#and as I was doing this design for shattered ice i was like 'what if he was clear skys dad'

[oftidheard]

hmmm an idea could be a coryo x reader where he’s readers mentor (just like he was with lucy gray) and he gradually loses his shit cuz he’s worried for reader lmaoo

i really enjoyed writing this and exploring the differences in how coryo sees the reader and really just anything/anyone else ♡ general warning for him being typically nasty + references to death

❄ where i told you to run ㅤ⠀coriolanus snow x reader ㅤ⠀↳ 1.3k ↳ angst ↳ gender neutral

coriolanus is sat in one of the chairs provided for the mentors in front of the array of screens, displaying tribute's statuses alongside the hunger games broadcast, and he's convinced the seats were specifically designed to be as uncomfortable as possible.

it doesn't help that whenever the screen shows you, you appear to be dedicatedly searching the underground tunnels, without a single weapon in hand and not even bothering to look behind you once in a while in case someone might be following you; you're practically asking to be hunted down and killed.

he leans forward slightly as once again your image flashes on screen now showing you jogging through the tunnels, and grits his teeth. up until now, his emotionless façade has remained unwavering, appearing to anyone else in the room as though he's perfectly apathetic about your recklessness. but truly, he is anything but.

he remembers the night he saw you before the games, when he'd reiterated that as soon as the bell rung that you were to run as far away from any other tribute as you could, and to hide until absolutely necessary.

you'd commented a crisp, "wouldn't that make for boring television?" meant almost as a jest, but which had made coriolanus rethink everything he was doing for a moment. he didn't voice the realisation that he now found himself valuing your survival more than entertaining the capitol, but instead remained steadfast in repeating the instructions; making you swear to listen.

you'd hummed a — retrospectively noncommittal — "mhm," and whether it was tiredness overcoming him drawing him to not read to much into it, or the way you'd smiled saccharinely and reached through the bars for his hand in a moment that made him forget what he'd even come there for in the first place; he hadn't pushed beyond that, and instead indulged in your playful smile.

now, bitterly, he realises he should have been horribly annoying about reminding you what you needed to do to survive, if only for the possibility that you'd actually have listened.

one hand grips the table in front of him as he watches you barely trying to conceal your thundering footsteps in favour of speed, and turn corners without even stopping to check around the corner first.

unlike your own heavy breaths that just loudly contribute to the siren song bound to draw tributes far stronger than you right to you, coriolanus's breaths are stiff; not unlike the rest of his body as amongst the frustration and worry he frailly tries to remain at the very least outwardly calm.

his composition shatters, however, when out of all the things a tribute trapped in a death arena could possibly do; you start whistling.

the broadcast focuses on you again — your sudden performance the only remotely entertaining thing to happen since coral's pack gave up on lucy gray and jessup — and the room erupts in whispers as everyone watches you slow down to a walk once more.

coriolanus's reaction is less restrained, and the moment the first note of an eerily familiar song leaves your lips, he's pushing up from his seat and staring ice cold at the screen.

his thoughts are frozen in place, all stuck on one word; stop. you need to stop whistling right now, you need to turn and run back to where you'd been hiding earlier, and selfishly, coriolanus needs you to do all of this so you can survive.

even as you continue your song echoing through the tunnels, he forces himself to untense and keep up the illusion that he's perfectly okay with this — as well as playing along with everyone else, who seem marginally unimpressed by whatever it is you seem to be doing.

it only dawns on him when he's stepped back from the small table and readjusted himself with neat composure and tall posture, that he knows where he's heard this song before — and it takes everything in him to not scream his anger at the mentor of the little district eight girl.

you'd hummed the tune over and over again when you and the rest of the tributes had been locked in that cage, when wovey — coriolanus strains to remember the name of such an inconsequential little girl — had been sat near you. you'd noticed her fear, and though the two of you weren't district partners nor had likely ever spoken before, you beckoned the frightened girl to sit with you.

before one of coriolanus's visits, as he'd been approaching the dilapidated zoo, he'd heard your vocalising of the simple tune floating through the humid air, and neared the bars to find the sight of you hugging wovey close with a kind smile, as she joined in humming the tune with you.

it had been a conflicting moment for him, as he'd watch you good-naturedly comfort a girl who'd soon be your enemy, he'd found he couldn't look away from the captivating upturn of your lips and tender twinkle in your eyes. but wholeheartedly, he despised your friendliness with a fellow tribute, especially such a weak one, who could never be a worthwhile ally.

but you'd returned to comforting her after coriolanus left, and you'd told him you'd been humming all day and would do it 'till your voice was rough if it meant the girl's final moments were warm ones. he was drawn to the softness of your voice, but didn't hide that he was unimpressed with the empty compassion.

now, he turns his head to hilarius heavensbee — wovey's mentor — as if the boy would have half the mind to recognise the link between your whistled search and his own tribute. but he glares at his classmate across the room nonetheless, as if if he were to glower in the boy's direction for long enough, it might fix coriolanus's mountain of problems.

the blonde turns back to the large screen again when your search for wovey — coriolanus still scowls at the notion — has yet to prove fruitful, and you resort to whisper-shouting her name.

now, hilarius turns to coriolanus with confusion at his classmate's tribute calling his own tribute's name, but the latter simply ignores hilarius in favour of glaring at your figure still searching for the lost cause of a girl.

he wishes, now more than ever, that he could contact you in the arena, that he could tell you to be quiet and for goodness's sake stay alive. but all he can do is watch helplessly as your determination only grows stronger the longer it takes for you to find the girl you swore to yourself you'd protect.

the thought occurs to coriolanus at noticing your ever-furrowing brows that you might start to think wovey is dead, and give up. he prays you do, and hopes the girl actually dies for good; to cease being a burden on you.

but nothing in these games ever seem to go coriolanus's way, it seems, because when you turn your next corner, an echo snakes up from behind you, and brings a dissonant but undeniably similar call of the very same song you'd been calling out with.

waves of relief accompanied with vexation wash over him just as your own features brighten. he's relieved you will finally quieten down for your own safety, but is by no means thrilled for the extra weight that will now be dragging you down with another life in your hands.

coriolanus is about to ease back into his stiff chair now that you've run to near wovey's call and have stopped whistling in search, when the screens flash to another camera view.

the broadcast now displays coral, tanner, and mizzen waiting just around a corner you're bound to turn any moment now, as tanner mimics the tune of your song with his own deceptive whistling.

coriolanus pales and grows lightheaded in realisation; that you're walking right into a trap, and he cannot do a thing to help you.

#coriolanus snow x reader #coriolanus x reader #tbosas x reader #the ballad of songbirds and snakes x reader #the hunger games x reader #the hunger games x you #the hunger games x y/n #thg x reader #❤︎ — the mockingjay sings

[infi8ity]

IMAGINE THE DAY OF YOUR WEDDING, your nerves are through the roof and your bridesmaids are trying their very best to calm them. every suggested method-- immediately shut down by a very frustrated and on-the-verge-of-a-mental-breakdown-bride. no amount of breathing exercises, ice packs, glasses of wine, or whatever the fuck helped. 

how could they when nothing was going as planned? the photographer that you had booked months in advance cancelled last minute, on the way inside the building the wedding cake designers’ assistant tripped and dropped the expensive wedding cake your parents paid for, everyone was bombarding you with questions you didn’t have the answer to, the room was hot as balls and for gods sake you couldn’t-

“breathe, y/n. do the exercises we talked about.” your maid of honor says comfortingly to your reflection in the vanity where you perch.

“you look beautiful. everything will work out. just breathe. in and out. out and in.” she squeezes your shoulder reassuringly. for the fifth time, you obey her advice. 

and for the fifth time, it doesn’t work. of course it doesn’t. you knew what, who, you needed— to calm you down. your bridesmaids did too. 

you could feel a lump crawling its way up your throat and place a shaking hand over your belly. has it always been this hot in here? has this dress always felt this tight? you snatch your phone from the vanity dresser. 

4:30 PM

27 MISSED CALLS.

thirty minutes before you were set to walk down the aisle and all 27 from your mother and mother-in-law combined. you stand, a little too quickly one might add-- and the room begins to spin. Hands reach out to grab you.

you shake them off and stumble your way to the door. your bridesmaids stand in unison. the maid of honor inches towards you wearily. 

“y/n. please, it's bad luck if the groom sees his bride before the wedding.”

“and how much bad luck do you think it’d be if the bride jumped from the goddamn balcony?” you hiss, slamming the door in their aghast faces. 

fuck. that was completely unlike you. you’d have to apologize to them later. but now, you needed to see him. your heart began to beat faster. louder. you could feel tears threatening to spill. his number was saved on speed dial and he picked up on the first ring. 

“y/n?” his husky voice thick with concern was like music to your ears.

you clutched your chest tightly. “i need to see you right now please.”

“meet me at the gazebo.” 

∞

he beat you there, of course knowing him he’d probably run there. the slight heaving of his chest and shoulders was of plenty enough indicator. the clack of your heels alerts him of your presence. when he turns, it seems as if the world slows. you don’t think you’d be able to formulate a sentence without choking up. so you two say nothing.

there you two stand, with nothing else in the world mattering but each other. all you can muster is a smile from ear to ear that he reciprocates and the strength to fight back sobs. for a few beats, he cannot find the words that were nearly applicable enough to describe your beauty in this moment. 

and unsurprisingly, it’s him who cries first. 

you break your intensive stare, exclaiming, “don’t cry! fuck! now i’m gonna-,” its as if the ball in your throat bursts. one second you were fighting to keep your composure and the next, well composure be damned. 

his body slammed into yours as he pulled you in a damn near rib shattering hug filled with nothing but love as you wail into his arms. 

“how can i not?” he starts through sniffles. “i’m marrying the woman i’ve loved for damn near a decade and you look-”

“don’t say beautiful,” you choke out.

“divine. alluring. stunning. lovely. radiant. exquisite. shall i go on?” he drawls, without skipping a beat. 

“don’t let me stop you.” you joke, sharing a laugh. and perhaps its the nerves, or the wine and champagne or the fact that your wedding day was going to shit; you couldn’t help but laugh harder. confused, your fiancee laughs at your state. perhaps contagious, you both double over, shaking with laughter. wheezing, together you collapse on the wooden planks until your laughter dies down. 

“what are we doing?” you say through an exhale of breath as you push yourself up against rails of the gazebo. your fiancé follows suit.

“getting married?” he says, serious.

you lightly punch his arm. “well duh. but why all of… this? this isn’t we wanted. or how we wanted it to go. we always talked about something simple and private.” you say, referring to the wedding guests. 

“you’re right, its what our mothers wanted.”

“i don’t even like half of the people in there.”

“at least your mom didn’t invite your primary school bully.”

“she invited all four of them actually.”

“jesus.” he comments, scoffing. 

a beat.

your groom takes your hand in his, squeezing lightly. “d’you wanna leave?”

you smile. “that’s the best fucking idea i’ve heard all day.” you exclaim. locking eyes with you, you grab his face into your hands and kiss him passionately. a kiss so fervent, you lose your breath. this man before you was your husband. till death do you part. 

“i love you so much.”

“and i love you infinitely.” 

#infi8ity∞ #infi8ity∞sfw #haikyuu #hq #haikyuu!! #hq!fluff #haikyuu x reader #hq x reader #atsumu miya #atsumu x reader #issei matsukawa #matsukawa x reader #kuroo testuro #kuroo x reader #hajime iwaizumi #iwaizumi x reader #osamu miya #osamu x reader #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu imagines

[beanzfandoms]

Ruby Red

Diluc Ragnivindr x Female! Reader

Description: (Y/n) ends up breaking something as the new maid of the Dawn Winery and meets Master Diluc for the first time.

☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *.

It wasn't necessarily hard work, but it was tedious. (Y/n) couldn't help but to dig at the puffy sleeves that framed her shoulders as the fabric seemed to irritate her skin. She wasn't trying to be disrespectful, and (Y/n) would visibly cringe every time Adelinde's gaze casted over her.

She was grateful, don't get her wrong. Without the mercy Adelinde gave her with no experience, (Y/n) would probably still be in the city of Mondstat looking for work. She just didn't feel like herself in the rounded dress that was given for this particular job. Why do you have to dress this way just to clean a rich man's house?

"(Y/n), dear. Did you hear me?" Adelinde's voice calls out. The other maids giggle quietly to themselves as it was clear (Y/n) was lost in her thoughts.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?" (Y/n) asks after clearing her throat awkwardly.

"Would you be alright with cleaning the upstairs while these two works down here? I will be sure to give you a schedule and check on you now and again."

It was clear that the other two were adamant to be together as they clung to each other's arms like schoolgirls. It honestly made (Y/n) sick to see their giddy expressions. "I suppose not."

"Wonderful. I will see you in your designated spots momentarily."

☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *. ⋆☄. *.

Irritation seeps from (Y/n)'s pores as she dusts away at the mantle above her. The money was worth it, but doing double the work with something she wasn't used to make her muscles ache. Apparently, one of the girls who was training alongside (Y/n) got sick. Why the other had to leave with her made no sense, but at least Adelinde offered to finish up with her. Not that (Y/n) would leave the older woman to do this work herself; she had nowhere else to go anyway.

The sun barely lit the wooden floors of the Dawn Winery, and the servants began to light candles before their leave for the night. (Y/n)'s limbs ache from a long day's use, tiredness clawing at her eyes. (Y/n) found it harder to stand on the tips of her toes as she reached over her head to swipe the feather down brush behind the vases that stood on the shelving.

Unfortunately, (Y/n) hit one of the glasses with the edge of her knuckles and it slipped off with a loud shatter. She could barely process what happened before fiery red filled her vision.

"Step back, you'll step in it." A monotone voice commands, "What are you even doing here so late? All servants are required to go home before sundown."

(Y/n) observes the man dressed in black for a moment before kneeling down beside him. "I can clean up after myself, thank you."

She can feel his gaze on her as his hands still over the broken pieces. "Excuse me?"

The man sounded more confused if anything, but the tone caused (Y/n) to grovel regardless. "I, um... all I mean is that it was my clumsiness that caused this, so I should be the one that cleans it. Hopefully, I won't get into too much trouble." The last part was more to herself, but it caused the man to chuckle. Ruby eyes greet her as she looks at him in surprise. "What's so funny?"

"The vase had nothing of value, do not worry."

"How do you know?"

"Master Diluc," Adelinde says from behind, "I see you've met the new maid in training."

(Y/n)'s whole body feels as though spikes of ice went through her skin as the man beside her stands.

"I hope your day has been well," Adelinde says with a bow.

"It was fine, thank you. If you wouldn't mind, Adelinde, could you catch one of the workers from outside to throw out this glass. I request that this woman be sent home for the night."

"Yes, Master Diluc," Adelinde responds before turning towards the girl. "You may go home now, dear. Come back bright and early tomorrow morning."

It felt like time stood as (Y/n) lifted herself from the ground. She made sure to keep her head low as she passed by the two, embarrassment warming her cheeks.

"Goodnight, miss Adelinde," (Y/n) manages out before quickly shutting the door.

Adelinde lets out a sigh as she takes the broom off the wall to collect the smaller pieces of broken glass into a pile. Diluc remains fixated on the front door, eyes narrowing intensely.

"Adelinde... who was that girl?" He mutters.

"That was (Y/n). I found her looking for work in the city. I thought we could use the extra help," the woman answers.

"Hm... (Y/n) who?"

"She only gave me her first, sir. I didn't ask any further questions, I'm afraid."

"Interesting..." Diluc responds shortly before turning to the stairs, "I bid you goodnight, Adelinde."

#fanfiction #genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact x female reader #diluc x reader #diluc x female reader #genshin diluc #diluc ragnvindr #diluc ragnivindr x reader #genshin oneshots #female!reader

[rwby-encrusted-blog]

Nora: If I were a Bad Huntress, I wouldn't Be sittin' here, disscussin' it with ya, now would I!

~~~~~

Mercury: Grass Grows, Birds fly, and brother?

Mercury: I Hurt People!

~~~~~

Coco: I am Heavy Weapons user.

Coco: And this- (Expands Gianduja from the purse) - is my weapon.

~~~~~

Pietro: Hey look, buddy. I'm an engineer and Medical Doctor, that means I solve problems.

Pietro: Not problems like "What is beauty?", 'cause that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy.

Pietro: I solve practical problems!

Pietro: For instance, how am I gonna stop some big mean Mother-Hubbin Grimm from tearin' me a structurally superfluous new behind?

Pietro: The answer? Get a daughter. And if that don't work, Make 'er stronger.

Pietro: Like Penny Here. She's the first Synthetic capable of Using Aura, armed with a dozen Plasma-rail Cannon Swords, all designed by me.

Pietro: Given Soul by me.

Pietro: And you'd best hope ...

Pietro: Not Pointed at you.

~~~~~

May Z: Snipin's a good job M8.

May Z: It's Challengin' work, outta door, and I guarantee you won't go Hungry.

May Z: Cuz' at the end of the day, if there are two people left on the planet, Someone's gonna want someone Dead.

~~~~~

Ironwood: Iff Fighting is Sure to result in Victory, Then you must FIGHT!

Ironwood: Sun Tzu said that! And I think he knows a little bit more about fighting than you do pal!Because He invented it! Then He perfected it so that no living person could best him in the Ring of Honor!

~~~~~

Mercury: (Struggling with a door) HEY! A little help here!

Ironwood: Out of the way son! Uuuhhh One! One! One! uh! One!

Mercury: Let's go! Let's Go!

(ZZT!)

Coco: INCOMING!

(The trio Crashes through the Door)

Mercury: Hey! It's Still Here!

Emerald: Ahem! Gentlemen?

~~~~~

Coco: I fear no man ... But that thing ...it Scares me.

(A heeled silhouette Stalks down a hallway)

Mercury: No! I'm not talking about that Freak! (Struggles with Microphone) Sh- She's not here is she? How do I get this damn thing off!

(The Figure kicks open a door, light shining dangerously off her blade)

Emerald: One shudders to imagine what inhuman thoughts lie behind those eyes.

(She Grins, Cycling to Ice dust)

Emerald: What Dreams of Chronic and Sustained Cruelty?

Weiss: (Freezes anything and everything in her path, shattering whatever she can as she sings Mirror Mirror)

~~~~~

Jaune: And when the looked for the Sword, it was nowhere to be found!

Coco: (Bursts out laughing, Snorts)

Jaune: Anyway, That's how I lost my Hunting License!

~~~~~

Flynt, on his Trumpet: (DUN-DUN-DUN-DUN DUDUDUDUDU!)

#rwby #jaune arc #yang xiao long #weiss schnee #rwby shitpost #nora valkyrie #coco adel #pietro polendina #may zedong #emerald sustrai #mercury black #source: team fortress 2 #source: tf2

[sabyfangirl16]

Tazzy Martin

Summary:

A Creature Power Suit malfunction caused by Zach in the hopes of getting revenge on the Wild Kratts crew went horribly wrong...

Notes:

One of the scenes here was inspired by Asil's art. Thank you. And thanks to all the amazing people who inspired me along the way.

"I'VE HAD IT!!!"

Zach was pacing around his office like a madman, fuming with suppressed rage, two Zachbots watching from afar, completely motionless.

He had just returned from another one of his thwarted attempts to capture a wild animal for him to turn into an invention - a beaver builder, with the soul purpose to build whatever the greedy inventor desired. Unfortunately for him, his plans were foiled as soon as the Wild Kratts team jumped into the scene.

"I'll get you next time you Wild Ratts!"

"That's Wild Kratts!"

He could feel himself boiling on the inside, gritting his teeth so hard they could shatter. He banged his fist on his desk. Very, very HARD.

"OWIE!" he cried, wriggling his hand and whining like a kid, instantly regretting it. "It hurts!"

He stole a glance at the unmoving Zachbots.

"I SAID IT HURTS! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!" he snapped, the robotic servants nursing him by bringing him an ice pack.

Zach snatched it in an aggressive way before pressing it against his hand. "Argh."

He thought hard for a moment.

"I need to find a way to get back at those pasky Wild Ratts, gotta teach them a lesson," he muttered, his tone deep and obscure.

He sat on his desk in a thinking pose. Not even a minute had passed before his eyes landed on something buried under all his workpapers.

Raising a curious eyebrow, he reached out his good hand and pulled out what seemed to be...a newspaper article, one he immediately recognized.

"Why do I still have this thing?" his voice contained a hint of irritation.

His eyes read the title.

The Wild Kratts Crew Will be Tagging the Endagered Tasmanian Devil.

The corners of the fabric were getting crumbled by Zach's clenched hands. His anger was immeasurable, and the picture of the Kratt brothers covering half the page only aggravated him even more. He despised them, his hatred towards them was the equivalent of a laser beam piercing through metal.

"I thought I threw this away, what's it still doing here?!" he pouted.

He was about to rip it to shreds...when a sudden memory crossed his mind.

Tazzy Chris.

He still recalled the way Chris acted in his T-devil suit, a malfunction that caught his attention.

"Hmm," he lowered the paper down, squinting his eyes and being deeply pensive. "That Creature Power Suit malfunction was certainly...interesting," his tone was changing gradually. "When green guy turned into that devil thingy, he was out of control!" The expression on his face was changing, too, taking a malicious aspect. "But that annoying Aviva fixed the malfunction," he grumbled with a disappointed face. "Unless..." The disappointment quickly disappeared, a spiteful smile creeping on his pale face. "I could trigger the activation, and Chris could go TAZZY again!" He jumped from his brilliant idea.

Zach then walked over to one of his drawers and pulled it open. Inside, was a triangular box, which he eagerly took out with a huge grin. "Heheh," he giggled as he opened the box.

"And my Disrupt-o-bots are just what I need to get the job done."

It was night time. Everyone in the Tortuga was sound asleep.

It had been a rough day for all of them, from saving those beavers to cleaning up the mess Zach left behind, as per usual.

The Kratt bothers were so tired that they practically threw themselves on their beds, as soon as they got back, without taking their Creature Power Suits off; old habits never die.

It was peaceful. But not for too long.

Through the ship's vents, sneaked in a an army of small-sized Disrupt-o-bots - which were only four - specifically designed for hacking and going unnoticed.

From the comfort and safety of his own plane, having had parked not too far from the blue ship itself, Zach was giving instrunctions to his little minions, being able to see what was happening through one of the Spy-bots' cameras.

"This is gonna be fun," he rubbed his hands diabolically. "Disrupt-o-bots, you know what to do."

And so, the tiny machines flew to the Kratt brothers' room. There, they found the two animal lovers sleeping in peace, snoring softly.

Zach wrinkled his nose at the sight of them. "Oh, you just wait and see what I'm gonna do," he cackled wickedly.

In no time, the Disrupt-o-bots flew inside Chris' suit, making their way through the circuit and eventually to the center of the system.

Zach remembered the first time he used his Disrupt-o-bots to tamper with the Creature Power Suits. How Martin turned from an elephant to a basilisk lizard, and how Chris turned from a rhino to an acorn, from a cheetah to a walrus, from a falcon to a bass, and finally, from a crocodile to a Tasiar, and from a hippo to a butterfly.

It was all fun to watch until the crew interefered and put a stop to his scheme.

But this time, it was going to be different.

"Now, I know about the flaw in Aviva's programming, so triggering this past activation should be a piece of cake."

With an overconfident smile, he took out a remote. "Disrubt now," he pressed a button, causing the Zachbots to start drilling through the system.

Zach laughed maniacally, waiting for the malfunction to take place... But nothing happened.

"What?!" his voice trailed off. "Hey, what's going on? You're supposed to turn tazzy!" he whined. "It's not fair!" He crossed his arms like an irritated five-year-old.

After thinking for a moment, he came to a conclusion. "Looks like Aviva's much smarter than I thought," he muttered. "The suit is somehow resisting the sabotage, argh," Zach rubbed his temples in frustration. "Think, Zach. Think." He tapped his head.

He suddenly remembered the other half of the Kratt brothers sleeping on the opposite side of the room.

At that moment, it was as though a light bolb lit up above his head.

"Hey, blue boy never turned into a devil thingy," he remarked, putting a finger to his chin. "What if..." He paused. "Maybe, just maybe, I could..."

He looked over at his screen once more, a venomous smile creeping on his face.

"Change of plans," he announced, pressing a different button this time.

Instead of drilling, the Disrupt-o-bots shoved wires into the green structure.

"If I could just copy the past activation..."

The Zachbots beeped in termination.

"Yes!"

Next thing, they exited Chris' suit and jumped inside Martin's.

"YES!"

Finally, they deposited the data in the blue circuit like a snake injecting venom into its prey.

"Oh, I'm such a genius!" Zach preened himself, waiting for the anticipated result.

Fortunately for him, it all went as planned this time.

Soon, a violent blast of blue enveloped the blue Kratt's form, morphing him into a vicious T-devil.

"It worked!" Zach's laughter filled his plane, feeling more triumphant than he could've imagined.

"Boy, I can't wait to see their reactions when they find out that blue boy turned tazzy!"

Martin's breathing intensified, his chest rattling as he scratched his ear like a dog. He twisted in bed, his tail wiggling fast, before his eyes flung open. He sat up, growling and drooling on his bed, then hopped on all fours by instinct as he rushed out of the room.

His head danced around frantically, unable to place where he was. He was confused, completely discombobulated. He accidentally ended up in the garage, where he found a very comfortable corner to curl into a ball and sleep in.

A new day dawned on the team, the sun slowly rising over the horizon and bringing light to the forest they were in.

Sunlight shone through the window and on Chris' face. He moaned a little, his eyebrows twitched as his eyes slowly opened, before instantly closing at the sight of light.

He breathed a long sigh, before stretching his body and stifling a yawn as he sat up in bed. He then stole a glance at the other side of the room, expecting to see Martin still sound asleep, only to be wrong.

His bed was empty.

Chris raised an eyebrow, "Huh." The only logical explination he could think of was that his brother had gotten up earlier than usual, not thinking much about it.

He got on his feet, realizing he was still in his clothes and suit, an enlarged grimace spreading across his face; he couldn't count the number of times they did that.

As he dragged his feet through the room, he took his CPS off, along with the gloves while making his way to the control room.

"Mornin' everyone," he let out as soon as he walked in, throwing his suit in the right place.

The other crew members were already up and at 'em, the girls working in their stations while Jimmy was preparing breakfast.

"Mornin' Chris!" Aviva was the first to respond, a warm smile on her face.

"You're just in time for breakfast!" Jimmy looked at him over his shoulder, humming a soft tune as he flipped another pancake.

In no time, the mouth-watering aroma reached the green Kratt. "Mmm, that smells good," he complimented, dipping forward to savour the smell.

"Thanks, my grandma Z's recipe!" Jimmy replied happily.

Then, it was as in sudden remembrance hit him.

"Say, has anyone seen Martin?"

The question caught everyone's breath, silence reigning.

"Umm, no," Aviva hesitated, before turning to Koki.

"Don't look at me, I haven't seen him all morning!" She waved her hands.

"Neither did I," Jimmy said in turn as he untied his apron.

A worried expression painted Chris' face, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Something just felt...off.

Back in the garage, the ferocious fur ball was slowly awakening. He stretched his body like a cat, nails clawing at the floor.

His eyes scanned the room and he gasped.

How did he end up in the garage?!

Just as he started thinking he had become somnambulist, he looked down at his hands, then at his arms... His eyes widened.

He jerked away, knocking over a few boxes while he was at it.

"GRAH!" He yapped, using proper words felt like a whole task of its own.

His vision was black and white, which only aggravated him.

"Wha- grrr... What's happening to me?!"

He got on all fours, gritting his sharp teeth while racking his brain for any reasonable explination to what he was going through.

Meat.

Carcus.

HUNGRY.

He snarled with pent-up aggravation; he couldn't think straight.

His ears suddenly twitched at the familiar voices coming from above him. The human part of him wanted to cry for help, but the animal inside him told him not too. It was screaming at him, telling him to get away from there, to break free fom this cage he was in.

And so, he ran over to the garage hatch and banged on it. When he realized it was no use, he implanted his sharp claws into the metalic door, ripping a hole inside like it was nothing.

He squeezed through and made his escape, as he disappeared into the woods, running towards an unknown destination.

"Maybe he's-"

BAM.

Everyone in the control room jumped at the sudden crashing noise.

"What was that?!" Jimmy stammered.

Bang. Bang.

Jimmy screetched as he buried his face in his cap.

"Sounds like it's coming from the garage!"

Chris was already heading there, followed shortly by the others.

They all stopped at the door, exchanging nervous looks.

"W-We should probably not go in there, i-it could be a dangerous animal!" Jimmy's voice squeaked.

"But what if it's not?" Chris gave him a firm look over his shoulder.

But just as he was about to get in, the sudden sound of wripping metal nearly burst everyone's eardrums.

They groaned as they barged in and, to their shock, their eyes landed on one, big blue tail wriggling from a hole in the garage hatch, just two seconds before it vanished.

"What in the world was that thing?!" Koki exclaimed, putting her hand to her forehead as she scanned the damage. "Aw, and look what it did!" she pouted.

"I'm not sure, but..." Aviva's voice trailed off, biting he lower lip from hesitance.

"But what?" Chris insisted.

"I think it was Martin," she said with a now lower voice. But Chris heard it very well.

"What?!" He looked white as a sheet. "What makes you say that?"

"He was wearing one of my suits, I'd recognize my CPS technology anywhere," she paused, lowering her head in a pensive way. "But I'm not sure which suit, it could be so many things; I've programmed too many creature powers with tails and I didn't even get a chance to guess what kind of tail he had!"

Aviva's words slowly became shallow to Chris' ears, as he was too busy processing what was going on, too busy thinking about what kind of Creature Power Suit malfunction they were dealing with.

"Hey, Chris. Hey!"

He felt two hands grasping his shoulders, giving him a good shake.

"Chris, are you listening?"

He stopped staring at the void to meet Aviva's worried eyes.

"...Huh? Um, yeah, you were saying?" He didn't mean to sound careless, yet that's exactly the tone he used to respond.

Giving an exasperated sigh, Aviva looked at him dead in the eye. "Your brother, Martin, is dealing with a malfunction that is unknown to us!" She tried very hard not to sound angry.

"But how did it happen? Did the suit just...activate on its own during the night or something?" Jimmy theorized, still a bit shaken from what was happening.

"No." Aviva sounded mildly firm to a terrifying level. "That's not possible! My suit can't just activate on its own, something must've triggered the activation," she muttered the last part to herself, but it was loud enough to be heard by everyone else.

"We'll figure that out later," Chris put an end to the deadly silence. "Right now, we have to go after Martin and find him before he hurts himself...or someone," his eyes narrowed as he glanced at the hole in the hatch. "He must have some pretty sharp claws to do that," he pointed.

"You can say that again," Koki nodded, sighing at the thought of having to fix it eventually.

"We better get going, then," Aviva earged, gaining determined nods, at the exception of Jimmy.

"Why does something like this always happen to us?" he whined.

He kept running and running...

His heart was on fire, a new found energy flowing around his body like electricity. He was reconnecting with the animalistic side of himself which he had been keeping at bay for so long, finally letting it free.

It felt so strange, yet so good.

He ended up on a tree-lined path, looking up at the gaps of sunlight, the air brushing against his fur as he swooped past every animal, every insect and every plant, like a bolt of light.

Realizing he had no clue where he was going, he came to a halt and scanned his surroundings; nothing but trees and grass.

His stomach grumbled and he made a low guttural sound, so he started sniffing around for anything to eat, when his extra-sensitive nose picked up a smell.

He dipped his head forward searching for the source of it, before taking off yet again, this time with a destination.

It wasn't long before he came across, what one who isn't stuck in a T-devil suit might find stomach-turning, a dead animal. The smell was so strong and repellent, no wonder he was able to smell it from so far away, especially with T-devil powers.

He approached the carcus on all fours like a real tasmanian devil, already salivating at the thought of devouring it.

He was so hungry, craving rotten meat more than anything.

He licked the corners of his mouth as he was about to bite a whole chunk of the meal...but paused, his eyes enlarging slightly, tacking a more human aspect, as they were fixated on the body before them.

He let out a loud, choked gasp as he fell back, jerking away from the carcus.

His eyes were wide and filled with fright.

He couldn't believe he almost ate a dead animal.

He ran in the opposite direction to get away from the smell, tears building in his eyes.

He wanted to cry for help. He wanted to go back to the Tortuga and have Aviva fix his suit before he spirled out of control again.

He wanted his brother.

"Chris- grrr!"

It had been hours since the search started, the hot afternoon sun burning down on the team as they made their way through the forest.

"Argh, we've been looking for hours, and I can't take it anymore!" Jimmy suddenly let out, sounding as though he was on the verge of tears. "My legs hurt, and I'm hungry. Heck! We didn't even have breakfast," he whined continually, his legs shaking and his stomach grumbling to confirm his words.

At that, everyone stopped and turned to look at him. Though, just as Chris was about to respond, Aviva beat him to it.

"I hate to admit it, but I can't go on either," her voice cracked from tiredness.

"Jimmy's right," Koki huffed, exhaustion painting her face. "We can't go on like this, we have to go back to the Tortuga to recharge and think of a new plan." She straightened up from sudden remembrance, her visage shifting from unenergetic to hard. "And may I remind you that there's still a big hole in the garage hatch that needs fixing?! Who knows what kind of creature could sneak in from there?" She waved her hands frantically, irritation clear in her voice.

Chris just stood there, his eyes darting from from one person to another, feeling empathy for his teammates. Part of him wanted to return to the ship, too - after all, he was fairly tired himself. But another part refused radically to stop looking for his missing brother.

"Chris?" Aviva called when he took too long to reply, her calm voice snapping him out of his thoughts.

He let out a long sigh before finally saying, "It's alright, you guys can go back without me." His smile was bittersweet.

"Are you sure?" Koki raised an eyebrow, not liking the idea of leaving him all by himself.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll keep looking in the meantime, and you can rejoin me later," he tried to sound as persuasive as he could, the girls exchanging uncertain looks when a loud grumble almost made them jump.

They quickly turned around to find Jimmy rubbing his stomach with a sheepish grin. "Heh, sorry," he said with a small, nervous voice.

The girls couldn't help but cackle a little.

"Welp, we better head back before Jimmy's stomach yells at us again," Koki resolved humorously.

Aviva laughed softly before turning to Chris, "We'll be back before you know it, CK," she smiled warmly, the green Kratt instinctively returning the smile.

And just like that, they all marched away and disappeared behind the trees, leaving Chris standing in the middle of the forest. Alone.

He put his hands on his waist and let out a frustrated sigh. "Where are you, bro?" He looked up at the sky as if waiting for a hint to drop from there.

He had no clue for how long he'd been standing in that same spot, too trapped in his thoughts to keep track of time, when suddenly-

SNAP.

"Huh?" Chris swiftly span around in search of the source of the sound, but calmed down when he assumed it must've been just a harmless wild animal.

CRACK.

Wrong. There it was again. This time it sounded closer.

Chris gasped quietly, his shoulders were tense, his eyes wide and observant, dancing around in all directions, as he walked around himself in a defensive pose.

"Who's there?!" he snapped when the cracking noise returned, this time accompanied by the rustle of some nearby bushes. It got louder and louder, until...it stopped.

"Hm?" Chris let down his guard a little when silence lasted for a while now.

Cautiously, he stepped closer to the bush he thought he'd heard the sound come from, crouching before looking behind it...

Nothing.

He blinked for a few seconds, before scoffing in amusement as he slowly stood up and-

GRAW!

Not knowing what hit him, Chris found himself flat on the ground after being pounced on by a creature just about his size, although he was in too much of a daze to realize it at the moment. Confusion was quickly followed by pain, sharp pain in his right arm, right beneath his shoulder. His eyes were closed shut through it all, but he could sense the heavy breathing of a potentially ferocious animal right above him. He tried to swallow, but couldn't. He gasped for air, the weight of the animal pushing down on him with its claws suffocating him. He was pretty sure he had tears forming in his eyes, seeping through the corners and slowly rolling down the sides of his head.

He racked his brain for what creature could've possibly pounced on him. A wild cat? Maybe a wolf?

A sharp, pained cry escaped his chest.

Darn those claws.

They were sinking through his jacket and into his skin, like five well sharpened knives.

Finally, he mentally smacked himself to open his eyes and find out who his attacker was. Slowly, he cracked his eyelids open, his pupils shrinking at the sunlight illuminating the blurry, blue figure right on top of him, but as his vision became clearer, his face dropped and pallid, his glassy eyes widening from shock and disbelief.

"Martin-..." it barely came out, almost like a cough rather than a word.

"Grrr!" was all he responded with.

Indeed, Martin had mercilessly tackled his own brother, growling at his horrified, pale face as drool ran down from the corners of his mouth and only missed Chris' face by mere inches; he looked about ready to rip off his face any moment. His left claw dug deep into his brother's arm, so deep that blood was practically flowing through his fingers. It was unimaginably painful, but Chris was too focused on his brother's inhuman, animal-like shrinked pupils, looking right through his soul to even care about the burning sensation in his arm. He was busy analyzing his features; the dark circles encompassing his eyes, his sharp canines sticking out of his mouth, his long, pointy ears and his furry chest... He'd recognize that suit anywhere.

Out of all Creature Power Suit malfunctions, he never, ever, in the whole creature world, would've guessed his brother went tazzy.

Carefully, he shifted his free arm and reached a gentle hand to his brother's face, the Kratt in the tazzy suit seeming completely unaffected by the gesture.

"It's okay," Chris managed with a weak yet soothing voice. "You'll be okay~" his voice trailed off as his hand slid down his brother's cheek before dropping on his chest; he was losing consciousness.

However, the movement ended up having an effect on the blue Kratt, knocking him out of his tazzy trance, his pupils starting to widen back to their normal shape, his brows slowly furrowing from perplexity.

Once he was fully himself again, the first thing his eyes caught was his brother lying out cold on the ground right beneath him, his head flopped to the side in a nearly lifeless manner.

"Chris?!" he jerked away from his brother's body, landing on his tail and looking absolutely petrified.

His eyes twitched toward his arm, his green sleeve soaked with fresh blood, following a trail of red, leading to his...hand.

He stared at his hand, panic building up inside him, eyes widening as he discovered blood all over, slowly running down his fingers, from the tip of his slicing nails to the red pool covering his entire palm.

Huff. Huff.

His breathing intensified, still staring at his now trembling hand with watery eyes, realization hitting him like a truck.

He hurt him. His little brother. The one he's always supposed to protect.

He clenched his teeth as a dark thought crept to his mind.

What if he was... No!

He refused to check, too afraid to find out, too scared he might hurt him even more.

He needed to get away from him, to stay away from him, to keep him safe from himself.

So without another thought, he took off on all fours in the opposite direction of where Chris was lying, unable to see clearly with the new set of tears streaming down his face, staining the ground behind him, along with the blood he still had in his claw.

Looking out on a stream of water, lit up by the evening sun, Martin was curled into a ball and sobbing uncontrollably, the memory of his brother lying bleeding on the floor haunting him like a ghost.

It's okay.

You'll be okay.

His soft voice echoed in his mind.

"C-Chris..." he let out with a shaky voice, his chest rattling from all the crying.

He then lifted his head to look at his bloody claw; the blood was now dry and darkened by the dirt, the sight making him quickly shift from tormented to furious as he slammed his hand against the water, the blood getting washed off in the process.

He breathed heavily, tear marks staining his face.

How could he do this to him? His own brother.

But he hadn't had enough, delivering a strong fist into the closest tree, desperately in need of a way to liberate his anger.

Little did he know, that one punch was going to answer all of his questions.

He heard something bump into the trunk of the tree, sounding awfully like metal. And, sure enough, when he looked down, his eyes widened at the sight of... Zachbots?!

He remembered them very well, those very same miniscule Zachbots that caused him and his brother serious Creature Power Suit malfunctions in the past. It all came back to him; the time his brother almost got eaten by an elephant as an acorn, and later on nearly becoming a fishy snack for a bunch of hungry voltures, without forgetting about their near-drowning experience and almost getting devoured by baby crocodiles. And finally, he remembered the one behind all of it: Zach.

He gritted his teeth so hard, shock turning into immeasurable rage.

He was the one responsible for his misery. He was the reason his brother was injured in the first place.

With the earge to quench his thirst for revenge, he trapped the oblivious Disrupt-o-bots in his hands, crushing them without pity.

He now had only one goal in mind.

Zach. Must. Pay.

Pain.

That was all he felt at the moment, surrounded by complete darkness.

But then, he started hearing indistinct voices, slowly growing clearer and more familiar by the second.

"I think he's waking up," he heard Aviva gasp softly, a noticeable hint of relief in her voice.

"Finally," he then heard Koki sigh heavily.

Realizing he had been unconscious, Chris brought himself to open his eyes, squinting at the light in the room with a grunt. He instantly recognized the two figures hanging above his face.

"Chris, can you hear me?" Aviva leaned in, looking down at him with worried eyes.

Chris tried to move but hissed at the stinging pain in his right arm, immediately regretting it.

"Hey, don't move," Koki cautioned with a firm tone.

Feeling weak, he scanned the chamber in order to place where he was: his and Martin's room.

He was lying in his own bed, back in the safety of the Tortuga.

"W-What happened?" he asked, still in a bit of a daze.

"When we came back from the Tortuga, we found you lying unconscious and badly hurt," Aviva explained.

"Your arm took a beating! Luckily, there aren't any internal injuries, but still," Koki persued, motioning to his right arm as she bit her lower lip, which he found was bandaged up from the corner of his eye.

"We were worried sick! What happened out there?!" Aviva cried.

"What kind of wild animal did that to you?" Koki asked in turn, the question triggering something in him.

...

Martin.

The memory of his brother viciously snarling at his face and clawing at his arm flashed before his eyes.

"...Chris?" Aviva's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Is something wrong?" she asked when she noticed the perturbed expression on his face.

"It was Martin," he muttered under his breath, staring into the void.

"WHAT?!" both girls cried out simultaneously.

"It was Martin, in his Tasmanian devil suit," he looked at them seriously, their eyes widening at his words. "He pounced on me not long before you guys left, and his eyes..." He looked down at the hand he caressed his face with. "He wasn't himself," his voice deepened, taking an obscure aspect.

"Hold up, back it up..." Koki suddenly snapped, waving her hands. "You mean to tell us that Martin did that to you?!"

"And that he went tazzy?!" Aviva added in turn, sounding a lot more shocked. "But-... How's that even possible?!" her voice cracked. "We're not even in Tasmania, so there's no way he could've activated on his own," she held her head in disbelief, pacing around the room as though in search of an answer. "Something just isn't right in this story."

"What kind of Creature Power Suit malfunction is this?" Koki glanced at Chris' arm. "Did you see the damage he made?"

"Look, I don't know how this happened, I don't know how Martin went tazzy, but all I know is that he's out there and he needs us," Chris said with all of his chest, carefully getting into a sitting position. He paused and took a deep breath. "He needs me."

They all remained silent for a moment, exchanging worried looks.

"But if we were gonna help him, we gotta figure out how the malfunction occurred in the first place," Aviva put a hand under her chin.

"This all started this morning, right after we all woke up," Chris recapped.

"Which means something must've triggered the activation at night," Aviva assumed. "But what?"

As in sudden remembrance, Koki gasped, "I think I might have a way for us to find out," she let out excitedly, catching Chris and Aviva's attention.

And before they knew it, the whole team was gathered up in the control room, Koki typing away something on the big screen. Chris was sitting on the center table, a slightly shaky Jimmy right beside him, a bag of ships on his lap to help him cope with the stress.

"So what's this about, Koki?" Aviva asked, watching as her friend pushed her chair away from the screen with a confident smile.

"You'll see."

On the big screen, appeared a video footage of the control room at night.

"See, I've installed security cameras all over the Tortuga in case someone, like you know who, sneaks in and tries to steal one of our inventions," she clarified, earning an astounded "ah" from Aviva.

"Good thinking, Koki!" she complimented.

"Thanks," Koki smiled vigorously.

"But how's this gonna help?" Jimmy questioned with an anxious tone, stuffing his mouth with a handful of ships.

"Well, like Aviva said, something must've triggered the activation of Martin's suit, and this is how we'll figure out what," Koki explained.

"Or who," Chris said, everyone giving him concerned looks.

With that, Koki started switching from one camera to another, each showing the same chamber from different angles.

"Wait, stop!" Koki nearly jumped at Aviva's voice. "What's that?" She pointed at something moving on the screen.

Koki paused and rewound the clip. "Hmm, zooming in."

This time, they all saw it clearly; the room filled with gasps.

"Is that what I think it is?" Aviva asked, flabbergasted.

"Zach's Disrupt-o-bots," Chris said with an uncharacteristically hateful tone.

"Looks like they all sneaked in from the vents," Koki remarked, pointing at the robots flying in from the mentioned construction.

"And flew all the way to the bros' room," Aviva continued, the screen shifting to a different camera footage of the hallway. "Zach must've found a way to get Martin's suit to activate T-devil powers. The only problem is, there's no way he could've triggered a past activation like he did last time he used those Zachbots on the suits, since Martin never activated Tasmanian devil powers to begin with. And besides, I corrected all of the ghost activations in both suits, so a malfunction like this shouldn't even be possible!" she informed very precisely, pacing up and down the room as she did so. "Unless..." she came to a halt right in the middle, between Koki and the guys. "He managed to COPY Chris' past activation and transfered it to Martin's suit!" she involuntarily raised her voice, before face palming herself a bit too hard. "Gah, how come I haven't anticipated this?!" she scolded herself, rubbing her nose bridge from self-disappointment.

"Hey, you couldn't have known Zach would plot something like this," Koki comforted, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Chris, on the other hand, was too busy thinking about what Zach did to his brother, finding himself clenching his good hand into a fist of fury.

"Zach went too far this time," he forced out through gritted teeth, not noticing Aviva approaching him slowly.

"I know," she grasped his shoulder, looking deep into his eyes. "We'll deal with him later, but right now we got a Kratt to find and help out," her brows furrowed, earning a heavy sigh from the Kratt in green.

"You're right," he responded with a slightly more relaxed tone.

"And now that we know exactly what kind of malfunction we're dealing with, you should be able to fix it, right?" Koki tilted her head.

Aviva looked down pensively. "Yeah, but..." her voice trailed off, her eyes slowly twitching toward Chris' bandaged arm. "I'm not going anywhere near him, I mean did you see what he did?" she paused as she realized how rude that sounded, turning to find Chris rubbing his arm with an offended look. "Sorry," she said desolatedly, slightly embarrassed.

"I get it," he answered with an understanding tone. "I wouldn't wish this for anyone."

"That looks painful," Jimmy stammered, swallowing hard.

"So, how are you supposed to deactivate him without touching him?" Koki asked with crossed arms.

At that, it was as though a light bulb lit up above the inventor's head. "I think I have an idea!" She rushed to her invention station and started going through her drawers. "Where is it, where is it..." she mumbled to herself, before finally finding what she was looking for. "Ah hah!" she let out victoriously, waving a small item in the air.

"What's that?" Chris raised an eyebrow.

"This is the solution to all our problems," she spoke highly of the object, placing it on the table for everyone to see.

"A...Fly-Cam?" Jimmy leaned in to get a better look.

"Uhh, how's that gonna help?" Chris asked, a bit of concern in his voice.

"First of all, this isn't just any regular Fly-Cam," she replied defensively. "This is the same invention I used to remove Zach's Disrupt-o-bots from the Tortuga's system when he locked us up in here," she said, referring to the Creature Power Challenge incident.

A smile slowly crept across Chris' face as he started to catch up on her plan.

"I specifically designed it to obey all my commands, so if I modify it a little, I should just be able to use it to get to Martin's suit and deactivate him!"

"Brilliant!" Chris let out in admiration.

"Whew, well as long as none of us have to get near him, I'm good," Jimmy sighed in relief, making Koki roll her eyes at him.

"And now that that's settled, all that's left now is to find him," she reminded, the smile on Chris' face fading away.

"Right," he sighed.

"Thankfully, I have the solution to that too," Aviva said. "I just remembered that I installed a GPS tracker in each of your suits in case one of you guys get lost, so Koki should have no problem tracking Martin down," she looked at the mechanic who nodded.

"I'll get right to it," she hopped on her chair and cracked her fingers before getting to work.

"And while she's doing that, I'll get this thing ready for the mission." Aviva grabbed the Fly-Cam as she headed to her station.

"And while she's doing that, I'm gonna get you something to eat because you haven't had anything all day!" Jimmy insisted, Chris chuckling at his caring nature.

"Thanks, JZ," he smiled thankfully.

Jimmy smiled in return before heading to the fridge.

And just like that, Chris was left with his own thoughts, looking up through the roof to find the twilight sky shifting into night.

"Just hang on, bro. We're coming."

In the dark of the night, a furry form moved swiftly through the trees, blending in with the shadows, all creatures jumping out of his path and hiding away; the sight of him made even the most ferocious animals hide in fear. He jumped from one rock to another and climbed up a rocky hill, from there he had a perfect view of the forest.

The moon shone on his face, his tazzy blue eyes glimmering from its light, as he looked around and sniffed hard; his strong sense of smell was all he needed to detect his enemy.

When he finally picked up something, he growled as an image formed in his head.

Zach.

He was close, very close.

Putting his night vision to use, he scanned the area for any sign of him.

Trees. Trees. More trees...

Wait.

In the distance, his eyes landed on what seemed to be a plane squeezed in between trees, the black color rendering it harder to spot.

By instinct, he let out a loud and sharp growl, gradually turning into a roar, piercing through the night.

"Heheh, I sure taught those Wild Ratts a lesson," Zach snickered with a venomous smile.

He was still in his plane, sitting in the pilot chair and enjoying a nice cup of coffee.

"And now, I should just call back my Disrupt-o-bots before heading back home."

He placed the cup on a side table, then reached out to his screen.

"Hmm, that's weird," he raised an eyebrow. "The Disrupt-o-bots aren't responding," he thought about it for a moment. "Meh, I'll just replace them with new ones," he brushed off as he grabbed his drink.

Suddenly, he heard it.

GRAH!

"AH! What was that?!" he yelped, almost dropping the cup.

Two Zachbots were on each side of the chair, turning their heads to beep at him as a response.

With a frown, he slowly walked over to the window and took a look outside, nothing but trees in the dark.

"Hmm, probably just some wolf thingy or something," he assumed with a shrug, before turning around and sipping more coffee.

And then, it came back. It was the exact same sound from before, only louder and closer.

Zach was so startled, he ended up spitting his drink and, this time, dropping the cup on the floor as it shattered to pieces, its shards scattering all over the place.

With a screech, he ran over and hid behind his chair, popping out his trembling head.

"Z-Zachbots, go out there and find out where that sound came from!" he ordered, stuttering exaggeratedly.

Both robots beeped twice before exiting the pilot room, leaving Zach all by himself. Unprotected.

He remained in the same spot, too frightened to come out, patiently waiting for his Zachbots to return.

Not a minute had past, when he heard another growl, this one a little different. Next, he heard the sound of metal getting shredded, followed by utter silence.

Zach's eyes widened in fear. "Z-Zachbots?" he gulped, slowly coming out of his hiding spot.

...

Scratch.

He instantly covered his ears at the sound of nails scratching against the walls from the indoors of his plane, the sound of metal getting dragged on the floor creating a torturous noise.

Wait.

Inside his plane?!

Zach felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest. The whole experience felt like a scene from a horror movie.

"Something's out there, and it's coming to get me!" he tried his best not to scream.

With shaky legs, he hurried to the controls and started pressing various buttons, the door of the pilot room closing shut.

"Whew, that'll do it," he wiped off the sweat on his forehead, thinking he was now safe for sure.

But he was wrong, dead wrong.Just as he sank in his chair, Zach screamed like a little girl when he heard a loud and aggressive BANG BANG on his door, followed by momentary silence.

He couldn't take his eyes off of that door, not even for one second, looking paler than he already is.

But then, he realized something. "Wait a sec, nothing can get through that door. It's practically unbreakable! So I should be safe in here," he crossed his arms with a confident expression.

Contradicting his words, the door suddenly slammed open, some would say it exploded, and flew all the way across the chamber and would've KILLED Zach if he hadn't jumped out of the way just in time, destroying his chair along with the side table and smashing the windshield before landing outside with a THUD.

Zach was now on his head and knees, slowly peeking through his crossed arms to find a HUGE hole in the middle of his windshield, the rest of it was gravely cracked up, shreds of glass sprinkling the ground, almost artistically. He could also see broken parts of what was once his chair, which had landed in different places, realizing how lucky he was that none of them hit him.

But not even his luck could save him from what was coming next.

From the entrance, his Zachbots got thrown in, landing just a few inches in front of his face. But when he looked up, his eyes widened in horror when he found they were torned, with broken arms, wires sticking out of newly formed holes and, most terrifyingly, claw marks. Big, deep claw marks.

Filled with dread, his eyes went up toward the entrance. The hallway was pitch black, but he was able to see two wide, blue eyes glowing in the dark.

"GRRR!"

It didn't take long for the crew to get ready. Right after Aviva finished her part, Koki had Martin tracked down on her iPad, and Jimmy was still mentally preparing himself since he had to drive the Creetera, being chosen as the most adequate vehicle for the mission.

"Looks like we're all set," Koki said with her device in hand, hopping in and sitting right next to Jimmy who was already behind the wheel. "I've got Martin's location right here, and it's not too far so we should get there very soon."

"I'm a little scared, but more ready than ever," the ginger guy laughed nervously, trying his very best to hide his stress, his fingers playing around the wheel.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, JZ. It'll turn out fine."

He looked up to find Koki smiling reassuringly, a bit of his anxiety melting away as he smiled timidly.

Just then, they heard someone jump in from the back, followed by a thud. They turned to find Aviva placing her MIK in the corner before sitting next to it.

"What?" she asked when she noticed the funny looks she was getting. "I'm not leaving without my Mobile Invention Kit! We'll need it more than you think," she panted, receiving a chuckle from Koki and an amused smile from Jimmy.

"I'm sure we will," Koki finally said with a smug.

"Hey, don't forget about me."

Everyone's attention turned to the garage entrance, where they saw Chris walking in with a serious face.

"Chris, you sure you wanna come?" Aviva asked with a worried tone. "You're not exactly in the shape for this, plus you won't be able to activate your suit with that injury," she pointed out, hoping dearly she wasn't offending him.

Chris looked straight in her eyes. "This is my brother we're talking about, of course I'm coming," he started with a deep, determined voice. "And I don't need creature powers to save him!" He paused and grasped his shoulder. "Even if it means getting another one of these, I'm ready to do anything to get him back."

With a heavy sigh, Aviva reluctantly agreed. "Then hopp in." With a half-smile, she extended a hand, the green Kratt gladly taking it as she helped him into the back of the vehicle.

As the recently fixed garage hatch opened, Jimmy started the engines and hit the mushroom before they took off into the night with the headlights on.

"Okay, Jimmy, just follow this path right here," Koki pointed with her index, not taking her eyes off of her screen.

"You got it!" Jimmy said as he accelerated.In the back, Aviva was tinkering with the tool that was meant to help save Martin.

"So, you're gonna use that to infiltrate Martin's suit?" Chris asked, sitting on the opposite side while facing her.

"Mhm," she nodded her head. "All the necessary modifications are done, and I'll be controlling it with my MIK, that's the mane reason I brought it," she patted on the mentioned object, purposely raising her voice at the last part for the people in the front.

"I sure hope it works," Chris said with a hopeful voice.

"It will, I promise," Aviva assured.

Even in the dark, Chris could still sense her positive expression, making him feel better.

"Uhh, guys?" they suddenly heard Koki call out, feeling the Creetera coming to a stop. "Look where we ended up."

Chris and Aviva's jaws dropped at the sight of...Zach's plane.

"Zach," Chris said the name like it was poisonous.

"Koki, are you sure this is the right place?" Jimmy asked with a shaky voice.

"Sure I'm sure! That's what the GPS says," she pointed at her screen.

"I got a bad feeling about this," Aviva said skeptically.

"You think Zach kidnapped him?" Koki asked.

BANG. BANG.

"Woah! What was that?!" Jimmy screeched.

But before anyone could say anything, something came bursting through the head of the plane, glass scattering all over. Everyone gasped in horror, before quickly hopping off, at the exception of Jimmy who practically had his face buried in his cap and shaking badly. They rushed to the front of the plane and found a wrecked metal door laying on the ground.

"Something tells me Zach's in trouble," Chris assumed, and as though to add up to his words, a loud, familiar scream came from the inside.

"Let's get in, quick!" Aviva earged, her MIK already on her back as she used her robot arms to lift Koki and Chris by the waists before lifting herself off of the ground and through the human-sized hole in the windshield.

As soon as they stepped in, they gasped as their eyes landed on-

"MARTIN!" they all cried out.

There he was, on all fours and slowly approaching a mortified Zach crawling backwards, like a hungry predator, he was snarling at him, looking like he was about to pounce on him and end him right then and there.

Zach looked scared to death. "N-No, stay back!" he wailed, before he noticed the trio behind him. "Wild Ratts!" he gasped. "P-Please, save me!"

When his face was turned, that was when Martin jumped.

"GRAH!"

Zach screamed and would've been at the mercy of his jaw, if it weren't for Chris' quick thinking.

Swap.

With a piece from that broken chair that resembled a baseball bat, he hit Martin square in the jaw, knocking him several feet away before hissing from the pain in his arm.

"Get out of here, Zach!" Chris yelled, holding up his newly acquired weapon like a dagger.

He didn't have to ask him again.

With slippery feet, Zach half-crawled, half-walked toward the doorway, but just as he was about to make his escape, Martin swiftly got in his way, forbidding him from leaving the room.

"AH! Don't hurt me!" Zach jumped back a little, hiding his face with trembling arms.

Martin growled at him threateningly, blood leaking from the side of his mouth. Despite the situation, Chris couldn't help but feel guilty for being the cause of that.

Regardless, what needed to be done needed to be done.

On the other side of the room, near the controls, the girls stood watching the whole scene in horror.

"Oh, no! It's worse than I thought!" Aviva cried. "I have to act fast before it's too late."

"Then you better get to work," Koki said, picking up a weapon of her own. "I'll give Chris a hand."

With a nod, Aviva hurried herself to a safe corner, sucking in her body with her MIK on her lap.

"MARTIN, NO!" Chris cried out, too far to save Zach this time.

Martin was ready to pounce when-

SMACK.

He roared in pain as something got thrown at his head, turning furiously to find Koki looking at him courageously.

"Snap out of it, Martin! This isn't you!" she tried to reach to him, but to no avail.

Instead, Martin changed his target, starting to approach her and completely forgetting about Zach who had already sneaked to the opposite direction, where Aviva was.

Without realizing it, he hid in the same corner she was in, turning to find a very stern face looking straight at him.

"AH! What are you doing here?!" he yapped as though she owed him an explination.

"Uhh, trying to fix the mess that you caused," she spat, before turning to her MIK. "And we're technically rescuing you, too, so you're welcome," she added without even looking at him, too busy getting the Fly-Cam ready.

As much as he hated to admit it, Zach would've been a victim of his own tampering if it weren't for the crew's help.

He looked away awkwardly, when Aviva asked, "What did you do last night? I know you copied Chris' past activation, but did you change something in it?"

"Maybe I- uhh, made a little modification before transfering it to Martin's suit," he lowered his voice, rubbing the back of his head as he avoided eye contact.

"Ugh, that's what I was afraid of!" Aviva face palmed herself. "This is why you shouldn't mess with technology that you don't understand," she scolded, Zach crossing his arms in annoyance.

"I just wanted to teach you Wild Ratts a lesson," he whined, receiving a disturbed look from the inventor.

"And you thought turning one of the bros into a blood thirsty T-devil was a good idea?!"

"Yeah, maybe it wasn't the best idea," he finally admitted with a grumpy tone.

"This explains Martin's behaviour," Aviva then muttered to herself. "I only have one chance to deactivate him, so I gotta wait for the right moment," she said with her Fly-Cam in hand.

Koki gasped, her back propped up against the wall as Martin got closer and closer...

"HEY!" Chris threw his own weapon at his brother which truly aggravated the beast inside him, his attention getting turned from Koki as he gave him a death glare.

Chris' eyes widened as he realized what he had gotten himself into.

Martin turned to face him, before charging at him.

"GRAW!"

Terrified, Chris' feet shifted backwards and he ended up tripping over one of the annialated Zachbots, falling flat on his back. His eyes twitched toward something under his feet, an astuce popping in his mind. He quickly wripped off a Zachbot arm and held it above his face at the very last second before his brother launched his teeth at him, only to end up munching and champing on the piece of metal instead.

But the defense didn't last very long, for Martin's instincts pushed him to use T-devil teeth, a large jaw forming on his face with teeth that helped him CRUNCH the metalic arm into half. Chris' face would've been next if he hadn't shifted it in time, only missing his brother's demonical jaw by an inch. Then, Chris lifted his feet and kicked his devil of a brother in the gut, before making his escape as he panically crawled to the nearest wall, hearing Martin panting behind him. The pain in his arm didn't help much. Just as he turned to lean against the wall, he was already face to face with his out-of-control sibling, almost scaring him to death.

"Grrr..."

Chris' heart skipped a beat. He felt the whole world around him quieting down, only hearing his brother huffing through his nose, his melodical heavy breathing, his face slowly getting closer to his. Swallowing became nearly impossible. His eyes were fixated on his; sharp, deep, blue pupils, ones he remembered all too well.

As though a voice behind his head told him to, Chris prudently reached his left hand to his brother's face, part of him genuinely scared that he might bite it off, and gently caressed his cheek.

"It's okay."

Martin's huffing stopped, his breathing calmed down, his brows furrowed, and his pupils returned to their original state.

"You'll be okay."

He stared into his brother's glassy eyes for the longest time. "...Chris?"

Hearing his own name coming from his mouth, Chris gave a quivering gasp. 

Once Aviva noticed, she liberated the Fly-Cam as she used her MIK to control it, flying it all the way to Martin's suit before breaking in through the activation button.

"I'm in!" she exclaimed. "Now if I could just get to the system and..." her voice trailed off, her tongue now sticking out of her mouth showing how focused she was.

Not even half a minute had passed, when a blast of blue encompassed the blue Kratt's form, almost blinding his brother, before he collapsed in his arms; the prolonged duration being trapped in that suit had drained him completely.

Chris looked down at his brother's closed eyes; if it weren't for the trail of blood running down from his mouth, he would've looked peaceful.

Holding him closer, Chris let out a long, heavy sigh of relief.

Finally.

Koki slid down the wall she was leaning on, before sitting on the floor with a "whew!"

"It worked," Aviva sighed in turn.

At that moment, her creature pod started to ring. "Jimmy?" she answered.

On the screen, was a slightly shaken Jimmy, still hiding in the Creetera.

"A-Are you guys okay? What happened?" he stuttered.

"Yeah," Aviva smiled, looking over at an overwhelmingly relieved Chris in the other side of the room. "Everything's fine, now."

"Great, now I have to fix all the damage he made in my plane!" Zach let out, making her roll her eyes.

"Argh," he twirled his aching head, slowly opening his eyes as he heard soft gasps all around him.

"Martin?" he heard his brother's soft, hopeful voice.

The blurry shapes above him became clearer, now being able to see worried faces circling him, though his eyes immediately went toward his brother.

"Chris?" his voice was feeble, feeling incredibly tired.

He hadn't realized it yet, but he was lying in his own bed.

With a grunt, he got into a sitting position, his back propped up against his pillow.

"Oh, my head," he complained, putting a hand to his forehead. He also felt something soft covering the corner of his lip; a small pad.

"What happened?" He couldn't help but notice the nervous looks on everyone's face. "Uh, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

But before anyone could answer, he gasped as his eyes landed on his brother's bandaged arm; the memory was vague, there were a few holes then and there, but the one where he tackled his brother remained intact.

"Chris!" he cried. "Y-Your arm," he pointed with a shaky finger, the green Kratt covering up his arm as he saw how quickly his brother's face turned pale.

"I...did that to you, didn't I?" his voice was filled with remorse.

Chris bit his lower lip. "Look," he placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It wasn't your fault."

At that, Martin instantly shifted away from the touch, looking away with sad eyes.

"He's right," Aviva backed him up. "It was all Zach's doing, he's the reason you went tazzy in the first place! But we dealt with him."

"More like saved him," Koki chuckled, Martin looking up at her with quizzing eyes. "Let's just say you weren't so happy when you figured out he was behind all this."

"I wasn't there when it happened," Jimmy said, slightly embarrassed. "But from what I heard, you were pretty scary," he said as though he himself had experienced his wrath.

Koki gave him a hard nudge which made him realize it wasn't the best thing to say at the moment.

Martin's eyes widened.

He did what?!

"But it's all over, now," Koki tried to alleviate the situation.

"And don't worry about your suit, I'll have it checked up in no time," Aviva said, giving him a thumb up.

Martin looked down to find that he was no longer wearing his suit, his sweater replaced with a comfy blue shirt.

But despite everything, he still felt awfully guilty for hurting his brother badly.

"Chris..." He mustered the courage to look into his eyes. "I'm really, really sorry-"

"Wha- no..."

"I-I never meant to hurt you-"

"Bro, it's okay." Chris gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I forgive you."

His words somehow made him feel better, as though a weight had been lifted off of his chest.

He leaned in and gave him a long, meaningful hug.

"You're okay," Chris whispered in his ear. "Everything's okay."

Notes:

The art used for this fic was made by: GreenxLady

#wild kratts #kratt brothers #chris kratt #martin kratt #aviva corcovado #koki #jimmy z #zach varmitech #zachbots #wk fanfic #hurt/comfort #bro fluff #angst #fluff #blood #fangirl power!

[sonicstorybook]

The King's Champion

A SatBK AU where Shadow is the one sent to Camelot and Sonic is the doppelgänger- the one and only King Arthur!

Part: 4/4

Summary: Arthur the Hedgehog pulled the legendary sword Caliburn from the stone, and he became King Arthur, the ruler of Camelot. Shadow the Hedgehog appears in a flash of magic in the middle of his banquet hall, and he becomes Arthur’s problem. As the sun rises over the kingdom, a pre-dawn conversation between both hedgehogs also helps them reach... well, not quite a mutual understanding, but progress is progress!

(Shadow doesn’t know where he is, what’s going on, or why he’s there- but it doesn’t matter. He’s Shadow the Hedgehog, the world’s ultimate life form, and he’s going to play this weird game by his rules.)

Contains: Pre-relationship/platonic Arthadow (Arthur the Hedgehog x Shadow the Hedgehog)! Lamorak (Jet the Hawk) and Percival (Blaze the Cat) are siblings! Gawain (Knuckles the Echidna) and Gareth (Mighty the Armadillo) are siblings! Gawain and Gareth are Yvain’s (Ray the Flying Squirrel) cousins! Kay (Scourge the Hedgehog) is Arthur’s adopted brother!

Rating: G

Word count: 2,252

Note: The close of the first chapter of Shadow’s stay in Camelot! C: Will there be more? Yes, because I have no self-control. C,:

Reminder of characters: Sir Kay is Scourge the Hedgehog! Sir Gareth is Mighty the Armadillo!  Sir Yvain is Ray the (Flying?) Squirrel! Percy is Percival the Squire, aka Blaze the Cat! 

All chatter ends and the courtyard is deathly quiet as everyone collectively holds their breath, certain they must have misheard Shadow just now… but the black hedgehog doubles down.

“You heard me,” Shadow repeats, turning to face Gawain with a challenging arch of his brow, “Lancelot can keep his Queen- I’ll take the King.”

“What!?“ Half a dozen voices cry out at once. Arthur barely manages to contain his own surprise, whipping his head to look at Shadow so quickly he almost flings the circlet off his head. 

Shadow does not flinch under the heavy weight of the stares, cool and determined with a haughty hand on his hip.

“Shadow,” Arthur wishes he had a moment with Shadow alone to explain what the black hedgehog was getting himself into, tenting his hands in front of his face thoughtfully, “Once again, I am asking you to reconsider this request. That is no light commitment or task. Are you sure this is what you truly want?”

“I’m going to prove that I am superior to this Lancelot in every possible way,” Although Shadow says Lancelot’s name, the challenging glare he levels in Arthur’s direction indicates that Camelot’s king is included as well, “By the end of it, all of you will be comparing Lancelot to me.”

“You are completely mad if you think the king will accept such outlandish demands!” Gawain is so worked up he throws his hand out, hitting the unfortunate Sir Yvain in the chest with his barbed knuckles. The yellow squirrel is knocked off his feet and into Sir Gareth behind him, who barely manages to keep them both upright, “Who are you?! What are your designs on our king?! Are you a spy or assassin?!”

“I am Shadow the Hedgehog, the world’s ultimate life form,” Shadow is arrogantly self-assured as he literally turns his nose up at Gawain, “Don’t flatter yourself. I don’t care about you or this kingdom. And if I wanted your King dead, there’s nothing you could do to stop me!”

“You churl-!”

It’s very clear that Shadow and Gawain are about to start slinging hotheaded boasts, vicious insults, and blows again. But before Arthur can try to restore order, aid comes from an unexpected source.

“Hah! You are a saucy one!” Sir Lamorak’s squawk of laughter shatters the tension like ice, pushing past Gawain to stand directly in front of Shadow. 

“Brother!” A small purple cat darts out from the crowd, grabbing onto the hawk’s hand and giving him a stern shake, “Do not be foolish!”

“I know what I’m doing, squire,” Lamorak hisses at her, low enough only those nearby can hear him, shaking himself free and pushing the child behind him, “Watch and learn, Percy!”

‘Percy’ gives a loud, annoyed groan as she stomps her foot irritably, sulkily crossing her arms and watching her brother with an incredibly unimpressed expression. Who was this girl, again? Lamorak had asked if he could bring his sister in as his squire, but that had been only a few days ago and she wouldn’t have been able to make the journey so quickly, could she? She also seemed a little too young to be a squire… 

Lamorak flips his visor up with one hand as he looks down on Shadow with a condescending grin, “Do you have any idea what you are asking for? Do you really think an untried knave without any weapon or armor of his own has a chance?”

Shadow is coolly defiant, eyes boring into Lamorak ferociously, “I don’t need anything but my bare hands to beat you.“

Lamorak’s grin falls immediately, and his hand reaches to the scabbards where his twin swords are sheathed on his back-

“Enough!” Arthur steps in before Shadow manages to make more enemies, putting himself between his combative guest and his strongest knights, “Shadow is new to the realm and not familiar with its customs, and yet you treat him with great hostility! Where is your courtesy? Your patience? This is a most inhospitable way to treat my personal guest!”

Arthur hates having to use his authority like this, he really does, but Shadow is going to wind up as unpopular as Kay at this rate. 

The stunned silence lasts only a moment. 

“Your guest!” Gawain sputters indignantly, gesturing at Shadow like he doesn’t know what else to say, “Your guest!!”

“My lord,” Gareth puts his hand on Gawain’s shoulder, choosing his words carefully, “It is most unusual to have someone enter the kingdom with the visage of one of the round table’s most illustrious and well-regarded knights-”

Kay blows a dismissive raspberry, smiling when the armadillo gives him an annoyed side eye. Gawain leans over his brother’s shoulder to give the green hedgehog a full on glare.

“And it would be imprudent to rush into something like this without considering all potential factors and viewpoints,” Gareth finishes primly, bowing his head respectfully as he meets Shadow’s eyes, “While still giving Sir Shadow the same opportunities we would extend to every other child of Camelot.”

“You cannot be serious!” Gawain turns to his brother incredulously, “He disguised himself as Lancelot!”

“I have no need to disguise myself as anyone!” Shadow’s eyes narrow as he takes a step toward Gawain.

“Enough, enough!” Arthur massages his forehead as he glances up at the sky, knowing that this argument will cost him the rest of the morning. He will be struggling to meet all his daily obligations at this rate, and will likely be working late into the night... “I will hear your arguments in the great hall at the round table- after we break our fast.”

Before anyone can say anything else, Arthur turns to his guest, “Come, Shadow the Hedgehog, bringer of chaos! Before you end up creating blood feuds with the entire round table!”

Shadow doesn’t look the least bit chastised, incredulous and amused as he gives a flippant shrug, “Fine by me.”

“With these jests, it sounds like you’re better suited to the role of court jester!” Lamorak laughs boisterously, arms crossed over his chest as he grins mockingly. His squire stands behind him, less than enthused at her knight’s actions, but doesn’t say anything. She simply grips onto his tail feathers and digs her feet into the ground below, trying to physically keep him out of the range of Shadow’s fists. 

“Have you any more?” Lamorak jeers, obviously trying to get back at Shadow for that earlier insult. (Even though the brash hawk brought it on himself. Again.)

The air around Shadow turns positively murderous, and he flexes the fingers of his right hand as he brings it up mid-chest, “How about a magic trick?

Sparks crackle around his fingertips as he looks at Lamorak over his shoulder, eyes narrowing like he’s honing in on a target.

“I can make you disappear-“ Shadow starts to say, bringing his hand down in a vicious arc-

That Arthur jumps in to stop with his hands. The strange energy spreads through Shadow’s fingers and into his own, leaving behind a tingling sensation that seems to seep into his skin and to his very bones. Arthur lets go quickly, but it travels up the length of his arm and into his shoulder before radiating through his entire body.

“My Lord!” Half a dozen voices cry out at the same time in dismay.

“It’s nothing!” Arthur doesn’t have any time to dwell on any of this, even as his body seems to buzz with the energy. He wants to shake his hand out, but he knows that will just worry his knights, “I said this will wait until after breakfast! Be still, all of you!” 

He grabs Shadow’s hand tightly as he ushers his taciturn companion forward, as if afraid the black hedgehog is going to run off and punch someone else in the face. (Which seems very likely at this point.)

 “Come along!” Arthur’s hand buzzes where it touches Shadow, even through the fabric of his glove. He half expects the dark hedgehog to push him away, and is surprised when Shadow’s hand squeezes him. But painfully so, like this is a challenge he can win while making sure Arthur doesn’t let go. The king glances back as Shadow, curious to see why the prickly hedgehog would touch him without a clear purpose- when it becomes clear this is a calculated power play.

Shadow is staring Gawain down, using this simple gesture to establish himself in the king’s entourage, annoy the echidna and the other knights who regard him with suspicion, and show his clear disregard for hierarchy of the court. For some reason, Arthur is disappointed… but he pushes that feeling aside immediately. Shadow would be a fool if he did not use the king’s political and social position to his advantage.

Arthur pulls Shadow towards the now doorless archway, whispering as he discreetly elbows the black hedgehog, “What are you doing? I don’t know how it works in your world, but you’ll accomplish more with friends in Camelot’s walls rather than enemies!”

“I don’t need friends,” Shadow gives Arthur a flat look, answering loudly as he glowers back at Lamorak, “And if you want to keep yours in one piece, they shouldn’t start what they can’t finish. I don’t like leaving loose ends.”

Arthur rolls his eyes in exasperation as he hurries through the corridor, ear swiveling backwards to pick up on the disgruntled chatter that is naturally amplified by the stone hallways. Shadow’s combative attitude and abrasive demeanor are certainly not doing much to endear him to anyone.

“You don’t seem to like casual conversation or friendly advice either,” Arthur quips back, shaking his head, “And certainly not comfortable beds. What of mead and bread? Do you like that?”

“You're starting to irritate me, hedgehog-” Shadow answers back automatically, annoyed, before blinking rapidly. He gives Arthur that look again, like he’s seeing him in a completely different light, “You are going to drink mead for breakfast?”

Arthur finds Shadow’s baffled confusion amusing, quietly chuckling to himself, “Would my new champion prefer wine instead?”

“Sure, why not,” Shadow lets Arthur open the door to the chamber himself, purposefully ignoring Gawain’s outrage and rubbing it in by refusing to let go of the king’s hand the entire time, making Arthur do it one handed. Arthur can’t remember the last time he’s opened a door for himself, let alone another person. It’s strangely thrilling, “Where does the echidna sit?”

“I sit in the red velvet siege,” Arthur nods at the plush seat with the crown carved into the wood above it, “And ‘Wain sits to my left-”

“Good,” Shadow doesn’t wait for Arthur to finish explaining or sit down, plopping himself in the seat to Arthur’s right like it belongs to him. It belongs to Sir Kay, who seems less than amused- but, in a rare move of self preservation, also doesn’t seem very keen to attract Shadow’s ire on himself directly. Arthur shrugs to his brother apologetically, making motions to an attendant by the door to bring another chair.

In fact, Shadow goes out of his way to make himself look as comfortable as possible, throwing his crossed legs over one arm rest and propping his elbow on the other, resting his chin on his fist. Incredibly bold… Arthur sits down quickly himself, hiding a smile behind a sip of his cup.

“MY KING!” Gawain yanks his chair out from the table so violently the wood cracks under his grip, splinters falling to the floor as he sits in it heavily and unhappily, “THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!”

Shadow stares at Gawain with a bored expression as he filches a piece of cheese from Arthur’s plate, popping it into his mouth as the echidna slams his hands back down on the table. 

Well, this is certainly turning out to be a very different and complicated day! When Arthur first rose this morning, he didn’t think he’d end up having breakfast with Shadow the Hedgehog sitting on his right hand side after causing a feud with almost half the round table. Or to have Gawain, one of his most powerful and influential knights, squabbling with the black hedgehog like a petulant child.

One of the many large and small problems he needs to solve... Arthur nibbles on a roll absentmindedly as he listens to Gareth’s argument from the other side of the table, pretending he doesn’t notice Shadow flick a piece of apple at the side of Gawain’s head.

He needs to nip the budding tension between Lamorak and Shadow before it leads to bloodshed… Lamorak is very pointedly glaring daggers at the hedgehog until his sister kicks him in the shin when he doesn’t pass her the jam quickly enough, and that quickly devolves to the hawk arguing with a literal child. 

Arthur needs to make Shadow’s self-appointed position as his champion palatable to the majority of his knights and advisors, many of whom are regarding Shadow with guarded suspicion over the rim of their mugs. 

He needs to find and check on Lancelot, whose absence in the siege at Gawain’s right is painfully obvious. And Arthur needs to soothe Kay’s wounded pride before his brother does something reckless and foolish that causes them all unnecessary grief. (Especially Kay himself.)

It was exactly as Sir Ector had warned- the secret wish of excitement in his heart had been answered in the most unexpected way. But Arthur has no regrets. 

Despite it all, he is eager to see how this new adventure unfolds.

#satbk #sonic and the black knight #satbk au #kings champion au #writing #fanfic #satbk king arthur #satbkified #shadow the hedgehog #satbk sir gawain #satbk sir lamorak #satbk sir gareth #satbk percival #sonic the hedgehog #Knuckles the Echidna #Mighty The Armadillo #Scourge The Hedgehog #satbk sir kay #shaodw makes enemies with everyone. <3 the ultimate troublemaker and poor Arthur tries so hard to clean up the messes lmao #this took me 5ever because needed to do the lil chapter header ahahaha think it came out really cool tho! so v pleased #v pleased with this au overall ahaha

[localsharkcryptid]

*stumbles onto your blog, tripping over various tree root and covered in leaves* Hi! I heard you have a Dragon Rider AU!!

Is everyone humans? Are some people dragons? It’s it angsty? Do you have a general plot? What kind of location is this based on? What kinds of dragons are there? Is dragon riding widely accepted? Can everyone do it or just a select few? How do people get their dragons?

Well hello there! :D

I've gotta say this is a LOT of questions but I do not mind at all!! Just this gonna be a long post, and speaking of which onto the answers!

---

Is everyone humans? Are some people dragons?

In this case everyone is human for this au!

Is it angsty?

Mildly?? I personally would consider it, bittersweet I suppose? The bit I'm working on currently is very focused on the shattered nature of DTeam's dynamic so I'll say good mild angst rating with a happy ending eventually (Angst may also be higher for the dnf enjoyers)

Do you have a general plot?

I have quite a few plot notes actually!! Currently I'm focused on what is a prequel to my original idea, which is shelved temporarily for reasons, so now this part of the story is focused on Dream and how he's dealing with his choices - and his attempts to run away from his role in everything.

The short version is basically: Dream is heir to his brother's (DreamXD) throne and well he wants absolutely nothing to do with it, this leads to a lot of rash decisions and unfortunately attempts to shove away his friends. A spiral very similar to canon dsmp just different motives. Inevitably though when he finally claims a dragon he at last has his ticket to freedom and makes a break for it to have his freedom. Shennagains then ensue, including obligatory Drunz cause I eternally love their character dynamic, Rivals Duo being rivals, XDnf in the distant background, and various other things I'm working out still!

What kind of location is this based on?

In general I am taking a lot of vibes from Westeros from A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones, a very very classic medieval fantasy vibe along with the actual layout and environment of things being loosely based on the actual maps of the dsmp!

What kinds of dragons are there?

At the moment just wyvern style dragons, a lot of my inspiration for the dragons comes from House of the Dragon as well as the works of Sawyer Lee (Sawyerleearts on insta/da he has some AMAZING work)! Effectively all the same 'species' of fire breathing beast but they all have their own unique features and looks! Though I am considering maybe adding ice and lightening breathing dragons as a fun little reference to the Ice & Fire mod - not much would change design wise, just kinda mixing up the breath abilities if I do go with that.

Also have some of my current concepts (newest to oldest, since I'm still in the process of changing designs)

Is dragon riding widely accepted?

Dragons in this case are rare, and dragon riders are rarer - when dragon riders usually come about they become part of a kingdom's greater military force or some similar high standing rank. Dragons are tickets to power if you don't already have it pretty much, they are after all the fantasy equivalent of a multi use nuclear weapon! Though there are some outliers who have dragons but don't align with either kingdom in the realm, these being sell swords/mercenaries like Punz or just lords who wish to remain independent and not everyone uses them for war. In general I'd say it's a very respected position to have.

Can anyone do it or is it only a select few? How do people get their dragons?

The criteria for someone to bond with a dragon varies a bit, pretty much anyone can bond and develop a link with a hatchling - if the wyrmling imprints on them after hatching it's a free ticket pretty much! Though hatching dragon eggs is not easy, and the hatch rates of them are very low. The other option to get a dragon is claiming a wild one. Bonding with wild dragons though, is more difficult, no one is exactly sure how it's done but the rider usually has to have some recessive magic genes effectively (magic is a long dead art but remnants of it's influence remain, i.e potions & enchantments). When it comes to claiming a wild dragon what also matters is the dragon also choosing and accepting the rider, things can turn a bit- nasty if they decline the bond. Gaining a dragon is in general no easy feat, adding onto that sort of instant status boost dragon riders can gain if they succeed in getting one!

---

Thank you for the questions btw!!! It thoroughly made my day to see a full list of stuff to answer about this project ^^

#the cryptid speaks #dsmp #dream smp #dsmp au #dreblr

[dominustempori]

TWO MORE MONTHS, PEOPLE!!!

Quick thoughts to follow up after my post on the teaser trailer (SPOILER WARNING!) In honor of March the 22nd…I’ll go for 22 observations/opinions.

1. Slimer’s back!

2. JANINE IN UNIFORM! WITH A BLASTER!

-Definitely a call back to 1) one of the ORIGINAL storyboard designs for the backpack/neutrona wand in the first movie, and 2) the IDW comics when Janine and other “new ‘Busters” take over when the OGs disappear.

3. Definitely another secret society/cult that must’ve worshipped Garraka ( hidden room with the demon’s horns/frozen eyepatch guy that shatters in the supposed flashback scene..?)

4. If that’s Coney Island where the big ice storm is coming ashore…then THAT could very well be a throwback to the RGB episode “Collect Call of Cthulu.”

5. GB’s got a new van! Ecto 1c?

6. Research lab? AWESOME!

7. Big question- what’s the connection between the arrival of Garraka and the red light on the containment unit? Is it coming after GBHQ to get more power (much like Gozer?)

8. OK…James Acaster is NOT a grown Oscar…damn. I’m sure his researcher character is gonna be brilliant though. Poor guy…frostburned hand? Eesh.

9. I REALLY hope they explore more of Callie (and therefore, Egon’s) background story. That scene where Trevor’s in that attic…aw.

10. DRONE TRAP!!! Next level! Fans lost their minds with the RTV…someone will surely try to build a model of a freaking FLYING ghost trap.

11. Modified proton packs? Makes sense now, that thing can FREEZE the positron stream! WHAT!?

12. Grooberson’s driving Ecto 1! F*ck yeah, Paul Rudd!

13. LIBRARY GHOST IS BACK!

14. So how does Kumail Nanjiani’s character come into possession of that mysterious golden orb? I’m still thinking it’s his apartment with the secret door.

15. Imagine being an old time NYC firefighter and seeing men frozen to death, in fear. When did NYFD form, I wonder?

16. Patton Oswalt is the new Ray…love it.

17. Bill Murray…still got it, man.

18. Swear to god that’s his old orange jacket from the first movie.

19. OK…on one hand, Gil and Jason are probably not counting the GB Video Game as part of the canon, and yet, the IDW comic universe IS built on some plot points of the game. So…does the PCOC exist in Frozen Empire? Is Peck mayor? Perish the thought?

20. Bring on the mischievous Mini-Pufts! Evidently some survived the “Summerville Massacre.”

21. PLEASE have Egon’s unknown life history be in the story somewhere, PLEASE Gil and Jason! It’s almost 10 years since the world lost Harold Ramis…PLEASE pay his beloved character some more tribute.

22. I have to admit…I do like Annie Potts back with not just her red hair, but those new blue-frame glasses. Good nod to the animated series, I will bow to that piece of fan service, not sorry.

TWO MORE MONTHS!!!

#ghostbusters #frozen empire #who ya gonna call? #sony pictures #columbia pictures #cannot wait #ghostheads unite #Youtube

[whumpdrivethru]

can I get cyborg whumpee and scientist whumper with a side of psychological torture ? : 3

Hey!! Sorry for the delay, the ice cream machine is still broken, but here it is!

Enjoy!

Cw// dehumanization, ���it” as a pronoun, cyborg vivisection, thoughts about death, begging for death, mechanical gore, body horror

The cyborg couldn’t scream. Any of its vocal functions had been turned off before it was strapped to the table. Technically its motor functions could be shut off as well, but that would interfere with its creator’s work.

“If your limbs are sleeping, we can’t find the problem, Whumpee.”

It was a casual Friday evening for a rewiring, according to its creator, the mad scientist who built it almost four years ago.

And “life” had been nothing but agony since.

“Do you want to apologize to me?” The cyborg shook its head, not because it didn’t want to apologize, but because Scientist held a particularly sensitive wire between gloved fingers. A sinking feeling wound through the mass of wires and electronics that was its abdomen. While not entirely human, it still had all the characteristics of one. Including pain receptors. It could still feel pain. “No?”

It had punched Scientist earlier during training and had been taken to the lab as soon as the session concluded. The punch wasn’t meant to be as hard as it was, but a glitch made sure to knock the wind out of the scientist and leave them a nasty bruise. It had only panicked when Scientist grabbed and dragged it into the gym. It raised its arm to push Scientist away and…

“No- no! I want to-“ the wire was tugged, Whumpee letting out a silent shriek. Its eyes widened, threatening to burst from its head as it threw its head back. It wailed and sobbed until it was exhausted, Scientist still holding the dark green wire in their hand. It had considerably more slack now it had been jerked with such force, and Whumpee was left shaking on the verge of passing out.

“Please,” Whumpee begged, blinking tears from its eyes. “Please, I’ll apologize. I’ll apologize!”

“What did I tell you about begging, Whumpee?” Whumpee nodded, swallowing silently. While Scientist wasn’t good at lip-reading, the word ‘please’ was easy enough to understand. No begging in the lab. The lab wasn’t a punishment. The lab was there to help it when it had problems.

There had been two other incidents earlier in the month. Scientist didn’t pay as much attention as they did the third time, probably because the previous two didn’t involve them directly. One of them was with an intern (it was delivering a drink to him when the same malfunction made its hand clamp down on the cup, spraying everybody with hot coffee) and a nurse (she was punched in the face out of fear just as Scientist was).

“Good. Hold still, now.” Whumpee’s vision went white as the wire was cut. Its eyes rolled into the back of its head as it let out, if its vocal functions were on, a glass-shattering cry.

…

It came to as Scientist was reconnecting wires to each other, around the Problem Wire and weaving them together like a wicker basket. Scientist looked up from their work at Whumpee and smiled, sending chills down Whumpee’s spine. A wire was tugged just then, making Whumpee convulse.

“I’m sorry,” Whumpee sobbed as Scientist continued to push and pull wires in different directions. “I’m so sorry! I’m sorry for everything!”

Eventually, Whumpee was given a break. Scientist had finished weaving wires together and had replaced their grease-drenched gloves.

“Do you understand why this is happening, Whumpee?” Whumpee shook its head, the motions small and sharp. Pain clouded its thoughts. It couldn’t put together a word in its head, its brain a plate of scrambled eggs.

“You are an experiment. Experiments are temporary,” Scientist began, pulling a tray from the rolling cart and placing it to the side. “But I didn’t design you to break so soon.” Whumpee screamed as wire after wire was pulled to its maximum length and secured with tight clips on the tray. “This is the third rewiring this month, Whumpee.” Whumpee shook its head as Scientist moved lower down its abdominal cavity. “And the month isn’t half over yet. This isn’t a good look on you.” Whumpee agreed. It wasn’t a good look at all. If Scientist was right about anything, they were right that if it didn’t stop malfunctioning, there would be problems worse than just a rewiring. Whumpee didn’t even want to think about that.

“So tell me, Whumpee. What should I do with you?” Scientist’s gloved hand, already coated in grease again, reached for Whumpee’s vocal controls and the dial was turned back up. It took a shaking breath, choking out a sob.

“I-“ Scientist had their hand around another wire. This one, it felt, wasn’t a problem at all. So why-

An impossibly loud scream echoed around the room as Scientist tugged on it. Itdidn’thaveaproblemwhywasScientistcreatingoneitwasfinethewirewasfineitwasfinewhyweretheyplayingwithitwhywhywhywhywhy

“Answer, Whumpee. What should I do with something broken like you?”

“F-fix-“ it tried to speak between sobs and hiccups, avoiding the piercing gaze of its creator. “Fix m- m-“ another cry as the wire was tugged again. “Fix me!” It didn’t know if Scientist could understand what it said until Scientist shook their head.

“I’m not sure about that. I have many more experiments to tend to and each time I have to fix you, I waste time.” The wire was bent, and Whumpee howled.

“Then- then scrap me!” It resisted the urge to add a ‘please,’ but even if it tried, it could only cry as the wire was bent back to its original position. “I can’t- I-“ Whumpee didn’t want to live. But it didn’t want to die. “I.. I-“ Scientist’s hand was on the vocal control dial and its voice faded away to nothing.

“Oh, Whumpee.” Whumpee sobbed pitifully in silence as Scientist began to work again. “You know I love you too much to scrap you just for a few malfunctions, right?” Whumpee shook its head. “We’ll manage them together, okay?” The pain continued as its creator made some finishing touches to its wiring. There was no more jerking or pulling, though. One type of torture was replaced with another from the strong pinching of those damn clips. It didn’t know what was worse. Scientist said the clips were only temporary, but last time they were used, they stayed for two weeks. It was ‘only to make sure the wires learned to stay in place.’

Bullshit.

“Well, that should do it.” The empty tray was placed back onto the cart and gloves were changed again. Then, Whumpee’s abdomen plate was fitted back on. Whumpee whimpered as each screw was tightened and the suction mechanism activated. Finally, Scientist took a special screwdriver from their pocket and inserted it into Whumpee’s VC panel. There was a click, and the nightly ritual of locking Whumpee’s VC dial in place was complete. “The skin layer should regrow itself within the week. So no sharp movements.” That wasn’t its fault. Whumpee glared up at Scientist, who returned a smile that made its blood boil.

“Now let’s get you back to your room.” Agony persisted as it was pulled from the table and fitted back into its regular restraints. The first rewiring of the month was the hardest. It took twice as long because the synthetic skin had to be cut away before its abdominal plate could be reached. Two rewirings later, and only a thin layer of skin had managed to grow over the plate. Hopefully it wouldn’t need a fourth for a long time.

“Walk,” Scientist ordered. Whumpee took one step and collapsed. After a day lying strapped to a table, its legs weren’t used to the sudden weight of the mechanics in its upper body. “Okay…” it took two lab assistants to haul it up to its feet. “Walk it back to its room. Slowly.” Whumpee took small steps and the lab assistants let it guide them, only because they were struggling to pull it ahead. Finally they reached Whumpee’s cell, marked only with the number 559. The door was opened and Whumpee was gently let down onto the floor. There was a bed, but the assistants’ faces were red as tomatoes. It didn’t want to injure them too. The smaller assistant flashed it a pitying look as he left the room.

“Goodnight, Whumpee,” he quietly called, and the door was shut, leaving it in absolute darkness.

Whumpee dragged itself to the corner of its cell, propping itself up against the walls. A hard surface on either side of its body helped support it as it held its stomach in pain. That did nothing. Pressing on the hard plate, unable to reach the terrible burning inside, was a torture of its own. Whumpee cried, hands and fingers twitching as it squeezed its side. That gave it something to hold onto, but it only made Whumpee more aware of the pain. It could feel the clamps. It could feel where wires had been cut, pulled, tied, and woven together. It could feel it all.

“Please,” it called into the darkness, falling against the corner. Now that it was out of the lab, it was allowed to beg. Even if nobody could hear it. “Please, make it stop.” Nobody knew it was here. After Scientist locked its VC dial in place, it wasn’t speaking until the next morning.

“Please, help me.”

You’ve been served by Quill. Come again soon!! :)

#quill #whumpdrivethru #dehumanization #’it’ as pronoun #vivisection #cyborg vivisection #thoughts about death #begging for death #mechanical gore #body horror #lab whump #cyborg whumpee #scientist whumper #psychological whump #answered asks #whump #whump prompts #whump scenarios #whump writing #whump community #whumpblr #whump blog

[korpuskat]

For gunk-ice-tea’s RaMayttra prompts, Day 26: Enraged. Rating: PG/Teen WC: 777 Warnings: Fighting, hurt no comfort

=====

It was a failure. Months of planning, of production, reviewing and updating dozens of iterations of designs, all that he had done was now scrap in the streets of France. All a waste- time, resources, his energy. Nothing came from it- nothing! He'd lost his compatriots and still he had nothing to show for it!

His faceplate is incapable of emoting, and yet you can see the tension rise in him. The squaring of his shoulders, the hum of his processes ramping up- and the soft crunching of glass as his fist closes around a data cube. Tiny shards fall from his hand, glittering in the bright display of the screens before him. He pays no attention, doesn't even realize it's shattered. On screen, an omnic talks to a reporter, describes how Overwatch saved him from a Titan. An omnic. You don't want to look to him again.

"Fool!" Ramattra spits, "A coward groveling at the feet of our oppressors, do they really think I would let my army harm our people? I'm trying to save them!"

Metal groans behind you- and if you had to guess he's crushed a dent into the table. You turn carefully, slowly. I'd never hurt you, he'd sworn to you, but you can't entirely summon that trust now. He's spent years keeping his rage carefully leashed- saving it for the personal, gratifying nature of using his fists to overcome resistance. Now it's different. Like it's humming just under the surface, itching for an ounce of satisfying destruction. His base programming is scratching at the edges of his thoughts, HUD lining up combatants.

"Ramattra," It's as much a plea in itself as a call for his attention. His head barely moves, but you can feel the burning of his optics focused on you. It is different. You resist the need to squirm under his hateful gaze. "It's one battle. There will be more."

"One battle." Ramattra repeats quietly. A calm before the storm. You picked wrong. "With every battle we lose my people are suffering, dying. Only a human could see that as an acceptable loss!"

You grit your teeth and fight the urge to rise to his bait. "I didn't say that. I meant-"

His thoughts are racing, processes running out of control. "Oh, I know what you meant," He stands slowly, "You meant to remind me that this war is ongoing, that I've managed to underestimate bunch of a bickering, clueless humans! I somehow forgot the only thing you beasts love more than destroying yourselves is destroying omnics!"

It's all you can do to stand up straight, to stare up into the black rectangles of his faceplate. Rage- you hold on to your rage, let it make you brave just long enough. Your eyes may water and your lip may wobble, but you won't break down here. "Not all of us."

It's a line Ramattra has heard before- and yet this time it's ice water to his circuits. He can see now, pulls back from the tunnel vision- his HUD is flashing red, warnings of run away processes. His optics refocus, settle on your eyes- hard and hurt- helpless to watch as the first tear rolls over your cheek.

You turn and leave him, wiping your face as you go.

He feels- he feels- sick is what his vocabulary banks produce for him, unable to define the mix of shame and grief and regret and the still-lingering rage any better. Sick. He is... unwell, no- destabilized, like core processes have frozen mid-operation. No critical alerts ping in his memory, but he runs a self-check anyway. He must've- that's the only reason he would...

No, he knows. Ramattra looks down at his desk. On the left, there's a perfect imprint of his hand. On the right, the shining, glittering shards of the data cube he'd destroyed. He touches the dust, sweeps one finger through it.

He sinks back into his chair. The self-check dings complete, no errors found. He idly toys with considering his own repair system is faulty, but he knows. His temper has always been... a problem- his need for control, even if by pushing away what he cannot control. An essentialist would say it's in his very nature, unable to escape his original purpose. Ramattra cannot bring himself to disagree.

One by one he forces his locked-up actuators to disengage, releasing the tension across his body.

Later, he will stop by your quarters and apologize. He can't bring himself to do it yet- and you need time to calm down. Instead, he looks back to the screen and watches as they pan over the absolute destruction of Paris.

#ramattra x reader #ramattra #overwatch #reader insert #ramattra x you #overwatch x reader #overwatch x you #ramayttra

[hazel-of-sodor]

A Screech in the Night

Ch.8 Shatter

Warning:This Chapter contains an Eldritch Horrror doing Eldritch Horror Things. The Events are not cruicial to latter chapters, so you can skip it if need be.

Other Chapters

The following days saw Screech settle into a routine. Early in the morning, Geyn would steam her, Freda joining him shortly thereafter. Her dawns were spent racing along with the Morning Pike. After the morning run, she brought the previous day's fish vans back to Uman. Then she would make the quarry pickups along the line. After Gwyn and Freda ate lunch, her days varied based on what was needed that particular day.

Nearly a week after her arrival, she was sent up a branchline near Coedwig to collect a mixed goods for the harbour. The Branchline was named the Blaidd line after the engine that ran it. A small 2-4-0 metro tank of Cambrian design, she was nearly as old as the railway itself.

When Screech arrived, Blaidd was attaching the last vans to the train. The little engine ran back alongside the eldritch giant.

"Mind yourself with this lot lass. They're proper devils today," the tank engine spat. The trucks and vans giggled.

"It can't be as bad as October," Gywn called as he walked to the switch to let Screech through.

"Worse," the 2-4-0 groused, "they've heard of the big lass from the other yards, and are determined to show her up." She glanced up. "They'll fight you all the way to Dyfnder if you let them. You need to put them in place now or there will be uffern to pay on the hills.

Before Screech could respond, an empty truck from the sidings called out. "Oi boys, look what crawled out of the scrap heap!" The trucks and vans in her train cackled.

"Show him his place," hissed the whisper.

"Oh look, a talking matchbox." Screech drawled, "did they run out of toothpicks when building you? Or did they know you weren't worth the wood?"

Her train roared with laughter.

The truck seethed, "A sight better than you monster. Not even fit for scrap metal." He smirked, "unlike your sisters. I heard they made soup cans out of them."

Screech went very still. All sound seemed to vanish, the wagons in her train daring not to breathe. Even the whisper fell silent within her mind.

"Blaidd?" Screech asked quietly, the sound echoing back in the silence from a thousand angles. "Are you in any way attached to this beast?"

Blaidd shook her head nervously.

"Good."

The sky darkened as Screech stretched her tendrils towards the truck. The temperature dropped drastically, the water dripping from the shed roof freezing in place mid-air. 

Despite the unnatural silence, a ringing seemed to fill everyone's ears. In the dark, Screech's eyes glowed, and the trucks looked away as quickly as they could, instinctively knowing that to look within them would shred their minds like paper in a gale. The air around Screech distorted and refracted her image, but the lone truck somehow knew the terrible glimpses he saw through the shards were closer to the true Eldritch form of the 47xx.

Even before the tendrils touched him, the truck rose into the air, vibrating from some unseen energy. He cried out as the sound of splintering wood and straining metal was heard. Everyone in the yard shied back as the shriek of metal overwhelmed his cries. The tendrils surrounded the truck like serpents made of shadow. It had only been seconds, but it had felt like hours when his eyes finally met Screech's.

As he felt his mind tear from the strain of glimpsing her true self, a tendril finally, almost tenderly poked a corner of his chassis.

The silence was ended by the shattering of wood and metal into thousands of infinitesimal pieces. One second the truck was there, the next, nearly imperceptible pieces of metal and wood rained down on the forest and yard.

Screech closed her eyes and took a deep steadying breath. When they opened again, they were a burning ice blue.

"I expect," she said shortly, "that we will have no problems on our journey?"

Everyone in the yard, freight car and human, nodded frantically.

"Wonderful." Her tone remained clipped, hinting at her still simmering anger.

"Uh… Screech..."

The ice blue eyes swung to Blaidd, only to find the small tank engine off the rails. The track next to Screech had warped from mere proximity to her rage. Blaidd had been left tilting on the edge of the ballast.

"Apologies"

Screech slapped the rails with a tendril, and the rails snapped back into place. She then reached out with several tendrils and gripped the tank engine's frames, lifting gently.

She brought Blaidd in front of her to inspect her for damage, and finding none, gently set her back on her own rails.

"Thank you." Blaidd watched the tendrils curiously as they retracted. 

 "Normally anything they touch turns to rust, how do you control that?"

"Who says I do?"

"The fact you picked me up without turning me to scrap."

Screech barked a dry, but genuine laugh. "Through pain. I'm not meant to be in this world, so it damages anything that touches me. If I desire, I can protect the object..."

"By taking the damage yourself."

"Indeed."

Blaidd was quiet for a long moment, "You didn't have to help you know. We have a breakdown train that could have picked me up."

Screech flicked a tendril carelessly as if shrugging. "It was my fury that put you there when you had done nothing deserving my rage. Putting you back was only correct."

Blaise frowned, "but it hurt you."

Screech snorted dryly, "hardly any more than existing."

Blaise looked at her sharply, "You're in pain just from being here?"

"Such is the price of my existence."

Blaidd looked searching then sighed, "there's nothing we can do to help, is there?"

"Unless you can reverse death? No. I would not ask even if you were capable of such a feat. This is what I am now. To change that would change me."

The tank engine nodded slowly, "I think I understand. I wouldn't ask to become a diesel even if it kept me up to date."

"Exactly."

The Tank engine glanced over at the trembling trucks in Screech's train and smirked, "Any chance I can convince you to come down every once and awhile to keep this lot in line?"

"It would be my pleasure." 4702 purred while the whisper cackled.

The trucks gulped audibly.

#U&D #U&DR #Uman and Din #Uman and Din Railway #ttte fanfic #rws fanfic #eldritch train #eldritch engine #engines that go bump in the night #Hazel is evil #Hazel murders rolling stock

[hedgiwithapen]

Prompt: Cameron gets snatched by Helix after leaving Blue Valley. He is very, very aware that no one will be looking for him.

Some nights, curled up on a cot in his basement cell, Cameron dreamed of his father, coming to rescue him. Ice frosting over the metal door and shattering it, and his father holding him, promising that he was safe now, that everything would be alright. He woke from those dreams with tears frozen on his cheeks, hating  that he'd hoped, hating that it had been a dream and not real, hating that he'd wanted it to be real even for a moment.  His father was a murderer. He'd killed Joey Zarrick. He'd threatened to kill him. But anything would be better than being stuck here.  It hadn't been so bad, at first. He'd been so lost, so confused, and his powers had been out of control. Frost had followed his footsteps, and sometimes he could hardly breathe for the ice in his lungs.  The head nurse had been waiting when he woke up in a sparsely decorated room, assuring him that he was alright, that he was safe and no one hunting him would find him. 

He'd asked for space. Courtney, at least, he thought would have given it. But maybe  Artemis Crock, or Rick Tyler couldn't allow the child of their parents' killer to walk free. Maybe they'd convinced Pat Dugan he was a threat. And he was, wasn't he? After everything Courtney had told him, told him when she'd known the truth, maybe he really was a threat. 

Nurse Love seemed to think so. They'd moved him down to the basement, in a room with a locked door and a heating vent that never turned off entirely. 

"It's for your own good. For your safety, and the safety of the others who make this place their home," Nurse Love said when he asked why. " you don't want to put them in danger, do you?"

It would be selfish to say yes. But he missed his art studio, with the windows to the garden. He missed the sky. 

"When can I go home?" he asked, staring unhappily at his mug of hot chocolate. Nurse Love always brought it, first thing in the morning. At least, he assumed it was morning.  Often, it froze the moment it touched his lips, but today it had just cooled. "I'm getting better at controlling it. Really, I am." He held it out to her as proof.

"I can see that," she said, her voice wobbling like his grandmother's did. Like his grandmother's used to. "But how much of that is you and not this room?  We made it to help you, after all. The design... I suppose it could be transferred to an upstairs room, but it needs too much energy,  so it's really not practical anywhere but here. I'm sorry it's not more to your liking. Why don't I find you a nice rug?"

She left the rest of his breakfast tray, and returned hours later with a soft, warm rug for the floor beside his bed.  "That's nice, isn't it? Oh, and I brought you another book from the library." Cameron stared at the art history book longingly, but didn't dare touch it.  What if he lost control again, and ruined it? 

"You could say 'Thank you' you know," Nurse Love sniffed. “You rest, now. We’re going to need to run a few more tests tomorrow.” She left, the door bolting behind her, one more thing he didn’t dare touch.

He did not dream of his father that night. Instead he dreamed the other impossible wish.  Courtney, halo'd by her staff, standing at his door. 

"I knew you were in trouble. I came to bring you home."

He woke, knowing home was out of his grasp, and that no one but Nurse Love would be opening the door any time soon.

#dammit hedgi day 2023 #Stargirl #Cameron Mahkent #this boy really wanted to be in a rom com sucks to be him

[materialgworlas]

BEAUTIFUL STRANGERS- LEVI ACKERMAN X FEM READER

It was a quiet Saturday morning after a wild Friday night; Hange, Erwin and surprisingly Levi had all gone out in an act of spontaneity to Paradis’ number of club “The Wall”. And the trio was shattered the following day. Hange had their upper body sprawled on the kitchen island; pressing their head against the ice cold surface served as some comfort for their splitting headache. Erwin was shuffling around their apartment with sunglasses on- aimlessly trying to dim every source of light he could find. Levi laid on the beige sofa in the living room- he hadn’t drank much the night before and was relatively fine as a result.

“So many damn lights.” Erwin grumbled and he shut the last blinds. “Can you stop yelling?” Hange complained. “I’m not yelling.” “Use your inside voice.” “I am. Has this room always been so bright?” “Erwin please… my ears are bleeding.” “I’m not yelling. Levi come help me cover the stupid skylight.” “Levi making he stop yelling.”

“WILL YOU BOTH SHUT IT!” Levi growled, irritated by the pairs rambling. The room was silent for a beat. “Someone’s in a bad mood.” Hange snorted. “Tch.” “What’s the matter?” Erwin asked, awkwardly plopping himself next to Levi on the couch. “Yeah Levi, tell us what’s gotcha down?” Hange insisted slowly slithering to the couch themselves.

“Nothing.” He huffed. Erwin let out an unconvinced noise, “Did u not enjoy yourself yesterday?” “… It’s not that.” “Do you feel sick?” “I’m fine.” “Then what’s the matter with you?!” Hange sighed in exasperation. “I said, Nothing!” “If he doesn’t want to tell us that’s his decision hange.“ Erwin hummed. “Phhfft, I don’t know what he’s acting like a baby for- he literally spent the night with that smoking hot babe in the blue dress. Lucky bastard.” Hange grumbled. Erwin immediately noticed how Levi’s face subtly reddened at the mention of the woman.

“Ah, so that’s what this is about?” Erwin said, a sly grin spreading across his face. Levi could only grumble a response only confirming his suspicions. Hange let out an excited gasp at the realisation “LEVI ACKERMAN WHAT DID YOU DO?!” They squealed.

“Noth-“ “Say nothing one more time and I’ll use you in my next experiment.” “Tch” “Well?” Levi let out a long sigh, may as well get it off my chest, he thought.

What had happened was, in amidst of all the yelling and the blasting music- Levi had sought refuge in the secluded bar section away from all the ruckus. He’d planned on patiently waiting till his friends were all “Partied out” before he could take the m home as the designated driver. However, when he felt a small tap on his arm his evening plans had drastically changed for the better.

He turned to see a beautiful woman standing before him. You wore a blue ranched bodycon dress with mesh sleeves a square neck line. A silver hoop chain was wrapped around your waist, your heels black with silver lining and your hair styled neatly into a slick back bun. Your makeup? Flawless; your foundation blended perfectly with your Smokey eye shadow that made your eyes pop. And to top it all off clear lip gloss. You. Were. Gorgeous. And everyone knew it.

“Hey babe!” you smiled sweetly. His initial first thought: Wow, but after another second- “Babe?” he said, almost perfectly in sync with a higher pitch he’d heard behind him. that’s when he noticed the slightly drunk man swaying behind him who was staring quite provocatively at you. “Yeah.” You said, “I went to get us drinks, sorry I took so long, hun.” You emphasised the last word and widened your eyes slightly- hoping he’d get the message and play along. Levi noticed the disappointed look on the man’s face and soon realised the situation. “Don’t worry about it love, I’m just glad your back.” He said, hoping he sounded convincing enough- Like anyone would believe she’s my girlfriend, he internally scoffed.

Your eyes seemed to light up seeing him go with it- you secretly felt guilty about disturbing the beautiful man, but this guy had been following you the whole night and it was starting to get out of hand… plus at least this gave you an excuse to talk to this beautiful man. “Who’s this?” Levi asked, now looking at the creep bothering you. “Huh, I actually don’t know.” You hummed, slithering your arms to interlock with his own so you seemed closer. “The name’s Zeke, doll.” The man leered, flashing a frankly unsettling smile, completely ignoring Levi’s existence. So that’s how it’s gonna be huh? Taking things a step further, Levi wrapped his arms around your waist pulling you in all the way. His body was so warm and firm against yours, you could feel the outline of his 6 pack under his dress shirt which had been partially unbuttoned. A fresh smell of clean clothes and cologne mixed with his own intoxicating musk filled your senses. He tilted his head down to reach your ear and spoke loud enough for Zeke to hear: “Is the dumb blonde bothering you, babe?”

Your face heated up at the action and you ducked your head down and nodded shyly in response. Levi let out a deep chuckle at your cute action which rumbled through out your body, his laugh made you want to melt in his arms. You’d almost forgotten all about the creep when he let out an offended gasp. You think he said something again but honestly it barely registered, all you were thinking about was how good it felt in his strong arms. It gave you a sense of security you couldn’t explain.

“I happen to be the son of THE Dr. Grisha Yeager, so this “Dumb blonde” is used to getting what he wants.” Zeke persisted, “You should be thankful I even approached you dollface, I could make you a very wealthy woman.” You scrunched your face in distain and readied a snarky come back when you felt a warm hand on your chin pull your attention away from Zeke in an instant. Now you were staring the beautiful man in his mesmerising grey eyes. Your breath hitched as he brought his face closer to yours. He wasn’t actually going to kiss you… was he?

 “Seems he’s not getting the hint.” Levi hummed, his deep voice rumbled in your ears sending shivers down your spine. “Maybe we should give a clearer message…” your voice was barely above a whisper. Neither of you realised your faces had inched closer together- Levi’s eyes swept over your face- firm and admiring, almost overwhelmed before he’d fixated on your beautiful glossy slightly parted lips. Before he could even react however you leaned forwards to take his mouth in a sensual kiss.

His mind was blank, white-hot sparks shooting through every limb. You sighed bringing your arms around his shoulders as he held you closer. His tongue found yours exploring, dancing, demanding and you made an effort to match his pace until he made a soft sound deep in this throat that snapped some sense into you as you pulled away.

That was one hell of a kiss, Levi thought as he looked down to see you smiling up at him, something about the pure joy in your eyes made his face feel flushed as he managed to smile of his own.

“Dance with me.” he said. It was more a statement than a question but you nodded all the same since you didn’t trust yourself to speak. He took your hand in his own and thread your fingers through as if you’d known each other for much longer than a night. Levi lead you to the dance floor leaving an embarrassed Zeke in the dust.

Needless to say, you were very exited, you’d never expected to end up on the neon-changing dance floor with a man half as handsome as Levi. You could feel the adrenaline pumping into your veins, the music getting louder and your personal space becoming invaded by total strangers. Noticing this, Levi spun you around in an effort to pull you closer as you both manoeuvred your way through the crowd. “Stay close to me.” he murmured in your ear making your whole body heat up.

It didn’t take long before you had gotten the beat, you moved your whole body starting with your arms and then your waist. Not soon after, people had actually started giving you more space as your movements entranced them. Levi had his right hand in your left while his left was on your waist. You tuck your face into his neck and he leaned his head on yours while swaying the both of you to the beat. You smile into his neck making Levi’s face flush.

You wished you could stay like this the rest of the night when he finally spoke up “Well that was… interesting.” His deep voice was so soothing you could only hum in response, still enclosed in his arms. “I was worried he’d never leave.” Levi chuckled. At this point it had only just dawned on you that Zeke was nowhere to be seen… so why was he still holding you? Not that you were complaining.

I should probably let go, Levi thought, but I don’t want to… she feels so warm in my arms and she smells amazing, some sort of flower… rose? Lavender?- “Thank you.” You spoke into Levi’s chest stopping his thoughts with your sweet voice. “You’re welcome… Babe.” He chuckled, you groaned in embarrassment making him laugh more. “Sorry about that, but the “dumb blonde” just wasn’t getting the hint.” You sighed, “No no, I don’t mind- beat’s waiting for my friends to call it a night alone at the bar.” “Oh? Well allow me to buy you a drink as a thanks!” “sur-“

Levi was interrupted by a loud shrieking he’d recognised instantly. he was greeted by the unpleasant scene of Erwin holding Hange over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes who was violently kicking and screaming “LET ME GO I NEED TO FIND SAWNEY AND BEANE!” they drunkenly yelled. With all their flailing Levi could see Erwin losing his balance since he was pretty hammered himself- the two were causing quite the scene.

“Shit.” Levi cursed under his breath, “Damn… those two look like they need help.” You hummed. She’s right, Levi thought. “I’ve got to go.“ He grumbled before abruptly leaving you.

“Move it.” He growled yanking Hange off Erwin and herding them both towards the door. “S’hey Levi whos dagirl you was dancin wiv? Sh’was suuuupppperrrr pretty!” Hange slurred. “Tch” “Sh’looks like a Lina to me.” Erwin hummed also drunk. “Orrrrr Carla!” “Like Eren’s mother?” “She’s hot.” “Hmm Lina’s hotter.” “You mean Carla.” “S’no, her name’s Lina- right Levi?” “Would you both shut u-.” Levi paused, realising he hadn’t gotten your name.

Now he was doubly pissed, how could I be so stupid? I mean… it’s not like I had the chance to ask- BULLSHIT. I literally just up and left her without a word… it’s not like those two were dying I could’ve at least asked! He internally scolded himself.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN’T GET HER NAME!” Hange yelped in outrage, it was obvious they were terribly invested in the story. “Tch, well I have you two to blame for it.” “Phhfft, we were fine, you could’ve-“ “No, we’re lucky Levi came when he did or I would’ve dropped you.” Erwin admitted. “And now I’ll never know her name- I doubt I’ll ever see her again.” levi huffed in genuine frustration.

 In fact, he’d been so distressed that he barely gotten any sleep. Regret had consumed his soul as his mind raced with all the things he could never do: he would never talk to you again, never tell you how beautiful you looked in that dress. All he could do was reminisce of what it felt like to have you in his arms, how warm you felt, how sweetly you smelt, how in that moment he never wanted to let you go. If he concentrated hard enough, it was like he could smell the faint flowery perfume you had… rose was it? or was it lavender? His mind was plagued with the memory of kissing you- god that was one hell of a kiss. He’d wished he had kissed you a thousand more times before the night’s abrupt ending. And in his mind he had. He’d felt the intoxicating sensation of your soft lips against his; but it was all in his imagination and that fact was killing him.

Oh and your voice, UGH, it’d been playing in his head the moment he left- the sweet melody of your laugh made his chest flutter… what if… he could never hear you again?

“We have to do something.” Hange muttered “We?” Levi scoffed “Yes we, think of it as an apology for ruining your night.” Erwin said. “You didn’t ruin anything… she was way out of my league anyways.” Levi whispered the last part though his friends still heard. “Nonsense!” “You’re a catch shorty! Carla would be lucky to have you!” “Carla?” “That’s what I’m calling your mystery girl till you find out her real name.” “I thought we agreed on Katie?” “Tch, let’s just focus on finding her real name.” “So you’ll let us help?” “Like me saying no would stop you two.” “He’s not wrong.”

“I say we go back to The Wall and ask around.” Erwin suggested. “YEAH! People are bound to remember the bombshell in the blue dress with the silver hoops!” Hange exclaimed, Levi subtly blushed at the reminder of what you wore, god she looked beautiful.

Soon the evening came and the trio found themselves back at the club, only this time with a purpose. “I’ll check the dance floor!” Hange exclaimed before taking off, seems they weren’t going to be much help after all. “Perhaps you should check the place where you last saw her while I ask the bartender.” Erwin said. Levi gave the man a small nod before heading off.

“This was a stupid idea Sasha, let’s just go ho-“ “NOPE!” Sasha interrupted you, “We’re here to find your quote: Beautiful stranger and we aren’t going home till find something.” “Yeah but I doubt he’d come here again, he looked so miserable when I first saw him sitting in the private booths alone.” You sighed, remembering how handsome he looked even with a scowl. “Well you never know- someone here might know something.” Mikasa said “I’m hope he is here. I wanna see the guy who’s got Y/n so down bad.” Ymir snorted making your face fill with heat.

Looking around to avoid eye contact with your friends you soon found a familiar pair of creepy blue eyes. “Shit.” Your grumbled as a look of recognition dawned on the man’s face- swiftly followed by a sickening smile. “What?” “It’s Zeke.”  “HERE?!” “Aw hell, he’s coming over!” “I gotta get outta here, distracting for me guys!” you said before bolting off to the private bar whilst Sasha, Mikasa and Ymir blocked his path to you.

Phhft, I come here hoping to find that beautiful stranger and instead stumble into that blond idiot! Tch, bffr Y/n- did u actually think you’d be able to see that man again? I’m starting to think it was all a dream; I mean HE was a dream. Just thinking about his icy grey GORGEOUS eyes and his adorable pout has me heating up! And here I was thinking the only hot men I knew were fictional-

Your thoughts were cut short when you felt a warm hand tap your shoulder. Your felt your chest tighten as your eyes fell on the man behind you. “It’s you!” You exclaimed, silently cursing yourself for sounding too excited- not that you could help it. His face seemed to relax seeing you recognise him. Thoughts of you running off with another man had tormented him ever since he left you last night.

“I’ve been looking for you.” The man said, his words hitting your very core. HE CAME BACK FOR ME?! you internally screamed. “I didn’t get your name.”

“Y/n.” you muttered, slowly gravitating your body closer to his, as if in a trance.

“Y/n” he repeated to himself with a small smile. I could hear him say my names a thousand more times you thought, staring deeply into the man’s bewitching grey orbs.

“Well Y/n, it’s nice to officially meet you. I’m Levi Ackerman.”

“Levi Ackerman.” You repeated, Levi felt his heart skip a beat hearing you say his name. So perfect, he thought.

“Would you like to dance?”

#aot fanfiction #aot x black reader #aot onehsots #aot drabbles #aot fluff #aot comedy #attack on titan #attack on titan x black reader #levi ackerman x female reader #levi ackerman x black reader #levi ackerman x reader #snk levi #levi ackerman #aot sasha #aot mikasa #aot ymir #erwin smith #zoe hange #black reader #black y/n

[felassan]

Some brief wonderings on Dragon Age: The Missing #2.

so it's Solas that they're looking for after all, sometimes the most obvious/simplest answer is indeed the one hh.. Varric and Harding are basically getting their own Wolf Hunt DLC. I'd be so excited if the two chars on the front cover behind Harding are Crows, Teia and Viago!! (they look so cool) and I'm thrilled Scout Harding gets her own cover page 🥺

Lady Chrysanthus seems to be a new char. 'chrysanthus' is part of the scientific name for a species of crocus, meaning goldenflowered, and was also the name of an early Christian saint. I wonder if elements of her character design such as wardrobe will be gold-themed? I'm assuming she's a mage. and what is her angle - is she remnant Venatori trying to entrap Varric and Harding, or one of the Tevinters who oppose the Venatori? maybe she's aligned with the Viper, or is a contact of Dorian and Mae's?

for the Crows, well, per The Wigmaker Job (which also takes place in Vyrantium) someone mysterious has been hiring Crows to take out a bunch of prominent Venatori. maybe that's why their paths will "cross" in this comic, especially given Lucanis and Illario had been hired to take Venatori out in TN and then in the short story The Wake with Illario, Teia and Viago Lucanis has died (or 'died').

In Genitivi Dies In The End, the adventuring group were on their quest in the Deep Roads by special commission of the Inner Circle, an expedition to find the true history of the elven pantheon. their expedition report was sent to Varric - maybe this trip into the Deep Roads and so on regarding Solas is him following up on some of their findings himself?

and :D we're in danger. Varric and Harding went into the Deep Roads in pursuit of Solas. so some lead they and the Inquisition remnants had placed him, an agent or interest of his down there. Solas in the Deep Roads.. why? what plan, or concern, of his takes him down there.. Rasaan and the Antaam were down there looking for details about his true name, the Genitivi expedition was down there looking for details on the true nature of the elven pantheon. shattered fragments like ancient elven libraries are down there, maybe there's knowledge or an artifact that could be found in one of these fragments that he's seeking. or it's something to do with the Blight, which he seems concerned about in DAI (we worry about a Double Blight, maybe he's checking how bad it is down there or he's heard about the Ghil pool darkspawn/Ghil labs). I'm reminded of the Fen'Harel statues in the Deep Roads (Codex entry: Torn Notebook in the Deep Roads, Section 1):

Now the Qunari bring me down into the lightless depths, and for what? Because the nursery rhymes I remember from childhood make me an expert on ancient elves.

These statues are old. Better shape than anything I've seen on the surface. Many of them are for Mythal, though. And Fen'Harel. Not in a spot of honor, but guarding, attending.

Protector and All-Mother, why are you honored here, so far from the light of the sun? And why was the Dread Wolf at your side?

and Codex entry: Veilfire Runes in the Deep Roads:

A new vision appears: elves collapsing caverns, sealing the Deep Roads with stone and magic. Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast. A voice whispers:

"What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all."

and also for some reason of the Architect? ancient mage beings skulking around in the Deep Roads doing or looking for who knows what.

#dragon age: the missing #dragon age #bioware #video games #solas #long post #longpost #dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4

[kobblefort]

Rushsly: The Early Days 1

So as you can see from the hatch covers I've established a glass-making economy!!! I also catastrophically fucked up trying to dig a moat and make a bridge over it. I think those merchants are just stuck. Well I got them out by designating the bridge+paved road to be deconstructed. Now I have to just make a big-ass bridge which is going to take forever and I don't know if it actually makes a difference but it feels like bigger bridges are slower/less reliable to me. I quite honestly find making defenses very annoying but if all my kobbles died I would be sad so oh well.

I appointed this zesty girl to the position of "Caravan Tactician" (militia commander for you dwarf purists out there) literally just to make her move out of the construction area, but she has "Unmet need: Fight" so I think this could be good for her. She disdains romance AND friendship, I really like her vibe. Well let's hope that fucking bridge gets done soon and for real this time.

Here is my tavern/dining hall overlap (I Don't Give A Fuck) which the kobolds decided to call "The Permanent Snack." The kobbles drink Dwarven wine and rice beer out of green glass goblets. I'll admit I went a little crazy with the jet blocks but when you find jet you make jet blocks and when you make jet blocks you use them, it's really just that simple. Ok? Don't freak out. It doesn't have to be a problem. You can just let things happen. Struggling for control will only tear it away from you sooner. I should know. Dwarf Fortress is a game about how you can do everything right but then your little guys all decide to just jump over a wall and get killed by zombies. You have to just "let the world be" as Big Boss says at the end of Metal Gear Solid 4, which is a game I fucking hate but we don't need to get into that now.

Speaking of rocks and also things I hate, mining has been making me miserable because of this fucking kaolinite shit. This and the plaster-making rock which is named unfortunately close to an anti-Romani slur are the bane of my fucking existence because it means I have to set my auto-mining designations really carefully and specifically instead of just dragging out a big box over the entire floor once I've dug out the shafts.

Here is a good example of what I was just talking about with the whole not having control over things. You might notice how the planned bridge is one pixel taller now! Well you see the kobolds decided they were simply not going to build it. They just automatically suspended construction every time it was ready because of "item blocking site." Can you see the item that blocked the site? I sure can't!!

It's not on this Z-level either!!! But you have to just be thankful for what you have sometimes and you can't forget about that. Green glass isn't the most wildly profitable crafting material or anything but it's functionally infinite. So even if the canceled work orders notification window keeps filling up because your little guys keep forgetting they have entire hordes of charcoal and coke and bags of black sand it's okay, because eventually they will make coffins and statues and altars and serrated discs. Have you ever had the guy at a head shop try to prove how good American-blown glass is by just straight up dropping a bong on the floor and being like "that cheap Chinese shit would have just Shattered bro!" because I have, and I'll give you a word of advice, don't buy that fucking bong, the damage is already done, the only question now is whether it shatters right there in the shop or when you're home and it spews putrid bong water everywhere because you're a disgusting 19 year old bachelor who hasn't learned to actually take care of himself or his things and maybe never truly will. But maybe that's the specialty of American glass. You can pretend it's not broken, and it can pretend it's not broken, and for a while even though it is functionally broken and going to explode at just the clinking of a little ice cube a little too hard, you can tell everyone it isn't technically broken despite the structural damage being certain and irreversible since three weeks ago. I have this weird feeling that we pretend all sorts of things aren't broken in America

Why the fuck is my main production floor like this, what the fuck is wrong with me lol.

The glassblowing floor is quite nice though. I still need to make offices for my little buddies I'm not sure whether I should do it on a stone floor or just carve out into the one loamy sand floor I haven't touched yet.

THEY'RE HAVING A PARTY!!! I love the song that plays when they do this. The way they "dance" by just shuffling positions around the room is also very cute and funny to me. I should probably tell them to pick up those dead critters though I don't know if they'll do it themselves. Probably not, right? What's a dead lizard on the floor at a party, right? A skink is a pretty big lizard to be quite honest. I dated a girl who had a pet skink and I remember being so surprised when I touched it. Their scales are very smooth and supple but completely firm. I mean they've got no give at all. Something about the skink was just like, this guy is harder than he ought to be. I forgot his name. I wish I was not such a shitty partner who took everything personal and broke up over fucking Facebook messenger but you can't turn back time. Besides she isn't even the one I became pitifully, embarrassingly obsessed with for the rest of my life. Parties are a time for socialization so let's learn about some more kobolds! It is almost the end of our first year and we received eight migrants.

Man the cards sure are stacked against her!!! This is Osgi Ritelurk. She is a "competent weaver" but I feel like her miserable hater energies would be pretty well suited to the military if I end up taking that whole angle seriously instead of just focusing on moat + traps. I haven't built a good trap corridor in a while though so that might be what I end up doing instead. Do people still say "trapping out the bando" do people still say "bando." Part of me never left 2014. Why would I? Things still seem like they're going to turn out alright there

On Speechlessmonstrous wants to help, but she also wants to fight. Been there

oh my fucking GOD WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS AGAIN WHERE IS THE ITEM??? SHOW ME TE ITEM YOU DENSE MOTHERFUCKERS

Kikli is a complicated woman. She's like "I don't like to be tied down" but then she owns a pet cat. I guess that's not that weird. Cats will kinda figure their own shit out, they don't need all that much attention. Dogs you have to walk several times a day every day or they're going to go insane and apparently the only way you can deal with that is to just leave them in your apartment building hallway to bark it out for a few hours! It's not like that's a nightmare for the neighbors when it happens at 5 in the fucking morning several times a week or anything. Like sorry guys but you know how dogs are! Just put them in the fucking hallway and make them everyone else's problem like the fucking dad of the serial killer from Heavy Rain. Sorry. I swore I wasn't going to talk about David Cage. I'm not going to talk about David Cage.

Her name is Ty Lovelyseduce

Vala Knitpolish is 9 years old but has two lovers that's kind of fucking weird what kind of mod is this????? I guess it's not that weird if they're her age. I don't know. I don't think children should ever do anything. I think they should be basically hermetically sealed so that you never embarrass yourself and nothing fucked up ever happens. Well for a kobold 9 years old is not a child. She also already has the right political ideals. Again another good candidate for the military if I do one. Peasants always make me mad, like get out of the way and let someone actually good at things do them.

"I'm killing you. I'm killing you. I'm not thinking about anything else. My programming is just, get that fucking guy" - Germ 98

Some rabbits came to trade! I have to resist the urge to kill them. It's not their fault my stupid fucking piece of shit kobolds won't just build a fucking bridge and have to just manufacture imaginary reasons that they can't no matter how I set it up or what materials I use or fucking anything. They have nothing to do with it! But anger like electricity seeks the path of least resistance and I am angry enough to rob these fucking bastards for all of their shit and then put them in cages and throw the cages down a hole. But why would I do that

Yeah come on in guys welcome to Rushsly I'm just trying to figure out why the kobolds have marked some of these tiles of the world just completely fucking forbidden and never to be touched!!!

These tiles!!! These fucking tiles!!!

Trying to get them to remove them led to this fucking disaster

Col Lashshimmers: she was "often lustful" and "found the whole idea of introspection offensive." That's all we ever really learned about her I guess. She gets a green glass coffin in the floor I was thinking about putting offices on. I like to use the same layout for tombs as I do for bedrooms. Don't read too much into that please.

I set up a lever to knock out the supports which I don't know why I built instead of sacrificing any more kobolds to these stupid fucking Cursed Tiles That Must Never Be Touched. Well I guess I get why they were superstitious now! Even though it's kind of their own fucking fault! I mean it's my fault I should have designated that more carefully so that they wouldn't just run out and kill themselves. There's always something you could have done. You didn't have to let anything happen, ever. If you had the courage to say "do you know how fucked up this is" instead of just running away and letting him dig his claws in deeper and convince her YOU were the problem. If you took a deep breath and slowed down and thought about what to do instead of just freaking out impulsively you wouldn't be here playing Dwarf Fortress alone until 4 in the morning, you'd be asleep in the arms of the only person you've truly loved for maybe your entire life. Sorry. I said I wasn't going to talk about David Cage.

I don't know, I guess let's just try the bridge from another angle. Oh you guys are still here? Yeah, hold on, sorry for the wait and that you had to see a woman die in a construction accident. We'll sell you a box full of gems in exchange for a bunch of fruit, meat, booze and cheese please.

I know they're rubbing their paws together pleased as fuck that they managed to pass off a barrel of "tomatillo wine" on us, that sounds fucked up. Well I don't know, I guess Bloody Mary's are supposed to be good. I've never had one and I probably never will.

Destroying the fucked-up failbridge was strangely cathartic. Except we kind of might have accidentally hurt the lapine merchants. Well to be fair it said they "embarked on their journey" a while ago then they just sorta didn't. Like guys don't just stand around, it's fucking dangerous, you literally just saw someone die here a couple days ago, leave.

We get a big fucking migrant wave which means I have to update the pasture which is already feeling like I built it too small because of fucking course I did but I don't want to break into cavern layers yet so I don't know, maybe we should actually just butcher some animals and eat meat. I think the horses should die first because they are horrific grotesque creatures from Hell that were spurned by God. (You can look this up, it's in textbooks)

Lots of new faces!

This bitch's job is Gelder. Her entire job, her purpose and passion in life, is chopping off the fucking nuts of animals. That's how she's made it this far. 28 years old. Gelder. Proficient gelder. Society has a place for each and every last one of us. It's just up to the stupid fucking socioeconomic systems we live under whether we actually get to get in or you just carry boxes full of phone cases back and forth until your legs give out and a guy who walks directly into walls because he's too busy staring at The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy on his phone to look where he's going calls you stupid because you can't figure out what the fuck he meant by his genuinely fucking inscrutable barely-English (even though English is his first language) instructions. Maybe your calling really is to chop the fucking balls off bulls but then you just have to tank emotional abuse from wine-drunk boomers at TGI Friday's until you die because you never met anyone who needed to hire a girl to cut their bull's balls off.

"Sloppedshower" is such a funny surname that I'll resist my deep-seated impulse to kick this wet fucking blanket out. One of the things about hunters and rangers is that they clog up your notifications and waste all your ammo with their shitty hunting, and they LOVE to start guilds and demand big fancy guild-halls even though they contribute less than your average peasant because those guys are at least around to move stuff. How dare they unionize, even though it's actually just a minor annoyance to me that can be, 9 times out of 10, solved by allocating some resources I literally wasn't even doing anything with. I wonder if this is how the capitalist feels about my life, too. Does Kroger too function just the same as the petulant manchild playing his numbers-go-up game with the fake/abstract little people? "I love Undertime Sloppedshower," lol.

I've hit the image limit so I'm probably going to stop here for the night. Osgi Ritelurk was taken by a strange mood. This is her chance to make it in the world. Once you create an artifact you've got it made. I've never seen a dwarf or kobold or whatever else recover from failing to make an artifact though, their tantrum usually just leads them down a spiral so bad they eventually just die because they stopped eating or whatever. I don't know if that's realistic or not. Maybe I failed to make my own artifact a while ago and everything since has been one long slow death spiral. But I don't know, life is full of second chances, especially when you don't think you deserve them. Was it actually squandered if it brought you here? You're still alive. You're not a simulation of a kobold or a dwarf, at least I don't think so, so you can tell yourself "oh well, let's try something else" instead of just going out and punching a guy who is carrying a big sword. Maybe you haven't even been taken by the strange mood that leads you to create your artifact in the first place yet. Maybe I haven't either. Maybe this could be my artifact. Oh jesus fucking christ I hope not

#dwarf fortress #kobblefort

[kraekat29]

Day Three- Twilight AU ( fluff)

Ruby knew JJ’s secret, she’d figured it out last night after hours of research.

She expected to be afraid, to never want to speak or think of him again after she’d connected all the dots.

But something inside her said she had to at least get it out in the open, he needed to know that she knew.

Ruby didn’t know how this would end for her, so she put on one of her favorite outfits- a red sweater and a dark blue skirt, and styled her hair with care.

Her hair was straightened and she applied a little makeup, looking in the mirror and nodding once, taking a deep breath.

As soon as she got out of her truck at the school she saw JJ, leaning against his dirtbike and hands in the pocket of his zip up hoodie.

Ruby froze for a moment, her heart fluttering as she looked at him. She blinked and shook her head, she was on a mission here.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked right past him, keeping her gaze ahead of her as she made her way into the woods behind the school.

Ruby heard him following her, she could hear her own heartbeat as she heard the crunch of leaves underneath JJ’s combat boots.

She tossed her bag next to a tree and took a shaky breath, nervously twisting the ring on her pointer finger around.

She heard him stop behind her and swallowed hard, it was now or never.

“ you’re incredibly fast.. and strong. Your skin is pale white and ice cold.. and sometimes you speak like-like you’re from a different time.. you eyes change color.. you never go out in the sunlight.. you never eat or drink anything.. I know what you are..” She said with an anxious breath.

“ say it. Out loud. Say it.” JJ growled from behind her and Ruby squeezed her eyes shut, “ vampire..” she whispered.

“ are you afraid?” He asked and she thought for a moment before shaking her head, turning around to face him, “no..” she said quietly.

“ then let me ask you the most basic question. What do we eat?” JJ hissed, “ you won’t hurt me..” Ruby said, looking directly into his eyes.

JJ suddenly grabbed Ruby by the arm, practically dragging her along with him, “ where are we going?” She asked, nearly tripping, “ past the cloud bank. You need to see what I look like in the sunlight” he growled and flipped her onto his back.

It all happened in the blink of an eye, one second he was running and next thing she found herself standing on a rock, struggling to catch her breath.

She watched as she took off his shirt, stepping into the sunlight. His skin began to sparkle and her breath caught in her throat.

“ you’re beautiful.. it’s like diamonds..” Ruby said breathlessly and JJ gave her a disgusted look, l beautiful? It’s the skin of a killer Ruby” he scoffed and put his shirt back on, walking into the woods.

She followed him, nearly tripping over a rock, “ I don’t believe that” she said, “ everything about me invites you in. My voice, my face, even my smell” He huffed and suddenly he was out of view.

Ruby turned, her eyes searching for him, “ as if you could outrun me!” He yelled, jumping over to a different tree, “ as if you could fight me off..” he growled, grabbing a large tree branch from the ground and tossing it.

The branch shattered against the rocks, Ruby watching his every move, “I’m designed to kill..” he said and began to walk away.

Ruby followed JJ into a different tree, climbing up so they were face to face, “ I don’t care” she admitted, “ I want to kill you.. I’ve never wanted a humans blood so bad before..” he said and took a deep breath.

“ you’re like a drug to me.. my own personal brand of heroine.. i still don’t know if I can control myself..” he admitted and Ruby leaned in closer, “ I’m here.. I trust you..” she said and tried to move closer.

JJ jolted away from her and Ruby sighed, following him and leaning against the rocks, “I can’t read your mind.. you have to tell me what you’re thinking..” he said, caging her in with his arms.

“ that I’m afraid..” she said quietly and he nodded in defeat, taking a step back, “ good..” he whispered and she shook her head, moving closer to him again, “ I’m not afraid of you.. I’m only afraid of losing you..” she admitted.

JJ shook his head with a laugh, “ and so the lion fell in love with the lamb..” he teased, “ what a stupid lamb..” Ruby breathed out, “ what a sick masochistic lion” he retorted.

He put his hand against her throat, feeling her pulse and the rush of that sweet, delicious blood he craved. Only he couldn’t bring himself to bite her.

JJ led Ruby into the meadow, sitting beside her in the grass, she hugged her knees and looked over at him, curiosity shining in her hazel eyes.

He cupped her chin in his hand and pulled her in closer, connecting their lips in a slow and passionate kiss.

Ruby knew one thing for certain, she was absolutely and irrevocably in love with JJ Maybank.

#jj maybank #ruby routledge #juby #juby week 2023 #outer banks #obx fic #obx #jj maybank smut