#updated Sporadically

[ellowynthenotking]

Apr 12

Dear Dad,

That was a huge waste of time. An unbelievably huge, massive, colossal, gigantic waste of time!

I can’t believe we fell for it, and I can’t believe other people keep falling for it! Hundreds of people have gone into this wizard circle for help, but they can’t really help anyone! 

We should have known better. I mean, I should have known better. With all the people we’ve seen and talked to. We should have known that none of them would actually help us. No one in this world is actually able or willing to help us. They just don’t want to help us. They give us just enough hope to go on to the next place, so we stop bothering them and move on to the next people. 

Just one after another. That’s all they do, all they’re willing to do. Just get us out of their hair or use us until they can get rid of us. It’s ridiculous, it’s insane, it’s so, so so mean. Why not just help us? Or just tell us that you can’t actually help us? 

I mean, the people at the temples have been telling us that all along. Because they know that it’s what’s actually important. Actually, right, one might even say. Because we deserve to know if you can’t actually help us. It’s not like we’ve gotten mad at anyone for not being able to help us. Usually, we just try to get them to point us in the right direction. Which isn’t hard at all! Even if I don’t know where something or someone is, I can usually at least point someone in the right direction.

But then again, maybe that’s what these people have been doing. Doing that, they think, is pointing us in the right direction when really they don’t even know where the right direction is. Maybe in their minds, it’s better than nothing. 

But it still hasn’t actually helped us at all. It’s done nothing, nothing at all for us. All it’s done is send us further and further away from where we started with no actual certainty of anything.

And these guys are the worst of all the people we’ve run into. They didn’t even try to actually help. I doubt that they’ve actually helped anyone! They’re not even wizards! The so-called wizards are actually just a bunch of dudes in a castle using magic items to pretend to be great and powerful wizards. They don’t even know how to use half the stuff that they’ve gotten stashed away. They just take all these insane, potentially helpful to someone magic items, and they hide them away from the world, using them to convince people they’re the ones with magic, and then they take more of the mafic items in trade. 

There was nothing there that could help us, because they weren’t actually any people who could help us, and they didn’t actually have any items that could have helped us. It was all duds, all of it.

They tried to do their drama theater show on us to show how magic-y they are. But I could see when they used scrolls and items for it. And Zunair called them out for using ambiance music in the place to make it seem more mystical. Grace was the one who actually tore into them for it all, though. When we pointed out all the items that they were using to give us a sham show of power, she was probably more mad than the rest of us. She tore them to shreds, asking what they did, where they got the items, how they could do what they were doing, and calling them scam artists to their faces. 

I thought she was actually going to attack them, but the most she did was break one of the wands that the guy at the front had, which was mostly just making bright and shiny lights, which was kind of amazing and terrifying. At least, it really terrified the stupid fake wizards. We interrogated them to see if they had anything, anything at all that might be able to help us, but the most useful thing they had was a scrying bowl. But since we didn’t know exactly what we were looking for or where it was, it was useless to us. 

A castle full of stuff, full of magic, and we couldn’t even get directions from them.

They wasted our time, they wasted our money, they’re absolutely useless.

I can’t believe they have an entire city, not just an entire city, but an entire kingdom, really, fooled. Convinced that they’re these great and powerful wizards when they’re just fancy con artists. I mean, someone else’s gotta know, right? That they’re just taking people's time and money. Tricking people, good people, probably. Cause of what, money? The illusion of power? 

Bastards, the lot of them. I hope something terrible happens to their castle and all their magic items get spread to the corners of this world.  

We wasted days, Dad. We wasted so much time looking to get here and looking for them, looking for work to pay them. All for what, for them not even to be able to help us. They can’t even point us to someone else who might be able to help us because they’re fakes. Big fakes. The fakiest fakes to ever fake in this kingdom. 

I wanted to yell at them more. I wanted to scream at them. I wanted to take everything from them and show it to the world. 

We should have grabbed a few things out of their stocks. They weren’t even using most of it, just showing it off and hoarding it like terrible fake dragons. Using it to make themselves look good. I’m sure there was stuff in there that we could have actually used. Something that might have actually been able to help us later on, or that we could have sold to help fund other research, other things that might have been able to help us. 

Wasted so much time. I can’t believe it. And there wasn’t even anything to show for it. We didn’t get anything from them, didn’t have any items to show, didn’t have any directions. 

We didn’t get home, god I can’t believe I was so stupid to believe that they would acutally be able to get us home. 

It hasn’t happened do far, why would it happen now? Just cause we waited in line? Just cause we thought that it might be able to help us?

No, it was a dumb ploy, a dumb con, and we fell for it: hook, line, and sinker. I can’t believe that we were so dumb.

We’re going to keep on through the city, but if the cult was looking for us here, they might have more than caught up. We still have the temples to look through. The one we’re staying at, Willow, is covering, so tomorrow, one of the others and I are going to go look for the other temples and see if they have anything or might be able to help us in some way. I’m not going to get my hopes up again. I’m going to stay firmly in the “we’re not getting home, but I’m gonna keep trying” camp until we’re actually home. It might help, it might not, but I can’t keep hoping like this. It’s hurting me, really hurting me, I think, to hope so much and to keep having it dashed on the rocks like this.

The time wasted is going to come back to haunt us, I’m sure. I’m hoping the cultists aren’t still following us because if they have been, they’re already 4 days closer to us because of all the time wasted. Time was wasted waiting outside the city, time wasted just finding a place to sleep, and then even more time was wasted at the door of the stupid wizards and their stupid castle. The stupid fake wizards. How many people have they tricked? Is there even a point to this? To all of it? 

Are the cultists looking for anything, too, or are they just going to hunt us down to do terrible things to us, too? I mean, what are we even going to do if they catch up with us again? There’s no real answer because the answer is probably going to be something terrible.

I want to go home, that’s all I want. I want to not be here, I want to be able to see the world again without worrying about cultists of all things. I want to be able to sleep in a bed that I don’t have to barter for. I want to know what else the cultists are planning, if they catch up to us, I don’t have to wonder about them too. 

I don’t want theme to catch up with us at all. I want them gone. I want us gone. 

I want to find a way home in one of these libraries. So I’m going to keep looking for a way, home, but I”m not going to trust anyone elses��� word on it. I can’t. 

I don’t know how the others feel. I don’t know if I want to know. I want to go home.

We don’t even know where to go or what to do next. We’re just fumbling around, hoping that the way home is something we’ll be able to find, and find soon. But I don’t know if it is something we’ll find or find soon.

I wonder if the Seers were even telling the truth. We trusted them, too, and I don’t know if we can actually trust them. 

I don’t know if I can trust anyone.

I can’t stop, though. I don’t know what I’ll do if I stop. Maybe die like a shark.

Jack

Read the rest of the series here: 

Or read more by this author here: 

[bigbigtruck]

SHOT AND CHASER page 192 is up

[minty364]

DPXDC Prompt #108 Part 2

The thought sounded ridiculous and yet Damian found himself unable to completely scoff at the idea. He himself had seen some strange things in his lifetime and it wouldn’t be fair to completely dismiss the idea outright. 

“I’m unsure what your point is but I guess I suppose they exist.” Damian eventually said.

Danny chuckled at this, “I guess you're not from Amity Park huh?” he joked.

Damian scoffed, “I’ve never even heard of that place but I gather that’s where I am at the moment?” He mentally filed the name to search later. 

“Yeah, born and raised. Anyways, we’re the most haunted city in America. Ghost’s are real, you’ll probably meet one at some point. They’re uh… kind of attracted to me? Kind of like… “ He trailed off for a moment, likely lost in thought trying to come up with an example. Damian was going to call him out for spacing, they were probably running out of time before one of his siblings or Pennyworth came to check on him. Luckily Danny continued, “Hey, what city am I in right now, maybe there’s a comparison I can use?” Danny asked.

“Tt, did you not even think to use GPS to find your location before calling me?” Damian scoffed, his supposed ‘soulmate’ was incompetent, “You're in Gotham.”

“Gotham? Well I guess you could compare them to Batman’s rogues then, however they tend to play a little rough. It’s kind of how ghost’s bond.” Danny’s explanation made it sound like he was the one roughhousing with these ghosts. He wasn’t quite sure where this was going but he let him continue, “so well… this next part’s kind of hard to explain especially without proof but well… I’m what the other ghost’s call a halfa. I’m half ghost half human.”

Damian opened his mouth to retort, the notion that you could be half dead was ridiculous really. But as soon as he opened his mouth a cold blue wisp wafted out of his mouth shocking him. An unfamiliar feeling washes over him and he looked down in terror as he started sinking into the bed.

“Explain your power’s now, I appear to be sinking into your bed.” Damian demanded. The feeling was odd, it was almost as if the bed didn’t exist. 

“Uh, right, Okay… so, it’s kind of emotion based? Take a few deep breaths and you’ll be able to ease yourself back out.” 

Damian did just as Danny instructed and took a few deep breaths. Soon he was able to solidify and sit back up on the bed. Suddenly, a knocking sound was heard through the phone. 

Shit, just like he thought, they took too long and one of his siblings came to check on him. He thought it was sweet that they cared, but he’d never voice this thought out loud to anyone. 

“Danny, I need you to listen very carefully. I need you to open the door and hand the phone over to them. Don’t say anything, understand?” 

“Uh Okay?” Damian could tell Danny was raising an eyebrow at this but he did as Damian told him anyway.

“Uh, Hello?” The voice on the phone said, Damian recognized it as Tim Drake-Waynes. 

“Drake, Please step into the room and listen to my instructions,” Damian waited a moment as he heard the door shut. “Alright, meet my soulmate Danny, apparently his parents study soulmates and they did something and now we’re in each other’s bodies.”

He heard Danny sigh, “It was only supposed to strengthen the soulmate pull. It’s not my fault they don’t know about my weird biology.” 

“Weird Biology?” Drake parroted, “do they not know you're a meta?”

There was a pause before Danny spoke, “No, I’m not a meta… but for the simplicity of things, and this conversation, sure, you can call me a meta.” There was a tiredness to his voice, as if he had this conversation with someone else before.

“The name’s Tim,” he told Danny, then Drake suddenly said in an excited voice, “hey, let’s let him in on the family secret and prank Bruce. Let’s tell everyone else about it and see how long it takes him to figure out it isn’t you… we’ll have to train Danny of course. If he really is your soulmate he’s going to find out eventually and it might be good to prepare him ahead of time” The idea sounded ridiculous to Damian but at the same time, he was recently having some doubts about his Father’s attention on him. Drake had a point, if Danny really was his soulmate, he’d find out eventually. 

__________________________

Danny wasn’t sure what was going on, after he handed the phone off to Tim, they talked about some family secret. Soon Tim hung up the phone and turned to Danny, “Damian say’s Sam and Tucker are there and they’ll call back when he’s back up to speed which means that we need to get up to speed ourselves,” he glared at Danny. Danny, who was still wearing Pajamas stood there as Tim approached him. Once they were a yard apart Tim spoke again, “Listen, the secret I’m about to tell you must not be told to anyone outside of this house, got it?” He fixed a hard glare at Danny.

Danny shrunk back for a moment before a thought occurred to him, “why don’t I tell you my secret as well? Damian is already learning by now and since you're his brother you’ll probably be able to help out.” Secrets for secrets, that way they would both be afforded some leverage in the situation. 

Tim seemed to think for a moment with a hand on his chin, he nodded for a moment before looking up at Danny, “Alright, but tell me yours first.” 

[lipglossanon]

• 𝔸 𝔻𝕠𝕫𝕖𝕟 ℝ𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕤 •

Fairy Tail AU - Multi chapter fic - Dead Dove Content

𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔯𝔲𝔩𝔢𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔢𝔰 𝔦𝔫 𝔞 𝔣𝔞𝔦𝔯𝔶 𝔱𝔞𝔩𝔢.

𝔜𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔣𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔥𝔞𝔰 𝔟𝔢𝔤𝔲𝔫 𝔱𝔬 𝔩𝔬𝔬𝔨 𝔞𝔱 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔦𝔫 𝔴𝔞𝔶𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔣𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔤; 𝔟𝔲𝔱 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔱𝔬 𝔯𝔢𝔣𝔲𝔰𝔢 𝔞 𝔎𝔦𝔫𝔤?

♔ 𝔒𝔫𝔢 ♔

♔ 𝔗𝔴𝔬 ♔

♔ 𝔗𝔥𝔯𝔢𝔢 ♔

♔ 𝔉𝔬𝔲𝔯 ♔

♔ 𝔉𝔦𝔳𝔢 ♔

♔ 𝔖𝔦𝔵 ♔

♔ 𝔖𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔫 ♔

Little Whispers - Prince Chris x Lady-In-Waiting!reader

Warnings for the series (each chapter will also be labeled individually): 18+ MDNI, dead dove content, incest, father/daughter incest, power imbalance, violent acts, bodily harm, blood, murder, minor character death, masturbation, unprotected sex, dirty thoughts/talk, pussy inspection, corruption kink, virginity kink, kissing, oral, vaginal fingering, thigh riding, groping, possessiveness, kissing

**Warnings are subject to change so please check back as the story progresses

[fogerist]

I’m alive y’all, just been focusing on my mental health and escaping from this world via Minecraft lol

Hope y’all are doing ok with everything happening, sending love to y’all ❤️❤️❤️

[anarchopuppy]

I need at least another $25 to pay my phone bill in a couple days (and that'd leave me no money left for food, let alone rent next month). I'm still unemployed and paralyzed by one of the worst mental health spirals of my life. Anything helps, if you can spare it

This is my ko-fi. Venmo and paypal available by private request. Love y'all

[ficrecsbyv]

Title: anywhere we want

Author: jumpinginmuddypuddles

Fandom(s): Minecraft (Video Game), Hermitcraft SMP

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35807092/chapters/89288644

Visibility status: Anyone

Update Status: Incomplete

Chapter(s): 11/?

Word Count: 33,131

Summary:

"The blaze glowers, his face twisted with a sudden unpleasant rage as though he’s eaten something sour. It’s unbecoming on his face. “Do you know how many humans have come over here with a similar sob story? Let me tell you, buddy. We’re not stupid. We know a trap when we hear one.”

Mumbo goes red. “It’s not a trap!” He replies, a little outraged. How dare they accuse him of such! “He’s an avian, he’s got tawny wings and a nasty cut to the side, he needs aid--”

/// Mumbo just wants to help the avian he saved from hunters get back home. Unfortunately for him and a very sick Grian, a couple of thick-headed, stubborn hermits stand in his way."

Author’s tumblr: @jumpinginmuddypuddles

[ask19thcentury-doctorgilbert]

recently been consumed with the idea that the crux of most of gilbert's problems is that he's an immortal who never fully accepted the fact that he's immortal and he tends to approach things, especially personal issues, from a human perspective for better and for worse and this has absolutely fucked him up and is now also fucking his son up because ludwig is not and will never ever be a human child despite his father's best efforts to raise him as one in this essay i will-

[ronanceautistic]

Cursed!Nancy AU Chapter 1!

This isn't necessarily the hardest I've worked on a fic, because to be perfectly honest yapping about Nancy Wheeler's ridiculous brain is as easy as breathing. But it's certainly the most detailed fic I've written in a while. So, if you like cursed!Nancy and every thought Nancy's ever had being documented, then this is the fic for you.

[ducktracy]

Which is the best Mel Blanc scream?

It’s a question philosophers, scholars, and many who have been just a little too bored have pondered for ages. Why not try and find a concrete answer?

How it works: I’ll be regularly conducting polls asking you! Yes! You! to pick out which tell you like best—two options with a video racked on of both clips together. First clip will be the first option, second is second, etc. I’ll be posting them in chronological order—once that is all through, it’ll be a process of elimination. Each poll will be open for about a week, so there’s plenty of time to take yer pick!

This’ll be a relatively casual experiment spread out over an indeterminate amount of time. Weeks? Months? However long it takes to compile each scream! Bear in mind that there are hundreds of cartoons to sort through, and some may accidentally slip through the cracks—I’ll do my best to prevent this, but if I do find one I forgot to add, this rule of chronology may be occasionally broken to ensure fairness.

I am committed to fairness and accuracy, so every Mel Blanc scream means every Mel Blanc scream. Thus, there may be some examples that have obviously aged less favorably than others. I’ll do my best to add the appropriate disclaimers if those situations do pop up while striving to maintain as much objectivity as possible. If you’ve been following me for awhile, this isn’t anything incredibly new.

That’s all! This is just something for stupid fun and obviously something anyone can participate in—it would be great if you could reblog these polls to get a wider reach (outside of my usual echo chamber of animation fanatics like myself!) Let’s have some much needed fun and much needed yelling.

[thotkumi]

[ellowynthenotking]

Apr 27

Dear dad,

We’re just going as fast as we can. We’ve barely stopped in days, and we’re running out of food faster than we thought we would. 

We needed to resupply at that stupid festival, and we didn’t get the chance to do so. I don’t know what we’re going to do about it. Grace has been walking alongside the cart looking for more edible plants, and we’ve been supplementing our rations with them. The amount that she’s finding isn’t enough, though. We can add it to things, but it takes a while to cook and prepare, and even if it’s helping, it’s making us slow down so we don’t lose her. 

I’m seriously worried that we’re going to accidentally leave her behind. Even though she mostly walks by the cart, she constantly ducks off into the woods on either side of the path to grab more of the stuff, and we lose sight of her so fast. We didn’t stop, but I jumped out of the cart a couple of times to keep an eye on her and the cart so we didn’t end up leaving her behind. 

I almost want to tell her to stop. It’s even more stressful trying to make sure we don’t leave her behind on accident. The amount of food she’s getting isn’t enough for her actions to be worth it. 

We’re pushing the horses really hard, too. I think constantly having people jump off and climb onto the cart while they’re in mid-motion isn’t the best. The horses are okay, though. I mean, I think they’re okay. They at least have enough to eat. There seems to be stuff they like to eat whenever we actually stop. I wish I could say the same. 

We haven’t run across any towns yet, but hopefully, we will soon; we need to stop somewhere and figure out where we are. I mean, we know where we are. Still, Willow's maps are functionally useless because we’re not in the other kingdom anymore. We don’t know where anything is for this kingdom. We haven’t even run across any people so far. We haven’t seen anyone since we left the little town on the kingdom's edge. Now, I’m pretty sure we haven’t accidentally stepped into a horror movie because some wizened person hasn’t been warned about our follies before heading out this way. But that doesn’t make it any less creepy.

The animals we’ve seen haven’t looked right either. Initially, I was saying we could probably do some hunting to supplement our food, but the animals don’t look right. We saw a deer with some super messed-up antlers, and I think we all kind of agreed that it would probably be for the best if we didn’t hunt it. There were some naked squirrels, not a single hair on them, bright pink, but still running around just fine. 

I haven't seen any birds, though I’ve heard some bird songs. But if they’re not in the trees or up in the air, they must be on the ground, right? But I haven’t seen any. 

This means we can’t hunt them. It’s been really weird. The forest still sounds like there are stuff and animals in it, but we just haven’t seen any of them, at least none that would be good eating.

I’m a little worried, if I’m being honest. We can’t really add any of it to the food, and we aren’t getting enough plants for the food. So we’re slowly running out of food, in the middle of nowhere, and being hunted by humans. And, possibly, by the weird deer? I could swear it’s the same deer I’ve seen a couple of times. Like I said, I would try hunting them, but it just hasn’t happened. Cause it all looks weird. 

Zunair says all the animals we’ve been seeing look like Chernoble (?) mutants, and he doesn’t think we should eat them on the off chance there is some kind of radiation or something that they’re all inflicted with. Willow said if that was what was going on, then we needed to leave the area as soon as possible, because if they were this affected, then it’s probably still leaching from somewhere, and we need to be careful.

Either way, there’s no signage about anything, be it dangers or towns anywhere. We have seen a few places that were obviously camps that looked untouched by whoever was there last. We’re at one now; it’s even got a little fire pit. 

The fire pit still has bones, which is a little disconcerting, but it’s proof that SOMEONE’S been here at least. There are other people around here somewhere, and we’ll hopefully run into them eventually. 

I’ll write to you soon. Hopefully, we’ll find a place to sleep that lets me write a little more to you, but I don’t know how long it’ll be until we get there. We’ll see, I guess.

Love, Jack

Read the rest of the series here: 

Or read more by this author here: 

[hoodiehorizon]

Day 31 of @tmaynt : Favorite Style

This was mostly an excuse to draw peepaw Donnie but I also love the ROTTMNT art style and they're so fun to draw :)

(no text version under the cut)

[little-pup-pip]

Hey everyone, small update!! I have one more exam tomorrow and then my semester is over!!! I can't wait!!

Also, we're about 60 followers away from 2000?? Out of nowhere??? I'm so excited, but I can't decide on what I should do to celebrate! I'll probably make a poll when we get closer.

[euphreana]

The Shape of Truth - Chapter 6: Papered Over

Masterpost

-

Arms & Hammer had just opened for the day when Ambrosius and Dog-Nimona arrived. Despite not being in armor, the clerk in the foyer complied when Ambrosius said he was there on ‘official business’. She told him the workshop had gotten several orders for replicas of Ballister's sword over the last few months, but she couldn't pinpoint any exact days. It would be up to him to dig through the invoices in the back office to find the order he was looking for.

Ambrosius closed the office door after the clerk left, letting Nimona go back to human form unnoticed. It would be easier to sort through filing cabinets with thumbs, after all.

“Ugh, why are they still using paper for everything?” Nimona whined as she poked through one of the cabinets.

“Paper is cheaper?” Ambrosius offered, pulling out a thick folder from another drawer.

“Paper takes up more space! And you can't ‘search all’ paper!”

Ambrosius couldn't argue with that.

Working with actual paper was a rare experience for him. He’d worked with the mercy forms the day before, but before then it had been years since he’d even touched the stuff. Everything that’d had to do with his training as a knight had been read or written on a screen of some kind. He wondered if he’d be using it more now that he’d graduated.

“Found one!” Nimona announced after several minutes, holding up a sheet of text.

Ambrosius scanned the invoice. It was indeed an order for the right kind of sword, but…

“That's too cheap for something as detailed as the blaster-sword was.” He pointed out.

Nimona huffed and resumed paging through the folder.

“Being a sidekick wasn’t supposed to involve paper.”

“You know you can always leave if you want.”

“I don’t want.”

Ambrosius remembered the question that had been in the back of his head since he’d learned Nimona was real.

“About that… Why are you helping me?”

Nimona shrugged.

“I told you - I want to see who’s behind all this.”

“Why? So you can join them?”

“Why not?”

Ambrosius picked up a new sheaf of papers from the to-search stack on the desk.

“You know you just said that to a knight. I could turn you in for treason.”

“But you won’t!” Nimona said cheerfully, dropping another sheaf of searchable papers on top of the stack. “You want to know who’s behind this just as much as I do.”

Ambrosius wasn’t amused.

“What makes you think I won’t report you afterward?”

“Uh, the fact that The Institute hung your buddy?”

“That doesn’t make them bad. They were… just following the laws.”

“And who made those laws?”

“I don’t see what—”

“And that’s your problem - you trust them too much. You’re like their gold puppet!”

That struck a nerve with Ambrosius. Of course he trusted The Institute. The Institute was Good - he’d come to that conclusion on his own. People who disagreed were just blind to the truth. Nobody was pulling his strings.

“I’m no puppet.” he glared, slamming his sheaf of papers onto the desk, “I can think for myself.”

Nimona turned. Her elbow knocked over the to-search stack.

“That’s what they want you to think. That’s why they’re the ones feeding you your information.”

“The Institute is good!”

“And who told you that?!”

The handle to the office door rattled briefly. In an instant, Ambrosius’s foot shot out and kicked Nimona’s feet out from under her, and she fell out of sight behind the desk just as the door opened.

“Everything okay in here?” The clerk asked, glancing around the small room. “Is someone bothering you?”

Ambrosius put on a fake smile and waved a sheaf of papers.

“All good! Just talking to someone on speakerphone.” He hoped the clerk wouldn’t notice his phone was nowhere to be seen.

“Okay…” The clerk left, closing the door behind her.

Ambrosius gave a sigh of relief. He glanced down at Nimona, expecting to see a furry ball of irritation. Instead, she looked remarkably chill, reading through one of the papers that had fallen on the floor.

“Hey… I think I found it!”

She held the paper out excitedly. Ambrosius’s eyes skimmed over it. Sure enough, the invoice listed a hollow sword capable of disassembly, as well as the extra costs of being a top-tier replica. It had been sold to a ‘MB’, and delivered to an address across town.

Ambrosius stared at the name on the paper. MB - was this the person who was responsible for his grief? Or were they just another pawn in this game?

“We should take this to the justice department.” Ambrosius said quickly, “Tell them what we’ve found. They can take care of it from here.”

Nimona smirked.

“What are you going to tell them? That you got here by breaking into the archives?”

Ambrosius froze. Oh no. Nimona was going to use that to blackmail him from here on out, wasn’t she? He knew sneaking in had been a bad idea - he should have just let The Institute handle everything. They would have figured it out themselves!

Before he could react, Nimona’s foot slammed into his ankles, toppling him to the floor next to her. She gave him a sly grin.

“Looks like you’re stuck with me!”

~ ~ ~

“Well, that’s disappointing.” Nimona stated flatly.

She and Ambrosius stood in front of the husk of a small burned-out building. The sky had just started to drizzle, washing bits of ash off the charred beams and twisted metal piled in heaps in the lot. The fire had been recent - this was the first rain since it had burned.

Ambrosius tugged his hood forward to cover his face more as the rain picked up. Then he noticed someone entering a nearby office.

“Hey, what happened here?” he called and pointed to the remains of the burnt building.

The person barely paused to look at him as he approached.

“Fire. Obviously.”

“Yeah, but- when? What happened?”

“Right before the knighting. Everyone inside died. Tragic.” The person closed the door in his face.

The pink dog next to Ambrosius piped up.

“Hey, maybe take the hood off next time. You look shady.”

Ambrosius ignored the advice and went back to the ruins, stepping over the caution tape strung around it. This was too convenient. Someone had to have been covering their tracks. Usually he’d leave this to the experts, but now he didn’t have that luxury. He’d need to do all the heavy lifting alone. Alone… Before all this, he’d always had Bal or his parents backing him up. Now he was alone…

His hands shook as he sifted through a pile of wet ash. He’d never planned for this. Being alone… He’d found out young that everyone always wanted some favor or the other in return for being his friend - Ballister had been the only person who’d asked nothing in return. And now the man was gone, leaving him alone.

Nimona’s voice broke in.

“What… exactly are you looking for?”

“I don’t know. Something… Anything…” He wasn’t going to give up just yet. Gloreth help him, he was going to get to the bottom of this. “This place was a business - there was a lobby right here. Then there had to have been an office over here. Maybe…” he shoved a blackened beam out of his way, “Maybe there’s a clue somewhere.”

Nimona pawed at a pile of rubble.

“A clue to what? You heard the guy; the perps are dead.”

“There has to be someone else - if Bal didn’t trigger the sword to go off, somebody else must have done it remotely. And if the fire was before the knighting, they had to keep the sword somewhere else till then.”

“Maybe they kept it at someone's house?”

“Would YOU keep an unstable weapon like that in your house?”

“Yeah?”

“Well MOST people wouldn't. They had to have had a hideout or something. Maybe there’s… I don’t know, an address tag or something in here.”

Nimona squinted, thinking.

“Well it's not like we have any other leads.” She joined the search.

There wasn’t much to find - only hardware from the building and some charred electronics hadn’t burned or melted from the heat. Then Nimona found something else - a warped, metal filing cabinet buried in rubble.

Ambrosius dug it free and yanked one of the bent drawers open. Ash. He tried the next drawer. More ash. The bottom drawer had ash too, but there was something else buried underneath it all…

He reached in and pulled out a metal key with a tag hanging from it. The plastic tag had warped and bubbled from heat, but the label on it was still readable.

“Knightly Storage, Unit 531.” he read aloud.

“A clue?”

Ambrosius smiled as he pocketed the key. “It’s worth checking out!”

Chapter 7

[beebfreeb]

For the DIDLheads out there... I am still working on chapter 18 I've just been *waves hand around in a non-specific gesture* severe mental health problems. I've just finished a complicated illustration (which I cannot share in full) so here is a small preview of that! This car was the last asset drawn in MS Paint. All art after it will have been made in Aseprite.

In addition, I'm trying to whip up something silly for May but the keyword is trying. Might be late might not be. We will see.