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a-crimson-dawn · 2 years

Note

It's getting close to Halloween and I was wondering if you would be able to write something halloween themed for the Mereoleona x William ship.

Sure thing, anon. This isn't very fluffy or shippy, but it does include the two interacting. Plus a lot of headcanoned stuff.

Surmaval was fast approaching. [ 1 ]

It wasn't so much the costumes, or the shouting, screaming, laughing children that ever interested Mereoleona during this holiday, but there was a reason to enjoy the festival.

For one, there was food. And drink. Plenty of bars became halloween themed, which came with a change in the menu - variety was always nice - and in the music.

For another, no one would question anyone who walked around at night on Surmaval... everyone did it. As someone who was plenty lively at night, she could certainly appreciate not being judged for wandering alone as a single woman of her status.

Besides, it was one of the few things she had in common with her siblings these days, really. Fuegoleon was often too busy, and was never one for strong magic regions or camping out in the wilderness, and Leopold... was a bit of a wuss, truth be told. And granted, he was still rather young, but even so.

They would all probably enjoy Surmaval though, and that was enough to finally drag Fuegoleon away from all of the paperwork and magic knight duties to remind themselves of the fun moments of childhood they spent together, dressed up as monsters from myths and legends, eating harvest themed foods and wandering around cemeteries and streets in the middle of the night without needing a reason to do so.

"It won't kill you or anyone in this kingdom if you step outside the base for a few hours," Mereoleona insisted, "and anyway, how do you intend on protecting anyone from inside there? The crime happens out here."

"That's... a fair point, sister," Fuegoleon conceeded and eventually gave in. "Alright, I'll join you and Leopold for a few hours. But that's it. It wouldn't be fair for me to drop all my responsibilities here and have my aquad members attend to them when they should have a chance at celebrating too." Well, that was the best deal she was going to get out of him, so with a reluctant sigh, she dragged him off outside.

Leopold was already waiting there, dressed in a Kivialune costume, wearing a wig, and his features painted to making him look like he was made of stone, to look more like someone who could blend into cave settings, with his ears elongated with fake, pointy plastic ones to give him the look of some kind of goblin or elf. [ 2 ] Grinning at his two older siblings, you could tell he was impatient. Being 14 years younger than Fuegoleon he never really got to hang around with his two elder siblings much, so this was one of the few opportunities he really had to do that.

"It seems we have adopted more than one spirit into the family," Fuegoleon commented, looking at the younger brother.

"Watch out, Salamander, I'll become an even more powerful offensive spirit than you are!" Leopold exclaimed at that, playing along, only to hear a rumbling sound from around them. It seemed the great spirit didn't completely agree, although he didn't show up in person to dispute this.

"I'd say he disagrees."

"I'd say that was obvious, Fuegoleon," Mereoleona said, before, looking around, thinking of where to drag the two next. She wasn't sure whether they would let Leopold in, even if by now he was eighteen - he still looked like a cub and definitely acted like one - but she wasn't exactly intending to be fully sober the whole night.

For now, though, she supposed they could head to Kikka, where there were bound to be Surmaval stalls and attractions that Leopold could enjoy. (And maybe if he found his Black Bull friend - Shrimpsta, was it? No... Asta? - she could then afford to let the two wander alone and persuade Fuegoleon to go drink with her. Unlikely, but the woman currently pretending to be Allikaravitseja, didn't feel like drinking alone, nor did she feel like going sober.) [ 3 ]

---

Kikka was bustling with people. Clearly, she wasn't the only one who thought of this method of distracting their youngest family member - plenty of parents and elder siblings had brought their little ones here, where they would be under less risk of getting attacked under the bright streetlights and within crowds of potential witnesses. Not that she took Leopold here to protect him - he could protect himself as far as she was concerned, being the most promising rookie amongst the Crimson Lion Kings (which made sense, given that he was a Vermillion) - but it meant she was more than likely to be right the Black Bulls being here too.

"There are certainly... plenty of people around..." Fuegoleon noted lamely.

"And food!" Leopold exclaimed, dashing off to the nearest food stand.

"Loosen up for a second, brother - Leopold's not wrong. There's plenty of food, plenty of drink-"

"You realise that I can't drink too much given that I'll technically be back on duty in just a few hours, sister?" he argued, but smiled fondly at his younger sibling who seemed to want nothing more than to eat everything here.

As it were, the fire Vermillions were also known for their voracious appetites, so this was to be expected.

With that, he made his way to the same stand Leopold was currently at, agonising over which of the seasonal specialities he wanted to try first. "I should make sure that he doesn't end up eating too much and getting sick like that time during Festiver." [ 4 ]

Or that's what he told himself, anyway, but it was likely that Fuegoleon's appetite was starting to catch up with him now that he was surrounded by food.

Mereoleona smirked. Sure. If that was the excuse he was going to go with.

"Well, once you're done "making sure Leopold doesn't do anything stupid" the two of you can join me at the shot glass stand," the woman exclaimed, referring to the rigged stand with the pyramid of piled up shot glasses that you were supposed to shoot down, but generally speaking it was nigh impossible to do so. It wasn't the funnest game there - personally she preffered games where there was a fairer chance at winning, she didn't usually have the patience for these rip off games - but it was the closest game around that Leopold might enjoy. From there, perhaps if she could find something akin to a haunted house, or a fish/duckling/chick catching competition, there would be much more to find and to do. Even if she ended up having to spend the night mostly sober.

"Look, Mereo, a fish catching stand!"

Eight year old Mereoleona looked to her mother, who appeared excited, before looking over to the stand that had a pool in it, filled with little koi carps.

"If you manage to catch one of the pretty fishes, you get to keep it!" she'd tried to convince the girl to try some of the events, even though thus far she hadn't been terribly thrilled about them. The costume she was wearing currently was itchy, and part of her would rather be out in the wilderness, or off on her own...

But even so, it was worth a shot.

So, her mother took her to the stand, giving the vendor some money to allow her children to try. Fuegoleon seemed calm, but she could tell he already was more excited about this than she was, intensely focused on the fish, as he held the net firmly.

"Now, you only get a few seconds, so use them wisely," her mother told them. "Be calm and focused, like a lioness, preparing to strike."

Fuegoleon was eager to catch a fish, but wound up almost falling over into the pool as he lunged forward.

Much to her surprise though, as Mereoleona pulled back her net, she realised there was indeed a fish - albeit a scrawnier one than most of his fellow fish - tangled up in the net.

"Haha, looks like we have a winner. Would you like to keep the fish, your highness?" the vendor exclaimed with a smile.

Mereoleona looked at the fish, finding her pumping excitedly at the achievement despite the fact that only moments ago she was disinterested about this. She nodded, looking to see her mother beaming at her, and even though she didn't care much for fishes - if there was an animal she wasn't largely apathetic about unless it was meant to end up on her plate, it was a cat - she still was eager to take the fish. "I'll catch one for brother too! Can I? Can I? Please say that I can, mother!"

Lady Vermillion laughed. "Of course you can. You can try again too, Fuegoleon."

The next time, her catch came at the cost of her falling directly into the pool of fishes despite her mother's best attempts to keep an eye on her and stop her from falling in, so they unfortunately had to end their outing there, but since then, Mereoleona was rather keen to go back for the games, and later even the food and drinks. Especially with her mother encouraging her every time...

She managed to catch sight of an animal stand, finally, as she reached the shot glass stand.

This time, though, it made her feel melancholic.

Those days were long over.

And catching sight of Fuegoleon talking to one of the Crimson Lion Kings, with a look of concern on his face, she could tell they weren't going to be returning any time soon. Perhaps she should have gotten some sort of occupation, as her father had suggested. After all, everyone else in the family was either otherwise occupied or dead. For some time she had considered turning her training of Leopold and other magic knight rookies into her occupation. But she hated being restrained, forced to adhere to schedules and the politics surrounding the magic knights.

"Lady Mereoleona, do you wish to try this game?" the vendor asked, as she snapped back into reality.

"No, thank you." 'Not like I want to pay a bunch of swindlers and leave this place empty-handed.'

So, instead, she stepped away from the stand, making her way to the stand with baby chicks. It worked in a similar manner to the fish game, except rather than catching the babies you chased the adults, and if you returned all of the adults to their pen within a set time limit, you would get a little chick as a prize. It was a silly game and, just as with the fish, she didn't care for the prize, but she did like these kinds of games and she did like winning. (She'd rather play a game involving strength or alcohol, but in a place that was meant mostly for kids those stands were sparse.)

She could see Leopold nearby, having finally found the meatheaded Black Bull boy, along with his adoptive dark haired brother. They seemed to be intending to play "Ghost Busters", as they were standing in front of the building debating over something with the vendor. [ 5 ]

"No swords allowed," the vendor insisted.

"But what if his magic is part of his sword?"

"Technically, anti-magic isn't-"

"Shh, Klaus!" Leopold exclaimed. "Can't you see Yuno's trying to convince the vendor to let Asta in?"

"..."

"No devil anti-magic allowed either," the vendor narrowed his eyes at them.

"Oh, come on, Liebe's magic isn't evil!" Asta exclaimed. "I don't get why everyone has to judge people based on things that don't really matter! Liebe's a devil and he's a good guy. I use his anti-magic, but I'm a good guy. The elves... well they attacked us, but we attacked them first, so... they're not bad guys..."

"I said no."

"Alright, I suppose we can't change his mind," Yuno responded, much to everyone's shock. He turned away, even as the others were about to protest. "Come on, Asta, let's spend all our money somewhere else. Clearly this guy doesn't even care for the approval of royalty, or the hero who really saved Clover."

"Oh, I know what you're doing now..." Asta grinned. "You're right. I know this great foodstand that's way more worth our money -"

"Wait!" The words "money" and "royalty" seemed to trigger a reaction from the vendor.

Yuno turned around, looking nonchalant. "Yes...?"

"Alright, I'll allow for one person to use sword magic... and anti-magic... but the devil stays in the grimoire."

Well, at least Leopold seemed to be enjoying himself, the lioness noted, as her youngest brother grinned, entering the ghost Buster building, followed by a werewolf (Asta), a vampire (Yuno) and a voirloup, whose glasses through off the overall look he was going for (Klaus). [ 6 ] So the evening, she supposed, wasn't a complete waste of time. Even though Fuegoleon never so much as painted his face, and now he was off to being his usual, overly serious self.

Mereoleona looked back to the chicken stand, deciding that if she wasn't going to get drunk or spend time with Fuegoleon she might as well terrorise the chickens and see if she can get anything out of it.

---

"Well that's definitely one way of herding chickens," an amused voice commented from behind her.

"Aren't you supposed to be on duty, Vangeance?" she narrowed her eyes as she turned around to see William, oddly not in his captain wear for once.

Instead he looked like some mishmash of elf, animal and tree... that oddly worked, but it might have been down to the fact that he usually looked weird anyway. Regardless, it seemed like the whole GD had dressed up for the occasion too... which was something that never happened in previous years.

"I am," he responded. "We're technically on patrol, and as it happens the Golden Dawn was given the mission of making sure that no one is trying to use this Surmaval to deal illicit substances and traffick exotic animals and goods."

"As it happens..." It seemed to her more like Julius spoiled both the BBs and the GD by giving them the most convenient missions... either for gaining stars or to give them a chance to do their job while having fun. Everyone had their favourites and even this Wizard King was no exception. He definitely would have had somethinng to do with this.

"That doesn't explain the weird costume..."

"Well, I figured not standing out too much would help on this mission," William reasoned.

"I don't see how you're not going to stick out in that." She might have exaggerated a little, but it did look fairly eccentric, and saying that, she was dressed as a hotspring spirit.

He only offered a smile in return.

"Do you really think a person running a chicken herding game is going to be trafficking exotic animals or selling illicit substances?" she added.

"No, but I do find it strangely satisfying to watch royalty chase after chickens..." he admitted.

That bastard. "Well, I'd like to see you try do any better," she said, frustrated. At this point she'd lost what remaining patience she had with the hens, and they seemed to lose what patience they had with her, as one of them seemed to shoot her a glare.

"Alright," he surprised her, handing the vendor some money and then calmly walking into the pen.

Annoyingly enough the hens made nowhere near the fuss they had done with her and she felt indignant at the fact that they seemed to listen to William's gestures almost perfectly, ending up in the pen with time to spare.

"What, do you have some sort of animal whisperer magic on you too?" She folded her arms at her chest, refusing to accept that he might have managed something like this without magic.

He chuckled. "Even if I had - and I don't - it would be against the rules to use it, Lady Mereoleona." As the man handed him a chick, he added, "animals are good at picking up on the subtle things not all humans would be able to pick up on. They can tell when you're feeling certain emotions more often than people tend to give them credit for. They must have picked up on your frustration and felt intimidated by the possibility that you might hurt them because of it."

She much to say to that - it was true that she had a hard time controlling her anger. "I still think you cheated," she grumbled.

"Though, since you seemed to want to win a chick that bad, you can have this one," he offered up the small, yellow fluffy beaked thing that looked at her nervously. Right. Her anger intimidated it. "I wouldn't have much space for it at the aviary anyway, and these days there aren't as many people to take care of it when I'm not available." His smile faded then, probably at the memory of finding out that half his squad had been wiped out despite his best efforts.

She sighed. "It's not the chick I care about..."

"Then why play this game? You could play and probably win any other game here."

She shrugged. "Sentiment, probably."

"Well, regardless of why you played, you might find the chick's company more enjoyable than being alone," he insisted, handing her the chick. Mereoelona hadn't really been thinking when she took the chick and before she could realise what she signed herself up for, William had already turned away to leave.

The chick shivered a little in her hands. She wasn't sure if that was because of the cold or its instinctive distrust of her. "Alright, guess the two of us are stuck together now, thanks to that bastard," she muttered to herself. "Looks like you're drinking with me tonight. There might even be peanuts for you... or whatever the hell you eat, little yellow guy." The bird tilted its head at her, curious now.

---

Turned out there weren't any peanuts on the menu, and avocados and some other things she thought the chicken would be just fine with were completely off the menu, as a bartender had pointed out after he very reluctantly allowed her to enter with her new animal companion. [ 7 ]

It seemed that a fruit salad with watermelons, bananas and apples wasn't off the menu, so they split. Granted, the little thing had a tiny stomach so it ended up being a 1:9 split, but already it seemed like an enthusiastic eater. It would fit right in with the Vermillions, she figured.

And even though it probably wouldn't make for the best drinking partner ever - being as small as it was (and also because it was probably underage by chicken standards) - at least it stuck by her more than Fuegoleon did.

"You would think he would want to spend more time with his family after almost dying more than once... but no, that fool," she glared at her shot glass. "He chose to work instead. On Surmaval." Granted, a mission was a mission, but he also had rookies eager to prove themselves for that kind of job. Unless the whole kingdom was in danger or something there really shouldn't have been need for him to leave.

The chick spared her a glance, tilting its head, as if in question.

"Well, at least now I remember part of the reason why I left. It didn't exactly change anything. Maybe I should just return to the wilderness. You'd probably like it there... being a bird and all..." she contemplated. But then would a domesticated bird be able to survive in the wild? Well, the bird was hers now, so if she had anything to say about it, it would learn thrive there.

As if protesting against this, the chick seemed to wander off for a bit, pecking at the table beneath it, only for a more chicken-sized firepaw to pull it back.

"Oh, you're not going to chicken out that easily, are you?"

The chick squeaked in response.

"You're a lion cub now, after all..." Never mind that you couldn't just randomly change an animal's species, but that didn't seem to matter to Mereoleona. "Even if you are a very squeaky lion cub..."

The alcohol might have been responsible for part of that delusion.

"See, maybe I should get a job. Just to return Fuegoleon the favour." The chick seemed almost concerned about that idea. Looking towards him, she remembered that Vangeance had been quick to return to his duties too. Supposing all the captains were like this, it meant they genuinely were busy.

'Dammit...' She supposed it was selfish of her to ask this of Fuegoleon.

She wasn't even sure why, as an adult, she still held onto this festival. For sentimental reasons perhaps, but even Fuegoleon wasn't that attached to this event. They haven't attended this in years...

... And the reason for that was the second part of why she she'd been gone for this long.

But it was also the very reason why to celebrate Surmaval. After all, the origins of the festival were to honour the dead, to celebrate harvest and to acknowledge the gate between the world of the living and the world of the afterlife - the "spirit" realm. (Not the nature spirit kind.)

Standing up from her seat after taking some time to contemplate this, she placed the chick on her shoulder. It didn't seem to protest and instead took to eating her hair - which she would have normally been annoyed about, had she not had more things on her mind currently than this little bird.

Paying for her drinks, and wandering out the bar, she was counting on the cool night air helping her sober up before she got to cemetary.

---

Curiously enough, she spotted Nozel on her way there, wearing a vampire costume much to her surprise, though clearly still very much busy with work, rather than participating in any of the events. But considering she spotted Noelle - dressed as a water nymph -, Mimosa - a Murumemm, with a crown of wild flowers around her head and a skirt that looked like it was made from blades of grass -, Kahono - also wearing a water fairy-esque costume - and Secre - who also happened to go for the vampire aesthetics - the ridiculous outfit might have been donned for Noelle's sake, as she had never seen any of the Silvas participate in this annual festival in her life, outside of Acier. [ 8 ] The girls appeared to be headed into the "Ghost Busters" building, seeming cheerful. Which meant Nozel was doing a better job at being a big brother than he usually did.

She still felt tempted to comment on that ridiculously extravagant costume of his, though. At least until the chick on her shoulder reminded her of her intentions and she moved along.

---

Most flower shops were shut in the evenings, but tonight was special and thus she had managed to one which had been open, so that she could grab some random white, pink, red and orange flowers of different kinds. She had no idea what her bouquet was made up of - frankly she'd never cared too much about flowers and didn't think to ask the vendor - but she supposed her mother wouldn't care too much about what flowers she got her.

After all, she was dead.

Lady Vermillion probably wouldn't care that some of them had been torn by her chick's inquisitive beak, either... though thankfully she managed to stop it from swallowing any of it. She wasn't about to try and see what else was toxic to chickens.

She halted just as she was a few feet away from her mother's headstone.

"Fuegoleon?" she frowned.

The man turned around.

... Would this have been the real reason why he never seemed to celebrate Surmaval? Was this where he'd really run off to? She supposed, if that were the case, they had both been run away from things.

"It seems I'm not the only one to visit the cemetary tonight," Fuegoleon remarked.

He wasn't. And she wasn't even the only other person here.

Lanterns propped on headstones, flowers, candles at the graves... plenty of people had lost their loved ones over the last year or so. The graveyard was full of people - largely of noble and royal standing, but you could find deceased of any class and age here, if you looked long enough.

Usually, people stuck to the streets and the stands, but it seemed things have changed in more than one way.

She was sure she'd spotted the two middle Silva children who probably stood by their mother's grave - with Nebra dressed in layers of slightly trasnparent silver-blue-grey silk, and fake cranberries in her hair, Mereoleona assumed that the girl chose to inspire her costume with Soovana - , as well as a familiar man dressed in a ridiculously over-the-top Metsik costume, and eccentrically clad squad members wandering around a few rows of graves. [ 9 ]

She did recall hearing that half of the Golden Dawn had been killed during the attack on their base, but hadn't suspected they were any close. They never showed they were close the way the Crimson Lion Kings and Black Bulls expressed their closeness. But then, she supposed that maybe they were more like the Silver Eagles in that sense... close, in their own way, just not as outwardly chummy. Things would have changed quite drastically too between the elf reincarnation and Spade's attack - without forbidden magic from the elf souls affecting them, and with Yuno's presence forcing the GD members to re-evaluate their view on things (at least until it was revealed that the boy was of royal descent too) - which might have brought them closer together than they were before.

A small part of her couldn't help but feel a little bad for them, even if she initially didn't care for their haughtiness or their bastard of a captain.

"When did you adopt a chick?"

Mereoleona turned to face her brother, who seemed amused.

"Pretty sure by now the chick has adopted Lady Mereoleona instead." Speak of the devil.

She narrowed her eyes at Vangeance, though she doubted anyone could take her vary seriously when her pet chick was snuggled up to her neck. She was right to doubt, as William grinned widely at her.

"It seems the two of you get along."

She huffed. "No thanks to you. You just dumped your responsibility onto me, you bastard."

"Did you give your chick a name yet?" he ignored her complaints.

"What's it to you?" she retorted.

"Nothing, I suppose," he turned away, about to walk off. He'd probably picked up on her annoyance, and a small part of her felt strangely upset because of that. But before he could disappear again, she placed a fire paw on his head and drag him back though.

"Not this time," she decided for both William and Fuegoleon - who she grabbed before he could return to his duties too just a few moments later - as she dragged them off with her.

"Sister, I have responsibilities -"

"Lady Mereoleona, I-"

"Tough. I'm taking the two of you with me. I know just the thing for a Surmaval night."

---

"Wait... what does a volcano have to do with Surmaval?"

"Hotsprings have nothing to do with the celebration, last I checked, Sister..."

"I question your sanity."

"Ooh, hotspring! Wait... those aren't hostprings, that's a volcano!"

"Shut up, you idiots."

---

A/N: Anyone care to guess who the two other voices at the end belong to?

If anyone wants the hotsprings part of this story, feel free to request a part too.

Apologies for the lack of actual Merilliam fluff, but I didn't want to shoehorn it in with the way that the story was going.

Also, parts - like costumes and the name of the day - of this are inspired by European myths, legends and words. My very brief research probably means that I'm mistaken in some points, but I had a little fun searching through Google.

[ 1 ] Surmaval - made up of "surma" and "festival" which I think stands for "festival of death" but frankly I have no idea, because I don't actually know Estonian. Either way, Estonia is a country in Europe, makes sense to be included in this European-based fantasy world. Technically Halloween isn't traditionally a thing in Estonia though they apparently have their own versions of that, but these days it's becoming popular, so... And also Surmaval was probably one of the nicest sounding combinations of translated words... yes, I am that shallow.

[ 2 ] Kivialune - A small cave spirit that sends stones rolling after unwanted visitors to warn them away from his cave.

[ 3 ] Allikaravitseja - A healing spirit that dwells in hotsprings. I figured it would suit Mereoleona, given that she loves hotsprings.

[ 4 ] Festiver - Taken from the words "Fête D'hiver" or Festival of Winter. This world's version of Christmas, which takes place on the 24th of December instead of the 25th. Leopold with his stomach bigger than his wisdom ended up stuffing his face with food and then falling sick because of over-eating. That said, everyone in the fire branch of the Vermillion family has had that happen to them at least once.

[ 5 ] Ghost Busters - Basically a game where you enter a house full of popping up living (innocent) people and (evil) ghosts. You're supposed to use your magic to shoot down the ghosts but not the humans. To win you have to shoot down all the ghosts and none of the humans in a given time-limit. A max number of 4 people is allowed to go in together. (Hence why Liebe had to stay out of it. Poor Liebe, maybe next time.)

[ 6 ] Voirloup - A shape shifter similar to a werewolf, but able to shift into other animals outside of wolves, and part of French mythology, apparently.

[ 7 ] From what I've read, it seems avocadoes and raw peanuts and beas, amongst other things are toxic to chickens.

[ 8 ] Murumemm - An Estonian spirit who loves dancing and protects fields and farms.

[ 9 ] Soovana - The guardian spirit of wetlands who sometimes wears cranberries in their hair and also seems to go by "Soovana the Saddened Mist"... since "mist" is in the name and Nebra has mist magic, it seemed like the right costume for her, even though the spirit seems to be male in Estonian folklore. (I could be wrong though.)

Metsik - A forest elf spirit, guardian of the woodlands. When they appear near people they often take the form of animals or trees, disapprove the cutting down of trees, fires and most of all littering, and when people with evil intentions enter the spirit's home it misleads them.

#black clover #william vangeance #mereoleona vermillion #mereoleona x william #william x mereoleona #merilliam

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winryofresembool · 4 years

Text

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 4

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Leo makes a deal with Piper and Jason.

A/N: Time to introduce more characters! I'm currently reading The Burning Maze (yeah, wish me luck) so I'm not gonna lie, I'm feeling for Jason and Piper more than before and that will probably show in this fic too. But worry not, no body is dying in my story (yet). Anyways, I had a lot of fun with this chapter and Leo's pov and I hope it shows! As usual, thanks to the lovely Cris for noticing my silly mistakes! Feedback would be really loved as it's the only way for me to know what you guys think of this (and it really motivates me!)

Characters in this ch: Leo, Piper, Jason

Words: 2100+

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort (in the future chapters)

Warnings: none

previous chapter / next chapter / AO3

...

“You know, when you told me you’d be moving out of our flat, I didn’t realize you’d be switching our modest mancave to… basically a mansion.” Leo whistled. He was visiting Jason and his girlfriend Piper’s new home for the first time, only to find out that the place was a new two-floor, 5-bedroom house with a big yard and a garage. Leo knew Piper’s dad was a famous movie star but even so, he couldn’t help but be surprised by the size and the fanciness of the place.

“Yeah,” Jason agreed, ruffling his short, spiky hair awkwardly. He knew about Leo’s background, the part about no biological parents and having to live on the streets for weeks between different foster homes until the police finally picked him and made him go to another family. That’s why Jason didn’t like to make a big number of living in such a place and about the fact that both his and Piper’s dads were rich and well known. As a matter of fact, Jason has moved away from his childhood home already at 16, living with his sister Thalia and working after school to pay for his living because he didn’t get along with his father well. Having Piper’s dad fund the new place had not been an easy thing to swallow for him and Jason swore that once he had gotten a job, he would pay him back. “I told Piper’s dad that we’d be perfectly happy with something smaller, but he refused to listen,” he told Leo too.

“Must be pretty great to have a father like that,” Leo mumbled under his breath, and Jason didn’t miss the tone of his voice.

“I know what it sounds like, but believe me, both of us have had our own issues with our parents.” It wasn’t a lie. Jason’s mother had died of a severe illness when he was young, and his father had always expected him to take over his business when he got older. However, Jason had never wanted that, which led to a huge argument and his father telling him he’d disown him entirely if Jason didn’t listen to him.

Piper’s dad again was almost never home, being busy with his work, and her mother had left her family when she was a young kid. Piper had visited her occasionally until her teenage years, but these days she only saw her about once a year. From what Piper had heard, she was constantly running after new men and busy with her beauty business. All that meant that Piper was basically raised by a nanny, and she was suspecting that her dad had gotten the house mainly out of regret.

Either way, even though Jason and Piper’s experiences hadn’t been quite as traumatic as Leo’s, perhaps the problematic family backgrounds had been an important uniting factor for the three of them when they learned to know each other. It was also a big reason why Leo wasn’t actually bitter towards his friends about this new luxury. He knew they deserved to have good things in their lives after what they had gone through.

“Yeah, I know,” Leo replied to Jason. “Don’t worry man, I was just surprised, that’s all. Now you have some space to invite Uncle Leo over sometimes too, right?”

“As long as you remember to pull your head from your machine clouds sometimes,” Jason jabbed back. “It’s been a while since I’ve heard anything from you. How are things going?”

“Busy busy,” Leo answered. “You know, the usual: the profs being a huge pain in my ass, people lining up to get me to fix their things that in reality would take them like 3 minutes to fix and… oh, I have a new flatmate.”

“You do?” Jason asked curiously. “What’s he like?”

“First of all, she’s a she and it’s a long story so I’d prefer to tell it when Piper is hearing it too so I don’t have to tell it twice,” Leo said, so that Jason wouldn’t ask more questions. The blonde boy simply nodded and gestured towards the entrance of the house. After that he gave Leo a quick tour on the first floor.

“You have this much space here and no workshop? Holy Hephaestus, dude, you need to sort out your priorities!” Leo exclaimed once he had seen most of it.

“Hephaestus? That’s a new one,” Jason said with amusement.

“Yeah, well… my new flatmate is into Greek mythology… and Hephaestus is the god of blacksmiths… so that’s kinda cool,” Leo explained as nonchalantly as possible.

“Yeah, but did you really pay attention to the mythology lessons? I thought you only care about sciences and handicrafts,” Jason pointed out.

“Fine, you got me. Everything I know about Greek mythology is through my childhood nanny.” Jason couldn’t help but snort at that.

Leo had to admit he was rather impressed by what he had seen even though the house was still lacking a workshop. Besides, Jason had already promised the guest room would be open for him any time he wanted, which was an offer he would definitely be using soon enough.

“Hi, Leo!” a brown haired girl greeted him happily as soon as he reached the living room.

“Pipes, hi!” Leo greeted back, throwing her a high five as was their usual habit every time they met. “Would your dad be willing to buy me a place too so I could move away from that old, dusty building?”

“He’s a nice guy, Leo, but he has his limits too,” Piper noted, knowing that Leo wasn’t asking seriously. “Trust me, Jason and I don’t like owing him either. But I thought you liked it in your current flat? What’s the issue?”

“I guess it just isn’t quite the same without you guys hanging out there all the time,” Leo shrugged. “And my new flatmate seems to think after 10 PM is not an appropriate time to fix people’s machines. Go figure.”

“Yeah, why would anyone want to sleep at night?” Piper replied sarcastically but then smiled at him. “So, you do have a new flatmate?”

“Yeah,” Leo nodded, not elaborating more.

Jason couldn’t help but tease a bit: “And it’s a girl and he refused to tell me anything about her.”

“Oh,” Piper said, a curious gleaming in her eyes, “Is that so, Leo?”

Leo punched Jason on his bicep, which however only made him laugh. “Your boyfriend here is changing facts. I only told him that I’d like to tell the full story when you’re hearing it too because I don’t care about going through it any more times than necessary.”

“You’re being quite grumpy about it, though,” Jason retorted. “C’mon, we’re curious.”

“Fine.” Leo sighed. “Her name is Calypso and she’s a history student,” he said simply.

“Wow, I feel I basically know her already,” Piper replied sarcastically. “There must be something else too,” she urged with an encouraging tone that usually never failed to make Leo talk. “What about the long story?”

Suddenly Leo blurted the whole story from their meeting to her cold attitude to Festus breaking Calypso’s desk and to him fixing it and finally cracking her shell a bit. Not much, Leo felt, but at least she greeted him now when they were in the common area at the same time and didn’t seem quite as angry at him anymore. She had even smiled at him the other day. Briefly. Leo tried to shake that thought out of his head. Damn it, why did he always have a thing for girls who were way out of his league (and who hated his guts)?

“Tough luck, man,” Jason said when Leo finished his story. “Maybe she will come around, though.”

Piper, who was very good at reading people’s emotions, though, reacted quite differently.

“Try to think about it from her point of view. She has, based on what you just said, just moved to a new town where she knows no one, and then the first person she meets was – don’t take this as an offense - maybe a bit different than what she expected and then he also breaks what little she owns… I’d probably be pissed off too. So instead of firing back – if she’s still angry – you could try a different approach. You know, actually being nice to her and not making jokes at inappropriate moments.”

Leo frowned. “Hey! It wasn’t like I was intentionally trying to be rude or break anything! I did apologize and fix the desk! She just makes it so easy to be snarky sometimes…”

“Have you really tried to get to know her, though?” Piper asked. “She could be happy if you showed some actual interest in her.”

Leo blushed a bit at the word ‘interest’. “I’m really not so sure about that… To me she seems the happiest when I just let her be.”

“But you’re gonna live together for a while, you can’t just avoid her forever,” Piper pointed out.

“I hate it when you’re right, beauty queen,” Leo rolled his eyes at her. Jason decided to change the topic.

“Hey, how about a card game? If Leo wins, we’ll let you withdraw into your tinkering cave for one more week. If you lose, then we are challenging you to talk to her within the next 24 hours.”

“Sounds like a pretty unfair deal,” Leo muttered. “But knowing you guys you won’t be giving me a choice. However, if I win, I demand to get to live here from next Friday to Sunday, free food and foot massages included.”

“I’m not gonna touch your dirty feet!” Jason protested.

“But if I’m gonna have to talk to her either way, I feel it’s a fair deal.” Leo grinned as if he had won already.

“Alright. You can spend here even a whole week if you want and we will buy your food BUT we are not gonna massage your feet,” Piper tried to compromise.

“Bummer. I was really looking forward to that. But fine, I’ll accept the deal.” Leo shook both Piper and Jason’s hands to seal it. “Now, let me show you what a real card master can do!”

…

Leo turned out to be an amazing card mixer (his hands always fiddled with something so he had definitely practiced card mixing too) and a good strategist (his main strategy was trying to distract his opponents with bad jokes) but Piper and Jason weren’t bad either. After playing for over 30 minutes, the winner still hadn’t been decided so the trio decided to go all in, the next round would decide the winner.

Piper dealt the cards this time, Leo and Jason taking theirs. A wild grin spreading to Leo’s face when he checked his cards.

“Woah. Sorry, Grace, but I’m afraid I won this game.”

“Is that so, Valdez?” Jason asked, rather confidently as well. Leo glanced at him with confusion only for a moment before he smashed his cards on the table.

“Quads!” he exclaimed happily as he spread the cards on the table for the others to see. Jason’s mouth twitched.

“Not bad, Repair Boy,” the blonde boy said, using the nickname Piper had come up with. “But I’m afraid that won’t win this.”

He showed his cards, revealing five hearts, numbers 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Leo’s face paled a bit and the grin disappeared.

“Straight flush! That’s impossible!” he yelped.

“It’s not!” Piper said. “But don’t worry, I think this is a win for both of us. We don’t have to buy your food and you get to stop being stubborn a bit faster. C’mon, this could be a good thing. You might have formed your opinion on her too fast.”

“Hmmph. But fine. I’ll talk to her. Tomorrow. Today, my pride has been wounded.”

Jason and Piper both muffled their giggles. Not much later, Leo decided to go home as he supposedly had homework to finish (in reality, he had already finished his physics exercises in class while bored of listening to the professor talk about something that was way too obvious to him) but the other two knew he was simply making excuses. When Leo had decided he didn’t want to do something, it was /really/ hard to get him to do it, because he was that stubborn. And clearly talking with that girl was one of those things.

Once Jason and Piper had waved Leo goodbye and watched him strut farther on the road, Piper asked quietly: “Should we have told him that the dealer may have been a bit partial and she’s also good at card tricks?”

“Nah, let him think it was a fair game. Otherwise we’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Yeah, you’re right there,” Piper admitted and the two burst into laughter.

#caleo #leo valdez #calypso #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians #trials of apollo #jason grace #piper mclean #my fics #caleo uni au

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charliedoesfanarts · 6 years

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IDK why, but I have been plagued with the thoughts of this AU on and off for three months so it is now time for other people to deal with this too. I can’t even play the game, what the hell am I doing???

Basics So, the idea is that each of the Astrals have a “Herald” within Noctis’ group. This does include an OC whos plot info will be at the very bottom so it is easy to skip. Slight mentionings in Luna’s portion but with no real detail The Astrals can see inside of people's “Souls” and chose a Herald based upon their role to Noctis, personality, and history. Noctis is still the summoner, with ties to all of the Astrals and able to have them lend him their powers. However, it is noted that these summons are easier and more powerful when their respective Herald is around. The Herald list is this: Noctis - Bahumat. He does not get any “benefits” from this until the final battle, but it could be considered that his connection to Magic and the crystal is the blessing. Gladiolus - Titan. The steadfast protector, Titan has granted him additional strength and endurance. Jokingly, he has noted that he has not felt any difference. Ignis - Ramuh. The intelligent advisor, Ignis has noted he feels a bit more quick on his feet after Noctis had completed his trial. Lunafreya - Shiva. She had become Shiva’s Herald long before the events of the game. The two have a closer relationship than any of the other Heralds. Prompto - Ifrit. The last to become a Herald proper, Ifrit chooses Prompto after Bahumat helps Noctis defeat him and Ardyn. OC - Leviathan. She becomes the Herald of Leviathan during the events in Altissia.They bond over a growing hatred of the situation. Each of the Astrals give the Herald access to a specific type of magic, and some abilities associated with their given element. The Heralds only have a limited amount of mana, exceptions being Luna and Noctis whos blessed bloodlines allow them their own personal mana reserve. The more intune a Herald is with their Astral, the stronger they are and the stronger Noctis’ summon is.

More under Readmore

Noctis Noctis, being the Chosen King, is born as a Herald of Bahamut. This is not terribly different from his in-game kit. He can summon weapons and use light based magic. See, not different. Honestly, this part is very boring, sorry!

Gladiolus Titan has spent a lot of time asleep because of the Meteor that he protected Eos from. Looking upon the dedicated guard, he sees this as an easy choice. This makes Gladio the first of the party to “become” a Herald. This started off subtly, since the physical benefit is great strength and heightened endurance. Gladio “The Fucking Tank” Amicita did not notice a fucking thing. He thought it was just a benefit of his working out. Then he manifests his first instance of Earth Magic Noctis: I didn’t give you a flask for that? Gladio: *Sword encompassed with a rock that allowed him to hit the MT twenty feet away* Gladio: I’m not complaining Most of his magic is used to accent his own physical abilities. Rock formations on shields for added armor The same on swords to create mauls. If he practiced at his magic, he could cause small patches of earthquakes. Gladio does not particularly like using large spells. It costs his limited mana and he trusts his skills in fighting far more. However, he had once caused rock pillars by accident in a cave, crushing their enemies at the top of the cave. That was cool and he wishes he could do it again.

Ignis Ramuh is the law bearer, and it made sense to him to give Ignis the most chaotic of the Astral’s magic. He would be dedicated enough to keep it from overwhelming himself. There is no major physical abilities for Ignis. He notes that he swears the wind is pushing him along when he runs. His benifit is in two types of elemental magic: Wind and Lightning. The wind magic is often used to help flasks and grenades fly properly. Or not, depending on who throws them. He has also figured out how to help Noctis during jump attacks. Lightning is used in a more aggressive manner. Stick daggers into the target then use them to guide the lightning. It is quite effective. And sometimes smells like barbecue He still prefers to use the flasks, and have the mana on reserve for emergencies. The largest spell he had cast was when he was the last one standing against a troop of MTs. It was a large storm, though not as powerful as Ramuhs. Still killed them all though. And it was quite terrifying.

Lunafreya While she is the third Herald in the party, she is the second to be chosen. She is chosen during her time in the Niflheim empire. Shiva knew that she needed a Herald, and she was certainly the best choice. Her compassion made Shiva certain that the powers would be used for good. Luna does not get cold. Like, she does not shiver or catch colds. It was a little amazing, really. Her magic relies upon Ice and Light She is a skilled Illusionist, but keeps this close to her chest. Wields polearms and swords, Mainly the trident or a rapier in battle. She can create these out of ice. She relies heavily upon her magic, as she is not always in a good state to fight. Being intune with Shiva and her own personal mana makes it viable for her. She does survive the events of Chapter Nine: Her friend, the OC, convinces her that protecting Noctis may be important but doing it out in the open with a pissed off Astral and the Empire attacking might not be a great idea. The OC is following Luna’s lead, with Luna switching their appearances. She is pissed when Ardyn “kills|” her friend, and rushed towards her when Ardyn departs. Soaking wet and pissed by the end of the Chapter, she joins the boys to help them defeat Ardyn and stop the star scourge. While still capable of healing the Star Scourge, it is not a magic gifted to her by Shiva. People are worried about her fighting. It’s okay, she’ll do it anyway. Noctis: You still need more training. Luna: I can use my Illusions to hide while I fight. Gladio: Not good enough, Ma’am. Stay back. Luna: (ง'̀-'́)ง She can team up quite well with Ignis for magic, creating a stronger Ice Storm. It is really terrifying for enemies, but they can’t do it often because of the Mana requirements.

Prompto Was the last of his friends to become a Herald. It was a serious blow to his self-esteem. Ifrit had thought that Ardyn was his Herald. The best possible person to reflect his intentions and feeling. The deamon side was a large part of this. When Shiva destroyed his body, it freed him from that side. While not a friend of humans, he had a vested interest in stopping the Star Scourge. However, Prompto reminded him of who he was before. Even with everything weighing him down, Prompto still tried to shine a positive light upon it. This means that for a small period of time, Prompto was in tune with Fire Magic. It did not take him long to get his guns firing stronger, fire infused magic.

OC - Mare Aecor Bit of backstory: Member of a highly stationed family in Niflheim, her father being the head of the Navy. When the Flueret family fell into Niflheim’s hands, she was brought to Luna to keep her company. If she had a friend in the Empire, she might be happy enough to keep people loyal. She specifically was chosen because of her reputation of being an exceedingly stubborn child. Her will needed to be able to match Luna’s. She trained with her father, and has self appointed herself as Luna’s guardian. Does know of Gentiana, but has never seen her. Loves the dogs very much. A very passionate woman. She was chosen by Leviathan during the events of Chapter Nine. Luna had garnered the Astral’s respect when she stood her ground, but Mare earned her title when she was able to convince the Oracle to stand down. Her Heraldhood was in effect when Ardyn “killed” her. Her body was thrown into the sea, which was the first time her magic took effect. Her magic is centered around Water and Healing. This makes most of her magic supportive in nature, but she is stubborn and capable of making it offensive as well. Uses swords and rifles in battle. Trains with Luna in their swordsmanship. Commonly a saber. Since she was raised in the Empire, she hands herself over upon discovering her abilities. She hopes that they can be used to calm the people and help cure the Star Scourge. Instead, she gets taken to a lab to study the abilities. It is at this point that she learns she can drown people. And that she can produce water from wounds. And that she can breath under water. She gets saved between chapter 9 and 10, but not after she has developed her own hatred towards mankind. Only the MTs had survived her abilities, by her own choice. Because of their shared traits, her connection to Levithan is strong. This gives her a large amount of mana. She does not use it often though, not liking to heal more people to cause trouble.

#final fantasy xv #ffxv #ffxv au #heralds au #what am i doing??? idk but now other people can think about this too

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lerrengwesten · 7 years

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Chapter 1

Read it below the cut.

We are introduced to Teltra and he goes on a lovely little trip to a swamp. There’s a number of characters mentioned here that I haven’t drawn out yet, but will some day as they’re somewhat important (Vitabre, Nlimnumile, the Lbutras)

Warning for characters being jerks to each other, fantasy racism, some kind of graphic, or at least painful descriptions of physical harm, and some very mildly nsfw bits of potty humors and bashing sexual reproduction. That’s kind of a reoccurring joke in this universe, and actually does sort of tie into coaster history.

He was the one. He was no one. Beloved of the mobbing Ehtstunisa, the minor spirits that were useless for all but complaining and boasting of knowing each and every creature better than their Far Spirits or Creators did. Beloved of the Nlegera spirits that scarcely knew of a few Far Spirits and a dozen beings in their life time,yet swarmed those in their proximity, propelling them with their spiritual energy. Yet despised by his own Far Spirit as a mistake, too costly for his own good. But he remained. After all, the money was spent, and he was loved by the lesser spirits, so there was no reason to end him in his present condition.. Roughly ten years ago, this being arose in the rough, mountainous Woodlands. He was the second of his kind, the first a little-known beast of the name Solossco, who towered over every being in the woodlands but the abomination Vitabre. Like his predecessor, rather than being knit together largely freehand from individual parts, he was assembled. Snapped together. Why was this done? To alleviate the shaking and agony that curses virtually all the creatures of the Woodlands with age, in an attempt to keep him decent and reasonable rather than enraged by constant pain for as long as possible, as not to scare off the Nlegera and spell an early doom for him and financial failure for his owner, the Great Banenhaxer. In the same meadow where the wretched creature he was sent to replace had been originally spawned in, he awoke, stretched out his long legs, and sprang away freely. With this, Ehtstunisa and Nlegera alike mobbed him, and, swollen with their power, he broke into a full run, at speeds surpassed only by Vitabre at that time. Effortlessly, he sprang over trees and small hills in single bounds, pausing only to pound along the ground without losing speed. Two white cat-like creatures also owned by the Great Banenhaxer casually jogged into the meadow, unaware of what was taking place. From what they said years later, they avoided all news of his development and creation after the intital announcement of his coming, driven unavoidable and intolerable envy and fear of his presence. They resumed life as it had been before, entirely oblivious. Part of this life was crossing the meadow in question. At first it seemed that though they would pass through without trouble. Then the new creature suddenly whipped around, and, realizing that his path was blocked, sprang clear over the pair, to the delight of the onlooking spirits. --- Dagnakki suddenly regained control of their body, allowing them to slam down the bundle of papers locked in their tentacles. A three-headed parasite embedded in their head had just finished its shift in controlling their shared body. Dagnakki understood well why Teltra, that Woodland creature in question, was so hated by so many, the two cats included. They were aware that the flame of envy burned in their own heart for their more fortunate, popular relative Tckero, who did not have to deal with such three-headed, time-wasting parasites, the poorer standards of care of the Banenhaxers which resulted in pain and foul moods and even more ludicrous frequency of illness and injury, and painful shoulder spines and a stiff torso due to a misguided and pointless safety restriction. As they sat in their cave for days on end motionless, unable to move much due to some sort of trouble, writing all that they learned from their subordinates, they sometimes heard the roar of Tcekro sailing along gracefully outside. Many a page of writing was ruined by them shredding it or smashing a bottle of ink in frustration in such situations. They wished they could fly across the plains at top speed like them without shaking viciously. Their Banenhaxer's carelessness left them with such terrible shaking that flocking minor spirits often ignored their slight advantage in height and speed to flock to Tcekro's grace and gentleness, leaving them miserable even when they weren't injured or stalled by the parasite. Similar things could be said of what they had learned from the Woodland creatures regarding Teltra. He was generally the obnoxiously cheerful sort, the kind of being that offered sincere, but pointlessly general and ignorant encouragement to those in trouble, attempting to make them feel better but giving them only annoyance from positivity that came off as thoughtless. On top of this, he could become very passionate, but his ignorance and lack of experience painted his emotion with a misguided, foolish tinge that grated upon the other beings even more. His physical condition made things even worse. His popularity with the spirits and general lack of physical decline infuriated the shaking, miserable creatures who had watched themselves go from stars to lonely sadsacks in a matter of years as their legs began to quiver and movements grow more vicious and unsteady. It also did not help that few other creatures were made in his design, despite its popularity with the common spirits. Why so few other creatures like him were created was unknown to Dagnakki, as was most of the secretive Far Spirits' reasoning. Had his type become widespread and largely replaced the typical style of Woodland creatures, he likely would have blended into the new elite and perhaps been admired for being one of the first of his kind and offering such a good first impression. However, left alone with his three siblings in design living far away, under the control of more remote Far Spirits, he came off as a "Chosen One" type, the sort so irritatingly perfect that others shunned him for the aforementioned reasons of jealousy. Dagnakki knew well the feeling of yearning to avoid someone due to the pang of envy and anger felt when forced to be around one hopelessly their superior, and for this reason could not blame the Woodland creatures for feeling the way they did. But Teltra was essentially alienated and stripped of his title as a being of the Woodlands by them for his unusual method of creation, and condemned even by his Far Spirit. Dagnakki was owned by the Great Banenhaxer as well, and the strain on its resources to care for it had made it reconsider having Teltra made, as he would be nearly as expensive. In the end, Dagnakki themself felt a little sorry for him and reluctantly took him under their wing. He was indeed irritating to be around in his cheerfulness, but they could appreciate his speed, which allowed him to investigate more dangerous beings with lower risk of physical harm than slower or weaker creatures. He was also doggedly loyal to them, grateful to find a living being with at least a neutral opinion of him. Presently, he was standing behind them, bouncing up and down on his hooves, eagerly waiting for them to get control of themself again and tell him what he was going to investigate for them that day. They nodded, acknowledging his silent question and indicating that they finally had the bodily control to speak. "What the fuck is up with those Lbutras' nicknames anyways? "Bad Bitch"? "Luxury Shag"? "Yellow Snow"? "Burnt Toast?" "The Biggest Shit"? Would it not be nice to know the meaning of them to sate our own curiosity and keep stashed away as fucking blackmail for all eternity?” He shrugged. Dagnakki’s rough language and harsh demeanor was typical of them. Particularly after absences like this, as virtually anyone would be agitated by being able to think, but not move to act on those urges. Such unexpected, explosive thoughts were common after Dagnakki got control back. “Well, I think you know what to do, Teltra. The Swamp is the best place to find a bunch of those guys, of course." Teltra just smiled back and dashed out of the cave, off into the desert beyond. Black sand continued for miles, only interrupted by the occasional oasis and stones, the vast majority of which were stark white. At the edges of the desert, perhaps yellow, blue, or pink ones could be found, but otherwise there was no escape from the monochromatic expanse. It would be considered a harsh and inhospitable place to many, but the inhabitants of the Peninsula thought little of of the scorching heat and associated searing temperature of the dark ground. It was simply a dull place they had to pass through to get virtually anywhere and a neutral fact of life. Only the central part of the desert and far northern reaches were considered dangerous. The central region was home to Atochengra, a notoriously violent group of beings created by the Archer, a now-deceased creator, that often viciously attacked intruders from other origins out of spite and fear. Fortunately, their activity had been in decline for several years as they died off. Few beings could get by them to even know who or what resided in the far north, but legends told of bizarre ghost-white creatures that lived in constant fear of their unforgiving Far Spirits killing them for even the mildest of offenses. Teltra was headed towards the south, though. The majority of the population of the Peninsula lived in a wide crescent of land that encircled the desert and bordered the surrounding sea. To the far east was a flat, humid, wooded area dotted with lakes where the Fsemacea, the creations of the Dragons, were based (thought they frequently wandered all over the Peninsula with little regard for borders). To the west was a vast region of rolling hills that was historically controlled by the Lteiasecl, a loosely related group of creatures all made by the Moon Mimic over more than four decades, a group that included Dagnakki and Tcekro. Teltra was also arguably a Lteiasecl, but beings of the Woodlands like him were generally considered entirely separate from other creatures due to numerous physical differences. These Woodlands were beyond a mountain range in the far northeast of the desert, which kept most of the creatures that lived in them physically separate from the rest of the Peninsula. The place where Teltra was headed to was a swampy splotch in the armpit of the crescent. At his rapid running speed of close to 70 miles per hour, he was rapidly approaching this area. The black sand was growing patchier with scraggly white-stemmed weeds, which were soon being replaced with typical green plants. He found himself slowing down as the ground grew moist and muddy. Mud and plant scum began to splatter all over his legs with each step, but he didn't particularly care as his fur was already brown. More and more splashed up with each stride and he applied more force to remove his hooves from the the deepening muck the further he went, until he was trudging through ankle-deep water. The sluggish pace irritated him, but he had done this many times before and had oddly grown to appreciate the resistance. All he could see were trees and water. Green, black, and brown. No bright flashes of color, telltale signs of approaching Lbutra or at least any other being that could point him in the direction of any. His smile faded a little, but he shook his head and started to mentally compare the shapes of tree trunks to creatures he'd met before. A short, thick tree with harshly angled branches brought to mind Neentis, a Lteiasecl who was almost half his size and had chased him away and tried to sock him in the neck after he asked about what happened to her broken-off horn. One of them had a trunk twisted into a loop, just like Vitabre's notorious conjoined front tusks. He turned away from that tree quickly, not wanting them back in his thoughts. As he turned around, his eyes followed some low-hanging branches up the delicate trunk of what must have been one of the tallest trees in the forest. Its trunk was far paler in color than the others, a whitish silver stained yellow by the sun's rays. Just like Nlimnumile. He'd only met her once, but that fleeting encounter was perhaps the best he'd ever had. She was surpassed as the tallest and fastest and the land mere months after her arrival, but her grace, gentleness, and magnificence endured, and she remained the spiritual leader of the Lteiasecl to the current day. He had said nothing to her, but even the thought of her presence still gave him chills years after meeting her. And now, he was getting chills as he noticed a faint, but horrible smell. For him, it was simply a terrible smell associated with Lbutra #35, known as “Dead Baby”. To one who would recognize it, it was the reek of dead fish. Tangled with it was the scent of Lbutra #2, “Skid Marks”, an acrid, burning smell. Virtually any other being would be fleeing as quickly as possible in water that deep, but Teltra did not stir. He rather liked the Lbutras. "Hello there, you two! Mind if I ask you a question?" He wiggled around and tapped his hooves, in laughably slow motion, though, as a large clump of plant matter became entangled with them. Still jittering in anticipation for the Lbutra to appear, it took him a second to realize that he was plummeting into the murky water below. The moment he noticed the white sparks of shock, they were drowned out. The enormous splash produced provoked them. They were too far away to have heard Teltra's voice, but they knew that any creature that created ripples that prominent was not one of their own. They hovered high enough that they didn't even touch the water. #35 was the more graceful of the two, but lacked the agility of #2 and navigated the forest in wide arcs. Their partner veered and weaved around trees with vicious, shaky turns that often grazed other trees in the process of avoiding others. But pain was nothing to the second Lbutra ever created, as they were even clumsier than the average Lbutra, and age and poor treatment under a Banenhaxer for many years had done them no favors. All creatures shook in severity from mild vibrations to vicious wobbles, but due to their designs Lbutra were particularly pained by tremors. Many were of a relatively primitive design and had difficulty moving steadily , which forced them to constantly flail about to balance themselves. This was also true of other Nepspra, but Lbutra had it worse due to their weak, but very flexible necks. While their limbs could be locked and steadied, their heads could not, as their necks could not support their large skulls and heavy horns well even when completely still. The result was constant headbanging and difficulty navigating with their field of vision constantly being flipped and tilted by this. They blamed this on the Fsemacea since rumors suggested that a copyright claim by their creators, The Dragons, prohibited any other creator from making a floating being with a thick neck. Nepspra in general were known for their at times violent envy and resentment of other being due to their status as cheap, nasty creatures for cheap, nasty Far Spirits with poor taste. Since nobody seemed to care for them, they saw no reason to care for anyone else but themselves. Which was why they were so feared. Teltra's eyes lit up in delight and a dopey grin spread across his face as he saw two blurs, one bold red and the other yellow and black, approaching. The prospect of Dead Baby having another enormous sibling was amazing. He never expected another Far Spirit to acquire another larger Lbutra like her, as the main appeal of that sort of creature was in their small size and ease of acquisition, but he was excited to see who this stranger was. After all, she had always been white with crimson stripes, and clearly the larger of these strange Lbutra was not. He did not recognize the red one either. Solid colorations like that were often the marker of having a cheap or poor owner. This was also intriguing to him, though, as often the lower-class Far Spirits owned quirky or very aggressive creatures, due to their looser control over them compared to more powerful spirits. "What are you doing here?" The smaller being spoke first, snapping at him, but in an oddly gentle, thoughtless way. They weren't even looking at him or their partner, but rather, a clump of moss on a nearby tree. "Oh, hello there! Why, I'm here to interview Lbutra like you for my boss Dagnakki's records." "No shit...We're well aware of why already. We've talked before, bud." "Well, I have no idea who you two are. I thought you were going to be Dead Baby and Skid Marks based on your smells, but it seems I'm wrong-" The red Lbutra narrowed their eyes and jolted closer, almost up to his face, but still looking unenthusiastic and bored in their irritation. "Don't let me here either of those names ever again. I'm Painfully Mediocre Serpent and this is Queen Bee. It's for the best of both of us that we forget who I.. once was. Don't even call me by "he" anymore. Naeaphid’s been calling me a “she” now, but that would get confusing with Bee here, so just... use anything but that, anything. I want all ties to... that time when I was Marks cut." They rubbed a bony, crimson shoulder. Where most Lbutra had a long, horn-like spine, there was a flat spot. It looked sawed-off. "You guys both got modified and recolored?" "Yes. Yes we did. Let's put this aside." She was finally sounding legitimately agitated. Too many creatures had asked her this question before. She started to turn around to head back to patrolling the area with #35 when she heard Teltra ask something else. "Where do you guys get your names from anyways? That's what Dagnakki wanted me to ask you this time, anyways. " "Naeaphid gives them to us. Frankly, they make no sense and it's better not asking it why they are what they are. Good way to get hit by the headaches or chucked across the lake, that is." Queen Bee shoved in. "I've asked it, you know. Pain's nothing. It can't hurt me anyways. I'm too big and valuable. I'm named after some disgusting little flying earth creature. One of the sexed ones. And "Queen" is one those disgusting old human terms for an... ugh, FEMALE leader. How foul, to be compared to a sexual organism!" Both of heir faces scrunched up into even uglier looks of disgust than usual. "It's just PROFANE. Yours has got to be something vulgar, too, PMS. Or at least insulting. But face it, it would never stoop that low. Because we all know by now how much that Naeaphid enjoys its shitty title of being the nastiest creature alive and just how hard it works to keep it." "I remember the day I ran into Voxtre and asked him about the meaning of my old name- oh, Stars!" The smaller Lbutra began pounding her head against the nearest tree to rid herself of the memory. "Miss having your spines, don't you?" "Only in times like this." Teltra watched the two yabbering, silently amused and mentally taking notes for Dagnakki. They quickly became aware of this, and suddenly snapped back to doing their actual jobs as guards. "Well there you go, moo-cow. Go away now." "You're not going to fly after me and try to punch me today?" "No. We have more important duties at hand than dealing with irrelevant creatures like you. You woodies will never understand our conflicts, and you lot haven't got the smarts to even if we did explain them. " Teltra shrugged and walked off. He'd been called simple by many a creature before and it frankly didn't bother him anymore. It was a common stereotype about Woodland beings like him, mainly borne from their distance from the affairs of lands outside their woods and the conservative nature of many older creatures. They in turn often saw the outside creatures as unreasonably nosy and violent, the former of which was part of the reason why Teltra had found himself outcast from them. Night was falling as the swamp faded to the desert. Soon the darkness of the sky fused with the ground, and the only way of telling up from down were the stars above. The words of the two Lbutra echoed in his head and he jogged along. He found himself chuckling them to himself, sometimes breaking his stride in the process. It was the kind of bizarre fact that one can't resist but tell to others just to see their reactions, and he felt a nagging desire to hurry back to tell Dagnakki about it. But he also felt a nagging desire to investigate a noise he heard. It had been an angry whisper and a light clang from behind a rock. Not many creatures were active this late at night, particularly not those out in the desert, particularly this region. He knew he was close to the outskirts of Atochengra-controlled territory. That fact alone would send a shiver up the spine of many creatures. They'd heard the stories. An errant being that strayed too close to the area could be hideously maimed without even catching sight of their attacker, and Fsemacea and high-ranking younger Lteiasecl were prime targets for them. All it took to become a potential target was to stray into the line of sight of one of the members. One could even appear as a shapeless blur. That was enough for them to lock their eyes on the hapless creature and bend their coathanger until they heard a cry of pain. Fortunately, the victim was usually recovered by their Far Spirit quickly and taken care of, but after the floating Nlegera and Ehtstunisas were chased away, it often took hours of waiting in agony for the Far Spirits to send down a Necchmia to retrieve and care for the being. Teltra was unaware of all of this and drew closer to the sound out of curiosity and a quiet spark of rebellion. He rarely found himself out this late and all Dagnakki told him of Atochengra was that he ought to avoid them. Truthfully, he was in little danger, as the coathangers did nothing to Woodland beings like himself. This was because they were never meant to be used as a weapon. Before the group became more violent and radical, the wires were only used to bend their own owners' limbs unnaturally as if they were made of wire themselves for their own amusement and utility. Many older Nepspra could also be twisted without pain or injury due to their creator's close relationship to the Archer and their similarities in design to those possessing the coathangers. However, any other being not meant to be bent with them would find their limbs snapped as the wires' power struggled to conform them to their own shapes. Woodland creatures were so far removed in design from the creations of the Archer who wielded the wires that they were regarded as an invalid target the same way trees, rocks, and non-created beings, and could not be bent by them. He could feel himself getting heated up from excitement and fear. He felt the pressure in his ears from the silence around him. He crept around the rock to spy on whatever was making that sound. A disgustingly bony figure was hunched over a curious light-emitting object (a old lantern from a human), messing with a length of wire and another rusted piece of metal and some string. It was roughly Teltra's height, but its limbs appeared impossibly long due to just how thin they were. An even gaunter shadow, little more than crooked black lines, was cast by it in the glow of the light. Skeletal, twisted, fingers curled the wire around a hunk of black material (a magnet), then strung the length of twine between it and the piece of metal, which was a can. Shuddering violently as it flexed its arm, it jerked the can to the side of what must have been its head, then threw it down in disgust seconds later and turned around, only to see a wisp of Teltra's shaggy tail. "Do not act as though I cannot see you, Woodlander. My matters do not concern you. I believe it is best that you return home. From what I understand, you folk do not fare well outside your homeland due to your sensitivity to weather. Please do not speak of what you have seen, for the sake of my own reputation." He scooted behind the rock, then made off without a word. He did not plan to obey the being's request. This was something Dagnakki would find fascinating and the thought of getting sent to observe Atochengran activity was too exciting for him.

#teltra #lbutra #dagnakki #lwchapters #lwwritings

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