#outer wilds pursuer

[artbyblastweave]

Years and years and years back, I was tinkering with a concept that, at the time, I hadn't seen done before, which was to do a Fables or Once Upon A Time-style mass-fairy-tale-retelling in a soft-sci-fi space opera/planetary romance setting. I remember a couple of overarching concepts. One was that the classic Fairy Tales being remixed with increasingly outlandish genres was an actual metaphysical conceit of the setting; the big bad was going to be King Arthur, who, due to his nature as the one who cyclically dies and returns, had become cognizant of all the times he'd lived through the same shitshow but with a wild west veneer or an urban-fantasy veneer or a mad-max veneer or a coffee-shop-AU veneer, and on this-go around, he'd decided to use the planet-shattering imperial might of space!camelot to attempt a suicide run against the entire universe in the hopes of deviating from the script strongly enough to break the cycle. (Note that all of this came from a place of total ignorance of Arthurian lore, which is in part why I never pulled the trigger on it- I felt I had reading to do.) The other character concept that stuck in my head was that there was this tertiary character who was the classic space-western gunslinger- constantly swooping in at the last minute to bail the heroes out, rugged and squinty-eyed, effortlessly laying waste to vastly superior opponents with nary a thought. Through context clues (such as his ability to fly in outer space under his own power) it was eventually going to be made clear that this was supposed to be the setting's version of Peter Pan. Prior to the Space Opera cycle, Neverland’s conceptual gravity as a place that fundamentally does not change allowed it to avoid being reset at the end of each cycle; Peter's cavalier attitude towards life and death was informed by the fact that no matter how many times Hook dies, no matter how many times the Darlings visited and departed, they'd always eventually come back, albeit with mannerisms informed by whatever conceit was currently dominating the rest of the universe outside Neverland. Unfortunately, for the space-opera cycle Hook showed up as the captain of a star-destroyer-type thing and unceremoniously glassed Neverland from orbit, ending the party for good. Peter then finally took the plunge into quote-unquote "adulthood" in order to adopt a vengeful-pursuer role- indeed, he stakes a lot of his present identity on the idea that he was finally "forced to grow up"- but it's of course obvious to anyone who gets remotely close to him that he's only become "more mature" in the way that the gratuitous blood-and-guts Liefeldian anti-heroes of the 90s positioned themselves as a mature alternative to the cornball antics of the silver age; all he's done is trade up to a slightly more involved Juvenile power fantasy, still equally divorced from adulthood even if he looks 35.

[crimsonquill-086]

Inktober Day 27 - "Escape"

Working title: "You'll never take me alive!"

Working Title 2 Electric Boogaloo: "Void you!" 'Flashes Eye Tattoo'

This is Scree. Scree is the OC of my sibling, Hikari. She is not in the server, but she is awesome.

Scree is terrified of the birds. So they decided to terrify them right back. With the ultimate taunt, they infiltrate their lair, terror dogging their steps, until they strike.

Leading their pursuers to the edge of the water, Scree faces them, puts on their sunglasses (don't question it), tears open their shirt and displays, in all its glory, the painstakingly painted mural of the Eye of the Universe that they asked Hal to draw on their chest. Thus do they assure their final victory-their escape from fear.

And their escape from the birbs. Dedicated to my sibling, and their OC Scree, who ignited this magnificent troll train for the birbs. @outer-wilds-inktober

[ghostchasersmagazine]

Another really cool piece of Speedy Buggy development history, these are some unused story ideas from one of the show's writers Sandy Krinski. (We also get a bonus interesting bit of information with these that Speed Buggy that character was at one point in development known as "Chug-A-Bug".)

Full transcript under the cut:

(...) perfect replicas of the Speed Bugg kids and Chug-A-Bug, leading to all sorts of wild and fun-filled confusion before the kids work out a way to defeat him and his scheme.

(2) A scientist who has perfected vapor that ages everything it touches, instantly turning the Speed Bugg kids into old people - and then into infants when it runs amok. Chug-A-Bug, too, is aged by this vapor, becomes a rusty old pile of junk -- and then reverting into a brand-new (perhaps baby) car.

(3) A chemical engineer who has developed a ray that removes all iron from everything (like a giant magnet), causing buildings, bridges, and cars (like Chug-A-Bug) to fall apart.

(4) Creatures from another planet, who are far advanced over earth people -- except for that they do not have automobiles. So they want to take Chug-A-Bug back with them; they will learn to reproduce him on their planet -- and the kids struggle valiantly to save him from being whisked off to outer space.

(5) A heavy who has developed a method of converting himself to a mist or vapor, or any form of water or ice; this enables him to hide in fogs and streams and oceans, and thus elude his pursuers after he commites as evil act -- and it's only because of Chug-A-Bug's ingenuity that he is eventually trapped.

(6) A tall, thin villain who has the amazing ability to inhale and then swell up like a balloon, which enables him to float away from the scene of his nefarious activities before anyone can catch him. Tinker works out a way to inflate Chug-A-Bug -- enabling him to float, too, thus becoming the heavy's pursuer ... and eventual downfall.

***

SPEED BUGGY -- Premise

Tinker is servicing Speed Buggy and accidentally puts together a lubricating spray that completely eliminates friction. Speed Buggy tries a few drops, and, following Newton's Law for frictionless objects, he zips around like crazy until he hits something.

This draws the attention of Count Bingo von Freespace, the Macedonian game nut, who decides he must have the friction eliminator to help him defeat all of his opponents.

He lures the kids and car to his castle. There, each room is a larger-than-life mock-of a different game. For example:

When Tinker won't "confess" the formula (which he doesn't know to begin with), the Count coats the soles of his shoes with the friction eliminator and shows him into his Pin-Ball-Room. Tinker rebounds from pillar to post and back to pillar -- racking up a fantastic score -- while the Count in his balcony control room deftly works on the giant "flippers".

When the Speed Buggs finally turn the tables for the climatic chase, the Count coats himself with the last of the spray and becomes a streak of greased lightning that no one can hold onto...

***

SPEED BUGGY -- Premise

The kids and Speed Buggy are taking part in a cross country sports rally. They find themselves behind what appears to be a gasoline truck. When it stops at a traffic light, some of its contents slosh out through an overflow valve. Speed Buggy, hot, dry, and almost out of fuel, laps up a few of the drops. Then the light changes and he begins to zip around like crazy. Even in his lowest gear he is almost out of control.

Now, what they have accidentally stumbled across is the evil Professor Quicksilver's super-soapy liquid that completely eliminates friction. In the hopes of finding something to cure Speed Buggy's condition, they turn him into a mechanical bloodhound who tracks the truck to Professor Quicksilver's mansion. There they discover that the liquid has one additionally property and with it, Quicksilver intends to take over the world. Behind his mansion, he has constructed a gigantic bubble blowing machine. Using the super-soapy liquid, he will blow three-mile-wild bubbles, capture rain clouds within them, and thus create a drought that will wither crops, dry up rivers and bring the nation to its knees.

The kids and car are captured and Quicksilver treats them to a private demonstration of things to come by encapsulating the kids within bubbles and by applying the frictionless liquid to Speed Buggy's tires and shoving him into the "ballroom". Without friction to slow him, Speed Buggy rebounds from walls, pillars and furniture as if in a giant pin-ball machine.

Eventually, he discovers a way out, frees the kids, and turns the tables on Quicksilver.

And Quicksilver, living up to his name, tried to get away by coating himself with the liquid -- thus becoming a human greased pig that no one can hold onto ..... a condition that finally does him in when he finds he can't hold onto anything either. He can't pick up a glass or a sandwich or turn a doorknob and, when he tries to rest on his curved chaise, he keeps slipping off into the pool.

[nagipops]

A BYAKUGAN NEW YEAR

FEATURING: neji hyuuga!

SUMMARY: in which you and neji attend a new year’s festival, and a familiar messenger arrives with a humorous confession, initiating a wild goose chase…

Walking through the warmly lit streets of the annual New Year’s festival, you inhaled the various scents flowing through the crisp winter air. Savory notes from Ichiraku Ramen, where Naruto and Hinata shared a meal. A floral scent from Ino’s flower shop, where Sai was browsing the various aisles. Lee was on one knee... seemingly proposing to Sakura?

You turned to your side, gazing up at Neji, who was accompanying you on your stroll through the street.

“Don’t you usually hate this kind of stuff?” you asked, raising your voice slightly to be heard over the bustling crowd. “Aren’t there too many people for your taste?”

Neji leaned down to hear you and narrowed his eyes slightly before replying, “I don’t want you to get lost here. It’s dangerous.”

“Neji!” you snorted. “That’s just your fear of people!”

“Tch.” He gestured out to the vast sea of people hustling back and forth around you. “Look at all these people. You never know who could be hiding among them.”

You bit back a grin at how protective your friend was of you. He wasn’t this caring about most people, but you were something special to him. Just as he was to you. “Finee, only because you’re being so sweet. Plus, I like spending time with you,” you teased, poking his cheek, which earned a deep blush from him.

He turned every shade of crimson, coughing softly. “(Y/N),” he warned, lightly elbowing you.

You gave him a cheeky wink before turning back to the busy street, savoring the feeling of being surrounded by people you know and love.

“NEJIIIIIII!” a familiar voice cried out, nearing closer and closer. Rapid footsteps pounded on the asphalt, earning shrieks and cries from the surrounding citizens. A flash of green appeared before your eyes, and a familiar boy in a jumpsuit kneeled on the ground below you, his arms frozen in a perpendicular running pose with his black head of hair bowed down. “Neji.”

“Lee!” Neji cried, his face flushing once again as citygoers stared at him in shock. Whispers and giggles soon ensued as Neji’s eyes grew frantic. “Lee, what are you doing?” he hissed.

A scroll of parchment materialized out of thin air into Lee’s hand, which he offered to Neji with both palms outstretched. “For you, Neji-sama.”

You bit your lip to keep from laughing as Neji stared incredulously at Lee’s ridiculous nickname. He narrowed his lavender eyes at the scroll before turning to you with an inquisitive look. “What is this?”

Shrugging innocently, you ushered him to take the parchment. “Go on, read it! I wanna know too.”

You could practically see the gears turning in Neji’s head as he continued to narrow his eyes at you. After a few moments, he reached for the scroll resting in Lee’s palms.

An idea sparking in your head, you blocked Neji’s hands from the scroll. “Wait!” His pale hands retracted immediately, while Lee remained unfazed, his head still bowed.

You tapped the top of Lee’s head. “Oi, Lee, aren’t you supposed to be a page?”

The messenger’s head trembled as his gaze remained downcast. “Y-yes.”

“Why don’t you read the scroll then?” You tapped his head once again, a little harder this time, before casting a teasing glance over your shoulder at Neji. “Since I’m sure Neji would be too embarrassed to read it aloud himself.”

Neji’s brow furrowed as his face flushed once again. “I would not.”

You turned back to Lee, who was still kneeling one one knee. “Lee!”

The black-haired boy immediately shot up, his palms slapped to his sides in an attention position. “Yes ma’am!” He held the scroll directly in front of him as it unfurled with a whoosh, creating an even greater scene as passerby continued to point and giggle while Neji stared daggers at anyone who lingered for more than a second. “Just get it over with,” he muttered as the bystanders began to go about their day.

“Ahem!” Lee cleared his throat before reciting the scroll. “Sharingan is red, Rasengan is blue, I wish that you would use your Byakugan on me too. Sincerely, (Y/N).”

Neji’s eyes widened in fear as his face turned beet red. You swore you could see smoke coming out of his ears.

Your chest racked from your suppressed titters. “P-pf! N-Neji!” You snorted, failing to contain your laughter as your explosive giggles finally escaped, ringing throughout the streets. “Pfffahaha! Neji!”

Neji’s body started to tremble as his complexion continued to darken. “(Y/N)...” He turned to you with murderous eyes.

“Eep!” You shrunk into yourself, still giggling.

He took a slow step towards you, his chilled gaze fixated on yours. “Uh oh.” You immediately turned on your heel and dashed into the crowd, awkwardly weaving through citizens and friends, having to stop behind slow-moving crowds in between mad dashes.

“Oi! (Y/N)!” A familiar loud voice called out as a furred hood popped up above the crowd at a nearby market stand. Damn Kiba and his stupid noisy voice! “Heyy! Wait, that’s her, right?”

Biting your lip in frustration, you maneuevered through the sea of people until you made your way to the other side. “Kiba!” you hissed. “Be quiet!”

His dark eyes widened at your sour tone, but he lowered his voice to a whisper. “Whoa there, what’s wrong?”

“I’m hiding from Neji. No time to explain, but if he asks, you never saw me.” Your eyes darted around the stand behind Kiba, where various thick furs and coats hung upon racks and hooks. Grabbing the nearest one off of a rack, you threw it across your shoulders and started to dash off again. “Thanks, I’ll pay you back sometime!”

“Hey—!“ But you were already back on your way, weaving through the crowds once again with the furry cloak draped around your head and shoulders, shielding you from being spotted.

As you reached the outer skirts of the festival, you noticed that the crowd had started to thin and frantically searched for a place to hide. Spotting a nearby alleyway that was hidden away from the main street, your gaze flitted back and forth before you darted into the dark and cool retreat.

Placing a hand on your heaving chest and feeling your thumping heart against the wall, you sighed heavily to catch your breath. You carefully peered around the corner, looking for any sign of your pursuer, Ne—

You felt a hand on your shoulder.

“AHHHHHHH!!” you shrieked, nearly jumping out of your skin as you dove to the ground.

Turning around to face your attacker, you found—

“Neji?!” The taller boy was staring down at you, arms folded in front of him. “How did you—“ You noticed the veins around his eyes starting to retract into his face.

Byakugan. Touché.

“Hmph,” Neji huffed, glaring down at your body on the ground for a few moments. Then a few moments longer...

Realization dawned on you as you protectively covered your body with your hands. “NEJI!” you cried, driving your foot into his shin. “YOU CREEP!”

“Ow!” Neji barked, hopping on one foot and rubbing his leg to soothe the pain. You rushed to your feet, grabbing his collar and pinning him against the concrete wall. “Let me— go!” he groaned in pain.

“You perv!” you growled, pushing him further up the wall as he struggled against your grip.

Neji’s strained face slipped into a smug grin before he disappeared from your hold. “Wha—“ Your back suddenly hit the wall, and you looked up to see Neji pinning you against it, a satisfied smirk on his face.

“Did you really think that would restrain me?”

Your shocked expression dissolved into a teasing grin. “Mmm, no, but this makes up for it. You know I was just joking about that scroll though, right?”

A small chuckle escaped his lips as he held you steadily against the wall. “Of course. My Byakugan was already gone by the time I found you.” He averted his gaze to the side, looking abashed. “I could never look at you like that.”

“Yet here you are, pinning me against a damn wall.” You giggled quietly before reaching for his collar again, softly this time. “Neji...”

He hummed softly, leaning down closer to you. Slowly, holding onto his collar, you pulled him towards you until your noses were nearly touching. You stared into his mesmerizing lavender eyes, loving the way his dark hair fell in front of his face, savoring the closeness of him. “You...”

You pressed your lips to his.

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[eleanorfenyxwrites]

((2k - missing scene during the time Meng Yao is protecting Lan Xichen after the burning of Cloud Recesses))

Meng Yao wakes up in the same way he has for the last few weeks since their injuries had healed for it - in Xichen’s arms.

It isn’t strictly a...physical thing, he doesn’t think, since it had definitely started as a way to both share warmth and to have reassurance through the night that the other one hadn't been taken by their pursuers. But after the last accident for the Wen that Meng Yao had orchestrated to give them some breathing room, and having found them a small shack in the countryside to stay in that had a door and a hearth and everything...neither of those excuses is really holding much water anymore.

And yet here he is, wrapped up securely in the other man's arms and held close to that broad chest and he closes his eyes to savor it, his expression unguarded in a brief moment of weakness that he doesn’t realize he has a witness for until he feels Lan Xichen's hand drifting to brush softly against his arm currently wrapped across the other man's chest - precisely the position they’d fallen asleep in last night as Xichen had lain on his back in typical Lan fashion with Meng Yao cradled gently against his side.

The touch is much too careful to be done in his sleep.

Meng Yao's expression instantly freezes and he feels tension creep into his shoulders as he begins mentally berating himself for the slip-up. He can’t afford those. Hadn’t been able to afford those for a very long time.

“I know you're awake," he says quietly as he looks at the rough homespun blanket covering both of them up to the waist. "Let me up, I can start breakfast.”

“Hmmm..No,” Xichen murmurs, voice a soft rumble low in his chest, making it vibrate ever so slightly under his arm that he’s now stroking more openly, having been caught out. “I’m comfortable.” Meng Yao lets out a delicate little snort at that and he glances up to look at Lan Xichen’s faint hint of a smile in response, his eyes still closed against the morning sun creeping in through every loose board in the walls.

“We don’t sleep like this to be comfortable,” he reminds the other with a scoff and he’s unsurprised when all that gets him is a slight widening of the smile and Xichen’s other hand beginning to stroke his back, his palm warm through the flimsy barrier of his sheer underrobe.

“No? Hm. Why do we sleep this way, then?”

“We..it is…” Meng Yao props himself up a bit on his elbow to get some distance (it’s difficult to think when Xichen’s shoulder is warm and solid under his cheek) and he frowns to himself as he mentally stumbles over the next excuse in his ever-growing list of them. Unfortunately they’re all equally flimsy and easily argued, and he knows that Xichen will argue whatever he chooses in his gentle way, try to push him into telling the truth. He’s been doing that more lately, pushing beyond what he used to in a search for answers - whether Meng Yao wants to give them or not.

“It’s alright, A-Yao,” he murmurs and Meng Yao looks up through his lashes to find the other man already watching him, gaze warm and honey-sweet as he looks up at him. He’s so beautiful like this, Meng Yao thinks. He’s still sleep-soft and his skin is hot even through the double layer of their robes, his hair fanned out on the pillow under his head and his cheeks a slight, delicate shell-pink, his lips a few shades darker. He meets Xichen’s gaze again and feels himself getting caught in it, laid bare by nothing more than a gentle voice and kind eyes.

Pathetic.

“No, come back,” Xichen urges as he drags his hand up the length of his forearm to wrap those beautiful, long fingers around his wrist so he can gently pull his hand from his shoulder to his lips apparently for the sole purpose of pressing feather-light kisses against his knuckles. Meng Yao is shocked enough by the gesture that his mask cracks again and it earns him a gentle sigh of relief. “Ah, there you are. I like it best when you don’t hide your face,” he murmurs, and though Meng Yao could press the issue and argue that he hadn’t hidden his face at all, he knows what he means. And he’s tired of arguing.

“Xichen…”

“A-Yao,” the only man to ever truly see him whispers. He brushes that broad hand up his back and really, how was Meng Yao ever supposed to resist?

His eyes slip shut of their own accord as Xichen curls his hand into a gentle fist against his shoulder blade and the thin fabric of his underrobe whispers against soft skin as it slips down over the curve of one shoulder to expose it before getting caught in the crook of his elbow and sliding no further. Meng Yao gasps as pliant lips press into the newly exposed hollow at the outer end of his collarbone where it meets his shoulder and he bites his bottom lip to stifle anything else - word or noise - that wants to escape under the skilled and methodical ministrations of Xichen’s lips.

It lasts for what feels like a small eternity of nothing but tender kisses and quiet, unsteady breathing shared between them until a particularly loud bird call from outside startles Meng Yao and he shoves Xichen away with trembling hands. He scrambles out of bed with another gasp on his lips and he tugs his robe more fully around himself, eyes wide and wild as he pants for breath as if he’d just finished a full practice bout with Nie Mingjue. Xichen is still in bed, sitting up now with the blanket pooled around his hips, robe half open and draped on his musculare frame in a way that’s criminally delicious, and Meng Yao’s neck and shoulder are faintly aching with bruises in the shape of the mouth currently turning his name into a question and a prayer simultaneously.

“A-Yao?” Xichen murmurs as the hand he had stretched out to try to catch him falls back to the bed with a soft thump. Meng Yao darts a glance around the small structure before he drifts to the door on bare feet (ugh, dirt floors) and he doesn’t even open the ragged collection of boards that’s all that really stands between them and the world, he simply looks through one of the gaps to hunt for any irregularities in the overgrown grass close at hand or beyond it in the woods sheltering the clearing from civilization. “There’s no one here but us,” Xichen calls quietly from the bed and Meng Yao straightens his posture slowly, trying to gather as much dignity around himself as he can muster when dressed in nothing but a black robe thinner than a piece of paper. He turns back to face the other to find him looking at him with so much tenderness it makes his entire body ache.

“You can’t know that for sure. We could be found at any moment.”

“Then we will be found and we will deal with it then,” he replies implacably and Meng Yao does not stamp his foot but he is sorely tempted to.

“Then everything I’ve done for you would have been for nothing!! You can’t be caught!” he retorts, too sharp, too jagged. He waits for the anger, for the indignation at being spoken to so disrespectfully by an inferior, but it’s Xichen so of course there’s nothing in those wide, trusting eyes but concern and sadness. Meng Yao schools his features as well as he can back towards something polite and distant as he refuses to shuffle his feet. It would be a sign of weakness, and that’s even more intolerable than the idea of kicking up more dirt to stick to the bottom of his bare feet. “You are the Sect Heir-” an unsubtle reminder of the dynamic that should exist between them even now, and that Xichen regularly disregards as if it never existed in the first place - “And you have the majority of the Lan library on your person. You absolutely cannot be caught.”

“You are equally as important to me, A-Yao. I will not allow you to be caught either.”

Silence reigns, tense and uncomfortable, as Meng Yao attempts to make that declaration align with his own views. He’s unsurprised to find it quite impossible.

“A-Yao...why aren’t you returning to the Unclean Realm?” Lan Xichen asks after a while of nothing but staring and the unsynchronized rhythms of their breathing and Meng Yao groans as he finally does give into his childish urge and stomps across the small shack to plop himself firmly on the edge of the bed, back bowed. What’s the point in keeping up appearances anymore anyway? Lan Xichen has seen him at his worst already, and Meng Yao, at least, knows that worse is coming. It will do him good later to nurture that trust now, to make Lan Xichen feel special for being allowed to see him unguarded.

He refuses to acknowledge that he might be allowing it for the sake of the fragile hope in his chest that someone in the world could see the truest version of him, see the hideousness lurking at his core, and care for him anyway.

“I have been banished,” he replies, voice cold and empty as he stares at the opposite wall. He has plans, of course - he always has plans - but his banishment is still there in the front of his mind, taking up valuable space that should be used to plot his own survival with a despair he hadn’t thought himself still capable of. “I have nowhere to go.”

“Oh A-Yao…”

“You cannot take me to Gusu,” he replies instantly, turning his head to meet the other man’s saddened gaze. He isn’t sure if he looked like that before or after his second pronouncement but it doesn’t really matter very much. “It will need rebuilding. Our position is still dangerous. It will anger Nie-zongzhuo, it will damage my reputation and yours, it -“

“Shh A-Yao. It’s alright. Come here.”

Xichen never interrupts. He simply doesn’t. Not even when he should, or when it’s clear that he wants to. He doesn’t. The fact of it happening now is enough to shock Meng Yao and he obeys without thought. He lays himself straight back and plants his feet on the floor as his head somehow ends up cradled in Xichen’s lap, the man’s nimble fingers deftly working out the worst of the snags in his hair from overnight, though there aren’t many. He’s always so exhausted at the end of the day that he sleeps still as stone on Xichen’s chest. Still. The gesture is oddly reminiscent of his mother holding him and soothing him at the end of long days spent running away from other children in the streets outside the brothel in Yunmeng, the ones who wanted nothing to do with him except to see how much fear they could subject him to before they were called home for dinner. His eyes fill with tears unexpectedly as the sense memory hits him right in the chest and Xichen doesn’t even pause in his careful stroking.

“It’s alright,” he murmurs with a gentle sweep of his fingertips across his forehead, the gesture turning into a pass of the back of one knuckle against his temple that’s wet with tears he’s powerless to stop. A sob breaks out of Meng Yao’s chest, a little baby bird of a thing, too fragile for the world that’s waiting to destroy it.

“No,” he protests, voice cracked porcelain as he closes his eyes against the sight of the gaps in the thatching overhead. “It’s not. Nothing is.”

“I’m here,” Xichen replies, beginning to sound less composed than usual. “I’m right here, A-Yao. We’ll figure this out.” Meng Yao tenses in preparation to sit up but Xichen’s free hand is suddenly on his chest, restraining and comforting at once as he leans down. His hair, unbound and still a little tangled from sleep, falls around them in a curtain and pools like heavy silk on Meng Yao’s shoulders as Xichen leans down to press his lips against his forehead, soft and slow. “Don’t get up,” he pleads. “Stay with me.”

Meng Yao should stand up. He should compose himself, he should pretend that he never had a reason to compose himself in the first place. He should plan their next move, try to figure out how much longer they can hunker down in the shack before they have to move on to avoid detection.

He shouldn’t let Xichen make him weak.

“Huan-ge,” he breathes and he feels the shudder in the curve of Xichen’s body around his head and shoulders. “Take care of me,” he adds. And instead of standing, instead of establishing a proper boundary, he lets Xichen drag him into the bed properly to do just that.

[galla-xiv]

Okay, random ask: What's the silliest prank Mari has ever pulled? Or, what's the dumbest thing she's done to get into trouble? Or both. Your pick.

Okay so the best example for this is on the scale of epically dumb and highly successful at the same time.

Mari took to studying birds for a time and then this turned into an obsession with collecting feathers to put on her hats and nice dresses. She had also read that feathers were somehow erotic and since she's endlessly fascinated with the inner and outer workings of bedplay and courting, she took to this venture with serious intent.

Through her research and experimenting, Mari decided that dodo feathers were the most potent for all of the things aforementioned. They were even fairly easy to dye! So she started sneaking through the corrals and fields of dodo farmers, taking feathers that had fallen off the birds. This would not do though. In her exploration of dodo feathers and their uses, she found that her customers were keen on buying her dyed feathers...for reasons. The demand soon outweighed what Mari could gather from the ground surrounding the dim-witted birds.

So the next natural thing was to steal the birds outright. It was easy to lure away the stragglers from the tamed flocks. The wild ones made far too much noise and proved to be too cantankerous for taming. Mari started out slowly but soon she was stealing at a high clip. This of course caught the attention of the farmers and soon she was a wanted thief.

No one could catch her in the act for a long time. Adventurers with little patience and after what they thought was a quick gil failed time and again. It wasn't until a dark-haired Monk from Ul'dah turned up that Mari felt the pressure of the whole ordeal. The woman who stalked her was persistent and very patient. The stress and the time that this venture was eating up finally had the Miqo'te slipping up. The dark haired adventurer caught her in the act two weeks after she had started her hunt.

Mari panicked and instead of void portaling away lickity split, she mounted the first dodo available and rode off. The adventurer followed and if it wasn't for Mari's magic to encourage the dodo to run faster than it was naturally able, she would have been caught. So hunter and prey had a short run and Mari led the dodo to the edge of a cliff and didn't stop. Her pursuer let out a startled yelp as bird and Miqo'te went flying off the cliff. There was a slightly startled squawk from the bird as it hit the water hard; there was no sign of Mari.

She had evaded capture but was soundly put off dodo rustling for good. Now her main issue was what to do with all the naked Dodos running about the clearing where her cabin was.

Thank you, anon, for allowing me to put all that into the record. It's been sitting in my brain and only mentioned in passing in Mari's various conversations. <3))

[cirvat]

Week 2- Creatober

Prompts: Awareness, Pressure, Fight, Sunrise, Burn, Bruise (I couldn’t seem to fit Intrigue in here!)

Kagura pressed her fist to her mouth to cover the yawn that betrayed just how tired she was. Beside her Leo was leaning over his fiancé’s shoulders, eyes closed and groaning into Shin’s neck. Shin was petting his hair as they scanned the line of guards that bracketed them.

The walkway was lit with the glare of streetlamps as a soft glow on the horizon carried the promise of a sunrise. The carriage that they stood in front of was an ornate thing, golden and giant with little dragons sewn into the drapery. It looked like those show boxes royalty would put pretty trinkets in.

Princess Ursula was anything but a pretty trinket.

Not to say that she isn’t pretty, she floundered in her own head. Her Highness is very beautiful! She's just not a trinket!

Achieving Runic mastership at the age of twenty was almost unheard of. The variety of properties behind each and every rune made the field notorious for its complexity. Kagura had to research some of the more common runes during her medical classes and it was like pulling teeth trying to understand them.

She really hoped she would get to see more of the Princess’s abilities in action. 

“When are they gonna get here?” Leo groaned. “I could have gotten more sleep if all we’re gonna do is stand here for an hour!”

“It’s ceremonial, Leo.” Shin swept another hand through his hair. “Her Highness needs to be dressed in traditional clothing for her travels through the outer rings.”

“Also, she and Kavan need to talk mission details.” Kagura poked Leo’s side.

“But sleep!” Leo pressed into his fiancé even more.

“Leo.” Shin shrugged him off their shoulder. “You’re going to be riding on top of the thing anyways. Chill out.”

The ginger groaned and moved to lean on them again just as the guards parted. Kagura and Shin elbowed him up straight as Kavan led both the Princess and Empress Sakura forward. The three sunk into deep bows at their approach.

“Rise.” The Empress’s clear voice seemed to set pressure down on Kagura’s spine, forcing her to obey. “Dear guildsfolk, I entrust to you my daughter. Protect her and care for her.”

“We will, Your Excellency.” Kavan bowed, showing her the respect he would usually only show to the Vulcos Grandmaster.

“Ursula, my daughter.” Sakura turned to the Princess, her lips pursed in what could only be worry. “I wish you safe travels. Return to me swiftly.”

“Of course, Mother.” Ursula bowed her head, her face covered by the veil she wore. She turned to the carriage and her beautiful formal robes drifted across the ground as she walked. 

Kagura was sure that her eyes were burning against the Princess’s back as she climbed the steps into the carriage. She just couldn’t help herself. The grace that her Highness moved with swayed the fish beaded into the fabric so that they almost looked alive. 

Ursula settled into the carriage as her newly appointed guards took their positions. Shin took up the horses’ reins as Leo climbed up to perch on the guard post beside the sunroof window. Kagura and Kavan moved to their rear guard positions. 

Their travel through the palace grounds and out into the Upper Ring was uneventful. Kagura spent her time checking her gloves and doing her fourth pocket pat down of the morning. 

Once they cleared the palace walls it was another story entirely.

Whispers traced their path through the city.

Kagura hadn’t noticed it at first. She’d been caught up in staring at the tops of the monolithic buildings that towered over the streets when a small exchange caught her ear. 

“Demon’s out to play again.”

Her eyes snapped down in time to see some lordly asshole bend over to whisper in another’s ear.

“I don’t know how Her Excellency can stand it. That thing living in her walls.”

“If it lived in my home you know I’d…” The voices became indistinct as they moved further away. 

After that she was aware of every cupped mouth and averted glare. Her shoulders rose higher and higher and she cut a glance at Kavan only to see him shake his head. His hand nearest to her flipped palm out for a moment before moving back.

Don’t. Not worth it.

Her eyes flicked up to meet Leo’s and she let her head tilt forward. 

Leo grimaced and tapped twice on the carriage roof.

Shin flicked the reins, cuing the horses to speed up.

They moved through the Upper Ring as fast as possible. 

The gate between the Upper and Lower Rings was gaudy and unnecessarily golden. There were guards posted every yard along the wall. The ones closest to the carriage bowed as they passed, backing up as they did.

The Lower Ring was only marginally better.

The working class didn’t bother with whispering those foolish remarks, not ready to face the possible jail time for insulting royalty. They did, however, turn away from the carriage and clutch their children close.

The closer they got to the edge of the Lower Ring the less people seemed to care. By the time they reached the Parting Gate, the cityfolk barely batted an eye at the Princess’s carriage.

The guards of the Parting Gate didn’t bow. Instead, each one gave a nod, arms crossed and faces stoic. Kagura startled a bit when she saw Princess Ursula’s hand slide out of one of the windows and give them all a wave.

Beyond the Parting Gate, the mood around the carriage took a dramatic turn. 

Along the Palace City walls were camps and small slums of those forbidden from entering. Instead of whispered words and averted eyes were people trailing behind them. Children ran alongside the carriage, calling out to the ‘pretty ma’am’ to play with them.

A sudden low whistle sounded from Leo causing the carriage to slow to a halt. 

Requested stop. Kagura frowned, peeking around the side of the vehicle.

The Princess was leaning out of the window, veil trailing in the breeze.

“Hello, my friends.” She Whispered causing the clamoring children to quiet down. “How have you been?”

“Good!” The tallest girl chirped. “Our carrots are ready to harvest!”

“That’s good to hear.” Ursula’s voice was soft.

“How is your sister?” A small boy asked.

Which one? Kagura wondered with a small snort.

“She is well, thank you.” Ursula retreated for a moment. “I must be going, my friends.” Her hand reached out again, holding a coin purse and a small sack. “Please tell your parents of my absence.”

“Ok.” The children chorused as the tall girl took the bags. 

“Please be safe, miss!” A few of them rushed to say. 

“You as well.” Ursula gave them a parting wave. Leo tapped the carriage roof twice and they were off once more.

Kagura kept her eyes on the slumfolk as they made their way out and found herself smiling as they waved toward them.

Once they reached the slum limits the carriage paused to let Kagura and Kavan hop on their rear guard perches and then they were off. They moved at a fast clip over the merchant roads and Kagura marveled at the smoothness of their ride.

Time seemed to pass more slowly than usual. As Kagura scanned the horizon, she began to take more notice of the wild flowers that dotted their way. 

About midday they stopped by a river to give the horses a break. Kagura and Shin busied themselves by unhooking the horses. By the time they had finished watering and feeding the animals they returned to the carriage to find Leo in the depths of storytelling.

“- and Kagura, she’s super scary sometimes, looked him right in the eye and told him to f- um… I mean, flick off! So he got mad, like super mad, and went to punch her so I-!” Leo was rocking back and forth on his perch, grinning like a loon. 

“Leo!” Kagura yelped. “Are you telling her Highness about a bar brawl?!”

“She asked about what we do!” He grinned down at her. 

“So tell her about one of our missions! Don’t tell her about punching out some ass-,” she stopped herself, “ahem, uncouth civilian. You’re making us out to be crooks!”

“There is no need to worry, Ms. Ohm.” Kagura flushed when her eyes met the Princess’s own through her veil. “It is refreshing. I do think the man deserved whatever he got.”

“A header through the table?” Shin whispered as they passed behind Kagura. 

She bit her tongue to stop the snort trying to punch through her. Kavan, of course, did nothing to stop his own.

The two finished hooking the horse back in, but as they moved to return to their places Kavan suddenly let out a short, shrill whistle.

Danger.

Kagura froze and let her aura explode out from her. The energy traced through every nook and cranny of the space, stretching out wider and wider as she scanned. 

When the taste of metal flooded her mouth she snapped back into her own head.

“Thirty!” She yelled and gripped her seat as Shin leapt to their chair. A snap of the reins sent them forward at a full gallop.

“Cover!” Kavan roared and Shin ran them through the brush and into the treeline.

Kagura heard Leo yelp and watched an arrow sail past him. 

“Switch!” Kagura cried and reached up to grab the hand Leo was holding down to her. She clambered up to the roof and guided Leo down safely before nocking her bow. 

She crouched on the roof of the carriage and looked back at the way she had sensed their pursuers. Black shapes rocketed toward them across the field, much faster than they should have been able to move. 

“Mages incoming!” She felt her energy pool into her fingers as she pulled back her first arrow. Purple magic zipped along the wood just in time for her to loose it. The arrow flew true and speared one of the shapes right through. She watched with satisfaction as it toppled to the ground. “Twenty nine!”

“Shin!” Kavan was suddenly beside her. “We need to stand our ground!”

“Yes, sir!” They called and let out a cough before letting the reins go. They stomped down on the release mechanism and watched the horses leave them behind for a moment before turning. 

“Ooooo! This is just what I needed!” Leo growled, his voice incredibly lower than it had been before. Kagura refocused in time to see him launch off of the guard perch, his blade already glowing. 

“Damn it, Leo!” Shin jumped from the carriage. They flung off their cloak to reveal the contract marks all over their body. As they pressed their hand to one on their shoulder Kagura dropped down into the carriage. 

“Your Highness, I need you to listen to me.” She moved to watch through the window closest to the action. “If they enter the carriage, please entrust me to defend us.”

“I cannot promise that, Ms. Ohm.” Kagura turned in time to see the Princess loosen her belts. 

“U-uh! What-?” She flustered until she saw the hardened leather armor beneath the silken robes. On her hips gleamed two blackened silver daggers. 

“I am not as delicate as I have led you to believe.” Ursula tugged away her veil and the wig she wore along with it. Her hair underneath was silky, black and twisted into a crown braid. Her blood red eyes, the trait that every single thirteenth child shared, seemed to stare right through her. 

Kagura cleared her throat. “Good.”

The two women stepped out of the carriage and straight into the throws of the battle around them. 

Kagura lost herself to the violence. She watched Shin launch their elemental magics as she stabbed their enemies with poison tipped arrows. She saw Leo cackle in the crazed manner of berserkers as she slammed her bow into weak points. She witnessed Kavan throw their enemies clear through the air, ducking underneath some to loose arrows at others. 

The person that held her attention the most, though, was her Highness.

Ursula whipped her way through the battlefield, blood splattering over her armor, as the daggers in her hands ended the lives of those that sought to kill her. 

Soon, there was no one left to fight, bodies piled on the ground around them.

Kagura let out a sigh and winced when her ribs protested. Probably bruised.

“Thank you.” Ursula murmured as they all collected themselves. “I apologize for any injuries you have sustained protecting me.”

“Ha!” Leo laughed as he collapsed on the ground, beckoning Kagura over to look at his dislocated shoulder. “There’s no need for such formal language anymore, your Highness! We’re siblings in arms now!”

Ursula’s eyes widened. “Wh-what?”

“He’s right.” Shin glanced over at her from where they were staunching Kavan’s bleeding forehead wound. “We are your guards now, your Highness. We will fight alongside you until our contract ends. That is the promise we made.”

“I…” Ursula stumbled over her words for a moment. Her red eyes darted around to each of them. “Thank you.”

“No worries.” Leo waved his hand. “We welcome you.”

Kagura took that moment to set his shoulder back into place. She smiled when his high pitched squeak caused a shy, little smile to crawl across Ursula’s face.

She had a good feeling about this.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Monster Hunt: A Quarrelsome Quarry

... I don’t know about you, brothers, but I feel like I’m being watched.

Setup: The outer wilds of a dwarven hold have been plagued by a lindwyrm, a sinuous, serpentine dragon of particular cruelty. The Lindwyrm hunts beneath the canopy of an ancient forest, preying upon lone hunters and travelers before skulking off to its hidden lair. Seeking patronage, the party has answered the call put out by a dwarven lord: Hunt the beast and bring him its head, those that are successful in their quest will not only receive great honors, but the weight of the beast’s skull in gold. With such a kingly prize, the players are not the only ones seeking the lindwyrm as their quarry, and they will have to compete with other fortune seekers, practiced monster hunters, and dwarven warriors out to avenge their slain kinsman.

Adventure Hooks: 

The lindwyrm is no mere beast, instead possessing a sadistic intelligence that lets it sniff out obvious traps and make its own ambushes. As the players engage in the hunt, they will stumble across members of other hunting parties, horribly maimed but still alive enough to cry for help. The Lindwyrm has left these sorry souls as bait for sympathetic pursuers. Saving one of these survivors despite the time it’ll cost them in the hunt may earn them a friend for life, who may pay their favor back in kind down the line. 

Should the party track the beast to its lair, they will find their final confrontation interrupted by a group of honor-maddened dwarves that are just as willing to fight them as the dragon, if it means slaying the beast and claiming the bounty. A three way fight erupts, potentially leading to the lindwyrm’s escape, or the party earning a vendetta of their own should they slay a member of the intruding warband. 

 Those versed in dragonlore know that to slay a lindwyrm is to invoke a deadly curse, a final sting against the warrior that struck the final blow against the beast. Themes of prolonged suffering and inevitable death are common, but the curse of this particular lindwyrm manifests as bouts of maddening hunger, where the victim is possessed of a manic rage, lashing out at others with their fingers and teeth in the hopes of tearing off a scrap of bloody flesh. The party must seek out a great healer to remove the curse, as the flashes of madness that afflicts their friend grows more and more frequent.

[lua-born]

A spawned AU plot bunny that spawn when I was playing Warframe like the nerd I am. I am also a GOC/ROTG cultist fan who loves rainbow snowcone / frostbite. Bless @aleikats / @alei-kats for wonderful coconut club and Jayson Frost. Thank you for birthing this AU with your art!

Toothiana is a princess coming to age in a kingdom far into space (think like Star Wars Naboo but floating islands) and her parents (king and queen) throws a grand and extravagant festival/ball announcing her coming of age and celebration of her newly found engagement to another neighboring kingdom.

As the festivities went on, Toothiana felt unhappy and upset that her parents had decided to marry her off instead of letting her go on an adventure like she had read in many stories. She wished there was something more than being a barter chip and a princess and sat unhappily in the gardens while the party went on.

Suddenly there was a large overcast above her and screams could be heard as she looked up to see so many pirate ships up close. Pirates descended onto the land, attacking both civilians and guards alike. Then another group descended and found and grabbed Toothiana, dragging her back into one of the smaller ships to depart.

Realizing there was no escape that could leave her in one piece right away, she partially gave up letting them, but not letting them off by giving a few of them some bruises and a black eye.

In turns out they were looking for several targets to capture for ransom and conveniently they managed to nab only at least the princess and a child of a noble, Seraphina.

Few weeks pass (and deep in the outer reigion of the galaxy) Toothiana and Seraphina was held for ransom far from the kingdom and there were several attempts to take them back. But the pirates were cunning and slippery to boot, almost avoiding all attempts but gaining substantial damage on their ship.

Nearly out of fuel and the ship in major need of repair,the pirates dock into an obscure docking port. The pirates attempt to reach their other crew member ship to transfer both Toothiana and Seraphina into separate cargo to prevent losing some ransom money.

Just before they were going to be transferred out into the loading area to be split up, a space pilot comes breaking in, kicking the door open and started fighting the worn down pirates.

As both Toothiana and Seraphina watched (Seraphina becoming more excited and shouting joy as the space pilot kicked ass), Toothiana had several thoughts. ‘Goodness gracious, that’s it! I want to be a space pilot, that’ll be my way to adventure all over the galaxy!’ and another stray thought was ‘oh my, what a nice ass he got there.’

As it turns out the space pilot, now newly revealed ‘Jayson Frost’, wasn’t exactly there to save them but it seems like a plus to return them back home, took them into his ship after they pleaded (more on Seraphina’s part because she got a guardian waiting for her) to be taken home. Toothiana, who had become interested in becoming a space pilot, convinces him over a few days to teach her a space pilot.

He calls her princess several times jokingly and teasingly, not knowing Toothiana is actually a princess.

Jayson eventually has a crisis and figure out he really like Toothiana because of her quirks and he hoped to ask her if she would become her partner in bounty hunting and just deep diving into space for treasure, with the added bonus of traveling everywhere.

Meanwhile Toothiana is also freaking out because damn he is funny with his dark humor and she loves how he would treat her and Seraphina right and not like fragile glass. He also acts like a really good father/big brother to Seraphina so that was a major plus in her books if she wanted to make her own family.

As they travel far back to Toothiana and Seraphina’s Kingdom, detours had to be made while oddly Jayson was suspiciously being slow and stealthy in the neighboring kingdom. The two girls then figure out as he was exposed by a guard at a checkpoint, revealing him to be the lost prince of the King (MiM) who had lost his only son in an invasion. Nearly escaping the guards Jayson takes them into a wild goose chase into the asteroid labyrinth, effectively losing their pursuers.

Toothiana is shocked that this could be the prince she would be expected to marry if he wasn’t a space pilot.

It eventually ends up as an action/comedy/romance as the three runs all over the galaxy, avoiding authorities of certain kingdoms and beating up pirates and completing bounties.

During their travels, Jayson picks up a special artifact from one of the old ruins of a derelict kingdom and it also turns out there's a huge conspiracy around it and they also have to fight a big baddie who threatens the whole galaxy. Which they end up saving with some cliche power of love thing and because Seraphina remembers thats her dad, Kozmotis Pitchiner, the lost and best Head General of Jayson’s kingdom.

Kozmotis ends up hitching for a ride and get them a better ship with the untouch money vault he had hidden away. It was more of a thank you for saving him and letting him reunite with his beloved daughter.

Meanwhile amongst all this, Jayson and Toothiana becomes a couple and unofficial become this weird family where clearly they are to young to get married and have a former Head General and his daughter as family.

Seraphina is pleased about the two getting together and teases both of them about when she’s going to have a little sibling and it always gets them beet red. She often get scolded lightly by her father but she most often gets away with it due to certain incidents.

There’s later in the future, Jayson and Toothiana does get married but then suddenly both their home kingdom crashes in to see them tie the knot. Of course both the couple and Pitchiners escape (Seraphina was both the flower girl and ring barer and Kozmotis was the best man in the wedding.) in a blaze of glory.

[longroadstonowhere]

okay y’all, is my birthday and i have to spend a majority of it at work, so i’m gonna drop this new chapter of wild child on y’all this morning

it’s a bit short, but as i’ve mentioned before, the rest of the story has been rough drafted, so i should be publishing it all within the next month or so (as evidenced by how there’s actually a set number of chapters for the fic now) - the only reason it might take a bit longer is cuz i like when numbers match up so i might spring for some kind of significant date, haha

(1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 ao3)

"This place is huuuge!" John said, his words distorted a little by the window he was currently smashing his face against. It was still early enough in the evening that he could see how the roads leading up to the airport's parking garages twisted around each other, making complicated loops that had to run around the whole complex. He could almost pretend they were on the edge of an epic car chase, one that would have his dad swerving between lanes, taking supersharp turns to throw off their pursuers until the only course left... was straight onto the tarmac!

Distracted by trying to compose the perfect high-octane music score, John didn't realize his dad was saying something to him until he was almost done talking. "... Thankfully we'll be able to park fairly close to our terminal, since getting from one end of the airport to the other can be quite the journey, It wouldn't do to miss our light due to such a silly thing as that."

"Uh, yeah, sure, that would probably be real bad... So hey! What kind of plane are we flying on, anyway? Is it one of those super cool double-decker ones? It'd be so awesome to climb a flight of stairs when you're actually flying waaaay above the clouds!"

His dad chuckled. "Sorry John, but I'm afraid those kinds of plans are usually reserved for international flights, not domestic ones."

"Oh." There went another possibility to reenact some cool movie moments. "Well, whatever kind of plane it is, it'll still be really cool to really be flying. Do the tops of clouds look different from the bottoms? I mean, they look kinda different in the movies, but movies make a lot of stuff look different."

"It depends on the kind of cloud," Jade piped up from the backseat. She and Bec were sprawled out together, soaking up every minute they could before they had to get on the plane separately - Bec was way too big for any airline to let him ride with the passengers, sadly. "I got to see a few different formations on our trip from the island, and the cumulus clouds looked pretty much the same from above and below, but the stratus clouds will look way different cuz the sun hits them in different ways."

John twisted around in his seat as he said, "That's right, I totally forgot you've been in a plane before, Jade! That's so cool!" Then he frowned. "Wait, that means you got the chance to fly before I did. That's lame."

Jade laughed and stuck her tongue out at him. She showed a little too much of her teeth when she did, so it looked kinda weird, but John was almost impressed she'd picked up such a classic childish expression, Of course, he had to shower her how the pros did it.

John's masterful expression provoked Jade into making another face back at him, and soon the two were embroiled in a contest to see who could make the most unhumanly ridiculous face possible. By the time Dad parked the car, no victor had been declared, but John was in physical pain from all the laughing.

Security lines were boring. And slow. No wonder movie heroes always skip them, John thought as he waited for his dad to finish collecting all the stuff he'd had to take out of his pockets. He'd let Jade and John go first, which was probably the gentlemanly thing to do, but it also meant they had to wait when all John wanted to do was run around and look at all the neat airport shops. He bounced in place until, finally, his dad had tied his shoelaces into the perfect knot. "Our gate is A5," he said, with a gesture of his hand, which clearly meant 'go ahead'.

John didn't ask twice - he was off like a shot, tearing past the other people in the hall on the way to their gate. He didn't get very far, though - as he turned a corner, he stopped short, in awe of the sight before him.

He'd entered what looked like the main hub for all the branches of the airport, a two-story open room with tables and chairs scattered around, a few of them taken up by travelers getting in a quick bite. The truly spectacular thing, however, was that the entire outer wall was made of glass, letting him see the airplanes as they trucked around between gates. The sun was almost done setting, but it still scattered a few golden beams across the sky. It was one of the most beautiful things John had ever seen in real life.

Staring out the window, John didn't notice his dad catching up to him until his hand came down on his shoulder. He looked up into his dad's face, who smiled and said, "Exciting, isn't it?" John just nodded, words failing him for once. "We'd best make our way to the gate, then. Wouldn't want to miss our flight, after all."

Paul leaned back in his seat and rolled his shoulders, taking a break from reading his novel. Checking his watch, it looked like they were about two thirds through their flight. He'd taken a small nap earlier, but he'd never been able to sleep well outside of a bed.

He glanced at John on his left, who was leaning against the wall of the plane, completely unconscious. It even looked like he was drooling a little. Paul grinned and took out his Blackberry to get a quick photo. These doohickies are certainly more convenient than carrying a proper camera around, even if the pictures aren't quite as good, he mused. It looked like John was taking his first flight well, though.

On his other side, Jade also seemed to be sleeping, though it was hard to tell if she was truly out or just keeping very still. She had adapted to life in this country extraordinarily well so far, but she still held many unconscious habits from her time living alone.

Paul sighed to himself. Uncle Harley, some of the decisions you made... I just can't understand them. His mother had never gone into much detail about why Uncle Harley never visited, she'd just said he needed a lot of space. He'd sent a couple letters filled with tales of his adventures, which his mother had used as bedtime stories, but they never had much in the way of personal sentiments, and he couldn't recall his mother sending any back. He'd never questioned that distance growing up - that's just how family was sometimes.

Now, though, he couldn't help but wonder how his mother had really felt about Uncle Harley's long absence from her life. Did he even know about me? Paul suddenly thought. He'd never met the man, after all, and he'd started his adventurous lifestyle long before Mother adopted him. As far as Uncle Harley knew, his sister had spent the rest of her life alone.

Paul shook his head, forcing the morose thoughts away. That's in the past now, for better or worse. He had to focus on taking care of Jade, not musing on what had led Uncle Harley to keep her isolated on that island. It was hard to think of the future, though, knowing what the most likely outcome of this trip was.

He looked at Jade's still face and took a deep breath. I have to do what's best for Jade. No matter what. With that resolve in his heart, he leaned back and closed his eyes, hoping for a little more rest before their trip together ended.

Jade stared out the car's window, watching the landscape race by. Bec was draped halfway across her body, making up for the time together they'd lost because of that airline's policies on traveling with dogs. The pilot on her flight off the island had been much more reasonable.

Then again, that had probably been considered "special circumstances". It still would've been nice to fly with him again.

Next to her, John was still chattering excitedly about their trip thus far. He'd been pretty groggy when they got off the plane, but all his usual energy had come back in a flash when he'd noticed the professional driver waiting for them with a sign that said "Egbert". Apparently he'd been sent by the woman they were here to visit, Doctor Lalonde. John had just been excited to have such a "celebrity moment" happen to him, as he'd repeated several times during the car ride thus far.

Mr. Egbert was listening to John from his position in the front seat, so Jade didn't feel too bad about keeping her attention on the world outside their car. It definitely seemed more... wild than the area around John's house. Not the same as her island, of course, but the only real sign of people was the road they were traveling on. Otherwise, it was all trees and rocks as far as she could tell. It would be nice to spend time here.

After some time, the car pulled around a curve and revealed a majestic, sprawling house nestled into a large clearing. Jade pressed against the window, trying to catch as many details as possible. "... Is that a river running through that place?" she asked, unable to trust her own eyes.

"Seriously??" John stretched toward her side of the car, trying to look out her window, but the car turned to drive toward the house before he could get a good view. "That sounds super awesome! Like a supervillain's lair! Hey, wait, she's not really a supervillain, right?" John turned towards his dad again. "Dad, we're not visiting a supervillain, right?"

Mr. Egbert chuckled. "Son, Dr. Lalonde is a kind and generous woman. She was the one who paid for our flight here, you know, and arranged for the excellent service of our chauffeur here." He nodded respectfully to the driver, who murmured "Thank you kindly" in response.

As the car pulled up to the house, John kept talking. "I dunno, supervillains can be really charming, and this could all be some kind of trap. Paying for the hero's transportation is a total villain move."

Now Mr. Egbert frowned. "John, your imagination is a powerful tool, but while we are Dr. Lalonde's guests, I trust that you'll treat her with respect. Understood?"

John slumped back in his seat. "Fiiiiiiiine." Quieter, he said, "That's way less cool, though."

When the car stopped, Jade let Bec out first so he could get some of the kinks out of his legs. He'd had to stay in that traveling container for a really long time. For her part, Jade got out and looked up at the house again. It was a pretty ridiculous house, really - it looked way bigger than any person really needed, and building your house on top of a river just seemed unnecessarily dangerous. There was something about the place that felt... weirdly familiar, though...

Jade's attempts at placing that feeling were interrupted by a loud voice from the house. "Oh! My! GOSH! You're here! You're all here!" A woman with short blonde hair wearing some kind of labcoat dress was rushing down the path towards them. "Please, please, let Noah take care of your luggage, you've had a long trip and I'm sure you're all completely exhausted!" She came closer showing all her teeth in a wide grin, and Jade had to suppress the urge to run up a tree. She'd gotten better with figuring out when people were just being friendly, but...

Fortunately the woman seemed to be focused on Mr. Egbert for now - they were talking about how the trip went, which seemed useless to her, but whatever kept the doctor's attention off her for now would work. She watched as Bec poked around the landscape, staying within a fairly close distance in case he was needed. It was good she was able to bring hi, She'd have to thank Dr. Lalonde for that, right? Mr. Egbert would probably expect that of her.

"Oh, what am I doing, blabbing your ears off out here! Come in, please, we'll all have plenty of time to get to know each other." She gestured toward the front door and they all slowly made their way into the house.

[crimsonquill-086]

Inktober day 16 - "Simulation"

Late again, but I wanted to try something interesting for this one. I wanted to catch the existential terror as the dam breaks and the Pursuer's digital self is ripped apart, their simulation drowned like the fire under the wave.

...if anyone can actually make sense of this picture. I commend you.

@outer-wilds-inktober

[npfehr]

Recently Completed: (see above) (XSX)

This is a DLC expansion for my favourite game of 2019. It's a first-person, no-combat adventure game in which your character finds a hidden ring world, and explores it while trying unravel the secrets of a vanished alien race. Why did they come to your solar system? Where did they all go? And when do the "Frights" start? Is it in that house?! In that cave?!?! Aw geez aw geez

Lol so anyway, that last bit of the introduction is in regards to a new option that this DLC adds to the game: "Reduced Frights Mode". The DLC has a few stealth sections, in which discovery means you could be pursued and captured. "Reduced Frights" simply slows your pursuers down and makes these sections much more forgiving. An unintended side effect is that, at first, I assumed that there were a lot more "frights" than just those three stealth sections. I spent much of the first few hours in a state of low-level dread as I explored. (The stealth bits are not encountered right away, so my worry was pointless)

This was a fascinating expansion that tells a sad, but ultimately hopeful story. I did find it somewhat harder than the main story, mostly because of the way it's limited to a single location. In the main game, you have the freedom to travel around the solar system and tug at the multiple story threads in any order you wish. If you get stuck in one place, you can quest elsewhere until you find the answer or are inspired to try something new. Since the expansion is necessarily limited in scope, if you're stuck, you're pretty much...just stuck. Instead of playing in another corner of space you can step away from the game for a day or two, until inspiration hits or you cave in and look up the answer you need. I did both!

The important thing is that, like the main game, it drew me in with a good mystery and kept me hooked and delving, wide-eyed, sometimes well past my bedtime. Very much worth playing if you enjoyed Outer Wilds. And if you haven't played that, do so!

Outer Wilds - Echoes of the Eye

[llamaswrites]

Scorched

Fandom: World of Warcraft

Rating: Teen

Pairing: Lor’themar Theron/Rommath (One-sided)

Summary:

Scorched mandalas appear in the woods surrounding Silvermoon.

Or, in which Lor’themar meets an anomaly, a caretaker, and a skilled mage wrapped up into one person and manages to shove his foot ever deeper into his mouth.

Read on AO3 here.

The burnt mandalas showed up in Eversong without much fanfare.

Despite their quiet appearance, their existence quickly whipped the population (and by extension, the Far Striders) into a frenzy. Rumors spread about their origin: some said they were created by a cult of fire mages aiming to burn down Silvermoon, other that they were made by an aspiring artist yet to reveal themselves. The most outlandish rumor of them all is that visitors from another planet, much like the Titans, were visiting Eversong in barge-like ships and that the mandalas were left by their landing. Utterly ridiculous.

(He would regret thinking so in the hundreds of years to come)

Ranger General Sylvanas had no time for such nonsense and so it fell to the junior of the Ranger Captains to handle. Lor’themar wished he could dismiss it off to a Lieutenant because honestly, investigating rumors such as ‘visitors from beyond Azeroth’ were so far below him it wasn’t remotely funny, but he was lectured on the importance of leadership and the pacifying influence of authority. So, off he went.

Most of the mandalas were nowhere near the city. Often, they were in places that had Lor’themar leaving his mount behind to scramble up cliff faces or other equally unreachable places. Each time, the mandala was long cold, devoid of the heat that had created it. Each one was beautifully unique and hypnotic.

It took him a week to find and map all the mandalas and then a day more when a new one appeared. There didn’t really seem to be a pattern to where exactly they appeared. Lor’themar tried walking the designs of the mandalas to see if they made sense as far as runes were concerned, but only ended up making himself dizzy. This was a puzzle that, unfortunately, he was not able to solve on his own.

He reported his dismal progress to King Anasterian and Sylvanas with ash-tipped gloves. Neither seemed particularly concerned about it. Indeed, Anasterian said, it could just be the work of a young mage dodging the watchful eye of a master. As if to prove his point, a plume of flame erupted in the back of the throne room.

Neither Anisterian or Sylvanas were surprised, but it made Lor’themar start. Vicious swearing soon followed as an elf about his age with dark hair chased after a young prince Kael’thas, who shot out another plume of flame towards his pursuer. The prince’s caretaker parted the flames with his own spell and caught him. The caretaker wore light, violet apprentice robes with the sleeves caught up around his elbows, scorch marks prevalent on the fabric that had not escaped the grasp of whatever magic he practiced. A strange peculiarity was the collar the caretaker had affixed to it, which hid near half his face.

“Rommath,” Anisterian called and the elf froze. It was obvious that he just realized his intrusion on official proceedings. “What think you about this dilemma?”

Stashing the young prince under one arm in a rather ungraceful way after placing a silencing spell upon on him the caretaker spoke.

“I must admit that I do not know the problem at hand, sire.”

“Nonsense. Kael’thas was likely eavesdropping, which means that by extension you probably were as well. Where is your other charge?”

Another elven child peeked around thick purple curtains at them, his fiery red hair caught in a braid that draped over his shoulder. The caretaker held out the hand that wasn’t fighting with keeping the rambunctious prince still and the child ran to him, burying his face in his robes.

“Now that Aethas has been found, the question, Rommath,” said Anisterian. It was not quite an order but the tone in which he spoke bequeathed that he would witness no waffling or dodging on the caretaker’s part.

“My liege, I believe it is as you say,” said Rommath. His head bowed slightly behind his high collar, the picture of demureness if Lor’themar did not see the fire in eyes or the unhappy stretch of his lips. “A student is most likely practicing out of the sight of prying eyes. Perhaps the silence of the forest gives them something they cannot otherwise find here, in the city.”

“Hmm. In any case, I would like you to continue to monitor Eversong for the appearance of new mandalas, Lor’themar,” Anisterian said. “Rommath, Lor’themar, you are dismissed.”

Lor’themar bowed and turned on his heel to leave.

“Wait, Rommath,” Sylvanas called. “I recognize your face. Did you try out for the Far Striders, perhaps?”

The elf’s eyebrows pinched closer together if possible.

“Yes, Ranger General, I did. I was told that the magic arts were not suitable in the protection of Silvermoon to the extent of the Farstriders and that my skill with the bow was abysmal enough that I would be outshot by a blind, leperous troll, as according to your sister.”

Sylvanas snorted in a rather unladylike fashion but then again, nothing about the Windrunner sisters was considered terribly proper.

“Ah, I thought I recognized your face,” she said. “You may go.”

When both Rommath and Lor’themar were outside the room, the Ranger Captain let out a chuckle.

“A blind, leperous troll? Truly?” The tips of Rommath’s ears and cheeks flushed red as he set the prince down on the floor.

“I do believe that is none of your business, Ranger Captain,” he snapped. “Good day, Lor’themar.”

Kael’thas stormed off down the hallway and Rommath followed close behind. His curiosity not yet satisfied (and flirting not yet done, for even Lor’themar could see the handsomeness of the elf behind the collar), Lor’themar followed.  Rommath had yet to let off the effects of his silencing spell yet, for nothing came out when Kael’thas opened his mouth to let out a holler. The other child, Aethas, was content to cling to Rommath’s robes silently and stare up at Lor’themar with wide eyes.

Lor’themar stepped in front of Rommath to cut him off and was rewarded with an angry huff.

“Can you not handle jest when it is in your direction then?”

“In my direction, yes, but not at my expense,” said Rommath. “My charge is escaping to wreak yet more mayhem and may yet burn down our city if your incompetence keeps me here much longer. Good day, Ranger Captain.”

Rommath swiftly stepped around him, a hand on Aethas’ head, as he continued to pursue the Prince. Lor’themar watched after him, a bit startled and confused. Most would recognize his flirting for what it was and more still reciprocated. It was jolting to be rejected summarily.

Tail between his legs, Lor’themar headed back out to the forest after restocking his supplies. A few days camping among the golden landscape of the woods was his cure for all ills, a bruised ego included. Complying with the king’s orders was an added bonus.

The first day went as expected with little to show for in the way of threats or new mandalas as he forayed deeper into the wilds. On the first night, he settled up in a tree and watched the fireflies skip across the surface of a pond as he settled down to sleep. The second day found him truly in the thoroughfare. The morning was quiet as fog lifted from the sleeping forest, but come afternoon he found something waiting for him.

Or rather, someone.

Lor’themar found himself wandering the edge of a small cliff, a familiar route he went through to catch Trolls hoping the shelter beneath it, when he saw the elf standing below the cliff in a sloped clearing leading down to a clear lake, their back to him. At first, he didn’t recognize them. His only thought was that they must be in trouble, to be out so far without wearing Far Strider armor. Indeed the elf seemed to be wearing very little, clothed in a sleeveless white shirt and pants that reached mid calf. The lone elf had also forsaken shoes.

Before he was able to lift his feet to run to their aid, the elf exploded into a plume of flame that didn’t quite touch the ground at their feet. It lashed up above the treeline, roaring loud enough that Lor’themar’s ears hurt from his position, before finally relinquishing its quarry. The elf seemed none the worse for the flames, but now had something in their hands.

Alarmed, Lor’themar crept closer. Thankfully, the other elf still had their back to him as he quickly and silently scaled a tree to get a more birds eye view of what the odd elf was doing. He (or at least, Lor’themar assumed so) twirled the odd objects in his hands, which appeared to be odd serpentine pieces of metal, sharpened on both the inner and outer curves of their S-like shapes with leather binding in the middle.

The elf swayed in place and at first, Lor’themar thought he would see the strange elf drop before his eyes in a dead faint. The sway turned into more, as the elf finally stepped out of his stance in a deliberate manner, blades spinning in his hold. Lor’themar stared, dumbstruck. Was he...dancing?

He wasn’t given much time to ponder the dancing when the flames started up once more. They wove in and out of each other, spiralling through the air but never quite hitting the ground. The dancing elf seemed to be trapped in a cage of living flame that curled up above the tallest trees towards the setting sun. Even as he twisted and turned, he was still too far away for Lor’themar to clearly see he face.

The elf’s movements finally slowed as the sun almost dipped below the horizon, the flames of his dance lighting the area more than the light of the sunset. The flames gracefully fell, settling themselves onto the grass and searing a familiar pattern. The elf’s chest heaved out panting breaths from the effort of the dance and the magic as Lor’themar finally dropped from his perch.

“You!” he cried out as he slid down the cliff side as fast as he dared. The elf went rigid, obviously shocked by Lor’themar’s sudden appearance, before magic swirled around his hands. A teleportation spell, if Lor’themar’s eyes saw correctly.

Lor’themar lept at him and tackled the mage to the ground, the magic of the spell cutting off abruptly. The mage dropped the serpentine blades and twisted around in his grasp to fight him. The two rolled and rolled down the uneven ground before crashing to a stop against a tree a short ways away from the lake. Thankfully, Lor’themar wrestled his way on top, straddling the elf below him and pinning his hands above his head.

“...Rommath?” Sure enough, the prince’s caretaker snarled at him, expression clear without the usual collar hiding his face.

“Get off me!” Rommath’s body bucked but Lor’themar let his full weight drop. Rommath grunted in pain but still writhed, nearly dislodging Lor’themar. The amount of strength in the man’s body was impressive. Most mages he knew cared more for mind than body. Rommath obviously was attentive to both.

Rommath twisted and Lor’themar chose to take a chance to pin him down once more. It was a bit easier to keep him down this way, but Lor’themar feared that if his concentration lapsed for a second that he would have a scorched face and an escaped mage. He let Rommath struggle for a few moments more before the mage finally gave up. He looked back over his shoulder at Lor’themar and glared. Lor’themar glared right back.

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t truss you up like a hog and deliver you to the king,” Lor’themar said.

“I have several, if you would let me go,” Rommath snapped back.

“Why are you out here, dancing? What is it supposed to do?” Rommath’s face flushed a violent shade of red to the very roots of his hair.

“Dancing? Dancing? I was going through training katas, you incorrigible simpleton! Not dancing!”

“Training?”

“Yes, training!” Rommath snapped. “Some of us aren’t handed our lots in life on a silver platter by virtue of our birth. Some of us needed to crawl and scramble from the muddy pits where our ancestors wallowed to our current stations in life!”

“But you were rejected by the Far Striders,” said Lor’themar. Rommath growled low in his chest. “You have no need for this.”

“Yes, thank you, I had no idea that I suffered the most humiliating rejection in my life to date,” sniped Rommath. “I still must keep myself in shape if I am to adequately protect my charge. It is only by the everlasting grace of King Anisterian that I continue my studies into the magical arts and that is by virtue of minding his hell-cat of a son. Now, will you let me up?”

“Not yet,” said Lor’themar. “I still have questions. Why train out this far? And why lie to the king? That’s tantamount to treason, you know.”

Rommath sighed and pressed his forehead to the cool grass beneath them. The sun had finally set, leaving behind a forest only lit by fireflies and moonlight.

“You’re an only son, aren’t you?” Rommath suddenly asked.

“I fail to see how this has any bearing on the matters at hand,” said Lor’themar dryly.

“I can tell you are, because I wouldn’t have to say this if you were. Have you ever tried to practice or train with small children under your feet? It is truly an exercise in patience. One will be asking you endless, nattering questions while the other puts in the most valiant effort to impale himself on your blades. Ultimately, nothing is accomplished.”

“Then why not train at the Far Striders’ grounds?” Lor’themar asked. “Surely, as a member of the royal entourage you would be granted access.”

“And face what mockery happened today with both you and your Ranger General? Please.”

The defeated look on the mage’s face tugged at something in Lor’themar’s chest.

“Truly, I did not mean to insult you today,” he said softly. “I meant only to make conversation with you.”

“Your conversational skills are extremely lacking then, if you choose to open with a bald-faced insult. May I get up now?”

“One last thing,” said Lor’themar. “Your lie to the king?”

“He asked me what I thought of the situation,” Rommath said. “I told him the truth: a young student, wishing for peace. He did not ask me to name a culprit.”

“Fair,” Lor’themar said and stood up. Rommath rolled over, wincing in pain as his muscles protested the rough treatment. “I do hope you know that I will need to inform the king of my findings now...but I think he will be most lenient when he hears the reason you kept it from him.”

Rommath sighed and accepted Lor’themar’s outstretched hand. Lor’themar pulled him gracefully to his feet.

“All good things must come to an end, I suppose,” murmured Rommath.

“I do not think he will call an end to your activities,” said Lor’themar. “Truly, I think he will be relieved that we are not contending with visitors from beyond our world.”

Finally, the sour twist of Rommath’s face disappeared and the corner of his mouth quirked upwards as he breathed out a quiet laugh.

“Truly, is that what has been said about this?”

“I thought you were listening in to our proceedings,” Lor’themar said. He tried not to stare as Rommath shucked off his sweat stained shirt and summoned his usual attire from seemingly thin air. His opinion of the serious elf had not soured despite their confrontation and had perhaps improved through it.

“I accompanied the prince in his eavesdropping, yes, but I did not participate in it,” Rommath said. “I will not stoop to the level of a child if I need information. As well, it is sometimes best to let the princeling have some slack in his leash if I expect him to behave when I need him to. He did not like my intrusion, however, which led to our discovery.”

“Ah,” Lor’themar said, rather distracted. Rommath had wandered down to the lake at the bottom of the slope, obviously intending to bathe. Rommath looked back at him, irritated expression crawling back onto his face.

“I believe I have answered your questions sufficiently,” he said. “You may leave now, Ranger.”

“I am a Ranger Captain, thank you very much,” Lor’themar told him as he meandered up to Rommath’s side, trying to make no secret of his interest in looking the bare-chested mage up and down. The tattoos on his arms continued in a barred pattern on his chest that he found extremely pleasing to look at and he wondered if Rommath would cry out in pleasure if he ran his tongue over them. “And you have, but I wish to bathe as well after our little fight. May I join you?”

Rommath’s mouth twisted up into a smile.

“Of course, Ranger Captain,” he purred as he approached Lor’themar, standing chest to chest with him. His eyes were half lidded and Lor’themar had to swallow the lump of desire building in his throat. “Let me...help you!”

Lor’themar suddenly found himself careening backwards as Rommath’s hands slammed into his chest. His Far Strider armor did him no favors when he landed in the lake, leaving Rommath hiccuping out bright laughter on the shore. The ranger tried to give him the nastiest glare he could, but it only caused Rommath to laugh more.

“For the sake of Silvermoon and her people, Ranger Captain,” Rommath said, “do attempt to think with your brain and not your cock once in a while. Not everyone should be treated as either a potential conquest or enemy.”

Rommath approached the water’s edge and held out a hand. Lor’themar tried to pull him in by it but Rommath would not budge, strong as he was. Lor’themar gave up and let the mage pull him to his feet.

“Fine,” he said. “I suppose I can promise that.”

“Excellent,” said Rommath. “I don’t think either of us are going to get to bathe before going back home. I suppose I could teleport us both back to Silvermoon though...if you promise to cease your harassment of me.”

“I suppose I could do that, for now,” grumbled Lor’themar and Rommath rolled his eyes as he put back on the dirty shirt.

“That’s really all I can hope for, from someone like yourself,” he said as his hands began to trace the familiar teleportation runes. Lor’themar pressed himself to Rommath’s side and draped an arm casually around his waist.

Rommath shot him a glare but said nothing other than, “You’re dripping on me.”

“That tends to happen when one is pushed into a lake, yes.”

“I trust that you will remove your arm upon our arrival,” Rommath said almost too casually.

“Oh?”

“...or risk losing it.”

With a flash, Lor’themar found himself in an unfamiliar garden, obviously within Silvermoon. If he was a little slow in removing his arm from Rommath’s slender waist, well…

Rommath was none the smarter.

[inspirxtionxlmuses]

@wildcrcft​

It was usual for the leopard to remain hidden in the woods for days on end so as to not allow himself the closeness of another for fear they’d become targets just as he was. It was usual for him to remain also in his leopard form as it was the most comfortable to rest among the trees. He would mark his scent well within the woods so other wild animals would attempt to reclaim their territory and therefore throw off his pursuers trail. However it was the scent of another that caused his curiosity to stir and throw him off his usual routines. Xander was filthy and would be in need of new clothing very soon. It wasn’t necessarily his intention to steal clothing but he realized it was a viable option should he come across said scent. He was about to jump out to rattle the other when he found himself paused. Instead, he watched the individual for a moment before he reverted back into his human form. The human form of him had deep blue cat eyes and his teeth were a bit sharper than normal human teeth. Honestly he got lucky that only those traits were the leopard traits that showed. He had spent a bit longer than normal in his leopard form on more than one occasion which caused outer presentations on his human form. It was okay, though, he told himself for he didn’t normally find himself in the presense of another. Naked and dirty, the leopard stepped out of his hiding spot and found himself drawn to the other. Though he was hesitant in his movements, the desire to be closer was written all over his face. He just didn’t know how to voice it.

[army-of-bee-assassins]

[image description: A screenshot of a Steam achievement for the video game Outer Wilds. The achievement is titled "Oof Ouch, My Bones." It has an image of the Hatchling, a humanoid alien, in a neck brace. The description reads: Have your spine adjusted by a pursuer. 5.7% of players have this achievement. End ID.]

CRYING RN

[taejinace]

The Prince and The Pickpocket

“It wasn’t me, it was my evil twin...”

Self-Para: Royalty AU

(1789 words) :|: Warnings: Child Abandonment, Violence/Crime/Theft

(ft. @kekeke-rose-ace @acexsora and @taechulace )

Taejin grew up knowing that he wasn’t a part of his family. His sister, Rose, and his mother had always been very honest about that, but he never really cared much for where he’d come from, only that he always had someone by his side. It was as though, he felt like a part of himself was missing, and although he had Rose, it wasn’t exactly what he’d expected, and so he made due. He found himself acting out, and learned fighting from his sister after their mother died. They kept each other together, his own, less than fully legal actions bringing in some food and materials, while his sister worked up at the Palace. He didn’t have much of an opportunity to make his way near there, and it always seemed to feel dark and lonely, and so, he avoided it. He found much more comfort in the quiet comfort of the trees and plants in the forest than he ever did in town, and it was easy for him to collect nuts and berries and some wild vegetables that grew there, every once in a while, practicing his archery and bringing home meat for them to enjoy.

He’d only found out that he was capable of stealing recently. He’d gone wandering through a clearing, and had been stopped by a couple wanting to know the way through the forest. It was easy, he’d told them the way, and they’d been on their way, but he’d managed to swipe the bag of coins from the back of their wagon, the two none the wiser, as he nimbly jumped into the wagon, and then silently exiting once again. It had only grown more interesting from there. He’d heard stories of a thief who stole from the rich, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. There were so many rich people, and they had so much… how could they even realize that they were missing anything at all?

He found out, however, that not everything that the rich had was so simple. He���d heard whispers, that one of the higher nobles was planning on moving his priceless jewels from one locked warehouse, to another in a weeks time. The price of a jewel, any jewel, would be higher than anything he’d managed to steal before. There was a race in his heart, and he couldn’t help but want to think of some sort of idea as to how to satisfy it. It only took a few days for him to put his plan into place, a few of the local kids agreeing to help out for some of the soup his sister managed to make, when she wasn’t off fighting or killing someone.

Taejin worried about Rose, about the fact that even compared to what he was doing, she was in danger day after day. It wasn’t that he didn’t know she could take care of herself. He knew she was even more capable than he was with a blade or bow, and the sword that hung at her side was a testament to her skills.

When he’d been very young, Rose had gone away for a few days, left him with strict instructions not to leave the house, not to let anyone in. When she’d returned, she looked tired, lost, but the sword that returned with her gleamed like the light of a star, and she held it closer to her than he’d thought necessary. It was only when he grew older and asked again that she explained… the sword had come from the leader of the gang of Japanese thugs that lived in the next town over. She’d gotten a job to take him out, and her success made her somehow high on their hierarchy. The sword was the symbol, and to some, it made her untouchable.

She still wasn’t done though, he watched her as she made friends, whispers in the dark after she’d been sure he’d gone to bed, hushed voices echoing up to the loft where he slept. Plans to go after the King. Taejin had felt lost and confused, hearing this. He couldn’t figure out what it was that she had against the king, though she’d never been fold of him, and it seemed, she wasn’t the only one.

It only took a day before he had to be ready, fully alert the next night, as he stepped out, his black mixing with the inky darkness, standing in the shadow around the corner where he knew they’d come from. The wagon had several armed guards, their royal guard armor shining in the torchlight. He took a shaky breath, watching as he lifted his hand, giving the signal to the kids, who performed their task admirably. They surrounded the horse, reaching out, knowing better than to get under the hooves as the horse reared, making a distraction as the guards raced around to calm the horse. The last guard looked conflicted, and Taejin hesitated, waiting one moment, and then two, before one of the kids tugged at the man’s arm, pulling him towards the front of the wagon.

Slipping from the shadows, Taejin leapt quietly into the wagon, and his eyes widened as he saw what awaited him there. He’d expected the guards to all be outside the wagon, but one waited in the quiet of the inside of the wagon, seated next to a great chest. Taejin halted any movement before backing up rapidly, his foot catching the wall of the wagon, and he tumbled backwards, hitting his forehead against the wagon as he fell, biting back a shout at the pain, he landed on his feet, the only plus he figured, after years of practicing. He took off, the footsteps of the single guard now rapidly closing on him as he became slightly disoriented, dizzy. He put out a hand, glad to feel the feeling of a pillar there, and he stopped, holding himself upright, his head dipped, his breathing ragged. He was simply glad his hood remained in place to hide his face from the world.  

That happiness was short lived, however, and his face was revealed by a tug from a hand behind him. His eyes widened and he turned to face his pursuer. The look on their face, however, was certainly not what he’d expected, as the hand instantly let go of his hood and, now that he could see fully, the captain of the royal guard was now backing away, eyes widened, and… was she… bowing? He raised a brow, then gasped, hand instinctively raising to touch the cut at his hairline.

“Y-your Highness… What are you doing here? Now?” Your Highness? What kind of drugs would the captain of the royal guard be on to think that he was in fact the crown prince.

“I’m no one’s highness… least of all yours.” He crossed his arms, leaning his weight on one of his hips as he watched her, considering the likelihood of him being able to escape if he ran for it while she was still confused. “But if you think I am… You probably should take me back to the palace.” He was far too interested in what she meant in her mistake to really run. He was far too curious for his own good. It was part of what had gotten him into trouble tonight. Her face had changed however, twisting with confusion, and then annoyance, but he could tell she was still quite confused. “I mean it… I’d love to meet my doppelganger if he’s the prince. Seems to me it’d come in handy.” He was very surprised when she simply nodded. She’d reached out, and put a hand on his shoulder, but said no words, only the mild pressure on his shoulder a reminder that he wasn’t exactly a free man yet.

It only took a short time for them to walk to the outer gates of the palace, where she tugged his hood back up over his head, re-claiming her place as she grasped one of his wrists in her hand, the other staying on his shoulder, her directions now, somehow more forced. He assumed it was some sort of show for other guards, but he was surprised when he was taken to the prison area. He tried to turn around, but was unable, and his outburst of annoyance was muffled with a hand over his mouth. He immediately stopped trying to shout and took as much of a deep breath as he could, turning his head to try to look at her. Instead of getting a look at her though, he was pushed around some corners, and into a side room.

When they arrived, he was pushed towards an empty chair at a table, and she went outside to speak to someone, if the muffled sounds of voices were any indicator. He couldn’t help but put his head on his folded arms. Even if he wanted to, there was no use in trying to escape now. He pulled his hood downward and closed his eyes, his head throbbing.

What seemed like moments later, there was a knock at the door, and it opened, Taejin had instantly been awake, the sharp pain at his hairline making full sleep a joke. He stood rapidly, the person in a cloak, hood hiding their face was obviously someone important. He could tell by the quality of their clothing. It was only when they lowered the hood that he gasped. The person standing in front of him was him. His hands shook slightly as he raised his arms, and pulled back his own hood. He supposed this moment was as much like looking into a mirror as things could get, as the look of shock on the other’s face, was probably as much like his own as it could get. The voice from the doorway was a muffled curse, before his eyes raised to meet the guard captain’s face. It looked as though she believed that god was playing some sort of horrible trick on her. He looked back at the other, noting minor differences between his own mirror image and this person.

“This is his royal highness, Prince Taechul… and you, I’m assuming, are not simply a pinch pocket in disguise.” There was a small amount of accusation in her voice, but for once, Taejin couldn’t disagree. The only trouble was, he didn’t know what he was anymore, but no matter what he was or had been before… Standing here, the prince in front of him… Something finally seemed to click into place. There was something less missing now, and he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to do everything in his power to figure it out.