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#Did a super strong wind appear out of nowhere and blow him further out?
merlinpetpeeves · 3 years
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brutal-nemesis · 3 years
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Forest Day 2021: Un-cursing a Forest Tutorial (Gone Wrong)
Come into the woods with me, won’t you? I promise everything will be super normal and it’s totally not a little over 5k words hahahahahaha
Castys Masterlist
Ingredients: cannibalism mention, plant/animal/body horror (there is a lot of this and it is weird and kind of gross at times so this is your warning), acid burns, i use the word “pustules” multiple times, eye whump, gore, suicide for convenience
Castys woke up to darkness.
His head was pounding, so it was sort of nice, but much less nice when he tried to move and discovered his arms were tied behind his back. Upon further investigation, he realized he was gagged and blindfolded as well. 
Great.
He sat up and was just starting to try and get his gag out using his shoulder when a pair of hands grabbed him and hauled him to his feet. He tried to jerk out of their grasp, but a second person grabbed his other arm, and then it was all he could do to keep up as they hauled him to wherever. The ground changed from something solid feeling to something dirt-sounding, and then solid again after the creak of a door opening. 
“He’s awake, Chief.”
“Thank you. Just leave him and wait outside.” One of the men kicked the back of Castys’s legs, forcing him to his knees. He was tempted to get up once he felt their hands leave him, but he figured it would be best to just wait and see what the hell was going on for now. Once the blindfold was removed, he tried to look around, but a rough hand grabbed his chin, forcing him to look up at his captor, a strong looking woman with her dark hair in a complicated braid. She examined him with concern. “I didn’t think you would look this young.” Her free hand untied the gag, and she gently pulled it out of his mouth. “You are him, and not just some child, right?”
“Nope, just a child. A nineteen year old boy. Not immortal, so I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I never said I was looking for an immortal.”
Castys opened and closed his mouth a few times, blinking. “I-okay that one’s on me. Hooray, you caught me.” He glared up at her. “Now what do you want?”
She let go of him, stepping back and crossing her arms. “I am Citlali, the chief of Nauhiliv’s Hollow. For centuries, my people have-”
“I’m not really in the mood for a history lesson, so just get to the-”
“Either shut up and let me talk or I will gag you again.” Castys rolled his eyes. “I promise it’s relevant, alright?”
“Fine.”
Citlali took a deep breath and began again. “For centuries, the people of Nauhiliv’s Hollow have lived as one with the forest, taking only what we need from its bounty, hunting and gathering from the lands around us. But now,” she looked away, “now the forest is...twisted. What was once a familiar place has become dark and horrifying, and they are now far too dangerous to hunt in. Everyone we have sent in to find the source of the curse has not yet returned.” She took a shuddering breath before looking back at Castys. “You, however, can’t die. So would you-”
“How much will you pay me?”
“Just...this.” She held up a small leather pouch, one that looked kind of like...Castys hurriedly looked down, feeling his stomach twist when he didn’t see the familiar string around his neck.
“You took my-give it back! How did you even find out about that?!” Castys fought to keep his voice even, his fists clenched behind him. That pouch was important to him, it had his rock that allowed him to kill himself easily and painlessly, and it also had...he just needed it, dammit.
“You’re apparently, ah, quite chatty when you’re drunk.” She twirled the pouch on her finger lazily. “So, if you lift the forest’s curse, you’ll get it back. And until then, my other half is going to keep it safe in a pocket dimension, where even a notorious thief like you can’t get to it.”
Castys’s face darkened. “That’s-if you wanted me to help you why didn’t you just, I don’t know, ask instead of fucking kidnapping me and stealing my shit?”
“Because I’ve heard tell that you’re a selfish asshole who definitely wouldn’t help us unless we paid you a ton of money or forced you to. And since we’re not exactly drowning in cash…”
Castys mulled it over for a moment, wiggling his hands against the ropes. “Yeah okay that’s fair. I still hate you, but that’s fair.”
Citlali rolled her eyes. “Are you going to do it, then? Because if not,” she stalked over and grabbed Castys’s chin tightly, forcing him to look up at her, “I could think of a different way you could help my people, immortal.”
“I promise you, I taste terrible.” Citlali flinched back, letting go of Castys’s face.
“What-no that isn’t-I meant I was going to sell you, idiot! That’s so-we’re nowhere near desperate enough to eat…” she shook her head. 
“Okay, sorry, I figured if you were desperate enough to kidnap me you were also desperate enough to want to eat me and my infinite flesh.”
“Those two are absolutely not the same level of-look, are you going to do it or not? Because if not I will sell you and keep your precious-” 
“I’ll go kill your stupid forest curse thing,” Castys sighed. “Being sold is super annoying, and escaping will be way harder without my rock.” He glanced back over his shoulder. “Can you untie me now?” 
“Do you promise not to try to run off? You won’t be able to get your pouch back by force, and this village is surrounded by these cursed woods except for a single, well guarded road, so there really won’t be any point in trying, anyway.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” Castys got to his feet after she freed him, rubbing his chafed wrists as he looked down at his very empty belt. “You’re going to give me my sword back for this, right? I know I can’t die but fuck if I’m going in there without a weapon.”
“You can have your sword, and the small amount of supplies we can spare, once the sun rises and you set out. Until then,” she gestured to the door, “let Tlaloc and Meztli show you where you can sleep.” 
~~~
Castys took a deep breath as he looked up at the trees towering over him, gripping his pack tightly. They looked like normal trees to him, and he was sort of disappointed that they didn’t look...creepier? He expected this horrible cursed forest to look more horrible and cursed, especially with all the trouble that bitch went through to make him do this. He glanced back, but Citlali and the guards were still behind him, and she waved her hand at him to get going. Sighing, he started walking into the forest, hoping this whole “curse” thing was just some asshole wizard kids playing a trick. 
Soon enough, he spaced out listening to the forest sounds. The rustling of the wind in the branches, the chirping of birds, the faint screaming...wait what. No, yeah that was screaming or something. He looked around frantically for the source of it, just now noticing that the trees were...different, somehow. They sort of...shimmered, moving in a strange way. Cautiously, he approached the nearest trunk and studied it. It was...it was moving, the whole surface shifting and crawling, like it was covered completely in bugs. O-kay then. 
Moving on.
Castys wasn’t even sure what he was supposed to look for. That chief lady had really just sent him in here with the very helpful instruction of “fix it”, like he had ever un-cursed a forest before. He didn’t know where he was supposed to go, or...where he even was. He’d been trying to walk in a straight line, but the way behind him looked unfamiliar, as if the trees and plants had decided to move around while he wasn’t looking. Well, it appeared that wandering aimlessly was his only option now. Delightful.
Maybe he should do something as he walked along to help pass the time. Not that he didn’t mind walking around in nature, this place was just...he pulled out his rekara, twirling it between his fingers for a moment before putting it to his lips and blowing, tapping his fingers on the slender instrument’s holes to play a stupid little tune. It covered up the faint screaming sound quite nicely, and it eventually attracted a little bird, which fluttered down on a nearby branch. It was a very normal-looking one, with plain brown feathers and cute lil’ eyes.
When it opened its mouth to chirp at him, though, another scream rang out through the forest, so loud it sounded like it was coming from right next to Castys. Startled, he jumped a bit, stumbling back and tripping over a tree root or something, falling right on his ass. Frantically, he looked around for the source of the scream, but there was no one around him, as far as he could tell. “Anyone screaming out there?!” he called as he stood up, but he was met with silence. Well, not silence silence but just...nothing un-ambient. Maybe the trees were screaming. It could be a tree thing. 
The bird was still sitting there staring at him, and oh my fuck it’s the bird isn’t it-again, the bird opened its beak, and again, a horrible scream echoed around him. Well wasn’t that nice. A bird that screamed like a person. Castys slowly backed away, hoping the little thing’s only weird quality was the noise it made. Once he felt like he’d gotten far enough away, he turned and ran, and he was only running to cover more ground quickly, not because he was scared, no, a little unsettled, maybe, but not scared. 
He stopped to catch his breath after a few minutes, and as he stood there panting, he realized the forest around him had grown even more...strange. The trees actively waved in the air now, though there was no wind, and many of their branches hung limp, like they were made of cloth or something and not solid wood. Their bark still glistened and crawled, swirling into strange, mesmerizing patterns. The leaves of all the plants were different now, too, having taken on a sickly pink color, almost like...light-colored skin. Tasty.
Okay, yeah, something was obviously very wrong and cursed here, but he still had no clue what the fuck to do about it. He’s been hoping he could find...he didn’t know, something that looked like the source of it, like a very giant tree with a hole in it or perhaps a big magic crystal or an evil bear. But all around him were just normal sized haunted trees and no crystals and weird greenish mold and all the plants with their gross fleshy leaves-wait that mold or whatever was new. He crouched down and pulled out his knife so he could poke at it.
Upon closer inspection, it was like...little green pustules clustered together on the surface of the shifting tree bark. He used the tip of his knife to prod one of them, but it burst far more easily than he had been expecting, splattering greenish goop all over his hand, and it burned. Crying out, he dropped his knife and looked frantically around for water or something he could use to get this awful stuff off because dying wouldn’t make it go away so until he got rid of it somehow he was just stuck feeling it burn away his fucking flesh but there wasn’t anything here besides plants and more plants so it looks like that was all he was going to get-
With shaking hands, he grabbed a nearby leaf, shuddering at the fleshlike texture, the warmth, and wiped it desperately over his wounds, trying to scrape away the acidic sludge. It sort of worked, getting the larger clumps off, but he could still feel it eating his damn flesh, if only he had-wait he was a fucking idiot-he pulled out the waterskin Citlali had lent him, sloppily splashing water over his hand, gasping in relief as the pain lessened slightly. Obviously nothing was going to heal the wounds besides dying, but now he could actually do that without the acid continuing to burn him. He reached down into his shirt, feeling for the pouch containing his death rock, but...no, that’s right, he didn’t have it, he’d have to slit his throat like old times. Sighing, he wiped the acid goop off of his knife before turning it on himself.
Castys woke up very pleased to find that his hand no longer had holes in it, but when he saw the leaves he had wiped it on, his stomach twisted. The acid had burned right through them, and the holes were rimmed with red, dripping...it was blood, blood leaking from those fleshlike leaves. Quickly, Castys wiped off his knife and sheathed it, getting to his feet, ready to run the fuck away from those gross acid pustules. But...maybe it was a good sign that things were getting weirder, maybe he was getting closer to whatever the hell the source of all this was. So maybe he should…follow that stuff. It was the only sort of idea on where to go he had gotten this whole time, so it really was his only option, huh? He’d just have to be careful not to touch it. 
The streaks of green on the swirling tree trunks, which had darkened to a shiny black at some point, led him, allegedly, deeper into the forest. Wait, how was the green stuff staying in one spot while the trunk beneath it was shifting? That didn’t make any sense, not like anything did here, but still…physics. He studied the nearest tree for a moment, watching its surface move as the clump of acid bubble things stayed still. Though...he could see something between the cracks in the crawling trunk, something long and off-white, like...yup. Trees with bones. Lovely. Shaking his head, Castys resumed walking, deciding to just not question anything ever again. 
Things certainly got stranger as he continued. There was a pond where his reflection didn’t have a face, dragonflies with wings that looked like overgrown fingernails, and a herd of deer with skin and muscle so clear that all he could see were their organs and bones okay but what would clear deer meat taste like, so he felt like he was probably going the right way. When he heard a strange thumping sound, like something large walking around, he cautiously moved towards the source of it, poking his head out from behind a tree to see what it was. 
It was the ugliest, most disgusting horrible abomination creature thing he had ever seen. It’s main body was the same light fleshy color as the leaves, dotted with clumps of acid pustules, with a mishmash of vaguely humanoid limbs with all sorts of skin tones jutting out of its misshapen body every which way. And it had so many eyes all over, some frantically darting around, some focused horrifyingly on him. But the worst part were all the flowers sprouting it from it, not because they were flowers, but because these flowers had little white teeth in their centers, probably serving as the mouths for this thing since he didn’t see one anywhere else on it. Honestly, he wouldn’t mind cutting this thing to bits in the slightest, it was freaky. He stepped out and drew his sword, watching the monster warily as it shambled towards him. If this thing wasn’t the source of the curse, he didn’t know what would be.
Once it was within range, Castys slashed at it, wincing as a high pitched shriek rang out from one of the flower-mouths. He danced back as it swung at him with two of its arms, their hands reaching out to grab him. This kept on for a bit, him slashing at the monster and dodging its blows, though he’d occasionally make the mistake of slicing a clump of acid pustules, spraying himself with the corrosive substance. When he stopped for a moment to catch his breath, he noticed something...unfortunate. All the gashes he’d cut in the monster were slowly closing, healing that thing up like his attacks hadn’t even happened. He, on the other hand, was covered in acid burns and not sure how much longer he’d actually be faster than this thing. His healing was useless in a fight, since dying left him completely defenseless for a good minute or so.
He had to figure something else out some other-shit, he couldn’t stand still for very long, this monster just wouldn’t quit attacking him. He might have been safe in a tree, but all the ones in the area were pretty much completely covered in that acid stuff, so that was out of the question. Seeing an opening, he lunged, trying to stab one of those fucked up mouths, and he couldn’t help but feel a spark of relief as his blade sank in, knocking out some of its teeth. But his elation turned to fear as he felt something grab his ankle the same moment the mouth clamped shut around his sword. He tried his best to keep his grip on his sword as it yanked him up, but it slipped through his fingers, leaving him defenseless as the monster slammed him down onto the ground, his whole body lighting up in pain. 
Over and over, it smashed his body against the ground with inhuman strength. All Castys could do was scream as he felt his bones break, their sharp edges piercing him from the inside. To finish, it threw him against one of the trees, the impact of his body bursting a myriad of acid pustules open, drenching him in the stuff. Castys fell to the ground in a heap, sucking in pained breaths beneath his shattered ribs, and all he could do was helplessly watch through his one good eye, the other reduced to goop by the acid, as the monster raised a foot above him. His mind was screaming at him to go, to run, but he could hardly move, he should just let himself die so he could heal, but he didn’t want to, he didn’t want to just lie still and let this thing step on him, slowly building up the pressure on his already ruined ribcage, forcing ragged screams out of his acid-burned throat, he was going to be crushed but he didn’t want to be, g-get off please it hurts so much why do I have to do this it’s not fair I didn’t even do anything wrong this time please-
Castys came back to pain, sparking, burning agony soaking deep into his flesh. He was still covered in acid, and even with his bones intact now he could barely bring himself to move. But he had to, he had to get up, he had to kill this thing, had to get out of this awful place himself, because there was no other way out, because no one was going to come save him, not now, not ever. Just as he was psyching himself up to try and stand, the monster’s hands grabbed him all over, dragging him off the ground. He tried to squirm out of its grasp, and while it had too many damn hands and he had too many damn acid burns for this to actually be effective, he struggled anyway. As it lowered him towards one of its flower mouths, he tried to at least scream expletives at it, but of course he’d still had acid in his throat when he died so he couldn’t even relish the simple joy of yelling “fuck”.
What would happen to him if this gross monster ate him whole, he didn’t want to find out, but it seemed like he was going to if he didn’t break free. Castys shuddered as the mouth opened wide, wider, impossibly wide, showing off an unnecessary amount of wicked sharp teeth, and oh fuck they were a lot closer to him than he’d thought because his damn left eye was a corroded mess again and all of a sudden there were teeth tearing through his flesh and he was falling, falling into that horrible mouth surrounded by bright purple petals, pointed teeth digging into him, but he felt something, he felt something, hard and rough, and maybe it was his sword, and he could still kill this thing, so he wrapped his burned hand around it, fingers screaming in protest, and pulled, and as much as it hurt, as much as his sword was stuck, he wasn’t going to lose here.
His sword finally broke free with a disgusting squelch, though it felt a lot lighter than he remembered, and just as he pulled it out, the monster collapsed to the ground. Castys somehow managed to worm his tattered body out of the creature’s mouth, and once he was free, he held up his sword so he could stab himself with it, but discovered the object he was holding was very much not his sword. It was a strange wooden carving of a twisted tree, like ones surrounding him, a small bone fitted so snugly inside that it was almost as if the wood had grown around it. Was this...the source of everything? It was the most curse-causing looking thing he’d seen so far, and given that it seemed to be the core of that monster...oh, it was starting to grow flesh. Oh absolutely not.
Castys looked around frantically for his sword, his dagger, anything to break this talisman thing with. The first thing that caught his eye within reach was an unfamiliar axe, but he lunged for it, wishing he had time to kill himself and reset his body’s condition, but there was no telling how much this thing would grow while he was out. If he wanted a chance at ending this for good, he had to do it now. He rasped in pain as he dragged himself upright, grabbing the axe with blood-slicked fingers before he set the cursed object down and swung, crying out brokenly in pain and frustration. After a few clumsy whacks, the talisman broke in two, and the flesh bubbling out of it ceased moving. Was...was it over? It had to be. It had to be. It had to-
Head spinning, Castys fell sideways, the vision in his functional eye starting to blur. He knew he needed...to die...but he just...didn’t have...the...strength…
It was warm...comfortable...but it hurt, and...everything was...itchy. But still, so warm, and that was pleasant, and he found himself leaning into it. It was almost like...
Castys jolted awake, his eye snapping open. He was inside some building, the wooden ceiling above him lit by rippling firelight, in what felt like a bed, his whole body throbbing fiercely, and there was...a hand on his forehead. A hand attached to the village chief, Citlali, who was looking at him with concern. Her face broke into a relieved smile when she saw he was conscious, despite him flinching away from her touch. “So, our hero is finally awake.”
“I-” Castys tried to speak, but his throat was still severely fucked up, in fact, his whole body was. He hadn’t fucking died since he’d passed out, and these idiots didn’t know how his immortality worked, so they’d actually bandaged him up. The feeling of them was totally foreign, if not a little nostalgic. God, he must have looked fucking awful when they found him. He hoped it would make them think twice about kidnapping people to do their dirty work in the future. 
“Don’t try to speak; your throat is quite badly damaged. Do you want something to write on?” Castys nodded, and she fetched him a wooden tablet and a stick of charcoal. He considered writing something on the angrier side, but seeing as he still didn’t have his pouch back, and that she had tried to help him...he should probably play nice. He was too tired for any more fighting, anyway.
“If you’d just kill me so I can heal that would be great.” Pausing, he decided he should probably explain that a bit better. “Every time I die I come back to life fully healed. And the most convenient way for me to die is to touch my rock, which I believe I’ve earned back. Unless the forest is still wonky.”
“No, you did break the curse, and I want to thank you for that, because obviously it wasn’t easy. I-” she cut herself off. “First things first, let’s get you healed for good.” She furrowed her brow. “Will healing with these bandages on...mess it up somehow? Some of them might be a little...stuck to your wounds. Should I take them off of you first?” Castys considered it for a moment. He’d never tried to heal with bandages on, but if things went wrong...it might be more painful to have to cut them out of his flesh or whatever. He nodded, holding out an arm.
Citlali was gentle as she unwound the bandages with practiced skill, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt like hell. It felt like she was ripping his damn skin off, and every time his idiot body tried to scream in pain, it tore up his throat even further, making the whole affair even more damnably unpleasant. He could hardly stand to look at the wounds underneath, all pink and red and oozing what he assumed was pus. The worst part, however, was when she removed the bandage from around the remains of his left eye and it pulled a little string of bloody flesh off with it. He screamed at that, really screamed, and he realized he was crying, and he didn’t understand how mortals did this all the time. Citlali didn’t so much as flinch at the gore, the smell, or his pain, and he almost felt embarrassed about how poorly he was handling this.
When she was done, she retrieved his pouch from a nearby table, giving it to him wordlessly. With shaking hands, Castys managed to pull it open and stick a finger inside, sighing in relief as the familiar blackness took him. When he woke up, he was happy to find that there wasn’t any more acid on him, so he was actually fully healed this time. “Thanks,” he muttered, flexing his hands.
“Thank you, you really saved us. I...I know you were forced to, and I know that I shouldn’t have done it that way, but I felt like we didn’t have any other option, and-”
“It’s fine,” Castys sighed, waving a hand dismissively. “That shit was pretty fucked up so I’m not really surprised all the mortals you sent in died. And it’s not like I’m known for my benevolence.” He put the pouch around his neck, where it thumped against his bare chest. “So, did my clothes-”
Citlali shook her head. “They were full of holes and covered in acid, so we asked around and got you a spare set.” She handed him a folded shirt that was similar in style to the pants he’d been wearing when he woke up, and he pulled it on. She handed him the rest of his belongings before picking up the pieces of the wooden carving that he’d destroyed. “Where...where did you find this?” 
“Inside the freaky monster with all the limbs and shit.”
“The what.”
“Was its giant corpse not near where you found me?”
“There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary there besides this and some of the weapons and equipment from our lost expedition parties.” She put it down, standing and crossing her arms. “We all felt the shift in the forest when the curse was lifted, and when we went out to investigate, everything seemed just like it had before all of this started. We found you collapsed in a clearing not too far from here.”
“Not too-I feel like I wandered around for hours! Stupid cursed forest.”
Citlali huffed. “Regardless, we found the talisman next to you, but no monster. But if this was what caused everything…” She picked up one of the pieces, gripping it tightly. “I think I understand what happened.”
“That’s great for you, don’t let it happen again.” Castys stood, shouldering his pack. “I...I can leave now, right?”
She looked up abruptly. “Oh, uh, yes, though you’re welcome to stay as long as you like, and we were thinking of holding a feast once we-” she stopped, clearing her throat. “We’d like to make it up to you in any way you can, but I understand if you’d like to leave. I’ll walk you out.”
Part of Castys wanted to stay and get a bunch of free food out of these people, or at least actual compensation for the ordeal he just went through, but he didn’t know if he could stand to be surrounded by these woods for much longer, despite the fact that they were allegedly no longer cursed. He couldn’t fight the nervous feeling in his stomach as walked away, his steps quickening once he and Citlali parted ways. He didn’t really relax until he had left the forest far behind him. 
Once he was safe, Castys opened his pouch and reached inside, worming his finger into the secret side pocket that was separated from the rock. He gently pulled out the piece of paper, unfolding it and sighing in relief upon seeing the drawing on it still intact. Not that he’d expected anything to happen to it, but…The memory of the first day of his life, at least that he was aware of, was far more precious than anything else.
Because if he lost it, if he lost that spark of happiness, that piece of who he was that day, he felt like he would collapse under the weight of every awful thing he’d endured ever since.
Castys Cult: @as-a-matter-of-whump​ @blackrosesandwhump​ @fanmanga1357-blog​​ @thehopelessopus​ @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi​ @hearse-song​ @muddy-swamp-bitch @whumpasaurus101 @yet-another-heathen​​ @galaxywhump​ @starnight-whump​ @his-unspoken-words​ @misspelledwitch
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chockfullofsecrets · 3 years
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Critical Role: Making People Happy
(Read on AO3)
Rating: Gen
Summary: Jester fidgets with her sleeves for a minute, then with her tail and then -
Then, she has an idea. A wonderful, brilliant idea that’s going to cure her boredom and also hopefully make Caleb a lot less grumpy.
Beau and Caleb are fighting, again, and Jester's determined to solve at least half of this problem.
Wordcount: 3093
A/N: Went a little overboard with the lead-up here, whoops - one day i’m going to learn how to write actual tk fic lol
Fill for this anon prompt - hopefully I’ll only have to apologize for how late these are a couple more times, but anon i’m so sorry
---
Jester’s new friends aren’t like anyone she’s ever met before.
Some of them are super strong - like her! - and some of them can do magic even though they don’t know the Traveler - and some of them, she thinks, eyeing Fjord where he crouches over the beginnings of a fire, are very, very handsome -
More importantly, at the moment - her new friends are also really fucking grumpy.
The Lavish Chateau has had its fair share of visitors that snap like Beau or sulk like Caleb - but there’s always been a door or a wall in the way, Jester on the other side peeking through at the mess. The two of them have been arguing over some bits of Empire history for hours on the road, through Fjord gritting his teeth and Nott chugging from her flask and Molly wrapping himself in his coat to block them all out and get some sleep.
Jester had sat and sketched them - the way Caleb’s eyes went razor sharp among the dirt and hair on his face, the hooked snarl of Beau’s smile. There was a little space left at the bottom of the page, reserved for when they finally stopped and made up, but as the afternoon wore on she had given up on filling it.
Adventuring is plenty of fun, and she’s real good at it, but - sometimes she misses home. The simplicity, if not the loneliness.
They make camp in silence. Caleb stalks off the minute his bedroll is laid out, shoulders up around his ears.
“Yeah, you better run,” Beau lobs after him. There’s a soft oof as someone - presumably Fjord - elbows her.
“All right,” Molly interjects, finally, and waits for all of them to turn and stare at him sitting cross-legged on the grassy earth. He smiles beatifically under their attention. “While we wait for that mess to simmer down… dinner?”
Beau is sullenly silent. “Dinner,” Fjord agrees around her.
Molly holds an arm out to her. “Preferences, dear?” Taking the invitation wholeheartedly, Jester is on the ground and scrambling to cuddle up to his side with a speed that surprises even her. Molly just laughs and squeezes her around the shoulders.
She headbutts him playfully in the chest, minding her horns. “We should have something delicious, and really warm and nice, and maybe it can be sweet too-”
“The sweetest thing we have right now is carrots,” Fjord says flatly, but he’s - finally! - smiling too, and even Beau’s fists unclench a little when Jester groans dramatically and slumps completely into Molly. “Beau, would you care to help me slice some of them up with your incredible monk skills?”
Beau grumbles something under her breath. “I use my fists, man, I’m not a ninja.”
“You punch carrots into pieces? That’s insane.”
The visual and Fjord’s nonplussed tone have all of them laughing, even Beau, and the two of them get up to wrestle some food out of the cart. She nuzzles contentedly into Molly. “You’re really good at that,” she tells him. “Making people happy.”
Molly shrugs like he hasn’t just salvaged their chances of staying together as a group. “It’s good to get everything resolved before dinnertime. The things I’ve seen angry people do with hot food…”
“Really?,” she gasps, faux-scandalized, and then squeaks as Molly’s hand makes its way down to her tummy and starts tickling right at the soft spot under her ribs. “Hehey! Tell - heehee - tell me!”
She tries to tickle him back, reaching between them to pinch his side, but he just jumps a little and searches out her belly button to make her laugh even harder. “Maybe later. Come on, let’s not laze around - we’ll see if we can’t find some more firewood, hm?”
She bounces happily on her toes, swinging Molly’s arm around her like a shawl and then twirling it away as they both get up. “I’ll get you back, you know!”
Molly’s cheeks go dark purple, like they always do when she threatens him. It just makes her more intent on following through. “ I look forward to it,” is all he says, eyes flashing devilishly, and shoos her in one direction before sauntering off in the other. “Don’t go too far.”
“I won’t,” she calls over her shoulder, and immediately makes for the rise that Caleb disappeared over.
He’s so squishy, after all - if anyone shouldn’t be wandering off, it’s him.
She passes one tree, then another, leaves crunching under her boots. It’s clear after a few seconds that she doesn’t know any of the things that would help her figure out which direction Caleb is in, so she scoops her holy symbol up in one hand and flicks it with her thumb. “Oh, Traveler! Help me out here, okay?”
She’s asked for his help a million times before, for pranks and spells and just wanting company, and he has yet to disappoint - a gust of wind shuffles through her skirts and blows her bangs right into her eyes.
Well. No one would call the Traveler nice, but neither is she.
She spits out a hunk of hair, grinning, and skips along after it. Sure enough, there’s a flash of red hair that soon resolves itself into their stray wizard.
Caleb’s knees are tucked up under his chin, his back painfully straight against a tree. His eyes are closed - and it’s dangerous to sit in the middle of the woods with your eyes closed, isn’t it, especially when you’re a stinky wizard that probably attracts lots of bugs?
Caleb’s not dumb. But this? Very dumb. She’s going to wake him up and tell him so, and take him back to camp for dinner, and everything will be better tomorrow.
She reaches for his shoulder, but just as she’s about to grab him -
“Jester?”
“Nott!” She stumbles back, grabbing her face in shock as a particularly greenish patch of shadow transforms into a cloak with little pointed ears. “Where did you even come from?!”
“Oh, you know. Rogue stuff.” Nott shrugs, scampering up to meet her like she hasn’t just appeared from nowhere. “Caleb’s scouting right now, so I’m making sure nothing sneaks up on him.”
She knows that Caleb can’t hear them, but they’re in a dark forest and everyone else is being quiet so she kneels down and whispers to Nott anyways. “What, with Frumpkin? Why can’t he do that in camp? Not that you’re doing a bad job or anything, but we would totally look out for him too, you know.”
“He knows, it’s just-” Nott glances over at Caleb. “It’s been a long day.”
She sits there, both of them watching Caleb’s eyelids twitch. “Can I stay here with you, then? Just in case.”
“Sure, pull up some floor,” Nott encourages, and sidles over to tuck herself under Caleb’s arm. He makes an acknowledging noise and pulls her in, letting her rearrange herself against the folds of his coat, and Jester tries very very hard not to think of the way she used to cuddle with her mama as she settles on Caleb’s other side. It doesn’t quite work - the careful inches that she leaves between them, not wanting to spook him with her sudden appearance, feel like every single league from here to Nicodranas.
And. Well. It’s boring.
Jester fidgets with her sleeves for a minute, then with her tail and then -
Then, she has an idea. A wonderful, brilliant idea that’s going to cure her boredom and also hopefully make Caleb a lot less grumpy.
She holds out a single finger, wiggles it around a bit and smirks to herself, and then gently, gently reaches around behind Caleb’s knees to poke at his tummy.
He really is thin, and her finger sinks further into the ratty fabric of his shirt than she expects. But eventually her fingertip finds the soft curve of his belly and she skitters it around a bit, trying to find something sensitive.
Nothing happens.
She pouts, pulling her hand back, but after a moment of consideration she dives right back in, searching for his belly button - surely even he’s ticklish there. It takes a couple seconds of patting around - not a single muscle here, no wonder he goes down so easily in fights - but she finally finds the little dip of flesh and wriggles her finger inside.
Caleb does flinch at that, snorting a little and reaching hastily to bat her away. “Nott the Brave,” he huffs, the corner of his mouth twitching up, “what is going on out there? Are you all right?”
There’s a little fwip as Nott tugs wire through her fingers. “All clear here, Caleb! I’ll take care of it.”
The second Caleb hums in acknowledgement, Nott whips out from under Caleb’s arm to glare at her. “What are you doing? I thought you were here to help him-”
“We don’t even need to scout!” Jester protests. She rubs guiltily at the back of her hand. “And if he comes back to camp, then maybe he and Beau can talk and-”
Nott cuts her off, teeth flashing. “Caleb didn’t do anything wrong! If she says one more thing to him, I will shoot her-”
“Nott!” she interrupts, horrified. “Geez, calm down, we don’t have to shoot anyone!”
Nott quiets suddenly in her odd way, retreating slightly into Caleb’s shadow. “Well… all right.”
“Then shouldn’t we bring him back?”
Nott wraps a strand of hair around her finger, yellow eyes flicking from her to Caleb. “It makes him feel better to be in Frumpkin sometimes,” she says. “To be someone else for a bit.” Her eyes close. “I definitely wouldn’t want to be in this body, if I could choose.”
“Oh,” Jester says. She spins through a couple half-formed sentences and then thinks fuck it and reaches out to squeeze Nott’s hand instead. “That’s really sad, Nott.”
Nott sniffs and squeezes her hand back. “No, no, it’s alright… Caleb and I are going to figure it out. He’s very smart.”
Jester nods with considerably more certainty than she feels, pulling on a smile. “Well, I think that maybe he would feel even better if he just talked to Beau. I know these things! Sometimes I would be upset with Mama, and if I couldn’t talk to her about it I would have to go just stay in my room and it was all I could think about until I saw her again.”
Nott blinks. “Your mom just left you alone in your room?”
Wrong turn, wrong turn - “Oh, well, we had to, you know?”
“Sure, sure.” Nott’s eyes are still fixed squarely on Jester. “I wouldn’t know, I don’t have kids or anything.”
She kind of wants to chase that particular thread, but before she can say anything Nott sighs and looks back to Caleb. “You know what? Bring him back. He should have finished lapping around the camp by now anyway.”
Now that’s the turn she wants to take. “Really?” she asks, and doesn’t wait for a response before scooting around to sit in front of Caleb and stretch her fingers teasingly - really, it’s a shame that Caleb can’t see her right now or he would definitely be squirming. “Hm hm hm, okay, let’s see - hey, Nott, do you know where Caleb’s ticklish?”
They both consider Caleb’s skinny frame, the distinct lack of laugh lines. Nott scrambles around next to Jester and cocks her head thoughtfully. “His ribs, maybe? When we were on the road together, we couldn’t always light a fire and Caleb would let me sleep under his coat with him.” She smiles. “He wouldn’t complain when I moved around, but I think it tickled him a little.”
It sounds very cute, in her mind - so cute that she reaches for Nott and tickles her belly through all those layers instead. “Aw, did you squirm a lot? How come?”
Nott squawks and somehow rolls away to Jester’s other side between one blink and the next. “Hey! Focus!”
Jester pouts. “You never tickled him, though? How could you not? He’s so grumpy and sad all the time.”
“Oh, well…” Nott grimaces. “We were both pretty grumpy and sad, because we were very poor and on the run from the law. Honestly, I’ve never thought about it.”
“Oh,” Jester says. Maybe she shouldn’t have told them about the horse dresses.
Nott shrugs. “That’s why it’s good that we have you around, I guess. You make us all happier.”
That - the recognition, the simple way Nott says it, as fact - lights something bright and warm in her chest. “You really think so?”
“Yes! I mean…” She gestures to Caleb. “It’s not like anyone else came out here to look for us.”
“I will always come look for you, Nott.”
“Thanks Jessie, but we’re kind of worried about him right now-”
“Right, right.” She turns back to Caleb and wraps her hands gently around his ribs, right under his book holster. “Oh, Cay-leb…”
She wiggles a finger into his left side, then his right, delighted as he starts to squirm between her hands. “Coochie coochie coo,” she teases softly, even knowing that he can’t hear her yet. “Come on, wake up!”
Caleb reaches up and shoves her hands away, but that’s hardly a deterrent - and the little yelp of shock as her fingers get right back to tickling is very good. For the first time since she’s known him, laughter threatens under Caleb’s low tone. “Nott, was-”
And then, almost pleading - “Nott, that. It. It ti - tick -”
Oh. Oh, he can barely even say it. Jester beams.
Behind her, Nott sounds alarmed. “Jessie, you look evil right now.”
She stops tickling briefly and turns around. “Nott!” she whisper-screams. “He’s so ticklish!”
“You’re enjoying this, huh?”
She scoffs. “Yes, of course! All tieflings do.” It’s true, for all of two tieflings that Jester knows - her mama and Molly love tickling, and so does she. And so will the rest of their group, if she and Molly have anything to say about it.
She turns back to Caleb, squeezing back and forth between his ribs to make him wriggle again, and this time Caleb comes fully back to himself with a gasp. His eyes blink open, scanning frantically. She sees him register Nott, off to the side, then jump a little as he finds her right in front of him. His cheeks redden. “Ah - Jester -”
“Caleb,” she purrs, and twitches the tips of her fingers just a little. “Hey, did you know that your ribs are really, really ticklish?”
His arms shrink back against his sides, pressing her hands even further into his ribs where she’s still latched on. “They - I - I’m not-”
“Oh? You’re not ticklish?” Jester worms her fingers into the grooves of his ribs. “How come you’re so smiley then, huh, Caleb? What’s so funny?”
One of Caleb’s hands reaches up to pat shakily at the corner of his mouth, feeling out the wobbly grin there. He shoves it hastily over the lower half of his face. “I’m not!”
“No, I’m Nott,” Nott says, sounding terribly amused. “Come on, Caleb, I don’t think you’re fooling her.”
Jester doesn’t give him a chance to try again. “No, no, maybe he’s right!” She buries a hand under his arm, fingertips curling cruelly against the tender skin there, and reaches around his knees to find his belly button again with the other. “Maybe’s he’s not ticklish at all, not even a little, not even if I tickle right here-”
Caleb’s entire body jerks, eyes flaring wide as she digs in. “Mmph - heh-”
He’s much more ticklish when he’s paying attention, it seems. She can feel him trying to suck in his tummy, desperate to keep her away, and his face disappears into his knees as he brings his hands down in a futile attempt to protect his armpit. He can’t stop himself from laughing, though - he breaks almost instantly, whining through peals of frantic laughter as she reverts to nibbling little pinches along his ribs. “Ha - ha - ahaha!”
He kicks out, heels drumming against the ground as he spasms. “Uh oh,” Jester teases, digging her thumbs into his exposed tummy and rubbing in little circles, “that definitely looks like it tickles. Were you lying to us, Cay-leb?”
Caleb shakes his head, trying to hide against his shoulder now, and she can see red all the way to the tips of his ears. “Nn - hngh - plehehease, bitte,” he chokes out through an adorably enormous grin. “Why - I don’t-”
“Why am I tickling you?” she finishes, gleefully noting how he flinches at the word. “We-ll, at first you just looked so sad and lonely out here that Nott and I thought we should cheer you up. But now that I know you were lying about how very, very ticklish you are…” She digs back into his ribs, giggling as he breaks down into laughter all over again. “Well, now I think I’m just gonna tickle you until you admit it.”
“No,” Caleb pleads breathlessly. He doesn’t seem to be making any moves to get away from her, though, just flops onto the ground and shoves his face into an elbow. She could tease him about that too, she thinks, and maybe he would get even redder.
“Or,” she says instead, tickling along the curve of his ribs to his back, “I could tell Beau how ticklish you are and she could make you admit it.”
He does try to get away, then, rolling onto his belly and trying to wriggle out from under her. “No, no,” he begs between snickers, “don’t tell her, gods-”
“I think it would help you two fight less,” she tells him, curling her fingers under him to tickle his tummy again. It’s cute, the way he rocks from side to side trying to protect all of his ticklish spots at once. “But maybe, if you make up another way, then I won’t have to! And then no one else would have to know how cute and tickly you are, Caleb-”
“Fine,” he says frantically, “yes, yes, just stohop-”
She’s a little reluctant, especially when he starts to catch his breath and she just knows that he could take more tickling, but technically this solves the problem.
And technically, he still hasn’t admitted anything. There could be a lot of tickling in his future.
He’s back to normal now, holding Nott’s sleeve and whispering something sternly to her, but she tucks the memory of his infectious grin away for later.
This, it seems, is a pretty decent way to make him happy.
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askaceattorney · 4 years
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Dear Inferno,
Essay?  You just said the magic word.
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Trucy’s a bit of a lengthy character to unpack, but I’ll see what I can pull out of my hat.
Trucy Wright, CEO, magic extraordinaire, and maiden of mystery, formerly Trucy Gramarye, the 8-year-old prodigy magician.  She’s the kind of character who never forgets to smile (that’s part of her creed, in fact), and always has a magic trick up her sleeve.  Or her magic panties, in this case.
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This optimism and charm of hers do a lot to make her likable, both as the second non-Maya assistant in the series and as a side character who provides some comedy relief for the agency when morale is low.
But interestingly enough, this isn’t the sort of character she’s introduced as.
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Trucy’s first “magic act” is to appear out of nowhere as Apollo is trying to contemplate how his boss suddenly became a murder suspect.  Rather than offering a smile and an encouraging message, she decides to play the role of a mysterious fortuneteller.
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If I didn’t know who was saying this, I might think it was a Toad from Super Mario Bros. 3.
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So far, all she is to Apollo (and us) is a mysterious messenger trying to help her father...until he realizes just who her father is.
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This presents a new mystery for Apollo (and for us): How did a young magician wind up in the custody of an ex-lawyer?  And on top of that, why was a locket with her picture in the possession of a shady drifter...and why did Phoenix feel the need to take it from his dead body?
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Unfortunately, Phoenix is just as cryptic as Trucy in her debut game, but it’s far from the end of Apollo’s interaction with them.
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After two months of coping with the loss of his first position as an attorney and considering Phoenix’s offer to work at the legendary Wright & Co. Law Offices, Apollo finally shows up there to discover that it not only went through a name chance, but now has it’s own CEO -- the same mysterious girl he ran into before!
Before he knows it, he’s being interviewed for the Wright Talent Agency by a magician whose energetic and professional attitude completely contradicts her father’s calm, laid-back personality.  It isn’t until his misunderstanding is cleared up that she finally introduces herself:
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It’s here that we also hear Trucy’s theme, “Child of Magic,” for the first time, which does a great job of conveying the sort of delightful, peppy aura Trucy creates just by being herself.  Speaking of which, Apollo gets to “enjoy” a bunch more of her optimism as she explains her and Phoenix’s current situation.  According to her, the former law office was converted into an agency for acquiring talented individuals.
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She also describes what might be her most important role in Phoenix’s life, whether she knows it or not.
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And so she did.  She may not have actually cooked for him (or maybe she did, we don’t know), but she did provide Phoenix, a well-respected lawyer who’d just been cheated out of his badge, with exactly what he needed at the time: a reason to keep going.  It’s hard to imagine what his life would’ve been like without her making her entrance into it, so to speak, but because of her, he was compelled to pull himself together, find a job, and begin to move on from one of the darkest moments of his life.  In short, Trucy became a light in his darkness.  Pretty impressive for an 8-year-old, huh?
We’ll get to that in due time, though.  The next thing we learn about Trucy comes from her Daddy, and once again, it’s pretty vague.
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What could this “talent” of hers be?  Besides being a talented magician and motivator, that is?  We don’t find that out until after she’s spent some time as Apollo’s investigating assistant.
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Thus she officially becomes Apollo’s “Maya,” a role she fills remarkably well, being just as cute, perky, annoying, and naive as Maya ever was.
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Every good lawyer needs one of those, after all.
Then, when Apollo finally gets his first *cough* normal case, we get to see what Trucy’s capable of in the courtroom.  ...Well, after a quick diversion.
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Has Professor Layton gone rogue and joined the mafia?  Nope, it’s just one of Trucy’s best tricks -- the Amazing Mr. Hat!
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Not even going to ask how that works.
After this hilarious sideshow, Trucy reveals what her special “talent” is, and how it can help Apollo.
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For the first time in the series, we have a courtroom mechanic that doesn’t involve pressing someone, presenting evidence, or asking the right questions -- instead we get to use a brand-new technique to slow time down and spot witnesses’ nervous habits when they tell lies, and our young magician friend is just the one to introduce it to us (much like Pearl introduced the Psyche-Lock mechanic to Phoenix).
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She apparently knows about Apollo’s “perceive” ability from Phoenix, but how does she happen to have the same gift herself?  That remains a mystery until we learn about her past, which doesn’t happen until near the end of the game.
Thankfully, we aren’t playing the game here, so we can just skip ahead to that part.
During the third case, Trucy’s real father, Zak Gramarye, is given a brief mention, but all we learn about him is that he’s a magician who once belonged to Troupe Gramarye.  Who is he today, though?
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It turns out his identity is none other than Shadi Smith, the card-playing drifter who was murdered by Kristoph (and the one partly responsible for Phoenix’s disbarment).  We could get into his *ah-HEM* wonderful fathering technique, but the important thing here is what we learn from him about Trucy and Apollo’s gift.
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Whatever this strange ability is, it’s apparently hereditary, passed down from Trucy’s mother.  Also, as Phoenix deduces, Apollo shares this ability because, shocker of shockers, the two of them share the same mother, Thalassa Gramarye.
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Who’d have thunk it?  Not even Phoenix, even though he’s a good thunker.
Speaking of Phoenix, let’s go back to his first meeting with young Trucy.
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When she first entered his life, she was a famous magician’s daughter whose first “performance” was to help him escape a Guilty verdict.  She of course didn’t know at the time how long it would be before she saw him again, or the lawyer she was talking to would soon be replacing him.  It’s here, by the way, that we learn we she gets her charming grin from.
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And then...tragedy.
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With her father missing and no living relatives to take care of her, Trucy’s future looks even bleaker than Phoenix’s (which is saying a lot).  Thankfully, he offers to let her stay with him until her father comes back, and does his best to help her feel comfortable.  Luckily for both of them, her father already gave her some advice.
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Then comes the big switcheroo.  As mentioned before, Trucy provided Phoenix with a reason to keep going after losing his job, but when we see how it actually took place, it becomes clear that she took it a step further than that -- she practically led him forward by the hand.
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This makes me wonder something: could her vigorous encouragement have reminded Phoenix of another young woman who came into his life just after a tragedy occurred?
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Maybe it’s just speculation, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Maya had crossed his mind.  He even told Trucy she could call him “Nick” if she wanted to.  If nothing else, that provided some serious heartfelt nostalgia.
One other thing I loved about AJ: AA is how it showed Trucy’s more fragile side near the end.  Things worked out pretty well for her after the ordeal with her father, but that doesn’t mean she felt no emotion about it.
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We’ll never know how much of her sadness is due to her father’s death and how much is due to his sudden disappearance, but at least we’re given a chance to see her being less magical and more human.
And finally, let us fast-forward past Trucy’s adoption, her accidental reunion with her half-brother, and her antics in the courtroom to the final (and in my opinion, the best) big moment for her: The Magical Turnabout.  Here we get to see, through the magic of animation and voice-overs, how expertly Trucy performs and how confidently she speaks for the first time.
But just when things seem to be going better than ever for her and the new Troupe Gramarye...
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What a way to go, huh?
Thankfully, that situation was an imaginary one (and she came out on top, as always), but then a real disaster occurs.
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She’s lucky enough to have Apollo and Athena there to help her, but she’s left to wonder if Mr. Reus’s death was due to a fatal accident on her part.  If so, it would be a devastating blow to her magic career, besides destroying Troupe Gramarye’s reputation after it had just made a recovery.  Luckily, there’s one person who doesn’t believe she could make such a mistake, and who can see through her fake smile.
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Then we get one more glimpse of Trucy’s human side, but for a completely different reason: Apollo’s faith in her performing ability, even as she struggles to believe in herself.
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Unlike her previous crying scene, this one is more bittersweet than sad.  Having faith in your friends might be a cliche, but it’s moments like this when you see just how much it matters.
Things go from bad to worse when she suddenly finds herself in the Accused of Murder Club while her Daddy’s out of the country, but like always, the truth comes out in the end.  But here’s what I love most about this case: Trucy herself gets to play a role in proving her innocence, simply by doing what she does best: performing magic!
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Besides giving her defense team new evidence to work with, her trick completely turns the room around.  Even Apollo couldn’t detect the sword switch with his kinetic vision.  Not bad for an impromptu performance, huh?
And if that wasn’t beautiful enough, the judge himself asks Trucy a favor before announcing a verdict:
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Looks like she’s officially earned the title, hasn’t she?
So with all this in mind, what’s the best way to describe Trucy?  She’s a great magician, a strong motivator, a bringer of joy and encouragement to those around her, a comedy relief when one is needed, and...  Oh yeah, I forgot -- it turns out she’s also a bit of a sadist.
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Sort of a weird character quirk for Capcom to give her, in my opinion, but not too hard to believe, I guess.
But most importantly, she’s a true entertainer, much like her old Daddy, and someone who knows how to smile even in the darkest of times and who has an eye (two, in fact) for the truth, much like her new Daddy.  You could say she represents the best of both worlds.
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You’re still a jerk, though, Zak.
-The Co-Mod
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Text
Numb- Epilogue
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10- END
Pairing: Bucky x Reader
Genre: angst/ fluff
Warnings: swearing, mentions of sexy times
Word count: 2788
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   “She’s not here is she?”    “Buck, they’re just running late, that’s all.”    “No, Steve! She probably has realised what a mistake she’s made and now has run off with the pool boy!”    Steve threw his head back in frustration and grumbled out a ‘you really need to stop watching ‘Desperate Housewives’. “Y/N has not run off, okay? Just… let me call Wanda.”    But right on cue, Pietro whizzed to them, the man’s silver hair dishevelled, while he tried to smooth down the tux, Wanda standing on her own two feet after being carried by the speedster. The navy dress hugged her sides perfectly, her long ginger hair swept over her left shoulder and bouncing in perfect curls.    “You guys need to come.”    Bucky immediately straightened out. “Is Y/N okay? Did something happen?”    “Yes, something did,” Wanda snapped back as she went to talk to the man standing beside the two super soldiers. “So I suggest you run.”    The pair took off in a dead-sprint, eyes of other people following their movements filled with worry. They had just entered the mansion when Steve’s phone rang.    “Yeah, Nat. We’re on our way. What’s going on?”    The brunet couldn’t help the clench in his heart as he saw his friend’s eyebrows furrow.    “Cancel? What?”    Bucky’s head immediately hung, eyes welling with tears at the verbal confirmation of what he’d been fearing for the past year.
   “How long?” Steve questioned further and that made Bucky frown. Usually, when you call off a wedding it’s permanently.    “Ok,” Cap replied, “we’ll be right there.”    “What? What is it?” Bucky’s body flushed with fear at the thought of anything bad having happened to Y/N.    “She’s locked herself in the bathroom and won’t come out. She threw water on the floor and zaps anybody that even tries to come close.”    The two men walked into what was Y/N’s room to find the rest of her bridesmaids all ready to go without the bride herself.    “Finally,” Nat stood up and sauntered into the hallway. “Get your girl in check and call us back when things are on track. I have no desire to walk in these heels with my toes fried off.”    Bucky quirked an eyebrow, but didn’t question it, turning his full attention to the locked white oak door, where Y/N had barricaded herself in.    “Doll? It’s me. Can you let me in?”    There wasn’t a reply, only a soft sob, indicating that the woman was crying.    “Darling please, talk to me. Why do you want to cancel the wedding?”    Suddenly the door sprung open to reveal a dishevelled Y/N. Her makeup was completely smudged, black mascara and eyeliner running down her cheeks and across her temples, her hair was a mess, having come undone from the beautiful braids that had been pinned to her scalp in a bun. The white hotel robe was tearstained and with dark smudges from her eyeshadow, while cream lipstick adorned the collar. “Because everything is ruined.” Y/N threw her body at Bucky and he easily caught her, his strong arms enveloping the woman in a warm embrace.    “Shh, nothing is ruined, honey. Everything is perfect.”    “No, it’s not,” Y/N pulled back from him.    “See that?” the woman pointed at what looked like a giant ball of white lace. “That was supposed to be my wedding dress. Now it’s ripped in half! It was Tony’s mother’s dress! And it’s ruined! I ruined it!” Y/N cried harder remembering how Pepper had been rummaging through Tony’s old storage units and stumbled upon the beautiful vintage gown. Diamond beads hung from the off the shoulder neckline, her fingers trailing the intricate design. She had immediately known that it would be perfect for Y/N. With a little bit of tweaking here and there, it would entwine the modern of the twenty-first century and give life to the olden days. Once Tony had found out about Pepper’s discovery they had given it to Y/N as a wedding gift.    “Those were my shoes,” she pointed at the off-white pumps. Well, a pump as the other one was clearly missing a heel, in fact, the whole sole had been ripped open.    “But best of all- the engagement ring is missing! I’ve scoured every inch of this place and it’s gone! Buck, it’s gone! Everything has turned to shit and this was supposed to be our special day! And it’s all my fault.”    Bucky glanced at her ring finger on which for a year had sat a beautiful silver band with a little diamond rectangle in the centre of it. Yet now there was nothing, only her skin in a slightly lighter shade than the rest of her body. The man still recalled how nervous he’d been when he had uttered those words.    He hadn’t planned it, though the little black box had been sitting in the back of one of their drawers for a good five months. It had been a simple evening, the rest of the team were out bar-hooping, while the two lovebirds stayed inside, having come back from a three-week long mission and wanting nothing more than to sleep and cuddle.    Y/N’s eyes had drowsily followed along the story of ‘Stardust’ and it was right at the end when Yvonne shone so brightly it obliterated the old witch, Bucky knew that there was not going to be a perfect moment, no matter how hard one tried to make it. There was only now. So with his nose still hidden in Y/N’s Y/H/C hair, he uttered the little phrase that sent her heart reeling.    “What?” with wide eyes she looked back at him, now fully awake.    “Marry me,” Bucky cupped her cheek.    “Y-you’re serious right now?”    He was looking over her features trying to decipher what was going on in Y/N’s mind, but he couldn’t, seeing only disbelief. “I've never been more serious about anything in my life.”    The girl had looked at him for a long minute without uttering a word, Bucky didn’t think she was even breathing, but then her lips crashed against his and the heavy make-out session turned into the most mind-blowing sex he’d ever had.    Only when Bucky felt his brain go back to normal, the stars disappearing from behind his lids as well as the haze from his thoughts, with very wobbly and shaky legs did he stand up, and went to retrieve the ring. He was almost unable to open the drawer as he had to lean against the wardrobe from being a bit lightheaded.    He had returned back to their bed, Y/N laying on it still completely naked, her eyes closed as her body spammed one last time from the best orgasm she’d ever had. She slowly looked to her left and felt how Bucky pushed the little silver circle on her ring finger. It glimmered in the moonlight and the soft smile that appeared the man’s face as he looked down at her was the best companion to it.    “I love you, Bucky Barnes,” Y/N leaned in and deeply kissed the Avenger before hugging him tightly and stroking his sweat-covered back. They had fallen asleep like that, in one another’s arms, and now, seeing the woman so broken, so frustrated in what was supposed to be their happiest day, his heart hurt with her.    “Y/N it’s alright. We’ll figure something out. We don’t have to cancel the wedding.”    “Are you kidding me?” she looked up at Bucky. “And what am I supposed to wear? My ‘Ninja Turtles’ pj’s and Sam’s ‘My Little Pony’ blanket as my veil? Should I wear Wanda’s barbie pink flip-flops as well? I was supposed to be walking down the aisle twenty minutes ago. I was supposed to be your wife by now.”    Bucky felt his heart speed up at the word ‘wife’, especially with how defeated Y/N looked.    “Listen,” he sighed and picked the woman up, placing her against his chest while he himself sat down on a plush chair. Instantly she curled up into his side, the man’s arms stroking down her arms and things. “I don’t know if this is going to help at all, but in the morning, I was ready to call it off as well. I couldn’t find my socks, I looked everywhere, I checked all the bags and there was nothing. My mind kept telling me that if all the little things are not in place, it’s not worth it to even try. But then, when I looked down and saw that they were already on my feet I realised I had panicked about nothing. Because it doesn’t matter if things are perfect. When you’re with the right person, they will be no matter what. I love you,” he brushed away a stray tear that slowly rolled down Y/N’s cheek, “and even if I had to stand in front of everybody in my boxers I would. If that made you happy, I’d do it. I’d do anything. So if you wanna call off the wedding, we can, but I just want you to know, that it doesn’t matter to me if you have the most expensive dress and the most outrageous jewellery. You’re mine and I’m yours. No matter what.”    “Yeah,” Y/N whined out, “but the difference is that you actually have clothes to wear. I have nothing. All my makeup is ruined and so is my hair.”    Bucky was just about to reply when a panting Natasha burst into the room.    “Barnes, get out. We have a bride to prepare.”    Wanda barrelled in next followed by Maria and Nakia, all of them carrying different items.    “Leave and wait by the altar. She’ll be ready in half an hour. And if you’re not there I’ll rip that metal arm of yours off and shove it down your throat so far,  you’ll be shitting vibranium for the rest of your life.” Nat spoke up before pulling Y/N out of his lap.    The man chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to her lips, barely avoiding the kick Hill sent to his butt.
   Bucky fidgeted with the cufflinks until music fluttered through the air, his blue eyes immediately going to where Y/N stood at the end of the aisle. His breath hitched in his throat when he saw her. The ivory dress was light, the pretty much non-existent winds still managed to make it flutter through the air. Her hair was down from the bun and now freely went over her shoulders, a beige flower tucked behind her ear. The smokey eye was nowhere to be seen, her makeup barren and natural, accentuating her already beautiful features. Bucky instantly recognised the gown as Pepper's as she was going to wear it on the second day of the wedding, though now, seeing Y/N in it, there was no doubt in his mind, that this was the dress.    Her hand was linked through Tony’s as he led the woman towards who was going to be her husband. Her feet were bare, and soundless making Bucky think, she was an actual angel that had decided to stay on Earth, leaving heaven behind only to be with him.    He didn’t hear a word the priest said, his attention fully on Y/N. In a way, he was terrified he’d miss when the ‘I do’s’ were gonna have to be said, but Bucky didn’t spare a second once the question was asked, a blinding grin adorning his face when he heard Y/N reply as well.    Wife. She was his wife and he was her husband. He just stared at her, unable to stop his smile and the warm feeling floating through this body. Until he heard snickering and snapped out of the daze. The guests were giggling as was Y/N. Bucky’s brows furrowed in confusion, but then he felt a soft tug on his jacket.    He looked back and saw Dominic, the boy clearly trying to suppress laughter as he held out the little pillow on which two golden rings sat on. Bucky had watched the boy grow up to be good, nothing like what his mother was. His father had kept in touch with the super soldier allowing him to explain why Katrina was locked in a prison, why she had been forbidden to contact him and when Dom had grown up enough to understand the error of her ways, he forgave the woman, yet told Bucky he didn’t want to have any sort of communication with her.    “I don’t want to have her in my life when she hurt you. For no reason at all.”    “Dom, you’re young and whatever happened between me and her, it’s our business. She’s still your mom.”    “If she truly was, then she would’ve realised how important you were to my me. And how much you cared for Y/N. You made me happy when things were bad, so I wanted you to be happy as well. But what she did made you completely opposite. She's not my mom. Just somebody who pretended to be.”    Bucky chuckled as he took the ring and turned back to Y/N. Once the engagement had been announced, he invited both Dominic and his dad to the wedding, asking the boy to be the ring-bearer.    “You know, if there was anybody I thought who could possibly lose a ring, I thought it would’ve been him,” Bucky pressed a kiss to Y/N’s knuckles. “Wife.”    “Hush,” she shushed him, but the smirk never left her face. Her fingers delicately slipped a copy of her own ring onto Bucky’s finger, the little loop clicking in place when it found the spot. T’Challa and Shuri had specifically designed a new arm for him so that when they married the band wouldn’t slip and fall. So that it would become one with the limb. Like Y/N would become one with his soul.    “…. I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the b-“ but the priest didn’t get the chance to finish the sentence when Bucky’s lips were already on Y/N’s, hands woven around her waist and pulling their bodies flush together. And she could reply with nothing else but the same passion.
   The newlyweds themselves had slipped away a while back. They sat in one of the swing sofas by the ocean under some palm trees, Y/N’s legs thrown over Bucky’s. His shoes were discarded in the white sand while the jacket covered her shoulder, keeping the girl warm from the gentle winds.    “I love you” he whispered, cupping Y/N’s jaw and bringing their lips together as the morning sun peeked it’s head over the water, painting the world in pinks and oranges and yellows.    “I love you too,” she replied once Bucky allowed them to come up for air. “And I’m sorry. For this morning. I shouldn’t have said that I wanted to cancel the wedding. It was the last thing I’d ever want to do.”    “ ’S okay. What’s important that it all worked out in the end.”    Y/N hummed and looked out in the distance “I guess it did…”    The unsure response made Bucky look down and he saw the woman chewing on her lip absentmindedly. “What’s wrong?”    “I don’t- I,” she huffed, “it’s just that I feel bad for overreacting, but also I have been dying to tell you something and I’m terrified of how you'll react.”    “Doll, you know that you can tell me anything. Nothing you say will ever make me stop loving you. Besides, a) we’re married, so breaking things off would be kinda hard and b) I don’t wanna repeat what happened last time when we held on to our feelings.”    Y/N snorted and gazed up at Bucky, her palm pressing against his cheek. “No, nothing like that. It’-umm- it’s more important than that.”    “Nothing’s more important than love.”    The woman smiled and took his hand, placing it on her stomach. “I think taking care of a baby is.”    Bucky was stunned looking up and down from Y/N’s eyes to her belly. “A baby?” he managed to get out through a sob.    “Yeah,” her lips quirked up. “A baby.”    And this time it wasn’t the girl having a full on mental breakdown. But Y/N wasn’t afraid that Bucky didn’t want to have a kid with her, in fact, she was happy as he pressed his lips against her skin, whispering ‘thankyouthankyouthankyou’ in her chest. Yet little did they know that in eight months time there wouldn’t be just one mini-Barnes running around, but two, making both adults wish they hadn’t quit the Avenger’s life when Y/N started showing, feeling like saving the world had been easier than tying your shoes. Though for now, they basked in the incredible feeling that was love and their new-founded family.
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kafkasgods · 3 years
Text
snowed in event: faaya — outside b
faaya shah
before getting promoted to manager, faaya used to spend a lot of nights going for a run. the night held a sense of peace, one knew she was only able to experience because her ability to radiate fear usually kept unsolicited men at bay. lately though, she’d been unable to find the time for it. whether it was work, obligations to other people, or she was simply too tired to. 
 but tonight was a blue moon where she finally had the ability to go out for a run, and despite the snow, faaya pulled her hair into a ponytail, threw on a windbreaker, and headed out the door. right away the chill numbed her cheeks, but it was refreshing. it’d only been about twenty minutes of making good headway when the snow seemed to get harsher, the wind more sharp, and her phone to go off with a text. “great,” she muttered. there was someone nearby, though it was hard to make them out, but faaya called out to them. “hey! we have to get inside!”
Rune Clarke
in retrospect, rune really should have known better than to go on a late night walk alone. it was cold, far colder than he had expected, and he had originally had half a mind to turn around—but no. his own sheer stubbornness had egged him on, and before he could even anticipate it, the swirling snow rapidly began to thicken and turn the world around him more and more white. his phone buzzed in his pocket, and rune pulled it out, squinting at the screen through the flurry. well, fuck. that...was bad. that was really bad, actually. 
shoving his phone back into his pocket, rune picked up the pace, heading back towards the direction of the vines. maybe he wouldn’t be able to get in, but it was better than being stuck out here on a trail with no one else around. a figure suddenly materialized in the near distance, and rune had never been more relieved in his life to see another person. “hey!” he called back, forcing himself to raise his voice as he stumbled forward until faaya shah came into sight. “do you know of anywhere close? and have you seen anyone else out here?” he asked briskly. 
faaya shah
even if the figure closer now, faaya had to blink furiously to look at rune with all the snow flurrying around them. “i think i passed by someone a block back, but it’s hard to say. i could barely make you out. it’s rune, right?” faaya wrapped her arms around her. no longer moving, she could feel the cold sink in a little deeper. “the only place i know close by is the public restrooms, but that’s much further and they might be locked to keep people out since it’s late.” biting her lip, she swore picking the trail that followed along the bottom of the mountains. her ponytail whipped around wildly behind her, fanning itself along the strong wind. “did you want to turn back to look out for the person i might’ve seen or try to find a place to stay?" she hadn’t been caught in a snowstorm before, so for once, faaya didn’t have any certainty about what they should be doing.
lida ruan
lida regretted her little walk as soon as the cold wind started picking up, and she really started to hate herself when she got the alert on her phone about the snow storm. shelter in place? it was a little late for that now. being from california, she’d always liked the aesthetic of snow but hated actually being cold, and she was super cold now. she pulled her coat tighter around her -- not like it would do much, it was pretty thin already, definitely not made for the conditions she’s found herself in -- and tried to look around for… anything, really. she’d seen someone else run by her earlier, but they were nowhere to be seen now. she couldn’t think of anything else to do but to keep walking. 
 things were starting to feel real hopeless when she could finally make out something in the snow -- another figure, maybe two? it was hard to see, but the hope gave her enough of a push to walk over faster. “hello?” she calls out to the other figures, close enough now to see that there are in fact two other people. “hey! thank the gods, i thought i was alone. i wouldn’t -- i don’t know what to do.” 
Rune Clarke
another figure suddenly materialized nearby and rune stiffened, unsure of who it could be—but the sight of another demigod put him at ease. more people outside wasn’t a good sign, certainly, but for once, rune would much rather have more allies to aid him than none at all. “...lida?” he recalled, then turned and glanced at his other companion. “and...faaya.” he nodded in a confirmation of faaya’s earlier query. 
“yeah. i’m rune. we should find shelter. head back towards town, better chance of finding something in that direction.” he paused, suddenly seeming to take in lida’s thinner coat. well, that wouldn’t do. rune glanced down and quickly began to dig through his pocket before pulling something out and holding it out to her. 
“pocket warmer,” he said. he turned to faaya and silently held one out to her too before turning back towards the path. “let’s go.” rune took the lead, carefully keeping an eye out for any other shapes in the snow around them. to his surprise, it wasn’t very long before yet another figure seemed to appear in the snow in front of them. 
 “...hadley.” if he was being perfectly honest, hadley intimidated the hell out of rune. he was always so...uptight. but maybe that was something the three of them needed, because rune doubted he was any more qualified to navigate the snowy landscape than faaya or lida. 
faaya shah
faaya didn’t expect to see another person so soon, but now she couldn’t help but wonder how many fucking people we’re out this late. it wasn’t looking good. faaya pulled off her gloves, checking on the few people she cared about. once that was done, she could focus on the fact that lida, while friendly, spoke with a shake in her voice that was not only from the cold. faaya was very used to the tell-tale signs of fear and being scared and lida was exhibiting it. normally, faaya was unbothered, but lida’s fear was valid as they were all in a precarious situation. 
 sticking her hand out for lida to take, faaya left no room to argue it. “don’t get ahead too far, we can barely see in front of us.” she had a feeling he wasn’t going to want to hold her hand, but she still didn’t want to lose him. rune offered her the pocket it warmer and as much as she’d like to take it, she shook her head. “i have gloves. it’s fine. thanks. you keep it.” she trekked by him, trying to keep up as the wind howled and got harsher, giving strong resistance as they tried moving forward. her exposed neck and collarbone made her wish she had a scarf. the best she could do was take her hair down, hoping despite it whipping everywhere, that it would add some warmth. 
 again, they stopped. the appearance of hadley ruiz was both a relief and unwelcomed. faaya was glad to have found him, but hated that collins and the rest of the zeus siblings were probably going to be freaking out. it was okay. she would take care of it. and suddenly a thought came to mind regarding one issue that might be resolved. “lida, you’re an apollo kid, right? do you have biokinesis? maybe you can adapt your body to the cold.”
Rune Clarke
heeding faaya’s earlier words, rune did his best to stay in everyone else’s line of sight, shuffling closer to them like a stray penguin trying to huddle for warmth. 
“we should keep moving,” he warned, fighting his urge to lower his voice. rune was a quiet person in general, but something about being out this late made him especially tense, like he inexplicably didn’t want to draw any extra attention to their little group. it was probably just because they were near the border though, he tried to reason in his head. 
after all, it seemed that everyone who resided in town usually had at least some wariness of the border, regardless of whether or not the gods were angry with them—but he had never seen weather like this before, and he suspected that meant the border likely wasn’t as strong as it should be that night. monsters were the last thing they needed to deal with. (because unfortunately for him, stealing an artifact from a god still didn’t make one immune to them.) “come on,” he continued, subconsciously pulling his coat tighter to his body. 
faaya shah
faaya tried to hide behind her hair as they walked, but her length and thickness of her hair really didn’t help with the fierce winds that had now moved to blowing them against the side. despite rune slowing down for them, faaya really had to work hard to keep him in view. frustrated with having to blink so much, she took a few longer strides and looped her arm with his. “it’s easier and better for us,” she explained, hoping he knew just as well that she wasn’t trying to encroach on his personal space. “lida,” faaya squeezed her hand. “do the same with hadley. it’ll be warmer and easier to walk against the wind.” 
 as she spoke, faaya could feel face numbing and her words being hesitated with a shortness of breath. she knew her head needed to stay warm, but right now her face was the more pressing concern, so she left go of lida’s hand briefly to pull down the cable-knit headband she’d been wearing to cover her nose and mouth. “do you see anything, rune?” faaya murmured through the fabric. he’d have a better view probably. 
Rune Clarke
rune silently accepted faaya’s arm, pulling her closer to him as the group linked themselves together. he squinted, scanning the area around them best he could in the midst of the snow. it almost looked like there was something approaching in the distance, but he couldn’t quite make out the shadowy form. was it another person? 
 “i think—“ he started, keeping his eye on the thing. it was getting closer now, and bigger, and it was suddenly moving far faster than any human form would be able to. his eyes widened in alarm. 
”MOVE,” he shouted, abruptly disconnecting his arm from faaya’s and diving out of the way. he hit the snow and rolled, elegantly landing up on one knee while he scrambled to yank off his glove and pull off his lion ring. because there, glowering at all of them through the snow, was a drakon. now often, drakons were huge, as big as buildings even—but this one, thankfully, was nowhere near the size of a building. it must have been younger, rune surmised, which was good for them: a less developed creature hopefully meant it would be less difficult to defeat. 
he took in the beast as it huffed, curling its head back and forth in search of prey while its mottled green-grey scales glinted in the snow. its tail writhed eagerly as its sharp teeth snapped open and shut in anticipation. “shit,” rune muttered, trying to figure out where the others had gone. were they fighters? did they have weapons on them? and what did he even know about drakons? he desperately wracked his brain for information. oh. right. some could paralyze people with their eyes. 
”AVOID MAKING EYE CONTACT WITH IT FOR TOO LONG!” he shouted, and the drakon immediately snapped its attention to him. a rare grin curled across rune’s face. “you want me?” he breathed. “then come and get me.” and with a flash of his sword—in true ares fashion—rune charged. 
lida ruan
lida was fine staying quiet and following the others -- she truly had no clue what to do in snow this bad, the only thing she remembered was that it was best to keep moving, and they were already doing that in trying to find shelter. she took faaya’s and hadley’s hands in her own, holding onto them tightly. when faaya asked her about biokinesis, she nodded. “y-yeah, i have that.” part of her was relieved to be reminded about that power, but another part felt guilty about being the only one able to do it. she’d share the immunity if she could. nonetheless, she was the one who was the least dressed for the storm -- her coat was more for fashion than warmth, and even her boots were starting to let in the cold -- so she takes a moment to focus and activate her power, feeling relieved when her teeth are no longer chattering. 
 it’s just a few moments later when rune spots something approaching that makes him scramble away, and at first she’s confused until she sees it herself: a drakon. she backs away off of the trail and out of its path, her hand reaching up to grab and yank her necklace off. in seconds she’s holding her glaive, aiming it at the beast, but her eyes look around for faaya and hadley, trying to make sure they’ve gotten out of the way. 
faaya shah
sight hadn’t been her strong suit for the entire duration of this blizzard. it was a combination of facts—the heavy flurry of the snow, her untamed hair being pulled where the wind went, the moisture of her eyelashes turning icy and making her lids heavier. everything went sudden all at once. rune had pushed back, lida was no longer holding her hand, and faaya couldn’t see in front of her face. they were saying something, but faaya couldn’t hear them over the sounds of the gale. “what?” she called out, loudly. a sort of metallic ringing was carried by the strong winds and faaya’s attention snapped towards where the echo originated from. but when she finally managed to make sight of something, it was the bright yellow eyes of a drakon. faaya’s breath caught and nothing in her could move away from it. 
Rune Clarke
rune glanced back and gave hadley a brief nod of acknowledgement before turning back to the drakon. its attention suddenly snapped off him towards something else in the distance, and rune frowned, immediately trying to pinpoint lida and faaya’s location. lida was there, just off the edge of the trail, and faaya was— 
shit. faaya was right in its path. 
 first option: try and get its attention back on him. he lashed out with his sword, hoping to find purchase somewhere in between its scales, but his sword harmlessly glanced off of them. note to self: aiming for the sides wouldn’t help. 
on to the second option then: run. 
looking back on it, rune honestly didn’t know why that was his next instinct. he could’ve done any number of other things from continuing to search for another weak spot to stepping back and asking hadley to try electrocuting the thing. but instead, rune took off in a dead sprint, barely managing to skid to a halt in front of faaya and putting himself directly in between her and the drakon. ”hey,” he said urgently, trying to make eye contact with her. “come on, snap out of it—“ 
the warm breath of the drakon suddenly hit the back of rune’s neck and he froze. gods. what a stupid way for him to get injured, exposing his back to a monster in an attempt to defend someone he didn’t even know in the middle of a blizzard, especially after all the work he had done to get this far. taking a shaky breath, rune waited for the pain to come— 
but it never did. a faint red glow suddenly emanated from somewhere and rune looked around, confused, before he looked down at himself and realized the glow was coming from him. an aura of light like angry red flames flickered around his form, and he let out a slight laugh of disbelief before tightening his grip on his sword. ares’ blessing. maybe the gods were on his side after all. 
lida ruan
lida’s relieved when her eyes finally find hadley and sees he’s also jumped out of the way and summoned a weapon. she continues to look for faaya, and when she sees her caught by the drakon’s gaze, lida’s stomach lurches. she’s prepared to jump in between the beast and faaya, but rune beats her to it, and there’s a brief moment where it feels like everything has stopped, because rune’s glowing. lida herself is entranced, until an idea enters her mind, and she has to act on it fast. 
 rune’s blessing inspires her to make herself glow, too, but brighter, to turn the drakon’s attention to her instead. there’s a balance she has to walk -- she needs to grab the monster’s attention while not completely blinding her teammates in the process. the drakon’s head starts to turn, and she knows it’s working, but she yells “over here, bitch!” for good measure. she takes her chance to stab her glaive into its eye before the head had fully turned, and she’s surprised her idea actually worked, though she doesn’t get the chance to celebrate before the drakon lets out a loud roar and rears its head up. the ground disappears from under lida as she’s lifted up, gripping onto the pole end of her glaive for dear life. 
 “shit, shit, shit,” she doesn’t know what to do here. should she let go? maybe the snow is thick enough to soften the fall -- the choice is made for her when the drakon rears its head again, loosening her grip, and she falls. she lands on her back and the wind is knocked out of her, so it takes her a moment to get her bearings. once she can breathe again, she sits up, ignoring her dizziness to try and look around for the others. “i’m okay!” she yells out, hoping they could hear her and that they’d focus on the drakon instead of her. 
faaya shah
there were few occasions faaya felt like she were going to die. that was just something that had to be accepted as a demigod. but it had been years since she’d felt so helpless. it took another imposing step towards her, gazes locked, and faaya knew if she could move, her knees would buckle. then suddenly, a new pair of eyes were in front of her—brown, concerned, and full of urgency. “rune.” the name left her lips in a quiet breath, staring at him as he began radiating. the feeling in her body was returning, she knew it when she took a step back. then in the corner of her eye, another light made itself visible, a beacon in the darkness. 
 with utter fear for lida as the drakon removed its attention from her and rune to the other woman, faaya snapped into action. as she sprinted towards the drakon, her knit headband dropped to her neck and her lungs took in large amounts of stinging cold air. the ornate hair stick she kept on her person at all times was in her hand in a flash and no sooner than it reached her fingers, it had grown into a large scythe taller than she was. she trained for years with the scythe, but it’d never felt more like an extension of her arm than now. was it enyo? 
as lida fell to the snow, the light coming off her illuminated a small fallen tree angled diagonally. still, it was big enough to serve a purpose. not slowing down in speed, faaya hopped onto it, running up the trunk. the glaive was stuck in its eye and it writhed back and forth. as it leaned forward, its head lowered by her. pulling back her scythe, faaya pushed herself forward off the tree and slashed downward. the blade lodged between its eyes and gravity helped her slice it down the face, breaking off once it’d reach the end of its nose. in a quick rush, she dropped ungracefully beside lida into the snow.
the drakon reeled back, roaring into the night, recoiling in pain.
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