#falsehood countdown

[cissa-calls]

Countdown to Agatha: Darkhold Diaries: Day 662

Wanda: “And how do you plead?”

Y/N: “Not guilty!”

Agatha: “Guilty!”

Wanda and Y/N: “What?”

Agatha: “Guilty! I will not have my reputation tarnished once more with falsehoods. If you believe me to be guilty, I certainly must be. So throw your slander and burn your witch, and I shall be on trial in Salem once more!”

Wanda and Y/N: *shocked silence*

Wanda: “Chill out I was just wondering if you finished the Nutella”

#agatha is 1000% serious 1000% of the time #it’s okay it’s not the trauma at all #wandavision #agatha harkness #house of harkness #agatha all along #hahndavision #house of harkness counter #marvel #wanda maximoff #agatha harkness x reader #wanda maximoff x reader #darkhold diaries counter #coven of chaos counter #coven of chaos #incorrect marvel quotes #darkhold diaries #agatha: darkhold diaries

[yeetmeoffjueyunkarst]

Follow up to the one where reader gives Lynette a glass flower, where reader so.ehow finds out about Lynettes being a part of the Fatui, and their initial heartbreak over not being trusted to be told.

The way you got me giggling like crazy in public…. dude you really live up to your username help i’m bursting with ideas

Why?

part 2 to this, angst, hurt no comfort, I am out to make you two even more sad, Archon Quest spoilers ahead!

Things were decidedly alright for a while.

Of course, the both of you remained friends, but there was the hint of something more.

Hidden glances when the other wasn't looking. Lynette's greater acceptance of physical affection around you. Her proactiveness in talking to you more. You paying more attention to every little trait of hers, and making more time and effort to be around her.

It's like there was a shift in the energy between the both of you, so painfully obvious to those who were observant enough, given that Lynette knew she is Fatui. She couldn't, cannot afford to let down her guard, lest she misses out something.

Then, it happened.

It was a blur, really. You were there that fateful performance, when everything came crashing down, literally.

Before you knew it, you were caught up in having to give quite a few statements to the guards present, with the Traveller assisting in the investigation as well.

Both you and Lynette didn't have time to talk. But you could feel her worry for Lyney when he was accused for murder.

"Lynette?"

She turns around, immediately walking towards you, like a moth drawn to a flame.

It catches you by surprise when she embraces you, gripping the back of your shirt oh so tightly.

"Hold me, please."

The lights fade as the both of you hold each other, words left unspoken, the both of you always dancing around each other.

As someone involved in the case, you were seated in the audience's box, watching as the Traveler defends Lyney and Lynette's case.

It's a beautiful battle, really. As someone who lived long enough in Fontaine, you couldn't help but admire the fight of the court, though still more serious given it does affect both your friends.

Furina: "And if may I ask, what did you hear while you were inside your box?"

Lyney: "The roaring countdown of the crowd, of course. That's how I kept track of the time and build anticipation of the finale."

Furina: "And you didn't hear anything else at all? Nothing that might leave any impression of any kind?"

Lyney: "No, nothing."

But there was a 'thud' in the middle of it all.

For a moment, no sound could be heard from your own ears. All there was was the pounding of your heart.

Furina: "Tell me. Aren't you and Lynette actually from the House of the Hearth?"

At the Hydro Archon's words, your eyes lock onto Lynette, praying, hoping that it was falsehoods. But deep down, it is an Archon's words. How could it be wrong?

Your heart shatters when Lyney admits it to Iudex Neuvillette.

For the rest of the court hearing, you sit there, grappling with the revelation that the person you have feelings for is part of the Fatui.

The Fatui. Based on the Steambird's news, the Fatui were responsible for a lot of things, including the almost destruction of the entire Liyue City, the Vision Hunt Decree and the war between Narukami and Watasumi, and for the machinery of the corruption among the Sumeru Akademiya... needless to say, as one of many raised to trust in the Archons, the Fatui were essentially the bad guys to you.

Has Lynette killed? How much of her words and actions to me is real? Just what of her is real? Has she been watching me? For what reason? Has she done unspeakable things for the sake of her allegiance? Why is she there? What is she doing with the Fatui? How long has she been doing this?

Even as the court hearing ended and they were proved to be innocent, the damage was done. You notice Lyney and Lynette following after the Traveler.

No doubt to thank them, I suppose. After all, they're the reason why they're still free, despite the longstanding clash between both the Traveler and the Fatui as a whole.

Deciding that you don't want to talk to Lynette, you decide to head out, taking the exit on the opposite side where the Traveler, Lynette and Lyney were talking.

You hear bits of the conversation, but you elect to ignore it, since it's only words of gratitude that you're hearing so far.

You don't notice Lynette's pained eyes on you. Or how Lyney and the Traveler are aware she's watching you as you leave Opera Epiclese.

You don't hear the next parts of the conversation, about why the twins are even in the Fatui in the first place.

And you don't want to admit this to yourself, but.

What now? What are you supposed to do when you have feelings for someone who's in an organisation that has literally started wars and is responsible for so much destruction?

Clenching your fists, you walk out of the hall, heading straight home.

"Lynette?"

Lyney pokes his head into his sister's room. Being the top brass among the children of the House of the Hearth has given the 3 of them some perks, including separate rooms. That's also because he's slated to take over Father when the time comes, but he's not going to tell Lynette or Freminet yet.

She doesn't hear him, fiddling with the glass flower you gave her a while back. Thinking of you. Longing for you. Missing you. Wanting to clear everything up and just have you back.

Father once told her that 'You needn't fret, nor should you feel like you have to change your own habits. But you should know that genuine understanding can only be found, not sought. A true companion is someone who can read your signals.'

She had that in Lyney, her twin brother who effortlessly managed to do so, because they've grown up together. Freminet, who also managed to, but albeit with some effort but it pulled through because the 3 of them had always been working together.

You were different. The both of you came from so different backgrounds. While her and her twin were left to fend for themselves on the streets, you had the support and love of your own parents.

You weren't as cunning as her or Lyney, but you made it up with your own sincerity for the people you care about. She could feel it in the way you always tried to understand her, tried to know her better.

You made her feel like it was okay to be in a spotlight, even as her role as a magician's assistant. A Fatui operative who was meant to stay in the shadows.

If Lyney is her truth in this world, then you are the light of this world, giving people like her, who belong in the darkness a sweet taste of sunshine, one that she had enjoyed only in between her little interactions with her parents when they were alive and with Lyney and Freminet.

But for all her logical mindset, she didn't know how to breach the issue of her being a Fatuus to you, and it's a rare moment of insecurity for her.

Y/N probably hates me. And they may probably never want to see me again. What should I do? I'm not sure if I should ask Lyney for help, he tends to be... too bold. I don't want to imagine him suggesting me to give Y/N a bunch of flowers when he's already rambling to me quite a few times on how much he likes the Traveller from earlier....

"Lynette." Lyney sighs as Lynette continues to absent-mindedly stroke the glass flower, aware that she's probably thinking about you and shaking his head at how dense his sister could be to her own thoughts and feelings when she's so observant in the first place.

Whatever Lyney wants to talk to Lynette about, it's definitely going to be a long night for them , considering the even longer day they had after the whole court case and having a stern talking to from their 'Father' for their identity exposed.

Oh god I'm finally done after procrastinating uwu requests are always open!!!!! ASK AWAY!!!!!!!

#j.writes #genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin lynette #genshin lyney #genshin neuvillette #genshin furina #genshin focalors #genshin freminet #lynette x reader

[sirenologyyy]

LIFE AIN'T THE SAME !

ao'nung x fem!sully reader

✷ premise : as tensions rise and your family is forced out of the only home you've ever known, fish boy meets forest girl and the rest is history (tragedy)

✷ warnings : kidnapping, swearing, injury, blood, violence, and death

✷ author's note : I have nothing else to say except I'm like really sorry, also, mentions of blood.

part 6 of the SOLD OUT OF LOVE series.

You've been yelled at before.

This time around you shouldn't be so fazed by it, right? Plenty of scoldings under your belt, plenty of punishments, plenty of earfulls. It was just another Tuesday to you.

But you stood there in the Tsahík's Marui, contemplating on wether or not you just run for the goddamn hills.

"You" Ronal started, pointing a finger at your face, you stiffened. "Need to stay away, far away, from my son"

"Mother-" Ao'nung began, an argument at the ready.

"-No! I will not hear it!" The Tsahík screeched, rounding on him. "What scandalous acts have the both of you committed under the witness of the night sky?" She dosen't give you time to answer. "I am not oblivious to the little smiles and longing stares the both of you send the other when they are not looking" she stops, circling both you and Ao'nung. "This stops now"

"You heard what she said" Says Jake, leaning closer to you. "Make sure you get it through your skull"

"You!" Says Ronal, pointing at your father this time. "You have allowed your rambunctious child corrupt the thoughts of my son! Eywa knows what kind of nonsense your daughter has been feeding him!"

Your mouth moved faster than your brain. "You're wrong, you know nothing"

"Y/N!" Your mother hissed.

"She is talking back! Has respect not been taught to you girl??"

"Mind your manners, Y/N" Jake seethed, making you grit your teeth.

"It is inevitable, Tonowari" Ronal had exclaimed tiredly, walking up to her husband who had remained silent this entire time. "Our son has lain with a half-breed"

Saying the Marui exploded was an understatement.

"Y/N, is what she saying true???" Your mother wonders, pulling you to face her.

"No! She's lying! We didn't do anything!" You replied, your head reeling.

"Y/N, kid, are you kidding me???"

You were on the verge of crying, trying to get him to calm down. "Dad please, I swear, we didn't do anything! we fell asleep!"

Ao'nung was quick to jump in, constantly at your rescue. "She is right, Toruk Makto, please, nothing happened between us, I give you my word"

"Do not come to her defense boy!" Ronal snapped acidly.

"Mother I do not see why all of this is necessary!" Ao'nung retaliated, turning to her.

"It is necessary because you have been wasting your days following this demon around when you could have been training to be the next Olo'eyktan!" She spat, making you duck your head.

"Your words are like knives to the skin, my daughter is not a demon" Neytiri intervened, practically hissing at Ronal, the expanse of her fangs being shown.

"You lie to yourself" Ronal replies. "You, of all people should know just how much falsehoods leave your mouth everytime you try to defend her true identity"

As she turns to Ao'nung you feel as if a bomb had just settled into its final countdown and you were tied to a chair, far away from it, yet so close at the same time. The greatest common factor? Was that you couldn't do anything to stop it. "This girl is not even real Na'vi! but a human who has been playing the part for far too long, she lies to us all!"

You wanted the floor to swallow you whole.

Ao'nung's gaze was enough to make sure of that.

"Ronal, that is enough" Tonowari finally says, she sends him a glare, he remains resolute.

She turns to the both of you again, instigating more fear into you, the ball in your throat swelling against your own will. "You will not be seeing eachother any longer, you will not be teaching her during lessons, you will not see her after your training, and you will not turn my son against me, that is final"

"What???" You shrieked.

"Mother you are not thinking straight, we can resolve this!"

"It is what needs to be done in order for you to become the Olo'eyktan our people need you to be"

"Whatever this is," says Jake, turning you to face him. "it ends now"

"Dad-!" You tried, your eyes hot, your throat constricting, your chest hurting. "You're really going to take her word over mine???"

He hesitates as you keened, staring up at him, waiting, wishing, believe me, please, i'm telling the truth Dad, believe me. Then something shifts on his face and your stomach sinks. "Enough" He snapped. "Any more and you're done"

Your face twists in hurt, in anger, in confusion.

"I do not wish to see the sight of your daughter's face near my son, ever again" Ronal declared.

"I'll make sure of it," He replies to your horror. "Let's go" says Jake, taking your forearm and practically hauling you away like you weigh nothing to him.

Ao'nung tries to follow you but Tonowari holds him back as Jake pulls you farther out of the hut, he is forced to stand there and watch as you get dragged back home.

When you do, you see the fleeting images of your siblings standing up from their seat before you pull your arm away from Jake's firm grasp, your hair flying everywhere.

"The Olo'eyktan's son???" He asked you condescendingly. "Really??"

"Would you have rather me go for his daughter instead???"

He sneered in disbelief. "You are way out of line"

"You believe the Tsahík's words over mine??? Mine??? " you reiterate, repeatedly pointing at your gut as your voice wavered shrilly. "Are you that goddamn deluded???"

"Well how the hell do you expect me to believe you when all you've been doing is sneaking around behind my back this entire time???" He yelled back, his forehead creasing.

"For Christ's sake we fell asleep!! I- I don't even like him like that!" You stammer, watching him walk past you.

"Jesus, you don't even believe yourself" Jake scorned dismissively.

"It's the truth!"

He whirls around. "Whatever alright???" Jake started. "You gotta learn that this is the consequence of your actions, you go running off with a boy at night??? Coming back home an hour before noon??? You're smart enough! Come on Y/N, you tell me what that looks like!!" He finished.

Letting out a shuddering exhale you frown at him. "You never listen to me!"

"No, you never listen to me! " He bounced back, taking a step forward and sending you a step away. "This isn't a one time thing, you've been acting up since we got here!- Oh who am I kidding?? It's all you've ever done, because that's what you always wanted make things harder for your mother! For me!"

You frowned, trying to hold the tears that threatened to fall as you let in a shaky inhale, boxing your arms in front of your chest as your lower lip trembled.

But your father just kept firing words at you. "D'you know how hard it is to put up with you??? With your antics? Why can't you just be more like Neteyam? Like Kiri?"

This was where Neytiri decided she needed to step in. "Jake, that is enough, you must stop this"

You try and shrug off your sibling's stares burning holes on the side of your head. "Well, fuck, I'm sorry I'm nothing like your perfect children"

"Hey!" He bellowed, making the Marui shake. "Watch your mouth!"

"Well it'll never work because I'm not your real daughter am I??? I'm just some charity case you took up to make you two look like saints!" You shrieked, balling your hands into fists, digging your nails against your palms just to put all your anger someplace else, streams of saltwater falling from your eyes and over your flushed cheeks. "Grace's kid isn't enough, let's allow those orphans from the lab to join our family too, oh poor Y/N's still adjusting with her avatar body, let's take her in too"

"You really wanna test me right now? You tryna get on my nerves??" He warned you. "All that mouth? All that attitude? Let's see where it takes you"

"If we hadn't left the forest none of this would have happened! If we stayed in the village none of this would have happened!"

"You wanna go back to the forest??" He asks you disdainfully before you see him take your drawstring bag, tossing it at your feet, your bow, your arrows, some of the clothes you haven't had the chance to put away yet.

"What are you doing???" You ask him, watching him throw all of your things in front of you, making you cringe and take a step back in fear.

"Drag your ass back to the goddamn forest then! Go! Let's see what happens!" He bellowed, pointing at the door. "You think now that you're such a big girl you can go say whatever you damn well please??? You think you're so big now huh??" He watches as you stood there, sobbing silently. "Come on! Get lost! "

Your face twists. "I hate you!" You screamed, your tears splattering onto the floor.

"You wanna go back there??? Back to the forest where they'll be waiting for you???"

"Better there than to deal with you!"

He lets out a condescending chuckle before he passes by your stunned siblings to collect the rest of your things, throwing them onto the floor. "You wanna leave so bad??? You wanna get killed out there??? Is that what you want??? You wanna get killed over having me as a dad???"

"Maybe I do!" You reply, pride taking over you like a virus.

"Be my goddamn guest kid"

You were exhausted. "You should've just let me drown in that goddamn river!! You should've never let me transferred bodies, you should have just let me died like my mother!!!" You yelled at a dismayed Jake, your throat dry and scratchy from shouting at such an intensity, phantom pains all over your body, your ears ringing.

"Why didn't you just leave me alone???" You wailed, watching just how his face fell. "Maybe then you'd have been the father I deserved!"

You didn't give him a second to even process your words before you stormed out. Running, and running, until you stopped and sat, and cried, letting your sobs let loose into the balmy afternoon air, crying like a mad woman, until your sobs practically dragged its claws up your throat as you let them out. You hadn't stopped crying when your mother found you, she tried wrapping you in her arms but you push her away, sitting on the floor and crying into your forearms placed above your knees as she took her seat beside you.

"I know you feel as if you do not belong with us at times because you think you are not like us, that you do not look like us, but know that I never paid attention to what they told me... that by taking in a Dreamwalker let alone an orphan to raise as my own would make the Great Mother furious" She whispered in such a tone that tore apart every thing you resented about yourself, Neytiri stitching it back up, without asking for anything in return and repeat, it made you feel tired, as an indescribable longing overcame you

Neytiri reached out to brush the hairs that clung to your face from the sweat and the exertion of breaking down, but you took her hand and shoved her away lightly.

What would she do with you, she thought. "You are my daughter, and nothing will change that" She tells you, stroking your hair as you continued to sob. "Not even if my nose looks different from yours, not even if you have eyebrows, not even if we do not have the same number of fingers on each hand"

"You're just saying that to make me feel better" You sniffed. "You don't mean that, you aren't even my real mom, it dosent matter"

Her heart sank. "But it does matter Ma'íte, it matters the most... look at me sweet girl" You look up at her. "you may not have come from me, we may not share the same blood, you may not see me as your real mother but I have not seen you as anything but my sweet little girl... because I know you, I raised you, and I loved you more than I could ever love myself"

You started sobbing even more. This was where you finally allow her to envelope you in a tight embrace, one where you cried onto her shoulder for what seemed like hours, she cradles you even if you were too big to fit on her lap, you didn't complain, nothing seemed to matter, you just wanted your mom.

When you finally pull apart to collect yourself was where she finally got the chance to ask about him.

"So, Ao'nung?"

You grin bashfully, still hiding your face from her. "Shut up"

"I was right, you lied"

"I know, I know"

Neytiri did not like the idea of him and you, but a bitter yet fuzzy feeling of familiarity bloomed in her gut. "Do you feel things for him, Ma'íte?"

You hesitate for a while. You were too afraid to say it, that you've fallen for him, for him, oh Eywa. "It scares me, mom" you gave in, looking up at her with your glassy yellow eyes. "There is this... this burning inside me, I don't know how to make it stop... and he caused it, he lit the fire, now it won't stop burning, it won't stop burning for him"

"It takes great courage to admit what you truly feel, to come to terms with something so difficult"

"I have only ever hated him, I don't know how to..." You stopped, trying to find the right words, looking at your scabbed knuckles in the process. "I don't know how to feel what I feel" you admit pathetically, laughing at yourself as you placed a hand over your eyes, your shoulders rising and falling.

"Your father is right in some things, wrong in others, but we both know you are smart enough to make the decision that will work out eventually" She explains, moving your hair out of your face. "Even if we do give you advice, I know for a fact you will always choose the one you think is best, even if it does mean going against us"

She wipes the last of your tears before she walks off, leaving you alone.

You were on your way to vist your íkran, seeing as you haven't took her out for a proper fly since you arrived here, you needed to get your mind off of this shit show for a second, flying always did.

Your mind had already delved too deep in what turns and spins you could practice on her once in the air but all that stops when you hear Ao'nung call you from behind. You turn around, almost giving yourself a whiplash to see him standing a few steps away from you.

Your stomach sank to the floor, bitterness and dread eating away what little happiness settled into your mind as you shook your head, feeling your eyes turn hot. "No, no-"

His eyes were glossy and irritated. He had been crying too. "Y/N, I just want to talk to you, please just-"

You bolted before he could even finish his sentence, you didn't think of him, you didn't think of what lied ahead, you kept on running, and running, and running. Even if a stitch formed in your side, even if your mouth turned dry.

He only managed to catch up to you by cutting you off, appearing in front of your path as you had taken a sharp detour towards the forest, knowing you could start climbing the trees to get a higher vantage point and the upper hand on him. But your plans were shortlived when you rammed into him, forgetting to stop at the last second. Ao'nung gripped your arms in fear of letting you get away as you writhed underneath his hold.

"Let me go!!!! " You wail, kicking his legs, scratching his skin with your sharp nails, creating harsh red marks on the surface of his skin. "Let me go you fucking shit! Let me go! "

"Don't make this harder than it already is!" He yelled back, ignoring the strong tug at his heartstrings as he watches you hate him all over again. "Will you just stand still and listen to me???"

Tears roll down your face as you clawed at his arms, kneed him in the groin, the thighs, his knees. "Let me go! Just let me go!"

"No" He replied, his voice uneven.

"Ao'nung, please" You begged, your voice strained. "Just get away from me!"

"You have to listen to me, just listen to me!" He repeated to you like you were a child.

"No! No!" You insist, punching his chest with all your might, it takes everything in him not to double over. "Leave me alone!!! What the hell do you want?!?!"

"You! I want you!" He finally says.

"No! " You shriek at him, shaking your head, quick to deny everything, closing your eyes shut. Almost as if he would just vanish if you wish hard enough. "You don't! You're lying to yourself you don't!!"

"Do you know how hard it is to tell yourself not to want something Y/N???" He boomed making you stand still. "Even though it is the constant thought that runs through your mind everyday??? I fight with myself every day, every single day, because of it, because of you!" He confessed, as you stood there shaking your head, hot tears falling from your saffron eyes.

"When you first came here I was shocked when you did not like me when every other girl here would just laugh and bat their eyes at everything I say, but you? You did not care that I was the son of the Olo'eyktan, it did not mean anything to you" He shook his head. "That was just the beginning, I could not stop thinking about you ever since, you were infuriating, and witty, and compassionate, and I hated that about you, it was only late that I realised that I was falling for you because of it"

"Ao'nung don't do this please" You plead, sobbing. "You don't want this!"

"Want what??"

"You're lying to yourself! You don't want this! You don't want me!"

"I do!" He shouts, taking your face into his hands. "I do want it!" you allow it for a second but you tear his arms away from your face, backing away. "To hell with what my mother says, she is just trying to drive us apart! That is why she insists on the fact that you are not true Na'vi, that just because you grew up around Sky People it immediately makes you one"

"But I am one!" You shout. "I am a Sky Person! My mother was a scientist who was sent to this planet with many others, but when her sister died in the Great Battle she had buried herself in her work and drank her sorrows away, she slept with scientists and pilots who treated her like shit and when she was about to give birth she was on the verge of dying so it was either her or me... and I lived" You bawled, watching him as he stood in silence.

"But I was barely allowed to step outside, I got wounds easily, I got sick quicker, then one night I had fallen into a river and cracked my skull open, they transfered me into an avatar body just like what they did to Jake. I am not Na'vi, but I am far from being a human, I have never met my mother, my father does not know I exist, and ever since that night I have been living a lie" You wept.

"It does not matter to me"

"But it should!" You fought. "Ao'nung no one in their right mind would say such things" You say. "You are delirious, insane"

"If you'd know what I went through these last few weeks you'd be right to call me that"

"We can't do this, Ao'nung" You said, shaking your head regretfully. "Come on, you saw what happened today! What do you think would happen if our parents find out we were together? If- if they knew we'd fallen hopelessly in love with one another??"

Your eyes widen. You shouldn't have told him that.

"They don't need to find out"

"What??" You exclaimed.

"Not if we left"

"Ao'nung-" You began.

"-We talked about this before yes? You asked me if I would go anywhere else in the world where would I go? And I said that I would just leave. What if we left together?"

You open your mouth to argue but nothing came out, instead you sighed in frustration. "Ao'nung we can't do that, you- your family, your sister- my siblings- you have duties to fulfill, roles to-"

"-I never wanted to be Olo'eyktan! you know this! My father and mother would not have it when I had told them-"

"You told them?" You wondered quietly.

"I did, right after you left" He answered, taking note of your expression. "We could do it. We could turn our backs on this place and never return, you could teach me how to ride an íkran and we will travel Pandora"

A faint smile cracked on your face. "It's not that simple, you know"

"We could leave tonight" He insists, making you look up at the violet tinted sky above you. "We could do it, just you and me"

You and me. Him and you.

You wanted to be selfish. And yet you denied yourself.

"We both know we can't" you shook your head. "As much as we want to leave there will always be something holding us down, have you ever been away from water too long? What would that do to you?"

"You have to leave with me" He almost begged. "I want you to leave with me"

"You don't want me, not truly" you tell him. "Look, if you had known I was not fully Na'vi would you still fall in love with me?"

"It wouldn't matter to me, it never would have, whatever you've cursed me with it made sure of that" He says through a wet laugh. "No matter how many times I told myself that you were a freak, an alien, I always kept falling back in love with you, over and over, until I stopped fighting it and allowed it"

And there it was again. That same fire, ever burning, ever encompassing, like outstretched arms encasing your heart in its amber flames.

No. You feel like you were going to hurl. You couldn't watch him like this.

You were quick to turn away. But Ao'nung was quicker than you, taking you by the hand, pulling you back to face him, he dosen't take his hands away but instead threads his fingers through yours.

"Believe me, Forest Girl" He stopped, looking at your eyes, then at your lips, then back at your eyes. "I always saw past it, I always saw you" He says. "I see you"

Your whole chest was on fire, blazing, festering, gleaming.

A smile creeps back onto your face as he wipes your cheeks clear of tears. "I see you too, you skxawng"

Then, wonders of wonders. You kissed him.

And he kissed you back.

At the back of your mind there were a hoard of firecrackers that exploded right on cue, bright, loud, euphoric, oblivion. Unabashedly, this was how you imagined it would feel like, how your lips chased at his, losing yourself in him.

Ao'nung tuned the rest of the world out, all he thought about, all he could think about, was how perfect your lips were, melded to his, he placed his hands on your waist as you placed your hands over his shoulders, he smirks as he had to lean down just to make it easier for you.

You take his face into your hands as the both of you giggled onto eachothers lips, kissing him with everything you had in you, your heartbeat thumping in your ears, the blood rushing up to your face, you felt like you were flying, screw that, it felt even better than flying.

He felt like the wind got knocked outta him, this couldn't be happening. He had his tongue down the throat of Toruk Makto's daughter- that may sound extremely unbecoming and weird but he did in fact- have his tongue down your throat.

You pulled apart first, in need of air, looking up at Ao'nung as your chest heaved.

"Looks like all those breathing lessons did have some use after all didn't they?" He smirked, you waited for a moment before you shoved him, hearing him laugh once more.

You two had just stuck around for a while, talking, laughing, kissing, even when it had started to pour, you two had just started running around in the rain, throwing mud at eachother, before you heard a horn.

You look at Ao'nung, with mud covering more than half his face and most of his body courtesy of you. "What does that mean?" You ask him.

"They are calling everyone back to the communal Marui"

You slumped subtly. "Do we have to go?"

He chuckled. "I would rather stay here and throw mud at you, you know that, but when they sound these alarms it usually means something of importance"

You sighed. "Fine"

"It is fine" He assures, walking up to you just to tower over you. "When eclipse falls, maybe... you and I could pick up where we left off?"

"I wouldn't be opposed to that" You grin up at him. "Maybe even go a little further" you suggest.

He chuckled wholly. "I guess we'll see"

"Bring some food, lay down a blanket, light a fire, tell some stories..."

He snorts. "That sounds good too, Forest Girl"

You couldn't help but laugh at him. "Don't worry, maybe we can do that too" you say, giving him a suggestive little grin.

He stares at you, appalled, before chuckling. "Don't sound so eager, not when you don't know what I have in store for you"

"Care to give me a hint?"

He hummed, leaning down a little. "I'll let your mind do it for me"

You roll your eyes mockingly, watching him walk past you as your cheeks grew warmer.

You two had washed up by the rocks that had running water pouring down all the way from the top, yet still not quite a waterfall even though how many times you told Ao'nung it was.

When you returned to the village, neither of you thought of letting the other go first to make sure that you didn't arrive at the same time, everyone from the village was there. You and Ao'nung had to squeeze yourself in between them just to get to the middle where you found your families, ultimately sperating you.

Lo'ak places an arm on your shoulder which spooked you. "Baby sis"

"Bro what the hell is happenning??' You wonder, frowning at him before you turn your attention to your father, holding a tracking device in his hands.

"They're here, baby sis" He says. "The Sky People, They've killed Tulkun, they've burned other villages down just a few clicks away from here"

Your face paled. "No-" you shook your head.

"You tell the Tulkun, that if they're hit by one of these they're marked for death" Jake declares to the assemblage, all the furious Metkayina who couldn't grasp the fact that he was going against their ways. "Call for me, I'll silence it. Saving their lives, that's all that matters! Saving your family! "

Tonowari stepped closer to him, looking at his people. "Tell the Tulkun"

And with that all of the villagers dispersed, most of them had started diving into the water, rushing to tell their Tulkun, the rest were getting ready for the inevitable battle that was about to come. You see Neteyam walking past you, realizing he was chasing after Lo'ak ; you were about to follow them when Ao'nung comes up to you.

"Y/N-"

"-Go warn Aiali'i, make sure he dosen't get caught up in this mess, the Sky People are ruthless, they'll stop at nothing, even if it means to harm the great balance just to get what they want-"

"Okay" He nods, taking your words into account.

"You gotta come back to me alright?" You say, almost threatening him. "You still gotta take me out on that date"

He laughed. "What is a date?"

"You know, when a guy and a girl go out, it's just the two of them and they eat and have fun and they kiss a lot... sometimes a little more than kiss"

"Ahh, I see" He hummed, nodding as he understood. "...Will we be the second option?"

As much as you wanted to giggle at that your face remained absolute. "Promise me"

"I promise you, Y/N"

"Ao'nung!" Both you and Ao'nung turn to where the voice was coming from to see Tsireya and Rotxo atop their ilus. "Come on!"

He turns to you. "I will come back, trust me"

"Okay"

You place a kiss on his lips before you turn around, running away. Ao'nung calls for his ilu and dives into the water, joining Rotxo and his sister.

"Rotxo, you owe me a week's worth of fruit" Tsireya grinned.

"I can't believe this is happenning to me" Rotxo says, shaking his head in dissapointment.

Ao'nung rolls his eyes.

When you find your brothers you seem to have caught them in another fight.

"I'm not you! Okay? I'm not you! " You hear Lo'ak shout. "He's my brother! I'm going!"

"Oh he's your brother?" Neteyam asks, turning Lo'ak around. "No, I'm your brother" He explained, pointing at his chest.

"Lo'ak quit being such an ass, for the love of Eywa" you say, announcing your arrival.

He lets out a disgruntled hiss. "Look i'm going, Y/N, wether you two like it or not"

He dives into the water, making you groan in frustration and follow him too. Hinewai swimming up to you, allowing you to grab onto her neck already knowing she has to follow your brother.

You spot Kiri and Tuk on an ilu. "He's going to warn Payakan! Come on!" You urge, before plunging into the water once more.

You had chased him through a maze of aquatic fauna, dodging leaves and stems, determined to catch up to him. You surface and you see him waving at Payakan who had breached as well.

"LO'AK! COME BACK!" You bellow, just as Payakan swam closer to him.

When you see him hop onto Payakan's back, running around like a frazzled monkey, it hit you. There he was, pulling onto a tracker for dear life.

You sever your and Hinewai's bond and dive into the water, pulling yourself up on Payakan's fin and running up to Lo'ak. "Did you seriously think you can pull that off by yourself?" You ask him, raising an eyebrow.

He rolled his eyes. "You won an arm-wrestling match against me once!"

You snicker. "Eywa, don't be so bitter about it"

"Once" He widened his eyes.

You nod at the other side of the tracker. "Come on! Jimmy it out!"

Lo'ak and you wrap your fingers around the cold metal of the tracking device, tugging at it with all your might, you look up, and you see one of the ships approaching.

"Fuck!" You shout, making Lo'ak look up.

"Lo'ak! Y/N!"

You turn to see Neteyam flinging himself on the back of Payakan like he would an angtsík. "Come on bro help us out!"

Neteyam helps Ao'nung on, who immediately takes his spot next to you. "Hey"

You nod. "Hey"

You see Tsireya hop on, followed by Rotxo. "Hurry!"

Neteyam takes your shoulder, making you face him. "Call it in! Call it in!"

"What???" You shriek incredulously.

"Just do it! Call Dad now! Go!"

Tsireya takes your spot as you move away, pressing your throat comm, landing on the chanel you and your siblings used to contact your dad. "Dad-! I mean- Devil Dog! D'you read me??"

A moment passes by, you press it again. "This is Firecracker do you copy?? Devil Dog do you copy??"

Undeniable relief washed over you when you hear static on the other end. "I read you Firecracker 5 by 5!"

"We're with a Tulkun that's under attack, gunships inbound, it's- it's about two clicks out" You manage, just as everybody behind you started arguing over who wasn't pulling hard enough.

"Who's with you??"

"It's all of us! Ao'nung, Tsireya, and Rotxo too! We're at Three Brother's Rocks!"

Static. "Get to cover. Do not engage alright?? Do not engage! We're coming!"

The line goes silent before you could reply.

"Tie it off! Tie it off!"

"You skxawng what kind of knot is that???"

"Oh move over!"

Lo'ak and Ao'nung's bickering brought you back to the task at hand, you blinked, and it seemed like the ship somehow was just a mile away.

"It's getting closer!" Tsireya wailed.

"Come on! Pull!" Rotxo shouts.

Neteyam ties the end of the rope on his ilu, you dive into the water, tying the excess rope around Hinewai's body and Lo'ak gives you the signal to pull.

So you pull, it seemed almost unviable at first with 6 teenagers and 2 ilus, but you somehow managed to pull it out, sending Lo'ak, Tsireya, Rotxo, and Ao'nung into the water.

"Get out of here!"

"Y/N, give me that" Neteyam ordered, pointing at the pinger in your hand.

"There's no way in hell Neteyam"

"It will be fine!" He assured you. "They are coming- there is no time!"

You give him an infuriated hiss, almost a grunt, before you toss the pinger towards him.

"Go!" Neteyam shouts at the others.

"We'll draw them off, just go!" You say to them. Your eyes meet Ao'nung's, he gives you a knowing look before he dives under the water with Rotxo and Kiri.

"Okay!" Lo'ak replies.

You and Neteyam set off, feeling like torpedoes underneath the water as Hinewai propelled you around the coral and the marine life. Not even 5 minutes later a cannon sets off in the water, disorienting your ilus, Neteyam drops the pinger as his ilu jolts in fear to which you grab.

"I have a plan" you signed under the water.

"No, no plan" He signed back.

You rolled your eyes. "Just let me do this, big brother"

"Fine" He signed half-heartedly.

You set off once more, opposite to where Neteyam was going. Hinewai swims fast, faster than you've ever seen her swim before, another cannon drops and explodes, Hinewai yelps in pain but you tell her to keep going. Only when it started raining cannons was when you were forced to drop the pinger and set out to find your siblings.

You take cover behind coral reefs, making sure you were still hidden when you spot subs in the water, all moving to a consecutive direction. You try and beat them there, knowing that if you followed them then you'd have a good chance of getting to your siblings before they did. Swimming through a forest of aquatic fauna, you tried your best to steer clear of any rays of light, sticking close to the ground until you bump into Tsireya, which spooked her and her ilu.

A loud mechanical whining came from behind you, both you and Tsireya turn around to see a sub coming straight at you, and you two zoomed away. Trying to lose them through the labyrinth of stems, as gigantous leaves constantly slammed you in the face.

"Go the other way!" You signed rapidly. You see her nod and you go your own directions.

Luckily the sub chose to pursue you instead of her, Hinewai made hard rights, hard lefts, almost causing you to fall off. Just then, another sub appears in front of you, blinding you with its stark white light, you don't turn away when it comes straight at you. Even Hinewai was about to bail you assured her to trust you.

Only at the last second did you maneuver her upwards, sending the two subs crashing into eachother, glass and metal flying everywhere, water gushing in their machines forcing them to flee.

You couldn't help but grin as Hinewai swam away.

Only when you spot Lo'ak swimming towards an airbell was when you disconnect your queue from Hinewai and follow him in, taking in a huge intake of air as him and Tuk screamed in fear.

"Jesus!" You exclaimed. "Are you guys okay??"

"Yeah, we are" Lo'ak answered.

"Where's Neteyam??" Tuk wonders.

"I lost him a while ago, we were trying to get the ships off your back, we ditched the pinger a couple miles that way"

Just then, Tsireya appears beside you, and before you were going to ask her if she was alright or not, the expression on her face says it all. "They're coming!"

"Okay, deep breath" you instruct Tuk as all of you dove back in the water. Swimming out of the airbell and away from a sub when another of their machines popped up in front of you, causing you to swim the other way, it was useless without your ilus and you were right. A net traps you, Tsireya, and Tuk. As they try and wriggle out, you fumble with your dagger trying to cut all of you free, and you succeed, you manage to rip a big enough hole open and slide out.

"Tuk come on!" You shout, holding out for her hand before a goddamn íkran dives into the water and grabs the net with its claws, pulling all of you out of the water making you slip. Everybody screams in fear as Lo'ak tries to hold on to you. But he couldn't keep you on and cut the others free at the same time.

"Lo'ak let go!"

"No! Just hang on! Please!"

The íkran dropped the net onto the ship's deck, all of you scrambled to your feet. You throw your dagger past one of the avatars in camo, you manage to slice her forearm open as you pull your biggest dagger out, your ceremonial dagger, swinging it at anyone who dared to come close.

"You little cunt!" The recombinant who you injured hissed, her blood splattering onto the floor. Her expression the last thing you saw before you were forced on your knees and onto the ground.

"Drop your weapon!"

"Get fucked!" You shout, before a large combat boot stepped on your hand, forcing you to let go of your dagger.

"Stop it! Stop! don't hurt them!" You turn your head, and amongst the legs that blocked your vision you see Spider getting held back by a few other humans.

"Y/N!" He exclaimed. "Let her go! That's my sister you fuckers! Let her go!"

"Yeah right" One of them sneered.

"Spider!" You shout in relief.

"Y/N! it's gunna be okay!"

The avatar riding the íkran that plucked you out of the water hopped off his banshee and pointed a finger at Spider. "Get back to the bridge, keep him there!"

Once he turns his focus towards you and your brother ; you hiss at him, bearing your fangs.

"Yeah, I remember you two" He chides, his focus bouncing from you to Lo'ak. "Cuff 'em to the rails, all of 'em!"

You were forced to stand up, you fought back as you were pulled towards the rails of the ship.

"On the ground, come on" The recom behind you says, oddly calm. When you would not submit he kicked the back of your knees, causing you to fall down. When he binds your wrists you reach out to bite his forearm, the recom laughs, as do the others around him.

"Feisty this one" He laughed.

"Told you they bite"

Up ahead, you see about a dozen, no, more than a dozen skimwings round the corner of a boulder. "Na'vi inbound! Spread out!"

"Dad!" Tuk cried.

Quaritch, you asssume, Spider's father who had come back as a recom, tore Lo'ak's throat com off his neck, making him hiss. They do the same to you, making you watch as the recom guarding you dangles it in front of your face before keeping it inside his pocket.

"Jake, tell your friends to stand down, you want your kids back? You come out alone" He spoke. "You know better than to test my resolve"

Just then, you feel the cold metal of a gun against the back of your head, making you flinch and hiss in both fear and anger, your breathing became ragged, you try and shake the gun away but the recom behind you just jabs it deeper into your head.

You knew your dad could see everything.

"I took you under my wing Jake, you betrayed me, you killed your own, good men, good women. I will not hesitate to execute your kids"

A moment passes by, your knees were starting to ache, the gun felt like it was about to go off any second now, like if you were to speak up it would blow your brains out.

"Offer's fixing to expire, what's it gunna be?"

You see a lone skimwing breaking off from the group, the rider, his skin was shades darker than any of the ones he left behind him.

"Easy shot"

Quatitch sets the gun down. "You hit him now they attack"

Suddenly, Payakan shoots out from the water, landing onto the ship, taking down several men. There were a few foolish enough to shoot at a Tulkun, it was almost like child's play to him, dragging his flippers across the deck, sending humans flying into the water, smacking them to death with his fins. He deflects a bomb, causing it to bounce back on the ship and explode. Now that the recoms were occupied with trying to kill the incoming Na'vi, they pretty much left you alone.

You spot your dagger, still lying on the ground in between the chaos, if you just managed to grab it with your tail...

The ship had started moving beneath you before you could even make a move, colliding with a rock formation making everything on the boat to fly, including you, your siblings, and Tsireya. Your dagger slides closer to you but you were too late, it slides past the cracks of the grills, falling into the water.

So you start pulling at the cuffs, knowing it wouldn't work but you would have preferred to die trying.

You watch as two ilus leap out of the water, their riders landing on the boat.

"Neteyam!" Tuk squealed.

"Need some help?" He asks running up to Tuk to cut her cuffs off. You turn to your right to see Ao'nung cutting Tsireya free, telling her to leave, he moves onto you and a grin comes to your face.

"I leave you alone for 30 minutes and this is what happens?" He wonders, digging the knife across the thick cloth.

"I like to keep life interesting, what can I say?" You quipped.

He laughed through his nose, cutting you free.

"Come on, let's go" Neteyam urges. You watch Lo'ak take a gun off the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?" He dosen't answer you. "Lo'ak we gotta go!"

"Spider's still on the ship" He reminds you.

Spider was still on the ship.

"Shit" you groan, you turn to Neteyam. "We gotta go back for him"

Neteyam scratches the side of his head. "Y/N..."

"Neteyam please, he's my brother" You asked. "He'd do the same thing if any of us were in trouble"

He knew you were right. He looks at Lo'ak, nodding. "Let's go"

You run up to Ao'nung who had his spear at the ready. "I'm not asking you to come with us, you don't know him, it isn't your fight"

"No way I'm letting you go again"

"I think I can handle myself" You state.

"Yes, clearly" He says, motioning at the shitshow that was behind you.

"Y/N let's go!" You turn around, looking at Neteyam and Lo'ak about to enter the hull of the ship.

You turn back around to face Ao'nung but he plants a kiss on your lips, a few seconds shorter than what you preferred.

"There, now we are even"

You try and bite down a smile. "Go!"

With that he leaves.

You turn around to face your siblings, picking up an assault rifle from the floor, tossing the empty magazine out and replacing it with a new one.

"On my six" You say, leading the group into the ship.

"When did-" Neteyam whispers to Lo'ak.

"-I wish I knew" He shrugged.

You had ran up and down the ship in search of Spider, scaling the pipes bolted to the ceiling when Neteyam spotted him being escorted out of the ship with a bunch of humans. All 3 of you drop to one of the platforms, waiting for the right moment to ambush them, leaping down the steps. Neteyam first, taking two down with his dagger, next Lo'ak with one of their guns. Spider landing punches left and right, smashing their oxygen masks and flinging them across the ship. One of the humans managed to knock the rifle out of your hands, resorting you to fight with your fists, ripping off their oxygen masks too, and at the last second scrambling to get your hands on the rifle as one of the humans pointed his gun at Lo'ak's head.

Two shots, one to the neck, one to the chest.

He drops to the ground with a thud, you stare at his body, gagging on his own blood, convulsing like he had been electrocuted, until he stopped.

"Baby sis let's go" says Neteyam.

"Y/N, come on" says Lo'ak, taking your hand, leading you out of there.

"Thanks guys" Spider says as all of you run to leave the ship. Lo'ak's ears perk up as he looks toward the distance, you turn your head and you see a couple of recoms pulling their guns out. Lo'ak and you do the same, aiming your guns at them but Neteyam snaps at you to take cover as bullets start raining down.

All 4 of you hide behind a wall, Neteyam shouting at Lo'ak to give him the gun, he starts firing at them as well, empty shells flying everywhere. "Go! Go!" He yelled over the gunfire.

"Come on! This way!" Said Spider, hopping over the rails and into the water, followed by Lo'ak. Neteyam half expected you to follow them but when you started shooting at the recoms as they were reloading he pulls you aside.

"What do you think you're doing??? Go! I've got this!"

"And let you take all the glory? Sure" you reply, ejecting the empty magazine to load one back in, he shakes his head and chuckles before you started firing at them, taking cover when bullets started bouncing off the wall.

You urge Neteyam to go, he hesitates before he leaps over the rails, you start hitting them with everything you could before you abandon the gun and follow Neteyam down, falling rather awkwardly as you feel the side of your stomach start to ache. When you hit the water, flames engulf your body as you struggled up to the surface, trying to catch your breath, only for the bitter stinging to keep you from breathing properly.

"That was insane cuz!" Lo'ak cajoled, high-fiving with Spider.

Tsireya and Ao'nung arrive on their ilus, urging you to hop on. Lo'ak and Spider swim towards them, even you who managed to ignore the growing pain from your torso.

"Come on bro!" Lo'ak says, he and Soider stopped swimming as they looked behind you. You do the same, seeing Neteyam wince and groan, a hand placed on his shoulderblade. You make your way towards him, struggling to keep him upright when you yourself couldn't float properly.

"Bro are- are you okay?"

He spits out salt water from his mouth as he bobbed up and down. "Baby sis I'm- I'm shot"

"Shit!" Lo'ak exclaimed as his face visibly paled.

He and Spider start paddling towards you and Neteyam, it was a joint effort in order to keep your oldest brother from not drowning, they guide him towards Tsireya's ilu, hauling him up and speeding away, leaving you and Ao'nung as he tried to heave you onto his ilu. His eyes widened as he saw your chest, gleaming red.

"You're- you're bleeding" He stammered.

"This- this blood isn't mine, J-just follow them" you managed, trying to keep your wound hidden from him. When the ilu starts to move you feel a surge of nausea wash over you like a tidal wave, you struggle to hold onto his waist as your grip threatened to loosen. Black spots ate away at your vision but you blink at a rapid speed, trying to get rid of them.

Your eyes widen at the feeling of your blood seep past your fingers and drip down onto the ilu's back. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Keep him up!" You raise your head from Ao'nung's shoulder blade, hearing Lo'ak's cries of distress amongst the fuzziness and the long line of crescendo buzzing in your ears.

"Watch his wound! Watch his wound!" That sounded like your dad, you blinked again and you see all of them on the rock before you, huddled around Neteyam as Lo'ak applied pressure to his wound.

A/N: im sorry about this (then again not really) put your volume up by 4 clicks!

The ilu stops moving, Ao'nung was first to get off and he offers out a hand for you to take like he always did. You take it with your free hand and he pulls you up too quickly, suddenly the world spins off its axis, blinding pain shoots out from your wound as it stretches and widens, your knees buckled and you fall into him.

He staggers back in shock, helping you back onto your feet. His eyes widen as he gets a good look at you, moving your hair away from your eyes, cupping eitherside of your face. "You're shaking Y/N"

You managed to shake your head at him, feeling your teeth chatter. " 'M fine, 'm fine " you mumbled.

Ao'nung should have never let you walk into that ship without him, he knows that now... now that he sees the lower back of his ilu coated with fresh crimson. No.

"No, no, no" He exclaimed eyes wide, and there it was, a shivering hand tightly clasped over a dark red rupture in your stomach. He tried to take your hand away from where it had covered your wound but you would not let him. "Y/N, come on! Let me see it!"

You shook your head, feeling hot streams of tears flow down your face. "Mm-mm" you shook your head. "No" you say.

You were too weak to fight him, he managed to pry your fingers away from your bullet wound, you were bleeding out too fast, the wound had been too deep.

All of a sudden, you sink to the floor, taking Ao'nung with you. "No, no, no, Eywa please" He pleads, choking back on a sob as he struggled to pull you up with him. "Please no, no, not you, not you" He cried, eyes going glossy.

"I can't- I can't stand" you say, before you start coughing and wheezing as he holds onto your hand. "'Nung, 'Nung, don't- don't go, d-don't leave"

"I won't, I won't" He tells you, placing a bloodied hand over your face. "I promised you that remember??"

"What the hell is going on here??? " That was your dad again. It only took him long enough for him to realize you were bleeding your guts out.

Ao'nung was absolutely petrified. "Toruk Makto please- please! she is bleeding out, I don't- I don't know what-"

Your dad scoops you up into his arms, bringing you towards even ground. "D-Dad" You choked, before you dissolve into a coughing fit once more, wincing and crying as it only made you bleed out more. "Dad- D-Dad"

"Shhh, no, no, no, you gotta stay with me baby" setting you down on the rock. Ao'nung almost scrapes his knees, dropping to the ground to hold your hand.

"Fuck" You hear Lo'ak breathe as he and the others crowd you, even Neteyam whose shoulder was coated in his own blood struggled to get close to you.

"We gotta move your hand away from your stomach" Your Dad says, trying to take your hand away from your wound but you wouldn't budge, you didn't want him to see how bad it was. "No!" You exclaimed, before doubling over in pain, your breathing reduced to uneven catch-breaths, hacking your lungs out as it struggled to allow air in, some invisible plug clogging your airways. You couldn't breathe.

"Come on honey, come on, get your hand out of the way please" He practically begged, before you allowed him to take your hand off. You look at his face when he sees your wound. You see his face after he turns you over to see if the bullet went through you or not. It did.

You sniffed back your tears, coughing. "I- I don't- I don't w-wanna die" You sob.

Your dad shook his head. "You're not gunna die, you're not gunna die, just- just hang on! "

The familiar squawk of your mother's íkran was heard. You hear a pitter patter of steps and your mother appears in your line of sight, blurry and beautiful. She wedges herself in between Neteyam and Tsireya, was she shocked? furious? you couldn't really tell.

"I gotta put pressure on it okay?" Your Dad informs you, before two strong hands push down on your wound, you shoot up from your spot, wheezing and whimpering as you tried your best to get his hands away, clawing at his arms, anything to stop him. "I know honey, I know! I know! I know it hurts!"

You choke on your own spit, wheezing in pure agony as he guided you back down on the floor. "I- I- I don't wanna d-die, Da-Dad, pl-please" you rasped, blinking back tears, feeling the weight of the world on your chest, you wanted to stand up, you wanted to go, you wanted to leave, just go anywhere, you didn't wanna die here, not here. "I don't- I don't- wanna die y-yet"

"You won't honey, you won't-!"

"Da-Dad i'm-i'm sorry, i'm- s-sorry" You gasped. "Don't- don't be ma-mad, do-don't hate me"

"I'm not mad, I'm not mad, you don't have to be sorry for anything Litebrite" He shook his head, you look at everybody around you, Lo'ak, Neteyam, your Mother, Tsireya, Spider, Ao'nung, they were all crying for you. "Dad isn't mad- he isn't mad at you, okay? Dad can never hate you"

A tear falls down your cheek. "Da- Dad i'm- i'm tired Dad"

You see him lunge closer to you. "No, no, no, you gotta fight this honey, you're strong! you're strong! You're my strong little lady remember? Remember that? "

"I want to go home" You winced, looking up at the sky as eclipse was starting to fall on you.

"Okay, Okay, we're going" He assured you, Lo'ak and Neteyam nodding in agreement. "We're going right now"

You felt heavy. It was just too immense, too much to carry, you couldn't do it all. You were just a little kid. As your heartbeat slowed down, so did the world, your mind quieted. You look back at your father, a million apologies, a million words you yearned to tell him before the clock stopped ticking, so you opened your mouth, one last thing, you thought, one last thing.

"Dad," you began. "Dad I-"

And then you were still.

They stand and watch the exact moment the words die on your pale lips, your amber eyes dilate and move to the sky, taking your last breath, a shudder, and your heart silenced forever.

"Y/N" Your mother whispered, your name barely rolling off her lips. "No... no, no, no" She says like some broken record. "No! No! Y/N! Y/N! No!" Jake has to hold her back as she wailed your name, over and over, as if it was some incantation to bring you back. She cradles your lifeless body in her arms, all limp, all cold, all quiet. "Oh Great Mother no! Great Mother please! No!"

"Baby sis... come on" Lo'ak urged you, when once before he called out to you, you would run after him and nag his ear off to not pull whatever stunt he was about to do, but now, you weren't moving for him at all. He looks at his hands, drenched in your blood, just like that night by the river, one where he had thought he lost you forever. But no. It was just some sick practice run. Now he knows there was no fighting chance for you to wake up, to come back, not like before. Where he had hoped and prayed for Eywa to answer his prayers, to bring you back. She had listened to him once before but he fears that his pleas were nothing but an incoherent string of words to her now.

Netayam couldn't believe it. If he had just let you go down the rails first this wouldn't have happened. You would have walked away with a gnarly bullet wound on your shoulder, yes, but it was better than having to die from one. You needed to tell your children how you had gotten it, why you had gotten it, you needed to grow old, and die in your bed, not here, not now, not when you were a million miles away from home, from the forest. He failed you again. His mind was flooded with should haves, and could haves, and would haves, that was the worst part, he was pitting the blame on himself, something he always did, something you could never get him to move past. His baby sister once full of mischief and selflessness, gone.

Spider didn't even feel the tears falling down his face until it had pooled under his chin. You two were orphans of the war, you had no one, while also having eachother, it was the irony of it all that kept you two tethered for life. Life. The only border it couldn't cross. Not when you had moved to Awa'atlu with the Sully's, not when he had been held captive by the recoms, but when you had finally died, died like his parents, his human parents, like your mother, possibly your father. He looked up at the sky, at the stars, just like you two would do when you were sick, when you were suffering, lying down on your bouncy mattress in the dark, talking about the most nonsensical things while laughing your little heads off, he swears he could feel it again, how it felt to be in that dark room with just the stars and eachother.

Ao'nung. Oh Ao'nung. That poor little boy who had grown up believing he was going to become a fearless Olo'eyktan one day just like his father, beloved by all, seen by all. For he would be the one who would bind all of the islands together and lead them to a greater triumph, a thousand islands, a stronger nation, a village, a people. But he was wrong, he wanted to be Tsahík, he wanted to heal the sick, to cure the ailing, he has seen how his mother does it, and he wanted to be like her when he was big enough, he wanted to know what rush it would feel once his people come to him, saying they were healed, that they were okay, that he helped them be better.

He had grown up believing that he would fall in love with a pretty Metkayina girl, meek and graceful and refined, with teal skin, curly ebony locks, and aquamarine eyes he would get lost in.

But no. He had to go and fall for a raging wildfire that was you, impetuous, brash, loud, with blazing gold eyes that dare bested the rising sun, braided locks, and deep azure skin, the one that made fun of him, that cussed at him, that pulled a knife to his neck. He never understood why. He never will. Not even when he gets older. Not even when the ends of his eyes start to wrinkle. He never would.

After saving your sisters, you were laid to rest the following night.

Neteyam had given you his rider's mask, remembering when you were younger, when you longed for one even if you had no íkran to tame, it seemed so foolish at the time. Lo'ak gave you his feathered arm band, it was one of the first things you had given him when you started to learn how to weave properly, it wasn't the best work you've done, you were always so shit at weaving but he still kept wearing it. Kiri gave you the friendship bracelet you and her made one stormy night, she had kept yours and given you hers. Tuk gave you her favorite Toruk toy, the toy that had been passed down from one Sully child to another, since you had joined the family so late she figured it was time for your turn.

You were buried with the necklace Ao'nung had given to you. It was the only item of yours they had kept on you.

Ao'nung did not have much of a say when it came to burying you with your belongings like Neteyam did.

Neteyam fought for you to be buried along with that necklace, knowing he was the one that interrupted that moment with you and Ao'nung on the beach.

When it had been time to visit you, Jake took Neytiri's hand in his as they connected their queues to the glowing lilac venules of the Metkayina's Spirit Tree.

Jake flutters his eyes open again. He takes in the distinct amount of trees looming over him, the bioluminescence of the moss underneath his feet lighting up his way into the forest. He was back in the forest.

He notices he was armed with an AK-47, the orange flames coming from the torches of the Omaticayans on direhorses blazing past the gaps of the trees, there was chaos, a scattered chorus of galloping causing the ground to shake. But he dosen't see you.

Where were you?

"Y/N? Y/N?" He calls out, whipping his head around.

No answer.

"Y/N?? WHERE ARE YOU??" He tried again, beginning to walk through the forest, his pace rapidly picking up as he pushes past leaves, past shrubs, he rounds boulders and he still cannot find you. "COME ON Y/N MAKE A NOISE FOR ME, WHERE ARE YOU??"

He was running now. And he remembers, you haven't been seen since this afternoon, Neteyam and Lo'ak had been busy training with the hunting party, Kiri and Tuk were with Mo'at all day, he thought you had been with them, they thought you had been with him.

You've been gone for 6 hours.

He was dizzy, like the world was about to turn on its side and he would lose his balance. "Y/N?? Y/N?? COME ON- Y/N?? I CAN'T SEE YOU BABY WHERE ARE YOU?? JUST COME OUT PLEASE?!?" The forest was just fleeting swipes of colors to him now, branches were scraping against his azure skin, drawing blood.

He hears the subtle crying first, he searches high and low, his heartbeat threatened to leap out of his chest baring his bones and he sees you on the ground, shrouded by the extended leaves, covered by the boulders, shielding you away. Like you had been hiding from something, or was it someone?

He gets low, slinking past the fauna to get to you, he reaches out for your shoulder gently and the sudden contact with his skin makes you scream and leap away.

"It's just me baby, it's just me!" he assures, holding up his palms as the forest stands and watches as if a bomb had been set off, your wails bouncing against the tree trunks. "I'm not here to hurt you, baby- it's just me! see? Just me" you heard him tell you, his arms outstretched, beckoning you to walk towards him.

You try and form a sentence, you did, even if all that left your mouth were a muddled set of murmurs you ran straight into him, dropping to your knees as he embraces you and you let yourself dissolve in an irrational wailing mess. Snot and rears running down your face as you linked your sinewy arms around his neck and refused to let go.

Jake adjusts his position so you were sitting on his lap. "You've been gone for 6 hours- 6! I come back with your mother to find out your grandmother hasn't seen you all afternoon?? What the hell were you thinking??? Running off into the forest?? Do you know dangerous it is out here??? And you decide to stay out here till eclipse??? Do you have a goddamn death wish or something kid??" His voice cracked in anger as he yells at you in fear and relief.

You pull away to face him. "I'm sorry! I'm so-sorry! I was- I was following the woodsp-sprites and I didn't kno-know how to get b-back, I tried u-using the tricks you taught me but it g-got dark, and I heard the- the viperwolves ho-howling-"

Jake's beady amber eyes widened. He grabs your face with his large hands. "Did they catch you??? Did you get hurt???"

You shook your head, your tears falling down to his lap. "They didn't see me"

"They coulda smelled you all the same," He insists. "You were too lucky to have dodged a viperwolf attack, you know how fast those suckers are? no, not yet, But you could've."

"I know" You sobbed, your shoulders jerking up at odd intervals as you hiccuped. Keeping your eyes down. "But I just wanted to show you I could do it"

He frowns softly. "Do what??"

You finally look up at him. "Be a proper Avatar! An Avatar that can run fast and climb fast and jump far," You ejaculated. "I heard stories from Uncle Norm and Uncle Max about when you were still new to your Avatar body, how even if you kept falling off your ass you still kept on going, how you were chosen by Eywa, how you became one of the people and then you became Toruk Makto, and I just- I just wanted to be like you!" You finally shout.

Jake dosen't notice the tears that had been falling out his eyes and down to the apples of his cheeks.

He blinks, and suddenly you were older, defined face, longer limbs. "I- I couldn't help it! All the stories made me feel like I'll never be as good as you, the way that they think I'll become as great as you one day?? I figured if I worked hard enough and I trained hard enough then maybe it'll mean something! And I see it in your eyes everyday that sometimes you wish I could have done more, that I could have been good at archery like Neteyam is or how good at flying Lo'ak is or how skilled Kiri is with healing??"

You grit your teeth, frowning as the tears would not stop coming down. "Everyday I break my back trying to live up to you because I just want you to be-" You stop yourself and hesitate. "I just wanted you to be proud!"

You stop, catching your breath. "I just want you to be proud of me Dad! "

Jake swallows hard and places a hand on your shoulder. "Kid I've always been proud of you, alright?" He manages before another hot tear escapes his eye, realizing now was his time to set things right between you and him. "And- and I know I barely show it, that was on me, It was my fault for not letting you know it sooner, but never in a single second of my life had I not been so proud of the person you grew up to be ; I was too scared to let you know it because I thought it wasn't what you all needed. That if I went all tight with the five of you then maybe I'd choke out the recklessness out of you kids but I was wrong, especially with you"

You were startled.

"I spent my whole life hating my father for not being there to listen to me properly only to turn into the very man I never wanted to become. It was like fighting fire with fire, all this time I had thought it had been working but I was just pushing you farther away from me, I never wanted that"

"-but I'm right here," You tell him in a small voice, grabbing his hand, it was so much smaller compared to his, you were little again."I'm right here"

"I know Litebrite" He chuckles, his shoulders jerking up and down. "I've let you down, I'm sorry"

You swallow the ball that was forming in your throat as you wipe your eyes dry.

"None of this woulda happen if I had just listened to you more, if I had just been there, if I was just better at being a father than a squad leader maybe if I did then- then maybe everything coulda been different"

"Maybe" You shrugged, sniffing.

He points at his chest using the hand you had weaved your fingers through. "The blame's on me honey, this is my fault so just blame me"

You shook your head, teardrops falling onto your lap. "I don't wanna keep blaming you anymore Dad"

And you fit so perfect in his arms as you reached in to embrace him, he did the same, squeezing your tiny frame as he planted kisses on your hair, rubbing his hand on your back.

He remembers why this was how you came to him, why this was the memory Eywa had chosen for him to relive again. It was the first time you had called him Dad.

You hiccuped, wiping your eyes dry with the back of your hands. "I'm sorry Dad"

"You don't got anything to be sorry for kiddo"

You pull away from him once more. "But the Viperwolves-"

"You don't gotta worry about them, I'm here now, alright? I'm right here, I'll keep you safe" He says to you, pulling your hands away to dry your face himself.

"I wanna go home now" You tell him. "Can we go home?"

He couldn't help but let out a wet chuckle, ducking his head as his chest panged with unfathomable pain. "Okay, let's go home"

And so he stands up with you in his arms as he brings you out of the darkness. "So you were out here for the entire afternoon and not a single Viperwolf laid it's claws on you?"

"Uh-huh"

"Must've been scared of you"

You perk up instantly. "You think so?"

He nods. "I know so kid, wouldn't expect anything else from my strong little lady"

You give him a shrewd smile before dissolving into breathy giggles. "I'm your strong little lady Dad?"

"Uh-huh, cuz you've got a strong heart like me and your mom, nothing gets past us"

"If I've got a strong heart then... then I won't be able to die!" You say, lighting up. "Ha! I'm going to live forever!"

He stops walking and gives you a look only to be met by a pair of innocent amber eyes glimmering in the darkness. He forces himself to nod. "You won't die for a long time honey, because Na'vi? They live up to 180"

"180??? No way!"

"Yes way" Jake countered.

"You think i'll live that long Dad?"

He gives you a smile as he senses Neytiri creep up on the both of you, donning a bittersweet smile with glassy eyes. "Course you will, Litebrite" He replies, swallowing the ball that had somehow lodged itself in his windpipe, your eyes like a beacon light in the otherwise dim forest, big and full of wonder, the promise that there will always be light to pull him out of the darkness that dared swallow him whole, your smile alone being able to light the way. His little Litebrite.

"Cool"

a/n: [taps into mic] slipping through my fingers all the time, I try to capture every minute, the feeling in it, slipping through my fingers all the time, do I really see what's in her mind, each time I think I'm close to knowing she keeps on growing, slipping through my fingers all the time...

so I guess that's that, thanks for coming along with me on this wild, depressive, frustrating, sappy, confusing, ride. I had so much fun writing this series for real, not really sure if I'm gunna be writing any more series in the time being but we'll see, til then, make sure to drink a lot of water and take care, mwa :)) 🪼🫧🪸

#Spotify #ao'nung x fem!reader #metkayina #omaticaya #jake sully #neytiri #ao'nung fic #ao'nung x reader #ao'nung x you #tsireya #neteyam #spider #lo'ak #kiri #tuk #rotxo #atwow ao'nung #atwow #avatar the way of water #sold out of love ao'nung #thanks guys

[detectivejigsawpines]

Not What He Seemeth

Ah, summer break, when days are long and kind, When leisurely relaxing be thy way. Unless, alas, thy family name be Pines, And Gravity Falls the place to spend thy day. So learned the Myst’ry Twins: Dipper the bold, E’er with vivacious Mabel by his side, As strange and fright’ning mysteries they unfold, While in the Myst’ry Shacke they do abide. But now a greater puzzle they must field: Their Grunkle Stan, be friend or villain he? A strange machine from them he hath concealed, Which might of world-destructive power be. And in a plot which one might see in dreams, They learn their grunkle is not what he seems.

(Apologies if this is not quite in the proper vein of Shakespeare, or doesn't fit exactly with his writing style. Iambic pentameter and poetry are hard, okay? Give me a break.)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

STAN PINES, a conman

DIPPER PINES, his nephew

MABEL PINES, his niece

SOOS RAMIREZ, his handyman

AGENT POWERS, an FBI agent

LAZY SUSAN, a restaurant proprietress

GOMPERS, a goat

COMPUTER, a computer

MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

VARIOUS TOWNSFOLK, FBI AGENTS, SUPERNATURAL CREATURES

****

ACT V

The basement of Ye Olde Mystery Shacke, near a strange machine.

DIPPER, MABEL and SOOS are in the process of shutting down the machine.

DIPPER: Alas, what fools our family hath been!

That all the summer long-nay, in the case

Of our most noble comrade Soos, ten years-

We did not see the serpent in our midst!

‘Tis no excuse we knew our Grunkle Stan,

If Stan he truly be, to be a rogue.

All summer long, we’ve lived beneath his roof,

Eaten with him, and talked with him, and e’en

Labored for him, but never did we see

That everything he told us was a lie!

Not only did he know that Grav’ty Falls

Hath been, and is, and will be, should we stop

This strange device in time, a haven for

All manner of strange creatures, great and small,

But now we learn-oh horrors!-that uncle

We have none!  That the man we thought we knew

Is but a counterfeit, with IDs false!

That in his basement secret, he doth hold

The journals-aye, the journals I hath oft

Sought answers for, sought answers of, and aye,

Hath sought!  That in his basement secret, he

Doth hold this rude mechanical device

Which o’er us looms and glows with dreadful light!

That in these journals secret, therein lies

A message-nay, a warning, to the eyes

Of those who look with aid of blackened light-

That this machine, if operational

Is fully rendered, could with all its pow’r

Reach out and tear our universe apart!

They look at the clock, which reads one minute and thirty seconds remaining.

SOOS: Beware!  Tis the final countdown, as in songs past they have so discussed!

DIPPER: The agents of the FBI were right!

We have but paltry seconds left to us

Until the clock the number zero reach!

Quickly, dear sister and dear friend, to work!

They turn keys; a device appears, revealing a large red button.

DIPPER: Anon, the shutdown switch!  This all ends now-!

Before he can press the button, enter STAN.

STAN: Touch not that button!

Long moment, in which they regard each other.

STAN [aside]: Oh, what to do?  I have not travailed against capture, against locks and chains and doors, against agents of the FBI, against the laws of gravity and time itself, only now, when my goal is in my grasp, to have it stymied-and no less by those I hold most dear!  What shall I say to turn accusing glares to familial-aye, familial, e’re may I deny such connection with my loyal handyman-love?  How might I repair bonds of trust, once broken?  Alas, were I to know that, mayhaps I would ne’er have been in this position.

[To DIPPER] Good nephew, away!

DIPPER keeps his hand raised over shutdown button.

STAN: Prithee, kill not the countdown!  In this I beseech thy trust!

DIPPER: Thy trust?  Thou darest speak to me of trust?

Forsooth, thy audacity knows no bounds!

And were thou not the thief who in the night

Did several times abscond with toxic waste?

Art not thine lips the ones which time and time

Again hath spoken falsehoods to our ears?

Not once, not twice, but all the summer’s day

For all the days of summer that have passed?

Away, thou fiend, thou agèd, crafty rogue!

Thy self to me is naught but counterfeit!

STAN [aside]: My worst fears confirmed!  I curse my cowardice, that I did not confess my sins when I had the chance!

[To DIPPER] Harken, lad!  I see that to unknowing eyes, to unknowing ears, to unknowing hearts, my works might seem but mad, but there is method to’t-a method which requireth life to remain in yon machine!  If thou wilt listen, I can yet explain-

The device on his wrist begins to make noise; the ground begins to shake.

STAN: Alas!  Alas!  Prepare, good children!  Brace yourselves!

Everyone begins to rise into the air.  Across Gravity Falls, others also rise.

AGENT POWERS: What sorcery is this?!  For we do rise!

Our pursuit of the villain Stanford Pines

Arrested by an unexpected flight

Like great Apollo’s chariot towards the sun!

LAZY SUSAN: Egad!  I fly!

BUD GLEEFUL: My merchandise!  I may have lost my son,

But I shall not lose thee as well!

GOMPERS: Maaaaaaa!!!!

COMPUTER: Harken, O master: T and minus thirty seconds.

STAN, DIPPER and SOOS are thrown to different ends of the room; only MABEL remains, hooked to the shutdown button by a wire wrapped around her foot.

MABEL: Dipper!

DIPPER: Fly swiftly, Mabel! Thou must shut it down!

MABEL begins making her way to the shutdown button; STAN sees and launches himself towards her.

STAN: Nay!  Good Mabel, sweet Mabel, heed my warning!  Go no further!

Is suddenly tackled to the side by SOOS .

STAN: What is this treachery, knave?!  Orders I did give you previous, and I remember not changing them!

SOOS: Apologies, dear Master Pines-if your name be not Smith or Jones or e’en Pippinpaddleopsicopolis-but as dear as thou have been to me, a higher mission hath appeared: preserve the life and safety of these children, as dear to me as the ruddy drops of my own heart!

STAN: Thou fool, release me!

DIPPER joins SOOS in trying to subdue STAN.

DIPPER: Dear sister mine, depress the button red!

Stop this machine, e’re it destroy us all!

S TAN: Depress it not!  I pray thee, touch it not!  Trust in me!

MABEL [aside]: Was ever girl in this way beseeched?

Was ever girl in this way so trapped?

Between my brother and my grunkle’s words

I know not whose is the trustworthy tongue!

[To STAN] My Grunkle Stan-oh fie, for I know not

If even thou my grunkle truly be!

I weep, for though my heart beseecheth me

To see thee as no villain, as no fiend,

But as the cranky, weird, and gross old man

Whom I do love so dearly-yet I find-

STAN: Then hark, and heed!  Recall thou in the morn, when e’er my heart did fail me, I wished to speak with thee and thy brother on matter of great import?

Another shock rises from the portal, throwing DIPPER, STAN and SOOS against the wall.  MABEL raises her fist over the button.

STAN: I wished to say that afore the day is done, many words and accusations wilt thou hear upon my name-and some, alas, are true.  But I give my solemn vow upon my soul, that all that I do, that all that I hold dear, more dear than life, more dear than hearth and home, more dear than even all my gold-all are in the name of Pines!

DIPPER: Beware, dear Mabel!  Honeyed are his words,

But think afore thou act!  ‘Tis possible

The graying rogue doth perchance lie again!

His vile, frightful metal mechanism

Which stands before us yet could all destroy

In the known universe!  Thus it is wise

To listen to the sageness of thine head!

STAN: Behold mine eyes, good niece!  Yea, mine eyes, which stories tell are windows to the soul, revealing all within the owner’s heart!  And ask thyself: for all my faults, for all my schemes, for all my greed-thinkest thou truly me to be a villain?!

DIPPER: He lies, my sister!  Thou must end this NOW!

STAN: Mabel, I beg thee!

COMPUTER: Harken, O master: Ten.  Nine.

Mabel lowers hand over the button-and hesitates.

MABEL [aside]: O perilous dilemma of the heart!

O perilous dilemma of the hand!

My brother, ever learnèd, often prov’th

His greater knowledge when it comes to wits

And books, and games, and mechanisms great

Which, studying, would bore me unto tears.

He dangerous this strange machine hath named.

Shut down, he hath declared its wisest fate.

And time and time again I’ve heeded not

His earnest words, and been kidnapped by gnomes

Or unto hateful Gideon been enslaved

Or even-horror!-risked dear Dipper’s life

By cruel and triangular demon hand.

And yet, on other hand, my Grunkle Stan

Doth humbly beg that I will stay my hand.

The man who on occasion past proclaimed

With mocking scorn his strong distaste for “please”

And who preferred to harshened orders bark.

But now, he begs, and bares his withered heart

With eyes bearing the sadness of the world,

Our photograph resides upon his desk,

And he from danger hath protected us.

From zombie, dinosaur, and Gideon

His guardianship hath cast a shelter oft.

Alas, poor Dipper, but I must proclaim

For all his faults, a villain he is not.

[To STAN] Dear Grunkle Stan?

Raises hands away from shutdown button.

MABEL: I trust you with my life.

DIPPER: This cannot be!  O foolish sister mine,

Art thou gone mad?!  Seest thou not thy folly?!

For when the clock strikes zero, we shalt-

COMPUTER: Harken, O master: One.

Flash of white light fills the room; all scream. DIPPER: NO-!

Light engulfs Gravity Falls, then dies.  Objects all over town fall to ground, as do STAN and family.  The machine glows in center with strange blue light, and suddenly MYSTERIOUS FIGURE steps through it, stops to pick up Journal 1.

DIPPER: Do I but dream?  What is this that I see?

An apparition, clothèd all in black,

With face and form concealed by a mask,

Hath entered in the room!  Is it a ghost?

Speak to us, apparition!  Who art thou?

STAN: Be still, my heart!  For I do know this form, e’en as the face is hidden from our view!  It is no ghost, no demon, nay, not e’en a stranger-but that Author of the journals thou hast sought.

And more than that-

MYSTERIOUS STRANGER removes facial covering, revealing a face identical to STAN.

STAN: -he is my brother.

DIPPER, MABEL and SOOS are shocked.

MABEL: Be this the moment oft portrayed in film

Where one of us, so shocked by strange events,

Doth thus collapse into a mighty swoon

For purposes of comedic effect?

SOOS: Fear not, dear hambone: comedy I know.

On this I will not fail you.  Down I go!

He faints .

Exeunt.

****

I would write a final sonnet for the final flashback scene, but I'm tired. Maybe I'll write it later.

#gravity falls #william shakespeare #not what he seems #parody #kind of #dipper pines #mabel pines #soos ramirez #stan pines #my humble attempt at emulating the immortal bard #in part inspired by William Shakespeare's Star Wars

[0firstlast1]

Was a countdown necessary?

Christmas is related to natality, but I am not 2023 years old, my name isn't Jesus, nor Jeovah, nor Geovah, nor Y!eovah, or any other cryptography that has been used and kept in some tomb hidden in some cave or pyramid, in all this I also don't consider myself a museum, nor a visionary historical landmark of an apocalyptic future, the last cataclysm before the annihilation of planet Earth after the sequence of several catastrophes, a collision of galaxies would be an apotheosis.

Exactly during dinner on 12/25 at the time that would be 'prime time' on TV, the most expensive time to advertise on TV, that guy Lula appeared on TV, yes, it wasn't a bad joke, it was an insult institutional catholic ideological falsehood, as if it were a scene from the film V for Vendetta in which the führer of the old New World Order appears before the commoners saying feats about the government in a hoarse voice that would not remotely resemble Rod Stewart's voice at the time from The Jeff Beck Group, in a totally inappropriate speech, the PT führer gave a standard PTist speech, he inherited a country destroyed by the ignorant electorate of past administrations but quickly left the country in a position to be the greatest political and economic power in all of history of the universe, poor people who didn't believe in the farce and dared not to vote for him, will have to go live not in another country, but on another planet more distant than Mars.

Is it possible to have a normal and happy life without television? Yes it is!

I tried to ignore everything, once again they made me unable to do so. To 'soften' what happened, below some late 'entertainment'.

#0firstlast1 #alternatives

[dugryce]

Good day to my Family of Negroes scattered throughout the globe! Today we talk about how The Countdown Continues and how to Keep Up Your Spiritual Guard and Have No Fear as most are Feeding On Falsehood and ignoring The Negro Holocaust not understanding that We Are Our Ancestors who prayed as we do Thy Kingdom Come then on to News For Negroes and we're out! Enjoy!

Thank You for your Support!

🔴Patreon: patreon.com/dougrice

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🔴CashApp: $thedougriceshow

🔴PayPal: [email protected]

#Youtube

[loganhasafalsehood]

*gasp*

#trump #falsehood #not countdown #thomas sanders #falsehood countdown

[infinitesimalyerkesdodsons]

Lmao I made an edit: New Year's Resolution Lies but every time they call Thomas out for the resolution lies it's replaced by Logan screaming "FALSEHOOD" and Janus shows up for the chorus

TW for screaming and quickly spinning pictures

#not a countdown #my edits #sanders sides #roman sanders #logan sanders #janus sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #falsehood #Youtube

[waiting-for-sides-to-touch]

Hello! I’m... er, anon name time... Chantrieri! Remember to have a glass of milk and a cookie. You’re important.

heh hiyaaaaaaaaa i’m not going to eat anythign but thank you and akdjf;laskdjf askkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

#ask!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #adksfjalksfj #not a countdown #cyanide answers #Chantrieri #bat flower anon #strych #also FALSEHOOD i'm not important #!!!! #ilyp!!! #askaskaskaskask

[john-the-bathroom-guy]

The “Unholy Quartet” Map; for fanders

A map to help you find blogs that is part of the (un)holy quartet easier,, I hope (I think some  people done this already, but I’m just blind. Sorry)

Not added? send an ask with an @ and you’re on the cursed list!

This list may be added from time to time so check up a few times to perhaps find new blogs to follow

Positivity Blogs;

Thomas: tspositive

Virgil: virgil-positivity

Logan: logan-positivity. happy-pics-of-logan-sanders

Janus: janus-positivity.

Remus: remus-positivity

Roman: roman-positivity. roman-sanders-protection-squad. roman-sanders-appreciation. roman-sanders-appreciation-blog

Patton: patton-positivity

Picani: picani-positivity. emile-positivity

Remy: remy-proship-positivity

Joan: joan-positivity

Orange: orange-is

Stan Blogs;

Virgil: virgil-stan-first. we-stan-virgil-sanders

Remus: remus-stan-first

Roman: roman-stan-first

Janus: janus-stan-first

Logan: logan-stan-first. logical-stan-first (logic stan)

Patton: patton-stan-frst

Remy: remy-stan-first

Emile: emile-stan-first 

Nico: nico-flores-stans-first. mr-nico-flores-stan-account

Akward Blogs;

Thomas (and friends): really-awkward-pics-of-thomas. really-awkwward-pics-of-thomas-friends. awkward-pics-of-thomas-shorts

Virgil: awkward-pics-of-virgil

Patton: peculiar-patton-pictures. awkwardpicturesofpatton

Logan: really-awkward-pics-of-logan. terriblepicturesoflogan

Remus: really-awkward-pics-of-remus

Roman: really-awkward-pics-of-roman

Janus: really-awkward-pics-of-janus

Picani: awkward-pics-of-therapy-crew. really-awkward-pics-of-emile

Remy: regretable-remy-pictures. really-awkward-pics-of-remy

Nico: really-awkward-pics-of-nico

Talyn: really-awkward.pics-of-talyn

Joan: really-awkward-pics-of-joan

Critics: awkward-pics-of-critic-and-crew.

John (bathroom dude): awkward-pics-of-john

Sanders shorts: awkward-sanders-shorts

Character Countdown Blogs;

Picani: picanicomehome

Remy: missingremysanders. remy-please-come-back

Thomas and Friends: when-did-we-see-thomas-again. joan-countdown. talyncomebackplease. thomas-turn-around-and-comeback. waitingforthejoan. whereisthomathysanders

Remus: remus-countdown.

Roman: readyforroman.

Patton: pattonimissyoupleasecomeback. pattoncountdown. searching-for-the-frog-man

Virgil: when-is-virgil-coming-back.

Logan: countdown-till-logan-breakdown. lookoutforlogan. 

Janus: janus-come-back-to-us. when-will-janus-be-caught

Sanders shorts: wheresmycritic. andy-come-home. isittimeforteal. when-will-dyad-come-home (is he out buying milk?). paying-the-pryce. 

Sanders Asides: nicoflorescomeback. the-nico-countdown. john-the-bathroom-guy. randomcanteenguycomehome. where-is-store-clerk. paigeintheboxoffice

Cartoon Therapy crew: where-is-elliot-come-home-please. waiting-for-sloane. missingdot. larry-come-back. kai-please-come-home. countingdowntilkai. dot-please-come-home

Orange: orange-side-please-appear. when-will-we-see-the-orange

Other series/characters: detectivesanderscountdown. where-is-the-dragonwitch. dragonwitchpleaseshowyourself. never-forget-ts-sacagawea. Sara the sp*d*r. days-since-linda. camdencomeback. wheresleslieodomjr

Extra Countdown blogs;

Cartoon therapy and crew: Picani’s Stitch.

All sides/none comfirm: Crofter’s Jam. Sides’ onesies. Crofters’ Jam 2. Onesies 2. Sides’ stims. Rap battle (Princey VS Teach). adultery-misuse-countdown. Side’s stims 2. Sides’ getting hugs. Sides’ prosecuted. Stretchy arms. Demus interaction. Cartoon sides

Glasses gay releted: Logan’s smile. Logan’s falsehood. Logan’s flashcard. Logan’s puns. Patton’s glasses

Creativtwins releted: Remus’ morningstar. Roman’s confidence. Roman’s sword. Roman’s star thingies. (Roman’s) Disney refrence. Roman cursing countdown. Roman sing. Remus’ sash

HIssing duo releted: Virgil’s curtain. Janus’ suit. Virgil’s jacket. Janus’ cane. Janus’ extra arms. Virgil’s purple eyeshadow. Shiny eyeshadow 2. Janus sing. Janus’ hat

Thomas and friends: Joan’s beanie. Thomas’ wall. Painting in Thomas’ livingroom. Thomas’ pimple. 

Asides/shorts: Steve the Stove. Food court trashcan. the-food-court-plant. where-is-plant. fake-plastic-plant. Mikey the Microwave. Microphones countdown

Extras: Hello Fresh App. Countdown until Countdown. Bill the Drill. Countdown until next EP. Countdown til sanders takeover. Gay jokes. Countdow until awkward.

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #sanders asides #cartoon therapy #thomas sanders shorts #the unholy quartet #sanders shorts

[trashmancer]

Again, been reading a lot recently, and here's some recent reads and my thoughts. (All very spoiler-free)

Johannes Cabal: The Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard

I'd heard about this series for a while, but had always kept putting off reading it, and finally I was in the mood for some comedic (yet dark) shenanigans--and a villain protagonist as charming as Johannes Cabal really hit me just right. I really enjoyed the first of this series and the introduction to this 1920's-ish universe similar-yet-different to our own that Howard's created. His writing is crisp and clever--and Johannes is a villain protagonist worth cheering for. He's duplicitous, arrogant, and cold, yet sharp-witted and competent enough to be engaging, and even though he's amoral (driven predominately with an "ends do justify the means" mentality) there are glimmers of a conscious buried in there.

The basic gist of the first book is that Johannes Cabal is a necromancer dead-set (ba-dum-sh) on thwarting the biggest plague affecting mankind: Death. As such, he's willing to go to extreme lengths to hone and perfect his necromantic abilities. In the pursuit of this knowledge, Cabal sold his soul to Satan, but he comes to realize he actually needs his soul for his necromancy to work more properly (apparently without a soul it gets very unpredictable). In order to win his soul back, he strikes a wager with Satan: he will accumulate 100 souls for Satan in return for his own. Satan, ever the fair player (not), gifts Cabal with an infernal carnival to help Cabal reach his goal within the year. Shenanigans ensue.

While I read some books in-between this one and the next in the series, I'll write about the other here--

Johannes Cabal: The Detective by Jonathan L. Howard

So clearly I enjoyed the first installment enough to keep going, and I am glad, because I enjoyed the second one even more than the first. It feels like Howard got more comfortable with the characters and world than before, and in this one he expands his universe with some made-up countries that are similar-to-yet-different than countries on our Earth. In this one, Cabal does less fantastic tricks, as he dons the role of investigator (there's been a murder--on an airship!), but the plot was very fun. I will say this is one of the first books in a long while to genuinely make my world-weary ass laugh out loud in public. Howard truly does know how to turn a phrase and comes off with some great witticisms.

Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky has been on my radar for a while because I have had Children of Time on my reading list for what feels like an age (and I still haven't gotten around to reading it, but I will soon). To prime myself, I looked up other works by Tchaikovsky. This was around the time I was look for good "stand-alone" Adult Fantasy novels as well, so the two linked up and I had this on my TBR for a while and got around to finally cracking it open.

I really loved this book. If I could describe it in any way, it would be sort of like Pride & Prejudice if Elizabeth Bennet got drafted into a war. Seriously. That's how it reads--and Tchaikovsky made the allusions to Austen's work very clear. The setting is very English-inspired, and the time period mimics Napoleonic times. Definitely the first "Flintlock Fantasy" I've had the pleasure of reading.

The themes of the book are about the caustic nature of nationalism, the blurring of truth during war, and what is true patriotism in the face of falsehood and horror. Definitely my kind of questions--and I love watching characters thrown into completely unfamiliar environments. A genteel woman (Emily Marshwic) being tossed headfirst into grisly, mosquito-infested swamps armed with a musket? It's a fascinating journey she undergoes.

Plus the novel featured a romantic subplot that hits my enemies-to-lovers buttons hard. (It's not at all like one of those tired YA enemies-to-lovers stories, but something more grown-up and messy, which I approve of, because I love drama.) But this is more of a personal note. It's definitely not going to be for everyone.

Retribution Falls (Tales of the Ketty Jay #1) by Chris Wooding

After Johannes Cabal, I got into the mood for some steampunk, and I hadn't actually read much in the way of steampunk, so I looked up some recs and the Tales of the Ketty Jay series seemed to appear on a lot of lists for this kinda thing. The basic gist of this one is... imagine steampunk Firefly. That kinda gives you the whole vibe and feel. It's about a crew of disparate and colorful characters all running from something who meet on the ship the Ketty Jay and have to learn to work together to survive.

Overall, it was a fast-paced read (I read this 400 page sucker in a single day--while doing other stuff) and Wooding knows how to write action and interesting character interactions. The world had some glimmers of brilliance (the wizard analogs in their world--daemonist--were the most intriguing part), but otherwise it was very typical steampunk. I had no real quibbles with any of that (aside from the fact some of it read as very cliche and Wooding's inspirations seemed a little obvious--Fullmetal Alchemist and Firefly being the two big ones that kept hammering me over the head), but my main complaint was with the writing and treatment of female characters. First, there is only one main female character in the Ketty Jay's crew--Jez. I had no real issues with Jez's character or writing (in fact she's refreshing in some ways), but she's completely isolated from any other female characters (and is also the only crew member who isn't really allowed to be a complete screw up--she's somewhat sanitized, which, I guess the heroic women characters aren't allowed to be fuck ups like the men?). Second, the other predominate female characters, of whom there are only three, are mute/dehumanized (Bess), characterized as stupid and unhinged (Amalicia), and have rape-as-a-backstory-written-TERRIBLY (Trinica). All that said, as much as it was cringe, this was written in 2009, and I am sure Wooding has had some growth as a writer since then.

I liked this one enough to decide to check out the next in the series (even knowing the writing for the female characters leaves much to be desired).

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

A Fantasy taking place in an Americas-inspired world? Absolutely refreshing (and more please). The main gist of this one is that a cult sets out to resurrect a dead god (seriously that's the main plot crux) while political machinations are going on in the central city of this country where the resurrection is going to take place. As the novel progresses, it's like a countdown clock to game time. There's four POV characters we follow: Xiala (a Teek sea captain who is kind of an outcast from her native people and has a love for beautiful people), Serapio (the man who has been groomed since birth to be the vessel for the resurrected god, part of this process has included blinding him), Naranpa (the Sun Priest of the capital city who is trying to garner back control the priesthood has lost), and Okoa (who really doesn't even appear until way later into the book; he's been separated from his family to train to be a warrior). For the most part, I was primarily engaged (re: 90% engaged) with Xiala and Serapio's story. They were the most interesting characters, and the journey of them on the sea trying to get to the city before the ceremony was exciting and emotional. The political dealings in Naranpa's segments kind of bogged down the action--and I didn't feel anything for that. Overall though, definitely a thrilling read with a beautifully constructed world. If I had one big criticism, it's that it ended incredibly abruptly without any resolution. I knew going in this was a part of a greater whole, but I still felt the ends could've been knotted a little tighter. I'm left dangling! But I'll be sure to pick up the next one (if anything just to find out what happens to Xiala and Serapio).

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

As an unapologetic villainfucker, I had to read this one, right? It's about not just one, but two villains! How could I lose? And they're in an intense rivalry? Revenge? Betrayal? Superpowers? Gah! Be still my heart!

I'll say I enjoyed this book (fun characters, solid writing), but I didn't love it as much as I thought I would (I wish I could love yooouuuu!). Definitely worth a recommendation to anyone who loves villains and fast-paced narratives, but... there were a few things that tarnished what could've been sparkling. The biggest for me was the jumping around in the first half. For a length of time, the novel leaps between three different points of time, sometimes 2-3 pages at a time, and it was jarring (not confusing, mind you, but it was a jolt each time). I get it was done to create an air of mystique and intrigue, but it felt like I was getting dragged around by the ear. Along with this, the plot just seemed... very convenient? As various moments kept happening, it all felt too tidy and paint-by-numbers. The characters were certainly messy and fun (and I love messy and fun), but the action itself seemed to glide on well-oiled rails with no hiccups. This did lead to the magnetic pacing of the book (which I also read in a day), but it didn't do the drama any favors. Never once did it feel like the characters were caught with their pants down--and I think that's part of the point, but it kind of dampened the tension.

I liked it enough I am definitely going to check out the sequel Vengeful though. If anything I am reading for Sydney, Mitch, and Victor. I gotta know what happens to them!

--

Right now I am reading some fluffy fluff to cleanse my palette because I've been reading so much moodiness. I'm mid-way through the light and breezy Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater (and it's super cute so far) and then I am finally going to crack open Andy Weir's The Martian (because I have put off reading it for far too long).

#recent reads #book review #just jotting my thoughts down somewhere #seriously though i am itching to read the next johannes cabal but i gotta pace myself #i don't want to burn through those like i did murderbot lol

[toshiirou]

From Within - Linkverse Writing

This is is fic for a ‘link’s meet’ AU by @minas-linkverse go check it out! Specifically this is an among us AU that I have to thank Lyra from the linkverse discord for the idea. Given the nature of the AU this should be expected, there is major character death warning attached to this. Now to commence with the story.

They’d all been picked up, one after another, by the abandoned space station. It was some sort of relic of a time long passed – a backup of a backup, some sort of hideaway in the event of a disaster. Whoever built it were probably long gone, but the station remained, slowly rotting, but still alive – picking up passengers that needed it.

It was far from optimal condition, there was no doubt about that. Whether or not it was because of its age, or that it had never been completed, there were some essentials that were missing from the station. One of which was a robust enough life support that would allow its passengers to take off their space suits.

Legend thought it might have been designed that way. The minimal life support was energy conserving, and the suits lasted basically forever. They wouldn’t help in the dead of space, but in a controlled atmosphere they probably had a higher chance of outlasting any power supply issues that would otherwise arise from a fully functional life support.

It was lonely, though. Looking in the mirror and only seeing the reflective screen of their helmet, of looking at the other passengers and seeing only space suits – cold, alien, and distant. Legend had taken to imagining what everyone really looked like based on their voice alone.

Purple – Ravio, was probably some sort of weedy rich kid from a corner of the galaxy that barely saw conflict. He seemed to be completely incapable of doing tasks alone, was afraid of every dark corner, and his voice broke with fear at the mere mention of the imposter.

Oh right. So there was an imposter.

As established, the station was old and a little trash. Nobody could even tell who was the first to arrive on it, because its time-keeping system was kaput. Sky might have been first. Or maybe even Mini. The kid was so small Legend was sure they could have missed him entirely if Ravio hadn’t caught sight of the kid’s weird yellow suit and screamed. The fact that a kid was stuck on this hell-station, had been ghosted into the black at some point and survived only through the poor luck of getting found by this lumbering space junk – it filled Leg’s vision with red.

The poorly functioning space vessel was in a lot of need for repair. Most of their motley crew had gone off in ones or twos to try and patch it up through various tasks. It kept breaking again after some time but at least they weren’t slowly freezing to death out in the black. What a way to go.

It wasn’t until White, that is, Wild, upgraded their med-bay that the situation became apparent. There were eight of them: Sky, Twilight, Time, Mini, Ravio, Wild, Wind, and Legend themself. The space station read only seven human lifeforms, and one reading that screwed the entire screen when Wild tried to get more data on it. Whatever it was, the language that screen was showing for it was nothing that Leg had ever seen before. Which said something, since they’d been space-faring since childhood.

But the logs – the logs were damming. Previous readings of human lifeforms dwindling until only one was left, only for more to arrive and suffer the same fate. And throughout it all that one unreadable lifeform remained. Leg thought it might have never even left the ship.

‘This place is a death-trap,’ they thought. It could have been a graveyard except there was no remains to be found. If Wild hadn’t fixed up those logs then Legends was sure that they would have had no clue of the danger they were in. One of them, one of the group, was not who they seemed to be. One of them was an outsider.

And Legend was determined to find them.

Unfortunately tasks waited for no-one. Their group of eight usually split off into four groups of two. Wind usually stuck with Mini. He was happy to swap around sometimes once or twice with Ravio, and even with Legend themself. Although the less said about that partnership the better. Wind seemed to take offence at the fact that Legend wanted to get their tasks done as efficiently and correctly as possible, and had no time to teach Wind how to do this or that basic action. Plus the kid, like Ravio, was from one of those places where people spoke, and boy did he not stop speaking. Legend’s hands were too full to even reply! Honestly Legend would have preferred to go it alone but there was safety in numbers. And if not safety, there was accountability.

Usually Legend paired off with Wild, who was unobtrusive and got on with his tasks with no problem. Sky liked to pair with Wild whenever he got the chance, so Legend would rotate between pairing with Twilight, Time, or Mini, based on availability. Ravio only seemed like he was comfortable pairing with Twilight for some reason, but would take Wind, or Time, if Twilight was unavailable.

And that was suspicious, right? Ravio treated them all with fear. Even beyond what was reasonable. They all knew an imposter was on board but Ravio seemed jumpier than the rest of them combined. And his suit was a dark, almost faded purple, scratched up with some of the topcoat missing. Where did he get such a thing? The whole design of it seemed different. Even Wind’s garish lime suit modulated his voice – Ravio seemed to speak like there was no modulator at all. And for the life of them, Legend could not recognise the insignia that decorated the side of his suit’s breast. The rest of them came from societies all within the outer ring, and nobody knew what lay beyond that. What. Was Ravio from outside the known universe?

Or was he not human at all?

Legend had been keeping track of them all. The kid, Mini, was just quiet. He didn’t communicate with a voice or with hands, but he happily trotted along to accompany people in doing tasks. And he seemed so proud of doing his own tasks, despite being absolutely pants at it. He was just a kid, unfortunately enough to get brought along for the ride. It soured something awful in Legend’s gut that a kid was dragged into this, but they promised they’d try and keep him safe.

Time wasn't that much older than Mini, and barely more communicative. Time would, at a push, sign with the others, but he seemed content to be by himself, and talk to no-one. Time was certainly a little suspicious, and not out of Legend’s watch-list entirely, but the kid ha the stereotypical surliness of a young adolescent. He wasn’t very interested in the others, didn’t seem to care who followed him, and was very efficient at doing tasks. Someone who wanted them all dead would at least be a little less good at keeping them all alive, right?

Sky, well. Sky was nice. Probably too nice. His bright cyan suit exemplified his sunny personality. He was going to get himself killed one of these days. He was friendly and open, always willing to put himself as the first volunteer to go off and complete some necessary activity. He made sure to look after everyone else of board to the best of his ability, and Legend was honestly a little more worried about Sky sticking up for a potential imposter than they were Sky having a mean bone in his body. Sky was safe.

Wind, while exuberant, wasn’t a bad kid. He gave away way too much information with his chatter, and someone less scrupulous than Legend could absolutely use that against him. Luckily for him, legend did have scruples. And luckily for them all that they has Wild on board, who was hardly going to inform them all of their impending doom if he was planning on being the one to bring it. While that sort of sadism definitely existed in the universe, and Legend had met more than enough people who would relish in toying with them, Wild didn’t possess that sort of mean-streak. Both him and Wind were safe.

Twilight was definitely hiding something, although what that something was is yet to be seen. Legend has seen him huddle away with Ravio, heads together and whispering. If Ravio wasn’t the imposter Legend would be exploring that avenue of inquiry next.

As a group they had agreed on a plan. Nobody was keen on outright murdering anyone else on the mere suspicion of falsehood. But they were – after some pushing – fine within spacing a suspect, for a time that was. Their suits could hold up, especially with the portable oxygen tanks they found stashed on board. As a party they could then check the life signals in Med-bay and determine whether or not the unfortunate soul they excommunicate was the imposter or not. If so, a job well done. If not, well, they’d figure out how to retrieve them. Hopefully.

Now all Legend needed was an opportunity.

The lights shut off, and Legend was plunged into darkness. For a split, terrifying second they thought this was it, it was over. And then the alarm blared and the red warning lights flared, colouring the walls around them in their glow. What the hell was going on?

“Warning.” The automatic, monotone voice of the spaceship’s computer rang out over the alarms. “Catastrophic failure imminent. Internal oxygen failure countdown initiated.”

Legend ran.

They knew it. They knew something was going to happen, and look at them now. Trying to sprint across a hulking dead mass of a spaceship when they very well knew they were too far away from the override controls. They were dead in the water, done for. And not only them, the others, too. Even the god-damn kid. They should have spaced that snivelling purple coward when they had the chance.

Not a mistake they’ll be making again. If they lived long enough to have the chance, that was.

Legend was two-thirds of the way there before the count-down reached near-zero and stopped, abruptly. Their breath was almost fogging up the visor of their helmet, and their heart was thrumming in their chest like a scared rabbit. They’d over-exerted themselves in the effort to make it in time, but Legend couldn’t lie and say that part of it wasn’t fear. They hadn’t made it, but someone else had. Death had been delayed by a hair’s breadth.

They weren’t sure they’d be so lucky a second time.

Legend allowed themselves a moment to breath before they straightened up and pressed the nearby emergency meeting alarm. There was no way that purple was going to spend another minute on the ship if Legend was around to say anything about it.

They allowed themselves to take it slow on the way to the conference room, letting themselves calm down from the burst of adrenaline that fuelled their earlier sprint. Closer to the room they passed Twilight and Time, and gave them both a nod. Everyone was quiet while filing into the room, waiting until the last few people – Wild and Sky – to trickle in. Well, no time like the present.

‘We need to get rid of purple,’ Legend signed.

“Who, me?” Ravio asked, voice high pitched and anxious.

“What!” Wind yelled. “You can’t just decide that!”

“Yeah!” Ravio interjected. Legend turned to stare at him with such intensity that even with the opaque helmet blocking the way, Ravio quieted down with a squeak. Coward.

‘Lime’s right,’ Sky replied. ‘This goes off a vote-based system, you can’t decide by yourself. Do you have any evidence?’

‘Did you miss the alarm that just went off? We barely escaped with out lives.’

‘I didn’t miss it because White and I were fixing the issue.’ Wild waved from besides Sky. ‘White did a bulk of the work in making sure we’re still here.’

“Thanks, White,” said Wind. Legend was sure Wild, whatever he looked like, had a bashful smile on at the moment.

They needed to bring this back on point, however. ‘Yes thank you White.’ Legend nodded. ‘Ravio’s been acting suspicious since day one. He doesn’t seem comfortable with any of us, he’s always jumping at things, ever before we knew about the imposter. And not to mention his suit-’

“Are you sure you aren’t talking about yourself?” Wind interrupted. Rude. “Anyway, Ravio was with me the whole time! He has an alibi, which is funny because you don’t since you ditched me.”

‘You were too slow,’ Legend replied, aggravated. They could feel things turning, and they did not like where it was going.

‘I was with Green,’ Twilight informed them. Time, in their dark green suit, shrugged. ‘Well, I was chasing him. But I had him in my sights the whole time, so it couldn’t have been us.’

‘I was with White’, Sky signed. ‘Was anyone with Pink?’

A round of ‘no’s or head shakes was slowly sealing Legend’s fate.

‘I was on the other side of the ship. And I was only there so none of you had to fix it up alone!’ Legend wished they weren’t in a suit, if only to have the opportunity to pull on their own hair. Nothing was going right.

“You were the only one without a partner,” Wind said. “You have to admit it’s a little… incriminating.”

“I think we should vote them off,” Ravio said, speaking up again.

‘Quiet, you!’ Legend signed angrily, stepping towards him. They quickly found themselves on the blaster end of no small amount of phasers. They froze.

“I agree.” Wind replied.

Time shrugged. ‘Sure.’

Twilight seemed to take a moment, turning to look around and the people around him. He caught sign of someone, or something, and seemed to slump. ‘Agreed.’ He signed.

‘Cyan,’ Legend started, feeling a little desperate. ‘You can’t let them do this. Can’t you see you’re being played? He’s fooling you!’

‘I think,’ Sky replied. ‘The only one who’s fooling anyone is yourself.”

Legend staggered back. So really. Everyone was against them. They didn’t look towards Wild or Mini, unwilling to put that pressure on them. Unwilling to hear those two condemn Legend to a slow death in the cold of space.

‘I see how it is.’ They signed.

“Really,” Ravio said, rubbing salt into the wound. “It’s for the best.”

Well, the deed was done. A heavy atmosphere fell over the remaining members of the spaceship.

‘White and I are going to go check medbay. We’ll get a confirmation for you all.’ Sky paused. ‘Twilight. Just in case, can you and Green go ready the shuttle? If we were wrong… well. If we were wrong we’ll have to go give Pink an apology to their face.’

‘Alright.’ Twilight replied. ‘Let’s go Green.’ They left.

“See you in a little while,” Wind said, distractedly. He was looking over the reports from the emergency alert system. With just a little finagling he’d be able to track which part of the ship the breach first occurred. Any second, now.

“Huh,” Wind muttered. “That’s odd, it was nowhere near-”

“Hey Lime?”

Wind looked up, before looking back at the report. “Oh Ravio, you’re still here. You sure gave me a scare, buddy.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Wha-” Wind whirled around, but it was too late. There was a glimpse of yellow, and Ravio’s uncovered human face looking sad, and then there was nothing.

‘Did you hear that?’ Twilight asked, pausing in his preparation of the shuttle. Time shrugged and didn’t reply, which was typical for him, really. Twilight sighed in the confines of his suit. ‘I’ll go check’

He didn’t have to go far before he ran into Ravio, who was wide-eyed and panting.

‘Ravio! Your helmet. Did you run here, what’s wrong?’ Twilight’s hands could almost not keep up with the speed of his questions. Then he noticed the phaser clutched tight in Ravio’s grip.

Just over the quiet hum of the space station, the sound of a shot could be heard. Shortly followed by another.

Sky found him on their way back to the conference room, Wild coming up the rear behind him. ‘Yellow!’ He was rattled. ‘We have to call another meeting. We checked medbay, and Pink is innocent! There’s still the alien life-form- wait.’ Sky paused, looking at the shorter child. ‘Is that blood?’

…

And then there were none.

#txt #mywriting #linkverse #tloz

[logan-please-smile-speaks]

List of all Chaos Family (ᴛᴍ) members

Parents

@logan-please-smile-again

@searching-for-the-frog-man

Children

@orange-side-please-appear

@really-awkward-pics-of-nico

@where-is-the-morningstar

@big-picture-countdown

@lookingforromansconfidence

@wheresvirgilsspidercurtainstho

@where-is-our-shiny-eyeshadow

@logans-falsehoods

@hyperpebble

@awkward-pics-of-john

@where-is-store-clerk / @awkward-pics-of-thomas-shorts

@camdencomeback

@a-single-picture-of-janus-daily

@logan-the-fandom-trashboi

@larry-come-back

@when-is-virgil-coming-back

@awkward-pics-of-critic-and-crew

@cryptsemophase

@bring-back-the-sides-onesies

Other

Neighbor @rainforest-rap-please-come-back

The gayest cousin @missingremysanders

Weird aunt @whereisvirgilspurpleyeshadow

Orange's lawyer @janus-come-back-to-us

Feral kid dwn the street @mirageofadreamstuff

Raccoon cousin @foodcourttrashcancountdown

Neighbor who spies @whereisstevethestove

B i r d @romansswordweloveyou

Our lovely cat Patrick

Our hurt sphere Spiky

Herbert the frog

If you'd like to be a part of the chaos family please reblog my other post. And (members) make sure you dm @searching-for-the-frog-man for the discord link.

#also please get back to me about tags if you ahavent already #havent** #no rush though #in order: #the chaos family #parent 2 #orange of crime #enby sibling #mourning the star #shiny ghost #distantscreaming #smol pebbl #anny #the smollest one #feral older sibling #rainforest neighbor #the gayest cousin #unlawful lawyer #feral fire child #pat the criminal cat #spiky the anarchist #herbert the frog #arson mention #fire mention #cat mention #frog mention #chaos pets #maxx speaks #the family

[jaigalorad]

 @adversitybloomed​​​  :  ❝  i  can  only  pretend  for  so  much  longer.  i’m  not  like  these  people  and  never  will  be.  ❞  src.

𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐗  𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇  𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃  𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒  with  scales  only  to  dimmer  a  glow  beside  the  breaths  of  something  grand.  There  was  only  so  much  to  dwell  the  uncontrollable,  such  fruitless  gains  on  the  machined  train  of  thought.  The  practice  of  the  deluded.  In  lieu  of  the  warrior  before  the  captain,  there  she  was  —  𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙛  𝙤𝙛  𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙙  𝙥𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙨  𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙢.  Strings  of  blood  rich  chromes  resolved,  for  a  fact  the  phrases  that  spilled  from  uncertain  lips  mirrored  prior  years.  ❝  Don’t  expect  that  to  change.  ❞  if  all  else,  how  could  she  possibly  so.  Should  the  act  of  observation  be  skewed,  crimson  liquid  of  endless  ages  be  splattered  among  the  emerald  vegetation.  A  woman  would  stare  back  at  that  reflection,  toward  the  other  cast  of  one  whom  once  deemed  worth  next  to  null.  Life  of  falsehoods  lived  on  their  countdowns  should  they  not  be  kept,  transparency  lurked  just  behind  as  natural  as  it  was.  Alike  her  own,  there  was  no  burying  something  not  daring  close  to  kiss  Death  down  to  the  earthen  bed  below.

Faint  blood  lines  etched  against  the  silver  blade  of  foreign  language,  but   of  virtues  known  and  understood  to  digestion  by  only  the  worthy  —  𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙖𝙡,  𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚,  𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚  𝙖𝙨  𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙙.  Toward  the  city  lights  which  flickered  at  their  distance,  he  closed  his  own  sturdy  long  paces  behind  to  square  nearly  against  the  shoulders  where  sleek  stygian  hair  danced  in  the  subtle  wind,  effortlessly  covered  the  eyes  that  need  no  visual  confirmation  where  they  had  landed  on  the  ground  below  the  boots.  Oh,  sister.  A  soldier  effort’s  to  another,  there  was  the  unspoken  kinship  as  the  captain  was  far  more  conditioned  with  through  the  marvels  of  scientific  technology,  but  of  EXPERIENCE.  Tale  so  far  yet  proven  by  the  skill  of  the  woman  beside  him,  was  there  ever  any  doubt?  ❝  You  brought  honor  to  them  all.  ❞

#adversitybloomed #∦∦ ━━ •• 𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐃 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐘 ( answered. ) #∦∦ ━━ •• 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐄𝐒 ( verseless. ) #∦∦ ━━ •• 𝐃𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 ( que. ) #( HAIII )

[yuvon-writes-letters]

To all,

In the few hours of planning, I have witnessed a letter appear in our shared mailbox, on a Tuesday.

For the record, I do not believe any of this nonsense, you could very easily be lying, both Yu, and whoever that “entity” is.

But Rai insists that it is all true, and despite his fragility, he always had this uncanny ability to tell when someone is spreading falsehoods or not, a knack for feeling if something is going wrong. The fact that he hasn’t quit sending these letters means that he wholeheartedly believes this, sci-fi narrative.

I trust him, so I’ll play along for now.

Trust me, this does not mean I trust you. For the time being, Rai will not be sending any letters, because he has apparently made himself a target, I cannot have that.

My name is. Actually, you don’t get to know my full name, it’s bad enough that you know my first anyways.

To, the entity, the letter that that was sent was matted in dirt, the words “I see you” were written in what is most likely blood, it was stuffed in an envelope along with the lily.

To Yu, Yuvon, thank you for being there for Rai these past few weeks, and fuck you, for making his life so much harder than it needs to be. He should be worried about portioning his time right to get more sleep, and doing his best to earn a living, not trying to keep a cursed pen-pal alive. Unfortunately, if what you do say is true, then I cannot blame you for his woes, you reached out, and like the hero he is, he takes the call for help.

I am currently in the process of reading the letters that were sent between you all, but, if you want to be in my good graces, a summary would help much more than hours of reading, I will not take kindly to secrets (Jake).

I will await a response.

Skie

Skie,

Most of the evidence I'd usually offer to assure people I'm not lying doesn't apply to you. It'll be a little more clear why when I get into the summary later, but I'm reeling a bit and I'm trying to take things one thing at a time.

Yeah. It's probably best if Rai at least isn't the first one to open these letters for a while. Please be careful too. I seriously don't know what this thing is capable of or what it wants, but it's very clearly violent. And entities (that's what we call these things, for lack of a better word) getting violent ends very, very poorly.

Best if we don't do full names, I agree. We've all sort of set a precedent where we use nicknames or screen names instead of our actual names.

(The ink turns dark enough that it seems to suck in the light around it.) My thanks for the description.

...Right. That just happened. I'm never going to get used to that.

You're welcome and I'm sorry. Truthfully, I've been pretty worried about Rai as well, and I sincerely apologize for any and all parts I played in Rai's problems.

Alright. Recap. This is gonna be long.

One day before I sent my first letter, I woke up in a clearing in a forest, with a note that told me that I could send letters to alternate universes with other people in the same situation I had left before arriving to the clearing on the ground in front of me. I marked the direction I was facing when I appeared and arbitrarily declared it "north". I did some exploring, and discovered that there was an invisible barrier all around the clearing, and that there were trees as far as the eye could see when I climbed a tree inside the barrier. After the first day, I sent my first letter.

Rai, though he went by Rainer then, was actually the first person to write to me, two days later. He was doubtful, obviously, but I shared specific details of the shared experiences that connect us across universes, and so did he, so we believed each other. We talked metaphysics and theories about what was going on for a bit, and Rai asked for details about my circumstances. I learned there were eight rooms off the central clearing, but five disturbed me so much that I lied and said that only three existed: a library (south), a game room (east), and a "comfy room" (west) with pillows and mattresses and blankets, etc.

Eventually, I realized there was an anomaly we've tentatively been calling the stasis over my version of the Duskwood group, where they went on with their lives but nothing actually changed. They didn't start to come to terms with emotional events that happened, they made no progress in their investigations, they didn't talk about anything important. Things were happening, but nothing HAPPENED, if that makes sense.

Rai encouraged me to tell one particular person from the Duskwood group I trust whole-heartedly, Jake, about my circumstances. That broke the stasis on him, and from then on, he and I started to work together.

We determined that the trees around my clearing are elder trees (symbolic of life/death/rebirth cycle) and completely generic trees. I theorized that I was stuck between a symbolic "death" and "rebirth", in a stasis of my own. I remain convinced of this theory.

On Father's Day, I spoke to the Duskwood group and lied to them in the process of cancelling an event I'd planned on that day for fear of giving myself away. Unbeknownst to me, that began to shake them out of their stasis slowly.

Someone named Liska contacted me then, informing me that they were sort of in an inverse situation as my own: They had normal contact with their friends and family outside of Duskwood, and they hadn't been kidnapped like I was, but Duskwood itself was almost completely frozen. There was some other weird stuff happening with the stasis, but that's not so relevant.

Lis started to get threatening calls from the perpetrator in the Duskwood case, worrying pretty much everyone, plus she didn't trust me, though I cleared the distrust up fairly quickly.

This is about when Rai started having issues, and warned us he wouldn't be able to write letters as often.

I sorta got stuck for a while, and Lis kept getting threatened. I figured out that someone would eventually join me in the clearing, but not who, how, or when, so I was obsessing over that. About then, Lis pointed out a small detail that showed I was lying about something, and that turned into a confession about the other five rooms. In brief:

North: A room with a countdown to when I can leave

Northwest: Another clearing where everything was dead with a silver goblet at the end, whole area gave off a magical sense of dread, I left without investigating further

Southeast: Altar w/ bloodstains, symbolism and text suggesting I could sacrifice my life to kill the ass terrorizing my version of the group (an alternate version of the asshole stalking Lis)

Northeast: Knife in the middle of a glade, can cut almost anything in here but the invisible barrier.

Southwest: 3 upside-down torches, one on each wall that wasn't an entrance, floor was a field of white lilies. Refused to enter initially due to overdose of symbols of death.

I discovered that my old family and my few non-Duskwood friends had all completely forgotten who I was. They still haven't remembered, but that's besides the point. I'm not just whining here, this becomes important later.

Anyhow, I started getting really worried about Rai, because he mentioned his head feeling fuzzy, he was having trouble understanding things, and his writing was disjointed. You probably know about when that was on the recent timeline.

Lis's next letter was concerning, and I asked in a cipher I won't disclose because at least one entity can't seem to understand it whether she was alright and offered a code for her to tell us if she was being watched.

Lis then sent two letters back to back: one where she used the code, and one when she wasn't being watched: she had been kidnapped by the stalker. We also made first contact with an entity we're calling "Goldie" or "Aur" (first few letters of their name) who is benevolent and has done their utmost to help Lis.

In addition, her Jake spoke to her over Tumblr, promising to help find her, and I got print-outs of the screenshots in an envelope. I contacted him as well, offering what advice I could, especially as we'd begun to theorize there was an entity working against Lis as well.

It wasn't enough. Lis was shot. And died.

And then her entity sent her back in time, alive, and with her Jake freed from the stasis much earlier.

As Lis started recovering mentally from that, I started messing on this plane again. Lis convinced me to test out the death symbol room and see if it was actually dangerous, so I first tried cutting my way out of the barrier with the knife (it failed) and then I started sorta using the Robin Crusoe method of testing the room for death, which meant I went very slowly.

During this, Rai finally admitted he hadn't been sleeping enough, and I tried to encourage him to actually fucking sleep and not worry so much about writing the damn letters.

Then

Okay, I'm not proud of this bit. Behind one of the torches in the room with the lilies and torches I'd been testing, there was a sheet of paper with a blood ritual on it. It promised an end result I'd like, and none of the other schmuck baits up to that point had actually hurt me, so I gave it a try. Imagine my shock when Jake appeared in the clearing. He's still here, by the way, we don't know how to get him back any more than me.

Rai brought up a theory (later confirmed) that the ritual brought Jake because he was what I most wanted to have with me right then. I began to work on trying to deconstruct the ritual and understand how it worked so I could confirm or deny, but was interrupted when I discovered that the Duskwood group had broken out of stasis, and I had to play damage control. They also became semi-aware the stasis had happened.

Lis sent another letter, and Jake came to the conclusion that her workplace is unsafe, and urged her to take a vacation, especially in the wake of further threats from the kidnapper. Also, Lis's stasis started to weaken, and she began passing messages between my version of Jake and her's. They proved to be surprisingly different.

At that point, someone named Jessy sent a letter in, who is one of the Duskwood crew. She was from a year in my future, shortly after her version of me, named Matt, was killed by the kidnapper and Jake was framed for it.

At this point, Jake raised the theory that Rai, Lis, Matt, myself, and all other counterparts across universes are somehow cursed, or gain more attention than we should from entities, and that's why so many horrible things happen to us. It... makes a lot of sense, honestly.

About here is when I started getting together a plan to get out. I was worried I might be mindread, though, so I went to slightly extreme measures to make sure my thoughts wouldn't give me away.

Then Jessy wrote again, and tried to convince Lis and I to run away from our respective Jakes out of concern. Along the way, she accidentally implied that her universe's Jake was being tortured in his incarceration, and I admittedly lashed out at her a bit in my response to her letter. It made me furious, obviously, and scared and upset, so I used those emotions to focus.

Lis grew concerned when I denied I had a plan. Repeatedly. And unconvincingly. Okay, it was more of a mantra. I sort of wrote "I have no plan" all over the paper and then didn't erase well enough, so you can see why she was concerned.

Now, I don't know everything that went down right there, but I'll take a guess. The entity, unable to interpret the ciphered messages I'd sent to Lis explaining why I was so insistent that I had no plan, asked Lis what my plan was, pretending to be benevolent like Goldie. Lis didn't believe it, and annoyed the entity in the process. It taunted her, claiming that Jake and I would be hurt because of her noncompliance, which was bullshit because the entity would've done what it did anyhow. Lis tried to send us warnings, but the entity blocked them and taunted her more publicly.

Unless it's essential, I'd rather not go into detail about what exactly happened when I tried to execute my plan. There's a letter that describes most of it somewhere in the past two weeks or more. Suffice it to say, I fell into a probably magic-induced coma for a few days, my face is still scarred to hell, and there's a small chunk missing from my right arm, though that's filling in because enhanced/faster healing here.

After the incident, while I was unconscious, everyone wrote in letters asking after me or offering advice, including Lis's Jake and Jessy, and Jake pretended to be me to keep the Duskwood group from suspecting anything. One of them figured it out, but she was sympathetic to both Jake and myself, so she kept the secret. In the meantime, Lis took a vacation and got out of danger, hopefully.

When I woke up, I was able to just... know a few minor facts about the entity. I still don't know how or why.

Anyway, I just sorta recovered and caught up for a bit.

Max contacted us to basically let us know that Lis was doing better (she was really torn up with guilt over the incident :( )

Very recently, Jessy contacted my parents, trying to determine if I was alright, and discovered that they didn't know who I was. That spawned a confession from me when I was confronted; that whole group is now in the know. Jake is still not entirely pleased with my decision, but I think he's mostly over it.

Then that new entity apparently sent out the letter, you contacted us for the first time, and now we’re back to the present moment.

Oh. One more thing that seems pretty important in hindsight. Rai sent me a crayon as an experiment. It arrived three different colors in one crayon: brown, green, and white. Take a wild guess what it was called.

Yep. White lily.

This is sort of reminding me of a character I made a million years ago, but the powers don't match up. It doesn't sound like the M.O. does either. Still, that character was a nasty piece of work. I hope it's all just a coincidence.

Anyhow. That's all for now. Talk to you later. Write to you later. Whatever.

—Yuvon

(The letter tucks itself in the paper clip with the others.)

#duskwood letter game #yuvon writes letters #duskwood #duskwood game #duskwood everbyte #duskwood jake #duskwood jessy #rai #skie #lis #lis's jake #lis's entity #jessy #the entity #lily #recap

[loganhasafalsehood]

is thomas aware of how much lore we have single-handedly created for the Sides?

#not a countdown #thomas sanders #sanders sides #im just wondering #falsehood countdown