#side story part 1

[alianarepasa]

Meme Swap: Side Story Part 1 - No One Can Hear Them Speak!!

Summary: While Beeg and Eggdog are have their own mischief adventure, pretending as their owners, SMG3 and SMG4 have their own adventures in their pets' body as they try their best to find them to fix the bodyswap mess. This fanfic is a celebration for hitting 200+ reads on Meme Swap and will only have three parts.

Tags: Comedy, Body Swap, Family fluff

Note: It is recommended that you should read Meme Swap by @shygirl4991 first before reading this! Thanks to them for accepting and be the proof-reader for the fanfic!

2nd Part

Eggdog's eyes light up at the thought of being able to eat ice cream, he frowns looking at his dad then at Beeg. To the shock of Three he watches as Eggdog agrees and runs off with Beeg, this was bad news as Three and Four exchange looks.

"...Are you kidding me... Did Eggdog just-" as SMG3 was about to say anything, SMG4 screamed in a panic.

They couldn't believe in their eyes, their own pets, who are now in their bodies, literally ditch them! Especially for Eggdog, at which point, he agrees to help them, but when Beeg SMG4 instantly suggests that they could just run around and possibly pretend to be them, Eggdog agrees with him and they just... DITCH THEM?! This caused SMG3 to be angrily pissed.

"ARRGGH! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT SMG4! YOU MADE THIS HAPPEN!!" SMG3 barked angrily at SMG4. "ME?! IT WAS BEEG WHO WENT UP TO US!!" SMG4 retorted. "YEA, BUT YOU GOT DISTRACTED, AND GOTTEN OURSELVES INTO THIS MESS!!" SMG3 retorted back at SMG4.

While they're continually arguing to each other on who are the ones that are the faults for causing the bodyswap mess, at the otherside of the room, Bob and Boopkin could hear the commotion. Except, it's not the usual arguing they both hear sometimes from those two. All they could hear was... meme noises?

"Huh? Sounded like Three and Four's pets are... fighting? Should we tell Three and Four about this?" Boopkin asked Bob. "LOL! AS IF! THAT'S THEIR KIDS! THEY'RE SHOULD BE THE ONE WHO CAN STOP IT. LET THEIR STUPID PET BE!" Bob concluded with the "a bit mean but does kinda have a point" answer to Boopkin, as those two continued went back to what they are doing. Meanwhile for Four and Three, they're still arguing about it, until Four groans and has enough with it.

"YOU KNOW WHAT? CAN WE JUST ARGUE ABOUT THIS LATER, AND ASK ANYONE TO HELP US OUT?" SMG4 begged as he knows that this argument can lead to nowhere if they keep this up. "Ugh fine! Let's get this over with and get our body back! Who knows what those two are doing with it." SMG3 rolled his eyes and responded with an agreement to Four, as he does have a point, who REALLY knows what those two boys are up to. With that, they left the room.

As they are now in the main lobby, they noticed how much scarily bigger the room is. With them being in their pets' body, who are structurally small that needed to be carried, it gives the vibe that the room became more like a giant flat stadium, than a lobby. Both Four and Three then looked around the area and found Saiko. They quickly ran up to her, with Four asking for help.

"Hey Saiko! Please help us here!" Saiko looked down as she heard the noise. "I know this may sound strange, but this is us! SMG4 and SMG3! We accidentally got ourselves bodyswapped with our pets! Can you please tell us where they went?" SMG4 pleaded in a slight desperation, not realizing that to Saiko, all she can hear is his meme noise. "Awwww, hello you little ones! Are you looking for your owners?" Saiko said in a cutesy voice to Four and Three. "Wait- I- wha-?!" SMG4 was puzzled at what Saiko said, including SMG3, who was surprised by that answer. Did Saiko misheard what Four said? SMG4 tries to correct Saiko.

"Uhh... haha... No Saiko, we are THE owners... We're just looking for our pets who are now in our bodies! Have you seen them?" Again, to Saiko, all she could hear from him was a multiple pufferfish meme sound. "Oh? Do you guys want to play then? I can get you two guys some toys!" Saiko asked, as if she ignored his question. SMG4's eyes then started to widen. "...Tha-that's not what I said..." SMG4 muttered frighteningly, as he then looked at SMG3, who also has the same reaction as he has. This doesn't feel right at all, did Saiko not understand what he said? As they're about to freak out, Melony walks in. "Hey Saiko! Is there something wrong?" She asked a question to Saiko. SMG3 then instantly tries to call on Melony to get his attention and see if she can hear him.

"OI! MELONY! TELL SAIKO THAT WE DON'T WANT ONE ANY OF THOSE, AND WE WERE JUST ASKING ON WHERE DID OUR PETS WENT! WE-" As SMG3 continued to explain everything to Melony, like how Saiko misunderstood what SMG4 said, both of the girls misunderstood what SMG3 said, as all they could hear from him was barking. Saiko pointed at those two on what's going on, in which Melony then started to guess herself.

"Hmmm, maybe they're asking where my pet, Axol Jr. is? They probably want to play with him." Melony assumed to Saiko that might be the case, which made SMG3 instantly start to yell at them. "WHAT?! WE DON'T WANT TO GO ON PLAYDATE WITH HIM!! DO YOU GUYS EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT I EVEN SAID?" This cause SMG4 to have a scary thought of something after what SMG3 said, what if they couldn't understand them? As if their way of speaking are... more for memery... SMG4 then holds SMG3, and rotates him, as he tells Three an awful revelation.

"Three... I think they can't hear us speak..." He said in a frightened expression. "Huh?! What makes you say that?!" SMG3 asked with a shocking yet angrily confused expression. "Three, we're LITERALLY stuck in our own pet's body! If Beeg and Eggdog CAN understand us, but the others do not... it means we're only been speaking in meme language this whole time..." SMG4 frighteningly explained, in which it caused SMG3 to freeze as he realized that could be the reason that the two girls misunderstood them. They can only speak a language that only Three, Four and their pets can understand. SMG3 then started to scream and panic.

"OH MY GOD! IF WE HAVE BEEN SPEAKING IN THE DIFFERENT LANGUAGE TO THE OTHERS, WE'RE LITERALLY! DOOMED!!!" He panickedly shuddered. "HOW IN THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS STUPID SITUATION WE ARE IN IF THEY CAN'T UNDERSTAND US?" He added as he is feeling more scared about it. "I DON'T KNOW!" SMG4 responded worryingly. "THE ONLY THING WE CAN DO IS TO SPEAK TO OUR PETS! THEY'RE THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN UNDERSTAND US!" He added, in which cause for Three to sarcastically agree on Four. "Yea! Sure! Let's just hope our kids would DEFINITELY listen this time, and finally get our bodies back! Because last time I asked Eggdog to switch us back, your pet DEFINITELY did not just... oh I don't know... BRIBE HIM TO DITCH THAT IDEA AND LEAVE US LIKE THIS!!!" he barked at Four angrily. "Well, do you have any other ideas that YOU think will solve this problem?!" Four asked in an annoyed manner.

As Three was about to say something, it got interrupted as they heard someone in the other room. "Okay Melony! I'm done setting the room up! Can you get those two little ones, and place them here please?" It seems like the meme guardians got distracted with their conversation, that the two girls had left, and have set up a playdate with Axol Jr. This will not end well. "Oh no..." they said in terrified unison. Four instantly rushes himself into the lobby's main door, and tries to pull the door open, trying to escape from this "playdate", but due to his current body, he struggles to at least move the door, even a bit.

"C'mon... C'MON!!!" He pulled, and pulled, but had no luck. Three meanwhile can only watch due to his body having no arms, or even hands. I mean sure, Eggdog could still hold anything, but for Three, this is like stuck into a new body, meaning he doesn't know what or how even those Eggdogs, including his own kid, can even interact with the item. After a few seconds of trying, SMG4 tired himself out, and started to doubt himself. "There's no use! I can't pull it to get it open!" He turns to Three. "Any other good escape route?!" "uhhh..." SMG3 looks around anxiously in a hurry. He moves a bit to find an alternate route and sees the window. "Aha! How about the window?" He suggested in which SMG4 agrees. They instantly went into the window, with Four jumping into the window frame and trying to open it, but like the door, it is completely shut. "Damn it-" as he tries to punch the window glass, it causes him to get hurt. "Ow!" Three responded by going up to the wall, and banging his head once, after seeing that, pretty much a substitute for a hand as a facepalm.

As Four jumps down to the floor and about to give up, they instantly hear the knock, which makes Four have an idea. He whispered to Three about the plan to him and got the nod. Meanwhile, both Saiko and Melony left the guest room. As Melony went to find the kids, Saiko instantly went up to the door, and opened it, instantly saying hi, as it is Kaizo. As those two started talking, the meme guardians instantly sneak out while not getting caught by two girls and the demon. With the door still open, Three and Four swiftly went outside. This however caused Melony to go up to Saiko and Kaizo, and ask where those two were, in which they shrugged, without knowing that they completely escaped.

As they ran out of the castle, SMG4 started to look around and worrying over a runaway memes in their bodies, while SMG3 however, is still mad that his own precious egg son got tempted by that freeloader pet. Four's worriedness is more for the fact he is scared of what those two would even do in their bodies, amplifying to the fact that he saw the sun is setting, and he has these scary thoughts running through his head, with one of them made him think that if the sun goes down, or the time hits midnight, would that mean they will be stuck like this for eternity? And if that would be the case, is it even possible to do it again unless it would take a long time or even years for them to repeat that spell. Even if those thoughts aren't accurate, he knows damn sure that his trouble-making child doesn't want to go back to his original body that Four is currently stuck in. As much as Four knows that Beeg would sometimes cause trouble, he knows that Beeg is literally still a kid, or at least, he's pretty sure he just acted like a kid even if it was his meme pet to begin with.

Three's thought on the other hand is more mad at Beeg than Eggdog. Yea sure, he felt betrayed that Eggdog would ever do such a thing, after becoming his new right-hand man, but he does admit that being mad at Eggdog is a bit too cruel for him to do that, he can be strict, but he isn't overly too strict, it was more for the fact that Beeg was the one being the main source of Eggdog started to not listening to him. However, once the body swap issue is resolved, he is definitely going to give those two a good grounding, possibly a month or so.

As the two are trying to find the kids, Four then asks if there is any sign of them, in which Three replied with a no. As they looked around, SMG3 heard a familiar sounding voices. He turns around and instantly recognizes that it was Meggy and Tari.

"-and he said something about wanting to marry him or something along those lines? Which caught me off guard coming from him" Meggy informed Tari about what happened earlier, which Three meanwhile couldn't make out on who they were talking to. Tari however, giggled, yet surprised from that information that Meggy explained about, which of course the former inkling starts giggling on that idea as well. This caused Three to have an idea, as he instantly went to Four.

"Hey SMG4!" he called as Four got his attention. "Maybe if we make enough noise, we can get the squid's attention!" he exclaimed to Four as he had planned. SMG4 however doubted Three's plan. "What?! Have you forgotten what I said about-" Four's explanation got interrupted by Three. "Yea! Yea! They can't understand us in this condition we are in! But that's possibly because they aren't too big brain enough that it was us! The ginger-haired squid meanwhile is!" Three explained as Four thought to himself that he does somewhat have a point. Meggy is smarter than anyone else in the group, so it makes sense that maybe Meggy could read their body language and see if she can read that something is off. Four then had no other choice but to agree on Three's plan and instantly walk up to them.

Meggy and Tari meanwhile continued the conversation, not until it got interrupted with the noise. They looked around and saw that it was "Beeg SMG4" and "Eggdog". Not surprising enough, even the smarter person Meggy, couldn't tell that it was SMG4 and SMG3 who were stuck in their own meme pets' body. Tari then asked Meggy as she looked at the pair concerned. "Uh... is Four and Three's pets okay? They seem to be more noisy than usual." Meggy then smiled at the pair. "Maybe they're hungry!" That isn't already a good sign for Three and Four to hear as Meggy didn't recognize that something is off. "Come on Tari, let's get them food!" She exclaimed as she and Tari started to walk away. SMG4 then panics as he tries to follow them. "Meggy don't leave us here! MEGGY HELP US!!!" He then falls into the floor and frowns, while Three looks at the girls before instantly looks back at his meme guardian partner saddened by what he and Four saw. Four then sadly tells Three the conclusion of it. "It's over SMG3, no one really understands us..."

[time-woods]

EMOTIONAL WIN ! ! the bug lets his emotions make decisions for once !

[clockworkreapers]

Damn Jack... I think you might have hurt his feelings

[sevenines]

i saw this tweet and found it interesting for two reasons. one is that some people base how good cartoon network would be to toh by how it treated su, and despite the fact that su’s treatment by the network was considered poor at the time, now its thought to be exceptionally good in comparison to modern shows.

two is how exactly su got impacted by a limited budget. a common criticism is how characters like connie, peridot, and lapis are left out of missions. but balancing a lot of characters is not only hard but also costly (extra animation, extra voices—it’s been revealed that the show is limited to a set number of characters per episode otherwise they’re over budget). animation mistakes are not uncommon since retakes cost extra. the entire reason the original show got cut short was due to loss of funding!

[orphiclovers]

It's sort of implied Yoo Joonghyuk starts off every regression in his signature outfit already and I have. Headcanons on how that is possible.

It's explicitly stated in canon that his coat does not travel back to him when he regresses (kdj says so to sp), so the two possibilities are either he buys it as soon as possible and just does the first couple scenarios in a normal outfit (boring, unsupported by canon) or... he was already wearing the coat on the day the scenarios started. Which is what I think, and is more interesting. Since those coats already have so much narrative weight in yjh's story let me add a little more.

I think when Yoo Joonghyuk spawned into existence on the side of the road one day, he was wearing the full WoS outfit, coat included. Because, what else would the protagonist wear? This was the only outfit he was written in.

Eventually, he of course did buy normal clothes (in yoo mia side story, which happens a few years later, he wears 'an old jacket') but that coat he started off with with would have been one of the very few pieces of evidence of his supposed 'past' that he wanted to discover so badly. So even if he stopped wear it day-to-day, I think he wouldn't have gotten rid of it.

For years, A Black Infinite Dimention Space Coat hangs in his closet, totally anachronistic in a pre-scenarios world. Like Yoo Joonghyuk himself.

It's important to note that on the day the scenarios started, Yoo Joonghyuk was taking the train to meet his parents for the first time. Perhaps he felt the need to dress up, and what better way than the unusual clothing he wore on the first day he remembers? He would have finally gotten the answers he had been looking for - perhaps even to the comparatively insignificant question of why he was wearing this coat when he forgot his past.

Well, his parents house was empty, but he still gets the answer to his questions eventually, when at 7 p.m on the ride back, the scenarios start.

In a bitter irony, that outfit he chose to wear on that day would be what he wore for the next thousand regressions. But of course, it never could have happened any other way.

[theshiningdiamond]

(claps) alright, finally got to finish off this which i started back in January! Definitely one of the more fun animatics I've done with UTMV personalities!

Personalities based on original AUS and @seirindono's The Missing Scarf comic(you should totally read it!). Their character Mel joins all the boys at the game table

[clowndensation]

it's like. louis attempted to tell this story to daniel the first time, broke down, and attacked him before he could finish it.

and then decades later he's convinced himself that it was leaving the story unresolved that's holding him back from living his life fully now. so he invites daniel back again. and louis is sitting poised and put together, confident in his ability to recite his history in a pretty, poignant, neat little narrative that will resolve all the guilt and yearning and emptiness inside of him. that if he can just tell a compelling, satisfying story, maybe it will actually be that, and not the life he lived through, with all the pitfalls of his own failures lurking inside.

and then season 1 ends with him once again being forced to confront that the story he wants to imagine and the life he actually lived aren't the same thing. the boundaries around his narrative are shredded and he's left exposed, and subsequently able to face his past for the first time since that original interview. and you think, you think, "well this is it. they've crossed the event horizon. there's no use hiding the truth anymore, not after it's come flooding out into the open like this"

and then season 2 opens. not only is it back to the original, practiced distance, we now have armand literally enforcing that distance. a man sitting at the table who's interjections must be disregarded, an intentional interruption to the flow of the story. he doesn't exist to aid or add detail, he exists to distract louis when he gets too deep in the story. the only time we do get louis allowing any deep truth to come out is when armand leaves the room.

it's like. louis wants a story that's true, and the truth is what he's convinced will leave him satisfied. armand wants a story that will satisfy louis, to the extent louis will accept it's true.

[tricoufamily]

prev | next

[qiu-yan]

in MDZS the novel, the innkeeper in Yunping mentions that people are too scared to go petition Yunmeng Jiang for help because someone once walked in on Sect Leader Jiang whipping a guy in the main hall, supposedly because the guy was a demonic cultivator.

[mokeonn]

I think that the 2010's media landscape of Buzzfeed articles about plotholes in disney movies, Cinemasins critiques, and Watchmojo Top Ten scenes in movies that make no sense has truely ruined a lot of media. People are afraid that their work will be torn down if they dare leave a single thing up in the air, if they dare ask their audience to suspend their disbelief.

All too often nowadays I see stories (especially fantasy), take the time to explain how every small aspect of the world works and how it all logically makes sense. The constant time stopped to explain why an event happened, how this object works, or why this is important to the characters. It's just really not needed and it honestly makes a lot of stories worse.

I am of the opinion that the best stories truly just drop you into their world and explain nothing. They just take you through the story of this world and you just have to accept it and continue on. "When he became king, the land became barren." I don't want the story to stop and explain why this is, or how it happened, I want us to move on so we can just assume that the king has such rancid vibes that everything died.

[machinthemachine]

I think tumblr compression is going to murder me on this one, but here is my "finally dropping Prog 2" celebratory E7 meme dump! See if you can guess my favorite characters lmao(*cough* tenebria *cough*)

[reds-skull]

Bringer of Demise

[FIRST PART] [AO3]

I'll be honest, I wasn't that confident with the first chapter (probably because it's been a while since I sat down to write something) but I like this one much more. The angst is definitely helping lol

Here's chapter 2: Like a House Fire

“Simon-” Soap jumps as the door slams behind him. Ghost grunts, walking further into his room to sit at the desk, reports now laying forgotten. Not that they need them anymore, with Novikov’s arrival.

Soap takes a sit in front of him, the bed creaking when he leans forward to look in Ghost’s dark eyes. “Talk to me, mo chridhe.”

Ghost slides the mask off his face, and throws it on the desk with so much force some papers fly and land behind it. Soap waits as he stares at the wall for a minute or two, lost in whatever dreadful memory the Doctor brought forward.

“Novikov was the one that tested me. When they brought me back from Mexico.” he starts, voice carefully monotone. “Went through regular shit at first. How long I can use Limbo before I have to stop. What happens if someone shoots at it from the outside. See if sound travels, if comms work.”

Soap holds his tongue, ignores the questions that float to his mind about the process. It’s more important for him to listen to Simon.

“Didn’t really have a problem with those. Expected them, really.” Simon shakes his head, bitterness bleeding into his voice, “it started going wrong when Shepherd came into the picture.”

At the mention of that name, Soap’s jaw clenches. General fucking Shepherd, the man behind Graves’ leash. Ran like a coward after his dog died, still off grid even after Laswell got the go-ahead from CIA to start a search for him. Soap remembers the few meetings he was in, how Shepherd would address Ghost. Spoke to him as if Limbo wasn’t tearing itself apart because of his orders.

Ghost never told him much about the bawbag, Soap never asking. Felt wrong, with how little he willingly gives Ghost about his own past.

“What did he do?” he asks, a little hesitant to hear the answer.

“Novikov wasn’t pushing me hard enough, according to him. Because he was afraid of what my powers would do to me or to others, or for a different reason, I didn’t bother finding out. Don’t know if the Doc tried to resist. It doesn’t matter.” Simon lets out a mirthless laugh, “you know the rest.”

Soap nods. “Ye think… he will do it again? Push ye to…”

“I’m not worried about me, Johnny.” He leans closer to Soap, and it dawns on him that Simon’s not as angry as he is terrified, “there’s nothing new Novikov can tell me to use Limbo on that would break it like last time. But you… they never found your limits, have they?”

“... You know they didn’t need to.”

“I don’t think that ever satisfied Novikov, or the higher-ups.” Soap frowns, Simon’s voice lowering to an almost whisper, “I think they were just as tied up in red tape as you.”

He doesn’t respond to that. He doesn’t think he needs to, they both know Simon is right.

Soap’s memories of that time period are… muddy at best. And it wasn’t because of the shot he received to the head, the day he died.

In the weeks following it, Soap felt like everyone that knew what happened there was walking on eggshells around him. Not many knew, they tried to sweep it under the rug immediately to avoid an international incident, but those that did…

When Soap refused to use his powers on field, his Captain was irritated. Said he’d go to the higher-ups, get him written for insubordination.

The very next day, the Captain took him to the side and asked him to tell him. Fuck the higher-ups when it comes to his own personal curiosity, eh?

Soap refused, obviously. The Captain let it go, eventually, but Soap always wondered if he was trying to send him into impossible situations to see just how much destruction he can survive.

“I’m not going to let him do anything to you, love.” Simon’s voice makes him refocus on the present, “Novikov tells you to jump, you ask me how high.”

Soap scoffs fondly, the anger that has bubbled up in his chest subsiding, “they’re gonna write ye up, LT.”

“Don’t care. They won’t boot me out anyway.” he answers smugly, scarred lips quirking up in a way that makes Soap want to explode the rest of the world, if only to keep him safe.

He returns the smile, “sound awfully certain of yerself. Should I ask Price if the power went to yer head?”

Simon huffs, “just the facts, Johnny. Not only I’m legally dead, they wouldn’t want someone like me strolling around civvies in case I go off and send a couple hundred to Limbo.”

“Sometimes I forget just how much off yer heid you are, Simon Riley.”

“Takes one to know one, and all that.” Simon moves to get up, when something pulls at his leg.

A few dark hands started petting at their boots, so gently they didn’t notice. Soap smiles, leaning down to return the favor with his left hand.

“Look, we made yer friends worried.” the hands wrap around his fingers, chasing the little white flames.

Simon shakes his boot, loosening the residents of the void’s hands, “you know that’s not how that works.”

“Well, they react to our emotions, you never know!” he turns back to the hands, “don’t listen to him, he’s just grouchy ‘cause I’m not holdin’ his hand.”

He’s happy to continue playing with Simon’s “friends” until a shrill sound cuts through the air. Soap watches Simon grab his phone from his pocket.

“It’s Rudy.” he taps his phone and sits down next to Soap, “Rodolfo?”

“Fantasma. Is Soap with you?” Rudy greets, voice hurried.

Soap takes Simon’s wrist and brings the phone closer, “aye, what’s wrong?”

“All of our revenants were woken up by our Reapers, I… I assume it happened to yours as well.”

Christ, must be later than midnight in Mexico right now. Getting dragged into your Reaper’s realm in the middle of sleeping… can’t be fun.

“Affirm.” Ghost says, “I assume yours asked about Fate and Lumity?”

“Yes.” there’s someone talking in the background, and Soap realizes it’s Alejandro, giving out orders, “some of our revenants chose Fate. We’re in the process of reprimanding them, but… It’s more important that I tell you what we gathered.”

Simon and Soap share a look. Anything would be helpful at this point.

Rudy continues, “the ones that chose Fate didn’t give us much. Apparently their Reaper just left, only saying they chose right. It is mine that explained the most.”

“You did say your Reaper was chatty…” Simon mutters.

“It is.” Rudy sighs, “my Reaper didn’t get mad when I chose you. It said it was expecting it.”

Rudy’s Reaper… Reaper of Matter… is on Lumity’s side?

“The Reapers are… in a state of disorder.” he pauses, mulling over the words. “... My Reaper said this hasn’t happened since before the age of revenants.”

“Did it say what’s Fate’s goal in all this?” Simon asks.

“No. I don’t think it knows.” Rudy begins talking in Spanish to someone on the other side, far too fast for Soap to understand. “-Jabón y Fantasma?”

They can hear some rustling before Alejandro’s voice comes through, “Hermanos! You landed us in a real shitshow this time around, eh?”

Soap smiles sheepishly, “good teh hear ye, Ale. Sorry about the mess.”

“All good. Well- for now.” Alejandro hums, “I have a feeling that is due to change at any point.”

“Ye said it…”

Rudy turns the phone back to him, as he says, “whatever it is, you can call us. We’ll continue to update you.”

“Appreciated, hermano,” Ghost answers, “same goes for us.”

“Don’t be strangers. We’ll talk later.” Ghost and Soap say their goodbyes as Rudy hangs up.

So the Reapers themselves don’t quite know what Fate is planning… he didn’t think it was possible, but Soap is even more unsettled. Reapers are volatile as it is, though before they could’ve trusted them to not meddle in their “boring human affairs”.

A Reaper even Reapers can’t foresee… how can they prepare against something like that?

Soap eventually returned to his own barrack, long after daylight faded. Sleep evaded him for most of the night, burning moths fluttering around his cot as he tosses and turns, flames occasionally charring his blanket.

When morning finally comes, he finds himself in the revenant training grounds along with Ghost. Anxiousness drips down his spine as they wait for the Doctor and his assistants.

Ghost knocks their boots together, and Soap calms. He’s not going through this alone, unlike any other revenant.

He begins to hope Novikov has simply forgotten about them when the man is late. Unfortunately, he doesn’t. Almost 20 minutes after the tests were supposed to start, the man comes hurrying down the training grounds, the papers in his hands miraculously not flying away in the gentle breeze.

“Sergeant! Lieutenant! I apologize for the delay.” Novikov calls when he gets close enough, somewhat out of breath, “yesterday’s incident had us sifting through reports all night, as you can imagine.”

The Doctor pauses to take another deep breath, and flips through the folder he brought, “as I’m sure you understand, this will not be a standard revenant test. I will not be redoing your basic tests, Lieutenant. As for you, Sergeant…”

Novikov turns his bespectacled grey eyes to him, and gives him a small smile, “I understand that I will not be able to test your limits here, but the records of the Verdansk incident are enough.”

Soap’s back straightens, and he can’t help but growl, “ye know about it?!”

He can count on two hands the amount of living people that know the whole truth behind his Reaping, and about half of them are in the 141.

“Laswell has allowed me access to the files. I’ve known about the incident beforehand, of course, theorized Konchar had-”

“Don’t ye dare say that fuckin’ name.” he snarls, flames flickering within his clenched fists. It doesn’t stop the stream of blurry memories, of melting skin beneath his fingertips-

Soap forcibly exhales, coercing his flames to die down.

Novikov doesn’t seem offended by the interruption. On the contrary, he looks… intrigued.

“I’d like to test the difference between your hands, to start. I have only been made aware of the changes in flame color, and the markings, of course.”

Soap glances at Ghost, who gives him a nod.

“What do ye need me to do, Doctor?”

“This is most intriguing… the flesh of your left hand is cooler than your right, but the flames are considerably warmer…”

Soap feels the ground between his fingers crumble to ash. So far, The tests are quite… boring, if he’s honest.

He’s had his own morbid fascination with his own powers, for a while. Wondering how it compares to other explosive compounds, trying to run the numbers to find the closest approximate. He thought, if he could find an equation, he could control his powers better.

Soap gave up on it soon after. Didn’t have enough data to work with, and generating more meant using his powers, and well…

Novikov lifts his pen, “very good, Sergeant.” steamin’ Jesus, he’s not 5, is he gonna give him a sticker next? “Now, Lieutenant, remove any clothing on your right arm, if you will.”

Ghost, who up until now stood motionless in his best imitation of a statue, stares at Novikov for a long moment, before slowly removing his glove and tucking it into his belt. He steps closer to Soap, rolling his sleeve to reveal pale, scarred skin.

“Now, with your left arm of course, I want you to attempt to explode the Lieutenant’s arm.”

Soap notices the assistant with the heat-sensitive camera aim it at Ghost, “it’s not gonna do anything to him, Doc.”

“Then there shouldn’t be any problem demonstrating it.” Novikov doesn’t look up from his papers. Bawbag.

Ghost offers him his arm silently. Soap knows it won’t do anything to him, they bear marks to prove it.

Soap takes the arm. White flames wrap harmlessly around it. He focuses his powers to his left hand, the air around them distorting.

It feels fundamentally wrong to try and hurt Simon. His breathing picks up, fingers twitching as the flames climb higher and higher.

“-it’s as if they’re trying to reach equilibrium. The flesh cools the flames, the flames heat it in return-”

Ghost doesn’t react, not that Soap can see with his vision tunneling on their joined limbs. The fire burns, searing, scorching, mutilating-

“-You may stop now, Sergeant-”

He can’t hurt him, how could he ever dare hurt him? Why isn’t anyone stopping this?

Like a bystander watching a house fire, Soap is helpless in front of the flames. He can almost smell the bubbling flesh from here, the melting of everything in the face of unending ruin-

“-ohnny. Enough.”

Soap jumps, the world rushing back to his senses. He turns his head shakily, to see Novikov’s gaze boring into him.

“Ah’m not- I can’t-” he mumbles, words barely forming on his lips, “Ghost-”

“You’re alright, Johnny.” Ghost’s smooth voice is steady as ever, but his eyes betray him, “it’s over.”

Novikov affirms, “We got all we needed, Sergeant.”

Ghost lifts his hand towards him, and Soap barely suppresses a flinch as it trails down his bicep. “You’re alright.” he repeats.

Soap nods, feeling like a bampot all at once. Of course Ghost is fine. They already knew this, he told Novikov as much not 10 minutes ago.

Stupid, stupid, fucking stupid. Soap grits his teeth, “what’s next, Doctor?”

Novikov takes a while to answer, and Soap avoids Ghost’s perceptive gaze as they wait, “I have received approval for Limbo, Lieutenant. I’d like to see the changes it went through first-hand.”

“... Understood. We will need to put some distance between us.” Ghost grunts.

The Doctor waves his hand, “naturally. You’re familiar with your limits, I’ll leave it to your judgement.”

Soap feels Ghost urge him to move, and they begin walking.

“Johnny-”

“Aye.” Soap huffs, “sorry, LT.”

“What for?” Ghost hums, “you did nothing wrong.”

He doesn’t answer to that. If Ghost didn’t see his fuck-up, he’d rather not bring it up.

“If you need to stop at any point-”

Maybe he’s easier to read than he thought, “Ah’m solid, Simon.”

“You froze there. Don’t think you can hide it.” or maybe Ghost knows him too well by now.

They come to a stop, facing one another. Soap bites the inside of his cheek, “I’m- I’ll be fine as long as Ah don’t have to repeat that.”

“You won’t.” Ghost assures him, “ready for Limbo?”

If there’s a place to find peace of mind, it’s the void, “aye. Been a while since we paid our friends a visit, hm?”

Ghost chuckles, “only you’d call them that.” He raises his voice, shouting to Novikov, “Limbo out in five!”

The Doctor gives them a thumbs-up, so Ghost closes his eyes.

Entering Limbo never got less jarring. Soap gets used to it faster if he expects it, but the shift from the colorful, lively world to the still void is an odd one.

Still, once he gets accustomed to it, he can’t help but smile. As weird as it is to say, he missed this place.

Limbo’s victims are docile, chasing after bright moths with no sense of urgency. Like shooting stars, they paint the dark skies of Limbo with radiant yellows and oranges.

This might be the only good thing Soap’s powers have ever done.

He catches Ghost staring at him, his eyes a glowing white, “what?” he asks with a small grin.

“Better?”

“Aye.”

“Sergeant!” Novikov shouts, though it sounds muffled as it enters Limbo from the other side, “try to explode something!”

Soap frowns, “is he talkin’ about yer friends?”

Ghost mutters, clearly unhappy with the disturbance, “don’t know.”

“What do you want ‘im to test it on?!” Ghost shouts back.

“Any material will do! I assume you’re standing on something, correct?”

Soap looks down, at the solid black ground. “What is this made of, anyway?”

The way Ghost hums back tells him ‘fuck if I know’. He crouches down, placing both hands on it. The texture is almost like a glass pane, except his fingers can’t get a grip on it no matter how much he tries.

Before he can hesitate, Soap flexes his fingers.

Nothing happens.

“Huh.” he tilts his head, “suppose it makes sense.”

“How so?” Ghost kneels beside him, sliding a finger over the undamaged surface.

“My powers have to come into contact with a material to explode.” Soap shrugs, getting back on his feet, “void’s made of nothing, no?”

“Hm.” Ghost casts another look around Limbo, and blinks.

Soap catches himself before his knees buckle from the rush of color and noise back into the world. Ghost hooks an arm under his shoulder as a precaution, but he assures him he’s stable.

“Absolutely outstanding! This is the first time you couldn’t explode something, is that correct, Sergeant?” Novikov half-jogs to them.

“Uh… Aye?”

The Doctor’s eyes gleam with wonder, “Incredible! If only there were more Revenants of Destruction in this base, I would be able to test if this is a result of a relation between your Reapers, or a consequence of your powers mixing… Alas, this is not the purpose of my visit.” 

Novikov’s assistants are absorbed with the testing equipment they brought, some looking like set pieces of a low budget sci-fi movie to Soap. He’d love to nick one to take apart, but the shite’s probably so delicate even his fingertips would burn and destroy them.

“Now, for the next test, I’d like you to-” a shrill noise cuts Novikov off, and Ghost pulls out his phone.

Soap pouts when Ghost answers. Why does no one ever call him?

“Affirm. We’ll be there in fifteen.” Ghost ends the call, “we need to go to a meeting with Laswell.”

Novikov’s eyes dim, “ah, I see… I suppose we can continue this afterwards.”

“You’re invited too, Doctor.” Ghost grunts, making both Soap and Novikov swing around in surprise.

When Laswell finally shows up on screen, she seems different from what Soap remembered.

Dark eye bags, pale, hair more grey in some places. He almost didn’t recognize her, and looking around the room tells him the rest of the team thinks the same.

The rest, except Price, “how are you, Kate?”

Laswell sighs, more hair falling off her tight bun. “Let’s get to work, John.”

As she brings up several images on screen, Price reports in their mind, “someone attacked Laswell and her wife in their home two months ago. She got off with minor injuries, but her wife… her concussion was severe enough that she barely talks most days.”

“Did they catch the fucker that did it?” Soap thinks back. If they didn’t, he’d gladly volunteer to put the bastard six feet under. He owes Laswell that much.

Price stops him from continuing to plan a revenge, “Kate killed him, son. She’s trained for field work, an everyday burglar doesn’t stand a chance against her. Now focus up.”

Soap huffs, “yes sir.”

“-we found signs of Shepherd’s work around Urzikstan. Supposedly, he’s working with one of the resistance groups there.” blurry satellite images pop up on screen, convoys and remote buildings hidden between green hills.

Gaz frowns, “either he suddenly grew a moral compass, or there’s a catch.”

Laswell nods, “it’s possible it’s a false lead, but with recent clashes between Urzik forces and the Russians, I’d like you to personally investigate it.”

“We’ll get it done, Laswell.” Price says, his authoritative voice on full blast.

“No one I trust more than you.” Laswell smiles, in a way Soap has never seen. “Now, obviously as you all are grounded, I wouldn’t just send you on what could potentially lead to nothing…”

She begins talking to Novikov, “we’re working on tracking the missing revenants Graves and Shepherd trafficked.”

The Doctor nods, adjusting the frankly huge glasses on his nose bridge, “many of them belong to rarer kinds of Reapers. If they were to fall into the wrong hands…”

“We can’t allow that to happen.” Ghost finishes sternly.

“Commander Karim has been working to find them, but there’s so much she can do while also fending off Russians.” the screen switches to a compilation of names and passport photos, each listing both a date of birth and Reaping. “This is your official reason to be sent to Urzikstan, boys. Whatever intel Graves has left behind him regarding the revenants’ location, we need it.”

“When are we up?” Price asks.

“1600.”

Gaz whistles, “brass’ knickers are all twisted up, huh.”

“Miss Laswell, if I may.” Novikov pipes up, “I have yet to finish the renewed revenant test of Sergeant MacTavish and Lieutenant Ghost. I will not be able to give you an accurate recommendation before that.”

The fuck’s he talking about?

“I understand, Doctor, but it’s out of my control.” Laswell exhales, “this is why I invited you to this meeting. Based on what you do know, what is your verdict?”

The entire room swivels to stare at the Doctor. Novikov scrambles to flip through the papers in his hands, before speaking with an air of defeat.

“Considering my current understanding of Lumity, and the state of Sergeant MacTavish and Lieutenant Ghost… I recommend that until further testing, they should be separated as much as possible on field, if their powers are to be used.”

… What?

[invinciblerodent]

okay, I need someone to tell me if this is a silly idea, or something clever

this.... mildly unimpressed, slightly stankfaced portrait keeps popping up in Villa Dellamorte. I feel like I keep running into it (even if it's just a me issue of exploring and running in circles lol), but it really feels like I've seen multiple copies, and this one in particular is right at the end of a hallway in a way that you can't miss.

..... I'm thinking about altering the way the character I was planning to romance Lucanis with looks, and making her look like this portrait as much as I possibly can.

I don't know, there's just... something really fun (in a.... slightly unorthodox way of meaning "fun") to me, in the idea of him growing up in this vast, mostly empty mansion, among harsh circumstances and rigorous training regimens that would pass for torture everywhere else, with only the lifeless eyes of the portraits on the wall to keep him company. I think it'd be a nice thread of continuity between them, and maybe even a nod as to why he grows so attached so quickly (beyond having been, yknow, deprived of human-adjacent touch and any kindness for the last year), to think that the reason is that Rook resembles a "person" in whom he found solace in his youth, even if she was just a picture of a nameless woman who had lived Ages ago, hanging on the wall.

(Of course, with Coris in particular, this instant feeling of connection would also help in masking her plotting- at least long enough for her to discard the whole 'Lady Macbeth' scheme she had cooked up, and grow some genuine affection for him.)

(Also then this visit to the Villa might also re-contextualize a lot of things between them, with her getting stuck between flaring resentment to see the riches on display and the sorrow at how much of it is utterly empty, devoid of warmth, but yknow, that's for when I actually get there I think.)

[fiery-emblems]

Book 8 is pretty neat so far, if a little bit bland (that's just cause it feels more like it fits more with the overarching aesthetic and plot of book 1 and 6 which are a little bland). I love Kozaki as a character designer so no surprise, I think the new characters look great.

I kind of wish we could get a mainline FE game that had a little more of the mystical feel that FEH has. The plot of the game is poo poo garbage but aesthetically FEH is really neat! Even book 7 had some really nice visuals despite the ugly characters. And the music for each book is usually pretty interesting, especially the last few which had that off beat kind of mystical feel.

They should make a really mage focused FE game with a bunch of cool shiny stuff and hire Kozaki to do more sleak designs.

[the-busy-ghost]

There are many reasons my interests are more geared towards mediaeval Scotland than mediaeval England, but at least one of them has to be the fact that I am completely incapable of Being Normal about the Lion in Winter and Shakespeare's second tetralogy.

[mysimsloveaffair]

Maia finds a few things she can use, then hurries as far away from the scene as possible. She got lucky that campus security didn’t spot her this time. If they see the dirt on her clothes, she’s sure it’ll raise suspicion, and she could still get in trouble - so it’s time for her to get back home.