#tbf tho what is there to like on the surface. she is well written tho

[royaltrios]

forever mad about how good sumeru was

[quietbluejay]

Scars 6

me thinking about The Path of Heaven:

but yeah there's a huge difference between a society with a high mortality rate plus a steppe nomad warrior culture and industrial warfare i know it's slightly off-topic but I'm again reminded of Fate/Zero and the discussion between Kiritsugu and Saber on the topic of honour in warfare or well Kiritsugu ranting about it lol was going to write up my thoughts on that but that's a whole other series lmao

so the khan and his entourage go through there's a lot of skeletons, and also TS armour but also…

custodians and that's a tough pill to swallow

yeah it's one thing to think disparagingly about someone

annnd he hears buzzing on the wind

yep it's psycheneuein

back to our intreprid trio and the fancy map yesugei manages to yeet the daemon, the map is still going though

surprise! daemon was not yeeted successfully it goes RIGHT afte xa'ven yesugei manages to actually for real get rid of it after a short fight but…

i ended up getting attached to Henricos haha

once again someone ignored xa'ven's advice and now…

RIP Xa'ven

lmao Shiban at the lodge meeting

i cackled a little irl at that

torghun's a mood tfw you manage to get your friend to join a group watch of the thing you're super into and back to the psychneuein which i have apparently been misspelling all this time theyy are ghost psychneuein naturally, shooting them does nothing rip Maji who is getting brutally brainsucked by one the Khan manages to get one with his sword and it dramatically explodes explosive giant ghost brain-eating beetles

explosion causes the ground to crack under the Khan's weight down he goes into the depths…. meanwhile up on the surface, the psychneuein have the Scars surrounded, time for a last…stand…? surprise! they're all on fire! (the beetles i mean)

it's Arvida!!

come with me if you want to live (and see your khan again)

Yesugei: Xa'ven deserved better ;-; he did

…yeah meanwhile the khan is trapped underground in very hot, cramped tunnels oh, i think he maybe found the chamber where Magnus did the ritual ah the dust is stirring…a figure forms in a twist, it's Magnus over to Shiban, who has no clue who to trust re: the lodges since his commanding officer is in on it he's gonna go over Hasik's head so Henricos and Yesugei now get along what is Yesugei gonna find at Prospero…

and that's true for a lot of things in life

oh hi Ilya haven't seen you in a while she's noticing Suspicious Patterns in the movements between ships it's pretty clear to the reader this is the lodges making their move

uh oh Shiban goes to Jermulan with his concerns Jermulan is…dubious

jermulan basically slams the door on him so Shiban and Jochi are on their own here

it's a shard of Magnus and it's…very Magnus

the Khan is deeply suspicious of the likeness here Magnus makess a bit of a hash at explaining things, much to Jaghatai's annoyance

the spicy knife was the worst

but before anything else i will note that Magnus has better interactions with Jaghatai than like, just about anyone else so i don't think it's meant to be a onesided friendship i do think he was the closest of the other primarchs to Magnus, i'm getting that impression also lmao magnus: our sin was pride also magnus: this happened because we were just too perfect i know this is a shard and it's probably a different writers thing but it's funny to compare this magnus to the one in Betrayer Who Isn't Calling Them Gods

magnus has a surprising insight man magnus telling jaghatai there are only two paths really makes me wish he'd taken a third option it'd betray the theme tho... alas

okay we get a brief story about arvida it's interesting that he skips the bit about the world eaters being there though i'm not sure that short story was written before this book, tbf

it's interesting he doesn't get into it here over to Torghun he was a true believer the whole time but…

Shiban has caused them Problems lol time for Shiban to give a speech

it's a good speech!

parallel that with "we will make sure the Khagan makes the right choice"

[spinyax]

fusion au part 2: electric boogaloo (part 1 here)

featuring Man O' War and fusion origin stores (under the cut bc i get Wordy lmao)

Man O’ War -

Chip/Jay/Gill

They/Them

Surprisingly stable for a 3 person fusion

Bioluminescent (the tops of their coral/antler crown, the tops of their fingers, plus some designs on their wing/fin(???) membrane i have yet to make

VERY fast swimmer, the arm wings/fins help

real big, they cant be formed on the boat

unless they're formed bc of an emergency they'll just kinda sit and enjoy existing

they don't really talk (they're never in a situation where they really need to tbf) but if they did they’d have a funky voice overlap

their name is based off the portuguese man o' war (animal), which aren't one animal! it's a colony of multiple little animals and i feel it really fit for a fusion. also the man o war (ship) was probably the last thing you'd ever want to see (and ever would see) as a pirate

---

some fusion origin stories bc i got some words in my head i need to get out

Osprey

first formed before they met gill, probably the night before they left jay’s island

Jay snuck out at night to the beach to hang out with this random bastard that’s been hanging around the tavern bc he seems lonely and she feels weirdly drawn to him

Idk how it comes up, but chip tries and fails to mimic jay’s dance she does at the tavern, and she tries to correct him, dancing with him

They accidentally fuse and turn into Osprey, who’s very confused

They stand up on shaky legs and hobble over to the water to get a good look at themself, meanwhile internally jay is freaking out

They get a look at their face and audibly say “damn im fine as hell” before immediately unfusing

Jay freaks the fuck out and runs away, leaving chip in the sand with a lot more emotions that he’s used to dealing with

The next night, chip comes back to the tavern and before jay can tell him to fuck off he tells her he saw some of her memories about drey and that’s he’s looking for him as well, along with the rest of the blackrose pirates

They run off that night

I have an idea for how osprey meets gill but i don't have the Strength to write it out rn

Thresher

Post episode 16: chip/gill fought and made up, but things are a little shaky between them

Gillion approached jay one night and asks about fusion, since he saw chip/jay fuse a few weeks ago (scenario i haven't written out yet) and he was curious about it

I don't know if i want to make fusion a Surface thing or just an unspoken/taboo topic in the Undersea but gill doesn't know much about it for that reason

He says he’d ask chip but he’s still unsure if he can truly trust chip with cultural knowledge anymore

Jay internally sheeshes at that last part at tells him what she knows about fusion

Gillion asks if the two of them could fuse and jay says it’s unlikely (fusions are usually done between super close friends/lovers. Osprey is an outlier and should not be counted) but there’s no harm in trying

They dance

I imagine it’s kinda like medieval line dancing, all stiff and formal. Gill is taking it Super Seriously and jay’s trying not to laugh

Jay trips and gillion rushes to catch her, and they form Thresher

Cut to chip, who’s asleep but wakes up when a shadow looms over him and a clawed finger pokes his face, then he opens his eye and screams (think about him waking up to amanda) bc holy shit that’s a demon (they do be lookin kinda bad tho :fuckboy emoji:)

The hot demon doesn't move, and slowly chip feels like he recognizes it? Those fins look familiar and hey isn’t that jay’s pin- Oh Fuck that’s a fusion

He lets out a shaky “hi” and asks if they're a fusion. Thresher kinda tilts their head like a puppy then nods. He asks for their name and they let out a growly “Thresher” that does nothing to help his current state of fear (or arousal). He tells them to go on the deck and figure out more about themself, it’s not everyday you make a new fusion y’know. They nod and grumble something in a demon-sounding language (primordial but chip doesn't know that) and go back up deck

They unfuse later that day and ask chip what they thought of thresher. He says they were ok

Actual feelings: he was Afeared and Aroused and feeling Many emotions that he’s not ready to process just yet.

(Bastard) Moray

Ill be real im open to any/all ideas for moray’s origin story (and moray in general) bc i feel like i have the weakest grasp on his whole deal

Takes place during some fantasy arc that happens off-screen (yes im aware that the crew really haven't been together for long but i simply ignore canon sometimes)

They're raiding some island cave for treasure and good news: they found it and have it on them. Bad news: it triggered a trap and now they’re running for their lives from a cave-in

They’re about to make it out when jay rolls a 1 and trips just before the exit and gets covered in rubble (with one arm out for the Drama of it all)

Chip and gill freak out and try to dig her out with their bare hands with little success, and then freak out more

(WAIT A SECOND GALAXY BRAIN IDEA)

Chip gets an idea and grabs gill by the shoulders

Chip: fuse with me

Gill: what???

Then chip fuckin dips him back and kisses the fuck out of him

Both get nat 20’s (obviously) and fuse into Moray

Moray spends the first few moments of his existence excited bc wow!!!!! He’s alive!!!! but then realizes Oh Shit, Friend is Trapped

With terrifying strength he lifts the rubble with two arms and extracts jay with the other two. She’s bruised and unconscious, but breathing so Moray takes that as a win and heads back to the ship.

A few hours later jay wakes up and goes onto the deck to see Moray doing whatever the fuck moray would do and gets super confused

Moray sees jay and goes !!!!!!! :D and runs over and picks her up bc friend ok !!!!

jay's fuckin dying bc on one hand she's happy the two of them fused but on the other hand oh god he's a handful (and he's holding her up with one hand what the fuck)

the two of them spend the rest of the day figuring out what moray can do (stuff i havent thought out yet lmao)