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masterjedilenawrites · 3 years

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The Helmeted Hunter: Chapter 14

Boba Fett x Reader

Chapter Warnings: 2 beds very close together, emotions...

AO3 Link (In case you like it better over there, it’s okay, no judgement)

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Chapter 14: Uncanny Sentiments

You awoke expecting to be met with the bright, warm rays of the morning sun. Instead, you found only a subtle glow coming through the window curtains. Perhaps the days passed differently on this planet, but you could feel the heaviness of having too much sleep in your body to know you'd missed most of the day.

You lifted your head slightly to peer around the room, looking to see if Boba was sulking somewhere, cross with you for oversleeping. But to your surprise, you found him still lost in the throws of his own slumber in the bed next to yours. He was on his stomach, one arm hanging over the side. His face was turned toward you. For some reason, you couldn't pull yourself away from gazing at it. He looked so... peaceful.

The beds were very close together in the small hotel room, so close you could have reached out to touch him if you'd wanted. You felt your cheeks flush as you realized a part of you did want to. What were you thinking?

Flustered, you forced yourself to shift away, the sudden movement causing Boba to stir. He rolled over and propped himself up on one elbow, yawning and wiping his eyes. You watched him in silence, trying to convince yourself that his little sleepy movements were not cute in any way.

"Wait..." he said in a rough, groggy voice, now becoming aware of the odd lighting just as you had. He reached around to the small bedside table and lifted up one of his devices with the time. You could just make out over his shoulder that it was, in fact, very late in the day.

"Shit," he hissed in annoyance.

"Told you you were tired," you said with a faint laugh, trying to keep things lighthearted.

He didn't bother to look at you, only huffing and letting himself fall back onto his pillow. "We missed the train. We'll have to spend another night in this hell hole."

You pushed yourself to sit up, carefully stretching some of your limbs. They were sore and stiff and made you feel like an old lady. If only you'd exercised more back home....

"I thought this place was sacred?" you responded with a smirk. He still wasn't looking at you, choosing instead to scowl up at the ceiling. His face was definitely not peaceful-looking any more, and you wondered if you'd ever get the privilege to see it like that ever again.

"We could check out the festival, see what that's all about," you offered.

He clicked his tongue in disapproval. "And risk being recognized and attacked? No. That's why I wanted to leave today. Much easier to hide out in a shipyard than a city."

You pulled your knees up to your chest and rested your chin on top, sighing. You didn't like the idea of being kept inside this room for another night. It was almost like being locked up in a cage again.

"I suppose you could cover your face though," Boba eventually relented. You turned your head back to find he was now looking at you, his expression a little softer. You smiled at him in appreciation. His lips twitched, clearly trying to not smile back. You laughed at the effort and he rolled his eyes before climbing out of bed and getting ready for your evening excursion into the city.

* * *

Boba had tried to get you to wear a full-length veil. You wanted to be able to clearly see your surroundings. The compromise was a scarf wrapped around your head and the lower half of your face. It worked out pretty well.

The city itself was nothing spectacular, now that you could take in the details in the waning daylight. But the changes for the festival made the place feel much more lively than it probably did the rest of the year. There were quaint little booths lining almost every street with foreign vendors proudly displaying their wares. Strings of brightly colored flags zigged-zagged between buildings. Music played from somewhere.

You stopped to get a bite to eat, and the gangly creature serving you threw in some extra treats with a wink. Boba made you stand in a corner off the main thoroughfare so you could eat with the scarf off.

The two of you meandered along for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening, silent but content. It felt good to stretch your legs and take it easy like this. It was even nicer to not feel like you were dripping with your own stench and filth. You actually felt like a person again.

Being surrounded by the bustling and the music and the laughter reminded you a bit of Maz's palace on Takodana. Creatures of all kinds speaking all sorts of languages, but all united in the common effort of just having a good time. It made it easy for you to let yourself forget about your troubles, if only for the time being.

Once the cold evening air started setting in, you were ready to make your way back to the hotel. But then you came across the source of the music: a group of ragtag musicians playing for a square full of dancing creatures. Boba scowled as you insisted on staying to watch the mesmerizing display of lively movement.

The melody eventually shifted to a slower, more gentle rhythm. You couldn't help but sway along with it, hiding a serene smile beneath your scarf.

Boba cleared his throat beside you. You looked over to find he had a hand held out, but his face otherwise wore his usual frown. You were learning by now that it was a neutral expression for him. So you took his hand, letting your eyes wrinkle so he knew you were smiling, and let him lead you into a dance.

With his hands resting lightly on your waist, and yours on his shoulders, the two of you rocked back and forth to the music. It felt strange to you, sharing a moment like this with a person like him. A bounty hunter, whose only concern was getting as much money out of you as possible.

You looked up at him and spoke for the first time in a while. "Can I ask you something? I mean... If I asked you a question, would you give me an honest answer?"

He had been looking around him, undoubtedly assessing the area for potential threats, and so was caught off guard by your question. His eyebrows quirked up.

"Depends on the question," he replied hesitantly. It was still weird to hear his voice so clear and unfiltered outside his helmet. It seemed easier now to understand him.

"Why did you wait?" you asked in a low voice, careful of any eavesdropping that could happen. "You said on Jakku that you saw me come through the portal. So why did you let me run around for three days before capturing me?"

Boba looked more surprised than you'd ever seen him before. He had clearly thought you'd ask something else, and truthfully, you had about seven other questions you could have gone with instead. But for some reason this one had been weighing on you the most. You just needed to know.

"I... wasn't expecting you," he said evenly enough, though his grip on your waist had tightened a little. "In this business, the higher the price, the more unpleasant the bounty. Sure, I was given your description. But seeing you was something else. You were just... normal."

You gulped. The first time he had seen you, and the first time you'd really seen him, you'd both come to the same sentiment. How uncanny.

"I wanted to watch you, just to be sure I wasn't missing something," he continued. "You weren't bad, fending for yourself like that. But I couldn't wait forever and it was clear you weren't special, so then I moved in."

He must have felt you tense as he immediately backpedaled.

"I meant... not that you aren't special... just, you know... not..."

"Unpleasant?" you smirked, though he couldn't see it. His cheeks were pink, but so was his nose, so you couldn't tell if it was from the cold or from embarrassment. That little spark of fascination you'd had that morning in gazing at him was starting to return.

No, you instructed yourself. He is not cute... He is not handsome... He will sell you at the end of all this... He is not worth your affection....

"You have your moments," he said softly. "But generally, no, you're not unpleasant."

Somehow the gap between you had shortened, so if you wanted, you could curl your arms completely around his neck. You could smell him, too. It was mostly just the soap from the hotel, but there was a smaller, more unique scent mixed in there as well.

The lanterns hanging all around cast a warm glow on everything, including his not-handsome face. He still had frown lines. He still wasn't able to completely relax. But the way he looked at you as you continued to roll along with the music, with those sharp brown eyes. And the way he held you, like you mattered, like he wanted you beside him....

No, you told yourself again. You're making things up. He doesn't like you. And you don't like him. You're just tired.

"Are you okay?" his voice cut through your thoughts. You must have shown more of your inner conflict than you'd realized. You shook your head, more to dismiss his concerns than as an answer to his question.

"I'm just tired," you said and stopped shuffling your feet. He stood still, too, blinking a few times and remaining silent, waiting for you to make the next move. When he had stared at you like this before, with the helmet, you'd assumed it was because he was annoyed. But now the helmet was gone, and you couldn't see any annoyance or frustration. If anything, he seemed confused and timid.

You turned away, unable to look at him any longer. You were going to suggest walking back to the hotel now, but something had caught your eye off in the distance. A little creature, orange and with big eyes, beckoning toward you from behind a pillar.

You'd only seen her as a statue, had only heard about her from others, but you knew without a doubt it was her.

Maz.

#star wars #boba fett #boba fett x reader #boba x reader #eventual romance #eventual fluff #mystery #team up #bounty hunting #lots of planets #making deals #trusting pirates #gentle slow burn #emotional constipation

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ramble-writes · 3 years

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Better With Practice

O lord please don’t mind me. It was a convo that I started randomly with @franks-mixtape over discord about our Franks and how weird their interactions are. It’s either some weird ass relationship, or chaotic af brothers of some sort... Or something else I dunno. This is going off the brother thing sooooo don’t mind me! *scuttles off* And thanks for letting me ramble about it bro.

----

Breath coming fast.

Heart beating rapidly.

Legs forced to move faster.

Midnight black locks whipped at Frank’s forehead as he ran, emerald green eyes were nothing but a ring around blown pupils as his eyes scanned the darkened forest that whizzes by him. Boots dig into the ground and arms move like jackhammers to propel him forward. Teeth are bared as he pants for air, his heart loud in his ears as he strains to listen for what’s got him to run.

There, off to his right, he heard the sound of thundering steps running beside him. Frank vaulted over a downed log, catching a glimpse of the shape chasing. Large and big in shape, the slight glint of long teeth caught in what little light is breaking through the branches from the half moon in the sky, and vibrant amber eyes focused right on him while dodging oncoming the brambles on the ground.

His legs burned as he changed course with a sharp turn to his left at a large trunk of a tree. The thing behind him followed in suit, a growl reaching his ears despite the wind howling loudly. The thing hung back, not making an attempt to catch up any quicker which irked the raven-haired 19 year old. Raising his voice as much as his lungs would allow, he shouted over his shoulder to the thing.

“C’mon ya big bastard! I know you can run faster than that slow shit!”

That seemed to set it off. The beast quickened its pace, its own breath coming fast as it sped up that it was close enough to just snag the back of Frank’s jacket. But it didn’t. The rumbling sound stopped, meaning it jumped. He knew this by how the hairs on the back of his neck raised up like an alert and he did the one thing he was told: He drops down onto the ground like a rock.

The large mass of a creature sailed over him, but he snapped back up like a sprinter out of the blocks and pounced onto the thing. Hands were quick to take a hold of thick fur in a vice like grasp to hold on. The thing under him let out a snarl as it veered to ram its back to a tree to knock him off. But Frank was quicker than that. His arm wrapped around its thick neck and took a hold of the fur on the other side and yarded on it hard.

The beast yelped and its feet stumbled under its body. They both took a hard tumble to the ground, the wind getting knocked out of Frank when it landed on him along with his back connecting with the ground below them. Just because he took a hard fall, his grip on the creature didn’t let up, muscles locked up like the jaws of a dog. His legs moved to wrap around its waist the moment it rolled onto its side and his ankles twisted together to hold. It started to struggle, trying to stand to shake him off to gain the upper ground. This made Frank let out a snarl between his teeth that canines just barely poked at his bottom lip.

“Oh no you fucking don’t! I ain’t finished with your ass yet flea bag!”

It snarled as it did its best to twist its head around to snap at him, but his other arm came around to take a hold of his wrist in a lock and pulled his arms towards himself. Muscle under fur rippled at the sudden strangulation when Frank’s arm tucked right under its chin where less muscling is to protect it. The beast let out a choked sound before using one of its appendages to slap the ground a few times.

“ACK! Let go!”

“SAY THE WORDS DAMN IT!!”

“Mer-” A gasp for a breath. “MERCY!!”

A grin spread across Frank’s pale features, but as the rules go, his limbs detangled and let the thing go. It stumbled up onto its feet with gasps before looking at the smiling teen who proceeds to roll onto his back with arms tucked behind his head like the smug bastard he is.

“Lighten up Morri, I won fair and square. Your dumbass just calculated your shit wrong.”

Morri, as the now identifiable wolf, lets out a huff as he sat down. Thing is, the wolf’s form shifted to that of a human upon sitting. Same age, similar facial structure, but different in his own way. The now human Morri let out a sigh as he rubbed at his neck.

“Geez. Ya didn’t have to pull so hard like that, Frank. Any harder and you might’ve bruised something.”

“What. You gonna be a pussy about it? Your neck is literally thicker than my waist! You’ll live if you stop being such a bitch baby about it.”

That made Morri scoffed. Now thinking, even though these two just met about a month ago, it still was pretty weird as all shit to address him as the same name they share. Talk about parents with shit tastes in names. It’s why he says to just go by Morri, a shortened version of the last name they both share, or just Morrison. Either way, it was one way to call them both out if needed.

Frank glanced over, with the little light peaking through, he can see Morri muttering to himself. Of course, keen ears picked up what was said, but when it comes to his half-brother, he ain’t one to pry for information unless shits serious. His chest expanded with a breath, then let out as a sigh. He got himself up onto his feet, brushing dirt off from his ass and his back, then went over and held out his hand towards Morrison.

The russet-haired boy looks up to the other, amber meeting emerald before glancing down to the hand held out to him, to the hints of a tattoo sleeve of roses. Letting his hand drop from his neck, he took a hold and Frank took a step back to haul Morri to his feet with a grunt. Now standing, it’s easy to see the two are the same height. Many kids looking at the two would say they’re fraternal twins or something. Same name, same flaming jester skull tattoo on the neck, but whereas Frank is pale, Morri is a bit tan. Hair color was another thing. Russet to raven black. Though, the sibling thing was right. Same dead beat father that didn’t give two shits, but different moms.

Frank was only half of what Morri is. Werewolf. He couldn’t shift like the other, but sight, smell, hearing, and other things were enhanced. Morrison was full werewolf. Able to shift from human to wolf in seconds with, thankfully, clothes on. Other than that, they see each other as full on brothers. Who the fuck cares about the differences? They don’t.

“Ey, bro. You mind if I crash at your place for a bit? Clive is giving me shit again.”

Morri blinked at that, but nodded. “You know you’re always welcome. Swear though, one of these days I’m gonna rip the bastards throat out.”

Frank chuckled at that and looped an arm around Morri’s shoulders. “I wouldn’t mind that. Fuck. I’d even watch that happen. You wanna know what the fucker does with the checks he gets from family services?! He-”

“Spends it on alcohol. I know. Half the time I can smell it on you. And you’ve told me this, multiple times.”

Well that made Frank shut up. But he sighed and nodded. Morrison chuckled a bit, then rested his own arm over the other’s shoulders as they made their way through the forest to the dark street of Ormond.

“At least you’re getting better. The more practice, the better. Soon enough you just might be able to fight me head on,” Morri said, changing the subject. This pulled a slight smile from Frank at that.

“Yeah? Me being able to kick your ass without running? Siiick.”

The wolf listened as his other half rambled about how cool it’ll be to fight without any given leverage. Banter was thrown as they made their way to Morrison’s current foster home, acting like as if they haven’t been separate for 19 years. Safe to say, this felt normal. Like it should’ve been.

#frank morrison #wolf frank #brother franks au #????#I guess that tag works lmao #legion dbd #my writings #franks-mixtape #long-ish post #hooooooooooooooo #enjoy

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cnidocyst · 4 years

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can you teach us how to draw edd? ;-;

With bells on my toes, get ready for a long post Out of all 3 Eds, Edd tends to be the most varied from storyboarder to storyboarder, on the plus side you can take this as multiple totally canon designs to pick and choose from, on the downside this makes trying to nail consistencies about him down harder than the other eds (at least in his head+face+hat anyways. there’s not much difference in how the rest is drawn lol) So once again. Long post. Lotta specifics THAT I WILL NOW PUT UNDER READ MORE sorry for the 2 seconds i didnt add that

I’ll start off with the eyes

The tricky thing about Edd is his hat acts as his eyebrows (he does have eyebrows, but they’re seldom shown in favor of hat style). The eyes can stick out or have the top covered by the hat, it goes either way and comes down to what mood you’re trying to get across. Hat can act as eyelids, but this can go either way. His eyes are so close together that whichever’s closest to the ‘camera’ will overlap the further eye, even subtly. Additionally, Edd’s eyes are usually so close together you don’t see his forehead often. Obvious exception for whenever his eyes close, but you can sometimes see a bit in expressions like these

This, again, can go either way

Not much to mention about the nose other than it always overlaps at least one eye (whichever’s furthest from the camera) Can touch the other eye but most often won’t overlap unless he’s facing forwards (or close to it)

So about that hat..

Truth be told, I’m bad at keeping a hat shape consistent let alone able to really explain it. The way his hat molds on his head is a lot more predictable and can either follow a neat curve, or dip down torwards the ear if the eyebrows won’t make a nice curve as is. It’s temping to draw the ears and outer eye lines before the hat line, I do this a lot, but they won’t be in the right position without the hat line. This line can be stretched down with his jaw, as well as his ear position (which is fairly flexible!) since they’re always at the end of his hat. The front lump of his hat form with his eye position, I tend to exaggerate this myself out of personal preference, it’s more subtle in the show

As for the mouth

No need for any lumpiness or squash and stretch when his mouth is small, then bigger and wider the wider the mouth the more stretch. How wide his mouth is open also depends on how much you can still see the other side of his face. His slightly larger than average chin is usually noticeable, but has diminished in prominence over the seasons, especially in small and/or closed mouth positions where he’ll often have square head

(similar look but with a subtle chin)

Mouths, smile edition

Ed Edd n Eddy loves having mouth ends ride eye next to the eyes and Edd is no exception, since his mouth is stetching up not just his jaw, the hat line+ears won’t fit the curve of the smile. The ear furthest from the camera won’t necessarily move down on the face, I just like drawing it like that. Depends on angle and if it’s a side smile

There’s a few ways you can draw the jaw and other side of the face, just don’t have the bottom lip line and cheek line connect. Boring additional detail, pretty consistently Edd will be drawn with five teeth, three closest to the camera, two furthest.

ALSO! Edd’s face can stretch pretty far into this kind of funnel shape. Not much to add

Bit of personal preference, but I find it a lot easier to draw Edd’s face drawn crosshair+eyes first, then mouth > head shape if the mouth position is prominent enough, gives room for more exaggeration to fit the head around the expression not the expression around the very on model head. Super on model would be a good starting point, but will get bland in cartoon world

Okay no more face stuff I swear, body time

Double d is mostly skinny torso with big jorts the go down to his knees and TINY twig legs, they’re so small that every single time I sketch him I have to shorten the legs in cleanup. He also has tiny shoulders that won’t be very prominent with his arms just hanging down. While his torso is long, his arms are still normal size meaning they don’t go past his waist. If you stretch them down to his thighs they’ll look like slenderman arms. Edd may be skinny, long, and noodely, but there’s only so far you can exaggerate that

if you’re not learned on your lines of action(black line), they’re vital for bendy cartoon boys such as double d, but that’s more general cartoon advice I won’t get into all that

It is very important you keep Double d bendy and lightweight, he is extremely flexible. That being said you still can’t break his spine entirely, neat curves, not harsh corners unless he’s super bunched up

No but seriously he has a snake body, it’s super fun to mess with once you get drawing Edd normally down

One last detail, Edd holds his arms up when he runs. His ankles bend inwards on impact frame but breaking limbs only looks good in motion, not so much stills. Trust me, I’ve tried

Hope this was at least somewhat comprehensive! I’m not amazing with giving instruction, I of course can’t run by every single detail about how Edd works but that’s what this blog here is for. EDIT: I failed to mention, there's a gallery page on the ed edd n eddy wiki complete with some model sheets of edd that show off his proportions+a height chart, which also make for good reference. And of course, practice makes progress , happy drawing

#asks #long post #edd #eene #eene drawing tips

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malicious-fisheeves · 4 years

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I wrote a little thing for Tens. There is Violence

Tens has the habit of mostly just swimming through one day to the next. He would like to think it’s just due to his age-- now that he’s in his thirties for the second time. If time is a river he’s gotten trapped in some eddy, like a leaf dancing on the surface, spinning in circles.

It’s not a terrible fate...

On this day, he’s made his way back into the tavern while the spring rains begin again. Within seconds of his entrance, it starts pouring. Big rain drops smack against the window and he can hear the roar of wind and rain pounding against the thatch roofing.

He sighs.

Taking a seat at the bar, the warmth from the hearth at his back, he allows for the worst of that afternoon’s chill to slip away .

The bartender and presumably tavern owner is an older woman-- a little worn by sea salt and the bone chilling winters, streaks of dark hair mixed between mostly white and grey. Her face reads as “I take no shit” but she seems entertained enough by him. There’s a little crescent shaped scar on her lip that bends when she smiles, which he finds charming.

“What else can I get for you young man?”

“Anything warm, miss-- could I by chance have your name, actually?”

She raises an eyebrow, but has a warm expression. “Margraid.” She turned around to fetch something from the pot behind her, bringing a ceramic bowl of soup out.

He rubs his hands together, luxuriating on just being able to feel the heat return to his fingers. “Thank you, Margraid. How much do I owe you?” “Soup’s free.”

“No it ain’t!” someone barks from the other side of the bar. Companions surrounding him guffaw.

“It ain’t free for you, Siaghal!” Margraid yells back, earning more laughter. Siaghal curses, rolls his eyes, and goes back to his drink while his friends tease him.

He takes a sip to stifle his laugh.

“So how about you then, lad?”

Tens hums for a second. “Just Tens.”

She quirks a brow, leaning on her elbows. “Now that’s an interesting name, how’d you get it?”

He considers his response for a moment. “Ah, well, you know how mainlanders are-- not the best at pronouncing our names, so I shortened mine to Tens, and it just fits.” A half truth.

Margraid has a pleasant look of surprise grace across her face. “Ah, I had a feeling you were from Skellige.”

Tens hums again, smiling even though it makes him feel tired, before taking another sip of his soup.

“What brings you back then? Must have been some time for you to sound like a mainlander” she says, but it’s not barbed by cynicism. He has merely earned her curiosity.

“Ah, I’ve been travelling for a while now, I thought it’d be a good time to come back.”

She leans her chin on her cupped hand. “How long have you been travelling?”

Tens lets out a puff of air, counting on his fingers for a moment. “Well this time around I’d say it’s been about thirty years”

Her jaw drops for a second, then she laughs-- it’s a big, hearty laugh, clapping him on the shoulder. “Damn, I wish I had whatever you elves did. You barely look twenty-five.”

Tens tittered, doing a rather poor job of hiding a smile.

Margraid gives him a warm grin before turning around to attend to others.

The night is, at least, uneventful at first. He’s mostly left alone, although a few curious young men entertain him by asking questions.

“What brings you here?” one of them says, not doing well (or not trying to) hide the up-and-down look Tens gets.

It doesn’t really bother him. “The rain, mostly.”

He’s earned a few chuckles, before being left to his own devices once more. Tens usually didn’t mind chatting, it was a good way to pass the time and find something to do. Invite himself onto caravans, into bandit rings, or into some noble person’s, ah, entertainment. But this week was a bad week. He was tired.

Tens looked around and found plenty of others smoking, so lit his own pipe and sighed. Some of the tension eased away.

But before Tens could finally relax, four dipshits barged through the door. With a clatter, the glass window in the door rattled, almost threatening to shatter.

He sighed and did his best to make himself small, though that wasn’t something he was good at, given his height, so he mostly just hunched over the counter and tried to look away-- but he couldn’t help but notice Margraid had a rather frightened look on her face, though she masked it well by frowning and folding her arms.

“I already paid you this week, Donaidh” she hissed.

The tavern got awfully quiet.

“Yes, well, the tax just went up” said the man in the middle-- he was stout and square and looked like a prick.

There was a larger man behind him while two more flanked him on either side.

Margraid sighed and reached under the bar to fiddle with something before taking out a grey coin purse and tossing it at one of Donaidh’s dogs.

Despite everyone’s wishes, Donaidh and company sit at the bar. They seemed to relish in the negative attention. Without much a fight Margraid gives them free drinks and food all the while looking like she hopes they’ll just get out. Tens watches, a little sad, but isn’t exactly trying to get into trouble-- not yet, at least. Not this week.

He mostly stares into the grain of the wood that makes up the bar and tries to lean closer to the fire and away from Donaidh.

“Who’s this here?” one of them notes.

Tens can’t see him, but knows they’re talking about him. “Tens. What’s it to you?”

“Tense?” he says, clearly not bright.

“It’s his name, Artur” Margraid corrects, low in tone.

“Never heard of a man named Tense” Artur grumbles. The stool shifts as Artur decides to look down at him.

Tens sighes, but says nothing.

“Elves always got funny names” Donaidh decided he needed to point out.

“Yes we’re just full of humor” he remarks. If his words were poison, Donaidh might have dropped dead from the potency in his tone.

Donaidh scoffs and gets off the stool.

Shit.

Tens smooths back his hair and sits up, turning to watch as Donaidh and company decide to surround him.

“You think you’re funny, don’t you?”

The big one decides to shove him a little, but Tens doesn’t let it push him off his seat.

“Listen, sirs, let’s not do this. Miss Margraid here has given you your money, and your food, and your drinks, don’t give her a mess to clean up.”

He tried to put on his friendliest face, but all things considered he was having a lousy week and he was a hair's breadth away from losing his fucking mind. There was something sensible somewhere in him telling him it was a bad idea to go four on one, though.

Then, Donaidh decked him. It would have hurt, normally, but Tens was admittedly not all in. He felt blood trickle down from his nose. He did groan, gritting his teeth.

Artur had enough mind to put a dagger up to his throat. Dandy.

“I really don’t want to do this with you” he hissed.

Donaidh chuckled darkly. “Aw, well too bad.” Ugh, what an ass.

Tens rolled his eyes, which probably wasn’t smart, because he got punched in the stomach then. He doubled over, hissing through his teeth as the metallic taste of his own blood filled his mouth.

He had half the mind to grab his staff but one of Donaidh’s goons scooped it away as he went to hug the back wall.

“Donaidh that’s enough” Magraid tried to command.

“Shut up, girl.”

Uuuughh. He was going to regret this. He knew he would. But he was so fucking tired of Donaidh’s stupid mouth.

Before he could get punched again, he took his elbow and jabbed it into Artur’s throat. The man made a sort of gurking sound, lifting his hand up and drawing his knife away. Idiot. The next thing Tens did was bull rush him to get off his chair. It hadn’t taken more than a second or two-- the man was a twig.

“Bastard!”

Tens rolled over Artur, springing onto his feet. Donaidh hissed and roared “get him you idiots!”

Unfortunately for Tens, the big guy was a lot faster than he’d have assumed. One lunge, and Tens was barely out of the way, but getting backed up towards the entrance.

Artur had collected himself and took a swing at him with the knife, which almost hit home. After taking a few more swings, Tens was nearly back against the wall-- or rather, the door.

He felt someone yank his hair and he yelped. Before he could take any action, one large forearm had wrapped around his throat and squeezed hard. Tens tried to bite down, and though the man cursed, it only made him squeeze tighter.

“Gut this fucker!” he screamed as Tens drew blood, trying to tear more flesh by making a sawing motion with his teeth. If only he had fangs.

Artur surged forward, but no one had thought about the fact Tens was almost six and a half feet tall, most of which was legs. So, he picked his feet off the ground and bucked Artur hard in the chest. Nothing broke, but it definitely knocked the wind out of him. Though the man holding him was strong, his grip loosened as his weight suddenly dropped towards the floor, and one of Ten’s hands loosened.

He reached up and jammed his thumb into the man’s eye. He screamed, and felt first tears, then blood, on his hand, but kept pushing until the man let go, dropping him quite suddenly.

Tens gasped for breath as Artur tried plunging the knife in him again, but this time Tens kicked out his knee with a crack and Artur fell down-- gasping in pain. The knife fell out his hands. He kicked Artur again, sending him sprawling on the floor, taking the knife, and jammed it between the big man’s ribs. Before he had time to retrieve his new weapon however, Donaidh had grown a brain and tried smashing him over the head with a chair.

Though he missed and instead shattered it against his soon-to-be dead buddy, Tens didn’t exactly have a lot of space. Without really getting the chance to get his bearings, Donaidh shoved his back over the nearest table and went in to throttle him, gripping him by the throat.

Tens was exhausted, and already out of breath. His limbs felt heavy, and everything was getting dark. He could hear something pop and crack in his windpipe. He tried to do something with his hands, but they were quickly becoming distant, useless things.

Magic was a funny thing. It always started at his chest, then sort of swam down the veins of his arms. A warm, electric feeling-- usually, like electricity, it was fast, but while the life was being choked out of him it felt glacially slow.

He hissed, feeling the searing spell as he forced it to his finger tips.

He smiled, or perhaps snarled-- maybe in that moment they were the same thing.

“Wh--” Donaidh didn’t get a chance to finish.

Tens jammed his thumbs into Donaidh’s eyes, fingers glowing like molten metal. The skin of Donaidh’s face did not so much burn but melt-- it was always a bizarre feeling, though he had to say melting the white flesh of a man’s eyes was a first. He screamed and thrashed but Tens was holding him by his head.

Once he let go of Tens’ throat, he was shoved off, crumpling to the floor. If he wasn’t dead, he probably wished he was.

Tens took a few gasps of breath, sights and sounds and senses flushing his brain, overwhelming it. He remembered something important though.

“Hey-- you, asshole, give me-- give me my fucking staff back” despite his exhaustion, the crazed and bloodshot look in his eye was enough to scare Donaidh’s last man into swiftly handing it over.

“Thanks” he hissed, yanking it out of his grasp, before turning to limp out of the tavern, finally.

God, he just wanted some fucking soup.

#tens tag #sorry about the formatting it was kinda a pain because tumblr hates the tab key??

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hookaroo · 5 years

Text

Vocivore, Ltd. (41 of 46)

Also on FFN and AO3 (ListerofTardis)

Tagging @ouatwinterwhump, @killian-whump, @sancocnutclub, @killianjonesownsmyheart1, @courtorderedcake, @facesiousbutton82 <3

***THE MOST WONDERFUL, HEARTBREAKING, and BEAUTIFULLY WHUMPY COVER ART BY @cocohook38 HERE and HERE!!!!!!!!!*************

***Chapter 12 animation and art that will absolutely astound you!!!!!!!!!**********

***LETHAL Chapter 19 art in all of its BLOODSTAINED GLORY!!!!************

**POOR STABBED KILLIAN falling into the sheriff station! Ch. 7 & 23 art!!**

****KILLIAN AND HIS MASTER IN THE GORGEOUS CATHEDRAL!!!!!!!!!!!! CHAPTER 1 ART THAT KILLS ME EVERY TIME I SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*********

*CH 34 ART! A DEFEATED KILLIAN, HEAD BOWED BEFORE HIS MASTER!!*

***CH 36 ART! DETECTIVE JONES BOWS BEFORE HIS NEW MASTER!!!!!!***

***AAAAHHHH!!! THANK YOU MY WONDERFUL COCONUT FRIEND!!!!!!***

________________________________________________________________

Present (Saturday)...

In the presence of his Master, Killian lay inert.

There was no escape. Not ever.

No immunity, not in the end. He had resisted as long as he could. But now, he no longer had any control over his body. He could do nothing but lie helpless, paralyzed and at the mercy of the creature endlessly circling. Tapping that eerie cadence around and around, stopping only to prod at him, squeeze and pinch and crush. His ankle. His hand. His ribs.

Killian could not even scream anymore. Sometimes he felt on the verge of knowing why. The tentacle snaking down his throat did not truly hurt, though on occasion it inspired such panic that he would rather be dead than endure its presence any longer. Then the moment would pass, he would lose concentration and forget the invader, and try to beg an instant’s peace, and wonder why even the smallest hint of his pathetic pleas would not come forth.

YOU CAN NEVER BE FREE OF ME. I SHALL HAVE YOU FOR ALL ETERNITY.

Yes, Master.

Had there truly been a time when that commanding voice held no sway? The mantra scripted, the despair half-pretend?

NO MATTER. SAY IT FOR ME AGAIN. FEED ME YOUR MISERY.

No hope.

IT IS REAL THIS TIME.

No hope.

THE BATTLE IS LOST.

No hope.

NO HOPE. NO HOPE, TRIPOD. NO HOPE FOR ANY OF YOU. KILLIAN.

Killian?

*****

Emma burst into the waiting lounge, cursing, her heart pounding as if she'd just sprinted up to the top of the clock tower. Of course they would page her as soon as she ran down to the cafeteria for five minutes; she should never have let her dad talk her into taking a snack break.

"Whale?" she called urgently even as she spotted the physician’s distinctive shock of bleached hair across the room. He had his feet up on a coffee table and looked even more haggard than before; apparently, the past 30 hours had been rough on him, as well. He did not get up when he heard his name, opting to merely wait until Emma had perched nervously on a chair nearby. Dr. Whale gave her a reserved smile before speaking.

"He's out of surgery."

For an instant, Emma thought she might black out from the relief. Whale rubbed at bloodshot eyes, continuing,

"We did everything we could for him, for now. His lung has been repaired, his shoulder reduced, and temporary closures provided for his other injuries; they'll have to be addressed at a later date, when he's stronger. He's had probably a dozen units of blood and may require more over the coming days."

Emma felt a hand on her shoulder and realized that her father must have cleared up quickly downstairs in order to be able to be with her, and then snuck in while her attention had been riveted on the physician’s words.

Whale sighed and stretched his neck.

“I'm not going to lie, Emma; he's not out of the woods yet. He'll need constant supervision in the Intensive Care Unit until we’re sure he won't crash on us at any second. The biggest complication that we're dealing with right now is the neurological condition which, I can't even remember if I told you, has gotten exponentially worse since Wednesday.”

“The brain shriveling?” clarified David, and Whale nodded.

“The best thing for that would have been to keep him sedated while we work on a therapy, like we did for the others, but for some unknown reason, every sedative we’ve tried has only made everything worse. His blood pressure will fall, or he'll develop an arrhythmia or respiratory depression or something else equally as dangerous. It's totally bizarre, and none of the other slaves have reacted this way. Bottom line is, I don't think it's safe to keep throwing different sedatives at him and hoping one will stick. We’ll allow him to wake up and just try to keep him comfortable with painkillers.”

Around a lump in her throat, Emma managed to ask,

“But didn't you say the brain condition is slowed down when they're sedated?”

“I did,” shrugged Whale. “But faster brain deterioration will kill him slower than a clot caused by low BP would.”

Emma nodded slowly, the long list of threats to her husband's life squeezing at her heart until she could not speak. Behind her, David quietly asked,

“What about something like total anesthesia? Would that slow the condition?”

"That would be even more risky than sedation," explained Whale. "With general anesthesia, you always want to use the smallest dose for the shortest amount of time, otherwise all sorts of bad things can happen, from respiratory arrest to brain damage."

A moment of heavy silence filled the room, uninterrupted by the background noises of the busy hospital. Then Emma squared her shoulders.

"So when can I see him?"

With great reluctance, Whale stood up, unfolding slowly like a man many years his senior.

"Let's go," he groaned. "He's going to be disoriented at first; hopefully you can help with that." He glanced at David, then back at Emma as he added,

"Only you, though. For the time being, at least."

David caught Emma's hand in a quick squeeze. “Give him our best.”

*****

His Master had its clawed hand around his arm, squeezing without involving any of its nails. It hurt the stake driven through his wrist. But that was, after all, its privilege.

Harder, Master. Take what you will. I am yours.

“Killian.”

Bloody hell. Swan was in the church. He could hear her. He could almost see her, if he tried hard enough to open his eyes and focus. Impossible!

I SHALL HAVE HER TOO.

No!

A piercing pinch. A whimper without sound.

Yes… Master…

*****

It could only be an extension of his Master’s recording experiment, but how it was supposed to succeed was utterly mystifying. Any little sound stalled before it even started, not just the screams he wanted to unleash. So how would his Master glean any sort of energy from him this way?

THAT IS NOT YOUR CONCERN.

Killian’s elbow twitched and he felt an immediate jolt of stiff pain in his shoulder. He could not say when he’d been torn loose from his imprisonment, what almost certainly should have been the structure against which he’d breathed his last and surrendered his soul. The figment Emma was back, or perhaps had never left, though their Master had yet to make good on its threats against her. It must wish to drain the last remaining drops of scream energy from him first, wringing him out like a filthy, useless rag, scraping him down to the rind and then beyond.

She called to him. He could not acknowledge.

I AM HERE, insisted his Master. He felt it. Its marks of possession carved into his flesh. Unyielding limbs pinning him, holding him still.

Which of its appendages was slender enough to slip inside a nostril? Killian had no recollection of that particular trick.

“Hold still--”

DO NOT MOVE, TRIPOD.

Something twitched deep down inside his chest, sparking a powerful urge to retch. The Master’s device between his teeth confirmed itself as not-tentacle by its texture and flaccid presence, no roiling, pulsating muscle beneath its rubbery exterior, and yet it began moving again, this time sliding up his throat and exiting in one long, slippery slither, its tip scraping irritated muscle as it went.

Gagging hurt, but coughing was worse.

“Breathe,” urged many voices, Emma’s and at least one other. Z, if she weren’t dead and could speak. Or maybe it was only after death that she would.

FILL THOSE LUNGS WITH SCREAMS.

*****

When Dr. Whale had first led Emma inside, she would have sworn it was the wrong room. Her emaciated husband was simply unrecognizable, even compared to what she'd seen of him the day before. Discolored, withered, and limp, taped and wrapped, sickly pale skin free of dirt but painted with a sheen of sweat. After so many situations just like this, she probably should be at least somewhat accustomed to all of the gadgets necessary for life support, but they shocked her every time. Whale’s team had at least traded the I/O line for a more long-term central line, which she knew would cut down on the number of needle sticks necessary for blood sampling and the like.

Emma sighed. He was going to hate this. He always did, but now the parallels to his time as the Vocivore’s slave--not in control of much of anything, feeling trapped and helpless--would make it that much worse. Not to mention the damage to his hand that would take away all autonomy.

Well, she told herself, it was a miracle he was even around to hate it. And besides, it would be different this time. Magic would return soon; it had to. And then, even if she couldn't heal everything completely, she might be able to shorten his length of stay in his least favorite place.

No, she realized. She now knew of several places that would rank lower than this.

"Killian?" she called again, tenderly stroking his bony arm. In the 15 minutes she had been with him, he had showed some brief flashes of near-awareness: slight limb movements, fluttering of his eyelids, minute grimaces eliciting pangs of sympathy within her. In response to her voice, his heart rate would pick up momentarily, though it was difficult to tell whether that was from glad recognition or startled anxiety. In between, however, he would settle back into a frightening stillness that only the monitors proved could not be death.

A few minutes ago, a couple of nurses had removed the endotracheal tube from his throat after Whale had declared him stable enough to breathe on his own. The bout of choking that followed was painful to watch, but Killian still seemed mostly out of it as they attached an oxygen mask to his battered face. His eyes fluttered briefly open but did not focus before slipping closed. Since then, it was back to nothing again.

Whale appeared beside her and leaned over Killian in order to have a listen to both lungs.

“He'll come around in his own time,” he assured Emma. “This is not unusual after such extensive surgery.”

*****

Something had changed.

The paving stone had warmed, softening into something almost comfortable, a concept so unfamiliar as to be suspicious. The persistent cooing from up above mingled with an utter cacophony of bewildering sounds, none of which belonged to any reality within the horribly familiar confines of the sanctuary. And the light touch on his arm, the gentle stroking along intact flesh… for the first time, it was not altogether unpleasant. Which would only confirm what he no longer feared: total, unreserved surrender.

Does it please you, my Master?

The end of the deception and the fight.

IT IS GOOD.

He could feel it prodding at his chest with its cold, unyielding legs. He did not pull away. No horror stirred his heart, though he knew it wanted something of him.

WAKE UP.

More places were being petted, encircled, or invaded than his Master had limbs to account for; nothing made sense. And why was it insisting he wake up when he was already awake? Perhaps he could appease it with a groan.

Killian coughed. His whole throat felt raw as if acid slime had eroded all the tissue away.

I may no longer have any screams to give.

His ankle spasmed. Stabbing, burning cramps spread up his wrist from an oddly immobile hand. But his Master seemed unfazed by the revelation and continued its touching.

“Please--OPEN YOUR EYES--Killian. It’s time--YOU MUST WAKE--wake up now.”

The babbling had returned, voices on top of voices, all begging to be heard amidst the rolling of whitecaps pitching the floor into sudden, violent motion, squashing him down as though he weighed a thousand pounds, and in an instant, Killian was retching like the greenest of new recruits on their first day at sea.

If he’d thought coughing hurt, his stomach trying to eject what wasn’t there took that pain and magnified it a hundredfold.

“...Pretty common, too, after anesthesia…”

Shut the hell up, Whale, and let a man die in agonized peace.

HE WON’T ASPIRATE WITH THE NG TUBE CLEARING HIS STOMACH.

“Trust me.”

His Master’s suit had turned white.

The bucking slowed, gravity returning to normal from his feet upwards. Killian’s eyes were watering in lights far too bright and colorless, lacking any hint of refracted hue.

It wasn’t a white suit. A white coat.

“Killian?”

Tilting his neck even the slightest degree seemed to drive iron stakes all around its perimeter. Killian blinked away the tears into which his Master’s image had dissolved, leaving behind only smeared shapes and hazy colors as it bellowed a whisper,

I REMAIN.

His first in-focus sight had to be of bloody Whale, leaning over him in professional study. But the physician’s voice hadn’t been the only one to blend with the Vocivore’s menace.

“Swan?” he mumbled, almost noiseless, and promptly gagged. What he’d taken for a tentacle tightened on his arm in trembling reassurance.

“I’m here, Killian.” She moved into his field of vision and his weary eyes looked into her face, desperate for the calm that only she could provide. “You’re safe; you’re at the hospital. You made it.”

Though his vision remained blurred and unsteady, there was no mistaking the relief on her face, nor the steady stream of tears coursing down her cheeks as she tried to smile.

Sudden, paralyzing panic overtook him; he could not remember… his Master, it was there, always there, but beyond its looming presence… only fragments. A life. Such a precious life… and a corpse…

“Wh…” he tried, then, “H…”

“Don’t try to talk just yet,” interjected the bothersome physician. “You had a tube down your throat to help you breathe, and there still a smaller one going down into your stomach to help with nausea and for feeding later.”

The majority of Whale’s words got lost in the storm clouds of confusion and worry, and Killian chose to ignore the rest. But moving to keep Emma in view brought a wave of such intense pain that the room lights went out and a high-pitched, pressurized buzzing filled his ears.

“For the love of God, Hook,” Dr. Whale was saying, muffled at first but slowly clearer as Killian’s senses returned. “Hold still; there’s about 101 places you could tear open and we just finished putting you back together.”

Killian could only gulp unsatisfying breaths under the weight of the several cannonballs that seemed to be piled on his chest. In a much more patient tone, Emma pleaded,

“Try and relax, Killian; everything is fine. Hope is fine. The monster is dead. There’s nothing to worry about. I promise.”

Hope. It was Hope, the corpse. Hope kidnapped, Hope tortured, Hope dead. Emma was saying one thing, but he saw another. Hope dead. Maybe Emma didn’t know. So many terrifying scenes jumbled in his head. So much screaming and pain and despair. And Hope’s corpse, there among the flashes. The wounds were real. The Master was real. But Hope dead was not?

How would he ever be certain?

Emma’s touch; that felt real. Whale and his lackeys, as they performed their checks and asked questions he could not possibly comprehend… less so, but then again, their knowledge struck him as far beyond anything he could ever conjure.

Whence came the corpses?

I HAVE CONSUMED THEIR SCREAMS. THEY ARE DEPLETED.

His Master once again circled his bed. And Killian closed his eyes. Resigned to the torture.

*****

Emma watched her husband slip back into a troubled slumber and scrubbed at her face. The brief moment of clarity had been equally as encouraging as heartbreaking. He knew her; that was certain, and momentarily seemed to soothe at her touch, but the long periods of terrified delirium before and after had been difficult to stomach. Not to mention the apparent anguish that any small movement caused him.

Whale finished scribbling a progress note and pursed his lips. “Well, that went about as well as could have been expected. His neuro scores are encouraging, so we don’t have to be as concerned about hypoxic brain injury.”

Clearing her throat, Emma resumed resting her hand on Killian’s arm. Whether or not he consciously felt her presence, subconsciously she had to believe that she could provide a bit of a buffer between him and his nightmares. “Sure didn’t last long.”

“Combination of post-anesthesia and his pain meds. Really, sleep is the best thing for him, as long as it stays peaceful like this.” He checked a readout on the complicated IV pump and made a quick adjustment. “It’ll probably be like this the first few times. You may have to keep reminding him where he is and all that; he might not remember each time he wakes up. By tomorrow morning, I’d expect him to seem more alert and possibly stay awake for longer periods of time.”

The physician yawned and did not even seem sorry. “It’s going to be another long night, Emma. People in and out frequently. You’re welcome to stay, but no one would be surprised if you decided to go home for a couple hours’ sleep.”

Emma shook her head. “I need to be here for him.”

“Your choice.” He headed for the door. “Don’t hesitate to call someone if you have any questions or concerns.”

After he left, Emma watched Killian breathe, reassured by the small cloud of condensation that formed on the inside of his mask each time he exhaled. Then she composed a quick update to her father; she knew he would take care of spreading the word to everyone else waiting for news. That accomplished, she settled in for her lonely vigil.

Killian had endured a month’s worth of little to no rest, and low-quality sleep when he could get it. Compared to that, three or four nights of watching at his bedside was nothing.

________________________________________________________________

#ouat fanfiction #killian jones #emma swan #dr whale #hospital #ICU #hallucinations #intubation #pain #retching #fear #confusion #Vocivore ltd

25 notes · View notes

reddogf13 · 5 years

Text

Covenant ch 12

summery: They did it, IT was left to die alone in the tunnels under Derry. months have passed and the losers thrived after what seems to feel like a curse lifting off the town. if only Beverly had not decided to make a last minute deal with IT on its death bed. will her choice to let IT live destroy all that she holds dear?

status: complete

rated: M - fowl language and gore

prev chap: Covenant ch 11

next chap: Covenant ch 13

_____________________________________

~ch: 12 Recovery~

“what's happening? Why are you here?!” her chest tightening from fear. Was this a sign she was dying? Was the turtle here to help her along? Maybe he was here instead to help her back? Could he even do either of those?

“my brother tried to care for you. He's not built well to care for things, unfortunately.” the large turtle spoke gently. What he said not easing her thumping heart.

The book she read saying this would happen. The adoptive parent unable to care for its new child. It was a matter of time before something happened between them.

“he really tried easing your sickness, but he knows he cannot fix this. It has gotten too far for him to fight back.” calmly explaining the situation to the sick girl. “I was surprised by him asking me for help.”

“he asked you to heal me?” surprised herself at hearing that.

“yes. An amazing leap for someone who usually despises me the same as humans. I assume your deal went really well since he's grown so attached?”

“yes. ...” swallowing a lump in her throat at the thought of the deals details.

“... don't feel too bad.” the turtle comforted her. Aware of the deal and her actions to set it in stone. “he is right when he says it must be someone. You and me both would rather he not, but it is not possible for him. An unfortunate effect of nature in our world you see.”

“... will he keep his deal?” she asked. Thinking that maybe the turtle could answer.

“he does want to hold the deal for you. Even if he didn't, he has no choice.”

“why?”

“ cosmic beings must be held to their responsibilities. If we weren't our actions would cause much unneeded chaos for everyone in every universe. When he made that deal, he knows very well that breaking it would be death for him.”

“do breaking contracts always mean death when broken? Will all of us die if we break it?”

“no and no. the deal was made to let him live. The deal is now attached to his life. As a cosmic being, it's only so strictly attached to him. Not all of you, which is why he wanted you to tell so badly. Refusing to tell you exactly the reason why. Any of you break the deal and he'll have no leg to stand on in defense.”

“I didn't know that.” guilt stabbing her heart. “no wonder he was so worried about it.”

“he would have never told you. It takes time to get anything out of him, I should know.”

“thank you, for talking with me.”

“no problem. You'll be heading back now.” he smiled lightly.

“wait! Do you know where all the children being stolen are?!”

“no, unfortunately. My view on Derry is limited to the surroundings of my brother. I tried warning you ahead of time when the principal attacked. In case my brother had trouble reaching you in time.”

“warn me?” looking back to that event. She didn't remember ever hearing a warning or a sign- “wait, the carved turtles on the desk.” remembering the image in the wood. Remembering back to another turtle made of chalk. The one that drew her attention to the river. To the drainage pipe leading to IT.

“did you set me up to make a deal with IT?” glaring up at the floating turtle up high.

“I admit I may have suggested you to visit him, but not to make a deal. I had no idea what you would do. I knew he wasn't a threat in his condition and I knew you were a smart girl. I wanted him to have a chance to be happy. You were the perfect one to make it possible.” raising its flippers up in celebration. “now here we are.”

“heh, better not tell him that when I get back … thank you.” she smiled.

“I must warn you. It won't feel like you're better when you wake. Give it an hour to let it catch up.” waving her goodbye. The turtle getting farther away same as all the stars flowing around her. The blackness disappearing to her waking under the covers. Back in ITs nest lightly lit up by the orange glowing wagon. Sitting herself up having her feel the soreness of her body. Aching under the flu attacking her. Coughing out her sore throat when she tried to swallow some spit.

ITs scales flexed forward at the noise. The large insects head swinging around to examine her.

“you're awake!” ITs voice full of relief filled happiness. “how do you feel?”

“still sick, but improving.” smiling despite her voice scratching on her throat like rusty nails. Her smile dropping at the sight of IT. The wheezing of its breath as bad as the day she first made the deal. Limbs shaking to hold itself up. Or limply laying across the bedding.

“are you okay?” Beverly hit by concern asked up to IT.

“I'll be fine.” doing a poor job of lying past its wheezing.

“have you gone out at all since I got sick?”

“... no … I've been keeping your body from wasting away in your sleep. You don't have to worry about anything. The school thinks you're dealing with a family emergency. Your aunt still thinks you've been going to school.” steering the conversation along.

“have you eaten anything?” her voice quiet on the question.

“... not yet. ...” ITs voice the same softness.

“I'll get you someone.” nervous about fetching another meal, but after what IT did. she couldn't allow him to waste away. IT opened its mouth to object. Shutting it at accepting the offer it desperately needed right now. Its condition having been let go far too long to hunt.

“ … Maturin says I'll be better soon.” making sure to let IT know.

the mention of the turtles name souring ITs expression instantly. “how long?” IT asked. A minor growl escaping its throat.

“an hour.” the answer made IT grumble.

“an hour? … lazy turtle could have shortened it … not like he's doing anything else.” grumbling to avoid giving his brother any sort of praise. Attention brought back to Beverly asking him a question.

“what time is it?” the girl having long lost how much time had passed. At least able to guess it was Monday.

“6 in the morning.”

she thought over the timing. “by the time I reach school I'll be fine again.” taking a breath to stand.

“what are you doing? Sit back down!”

“I need to go to school.” she answered.

“you're still sick! Did you completely miss the whole thing of you being on death's door?! Inches from death and you want to go do work?!”

“I've been gone long enough and I need to find … somebody. Besides, I am sure the guys are missing me. Did they ever cause you trouble?”

“yes.” IT growled. “they blamed me for causing your sickened sleep. Tried to take you away to the hospital, but you wouldn't have made it far out of my nest. I had to keep you here to prevent your health from sinking like a rock.”

“it would be better I tell them its not then … I now know your more stuck in this deal then I am … I want to make sure they know you won't be any trouble. Okay?” working to convince IT.

IT grumbled to itself more on the “stupid turtle blabbing”. Sighing a “very well.”

“thank you.” smiling up to IT.

An hour later Bev was making it back to school. Backpack on with an overly huge fresh lunch bag in hand. Despite her saying it wasn't needed IT managed to fetch her a few fresh lunches anyway. A bag filled with 4 full meals that she hadn't been able to check yet.

“Beverly?!” she heard Stan shout. Turning her head to face him had her swarmed by the guys instantly. Receiving all sorts of hugs from each of them.

“wait, how do we know this aint Pennywise messing with us?!” Richie accused.

“shut up Richie or your not getting any of my lunch!” lightly shoving the boy.

“oh shit! It is her! … what lunch you got anyway?” staring down to the big grocery bag she was carrying.

“haven't checked yet-” interrupted by being asked questions.

Bill started the questions first. “what happened to you? You're health tanked after you fell asleep! Do you know you've been out for 3 days?!”

“yes, and it wasn't Pennywise's fault.” wanting to get that out of the way. “he honestly was doing his best to help me, but couldn't. He even called the turtle to help me when he couldn't.”

“the turtle mike sees?” Stan asked.

“yes.” she nodded. “I was able to talk to him while asleep. Asked him if IT will keep his promise. He says he will. I also asked about our problem and he didn't have anything.” leaving out the part that IT would die if broken. “what's been going on since I went out? Found anything else?”

“no luck.” Ben answered sullen.

“we've scoured every tunnel we could find in that quarry. Tracks are everywhere, but there's always nothing at the end of them.

“we also got a new principal. Today we're having an assembly to greet him or whatever.” Stan tossed in.

“it's the only way we can even see him. He's been locked away in his office ever since he showed up last Friday.” Eddie dramatically threw his hands up letting them drop right back down.

“stuck at square one then. Have more kids gone missing?” the looks they gave her confirming there had.

“ … your aunt didn't give you t-t-t-that food, did she?” bill approaching the subject hesitantly.

“no.” she answered. Hesitant herself to bring up the feeding issue. “you know, I was in a coma and IT worked really hard to keep me alive … it didn't eat then so … we have to … feed it.” her voice dying as a lump formed in her throat.

“feed IT?!” the boy was taken aback. “a-a-a-are you serious?! We c-c-c-cant murder someone to feed IT!”

“IT has no choice. The turtle confirmed that. I made a deal that I would feed him when there is nothing to eat. Help me, or I'll do it myself.” standing her ground.

Before bill could shout at her Richie spoke up. “IT only eats criminals right? That's the point of the whole contract thingy, right? It's easy to feed him! We just gotta find the criminal ring and then he'll get a big ole buffet!”

“that's if we find it in the first place!” Stan shouted. Quieting down at hearing how loud he blurted out in front of the school. Changing to a whisper on what he said next. “We don't have any clues, locations, or someone to question where they are!”

“we could try scoping out around the camps kids were taken from.” Beverly threw out as a suggestion.

“t-t-tried.” bill shook his head. “no luck.” their conversation ended by the loud blaring school bell. An announcement over the intercom across the school yards informing students.

“to all students, head to the assembly room to greet your new principal. Classes will continue as normal starting at period 1.” the announcer ended.

“dammit! I wanted to skip first period.” Richie whined.

“what did you expect?” Eddie snickered. “assembly couldn't possibly be that long. “hey kids here's your new dictator!” ” the boy joked. Hooking Richie into going along.

“ some proud volunteer holding up “please applause” signs or else they get detention!” hugging his friend close as they walked to the assembly.

“a new challenger a-a-approaches. School dictator vz t-t-tv star rich Richie of 1000 voices! Applause cards please!”bill laughed along.

“won't be much of a fight!” Richie laughed.

“hope so, I'll be betting on you!” Beverly opened the door for them to get in.

“what do ya mean? You're gonna be my tag team partner Dorothy Mc-one leg!”

“tss, one leg? I think you need new glasses!” walking down the aisle to grab their seats.

The crowd of kids talking up until the school secretary stepped on stage. Hushing all the talking rumble to be silent. Starting to go on, on how everyone is sad about what happened to the last principal. His heart will remain in the walls of the school. Many other things all the kids had stopped paying attention to.

All the losers slumped in their chairs. Richie secretly doing school work he forgot up till now. Ben made the fortune teller paper game. Unexcitedly playing between Stan and bill. Eddie seeming to be the only one paying any attention.

A barely enthusiastic applause sounding as the new principal was introduced. A tall man in a blue suit walking onto stage. Nothing interesting of the man walking to the pedestal. Then he turned to face the crowd of seated kids. Giving off a better look at his face. Or at least half of it.

One side covered in large white wrappings. The difference immediately catching Beverly's full interest now. Sitting forward completely on guard of the new man.

“that's the guy who knocked me off the cliff!” whispering urgently to the others.

Ben almost dropped his paper game. “really?! Are you sure?”

“Pennywise scratched his face! Has to be him!” she pointed subtly toward the man.

“what if it's not? He could have bandages for something else. Maybe he's got a skin condition?” Eddie pointed out.

“we're gonna find out!” bill stated.

“how?” Stan asked from the end.

“ask, or rip it off if we h-h-have to. If IT did scar him. We'll know right away by looking.”

“you're seriously going to randomly rip off some guys medical bandages?! What if eddies right?!”

Richie paused his fast scribbling of homework answers. “and what if Dorothy's right?” gesturing to Bev. “Do you really want a child murderer as principal? We take those bandages and worse case scenario he is a murderer. The other we just look like assholes.”

“when should we talk to him?” Ben looked to bill. Beverly interrupting bill before he could answer.

“right now after the assembly.”

“w-w-w-we can't-” bill was interrupted by her again.

“every day more and more kids are going missing. We have to catch him now! Confront him while he's in public where he can't do anything! We can get some information out of him!”

bill nodded on the points Beverly gave. Looking to the other guys for any objections. It didn't take long before they nodded in agreement.

“d-d-don't go to class. S-s-straight to the principal's office. All of us.” bill handed out the plan. “we'll all confront him. G-g-get those bandages off f-f-f-first thing.” nervously looking to the man stepping off stage to leave.”

“now might be better.” Richie whispered. Shoving things into his backpack to sneak to the isle. Ignoring the others protests as he sneaked out the back door. Seeing him gone they slowly followed behind in sneaking out one at a time. Catching up to him down the cleared hallways. Finding the newly appointed principal heading to his office. As soon as he passed through the door they all rushed in after.

“kids? What are you doing in here?” the bandaged man asked. Confused to the group of 6 kids swarming in.

“how'd you get that injury?” Ben pointed to the man's wounded face. The man was taken off guard by the sudden question.

“have any of your parents told you it's rude to ask such questions?” the principal swept away the question. “go back to the assembly before I tell your parents you're running the halls out of class.” he ordered on an overly heavy threat.

“was it from something in the woods?” Beverly questioned him more firmly. Her question flipping a switch inside the man. His softer expression turning hard holding an aggressive stare down to her.

“an accident.” the man stated. Holding his dagger eyes on Bev. “if all of you don't go off soon I'll be handing out deten- AHH!” he shrieked as Eddie nicked the side of his face with a pair of small clippers from his bag. Shredding the bandage fabric enough for it to loosen. Beverly grabbing the rest to yank the dangling fabric the man tried to hold on.

The removal of the fabric revealing exactly what Beverly suspected. 4 massive claw marks deeply gouged along his face. Crossing over one eye that had a 2nd round patch to cover the injured organ.

“you attacked me by that van!” Beverly roared.

“so what?!” the scarred man roared back. “i know you. I know all of you. Beverly marsh, Bill Denbrough, Ben Hanscom, Eddie Kaspbrak, Stan Uris, and Richie Tozier. I've read every child's record here and I know that all of you don't have the cleanest. I also know you're not well thought of by anyone here.” he smiled.

“Especially you miss marsh. Your record is quite … fun. Possibly … useful.” the grin he gave her making their skin crawl.

“you fucking watch it!” Richie snapped at the man.

“or else what?!” he challenged Richie back. “what are you kids going to do? Complain to police I got an injury? You have nothing on me. No ones going to believe a pack of snot nosed kids who are known trouble makers” striding to sit behind his desk.

“no ones going to listen. Go back to the assembly and forget you saw anything. Or else some things will have to be considered … like a price … some will be more valuable than others and the rest will have to be let go.” shooting Beverly another skin crawling look.

“after all … kids go missing aaaalllll the time.” he grinned.

his grin bashed right off his face by bill using a large golden trophy.

“holy shit bill! You murdered him!” Richie pointed his arms at the principal's body.

“nope, he's still breathing. I can see his chest rising. I bet he'll be out cold for at least an hour.” Eddie crouched next to the man. Pointing to the rising of the downed man's chest.

“i d-d-did hit him with the football trophy.” holding up the heavy award with a life sized gold football attached to its top.

“what should we do with him? We can't just tie him to a chair here.” Stan looked between bill and the knocked out man.

“... we take him to IT.”

#It (2017)#pennywise #beverly marsh #bill denbrough #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #mike hanlon #ben hascom #stanly uris #covenant ch 12

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aethelar · 6 years

Note

Hi! First of all, I fucking love you and your writing. And talking about genderfluid!newt... What about Percival Graces, who doesn't blink twice wether it's Newt or Artemis -and is absolutely and irredeemably swept of his feet anyway? And Tina, Jacob and Queenie, who are fiercely protective of their friend whenever somebody is a jerk towards Artemis? Not that the offender would dare to open their mouth ever again after Graves has a talk with them, anyway.

(a continuation of this piece here)

When Jacob first notices he asks, “Is this one of those magic things?”

Artemis pauses. It’s magic that allows her to shift outwardly between herselves, magic that lengthens her limbs or shortens his, magic that sharpens his features and softens hers. But inwardly? If she didn’t have magic, if she couldn’t change what she looked like on the outside, would she be trapped as one or the other?

“I don’t think it’s a magic thing,” she says slowly. “It’s just who I am. I don’t think it only applies to magic people.”

“Oh,” Jacob says, and adds it to his list of things he’s learnt that day: occamies hatch from silver shells, mooncalf pellets float, and people can have multiple genders.

Artemis blinks when she realises how simple it is for him and Jacob smiles bemusedly when he notices. “Why not?” he asks with a shrug. “I didn’t know magic existed until today either.”

Tina worries when she discovers.

MACUSA governs a society that lives by secrecy, by being unnoticed and not standing out. Tina watched helplessly as her brilliant younger sister smiled and lied and said she always wanted to work tables rather than politics; she was too young then to know how to protect Queenie against a world that felt threatened by her differences. Now Queenie doesn’t need her protection (she gets it anyway, because Tina will never stop being her big sister no matter how terrifyingly competent Queenie is without her) but Newt, Artemis, both of them look at the world with wide eyed naivety.

“I don’t mind,” Newt says when someone makes a cutting remark. “The important people don’t care. Why should I worry?” He smiles, awkward and half hidden, and if he sees the bigger picture, if he knows the danger that can rise when people think their snide comments are ok to make - if he realises what could happen, he doesn’t show it.

So Tina worries, and she hovers, and when some bright young idiot thinks he can make a joke of taking Artemis to the men’s room or of picturing Newt in sequined dresses - Newt might turn back to Pickett and pretend not to hear, but Tina makes damn sure they know she heard. She also makes damn sure they know not to do it again. And when she’s done, she spits fire and prowls around Newt’s shadow and makes damn sure the rest of the room took note.

She won’t let Newt be kept from his dreams the way Queenie was kept from hers.

“Why do you pretend it doesn’t bother you?” Queenie asks once.

Artemis throws her a wide eyed, guileless smile that does nothing to hide her unease and shrugs, deliberately casual.

“There’s not much point being bothered,” she says.

The point, Queenie answers, is that she’s allowed to be. She shouldn’t have to hide it. Shes allowed to be angry at the way people dismiss her.

Artemis concentrates on the fwooper she’s grooming. Her thoughts churn. Queenie waits.

“My brother is six years older than me,” she finally says. “We overlapped at school for a year. He spent almost every Friday in detention because of me.”

She straightens a skewed feather.

“Jacob is a muggle. The fact that he even knows about magic is illegal, but he risks everything to square up to a wizard who treats me wrong. Tina - she thinks I don’t notice the bridges she’s burning. She’s making half of MACUSA her enemy just because they looked at me funny one time, and she shouldn’t. Not for me.”

The fwooper clicks its beak imperiously and Artemis holds her hand out with a treat. It takes it with a delicate chitter, fluffs its newly immaculate plumage, and leaves in a flurry of pink.

There’s more that Artemis doesn’t say, more than she knows how to put into words. She’s lived with it her whole life. She doesn’t like it, the side eyes, the way she makes some people uncomfortable, the way some of them try to ignore it and override her choice of name and gender and identity. The way those few that knew in the war tried to regulate him to the sidelines and keep him from fighting; the way her closest of female friends eventually pulled away from her because she was a guy, she wouldn’t understand, these things weren’t for sharing with her.

Of course she doesn’t like it. But as much as she wishes she wasn’t she’s used to it, and she likes even less the thought that her brother, her family, her friends are in trouble because of her. Not that she wants them to stop, because she doesn’t, because the fact that they care enough to speak up for her is - is - it’s more than comforting, more than important, more than anything but they shouldn’t have to make themselves outcasts just because she is, and isn’t she, in some way, selfish for wanting them to? But how could it be selfish to want what everyone else seems always to have had, to want the easy acceptance and for people to just stop making a thing of it, but - but - sod it. But. It’s just a mess. A tangled, confused mess in her head that she doesn’t know how to put into words.

“Isn’t it their choice?” Queenie asks, gentle and kind. “A lot of people are a lot of things behind the person they pretend to be. When Tina or Jacob learn that someone is cruel, or stupid, aren’t they allowed to say something?”

Artemis frowns. “But - “ she starts, and she doesn’t know how to finish. If she weren’t sometimes he, the hateful thought starts, people would be kinder; if he weren’t sometimes she, it whispers in her doubts, people wouldn’t look away.

Queenie leans close and pulls her into a hug.

“Honey,” she says. “Honey, no. You’re not making anyone do anything. Nothing about it is your fault.” Artemis mumbles something, maybe a denial, but it’s muffled against Queenie’s shoulder. “Believe me,” Queenie says drily, “They were cruel long before you came along. They just hid it better.”

Artemis laughs weakly. “Even from you?” she asks, and Queenie’s voice is that tiny bit bitter, that tiny bit weary when she answers, “No one hides from me.”

The first time Artemis shifts in front of Graves is when some damn buffoon put his coffee on the top shelf of tiny auror kitchen and he can’t reach it, and without his coffee to start the day he’s in exactly no frame of mind to manage a levitation spell. He snarls at it in helpless frustration, his empty mug clutched to his chest like a battle wound, and Artemis rolls her eyes and stretches up into Newt’s lanky frame.

“Do you want me to start the coffee machine as well, or can you handle that?” he asks, tongue in cheek and unable to hide his grin. Graves glowers at him and shuffles to the counter like a caffeine-driven zombie, blindly stabbing buttons until the water starts percolating into his mug.

“Smartass,” he accuses once his coffee is brewed and he’s vaguely resembling functional again.

And, because he can, Newt shifts back into Artemis and raises a hand to her mouth in mock outrage.

“Such language, Mr Graves sir!” she simpers, batting her eyelashes to complete the over the top effect.

Graves raises an eyebrow, unphased. “Smartass,” he repeats - and mentally makes a record of the way Higgins has frozen in the door, eyes bugged out and staring at Artemis. He adds it to the tally and mentally reshuffles his day to make space for auror training in training room… three. Three should do it.

“Higgins,” he barks as he strides out of the coffee room. “Target practice. Eleven thirty. Don’t be late.”

Higgins squeaks a protest behind him and Artemis trots to keep up. “Target practice?” she asks. “Why, what did he do to you?”

And Graves doesn’t say it’s what he did to you that matters because Graves has allergies and feelings set them off, so he busies himself with his coffee and pointedly doesn’t answer.

Mind you, Higgins was new. It might have been genuine surprise. Graves is, potentially, willing to be lenient if it was genuine surprise.

If it wasn’t genuine surprise then Graves has a new auto-loading potion launcher that he’s been meaning to try out. Just. Just by the by.

#gramander #percival graves #newt scamander #genderfluid!newt #fem!newt #artemis scamander #tina goldstein #queenie goldstein #jacob kowalski #nonnie #mimi answers #my writing

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obsessiveargument · 6 years

Text

Snowballs

Summery: Koga is introduced to a new tradition.

This is a gift for my Secret Santa cpt-s-america.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha or any of the wonderful characters. (I tried to leave everyone in canon and hint at Kagome’s feelings towards Koga. We all know how the series ends but they could have been happy. I don’t think Kagome would ever spend Christmas in the feudal era away from her family. This fanfic takes place during the search for Naraku in December.)

Koga woke up feeling a bit frozen this morning. It was the middle of the winter and to be expected. He pushed himself to warm up his limbs and started his daily routine.

All was well in the pack. He observed the mothers protecting their young from the chill with layers off fur. The males and unmated females were heading off to hunt. He’d normally join but this year had been different.

A half demon by the name of Naraku had slain many of his pack mates. As their leader, Koga needed to avenge their deaths. His new routine consist of trying to sent out the halfbreed to kill him. Duty pulled him out into the cold to begin his search for the day. As he exited the cave, he heard his closest two comrades trailing behind.

“Koga!” It was all the encouragement he needed to take off in a tornado. He knew they could catch up. Ginta and Hakkaku scampered quickly from the cave into the snow. They followed the tracks and scent their leader left behind.

….

More than half the day passed uneventful. They caught and ate four white rabbits and a small boar. A very good find for this time. Still sundown would come quickly. None of them felt optimistic continuing down their current path. They were going to turn South when a soft scent was caught by Koga first. His head jerked to the East and he took the first step in that direction when Ginta and Hakkaku caught the same scent. They perked up knowing where they were heading. The beta wolves knew Koga would be in high spirits after visiting his woman.

….

Somewhere further East a little earlier, Inuyasha’s group had stopped early for a break as Kagome suggested. Well, more like bribed. She and the others were feeling rather tired and she had saved a new beef flavored ramen for a situation like this. Inuyasha wanted to continue due to the shortened days but he conceded for the ramen.

It was a perfect area for a break. This small part of the road had fencing on both side widely spaced apart. Piling snow to resemble two walls gave protection to the teams currently behind both sides. Kagome explained the rules to have a snowball fight.

“Great shot Shippo!” cried Miroku. The monk was pumping his beaded clad fist in the air. As the projectile contacted right on an angry teen’s forehead, a slew of curses could be heard. “S***! One of the rules were not in the face.” Inuyasha leaned forward to retaliate with another snowball.

“Sit!”

As Inuyasha swore more into the snow and ground, Kagome stepped away from Kirara and their equipment out to between both small forts. “I know the rule,” started Kagome, “but that doesn’t mean you can curse. Shippo gets a penalty an will be exposed for the next minute.”

“What?” Asked Shippo in a small voice. Kagome explained, “it means you don’t get to stand behind the snow fort we made to protect yourself from their snowballs.” To further aid in Shippo’s shear horror, Kagome genstures to a menacing looking Inuyasha and a very capable Sango.

The wind was picking up and Kagome felt the familiar pull of two jewel shards. Her hands were clasped in a callous pair of larger hands. There stood Koga smirking before her. “Hello Kagome. Did you miss me?”

Everyone except Inuyasha groaned. They knew this routine. Inuyasha acted predictably. “F*** no she didn’t miss you.” Kagome was going to ‘sit’ him again but thought of something better. “Hi Koga. Would you like to join us?”

“What?” Responded everybody. In the confusion, a pair of wolves finally arrived. Huffing and puffing Hakkaku and Ginta braced themselves against a single post on the trail. Ginta asked, “what’s up now?” Hakkaku greeted their sister immediately with enthusiasm despite their exhaustion. “Hi sis, how are you?”

“Great. We are just having a snowball fight,” said Kagome. Shippo appeared on her shoulder, adding in, “it’s dodging and throwing snow at each other.”

The three wolves seemed a bit uncertain. “They can’t play!” shouted Inuyasha. Kagome countered, “we were going to finish soon anyway. I haven’t had a chance to play to keep the sides even. I can play with the three of them for five minutes while you gather up everything. We can find a place to camp after that.”

Kagome had been somewhat of the referee due to her knowledge of the rules. There are only five members in their party with hands so Kagome happily stayed on the side with Kirara. She loved that her friends had fun but she wished to enjoy in a round too.

Inuyasha did want them to go find a spot to camp soon. Also, he didn’t feel like getting sat right away. “Fine. But make it a quick game. There ain’t much to carry.”

Relieved, Kagome immediately explained how to play as fast as she could. “Bundle a little bit of snow in your hands. It works better when the snow is fresher. Then pack it into a ball. Then throw it at the other team. You can hid behind your wall. No rocks, not in the face, and don’t go behind the other team’s wall. Ready?” They nodded, even though they were still uncertain with the game. “Great! Koga’s with me, you two go behind the other wall.”

Now Koga wasn’t one to mind huddling close to Kagome but he didn’t know what to do so he played close attention. They squared themselves behind their wall and she threw some snow at Hakkaku’s mohawk. “Got him!” She exclaimed.

Now the game really took off. Ginta was quicker than the surprised Hakkaku to throw the next snowball. He aimed it at Koga as he tried to throw a snowball. Both missed but all four of them were having a good time and understood them game.

At one point, Hakkaku almost got Kagome. She was pulled out at the last moment by Koga into hi arms behind the wall. He felt how warm she was and saw a brilliant smile on her face. She looked beautiful. Kagome looked up at him and was going to thank him. She saw a genuine smile and felt giddy. She wasn’t sure if he had a slight blush. She thought it looked cute on him. It was cruel timing for the gang to have finished gathering all of their belongings so quickly. “Time’s up flea bags.” Inuyasha came over with Kagome’s bike.

Inuyasha looked smug as Kagome was pulled away, however he didn’t notice her smile dropped halfway. She kept her attention on Koga. “Looks like it’s time to keep moving.” Koga was reluctant to leave but understood they had to prepare before it got dark.

Kagome spoke to Ginta and Hakkaku. “You guys should had back soon too. Thank you for stopping by. It was fun.” Inuyasha directed his attention at Kagome impatiently. “Good bye Kagome and dog turd. Take care of her while I’m gone.” And with that, Koga sped off towards his mountain. “Not again,” cried Ginta and the two remaining wolfs left sight after their leader.

“Hey, you were getting kinda friendly back there.” Inuyasha said suspiciously. “Sit.” Kagome sighed as Inuyasha fell face first. She missed the warmth of Koga’s arms and decided it was defiantly getting colder at the sun barely started setting.

….

Both parties slept soundly, but Koga and Kagome had sweet dreams that night of playing in the snow together.

The End

#kogkag secret santa #kogkag 2017 #kogkag #koga/kagome #koga x kagome #koga and kagome #kagome and kouga #kagome x koga #kagome/koga #kagome and koga fanfic #koga and kagome fanfic #late submission #I’m sorry I’m late #inuyasha christmas fic #koga one shot #inuyasha one shot #cpt-s-America

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gris-0 · 4 years

Text

Med 1443 Design for Animation- Pre-production of an Animation

Storyboard: Scene 1- https://vimeo.com/418403045 Scene 2- https://vimeo.com/418403894

Indisputably pre-production is an extremely key yet a lesser talked about stage of the animation process. The pre-production encompasses several stages overall, though is in simple terms everything that comes before the actual production of the animation itself that will be needed to successfully communicate the visions for the final product to those who will work on it. In the very beginning of the pre-production stages an animation is nothing more that a simple idea. In the real world, one may have an idea and wish to bring it to reality, however, are unable to do it alone. In these situations the idea may be pitched to a client who will be able to provide the resources to take the idea further. In these situations it’s best to bring as many visual resources as possible to the pitch as to better to communicate your idea and know what ultimate goal you have for the project, ensuring it’s possible to achieve your vision. This aspect includes how one plans to incorporate design decisions into the animation which will keep the animation possible to achieve while also still appealing to the client. To emulate this scenario a theme was given, “trapped”, and we were expected to pitch our individual ideas to the class on how we interpret the theme and would create an animation based on it. It remanded answers to a range of questions: What is the plot? Who is the main character? The setting? How does the story resolve? Ect.

For my own pitch, there were in fact two characters: Sebastian and Christie. Sebastian is a geeky aspiring scientist who gets easily flustered and is quite smart, though he also has a bit of an attention-seeking streak to a fault. Christie can be easily summed up as the trendy popular girl, being social and fun to be around with a sense of humour but perhaps a little hot-headed. Christie is also interested in science but to much of a lesser degree compared to Sebastian.

Within the animation itself, Sebastian, Studying the sciences, finds himself performing chemistry at a science fair and impressing the masses with it. From there he sees Christie over in the distance and is taken aback, and after Christie takes notice of him he decides to try and impress her only to mix the wrong chemicals by mistake. This results in him being covered in liquid and making a mess. While cleaning up, totally defeated, a love letter is handed to him, and looking up the letter belonged to none other than Christie who wasn’t put off by Sebastian’s failure at all. This plot is meant to interpret the theme in a more metaphorical sense in that Sebastian fails his goal of impressing the girl he has a crush on and so is stuck socially, at least until the resolution.

When performing the pitch, at the time, the character boards were incomplete but the storyboard was finished. However, due to error the storyboard used in the pitch wasn’t exported and was just the raw file, which lead to the inability to show the storyboard during the pitch and that had to be resolved though verbally explaining what was pictured on the storyboard. For feedback concerns were raised over how much planning would be needed for my project as I use multiple characters and also with different shots taken I’d have to draw all the backgrounds alongside them. Moreover, It was mentioned that with how I initially wanted to portray background characters as being simply a universal set of silhouetted figures that there might be the the issue of the animation looking cheap. The feedback given was taken into account, and the way I personally dealt with these issues will be mentioned later.

As we could only make 30-35 seconds for the completed animation design decisions had to be made to reflect that. Any complicated and details for the plot couldn’t be done as there is the heavy risk of going over the allocated time or being unable to complete the animation by the deadline, especially given the project could only be done as an individual and not as a group. A wide range of settings would also be unideal as those settings had to be planned and the backgrounds drawn. Complicated character designs are generally a poor choice for projects with only a single person behind them that have to hit a deadline. Characters should be able to properly convey an idea to the viewer as well as fit in among the setting. Character backstories and backgrounds can’t be too complicated in this instance as there would only be 30 seconds to tell the audience the character background along with the main plot. There were, indeed, many decisions that had to be made.

In answer to the plot and characters, I knew I would be unable to make something extremely complicated so story-wise decided upon a simple concept that had been used time and time again. The concept is the typical cliche of a nerd, possibly a social outcast, falling for a pretty girl who is popular and out of his league. This concept is a popular theme in rom-coms but also appears in many other genres, such as the superhero genre in the form of Spiderman in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Action-comedy in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and even books and movies aimed towards children such as Dairy of a WImpy Kid. Though one should often try to avoid cliches when they can, especially in regards to the main plot, in this instance I felt as though it would be a good element of the story as it’s very simple, recognisable and wouldn’t be especially hard to incorporate into a 30 second animation. As for character designs both Sebastian and Christie were more designed to be recognisable in their stereotypes as opposed to aiming towards anything especially remarkable. Sebastian is a geek type character and, like a lot of geek stereotypes, wears glasses and is designed to appear a bit lanky and tall as far as his body type is concerned. He also wears a lab coat, fitting of his interest in science, and wears a shirt with a design that looks like a mix between the inscription “sci” (which is supposed to be shortened from “science”) and a square root symbol incorporated in. He notably still looks unprofessional though even with the lab coat, which leads back to the idea he’s an aspiring scientist and not a real one. Christie on the other hand was designed to appear more pretty and fashion-conscious than Sebastian, and wears a low-cut dress, high heels, and a few accessories in the forms of a bracelet and a choker collar. She’s also notably blonde hair-blue eyed, which is another stereotypical quality, this time of attractive girls.

The artstyle I was aiming for for the animation is one that incorporates mostly simple shapes and lines. The character’s bodies are supposed to be easy to construct and very angular in places. From this decision it became much easier to keep characters consistent and animate them. The concept of designing characters that can be drawn using simple shapes is nothing unusual as the ability for a group of animators to replicate the design in their own drawings is always taken into consideration, as well as how well the design can be quickly drawn and its capacity for flexibility and mobility. Notable designs that use simple shapes include many designs that incorporate the “rubber hose” artstyle, which is characterised by simple body shapes and long, seemingly boneless limbs, and in more modern times cartoons such as Ren and Stimpy, Spongebob and Steven Universe also use a lot of basic shapes in their character designs.

Original Mickey Mouse design (an example of a rubber hose artstyle design)

Character designs from Betty Boop (another example of rubber hose artstyle designs)

Stimpy’s design from Ren and Stimpy

Character designs from Spongebob

Other small design decisions were also made when I was creating the character designs, such as eyes being drawn as a single line to represent the top eyelid and a circle, Sebastian’s glasses sometimes obscuring one or both eyes, eyebrows only being presesnt when needed to express emotion and characters’ hands only having individual fingers drawn when there is distance between it and other fingers, otherwise simply being represented as a single shape with lines across to represent the fingers. These design decisions mean less time is spent animating as less detail in the drawings is demanded and also helps maintain more consistency.

The settings made for the animation are another area to talk about. There are two settings present in the animation, the first one being the outside, external shot of the building hosting the science fair, a shot only present in the very beginning of the animation, and the inside of the building where the science fair is being hosted itself. From first creating the storyboard I already decided how I want the settings to look. The external shot would show that the science fair would be taking place in a large industrial looking building, possibly a warehouse of some kind, while the interior would have an array of science themed attractions and decorations. This inspiration was directly inspired by my own experience attending the Big Bang Science Fair a few years ago which itself was hosted in a large warehouse-like building. A detail added to the background of the external shot are distant buildings and skyscrapers which was a touch added to add to the industrial atmosphere that warehouses tend to have.

As for the internal shot, the perspective is taken from a high perspective overlooking the area, in which you can see figures in the room and various science attractions. A crowd of people are gathered around a particular table, and as the camera zooms into that area and the shot cuts to Sebastian mixing chemicals together, it implies that he is the person at the table:

In order to design these settings some research was necessary, and so I created two mood boards in order to better understand what was wanting to be incorporated into the settings.

Both of the resulting artworks for the setting were drawn in an external program rather than straight into Harmony. The reason for deciding this is because the setting is the main focus of these shots and so it is important that more control can be possibly given to make the settings look appealing, which would be better achieved in an art program as opposed to in Harmony itself which is instead designed with mainly animating in mind. Instead of Harmony the art was created within Paint Tool SAI, which was the only available option for drawing within at the time of writing. Comparatively to the industry standard Photoshop, SAI is a very flexible art program, very user friendly and achieved the purpose I wanted to use it for, however possesses some limitations such as the inability to type text and insert it into an image and having only basic image editing options available.

The completed art was kept simple partly due to stylistic choice and partly due to being aware of potential time constraints. By keeping the setting art simple it meant that the backgrounds could also be simple without looking out of place. Moreover, a notable feature of the internal shot is that there is a lot of empty space in the room even with the people present, which allows the backgrounds to remain simple even as shot angles change within the animation as very few background elements have to be drawn. The art uses mostly pastel colours, which are easy on the eyes, help portray the tone of the animation as being lighthearted and not particularly serious, and are also different enough from the colours used on the characters to have them stand out but not so much so that the characters look out of place.

The animation process itself had several issues appear that needed to be addressed during production. From the beginning on of the main issues that appeared was in regard to the way I created my storyboard. Though the storyboard itself was easy to follow and there is very little difference between that and the final animation, I separated the animation into two scenes in the hopes that animating could be more easily done bit-by-bit. In itself this isn’t a poor idea, however Storyboard Pro separates scenes into individual Harmony files when exporting. Partway through the production process I became no longer able to access any editing software that could be used to edit the two scenes together, which meant that I had to leave the two scenes separated. The other issue that arose was that I didn’t know at the time how long exactly my storyboard was in relation to the animation, especially after editing the length each storyboard cell plays for. When finally exporting the storyboard I found that the animation would only come to 27 seconds if I followed it scene for scene so some adjustments were made to extend certain shots, maintaining the accuracy to the original plan while also hitting the correct time for the animation. Generally between the storyboard stages and the animation stages of production is an intermediate stage in which animatics are created. Animatics, as stated by Boopanimation.com, are defined as “an animated storyboard [...] with the correct timing and pace of the film”. In regards to this, an animatic is a more detailed storyboard and in particular is often used as the main foundation that animations are created from. All the main features of what the animation includes and its flow is already there as it should be able to successfully communicate the intricacies of the way the finished animation should animate like. Also the animatic should often include sound effects and any spoken dialogue. In the case of my own project this step was missed in part due to a lack of knowledge on how to create an animatic and how to use particular programs to assist me. This lead to a flexibility in the way I can adjust my animation and what it features even after exporting the storyboard, however, it did have a heavy toll on the way the animation flows in my opinion as everything feels like it’s going too fast.

During the actual production itself I structured the way I made the animation by focusing on a particular scene, and then doing one shot at a time. The way the animation was created was through the use of mostly pose-to-pose animation, so creating two keyframes and then planning, and later refining, the motion of the in-betweens. When animating the characters I focused on animating the character’s bodies first before adding details such as the hair in which it’s necessary to animate in a slightly different way as principles such as follow-through and overlapping action are more easily applied to them. Exceptions to using pose-to-pose exist within the animation however in minor details, such as the liquid in the “do not mix” flask after Sebastian Picks it up, liquids as they pour out of flasks, the burst of blue smoke that appears in scene 1 and the love hearts that appear around Sebastian as he’s waving to Christie. All the given examples use straight ahead animation because animating this way tends to offer a more natural, organic flow to the animation that’s suitable for elements such as smoke and liquids but at the potential cost of consistency and time. In comparison, pose-to-pose was mostly used because once an end point is decided for where a character will move to comparatively less time is spent attempting to ensure it flows well and adding details such the rebounding action an object with follow through might have. The overall method I tended to stick to for animating was to draw the key frames, move the image in the key frame slightly frame by frame, and only notably manually drawing in betweens when a reasonable level of motion happens or parts of the body are angled in a way that I was no longer able to use the same base drawing between frames. On one hand this was a great choice to further cut production time and keep consistency, but on the other hand the animation feels mildly stiff and flat. Along the same lines tweening was also used at times when only a single drawing was needed for a scene, again cutting production time but at the expense that the animation looks flat.

Colouring, backgrounds and the finalisation of particular details were some of the last aspects added to the animaton. The backgrounds weren’t particularly hard to make as, like what was previously stated, the setting had key background elements given a lot of space between them so very little had to be drawn in a lot of the shots beyond the walls and floor. One of the more troubling shots that had to be drawn was in regards to when Sebastian looks up to see Christie in the distance for the first time. In the shot established a few seconds before, the setting is represented as having a lot of people present. In this first shot the individuals were represented as vague blobs with circle heads, which I decided upon in the end to save time and felt could be excused due to it being a distant shot. However, in the later scene, the shot is looking out at part of the room on ground level and any people seen that close have to be able to be recognisably people otherwise the animation quality might suffer. In answer to that two background characters are present, one talking to Christie and one closer to Sebastian, clapping at him and keeping some level of consistency between that particular scene and the one right before. Aside from that there are no other people present however, not even any silhouettes, which lead to the scene overall feeling very empty especially given the setting. As for colouring that aspect was surprisingly hard and tedious. With how I created most of the animation, manually moving the same image across multiple frames and only redrawing when necessary, consistency between frames became even more important as the slightest change could potentially be extremely noticable. If I had coloured the keyframe beforehand and then used that same coloured image across frames, adjusting as necessary, the issue might not have been so troublesome. Regardless of this flaw I still dealt with it, either manually using the fill tool across different frames or copy-pasting some of the same elements from previous frames to future frames and transforming them as necessary.

Overall I would say I made a decent attempt at the planning and production of an animation. I succeeded in hitting the deadline, planned the character designs and made reference sheets, added some artwork for the settings, and thought about how I would overcome the issues of time constraints and only being a single individual working on this project. Regardless of that though, many mistakes were made in planning and production that might have done more harm than it was worth. From going through the process of planning and producing the issues found include the following:

The character designs are good for portraying their cliches but could be much simpler

When creating the animation I used the standard 24fps, which meant more frames had to be accounted for that were probably unnecessary

The animation feels flat due to the animation process

Because of the nature of having multiple shots, several backgrounds had to be drawn

The principles of animation weren’t used that extensively due to the animation process, leaving the animation feeling somewhat dull

All of the issues mentioned could have been easily solved if I had thought out the pre-production better. Though I succeeded in making the final animation, unnecessary complexity meant that other areas, notably the animation itself, had to suffer. To mitigate this I would firstly have to reflect on story elements and ask myself whether two characters are really necessary if I were to tweak the story in some way. On top of that, would it be possible to have a single shot used, and use a single background that had more time and focus put into it? The artstyle could be changed, as it mostly keeps characters maintaining somewhat lifelike proportions and body shapes. Do they have to be human at all? If the characters were drawn in an even simpler way then manually drawing more inbetweens might be more plausible which would solve the issues of there not being many animation principles present and the animation feeling flat. In conclusion, when trying to go through the pre-production process again, I’ll need to ask more questions and find better ways of keeping hitting deadlines possible without making quality suffer so much.

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nayrusfountain · 6 years

Text

Simply Human

His raspy shaky breath caught in his throat, the sensation of pulling air into his refined lungs feeling completely alien to him... His body had shrunk, but that is the least of his worries...Pure white scales molted away as he shifts his appearance against his will, giving way to pale light skin. Every fin on his once shark like body completely phase out of existence, with nothing to replace them. He hesitantly look down at his shaky hands with wide startled eyes as his scales peel off of his fingers, sprinkling the metal floor like flakes of new fallen snow. The fingers shorten with the rest of him, and his blue claws cracked off as new, growing nails push them out forcefully in their place. He felt the sharp teeth in his mouth is all but gone now, instead there were blunted and squared, more suitable to grinding plant matter... Mikau wanted to scream, but his voice came out distorted and horribly wrong in his ears...Wait, what happen to his ears?! He reach to stroke where his dangling fin had been on the side of his head...now there were an elf like ear instead, twitching with a soft jingle as he gingerly felt them. As he did, he grew startled as he felt something soft and furry tickling his scaleless fingers, and he realize instantly that it was hair. His hair. He need not to be a rocket scientist to figure out that obvious trivia. Laughing cackle from all direction, mocking him as he dwell in his confusion. It was at the moment that panic overwhelm his rational thinking. With little regard of his new physical form, Mikau instinctively leaped into the pool of water in the lab, disappearing into its blue depths. He suck in the water through his mouth, and instantly regretted it. His eyes widen, wild with fear as his limbs kick and flail frantically, and muffle screams gurgle out of his mouth as the ex-Zora hurry back to the surface. His lungs scream angrily at him, cursing him for his foolish actions as the reality that his gills are gone ram him hard. An explosion of liquid crystals shatter into the air as he practically jump back onto the cold metal floor of the room. He flop heavily to the floor, trending water and heaving painfully as he heard the people laughing at him again. A puny blubbery creature came forward and tap his shoulder. It was grayish blue in color, with a round funny face, tiny polished pebbles for eyes, and a small dorsal fin on the back of its head with a grin that never shifts. It basically looks like a bipedal Irrawaddy Dolphin. When he glare up at her, she presented him with a mirror, her smile never leaving. Mikau angrily snatch the object out of her grasp and look into its reflective glass. What greeted him was the face of a man. Mikau's eyes grew in size and he nearly drop the mirror in his shock. His head was cover in white hair and side burns cascade in front of his ears, with strings and bangs casting shadows over his now cerulean eyes, rimmed with whites around the pools of blue. His skin tone is a pale light shade, and his inner ears had extended out of his skull in a slender elfin fashion. What in Nayru's name did they do to him...?! "How you like your new look Zora?" "Screw you," he spat, his voice dripping with venom. Oh how he wish he still had his claws, fangs and fins. Then he'll gladly rip each of their insides out and hang them with their own intestines! "Be nice, sharky!" she growl crazily, whipping out a surgical knife to his face. She wave it around as one would with their finger, eyeing the use to be Zora with the same unsettling grin. "Not what we wanted; you should've been dolphin like us, but its good enough! Next is your girly friend. She be a pretty mammal too!" "Touch her and I'll fu-!!" "Shut up fishy!" Slash! "Ah!" Mikau's head's forcefully slam against the floor, stunned as he try to make sense of what just occur. A warm liquid trickle down his cheek under his right blue eye, smearing his skin red. He reach with his fingers and pull back to see it was coated in a thin layer of blood as it continue cascading from his slashed cheek. A growl radiated from his throat, coming off as awkward and nonthreatening compare to a Zora's more animalistic noises. "You son of a..." "Son? You mean daughter," she giggled as she did a little dance, stroking the blood soaked blade nonchalantly. "You stupid shark! Always resorting to violence to solve your problems. 'Oh! I mad! Imma bite people and watch them bleed and die!' You so naughty! We trying to help you! Give you better life and purpose. That's what we're here to do; to correct Nayru's mistake and you came out beautifully. Be a good little human, and no bloodshed from me. Kay?" "Don't call me that! I'm a Zora! And don't say such garbage about my species. Who are you to play Goddess by meddling with her creation? Everything exist for a reason, and sharks are vital to the ecosystem to keep the ocean healthy. Stop spreading racial bullshit about sharks just because of your paranoia." "He has delusion. So sad...boo hoo!" The dolphin like thing gave a loving pet to his snow white hair before trotting happily over a frozen Lulu surrounded by more of the mammalian sea creatures. The Malletila Zora stare straight into his eyes, her voice caught in her throat as if trying to say something. The little dolphin creature stop in front of her with the same insane smile beaming from her rubbery face. "Hello!" "Hey..." Lulu murmur absently, adverting her gaze as a wave of cackling echo throughout the small lab. She cringe and gave a low hiss in response. The last thing she wants right now was to associate with these giggling freaks. "Hissy shark. Very hissy," the she dolphin tsked as she materialize a slender glass tablet in her hands from seemingly nowhere. It pulsed with radiating magic as holographic data file up on the touch screen. "Let's see your species' criminal status so we can fix you, shall we?" "Please don't. All I want to do is be with Mikau right now," muttered Lulu as she look back at Mikau. The poor male seems completely out of it despite his outbursts, trying to get up from his shaky knees as he topple over clumsily. "Nonsense! I need to gather vital information to further help you overcome your breed's psychopathic instincts. We're not trying to be mean at all. We just what you to be happy with yourself." "I do not need help!" Lulu yelled sternly, her beautiful fins flagging in anger as her fangs flash. She caught glimpse of Mikau's reaction, the ex-Zora perking considerably from his kneel position and his new elf like ears twitching to her voice. "Right...Now let's see here. Ah! The marvelous Malletila Zora; descendants of the Hammerhead line, the Sphyrnidae family. Habitats: Tropical waters! Yay! I mean no! That's bad! Anyway...Malletila Zoras are timid shark people and only mildly aggressive when disturbed, but attacks are extremely rare. That's good. Out of the 9 species only three had been known to attack people...Great, Smooth, and Scallop variants...Uh oh." "Oh no." Lulu backed away with a warning glare, aware that her Great Hammerhead lineage is going to get her in deep trouble. "It seems your kind is bit naughty," The freak chuckle deviously, getting uncomfortably close to Lulu's nose. Lulu had to resist the urge to strike her stupid round face away from hers. "What else do I have to say on your evil breed? The fact that you're all cannibals!? Ha! Hammerhead Sharks are known to eat their own pups; what are the chances of their Zoran equivalent preforming the same atrocity?" A crazy grin reveal the creature's sharp conical teeth. "And I bet you eat dolphins like us too..." Swoosh! "AIEEE!!!!" The beakless bipedal dolphin squeal bloody murder as a stream of blood splay out of her now shredded face, covering her wounds with her hands. She drop the frail tablet in her agonizing distress, the magical device shattering into thousands of tiny glass shards and magic bursting in a ball of hot white light. She topple to her side with hard thud, screeching in high pitched squeals not unlike her cetacean brethren. Lulu scramble to her flippers and leaped over the injured...thing....and dash over to Mikau's side, grabbing his arm as she help him to his feet. Her left clawed hand was soaked in glistening crimson, the crazy lady's blood. "Damn...The way you bury your claws into her fat face was satisfying," Mikau whistle as he stumble a bit, pleased to see the creature in pain. His weak legs felt like gelatin, bucking slightly as he fights to stand erect. Lulu allow him to fall into her soft pearly body, the welcoming coolness of her glassy scales easing his troubles. He saw his unfamiliar face reflecting off of her body, shuddering at the idea of being trap in this body forever. He couldn't bare to live like this for the rest of his life honestly. This boring, unimpressive terrestrial creature with an ego bigger then their fully develop brains; there is nothing more rewarding then being born a magically gifted Zora and ruling a magical world many would never dream of. He likes humans enough, for instance Kafei is one of his closest Hylian friends, and he loves hanging out with the Sheikah, his favorite breed for they share a lot in common with Zoran Heroes. But living as one? No thank you! "Savages!" A male creature howl in fury, coal black eyes blazing. He has the face of a striped dolphin, beak and everything, and his humanoid body is mostly the color of moon frost streaked with rivers of silvers. He is also well build, smooth slick blubber that express a fair amount of muscles. Fairly good looking for someone that looks like he's wearing a goofy, black duck beak. The striped dolphin thing cast a hateful glare directly at Lulu, taking a menacing step towards the Zoran lovers while the rest of the mammal-things scramble for their non lethal weapons such as teasers as they help their downed comrade. "Naughty creature! Bad creature! How dare you mistreat my sweet Lianna, you feral fish brained brute! You need a big time out!" "Hey dumbass, maybe if your annoying girlfriend wasn't being a total b!tch and invading her personal privacy, and committed witch crafting to turn me into a human of sorts, she wouldn't had felt incline to cut her face up! The dumb chick was basically asking to be attacked by us 'savages' at that point. Piss off and leave us alone!" Mikau defended, getting ready take on the male as he stood before Lulu protectively. He tentatively usher Lulu to back up with him as he shield her from the crazed creature's seething glare, and the mob of the mutated beasts juggle over the pair in quick fleeting prances, surrounding them. Teasers and electric prods cackled dancing, explosive neon, their intelligent eyes glowing madly. For the first time in a long time, Mikau felt primal fear shallow his courage as he stood at their mercy, spreading his arms in vain attempt to protect Lulu. His newly refined heart thump heavily in his chest, knowing that as he is now he is no match to challenge these quick and crafty cetacean people. More likely, he will fall, and they'll have their sadistic ways. But he has to protect Lulu. No matter the cast. The dolphin man, blinded by his rage, unleashed an madden feral roar and charge straight into the couple screaming, "This is for Lianna!" "Kill!" Lianna hiss in an almost demonic way, a sadistic bloody grin exposing her rusted tainted teeth. She crane her neck back and laugh maniacally as the blood drizzle down her face. "Kill! Kill!" The air in the room soon echo with the word "kill" being repeated as the rest of the cetacean people chanted out the phrase with her. The dolphin man lunge for the fish folks, his neck outstretch as he intends to ram them with his hard beak. Mikau spring forth, diving under the enrage creature and swinging up into his stomach. The dolphin was violently jerked backward and and the two males roll and tumble across the metal flooring. The mammal spring to his flippers instantly and roar wildly as he leap over the ex-Zora for his female friend. Mikau quickly recover and swiftly swung his leg into the rampaging creature's ankle, causing the craze male to drop heavily to the floor. The dolphin grew angrier, and without warning spun around and propel himself to Mikau instead, his beak open to bite his assaulter. Mikau duck and roll out of harms way and the dolphin was met with a mouth full of air. Growling, unleashed a shrill high pitch squeal, and as if on command, the rest of the cetacean people rush for Lulu in a chorus of loud whistling and obnoxious chirps that sounds more like sick birds being butcher in the slaughter. "Mik!" Lulu cry as she swung her claws and sank her teeth into their blubbery skins, shaking her head wildly to twist the flesh beneath. She yelp and growl, turning and chasing after them as she snap and lash at the offending creatures. They jump at her with artificial shocks of their teasers or ram her with their iron hard beaks, pushing her forcefully into the wall as they dug their own teeth his her scaly skin. Creature after creature hammer her into the without letting her recover, only leaping back when she viciously rake their faces and tear chunks of blubber in between her wickedly sharp fangs. The metal began to indent as they bury her further and harder into the wall, laughing insanely as they listen to her squeals of distress. "No!" Mikau push himself forward as he rush to her rescue, but felt his frail body pinned painfully to the ground as the dolphin man trap him under his grasp. Mikau squirm desperately to break free of his iron grip, but his strength is too inferior in this form to properly fight back. "Release me you freak!" Out of nowhere, the scarlet coated face of Lianna suddenly pop into his view, blood still pouring out of her wounds at an alarming rate. Ugly claw marks plague her shimmering blue-grey face as the crimson liquid drench her chin and jaws, drooling from her mouth as she grin. "Beautiful boy. She is impure. Must be dealt with before she cause more bloodshed. After we beat her to bloody plump, we heal her with enlightenment and perfection. You will understand soon enough." "No! I don't care about this 'perfection' you speak of! Just let her go and keep me instead! Or I'll kill you both in cold blood if I have to." "You still dare to oppose me? After what we've done for you?" her male friend boom as he press down on the scrawny humanized shark. "You are a weak little human; a mistake in our experimental hexing ritual. The way you are now, you're only going to end up seriously hurt or dead. Give up already. Its not worth it." "I don't care. Lulu is special to me. I may have lost my previous body, but my Zoran spirit burns strong. I'll protect her even if it means I'll lose to you. Please let me fight for her. Its too painful to watch..." "And yet you think its fine to spread pain onto others? You think it wasn't painful for me to watch that wretch damage my mate's face? You vile creature! All of you sharks are the same! Only thinking of yourselves and expressing your sadistic, bloodthirsty nature onto other creatures. If anything, this is justice being serve! And what can you do as of now, you whelp? A weak, insignificant little insect that are humans? Until we send you to rehabilitation and preform better spells, you are nothing but a cockroach to us." Mikau stop struggling and look at his free hand, his arm twisted in an odd angle. A small noise came out of his mouth, his gaze anything but happy. No blue claws or winter scales, but in their place weak nails and soft skin which is useless in relation to the situation. The hurting is much more evident as a human, whereas his Zoran self have a higher tolerance to pain, being of a fighting breed. But above all that, he felt an unfamiliar weight to him, and he knew that it was because his skeleton had trade cartilage for bone, which is denser... A spark flew through his cerulean gaze, and as he glance up to notice the pair giggling giddily to themselves as they watch Lulu kick out at one of their demented friends. The cheerful Malletila Zora is no push over; she'll valiantly fight back if she has to and this is clear as day as she grab hold of another dolphin creature in her claws and struck her hammerhead skull against its crown (a weapon often use by her breed.) The humanoid animal squeal as it tumble back holding its forehead, and Lulu gradually pull herself from the dented wall and pants at the now wary cetacean people. After dealing a decent round of punishment to them despite their frequent attacks, Lulu manage to give the mammals second thoughts of blindly charging her. Many of them bled from deep cuts and gashes across their faces and adornment, some were even limping or whimpering. They whistle to each other, clicking out various tones in their strange language. The stripe dolphin holding the ex-Zora down beam, chirping to Lianna as he directed his authority to the pod. "Don't be discourage my friends. She's just one mindless shark while you're an army of highly intellectual beings. Give her your worst." "Yes please," sang Lianna playfully, eager to see the female Zora suffer. 'Now's my chance,' Mikau mentally said. In a flash of a second, he thrust his finless arm backward towards the man holding him captive. His elbow dug into the stripe dolphin's stomach, the bones providing extract force to the impact. The sea mammal gasp in shock and release his hold on Mikau, rolling on to his side in pain. Lianna screech in disbelief and anger, lunging for the white haired human. Mikau duck and sprinted towards Lulu, pushing past the startle creatures as they whine and squeal. Lulu's heart flutter with joy as she open her arms. Mikau jump into her welcoming embrace and nuzzle into her chest, the female Zora spinning him around in their brief moment of bliss together Its funny being the one to be lifted off his feet like this when it had always the other way around, being naturally taller then her (Sylovaakiens are normally a towering 12 ft while Malletilas are 8 to 9 ft, dwarf by the former.) He gave her a quick satisfying peck on the lips before being set back down by her, turning their sights on the boiling rage building up within the cetacean pair. They have little time to rejoice, for they must find a means of escape. Lianna nuzzle her partner, squeaking softly as he dwell in his agony. She turn her hateful eyes back to the Zoran couple, bouncing up and down immaturely. "No fair! You cheat! You dummy dumb dumbs! Now you leave me no choice! I'm going to unleash my super ultra sonic means of wavy doom! Prepare to beeee....nullified!" Mikau and Lulu back away, this time with Lulu standing protectively over her boyfriend's small frame. They had an idea what this "super ultra sonic means of wavy doom" actually is. Cetacean are famous for their echolocation, and they had seem some use it as weapons against shark firsthand...Its most likely how they ended up in these guys' clutches; one moment an awkward face to face confrontation with this psycho specifically while minding their business, and the next thing they knew they woke up with major headaches in their cold lab. The room around once again rang with laughter, and the chorus gradually grew in volume as the beakless female's eyes grew wilder and dark. Suddenly the only door to the room slid open, and a larger dolphin man waded through but stop and blink by the doorway. He looks like a bipedal orca, sharing the coloration and dorsal fin on his back. He stand 14 ft tall, very imposing looking. Unlike the smaller abominations, he seems to be mentally stable as his bronze eyes held a calm and relax demeanor despite his surprise. When he spoke, a row of sharp tawny gold teeth neatly line his mouth, and a spotted tongue lays within. "Lianna, Nixon, what is the meaning of this? This isn't right! You're not suppose to torture our guests! We're here to help them reach a new positive life through healthy means. How would they accept our society with open arms if you treat them so poorly?" The room seem to grow eerily silent. Lulu and Mikau watch as the cetacean people stood there, as if realizing their blindsided mistake. However, they dwell little on the creatures' thought process for they practically flew for the open doorway without a moment's hesitation. They swift darted past the orca and race down the hallway, pressing faster and faster against the hard metallic floor. They ran so fast that their feet barely touch the ground as they merge into a fleeting blur for random cetacean scatter around the facility. Mikau pants as he try his best not to leave Lulu behind, knowing how clumsy of runners Zoras make. As a human, Mikau's feet gain more traction, allowing him to sprint faster then he ever have in his life on land. A rush of icy air suddenly chilled them to their cores, but they press on running, never looking back. They blaze through the snow, slipping through the ice as flakes of frigid breath of winter sheered their faces, but still they ran. They ran and ran, never stopping, never turning. They just blasted through the dark blue woods, startling animals into hiding as they rain through shimmering threads of beautiful frozen dewdrops draping like delicate curtains from the branches. Blue fairies lit the forest as they cluster the crusty shrubs and treetops like fireflies, lighting their way through the night. The glow of the city beam from the distant valley, its Clock Tower emitting a beacon for all who lost their way... *** Mikau and Lulu finally slow to a brisk trot as they trudge down the icy street of a well off neighborhood, the streetlights stretching their shadows as they pass by. The shine of their brightness reflected off the slick black ice that froze over the sidewalk they roam on, causing the pair to slip and slide as they continue marching on. Many of the houses were fairly lit, and plumes of fluffy smoke rose from the chimneys indicating the inviting warmth of the indoors. Decorations for the upcoming holidays grace the houses in bushy greens, ribbon reds, and blinking colors as tiny lights strewn across the windows and hangs from roofs and porches. Snowmen would occasionally greet the pair as they past by the yards, and once in a while a dog could be heard barking into the night. One of the Moons shone crisply like a silver sickle in the black, smoky sky, faith glimmers of stars seen twinkling beyond the flurries next to it. Mikau lag behind as he struggle to keep himself warm, hugging himself feebly as his breath converted into frost laced crystals. The only protection he wore was a old trashy t-shirt with cartoonish dolphins on it and tight, ripped sweatpants the cetacean gave him at some point, mostly after his transformation when he was still knocked out. It looks like something they just dug out of the trash so they can cover his exposed dignity, but honestly he wouldn't be surprise as that is mostly the case base given its appalling smell. Lulu meanwhile didn't seem bothered by the cold, her scales insulating some heat during the sunny day to keep her mildly comfortable. She look back at the under dress human, concern laced in her facial features as she confronts her friend. "Oh Mikau, just hold on a little longer. We're almost at Kafei's house. He'll know what to do." "I-I hope so..." Mikau murmur as he cast his eyes to his buckling knees, ready to to drop from the cold and exhaustion. He cough hoarsely, rubbing his throat in pain. "I'll get hypothermia if-if I don't t-t-turn back to my Zoran self. I don't want to be a human forever." "Don't be so rough on your appearance." She giving him a soft hug. She pet his soft hair as she continues. "I think you're cute as a little human." "Babe, you find everything cute...N-not that I blame you." "I mean it though. You're quite the looker as a tiny person. You're adorable!" "Oh Lu," Mikau sigh as he bury into her, half for warmth, half out of affection. There is truly no other girl in the world that he rather be with then with his mate. But in midst of their embrace, he something was off with Lulu, an eerie silence falling on her as her eyes grew dark and concern. "Lulu? What's wrong? You're not hurting from the attack are you?" "Mikau," Lulu breathe, trying to muster up her courage as she carry on. "When I was being ram into the wall of the laboratory, I heard it; I heard the yells and cries of distress Zoras on the other side." "What?" Mikau pull away from her with such a bewildered expression, such surprise as it flash across his blue eyes. Worry soon wash over him. "Are you sure there were others?" Lulu quickly nodded. "Yes. I heard them yelling and squealing from their side. They said things like 'Another one?!' They're torturing her!' 'Leave her alone you warm blooded freaks!' But what really caught my ears were these one sentences; 'How many innocent shark Zoras in Termina are they going to kidnap and turn into dolphin people? They need to understand that our kind matters just as much as any stupid sea mammal!' Mik, there were more Zoras then just the two of us back there. They are all shark Zoras like us, I knew this much by that last quote. They're trying to erase sharks off the earth by replacing them with their own kind." "Oh Goddesses...Its coming back to me. Sharks and dolphins had been mortal enemies since the beginning of time. The instinctual hatred must've carry over in the cetacean people's own evolution line. That's why they were so eager to put us through their little experiment against our will. They want to 'fix' us to avoid competition. Paranoid freaks. I never thought I'd hate a group of dolphins this much, especially since the ones in our oceans had coexisted peacefully with domestic sharks. We can live in harmony if they just give us the chance." "Sadly, they are too blinded by their mammalian superiority complex to care. They see fish as unintelligent and lacking of any real feelings. They'll only continued committing these unspeakable crimes as they come in contact and collect more breeds of shark Zoras." "All the more reason to find Kafei and turn me back then. I'll give them a good asswhipping and serve them to our pet sharks. Come on. Let's find Kafei' house." *** Kafei lean back comfortably in his couch as he read his book, the fire crackling and popping softly in front of him. Sprinkle of glistening snow flutter down from the outside world beyond the foggy window next to him, the lights from houses across from his barely pouring into his living room. He bundle himself with a velvety raspberry robe that match his plush carpet. The golden flames before him danced and licked briskly at the protective barrier of the fireplace as the sparks and embers glowed with an alien hue. By his bunny slippered feet was a Keaton, resting quietly on the rug as it snore. It had its head on its paws, its face masked with a peaceful expression as is side breathes steady, its fluffy tails curled around its body like a blanket. Kafei's mother was understandably never keen on allowing wild animals into the house for safety concern like diseases or attacking, always telling her son to respect their space and admire them from their backyard. The large yard borders a small wooded area where Clock Town's domestic animal and Pokemon residents (smuggle into the realm for illegal pet trades) likes to hang out with their wilder counterparts. Wild critters would pop up on their property all the time through a hole in the fence his father fail to fix up, and his mommy was quite stern when she wants minimal interacting between him and "vermin". But despite her warnings that doesn't stop him from sneaking his little "pet" in when they weren't around. He known the Keaton for years, remembering when the curious fox approach him and Anju during a festival as he wore the Keaton mask. Obviously it was smitten with him for that reason and began a series of it following him around and asking for attention. He started to feed and play with it, and the two had share a strong bond since. A knock on the door pulled him out of the novel he was reading, and he saw his Keaton sleepily raise its head, its eyes still close as it whimper quietly to itself. Just when he was in the most suspenseful part of the plot too! Annoyed with the abrupt interruption, Kafei speed walk over to the door and try not to glare into the peephole. When he comprehend who was standing outside, cover in shimmering scales that brim like opal, he felt his heart skip a beat and butterflies crashing blindly in his stomach. Immediately he undid the padlock and nearly swung the door open. And swirl of powdery snow wisp into the warm house, chilling his skin as it yank his robe back forcefully, revealing an Indigo-Go's boxers that he wore. Kafei squeal like a startled puppy as he try to hurriedly cover himself, his blood red eyes wide as he smile stupidly in his visitor's direction. Lulu held her hand to her as she struggle to surpass her giggle, watching the little elf eared human quickly cover himself as his face grew a hot red. She felt Mikau huddling up to her, peering into the tempting warmth of his house with a longing expression. Lulu clear her throat. "Oh Kafei! Let's ignore that little moment and get to the point. Can we come in?" "Sure!" nodded Kafei with a bright smile. "Anything for a frie-" His crimson sights landed on the under dress person latch onto her silky smooth frame, the man shivering so violently he could hear his teeth clattering. The poor...Hylian? Sheikah?...had frost lacing his snowy white hair, and his skin had turn pale with a tinge of blue from the cold. "Oh my Goddesses Lulu! Who's this sad bloke? And is he poorly dressed in this weather?" "I-its a l-l-long story," Mikau murmur, struggling to speak as his throat became scratchy and irritated. "Wait, Mikau?!" Kafei blink as he step back in shock, his eyes suddenly wild as he recognize his voice. The only thing different was that it lacked the elegant aquatic trill of a Zora. "What the hell-?" "Y-yes, We know. Looong s-st-story. Please let us in already. I'm dying out here. My ass is freezing off!" "Yep, that's Mikau all right," Kafei commented half humorously as he allow the two into his house. Lulu picked up Mikau and carry him in as Kafei locked the door behind them. In the position he is in now, Mikau felt both embarrass for being whisk around like a little pet. The last time he was carry around like this was several years ago, and before that was roughly a decade ago. It was Darmani who had carry him that last time in response to the daredevil Zora having twisted his ankle after skiing down Snowhead. The Goron had to struggle across the mountain just to get his scaly rear to the nearest hospital. Now, here he is, being cradle like a newborn tadpole as Lulu snuggle him in her arms. She keeps saying things like "Who makes a cute little human? You! You're so cute!" and pet names. Zoras sometimes see humans as pets, and vice versa. Though humans tend to be sensitive with being called animals even if that makes zero sense since they ARE animals like Zoras, though not in the same sense as his fish brethren. Lulu rub her nose against his, and Mikau remember that his electro-sensitivity, a trait unique to sharks of all kind, was no more. He no longer felt the tingling sensation that he pleasures when Lulu and him rub their sensitive noses together. But that didn't stop him from closing his eyes with and trying to purr in delight. He nuzzle into the nape of her neck, curling into a ball as he try to take in the warmth of the living room. Lulu's fins were wrap around him protectively, trying to provide extra warmth as she scooted onto the couch. She carefully lay Mikau on the cushion, stroking his velvety hair as she cuddle onto him. Kafei trotted over the the next room over and quickly reappear with a bundle of blankets in his arms. He usher the female away and cover the humanized Zora under the thick soft covers. Mikau breathe a sigh of relief and duck his head underneath, disappearing completely as he shuffle to absorb its warmth and get comfortable. "Thanks pal," he smiled, satisfied with the comforting blankets as the fire slowly heat him up. He bundle himself up and nuzzle into its cozy embrace blowing playfully at the little Keaton as it came to inspect him. The golden three tailed fox whine happily and it gave him quick licks with a tiny pink tongue as the ex-Zora tickle its cheeks. "No problem. But I have so many questions regarding your little....er..." "Transformation?" The couple both quoted in unison. "Yeah, that. I mean-What the freaking hell? How and why did you become human?" "There was an unusual incident that occurred today," Lulu began as she stroke Mikau's head. "We were 'invited' to participate in a program geared towards Zoras, specifically those of the shark family. Turns out we were abducted to be part of some bizarre experiment to turn us into bipedal sea mammals." Kafei's crimson eyes grew large and held his hand up to briefly silence her. "Wait a minute. Bipedal sea mammals? Were those the freaky things that pop up in Clock Town a few week ago? Nobody would shut up about these humanoid animals since." "Y-yeah. And they're freaking obnoxious," Mikau growl as he was reminded of the dolphin people's unholy existence. "What do you know 'bout them?" "I'll tell you what I know. They are not native here in Termina. In fact the marine biologist Dr. Mizumi found out that they came from the distant seas of a country called Holodrum, which is in another dimension altogether. Apparently there are no Zoras there, and they rule as the dominate species of their ocean domain unopposed. Ever since they found a way to Termina, Zoras had been disappearing left and right at an alarming rate, all who are shark Zoras like you guys. I keep hearing it on the news and work. Many Zoras are on edge because of those creatures." "Another dimension? You've got to be kidding me..." Mikau groan inwardly. "And in an effort to turn me into one of them, the stupid female creature read the wrong spell book and turn me into a defenseless little person instead. If they're going to turn Zoras into members of their own races, at least be competent enough to do their job. Like really. I don't even know what breed of elf-eared human am I. There's Gerudo, Sheikah, Hylian, Lokomo, Cobble and Twili. Obviously Twili are out of the picture since they evolved separately from the main branch and are radically different from any other members of your species to the point they look like aliens. I don't have the sunburned color of a Gerudo, so that's ruled out too. Maybe I'm a Sheikah given the hair? They do traditionally have white and blond hair after all." "No, you're just a Hylian," Kafei said as he point in the direction of Mikau's newly develop ears. "You see, elfin humans have slight variants of our pointed ears depending on the race. Though because of its minor alteration, it is not noticeable among regular humans and non-humans like you guys unless you really look at them. Hylians have slightly broader ears, while Sheikah ears are slender. To make my next statement really count, all Sheikah have blood red eyes. It is a specific trait that only exist among Sheikah and Sheikah hybrids. Its what defines us as the Shadow Folks." He finished off with a gesture to his own almond shaped eyes, the blood coloration betraying his lineage as a descendant of the ninja people. His grandmother from his father's side was a pure blooded Sheikah, and thus Kafei had inherited the traditional eye genetics of her people. Though he still has more qualities of a Hylian then a Sheikah. "Aw, that's kinda disappointing. Sheikah are my favorite because they remind me of my own species in so many ways. We share some things in common, and it gives me even more of an excuse to kick those freaks' blubbery asses in the most epic moveset imaginable. Not that there's anything wrong with Hylians." "No problem. I recon that since you obviously had a bad day, you want to get back at those guys and turn back into a Zora?" "We both want to get back at them," Lulu nodded. "With the knowledge we learned, Mikau and I agree that with the combine forces of the authorities we shall avenge our fellow Zoras and punish those giggling lunatics harshly. But at the state he's in now, Mikau cannot take them on. He has no defenses, and can easily be overpowered by the much larger dolphin folk. And you know how Mikau is not one to sit back in a fight. That and he is getting sick from the cold. We were hoping you know of a way to turn him back to normal. You are very savvy with how to solve other people's problems." Kafei click his tongue, ruffling the fur of his Keaton as it nudge his hand with its snout. "Well lucky you, this race change, magic or not, is completely reversible, so you're in luck. However there is only one person that I know that has the power to change you back...and I don't think you'll like the concept of the idea very much." "Who is it? I'm willing to meet them if it means turning back into a Zora again," Mikau said with a cough, getting annoyed at the feeble state he's plunging into. Kafei seem to hesitate, then, in a meek voice utter the following. "The Great Fairy of North Clock Town." ... ... ...Silence... "Oh! Um of coarse," Lulu laugh awkwardly, looking at Mikau's direction. His face was a mixture of complete horror and disgust. She never seen such lively expressions on his face before, all thanks to his Hylian transformation which allows his emotions to be that much clearer. "No way. I think I can get use to a human lifestyle instead. Being a human is suddenly not so bad." "Oh come on guys! I know she's famous for being a little...suggestive...flirty and maybe overly skimpy...but she can really help you regain your true form back. Don't you want to be a Zora again? You ALWAYS boast how amazing Zoras are and how proud you are to be born as one. Besides you can't stay like that forever. What about your lifestyle as a musician? Your career and millions of adoring fans? You're a Zora! Think of your friends waiting for you back at sea. Think of Lulu. You can't have any of this looking like that." Mikau took a longing look to Lulu at the mention of her name. Their eyes met, and he knew deep inside that he want nothing more then to be by her side for an eternity and more. Those beautiful, haunting orbs of magenta shining against her pearly white body. The lilac/indigo tinge of her crown and rims of her wing-like fins. Her curvy hourglass frame. The glittering scales that gleam like opal in the light of the fire. She is the definition of perfection and he knew that life would be hard living away from her. He needs her, and he knew that she needed him too. They were more then mere band mates. They were more then simply mates... "You're right. I need to get my form back not only for the ass kicking I'll commit upon those ocean rejects, but for the sake of my friends. When should we go to the see her?" "Tomorrow," Kafei answered pointing his finger to the clock mounted onto the fireplace. The time signified 10:00 pm, a little late to go out and about especially at this time of year. "The snow's set to settle sometime in the night, and the roads should be plowed by the time we head out. I know you're a little ill, but I already been told by my parents to watch over the house for the weekend while they are away, and too not invite people over. I promise though her shrine is in the park only a couple blocks from here. We should arrive there in a few minutes of foot." "Well I guess we're stuck here for the night huh?" Mikau said as he smile at Lulu. She smirk softly, bopping his nose with her own yet again. "I suppose so," confirm Kafei warmly. "My mom and dad won't be coming back til Monday morning. But I don't mind having company tonight; they don't have to know anyway. I was getting a little lonely today and was thinking of inviting Anju tomorrow. I'm glad you guys decided to stop by, though I know for a fact you two must be tire from your little adventure. There's a guest room that you can use tonight. Its down the hall to the left of the stairs." "Thank you Kafei," Lulu bowed politely, picking Mikau up in her arms. He felt heavier with the thick bundles wrapping around his weak frame, but she did not mind. Kafei got up and escorted them to their temporary room, his Keaton padding along besides him. The travel through the dining room and past the stairs where they came across a lovely little bedroom inviting them in. Lulu set Mikau down and brush his hair away from his eyes, planting a soft kiss to his forehead. Never had she kissed a human before, and his skin felt so... Soft and tender. "If you need anything, give me a call ok? In the meantime I'll prepare some nourishing soup for Mikau's cold and a nice batch of milkberry tea." Kafei quoted and the pair nodded delightfully. He smile as he quietly shut the door, and his muffle footstep journey to the kitchen in preparation of the beverages. Mikau invited Lulu to lay next to him, patting on the open space on the queen sized bed. She gladly crawl in and they curl into each other's arms closing their eyes. Mikau felt so much better knowing that Lulu is with him. Even as a human, he knows that their future will remain bright and positive for years to come. The hardships they endure had only strengthen their spiritual bond for each other, and now, as he awaits the arrival of Din's Dawn to smite Nayu's Night, his human heart thump against her beating chest. And he sigh as he drifted off in her embrace. Beating an unbreakable musical rhythm. Between human and Zora.

Oh my gosh I’m sorry this came so freaking late. But I had no choice but to write a Fanfiction out of the blue because the prompt for that day was "human" and trust me my human drawing skills is atrocious to say the least. I had to write something instead, and I just made up this ridiculous story as I went along. I remember reading a Ratchet and Clank story long ago in which Ratchet woke up as human instead of a Lombax and was deeply confused. That became my inspiration and it help me get through this story. I wanted Mikau to go through a similar thing by waking up as a Hylian rather then a simple alternate universe where the characters are just randomly humans. I think it fits better in terms of the Zelda universe. Spoilers!: If Zelda can turn into a Sheikah with magic, why not expand upon the race changing concept?

Hope you don’t mind!

#lukauweek late mikau lulu majora's mask

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