#this is the biggest cave hole I’ve ever seen

[clovercrafted]

Huh okay

Found the location of my megabase

#minecraft #mineblr #minecraft bedrock #caves and cliffs #minecraft 1.18 #this is the biggest cave hole I’ve ever seen #world: woooo adventure realm

[thepaintedsable]

Oh my gosh, concept drawings of the actual thing this blog is named after :000 Took me long enough, haha.

||’Round the Bend|| is an actual project I’m working on, haha. It’s my biggest story, which I plan to make a comic about. I’ve been at it for a few years at this point, but I wouldn’t expect much progress for a while yet as I still have a lot of story work to finish, designs to finalize, and some comic practice to do. Hence, a lot of what I put out on it is snippets and general vague concepts for some things that are technically established FAR, FAR later in the story, but sometimes you’ll get portions of the “First Act”.

Here you get to see some of my caving concepts! Some of the “Second/Third Act” stuff.

Within this period of ||’Round the Bend||, there are (currently) three main packs: Snake’s Bend, Badger’s Burrow, and Cypress Trail. These particular concepts are for by beloved little cave-dwelling gremlins, The Badgers. They make their home beneath the rocky moors and pine forests of the territories, seemingly holding the least useful lands out of all three groups. Mostly unbeknownst to the other packs, though, the land is rich in natural and claw-dug caves and dwellings. Where the moors have little shelter and few changes in scenery, the underground labyrinth holds rivers, crevices, spacious dens, and holes barely large enough to shimmy through. They’ve adapted to create sleeping dens, guarding stations, social quarters, storage rooms, wells, and various types of cooking stations. They’re kings of caving, crafting, cooking, construction, and general hands-on innovations. They’re also the closest of ANY of my story characters to create an OSHA due to the tendency for cave collapses, floods, getting lost, low oxygen/toxic gasses, etc., etc.

A lot can go wrong underground. Although these drakes look huge in stature, towering over most of their neighbors, most of that comes from their excess of fur. They’re huge and unbelievably strong, but hungry and lean. Most can fit through holes as small as their heads, with enough practice. Thick/warm pelts, dark colors, small/well placed/folding horns or spikes, and strong legs are seen as most attractive traits simply due to their fitness in such an environment. Large size isn’t preferred, it’s simply held over from their kin, and is likely a dominant trait. They have a culture of wanting to prioritize an ability to survive (and while this may produce a level of ablism(?), most physical disabilities aren’t discriminated against. It’s more about being able to navigate the caves. Someone missing a leg, sustaining a chronic pain, etc. still might be able to get around or be taught to adapt. Someone who has low night-vision or large imposing horns, on the other hand, could be a daily liability to themselves. The prior is still dangerous, but they wouldn’t be getting themselves lost or jammed somewhere.)

Hence, they have many systems in place! Caves are rated and marked based on many different factors. Are they natural or claw-dug? Have they been fully explored? Are they under construction/renovation? Are they dry (no water) or wet (pools, rivers, slick rocks, etc.)? Is it at risk of flooding if there is a storm? Are the techniques required to navigate novice (wide spaces, easy navigation), intermediate, or expert level (tight squeezes, many passages to get lost in, large falls, misleading air currents, etc.)? Etc. Living-type caves (normally claw-dug) have burnt in walls, bricks, and plenty of supports that are overseen by all members. There is a training system in place for pups, and cave diving is only done by the most experienced cavers for very particular reasons (mostly only ever rescue or recovery).

SO! The two paintings here are of Thistle and Hound doing some natural-cave exploring, and Aster crossing your path because what the hell are you doing down here ™. Then just a fun little natural cave diagram.

Feel free to ask questions about this because I’d love to get this hellscape of the story out of my brain.

#RoundTheBend #traditional art #oc art #Oc #Dragon #gouache #art #sketchbook #sketchbook spread #sketchbook painting #dragon #Caves #concept #‘Round the Bend Concepts #personal story #badgersBurrow #Furry #idea Dump #world building #Feral #Feel free to ask questions about this #I’d love to get this hellscape out of my brain. #Story building I guess

[aressss1]

Through Fire and Ice Chapter 12

(Technoblade x Reader)

Chapter 12

< Prev Chapter | Next Chapter (Soon)

A/N: Warning: Mentions of depression, suicide, and gore. Stay safe guys!

~~~~~~

You were in your home, legs propped up on the arm of the couch, nose buried deep in a book. You had put your small library to use for the last couple days. Techno still came over to see you, but you hadn’t seen Dream in a while. You wondered what he was up to. You found yourself skimming and ultimately forgetting what you had just read in your book by a few paragraphs. You sigh, today was just not your day for focusing on the things you wanted to focus on.

 You groaned, deciding on taking a walk through the burrow, to take your mind off of things. Depression was starting to set in. You couldn’t keep your mind off how long you had been down here. You hadn’t seen the sun in what felt like a very long time. Others were feeling the same way as you, hopeless… What was the point of… just surviving?

You took a nice long walk, trying to keep your head clear. Keeping your eyes down, because you kept getting weird looks from some of the people you had passed. You wished you could find Techno, but he was off mining Phil’s mine, you had no idea where to even find him, he could be off exploring another mineshaft, and you didn’t want to risk getting lost in one of those. You stopped at the edge of the beacon. Iron blocks underneath held it up, it seemed like such a waste of resources to you… Not that you knew anything about beacons.

 “You look confused.” You looked over to see Phil just feet away from you. “Anything that I can help with?” He walked over to you, a smile gracing his lips at the sight of you.

 “Why do we need this beacon?” You ask, your foot kicking at one of the iron blocks. Phil chuckled, his fingers tapping on the iron.

 “It increases productivity in mining.” Phil explained. “When we go to expand this cavern, we will be able to clear out more in a small amount of time, than normal. It’s what we used in the beginning.” Phil recalled the events from a little over a month ago. “It’s helping the new arena right now.”

 “Arena?” You questioned your eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Why do we need an arena?” Phil sighed at your question.

 “Something for people to do…” Phil had a distant look in his eyes. “People aren’t able to cope, we’ve lost a few people…” You bit your lip, not questioning it further. “Anyway…” He cleared his throat, changing the subject. “We have a meeting tonight; will you be there?”

 “Yeah, seeing as I wasn’t able to come to the last one.” You nodded giving him a smile. Your heart sinking for those who weren’t here anymore.

 “Good, I can’t wait to see you there. Techno will probably be back by then too.” You perked up at the mention of Techno. Phil’s eyes lit up and a warm smile spread across his face. “Techno’s almost done with the mine in general, and he mentioned that you like books…” He faced toward the beacon, the light highlighting his face.

 “Yeah?” You stood shoulder to shoulder with him, leaning your head back to look toward the ceiling where the beacon met the stone above.

 “Has he told you what exactly he’s digging for?” He pauses waiting for your answer. When you shake your head, he continues. “One of the biggest libraries I’ve ever seen. I have plans for when he breaks through. You can take your pick of the books you want, just as long as I don’t need them first.” He gave you a wink. Feeling your face light up, you gave him the biggest smile. He chuckled, putting a hand on your shoulder. You hated that you still flinched at his touch, but you were still working on it. “Hopefully that library will hold the key to getting the world back to normal.” He huffed, his fingers pinched the bridge of his nose, as he went into deep thought. You cocked your head at him.

 “You think that library is going to tell us how to fix all of this?” You motioned at everything in general, sounding a little skeptical. Biting the inside of your cheek, your eyes search his face. He seemed unsure… Maybe this was why he didn’t tell everyone in the Burrow? Maybe he didn’t want to give them false hope. Maybe…

 “I’ve got to try…” He had a faraway look in his eyes as he sighed. “I’m the reason we’re all down here in the first place.” He sounded extremely guilty. You were about to ask him what he meant when a voice called your name behind you, you didn’t have to look to know it was Dream.

 “What are you doing?” He sounded happy to see you. When he trotted up by your side your eyes land on him. He didn’t have his mask on… Nor a shirt, and he was drench in sweat. You had to stop yourself from looking over his sculpted body.

 “Hey Dream! I’m just taking a walk to clear my head. What are you doing?” You gave him a smile, as he ran his hand through his hair. His green eyes softened when he searched your face. He subconsciously stepped closer to you, which annoyed Phil to no end.

 Phil watched the interaction between the two of you, he didn’t dare say anything to ruin the moment. He wanted to know your thoughts about Dream, how you reacted to Dream himself. He was an observer, and that wouldn’t change. He couldn’t meddle in whatever this was between you, Dream and Techno.

 “Foolish has got me building for him on the arena.” Dream jerked his thumb behind him. He stepped forward, a worried look on his face, as he towered over you. “You needed to clear your head?” You could hear the concern in his voice. “Can I do anything to help?” He offered and you shook your head.

 “I just miss the sun, that’s all.” You waved your hand at him trying to signify that you were okay. He frowned down at you. He obviously didn’t like your answer. His hand rubbed at the back of his neck, as he looked toward the ceiling in thought.

 “I know something that will cheer you up. Let me get my stuff.” You tried denying him, as you didn’t want to bother him with your problems, but he sprinted off before you could get one word out. You let out a sigh as your eyes trail after him, he disappeared into a crevice in the wall. Was that where the arena was? It made sense, as the hospital was right next door, the participants could be cared for in an instant.

 “Dream’s a good friend, isn’t he?” Phil asked his eyes trained on the crevice Dream disappeared into. He kept his tone light and friendly, but he just… couldn’t put his finger on it. He had a bad feeling, and he always knew to trust his gut.

 “Yeah,” you let a breath out you didn’t know you had been holding. “He’s the one who built my house for me. He’s shown me a lot of kindness.” You chuckle keeping a light conversation with Phil. By the time Dream had come back he had more clothes on this time, his mask over his face once more.

 “Ready princess?” He held out his hand, to you which you gingerly took, a smile spread across your face. Phil had to stop himself from physically cringing at his nickname for you. You said your goodbyes to Phil, who gave you a half wave, he never took his eyes off Dream. The look on Phil’s face was enough of a warning to Dream. Dream stood tall, not wavering under Phil’s gaze. “See ya later Phil.”

 Dream led you back to your own house, people watching you as the both of you walked by them. They still gave you weird looks and it was starting to get to the point of where you started glaring back at them. You were sick of the looks people gave you.

 “What’s with them?” Dream nudged your shoulder. You shook your head deciding not to make a big deal out of it. “You know you could just ask me to kick their ass for you.” He chuckled, smiling down at you.

 “They’re not worth it, I promise you.” A laugh escaped your lips, your body slightly leaning into his arm.

 “Well…” Dream hesitated, “they might not be worth it… But you are.” Your eyes met and you swore your heart skipped a beat. His voice was rough, causing a blush to rise to your cheeks. He wrapped his arm around you pulling you to him. When the two of you were standing in front of your house, you could see him glance down at you. “So… Sapnap and I found something when we were building the house…”

 You looked up at him in curiosity. Your eyes scanning over what you could see of his face. He stepped forward kneeling at your porch, grabbing at a board. The board was loose, and he easily pulled it off, leaving a small hole that could fit the two of you inside.

 “I kept forgetting about this, but I wanted to show you as soon as I could.” His mask turned back toward you and you squatted down trying to get a good look of what was in the hole. Nothing but darkness, but you felt a cold breeze hit your face. So… that’s why your house was cold. “Come on.” He sat down on the stone as he slid himself into the small crawlspace. You followed suit, as Dream lit a torch, lighting the way down the tunnel.

 If you looked up, you could see through the cracks of the floorboards and into the house. That made you uncomfortable. Dream offered his hand to you, following your gaze.

 “I wanted to show you this to see if you wanted to convert this into a basement, but Schlatt hired me on the building crew for the arena, that’s why I’ve been busy.” Your eyes trace over his silhouette, the light illuminating his face as he turned to look at you.

 “I was wondering why my house was really cold.” You stood closer to him as the two of you went deeper. Eventually he ended up handing you, his coat. Your house was close to a natural cave. It was lit up by torches. Your voices bounced off the walls as the two of you talked. Your hands skimming over the cold stone on the walls. You found yourself getting tired, because there were a lot of uphill slopes and there were times you needed to catch your breath, Dream waited patiently for you.

 “We’re almost there, princess.” He reassured you as he patted your shoulder. “It’ll be worth it, I promise.” He pulled his mask off completely hanging it off his belt. It took a little while and before you knew it, the path widened into a bigger cave. You marveled at the sight before you. Dream spread his arms wide as he turned back to you, his smile causing flutters in your chest. “Well?”

 In front of you, was a frozen waterfall leading down into a shallow looking pool of water. Snow flurried in from the ceiling, where there was a massive hole to the surface. White light shone down over everything. Rough snow covered stone led to the top of the tall waterfall. You looked on in awe, as Dream took your hand pulling you to him.

 “I wanted this to be our special place.” His voice took on an almost sultry tone. “You can see the sun sometimes when you stand on that waterfall.” He pointed to the top of the waterfall as he crouched down as if to get your point of view, his cheek grazing against yours. His arm snaked around your waist pulling you even closer to him. Your face was red, you didn’t have to look in a mirror to know that, but you leaned into his touch, your stomach doing flip flops. “I hope it’s not too cloudy.”

 “Wow…” Was all you could muster, any and all other words got stuck in your throat. Feeling Dream’s laugh rumble in his chest made you look into his sparkling green eyes. Seeing the excitement in his eyes, allowed for a smile to spread on your cheeks.

 “I know it’s cold here, but when we want to be alone…” He trailed off, his eyes flicking down to your lips, as if they were mesmerizing. “We could come here and… Talk.” He cleared his throat, turning his face away to hide the blush dusting his cheeks.

 “I think I’d really like that…”  You giggled, subconsciously stepping closer to him. The two of you made your way to the scene before you, he held your hand as the two of you climbed up the rocks to the top of the waterfall. The water was frozen over and slick, and he held on tighter to you to keep you from falling. The two of you fought the icy wind that whipped around you.

 “Look.” Dream directed your attention to the hole in the ceiling once the two of you were in the right position. Sure enough, you could see the sun peeking out through the clouds. You let out a breath of air you hadn’t known you had been holding. “I know this isn’t what you meant… But I knew I could at least give you something.”

 “I love it, thank you Dream.” You bowed your head to him. “This has been amazing!” You peered down the frozen waterfall, the height of it, making you dizzy. The two of you stayed there at the top of that waterfall, until the two of you couldn’t bear the cold anymore. He was first to move toward the steep rocks that you both had come up from. You chose to take a look around before you made your way over to him. At your movement, even though you didn’t pick up on the sounds like Dream did… He heard a clacking sound emerge from a particularly dark corner. It was a ways away from the two of you.

 It all happened in a second, the yellowing rotting bones of a stray pushing itself up from a sitting position, tattered clothing, and other bits of dry rot dangling from those same bones, the sockets of the skeleton devoid of anything. The bones clacked together, being held together by magic. Phalanges pull back the string of the bow, the sound almost deafening to Dream. An arrow whizzes through the air, toward you grazing your shoulder, only because Dream pulled you out of the way. The action caused you to lose your footing. It was as if the scene played in slow motion.

 You fell backward on the ice, but… You didn’t hit the ground… You had gone over the waterfall. Your hands reached out for Dream, the look on his face was one of horror, he lunged forward grabbing your wrist, the action making you slam against the crag rocks and ice of the waterfall as you dangled. He was on his stomach trying to pull you up, and it would have been easier if the monster above him wasn’t shooting arrows into his back. He tried telling you, it was going to be okay, but with each arrow his grip on you lessened. His hand went slack, and you watched his eyes flutter closed, and you fell. Your eyes stayed on his face as you fell.

 The rocks below you did a number on your body, tiny scratches and cuts littered your body, you mostly slid down the rocks as you fell, you searched for anything to grab on to, but nothing could stop your descent onto the ice below. Your leg felt broken, and you were scared to move your body in fear of what else could be broken. The haze of what happened clouded your mind, and you let out a groan. Which… You really shouldn’t have done that. Because the monster that was still up there made its way down to you. It jumped from the top of the waterfall, without a care for its own health. Bones cracking in places as it impacted, It was just out for blood. It approached your form that lay in the middle of the ice. Its phalanges pulling back the string of the bow once more.

 The arrow whizzed by landing nearby in the ice. You reached in your inventory. Summoning forth your golden apple, you take a bite into it. It didn’t heal everything right away, but you felt… Powerful you rolled to the side just as another arrow landed where you previously were. The pain you felt still was immeasurable, but the apple allowed for your leg to heal, at least just enough.

 You scanned the area; you knew from stories Techno had told you that the effects of the apple wouldn’t last too long so you pushed yourself up. Your muscles sore, you grabbed a nearby rock, throwing it at its skull. It hit, the forehead split open as it recoiled from the rock and you took this as your chance to limp forward grabbing the bow out of its hands. Your body screaming at you to stop. One bite of that apple was enough to heal you to a certain extent. This was your only chance and you had to take it.

 You brought the bow down on its skull, and right before your eyes it cracked, it was done. It crumbled along with the magic that held it together, only a few of the bones survived.

 You fell to your knees, in front of the bones. Tears flowing forward, you felt faint, you needed rest even though your mind pushed for you to stay conscious get out of there, your body disagreed. It wouldn’t be until much later when you woke up again.

 ~~

Techno had no idea where you were. You were probably off hanging out with Niki. He hadn’t seen you all day. His tune quickly changed when he made his way to Niki’s place and he didn’t find you with her. When you weren’t around to do your route, panic started settling in his chest. Niki bit her lip, trying to not be worried herself. If Techno was worried, then she should be worried. That’s how she looked at it.

 “She’ll be okay,” She sounded like she was trying more to convince herself rather than Techno as she stirred the contents of the pot she was working on. Techno went ahead and did your route for you hoping he would see you in the process. He came back empty handed and Niki, gave him a worried look. “Should we wait to see if she’ll be at the meeting tonight?”

 “No,” Techno grunted, “I’m going to see if she’s at her house.” He pulled his cloak tighter around him.

 “I’ll come with you.” Niki couldn’t just sit there; the dirty dishes would still be there when she got back. The two of them set out to find you.

 ~~

 “Ugh…” Your eyes cracked open. You were freezing, feeling the pain of frostbite settle into your skin, your clothes stuck to the ice as you sat up. Your bones cracked and you looked up to the place where you had fallen. Dream was still up there. The golden apple you bit into laid a few feet away from you. You leg still hurt immensely, but you needed to get up there to Dream. You pulled yourself up to your feet, trying not to put too much weight on your leg.

 You pulled yourself up using the bow like a crutch to Dream, who lay there still. The arrows still lodged in his back. The blood caked over him. You had no idea what to do in this situation. Your cries of help were left unheard, as they echo through out the cave. Letting your fingers trace over his pulse, you feel the tears well up, he was still alive, riddled in arrows. Having no prior knowledge about how to dress a wound you felt helpless. People told you to keep arrows in, to lessen bleeding… But with everything that had happened you couldn’t remember if that were common knowledge or just something you had read in a story.  Your mind was too hazy. You opted to break the arrows, so they were shorter.

 You bit your lip grabbing at his arms, draping him against your back. Carrying him down, your weight still on the bow, you have no idea how you managed to get him to the entrance of the cave. Survival at the forefront of your mind, but… He was heavy, nothing but deadweight against you. You listened to his shallow breaths in your ear. You thought about force feeding the apple to him… But you were scared he would choke… You decided you would be better to feed it to him should he regain consciousness. You were truly clueless in all of this… You never needed to know any of this in your old life. Adrenaline alone seemed to be the only thing that kept you going forward.

 Adrenaline… Could only get you so far though… Your body ached, and before too long it had given up on you, and the two of you went tumbling down a particularly steep slope of the cave. Yeah… You weren’t going to get back up from this… Your eyes cracked open, and you were met with darkness… Pure and utter darkness… Being scared of the dark was one thing… Being scared of what lurked beyond it was another. You couldn’t afford another attack…

 You held your bow close to your chest, if anything came at you, at least you didn’t go out without trying to survive. You let out a shaky breath… Taking another breath you let out the loudest scream you could muster.

 “Someone! Anyone!” You were met with silence once more, and that’s when the tears started flowing forth. You were going to die down here… Well… At least you got to see the sun one last time.

 ~~

“What’s this?” Niki crouched down in front of the hole under your house.

 “The reason her house has been cold.” It clicked in his mind, as he started sliding himself into the hole. You had to be in there. Where else could you be if not the ominous hole. Good thing he always kept torches. He led Niki down the tunnel, she walked by his side when the tunnel opened up into a wider path.

 It didn’t take long to find you… Both he and Niki dropped to their knees at your side. While he checked your condition, Niki checked on Dream. You grabbed at his shirt the tears flowing from your eyes still. The sight killed him.

 “It’s okay Darlin’. I’m here.” He cooed in your ear.  “Can you move?” The words stuck in your throat, leaving only sobs to be heard, but you nodded. He cradled you in his arms as he waited for Niki to determine what to do next.

 “Techno…” Niki sounded alarmed at the loss of blood Dream had gone through. “We need to get them out of here.” Her eyes skimmed over your leg… It definitely hadn’t healed in the right position. “You’re going to have to carry him.” Niki winced knowing exactly what she was asking of Techno. Let’s just say Techno was less than thrilled. Niki knew she couldn’t lift Dream,

 “Do you need help with her?” Niki shook her head. This was going to be a painful walk for you, but at least you had Niki to lean on. He grabbed ahold of Dream throwing him over his shoulder, almost haphazardly. The scent of Dreams blood filling his senses. This was going to be a long walk back.

--

The voices swam through his mind as if they were sharks roaming the ocean, sniffing out the blood. Wanting more of it to be shed. He had barely gotten Dream in the front door, setting him on the couch, only to go back to help you into the house. You were in better shape than Dream, so Niki started working on Dream first. He sat on your bed looking down at your purple leg.

 “You used the golden apple, didn’t you?” He had done this himself, and the process to fix it was not a fun one. Memories of Phil having to rebreak his arm to heal it in the right position filled his mind. You nodded, your tears running dry. You were still unable to speak. “That’s the one downside to health items, bones don’t heal right if they’re not in the right position…” He wondered exactly what you had gone through in that tunnel. The voices itched at him to go see what lied at the end of the tunnel. “Darlin’, I’ll be right back. You need to rest as much as you can okay.” Your hand sought his out and he gave your hand a slight squeeze.

 “O-kay.” The word tumbled from your lips, and he let his eyes linger on yours for just a second before he stood.

 “I promise I will be back okay.” He waited for your nod, letting himself back down into the tunnel. What was Dream trying to pull here? He stopped at the spot he found the two of you. His eyes spying a bow. He remembered you had clutched to it before he found you… Maybe he should teach you how to use it. He should have taught you how to fight… Maybe you wouldn’t be in this situation? He didn’t even know half the situation, but hell he was pissed, and that anger was directed at Dream for being careless.

He put the bow in his inventory, and he trudged on. When he got to the end of the tunnel, he knew why Dream had brought you here. He stood at the entrance, his eyes scanning the cave, as he shook his head. Coldness from the outside world seeped in. It didn’t take long to smell your blood as he approached the ice. His nose wrinkled, and the voices called for destruction.

 ‘Blow it up.’

‘Keep her safe.’

‘Burn it all.’

His eyes flooded black, at least he could agree with the voices on one thing… He had just the TNT to blow the place sky high in his ender chest.

 ~~

“The grand opening of the new arena is coming up!” Phil announced, spreading his arms wide. “With the opening of the arena, I’m also continuing the use of emeralds as currency,” Phil’s voice carried through the cavern. The meeting was underway, and he still hadn’t seen you or Techno, he figured the two of you just didn’t want to come, he was okay with that.

 “I’m also opening up a general store.” Schlatt’s voice cut in as he stood and he made his way to Phil, ultimately standing next to him. “A store that you can use your emeralds AND your Schlatt coins in.” Schlatt nailed his customer service voice, Phil could see people perk at the thought of a general store. Phil let him continue his explanation of the Schlatt coin, his eyes scanning over the people. What he was about to say next after Schlatt was done might not make them all happy, but it needed to happen.

 “Now that we have the announcement of the arena out of the way…” Phil started when Schlatt took his seat. Phil cleared his throat, averting his gaze from the ever-judging gaze of Schlatt. “I need to implement some mandates.” His hands locked behind his back. “We are still in need of food… So… I am asking that everyone have their own gardens. Niki can’t keep cooking for the majority anymore. So, everyone needs to pitch in on this food situation.” Grumbles of annoyance could be heard from the crowd.

 “Did you feel that earthquake just a few minutes ago?” An impatient woman asks bypassing the conversation. “What if we’re all crushed? Food is the last thing on my mind right now.” Phil bit his lip, he didn’t have all the answers and he never pretended he did, but now everyone was looking at him expectantly, as if he could fix an earthquake. He couldn’t lie to himself… He thought the same thing when he felt the rumble beneath his feet. But he felt nothing else since then.

 “I’ll be working on that with my top redstone engineer Sam. We will figure everything out.” Phil tried everything to sound professional, but people kept asking him questions. Questions that he couldn’t give them answers for, at least not yet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar pink head of long hair.

 “Phil.” A man stood from his seat, his eyes leveling with Phil. “When are you going to deal with the hybrid issue?” All eyes landed on the man, and then they switched to Phil, to gauge his reaction.

 “Hy…brid issue?” Phil looked around, while most of the villagers here were human, there were a small handful who were hybrids, Techno and Ranboo included.

 “Don’t act like you don’t know.” The man snarled. “Hybrids are a problem. They’re taking our women,” his eyes landed on Techno, “we don’t need a pig fucker in our midst. She should be banished too.” His eyes slid over to Ranboo, who had the dragon egg sitting in his lap. “Now they’re laying eggs, as if we need more mouths to feed, and more hybrids running around.”  Ranboo let out an offended ‘HEY!’ and Phil couldn’t stop the chaos that ensued. The hybrids against the humans… Phil couldn’t hear himself think with all the shouting. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

 “You’re all dismissed. Hybrid’s are staying, and you aren’t changing that, if you don’t like it, make your own colony.” Phil shouted into the crowd when it started calming down a bit. His eyes burned into the crowd. “I can’t deal with you people.” Shaking his head, he grabbed Techno by the shoulder heading back to their house.

 “Phil…” Techno got his oldest friends’ attention. The voices roared in his mind, calling for blood… For a massacre. After everything else that had gone on today… Techno tried keeping his urges at bay, using his friend as a distraction.

 “What is it Techno?” Phil couldn’t keep the irritation out of his voice. He wasn’t mad at Techno, but at being thrust into this position. Had he not been the one to cause this storm, he would have taken Kristen and his boys and left.

 “…That earthquake…” Techno sighed, “It was me.” Phil gave him a puzzled look. “I found her…” Phil knew he was talking about you. “She was with Dream in this tunnel that led from under her house… He almost died. The smell of his blood… I hauled him into her house. But I almost lost control again…” He sucked in a breath, “I needed to get my rage out… So… When I made sure it was okay to go down that tunnel to see what was there, I… Blew it up. It’s nothing but rubble and ash now.”

 “So… That earthquake, was you blowing up whatever was on the other side of the tunnel.” Phil had to stop, seeing Techno nod. He couldn’t blame Techno, but… This was going to be hard to explain to a group of humans who don’t like hybrids. Phil sighed, rubbing at his eyes.

 “She has a broken leg that didn’t heal right… Niki has to rebreak her leg… So, we’re just lucky there’s enough health potion’s this time…” Techno could hide his emotions through his mask, but Philza knew him too well to know that even through his calm demeanor… Techno was devastated. “I blocked off that tunnel.”

 “Good,” Phil swallowed the lump in his throat down. Techno wished it was more of a walk to get to your house, the rage in his blood, had just barely simmered down. But it threatened to bubble back up at the sight of Dream. Dream was resting on the couch, his injuries healed up. Niki had just gone through the process of rebreaking your leg, and now you were force feeding yourself the rest of your golden apple, to help heal your leg in the right position.

 Techno hated every bit of this, but at least you were safe now, and that’s all that mattered. He awkwardly stood to the side, watching Niki poke and prod at your injuries. You were going to be sore for a bit, but at least you would be okay in a few more hours. He crossed his arms over his chest, remembering the man’s words against you… Calling you a pig fucker… He bit his lip and he kneeled by your side when you had fallen asleep. His eyes studying your features. He was here for you now, and he would be here for you always.

 His hand found your cheek, you were out like a light. Even now when you lay still, you were beautiful, making his heart flutter. He leaned down pressing his lips to your forehead, thanking the blood god that you were okay. He was going to have to have a talk with Dream, and it was not going to be a good one.

#mcyt x reader #technoblade x reader #c!techno x reader #technoblade/reader #dreamwastaken x reader #dream x reader #through fire and ice #angst #dream mcyt

[purple-vixen]

Batfamily interactions involving vines - Headcanon

A/N: I've been wanting to write this for a while. This is my first headcanon by the way, I hope you enjoy! - Vix

• Whenever Dick screws up, Tim and Steph ALWAYS shout "What the fuck, Richard?"

• Jason also gets on board just for the sheer pleasure of pissing Dick off.

• When no one was around, Jason sat on the Wayne Manor piano and started hitting the keys trying to recreate that "Is there anything better than p****? Yes, a really good book." vine

• As soon as he played the last chord, one of the shelves started moving and Bruce's collection of Ming dynasty vases crashed into the floor

• And that's how Jason found out about the Batcave's old entrance.

• Tim set his voicemail greeting to a record of him saying "Oh hi, thanks for checking in, I'm still a piece of garbage".

• Damian once tried to convince the other batboys into becoming vegetarian when they stopped by the Bat Burger drive-through after patrol. As soon as he realized they weren't buying it, in a fit of rage Damian yelled "Fuck your chicken strips!"

• Barbara often quotes the country boy vine when she's with Dick, but instead of saying "country boy" she says it like "Circus boy, I love yoooooou".

• During meetings in the cave, whenever Bruce asks them to look at some graph from the intel he gathered, the Batkids always snicker then start singing Photograph by Nickelback in unison and Bruce regrets his life choices for 4 minutes and 18 seconds straight.

• Bruce threw a Bat-glare at Steph because he was interrogating a Two-Face thug that was playing dumb and Steph was in the background dancing while singing "Why the fuck you lying? Why you always lying? Stop fucking lying"

• There was this time Jason showed up in the med-bay with two soprano flutes stuck on his nose

• Jason was about to explain to Alfred that Barbara had bet 5 dollars if he played the John Cena theme with two flutes in his nostrils just like the kid from the video

• Before Jason could even speak, Alfred cut him off and said "Save your breath, at this point I'd be far more terrified if I knew what happened.".

• Steph and Cass thought tying a potato to the ceiling fan in Cassandra's bedroom because of that vine would be a good idea

• It was all fun and games until the fan started spinning too fast and the potato flew out and made a hole in the window glass

• Less than 5 minutes after that, a ladder was put near the window and, Alfred, who was trimming the Wayne Manor garden, appeared, covered in leaves and with a head bump

• Alfred retrieved the potato and calmly commented "The fact that this is the most ordinary thing I have seen today really amazes me."

• As soon as he left, a mortifying silence established while Frank Ocean played in the background. That was until Cass mumbled "A potato flew around my head before you came."

• Tim has two Instagram accounts, one for his civilian identity and the other for Red Robin

• One night Bruce made him wait in the Batmobile while he discussed something with Selina

• Tim got bored, sat on the Batmobile driver's seat and started a live stream through his Red Robin account

• During the live, he reenacted the "I'm in my mom's car" vine, but in that part where the mom spoke, Tim would make an impression of Batman saying "Get off my car."

• Batman showed up out of the blue and said "What are you doing in my seat?"

• Tim instantly turned the live off and jumped back to the passenger's seat faster than Flash

• Using Instagram during patrol was banned by Bruce after that night.

• One morning Barbara was having breakfast with Jim and while reading the newspaper headline about Penguin running for mayor, Barbara grumbled "Gosh, sometimes I wish I was Jared, 19"

• James Gordon, a dad confused over social media, especially memes, asks in response: "Who the fuck is that Jared 19 and why the hell so many people want to be like him?"

• After seeing that vine of a cat installing a cable, Damian tried to train Alfred (the cat) into doing the same thing

• Long story short, the family's Xbox was sent to tech support and Damian had to pay for the repair with his allowance.

• One time Dick and Jason were working together on a case about missing children

• "There's only one thing worse than a kidnapper." Dick said as he wrote on a board the word "child" over "kidnapper"

• "A child!" Jason exclaimed with assurance.

• "No!"

• "Especially if that child is Damian."

• "Jason, no!"

• The biggest April fools prank the Batkids ever did was related to a vine.

• There's a vine where a guy brings helium balloons inside a car and the car starts floating.

• So they decided to tie hundreds of balloons into the Batmobile.

• The floating Batmobile was being broadcast all over the news in Gotham.

• Once again Bruce regrets his life choices

• "Have kids, Master Bruce." Bruce grumbled, remembering what Alfred used to tell him. "Kids are good to keep you company, Master Bruce." He grumbled while throwing away a trash bag full of popped balloons. "Should have gotten a ferret. Ferrets don't tie helium balloons to your car, and neither leave the toilet lid open."

#dc comics #batman #batfamily #batfam #dick grayson #nightwing #jason todd #red hood #tim drake #red robin #damian wayne #damian al ghul #robin #barbara gordon #batgirl #cassandra cain #stephanie brown #bruce wayne #headcanon #dc comics headcanon #batfamily headcanons #batfam headcanons #headcanons

[kangakatt]

Hello everyone! Welcome to an educational post about synapsids!

I haven’t met many people who even know synapsids exist, which is a shame, because they were and still are really cool animals! So today I’ll be teaching you about them.

So what is a synapsid?

Well, in the most basic terms, whether or not an animal is considered a synapsid depends on how many holes they have in their skull.

Anapsids, an ancient group of primitive reptiles, have no holes in their skull besides their eye sockets and nostrils. Diapsids, which include birds, reptiles, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs, have two. Synapsids have only one. That is the basic definition of a synapsid. But what kind of life are they?

Many people never really think about what happened between the time when fish first invaded land and the time when dinosaurs lived. But there is actually a rich and storied natural history between those two points in time. In that time, amphibians became reptiles, and then reptiles split into two main groups- the synapsids and the diapsids. The diapsids would later evolve to become crocodilians, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs. But tens of millions of years before they did, synapsids evolved into many weird and wonderful forms that ruled the earth for over 150 million years.

Let’s take a look at some, shall we?

Art by Max Bellomio

This is dimetrodon, the most famous ancient synapsid. You might have seen it being called a dinosaur- it’s completely unrelated. Dimetrodon were the largest known member of a group of ancient synapsids that sported long neural spines (those are the spines that come out of some animals backs) that held together a membrane used for temperature regulation and possibly display. Dimetrodon is notable because it was among the biggest carnivores of its time, at a length of 3.5 metres (11 feet).

Art by Jonathon Kuo

This is another semi-famous synapsid, a group called the gorgonopsids. They were large predators, for the time- the biggest species were 3 metres (10 feet) long, and they were among the first animals to ever have sabre teeth. They were the apex predators of their day, and it’s easy to imagine why.

Art by Sergey Krasovskiy

I love how bizzare prehistoric life sometimes was, and cotylorhynchus was a great example of this. The larger species were among the biggest synapsids of the early Permian period, at 6 metres (20 feet) long. They had these hilariously bizzare proportions, with a comically tiny head against such a large body. They may have been aquatic or semi-aquatic, using their little hands to paddle, which I think is even more funny. You do you, cotylorhynchus.

Art by Dmitry Bogdanov

Lystrosaurus was a little cave dweller that used it’s beak and tusks to dig little burrows. Because it spent a lot of time underground, it was able to survive breathing in large amounts of carbon dioxide unharmed. It may have been this ability, combined with the fact it didn’t need to come to the surface very often, that helped it survive the greatest mass extinction in earth’s history- the great dying. This event drove more than 90% of the earth’s species to extinction through a combination of volcanic eruptions, global cooling, and increased amounts of carbon dioxide. Lystrosaurus didn’t just survive- in comparison to many of the other species of the time, it thrived. In some places, it accounts for most of the fossils found from this time period, and as such is very well known by palaeontologists.

Art by WillemSvdMerwe

I’ve saved my favourite for last. Meet Estemmenosuchus! Sadly there isn’t much to say about it as it isn’t super well known, but I love it just for the horns. I mean, out of all the super extra display structures I’ve seen in the animal kingdom, these are up there.

So, what happened to the synapsids? Did they go extinct, like the dinosaurs? Well, no, they’re actually still around today!

After the great dying, crocodilians, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs started to dominate the land, and the larger synapsids all went extinct. They became small, with rat-like bodies, fur, and warm blood. They stopped laying eggs, and evolved pouches, and later the uterus. After the dinosaurs went extinct, they once again survived by being burrowing creatures. They then diversified, and became everything from elephants to lynxes to humans. These animals I’ve showed you were our ancestors!

I’ll do a post on other synapsids, like prehistoric mammals, another time, but for now here’s some cool info on the ones that lived before the dinosaurs.

I hope you enjoyed being educated, and have a great night!

#dinosaur #evolution #prehistoric life #palaeontology #synapsid

[sophiainspace]

☾ coldwestallen

☾ - sleep headcanon

The Bed

“See? It’s the perfect solution.” Len waves his hand in a little flourish at the enormous bed, which he has just... acquired.

The three of them are standing in a line at the foot of said enormous bed, staring at it.

“I guess it is,” Iris says, and sighs.

Just as Len is about to ask Iris if she could sound any more tragic about being gifted the largest bed in the furniture store, Barry says, “Yeah, it kind of is,” in a voice that would not sound out of place if his family pet had just died. (Len should check on McSnurtle in a minute.)

Trust these two to turn down the biggest bed Len has ever seen, and its wonderful potential for space for them all. Len raises his hands. “What?”

Iris nods slowly at the bed. “It’s just so big.”

“It is,” Barry agrees. “Won’t we get... lonely?”

It seems Len still has some persuading to do. He jumps onto the end of the bed, swinging his legs against the frame (which is hiding enough storage for all kinds of things. Like a third person’s belongings, for instance). “Sweethearts. Paramours. Lightning bolt of my life and brightest star in my sky. We did agree we all needed more space at night, correct?”

“Yes,” the two of them chorus sadly.

“Remember why?”

Barry seems to have temporarily forgotten that he is a brave bold superhero, and has slipped his hand into Iris’s. “Because I’m clingy,” he replies in a pitiful voice.

Len takes a calming breath. “Never said you were clingy. I said you were—”

“Like a limpet.”

Len can no longer stand Barry’s sad face. “Okay, I might have said that, in my sleepy, overheated delirium... Scarlet, I love having you cling to me.” He waits for Barry’s little smile to peek out before adding, “But there’s no denying you have the body heat of a large toaster. If the toaster could move at several times the speed of sound.”

Barry sighs. “And you like to be cold when you sleep.”

Len inclines his head. He will not be broken down by pouting. He earned this bed.

(So what if he earned it by getting Mick Rory to set a small, easily-controlled fiery distraction at one end of a furniture store - after hours, when only security were there - while the Rogues absconded out the other door with the bed? Still counts.)

Iris raises a hand. Her snarky smile warns of an impending smug moment. Only fair - it’s her turn. “How many toasters move at the speed of sound?”

“I said if. It’s a hypothetical toaster.”

“The toaster is hypothetical,” she reassures Barry, patting his shoulder. She has a protective arm wrapped around his waist now - must have been the clingy comment.

Len raises an eyebrow at her. “And your contribution to the sleeping predicament?”

Iris wrinkles her nose. “You claim I steal the blankets.”

“You do,” Len and Barry say in perfect, unrehearsed unison.

Iris pokes Len. (He resists the urge to ow.) “You’re the one who likes being cold when he sleeps,” she mutters.

Len shrugs. “Not as cold as your freezing feet.”

“I do not have cold feet!” She turns to Barry, eyes wide. “Babe, tell him I don’t!”

Appropriately, Barry freezes. “Uh...”

“Like ice blocks,” Len agrees. Iris’s wide-eyed look of utter betrayal is cute. Len’s not going to tell her so.

She thumbs behind her. “You wanna end up on the couch, Leonard? I bet sleeping with your cold gun would be a whole lot chillier than my feet.”

Okay, snark is one thing, but she doesn’t get a turn with the puns. “Funny,” Len drawls.

“Guys!” Barry raises his hands in surrender. “Do we really need to fight about this? I’m sure we can come to a solution everyone’s happy with.”

But Iris’s eyes have narrowed at the bed - and then at Len. The last time he saw a look that dangerous from her, she was interviewing him as a source. “Leonard, how much did the bed cost?”

This, Len planned for. “$3489 without the mattress, but I got a great deal on that with the bed frame. Talked the sales guy down from $989 - got it at cost for $784. Gave him some schtick about any sale being worth significantly more to him than no sale at all.” The key to lying well is all in the details. Len stretches triumphantly.

Barry sighs in just that way. “You stole it.”

Iris raises an unimpressed eyebrow. “He stole it.”

Len is faced with two matching do-gooder hero poses. His brain scrambles to find the hole in his plan. “In my defence,” he starts, “you’re usually fine with it—”

“We said as long as we don’t find out, Len.” Barry shakes his head. Len can just feel his disappointment. It’s pretty much the worst.

“And you just got rumbled.” Of course Iris is backing him up. Len barely resists rolling his eyes.

“I assumed the ‘no stolen goods in the house’ rule was implied,” Barry adds.

The plan is now a runaway train with Len in the driver’s seat pulling uselessly at faulty brakes. “Again, in my defence, you could have made that expli—”

“Don’t.” Barry throws up a hand as he walks away. “Babe, how about we sleep on the couch tonight?”

“Great idea,” says Iris. “We can pull out the hideabed.” Her unimpressed look intensifies as soon as Barry isn’t there to temper her. Unlike her husband, Iris is always more upset by lies than stealing. And Len thought he couldn’t feel any worse. Without another word, Iris follows Barry out.

“That’s fine,” Len calls after them, like he’s convincing anyone. “All the more enormous bed for me.”

Twenty minutes later, he climbs in. It’s exactly as comfortable as he expected, and... empty.

Len hunkers down in the middle of the huge pile of pillows, ignoring the vast space on either side of him, and why is he trying not to feel bad about the stealing and the lying?

As he finally drifts off, he wonders when these two irritating do-gooders started having this effect on him.

—

He’s sure Barry will be the first to cave. Len expects him to appear around midnight, craving his cuddles, wrapping himself around Len like a conveniently-shaped hot water bottle. But 1 AM comes and goes, and Len stays cold. Who knew he could miss his furnace of a speedster?

His eyes open again a couple of hours later. Iris always comes for her own cuddles around 3 AM, pretending to be reluctant about it. Len always plays her game, muttering about being woken up - as he snuggles up to her and cools off his speedster-overheated toes on her blocks of ice. But tonight, his feet stay stubbornly room temperature.

At 4 AM, half-emerging from a very weird dream in which he is directing Barry and Iris in carrying an enormous bed out of the Speed Force, Len throws out an arm for...

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Snart,” he mutters - and gets up. Time to stop being an asshole. For one night, at least.

Len knows his way to the pull-out couch in the dark. Barry rolls over just in time for Len to climb into a sliver of space. He lies tight on his side on the edge of the thin mattress, trying not to breathe in case he slides off.

“You’re an asshole,” says Barry’s sleepy voice, in exactly the tone he uses to tell Len he loves him. He reaches out a hand for Len.

Len wraps himself around his human radiator - like a limpet. “Thought you were asleep,” he whispers.

“I am.” Barry makes the most adorable happy noise Len has ever heard. “Mmm. I missed you.”

“Missed you too.” Len cuddles him tighter, trying to ignore the spring poking into his back. “This the worst mattress I’ve ever had the misfortune of lying on, and I’ve slept in a cell in Iron Heights.”

“Are you stealing all the cuddles, Barr?” comes Iris’s voice from out of the dark.

A flicker of lightning - and Barry is behind him, shoving Len towards Iris, and big-spooning him like the cuddly romantic he is. “You’re hotter than the surface of the sun,” Len complains.

“Thanks. I work out,” Barry murmurs. “Mostly running.”

Len chuckles quietly. He turns his head to kiss Barry’s shoulder, letting his lips linger against his warm speedster a moment longer than necessary. “Sleep well, Scarlet,” he whispers, though he’s pretty sure Barry has already drifted off.

As Len reaches out to pull Iris towards him, she tuts. “Are you still complaining about the heat, Leonard?” She shoves her feet against his. “Maybe these’ll help.”

He makes a show of shivering— “Worse than the cold gun core” —and kisses her neck. He hides a secret smile against her. “Good night, Iris.”

She makes a contented sound that warms his heart, even if his feet are about to form icicles. “Night, hon,” she whispers back.

With all his temperature needs taken care of, Len closes his eyes.

A full seven minutes later, he says, “I’ll take the bed back.”

“And?” Barry asks.

Len would roll his eyes, if anyone could see it in the dark. “And I’ll pay for the fire damage to the store.”

“And?” Iris murmurs.

Len never knew true patience until he met the West-Allens. “And make a sizeable donation on top for any inconvenience— Look, do you want me to give them the entire price of the bed and be done with it?”

“That sounds fair,” Barry sleepy-murmurs. Only the Flash could sound that smug while he’s asleep.

Iris giggles and cuddles up a little closer to Len. “Apology accepted. We love you too.”

“Love you, Lenny,” comes Barry’s happy echo.

“Might as well keep the bed, if I’m paying for it. Or were we just planning to carry on sleeping here?” They’re asleep, but he takes their silence as agreement anyway. “Good. The bed stays.” He curls himself tighter around Iris, pulls Barry’s arm closer around him, allows himself one contented sigh, and closes his eyes again.

He has to open them again a minute later to grab a handful of blanket before the entire thing wanders off to the other end of the bed. “Iris, you thief!”

“Shh,” she murmurs. “The blanket is hypothetical.”

“Well, it sure moves faster than a toaster!”

One last flash of lightning lights up the darkness, and the blanket is thrown back over Len. “Go to sleep, you goobers,” Barry hisses.

Cramped and achy and cuddled up between his people, Len drifts off.

Tomorrow he’ll tell them why he brought a bed big enough for three into an apartment where only two people currently live.

For now, he sleeps like he’s home.

#ficlet #coldwestallen #not a one of these three can communicate effectively #that’s it that’s the ship #barry allen #leonard snart #iris west allen #still cranking the crangst #my fic #the flash ficlet #none of us can queue this alone

[candycityy]

waltz

Synopsis: He'd chase her to hell itself, and beyond, if he had to. Greek mythology/PJO-inspired reincarnation AU.

[Click here to read on AO3 instead.]

The first time, Levi dies quietly, in his sleep.

He does not go out in fire and fury; it is a peaceful death, one he goes into with grey in his temples and sickness in his blood, unbecoming of humanity's strongest soldier. But Levi has never been a hero. Never wanted to.

He wakes to the gentle, rocking motion of a sailboat. It's dark, cavernous, but there is no ceiling as far as he can see, only steep walls of grey rock that stretch into the sky, lined with candle sconces that curve upwards and throw eerie blue light onto the dew-slicked surfaces.

He moves to sit up. His head spins, his consciousness threadbare and fragmented. When he glances over the edge of the boat, he sees a strange reflection in the black water.

It's him, but...different. Paler, younger, gaunter. The ghostly light casts shadows that pool in the hollows of his cheekbones and underneath his eyes, making him look almost skeletal.

Appropriate, he supposes, considering he's dead.

The figure that sits silently at the other end of the boat smiles, a flash of white, pointed teeth in a silhouetted face. "Levi Ackerman," it pronounces. Its voice is soft but grating, like its vocal cords are made of rusted iron instead of soft flesh. "I finally meet you. It's an honour."

"More than I can say for you." His voice is unnaturally loud, bouncing off the rock and echoing into the silence. "Am I supposed to know who the fuck you are?"

"I am Charon." It inclines its head, and Levi catches a flash of its eyes; they're the same strange blue-grey as the flames that light the cave. "You don't know me, but I know you. Oh, if I could count all the times I've heard that name on the lips of the newly-dead...as if you were a demon, or a god."

When Levi doesn't respond, Charon continues, its conversational tone clashing with the rasp of its voice. "But now that I see you here, as dead as any of your soldiers, I see you are no more than simply human."

The boat bumps roughly against the shore. In the distance, a city emerges, like magic, from the darkness. It glows with a warm light, delicate towers of glass rising up into the sky, which is already lightening into a soft, clear blue. As Levi watches, the grey rock of the shore metamorphoses into an endless, rolling green field, blades of grass shifting and swaying in a nonexistent breeze.  

"Your fare?" Charon extends a bloodless, expectant hand. Levi stares back uncertainly.

"What?"

"There is always a price to pay, to cross over into death." Charon's withered lips curve into a smirk. "Blood, or wealth, or sorrow...and in your case, that." It nods at his clenched fist.

He uncurls his fingers, revealing a tattered soldier's patch, torn from their uniform, embroidered with the emblem of blue and white wings he thought he'd never see again. It sits among a sea of red, crescent-shaped imprints, carved into pale flesh.

Before Levi can react, the ferryman reaches over and plucks it from his open palm. In its skeletal grasp, the patch shrinks and changes, turning into a single heavy, gold coin.

Charon stands up, its spine curving into a low, mocking bow.

"Welcome to Elysium, Levi Ackerman. I wish you a pleasant death."

==

Levi doesn't remember much about his death.

He'd died in bed, he thinks—he remembers the sharp, acrid scent of medicine and disinfectant, the way the illness crept into his bloodstream, making his bones brittle and his lungs constrict. But already, his time on earth is becoming a distant memory, colours and textures and emotions once cast in sharp detail softening into a sighing, distant grey.

Such is the spell of Elysium, he hazily guesses. The pain of life has no place in paradise, and his life has been so little apart from pain. Some memories remain, though, either unable or unwilling to be pried from his mind—a strange, lilting lullaby in a language he doesn't recognise. The crisp aroma of fresh tea leaves. Hair the colour of a sunset, a shifting mass of reds and golds. A name.

He struggles to remember, and fails.

The ground is soft, unresisting, under the crunch of his boots, and Levi isn't sure if it's been minutes or years when he finally steps onto dry sand. When he looks up, he's engulfed by the radiance of the golden city—Elysium.

"Welcome, hero." The woman that appears before him smiles. She is undeniably beautiful, and yet not quite right; there is something unnatural, inhuman, to the curve of her mouth and the brightness in her cerulean gaze. Her white dress drapes her every curve and flows to the ground, gossamer-like and almost liquid. A closer look reveals that it is constructed entirely of tiny white flower petals, stitched together with a silky, translucent thread—spiderwebs, he realises with an inward shudder.

"I am Persephone, queen of the Underworld, goddess of spring." She lifts a hand, and a sighing, heady breeze envelopes her, making her hair and dress ripple. "Levi Ackerman—I must admit, I expected you much sooner."

"Sorry to disappoint," he says flatly. "Although, you can't really blame me for trying my damned best to avoid, you know. Dying."

"Well, no matter." She lifts an elegant shoulder, in a guise of a shrug. "You're here now. I'm delighted to welcome you into my realm."

She spreads her arms in a dramatic gesture, and the otherworldly light coming off her intensifies to an almost blinding degree. He winces wordlessly. "Could you turn that goddess thing off?"

"Hmm." Persephone casts him a thoughtful look, and then smiles, catlike. "Maybe you'd prefer this, instead, then?"

As he watches, her statuesque form shrinks until the top of her head reaches just below his eye-level. Her elaborate crown of braids, as pale gold as a wheatfield, softens and falls to her collarbone, and darkens into a honeyed copper. Her features blur and bubble over, revealing amber eyes and a too-familiar smile.

The elusive name—he forgot, how could he forget?—is torn from his throat, a ragged whisper. "Petra."

The word is a hook, tugging to the surface a lifetime of memories, and all at once, he remembers.

The first time he'd seen her, she'd been participating in a titan drill. She'd swept through the air like quicksilver, tumbling past her comrades in a graceful choreography of movement, silvered blades like deadly extensions of her slender arms. But far more arresting was the look in her eyes: her amber irises set ablaze from within, bright with ferocity and triumph.

She'd been the first person in the Survey Corps who'd ever been kind to him; who'd looked him straight in the eye and spoke honestly, defiantly. Levi doesn't know exactly when, but she'd cut a hole into his chest with that warm, reticent smile. And for the first time since he was nine years old, he'd allowed himself to be weak.

An initially uneasy truce had grown into a comfortable companionship, and after months of push-and-pull, polite banter turned into shared moments in the corridors, and evening tea sessions turned into late nights spent in his office, fingers intertwined underneath the table.

And he remembers, with startling clarity, the day he'd been walking in a Sina marketplace and found that silver ring, set with a stone the exact colour of her eyes. He remembers how it'd seemed to burn a hole in his pocket after he bought it, day after day, week after week. Impatient. Demanding.  

It'd burned all the more when he'd found her that day, sprawled against the tree, her neck thrown back at a grotesque angle, empty eyes trained at the sky.

"So you do prefer this." The goddess who is not Petra smiles, cold and otherworldly, and the expression looks desperately wrong on her face. "How terribly unsurprising. Humans are all the same, in every age and time...I suppose even being humanity's strongest wouldn't change a thing."

"Is she here?" is all he manages to say. Persephone waves a slender white hand, carelessly.

"Perhaps, perhaps not," she drawls. "But we are not here to talk about your long-lost love, Levi Ackerman. We are here to talk about you, and that all the wildest desires that your fragile little soul can muster." Her lip curls. "You are in Elysium. What is your heart's desire, hero? What do you ask of paradise?"

"Isn't that your job, to figure that out?" he shoots back. She sighs.

"Well, yes, I suppose. I'd hoped you would be different, but you seem just as human as the rest." She pronounces the word in a manner similar to the ferryman, with a kind of amused scorn. "For most humans, it's either love and power—only two things satiate them."

Her ageless green eyes seem to pierce him like knives. "Which do you want, Levi Ackerman? What drives you?"

Kenny once said, everybody needs to be a slave to something. A god, a drug, something to be drunk on, to keep the air circulating through their lungs and to force them to wake up day after hellish day.

Levi doesn't agree. He'd lived years and years without anything, after all; a shell of a man driven by pure survival instinct, by the sheer virtue of a heart that refused to stop beating, all the way until it did.

But Petra had been different. She'd believed in the old stories, the ones in the countryside hymns she used to sing. Of a purpose, a meaning, something greater. Sometimes she'd close her eyes, her lips moving in a soundless prayer, and he'd close his eyes as well and wish with all his heart to believe, too.

He looks straight at the goddess. "Nothing," he replies, truthfully.

Persephone laughs, a too-perfect, bell-like sound, that is so utterly unlike Petra's that it sounds nearly obscene coming from her lips. "Oh, you are just delightful, hero. You're telling the truth, aren't you? That's adorable. And yet—this girl," she gestures down at herself, "I saw her at the top of your mind. Your biggest regret, isn't she, Levi Ackerman?"

He grits his teeth. "So what if she is?"

"She is not here, hero." Persephone smiles, her pale irises alight with an icy glee, and for a second, a wave of cold dread crashes over him—could she have ended up anywhere else? No, she was a soldier, brave to the end. She couldn't have.

"Not anymore. You're too late." An exhale of relief—she had made it here, after all. "Petra has chosen a different path, to be reborn again, and to try for the Isles of the Blessed."

"The what now?"

"It is a paradise above all," she explains airily. "To reach it, you must live and die thrice, and each time reach such heights of heroism or courage that so suffice to earn you entry into Elysium."

Levi exhales, a low hiss escaping his teeth. Of course she would have—she was always so restless, so fierce, a caged bird striving constantly for the sky. She could never stay in one place, never settle down into comfort and domesticity. Elysium would never have been enough for the girl with fire in her eyes and an unquenchable thirst for more.

"What will you do?" She surveys him with her cool, immortal gaze. It rankles him.

"I'm going, too." He straightens, fixes her with a a cold glare. Persephone cants her head to the side, her expression shifting to something akin to amusement.

"Then, will you give up Elysium to follow this girl?" She waves a hand, and the city's glow reaches almost blinding heights, forcing him to turn his gaze away.

"How much does she mean to you, hero? In this city wait so many who you know and love, who have yearned to see you. Your men, who gave up their lives for you. Your friends, who rode with you to their deaths. Your mother, your own flesh and blood.

"Petra Ral has the spirit of a warrior," she adds, almost conversationally. "Do you, Levi Ackerman? You, with your heart that has ever only wanted peace and comfort?” Her lips twist, mocking. “Or is your heroism a mere product of your circumstances? Do not expect to be blessed with Ackerman blood again, this time. And if you fail—you will never see any of your loved ones again."

Some paradise.

"Do I have to make this decision now? Don't suppose I could stop to sightsee first?" His words are gelid but his tone is raw—not that he'd fool the goddess either way, he supposes.

"Of course not. That wouldn't be any fun," she goes, with that chilling bell-like laugh that makes his hair stand on end. He hesitates.

He thinks of Isabel, that trusting, childlike gleam in her eyes. Furlan, arms folded, leaning against the doorframe with that knowing smirk ghosting over his lips. His mother, singing him lullabies in the dark of the brothel. Erwin, who he'd told, in no uncertain terms, to give up his dreams and die.

And Levi knows it isn't there—he'd slid it onto the finger of her corpse, all those years ago, and it'd be little more than tarnished metal against bleached white bone by now—but he feels the phantom heat of the ring in his pocket, scorching hot. No regrets.

He's never had a single regret, except for her.

Levi lifts his head, and meets the goddess's gaze, unfaltering. Decisive. "I'm going."

"If you wish. But know this, hero." Her voice seems to thunder through the city. "If you succeed, upon your third death you may enter the Isles and live a life of eternal bliss.

"But, if you fail to reach Elysium even a single time." Persephone's eyes gleam with a predatory eagerness, "you are doomed to spend eternity in whatever realm you are sentenced to. The light of paradise will be barred to you...forever."

Talk about dramatic.

"Get on with it, then," he almost spits. It figures, it really does, that even in death, he wouldn't get a second of fucking peace.

Persephone casts him a quelling look. He ignores it. With a roll of her eyes, she waves a hand, and immediately, the glow of the city begins to crumble away, even the sand beneath his feet, and he feels himself fall. An incredible wind rises, and he finds himself being shoved backwards, the fields and the cavern roaring in his ears.

"As a final gift to you, hero..." The goddess's teeth flash tauntingly in the fading light, like pearls set against ebony. "I grant you memory."

The last thing he sees is the glint of cruel delight in her eyes.

#rivetra #levi ackerman x petra ral #i was reading madeline miller's circe and it reminded me of this fic which never materialised #much to my FRUSTRATION #candycity writes #levi ackerman #petra ral

[lunarpleurodon]

「Grieving Period: fourth sentiment」

I remember That he wasn’t a very good kisser And it was funny That he thought the same about me

And it was wonderful That the both of you found solace in each other’s mouth And I hope you’ve realised That I’ve been talking in past-tense

Even so, I’m quite happy That you’ve got your licenseAnd that you’re now indebted to your parents, no smarter than that lampshade of a woman I wonder if you’ll get married before you pay off your debts

Have your profits already been carried to your next life?

If it’s my house you’re driving to, That’s an excellent waste of gas

Looking back on it now, There were so many red flags That stood up even before I introduced you two And I was so sad, and so desperate,

For friends And for attention And for something I knew too damn well I wasn’t allowed to have,

That I was okay with red being my favourite colour (I wanted to be somebody’s hero)

Yeah, I was perfectly okay with it I was okay with it, so I had a party or two, Both of which I wanted you to see, Because it didn’t feel fair that only I should get to wear a crown

But then, in the end, You used your shining halo That brought people to their feet everywhere you walked (Everywhere I brought you),

To push me aside And laugh at me from the summit

Is the view nice from up there?

There were so many times That I stood there smiling, Genuinely happy we worked through it that time too, Genuinely happy that I hadn’t thrown you out a long time ago

And I stayed, and was still there,

Just watching you dance, Just hearing you talk, Just getting drunk in someone else’s house, Just reciting someone else’s songs,

Just getting nothing done Because the moment I knew what I felt Was love, I was honestly happy then

So if you’re angry about it, Let it char you from the inside out! It wasn’t me who threw you out first! Oh, that’s my biggest regret, isn’t it!

I could have avoided this heartbreak high If I had just read that shounen manga a little earlier in life!!

I even crawled into that cave, Asked what it might mean to be romantically desired, Sexually wanted, Seen as a more ideal addition to somebody else’s life

As the designated church whore, You seemed to know

And I went in every time with the knowledge

That I was cooler,

Prettier,

Funnier,

Taller,

More outstanding than you could have ever hoped to be on your own I’ve attracted a couple slimes in my time, I guess moths are drawn to bright lights, aren’t they? Apparently that’s as good as I get

And you very unconvincingly tried to assure me That it was okay that other people didn’t want me around 「I’m liquid-smooth,」 And then even I pretended it was funny

To have gotten so far while completely alone, To have measured your boyfriend’s abilities before buying him for you, To have really reeled him in with the glitter in my eyes Still angry about it four weeks later,

I kick the tricycle with all I’ve got

「Makes me wanna spill my guts」

Even the first poem Was something I wrote ages before it happened Those strong feelings you kept so quietly, I guess that I was the same

Do the words I said about you Every time you kicked me around like that Still sting your eyes? Still poke holes in your side?

Yeah, well, That’s my compensation, I guess But you know, even tricycles Have two wheels in the back

If I’ve gotta traverse the rest of my life Making other people laugh While riding a unicycle, Then that’s okay, nothing’s changed

「But if I gave up on being pretty, I wouldn’t know how to be alive!!」

We shared that question Of if we were actually interested in men Or if we were desperate for male attention And I was really trying to get it down,

Because getting drunk in someone else’s skin To join lips like that Is only as fun as it seems No more than that

Yeah, we’ve all got that male gaze, I’ve demanded that beginning-to-end kind of persona of myself a couple times But god, I never ended pre-established relationships for it! 「Who does she think she is? I like, invented her!」

FUCK, that was so much of my TIME Well, I’ve learned better now Than to help people out 「I can do without the hassle」

I didn’t need all those memories, I’d find a makeshift nostalgia on my own Throw away all your morals and your promises, You’re going to be perfect

No longer necessary! I’m gonna look so good with pretty, long, blonde hair

You know, it’s not like I'm entirely friendless in the end, There’s actually two other group chats that don’t concern you at all And I’m very excited to hang out with them Sure, it’ll take a lot of patience, dedication, energy and all of that

To build the kind of relationship with anyone else That I had with you for all those years But it’ll be worth it, won’t it? On top of that, all my bandmates are very competent, friendly, funny people

So I’m trying to catch up to all of them

「wish I’d been a teen idle」

I wasn’t thinking of anything catty, Maybe a bit edgy, and a bit angry, But I didn’t take it upon myself to do anything mean on purpose (After all, I was a fully fledged adult)

I got sick of your shit, I walked out, If you were hurt by that, that’s fair, but, Weren’t you a good grown up girl by now? What’s the age on your license say?

Don’t you know it at all?

Real men don’t need other people

I even bought you your boyfriend

(And skateboard, And bass guitar, And toy mask, And merch, And a haircut, And everything you could slap the word ‘cool’ onto Was given to you by my hard-earned efforts)

Didn’t God ever tell you not to steal from other people?

If it bothers you, go fuck that feeling out: Spread your legs, eat his cum, Take that whole thing into the back end You’ve got a new messiah, better eat of that body

And then continue to pretend you’re all that high and mighty

Of course, if I write this, then I can play that game Two can always play You don’t even know about all the spare accounts I made to look at porn, so, If I really wanted to go lurking around, I could do it very easily

But I’m a fully fledged adult, So I know a little better than someone who removed their training wheels too early What, did you think bottom-feeders Didn’t know how to laugh too?

And yeah, I kind of do wonder If you’re in that group chat still, waiting with baited breath For me to come back and say “Sorry about that! Where were we?” And I guess it’s better that you’re not, because at least that means we can both move on now

It’s well overdue

「”That’s right!” you say, “I’m the one who coughed up blood!”」

I got third wheeled by my own friends...

…Isn't that weird? I keep looking at it with my hands in my pockets,  Squinting, grimacing, raising an eyebrow  Makes me feel like I've forgotten how to read

If the right person reads this, you know who you are Though honestly, I’d thought you would have the maturity to make your own call On unfollowing me the moment it happened Ah, but I know you too well

Toy cars and tech decks don’t satisfy, you want more I was a little proud of it, so, I put up that banner for all to see So if you want to say “You knew what you were doing!” with tears in your eyes「Don’t go around criticising me just because I do it consciously!!」

I know very well what you tell that other girl

「Some government people got in your ear or something, didn’t they?」

「...Yeah, something like that.」

I’m leaving for good this time I’m not coming back I kind of want to, but, But sometimes what you want isn’t good for you and that’s fine

Good luck with your instrumental band, Ha, I’ll be a soloist from now on, Thank you very much

From now on, I’ll treat being forced into the third wheel’s position For the problem it really is I won’t need your shoddy backing vocals Man, I’m already tired of this feeling

Hey, I’ll colour your hair One last time And then, after a couple years of not talking go by, When you see me again, I’ll have my own studio, probably

「sentiment」

third wheel

Liquid Smooth, Mitski Crush Culture, Conan Gray Brand New City, Mitski Mean Girls, Paramount, 2004 Ajin, Gamon Sakurai: chp. 28, 43, 44 Teen Idle, Marina and the Diamonds Mistaken Belief of Love, Niru Kajitsu

#poetry #im something of a poet myself #solart #sjg #grieving period #in my regina george era #time 2 watch my comfort movie! get in loser were watching mean girls. again #have one more in the works after this #not sure if ill write more #i mean ive got songs im working on 2 but those r....... songs............. #there r references that arent direct quotes in this 2 not ur friend by jeremy zucker #kagerou project...... wozwald..... aaaaaaaaand #ajin bcoz everything has 2 be abt ajin these days #if i wrote about literally anything else i would die

[the-river-person]

Worldbuilding Tangent Part 4

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 Since I have all the tabs open still, I’m just gonna hop straight into Hotland. (A reminder that these are my own observations and analysis of the Game’s text  it is still only my interpretation of how this area MIGHT work if we attempt to apply real world systems Undertale’s world. It’s possible that I misunderstood or don’t know enough about the natural systems described and that things couldn’t work that way without some kind of magic, whether that of the Monsters or some natural source of it.) I’ve already covered the idea that Ebbot is a Stratovolcano and that it pushed up through limestone layers in a gigantic explosion that not only formed the mountain, but also pushed lava flows up through the rock and formed numerous lava tubes that intruded upon slowly forming caverns and caves. However the area of Hotland itself is rather weird. When you catch your first glimpse of it over the bridge while being chased by Undyne it appears to be free flowing lava. But later once you’ve crossed the Labs, it seems more like a still lake of it. Other areas are clearly hotter than others by far, such as the area seen in the distance surrounding the base of the core compared to the area where Frisk can walk up on ledges and roads not too far from the surface of the lake. The only way this might work is if you had a Permanent Lava Lake, a rare occurrence where a lava lake has a continuous source of heat, possibly due to magma flow rates in the volcanic conduits below. Some might suggest that this is actually the magma chamber of the volcano, but if that were the case... No one could possibly survive that. Also Magma Chambers are much further down and subject to immense pressure and heat. Most Monsters couldn’t survive, and no humans could either unless they could reset time upon death and choose not to enter the magma chamber or get anywhere near it. So a Permanent Lava Lake. But most of the time you can’t actually see the surface of the lake, as the game simply shows blackness on either side of your arid and red rock formation path or various mechanical platforms. This might suggest that you are much higher up and away from the surface, possibly in areas where the flow is much faster and the lava much hotter. Lava is actually quite tolerable and isn’t likely to cause serious burns to you unless you get really close. 8 feet away for slowly flowing lava as demonstrated by geologists trying to get a close look at the formations of lava toes. But while some parts of this lake might be slow and cool enough to get close to, most areas probably aren’t. Which is why it makes sense for a lot of the areas to be elevated high up, away from the surface of the lake. The biggest problem with lava heat is actually due to Radiant Damage. Essentially, if you can see the lava, that means its light is hitting you and can possibly cause burns if you’re too close, or blind you. Have you ever been near a bonfire and felt the heat sear your face even when you were far away? Yeah, lava is a LOT worse. Which is another good reason to be far away from the surface most of the time, so that even if you do glance over the edge, you won’t have your face burned off by the light. If we’re thinking of Undertale’s fire or volcano based monsters, this probably isn’t a big issue. But any of the game’s other monsters might face some of the same issues as a human who wanders the area. However, human bodies are remarkably adaptable, and despite the intensely inhospitably conditions present in the caverns containing Hotland, its likely that Frisk would be able to linger for some time in the extreme heat before it started doing major damage to their body. However they wouldn’t survive living there. Some might point out the issue with the water dissolving from your cup if you try to take it beyond the area where Undyne collapses, but aside from an in game gag where the rules of physics are broken, I’m unable to find an explanation for this that still allows a human to survive the area for any period of time at all. Fortunately we have a number of instances through the game where physics and reality are broken specifically to stop us from causing errors big enough to crash the game. If you head the other direction the water simply “returns to the cooler” while heading deeper into Hotland causes it to “Evaporate” away. It’s unlikely that it really did so and can probably be safely ignored as the proper actions are to give the water to Undyne or leave without getting any. We even have proof that it’s not hot enough for water to truly evaporate, since Undyne, who is already sensitive to heat, doesn’t even die but only suffers because her armor heated up far too quickly, and later caused her to develop heatstroke which leaves her weak and in bed. We see a similar phenomenon with other armor in the area that is not protected by a “cooling dirt”. However there is one main problem that would make things difficult. Lava produces poisonous gasses through a process called degassing. This process is normally quite volatile in ordinary Lava Lakes, but in Permanent Lava Lakes its more constant and less explosive. But the actual gas is incredibly harmful. Even in open air areas it can present a hazard depending on where you are and where the wind is blowing. More frustrating is that both the red formations the path is on and the blackish formations that make up various distant walls we can see are basalt, which means the lava is Basaltic. Basaltic Lava produces more poisonous gasses by volume than any other type. But Frisk is wandering through a cavern where there is no weather to blow away gasses. One possibility is that to make the area more accessible for Monsters who had lungs (unlike the skeletons) or who weren’t fire or volcano based somehow, an artificial method of sucking out gasses and pulling in fresh oxygen from the surface. This wouldn’t be too difficult if you were willing to draw away the air near the surface of the lake as it begins to rise and out through some kind of vent, possibly to outside or maybe to where the gas can be collected and used. And we already know the Underground has numerous holes in the ceilings where things like airflow and sunlight are possible, but not living beings with souls. If air were being pulled away from the lower areas, then new air would rush in from the openings to take its place. This would also keep upper areas cool and cool the surface of the lake a little, but not enough to totally solidify it, since its kept heated by geothermal cycles below. Another frightening point is that if there is lava this high above the lower Magma Chamber at all, even in a relatively stable Permanent Lava Lake, that means that Mt. Ebbot is not permanently dormant and could, in fact, reactivate at any time.

#undertale #hotland #undertale theory #permanent lava lake #lava lake #poisonous gas #basalt #undyne #mt ebbot #stratovolcano #volcano #magma chamber

[akatsuki-shin]

Review: 天官赐福 Tiān Guān Cì Fú (Heaven Official's Blessing)

Notes:

(Very) long post ahead

Contains spoiler

This is my personal review and does not represent the entire audience, you are free to agree or not agree with what I’ve written here

Feel free to reply/send me a message if there are things you want to discuss

Summary:

The most beloved Crown Prince, pride of the Kingdom of Xianle with abundance of talents and achievements, Xie Lian, ascended to Heaven and became a martial god at the young age of 17 on the path to fulfill his dream "to save the common people".

Three years after his ascension, he saw his kingdom beginning to decline and in order to save his beloved country, Xie Lian defied the rules of Heaven and descended back to the mortal realm. Nevertheless, instead of saving them, his interference ended up accelerating the fall of Xianle, annihilating the once prosperous nation under the war of rebellion and a mysterious, horrifying plague.

The people who once praised and worshipped him day and night now condemned him, his devotees left him, they burnt his temples and divine statues, and Xie Lian himself was ultimately banished from the Heaven.

He ascended for the second time a short while later, but was banished once more very soon after. Since then, he lived among the mortals - surviving by collecting junks as he was now branded as the "God of Misfortune", the "Scrap Collecting Immortal".

800 years later, Xie Lian ascended again for the third time. Though having neither temples nor devotees, he accepted his responsibility as a martial god and carried on with his duties until one day, there came a certain, incidental encounter with a mysterious youth clad in red.

STORY: 7/10

TGCF overall is an (almost) complete, satisfying read with well-written twists and development.

Unlike the two previous MXTX's novels, the main pairing here (HuaLian) did not have to go through complicated misunderstandings and is a beautiful representation of love and devotion. Of course, this means there is a lack of conflict between them, but considering all the trials and tribulations the characters have gone through, this lack of conflict feels like a relieving fresh spring amidst the painful and exhausting journey throughout the entire five books.

The best and my most favorite plot twist is the Earth Master Ming Yi having been dead for a while, and the "Ming Yi" we know turns out to be the Black Water Submerging Boats, He Xuan. I'm the kind of person who always suspects characters, but even my furthest suspicion was "only" him being the Reverend of Empty Words, not He Xuan.

Truthfully, prior to reading this novel, I've seen Shi Qingxuan's "MING-XIONG, I'M SORRY x9999" post before without context, and I thought Ming Yi was going to die a tragic death because of Shi Qingxuan. Turns out it's kind of the opposite, huh? Nice one, really.

I also like how each character's "end" feels satisfying. Especially for the villains, they didn't necessarily have to die some tragic, vengeful death, but was provided with an ending that perfectly fits their background story and deeds. For example, in most stories, a character like Xuan Ji would be most likely be given some well-deserved punishment as her death, given everything she's done. But no, in the end she was given a reality check and was finally able to let go of her hundreds of years grudge. And then Qi Rong - I will talk more about him later on in the "Character" section.

One part I really love is the Extra Chapter about the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods. The chapter itself overall is mostly nonsensical and chaotic, but it was just so touching when HuaLian created a "Little Hua Cheng" statue to accompany Xie Lian's "Crown Prince who Pleased the Gods" statue, especially when this Little Hua Cheng statue gave Crown Prince Xie Lian statue a flower, and then Crown Prince Xie Lian received it, lifted him up and carried him in his arms. This one was maybe a bit biased because as much as I love the current HuaLian, I have a special soft spot for the young Xie Lian carrying, cradling the little Hua Cheng back then in the past. ;v;

Though, with all due respect, I must say that TGCF is actually below my expectation.

The biggest issue I have with TGCF is... What is Xie Lian's motivation? What drives him to move forward in the story? What is even the whole story's purpose?

I'm not quite sure how to word this properly, but let me give some examples.

When you read Harry Potter, you know immediately that Voldemort is the bad guy and he must be defeated.

When you read the Lord of the Rings, you know immediately that the One Ring must be destroyed to prevent Sauron from regaining his power.

Or, in MXTX previous works...

In SVSSS, it was clear since the beginning that Shen Yuan's mission is to fix the "Proud Immortal Demon Way" if he wants to survive.

In MDZS, it was clear that Wei Wuxian, together with Lan Wangji's, needs to unravel the mystery behind that fierce left arm. All of their past stories and WangXian getting together in the end are just something they discovered along the way, not the initial "motivation" that drives the character to move forward.

What about TGCF? The Xie Lian who ascended for the third time actually looks like he just wants to go along with the flow, carrying out his duties day by day with responsibility. When Bai Wuxiang later, later, later on appeared to haunt him again, it didn't seem like Xie Lian has any ambition to hunt him down or exact a revenge, just that he wanted to forget about Bai Wuxiang and never recall anything about him ever again. The main character looks like he's not being driven by anything, just...carrying on where the plot takes him? It's just missions after missions and whatever huge things happening in between is just something they accidentally passed by along the way.

At this point, the only purpose of the story I can think of is bringing Hua Cheng and Xie Lian together. The romance is great, I have no complain. But if it's just that, no need to jammed-pack 250+ chapters just to make two people getting together?

Speaking of which, I also think that the way new characters keep being introduced all the way to almost the final showdown of the story feels info dump-ish, because the background story needs to be dropped there along with the characters, but then most of these characters fade away immediately after.

For example, the previous Civil God before Ling Wen, who looks like he’s going to pose some real trouble, but then was easily defeated and was never mentioned again afterwards. And this is especially true for He Xuan; after such a huge arc where he committed such extreme things, after that he was barely mentioned again, even having his “strong impression” leveled down by the joke about him being the poorest Calamity and owing lots of debts to Hua Cheng.

Basically what makes TGCF a long story is because there are too many stories about the side characters in addition to the main characters that are dumped out of the blue instead of slowly being revealed along the way.

Though, I love how the story gradually unravels the "Four Famous Tales" because initially, I thought it wasn't something crucial, and I wished they could've done this for other characters, too.

There is a little bit of plot holes here and there, as in who actually cut open Jian Lan/Lan Chang's baby and made it a ghost, and for what? Even if it turned out that she just met a bad guy or nobody important, at least provide an explanation in one paragraph? Especially because important side characters like Feng Xin and Mu Qing are involved here, so I'm pretty sure us readers need some explanation.

And more importantly, how can Jun Wu become the Emperor martial god? There's no mention about him ascending, only that he annihilated a dynasty of gods before sitting on the throne of the Great Martial Hall. But how can he, like, emitted god-like aura and not some evil aura? Is it because he used to be a god? But he's a ghost? Explanation where???

The gags and comedies are pretty fun, but honestly, the more I read, the more they ruin the atmosphere and suspense, added with the uncalled PDA between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian even during the most important moments. Honestly, I was bored the fuck out of my life from the moment they start fighting Jun Wu with those divine gundams, and only start gaining interest again much later on when Hua Cheng dissipated into butterflies.

Not saying the story's bad. Just... It's not up to my expectation... Characters being inserted here and there with a bunch of background story, gags and a show of PDA being flaunted during crucial moments. And when Mei Nianqing started telling the truth about the Kingdom of Wuyong, that's just plain info dump right there, seriously...

CHARACTERS: 7/10

Interesting characters, but only a few bore a lasting impression on me. Other than the main characters, which are Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, the only side characters (minus Bai Wuxiang as the main villain) who left quite some impression on me were probably just Feng Xin and Mu Qing.

Pei Ming is okay, at least he is still memorable until the end, and his character improved, too.

He Xuan, after having been introduced with such extreme, after his arc is over, was easily forgotten just like that.

Mei Nianqing, is borderline Deus Ex-Machina with a huge chunk of info dump that could solve everything, then he stopped being useful for the rest of the story.

Shi Qingxuan... Honestly, he's almost annoying, too noisy. I don’t hate him (and I kind of like him initially), but the way his character was being handled and presented post-Black Water arc feels disappointingly lazy and he was just there to make the party more merry.

Xie Lian himself, as the protagonist, how do I say this... This is maybe due to the translator's writing style (not MXTX’s fault), but whenever he screams in all capslock, it feels too extreme and borderline OOC? Of course, the original novel written in hanzi couldn't have included capslock.

What's great about him, though, is that despite all he'd gone through, he can still retain a pure heart and could not be swayed to be evil, just as he himself said "Body in the abyss, heart in paradise".

Now Hua Cheng, he is overall a super interesting character and I personally love this type of male characters. But he seriously is way too OP, almost like the original Luo Binghe (Bing-ge) a.k.a. too ideal, too perfect, no flaws, always capable of easily finding a way out in every single peril. I only forgive him for being like this because he dissipated into butterflies at the end of the battle with Jun Wu, making me think "oh, finally he's actually not invincible".

Still, his devotion to Xie Lian is very well written, very well presented, and his "I am forever your most devoted believer" is just downright the most powerful line in the whole story.

Now I promised to talk about Qi Rong, yeah? I haven't the slightest idea why it is even necessary to have Qi Rong as the Night-touring Green Lantern. I mean, yes he is there to make up the number of the Four Great Calamities, but that was for the characters who live in that world. As the novel's reader, I don't see any particularly important roles there for Qi Rong other than being an annoying meme fodder despite his actually pretty-cool first foreshadowing and appearance? Even his issue with Lang Qianqiu does not seem to give that much impact on the overall story, it could've just passed simply being explained in several pages.

Though I'd say he's got the best character development compared to others. Instead of dying as some hateful villain, the way he ended up deciding to protect Guzi at the cost of his own life can already be expected from miles away, but still bittersweet and touching nonetheless - how this crazed, mental person could still love when being presented with such pure, innocent feelings to the point that he acknowledged Guzi as a his own son.

By the way, E Ming and Ruoye are cute, I take no criticism.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS: 8/10

I can't really describe this with words, but MXTX's overall writing technique has greatly improved since MDZS.

It feels more "solid" to read instead of scattered here and there.

The info distribution has improved (fewer info dump compared to before), the story's no longer switching between past and present all of a sudden.

Description of characters and environment are sufficient, the plot is progressing steadily.

Several issues I have with this aspect though, the Prologue being ten pages is just way too long, I don't think I need that much information being stuffed right to my face right from the beginning.

There are excessive use of "Turns out..." every single time an explanation is going to come.

"Xie Lian didn't know whether he should cry or laugh" is honestly has been used probably more than 50 times just in the last two books. Although I'm reading a translation, I'm pretty sure the original Chinese version is being repetitive with this phrase, as well, because the translators couldn't just whip up any other phrase from thin air and put it in someone else's novel.

Almost half of scene transition is always caused by some sudden, external disturbance like "All of a sudden they heard someone's coming", "All of a sudden X visits their room", etc.

OVERALL SCORE: 7.3/10

Worth to read, satisfying overall. The main pairing's love story is just so well written and sweet. As long as you can withstand the violence and gore, though. 😂

TGCF highlights perhaps one of the ugliest natures of mankind: Being nice to someone as long as they're beneficial, and immediately throwing them away once the benefit was no more.

Once that person does not seem to be beneficial anymore, everyone would leave them instantly, even turning on them and start spitting on them without even trying to understand the reason why said person "stopped being beneficial".

Both as a Crown Prince and a martial god, Xie Lian and the Crown Prince of Wuyong were praised, revered, worshipped by the citizens of Xianle and Wuyong respectively. Because they were always helping, always fulfilling the people's wishes. But how easily it was for those very same people to turn on Xie Lian and the Crown Prince of Wuyong when they encountered misfortunes, completely turning a blind eye to the laborious effort both characters have been putting to save them from annihilation, even if it was visible in broad daylight.

It is also worth to note another trait of mankind that this story underlines: To always find a scapegoat or blame others for one's own misfortune and failure - be it another human being, another group of people, the government, even the gods - after having taking their generosity for granted.

Which is why I think the true villain of the story is not Bai Wuxiang, but those citizens of the ancient Wuyong who were now nothing more than resentful spirits eternally burning within the lava of Tonglu Mountain - a well deserved punishment after what they did to their Crown Prince.

#Tian Guan Ci Fu #TGCF #Heaven Officials Blessing #HuaLian #Xie Lian #Hua Cheng #Review #Danmei #MXTX #Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

[baldrambo]

On Jim Hopper....

After reading a myriad of analyses and meta on Hopper’s character in S3 on Tumblr/Reddit/Twitter/everywhere, I've come to realize that my understanding of his character and his arc is very different than most interpretations I've seen.  And it frustrates me because i think ultimately, the criticism of him is unfairly harsh and misses the point of his arc.

I will make a few bold assertions (bold=likely unpopular) and address them under the cut because the more I’ve thought about this the longer it got and I want to appropriately address each point.

Assertion 1: S1 Hopper is NOT the Hopper we want, in fact, this is regressive! Hopper and we should be glad he’s gone

Assertion 2: S1/S2 Hopper is inappropriately romanticized and it created unrealistic expectations for Hopper’s characterization in S3

Assertion 3: The circumstances in S3 are dramatically different than S1-S2 and drive the changes we see in Hopper’s characterization in S3

Assertion 4: Hopper and Joyce’s arguing in S3 was a symptom of a shift in their relationship dynamic, and not OOC

Assertion 5: Hopper's negative character traits were intentionally amplified in S3 as a juxtaposition for his redemption arc coming in S4

Assertion 1:

When we are introduced to Hopper in S1 he is a pill-popping womanizer. He is a jerk. In episode 1, he shows up to work hungover cracking "your mom" jokes and when Flo tells him that Joyce is worried about her missing kid he dismisses her and says "I’m gonna get on that." A frantic Joyce has to beg him to look for her son and during the conversation, he's throwing in interjections about screwing Chrissy as a teen in the back of his dad's Oldsmobile and somewhat snidely inquiring about whether Will is gay. Not a very nice dude.

It's not until later in the episode when we learn that he had a daughter who is now dead, and begin to suspect that perhaps there is more to him than the jerk-off cop from a small town. And then the first real introduction we get to Hopper, the real Hopper, is in 1x2 when an agitated Joyce asks him "wouldn't you know your own daughter's [breathing]?" He nearly caves then, caves under the weight of his grief, the pressure of dealing with a case of a missing kid, feeling empathy for what Joyce is going through. So what does he do? He retreats to his cruiser as soon as possible and pops a pill. Why? Because he cannot handle the grief and emotion. So he medicates it away.

For anyone who has ever been on Xanax (or see i.e. Benzos in general) they are typically prescribed to dull intense emotions, such as a anxiety attack. You can be in the middle of an anxiety attack (shaking, crying, unable to breathe), and a Xanax kicks in and it halts the entire thing.  You feel nothing.  When you're in pain, physical or emotional, it kills that pain almost instantly, too. And that’s what makes it so addictive. And it's not just pain that it kills, but pretty much all emotion with it.

Hopper in S1 is popping Benzos because he is at the lowest point in his life. He lost his daughter and his purpose in life. He is merely existing. He feels like a curse. Part of him even seems to feel responsible for Will's disappearance for no other reason than his own misery. Think about 1x1-1x7 Hopper for a second: can you remember a scene when he smiles? Laughs? Gets angry? Cries? Shows really any emotion at all? I've watched s1 multiple times and I don't remember one. He's so heavily medicated that he isn't feeling ANYTHING.

But then in 1x8, we finally get a glimpse of the real Hopper in glimpses of his backstory. A man laughing and playfully throwing around his daughter. We see a broken man crying in a hallway. We see a tender man reading to his daughter. This is the real Hopper who isn't just existing as Hopper is in S1, but living.

Hopper saving Will, this is the very beginning of his redemption. In that moment, he is able to bring Will back. Save him in a way he couldn't with his own daughter. That wall he’s built, quite artfully, is finally cracking.

So you see. S1 Hopper isn't what we want. S1 Hopper was in a deep dark cave. Sure, he was kind to Joyce. Helpful. He listened. He didn't lose his temper. But it's easy not to lose your temper when you're not feeling anything. It's easy to be calm and rational when you’re emotionally detached. But what kind of life is that?

Assertion 2:

In S2, Hopper is already different. In 2x1 our first introduction to Hopper is positioned similarly to S1. He pulls into the station in his police car. He's still grouchy, he's still joking around about dumb shit (dating Bob Derek) but we see a real smile from him. He goes with Joyce and Will to Will’s appointments at Hawkins Lab (we don't know how often but it's obviously frequent enough that Owens jokingly refers to Hopper as Will’s “Pop”). Hopper has a purpose again. To protect Will and Joyce, keep them safe. These are externalities.  And as someone as riddled with trauma as Hopper is, externalities make it easier to function.  Hyper-vigilance and overprotective/controlling behavior aren’t exactly admirable qualities, but they come in handy when the people close to you are threatened by inter-dimensional shadow monsters.

It’s at the end of 2x1 when we are introduced to the biggest change for Hopper: he has El. Someone to “feed, protect, teach.” And love. Turns out, love is a feeling.  And with one feeling comes many feelings.  She brought him out of that deep dark cave so now Hopper smiles. Laughs. Cries. Loses his temper. And with those feelings come all of his own insecurities, imperfections, fears.  He confides in El at the end of the season about some of these fears: he believes himself to be a black hole.  A black hole that took Sara.  Almost took Will. And could take El too and he is terrified that will happen. He apologizes for some of his bad behavior.  And we see El forgive him because she not only loves him, but recognizes that his anger and fear come from a different place than Brenner’s did.  Hopper isn’t exhibiting controlling behavior to manipulate her.  It’s because he loves her.

But here’s the thing. His apology and his and El’s recognition of his toxic behavior doesn’t make it okay, and it doesn’t magically make it disappear moving forward. 

The 2 year gap between S2 and S3, I think, gave us a lot of time as a fandom to create the Hopper we wanted in our minds.  A Hopper that moved past his trauma at the end of S2.  A Hopper that didn’t lose his temper anymore because he apologized to El. A temper he can shut off now because the Gate is closed. A Hopper who would patiently wait around for years until Joyce was ready for him and had moved on from Bob.  A Hopper who would be fine with sharing El with Mike because love conquers all. A Hopper viewed through rose-colored glasses.

But this isn’t realistic.  Trauma can often be complex and in Hopper’s case, compartmentalized, making it easy to burst forth at any given moment and often inappropriately so.  It can make you act badly, irrationally. It can be 2 steps forward and 3 steps back. And as an audience, I think a lot of us didn’t expect this to be a part of his storyline in S3.  The expectation was that there would be continuous upward growth from his arc in S2 and when that didn’t happen, it was the subverted expectations that led to the disappointment in how his arc was handled in S3.  But this disappointment doesn’t mean his arc didn’t make sense.

Assertion 3:

The Hopper we see at the end of S2 seems content.  He has El. He has Joyce’s friendship. Things are at peace, the gate is closed. All is well. Or so we think. The Hopper we see at the beginning of S3 is miserable, lonely, sad, fat, and angry. It’s kind of jarring. But so are the circumstances at the beginning of S3.  In S3, there is no longer an active threat. Everyone is starting to move on from the events of S1-S2.  Joyce and El don’t need his protection anymore because there is no active threat.  His hyper-vigilance leads him to almost shooting Betsy Payne’s dog, not shooting inter-dimensional demodogs.  His overprotective/ controlling instincts are no longer useful they’re annoying, over the top, and just plain toxic. 

In short, there are no longer externalities for Hopper to focus on, so all he has to focus on is himself.  And he is not good at doing that, because that means focusing on his fears, insecurities, and imperfections. And the circumstances at the beginning of s3 give him plenty to personally angst about The two major ones:

1) El is growing up. This is normal, of course.  Little girls become teenagers who become adults. But El isn’t a normal girl, and Hopper is not a normal Dad.  El has superpowers, and she is not a kid anymore.  She is a teenager with a boyfriend, she doesn’t need him the same way she used to, and Hopper cannot protect her the way he used to. Hopper lost his daughter when she was ~6 years old and he didn’t get to raise El for the first 12 years of her life. They’ve missed out on so much together.

And here’s the tragic thing: eventually, she will become an adult, and she will no longer need him at all, theoretically.  Hopper isn’t her biological father.  So what ties El to him, other than her need for him to protect her? In his mind, nothing.  In his mind, her growing up means turning 18 and leaving him.  Permanently.  He can’t lose another daughter. That would break him.  So what does he do?  “Try to stop the change.  Turn back the clock.  Make things go back to the way things were.” When she was his little girl he was not in danger of losing her. And because he has trauma, because he is unable to handle his emotions, he takes it out on Mike and Mike/El’s relationship. He takes it out on their closeness. This symbol of her becoming an adult.

2) Joyce is moving away.  Understandable, of course.  Her youngest son was snatched by the Demogorgon and she had to venture into another dimension to bring him back from near death, he was possessed in S2, and her boyfriend was brutally murdered in front of her. I would want out of there, too. But doing so means leaving Hopper behind.  Joyce, the one other constant in his life, who he can talk to about anything, who he relies on for parenting advice for El, who he can trust completely, who is always there for him, who he loves (who perhaps he’s always loved). And she’s leaving him behind.

So he thinks maybe, maybe, if he make her feel safe, if he gives her a reason to stay (him)...that she will.  But she stands him up and she doesn’t just stand him up, it turns out it’s because the threat was back and he not only didn’t realize it but wasn’t able to keep them all safe from it, despite that being his sole driving force.  He had one job.  And he failed.

So, you see, Hopper’s character arc in S3 is about him, and not the externalities in S1-S2.  He cannot hide behind the danger anymore.  He can’t hide behind “feeding, protecting, teaching.”  His flaws and imperfections are on full display and it’s more difficult for us, and Hopper, to sweep them under the rug. They’re amplified by the circumstances and his arc.

Assertion 4:

This is sort of an aside? But something I still wanted to address because I see it come up a lot.  Namely, that Hopper and Joyce’s dynamic in S3 didn’t make sense, was out of character, and/or that Hopper’s behavior was abusive.  I think that this particular point is important to review not only for Hopper but for Joyce as well, who is integral to Hopper’s character arc, and who I think the fandom often handles with kid gloves. Full disclosure, I AM a Jopper shipper, and have been since 1x1.  That being said, I was not bothered by their dynamic in S3 because I think it was an important bridge in the structure of the show as as well as their relationship.

We still at this point in time don’t know what Jopper’s backstory is, although I suspect we are going to finally get that in S4 based on some of the spoilers/casting calls we’ve gotten over the course of the last few months.  What we do know is at the beginning of S1 there is a familiarity between them (she calls him Hop), there are rumors around town that they fucked, and they seem to trust each other on a level that is not shared with other adult characters. 

I hear a lot of people say S2 was “peak Jopper.” Their relationship is pretty stable. They are friends, he goes with her to Hawkins Lab, she relies on him for safety and protection, they are gentle with each other.  It’s nice.  But it’s also not very personal.  Joyce is with Bob.  Hopper doesn’t tell Joyce that he’s been hiding El. They obviously care about each other (and it seems like Hopper has some feelings there) but they hold each other at arm’s length.

This isn’t the case anymore in S3.  In S3, there is no more arm’s length.  They’re co-parenting.  He shows up at Melvald’s at the beginning of 3x1 (reminiscent of Bob appearing at the beginning of 2x1) for advice, which it appears he’s been doing for months. They really have no one else but each other to confide in, which they clearly do a lot.  There are feelings there now on both sides (I don’t subscribe to the theory that Joyce doesn’t reciprocate his feelings, but that is a discussion for another thread.)

These new (old?) feelings interrupted the S2 relationship dynamic. They’re not just comfortable friends anymore reminiscing about high school. Hopper wants to be close to her, but doesn’t quite know how and blunders through attempt after attempt and the more she rejects him the more upset he gets and the worse he handles it.  Joyce is still struggling to move on from Bob and (imo) is confused about her feelings for Hopper because he is a little bit like Bob, a little bit like Lonnie (and yet nothing like either of them at the same time) and I don’t think she quite knows what to do with that except to fight her feelings and hold Hopper at arm’s length.  The end result is bickering and Hopper losing his temper, because neither of them are able to really discuss their feelings for various reasons.

Most significantly, when they’re bickering and when Hopper loses his temper, Joyce is not afraid of Hopper. She is never afraid of him. She holds her own, she argues back, she stands her ground. When he refuses to believe her about the magnets, she steamrolls him into following her to the Lab. When he shouts at her, she shouts back. When he digs at her, she digs back. The problem with characterizing Hopper’s behavior in S3 as abusive is it fails to grasp the intent behind the bickering.  They’re attempting to find a new normal, a new relationship dynamic.  The way people refer to them throughout the season is heavily coded in language that describes a “team” a “couple.” Because despite the bickering they do respect each other and care about each other and in 3x8 they start to come to that realization together.

(My other issue with calling Hopper abusive is that it makes Joyce a victim. And Joyce isn’t a victim.  She’s own her independent entity with needs and wants and desires. After 2 seasons of being “mom,” shoving her into another archetype reliant on another male character’s actions sorta sucks, doesn’t it? I really do not think this what the Duffers were going for here.)

Assertion 5:

Finally, I wanted to touch on the 3 biggest Hopper blunders in S3:

1) Constantly losing his temper. I italicized this further up because I wanted to emphasize the fact that this was not something new in S3.  It’s always been there. In S1 the benzo’s were masking it.  In S2, he was screaming at a 12 year old girl about how she cannot do anything right. It’s unacceptable behavior.  It got worse in S3 because it is also a symptom of a hurting man who is losing control of everything around him.  In S1-S2 attempting to control everything worked, in S3 it didn’t work anymore.

2) Breaking up Mike and El. After nearly a year of it just being El and Hopper, he has to share her with Mike.  Combine this with El growing up and Mike and El’s co-dependent behavior, it’s a recipe for disaster. He tries and fails at a heart to heart and starts shouting and carrying on instead. Slipping into cop mode is easier than Dad mode. It was also the wrong way to handle it.

3) Trying to push Joyce into a date before she was ready. I already touched a bit on this above in #3, but his eagerness to make her stay leads him to try to push her into something she is not ready for. The end result is more misery for him when she fails to show up, and him being a jerk about it for the duration of the season (”You know he reminds me a little bit of a Russian Scott Clarke.”)

Here’s the thing though, he makes these blunders because he’s flawed.  He’s always been flawed. And the combination of his prior trauma, the circumstances leading up to S3, the shift in relationship dynamics between him and Joyce, and the shift of the narrative from externalities to hhis internalities, make S3 very different than S1-S2. And it showed us that Hopper really is more of an anti-hero than a “good guy” and has been this entire time.

And if you wanted him to be the good guy because he had soft moments in S1-S2, S3 was just a set-up for a let-down because Hopper isn’t the good guy. He’s a jerk. And jerks don’t get the girl.  Jerks don’t get happy endings. Jerks die.  Unless they survive, and get a chance at redemption.

Being trapped in a frozen Russian gulag can kill you, or it can make you stronger.  It can make you re-evaluate what you took for granted, how you handled situations, how you interact with those you love, what really matters. And for someone like Hopper, who loves deeply despite his issues, this is the opportunity to turn all of that around and truly start over.  And if you are the Duffer brothers, you want to ying and yang that shit so the yang is that much more noticeable and emotional when it happens. This whole journey for Hopper is just as important as the outcome and as someone who loves his character, I want to be with him for that entire journey, not just the “good” parts.

So I guess, in sum, Hopper is a flawed jerk who loves El and Joyce. Who makes mistakes, but usually has good intentions. Who had a lot of bad shit happen to him. Who made a lot of missteps and mistakes, particularly in S3, but deserves empathy and a chance at redemption. Who should come back a changed man and get the girl and the happy ending. And I think S3 needs to be viewed through this vacuum in order to fully appreciate his character and the arc.

And if you read all the way through this, God Bless you.

#Jim Hopper #Joyce Byers #El Hopper #Stranger Things #Jopper #meta #not sure what else to tag this or if should even be tagging this at all? #anyway thank you for coming to my long winded ted talk #please feel free to discuss and add your thoughts if you so desire

[bigtstreaming]

How to Build an Empire

ello loves, here is the writing i’ve been teasing. it’s not very plot oriented (more of like a summary of certain events if that makes sense. idk just... read it and you’ll see what i mean). it’s just loosely edited because if i stare at something i do too much i will scream <3 also it’s quite long. enjoy:3

Six months and twenty-two days they have been underground or at least that’s what the tallies carved into the wall read. Six months and twenty-two days since they lost everything; everything they built from the ground up. Wilbur could still remember how the cotton of his shirt stuck to him (before he had to cut it up for bandages), as the sun poured down on him while he watched his son tear down everything he created. A few iron picks and a few hours was all it took to destroy everything they had worked for. The fear in Tubbo’s eyes as he received a heavy pat on the back, his new rank already weighing heavy on his shoulders, haunted all of their dreams. Months later, and the ghost of that hand would still be with him. 

Six months and twenty-two days since his feet bled and cried out in pain, running for miles and miles as they were chased with crossbows and swords, their heads wanted on a silver platter just in time for dinner. If he had gotten everything he wanted, he would’ve personally made sure both of their heads were stuck to each end of his horns, displaying his trophies.

Miles on top of miles they ran. Going from biome to biome to escape them, hiding behind logs and camouflaging with the leaves. The panic he felt when he thought he had lost Tommy while trudging through the Taiga was something he never wanted to experience again- how his heart completely dropped into his stomach like a boulder when his ears rang upon hearing his words.

“My first decree as the president of L’manberg, the emperor of this great country, is to revoke the citizenship of Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit.”

But that was six months and twenty-two days ago. Never again did Tommy have to worry about tripping over his laces as he ran through the tunnel of purple wood. He would never get to walk across the wooden path to his hole in the wall home. His rollercoaster would remain out of business, the tracks slowly rusting. Twigs and sticks wouldn’t scrape his legs as he ran to hide from the hunters, Techno breathing heavy as his side. The baby blue color of his eyes had fallen down, just like the country’s walls and the day’s light. The bright eyed kid he used to be was trapped under the impenetrable shell that the hardships of war had created. He banged and cried out underneath to come out, but still it remained with nothing but a scratch on it.

Six months and twenty-two days spent in their new home. Every day they spent doing all they could to survive. It had started as just a room in a hill, hidden away from the naked eye. A banner behind the door to avoid anyone seeing the light that would emit from the furnaces and torches. 

The three of them remembered the first night very clearly. They were curled up in the corner of the square room, the only light coming from out the door- the moon was shining through. Huddled together underneath Techno’s robe they sat in silence, waiting for someone, anyone, to take the risk and speak. The cheeks of Wilbur were dried with tears and Techno’s scattered with dirt. Tommy silently cried and prayed the tears would stop, but they hadn’t. As soon as they ducked in the mountain and his heavy breathing had stopped, the tears had started. He had lost all he had ever known. Not only was the country he helped build being taken over by a dictator disguised as a president, he had lost his best friend to this creature, nay monster. What hurt the most was that it was all his fault- he had pushed to allow him back onto the lands. And here he was, exiled from all he had ever known and stuck in a cave with a depressed ex-president and someone who had just entered, solely to help them. 

“We need to reestablish ourselves.” Wilbur finally spoke, his voice hoarse from dehydration and exhaustion. 

“This is our home now. We have to accept that.” He says again, his dark eyes look over to Techno and Tommy, the only way they could see the pleading look was because of the moon above.

Tommy’s palms swipe away the tears from his cheeks and he gives a small sniffle before deciding to speak.

“How do we do that, Wilbur? I mean all we have is some iron armor and tools, Technoblade, and a skeleton horse that I stole. We lost everything, we even lost Tubbo.” His voice was drenched with despair and hopelessness and went down to a barely audible whisper at the mention of his best friend.

“You've seen me fucking build a nation, Tommy, I'll do it again.” His voice pierced them directly in the chest like the arrows they narrowly escaped from had tried to just hours before. 

They quickly grew out of this room and had to move deeper underground, not only for expansion but for safety. It wasn’t hard to get a layout, for as soon as they started mining they almost immediately hit the ravine. Techno called out to be careful as the stone fell dozens of blocks down, only then did he realize it was safe when he heard the splash of the rock in water. 

And so this is where they would be forced to stay, hundreds of blocks below ground. They stayed at the top of the ravine, gathering the easily accessible iron and coal, gathering around the furnace for warmth while they sat on the cold stone. For a while the biggest debate was whether or not to use their uniform jackets as pillows or blankets for the night. Empty stomachs were common and the taste of rotten flesh was something that was acquired. 

The food status was what almost broke them. Days on end their stomachs whined and groaned at the lack of subsistence, and curling in disgust when their cries were listened to- only to be met with the rancid taste of rotten flesh. Occasionally they’d crack out one of the carrots they smuggled, but those were low and they had to preserve them as long as they could, especially if they had hoped to somehow regrow them. 

Techno still recalls the way he fell to his knees in tears when he found a minecart. He tore open the chest with such force and what was in it made him yelp out in joy- melons. Three melons sat in the chest. Screw the saddle and diamond, three melons just sitting there, untouched and uneaten. Suddenly the fatigue he had felt for the last week had disappeared, and he swept everything from the chest in one foul swoop before sprinting back to his two partners in crime. 

His always steady hands haven’t stopped shaking since he ran at Tommy’s side in the middle of the woods, away from a man in full netherite and an enchanted crossbow. His head, always held up straight and strong on his head, dangled down, its eyes always on the lookout. It was a new experience for him, to live in constant terror and to be taken off the throne he was so used to living on. Kicked down onto his knees with tears welled up in his eyes, the once fearless leader had to accept what he had become; he had become a man of fear, consumed by it’s slick, fingers, carrying his around like a puppet on strings

Three melons, enough for each of them to all have one. Techno thought that the sweet and juicy taste was only a dream that his tongue had handcrafted for him to escape the acerbic and sharp taste of the flesh. But as he held the slices in his hand, he had realized that his tongue had not mistaken him because his eyes were staring right at the pink flesh. His fingertips could feel how smooth the green rind was. So, they sat in silence and slowly ate the watermelon, the slight sweetness was enough to melt them. One by one they took methodical bites, trying their best to make it last as long as possible. Although there wasn’t a lot of flavor, compared to the previous meal of undead meat, this was five stars. Wilbur swatted Tommy as he saw the boy take quick small nibbles.

“If you eat it too fast you’ll get sick, that’s the last thing we need.” He looked at the boy and his sunken cheeks that the malnourishment has caused and his heart began to crack. His skin, already pale, had gotten even lighter from the lack of sun. The darkness that took over his eyes made him seem dead. He looked as if he was going to shed his skin and become one of the skeletons they had to avoid in the cave. As much as he wanted to flick Tommy and poke jabs at the boy, he was just a kid, just a kid who didn’t deserve to be living like this. None of them deserved it, but to watch his young spirit and commitment to L’Manberg slowly fade and betray him, it made him ache. 

Techno was the one who proposed a farm. However, a farm meant going deeper into the ravine, something that was a scary unknown. They needed the water source for the watermelon seeds, and Techno calculated that with how many zombies they had killed, they should be getting a potato from them any time soon. The carrots they had smuggled when first exiled were close to becoming completely moldy and un-replantable. 

It was a tedious and daunting task getting deeper into the ravine. As much as they knew that there was water below them, they couldn’t be sure how deep the water was or what could be lurking beneath the surface. Carefully Wilbur mined while Techno was behind him, sword in hand, ready to attack anything that might come out. Tommy carried the caboose, trying his damndest to not let his hands shake their only light source around too much. 

And their system worked, Wilbur mined, Techno guarded, and Tommy reminded them that despite each other being all they had, punting the kid down into the water didn’t seem like such a bad idea. It was a long process to get down, it took them a couple nights. The sweet taste of the watermelon was only enough to keep them in high spirits for a couple days, until the small seeds in their pockets just began a constant taunt and tease of what they would only ever have once. 

But as they had done once before, they had done again and Pogtopia was becoming a reality. Carrots and watermelon seeds were sowed into the ground, small green tips peeking out of the ground and instead of everything being in overflowing, disorganized chests, their supplies were relocated to a naturally occurring, carved out cover perfect for lots of organized chests. When a couple days had gone by with absolutely no food, because none of the fruit or vegetables were ready for harvest and no rotten flesh was to be found or gathered, Techno and Wilbur had decided to brave the outside world to gather seeds and prayed that there would be some fish in the nearby sea. 

They snuck out in the pitch black night, the few stars above were the only light they had. Carefully they trudged through the terrain, quietly they broke random pieces of grass, cautious to avoid leaving a large dry spot to avoid detection. Armed with nothing but fishing poles and iron swords, they tip toed until their sore feet sunk into the grainy land and they could smell the saltwater. Tommy, alone in the cave, curled up in the pile of grass and closed his eyes. He was so hungry and sore and tired. Never in his life had he ever experienced these feelings at such an intensity, and it was getting to him. There wasn’t a day where he didn’t miss the banters with Tubbo or the nights spent sharing a steak while they planned for the future of L’manberg. How foolish he was to think that could last he thought. He tried not to beat himself up over it, for he was just a child, but he had taken this larger than life role, and he should've known. 

Wilbur carefully swung the pole and it’s tip landed in the water with a slight plop. He sat there and waited for anything to take a bite, whether a minnow or a giant tuna, he was desperate. Techno’s eyes scanned all the terrain around him, keeping watch that no one was near while Tubbo’s eyes kept darting all around the wooden room. From Niki, to the windows, to the door, to the fabric, and back to Niki, they couldn’t stay in one place for long. The oak wood walls almost felt like they were closing in on him, but he knew they weren’t because every time he had come back here he had felt the same claustrophobic feeling and every time he left, still being able to breathe. His leg bounced and Niki noticed.

“If you keep acting so on edge, Schlatt’s going to notice.” Her hands moved delicately as she weaved a needle with thread in and out of the fabric before she finished the last of the stitches. She carefully folded the last creation and added it to the bag with the other two. 

Three wool blankets, colored pink, blue, and red. As soon as she heard that they were underground, Niki knew she had to give them some sort of comfort item, knowing how cold it can get when you’re below the surface. When Tubbo had told her he was in cahoots with them, she was worried what would not only happen to them, but to Tubbo. If Schlatt finds out...she didn’t even want to think about what could happen, knowing what he was capable of. 

So she worked in silence alongside Tubbo. He would go over and drop off supplies, such as bread or wood when they ran low. Niki would help provide these along with an alibi for Tubbo because if one were to ask he had taken a sudden interest in baking and working for her at the bakery. 

“I can’t help it.” Tubbo takes the bag from Niki and is about to run out before he’s stopped. 

“Here, give them this as well.” She hands him a tin box of bread and multiple chops of mutton wrapped in paper and tied with twine that was itself tied to be a bow.

“Thank you, Niki.” He shoved them into the bag and left the bakery, careful to sneak out the back exit. 

He ran. He ran because his life depended on it. He ran because the livelihood of three people he cared about most in the world depended on it. He ignored the sweet berries that scratched his legs and the twig in his shoe that every time he moved painfully stabbed his foot. He ignored how his lungs burned, begging for a break and while he knew he didn’t have to run- Schlatt was out of town after all- but for an operation of nothing but risks, he didn’t want to jeopardize himself now.

He ran because he hoped his feet would spell out an apology and write a letter of forgiveness. Not only for his friends, but for himself- he never slept alone for the ghosts of guilt and depression lay by his side. They whispered to him all their disappointments and taunted him while he prayed for sleep to overcome him. Every day he got up and these ghosts put on the black suit and patent leather shoes. And every morning, they shined his shoes and adjusted the red tie, his eyes would be glued to the white shirt with yellow buttons in the back of his closet; the blue jacket with brown shoulder pads calling his name. 

But he had no time to reflect on all that went wrong, he had to focus on where he was going and what he was going to tell the three exiles. He and Schlatt had been gone for a couple months away on business, and he had not been able to warn them of his leaving before he was whisked away. Right at his return he decided to tell Niki. She was glad that they were safe, but her heart yearned for their safety. Schlatt had another business trip and had wanted to take Tubbo with him again, but Tubbo was able to safely weasel his way out of it.

That’s how he ended up out of breath and knocking three times on a wooden door hidden in a mountain, pausing before knocking four times. He adjusted the cloth bag on his shoulder and his eyes darted around him once more. Nothing but trees surrounded the small home in a mountain, they were miles and miles away from any civilization. The river where they’d sneak out to fish at night was quiet, only the slight movement of the water traveling north could be heard alongside the rustle of the leaves in the trees around. The area was lifeless other than the shrubbery, not even a chicken ran by. If he didn’t face the possibility of death from standing where he was, he would’ve found it to be quite peaceful.

He almost jumped upon hearing the door open but was met with the eyes of the man he hadn’t seen him months. They had the same dullness to them that they had the first time Tubbo saw them after they ran. The fear they originally held upon hearing the exile announcement had vanished, for he had now done all he could to come to terms with it. Wilbur’s hair was already quite long and shaggy, but it was now tenfold that. The messy curls were past his ears and he had done his best to tie back what he could with string, but the unruly strands had other plans. He donned the same white cotton shirt with yellow buttons as he had before along with the blue jacket with brown shoulder pads, but Tubbo could see that the once pristine shirt had it’s sleeves torn off and the once pristine white color was now shades darker. 

And he felt bad. Standing there with a freshly ironed suit and shoes so shiny you could see the helpless man’s reflection in it. They could’ve stood there for hours, staring at each other in silence, but Wilbur grabbed his arm and pulled him before closing the door and putting the banner back over it. 

The small room was practically the same as it was the first time Tubbo had seen it. But now instead of furnaces covering one wall and disorganized chests, only one double chest and a crafting table were placed. The makeshift bed made from grass, tied together with string, was no longer there. A single torch sat on the crafting table, just barely lighting up the room. What stood out to the boy in the suit was the two by one doorway with a staircase leading down. He tried not to let his attention stay at the entrance, but it was hard when he wondered what they could possibly have down there. 

Wilbur looked at the small boy and held back a giggle. He remembers laughing at how he looked in the revolutionary uniform, like a child wanting to dress up as his hero. While seeing him in the clearly custom tailored suit should’ve terrified the outlaw, it reminded him of that time, a time where . He was just a child who had gotten into his father’s wardrobe, he told himself. But deep down he knew the power he held and the danger he was in, suit and all. The menacing laugh the dictator would give out as he held his head up to the audience, instilling fear into any who ever doubted what lengths he’d go to make sure no one betrayed him.

Instead he pulled the boy into a hug, his head resting on top of him- he could smell the clean scent of the shampoo he used and the nose curling cologne he adopted from his leader. Tubbo’s face was planted directly into his chest and he held back a gag at the foul scent of him. They missed each other because as much as he was self declared at Tommy’s Tubbo and as much as Schlatt declared that Tubbo was now his, he was their Tubbo. The boy who wanted nothing more than to create something with his friends.

Wilbur didn’t want to think about how long he embraced the boy. He missed him with every fiber of his being and wanted to apologize for everything he ever said about him, but he just couldn’t find the words. Instead he let go and directed him down the stairs to the place where the three villains had poured their new hearts and souls into for the last few months. Carefully they navigated the spiral cobble steps before reaching the end. 

Tubbo’s eyes widened upon seeing the ravine, stopped in his tracks at the end of the windy staircase. The ravine was thin but seemed as tall as a skyscraper. Vines grew down from the ceiling, some with glowberries, so that those on the ground floor who looked up felt like they were stargazing. The green of the vines were the only semblance of color other than the yellow glow from the torches haphazardly placed.

The bottom was just water with lily pads scattered on the surface and thin paths of cobble and stone were at the edges of the water. Stacks of cobble and other stones were piled in corners and against walls, pebbles occasionally rolling down into the stream, creating small ripples in the otherwise motionless water. Alongside these mounds were boxes filled with all kinds of monster loot, from gunpowder to bones, they had it all.

Up above him, empty, rickety bridges swung back and forth, the structures only being held together with wood slabs and string. Their brown color contrasting the murky green strings surrounding them. From where he was standing he could see multiple entrances to different sections of the cave. 

Tubbo adjusted the bag on his shoulders, the bundles of wood were heavy on this shoulder. Wilbur was doing his best to be patient, but he drooled because he could still smell the freshly baked bread and his stomach grumbled, his nose knowing that the boy also held some mutton with him. For far too long they ate the tasteless carrots and potatoes; sometimes they’d have flavorless fish when two of the boys braved the open world at nighttime. The watermelons had just recently been ripe enough to harvest, and they savored the taste like they did that first night, but there wasn’t enough sustenance in the fruit to only eat that. 

Wilbur led him to the kitchen and dining, making sure Tubbo was careful to trip and fall into the water. His eyes couldn’t focus on just one thing, they darted all around the base. He could see glimpses of chests and barrels, the reflection of shiny iron swords would catch his attention before dulling back down. Smoke from furnaces and torches twirled up to the roof and collected at the top. The same wall that had the windy staircase was also covered in scratched in tallies, hundreds of them lined the wall.

The kitchen and dining was a naturally carved out cove filled with the warm lighting that was in every ‘room’ of the cave. It was the warmest area in the whole place, other than the smelting room which truth be told just got uncomfortably and unbearably hot. Hand crafted, poorly made cupboards and countertops lined the opposing uneven stone walls. In the corner there was an uneven wooden table and matching uneven wood chairs to accompany it. Tubbo instantly plopped the heavy bag on the table and panicked when the table began to tip. 

“You have to be careful.” Wilbur darts over to stop the tragedy, carefully maneuvering the bag so that it sat on the table in such a way to not disturb the warped sense of gravity it had. 

Tubbo peaked behind Wilbur to see across from where they were, he could see a room with deep amber chests and chestnut barrels that held all the supplies they had accumulated. He watched as Tommy emerged from somewhere above the storage room and effortlessly scaled down a set of ladders to shove some cobble in a chest that he had to use all of his strength to get shut. Behind him he could hear the clink of the bread tin and the ruffling of the wrapped mutton as the older man moved the meat into the ice box. Wilbur was about to ask Tubbo just where he managed to find bedding, but Tommy’s booming voice interrupted. 

“Tubbo!” He looks across from where he had just stuffed cobble to see the small boy in clothes meant for people three times his age.

“Tommy!”

 Their eyes lock and big grins overtake their faces. Quickly he drops his pickaxe and hops across the lily pads before flopping onto the stone in front of his best friend.

Before they had time to blink, they were engulfed in a giant hug, and Tommy smelt worse than the man before had, but it was something Tubbo just chose to look over. His blond hair too had grown out of control, but unlike Wilbur he didn’t make an attempt to tie it back. His once long and beige trousers were now muddied shorts, the torn fabric could be seen fastened around his calf, a red spot peeking through. But what stuck out to him the most was that the dark eyes he so clearly remembers seeing in the days after the exile, were slowly regaining their once bright glow. Now flecks of the light blue were sprinkled around his irises. 

Tommy led the newcomer around and Tubbo’s eyes widened upon every new thing he was shown. Never had he seen such innovation and never did he think Tommy or Wilbur could achieve such a thing. It wasn’t their first time building an empire, sure, but it was their first time truly creating something that went beyond what everyone had thought they were capable of. 

He was shown most of the base, first being a room filled with an automatic smelting machine, minecarts clunking back and forth as they picked up what resources the furnaces dropped. Coal dust coated the ground and every other surface in the room, all the smoke making it difficult for Tubbo to breathe, coughing as soon as he took a breath in the room.

“I wish I could say you get used to all that, but you really don’t.” He grabbed his friend’s arm and kept going on the tour. 

Tommy quickly skipped past the sleeping quarters, more embarrassed than anything to show him the small room with three grass and hay beds, all squeezed next to each other. While the torch in the room provided some heat, they had to sleep close because the stone walls held no warmth, especially in the winter times. Techno’s cloak lay across all the beds as a makeshift duvet. 

What really took the boy’s breath away was the longest branch from the main ravine, where if you stuck to the path it led you to a small pond surrounded by lush underground greenery. A small spurt of water would trickle into the pond, adding to the ambiance. Two giant spore blossoms were there on opposing sides, the light yellow particles seemed like glitter falling to the sky, only complimenting the star appearance of the glow berries hanging from vines. String was woven above the pond, where miscellaneous clothing items hung to dry after an attempt was made to wash them. Azalea bushes lined the back wall of the pond where the water flowed out of, some of its petals falling into the light blue water. Tommy explains how this is where they do the washing, going on about how they want to designate certain water sources for certain things, or something of that nature. 

“The dripleaf plant is a killer, we always forget that if you stand on it too long you begin to fall.” He pauses. “Okay, well I forget. Techno and Wilbur are good about remembering it.”

This wasn’t just a base or a home or a means of survival, it was an entire operation. Tubbo didn’t need to be shown the dozens of secret tunnels and rooms (not that he would be shown them anyway) to know that they existed. He knew that every plan had at least three more backups, and backups for the backups. This had gone beyond presidency and exile- everyone knew that. The second Jschlatt had taken the mic and spit out his rules, policies, and decrees, everything that everyone was fighting for had changed.

Life inside Manberg had shifted, the tensions so high a spoon would cut it too easily. Everywhere you went you felt like eyes were watching you. Eret would watch how Tubbo would jump at the drop of a pin or Fundy would notice how Niki made more bread than usual. HBomb would hear the pitter patter of feet run by and see the flash of brown hair run by, but chose to ignore it. Skeppy closed his blinds whenever he saw the young boy begin to climb a tree to get a jar of honey. But Schlatt was oblivious to these clues, while he kept an eye on Quackity and Tubbo, he wasn’t able to notice these subtle shifts. He knew Tubbo was an oddball, but didn’t realize that his leg bounced because he worried that he had brought too little bread last weekend. Or that he refused to wear shorts that one week when it was so hot it was insufferable to do anything because his legs were so cut up from falling into a bushel of sweet berries. And Quackity spent too much of his time glued to Schaltt that he wouldn’t have had the freetime to pay attention to these things. 

But as Tubbo and Tommy arrived back to the dining, tin cups of water and plates of bread on the shaky table, he felt lighter. Techno braided his hair while Wilbur spoke of something they had not been caught up on yet, grabbing butter out of the ice box. Tommy ran past Tubbo and hopped onto a chair in the back of the table (almost knocking it over) to grab a slice of unbuttered bread, Techno abandoning his task for a second to hold down the table so that the boy didn’t ruin their meal.

The cleanly dressed man had just taken a seat at the table when he realized why he had felt lighter, and wondered how it couldn’t have caught it sooner. A sense of home, safety is what he felt when he entered past the staircase. Above ground, he was a criminal betraying his leader and country, all eyes on him as he snuck around. But below ground, all those things stayed above him, something above ground Tubbo would have to deal with; he figured the ghosts could help him carry that feeling back to the base for him. Right now all he wanted to do, was tell his friends how to survive and dethrone Schlatt.

#i am rlly scared to put this out lol #tubbo #tubbolive #tommyinnit #technoblade #wilbur soot #dream smp #mcyt #writing #pogotpia #l'manberg #mcyt writing #dream smp war #harlot writes #let me know if this should go on ao3? idk im not super familiar with the site so that's why it's going here first hehe

[vincentmacmillan]

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[officialleehadan]

Boats and Salt Wind

Hello darlings! Alas, the smoke is blowing back in, but I almost don’t mind, because now everything smells like falling leaves and woodstoves.

Today’s story is for Jennifer. Thank you so much, darling. I look forward to every one of your comments!

Prompt: HGE – Riptide

+++

The next afternoon, Tony drove Evan and his bike into town. He was on his way to see their science team with the footage from their failed dive. The team had watched it first thing in the morning and Evan had been astonished at how bad the cave-in really was. From where Tony had been, it did look like Evan had been directly under the cascade of immense rocks.

He could hardly blame his friends for thinking that was the end of him. If he had seen it from their side, he would have thought the same thing.

When they reached the lab, Evan poked his head in for a brief chat and a relieved hug from Erik before he pulled his bike from the back of their van and started on his way down to the water.

Evan was happy to meet Eione and Anita at the dock. He had thrown on his swimsuit, and his towel and snorkel gear were in a sack over one shoulder. In one hand he had a jug of fresh water to rinse off with if he got in the water. If they had time, he wanted to take a quick look and see if he could find any of his lost equipment. He wouldn’t be able to retrieve any of it most likely, but he could come back with his scuba gear if he did find anything.

Anita’s boat was named the Sea Urchin. It was a mid-sized white and blue motorboat with a center console shaded by a plastic top overhead. By the time he got there, Eione and Anita were already onboard and ready to go. Evan climbed on board to join the two women.

“Morning,” he said cheerfully with a wave for Anita at the helm. She smiled back at him from where she stood, balanced lightly by one of the railings. He couldn’t help giving Eione an appreciative second glance. She was in a soft sea-green dress that fell just above her knees, and he was amused to note that her feet were bare.

“Morning!” Anita called back to him as she shoved them away from the dock with one good push. “You all good to go?”

“All ready, Ma’am,” he answered confidently. “Got my gear. I’m set.”

“Great! Help Eione cast us off, will you? I’ll get us out of here.” She fired up the engine and carefully pulled the boat away from the pier as soon as the mooring line was loose. Evan helped Eione pull up the bright fenders that protected the side of the boat and tucked them away in one of the benches before putting his bag into the other compartment to keep it out of their way. “Hold on, I don’t drive like a lady.”

As soon as they cleared the mouth of the harbor, Anita cranked the engine and headed up the coastline towards where they had found him. Anita seemed to know where they were going, so he sat back and trusted her to get them there.

The breeze was refreshing after the muggy heat of the island and Evan closed his eyes to enjoy it. Most places had air conditioning, Chris’s house included, but the walk to the dock from where Tony had dropped him off had left him sweating.

The warmth was nice; he just wasn’t used to it after months up north. Hopefully in another week or two it wouldn’t be so bad. It was more than a year since he had last worked somewhere tropical.

He opened his eyes and came over to Eione. She turned to look at him and scooted over until he could sit on the white plastic bench beside her.

“You have a good morning?” he asked her, getting a shy smile in return. “I didn’t have time to stop for pastries, or I would have brought tribute.”

“I always eat while I’m out in the mornings, but thank you for the thought, and it is a very fine morning,” she told him, raising a hand absently to push her hair out of her face. “Are you feeling ready to go back into the water?”

“Excited,” Evan laughed. “I knew the risks when I went down there, and I went in anyway. I love it too much to give it up because of one accident.”

“The current can rip out of that cave when the tide shifts or a storm is rolling in,” Eione told him with a shrug told him, and looked out over the water. “I’ve seen it so strong that I can’t swim against it. It might have been enough to draw you out.”

“Entrance must be pretty narrow to make a current like that in these waters,” he said curiously, wondering if she had actually been the one to help him onto shore. That was starting to look like a stronger possibility than he had thought. “Do you swim there often?”

“It’s a long way for me, but I try to go once a week or so. The lobsters like the coral cover there,” she explained. It wasn’t far from the edge of the boat to the water, and Eione bent to trail her fingers in the water. A wistful smile came to her lips. Evan could see how much she wanted to go for a swim. “There are shells there, too, sometimes, and coral for selling at the market,” she added after another moment of thought.

That made sense, he supposed. Anita said Eione had already been out that day and he knew she worked with Search and Rescue. Maybe she had just seen him get washed out of the cave and dragged him up on the beach.

“I saw your booth. Pretty impressive,” he told her. The pearls she was selling at the market had to be a huge draw for the tourists. If she found them all herself, it was even more impressive. She had a good selection.

“I collect whatever I can off the beaches and I keep my eyes open when I’m out swimming.”

“You go out every day?”

“When the weather is clear. Storms blow up so quickly in summer and the water gets treacherous long before the storm makes landfall.”

“That’s right, summer’s starting here,” Evan said thoughtfully. “I’ll have to talk with my boss and see what he wants to do if a storm blows in while we’re in one of the holes. Don’t want to get stranded.”

“I suppose that could be a real problem,” Eione agreed softly. There was something in her sea-blue eyes that might be worry, but somehow, Evan didn’t think it was for him. “The summer storms can be very fierce.”

They fell into a comfortable silence, and he tried to keep from staring at her too obviously. She really was pretty. Her skin was lighter than some of the other locals, including Anita. Maybe she was rarely out in the sun, and spent the rest of her time under the cover of her booth at the market. Maybe her family wasn’t from the Bahamas originally. She looked like she might have a Greek ancestor or two.

Eione excused herself quietly after a few minutes and went to stand next to Anita. She seemed to be guiding the older woman around something. What, Evan couldn’t imagine. The water around them was free of reefs as far as he could see.

He had to admit, though, Eione seemed to know these waters better than anyone. She would have to, he supposed. Free-diving was tricky business and she did it for a living.

This was the first time he had been offshore in a boat since he had arrived in the Bahamas, not counting his rescue by Anita two days ago. From where they were, he could see a wide stretch of the coastline.

Andros Island was the biggest of any of the Bahamian Islands, but its population was one of the smallest, barely cracking eight thousand residents.

Fortunately for scientists like Erik, the blue holes preserved that dotted the island preserved the bones beautifully. Better even than the tar pit or the marshes in Europe. They were a goldmine for anyone who wanted to study the history of the islands.

Never mind that it was dangerous for divers to go get the bones and bring them back topside, the things they learned from those fossils were amazing. What they learned from the animal bones was better, and even the stalactites deep in the caves answered questions about the past.

Evan liked to see how excited the archaeologists got when he and his team brought up a set of bones, but if he was honest, he wasn’t a diver so he could do that kind of work. It was all about going where no one had ever been, and only a rare few would ever go.

Down in the caves where there wasn’t anything to think about except the dive, he couldn’t get distracted and didn’t want to be. The quiet and the pressure of the water was meditative, and he always came back up with his heart pounding, more alive than any other time in his life.

The others on his team felt the same way. There were a lot of reasons they worked so well together, and that was one of them. They all knew about the quiet down in the black, even if they never talked about it.

Evan was shaken out of his thoughts when the boat started to slow, and finally came to a stop.

“The mouth of the cave is under that ledge of the reef,” Eione pointed, drawing their attention to a large, brightly colored reef. “You can’t tell from here, but the water is deeper than it looks there, and the cave under is deeper still.”

Evan leaned over the rail and thought he could see the mouth of the cave she was talking about.

At first glance it wasn’t a big opening, but as he looked closer, he realized the cave actually cut under a wide stretch of coral, the entrance bigger than the boat they stood in.

The water faded from the palest crystal blue to the deep sapphire he recognized from his other dives and he wondered how deep the cave actually was. Eione nodded over to a gap in the coral. “Just on the other side of that reef, you can see all the way down. The floor is visible, though it’s very hazy from the surface.”

Evan straightened and looked over at Anita. “Is it okay if I take a quick look?” he asked hopefully. “All I have is snorkel gear, but I should be able to see if there���s anything at the bottom.”

“Get,” Anita said and flapped a hand at him. She reached over to drop the anchor and leaned against the railing. “We’ll watch the boat. I doubt Eione brought a suit and I sure didn’t.”

Eione blushed and shook her head. “I didn’t think to.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Evan said as he pulled out his gear and got it on. “Another time maybe?”

At her slow nod, he threw her a grin before slipping down into the cool water and swimming for the entrance to the cave.

+++

HGE - Riptide

Evan Ross survived what no one before him ever has, and now he’s on the hunt for answers. His only clue is a single word that echoed through the water of a flooded cave.

Breathe.

Under Stone

White Sand Sky

The Hint of Answers

Drift to Home

+++

More Stories!

+++

[whatnotmemes]

--------------------NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS ‘MURDER BALLADS’ SENTENCE STARTERS content warning for violence, murder, language, etc. change as needed.

SONG OF JOY “Allow me to impose on you. I have no place to stay.” “I had no idea what happiness a little love could bring.” “All things move towards their end.” “She grew so sad and lonely.” “Ah, I see sir, that I have your attention!” “How often have I asked that question?” “They were quiet as a mouse. There was no laughter in the house.” “She'd been stabbed repeatedly and stuffed into a sleeping bag.” “Someone's taken four innocent lives.” “They never caught the man. He's still on the loose. It seems he has done many, many more.” “The wind round here gets wicked cold.” “I've left my home. I drift from land to land.” “Do you reckon me a friend?”

STAGGER LEE “Never ever come back no more, ____.” “Mr Motherfucker, you know who I am?” “I don't give a good goddamn.” “I've heard your name down the way and I kick motherfucking asses like you every day.” “Those were the last words that the barkeep said ‘cause ____ put four holes in his motherfucking head.” “Just count the holes in the motherfucker’s head!” “You ain't look like you scored in quite a time.” “You'll have to be gone before my man ____ comes in.” “You better get down on your knees.”

HENRY LEE “Stay all night with me.” “You won't find a girl in this damn world that will compare with me.” “The wind did howl and the wind did blow.” “The girl I have in that merry green land, I love far better than thee.” “With a little pen-knife held in her hand, she plugged him through and through.” “Come take him by his feet.” “Throw him in this deep, deep well.” “Lie there, ____, till the flesh drops from your bones.” “The girl you have in that merry green land can wait forever for you to come home.”

LOVELY CREATURE “There she stands, this lovely creature.” "I asked would she walk with me a while.” “I’ll walk with you a while.” “At night the deserts writhed with diabolical things.” “The wind lashed and it whipped me.” “When I got home, my creature was no longer with me.” “Somewhere she lies, this lovely creature, beneath the slow drifting sands.”

WHERE THE WILD ROSES GROW “They call me ____ but my name is ____.” “Why they call me it, I do not know.” “From the first day I saw her, I knew she was the one.” “Her lips were the color of the roses that grew down the river, all bloody and wild.” “My trembling subsided in his sure embrace.” “He wiped at the tears that ran down my face.” “She was more beautiful than any woman I've seen.” “Do you know where the wild roses grow?” “Give me your loss and your sorrow.” “The last thing I heard was a muttered word as he knelt above me with a rock in his fist.” “All beauty must die.”

THE CURSE OF MILLHAVEN “I live in a town called ____ and it's small and it's mean and it's cold.” “If you come around just as the sun goes down, you can watch the whole thing turn to gold.” “It's around about then that I used to go a-roaming.” “All God's children, they all gotta die.” “My mama often told me that we all got to die.” “They found him the next week up in One Mile Creek.” “We all had to watch as he buried her.” “Our little town fell into a state of shock.” “A lot of people were saying things that made little sense.” “Foul play can really get a small town going.” “Twenty cops burst through my door without even phoning.” “I've struck horror in the heart of this town.” “Since I was no bigger than a weevil, they've been saying I was evil.” “I'm a wicked young lady, but I've been trying hard lately.” “Aw, fuck it, I'm a monster, I admit it!” “They're underneath the house where I do quite a bit of stowing.” “That was the biggest shit-fight this country's ever seen.” “I was laughing when they took me away.” “It ain't such a bad old place to have a home in.” “There's so much more I could have done if they'd let me!" “I'm happy as a lark now, and everything is fine.”

THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS “They found Mary Bellows cuffed to the bed with a rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head.” “She'd grown up hungry, she'd grown up poor.” “She wanted to see the deep blue sea.” “She checked into a cheap little place.” “I’m a good girl, sir. I couldn’t possibly permit you in.” “In hope and loneliness she crossed the floor, and undid the latch on her front door.” “Mothers, keep your girls at home.” “Tell them this world is full of danger and to shun the company of strangers.”

CROW JANE “Horrors in her head that her tongue dare not name.” “She lives alone by the river.” “The company closed down the mine.” “Seems you’ve remembered how to sleep.” “I asked that girl which road she was taking. Said she was walking the road of hate.” “They've followed you right back to your gate.”

O’MALLEY’S BAR “I've been known to be quite handsome in a certain angle and in certain light.” “You wouldn’t be the first.” “My hand decided that the time was nigh.” “When I shot him, I was so handsome.” “I bear no grudge against you.” “I am the man for which no God waits but for which the whole world yearns.” “I'm marked by darkness and by blood and by a thousand powder-burns.” “You know those fish with the swollen lips that clean the ocean floor?” “Amongst the townfolk she was a bit of a joke but she pulled the best beer in town.” “I shot that motherfucker down.” “I have no free will!” “If I have no free will then how can I be morally culpable, I wonder.” “I've lived in this town for thirty years- to no one I am a stranger.” “I want to introduce myself and I am glad that all you came.” “I leapt upon the bar and then I shouted out my name.” “With an ashtray as big as a fucking really big brick, I split his skull in half.” “The light in there was blinding full of God and ghosts of truth.” “The remorse I felt, remorse I had, it clung to everything.” “Did you know I lived in your street?” “Drop your weapons and come out with your hands held in the air.” “I had one long hard think about dying.” “There must have been fifty cops out there.”

DEATH IS NOT THE END “When you’re sad and when you’re lonely and you haven’t got a friend, just remember that death is not the end.” “Remember that death is not the end.” “When you’re standing at the crossroads that you cannot comprehend, just remember that death is not the end.” “The bright light of salvation shines in dark and empty skies.” “When the cities are on fire with the burning flesh of men, just remember that death is not the end.”

#rp meme #ask meme #music meme #music rp #angst rp #angst meme #horror meme #horror rp #writing prompt #rp prompts #roleplay prompts #drabble prompts #nick cave meme #halloween meme #roleplay meme #roleplay

[risottoeater]

A Cavern, Unknown: A Short Story, by me

The three of us stood outside of the entrance to the cave. It was not an unusual one; in fact, it seemed quite unremarkable compared to some of the other ones that I had explored. In fact, the most interesting thing about this cave was that it had apparently never been explored before. A group of hikers had found it, and since we’re the only spelunking group in the area, we were asked to explore and map it.

           I’ll admit, I was almost dreading going into the cave. Sure, I’ve explored my fair share of caves in my time, but I always knew that other people had been there first. But this time was different. We would be those other people this time. Only a small group of people even knew this place existed, let alone that we were here. I glanced at my team members. I could tell they felt it too, even if they refused to admit it.

           After what seemed like forever, Mulloy, our team captain, broke the silence.

           “So… Let’s get started, shall we?”

           “Oh, yeah, we should get going.” I said, startled out of my reverie. I took a look at him. Mulloy was taller than me, with hair shaven close to his head, and a kind face. I didn’t know the guy too well, as I had only been on one other expedition with him, but there was something about his demeanor that made me trust him.

           I glanced over at the third of our party, Jones. I had never spoken to him before this trip, and I couldn’t get a read on his character from just looking at him. He was scrawny, almost a head shorter than me, and had long dark hair tied into a knot at the back of his head. I gave him a nod, and he returned it.

           After a quick moment of silence, we entered the cave’s mouth and began our descent, stopping every so often to keep notes on the [structure] of the cave. It was a rather unremarkable cave, with nothing particularly interesting to see. After a while, Jones broke the silence with a question.

           “Do you guys remember how this cave was even discovered in the first place?”

           “A group of hikers found it, and they noticed it wasn’t on any of their maps, so they decided to report it,” Mulloy replied.

           “Oh, okay.” Jones briefly thought about this. “This area gets a lot of hikers, so why wasn’t it discovered years ago?”

           “This trail was closed because there was some erosion. I think that was how it got exposed. Right, Baker?”

           “Yeah, I think so.” I said, a bit startled on hearing Mulloy address me – I had been focusing on the path directly in front of me.

           I took a look around us. The tunnel we had been traveling through, a fairly wide one, had been gradually getting narrower and narrower. At this point, it was just barely able to fit the three of us side-by-side.

           After another few minutes of walking, we came across a steep, narrow tunnel. I peered down into it. I couldn’t fully make out what was at the end, but I suspected that lead to some sort of large cavern. The tunnel was very thin – I was not looking forward to squeezing my way through it. I looked around the area for any other passages we could go through, but no luck.

           “Are we really going to be going through that?” Jones asked nervously.

           “I suppose. I’d rather not as well, but it seems to be the only way we can go,” I answered. “Besides, I want to know what it leads to. Looks like a pretty big area down there.”

           We set up a line to ensure that we’d be able to rescue each other in case something went awry. It took a few minutes, but we managed to get it stable enough to support us. I gave the line a few last tugs, and then turned to the others.

           Before I could say a word, Jones piped up. “I’ll go first. I’m the smallest.”

           “Sounds good.”

           He put his harness on, fastening it tight about him. “Well, this is it. Wish me luck, boys.” Going feet-first, Jones entered the tunnel. Mulloy and I waited breathlessly for a couple of minutes. Thoughts raced in my mind as I watched him go further and further down the tunnel.

           “Okay, looks like this is it!” Jones called out from below. “Whoa, there’s some really weird stuff down here. Y’all have to see it.”

           “What do you mean?”

           “I- Just come down here and see it!”

           “Okay…”

           We decided that Mulloy should go next, since he is the biggest of all of us, and the most likely to get stuck. Watching him descend was somehow even more nerve-wracking than watching Jones. But there was no cause to worry, as he got down without incident.

           I started down the tunnel, feeling very anxious. There wouldn’t be an incident, I knew, but knowing that there was no one above me to get me out of a sticky situation was terrifying. But once again, nothing happened, and I was able to reach the bottom safely.

           I stepped into the large, open cavern. As I stood and looked around, I noticed that it was devoid of stalactites and stalagmites, much like every other chamber in this cave system. Weirdly, there seemed to be machinery lining the walls of the cavern. The pipes and gears and cogs of the machines were old and rusted; they seemed to be at least half a century old, if not more. There was a remnant of what appeared to be some kind of power box, along with a chain-linked fence and an intertwining system of pipes. It was rusted like iron, but what metal remained was a strange silver-bluish color.

           “What is all of this?” asked Mulloy as he stepped forward to examine the machinery. He ran one hand along a pipe. Bits of rust fell off under his hand, revealing more of the strange blue metal. “Doesn’t look like any metal I’ve ever seen.”

           Rather cautiously, I made my way over to the box on the wall and examined it. Other than the strange material it was constructed out of, it appeared to be an ordinary breaker box. I tried to pry it open, with no luck. Mulloy joined me at the box, staring at it.

           “So? Any luck with this box?” asked Mulloy, ever eager to help.

           “Nope,” I replied. “Looks like it needs a screwdriver. Got one?”

           To my surprise, he pulled one out of his pocket. “Yep. Always keep one on me.”

           “Wow. Thanks.” I took the screwdriver from him and went to work on the box. However, I was interrupted by a piercing shriek from Jones. I whipped around, ready to come to his aid.

           I saw a strange, pale creature standing a little farther down the cave. It was tall, maybe seven feet or so, and had long arms and legs. Strangely, it had no eyes, but its other features were relatively normal. It reeled back in response to Jones’ scream, startled. It then ran off down the cave, disappearing into the darkness.

           The three of us approached the mouth of the cave where the creature fled, peering in the darkness. Everyone was too shocked to say anything. What we had just seen was beyond comprehension. What was that thing? Was it friendly? Were there more? Did those things build that strange technology we had seen?

           “Should…Should we follow it?” asked Jones, shakily.

           “I think we should,” I said. “Maybe it knows who built all of this.”

            “Good idea,” responded Mulloy. “Just stay close – we don’t know if there are more of them, or if they’re dangerous.”

           Nodding in agreement, we followed the creature into the darkness. As we walked into the large tunnel it had fled down, the dry ground under our feet began to feel wet. Eventually, we were walking in shallow water, not more than two inches deep. The sloshing of our footsteps echoed loudly, setting me on edge.

           Just then, we heard it. A rumble, coming from behind us. The three of us turned and ran back to the open area as fast as we could – but it was too late. The tunnel we came through had caved in.

           “Well… now what?” I asked, almost to no one. This was the worst possible scenario – almost no one knew we were here, and we didn’t have a way to call for help. I had faced plenty of dire situations before, but this was different – I had never felt this helpless before.

           “Only one thing to do, I guess, and that’s to go forward. There’s probably another way out of this cave,” Mulloy replied.

           “I suppose.”

           The three of us turned around and made our way back to the tunnel. No one said a word: we were all lost in our own thoughts. After a couple minutes of walking, I felt something brush against my foot. Instinctually, I jumped back with a yell, thinking it was some sort of water-snake. I regained my composure and took a look down. It turned out to be part of a metal pipe, made from the strange bluish-grey material that was in the cavern. I picked it up.

           “You okay there, Baker?” asked Mulloy, concerned.

           “Yeah, I’m okay. Just felt this thing brush me and I didn’t know what it was.”

           “What is that? A pipe?”

           “I think so. I’m gonna keep it.”

           “Suit yourself. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

           I put the pipe into my bag, and we continued on our way. After a while, the tunnel gradually opened up to reveal a massive cavern. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen – there were strange holes carved into the rock, each standing about ten feet or so. The floor looked paved, almost like a road, and there were strange light fixtures lighting up the cave. But the strangest thing that I saw were the creatures. Now that I could see them more clearly, they weren’t as terrifying as before. They didn’t seem to mind us too much: they evidently had better things to do.

           “Holy smokes, there’s so many!” Jones leaned over and whispered to me.

           “They don’t seem to be hostile. At least not yet,” I tried to keep my voice down. “They can’t see us, but sightless cave creatures usually have really good hearing.”

           “Guys!” Mulloy shushed us, pointing to one of the creatures. It was coming straight toward us. It was rather awkward, as its limbs were disproportionately long. It stopped just out of reach of us. It made no noise nor any attempt to touch us. After a few moments of silence, Mulloy piped up.

           “Uhhhh, hi there? Can you talk?”

           The creature did not respond, at least not audibly. It tilted its head, as if trying to comprehend what he said.

           “Hey… what are you? What is all of …” He gestures to everything around him. “This?”

           It ignored him and instead pointed to the direction we came from, then at us, then in a different direction.

           “Do we… follow?”

           It nodded its head and started off. I looked over at my teammates.

           “Well, guess we’ve got nothing to lose, huh?”

           We followed the creature through the strange “town”. It was a bit difficult to keep up, since its strides were so long, but with a little bit of effort, it was manageable. It eventually led us to a makeshift door that was made out of sheets of the strange metal we kept seeing. The creature opened the door, stepped inside, and beckoned for us to enter.

           I looked at Mulloy. “Should we…?”

           He gave me a sharp nod. His face was set, but I couldn’t read his expression. Reluctantly, the three of us stepped into the room. The creature stood at the foot of a long set of stairs, waiting for us. It beckoned once more and then started climbing.

           Up we climbed for what felt like hours. The stairs were steep and narrow, so we had to go slowly. The stairs eventually became more and more shallow, to the point where they just became an incline. Up ahead of us, we saw the opening of a cave. The creature stopped and waited.

           “You… you saved us?” asked Jones. He still seemed to be in a state of disbelief. The creature did not respond.

           “Thank you,” I said.

           The creature turned away from us to go back into the depths of the cave. But before it disappeared into the darkness, it turned back around and put a finger to its mouth, as if shushing us. And then it was gone, as if it had never been there.

           We scrambled our way out of the cave, taking in big breaths of fresh air.

           “My god! That thing… what on earth was that? Why did it save us?” I wondered aloud. “And just then… does it not want others to know about it?” I took the pipe out of my bag and examined it in the sunlight. Same as it was before.

           “Well… I suppose we should keep this quiet, huh?” I turned to look at Mulloy.

           “Yeah, I guess. It’s not like anyone would believe us anyway.” He chuckled.

           With that, the three of us set off for the comfort of our homes.

           I’ve not spoken to anyone about this, ever, and I plan to keep it that way. I haven’t seen Mulloy or Jones since, but I assume they’re also keeping it quiet. But I couldn’t just forget it. I had to write it down.

           I hope this doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. I can’t imagine what could happen if it does…

#long post #short story #i wrote this for class last sem and it got voted the class fav and im really really proud of it