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jahaliel · 5 years

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We Go... Together Chapter 9

i feel like we could all use some happy - here’s the next chapter of WGT, and remember i’m also uploading it to AO3 (which has a little bonus poem at the end which this one doesn’t)

Chapter 9 - Kharaa or Bacterium Stupidus

There’s a strange beauty to the illumination of this system. There’s lights - potentially made by the alien species who built the QEP. The heavy-water river flows slowly along and it’s just. Stunning, in a way that Nemo’s rarely seen. They pause the engines and lock the sub into place - checking each others tanks because they’re far away from any air supply. Diving into the quiet of the biome feels amazing, Nicholas signs for them to explore the lights to the left of the sub, and there’s a large skull which Hikari immediately swims towards to scan.

Nemo heads down to the river and immediately detects a problem. She turns around and signs large - gaining the attention of the others. Once she has it she explains that the river is dangerous - potentially acidic. They nod, and Hikari swims over to scan the lights next to Nemo - Nicholas’ attention is drawn higher, he swims up and then comes back, tugging on Nemo’s arm excitedly. Together they swim up to where a light-ray shield shines bright, illuminating the stand for a keycard next to it. Nemo reaches into her pack and pulls out a purple keycard, slotting it into the holder.

The beams fade but a staticky barrier remains - Nemo pushes through it and drops down - pulling off her mask, she waves the others in carefully “That barrier - there’s no water in here,” she tells them, stating the obvious. Hikari pulls her mask, setting the oxygen tank to cycle and refill. “That’s incredible, I wonder how they did it…” The gather the data packets and scan the fossils, before returning to the sub and heading deeper into the river biome - on the way Nemo grabbed some nickel ores, and some sulphur crystals - knowing that nickel was often involved in the low-depth modules.

There were even more fossils, large ones further into the river system. “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT” shouted Nicholas Nemo looked up from her mapping to see a ghostly translucent levithan attempting to ram their sub. “It looks like a ghost” “A ghost?” asked Hikari, even as she ran to deploy the sound-wave decoy Nemo grabbed her repair tool out, fixing the damage from the inside “Yes. Outside the caldera that this whole ecosystem exists in there’s a steep drop off and ghostly creatures like that one except maybe 3 times the size. I managed to scan one.” “You mean to tell me that’s a JUVENILE?! Fuck.” Nicholas’ hands remained steady even though his heart was racing. When the decoy was successful at distracting the Ghost, he piloted the sub deeper and then turned off into a secondary branch as there were more alien-tech lights. The sunken ruin of a facility appeared before them, and all three went out to explore. Hikari used the repulsion cannon to punt a warper out of their way. There were more keycards and ion crystals to pick up as well as a lot of information, the Precursors - idiots Nemo thinks, had stolen a sea dragon leviathan egg and the mother had attacked the facility causing the bacteria to be released, and the facility destroyed. They also discover that the warpers are a rather sinister mix of machine and animal species - the native animal must be extinct as only the warpers exist. They are a mobile QEP - programmed to destroy those infected with Kharaa. The three are nearly done when all of their PDAs beep, asking for a self-scan. When they do so, green pustules begin to bubble up beneath their skin, Nemo watches it with a detached fascination - this is the beginning of stage two of the stupidius infection and she is not having it. “Give me your hands,” it’s a demand, an order borne of love and fear and desperation. Nicholas and Hikari both do, though it hurts where the green blisters touch. Nemo takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and focuses on that plane where she becomes nearly one with the universe. She can see in this place the way the Kharaa spreads, the advancement of the disease and she reaches with all the power that her years grant her, dropping deep into the flow of magic and soul. She breaks the cycle back to stage one, a present threat but contained without physical symptoms. And she draws on deeper power, burning more and more of herself to lock it there - to buy them the time they will need to find their answers. If it had been just herself she may have been able to rid herself of the disease altogether but she does not cast blame, or regret what might have been, just does what she can.

Nemo opens her eyes, to see Nicholas and Hikari staring at her in no little awe, and she smiles at them, before blacking out. The others catch her before she drops, and decide that it would be best to head back to the base instead of remaining in the deeps. Between the two of them they manage to get the unconscious Nemo back to the Nobody. Getting back past the ghost is trickier without a third set of eyes but the creature decoy works well enough, and they head up out of the grand reef towards sunlight.

Two full days pass without Nemo stirring at all beyond the gentle rise and fall of her chest that reassures Hikari and Nicholas that she lives. This is beyond their skill - driven by the desperate need to do something Nicholas ventures into the Dunes where the leviathan nests are. He finds a wreck that holds a drill arm for the prawn suit, and returns to Hikari unharmed. She sympathises - her worry drives her to crafting plans and theorems. They build a prawn suit together, remind each other to eat and spend the night holding onto Nemo hoping that she wakes.

When Nemo wakes on the afternoon of the third day, it’s to the concerned eyes of her friends - she coughs, throat dry and aching which spurs Hikari into action, she returns with a bottle of water, Nicholas assists Nemo to sit and steadies her as she drinks. “Sorry,” she whispers having devoured the bottle of water.

“What did you do Nemo? The blisters on our hands vanished and then you’ve been asleep for nearly 3 days…”

Nemo leans against Nicholas and takes Hikari’s hand in hers, “I undid the progression of the disease. It’s now stuck in a loop where it won’t progress past the first phase - we’ll still have to find a cure to get off planet but this gives us time.”

“And the collapse?” Nicholas’ voice holds a fine tremor,

“The ability to change how a bacterial species works isn’t without cost - and this planet, it’s immensely draining to do even simple things,” she levitates a plush dragon they’d found in a strange capsule briefly, “but I was willing to do whatever it takes to ensure we’d all be alright.”

That night Nemo has somehow ended up in between Hikari and Nicholas - and when she goes to move out, thinking that they're asleep Nicholas' arm tightens around her and she glances over to see his silver eyes reflecting the pale moonlight that makes it through their window. She tilts her head in inquiry, and he tugs her down so their heads are close together. "You scared the daylights out of me, and I.. I don't know whether we'll live or die. Or if Hikari will take you and maybe me up on the offer you made, but right now, Nemo, I want to kiss you." Nemo will never admit that she squeaked a little in surprise before warm lips brushed over hers. As far as kisses went this one held a lot of promise. She was returning the kiss, with interest when she became aware of Hikari's eyes on them. Breaking off the kiss Nemo lifted her head, a question dancing in her purple eyes and Hikari's soft huff of laughter as she leant in for a kiss of her own was all the answer Nemo needed

#jah writes fanfiction #subnautica #subnautica spoilers #Nemo D'Vidas #CTO Yu/Second Officer Keen/Nemo D'Vidas #3 chapters to go but for now its bedtime

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vampiricmycelium · 6 years

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com•pass•ion

Relationships: f!Trevelyan & Samson Characters: f!Trevelyan, Samson Rating: T Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition Tags: Imprisonment, implied addiction, suicidal thoughts, depression, reference to murder Summary: Daisy has a bleeding heart. But she just wants to help. (Based off an old RP interaction I had) || Written for Fictober 2018 for the prompt “How can I trust you?”

She visits him after a month.

Samson had no idea what to expect of her judgment when he was pulled before her throne. He in chains, held by two of the soldiers. She sitting there, uncomfortable and out-of-place. He could tell how young she was when he looked at her. The youth in her face. The kind of naivety and uncertainty that came with little life experience. Even now, after all this time as the Inquisitor, Daisy Trevelyan did not look like the leader of a powerful organization.

She looked like a sad, little girl.

He watched her school her expression into one of determination, a practiced motion. She was used to pretending to be stronger and more assured than she was. But he had already seen the person underneath.

Still, she was the Inquisitor and he had committed crimes worthy of an execution. But she showed her weakness again, the soft-hearted conviction, when she simply said he was to be locked up. He watched her once more before being dragged off.

He’d never forget the sorrow on her face.

He waits in his cell. He waits to die. If he had a way, maybe he might have ended it sooner, but Samson is given very little. It makes sense. He doesn’t deserve much in their eyes.

The first time she visits, both of them are silence. She touches the bars of his cell and he thinks, ‘aren’t you afraid?’ but there is no fear on her face. There is that sorrow, subtle in her eyes. He does not want her pity. But she doesn’t speak to him. Doesn’t ask for anything or yell at him for what he had done. She might be a weak-willed woman and not qualified to lead an organization like the Inquisition, but Samson soon learns that is not all she is.

She is patient and kind. She comes again and again. Sometimes she does speak, a soft voice, her hands on the bar. She talks about what is happening in the world to him. She does not ask him to explain his actions. Does not ask him to repent.

Does not tell him he is better off dead.

She is gone for a month and Samson starts to miss Daisy’s presence. She has a weird calming effect. Like she emanates this feeling of safety and warmth. He can see why people followed her. Why people loved her. Why they might believe she was sent by the Maker.

He breaks after five months. Asks her if she believes. If she is Andrastian. There is a new look on her face: shame.

“No. No, I don’t believe in the Maker.” There is a pained expression to her eyes that she tries to hide. Samson had seen it before. Seen it in the mages of the Circle. She must have felt that the Maker abandoned her the day she was locked away. He was sure she carried her own story with her. Of her experiences. Rich and privileged as she was, the Circle was not a place for kindness. He was surprised it did not crush someone like her. Nervous and soft and all that he was not. Far too gentle and kind and giving.

"I do.”

The next time she comes she brings him a gift. A small statue of Andraste. He wonders if she’s mocking him at first, but there is sincerity in her giving. She brings him a few other things. He wonders if she is this kind with all of her captives. He figures he might be the only one.

“Why do you keep me here?”

“They won’t let you go. I will not kill you. This is our compromise.”

They have their first reason conversation six months in. Samson is learning she visits in order to break him down. Get him to let down his guard. He does not know why. He wants something from him, but he doesn’t know what.

“How long do you have?”

“I don’t know. I’m surprised I lasted this long. The cravings should have killed me, but I think by this point the red lyrium has destroyed most of my insides. There is little hope in saving me.”

“I don’t want to save you Samson. I want you’re help.”

“Why? I’ve done so much. Killed people. Turned them into monsters like myself. Why would you want me to help you?”

She is quiet, fingers tapping against the bar. He wonders if she’s going to answer him. “You’re the only one who can.” Her voice is softer than normal. Barely above a whisper. She does not look at him. He looks away from her. “We need someone with experience with red lyrium. I don’t like the idea of doing experiments on you, but we can learn. You can redeem yourself or do something with the life you have left before you die. You shouldn’t rot away in this cell.”

“How can I trust you?”

Daisy meets his gaze this time. She offers him a small smile. He thinks she is stronger than she gives herself credit for. He doesn’t want forgiveness. She is offering it to him anyways.

“Because I want to help you. I haven’t given you a reason not to trust me right?”

“You’ve fought against me. Killed men under my command. You ruined what I was doing. You locked me away. I have reasons.”

The sad smile is back. Daisy says nothing else. She leaves a cold sensation in her leaving, ice on the bars she was touching. Samson shivers and pulls in on himself. He’s fine with rotting.

But Daisy is persistent. She doesn’t give up easily. They learn more about each other, each piece pulled from their lips. Never too much, only one thing at a time. But Samson starts to like Daisy. Starts to see what others saw of her. But he still sees the scared girl underneath it too. She’s falling apart, trying to hold herself together.

“Trust me Samson. I want to help you.”

He scoffs but offers no rebuttal. Would she offer forgiveness and a second chance to anyone? It was going to get her killed. It should have gotten her killed, but here she was. He nearly starts when she opens the door to his cell. She closes it, hands shaking, but she doesn’t turn back. She turns to face him instead, determination as she levels a steely gaze towards his own. Challenging him. There is nothing separating them now. He could finally kill her if he wanted to. Weak as he was, he felt like she might let him. It makes him feel uneasy. What kind of person was Inquisitor Daisy Trevelyan? Would anyone really ever know?

She doesn’t stop there. She moves towards him. He does nothing, letting her approach. He watches as she kneels before him, reaching out to touch his face. He’s so gaunt, his veins an unnatural red. He doesn’t have much time left.

“Please.”

He takes her hand. He goes with her.

#Fictober18 #charlie writes #Dragon Age: Inquisition #DA:I #it's late but done!

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nintendotreehouse · 6 years

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Dragon Quest-ions Answered: Fujimoto-san Talks Dragon Quest Builders

Hi hi, everyone! Theresa from Treehouse here. Hope you’re still having fun saving the world of Alefgard, and keeping it out of the Dragonlord’s clutches.

With all of these sconces and braziers, you could say I have a thing for fire…

The Dragon Quest series is a powerful force in the world of Japanese RPGs, and Square Enix has quite literally rebuilt the experience from the ground up, creating something exciting for fans and newcomers alike. As for me, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity of working with them leading into the launch of Dragon Quest Builders on Nintendo Switch, and as a fan of the game myself, I took a moment to ask the game’s producer some burning questions…

Theresa:

This game takes place in the world of Alefgard—the setting of the very first game in the Dragon Quest series. Why did your team decide to return to this important location in the Dragon Quest franchise?

Fujimoto-san:

We felt the objectives and setting of the game would be intuitive if the world from the first Dragon Quest had fallen into ruin, and you were tasked with recreating it as you saw fit.

The final boss of the first Dragon Quest, Dragonlord, has a famous line, “I give thee now a chance to share this world and to rule half of it if thou will now stand beside me.”

If you answered “Yes,” the world would fall into darkness. Game over. But Dragon Quest Builders takes that world clad in darkness and allows you to rebuild it as you see fit. This game challenged us to create an alternative, hypothetical world, one that progressed differently in important ways.

Also, we used graph paper when we were creating the 2D pixel tiles of Alefgard’s geography in the original Dragon Quest game. So, in a way, Dragon Quest Builders revives the original game world with both 2D and 3D blocks, and we hope everyone will play this reborn vision of Dragon Quest.

It’s difficult to pull off that look and look regal in an evil throne room.

Theresa:

The cities you rebuild, like Cantlin, are from the first Dragon Quest game as well. How did the development team go about choosing which specific cities players would get to rebuild?

Fujimoto-san:

We had an idea to reverse the order in which players visited cities throughout the original Dragon Quest story. The flow we ultimately chose starts the player out near the Dragonlord’s castle, sending them off to rebuild surrounding cities and finally revive Tantegel Castle, the starting area of Dragon Quest, only to return to the Dragonlord’s castle across the sea.

Theresa:

On the subject of building, this is a pretty significant step away from Dragon Quest’s traditional gameplay style. Why did you decide to reimagine an established RPG franchise as a building game?

Fujimoto-san:

The Dragon Quest numbered series continues to be created in the tradition of classic RPGs in which the hero saves the kingdom. While we use those traditional RPG elements as the focal point for non-numbered Dragon Quest games as well, we also use those titles to experiment with other ways to play in the Dragon Quest world.

With Dragon Quest Builders, we sought to create a play experience that had never been accomplished before—a marriage of Dragon Quest RPG elements and sandbox elements that lets you freely create things.

Sandbox-style games are not something that most Japanese players are deeply familiar with, and we developed Dragon Quest Builders with this in mind.

My immediate reaction to anything that was once dead and comes back to life. *insert repeated attack button presses*

Theresa:

Looking at this game, some people might think that it’s simply a building experience, but there’s actually a really engaging story here too. Can you please tell us more about how this story was developed, and how the building elements were integrated into it?

Fujimoto-san:

From the very beginning, we decided that the overall story would be about getting caught up in the Dragonlord’s trap at the end of the first Dragon Quest game, having the world fall to ruin, and then reconstructing the world. But we knew that charting out the plot and the building gameplay elements simultaneously would result in a half-baked, non-cohesive game. So, instead, we focused on designing the gameplay first, basing the mechanics on what we wanted the user to create at various points and what tools they would use to accomplish these builds. That way, even just the simple act of playing is fun and highly motivating. Finally, we then thought up details of the plot that would work well with these mechanics as we fine-tuned the gameplay.

The goddess has spoke-eth—I shall rebuild this land and claim it my own! …Err, fine, I’ll claim it for the people, I guess.

Theresa:

Since the game’s original release, how have you seen new players, as well as Dragon Quest fans, react to this “classic RPG-meets-builder" style of gameplay?

Fujimoto-san:

It feels like we’ve allowed Dragon Quest fans who haven’t played a sandbox style of game to easily discover the fun of this play style through this carefully crafted mix of RPG and sandbox elements.

This is the same type of reaction we received when the first Dragon Quest game expanded the appeal of the RPG genre in Japan 30 years ago.

Theresa:

Since Dragon Quest is such a long-running series, there was a lot of deep lore for the development team to draw upon while working on this game. What is your favorite surprise or Easter egg hidden away for fans to find?

Fujimoto-san:

There’s a lamp that you’ll need certain building material to craft. If you make this lamp and place it in a room, some sort of change will happen to the villagers. In Dragon Quest, this is a household element and one minor, fun item.

The Slime with the little beanie hat is my personal favorite throwback in this room. Super cute!

Theresa:

While knowing Dragon Quest lore certainly adds to the experience, players don’t need to have played previous Dragon Quest games in order to follow what’s going on and enjoy it. How did the development team ensure that this game would be so accessible for new players?

Fujimoto-san:

For Dragon Quest itself, the game designer, Mr. Horii, always chooses mechanics that the player can instinctively understand, and puts his heart into creating something that anyone can relax and play without having to look at the manual. When Mr. Horii playtests a game still under development, he always plays it as if he was a brand-new player. Then we revise all the stumbling points.

Dragon Quest Builders was developed with similar tests in mind, ensuring that even those with no knowledge of the Dragon Quest series can freely enjoy the game.

Theresa:

It’s an interesting design choice to have the player start each chapter from what is essentially square one, as they teleport to the next town with the most basic equipment and no access to their previous materials and constructions. What made the development team decide to structure the game in this way?

Fujimoto-san:

Actually, the initial plan was not to split the game into standalone chapters, but rather to have everything connect in one overarching flow. But during the development process, the director, Mr. Niinou, suggested that we make a big shift in this plan. He proposed that we split the story into more distinct chapters to address a problem that occurred when all of the pieces of the narrative were more interconnected.

To illustrate this problem, imagine that you’ve just rebuilt the town of Cantlin and moved on to the next area. If you’re still able to access the location you’ve completed, then collecting the resources you need for the work ahead will be a very simple task. And there goes the challenge of the game! We realized that it would be too easy of an exploit to harvest new materials by continuing to build up Cantlin throughout the game. For this reason, we changed direction and split the story experience into chapters, so that the player would be able to create each area with a refreshed outlook.

In making this change, there was a concern that you wouldn’t be able to revisit your experiences from chapters you already played*. So, we designed it so that, as the chapters unfold, some sort of progression occurs. It’s a spoiler, so I won’t say any more than that… (laughs).

*Spoiler-Free Note from Theresa: Discovering fun details in Story Mode is really fulfilling! Normally, sleeping in a game is a simple act to restore health, but in this game, there’s something more to uncover. Also, after completing a chapter in Story Mode, you’re able to unlock similar areas within Terra Incognita, so you can gather and build things that you’ve encountered previously.

There’s a satisfying feeling in creating so many things, and that over time, you’re able to build better and more complex creations. And in doing so, you feel this nice progression for your skills in the game, which sets you up for the ultimate challenge near the end.

I hear the next town’s gonna be a real fixer upper…

Theresa:

Fair enough! (laughs) Let’s change topics, then… This game features music from a wide selection of Dragon Quest games. How did the team decide which tracks to include?

Fujimoto-san:

Well, to start, since the game is set in the world of Alefgard from the original Dragon Quest, we created arrangements of all of that title’s music. From there, since the game was developed with creation at its core, we pulled in songs from the numbered series that are relaxing. And for the emotional story scenes, we used stirring music from across the series.

Theresa:

What was the thought process behind adding the Great Sabrecub and Dragon Quest Game Pak as exclusives for the Nintendo Switch version?

Fujimoto-san:

Terra Incognita (free-build mode) is a vast land, so we thought it would be fun to enhance the player’s ability to move about quickly, take down monsters, and gather materials. That’s where the Great Sabrecub mount came in.

In Dragon Quest, the Great Sabrecat often appears as a mount, but in Dragon Quest Builders, its head didn’t look quite right, so we decided to use the cute Great Sabrecub for the first time.

We also have completely recreated the look of the original Dragon Quest game’s cartridge on the Famicom. We had an idea of placing it in the land of Dragon Quest Builders, and from there, thought about the possibility of creating retro Dragon Quest themed blocks and objects.

Pouncy! Pouncy! Pouncy!

Theresa:

As a follow-up question, can you tell us more about why the development team decided to make this exclusive content only accessible in Terra Incognita?

Fujimoto-san:

If you use them in the story mode, it breaks the balance of the game. Since strange blocks and objects exist in the landscape of Terra Incognita, we made sure the exclusive content was only usable there.

Theresa:

Thank you so much for your time today! As we wrap up here, do you have anything else you’d like to say to the fans?

Fujimoto-san:

We’d love it if you used the in-game feature to upload the cities and landscapes you’ve created in Terra Incognita. We are very interested in seeing what sort of world you have created in Dragon Quest Builders. I’m sure there are those who have beautifully revived the cities, or others who’ve completely destroyed their world’s mountains and cities and everything... (laughs)

We are working hard to develop Dragon Quest Builders 2, so we hope you are looking forward to it.

Also, for those of you who haven’t played Dragon Quest Builders yet, please go try the demo.

Ever feel like your day is just taking you around in circles?

Theresa:

Thank you so much to Fujimoto-san and the rest of the team at Square Enix for providing us some of the gritty details behind the development of Dragon Quest Builders. For me, this game has been a great intro piece to the Dragon Quest franchise and a comfortable gateway into building-style games. I hope you all get to experience it and share your stories—as well as your building masterpieces!

That’s it from me for now. Tune in next time, fellow gamers! ^^

—Theresa A.

#Dragon Quest #Builders #Nintendo Switch #Nintendo #Treehouse

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sir-renfelt · 3 years

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Martyred Dragon

For @jagiellansteel‘s benefit

His ion shields sizzled with the flare of incoming fire. Red las beams and hard rounds struck the barrier with such ferocity the blue-white blaze it created was almost constant. In the corner of his vision, Alonzo Ior watched as the percentage indicating his knight’s shield integrity plummeted towards zero faster than he would have liked. The knight shifted his bearing, moving to put the bulk of an old hab stack between Draco Argentis and the regiment of traitor guardsmen coming down the highway towards them. Draco Argentis did not approve, the knight’s machine spirit growling at the back of Alonzo’s mind. It did not want to hide. It wanted to close the distance and destroy its tormentors, something it should be able to do easily with its thunderstrike gauntlet.

Were there not so many of them, Alonzo thought. He pushed Draco Argentis to the side enough to reveal the knight’s thermal cannon. He exposed himself long enough to snap-fire a shot down the street before the renewed fusillade of fire forced him back into cover. Alonzo could not see the effect the shot had, but a moment after firing he heard the crackle of distressed voices over the vox and the amount of las coming his way lessened enough for him to feel comfortable risking a sprint towards the Galleria Occidental.

Pistons pounding, Draco Argentis pushed itself across the fractured asphalt. The road trembled with each ponderous step. Cries from down the street told Alonzo his foe had noticed his attempt to maneuver. A rocket, probably a shoulder-launched one, corkscrewed past Draco Argentis’ shoulder before detonating harmlessly into the cracked stone facade of a commercia building.

As he ran, Alonzo chanced listening to the vox. He had shut it off hours ago, the incorrhent and panicked chatter flooding it too much of a distraction for him to focus on what he needed to do. No one had expected both regiments of Tuarkian Long Rifles to suddenly betray the rest of the expeditionary force. They had overwhelmed the complement of Sororitas that had escorted the force from Havarong Hive, the sisters of the Order of the Bleeding Lotus insistent they be among the first to come to grips with the Archenemy waiting for them at Pankreas. It had put the sisters between a rock and a hard place as they entered Pankreas’ outer limits, their backs to the traitorous Tuarkians and their fronts towards the tanks of the renegade Juarbal 35th Armored.

It had been slaughter.

The remaining Sororitas had managed to bunker down in what had once been a museum full of art and sculptures sourced from the local sub-sector. Those pieces had been desecrated and defaced by the Juarbal tankers, toppled and cracked and burned. Now they were used by the sisters as barricades while they waited for uncertain salvation.

Alonzo knew that salvation rested with him. If he could buy enough time for reinforcements to make planetfall, the tide of this conflict might yet be turned. But even as he thought those words, he knew it was unlikely. The numbers against them were too great, and Draco Argentis did not have enough anti-armored support to tackle a full regiment of tanks. There had been no time to deploy anything more than the handful of Freeblades that had escorted the Order of the Bleeding Lotus from Havarong. Most of those knights were dead now, laid low by the Juarbal tanks. Only Draco Argentis and Wayward Sword remained, two out of almost two dozen.

Alonzo reached the plaza in front of the Galleria Occidental, bursting from the avenue like a manifestation of the Omnissiah’s wrath. Draco Argentis ripped into the rearguard of the traitor tanks that had the bulk of the plaza secured under their guns while Tuarkans attempted to pick their way through the cobbled defenses. The fingers of Draco Argentis’ thunderstrike gauntlet bit deep into the thin plating that protected the nearest tank’s flank. It was an older pattern Mosskva IX, a common PDF unit that favored speed and maneuverability over armor and killing power. There was little resistance as Draco Argentis ripped out a chunk of its heart, oil and fuel spraying everywhere in gouts of arterial machine spray.

A shot from the thermal cannon turned a second Mosskva to molten slag, and then a third. Draco Argentis flipped a fourth before ripping the turret off of a fifth and slinging it into the unprotected rear of the Tuarkians, crushing several beneath its bulk.

Two more tanks died before the traitors realized what was happening and reacted. By then, Alonzo had reached the steps of the Galleria. Rockets flew from the pod mounted atop Draco Argentis’ carapace, fire blossoming where they touched down to incinerate whole squads of Tuarkians or turn another Mosskva IX into a pyre. Draco Argentis sounded its war horn in defiance and the air around the muzzle of its thermal cannon shimmered with heat distortion as it fired off another salvo of shots. The heavy stubber mounted beneath its shoulder mowed down any infantrymen that were dumb enough to ascend the Galleria steps and get close.

But for every Tuarkian slain, for every Juarbal tank reduced to ash, there was always another.

Alonzo flipped through the vox channels, blinking away one and then another until he found the frequency used by the Sororitas. “You have to go,” he said.

After a moment of static, a voice returned, clipped and hardened by decades of conflict. “This is Palatine De Peralta. We will not run, Draco Argentis.”

Alonzo hissed through his teeth. Now was not the time for stubborn piety. The irony of the thought was lost on the knight. “I am not asking you to run,” he replied, even as he snapped off another shot at a Mosskva attempting to enter the plaza to his left. “I am telling you to retreat. There is a Jagiellan armored column trying to breach the city to the south. If you can link up with them, you will have far more success than dying here in this rubble.”

De Peralta did not respond. Alonzo gritted his teeth as another shoulder-mounted rocket struck his ion shields, causing them to flare and crackle. They were dangerously low. He did not think they would be able to withstand another direct hit, even from a Mosskva’s lighter cannon.

“And what of you, Sir Knight?” the palatine asked finally.

“I will buy you the time you need, and cover your withdrawal if I am able.”

“I do not think this the time for stubborn honor.”

Alonzo laughed, but there was no humor in it. “One knight, or two dozen sisters, Palatine. I think the trade is more than fair.”

“I wish there were more of you, in that case.”

“There were.”

“Then I am sorry for your losses.”

“I will mourn them in time. Do not make me mourn you as well.” Another hail of lasfire peppered Draco Argentis. The knight turned, spying the Tuarkians hiding behind the burning ruin of a Mosskva IX. Alonzo made a fist, and the burning tank exploded again, scattering the troopers. “Palatine, you do not have much time.”

“We are going, Sir Knight,” De Peralta replied. The bolter fire from the Galleria began to wane and Alonzo could see several IFF beacons on his auspex making their way southward through the shattered city. “The Emperor protects.”

“The Emperor protects.”

A flash of red light caught Alonzo’s attention to the northwest. A moment later, pain flared along his shoulder and down his arm. He was vaguely aware of Draco Argentis’ shields popping as they collapsed. He was more aware of the deadening in his arm, the pain replaced by cold nothingness as Draco Argentis’ thunderstrike gauntlet fell away in a shower of shattered servos and steel. Its machine spirit howled, targeting systems zeroing in on the tank destroyer inching its way into the plaza. Around its treads came more Tuarkians. Without the small arms support of the Sororitas, there was nothing to keep them at bay and prevent them from swarming the stricken knight.

Draco Argentis’ stubber sprang to life, hosing the troopers down with hot lead as Alonzo aimed the thunderfire cannon at the tank destroyer. A shoulder rocket slammed into Draco Argentis’ faceplate, and Alonzo’s head snapped to the side as if he had been punched. Targeting klaxons wailed and Draco Argentis sidestepped, nearly stumbling and falling over collapsed barricades.

Another red-hot shot seared the air over the knight’s shoulder. Alonzo snap-fired the thermal cannon as he tried to regain his footing. More targeting brackets filled his vision, and with a thought the stubber went to work again, focused on the nearest threat, not the largest. Alonzo never saw the tank destroyer fire a third time. He never even knew he died as the tank’s heavy laser cored Draco Argentis through the chest. The knight took a ponderous step backwards. Then it collapsed, smashing through the wall of the Galleria. Stone and plaster crumbled down on top of it, a tomb for the self-sacrificing.

++++

The plaza was a mess, littered with scorched hulks. The most recent still burned, testament to the Imperial reclamation force that had cut its way through Pankreas. Seventeen weeks of hard fighting had finally seen the Archenemy falter and break. Now came consolidation and clean up.

Red 1 rolled to a stop near the center of the plaza. The Vanquisher’s hull was scorched and pitted from weeks of fighting, the paint flaking off in too many places, the metal beneath dirtied and worn. The roar of its engine faded down to a throaty rumble as the tank began to idle. After a moment, the top hatch flipped open and a grumpy looking woman, the shoulder boards on her uniform marking her as a lieutenant, clambered out. The silence of the plaza was broken by muttered swearing, Mira taking issue with her prosthetic leg as she dismounted her steel horse.

Settled on solid ground, Mira looked around. Towards the far side of the plaza were the remains of what had once been, to her understanding, some kind of museum or cultural center. Mira had no interest in what the building once held. Regardless, she made her way towards the steps that ascended to the front doors. Standing at their base was a sister of the Order of the Bleeding Lotus. The sister looked up at the building, apparently ignorant to Mira’s approach. Two or three other members of her Order dotted the plaza around the perimeter of the building. It was only when the Jagiellan lieutenant stood shoulder to shoulder with her, that the sister turned and regarded her.

“Where?” Mira asked simply.

The sister raised her hand, rosary jingling around her wrist, and pointed.

There was a mound in the direction she indicated, built from the crumbled remains of museum wall and roof. Beneath the shattered masonry and support columns, the flash of black metal could be seen. Even more sisters stood around it, and some atop it, working with their hands to carefully excavate what lay beneath the rubble. What they had removed so far revealed a metallic face shaped like a machine skull, as well as a tilting plate decorated with a draconic silver head. Further down, some of the sisters had managed to retrieve a banner. It was tattered and holed, but the gnashing teeth and fire-tongue between them were still plainly identified. One sister appeared to be guiding the operation, the markings of her armor indicating her status as a palatine. The sister turned as Mira approached. For a long while, neither said anything. Mira drew a lho stick from her pocket and lit it.

“Did you know him?” De Peralta asked finally.

Mira exhaled, twin plumes of smoke fleeing her nostrils as she put her hands into her pockets. “Yes. Glupiec,” she muttered.

“Then I am sorry for your loss.”

The tanker did not reply.

“We owe him our lives, my sisters and I,” De Peralta continued. “Whatever he meant to you, he was a good man. And honorable.”

“He was an idiot,” Mira replied, though there was no additional harshness to her tone beyond what it carried naturally. She took another drag from her lho stick. “But yes, he was a good man.”

“My sisters and I will honor his sacrifice. We will carry his banner-”

Mira snorted.

“Let him rest, kurwa,” she said. The words came out forcefully enough to surprise even the lieutenant. Still, she continued. “He would not want to be your totem. If you wish to honor his life, then make sure he did not save them in vain.” Mira fixed De Peralta with cold, blue eyes. “Make them mean something more.”

The palatine did not respond. She was not sure how to. Mouth agape, the most she could muster was a silent nod.

Mira scoffed, pulled the lho stick from her lips, and flicked what remained of it into the dirt at her feet. She turned, and without another word, strode back to Red 1 and her waiting crew.

#[The Silver Dragon: Alonzo Ior]#drabble

0 notes

venjix5 · 4 years

Photo

Zen (with arms)

Or Yoi.

A powerful entity born from good, hope, and light, and the sister of Aku and Malachor.

Yoi means "Good" in Japanese.

Zen means ''the good'' in Japanese.

Species:

Ancient Light Entity

Gender:

Female

Height:

Varies

Alias: Zen Yoi The Shapeshifting Master of Light The White Goddess

The Goddess of Light The Goddess of Virtue The Goddess of Hope The Goddess of Harmony

The Master of Light The Deliverer of Purity

The Mistress of Virtue Goddess of Water Ancient Spirit

Allies:

Samurai Jack Odin Ra Rama MLP Allies: Twilight Sparkle Rainbow Dash Pinkie Pie Rarity Applejack Fluttershy Sunset Shimmer Starlight Glimmer Star Swirl the Bearded Princess Celestia Princess Luna Spike Star Runners Allies: Shimmer Stella Kirra Theo Mailos Hoody Pedal The Star Runners Enemies:

Black Mass

Aku (brother) Malachor (brother)

Voice Actor: Diane Michelle or Juliet Landau Japanese Voice Actor: Maaya Sakamoto Personality: Zen is good incarnate; she embodies the very essence of a goddess. Zen is a nice, helpful, generous, kind, wise, intelligent, caring, and free-spirited being. She is very protective when villains or monsters tries to rule the world or destroy everything sacred and beautiful and will try help out as much as possible. She helps out people and other creatures who look up to her and she would give them food, home, tips, facts, and health. Though despite her mature and wise personality, she mostly sometimes acts like a girlish little child and also possess a sense of humor. Also, she was later shown to be a strict disciplinarian and can be serious where she needs to be, like battling Malachor or Aku.

Abilities and Powers: Magic: Zen can use magical forces/powers to varying degrees. Claws: Zen had razor sharp claws, which she repeatedly used in attempts in combat. Tentacle Extension: Zen can generate tentacles tentacle-like appendages. She also use it for combat. Light Magic: Zen is able perform a legendary form of magic that allow the user to cast magical spells feats through light.

Shapeshifting: Zen could change into virtually any form she desired, from a giant dragon to a small insect, or even a human and pony. She was able to seamlessly change her size, liquefy herself, or stretch and expand her body. She could even replicate into clones of herself to be in numerous places at once, with her mind inhabiting numerous bodies.

Immortality: A significant aspect in the series is that Zen was ageless and immortal. She requires no sustenance, and cannot be harmed by mortal means.

Supernatural Physicality: Zen could alter her physical capabilities to virtually any level she needed or wanted due to her magical shape-shifting abilities. She has manifested superhuman strength, speed, endurance, and senses. No parameters or upper limits were established regarding these capabilities.

Regeneration: Zen can heal rapidly from any physical injury. Eye Beams: One of Zen’s most commonly utilized attacks, this ability tends to manifest as beams of blue light that typically incinerates the objects it makes contact with. It can be used either as continuous beams of blue light, or as staccato bolts of energy. Zen can also harmlessly teleport beings to places of her choosing through this power. Zen also uses a variation of this ability to restore or recreate. Corruption Immunity: Zen is immune to corruption. Remote Viewing: Using mystical forces in her lair, Zen can create images on the walls or mirrors to view whatever she wishes.

Teleportation: Zen can move instantaneously from one location to another without physically occupying the space in between.

Elemental Control: She could magically project and control the elements of the physical world. These abilities included breathing and projecting streams of fire from his body, manipulating the earth itself, conjuring thunderstorms at will, or emitting waves of sonic force. Fire Manipulation: Zen can create, shape and manipulate fire, the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products, flame being the visible portion of the fire. Depending on the substances alight, and any impurities outside, the color of the flame and the fire's intensity will be different. Water Manipulation: Zen can create, shape and manipulate water, inorganic compound with liquid, gas (steam, water vapor), and solid (ice) states, including changing them from one state to other. Earth Manipulation: Zen can create, shape and manipulate earth and "Earthen" elements including most solid objects, specifically all minerals and mineral compositions regardless of their state (mountain, boulder, sand or dust), dirt, soil, etc. Wind Manipulation: Zen can create, shape and manipulate air, the common name given to the layer of atmospheric gases and various compounds (mostly oxygen and nitrogen) surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity, and wind, movement of air relative to the surface of the planet. Lightning Manipulation: Zen can create, shape and manipulate electricity, a form of energy resulting from the movement of charged particles (such as electrons or protons), allowing control over electric fields, all charge carriers (Ions, Electrons, Protons, and Positrons), electronics, and electromagnetic forces. Ice Manipulation: Zen can create, shape and manipulate ice, water frozen into a solid state and appears naturally in forms of snow, slush, hail, icicles, ice spikes and candles, glaciers, pack ice, frost, and polar ice caps, and cold by reducing the kinetic energy of atoms and thus making things colder, for various effects and combinations. Elemental Entity Creation: Zen is able to create beings of elemental forces or shape existing elements into wanted shapes and purposes. She can grant the beings varying levels of independence (controlled, automatons/programmed, semi-independent) and existence (momentary to permanent) and delete the creature once she are done with them. Telekinesis: She has shown the ability to move, control and manipulate objects through will alone, even from huge distances. While using this ability, her eyes tend to flash blue. Interstellar Travel: Zen is capable of interstellar travel, well beyond the speed of light. Divine Power: Zen can control of anything that is symbolized as divine and holy connections to divine and sacred being. She is able to manipulate sacred objects and relics that are connected to the gods, angels, or divine power. Divine Magic: Zen is capable of using divine magic to achieve several feats such as creating, destroying and reconstructing anything, sometimes even to warp reality. Divinity: Zen has divine powers, which can be obtained a number of different ways. Divine Aura: Zen can surround herself in almighty divine energy. Object Materialization: The ability to create objects and materials out of nothing. Telepathy: Zen can read/sense another person's thoughts, communicate with them mentally and/or affect their minds/thoughts. Mind Reading: Zen can sense the thoughts of other people, usually hearing them like ordinary speech, but possibly by other senses such as sight. Usually, she sense the surface thoughts (including other mental communications), but she can also learn to push farther into subconscious and memories. Nature Control: Zen can manipulate the forces of nature and elements connected to it. Resurrection: Zen can bring others back to life.

Restoration: Zen can restore anything living or non-living to either their optimum state, including high-speed healing/regeneration of themselves or others, restoring life in environment, such as forests or animal life, reconstruct ruins or destroyed buildings. Healing: Zen can restore biotic organisms to their optimal health, curing damaged or withered organisms, wounds, broken bones, low vitality, and diseases/poisoning. Combat Skills: Despite never having been shown to have trained at all in any form of martial art, Zen was a very skilled practitioner of hand-to-hand combat. She is also shown to be a fairly skilled swordsman, as on one occasion where she uses her sword.

Vocal Mimicry: She was able to imitate someone's voice perfectly.

Conjuring: She has the ability to create objects out of white mist.

Creation: Zen can create organic or inorganic matter from nothing, either as finished objects or simply unfinished elements. She can create energy, souls and life of any complexity, dimensions or realities, stars, etc. As long as it can be defined as object, she has the power to make it reality.

Formulated Light Blasts: Release blasts of light in a form of a creature or object.

Light Ball Projection: Create and launch spheres of light.

Light Beam Emission: Release beams of a light.

Light Blast: Release light over a specific target area.

Light Bolt Projection: Release low powered projectiles of light.

Light Slash: Zen releases light energy when slashing.

Light Wave Emission: Send out a wave of light that repels everything.

Omnidirectional Light Waves: Send out a wave of light in all directions.

Light Pillar Projection: Project light pillars.

Scatter Shot: Release light blasts that split into multiple fragments.

Wave Motion Blast: Launch a massive wave of light.

Light Shield: Zen can create shields of varying shapes and sizes out of the light.

Light Manipulation: Zen can create, shape and manipulate visible light, commonly referred to as light, is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight.

Dream Manipulation: Zen can create, shape, enter and manipulate the dreams of oneself and others, including modifying, suppressing, fabricating, influencing, manifesting, sensing, and observing dreams as well as nightmares, daydreams, etc., possibly including past ones.

Dream Communication: Zen can communicate with other beings through their dreams, allowing them to communicate with others.

Hyper Beam: Zen fires a white energy beam with light blue energy inside it from her hands at the opponent.

For a larger beam, Zen puts her arms in front of her and fires a huge white beam from in between her arms at her opponent.

Purification: Zen can remove the darkness or evil from a person or objects, often including demons possessing it or mind control affecting it.

Magic Negation: Zen can negate superhuman powers and effects that originate from magic. Spells, curses, hexes, jinxes and charms may all be negated by her.

Possession: Zen can possess or take over the body of any living being, whether sentient or not, by stealing their motor functions and senses.

Reality Warping: Zen could warp reality to an extent.

Portal Creation: Zen can open a hole in the universe connecting two non adjacent locations.

Sonic Scream: Zen can emit/generate extremely powerful scream of a high amplitude for a variety of purposes.

Illusion Manipulation: Zen can create and manipulate illusions, causing targets to see, hear, touch, smell and/or taste things which do not actually exist or cause them to perceive things differently from what they truly are.

Dimensional Travel: Zen can travel between different dimensions and universes and cross over different planes of existence or travel across various forms of reality.

Curse Removal: Zen can remove/undo curses and their effects from any afflicted target, making them safe.

Evil Immunity: Zen is immune to anything that can be considered evil, including all evil influences, activities, beings and essences.

Exorcism: Zen can forcibly remove possessing entities (ghosts, demons, etc.) from the body, object or the location they are possessing/haunting.

Weather Manipulation: Zen can sense, create, shape and manipulate weather, i.e. the meteorological patterns, creating rain, wind, hail, lightning, snow, sleet, fog and temperature changes.

Absolute Light: Zen can create a field of absolute light that blinds the targets either temporarily or permanently and may also dull or even completely negate the other senses.

Light Infusion: Empower and energize anything touched or used (usually a weapon) with light.

Light Solidfication: Zen can manipulate photons to solidify the light, with the level of solidity going from loose jelly to metal-like hardness or beyond.

Light Aura: Zen can release and surround herself in/with light for defensive and/or offensive purposes, possibly becoming almost untouchable and granting her various abilities/attacks. The aura may also give her enhanced physical capabilities such as speed, strength and durability.

Pressure Point Intuition: Zen possesses immense knowledge of pressure points and nerve clusters, and can produce a variety of effects by striking said pressure points in just the right way, ranging from unconsciousness and paralysis.

Evil Sense: Zen is capable of recognizing evil or negative intent in others. She can tell how much evil is within the essence of others and decide how threatening they are based on the amount she sense.

Serene Combat: Zen can infuse serenity with physical combat, allowing her to fight smoothly, gracefully and fluently while maintaining a peaceful state of mind and spirit.

Mystical Martial Arts: Zen can utilize mystical combat in multiple forms of martial arts.

Sleep Inducement: Zen can put organisms to fall asleep.

Future Vision: Zen has the ability to foresee possible futures and observe what may happen.

Wish Granting: Zen can grant wishes of others, manifesting the desires of others into reality and make their wildest dreams come true.

However, she doesn't grant bad wishes, something like ruling the world, kill anyone, give them superpowers, or make anyone fall in love.

Although some wishes like riches and treasure she can allow.

Levitate: Zen can hover in the air.

Weaknesses:

Despite her powerful abilities, Zen has a few weaknesses. These include:

Reflection: Zen’s own reflection will reveal her normal form no matter what she has shifted to look like.

Darkness Overpowerment: Zen can be overpowered by darkness (but only if it's far stronger than her) and weapons of Gods - there are a lot of them (Set, Anubis, Loki etc.) who may use her in their plan and then get rid of her.

0 notes

abakersquest · 7 years

Text

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN – A HARSHER FLAME

Vaporous mist arose from every surface of the ice cavern as an atmospheric tide of heat bloomed from the Halcyon Knight. Her seemingly placid gaze lazily slid from one opponent to the next as each of them silently planned an opening gambit.

“Good,” she finally said in a calm voice. “Not a one of you flinched or even took that threat seriously. I’d honestly hate to find out any of you were cowardly without the Flarebearer around.”

They didn’t dare take eyes off the tigress, not even to look at one another for some clue to a joint strike. She moved with confidence, and her narrow golden eyes seemed to drill into each of them as she continued to slowly turn in place.

“Careful now,” she chided. “You really should be paying less attention to my face.”

Hyla was the first to turn her eyes downward just as mystic fires began to dance on the back of the knight’s leg. From there came an explosion of noise and a flash of light as a jet of flame shot from the back of her ankle. The force of the focused burst launched her leg into a sweeping kick that left an infernal wake which quickly raced out in a circle around its creator. As Hyla raised her arms to try and defend herself, she was already off her feet being dragged by her shoulders out of the mouth of the cave.

Confusion quickly fell away as the concentrated wave of mystical fire raced past her eyes. She followed the shimmering crescent as it barely skimmed the back of Gan, who’d grabbed her in an instant and dragged her to safety before she even realized it.

The lightning quick kestrel both grunted and recoiled from the intense heat, forcing them both down into the thankfully soft snow. Hyla quickly shook off the rough landing and turned her notice to Gan, seeing him hurriedly flop onto his back and sigh with relief as the snow made short work of the dangerous heat thereupon.

“Just missed,” he managed to say. “If that hit, we’d’ve been cooked alive…”

When she took a breath to respond, Gan sprang to his feet. “The Captain and Argus are still in there! I couldn’t see if they dodged it or not! Come on!”

“Gan wait!” she called out as he took one bold step forward, slipped on the snow, and firmly introduced his beak to the terrain below.

He said something muffled yet clearly frustrated as Hyla finally got back on her feet. Snow and ash had some commonality, so while it was uncomfortable to spread her toes out onto the frigid mass, it improved her traction just as she’d hoped. “Gan,” she said calmly as she moved to help him stand. “They’re alright; I can still sense them in the cave. Now, there’s no point of us rushing back in there without a plan, so let’s take what time we have to-”

A jagged ice tower to the left of them exploded as a massive cannonball treated it like the finish line of a race. Both quickly turned their eyes toward the oncoming fortress, a rolling disaster headed straight for them and the Aspect of Air beyond.

“Warriors!” Illica’s voice called to them from the mouth of the cave. “I shall help your friends inside; Jinra will assist you in destroying the ship!”

Gan looked to Hyla, “That’s… That’s the dragon’s name, right?”

A roar that was more detonation than animal cry shook the air for miles as the great serpentine beast rose like a geyser of scales and fury from the ice cavern.

“Yes, Gan.” Hyla finally said, finding it slightly harder to breathe at the mere sight of the great beast. “Illica… How exactly do we…” Hyla’s voice trailed off as she turned back toward the strange snow fox, or rather, to where she once stood.

“I think we just follow it,” Gan said, a mixture of awe and fear in his voice as his eyes followed the dragon’s course across the sky toward the approaching warship. He flinched as exploding shells filled the sky with blossoms of fire and noise above them, just missing their massive target. “But uh... Maybe not too close?”

“No,” Hyla said plainly. “Argus said the last one was powered by a big furnace on the inside. So, we go in, destroy the furnace, and that should stop it dead. There’s just one thing we have to do first.”

Gan shimmied uncomfortably, feeling like a coiled spring as he looked away from the firefight to Hyla. When he met her eyes, he flinched ever so slightly.

“Gan,” her voice was calm despite the volume it needed to overcome the explosions above and gusting winds below. “I know I can trust you. Without thinking twice you put yourself in harm’s way to save me just now… But you need to know, you can trust me too.”

She could feel it wash over him, the strange unknown sensation she’d felt as they walked into the cave before. His eyes tried to look past her and his hands clenched into fist for a second or two. She could see him struggle and fumble to say something as an argument took place at the forefront of his mind.

She decided planting the seed of an idea was enough for now; the nascent notion that she’d fight as hard as he would for her. She turned away and faced the task at hand, her mystically aided senses giving her a clear view of the oncoming mechanical danger. A multitude of cannons on the warship’s side pivoted skyward as the dragon above dodged shot after shot. It soon closed the gap and crashed violently against the ship’s prodigious armor to seemingly little effect. With a breath to steady herself and erase the distractions of her surroundings, Hyla dragged open the curtain of the world and forged a Dark Vault.

Now, for anyone else, passing through these inky black portals is an instant event. For those gifted enough to make them however, there is something else. It’s best described as a feeling of a truly greater force far beyond anything they could make sense of, moving about an infinite space that isn’t so much “dark” as it is “full of potential.” Tetsudin would often describe it to her as the moment before you turn on the light in your bedroom, the anticipation of something familiar amidst unfamiliar shadows.

But this time, this time she turned away from the path she’d carved in the endless twilight. Despite all her training and concentration, a radiant force in the immeasurable distance turned her attention toward it. This momentary distraction, this sight of something that demanded it be seen threw her off their landing. What should’ve been an exit onto a well chosen perch amidst the ruined remains of the rear starboard prop’s assembly was, instead, the open air before it.

The momentum of their steps found no floor on the other end of the Dark Vault. Instead, the pair tumbled helplessly through the frigid air before Gan flared out his wings and straightened himself out.

Driven by inborn instinct, he summoned a curtain of ion excited air and bounded off it like a springboard toward the retreating sound of Hyla’s surprised shout. Every Orni’Hulan is born to catch their young should they fall in their efforts to fly, and even at a young age they have the strength and natural skill to do just that. He knew if he simply caught her, whatever limb he grabbed would dislocate. He knew that if he tried to change her momentum too suddenly, both of them would come out with broken bones. He rushed down to match her speed, hooked his legs around her and, with all his might and prowess, put a curve to both their trajectories that just barely saw them skirt the icy ground below.

With some effort to fight the turbulent wind surrounding the rolling fortress, Gan managed to find them a perch lower than they’d originally aimed. He put Hyla down as gently as he could before landing himself and helping her up. “What happened? Why did we miss?”

“There… When we were crossing I felt this… I don’t know what it was but it was massive…” She closed her eyes and tried to visualize it, to put forth more than just an oncoming rush of sensation to describe whatever it was she’d seen, but nothing took shape. A sigh rolled out of her throat. “This probably isn’t helping our little trust issue, is it?”

When she looked to Gan again, the great mess of feathers on the top his head rose as did the strange mixture of emotions and thoughts she’d tried to ignore. She did her best to give him a smile to try and calm him down, “It’s alright, we just-”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you!” He shouted, and then clamped his beak shut. She could hear him grumble and the talons on his toes rake the metal flooring beneath them. Finally he screwed his eyes shut and continued at the same volume. “I do trust you! Really! I just…” he quieted himself as the next words came. “Argus said I shouldn’t apologize… That I should just show you I’m sorry, but… I… I really wanted to say it, that I’m sorry for how I treated you.”

A genuine smile crossed her face and she rested her hand on his shoulder. To her it’d been nothing more than a few sour looks and an air of somewhat overdone caution, both absolutely minor slights she could easily understand. To the young kestrel just entering into the wider world, it felt like some incredible insult to a friend. What else could she have said but, “Apology accepted.”

Gan’s spirits and shoulders rose in time with one another and the shine of confidence in his eyes sparkled without reservation.

“Now, let’s see if we can’t take the heart out of this metal monster.”

“Right!” Gan looked around at the ruined structure the Prominence Cannon had left for them to traverse, hoping to see something that looked like a way in. The damaged metal ahead of him exploded outward as a forked black blade tore a hole through it. The imposing mass of a hulking Black Rock Knight soon followed, wrenching through the metal hull as if it were little more than thick paper.

Gan may have had the reflexes to dodge the stone titan’s sudden emergence, but nowhere near enough to put his knives between an oncoming sword swipe and Hyla. With Storm Magic aiding his perception, he could only watch as the deadly blade closed in on her while she crossed her arms over her chest. He stared on in stark surprise as it passed through her without a drop of blood and rammed into the ruined support strut just off to her side.

And yet, despite the acceleration of his sight, he blinked only once and saw that, in that partial second where his eyes closed, Hyla and the offending knight had changed places. The boost in speed ebbed away and a line appeared in the stony figure’s midsection where Hyla had once been.

The slowed tone of her voice reached his ears with a single magically intoned word, “Imposition.”

When it tried to turn, the upper body of the Black Rock Knight slid right off. It tumbled downward, leaving its legs alone on the platform. They took a few blind steps, collided with some previously melted beam, and fell down after its better half.

Before he could even find the words to question the events that unfolded, Hyla spoke. “I don’t like that it knew exactly where we were. Come on, let’s go before more of them can pin us in.”

Gan shook off any lingering curiosity and nodded, quickly making his way through the torn opening. Hyla moved to follow, turning back toward the ice cavern where she could still sense signs of Argus and Blackeye. Thankful for that much, she didn’t think to question why she couldn’t suss out any sense of Illica.

---

Moments ago, Blackeye had barely managed to command the ice at his side to rush across the open air as water and block the oncoming burst of compressed mystic fire. Just past the resulting steam he caught sight of Gan’s tail feathers rushing out the cave’s opening. He did his best not to let the satisfaction he felt at the boy’s performance show on his face. Pride in the doings of the young came so easily with old age.

“You’re right to feel proud, Captain Cofresi. For such a young flyer, he’s certainly got talent. My ‘Drake Smile’ is quite hard to dodge.”

He couldn’t help the annoyed grunt at the even keeled speech of the Halcyon Knight standing before him. He didn’t need the empathic sense Fire Mages possessed to know it wasn’t a statement fueled by brash overconfidence.

She carefully adjusted her gauntlets as she spoke. “You should also feel proud yourself… It can’t be easy for such a seasoned fellow to forcefully turn ice back into water in less than a second. I can see why Vizier Bulfo finds you the second biggest threat of this little band of heroes.”

“I suppose we’re to presume the first is Wally then?” Argus said; the stock of the Thunderhead firmly braced to his shoulder, its flared barrel pointed squarely at the tigress.

“Don’t engage, Mister Cael.” Blackeye cautioned. “You might not know it from our friendly Flarebearer, but thems with fire like to chatter so’s to get in your head. Makes dealin’ with ‘em some pretty nasty business.”

“He’s right, you know,” she added smoothly.

Argus’ eyes narrowed. “I’ve fought my fair share of Fire Mages during the war, Captain. I can assure you, she won’t find me an easy mark.”

“Ooh, I do believe you offended your friend, Captain Cofresi…” Her smile was far too cheerful to be believed. “You did hear that bitter little undertone there, right?”

Blackeye was as still as a stony shoreline at low tide, he didn’t even blink.

She turned to Argus instead, and found him the equivalent of a notched arrow, ready to strike down prey.

“My,” she said with a slight giggle, scratching the back of one of her ears. “I might have picked the wrong dance partners.”

The first thing was the smell in the air. Past the stale smell of old ice, the brightstone in Argus’ weapon, and the subtle hint of char all Fire Mages bore. Blackeye’s mind called up the image of a paraffin lamp, and the lingering bittersweet smell as one replaces its fuel. Before a word could be spoken, and his vaunted sense of danger could warn him, the air around their bodies was filled pinpricks of free-floating light, each barely half an inch away.

“There now, those should even things out, and give us time to properly chat!” The tigress smiled brightly. “My name is Pan Diar, the Halcyon Knight of Fire. It’s a pleasure to make both your acquaintances.”

Blackeye huffed out his nostrils.

Argus rolled his eyes.

She sighed. “My but you two are as stoic as they come… I really would’ve been better off with that Orni’Hulan and Hyla Areo. Now she’d be fun to talk to, especially after finding out what happened to her old master.” She shrugged casually, “but that’s not the bed I made, so why complain about not getting to sleep in it. Instead, I’ll just get right to it and ask. Do either of you know where I could find the Aspect of Air?”

“S'pose it don’t do us any good to try and lie to a Fire Mage, eh Argus?” Blackeye commented.

“Quite so, captain. Shall you do the honors, or will I?”

“Well, you’re the scholarly fella here; she’d believe you over me.”

“Tut-tut, captain. You’re a proud and practiced explorer of the sea; your experience makes you the better choice.”

One of Pan’s ears twitched. “Well, it’s obvious to anyone with a brain you’re both stalling… But neither one of you can seem to agree on what you’re stalling fo-”

And then the Dragon roared.

Its mighty cry coupled with the shifting of its massive body created a maelstrom within the cave. The tiny dots of fire were blown away like so many embers, followed by both their master and would be victims. The three tumbled down a winding tunnel of glacial blue, before landing in a cave of glimmering crystals. Blackeye recognized the particularly luminous stones as the same kind he’d used to light his home. He would much rather have had that be a nice recollection, instead of a passing thought when his shoulder bashed through a particularly large one.

Argus barely managed to kick off another large crystal himself, instead rising too close to its sharp edged siblings in the cave’s ceiling. They tore bits of his clothes and scratched at his carapace, but worst of all cut a small gash in his ammunition bag. Several ampoules of his magical cultivations set to twirl in the air and leave his field of view before the winds died down, and he was harshly dropped into a patch of small glowing mushrooms.

“Mycena Cryphagia,” Argus groaned as he picked himself up. “The Crystal-Eater Mushroom. I should remember to collect a sample before I go.”

He turned to take in the surroundings of this new underground chamber to see Pan Diar, as a true credit to her genus, had landed squarely on her feet. Her fang filled smile was as unwelcome sight, as were the glimmering dots of light under her command. The flock of sparks quickly closed the gap between them. With no other choice, Argus leveled the Thunderhead and fired whatever was in the barrel with the singular mental imperative of defense. A sheet of ionized air blossomed from the barrel like a cast net, the small dots of light sticking to it readily.

Pan Diar’s mystically intoned voice carried easily across the crystalline cavern, “Wisp Swarm.”

The lights detonated.

The electrical net shattered.

The blast wave hit Argus full on, launching him helplessly toward a far wall. The air in his lungs harshly pushed out on impact, and his shaken senses turned the world into a painful smear all around him. He shook his head to try and clear away at least a fraction of the blur, silently grateful to have been born an Insicai; with a hardy exoskeleton that could take so much force and not give way. He knew however, that one more burst like that, even at a distance, would cause far more permanent damage.

He was also grateful for another gift of his biology, as his antenna twitched and felt the air move around what could only be an approaching Halcyon Knight. She said something he couldn’t hear over the muffled ringing in his head, prepared a witty remark regardless, and found something odd happened as he began to say it.

It was an unnatural sort of cold that moved around him at first, then for a singular moment felt as if it’d passed through him. Suddenly the wall at his back was simply gone and replaced by a strong hand with webbed fingers, keeping him from falling backward.

“-er Ca-”

A voice just barely rose above the bell resounding in his head, it sounded familiar.

“-On Mister Cael, ne… you to find your feet.”

He blinked, the voice was gruff yet not unwelcome. The world finally came back into focus and at his side stood Captain Blackeye. “Wh-… What… When did you…”

“Get your eyes front now that ya uncrossed ‘em. That’ll tell you.”

Argus could finally make out the razor focus of the Captain’s expression and followed the length of his gaze over to where he assumed he’d been standing just before now. Before him, the Halcyon Knight of Fire launched volley after volley of magical conflagrations at a seemingly amorphous fog. Amidst the concentration of otherworldly condensation he could just make out the slimmest view of Illica, the snow fox they’d met earlier before the knight attacked.

Now that he thought on it, he had no memory of her dodging the opening attack, or tumbling down the tunnel with them.

“Now this is entirely unfair!” Pan Diar shouted. “Why can’t I hit you?!”

“Why?” Illica teased, her approach toward the knight entirely unhindered. “I thought Fire Mages always had an answer to everything.”

The tigress shouted in frustration, fires beneath her feet exploding and launching her through the air. She fired off fireballs the entire way, each simply slipping by their target and splashing pointlessly against the cave floor. It didn’t make any sense, no magic she knew of could make someone so seemingly untouchable. Worst of all, her natural empathic gift felt nothing from this approaching oddity, while every other sense she had screamed, ‘Don’t let it touch you.’

She landed, then quickly sprang back to keep distance between the snow fox and herself. She forced the words Illica had spoken to grow louder in her mind, ‘fire mages had an answer to everything.’ The stripes in Pan’s fur made the furrow of her brow all the more prominent, a frustrated growl boiled up from her throat before she closed her eyes and stood up straight, the end of her tail impatiently tapping against the floor. “You know what? You’re right. I ignored it because it seemed kind of a silly idea at first, but seeing how this is turning out? It must be the best answer!”

Two winding serpents of flame slowly twisted their way from her shoulder and over the surface of her arm. Slowly, she held it up and pointed her flat palm toward the ceiling. The magical fires slid up toward her open hand and pooled there, creating a beacon of blazing light.

Blackeye smirked and whispered, “Now’s our chance, Cael. I know exactly what she’s about to do. You still able to lift that cannon of yours?”

Argus thumbed the hammer and turned the barrel of The Thunderhead, “Absolutely.”

The air around them began to bake and the light in Diar’s palm surged, her voice calling forth a familiar spell in a foreign voice, “DRAGON’S CALDERA!” She slammed the ethereal flames down against the floor of the cavern, creating an infernal tsunami in every direction around her.

The captain brought his harpoon down in the motion of a sweeping strike, a deluge of water forming a small barrier around himself and Argus. “NOW ARGUS, HOP ON!” Before the grasshopper could respond, Blackeye thrust his harpoon forward and called out, “SLIPSTREAM!” From the end of his bejeweled weapon a rushing bridge of water began to race toward the offending Halcyon Knight.

Without another thought, Argus sprang onto the water and raced along its length. As he lined up his shot, he could hear Blackeye strain and feel the watery path falter. He didn’t dare look back; he couldn’t miss this chance. Just as the aquatic construct beneath his feet began to fade away, he leapt for all he was worth, his momentum carrying him well past his target. Still in motion, he flipped over in the air; his legs extended for both balance and to cease his turn.

His antenna recoiled at the intense heat below them.

He held his breath to slow his heart and steady his aim.

Seconds turned into an infinity as a single opportunity presented itself.

Pan Diar barely turned in time to see the Thunderhead unleash its power, a massive hand made of clay, exploding out of its flared barrel. The earthen magic broke her concentration instantly and the fire below evaporated as Argus tucked his head and let the top of his shoulders roll onto the ground, followed by the rest of him. Not his tidiest landing, but certainly not a deadly one.

Picking himself up slowly, Argus saw Illica float down into view on a small cushion of fog, and Captain Blackeye moving closer, rubbing his shoulder.

“Damn,” he spoke with some stiffness. “That landing hurt me more than I thought, sorry about that, Mister Cael.”

Argus tried to stand up straight and present himself with propriety, and then very painfully curled in on the sudden throbbing ache in his torso. “Suppose… We’re both worse for wear… Captain.”

Both warriors quickly levied their weapons at the collapsed Knight as she loudly growled and set fire to her bindings. The clay baked and hardened around her body, turning an admittedly lovely shade of earthenware red.

Pan’s fire died down and she sighed, “I hate pottery…”

A few moments passed and Illica saw Argus and Blackeye share a curious glance before going back to watching the downed knight. “Are the two of you waiting for something?”

“Aye,” Blackeye said without looking up. “Usually these youngins pull a little vanishin’ act when they can’t fight no more.”

“What say you dear,” Argus cut in. “Has your tiresome toad of a leader finally abandoned one of you to the cause?”

The tigress was still for a few seconds before squirming under her rigid confines. “Nope,” her voice returned to a seemingly ineffable calm. “I’m just not done yet.”

Blackeye scoffed, “Darlin’ if you think for one second you’re gettin’ past the three of us to the Aspect, you got another thing comin’.”

“Very true, I’d never get past all three of you. In fact, with your experience and abilities, I’m completely outmatched. Also, since Vizier Bulfo hates sending out too many of us at a time, I can’t expect reinforcement. But see, I figured something out.” She squirmed around a bit more, managing to turn her gaze toward Illica. “You… You’re not really here… That’s why I couldn’t hit you or feel you even while you’re standing right in front of me. So I got to thinking, ‘If I can see you but not touch or sense you, what are you?’”

Pan Diar’s fist exploded through the baked clay, a Mobius Glass firmly clutched within. “You’re the wind.”

Argus tore the ground beneath his feet as he jumped toward Illica to push her out of the way, only to pass right through her and tumble to the ground. He could only watch as the entirety of her being became a narrow band of vapor, inhaled by the small magical artifact.

Blackeye thrust his harpoon as hard as he could, shattering through the hardened clay, just grazing the tigress as a Dark Vault opened beneath her.

Once she’d vanished, a victorious little titter from her hung in the air far longer than either of them would’ve liked.

Then something else came, something gradual but not beyond notice. The air felt wrong as they breathed, not thin, but still missing something they knew it should have needed.

Blackeye sighed. “Old Poda did tell us there’s more’n one way for’em to get what they need.”

Argus felt heavy as he stood back up. He looked to the half destroyed clay hand and said, “I never would’ve guessed it could take the shape of a person…”

“That’s the way of the world, Mister Cael. Always throwin’ you a rogue wave or a sudden squall.” There was a solid moment of loud rumbling above them. “And we ain’t in calm waters just yet.”

He made a small noise in agreement before looking around and seeing one of his small magic ampoules in the distance. “You go on ahead, Captain. I need to find my cultures; some of them fell out of my bag on our way down here.”

Blackeye nodded firmly then made his way toward the exit.

As Argus did his best to suppress feelings of dismay and failure for later review, he walked over to the small glass vial and tried focusing instead on feelings of pride that his glasswork held up as well as he’d hoped. Then he saw something just beyond it that made all of that go away.

The softly glowing patch of flowers, thriving in a place with no natural sunlight, would be enough to give him pause on their own. But what they’d grown around, what they came to cradle in the course of time, was clearly a very old skull. One that made Argus wish he was less observant, and less able to identify species and genus from bone structure alone.

The weight of emotion on his heart brought him down to one knee. He closed his eyes and bowed his head, recalling a soft prayer he’d heard once in his travels. Whatever Illica had been, a willful ghost or the power of a god using the visage of a dead traveler to defend itself, he knew in his heart she most assuredly deserved better.

He scooped up the vial, straightened himself as best he could, and let these revelations become fuel to the fire of his resolve.

<[Chapter 36]–[Index]–[Chapter 38]>

#A Baker's Quest #Writing

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meggybetho924-blog · 7 years

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Laxus and Lucy Ship Week 2017: Day 4

This will not have angst. This will not have angst. This will not have angst. Fluff. Fluff. Fluff. Fluff. Fluff. I can't tell if my new mantra is working. Day 4: Protect(ion) --- Laxus had a nightly ritual. Every night when he and his girlfriend went to sleep, he would stay awake. Only long enough for him to move into the most comfortable position in the world (to him anyway) without any protests from the petite woman he was head-over-heels for. Once he was certain she was asleep, he would gently remove her clinging limbs from his body and turn her so that she was laying on her back. After accomplishing that much without waking her, he would slide down the bed, wrap his arms around her tiny waist, and use her stomach as a pillow. Which is exactly where he found himself one fall night. One that he would probably remember for the rest of his life. The Lightning Dragon Slayer didn't understand why or how he found it so comfortable. Her stomach wasn't all that soft, instead it was rather toned and firm from years of training her body with only a little bit of 'squish' as she called it. Maybe it was because he loved being so close to her. Maybe it was the way her hands always found their way to sift through his hair, even in sleep. Maybe it was how he found the tiny gurgling noises her stomach occasionally made adorable. Or maybe it was because of how easy it was to reach the part of her body that would wake her with pleasure. Whatever it was, he loved it, and could hardly fall asleep without it. With a content sigh, Laxus nuzzled into her soft flesh and closed his eyes. …only for then to snap open in shock a few seconds later. "What the hell…" He murmured quietly, pressing his ear firmly against her lower abdomen. With his magic, Laxus was accustomed to having enhanced senses. Nothing usually got by him, period. So imagine his shock and confusion when he discovered that his girlfriend of a little over a year had more than one heartbeat in her body. He sat there dumbfounded for the longest time, trying to find the answer to this strange phenomenon. She had never had an extra heartbeat previously, at least as long as he'd known her. How the hell did she have one now? The new heartbeat was incredibly faint, so faint that if he wasn't right up against her stomach he probably wouldn't have heard it at all. He debated waking her up to ask her about it, but immediately scrapped the idea. A Lucy woken up before she was ready was basically a death sentence, and despite being one of the strongest in the guild, Scary Lucy terrified him. As he laid there, thinking up any and every possible answer, it finally hit him. …Hard. Like a sack filled with bricks swung by an enraged Mira. (He would know, her teenage years where traumatizing to anyone who crossed her path. Which he did. More so than anyone else.) The large blonde actually blanched, his head flying off of her stomach. He stared at the creamy expanse of exposed skin in utter disbelief. "No fucking way…" He whispered, eyes widening more by the second as the realization registered in his mind. His girlfriend, was pregnant. Cautiously, he lowered his ear back down. Sure enough, the light strumming of a tiny heart diligently pumping blood remained, steady and strong. Laxus Dreyar was going to be a dad. The idea alone was enough to leave him flabbergasted, completely and utterly astonished. But he couldn't help but wonder how this came to be, no pun intended. They always wore protection, even though she took a birth control potion every three months. With them both being members of Fairy Tail, they wanted to be as careful as possible. He knew for a fact that Lucy wanted to become a mother someday, but way in the future. Preferably after becoming S-class. Not when she was barely twenty years old and unmarried. He knew she never forgot to take the potion, as she'd smell faintly of Queen Anne's Lace for up to a week following the dosage. A niggling in the back of his mind caught his attention and he focused on it as hard as he could. Oh. Oh. Well, shit. There was one night that they didn't use a condom, and it was a little over a month ago. However, she had just taken her potion the week prior so she shouldn't have gotten knocked up. He was not good at dealing with strong emotions, and he did not handle change well unless he was in control of it. It took him a long time to sort through how he was feeling and deal with it accordingly. But with this kind of situation, he knew he didn't have much time to figure everything out. As much as he wanted to wait for the small blonde beneath him to figure it out on her own, their occupation as mages meant he had to let her know soon. It wasn't that he hated the idea of having brats of his own. He just never really wanted them. Being a mage was something he devoted his life to, and having a baby would put a wrench in everything. Laxus knew he wouldn't be getting any sleep that night, yet for some reason he couldn't move his head away from the newly discovered sound to get up and do something to bide the time. Sighing heavily, he willed sleep to take him, knowing that overthinking the situation wouldn't help anything. Mavis, he needed a strong drink. }{}{}{ The following evening, Laxus found himself sitting with his team at a pub a few blocks away from the guild. Well, most of the team. Evergreen was off gallivanting with Elfman (read, screwing like rabbits) so that left him with Bickslow and Freed. One glance at Freed told him, and everyone that looked his way that he'd much rather be somewhere else. Like back at the guild so he could spend time with Mira. It was funny really. The entire guild thought that Mira and himself would end up together. However, no one knew of the feelings the green-haired mage harbored for the barmaid. Laxus merely thought of her as the nagging younger sister he never really asked for. Not to say that he didn't love her dearly, she just constantly pestered him to settle down with a girl. Then once he announced his relationship with Lucy, the demon matchmaker started hounding him for babies. Oh…right. That's why he was trying to drink himself stupid. "Care to explain why we are here? We never drink anywhere but the guild when we are home." Freed huffed, taking a small sip of his white wine. Psh. Pansy. That though in mind, Laxus slammed back the rest of his bourbon in one go. "Needed time away to work something out." He grunted, signaling the burly bartender for another round. "'Bout what, boss-man?" Bickslow asked, his totems swirling above the hulking blonde's head and repeating 'what's the matter'. "Is there something bothering you?" Freed asked, turning to place all of his undivided attention on him. Laxus sighed. "It's about Lucy." Bicks snorted. "What, did you piss her off again?" The totems began to shiver exaggeratedly. 'Scary Lucy! Scary Lucy!' Letting all of his pent up and conflicting emotions bubble over, Laxus almost shattered his now empty glass against the gritty bar top. "Why the hell does everyone assume I piss her off so much!?" He roared. Bickslow and Freed tried to get him to open up about his problem, but he refused to answer them. In all honestly, he felt like acting childish for a moment, so he did. By giving them the silent treatment. After a while, his team mates gave up on getting him to talk. Fifteen minutes later, Laxus sighed wearily, scrubbing a hand down his face. "Lucy's pregnant." He said quietly. It was so odd to say the words out loud. "She's what?!" The two of them, along with Bickslow's totems cried. He usually called them babies, but Laxus was feeling a bit bitter towards the word at the moment. "You heard me. She's got a bun in the oven. Makes no sense, either. She takes those potions that prevent pregnancy and I always use a condom." He hunched over, burring his face in his hands on the bar. "One time." He muttered, the sound muffled through his hands. "One time I don't wear one and she gets knocked up." "What does Miss Lucy say about all of this?" Freed asked. "She doesn't. I heard the heartbeat for the first time last night and put the pieces together." Bickslow let out a long whistle. "Wow, how the hell do you break it to your girl that she's pregnant? Ha. You should become a midwife. With those ears you'd make big money." The totems wiggled above the Seith mage's head. 'Big money! Big money!' Laxus straightened in his seat, his glare stating how close the Seith mage was to being electrocuted. "Don't you think I realize I'll have to do that? How the hell should I know?" He snapped. Lightning danced dangerously around his fingertips, not even close to being in the mood to deal with the man's obnoxious teasing. "You need to shut the hell up if you're not going to say anything helpful." He said scathingly. The helmeted mage held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Hey now! There's no need to go all dragon-rage on me. It's not my fault you rode bareback in her cock-pocket." The totems did a little spin over the bar. 'Cock-pocket! Cock-pocket!' The bartender broke into a fit of cackling laughter, and Laxus just stared blankly at his best friend. Finally, the numb haze that usually only appeared when the perverted man made a particularly outlandish statement cleared. Without a word, Laxus stood from his barstool, swung his jacket over his shoulder, and walked out the door shaking his head. He ignored the calls from his team telling him to come back, and teleported back to the house he shared with his girlfriend. On the bright side, the house he owned had several bedrooms and plenty of open space for the kid to run around. He'd bought it nearly eight years ago, well fifteen including the time skip, with money saved from S-class missions. His team lived with him for a while, before they all realized it was a horrible idea. Being with each other constantly almost ruined their relationships and split the team apart. Everyone moved out pretty quickly after that, and after having some space their dynamic thankfully went back to normal. Upon entering his front door, he shed his fur-lined jacket and hung it on the coat rack. He unlaced his boots, placed them by the significantly smaller pairs Lucy had lined up by the door, and wandered through the house in search of his girlfriend. He knew she was home, catching how fresh her scent was immediately, along with the smell of meat sizzling in hot oil and freshly baked bread. Instead of entering the kitchen and announcing his presence, Laxus leaned against the doorway, watching the woman cooking dinner in fond amusement. Lucy was humming a cheerful tune, wiggling her shapely hips as she stirred a pot of what smelled like mushrooms and rice. When she was finished stirring, she'd shuffle her feet to the beat of the tune, dancing over to flip the chicken she was pan-frying. Her head bobbed as she moved, sending her long golden locks swaying back and forth behind her. Mavis, she was beautiful. A ray of sunshine. And oh, how he loved everything about her. Suddenly the scene changed in front of him. Instead of the impeccably fit woman dancing in front of him, he saw the same scene, except for the fact that her belly was profoundly larger and rounder than it was now. She didn't look very far along, but it was glaringly obvious that she was pregnant, not just a little chubby. It changed once more, and now he watched his girlfriend while she danced and cooked, a tiny blonde baby giggling and bouncing on her hip as she moved. Something warm bloomed in his chest, and he found himself studying the child intently. Golden blonde curls pulled into little pigtails and tied with pink ribbon. Impossibly tiny, pudgy fingers clutched tightly to her mother's blouse. Stormy blue eyes, exactly like his own, open wide with glee. Her giggling mouth open to reveal mostly toothless gums. She was perfect, he decided. "Laxus? When did you get home?" His girlfriend's voice shattered the illusion, and he almost felt like crying when his daughter's image vanished with it. Shaking his head, he forced himself to smile at the petite blonde woman watching him with curious and concerned eyes. "Just now." Concern never leaving her chocolate gaze, she continued studying his face. "Are you feeling okay? I called your name a few times, but it took you a while to respond." His forced smile became genuine at how much she always cared about him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired." Lucy shrugged and resumed cooking, and he took a seat on one of the high-back barstools tucked under the marble island. "And uh… how are you feeling today?" He asked hesitantly. She looked at him over her shoulder with a raised brow. "I'm fine. A little more tired than usual, but fine otherwise. I'm actually going to go to bed early after we eat. Team Natsu has a mission in the morning and I feel like I need some extra sleep." That stopped him short, and he half considered telling her right then. But he just wasn't ready. "What kind of a mission is it?" He asked, hoping he sounded casual in asking. Luckily she didn't find the question suspicious, humming in thought as she pulled down several plates and some silverware from the cupboard. "Oh, nothing too crazy. We just have to find the mayor's daughter a few towns over. He thinks she got lost in the woods. It's too easy for the whole team to go, but the reward is huge! Plus, with Natsu's nose we'll find her in no time." Relief flooded him and he smiled at her in thanks when she slid a plate to him, piled high with delicious smelling food. With a mission as simple as this, he didn't have to worry about her getting hurt in her condition. It gave him just a little more time to figure out a way to tell her. }{}{}{ The next morning Laxus was sitting at his usual table, watching as Lucy gushed to Lisanna and Levy about the new book she was reading. Her team was just waiting on Natsu to arrive, and then they'd be taking the first train to Woodsworth Town. It was only three hours away by train, and was well-known for its production in lumber and large-scale tree farming. The night before, he had been comfortable with the job she was taking. But now, with her departure coming within the next hour or so, paranoia and a fear he'd never experienced before flooded his entire being. The idea that she was going to be so far away from him, unknowingly pregnant with his child terrified him. As far as missions went, anything could happen or go wrong. Team Natsu, Lucy in particular, attracted trouble like a magnet. She wouldn't know to be cautious of her condition. Her team wouldn't know not to roughhouse her too much. And he wouldn't be there to protect her or her precious cargo in the instance that something happened. But how would he tell her now? She was in the middle of the guild, about to leave. He couldn't just spring this on her right before a job. It wasn't fair to her. Finally, Natsu showed up. Lucy blew the frustrated blonde a kiss from where she stood and then skipped out the doors with her team. "You're seriously going to let her go off with the most destructive team in all of Fiore without telling her?" Laxus started, broken out of his inner turmoil by an uncharacteristically serious Bickslow taking the chair next to him. His totems were silent, as they usually were on the rare occasion the Seith mage had a serious conversation, and his usual tongued grin was nowhere to be seen, a frown in its place. This was such a rare occurrence, Laxus actually had to rub his eyes to make sure he was really seeing what sat beside him. "What?" He managed to ask after getting over the mild shock to his system. Bickslow shook his head and crossed his arms. "Let me lay this out as bluntly as I can for you, Laxus. As a Seith mage, I come across many different kinds of souls. It doesn't matter what kind of Seith mage they are, every single one of us recognizes the most important kind of soul there is. That would be the soul of an unborn baby. Their souls are a pure, they are pure, and innocent. Completely untainted by anything." He moved the grate of his helmet and looked at him with hard eyes. "And right now, because you are too caught up in your own feelings, you are putting one of those souls at potential risk. When it comes down to it, ask yourself this: what is more important, the fact that you aren't ready to face this or your own baby's life and wellbeing?" With that, the Seith mage stood up and stalked away, his totems trailing silently behind him. Laxus sat there for all of a minute, the weight of his best friend's words growing heavier and heavier as time stretched on. Without even a word of warning, the hulking blonde gathered his magic and teleported out of the guild, leaving a clap of thunder and shouting guild mates in his wake. }{}{}{ In a matter of minutes, he was at the train station. Ignoring the yelps of anger and surprise around him, he took off after the familiar scent of strawberries and cream. Just as the blonde he was searching for was about to board the train with her team, Laxus snatched her by the wrist and tugged her back. "Laxus!? What the hell are you doing here?" The startled Celestial mage shouted in surprise. "I need to talk to you." He said, his tone conveying how serious he was. She settled a little, but looked up to him in confusion. "Can't this wait? I'm going to miss the train." "Oi, Laxus! Stall as much as you can. We can always walk there, right guys?" Natsu looked to his team with hopeful and desperate eyes. Gray scoffed at his attempt and Erza placed a firm hand on the pinkette's shoulder before addressing Lucy. "We will be waiting for you on the train. It departs in ten minutes, so I suggest you make this quick." Not giving anyone a chance to argue, mainly Natsu who was now pouting childishly, she dragged the Dragon Slayer across the platform and into the train with Gray at her heels. When her team was gone, she turned to Laxus with an expression that read she expected answers and fast. Taking a deep steadying breath, Laxus gently guided the petite blonde to sit with him on a nearby bench. "Is there something wrong?" She asked, starting to get worried by his odd behavior. A voice shouted through his mind, sounding too much like Elfman for his liking, to be a real man and get it over with. "I wouldn't say that it's wrong. Just important that you know." He said, squaring his shoulders and meeting her eyes. "Okay…" Taking in a large breath and letting it all go in a rush, he dove in head first. "Have you noticed anything off about yourself lately? Health-wise?" Lucy blinked for a moment, and he thanked whoever had blessed him with this woman. Instead of asking why or what he meant right away, she took the time to really ponder the question. "Now that you mention it… I have been tiring easier during the day. And I'm hungry like all of the time. And it's weird, because I missed my…oh. Oh." Her eyes snapped back to his in sudden understanding. "I'm…" Laxus nodded, reaching over to tuck a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "But how… how would you know this before even I did?" She asked, confusion evident in her features. The Dragon Slayer rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I heard it, the heartbeat, two nights ago while you were sleeping. I just couldn't figure out how to tell you." Lucy wasn't really listening anymore, though. Her chocolate eyes watered, and a hand rose from her lap to gently press against her lower abdomen. "You heard…" A moment later, her watery gaze met his and even though he would never admit it to anyone, his eyes pricked with tears as well. "We're going to be parents?" She asked, a serene smile playing at her pretty pink lips. The train whistle blew and departed, but neither of them paid it any mind. "Yeah, Blondie. I guess so." He said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his chest. They sat there for a minute, until she asked a question he'd been wondering himself. "I don't get it, though. We always use protection. Even that one night should have been fine because of my birth control potion. It has an almost 100% effectiveness rate." Laxus shrugged, his hand slipping down to join hers over where his, no their, baby was growing. "I have no idea." }{}{}{ It was four months later that Lucy got the call via lacrima. The little potions shop where she used to purchase her birth control had accidentally shipped her an expired dose. They offered her compensation for any problems that they could have caused, but she'd declined. Maybe in a different point in her life, she would have been angry with their mistake. But later that night, as she was lying in bed snuggled up to her Dragon slayer while he traced gentle shapes against her baby bump, she couldn't bring herself to care. Their false sense of protection with that potion had given her something that meant more to her than anything in this world. A little family to call her own. ___ Thank you to everyone who fav/followed/reviewed! I love you all! See y'all tomorrow for Summer!

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vampireadamooc · 7 years

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Note: http://www.historytoday.com/duncan-light/romania%E2%80%99s-problem-dracula

Romania’s Problem with Dracula By Duncan Light Published in History Today Volume 67 Issue 5 May 2017

Bram Stoker’s novel was a mixed blessing for Romania. It attracted tourists, but the legend was at odds with communist ideals and made a villain of a national hero.

Transylvania – a large region comprising much of central Romania – is near-synonymous with one word: Dracula. Bram Stoker’s novel, published in 1897, tells the story of a predatory vampire who lives in a ruined castle, high in the Carpathian mountains. Most of the action unfolds in Victorian London, but it is the description of Transylvania – dark, wild, untouched by science and modernity – that is the novel’s most evocative achievement. Since Stoker had never been to Transylvania his portrayal of the region was largely the work of imagination. Nevertheless, his depiction of a frightening region on the edge of Europe stuck. The novel gave rise to a vampire subculture, still alive today, and at its centre stands Transylvania, the natural home for the supernatural.

Romania has benefited from the novel and its film adaptations. Tourist numbers increased from just 5,000 in 1956 to 103,000 in 1960. By 1970, they had reached 2,300,000. Since the 1960s fans of Dracula have undertaken pilgrimages to the region, seeking traces of the Count amid the wild landscapes. Romania, then a communist state, allied to the Soviet Union since the Warsaw Pact of 1955, was keen to attract western tourists, who generated hard currency used to import western technology. There were also political motivations: tourism allowed Romania to demonstrate its ideological achievements and promoted friendly relations abroad. During the 1960s, Romania’s communist leader, Nicolae Ceauşescu, distanced Romania from the Soviet Union. In 1968 he publicly denounced the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Romania was eager to present itself to the West as an independent communist country and tourism was to play a role. Thus, the state made travel easy: border formalities were minimal and visas were inexpensive, with few restrictions once inside the country.

Yet those Dracula fans who did visit Transylvania seeking the Count were disappointed. Castle Dracula has never existed outside Bram Stoker’s imagination. Tourists frequently discovered that Romanians knew nothing about Dracula. The novel was not published in Romania until 1990 (although parts were serialised in the popular magazine Realitatea ilustrata during the 1930s). Romanians were bewildered when asked for directions to Castle Dracula or about vampires in Romania. In 1972 a New York-based travel company, General Tours, launched the first Dracula-themed tour, ‘Spotlight on Dracula’. Unprepared for a tour which advised visitors to stock up on garlic to ward off evil, Romania’s tourism minister Ioan Cosma established a group to investigate how Romania should respond to growing interest in Dracula.

It presented a dilemma. Dracula provided the country with a unique selling point. Yet tourism based on the supernatural was fundamentally at odds with ‘scientific’ communism; superstitious beliefs were part of a discredited past that communism was determined to sweep away. ‘Dracula tourism’ relied on a conception of Transylvania as a sinister, backwards place, discordant with Romania’s image of itself as a modern, developing and industrialised country.

There was a further problem. Romania had its own historical Dracula, the 15th-century ruler, Vlad III (‘Vlad the Impaler’), a notoriously violent prince known for impaling his enemies on wooden stakes. Born in Transylvania, Vlad sometimes signed himself as Drăculea, meaning ‘son of the dragon’ as his father, Vlad II Dracul, had been invested into the Order of the Dragon for his gallantry when fighting the Ottomans. Despite Vlad’s reputation, nationalist historians during the 19th and 20th centuries lauded him as a strong leader who defended his country against external threats during turbulent times. As Ceauşescu increasingly embraced nationalism, Romania’s medieval rulers were presented as precursors of his independent foreign policy.

Then, in 1972, Radu Florescu and Raymond T. McNally published In Search of Dracula, in which they claimed that Stoker used Vlad as the model for the Count, creating a new reason for fans to travel to the places associated with the ‘real’ Dracula.

Here lay the problem. No country would be pleased to see one of its national heroes represented as a vampire. In 1973 Romania’s ministry of tourism developed its own tour, Dracula: Legend and Truth, themed around the life of Vlad. It was overtly propagandist and intended to firmly draw a line between the historical Dracula and the fictional vampire. The ministry had decided that Dracula could not be part of Romania’s tourist offerings, reluctantly tolerating such tourism but not encouraging it. This remained the official position until the collapse of the communist regime in December 1989.

Foreign tourists, however, were undeterred. Many found what they were looking for at Bran Castle near the city of Brașov. The castle has no connection to Dracula and only tenuous links to Vlad but, situated on a hill with an impressive collection of spires and turrets, it looks the part. Officially a museum of medieval art, in the 1960s Bran became known outside Romania as ‘Dracula’s Castle’ and was promoted as such by package tours.

In the early 1970s one local tourism leader took matters discretely into his own hands. His actions reveal much about the balance between central and local power in the communist state. The Castle Dracula of the novel is located in what is now the county of Bistriţa in north-east Transylvania. The head of Bistriţa’s tourist office, Alexandru Misiuga, was aware that western tourists were visiting his county in search of Dracula although, like most Romanians, he knew little about the novel. He raised the matter with the county head of the Securitate, Romania’s internal security service, Ion Mânzat, who, as a child, had read the interwar serialisation of Dracula and, having been born in the Bârgău Pass (the castle’s fictional location), paid it particular attention.

In Dracula, the English solicitor Jonathan Harker spends a night in Bistriţa at the Golden Crown Hotel. A new hotel was under construction in Bistriţa and Misiuga realised that naming it the Golden Crown would draw fans. This was a matter for the local communist party, which was unlikely to accept a name with royal associations. Yet Misiuga eventually persuaded Adalbert Crisan, the local party secretary, to approve ‘The Golden Crown’ (Coroana de Aur), arguing that Dracula embodied the battle of good against evil (omitting mention of vampires). The hotel opened in April 1974 and, although its design did not specifically allude to Dracula, its menu was based on Harker’s dinner in the novel.

Buoyed by success, Misiuga determined to build another hotel in the exact location of the fictional castle, but obtaining support for a second hotel in Bistriţa was difficult. The ministry of tourism repeatedly refused requests for funding. He sought the help of Crisan and Mânzat and between them they devised a plan. Ceauşescu was a keen huntsman, visiting Bistriţa for shooting parties. After a day’s hunting they raised their plan for a hotel in the Bârgau Pass and Ceauşescu replied: ‘So what’s stopping you from building it?’ With such support, Misiuga was able to demand funding, adroitly ensuring that nobody in Bucharest knew more about the hotel than was necessary. The project was presented as accommodation for tourists en route to the painted monasteries of Bucovina.

It opened as Hotel Tihuţa in 1983, resembling a castle and decorated with animal skulls. Naming the hotel after Dracula was impossible during the 1980s, when the state was becoming increasingly hostile to the Dracula phenomenon. Despite only being renamed Hotel Castel Dracula following the fall of communism, the hotel quickly became popular with Dracula fans, who found what they had long been seeking. High in the Carpathians, fiction had become reality.

How did Misiuga succeed in building two Dracula hotels at a time when the state forbade such an act? The answer lies in the interplay between central and local power in communist Romania. Communist regimes were thought to be all-seeing, but this was not the case. In places like Bistriţa, far from Bucharest, the state was weak. Entrepreneurs like Misiuga could work at the margins of state power to pursue personal agendas. He took advantage of ignorance among the party hierarchy, while presenting his initiatives as consistent with economic policy. Bistriţa county became the centre of Dracula tourism in Transylvania – but so unobtrusively that the central authorities were unaware of it.

Duncan Light is senior lecturer in tourism at Bournemouth University.

#most tags are not vila's #tags preserved for the commentary of the op #or are used for index and search features #Dracula #Vlad v Dracula #Romania #By Duncan Light

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venjix5 · 4 years

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