant’s memories. Gorm seems fine with the plan, though he says that he’d be most comfortable if the Sarge remained with him, so he asks if Vivek could copy him and put the copy inside himself. Vivek says sure,he can do that while the others check the crystal cave, and Gorm hands him the data disk. Gorm asks if Vivek himself is okay with the plan and Vivek admits to being a bit apprehensive, because it makes him feel more like a machine, to do that. Gorm says if he was a machine, he wouldn’t worry about that too much.

They return to the others, and Vivek pulls Uffe aside in turn to finish their conversation. They do so, and at the end clasp hands, and Uffe bonks his head against Vivek’s. Gorm asks Uffe what was that all about, and Uffe says he made a promise to Vivek, so they sealed the deal. Gorm clarifies that he means the head-bonk which is only between Wolves. Uffe doesn’t appear to have realized that he did so.

This having been done with, our heroes go check out the cave. Athair has finished his thing, and is having a little drink (and our heroes see below his mask (gasp) (there’s a moustache)). Athair asks what shall be done with the human souls trapped in the now-broken infinity circuit, would it be cruelty to let them go? Athair doesn’t know what happens to human souls after death, but for eldar it isn’t pretty, so the Harlequins have claimed their own. Our heroes are of the consensus that they can be freely let go, as if they were good people, their souls will join the Emperor. Gimlet says a few words of farewell to the souls and thus they are released.

So now what? There is the webway portal in the room, and some body parts strewn about (both eldar and human). The webway portal, the Harlequins presume, leads to some place related to the Drukhari, so maybe waltzing in with humans first is not a great idea. They decide that the Harlequins should go first to check things out, as the Drukhari will not harm them. They do so.

Left to their devices, our heroes talk a bit. Gimlet asks about Ivar’s and Knut’s differences, what they can expect upon meeting Knut. Well for one, says Gorm, Ivar was not a psyker. Saef interjects saying that he believes Ivar had some kind of a demon in him, which would explain his psyker-like powers. Gimlet asks if Knut’s a good psyker, and Uffe says no. Gorm clarifies that they don’t know much about Knut’s training before he was kicked out of the rune priest program, but he was kicked out.

It takes a while for the Harlequins to return, and when they do only three do come back: the Death Jester, Athair and one other. Athair explains that they went into what appeared to be a Haemonculus’ base, but there was some weird time stuff that killed some of the eldar and also, well, the Drukhari souls they grabbed from the inifnity circuit kind of took over some of the others, so woops, there goes the troop. But if there’s time stuff then indeed the time for the ritual might already be upon our heroes. They discuss who can go in, and determine that both Uffe and Gorm are alright (on account of being Space Marines), Gimlet is alright (on account of not aging) and Saef should be fine (on account of being a psy-, erm on account of being very young). Mimir, Elucia Vhane’s people and Vivek will stay behind. People send some messages to people to let them know what’s up (Gorm informs Fenris, Saef Vivek and Gimlet his mom and Cayenne). 

Our heroes, Athair and the Death Jester hop through the webway gate into a Haemonculus’ base, which, according to Athair, is not quite in the Webways but in a pocket dimension near it. From the room they hop in, they spy on the floor below some strange flesh-like walls (growing eldar-babies) and some strange creatures (Wracks) guarding the walls. Gorm is of the opinion that they should fight the beasts and destroy the babies, but Gimlet and Saef persuade him otherwise. 

Our heroes sneak through the floor below towards the staircase leading them even more down, and all but Gorm make it, but Gorm is spotted by one of the Wracks. Gorm attacks the Wrack, who fiercely fights back, wounding Gorm quite badly. The rest of the Wracks hear this and descend upon the rest of our heroes, who bring them down, though they do manage to get a hit in on Gimlet. With the battle over, there’s some healing to be had mostly from Gimlet and Gorm, though Athair makes an attempt (he has bandaids!). Gorm and Uffe go around destroying some eldar babies (Uffe’s chainsword gets stuck and he gets it fixed by Gimlet).

After that down they go into a spherical room, which is filled with all kinds of spikes, with spike balls suspended by chains across the room. All of the spikes have people of various races pierced upon them, all alive-ish. Our heroes start making their way down the walkways going across the room. Saef notices a familiar face among the crowd, Ahram, his gang leader, on one of the spike balls. Saef explains the situation to the others and Gorm climbs up the chain and cuts Ahram off. He is unresponsive, but Ahram’s necklace attempts to reach him. Saef blocks the attempt, as this current condition is quite painful, and Ahram would have to be de-spiked probably before.

There is a strange writing on the wall, the word “Lies” written in blood. Gorm and GImlet inspect it. The blood appears both old and fresh somehow, time bullshit, Gorm concludes. Saef goes to vibe with it with his psychic power, and then something happens. The world shifts, the people spiked on the walls gasp, and suddenly collapse, fresh blood pouring out of their wounds, drenching our heroes with blood. From the room they came in comes an angry eldar voice. From the room below, the voice of Knut booms out, telling that the time is ripe, for the ritual to begin.

[chopper-witch]

Cost of Creation: Noble versus Nature

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Other characters: Frigga, Loki, you, your parents I made up, Fandral, Volstagg, Thor, Sif and her mother that I made up.

Locations: This town I made up :) Völuspá (in Asgard), the Capital

Things/words to know:

For aging since we know nothing, I’m making them age the initial 18 years for 50 years (so 50 equates to 18) and then they age slow as shit.

Völuspá is the first poem in the Poetic Edda and basically is about a völva (seeress) telling Odin about the world’s creation and end. So I used it as the name of sacred grounds of Asgard.

Veleda is what germanic tribes referred to as a highly respected seeress

Fjalltindr is basically an adjective for mountain/hills.

Word Count: 3,000+

Summary: You and Loki approach 19; you venture outside the Völuspá for the first time

A/N: Pretend your parents have other names (in this case their names are Lifa and Mikkel). As usual all mistakes are mine. :)

CoC masterlist

Previous

____

Every Saturday and Sunday Loki came down with Frigga to the Völuspá. And every Saturday and Sunday the two of you learned and practiced together. Everyone else in the Völupsá is older than both of you, so your training is always quiet, nice, and filled with a little too much trouble. 

The first weekend the two of you trained together was… odd. You could already do so much and Loki had no clue what he even was supposed to possibly do - he had only seen the small tricks of his mothers to distract he and his brother on occasion. 

The two of you were left alone under the shade of the ancient Yggdrasil tree while your parents and Frigga were off to do something. Since the tree is the center of the Völupsá, it is the center of all the magic in Asgard and is where every connection to seiðr begins. Its roots lead down to Mimir’s Well, a small staircase carved beside the roots with a door near the base of the tree. 

You were sitting against said door, fingers tracing the old carvings in the roots that have worn into unreadable runes over the years. After only a few minutes you had begun to grow bored, eyes rolling at Loki’s little balled fist as he angrily repeats the spell on the page before him. So you began to shift the leaves on the ground to butterflies, different shades of blue and green and ensuring they flew to his hair and stuck in his black locks. 

“How are you already so good?” Loki demanded to know as he gave up a moment, swatting the butterflies away. 

“What do you mean how am I already so good?”

“Well I mean you are already making butterflies out of leaves and I can’t even turn a page!”

“I was born here, I was born down in the Well, and I’m a descendant Seiðrine. I’ve been doing magic since I was born, I have over a decade on you.” 

Loki huffed. “Well I’m going to be as good as you one day.”

“I hope so, otherwise I’ll be quite alone here.”

And after that woeful first day when it took far too long for him to even begin, most of your lessons were more equal. And while most things you both are learning for the first time or things Loki studied more during the days in which he was supposed to be doing his normal schooling, there is one thing you have already masted well beyond your age: telekinesis. Which always causes problems whenever you two are by any sort of water since your favorite thing to control is water; freezing splashes and drops in midair. It’s a struggle to explain why this is general telekinesis and not a specific type of kinesis to Loki who is just now learning magic at all. It does, however, give your father an idea of what the gift you will be receiving during your 50th birthday ceremony will most likely be. 

He was always immensely proficient at shapeshifting, so he got the ability to shift to be invisible. Heimdall excelled at aura reading and healing, so he got the ability to see all souls. Lorelei excelled at fate magic, so she got enhanced persuasion through her voice.

And in 31 years, at this point, everyone around you will know for sure. But all signs thus far are pointing towards enhanced telekinesis. 

As tradition follows, when the lessons for the day are finished, all four of you walk back towards the entrance of the Völupsá so you and your mother can see Loki and Frigga off. 

“Hey, are you both coming to Sif’s birthday on Wednesay?” Frigga asks before she and the youngest prince leaves. 

“I don’t see why not?” Your mother’s hands rest gently onto your shoulders. “It will be (y/n)’s first trip to the capital. First trip anywhere but the Völupsá, to be honest."

“Then you guys should most definitely come down. It will be nice for her to finally meet the rest of the children.” 

________ 

So on Wednesday you and your mother walked hand in hand down to the Capital. Your mother made sure the pair of you left earlier so if your mind wandered and you tugged too hard to force her to go on an entirely different path. 

Surprisingly, you were mostly undistracted by the crowds of the Capital and all the fanfare that went with it. So guiding you from the outskirts where there weren’t many people to the overflowing markets to the more secluded fields where many noble families were gathered for little Lady Sif’s 22nd birthday. 

“So this is your daughter, Lady Lífa,” a woman with long auburn hair twisted upon her head practically squeals, leaning down to look at you. 

As she draws closer her tawny freckled skin becomes far too detailed, dark blue eyes uncomfortably excited. You tilt back from her face as she grew close; the woman continued to interfere with your personal space as you tried to pull back, still gripping to your mother’s hand. 

“Sorry about that, Ásví. She’s not used to people getting so close to her,” your mother apologizes. 

“It’s alright, she is cute a gorgeous little girl. Though her outfit is… curious.” Ásví stands back up, trying to hold back her grimace as she looks at your mother. 

Your brows furrow as you look down to your outfit. It’s a nicer outfit than normal: dark green leather pants with a white tunic that goes well past your knees, slits beginning just above your hips and the tiniest detailing of a Yggdrasil where a keyhole neck cut out would normally go, but your parents insist you don’t wear yet.

“What’s wrong with my outfit?” You question angrily before your mother can speak. 

“Well,” Ásví begins condescendingly, “it is common for women of all kind, but especially those of noble descent, to wear dresses, see?” She gestures towards the group of people behind her, her own blue dress swaying with her movements. 

“But I’m not just noble, I’m a descendant. I’m wearing clothes typical of the Völupsá, especially a descendant.” You stomp your foot as you finish. 

“But you are at a noble gathering, sweetie.”

“I’m not just a noble, though. It-”

“I’m sorry, Ásví,” your mother interrupts. “Maybe next time, we’ll find her a dress. I’m going to introduce her to the other children, alright?”

Ásví turns her scowling face away from you and switches to a pleasant smile as she looks back to your mother. 

“Of course. My little Sif is with all the others.”

With quick steps your mother ushers you both away from Ásví. Your mother sends a quick glance backwards as she moves you quickly along the grassy field.

“Mom?” You ask as you grow closer towards everyone else.

“Yes my little veleda?”

You look up to her. “You won’t make me wear a dress next time, will you?”

“Of course not, little veleda. You can choose, you always have the freedom to choose.” She smiles down at you, her matching eyes looking at you directly to assure you of what she has said. “Come on, you have more than just Loki to know. Outside of the Völupsá there are tons of people for you to know.” 

Both you and your mother look back towards everyone else. 

“You made it!” Loki yells as he dashes away form the group he is in the near middle of, tripping on his own feet to get to you.

Your right hand releases from your mother’s left and you dash towards Loki as well. Loki throws his arms around you in sheer excitement as if he this party was an utter bore before you got there. He lets go of you but keeps hold of your shoulder.

“Let me introduce you to everyone.”

“Alright.”

He grabs your left hand in his right and practically drags you towards everyone else. One girl stands separate from the rest as she moves to greet you and it is clear it is likely she who is celebrating her birthday.

“So this is Sif, whose birthday it is,” Loki begins, gesturing towards a girl a little bit taller than you while also dropping your hand.

She’s also got tan pants beneath her green dress, just barely visible and it’s clear her mother was not the one who approved her outfit. But her birthday, her rules, right? Her hair is braided back tightly to clearly reveal her stony-green eyes. 

“Hi Sif, I’m (y/n),” you reply and extend your hand. 

Sif grins after eyeing your outfit, easily shaking your hand. “I like your outfit, (y/n).”

“I like your pants, Sif. Happy birthday.”

Sif rolls her shoulders back to stand higher with her eyes sparkling as soon as the words pass your lips. It’s clear she has not received many, if not any, compliments on her choice of clothing. 

“Thank you.”

“Now, there are more we need to meet, come on!” Loki insists, pulling you away from Sif’s tight grip. 

“I’ll see you later!” You shout behind you as Loki ushers you away towards everyone else. 

He stops you in front of group of similarly aged children as they all tumble into a pile of wrestling and wildness. His hands stay rested on your shoulders in almost possession combined with nervousness. Loki is radiated anxiety as if everyone is going to suddenly reject you, yet he is also terrified to share the one friend he never thought he had to share.

“So, now, this is Fandral,” Loki points to a blond, “and Volstagg,” ginger, “and Bjǫrn,” auburn hair, and…” but the boys are all scattered now, running in different direction. 

A different blond jumps in front of the pair of you and you stumble backwards, the intrusion on your space so quickly startling you. Loki keeps his grip hard on your shoulder to steady you.

“I’m Prince Thor!” He practically yells in your face. 

Your brows furrow at his loudness and suddenness. Though you have not been to the palace, you have read many books of the previous Allfathers and Allmothers and you know that is no way for a prince to introduce himself. 

“I’m (y/n),” you slowly say. 

“I know. Loki has told me so much about you and your lessons.”

“Thor!” Loki whines from your left.

“It’s unfortunate you haven’t been here before. Two years since you’ve met and you’ve been hiding past all those mountains.”

You shake your head, trying to keep a smile on. “I’ve never left and I’m nearly nineteen.”

“Still.”

An involuntary grimace appears on your face as Thor lacks to explain. 

“I’m just going to sit, I think,” you mutter, utterly confused how Loki and Thor could possibly be siblings. 

You wander away from the brothers, feeling the aura between them change slightly suddenly at your words. A good twenty feet away you simply plop down on the grass unlady-like (not that anyone has taught you thus far how to perform like a lady) and begin plucking on the grass beneath you.

After a few minutes one of the kids Loki pointed out, Fandral you believe, comes to sit you beside you. At first he says nothing. You are content with nothing as you watch the squealing and yelling and chasing of all the other children. It’s not that you don’t want to play, but it’s already overwhelming to see all the people and families walking about. There are more people in this gathering than you have seen in your entire life. 

“So, I haven’t seen you before. What house are you from? Or are you not noble?”

“Oh, um, my mother is of the house of…” you pause to think back to what your mother told you, only days ago. Each noble house had a name based on what land they controlled when Asgard was first built… “Fjalltindr.”

“Oh, okay.”

It’s another good two or so minutes in silence before Fandral speaks again.

“If your mother is from a noble family, why are you never at any of these gatherings?” Fandral wonders.

You shrug, tugging on the grass beside you. “I don’t know.”

“Well what village are you from?” He pushes.

“I’m from the Völuspá.” 

Fandral’s eyes go wide in surprise. “So you’re one of those vættr?”

“Vættr?” You look to him, brows furrowed. “I’m not a vættr. I’m a practitioner of magic. And vætter aren’t bad either, they are just creatures of the supernatural. Like the great wolves, the serpents that once were. They aren’t bad, just… are.”

Fandral furiously shakes his head. “You’re one of those freaks, those unnaturals.” 

“No I’m not. Magic is what runs and protects Asgard.”

“Maybe, but everyone from the Völuspá is a freak!

“That doesn’t even make sense!”

The next tuft of grass you tug goes flying into the air, turning into a flock of yellow, wasp-like dragonflies, all turning directly towards Fandral. They dive-bomb into his hair and bury deep into the locks, the black bodies easily lost amongst the blond. 

He screeches like a newborn as he stands, shaking his head back and forth to rid of the dragonflies. 

Your mother (along with every other adult) turns towards the screaming. In order to stop you from causing more chaos, your mother dashes towards you. 

“What did I tell you?” 

You kick the dirt beneath you and avert your eyes from your mother. “Not to perform magic during this gathering.”

“Little veleda, it is not a punishment.” Your mother leans down to try and look at you. Her right hand lands onto your shoulder softly as a gentle assurance. “Most of the magic people here know of is only the enchantment of the bifrost and the basic protections, everything else they don’t understand. So not here, not now.” 

“Why are we even here? It’s boring.” You look back up to her to beg her, eyes widening in an attempt to convince her to take you home. “Why can’t I be at home with father?” 

“Only a couple more hours. And you would have to come with me at some point, figured this would be a better time than an actual formal event.” She drops her hand from your shoulder. “Go.” 

Frigga walks up behind your mother as you run off towards the rest of the children. 

“It’s hard enough to raise a kid. Try raising one who already has such an insane grasp on her connection,” your mother sighs as she stands. 

“Loki’s already getting strong. At least you don’t have two boys, one who wants to fight his way through everything and the other wants to trick his way through everything.” 

With your mother and Frigga distracted and a majority of the other people not paying any mind to you an opportunity arises. The forest is close enough for you to sneak off to it. And nothing was said about magic not at the gathering. So you slip into the trees quietly, careful to avoid eyes of watchful adults. 

A little bit in, there is a river, more like a brook, surrounded by gray boulders. Your hands touch one of the smaller ones, looking up to assess just how large it is. From the friction against your hands you know even if it were taller it would still be climbable. With a small jump, your hand reaches the first crevice where you can actually grip, followed with your left hand feeling for another as your feet press into it. In all honesty, it isn’t the best rock to scale but it’s better than just sitting along the bank. Thankfully it only takes a few minutes to climb it. 

Once up on top, you swing your legs to dangle off the other side. In this moment you would hate to wear a dress and glad your mother let you wear pants instead. 

A few snaps in the woods alerts you to someone. It’s likely they followed you from the party. You know it isn’t any of the adults, they were not watching. Another kid. None of them would hold enough interest to follow you except Loki so you know it is him.

“All these things are so boring, Loki. It sucks,” you announce.

The steps pause. 

“It’s alright, you know? You can come sit up here.” 

The sounds of him clamoring up the rock are quiet compared to the rush of the river in front of you. But you listen still. Each scrape, each small grunt his another noise for you to focus on as you wait patiently for him to join you. 

Loki swings his legs around sits beside you on the rock. 

“Well I’m going to be king one day so I am proud to sit through these boring parties,” Loki announces, tilting his head up.

“No you’re not.” 

Loki turns to you. “Pardon me?” 

“I said no you’re not.” Your fingers grab a pebble from the boulder and begin swirling it between your hands. “Unless your entire family dies, the crown will never go to you unless explicitly passed on. Your father dies before Thor comes of age, your mother rules as Queen Regent. Thor dies after the crown has been passed to him but your father is alive? Crown goes to him. I could keep going on. You will never be a king so why bother sitting through all this stupid stuff.” 

You throw the rock into the river. 

The following splash freezes midair as you stare at it. It’s small; the pebble barely disrupted the much rush at all. Still the droplets remain as the rest of the water pushes on as though nothing is happening at all. Loki still isn’t sure how you do it. 

“Let’s suffer together then,” Loki proposes, turning back to you from the river. “You don’t want to be here and neither do I, let’s at least make it more bearable together.” 

All you reply with is a hum. It’s not a horrible offer, to be honest. Together. 

Your eyes glance over to him. “Are you coming tomorrow down to Völuspá?” 

“I should be. Mother told me are working on shape shifting.” 

You sigh. “I don’t know what we will be doing.” 

But anything would be better than this dreadful gathering.

So your fingers move to grab another pebble to toss, this one larger, and once again stop the splash. Loki’s eyes follow yours back to the water to see your little trick.

“How do you do that?” Loki asks innocently. 

“It’s just telekinesis,” you mumble, releasing the splash. 

“But ho-”

“We’ve been looking all over for you two!” Lífa yells. Both of you turn over your shoulder, looking in towards  “Why are you down by the river?” 

“You said no magic at the gathering but nothing about the river.” 

“Then what are you doing here Loki?” Frigga demands. 

Loki shrugs and looks back to you. “I saw her leave and I thought I should follow.” 

The friends share look to each other, both with their own unique twist of concern. The two of you are only going to become more and more of a handful. 

__

Next

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Taglist:

@tarynkauai @krystallynx

[roxaeri]

hello! your akward family is the best. i wonder... will they ever go to grace? like i belive atreus would be realy curious to know how the rest of his family is? but here are kratos deimos and caliope going into protection mode. or maybe just go there in secret without telling the rest of the horrible family. idk... akward fam vacantion? caliope guiding atreus and aloy through the old ancient city parts. having fun. atreus plactesing more his greek. kratos and deimos building sandcastle?

((This isn’t going to go how you might have thought))(((Trigger Warning: Descriptions of PTSD symptoms. Brief explanations of memories. Correlating Health Issues.)))All Atreus ever knows about his living extended family in Greece is that even thinking about them is enough to put his dad and sister in a bad, closed off mood.But he is extremely curious. How could he not be?Mimir once told him that his aunt was super close to his dad, once upon a time, but that ended when she refused to walk away from their family when shit went down so long ago.Atreus is somewhere in his 20’s, maybe around mid-20’s, and is probably an established online entertainer. I mean, he’s been working this gig since he was 11. Over a decade of hard work.Maybe it’s a video project for a brand deal or something. Would probably be the younger half of DBPG.Atreus, Aloy, Trucy, Efi, and maybe the Brothers M&M for camera work.The idea is to reconnect them with a part of their lives they never really were part of.Like, for Aloy it’d probably be following her mom’s life before Aloy and Rost. Getting to know the people she knew and finding out more about this woman neither she nor her dad knew very well.Trucy–she’s Atreus’ manager but she is one of the public faces of DBPG. She has a half brother she’s never met and has barely spoken to.Efi hasn’t been back to her birth country since she left, but she keeps in regular constant contact with her friends and family there.M&M are there for camera work and translation help when they head north to where Atreus’ mom is from.So this big project has them traveling around discovering pieces of their lives that weren’t really there while they were growing up. A deeper look for their audience into their lives.Atreus is standing there on the island his mom was born on, taking it all in and fucking crying because he misses his mom. It’s getting close to two decades since she died. And he’s blubbering in Faroese, not hiding the fact that he’s a mess and that he’s been in pain and nauseous the whole trip.“I never had to hide this from my mom. And it’s not like I could lie to her. She just knew. She knew everything.”It’s getting towards the end of their stay on the island.“So, baby brother. Your thoughts?”“I’m entirely amazed. She was born here. It’s the first place where she spent her life before she explored the world. Before she settled back home. Before Dad. Before me. It’s easy to forget she had an entire lifetime before the life we had together.”“You’re telling me. I’ll never not be amazed by your parents’ stories. Or at least the ones I know.”“I’ve been entirely lucky with them.”“Alright. I was given this letter and instructed not to open it until today.”“Okay?”“I’m told it’s a surprise for you. Since you’re basically the main star of the show and our boss.”“Nah, Trucy’s our boss.”“Right? Anyways, let’s see what–”The shock on Aloy’s face before she shuts down her emotions has him worried. Everyone starts to worry when she signals for Magni and Modi to cut the cameras.“Aloy?”“I’m not reading this for a show.”And it takes a good while of arguing with the woman before she gives in, handing the letter to Atreus. The cameras are still rolling because even if they don’t show what happens next, their sponsors have to see why it could potentially be a horrible idea. Or it would be the most dramatic part of the series.“Atreus Loki Theodoros-Laufeyson. We would firstly like to thank you for nearly 16 years of dedicated entertainment, in sickness and in health. For all of the years we have followed along, it is obvious your wish to see the homeland of your Father and Sister. So our surprise for you is that we have booked you and company to visit Greece … As thanks for all your hard work.““You okay buddy?”“I just–I don’t know what to think.”Atreus spends their last day before they leave the next contemplating their sponsor’s offer. Magni stays with the main group, taking in the reactions.“How are you doing Aloy?”“I don’t like it. I want to be angry. Look at him. But it’s not my decision to make. Whatever he chooses, I’m there.”“So, got something against the country, or what?”Modi tries not to squirm in the uncomfortable silence as he has his camera trained on Atreus.“Whatcha thinking kid?”“I’m torn. I mean–it was offered as a gift. So I already feel bad about thinking of turning it down.”“Got a problem with the country?”“What? No! God no. I’ve wanted to go ever since I was a kid. This is the closest I’ve ever been to actually doing it.”“Then what’s stopping you? Your dad and your sister are from there.”“It’s just–it’s not my story to tell. Even if I knew that story, I wouldn’t talk about it. All I know both of them and Calliope’s mom swore to never go back. It’s kinda a learned thing for me to–avoid it. To stick to what I know about Greece. And what I know is it makes my family uncomfortable. Well, not really for uncle Deimos. He still goes back now and then.”It fuckin hits him them. Atreus needs to call Uncle Deimos.At this point Atreus is as fluent as he can be in Greek. His family has worked hard to get him to this point.“Uncle, I want to know your opinion on something. We’re recording, by the way, if that’s fine.”“Of course. And that is?”“How fucked up would it be for me to go to Greece?”He’s met with silence and that worries him. (And everyone who’s gathered nearby where they can hear him. (But they can’t understand a word of Greek themselves.))“… Is that where you’re supposed to go next?”“It’s a surprise offer. I have today to decide before we leave tomorrow. We’d be there about a week as well. But–well, you would know better than I do.”“That I do… . Listen Atreus. You’re an adult now. You can make decisions for yourself.”“I don’t want to upset–”“I know, Atreus. I know. I know better than you do about that. And as much as I love them, too, I still go. I never made the promise they did. I never lived their lives. If you can travel to where your mother was born, even with all the negatives in her life, why are you hesitating about going to Greece? What is the one thing your Father always tells you?”“‘Dammit Atreus, you need to sleep,’?”“–the next thing he always tells you.”“'You live your life for yourself. Not for me.’”“Does that help?”“Yeah. It does. But–you won’t tell them if I do it right? I’d rather not have radio silence if they find out. Which you know will happen.”“I won’t tell them. I’ll send you some suggestions on where to go.”“Thanks Uncle.”Atreus is all nerves. Jittery and bouncing and chewing hard on his lip. Atreus is a fuckin mess and when the hell are his meds going to kick in and finally work–its been a long ass flare up and while he’s held himself together pretty well, it’s made the entire project harder for everyone. But they couldn’t keep postponing it for his sake alone. And dammit he’s gonna be there for his friends.They spend the day they arrive resting and making plans for the next day, when they meet their guide who’s supposed to help Atreus with translating and knowing exactly where the places his uncle recommended are at.Atreus is in a balanced state of exhaustion and absolute excitement. He’s read up on Greece any chance he had without his dad knowing. Basically interrogating Mimir and Deimos when his dad wasn’t around to disapprove.“Hi. Atreus Theodoros-Laufeyson. Co-host of DBPG.”“Funnily enough, I know. My name is Athena Theodoros.”“… As in you know me from my work? Or you know me because you’re my aunt from my dad’s side?”“Oh fuck …““Your father is my brother, yes. I was contacted because I am your aunt and the fact that I work as a celebrity guide for all of Greece.”“As grateful as I am for meeting you and you coming out to meet us–I can’t in good conscious do anything else that would upset my family.”“I believed this might happen. I created this itinerary for you based on what you sent to me yesterday. Deimos always knew the best places. And thank you for making it possible to see how my brother is doing.”“Yeah, sure.”Atreus isn’t really sure what to make of the exchange (entirely in Greek), as he looks through the binder. It’s super high quality for being made in such a short time for an entire week.“My contact information is inside if any of you need my help as all.”Athena is nice and the vibe he gets from her tells him why she and his dad were close once. It’s the knowledge that she dropped all contact with his dad after what happened that makes him uneasy around her.Atreus spends the next few days in Greece enjoying his time, even as he struggles and is forced to sleep between destinations or even take a long break at a few.Even as everyone keeps a close eye on Atreus, Trucy and Efi keeping him between them, no one is prepared for when Atreus just fucking drops on the stairs.It’s a childhood nightmare revisited as Efi checks on him, Aloy beside them, unable to get a response. Trucy scrambles for Athena’s card for translation help because Magni and Modi can’t find a single person who speaks English well enough to give them the advice they need as they wait for an ambulance someone tells them they called in stilted English.But the time she has Athena on the phone, there’s more people who can walk them through it. A young woman–a fan that’s passing by–is the exact help they need as they plan to follow the ambulance and meet Athena at the hospital.It’s all over the internet, from fans that spotted them and followed their project quietly in Greece.Calliope can’t be mad that Atreus didn’t say anything about going there. She’s calm and collected as she talks to Aloy and the others. But she’s fucking terrified and on the verge of breaking as she calls her father.“Calliope–”“Call Aloy or Trucy. Atreus collapsed in Greece. I’m on the next flight out.”“I will be as well.”“Send me all the information I’ll need to know.”“I will.”The few hours it takes her to get there are too long. She breaks down on the plane, praying when she’s never prayed before. And it’s not to any god.“Faye, please–”Her anxiety is high and Lena doesn’t let go of her hand the entire flight. Calliope is sure she’d lose it even more if she did. The memories hard and hot and coming back too fast as they land. And she’s not sure which she would rather face: the memories, or the dread of what might be happening to her baby brother.But she doesn’t get a choice.Calliope faces both once she’s at the hospital and Aloy throws herself into her arms, with Athena shrinking away as she’s spotted.Athena isn’t what matters, or even if her grandfather or the family finds out they’re here.“Where is he?”“I don’t know,” Efi speaks up, the only one able to. “Athena said the doctor was waiting for you. Kratos said you would have Atreus’ entire health history.”“Mimir sent it while I was on the plane.”By the time she sees him, it’s obvious something is horribly wrong that they all missed.Atreus is pale–paler than when she last saw him. He’s bruised wherever he’s been handled–the worse in the areas of medical equipment. There’s also a dark bruise on his head where he hit the steps before any one could catch him.“… Calliope–”“You don’t deserve to be here. You don’t deserve to speak to him.”“I only want to help.”“Then leave! You didn’t help my father when Ares nearly killed him. You didn’t help when he set our house on fire trying to kill us! You stayed to work for the man who left us to his tender mercy. You, aunt Athena, don’t deserve to even know Atreus.”Magni’s heard enough, even if he only understands the sound of anger in the woman’s voice. The tears already falling from Calliope’s eyes. He sees how her entire body shakes, and the look on her face tells him that she’s not just seeing her brother in a hospital bed.Were it Modi, and their family, Magni wouldn’t hesitate to swing.He doesn’t say a thing to Athena before he herds her out of the room without touching her. He stays, silent, sure Atreus wouldn’t forgive him if Magni had let his sister suffer. He’s heard unedited footage of Atreus mentioning that Calliope refused to ever step foot in Greece again before he requested Aloy cut that out. The entire situation has to be absolute hell for her.“I almost died from smoke inhalation when I was eight. Both of my parents have burn scars.” He’s seen the ones on Kratos under the tattoos. “My father’s second wife died from cancer. He’s already almost lost Atreus once to childhood cancer.”“And now?”“–I-I’m scared we’re all going to lose him.”Calliope is on the edge of breaking, but holding Atreus hand keeps her together just a little bit more.“I swore I’d never come back. But if he dies, I swear I’ll be stuck here for the rest of my life.”“He won’t die. I’ve never met anyone with more fight in them than that kid.”“You don’t know that for sure.”“Neither do you.”He has to look away as Calliope rests her head on the bed, looking up at Atreus with teary eyes and a blank face, fingers running lightly along his bruised arm, kissing his fingers.“You have to stay, Atreus. Whatever’s wrong, we’ll fix it. I’m selfish. I can’t lose you when you’ve become such a large part of my life. I want to see you live out your dreams as I have. I want to still be apart of your journey. So please, be strong enough to make it through this.”In her scrambled thoughts, she sees her brother as he is, but also as the eleven year old who worked himself into a coughing fit the first time he saw her. The kid who cried the first time he saw her perform live on stage. She breaks, her body hollow and aching and burning and suffocating in more memories than the ones of actual fire.“Please Atreus. Please be okay. I need you.”

[terraclae]

Breakout

Lore pings: @yuushanoah-fr @cityofinoue

[Lore Directory]

Arodan gets an unexpected but familiar visitor in his head. The crew finally arrives at Glasir too. Everyone is in their bipedal form. 

What followed would be the eventual landing. Balam had told Arodan earlier they would be making their way to the headquarters of the Stratus Corporation. Atlas was interested in the prospect while Caer and Sachairi were most certainly more sour about the ordeal. Sachairi took to actively evading Balam and disappearing into billowy clouds of black smoke. He guessed it was for a variety of reasons. Now everything seemed quiet he had moved down below, towards the common room again. The common room was completely devoid of people and the others must have been around the ship, or on deck. 'Huh.' He paced past a few boxes towards the chairs in the middle of the room, settling down in one of them. He might as well take a nap to pass the time and the chairs were comfy enough to not be detrimental to his neck and other joints.

'Dan.'

If the room was going to stay quiet then he could full well do so. Mimir was comfy in his bag, he could talk to her later. He closed his eyes and leant back.

'Arodan.'

No, for now he was going to treasure the moment.

'Are you just ignoring me? Really?'

Okay, fine, he couldn't just do this. Slowly his eyes slid open and he turned his head to see who was speaking to him. He had expected Carmen because of the pitch of the voice. Instead the room had grown dark, tinted blue. Clouds drifted through the room and for a moment Arodan swore fireflies passed through the clouds. In the chair besides him sat a pearlcatcher, holding half a pearl. They were missing their left arm, that much was visible, but they had a prosthetic arm attached to the stump. A new detail however was that Raz wore an eyepatch over his left eye now with an intricate looking sigil on it. '... Raz?'

'Yes. You can see me, so I am.' Raz didn't speak as this was said. Arodan heard it but Raz's voice instead flowed from his broken pearl, smokily. He looked down at it with sorrow and gently pat it. 'Well… What is left of me, if I have to be a little glum.'

'Are you uh… Are you okay?' Arodan sat up and alarm struck him. It was mostly the sight of the broken pearl that caused this but emphasized by the feeling of restlessness he had felt already. ‘Are you in a position to speak safely right now?’

‘Do I look okay?’ Raz snapped, quietly and like he’d rather be somewhere else. ‘Sorry.’ He added, and took a deep, harrowed breath. Even this was soundless. ‘Look. I did something immensely stupid. It was my fault. But I needed someone to talk to.’

‘Yeah, I can see that.’ Arodan responded. His glance darted between the pearl and Raz’s face. ‘What do you want to talk about, should I pass on a message?’

‘Tell me about yourself.’ Raz murmured. His voice drifted from his pearl like a mist and some of it came to drift around Arodan. ‘I don’t want to talk about anything out there, I don’t want to hear about whatever magical thing happened… Just tell me about something normal. I don’t care if it’s boring.’

‘Uh… I guess, but…’ It occurred to Arodan Raz really should know about Sachairi. That very normal state of being trapped and possessing another’s body, perfectly ordinary. Raz should know about Epoch, he must have known him somehow. Arodan paused however.

No, even if he should tell him this wasn’t the moment.

‘You know, I used to be a prince in the past.’

‘Woah, what?’ Raz perked up and his ears rose higher. ‘You’re royalty?’

‘Used to be. Someone in high places adopted me and I got to experience court life for a while.’ Arodan said, and followed it up with ‘The Court fell however and I had to flee. And wouldn’t you know, I lay low for only six months in another city and the thing falls to an emperor. The whole thing just started again.’

‘You sound like you’ve been on the run all your life.’ Raz leant back in his chair. ‘That you were important. I didn’t think you were that sort of person.’

‘I wouldn’t say all my life. I was raised just fine.’ Arodan hummed. His tail gently swished across the floor and it stirred some clouds. ‘I just have a penchant for getting into trouble. What do you mean by that though?’

‘What?’

‘That I’m not-‘ He held up his fingers and made quotation marks with them. ‘That sort of person?’

‘To well…’ Raz seemed uncertain about how to phrase this and instead he signed it. Arodan didn’t know what he meant with it but after a bit his voice flowed forth from his pearl. ‘The sort of person to face hurt.’

‘Raz, you lived among a whole collection of people that faced hardships. You should know better.’ One of Arodan’s eyebrows quirked oddly. Raz turned away from him. ‘That sounded harsh, didn’t it?’

‘No, you’re right.’ Raz shook his head gently. He continued to sign something as he searched for words. ‘I forget it sometimes, it’s a bad trait of mine.’ He bit his lip and lowered his head. ‘Thank you for pointing it out.’

‘That people can have faced hardships the way you did?’

‘Exactly.’ Arodan watched Raz run his fingers along the surface of his pearl. ‘... Do you ever have that? The feeling that there’s no one in the world that can understand what you’ve been through?’ Raz shook his head once more as this was spoken. ‘It’s untrue but the feeling doesn’t pass.’

‘... What happened in between the last time we spoke and now?’ Arodan dares to ask. It seemed to greatly annoy Raz for a moment who settled with the question. ‘I know you maybe don’t want to talk about it, but I’m worried.’ He had been the last time too and he wasn’t sure why Raz caused him to feel this sort of heavy worry again. ‘And I know-‘

‘We’re friends by virtue you are part of Paramo.’ Raz interrupted Arodan with this and it surprised him. He was smiling, but there was just the mildest hint of fury within him. ‘They haven’t sent you away if you’re on this ship. Epoch loves this ship, y’know?’ Hearing about Epoch caused Arodan to flinch and he felt like it was his fault he was dead yet again. Raz was quick enough to speak so his mind had to focus on other things. ‘... Okay. I’ll get to the point.’ He held his pearl close to him. ‘I broke my own pearl.’

‘Why would you do that?’ Arodan blinked a few times in surprise. He scanned over Raz and he didn’t look like he was lying. ‘Isn’t that a taboo?’

‘I don’t know. I just know I wanted to get out.’ He held up his pearl and there was gloom in his eyes. They were glazed and he didn’t look quite there. ‘I saw him standing there, Guillaume. He was holding my pearl, and I know he didn’t want me to leave. Threatened to destroy my pearl and all that.’ He closed his eyes. ‘I knew better. Guillaume wanted to keep me but he is too spineless to destroy my pearl. If it’s my body then it’s fine to him but if it changed me as a person then he couldn’t do it.’

‘So you…?’

‘I knocked it out of his hands and blasted it to bits with my so called gift.' Raz's hand left his pearl and his hand rippled with an endlessly deep darkness. To Arodan it looked as if the magic had eaten the very reality around it. 'I guess it somehow came in handy. I got angry and before I knew it it was broken, no longer present. While Guillaume scrambled to gather the pieces I grabbed half of my pearl and… Ran.'

'You ran? Wait, does that mean-'

'I won't tell you exactly where I am, but I can tell you I'm no longer in that house.' Raz declared. He held his head high, and mouthed something Arodan couldn't make out a few times. 'I'm goddamn done with being shoved around by everyone that's ever come into my life so I will make my own path.'

Arodan was at a loss of words. This really was something he should be telling Sachairi instead before he would be ready to bolt right off. Instead the question that fell from his lips was something completely different. '... Sachairi called Guillaume your fiance. What is the situation between you two?'

Now it seemed Raz's turn to not know what to say. He slowly blinked, and hugged his pearl close. '... This sure turned into a serious conversation anyway, didn't it?' There was a distance to his words, as if he wasn't quite there. Arodan didn't think that while remembering Raz in fact wasn't there but once more in his mind. 'I'm mated to him already. I didn't have any say in that however, and I don't love him in return. I'm not even sure if it is love that he feels because… Someone who loves you doesn't isolate you, hurt you, forces you into situations you don't want… I learned that much in the time I spent in Paramo.'

Raz breathed out soundlessly, a tender cloud of smoke flowing from his pupil to swirl around his head and up. 'You know, I thought I'd become like my father initially. He says he loves people but I have never met someone who loathes this world as much as he does.' Raz continued. 'This world is worth looking after, developing, loving. I want to be a part of it and I want to fix what I did wrong. There's a lot of it, but I can try.' He looked up and found a few fireflies crept across the ceiling. 'I'm getting off topic. I met Guillaume because he was a follower of my father's and apparently loved me from the moment he saw me. It helped my dad he was a former employee of Stratus so my dad was willing to send me to him.'

'Okay, you have to tell me who your father is because he sounds like an utter lunatic.' Arodan said sharply, holding up his hands. 'Are we talking about some kind of cult leader because that is the only manner I can picture him in.'

'Well, he kind of is so you're right.' Raz scratched the back of his head as he said this and averted his gaze. 'If I- If I tell you, promise me you won't get angry or freak out. I don't want to scare you.'

'I won't get mad, don't worry.' It couldn't be that bad right?

Arodan thought this until Raz started speaking. 'My father is Altair.' At that moment Arodan felt as if he should be running as opposed to sitting there, completely frozen in his chair. 'I am the son of one of Paramo's mortal enemies. The best I can do for you is to not embrace that heritage.'

The room fell eerily quiet. Raz and Arodan were left staring at each other up to the point Raz's hands started shaking and he lowered his gaze. It was a guilty person's stare and he looked intensely aware of it. 'I will… I should go, travel further towards you. I can't explain this to you now but maybe sometime soon.'

'Wait-'

'See you around Dan. And take care, please.' Raz said, lifting his hand to wave at Arodan. Arodan shook awake immediately and the entire illusion shattered around him. He was still in his chair, clammy and with his heart skipping a beat every two seconds. One of these days he was going to have a heart attack as result of the daily panic he faced. This was something he didn't know how to wrap his head around and he wasn't sure if he was going to understand that anytime soon.

'Okay, okay, calm down-' He muttered to himself repeatedly. He dragged a hand through his hair. His thoughts, known for already being too flighty now raced and darted around and he couldn't think of a reason this was so mindboggeling to him.

He fell from his chair the moment he heard a loud crash from the deck above and he was up and running in seconds. Were they being attacked, did something somehow go wrong? Was he yet again going to be thrown off a boat to drown for the last time? He reached the last stairs to the deck and cautiously lifted the doorway to the deck to see what was going on. Everyone on deck was present to see ships of steel surrounding theirs, cannons lining their sides. These cannons were aimed right at them.

'You are heading into Glasir's waters. State your purpose, strangers.' A booming voice called out from one of the ships. Arodan observed more closely the voice belonged to a figure at the front of the ship, holding a strange disk shaped device that amplified their voice. A line of people watched from the ship's side.  'We don't take kindly to unauthorized vessels coming in without a permit.'

Balam stepped forward out of the group on deck. Carmen, Kassa and Atlas stood behind him. Dmitri, Arodan could tell because he didn't look smokey today, stood on a small distance. 'I am king Balam of the city of Paramo. We come seeking aid. Our city has fallen to foreign forces.' He stood tall and proud but it was easy to see he was equally baffled and furious with the situation. 'We come in peace to request your help.'

'Haven't heard of you.'

Balam flinched and his brow furrowed. 'That doesn't matter, what matters is we need urgent-'

'You can't come in without clearance of Glasir's navy.' The voice said, a crackle to it. 'Turn back or be removed by force.' It was then however the figure was approached, gently pushed aside and asked to hand over their voice amplifier. A brown figure, a wildclaw wearing a large pair of large round shades climbed onto the perch at the front of the ship. They cleared their voice first and the amplifier screeched briefly. When they spoke, it was in oaky, old tones, someone whose age was showing already.

'Balam my boy, is that you?'

Balam's face lit up in a way Arodan hadn't seen in a very long time. The man that had stood on the perch grinned and dropped the amplifier to leap forward. 'My god, you've somehow grown sturdier lad!' He yelled, crashing onto the deck. He held out a hand towards Balam but this wasn't taken. Balam responded to his presence instead with a hearty laugh and a hug that lifted the man right off the floor. A series of words was exchanged between them and Arodan couldn't make them out. What he now knew for certain was that he was immensely lost on what was going on.

'Well, there you have the big man himself.'

Arodan turned at the voice. Caer had silently moved to sit on the stairs besides him. With narrowed eyes full of scorn she looked upon the situation. 'Who.. Who is that?'

'President Odin of the Stratus Corporation.' She said as Balam finally set down Odin who looked out of breath. Balam immediately got to apologizing for his slip of composure and held his hands on a distance. Caer continued 'A so called ally of ours. Let's hope this doesn't go horribly wrong.'

[nemossubmarine]

Warhammer 40k: Wrath & Glory RP #20

Here’s the exciting second to last session of our Dew Mtn adventuring!

We start with Saef’s adventures on Civitas A, as that happens approximately simultaneously to Gorm’s and Gimlet’s adventures. 

Saef is not doing great, he’s starting to tap into the hivemind, and can’t be sure how long before he loses himself. 

So quick acting is in order. 

He rushes into his home, where his mom hits him with a frying pan. Not wounding luckily. 

Analyn tells that Hao, Saef’s dad, went to get Saef’s sister Mai and Mai’s husband Wasim from the factory. 

Saef tells Analyn and the kids to pack up, and he beams them up before continuing to the factory. 

The factory is surrounded by cultists, but Saef has no trouble sneaking past. 

He finds about 12 factory workers, including his family members, being caught by cultists, who Saef kills. 

Saef tries to get the people to calm down and follow orders but some of the workers are panicking, until Hao tells them to listen to Saef. 

Saef leads them to roof for teleporting. 

Before they can all get beamed up, there’s an explosion close-by and a shout that sounds a lot like Gimlet. 

So, Saef stays behind and goes to check that out.

Meanwhile, Gimlet is remembering. 

He remembers playing hide-and-seek with his friend Jonathan, and his mother coming to get the boys. 

The summer’s over and it’s time for them to go. 

But in the middle of the memory, some strange, others memories bleed through, and Gimlet hears two voices talking. 

Other sounds like Inquisitor Tanner, and the other like Eden?

Gimlet is shaken awake by Olga Eriksen, who together with her motorbike riding partner and their daughter Frita have stumbled upon the scene of the explosion. 

Olga helps Gimlet to his feet and he goes over to check Apple Blossom’s unmoving body. 

Unfortunately Gimlet’s first aid is too good and Apple Blossom stirs and attacks Gimlet. 

Olga provides assistance by sitting on Apple Blossom, while Gimlet retreats to do first aid on himself. 

This is when Saef gets to the scene. 

Olga asks what to do with Apple, and Gimlet asks her to knock her out, which Olga does, by gonking their heads together. 

Saef and Gimlet and Apple are going to head up, Olga and her partner refuse to be beamed up, as they need to go find their son, but Gimlet gives her his phone number, so they can get to safety once that’s done. 

There’s some trouble with reaching Molly. 

Gimlet uses his contacts and gets Lu Yan to teleport them up with the passenger teleporter. 

Gimlet apparently still has some stuff he needs to do surface-side, but Saef secretly sabotages the passenger teleporter, so he doesn’t get himself killed.

Lu Yan and Gimlet have to start making their way to the cargo teleporter. 

Saef takes Apple to the med bay, but not before calling Molly and telling her not to let Gimlet teleport on the surface. 

Saef can’t go to the surface anymore, so he and Tabasco agree to lock him up with Apple so he won’t cause any trouble. 

Before that Saef takes his people / cat / severed head to Molly’s place. 

Molly requests a new necklace for her services.

Gorm wakes up in the snows of Fenris, in the middle of a snow storm, next to a canyon. 

Next to him sits his pack leader Rolf, who talks, mostly to himself, about the duties of a Space Marine and ordinary people giving hope, and something like that, and then he asks Gorm where they went wrong. 

Gorm notes that Rolf probably shouldn’t feel that bad as on the totem pole of people to blame for the pack going bad, he’s nowhere near the top. 

Gorm then questions where he is, and Rolf replies that his implants are trying to restart themselves, which is why Gorm is hallucinating. 

The hallucination ends with the arrival of the rest of Gorm’s pack; all the dead and chaos infected members, and Uffe at the front with wolf eyes. 

Gorm is about to get to fighting, when Rolf steps in between and says that ”once again I must send you away for your own good”. 

He then pushes Gorm into the canyon. 

The last thing Gorm sees is Uffe attacking Rolf.

Gorm wakes up on the floor, and all he can see is a blue light and hear the emergency sirens, moments before the hull cracks and they are in space. 

In that moment, Gorm is teleported back to the ship by Molly. Gorm gets up. 

He’s not in great shape, a piece of his power armor is lodging itself into his back. 

Gorm asks Molly about the tech priest, and Molly says she only got the people who had any life signs. 

Gorm begins helping the people off the teleporter pad so Molly can get more people in. 

That’s when Lu Yan and Gimlet get to the scene. 

Molly refuses to teleport Gimlet down, but Gorm hears it, and says he’ll be teleporting down, and Gimlet can come with. 

Gimlet weakly protests, but down they (and Mimir) go. 

They teleport in front of a BBS building in the middle of the city. 

Gimlet gets into the building and notices a bunch of dead cultists and a broken cell phone, which he pockets.

Gorm asks if they’re here to loot phones. 

Gimlet refuses to answer, and follows a trail of blood out of the back door. 

There they pick up on a fight happening. 

Some cultists and genestealer have a person surrounded in a half-way broken building. 

Gorm and Mimir rush into the fray. 

Mimir basically tears a genestealer to bits. 

Gimlet gives supportive fire. 

Gorm soon catches glimpse of the person they are saving. 

It’s Inquisitor Inpax, who’s in rather poor shape, and not doing any better as she suddenly gets swarmed. 

But Gorm, Gimlet and Mimir manage to get the cultists down. 

Gimlet is immediately checking up on Inpax, who demands to use a phone. 

She calls her men (presumably) to tell them to not let Kane Bullard out of their sight, and to check up on Eden. 

Inpax has several usb-sticks and a tank with a piece of flesh with her. 

Gorm says he has no time to stay and chit-chat, as there’s still stuff to be done. 

He calls sergeant Revan and asks if he could join his troops for the battle. Revan is glad to have assistance.

And so off Gorm goes to do some battling. 

Gimlet and Inpax teleport back up to the  ship.

We move onto a little bit of a time skip. 

Santa Maria evacuates civilians from Dew Mtn to other planets. 

Saef is locked up. 

Gimlet goes to the medbay. 

Gorm fights the good fight. 

He loses a leg, Sergeant Revan loses his life. 

But the Genestealers and the Psykers are defeated, and the day is saved.

Saef finally gets out of his exile now that he’s not in danger of turning on other people. 

He goes to visit Inpax, who is still a bit weary looking from her trip to Civitas A. 

She asks what’s up with Saef’s nose and Saef says he got hit by a 16-year-old. 

Speaking of which… Saef explains Rat’s situation to Inpax. 

Inpax says that she has gotten a teacher for Saef who could look over Rat as well. 

Then Inpax asks for a favor from Saef. 

Inpax has arrested Kane Bullard and his men, and they’ll be soon transported to an Inquisition base for interrogation. 

There’s one thing Inpax is curious about, and that is the nature of Eden’s co-operation with Kane Bullard’s schemes. 

Perhaps Saef could ask about that? 

Saef says he can, and he will. 

Oh, and Theo is ok to be reversed as clearly Kane Bullard was not working within the law.

Tabasco sends out a text to Gimlet saying he wants to talk about the naked dude Gimlet dropped off into his medbay. 

They meet up during Tabasco’s lunch break. 

Tabasco has some bad news, the dude (dude being Andrew Andrés) is basically dead. 

There’s nothing Tabasco can think of to wake him up. 

But he checked his brain scans, and there was something odd, something maybe psykic-related. 

And hey, there’s apparently an actually sanctioned psyker on board, so Tabasco has heard, perhaps Gimlet could ask him for help. That’s all. Gimlet says he’ll do so.

Gorm has checked himself into the medbay, and Tabasco comes to talk with him about his leg situation. 

Tabasco doesn’t do prosthetics, but they have a tech-priest on board. 

He’ll just have to hope the Inquisition will allow the tech-priest to be borrowed long enough to make all the legs Tabasco’s patients need. 

This number is three, as apparently Jennifer’s legs couldn’t be saved. 

Gorm says not to worry, the Inquisitor owes him one.

Layla comes to visit Gorm at the medbay, because of course she does. 

Well, she was originally visiting her mom, but upon seeing Gorm comes to check on him. 

Gorm tells of his heroic accomplishments and even suggests that the Sable Swords wanted to make Gorm their sergeant after Revan died (but a field medic by the name of Carl is probably going to be promoted). 

Layla is very taken with the stories, as always. 

Gorm tells her that a good wolf always aims to save as many people as they can. 

Layla comments on how Gorm and her mom are going to be the same as they’ll both be getting new legs. 

Gorm mentions that he is planning on going back to Fenris soon, as apparently he has been called upon, and wonders if Layla would like to come with. 

Layla says of course, but Gorm says he’ll talk with Jennifer first and forbids Layla from mentioning it to her mother before that. 

Layla agrees, hugs Gorm and goes to see her mother.

Saef receives a text message from Inpax that his and Rat’s teacher has arrived, and to go meet him. 

So Saef goes by Molly’s place to pick his people / cat / severed head up. 

Molly is fast asleep, so Saef leaves her a gift card for the necklace. 

He drops Theo, Felis Catus and Kuru’s head at his place before heading to meet his new mentor.

Gimlet happens to find this mentor first. 

He turns out to be an older gentleman by the name of Konstantine Holzer, tall and thin, sporting one mechanical eye and one seemingly blind one. 

Upon hearing Gimlet’s requests, Konstantine agrees to see to the patient, though he says he is not a healer. 

Just then Saef and Rat get there, and Konstantine says he’ll meet Gimlet in the medbay. 

Konstantine questions Saef about his knowledge of the warp, which seems to be a bit lacking to say the least. 

Well, he’s going to be taught, but Konstantine feels Rat might be a bit bigger of a concern first. 

Before Saef leaves Rat with Konstantine, Konstantine asks Saef to speak with him in private. 

Upon doing so, Konstantine asks whether Saef is aware that Rat is not human. 

Saef says well he is now. 

Konstantine suspects Eldar and asks Saef to tell about Rat’s background. 

It seems most likely Rat has been raised among humans, but surely she is aware of her, well, difference. 

That’s a problem for them once Rat becomes visible. 

Mostly Inpax’ problem.

Gimlet has meanwhile come to the medbay and stops to check up on Gorm. 

Gorm asks what happened to Inpax after he left. 

Gimlet says he took her here and she was taken care of. 

Gorm says he would have appreciated Gimlet’s help back on the planet, but he gets it, Gimlet needed rest and relaxation. 

Gimlet wants to talk about the awkwardness between them ever since the whole wolf-incident. 

Gimlet says he’s sorry that he didn’t take it well, but he wants to make sure Gorm knows Gimlet respects his culture. 

Gorm suggests another hunt. 

Gimlet says maybe they could go to the bar to hunt for drinks. 

Gorm seems agreeable to this. 

Gorm says it’s good that Gimlet and Jennifer got a bit angry at him, since Gorm has his own perspective and sometimes it’s hard to see outside it. 

Gimlet explains why he took it so badly, as Tanner did the same to him, taking him in as a child. 

At least he got an education. 

Gorm asks if Gimlet would have chosen this path had he been given the choice, and Gimlet admits that, well, there wasn’t much of a choice, namely because his mother apparently had just been slain, thus confirming that Cara is indeed his mother. 

Gorm says he’s sorry.  

Gorm then mentions being called back to Fenris and he wishes Gimlet to help with how to ask Layla about actually becoming a Space Wolf, as she is starting to be around the age where she will be taken in, if she is to become one. 

Gimlet suggests maybe talking with Jennifer. 

Gorm also isn’t quite sure how to bring up the fact that the process of becoming a Space Marine does take away people’s memories.

Well there’s no clear answers to that, especially because Konstantine appears to check over Andrew Andrés. 

Gorm is still hostile, but perhaps a bit more respectful towards this new psyker. 

Konstantine checks Andrew over and says he has to agree with Tabasco, he is gone. 

But not all gone, as Konstantine can use psykic means to get into his head and get some information, if that is something that could be of use. 

To do that he would need some kinds of anchors to hold onto, names and places. 

Gimlet suggests Cara and Tanner. 

Konstantine seems a bit unsure on whether to ask Inpax for permission, but finally agrees that Tabasco’s permission should be enough. 

He needs a bit of time to prepare, so we’ll leave that for next time.

And that’s all. Next session, Saef talks with approximately seventeen people and I guess Gorm and Gimlet are there too (well no, they got stuff to do too) (lots of discussions) (all the plot) (next time!).

[terraclae]

Glasir

lore pings: @yuushanoah-fr @cityofinoue

[Lore directory]

The crew arrives in the city of Glasir and poses an offer to President Odin. All dragons are in bipedal forms.

‘Okay, move along, don’t you folks have anything better to do?’

Arodan watched Caer shoo away a few curious onlookers. She was grouchy but he felt safe by her side at the moment. At the moment a few too many people were staring at them curiously and he had half a mind to join her in scaring off the onlookers. He kept his eyes the window instead.

Glasir was a city he could have never even dreamed of. Towers rose into the heights and shimmered with glass and steel in the skyline. He had never seen cities being built in such a way and if he hadn’t recognized little tidbits like the city lights working on magic and style of building he would have been completely disoriented. This was a city in the image of the second age and Arodan barely could begin to wrap his head around how one would go about just studying the schematics for such a civilization.

‘Hey, you okay?’

Arodan turned to see Dmitri had silently sidled up to him. Caer took note of him too but kept quiet for the moment and instead stayed on guard for nosy onlookers, shuffling the other way. ‘I’m alright, just a little overwhelmed.’ He leant against the window and then immediately drew back once a heavy feeling of nausea washed over him. ‘This is the least dragon friendly city I have ever seen.’

‘Yeah, it’s… Something.’ Dima hummed nervously. He threw a glance over his shoulders. Balam’s form could vaguely be seen through the frosted glass of Odin’s office. Carmen and Atlas stood by the door attempting to listen in. ‘It feels familiar to me. I’ve seen cities like this before.’

‘Did you remember anything?’ Arodan looked up wide eyed at Dima. Even if the memories weren’t important to him he was still curious as to who Dima was. ‘Is it helpful for our situation perhaps?’

‘Not a lot, but I remembered a city in a desert across the ocean. It was situated somewhere by a river bank and… I don’t think they believed in the gods that reign here.’ Dima mumbled, and then promptly shrugged. ‘That’s about it.’

‘Wait, you say this city isn’t on this continent? Or is it located on the other side of the Sea of a Thousand Currents?’ Arodan’s brow furrowed and he found himself searching for Mimir in his bag. He was pretty certain he must have showed her a map sometime so maybe she could be of help. ‘Did you remember the name?’

‘It was…’ Dima tapped his foot impatiently on the floor trying to wrack his brain for any clues. ‘No… I can’t remember that. Just that it was an empire to the east of the Beacon of the radiant Eye.’

Arodan flipped open Mimir and she already had a map of the continent ready. Above the map she had spoken.

I’ve never met someone from across the sea before.

‘Mimir, you haven’t met a lot of people, you’re a book.’ Arodan whispered. It wrestled loose a hearty chuckle from Dima. ‘So this city you remember, did people walk around in a bipedal form on a daily basis?’

‘I think it actually took was the only form they had there. I don’t think a lot of people had a normal draconic shape or practiced magic.’ Dima watched Mimir note down the details with a sort of giddy wonder. ‘I… I lived there. That used to be my home.’ He turned his head sideways. ‘Have you been keeping notes on me?’

Arodan and me note down every odd little thing that happens!

‘No we don’t.’ Arodan said, lying and averting his gaze. Warmth rose to his face and he hoped dearly Dima didn’t press him any further on it. ‘It’s just a few-‘

‘Oh?’ His head whipped back to Dima, then to Mimir. She was in fact, flipping through her own pages so Dima could see the research they did when they still weren’t sure what was different about him. Dima himself looked at Arodan with a small smile and brows raised in downright sultry manner. ‘I have never had this much attention invested in me before.’

‘Save it, if it’s up to me I’m closing this investigation right now.’ Arodan grunted, his fluster deepening. ‘Mimir, stop that already.’ When she stopped she did on a half empty page. There, on a small black patch two dots and a curved line appeared in gold, looking like a smiling little face. Arodan slammed Mimir hair on that note and put her back into his bag. ‘Besides there’s no reason to continue, we figured out what’s your situation.’

‘Well, I mean… I do like the attention.’ Dima said and giggled. ‘Being around beautiful people is fun, I like being around other people.’ He looked around, fondly, and his eye fell on Kassa, Atlas and Carmen discussing what they might have heard from the office. ‘I think it’s just been a while.’

‘Considering you weren’t in control of your body for a while I can understand.’ Arodan responded. Dima’s arm touched his side and he didn’t know how comfortable he was with it. The earlier experience rang in his head. ‘You and Sachairi aren’t fighting over the body, right?’

‘It would be nicer to have my body back, but so far it’s going fine. We switch based on mood, when he needs time alone, I’m here.’ Dima fumbled with his hair for a bit. ‘It is a relief that I don’t have to pretend to be him anymore although… I’ve disappointed a lot of people, haven’t I?’

‘It’s just been a very difficult few weeks. I don’t think you turning up was any more special than what else has happened.’ Arodan said. Subconsciously he had reached to pat Dima on the back and when he did the imperial actively flinched. Arodan chose not to question it. ‘Why did you not try to explain who you were? It would have been easier.’

‘Yeah, I know, and this is going to sound really dumb-‘ Dima started, scratching the back of his head with a silly grin. ‘-But I just wanted to make them happy. I don’t think they would have lashed out in hindsight but whenever I ran into them I just wanted to be as quiet as possible, not give them reason to get angry with me.’ He gestured at the air and a nondescript noise escaped him. ‘Maybe I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I just have to worry about helping Sachairi find a way to reunite with Raz.’

‘You’re a huge imposing figure, why are you worried about anyone hurting you?’ Arodan gestured at Dima idly and now that he pointed out he felt even smaller actually. ‘What happened?’

‘I um…’

‘What are you boys up to?’ Kassa poked their head inbetween the two before rounding around Dima and opting to size him up. ‘You are Dmitri, no?’

‘Yes, did the lack of smokiness tip you off?’ Dima jested, his demeanor growing more radiant immediately. ‘Is something the matter?’

‘No, my curiosity has just gotten the better of me.’ They said, with a tilted head. They extended their hand towards Dima. ‘And we haven’t been formally introduced yet darling, you do have manners don’t you?’

‘Not that I remember. Maybe with time.’ Dima responded, shaking their hand. He was slow and careful in reaching out and didn’t hold on that long either. ‘But I’m Dmitri. It’s nice to meet you all.’

‘Well, it certainly is interesting to have you around.’ Atlas chimed in. Carmen was right behind him and soon Dmitri was surrounded by the three. Arodan found himself dropping out of the conversation and willingly stepped back until he ended up next to Caer who had wandered off earlier. The group got him to introduce himself and they barraged him with question. It could very well have been that they had just gotten bored with listening, but the sight was in a way endearing.

‘Well, at least they are happy.’ Caer said this quietly, her arms folded. ‘In all this worry it good to see them relaxed.’

‘I can agree. It’s… I’m really glad they’re happy.’ Arodan’s gaze first fell on Atlas, then gently slid from him to Carmen and Kassa. He felt warmer thinking of them, hollow so once everything that had happened hit him yet again. ‘What’s next?’

‘Judging by your tone of voice you’re staying with us and I couldn’t be more excited.’ Caer responded. Her tone of voice was flat but her posture was upright and proud. ‘What’s next preferably, is that we get help from the Stratus Corporation to take back Paramo. War is their forte so they might as well do what they’re good at.’

You’re not going to fight any Glasir natives, are you?’

‘Balam asked me not to and if he tells me no I am obligated to listen to him. Not because he’s my king but because I respect him.’ Caer hummed. That would explain why she didn’t say anything beyond shooing off some curious Stratus employees. ‘Maybe if one talks bad ‘bout any of you I will throw down but you know what, I don’t care what they say about me. We’re guests so I reckon we should behave.’

The door to Odin’s office open and his secretary emerged. They held their hands close to them as if they were about to be jumped. ‘Your presence is requested. Please come in.’ The group entered in varying degrees of hesitance but eventually settled at the far end of the spacious office. Balam stood by Odin’s desk, Odin himself sat behind it with his hands propped under his chin. Next to him stood a woman, who seemed to be a tundra judging by the shape of her horns. Shelves with books and files lined the walls and the entire room was only illuminated by a humongous arch shaped window behind Odin through which the city could be seen. Arodan took quickest notice out of everything that Balam looked nervous and tired. This couldn’t have gone well.

‘So, I will get to the point-‘ Odin said, jovially clasping his hands. ‘It is an honor to have you here and we are going to ask you to stay a little longer.’ Odin looked eerily calm. ‘I understand that you need help, but what you are requesting of me and my people is a very tall favor and I need to discuss this with a few of my advisors, most importantly my Vice President Syr.’ He gestured at the woman besides him who immediately stepped forward with an eager little bounce.

‘Yes! Please understand, but it is a lot to ask of us to send out our own forces and unite those of towns under our jurisdiction.’ She answered. She tapped her clipboard impatiently with her pen. ‘Besides, just rushing in guns blazing is a very archaic approach, don’t you think? It will only cause more casualties.’

‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ Atlas spoke up, pacing forward. Arodan swore he could hear Caer muttering to herself that she didn’t know what a gun was. ‘So are you helping us or not?’

‘We’re saying we haven’t decided yet. Your people have the added advantage you are an allied nation but that doesn’t mean we can just send troops all willy-nilly.’ Syr answered, her eyebrows perking up. ‘By all means, we will make your stay here comfortable. You will be provided for while we figure out our answer.’

‘That’s spineless-!’

‘Look, listen-‘ Odin interrupted Atlas who was right in front of his desk now. He rose with a stately grace someone of his rank might have. ‘I did not invite you in and listened to you if I didn’t want to hear what you had to say. Balam’s father was a dear friend of mine, and Balam is now. But times have changed.’

Balam put a gentle hand on Atlas’ shoulder. ‘I got angry like you did but he is right. We need to think about this.’ Balam said. He looked up, met Odin’s eye and looked momentarily deeply disappointed. In that same moment Odin flinched just slightly. ‘We are taking up the offer to be staying, but I urge of you to consider our proposal.’

‘What are you providing beyond a place to sleep?’ Carmen stepped forward this time. ‘We do not just have wounds we need to tend to but we also have-‘

‘A body on board, we heard yes.’ Syr responded. ‘First of all, we are sorry for your loss.’ She bowed elegantly and continued once she righted herself again. ‘We can aid you with whatever funeral rites you require. Beyond this, and concerning yourselves you are free to explore the city, request guides and bodyguards, and have food be delivered to you.’ She hummed to herself and already her mind drifted off track. ‘Really, it’s the sort of relaxed vacation most here crave.’

‘Does this look like a vacation to you?’ Arodan muttered. He threw the most fleeting glance at Caer and he could see her hands were balled and shaking. She was utterly seething and he was wondering when her breaking point was. She shook, until Kassa silently moved to her side, and slid their hand into hers. They said nothing, but Caer stopped shaking. It seemed like a bizarre gesture, yet it made complete sense. Arodan’s gaze fell on Dmitri and it occurred to him he was glad Sachairi wasn’t there now.

‘I want a funeral pyre arranged.’ Carmen demanded, disregarding Syr’s other words. ‘And I want Heart roses, Myosotis and Alstroemerias with that. After I have cremated my brother you can show us whatever fancy services you have on offer, I don’t care about them right now.’

‘That can be arranged, do you want alcohol with that?’ Syr sarcastically blurted out as she was making a list on her clipboard. ‘We’ll get all of that, but please just have a little patience.’ This time it seemed Carmen’s turn to count to three before she was going to knock someone out. Her solution was to grasp Dima’s bicep and she held onto it for a while. Her hand soon slid into his and he indulged her. The situation was a mess to say the least, and everyone was quiet.

‘So… I’ll have someone guide you to where you will be staying then.’ Odin hummed anxiously. ‘It was a pleasure to see all of you again and… Let us catch up later. It’s good to have you around.’

‘It’s an honor to be here.’ Balam quietly said, bowing his head. He was first to start leaving the room, the same secretary waiting by the door. ‘We will discuss this again later. Let’s go everyone.’

The Stratus Corporation headquarters was a large sprawling building yet they left its marble halls in no time at all. They exited through the glass front onto the bustling street, faces still hot with anger. The secretary spoke gently and seemed intimidated by the group. ‘I um… Someone will arrive soon to help you navigate through the city.’ They bowed their head. ‘And we hope this was not an unpleasant experience.’

After a moment of quiet Balam flashed his best smile, stepped forward and bowed his head. ‘No, thank you for your hospitality. We know you are doing the best you can.’

‘We try sir. Still, we extend a gentle apology.’ They bowed their head in similar manner. It had in fact been difficult to discern what sort of dragon they had been because their horns had been filed down. Judging by the shape they must have been an imperial. They turned and a mirror, clad in green approached them. ‘There is your guide it seems.’ They ran up to Balam and started to scribble something on a piece of paper. ‘If you need anything, the staff of the inn knows my name. Just ask for Mor and they know who to notify.’

‘Thank you Mor.’ Balam whispered, pocketing the note. Mor backed away and momentarily met with the Mirror in green before they passed the group and disappeared into the building again. The guide said nothing but signed something, then gestured at the group to follow them.

The trip to the inn turned out quiet. No one knew what to say and instead each chose to focus on some other facet of the city to not think of themselves. Arodan himself couldn’t find anything in the bustling evening traffic within Glasir to focus on. Instead he stuck to Atlas’ side for a bit, as silent as the rest.

‘Dan, you okay?’

In the end Atlas was the first to speak. Arodan slowly looked up at him, nodded and bumped into his side. Atlas understood that as his cue it really was okay, and that it was even more so to take his hand. ‘Well, I guess this is in a way an escape.’

‘Not one I had envisioned but we’re going to make the best of it.’ Arodan whispered. His hand was tightly clasped around Atlas’. ‘We can stick together at the very least.’

‘And sticking together is the most important thing to do.’ Atlas added. He seemed lost in thought just momentarily before glazed eyes focused on Arodan again. ‘What did you and Dmitri talk about?’

‘I asked him if he remembered anything. If I’m gonna be teaching him magic then I want to know what sort of person I’m dealing with.’ Arodan answered. Dima walked on a short distance in front of them inbetween Kassa and Carmen. ‘He’s definitely more chipper than Sachairi is.’

‘Can't say I prefer it.’ Atlas jovially responded. ‘I mean, what if he gets more popular than I am?’

‘You’re plenty popular.’ Arodan responded, nudging his side. ‘And I know your joking but if it helps I think all he wants is to go home.’

‘Any idea where he comes from yet?’

‘The east, from across the sea he says.’ Arodan answered. A quaint and humble building came in sight that looked well maintained yet aged. ‘I’ve never met someone before that came from across the sea.’ He said, mimicking Mimir’s earlier statement.

‘Me neither, sounds like a far fetched tale.’ Atlas shook his head.

‘Well, it’s all we have to go on.’ Arodan murmured. ‘And you know, it’s something to do.’ He held his head high. ‘I like these people. I like you. So I’m going to keep on doing my best whether you like it or not.’

‘Well, I did start to love you because of your stubbornness so that excites me to say at the very least.’ Atlas squeezed his hand and pulled him forward, closer to the group. He seemed to have perked up significantly then and it rubbed off on the others just a little. Soon they were basking in the warmth of the inn and all seemed well.

[terraclae]

The King of Paramo

Lore pings: @yuushanoah-fr @cityofinoue

A sort of short one! All dragons are in their bipedal form as usual.

He threaded the hallways of the ship far too carefully. Arodan had accidentally scared a few already by walking up to them silently. Right now he was only quiet because he didn’t intend to wake the sleeping people in a boat that creaked at all opportunities. In the semi dark he couldn’t see a lot outside of the glowing charm that hung from his wrist and he let Mimir soothe his other worries, the book open in his hands.

What is it you’re so afraid of?

‘I thought it was obvious.’ Arodan whispered, holding Mimir close enough so he could keep his voice to an impossibly low volume. ‘It’s dark. I’m on yet another boat. Yet another shade ridden figure who my or may not be a nut job.’

And that is really what is making you so frightful?

He paused. If he didn’t know any better Mimir had started to get far too good at guessing what he felt. ‘I’m the one who has to fix this. I chose this.’

You could have said no.

‘I didn’t want to.’ He arrived by the door to his cabin. He knew he had left his keys in some deep pocket of the coat Atlas had left for him but he couldn’t find it. ‘I’m part of these people.’

Mimir didn’t respond. This was fine with Arodan, it allowed him to close them and search his pockets better. Hopefully he wouldn’t get a response until he had freshened himself up properly. Right now his head wasn’t in the right place.

‘You’re not going mad, are you?’

He was as jumpy as he was tired and before Arodan spoke he had already jumped into a defensive stance and pulled a dagger from his coat. His entire being shook like the boat was going to give out under him. Before him wasn’t an enemy he had thought to see, but instead, shrouded by the shadows, he saw the hulking form of Balam. It occurred to him he must look positively insane now. ‘... Sir?’

Balam blinked a few times, bright blue eyes flitting in the dark. He had never seen Balam this hesitant, it was obvious despite the cover of the dark. ‘Is this a bad time?’

‘No.’ Arodan quickly pocketed the dagger and in doing so found his keys. ‘I’d appreciate it however if you wouldn’t sneak up on me, my liege.’ He mustered a polite smile to greet Balam more openly. ‘How do you even do that?’

Balam didn’t answer. By the way the light reflected on his horns Arodan knew he was shaking his head and his smile fell. He was taken aback more once Balam moved out into the light and revealed a beaten form that didn’t radiate the cheerful calm that was inherent to Balam. ‘My liege, huh?’ He tilted his head and then bowed it so his eyes disappeared into the dark. ‘... Would you mind if I came in?’

‘Into- Into my room?’

‘... Yes?’

Well, it wasn’t weird of Balam to ask to come in. Arodan didn’t know however how he was going to offer any words of comfort to Balam that wouldn’t make the situation worse. Silence could be equally bad. Slowly he pulled his keys from his pocket and unlocked the door, stepping in first. He gestured for Balam to come in, wordlessly.

Balam didn’t quite fit through the cabin door. His horns dented part of the frame and Arodan had to stop himself from taking Balam’s arm and pulling him through already. Somehow the massive man forced himself through and stood bent with his head against the ceiling of the room. Before Arodan could stop himself this time, he asked ‘Why don’t you just shift to a smaller form?’

Balam closed the door with his tail and sat on the floor, not meeting Arodan’s gaze. He didn’t look annoyed or surprised, Instead his brow was furrowed in a way it seemed to compact his eyes. ‘I’m not very good at it. This is as small as I can shift.’ He quietly started. ‘Is it an issue?’

‘No. Not at all.’ Arodan repeated. He chose to plop down on his bed and felt a quiet tight uncertainty rising in his throat. His thumb found his journal’s spine to rub, his other hand the bedsheet, and his eyes surveyed Balam. ‘Sir…’ Balam seemed to have been treated for a wound on his lower stomach he tentatively soothed with his hand. Mentally he looked to be more weathered. Arodan took particular note of his tired eyes. The skin around one was bruised blue as blended with his dark eyebags. He sat in the corner like a broken man, and Arodan didn’t have to ask if Balam felt okay.

‘Arodan, how do you feel about all of this?’

He perked up. Balam looked at him directly and Arodan couldn’t feel smaller than he already did. ‘I’m… It’s difficult for all of us. I wish I could have done more.’ The bedsheet was uncomfortably coarse against his fingers and the tight feeling in his throat grew only heavier. ‘I wish things didn’t go this way.’

‘I see.’ Balam hummed. Arodan grew only more nervous and he really didn’t know what he could possibly say to Balam now.

‘Sir-‘

‘Please just call me Balam.’ Balam interrupted Arodan with a voice that wavered and hitched as he spoke. His eye met Arodan’s and he managed to crack a smile. ‘I’m no king of yours.’ His gaze drifted to the side and he had a glazed look to his eyes. ‘I’m no king of anyone, so, we are true equals now. Isn’t it great?’

Arodan gave pause and he came to fidget with his journal instead. ‘Okay, Balam.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Why did you want to come into my room?’

Balam didn’t respond initially. He first occupied himself with braiding his hair that had grown significantly longer in such a short span of time. When he did it was with a sullen resignation. ‘I didn’t want to be alone, I suppose.’ He huffed lightly. ‘Couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, so I didn’t know what else to do but stay in the company of someone.’ Lightly Arodan could see a healing wound on Balam’s arm. ‘So I found you, it seems.’

‘Balam-‘ Arodan got up and took the scarred arm. The wound wasn’t old and its angle didn’t look like the cleave of another’s sword. He knew that feeling too well to be comfortable with. ‘If you need to speak your mind then do so. It’s not magically going to get better if you sit in the corner of my room for the rest of this voyage.’

‘I know.’ Balam grunted. He bowed his head again and looked humbled by Arodan’s presence. ‘I failed them Arodan.’

‘This isn’t your-‘

‘It is my fault.’ Balam said. He looked at Arodan with hazy eyes and still was a great deal bigger than him sitting down. ‘That is the one thing that is truth.’ He shook his head once more. ‘What troubles me is that I have no idea how to fix this. I want to, I was responsible for these people. I made them lose everything.’

‘Okay, yes, maybe it was your fault. You were their king.’ Arodan said, regretting how rude it might sound. Balam nodded along to his statement. ‘But then again, what is wallowing going to solve? Are you giving up?’

‘Maybe.’ Balam whispered. His eyes fluttered shut. ‘What army do I have? I can’t go in and fight Alexander’s forces again. For my people I would trade my life but he has my city and I cannot risk their lives in that battle.’

‘Then we sneak in.’ Arodan said, jumping up.

‘They’d expect that.’

‘We could try.’

‘Then who do you want to sacrifice?’ Balam asked. He sounded more grim than anything now. ‘Caer is a scout. Carmen is still healing. Epoch is... dead. None of us are in a right mind to undertake such a thing.’ He shifted and it was the first time Arodan ever heard a floor creak in Balam’s presence. ‘I am not sending you either, you’d most certainly die. None of these people deserve to die.’

‘I know that too.’ Arodan held up his hands in defense. ‘But-‘

‘I said, I don’t know how to solve this, Arodan.’ Balam said with a raised voice that threatened to echo to the other cabins. He looked regretful of an outburst that had only been minuscule. ‘Please don’t make me put the lives of more people on the line.’

That ended the conversation momentarily. Arodan’s hands took to gently brushing over the skin on Balam’s arm and the king didn’t meet his eye the entire time he did. When he dared to speak it was still in hushed tone, a soft apologetic sentence. ‘Forgive me for asking this… But did you ever want to be king?’

‘So many have asked me. More must have spoken of it behind my back.’ Balam started. He looked as if he didn’t know how to answer this question. ‘I have always wanted to lead these people, but I wasn’t ready for it when I got the position. I wanted to be king but in the end I didn’t make a very good one.’ He blinked slowly. 'Love can't save a city when you're it's king.'

‘You didn’t stop being king because your city was taken over. Where I’m from we call that exile, and we can fix exile.' Arodan snapped. He shook Balam and found it was as difficult as he thought it would be to move Balam even slightly. 'Then start here. Take responsibility.'

'That, I know too.' Balam repeated himself in similar manner to Arodan. He nodded along to his statement like he had taken it to heart but his brain had yet to lead the action. 'I want to.'

'What's stopping you then?'

'Failure.'

Balam was right in doubting himself considering the last mistake he made cost him the life of someone dear to him and an entire city he cared for. Now Arodan thought of it, why didn't it bother him more? Shouldn't he be feeling more over the loss of the city? He sat down next to Balam with a quiet sigh and officially didn't know what else to tell him. The man was perhaps too stubborn.

'Arodan?'

Balam suddenly speaking to him caused him to near jump, luckily not a full on vertical leap. 'Yes?'

'I'm aware I must be very tiresome, and that I do things that upset people.' Balam started, shifting so he sat against Arodan. 'You cannot help me now, so give me time. I can't do what is asked of me now but I will soon. That I promise.'

'Well, it's an improvement.' Arodan would take a promise. That was enough. 'Why are you telling me this?'

'Because I trust you like the others. I would have told them too if they were in your position, but here you are.' Balam reached and pat Arodan's head with a fond gaze. 'You've come out of a tough spot too. We are similar, so we should look after each other. That is what I want.'

Arodan understood. He didn't nod, or say anything, but sat there and let Balam rest his hand on his head for a bit. When Balam pulled his hand back they opted to sit in silence, the only thing breaking their little balance being that Arodan offered Balam a book and took one for his own. They sat and read and he thought of how nice it would have been if he had gotten the opportunity to do so in the library. Maybe, if they reclaimed Paramo they could all sit and read. Carmen, Atlas, Caer, Langdon, Balam, they were his friends, that was truth, and he was comfortable with wishful thinking for once despite the current situation and the damage done. Balam had apparently trusted him enough to fall asleep reading the novel he had given him.

'Balam?' He gently bumped his shoulder and like with moving him Balam wasn't going to wake up either. How far exactly was he gone? 'Balam, you can't...' he shook him, then ceased the movement.

Why not.

Arodan picked up Mimir again and took to leaving the cabin. In the dim light of his charm he chose to sit in the hallway. Mimir had already written a few things when he opened them again but his focus stuck on a particular phrase.

What do you think of me going by feminine pronouns?

'You can if that's what resonates with you.' Arodan whispered to Mimir. His free hand searched a quill since speaking to a book had made him look odd earlier. 'How so?'

I was thinking of miss Solaire. I hope she's alright.

'Probably. She's a spirit, if we're lucky she's eating some Lux Laterna soldiers for us.' Arodan whispered. He found a quill but no ink regretfully and he really wasn't sure if he should continue whispering to Mimir. 'You wanna be like her?'

It would be really nice to walk in a form like yours.

Well, as long as she didn't possess him to do so Arodan was okay with that thought. 'I wouldn't know how to get you one like that but it is a fun thought.' He held Mimir close to him. 'I'll look into it.'

That'd mean the world to me.

'It's no problem.'

Thank you for being my friend, Arodan.

That made him just a bit tearful. He knew that. The confirmation just was nice, the kind of warm hug he wanted or the kind word. This was nice.

'What… What are you doing?'

That was not an as nice thing to hear. He peered into the dark and he could see Sachairi standing on just a distance from him. 'Oh, you.' As soon as the words slipped from Arodan's lips he found himself mentally bracing for whatever might come and he thought he should really ask himself why he just kept saying whatever came to mind. 'I mean- I didn't...'

Wait.

Arodan peered more closely now and he could see Sachairi was staring at him with a look he hadn't yet seen on him. He was pretty sure it was a self loathing disappointment completely with a light head tilt. 'Are… Are you okay?'

'No, I just...' It had been only the blink of an eye and Sachairi had returned to being the intimidating figure he had been in the crypt. 'It is none of your goddamn business.' Almost, that was. Something wasn't as confident in his stance.

'... Right.' Arodan scanned over the other man with obvious doubt. 'What are you looking for? Why are you up?'

'That too isn't for you to know.' Sachairi stepped towards him. 'I need to talk to you.'

'You mentioned that yeah.' Arodan gave as a flat response. 'Are you going to be polite to me or not?'

'Yeah, listen bucko, I'll be nice if I want to.' His eyes darted off to the side and he pointed at Arodan with a shaking, smoking hand. 'I need your help.'

'Sachairi?'

Balam poked his head out of Arodan's cabin. He looked half asleep still but alert enough to register what was being discussed. He didn't look particularly happy to see Sachairi. 'What are you doing out of bed? Go to sleep son.'

'I wasn't really feeling it.' Sachairi shrank under Balam's scrutinizing gaze and started to step away. The smoke that lined his arms and shoulders faded and his voice shifted. 'It's not as if I have to sleep.'

'Yes you do, stop being stubborn.' Balam sternly said. He wormed his way through the door yet again and nearly took the door out of its hinges. 'You aren't well. Rest.'

'I'm perfectly fine, stop telling me what I am.' Sachairi responded, turning on his heel and disappearing into the darkness. Arodan had expected him to follow up with something but nothing came. He could swear he heard a pained whimper out of the distance as if someone had maybe pushed him but that was the least of his worries. 

'That was… Very weird.' Arodan whispered, his gaze sliding up to Balam.

'It is like I'm dealing with a teenager.' Balam said. The statement sounded way too humorous to Arodan to take seriously. The following caught his attention far more effectively. '.... I swear it's as if someone else is wearing his face. When he looks monstrous he is more himself than like this.'

'I meant to ask, what did Atlas discuss with you about this?' Arodan walked over to Balam's side so they stood in the shared light of the charm. 'I know this is a highly personal affair but I have to step in.'

'He told me what was necessary.' Balam said painfully. He closed his eyes and looked more tired than before. 'I know I'm not going to stop you, and if a stranger is the way to figure out if he has become a threat, then I will take it.'

'That was the plan.' Arodan hummed. 'And he wants to talk to me, so that gives me an opportunity. I don't know why, but I'll figure it out.'

'I see.' Balam opened his eyes and took to eyeing Arodan suspiciously. Arodan knew what he was thinking just by how Kassa looked at him on the bunker's roof and he decided to not pay it any attention. 'I wish you good luck, Arodan.' Balam started to saunter away, off into the pitch black of the hallway. 'Do not lose sight of yourself.'

'I will, si- Balam.' Arodan responded. He waited until Balam truly was out of sight and then chose to retreat into his cabin again. He was quite done with all the heavy situations for today and as soon as his face hit the (to him) impossibly soft pillow he fell into a deep dreamless sleep. As long as nothing worried him in his dreams then he would be fine for the night.