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self-loving-vampire · 3 years

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Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle (1993)

Summary

Serpent Isle is a direct sequel to the Black Gate. The arrival of the Guardian has been prevented and his cult has been outlawed and disbanded, but his most loyal follower has escaped to a place called the Serpent Isle to enact their backup plan.

But the Serpent Isle is not just an island, it is another world that you find yourself in after sailing your ship between the Serpent Pillars (yes, you get isekai’d while already living in another world).

This strange land is populated by people who fled from your lord long ago, and it seems to be suffering from an apocalyptic event that you soon experience for yourself, as a magical storm teleports your companions away and replaces most of the potent items you arrived with with random junk.

So your goals are clear: Recover your items, find the Guardian’s followers, and try to prevent the world’s destruction.

In many ways, Serpent Isle can feel like a more linear and limited game than the Black Gate (for one, you can’t own and freely sail a ship), but there are actually many things that I think it actually does better.

I played it using Exult and the SI Fixes mod.

Freedom

While Serpent Isle is not fully linear, it is definitely not nearly as open as the Black Gate was.

Where the Black Gate lets you travel nearly anywhere in the world almost immediately, even enabling several forms of transportation for this purpose, Serpent Isle initially allows only one section of the island to be explored with the rest opening up as one progresses through the game.

To its credit, the way in which these areas are locked off are sometimes reasonable and do not feel arbitrary. For instance, Moonshade is an island and nearly every ship in the land have been wrecked by the same magical storms that affected your party at the start of the game, so reaching it is not as simple as just buying a boat and going there.

There are other cases, however, where the restrictions do feel nonsensical. Such as the way the Bull Tower pikemen demand obscene amounts of money for the captain’s release but will happily accept a single much less valuable gold bar instead (since acquiring those is tied to a plot point). Then there’s all the stuff with the Hound of Doskar...

On the positive side, you can deal with various parts of the game in whatever order you desire within these limitations. This includes resolving the central quests in each of the land’s three cities in your own preferred order.

However, the game is still lacking in alternate solutions for quests in general. There are some decisions to be made, but they are rather minor in the grand scheme of things.

Character Creation/Customization

This aspect of the games is just as barebones as the Black Gate. You can only select your name, gender, and portrait. Your starting stats are pre-set and there are no further decisions to be made there.

However, Serpent Isle does have a marginal benefit over the Black Gate in that how you spend your training points matters a lot more, since you can’t just automatically max out your stats by completing the expansion.

Even then, there is not much to the character creation here at all.

Story/Setting

I think this is one of the game’s stronger points. The Black Gate may have had a larger world with more total settlements, but Serpent Isle’s three cities of Monitor, Fawn, and Moonshade are each significantly larger than the average Black Gate town and, most importantly, this world feels more dynamic.

Due to the way many of the game’s quests and events work, Serpent Isle manages to feel more alive than its predecessor. I will not spoil the details, but you often feel like something is always happening and like new developments are organically finding you rather than you having to actively search for them.

As has become typical of the Ultima series, the setting this time around is also centered around virtues, but in this case it goes beyond the Eight Virtues you mastered in the last trilogy.

Serpent Isle’s three cities are inhabited by the descendants of people who fled the reign of Lord British and who resent his edict of the eight virtues. The knights of Monitor considered Valor to be the highest virtue, the sailors of Fawn wanted to elevate Beauty as a virtue, and the mages of Moonshade did not feel that their profession should be associated with the virtue of Honesty.

But in addition to all that, much of the game revolves around learning about and mastering the ancient Ophidian virtue system, which functions differently from what you are used to.

The Ophidian virtues are divided into Order (Ethicality, Discipline, Logic) and Chaos (Tolerance, Enthusiasm, Emotion). The forces composing both sides must be in balance to achieve a new set of principles (Harmony arising from Ethicality + Tolerance, Dedication from Discipline + Enthusiasm, and Rationality from Logic + Emotion).

The incoming apocalypse you face in the game is the result of a cosmic imbalance in these forces. The ancient Ophidians polarized into Order and Chaos factions that warred each other, with Order winning the war and destroying the Chaos Serpent, which causes the universe to begin unravelling.

While this game does have an antagonist, resolving this imbalance remains the most significant part of the game in terms of story.

The game also has multiple big scripted scenes that did not quite exist in the Black Gate, and the world as a whole changes dramatically partway through as a result of a certain event.

Immersion

As previously mentioned, things like the quest design and more dynamic world can help make this game more immersive than Black Gate in some ways. I am reasonably certain that some of the NPC schedules are a bit more complex this time around as well.

There are also a few new things, such as a frozen wasteland up north that you need warm clothes to traverse without freezing.

Apart from that, all the features mentioned in the Black Gate are still present here, such as weather, day/night cycles, and more.

But really I think one of the most significant differences is actually just the fact that you are significantly less overpowered than in the Black Gate and have less allies. I feel like that changes the feel of the game a lot on its own in ways that have to be experienced to be fully understood.

Gameplay

Combat is, as in Black Gate, automatic and uninteresting, though it is slightly more difficult now overall.

The rest of the gameplay is largely the same as in the Black Gate as well, though dialogue has been slightly expanded with more complex trees.

Really the main difference comes down to the differences in the world and available items rather than any mechanical changes.

Some of the most significant items are a ring (obtained from the Silver Seed expansion) that provides infinite magical reagents and a magical goblet that provides endless nourishment. These things are not nearly as broken as what the Forge of Virtue provides in the Black Gate, but are still nice conveniences.

While this game has less towns than its predecessor, it does have larger and more interesting dungeons overall. The one issue with them is that some of the puzzles in them are not very interesting (often amounting to just placing items on pedestals and such).

This is also where I should talk about one of the game’s major flaws: It is the first one where the influence of Electronic Arts began to manifest. It is nothing too major at this point (just wait until we get to Ultima 8 and especially Ultima 9) but it does mean there are some questlines that were left unfinished due to EA rushing things.

It’s not just questlines either. The towns were supposed to be larger and with more content, the player was meant to eventually gain a ship they could freely sail like in the Black Gate, and a major plot element had to be changed. The Silver Seed expansion in particular feels incomplete and inconsequential in terms of story, and is largely centered around four dungeons to explore for unique loot (both the dungeons and the loot are reasonably good at least).

I also dislike just how many plot-critical items are in the game. I would like to use my backpack space for other things.

The game also offers a decent amount of locations to explore, including many optional curiosities unrelated to the main quest.

Aesthetics

While the engine and graphics are largely the same as in the Black Gate, there have been graphical upgrades, most notably in the form of significantly more detailed and lifelike portraits for NPCs.

But I would say that the biggest aesthetic changes here have more to do with the game’s design and atmosphere.

Serpent Isle is a far more unfriendly place than Britannia, and you will be accosted by assassins and deceivers during your quest. It makes for a more grim adventure.

The whole game has a much darker tone than any in the series since Ultima 5, I think. The world is completely falling apart due to the imbalance, with storms obliterating Fawn’s fleet, goblins making significant gains in their war against Monitor, and plagues are starting to break out. You do get the sense as you explore the world that this is a land experiencing its final days.

And things only get worse from here too.

I also like how unique several of the locations are. The city of Monitor is not just a walled city, it is populated by knights who organize into three different commands that rule the city. Meanwhile the city of Fawn is completely unlike any other in the series, being built entirely over the sea.

It is good stuff, and I wish they had had the time to expand and develop these locations as they had originally planned.

Accessibility

Exactly as good in this regard as the Black Gate, I think. Even the increased difficulty (which is still not enough to make this a “hard” game by any means) does not really matter since at the start of the game you get a magical hourglass that can be used to resurrect any fallen party members and the local monks will take care of your own mortality as well.

If there’s frustrations to be had here, they may come more from some of the less intuitive puzzles than anything and plot points than anything. The core gameplay is still extremely simple.

While the game can theoretically be played on its own, I strongly recommend playing at least the Black Gate first to learn a little about the events that led to this whole expedition. The two games really are part of the same package.

Conclusion

Between the Black Gate and Serpent Isle, I always got the impression that the Black Gate was the more popular of the two. I can understand why, as Serpent Isle was a bit rushed and lacks the open exploration that has defined the previous games in the series.

Despite this, I remember loving it about as much as the Black Gate largely because of the atmosphere and how the game feels. It is a particularly easy recommendation for those who enjoyed the previous game, as the engine and mechanics remain largely the same.

I also recommend this game for anyone who may be interested in following the story or looking for an immersive experience, but who doesn’t want to bother too much with stuff like combat or numbers. Even just watching the NPCs go about their day can be fun in this game.

#vampire reviews rpgs #ultima 7 #serpent isle #long post

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peoplelikegames · 3 years

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Steam Games Festival: I played so many demos. My thoughts...

I spent a few days playing as many of these demos as I could and wrote down some rough impressions.

Black Book (Morteshka): Heavily atmospheric and steeped in Slavic mythology. You play as a Slavic woman named Vasilisa, attempting to bring back her husband, who has committed suicide, back from hell in an effort to save him from the eternal damnation that their religion believes befell those who commit suicide. She becomes a witch after venturing through the gates of hell and back. The gameplay takes several different forms, depending on what you’re doing. It’s got some point-and-click adventure game elements during the more exploration focused scenes. Sometimes you’ll find herbs that can be used as items later during combat. The combat plays out like Slay the Spire and other deck builder games of the ilk, with the key exception of the spell slots. Instead of the standard 3 energy system restricting card usage each turn, here you have 3 slots that can be filled with spells that correspond with the slot type. You have 2 Order slots (big spells) and 1 Key slot (little spells) you can fill each turn. It’s a small twist to the formula that opens up a lot of interesting possibilities and combinations. In between fights and the point-and-click scenes you’ll get to interact with people you meet along the path to your destination and make choices that effect the story and your character. Vasalisa’s journey looks bleak and full of death, and I’m interested to see where it goes.

AK-Xolotl (Daniel Piqueras Constantin): Fast paced, adorable and aggressive top down shooter. Very simple gameplay of shooting down waves of enemies picking up weapons and items that drop when they die. Feels great to play. Good movement, good dash, not much else to ask for. Really quick and snappy shooting and simple gameplay loop me keeps playing again and again just to get a higher score and see what new stuff it has to throw at me. It’s got really cute pixelated graphics and lots of forest critters with guns. The game also features an absolutely filthy death metal track that’s a perfect representation of how aggressive the game really is. Just a really quick and dirty time that definitely makes me want to see the finished product. Also, I love the lil axolotl guy.

Despot’s Game (Konfa Games): Rogue-like dungeon crawler where you control a mob of humans. It’s a pretty cool and complicated battle system my only problem is I can’t help but feel like I don’t have enough control on the outcome of the fights. It’s almost a little like Totally Accurate Battle Simulator in that way. Basically, your run begins with you purchasing a bunch of little humans and different weapons to give to those little humans which will give them a class. Give a little guy a medkit and now he’s a healer, give someone a gun and they’re a shooter now. Humans with classes have special abilities they can activate when there are enough classes of that type on the field. Like an Auto Chess (Auto Battler?) game, if you have, say, 2 or 3 Fencers on the board, your fencers will now have access to their special ability, a dodge roll. Position your people in what you hope is a tactical formation and start heading for the dungeon exit. Most rooms consist of a fight, which plays out automatically. When you press go on a fight, your troops and the enemies will all start fighting until only one side remains. This is where the game loses me a little bit as it’s unclear how much of a difference positioning makes or what more I should be doing to change the outcome. Did I win this time because that unit was farther up than last time, or did the AI just play it out slightly differently that skewed in my favor? I can’t tell if the changes I’m making are actually making a tactical difference, or if the AI routines are just clashing with slightly varying results each time. You’re gonna lose units a lot but they are pretty disposable, with frequent shops for buying reinforcements or new gear. And every unit contributes to your mob’s total hunger meter, which deplete with every new room you enter. You have to buy food to feed your troops to keep them from losing effectiveness. Bigger team=greater food consumption. Gotta find a balance with your money and spending it on new units, new weapons, and food. I really wanted to like this game more because I really dig the hook of building up a mob of little guys with cools powers and I like the unit synergy system as well, but the perceived lack of control over how the fights play out and the game’s edgy humor ultimately pushed me away.

Dead Estate (Milkbar Lads): Fairly generic zombie shooter rogue-like (there’s gonna be a lot of rogue-likes). Your standard twin-stick kind of shooting you’d find in the Binding of Isaac or Enter the Gungeon, except here you can jump, adding some verticality. Explore each room, kill the zombies, find the key and then find the elevator to the next floor. Sometimes you find a new gun or shop along the way. The movement feels pretty slow and the rooms feel small. Too many times would I walk into a room, fight three of the same zombie then walk int next room just to see two more of that same zombie. Too many times did I have to walk back across a whole level at a snail’s pace. Needs more enemy variety and to move a little quicker. The shooting is a little better, I like how the game makes its weapons feel distinct by how much it kick it has. More powerful weapons will push you back with each shot. Unloading the mini gun felt chaotic and rumbly that make you slide back and wiggle in a fun way. You can usually kill most enemies before they’re even able to do anything makes them unique, rendering most enemies the same “zombie that walk towards you for second before you finish them off.” Didn’t really draw me in or entice me to see what I might encounter on higher floors.

Foregone (big blue studio): This one feels a little like a watered down Dead Cells at first, AT FIRST. It’s a little slower and less snappy but it’s still very fun. Plus it’s more of a linear 2d action platformer with lots of loot. I like the loot aspect here quite a bit; watching a bunch of currency fly out of enemies is satisfying in a “headshot kill in Destiny kinda way.” Just a bunch of fun particles and a frequent gear drop that has you constantly popping open your inventory to equip your new gear and make those numbers go up. If that’s your kind of fun, you can definitely find it here. Lots of weapon variety on show here and most, if not all, of them feel unique. Just wish the combat was little tighter, which since this is a demo, I assume will come in due time. The game could also do a better job of informing the player that they’re taking damage, which made it difficult to hone the timing on the dash to avoid taking damage. And I’m hoping the environments of the full game become a little more diverse and sprawling, right now it feels like it’s mostly individual rooms/levels of engagement at a time. Excited to see how the full release pans out.

Tunche (LEAP Game Studios): Immediately drawn in here by the beautiful hand drawn art style. It’s a brawler roguelike and if you know what those two words mean in the context of video games, that’s all you really need to know. The brawler combat is what it is, very combo and juggle heavy, enemies that take dozens of hits to kill, fairly bland and just flat land environments. Walk forward until you’re stopped, fight a bunch of waves of enemies, rinse and repeat. Except this time you occasionally get upgrades after finishing rooms like “chance for attacks to cause burn” and “chance to regain health on hit,” your standard rougelike fare. With the territory comes the roguelike difficulty, and this game is plenty tough with the amount of enemies it throws at you and how limited your health pool can be. All of the art and the animations are what really shine here, and if you’re into that brawler style combat, this seems like a pretty good one of those.

Power of Ten (Pew Times Three): Next up we have a top-down space shooter roguelike. I like the minimalistic pixel art style in this one. It helps with atmosphere and you making you feel like a small ship in a large system. Your goal is to power planetary shields on inhabited planets throughout the system by gathering resources from asteroids. While you’re hunting asteroids, pirate ships will randomly attack a planet, pulling you away from resource gathering into a space dogfight against the pirates. That push and pull of gathering resources to fuel a planets shields while simultaneously protecting the planets whose shields are not yet charged is the core loop here that I really like. Conveying solid, core gameplay loop that’s engaging is exactly what you want to get across in a demo, and they definitely deliver that here.

Jelly is Sticky (Lunarch Studios): A lovely, casual sokoban puzzle game. Sliding around and rearranging cubes of jelly into oblong structures to match highlighted areas within a given space. You’ll encounter jellies of different qualities along the way, all with their own quirks around how they like to stick. I really like the non-linear structure in the over world, letting you navigate around between levels from all of the jelly-archetypes at any time. Solving sets of levels will unlock jelly in the over world you can stick to and rearrange to give you access to further levels gated behind walls and other triggers. It’s an appreciated extra layer of depth you don’t expect from a puzzle game that could have very well presented it’s levels in an ordered, level-select screen.

Potion Craft (niceplay games): In this game you play as a budding alchemist trying to make your mark on the world in your newly acquired (stolen possibly?) alchemy shop. Its an alchemist simulator. It’s presented in an “alchemy text book diagram-style” that’s immediately endearing. Every day, you collect ingredients like herbs and fungi from your garden and then it’s time to open shop. Customers come and share their plight, asking for potions of different types. They’ll offer different prices for potions of different potency which you haggle up further (or lower, if you mess up) through a simple timing mini game. The actually potion making is puzzling and unique, if not occasionally limiting. Ingredients you add to the cauldron determine a path that the potion icon in the center will follow across a fog covered map. Add more ingredients to add length and direction to the path, trying to build the path in a specific way that will lead to a “?” destination marked on the map. Name the potion, choose a bottle and label, and brew it. You’ll learn what it does, and can save the recipe for easy use again later. The only downside is how limited the ingredients are makes it very punishing when experimentation results in failure, all those ingredients are just lost. It seems like the game really wants you to just fill the orders at hand instead of blindly exploring into the fog to see what weird stuff comes up, which is my favorite thing to do so far. This is still easily one of my favorite demos of the bunch and has to be seen for oneself.

Aeon Drive Prologue (2awesome studio): This is definitely one of the ones I wanted to like more than I did. A self proclaimed “speedrun action platformer” and it demands that go fast. Very short 2d platformer levels with an ever ticking clock. If the timer reaches zero before you reach the exit, you fail the level. Consumables lined throughout the level can be used to add more time to your clock. This game is very punishing, one hit from anything, from enemy to stage hazard, will cause you to fail and restart. Very quick movement and a focus on chaining together different moves to find different paths through the level. There seemed to be benefits like special collectibles for taking more inventive, alternative paths, but the ticking clock really kept me tunnel-visioned on the most clear cut route through the level, meaning I only ever small a very tiny portion of each one. I’m not the type of person to butt my head against how to pull some crazy route as opposed to the clearly laid out one in front of me. Unfortunately, that clearly laid path just isn’t very fun to take. There’s also a dagger you can throw and teleport to, which I found difficult to aim and not as fun to use as it sounds. There is definitely something here, it’s just ultimately not for me.

Medievalien (dOOb games srl): Action RPG roguelike in a medieval world that has been invaded by aliens. You play an amnesiac protagonist trying to undo the calamity through repeated attempts from within a magical (or scientific?) time loop. Commence genre mashup. Nothing particularly stands out here. Two weapon slots and two throwables slots, lots of different items to fill them. Your weapons consist of bows, crossbows, and staves, and the throwables are bombs of varying elemental effect. It’s fun to play but fairly middling. The low poly art style doesn’t do anything for me and the soundtrack was forgettable. Still, if you’re like me and enjoy ARPGs and roguelike, it does the thing well enough to scratch the itch.

Minute of Islands (Studio Fizbin): Right out of the gate this 2d narrative platformer hits you with gorgeous hand-drawn art. A poisoned, decaying world that is beautifully drawn and animated. I’m gonna day this is not the best demo. The pace is very slow and the objectives are linear and don’t even register as puzzles. This game calls itself a puzzle platformer yet there were no puzzles to be found in this demo. I’m assuming the demo is trying to preserve story details so it starts at the beginning and only gives you a small slice from there. So maybe the game introduces more puzzle elements later in the game. But what’s left in the demo is not very compelling to play. The impressively detailed environments and atmosphere are only driving forces so far. But extremely strong forces at that.

Alekon (The Alekon Company): This feels like spiritual follow up to Pokemon Snap in all of the best ways. In its most basic form, the game plays exactly like Pokémon Snap, but builds on the nearly 30 year old classic in several key ways. Creatures in this game are called “Fictions” and whenever you take a picture of a new fiction, the creature also appears back in the game’s hub world. Once back in the hub world, you can talk to the fictions who have moved in and they’ll give you small quests to do that’ll usually reward you with key game features, like a zoom function for the camera. There’s a great feature that involves capturing photos of a fiction in all of its potential poses, which will unlock the ability to “see through the eyes of the fiction.” So when you’re looking through the album of your saved pictures, you can apply a fiction filter to see the image as a particular fiction would see if through their own eyes. Also, once you’ve unlocked all of the different routes in a specific biome, you gain the ability to “wander.” Wandering is free from the rails of the standard routes and allows to explore every inch of the biome and find other fictions that were previously hidden. It’s also a great space to snag that perfect picture of a fiction you couldn’t get while riding the rails. The creatures themselves are kind of hit or miss so far in their design. Sometimes it’s literally just a seal, sometimes it’s a ridiculous alien thing, but it seems like the personalities of the fictions are what makes them unique. Even though I didn’t care for the designs, I found myself endeared toward the creatures once I found them back in the hub and helped them with their troubles. There’s some good writing in these bits that really helps sell me on these creatures. Lots to love here if you’re into games about snapping pics of critters and throwing donuts.

Eat’n Eaten (Gaëtan Benoit): A cartoony tower defense game with bug plants. Bugs that grow from plants. It has a really fun and easy to understand “food chain management” system for building up units. It almost feels like it was designed to translate easily to touchscreens for mobile devices. Your soil has 100% nutrients, plants grow and feed off nutrients, plants grow apples which you can pick who will then become your units. When an apple dies it’s corpse returns nutrients to the soil and it’ll drop a seed that will grow into a new plant. If you don’t pick the apples off the plant long enough for them to consume extra nutrients, the apples will become a caterpillar. Pick the caterpillar off the plant and now you have a more offensive unit, who needs to eat apples to survive. The game only builds on the loop from there; the way bugs will level up into new or stronger forms after eating enough fruit, or how the game will add spiders to your team who will then need to eat caterpillars to survive. Manage this whole food chain to keep a steady supply and distribution of units against waves of enemies. I don’t know if that seems confusing when put into word like that but it’s really quick and simple to pick up they way it is presented. It can definitely get a little frantic at times but that’s when the game is at it’s most fun.

Dorfromantik (Toukana Interactive): Chill, colorful, tile placement puzzle game about building a village landscape. You start with a deck of 85 hexagonal tiles, and it doesn’t end until all the tiles have been placed. You’re placing tiles with the intent to line up as many like edges between adjacent tiles, making longer and longer networks of landscapes of matching type. The way the scoring works and how the game conforms matching sides together does a good job of making the best place to put your tile one that not only scores well but also looks good in the context of the interconnected village landscape you are ultimately trying to craft. I would kill for this game on Switch.

Unsouled (Megusta Game): An isometric pixelates dark souls-style action game. Described as an “ultra-brutal” game with “fast-paced and savagely rewarding combat,” Unsouled comes exactly as advertised. The combat in this game is very difficult and I am simply not the person to conquer it. It’s really fast paced yet proper movement and combat requires consistent timing and punished button mashing. Every thing you do has to be deliberate and calculated as it’s easy to lose control of the battlefield very quickly. Even just a few enemies can be dangerous as they all can dodge and block and roll just like you. The game is unafraid to put the pressure on and throw ten enemies at you all at once engaging from different ranges. The game demands that intimately learn the combat systems if you want to keep your stamina and health high in the heat of combat. I’d bet that if you’re a fan of Dark Souls or souls-like games, this game has all that difficulty but a different pace of combat that doesn’t feel derivative.

Rogue Invader (Squishy Games): Immediately I love the look of this game. It’s got this old school 1-bit black and white look to it. It also opens up with a fully animated and voice acted cutscene. The game is actually pretty difficult. It’s a side scrolling shooter where you’re part of an army in invading an alien planet one soldier at a time. You’re also managing weapon heat and breakage, and carry weight effecting run speed. Each soldier gets body armor and a pistol but you can equip them with a rifle and helmet from your armory. Which you’ll definitely want to do considering you die in one shot if hit in the head. When you’re soldier dies, they lose the gear you equipped them with and the new soldier needs to be equipped with whatever you can craft in the forge. This is where I ran into issues with hardy ever having enough materials to craft a helmet, go into a mission and die early to a single stray bullet to the head, and subsequently not earn enough materials to make a helmet. The evasive controls like jumping, running, rolling and taking cover all felt clunky in my hands, add that to fact that bullets often just miss even if you’re aiming right on an enemy, and it made for a pretty unsatisfying game to play.

Devastator (Radiangames): How is this not just Geometry Wars? Because this shit is just geometry wars. Fortunately, Geometry Wars slaps so this game is still pretty fun. But just go play Geometry Wars. There, I mentioned a different game like five times more than the game this was supposed to be about.

ANVIL (Action Square): Co-op top down shooter roguelike with space marines. It’s like a run-based Starship Troopers game. It’s pretty great. The three characters unlocked in the demo all have different weapons and abilities resulting in very distinct play styles between classes. There’s a fairly simple loop to each floor: search the floor for the boss, along the way areas will be filled with enemies, who’ll drop money, which can be used to buy passive upgrades from chests found throughout the floor. The upgrade system allows you stack multiple of the same upgrade for increased effect. Lots of variety in the enemy type really keeps you on your toes. Unsurprisingly, it just feels good to mow down mobs of space bugs.

Orbital Bullet (SmokeStab): A 360 degree shooter platformer. It’s a really cool gimmick actually, you move in 2d but in ring around a 3D space. It’s makes for some cool looking environments and depth from having inner and outer rings you can switch between. Really fast and arcade-y feeling. Snappy movement and gunplay. There’s seems to be a lot offered here among different weapons, in-run upgrades and meta upgrades that persist between runs. Which makes this a roguelite, as opposed to roguelike, which I tend to prefer. I like having something upgrade outside of my runs to make me feel stronger or different going into the next run. The games has a sort of ancient alien aesthetic, it feels industrial and monolithic. The bursts of neon in the walls, enemies, and weapons really pop among the ruins of the stone temple. Watching your weapons’ shot glide along the curve of the world is an effective visual as well. Just because I clearly like to compare to games so much, this game feels a lot like Resogun meets Downwell, and that’s just fantastic.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Greg Lobanov): A colorful and cartoony adventure game about painting that takes a small but welcomed bullet hell turn. You play as a cute little pup that claims the power of The Brush after it’s wielder (and your master) disappears along with all of the color in the world. Searching for cause and hopefully the solution, you embark on a journey to repaint the world and make your mark as the new wielder. Once you pick up that brush you can start coloring in literally everything in the world. It’s fun and charming the whole way through. You can help the townsfolk bring color back into the lives and color in their houses to their satisfaction. Use the paint to navigate the world by growing and shrinking plants by erasing/coloring them. The demo is a little thin but definitely makes me interested to see what fun stuff the game has in store for these paint mechanics.

Genesis Noir (Feral Cat Den): Okay this game was a trip. I barely have any idea what I just played but I know I really liked what was happening. It’s a heavily stylized point and click adventure game where it feels like you exist within an improvisational Jazz album. Train tracks becoming notes on a cello. Getting into a cosmic jazz-off that plays like a game of Simon and ends with your opponent on the wrong end of a mob hit. I think? Honestly this game is so trippy it was difficult to keep track of what was going on. And occasionally it was a little ambiguous as to how you’re supposed to proceed, which lead some random click and dragging around the screen until something clicks. It actually seems like it could turn out to be a really good example of a story and experience that can really only be through video games. Not quite an animated film, not quite a comic book or visual novel, but instead a fantastical, interactive amalgamation of many things. Whatever this thing may be defined as, it’s something unique and special.

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rufousnmacska · 5 years

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Goodbye and Hello - 7

Manon and Dorian said goodbye in Orynth. But for them, saying hello again is only a matter of time.

fanfic master list (includes the link to my fics on AO3)

Previous chapters:

Part One: I Wish…

Part Two: Another Day

Part Three: Those Two Words

Part Four: Breakfast in Bed

Part Five: Waiting

Part Six: Confessions (smut warning)

***

Part Seven: Old Friends

A knock at his door broke the heavy silence Dorian had been enjoying for the past hour. Flinching at the sound, he left a long streak of ink across the letter he was writing. He swore, and as he tried to sop it up with a handkerchief, a young page stuck her head into the room.

“A visitor, Your Majesty. Lord Westfall suggested you’d want to see him. Even though he has no appointment.”

Dorian smiled. The page, Kalla, was a stickler for etiquette and rules, and he suspected Chaol had employed her specifically for that reason. Dorian was always glad when someone else was on the receiving end of her disapproval. He nodded for her to show the guest in and was surprised to see Aedion enter his office.

Aedion glanced warily at the young woman as he walked past her. “I will be sure to arrange an appointment the next time,” he said in apology, then cringed as the door was closed just a little too loudly.

Dorian stood quickly and came around from behind his desk. “I can get you some bandages for the daggers she just shot at you,” he said, holding out his hand, a little unsure if or how the greeting would be taken. “It’s good to see you Aedion.”

The male gripped Dorian’s hand firmly. “Your Majesty.” His greeting lacked any mockery that might have been there in the past. With a deep laugh, he added, “I think I will survive. Barely.”

Waving towards the back of the room, Dorian offered Aedion a seat next to the large stone hearth. As he sat, Dorian got them each a glass of wine then joined him. Curiosity threatened to overtake him, but he forced himself to be polite and not pepper Aedion with questions. “This is a surprise. I’d thought the winter had already sealed off Terrasen.”

After taking a sip of the wine, Aedion said, “Not quite yet, but soon. We are on our way to visit Eyllwe. A mix of business and pleasure.”

“We?” Dorian prompted.

“Lysandra and Evangeline are with me.” Before Dorian could ask, Aedion said, “We’re taking the slow, scenic route since Evangeline gets seasick. We just got to the city this morning. They’re visiting old friends, so… I thought I’d do the same.”

Dorian had never thought of Aedion as a friend. An ally, yes. At least, since shortly before the war. But they’d never been friendly. He didn’t begrudge Aedion his hatred of Adarlan, or its previous king. He couldn’t even blame the general for disliking him. For far too long, Dorian had sat passively by while his father brutally conquered most of the continent.

Hearing the term now, he studied Aedion. More surprising than his presence and his offer of friendship was his demeanor. He was calm, composed. None of the underlying fire and ferocity that so characterized him before the war. Dorian had no doubt that it was still there, ready to be called upon when needed. But it no longer seemed to simmer just below the surface, threatening to rear its head at the slightest touch.

“I hope I didn’t interrupt anything important,” Aedion said, breaking the somewhat awkward silence. He looked back at the large desk, overrun with stacks of papers.

Dorian thought of the letter he’d been writing. And blushed in a way he hadn’t since he was a young boy. The heat in his cheeks was due to a rather racy book of poetry he’d found the other day in a newly opened book shop. So many of the poems made him think of Manon that he bought the book and was now copying some of the lines into a letter to her.

“Judging from your expression, I did interrupt.” With a grin, Aedion said, “You know, I’d pay good coin to see Manon Blackbeak’s reaction to opening up a love letter.”

The redness grew over his face, but Dorian laughed. “We have that in common then, because I’d pay to see it too.” He knew he was taking a bit of a chance with this letter, especially since none of the others contained anything this risque. If nothing else, he thought she’d laugh. And that was a reaction he’d do anything to see.

“Have you seen her since…Orynth?”

The male’s hesitation was no puzzle. He’d meant to say since the war. Since she’d lost her entire family. Since he’d lost Gavriel.

Dorian hadn’t spent much time with Gavriel. Chaol thought highly of him. And while that certainly added to his opinion, Dorian had already grown to respect and admire the fae male during their time in Skull’s Bay. His quiet strength and steady presence. Dorian realized that was what he was seeing in Aedion now.

“I have actually,” he said. “We just met at the Ferian Gap.” Aedion raised a questioning eyebrow. “About the aerial legion we’re developing.” Those Ashryvver eyes didn’t blink and Dorian felt himself flushing again. “And trade agreements. Borders. All that… stuff.”

Aedion nodded, a smirk sliding across his face. “And you’re following up with some bawdy correspondence to solidify your agreements. And stuff.”

“I fear you know me too well,” Dorian replied, earning a hearty laugh.

Falling quiet, they booth watched the fire for some time. Just as Dorian was about to offer him more wine, Aedion asked, “How is she?”

Again, his meaning was clear, and the concern lacing his words made something warm ache inside Dorian’s chest. He’d gathered as many bits and pieces as he could about those long days of siege and despair in Orynth, understanding nothing he’d been told would do justice to what Manon, Aedion, Lysandra, and their forces had experienced. The fear and fatigue, the loss and grief, the never-ending dread of the army waiting each morning to destroy them.

“She is doing well,” Dorian replied, giving Aedion a grateful smile. “Still adjusting. But she’s keeping busy. Training the new aerial legion is a positive step I think.” Aedion nodded, genuinely glad to hear. “And, how are you?” Dorian asked.

The male’s eyes flicked away, back to the fire. Dorian wasn’t sure if he’d answer, but after a few moments, Aedion said, “Adjusting.” With a quick smile, he added, “It’s good to have the others around though. Lorcan and Fenrys and Rowan. They knew my father the best. They have endless stories.”

A smile crossed Dorian’s face as he thought of what Orghana had told Manon. Stories honor the loved ones we’ve lost. “I imagine you could write a few books of their adventures. I’m sorry you never had the time to know him.” A stirring deep inside prompted him to add, “And, I’m sorry for all my father did to you.”

Aedion met Dorian’s gaze. As before, he was surprised when there was no blaze of emotion. Instead, he was met with the thoughtfulness of an older man. They were all so much older now, he supposed, even though only a few years had passed.

With a slight nod of thanks, Aedion said, “And I’m sorry for blaming you for your father’s deeds.”

“I deserve some of it I think,” he answered, forcing visions of the collar from his mind. And failing.

Dorian had never gathered the courage to ask Aedion about that time. He could have sought out details after the castle was destroyed. But he knew no more than that the general had briefly been imprisoned. Which dredged up some particularly horrific dreams that Dorian couldn’t dismiss as just dreams. The sounds were too clear. The smells too pungent. He’d done those things to real people. Had he done them to Aedion?

As if reading his mind, Aedion said, “You saved me. Do you remember that?”

He shook his head, unable to speak.

“Before Aelin rescued me, I was in the dungeon, dying from an infection. You came to see me.” When Dorian winced, Aedion clarified, “Just that one time. You came to gloat if I remember correctly. I thought you didn’t notice the wound, but just as you left, you ordered a guard to get a healer.” With a grim smile, he added, “Which pissed me off. You screwed up my well laid plans to die before I could be used as bait.”

Huffing out a humorless laugh, Dorian asked, “I saved you so you could be publicly executed?”

“Well,” the general said with a shrug, “yes. But another way of looking at it is that because of you, I lived to see Aelin again.” Growing more serious, he continued, “I knew at the time it wasn’t really you, Dorian. But looking back on it, I can’t help but wonder if there was a piece of you, the real you, responsible for that.”

Dorian looked back to the fire, swallowing hard to contain his emotions, and to keep from arguing with him. To keep from admitting how powerless he’d been against the valg.

“You survived it,” Aedion said. “Just like I survived dark periods of my life. If you can, use it for something good. So it never happens again.”

It was as if the male had been reborn in some way, Dorian thought. Or perhaps, he’d just never been allowed to see this side of Aedion before. Hoping to bring some levity to the conversation, he narrowed his eyes and said, “I’m not sure how I feel about you becoming so…optimistic.”

Aedion laughed, standing to get more wine. “Something else we have in common.” As he walked by Dorian’s desk, he nodded towards it and said, “You should deliver it in person. Surprise her with it.”

Glad the contents of the letter were obscured, Dorian joined him, smiling at the thought of Aedion giving him relationship advice. Not that the male didn’t have expertise in this area. It was just that in matters of love, he’d always placed Aedion in the category of rival. This new friendship was strange indeed. But, happily welcome. Aedion filled his glass and they silently toasted.

“It’d take me forever to fly to the Wastes. Besides, I only just got back from the Ferian Gap a couple of weeks ago. Chaol would throw a fit if I left again.”

“Just use a wyrd gate.”

The wine glass almost fell from Dorian’s hand. “Excuse me?”

“A wyrd gate.” Aedion drew out each word before leisurely emptying his glass.

“Yes, I heard you. What the hell do you mean by it?”

Since Aelin had destroyed the keys and the way between worlds, Dorian had never tried to contact Gavin. He told himself it was because it would no longer work. But part of him was afraid. Despite all he’d been through, all the progress he was making, Dorian was still stung by doubt. Fearful that the old king would look upon him and see nothing but disappointment.

“Aelin used them to bring the Wolf Tribe and fae to the battle.” Face incredulous, he asked, “I thought you knew that?”

Godsdamn him. To hell with friendship, Dorian wanted to strangle the male. No, he wanted to strangle himself for being so stupid. “My gods. I’m a fool,” he moaned, dropping his head into his hand. “I could use them to be with her right now!”

“Do you know how to do it?”

“Yes!” Dorian growled, his face still covered. Then, after a second or two of thought, he said, “No. I was able to use the wyrd marks to contact Gavin a few times in the afterworld. Is it different to open gates between places in our world? Are the marks different?” He knew they must be, just not how.

“Yes, the marks are different. Aelin taught me how to open a door to a place. Or,” Aedion paused dramatically. “A person.”

Dorian sank down onto his desk, knocking a pile of papers over. “So stupid,” he repeated, as Aedion laughed. The male had the good sense to stop when Dorian shot him a nasty look. Still grinning, he slapped Dorian on the shoulder.

“I can’t speak for other instances, but in this one, you can lighten up on yourself. You’d need to know the entire alphabet to make a door to a specific person or place. And since Aelin barely knew how to do it for that final battle, I’m betting you aren’t fluent in wyrd.”

Dorian nodded in confirmation and released a long, heavy sigh, still angry at himself for never once considering the possibility of using the wyrd marks to visit Manon. Aedion’s assurance didn’t boost his mood. But his next question did.

“Would you like me to show you how to get to your witch queen?”

***

The winds above Blackbeak Keep had always been treacherous. Manon remembered the thrill of riding them as a witchling. The sharp air whipping through her hair, the heart-stopping drops and dives, the rare warm updrafts that carried her into the clouds. Now, with a full grown wyvern instead of an ironwood broom, they were even more dangerous. Behind her, the two Crochan sentinels she’d agreed to bring along were having trouble remaining steady. New to wyverns, the winds threatened to do them in. If she hadn’t been so stubborn and impatient, she would have listened to her great-grandmother and waited until spring to come here.

Signaling to the other witches to follow her, Manon pulled on her reins and guided Abraxos to land.

She shouldn’t have doubted him, high winds or no. He landed smoothly on the largest balcony available, the one that led into the keep’s great hall. The same hall she’d walked through so many times.

As the others landed on either side - clumsily but without injury - she could see herself all those years ago. Strutting between the crowd of whispering Blackbeaks, a new red cloak drapped over her shoulders and a Crochan heart in the box she carried. Her grandmother watching her, unsmiling, sitting like a queen holding court. The memory stood out because at that time, the Ironteeth witches did not have queens.

How had she been so blind? So stupid?

Of course, she had been privy to her grandmother’s ambitions for retaking the Wastes and installing themselves as rulers. But she’d never once considered the lengths to which the matron would go. Allying with valg to destroy the world? And she never truly realized how precarious her own position was until she’d been sliced open by her grandmother’s iron nails.

Blind. She’d been a fool.

This guilt was nothing new. But she should have expected it would hit harder when she’d decided to come here.

The Crochans were waiting for her orders, so she told them to stay on the platform. Scouts had reported that the keep was empty. While that could have changed, Manon wasn’t sure what might be left inside, and the thought of finding Ironteeth trophies with a pair of Crochan witches at her side… It was nothing they needed to see.

Perhaps she’d have the place burnt down after she was done.

The thought eased the tremors inside her chest as she entered the hall. Dark and cold from long dead fireplaces, the place looked foreign. Like something from a bad dream she’d had lifetimes ago. She glanced to the end where the matron’s throne still sat, then turned her nose up at it and continued walking.

Luckily, the keep had not been looted. The few Blackbeaks who’d flown from here to join her grandmother in battle had left quickly. No doubt expecting to return soon, victorious and weighed down with the spoils of war. But that had not happened. So Manon was left alone with a keep still filled with the items of everyday life.

She and the Thirteen had taken the rooms of an entire hallway in the eastern wing, and she was drawn there as if pulled by a thread. Gliding up the stairs, she made no sound save for her thudding heart.

Just at the head of the hallway, she hesitated. Maybe the rest of the place was basically intact, but that was no guarantee that the Thirteen’s rooms hadn’t been ransacked. Especially after they’d left the clan.

There was only one way to find out.

Manon pushed at the first door she came to, Lin’s. Looking inside, she sucked in an icy breath. The room was in disarray. The bed was overturned along with two chests, their clothing strewn across the floor. She could see faded patches on the walls where broad swords and bows would have hung on the now empty pegs and hooks.

The same held true for some of the others’ rooms, and Manon supposed that with so few witches left here when they’d first been summoned to the Ferian Gap and then Morath, only weapons and essentials had been taken. Perhaps her luck would continue.

Slowly, Manon pushed the door open into Ghislaine’s rooms. While the witches had taken the weapons, the books still lining Ghislaine’s walls had been laregly overlooked. Breathing a sigh of relief, Manon walked all the way in and turned in a circle to survey the damage.

Like the others, the room had been trashed. Any weapons or treasure kept here were gone. Instead of bows and swords, shelves covered the walls here. Some books were still upright and in place while others had been pulled off and thrown on the floor. Whoever had searched it had learned quickly that there was nothing useful to war hidden among the shelves.

But the books were the treasure. Then and now.

Manon bent and picked up a few that lay haphazardly against the foot of the bed. Blowing off the coat of dust, she placed them on a table. She had no idea if there would be a book here to interest Dorian. Hell, she had no idea what his reading interests even were. But she was confident she’d know when she found it. So, beginning with the books from the floor, she began to stack them on whatever surface was available, spines out so she could see the title.

It didn’t take her long to find one that might work.

Most of Ghislaine’s books were histories or treatises on magic or nature. There were several on the constellations, a few guides to wildflowers and plants, even a thick volume on the history of the Southern Continent. She sat that one aside for herself. But there were many fictional stories in the mix.

One contained what looked like a variety of myths and legends, each chapter a different story with heroes and heroines, fearsome beasts, and evil villains. As she flipped through the pages, Manon wondered how these tales might compare to her own life story. Another book, surprisingly, appeared to be a romance. She found more, all tucked behind a monster of a book that contained potion recipes. Ghislaine had been smart to hide them. If she’d been caught with these, she’d have seen more trouble than if she’d been caught plotting to take over the clan.

In the end, she had four books she thought Dorian might enjoy, and three for herself. Though, no fun reading for her. They were to help her in her duties as queen.

Ultimately, it didn’t matter. All of the books, along with the few odds and ends she’d found in the others’ rooms, were going back home with her. Where they’d serve as the start of a new royal library for the witch kingdom.

It took forever to pack the books and haul them back to where the wyverns were perched. But when they were done, Manon found herself wishing she had more to do. Anything if it meant she didn’t have to enter the one suite of rooms she’d passed by.

Abraxos released a soft howl, as if he knew what she was avoiding. Manon stepped up to let him nuzzle her hand. “I know,” she said. “I need to be brave. Like you.” He replied with a hot breath of air. “Wait here,” she told her sentinels. “I’ll be back soon.”

A few minutes later, she stood outside Asterin’s rooms, hands balled into tight fists to keep from shaking.

Drawing what felt like every ounce of courage she had, Manon opened the door and walked in. Turning in a circle, she took in the room, not much different than the others. A bed, chests of ransacked drawers, racks and hooks that used to hold weapons. In the far corner, a door hung partly open. Forcing herself to breathe, and walk, Manon looked inside.

Old clothing was thrown on the floor of the tiny closet. Even an old pair of boots with the toes worn through. And there, practically hidden in the corner, a dark ironwood broom.

Manon reached slowly for it, wondering if she’d be able to feel Asterin in the object’s magic. When her fingertips brushed over the handle, she realized how silly that notion was. She felt nothing more than a surface polished smooth from decades of use.

Witches were responsible for carving their own brooms upon reaching maturity. It wasn’t until Manon picked up Asterin’s broom and held it in both hands that she remembered this was not her cousin’s first broom.

This one had been made during Asterin’s time with her hunter. When she’d been in love. When she’d been pregnant.

Not for the first time, Manon wished she knew where that cabin was. She had a vague idea, but even that idea encompassed an entire forest. Perhaps it didn’t matter, as she had no body to return to the place Asterin held close to her heart. She had the broom. But she already knew it would be going home with her.

Sitting down on the bed, Manon ran her hands over the handle, admiring its sturdiness, its power. There was a dull pulse of magic to it, as there was to all witch brooms. It just held no distinct sense of Asterin.

“Your Majesty.”

Manon looked up to see one of the sentinels standing in the open door. She made no effort to brush away the tears filling her eyes. The witch made no effort to hide that she’d seen them. Which, strangely, made Manon feel better.

“We’ve loaded the wyverns,” she said in reply to Manon’s encouraging nod. “However, the winds are picking up. Sybil said we should either leave soon or spend the night.”

Standing, Manon said, “We’ll go now. Head back and secure everything. Make sure the books are covered well in case of wet weather. I want to be at the Ferian Gap before nightfall.” The sentinel disappeared and Manon took a final look around Asterin’s room.

Despite the tears, Manon found herself ready to leave. Nothing of Asterin lingered in this place. The same held true for the others. With the possible exception of Ghislaine, who was so connected to her books they were truly a part of her.

She strode down the hall, paying silent respect as she passed each door. Asterin’s broom in one hand, and a small bag in the other. It contained all the remnants she’d found of the Thirteen. A small, sharp arrow head made by Vesta, a worn whetstone used by Sorrel, a wooden figurine of the Three Faced Goddess carved by Imogen. Lin, who so outwardly hated her mother, had kept a miniature portrait of the witch under her mattress. From the Shadow’s rooms, swatches of a dark, two-toned fabric that was clearly enchanted. Fallon and Faline had collected knives, which were, of course, gone. But Manon found sheathes the two must have been making before the last time they’d left the keep. And in Thea and Kaya’s room, a wooden box carved with intricate patterns that fit in the palm of her hand. It was locked, and Manon had no intention of prying it open.

In fact, a part of her felt odd about going through their rooms, even if they had already been largely picked over. But with each item, she’d felt a calm settle over her. Like with the place, these things weren’t her sisters. But they were meaningful parts of the greater whole. All of the things she’d collected were indicative of their owners - some obvious and unsurprising like Vesta’s arrow, others secretive and unknowable like Lin’s portrait.

And Asterin’s broom.

Manon could think of no better reminder to live her fullest life than that.

***

Dorian groaned with exhaustion as he entered his sitting rooms. A full day of meetings with lords and merchant guilds. That alone would have been hell. But he’d had to sit there knowing he could be with Manon in mere seconds.

After learning the spells and symbols to open a wyrd gate, he’d made the mature decision to not leave immediately. He’d had guests after all. Aedion, Lysandra, and Evangeline stayed for two days. Two days that, under other circumstances, would not have felt interminable. By the time they left, he’d become overwhelmed with the nonsense discussed during today’s meetings.

And both Chaol and Yrene had thoughtfully pointed out that walking out of a fire-ringed wyrd gate into Manon’s bedroom might not be the best idea. He’d write to her so she could decide where and when. The letter was already on its way.

But as he walked towards his bedroom, shedding clothes, his finger itched to trace out the marks. He was going over the alphabet in his head as he entered the room and stopped dead in his tracks.

Her scent. It was thick in the air. Warm summer breezes and meadows.

Spinning in a circle and finding the room empty, he ran into the bathing room. Only to find it deserted too.

Back in his bedroom, he noticed something on his bed. A stack of books with a small package on top. It was the only free place to put anything, as every other surface was covered.

Dorian sat the box of pastries aside and examined the four books. Three romances and one collection of fantasy tales. Judging by their wonderful smell, an indescribable book smell he loved, their old age was obvious. A piece of paper fell silently from one and he smiled even before he could read the writing.

Hello princeling,

While I appreciated your gift - especially Qara’s pastries - I prefer our usual greeting and so I thought I’d use my own paper this time.

You may be surprised to know these books belonged to Ghislaine. You knew she was a bookworm of course. But you didn’t know of my plans to return to Blackbeak Keep to retrieve them. I didn’t know it myself until I decided to try and outdo your gift.

Dorian laughed, looking at the books with new appreciation.

I hope I have succeeded. And that the pastries are still fresh. Qara refused to send the recipe. I suppose that means I remain her favorite.

Ghislaine had a small collection, which I plan to use as the start of a royal library here in Morrigna. Perhaps we can schedule an official visit in the spring for you to come and assist with its development?

-Your witchling

P.S. If Altai put this package where I told him to, you need better guards.

To be continued...

***

Note - I hate making up place names. But I grew too lazy to keep calling it Rhiannon’s City. And in the spirit of unity, I think the witches will give it their own name once they are settled (unless it already has some other canon name we were just never told). So I named the witch capital Morrigna. Morrigan is not just a character in the acotar series. She’s also an Irish goddess who is often described as a trio of sisters called the Morrigna. So...kind of like a three-faced goddess?? Maybe? I don’t know. I’m not sure how it’s pronounced exactly, but I thought the symbolism was cool.

Thanks for reading! If you’d like to be tagged (or untagged, no offense taken) on future manorian fics, let me know.

@itach-i @nestasbucket @manontrashbeak @blackhavilliard @chloe123love607 @bookishwitchling @jimetg98 @mis-lil-red @sierrareads @yourfacesickens-me @awesomelena555 @monstrousloves-explodinggalaxies

#manorian #manon blackbeak #dorian havilliard #throne of glass #kingdom of ash #aedion ashryver #the thirteen #goodbye and hello #my writing

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snowfall-fanfictions · 4 years

Text

Beware the Frozen Heart Ch. 4- The Offer

Ao3 link

ff.net link

Finally, the queen and the assassin meet. Happy Thanksgiving!

Minor blood mention ahead

“Your majesty, are you and Princess Anna alright?” a guard asked Elsa as her and Anna made it to the courtyard. Elsa was panting heavily, gasping for air from the intense running she did. She never knew she could run that fast. She never had to. The young queen took a moment to regain her composure before responding.

“Yes, we’re both fine. Has the assassin been apprehended?”

“Some of the guards have reported that a commoner took the assailant’s life.”

“Any idea who it is?”

“Not yet, ma’am. We’ve found what we believe to be his horse near the market and we’re investigating it now.”

“Where is this mystery person?” “He’s been taken to the infirmary. He went unconscious as he was being brought in.”

“Unconscious?” “It appears that this man took a bullet to the chest. The medical staff claim it’s a miracle that he survived the ordeal.”

“Notify me when he wakes. Until then, double the patrols around the castle. Make sure no one enters the castle until further notice.”

“Should we close the gates ma’am?” Elsa glanced over at Anna. She was pacing back and forth with a scowl on her face, muttering that she could have taken whoever decided to shoot at them.

“No,” Elsa replied, “I made a promise to never close the gates again. Doubled patrols will suffice for now.”

“Very well, your majesty.” With that, the guard ran off to spread the orders from the queen.

Elsa walked over to Anna, cradling herself in her arms. Anna was still pacing and muttering furiously.

“Whoever shot at me and my sister is lucky that I didn’t come after them! I could’ve- Oh!” The princess stopped her rant when she saw her sister step towards her with a worried look on her face. “Elsa, is everything okay?”

“Y-yes,” Elsa said nervously, “Just a little startled is all.”

“At least we’re safe. But oooooh, whoever did that better have been ready for a fight if he thinks he can just shoot at us. If I-”

“You won’t have to worry about that, Anna. I’ve just been told someone took care of the assassin for us.”

“Then why do you look so shaken?”

“How are you not? We could’ve died today!”

“You have your powers, you could have easily-”

“But you don’t have powers, Anna! What would you have done?”

Anna hesitated for a second. “Well- I- uh, hmmm…”

Before Anna could think of what to say next, she was interrupted by the sound of someone sprinting towards them. The two sisters turned and saw Kristoff running as fast as he could, the same shock and fear that shrouded Elsa’s face covering his own. He slowed down as he reached Anna, gasping for air. “The guards just told me what happened,” Kristoff panted, “I should’ve been there with you guys. If you had gotten hurt or worse-”

“Hey, don’t think about that,” Anna reassured him as she placed a hand on his shoulder, “We’re fine, neither of us are hurt.” Kristoff placed his hands around his fiance’s waist and drew her into a loving embrace. Elsa smiled at the two, happy that her sister found someone who actually loves and cares for her. Her thoughts soon drifted to the assassination attempt. It made her realize how vulnerable she had made not only herself, but Anna as well. Leaving the castle on lockdown wasn’t going to solve anything. She knew she had to come up with a more permanent solution.

Just as she was thinking about what to do next, a guard had approached her from behind.

“Your majesty,” she began, “the mystery man has awoken. I was told to inform you when he did. Would you like me to take you to him?”

Elsa looked back at her sister and soon to be brother-in-law. She turned back to the guard and said, “Yes, let’s go.” With that, she followed the guard through the castle to the infirmary.

XXXXXX

Eryn groaned as he regained consciousness. His head felt like it was submerged in water. He opened his eyes, one by one, expecting to be greeted with the ceiling of a dungeon or a prison. Instead, he found a rather old and weathered man hovering over him. Eryn quickly shot up, only stopping when a sharp pain spiked through his chest. The old man gingerly placed a hand on Eryn’s chest, goading him to lie back down.

“Easy now, son,” the old man said in a thick german accent, “You’ve taken quite ze beating out zere. It’s a miracle you survived in ze first place.”

Eryn looked down at his chest. His torso was wrapped in bandages, with a faint red stain over the left side of his breastplate.

“W-What happened?” Eryn asked, shocked.

“Vat happened? You vere shot, zat’s vat happened!” the doctor laughed. “Und you are a very lucky man. Had zat bullet been only a few centimeters to ze right, it vould have gone through your heart.”

Eryn sat there, processing the doctor’s information. He’s had a few close calls in his life, but this was about as close as he could imagine.

“Where am I? What is this place?”

“Vhy, You’re in ze Arendelle Castle infirmary, mein friend. Ze guards tried to throw you into ze dungeons until you collapsed in ze courtyard.”

The memories of the events that transpired had come flooding back to Eryn. He remembered the young woman, the fight with the old man, and the guards grabbing him. Eryn darted his eyes around the room. It was a fairly large area, filled with similar looking cots. Some of these cots had men and women laying in them, each plagued with different injuries and ailments. Scanning the room once again, he noticed something was missing.

“Where are my things? My satchel, my horse, anything?”

“Zose are being taken care of by ze guards. Zey couldn’t find anyzing to identify you, so zey are looking through your belongings.”

Eryn was caught off guard by the doctor’s response. His mind began to race with worst case scenarios. He searched his mind for anything that could help him if the guards tried to wrestle information out of him. If they found out who he really was, he was done for!

Just then, a door swung open. Eryn tried to twist himself to see who it was, but the pain in his midsection kept the door out of his sight. All he could really do is listen to the conversation.

“Is this him?” someone asked. It sounded like a guard to Eryn. Woman by the tone.

“Ja, is she here?” the doctor responded. “Indeed, I’ll send her in right away.”

With that, the woman guard marched back to the door, spoke a few words to an unseen accomplice, and marched back to the doctor. This time, however, he heard the clicking of heels on stone accompanying the heavy stomps of the guard’s boots. He lazily turned his head to find a rather interesting sight. The white haired woman from the square, the old man’s target, was beside his bed. He was stunned by her beauty from afar, but now that she was this close to him, he was absolutely stunned by her looks.

“Well,” Eryn smirked, “Fancy meeting you here.”

“I take it you’re the one who stopped that gunman in the square earlier?” the woman asked. Her voice was as smooth as silk.

“What can I say, I would hate for looks such as yours to go to waste.”

The woman rolled her eyes as Eryn winked at her. She then turned to the doctor and the guard. “Can I discuss something in private with him? It’ll be just for a moment.”

Eryn studied the woman for a moment, combing over her figure with his eyes. He was mesmerized and puzzled by the creature before him.

Looks rich to me, Eryn thought, Maybe she’s here to give me a handsome reward.

“Very vell, your majesty,” the doctor replied.

I mean it’ll help with the jo-

“What did you just say?” Eryn asked in a hurried voice. He had to have misheard the doctor. Afterall, he was old and there was no way he’d-

“My queen, are you sure you wish to be left alone with this… complete stranger?” the guard asked. Eryn’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as his jaw dropped.

There was no denying it now: Eryn had unknowingly saved the Queen of Arendelle, his target.

“I’m certain,” the queen said, “now if you’ll excuse us.” She motioned them away

Eryn propped himself up on his arms as the doctor and guard began to walk away. A thousand thoughts raced through Eryn’s mind, most of which were a variety of curse words directed at himself. He was baffled at the sight. Ever since he was young, he had the idea that queens were all old miserable hags with more wrinkles on them than a pig. But here in front of him was a young woman who looked like a gift from the old gods! Damn this kingdom and damn myself he thought.

Once the two were out of sight, the queen set her sights on Eryn, a gentle smile on her face. “Arendelle thanks you,” she began, “Your brave deed saved the lives of both me and my sister. Is there any way we can repay you?” Well, you can start by offing yourself, Eryn thought bitterly.

“Don’t mention it,” he replied, “Anyone would have done the same.”

“Can I at least have your name?”

“Excuse me?”

The queen giggled, “Well, if I’m to properly thank my hero, I should at least know his name.”

Eryn racked his brain, desperately trying to remember his alias. After a moment, he finally pieced his memory back together. “Name’s Derrik,” he answered confidently, “Derrik Ormiester, your majesty.”

“Now what brings you to Arendelle, Mr. Ormiester?”

“Oh, the normal things, sightseeing, fortune making, monarch saving.” Eryn subtly gritted his teeth when he said “monarch saving.” Luckily the queen didn’t pick up on the disdain in his voice.

“Speaking of monarch saving,” she chuckled, “I have something I would like to ask you.”

As if this couldn’t get any worse, Eryn thought. Not even five minutes into their conversation and he had thought of at least a dozen different ways to kill her.

“And what would that be?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Before she could deliver her question, the door to the infirmary swung open. Eryn slightly turned his head to see a burly guard approach the queen. In his hand, he held several papers and two familiar sacks. The queen looked at the guard with an annoyed expression. Eryn’s heart sank into his stomach.

“My queen,” the guard said as he saluted the monarch, “I do apologize for the intrusion. We’ve finished the investigation of the steed left in the square. It seems that it belonged to a ‘Derrik Ormiester,’ but we haven’t found him yet.”

“You’re looking at him,” Eryn interrupted coldly, “And what happened to the other sack? There were three!” The guard scowled at Eryn before continuing, “It appears that someone made off with one of the bags. But, that should be the least of your concerns.” The guard untied one of the bags and drew out a small gold coin. “These coins,” he explained, “are from Weselton. Both of these bags are filled with them.”

The queen took the coin from the guard and studied it. She turned back to Eryn, a puzzled look plastered across her face. Eyrn was silently cursing the guard for losing part of his fortune.

“Why do you have all this money? And from Weselton of all places?” she asked.

“Uh- well…” Eryn racked his mind for an excuse at a feverish pace. “The truth is, I’m… the son of a minor noble in Weselton.”

“Really?”

“Yes, yes. You see, my father had power over a small tract of land in Weselton, Unfortunately, he passed unexpectedly from… a hunting accident.” The queen let out a small gasp. “At his funeral the duke claimed the land and estate as his, leaving me with only four sacks of gold to my name. So, I set my sights on Arendelle to rebuild my family fortune.”

The queen placed a hand on his shoulder. “I understand,” she replied sympathetically, “The Duke has caused his own share of problems here.”

Eryn feigned a look of sympathy. In reality, he was thinking of a way to actually finish his mission. He didn’t care about some political disputes, he just wanted to kill the whore and be done with it. No amount of praise and ‘heroic duty’ would make him any richer, nor would it solidify his place in history. Only the blood of the woman in front of him would do that.

“However,” the queen continued, “I can offer you a way to rebuild your fortune, if you wish.”

To say Eryn was intrigued would be an understatement. “I’m listening…” he said, slightly turning his head.

“This attempt on the lives of me and my sister have made me realize how sparse our security is. I’m looking for someone who is able to provide that security. Someone… like you.”

Eryn did a double take at the queen’s words. “You want me… to be your bodyguard?”

“If you are willing. I won’t force you.”

Eryn’s face lit up like a candle. Here he was, feeling stupid for accidentally saving his intended target. Now, she’s here offering him the chance to be as close as he can possibly get to her. It’s perfect! “I humbly accept the position, your majesty,” he said.

“Excellent!” the queen returned the coin to the guard. “Have these sent to the guest room, the large one.”

“Yes, Queen Elsa,” the guard answered, a sense of uncertainty in his voice. With that, the guard exited the infirmary, leaving Eryn and Elsa alone.

“Once you’re fully healed, report to me in my office,” she said, “For now, just rest and let your wounds heal.”

“As you wish,” Eryn responded, faking a smile. He held his smile until she was out of eyesight. When he heard the door shut, his smile turned into a devious grin.

“Eryn, you crafty bastard,” he muttered to himself as he placed his hands behind his head, “Even when you fuck up royally, things always tend to work out...”

#disney frozen #frozen fanfiction #OC #Queen Elsa #Princess Anna #Eryn Odrikson #mature #blood tw #queen elsa #princess anna #olaf #kristoff #duke of weselton #hans #fanfiction #assassination #gore tw

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actuallykiwi · 5 years

Text

Once a Thief... Chapter 16: Blindsighted

(Due to the length of this chapter, I have skipped a lot of the details of Irkngthand to get to the more key points of the story. If you ever wish to see how I write the full dungeon, let me know and I might rewrite it in the future!)

Cimber was sitting on a rock, dangling her feet in the shallow water below. It was quiet, aside from the water lapping against the shore, and the occasional breeze. She was wearing the Thieves’ Guild armor again, no wear and tear like it had been previously from her injuries. In fact, she felt no pain at all. Just the cool water dampening her pant legs from where she kicked the surface. But the tranquility didn’t last long. There was a laugh. That horrible, indistinguishable, malicious laugh that she knew would haunt her. She frantically looked around her for the source before standing on the rock, reaching for her sword that she knew she didn’t have. Then there he was. Mercer Frey was still laughing, swinging his bronze sword lazily as he approached her. The sudden pain in her side caused her to stagger precariously to the edge of the rock, which was now high above the water below. “You know, eyes seem to be a common theme lately...” he muttered as he stood mere feet from her. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t move. It was just like that night in the sanctum. Fear chilled her to the bone. His laugh turned to a deep chuckle as he lifted his sword. “Come and get me.” He spat. There was a blinding pain in her left eye, causing her to close them, and the last thing she saw was a flash of the Nightingale symbol, and then darkness.

Cimber awoke with a loud gasp and shot straight up on the bed. Karliah jumped back. “Easy, easy, I was just about to wake you. It’s time to go.” She took a moment to slow her breathing before standing, rubbing her left eye. “Are you alright? That must have been some nightmare.” Karliah asked. Cimber sighed, “I’ll say. I’m fine.” Brynjolf was watching her, a hint of worry in his eyes. “Very well. We need to get going then.” Karliah rounded up a few belongings and began walking toward the Hall entrance. The others followed behind, a little slower because of the hour of the morning.

Outside, two black horses waited patiently by the stone. “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I decided to make the journey easier for us.” Karliah explained. “Karliah, you should rest. This isn’t going to be an easy fight. You’ll need your strength.” Cimber protested. “Oh I have plenty of strength. I can’t rest until I know he’s taken care of.” “Listen to her, Karliah. You know how Nightingales operate, so being half-asleep during the fight won’t help.” Brynjolf joined in. Karliah sighed after a moment. “Fine. You can drive, Cimber.” She waited for Cimber to hop onto the horse before sitting behind her, Brynjolf took the other horse. “Let’s go.” They whipped the reins, and sped off into the edge of the sunrise.

A couple of hours into the ride, the horses slowed to a steady trot. Cimber couldn’t but grin to herself as she felt Karliah slouch against her back, fast asleep.

It was mid-afternoon by the time they decided to stop in the marshes. Cimber and Brynjolf were secretly relieved to have the masks off. They all got off the horses to stretch and eat, but Brynjolf wandered off without a word beyond some trees. Cimber let him have a moment of privacy before curiosity got the best of her and she went to find him.

She found him standing in a small clearing overlooking some of the marsh. He was leaning against a tree, a somber expression on his face. “You okay?” She tentatively asked as she stood next to him. It took him a moment to answer. “...Despite how much I despise him right now, and how much we can’t wait to send his soul to Oblivion... It’s not what he’s done that hurts me most.” His voice was quiet, as if in deep thought. She thought about this for a moment. “He was your friend. A really close one. You’ve trusted him for years, and you could have never seen this coming. No one could have.” His silence was her confirmation. “I know this must be hard for you, and not just because the guild is paying for it. But because all those years of friendship are ending like this... I’m so sorry.” She gently placed her hand on his shoulder as he stood up straight. “You have nothing to be sorry for.” He finally looked at her, and she leaned up to wrap him in a tight hug. He was taken aback for just a moment, before chuckling softly and returning her embrace. “Thank you, lass.” He mumbled into her shoulder.

“Brynjolf? Cimber?” Karliah called out. Cimber let go of the embrace and looked up at him, cupping his face with one hand. “We can do this. You can do this. Now let’s go save the Guild.” She grinned, and planted a quick kiss on his cheek before scurrying off to their waiting companion. He watched her go for a moment, then smiled and followed.

The sun was almost fully set by the time the roofs of Irkngthand breached the horizon. The thieves departed their horses a good distance from the entrance, then carefully crept up to the large stone gate. They could see a few bandit corpses surrounding some campfires, but some still living patrolled the rest of the fortress, on high alert. They readied their weapons and found a side entrance past the locked gate. Luckily most of the bandits were scattered abroad, so picking them off proved to be fairly easy. Once the lower levels were cleared, of fiends and their treasures, they made their way up the high makeshift bridges leading to the entrance. They expected to face more up this way, but it appeared Mercer had made short work of them. “Must have spotted him on his way in,” Cimber noted as they perused through what the bandits left behind. Once through, they gathered up their courage and entered Irkngthand.

The first bit of the dungeon was mostly empty, save for a few traps reset. There was several minutes of tiptoeing past pressure plates, rolling past threshers, and barely evading flamethrowers, burning a couple inches off of Cimber’s cape. Unfortunately, most valuables had already been taken, not that they had time to thoroughly search for any. Eventually, they came across an elevator leading further down into the ruins. This is where they paused to discussed a plan.

“Mercer’s been here. I hope we aren’t too late. We have to catch up to him, but we should tread carefully. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s left behind more surprises for us.” Karliah explained. “My guess is he’s trying to slow us down, or maybe he’s hoping one of these ‘surprises’ will be rid of us for him.” Brynjolf thought out loud. “Regardless, whatever he throws at us, we can handle it.” Cimber said determinedly as the elevator ground to a halt. “Well said, lass.”

The three crept into a large, glowing chamber overlooking an expansive ruin, crawling with Falmer. “Wait a moment.. what’s that?” Karliah asked as she approached the bronze fence. “... It’s Mercer! Look, down there!” She pointed at a shadowy figure creeping up behind an unsuspecting Falmer. “Dammit, there’s no way through!” Brynjolf exclaimed as he pushed on the fence. There was a swift movement, and the creature fell over dead. It was hard to tell, but from a distance, it appeared as if Mercer’s head looked up at them before turning and running toward the exit. “He’s toying with us, he wants us to follow!” Karliah gripped her bow tightly. “Aye, lass. And we’ll be ready for him.” The girls nodded at him before moving on, albeit a little faster this time.

Things from here on were a little trickier. Falmer are easier to get past, so Mercer left most of them alive, waiting for the trio. “Look at the size of this place. “Have you ever seen anything like it in your life?” Brynjolf wondered aloud once they dispatched a small group. “Can’t say that I have. Imagine the riches hidden within these walls...” Karliah ran her hand across the stone wall. They were now at a puzzle-like contraption where the solver had to pull the levers within a certain time for the gate to open and stay open long enough to get through. Karliah ran to the other side, while Cimber pulled on the other. They all three quickly slid down the rocky walls and past the gate.

Now they were entering an expansive cavern covered with ruined Dwarven buildings, also crawling with inhabitants. These were easier to dispatch from a distance, but halfway through, there was a loud rumbling and crashing that shook the entire cavern. The trio huddled together to avoid rocks falling from the ceiling. “What in Oblivion was that!?” Cimber exclaimed once things settled. “Trouble, it sounds like.” Karliah stood and walked to the other end of the cavern, where a tower lay across what was once the exit. It was the cause of the crashing, evident by the rubble still falling and the billowing cloud of dust emanating from it. “How did this happen?” Brynjolf wondered. “It’s the Key, Brynjolf. This is the power that it wields in the hands of the wrong person. That’s why we have to get it back.” Karliah sighed and looked for an exit. “Up this ramp. He’ll be further ahead of us now, but we can still catch him.”

They continued on further into Falmer territory, avoiding most of them. From this point on, Dwemer pipes snaked overhead, “I can hear water rushing through these pipes. We must be beneath a lake.” The others agreed as they used these pipes to their advantage, sneaking behind and over them in rooms filled with enemies. Another large bronze door was now ahead of them. Karliah paused before it. “He’s close. I’m certain of it. We must prepare ourselves.” Brynjolf stood by her. “Then this is it. We do this for Gallus, and the Guild.” Cimber stood by them and they nodded. With a deep breath, she stepped forward and opened the door.

-----------------------------------------------------

Facing them was a giant, bronze statue of what the Falmer used to look like, then known as the Snow Elves. It was sitting cross-legged, holding a tall torch in one hand and a huge bronze book in the other. Above, several pipes crisscrossed the ceiling, several leaks dripping to the ground below. On the statue’s face, gauging the precious eyes out, was Mercer, his back turned on the entrance. “He’s here and he hasn’t seen us yet. Brynjolf, watch the door.” Karliah whispered. “Aye, lass. Nothing’s getting past me.” She turned to Cimber, who was standing on the edge, watching Mercer. “Climb down that ledge and see if you can-”

“Karliah, when will you learn that you can’t get the drop on me?” Mercer’s voice echoed ominously across the cavern. He chuckled as he dropped to the statue’s collar. He lifted up his hands and cast a strange spell. Rocks crashed down from overhead, and the ledge Cimber was standing on fell to the ground, causing her to fall along with it. She cried out and rolled with it, landing on her feet in the shallow water below. “Cimber!” Brynjolf cried out, and he tried to jump down after her. “I can’t.. move!” “Neither can I!” He and Karliah struggled on the ledge, but both of them seemed frozen in place. Mercer was now standing on the book of the statue, in front of Cimber. “When Brynjolf brought you before me, I could feel a sudden shift in the wind. And at that moment, I knew it would end with one of us at the end of a blade.” Mercer growled at her. She stood tall, despite trembling on the inside, and stared him dead in the eye. “Give me the Key, Mercer.”

He snarled. “What’s Karliah been filling your head with? Tales of thieves with honor? Oaths rife with falsehoods and broken promises? Nocturnal doesn’t care about you, the Key or anything having to do with the Guild.”

“This isn’t just about Nocturnal. This is personal!” She growled back.

“Revenge, is it? Have you learned nothing from your time with us? When will you open your eyes and realize how little my actions differ from yours? Both of us lie, cheat, and steal to further our own end!”

“The difference is I actually give a damn! And I still have honor.”

He scoffed. “it’s clear you’ll never see the Skeleton Key as I do... as an instrument of limitless wealth! Instead you’ve chosen to fall over your own foolish code.”

“If anyone falls, it’ll be you!”

He laughed. That awful, maniacal laugh that caused Cimber to shiver, but she stood her ground. “Then the die is cast, and once again my blade will taste Nightingale blood!” There was a flash as Mercer turned invisible. “Karliah, I’ll deal with you after I rid myself of your irksome companions. In the meantime, perhaps you and Brynjolf should get better acquainted!” He cast another spell and the cavern shook once more as he and Cimber began their fight.

Against his will, Brynjolf began attacking Karliah. “Brynjolf, what are you doing?!” “I-I’m sorry, lass, this isn’t me!” She defended herself against him, “This must be his Nightingale ability, try to fight it instead of me!” “I’m trying, lass!”

Above all the fighting, when Mercer’s spell had shaken the cavern, several pipes burst. Water poured in from above at alarming rates, beginning to flood the cavern. This didn’t go unnoticed, but at the time was the least of everyone’s worries. For now.

Cimber tried to stay in the water for as long as she could, watching for ripples from Mercer. She saw them, and cast flame in that direction to better see his form. She caught him just in time, and parried a large swing from his blade. He backed her up onto the ramp, her loss of sight of him gaining her a few new scars. Finally the spell wore off, and she could see his face, burning with rage and hatred. The water was beginning to rise, lapping at their ankles. “Give it up, little Nightingale! You can’t possibly hope to survive this!” He snarled at her. They were now up to the elbow of the statue, each having gotten a few hits on the other.

But it was clear he was stronger.

Mercer lunged out at her, causing her to fly backwards and bang her head on the stone wall. She fell to the ground as her hood fell back and the room became blurry. “You know, I’ve always wondered about that scar on your eye. Someone must have tried to get that eye out. Here, let me FINISH THE JOB!” He roared and brought his blade down. Before she could realize what was happening, before she understood what he meant, the sword met her left eye. A blood-curdling shriek of pain echoed around the room, drowning out the roar of rushing water. Both Brynjolf and Karliah screamed her name, and Mercer stood back to admire his handiwork.

Cimber curled onto the ground, holding where her left eye used to be and crying in pain. “Isn’t that beautifully ironic? Now you look almost just like the statue.” He grinned maliciously and kicked her side where he had stabbed her, causing another cry of pain. “Say hello to Gallus for me.” He lifted his sword to finish the job, but he wasn’t expecting her to retaliate. Cimber let out a vicious war cry that he mistook for a cry of pain, and dove upwards with the Nightingale Blade. Mercer gasped and gurgled, the sword shoving through his heart. She pushed into him, inches from his face, her face drenched in blood, sweat, and tears. While there, she snatched the Key and the Eye from his pockets, then spat blood into his shocked face.

He grinned, despite contorting in pain. “’Shadows take me’...” he mocked. Cimber cried out again and kicked his body off of the blade, dropping into the water below.

With Mercer dead the spell on Brynjolf was broken, and he dove into the water to Cimber. She was slouched against a pipe behind the shoulder of the statue, holding her face and other wounds. Karliah tried to open the door. “Something must have fallen behind the door, it’s not moving! We have to get out of here!” She swam over to them. Brynjolf was cradling Cimber, the water now rising to their waists. “Come on, lass, hang in there! Hold onto me!” He draped her across his back while Karliah desperately searched for a way out.

“I can’t look any further, everything’s underwater!” The water was now covering the head of the statue, feet away from the roof of the cavern. “Shadows preserve us...” She prayed. Cimber held onto Brynjolf as the water raced upwards, and they all took one long breath before being submerged completely.

There was a few seconds of sheer panic before there was a slight rumbling ahead. Karliah pulled on Brynjolf’s arm and pointed at a faint light behind the statue’s head. They swam towards it, and relief flooded them more than the water as they gasped above the surface, finding a small tunnel leading into a cave. Cimber carefully slid off of him as they panted and stumbled as far form the water as they could before she collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain. “Karliah, we need a healing potion, NOW!” He cradled her once more and tore some of the cape off of her armor. As Karliah made her drink a potion, he wrapped the fabric around her eye, trying to slow the bleeding. She breathed heavily as the potion took its effect, and Karliah used the rest of the fabric to cover her other wounds. “Get her out of here, I’ll find help!” She ran ahead out of the cave.

The last thing Cimber remembered was Brynjolf carrying her out into the night, worry strong in his voice. “Don’t worry lass, you’ll be alright, I’ve got you...”

The world began fading.

“I’ve got you...”

#skyrim #writing #fanfiction #love story #thieves guild #brynjolf #karliah #mercer frey

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numbah34 · 5 years

Text

Heart’s Desire- 5: Sunrise

Author’s Note: My original intent was to make chapter 5 be day number 1, in completion. However, nearly 6,000 words later in just this part, I am splitting the chapter. Also, I have been itching to post these next bits for almost a month, and I ain’t waiting any longer! Thanks for reading! I love comments (especially in the tags when you choose to reblog)!

First Chapter / Previous chapter

Chapter 5: Sunrise

“The deepest desires of one’s heart can be strong magic…” ******************************************* Lance woke to the glow of golden sunlight, the sunrise casting a soft illumination over the beach. He yawned as the last threads of a strange dream faded away, and stretched his arms high over his head. He turned to the sound of quiet snoring and discovered Pidge, curled up next to him, sound asleep. Her fur, long since dry, had become fluffier than he had ever seen, and he couldn’t resist gently running his hand over it. She let out a sigh and leaned into his touch, but remained asleep. He couldn’t help smiling at her reaction.

He continued to stroke her fur, but did nothing further to wake her; he was eager to tell her about his dream, though. It had been so weird! He had met the sea witch, Haggar, and she had made a bargain with him and given him legs… Pidge had even been in the dream. Maybe because he was on his way to find her? To tell her about Queen Luxia’s orders? He tried to piece together the events of the previous day…

He must have found Pidge on her beach, and then… stayed here? Camped out? He looked around. This doesn’t look like Pidge’s beach, though, he thought, surveying the broken ship pieces. Hers is a lot cleaner than this…

He looked down, and felt confused about the ripped piece of canvas covering his tail. How did that get there? he thought, just as the last puzzle piece clicked together in his mind. His head snapped up and his eyes widened.

That wasn’t a dream.

He looked down again, and hesitantly moved the canvas. Instead of being greeted by his tail, he saw…

“LEGS!!!” he yelled.

“AAAAAAH!” Pidge shrieked, jerking herself upright, startled awake by his cry.

“Pidge!” Lance exclaimed, “Sorry! I just- I have LEGS!” He gestured at the new appendages. “I thought it was a dream! But it wasn’t! They’re actually there!”

“Lance!” Pidge shut her eyes tight. “Put the canvas back!”

“What?” Lance blinked, bewildered.

“Put the canvas back!”

He looked at the makeshift blanket still clutched in his hand, and then back at Pidge, who had managed to scoot away from him. Her head now faced away from him, and it looked like she was trying to cover her face with her flippers.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because you’re naked!” she hissed.

He blinked again, and then raised an eyebrow. “Naked?”

“You’re not wearing any clothes!”

“But… I’m not wearing any less than usual?”

“It’s different when you’re a human!” she sputtered. “There’s… things… and… and modesty, and… WILL YOU PLEASE JUST PUT THE CANVAS BACK.”

“Okay…” said Lance, replacing material over his lap. “I still don’t see what the big deal is.”

“…Are you done?” she turned her head slightly, eyes still squeezed shut.

“Yes,” said Lance, smirking.

Pidge sighed and turned back towards him.

“Wow, I had no idea seals were so concerned with modesty,” Lance remarked. He laughed, “You’d never know it!”

“Well, as you’ve pointed out numerous times, I’m not exactly like other seals,” Pidge huffed. Her whiskers twitched.

“So, no ‘seal of approval’?” he quipped.

They stared at each other for a moment before dissolving into a shared fit of laughter.

“Puns, now? Now? At a time like this?” Pidge said between giggles.

“Couldn’t resist!” he replied. “Sometimes when you see an opportunity, you have to take it!”

At that, Pidge’s laughter died down. She shook her head and gave him a serious look. “Lance… about your legs…”

Lance froze. He had almost forgotten the witch’s final warning; he couldn’t tell Pidge, or anyone, about his deal. How was he going to explain this?

“Um… Pidge, I know this is going to be hard to believe, but I can’t tell you how it happened,” he started.

Pidge stared him in the eye, unblinking. “What were your terms?”

Lance stared back, incredulously. “What?”

“Listen,” Pidge sighed, “I know you made a deal with Haggar. I also know that a hallmark of her little ‘agreements’ is that you are not allowed to tell anyone you made a deal with her. However, if someone already knows without you having to tell them…”

“…then it doesn’t count?” Lance asked hopefully.

“Correct. You didn’t tell me, so you will not be in breach of contract.” she asserted. “So, what were your terms?”

“Wait, hold on.” Lance said, holding his hands up. “How did you already know I’d made a deal with the sea witch?”

“I saw it.” Pidge’s gaze was unreadable. “I was on my way to find you, and I heard… I heard voices. I was curious, so I hid in the kelp and found my way over to where I could see you and her in the clearing. I caught some of what was said, but not everything; I was scared I might be seen.” She cast her eyes downward. “And then you were shaking hands with the witch, and then you were transforming, and it looked like you might… might drown…” her voice hitched a little on the last word.

“…And then you saved me!” Lance finished, smiling broadly.

“Yes.” Pidge said softly, bringing her eyes to meet his. “So… your terms? Obviously, legs were part of your bargain; what did she want in return?”

“My time,” Lance replied. Pidge tilted her head slightly, giving him a questioning look. Lance continued, “I have three days- three sunsets- for my heart’s desire to come true.”

“Hmm… so you didn’t just want to become human; Haggar giving you legs was more of a means to an end. That actually makes more sense, given how she works…” Pidge muttered, almost to herself. She looked back at Lance and explained, “Haggar is tricky. She is bound by the rules of magic that say you can’t make someone fall in love, or hurt another; for example, if you wish harm upon someone, her magic won’t hurt them for you, but it would provide you with a sword.”

Lance nodded.

Pidge continued, “So you have three days to be on land…? And what?”

Lance reached up and rubbed the back of his neck as he felt his face redden. “Um… I have three days… to get the princess to fall in love with me…” he trailed off, and hesitantly dared a look at Pidge.

She looked at him agape; her eyes had grown wide and her whiskers drooped, her mouth hanging open. “Lance!” she exclaimed, worry written all over her face. “Three days is almost no time! I mean, you haven’t actually met her yet!”

“Somehow, I knew you were going to say that.”

“What happens if she doesn’t fall in love with you? What, then?”

“She said I’ll revert back to my original form,” he started.

“Oh… okay, that’s not so bad, that’s-”

“…and my life will belong to her,” he finished.

“WHAT?! NO!” Pidge’s expression changed to one of horror. Lance wasn’t sure she had looked that scared when they were trying to escape the shark the other day. “That’s not good!”

“What’s wrong?” Lance asked, not sure if he really wanted to hear the answer.

Pidge took a deep breath to calm herself. “Lance, how familiar are you with the stories and legends about the sea witch?”

“Well, my mom and dad used to tell me the stories when I was little; my grandparents sometimes, too,” he responded.

“In the stories, the sea witch never does anything unless she stands to gain something from it, correct? She either takes payment in the form of something she thinks she might be able to use, or in the form of someone’s life.”

Lance thought back. “Yeah, now that you mention it… I always thought those stories were more cautionary tales.”

Pidge nodded. “Those stories have been around for centuries, but you’ve recently met the sea witch… the very same sea witch from the legends. Did you wonder how that was possible?”

Lance swallowed, an anxious feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. He did not like where this was heading.

“When the sea witch says a life will belong to her if the person she is ‘helping’ does not obtain their heart’s desire, even with her aid…” Pidge gulped, “she means that she is going to take that person’s life energy. It’s how she’s lived for so long. And when the witch needs more life energy… she will look for a way to make a deal with someone that will, in all likelihood, work out in her favor.”

They stared at each other for a moment, wide-eyed, neither wanting to consider the implications of Pidge’s words, but thinking of it nonetheless.

“I’m doomed…” Lance whispered.

“Don’t say that!” Something about Lance’s fear snapped Pidge out of her discomposure. She strengthened her resolve. “We might still be able to make this work; we can’t give up!”

“Okay,” Lance said. While the reality of his situation had settled in, the shift in his friend’s attitude made him feel a little more hopeful.

“You have three days to get the princess to fall in love with you… first of all, how will you know if she has?” Pidge started lumbering along the sand as though she were pacing.

“Um… she said something about a ‘declaration of love’,” he answered, his eyes following the little seal.

“Alright; that might not be too hard, then,” she murmured, “she just has to say she loves you…” She frowned, then turned her head towards Lance and gave him an appraising look. “Hmm… we need to find a way to get you to the palace.” She turned her face away as she continued her pacing. “And we need to find you some clothes. Castle guards would see a naked man showing up at the gate as suspicious, and you don’t have time to wait around in the dungeon.”

“Couldn’t you just go find someone?” Lance asked.

Pidge stopped and turned to look at him. “How would that help?”

“You could tell them what I need, ask for some clothes, something like that?”

“That wouldn’t work,” Pidge answered bluntly.

“Why not?”

“Because I can’t talk to humans,” she stated. “They wouldn’t understand me if I tried.”

“But… I understand you,” Lance pointed out.

“That’s because you already could. You lost your gills and your fin, not your brain,” she explained.

“Oh.” Lance considered this for a moment. He was relieved and happy that he hadn’t lost the ability to talk to Pidge, for many reasons. One thing puzzled him, though… “Say, Pidge; how did you learn so much about the surface world if you can’t talk to anyone?”

Pidge stared at him for a moment, wide-eyed, then shook her head and blinked. “That’s not important right now! We have to figure out what we can do about this… situation.”

“Hey, uh… is everything alright here? You doing okay, man?”

Lance and Pidge froze, then slowly turned their heads to face the source of the new voice that had spoken.

A tall, husky man stood not far away, seeming to have come from a nearby road. He stood not far away from a small, hand-drawn cart that was loaded with several large sacks, and was looking at them with friendly, if mildly concerned, curiosity. He glanced around at the detritus surrounding them on the beach, then looked back at the odd duo. “Did your ship wreck?”

Pidge whispered to Lance, “You have to say something! And a shipwreck is a good excuse, use that!”

Lance gave his head a little shake to clear away the surprise. “Yes! I mean, no! I mean…” he took a breath. “Yes, we were shipwrecked.”

“Oh no! That’s terrible!” the big man looked around the beach again. “Were there more people on your ship? Could they have washed up somewhere else? What can I do to help you?”

Lance looked at Pidge. She said, “Tell him there weren’t any others. Also, now would be a good time to ask about clothes.”

Lance turned his face back to the man. “Oh, we were alone on the boat. No other passengers! But… Um… I lost my, uh, clothes in the, er, sea…” he glanced down at the canvas covering his lower half.

“Oh! I think I might be able to help you there!” the man turned to his cart and grabbed one of the packs and opened it up, rummaging around. “I was just on my way back to the palace in Altea; I work there, in the kitchen. I had been gathering some ingredients and supplies from a village not too far from here, but you never know about the weather, so I always carry an extra set of clothes… Ah! There they are!” He pulled out a shirt and a pair of pants. He walked over to them and handed the clothes to Lance. “My name is Hunk, by the way.”

“I’m Lance,” he said, accepting the items gratefully. “Thank you for the clothes!”

“No problem!” Hunk turned his back to give Lance some privacy. As he glanced down at the sand, he noticed the little seal had also moved away and seemed to be pointedly looking in a different direction. Huh, he thought, weird. “Sorry if the clothes are a little big.”

“That’s alright, I’m just happy to have something to wear!”

“So, uh… where are you from? What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Um…” Lance hesitated, unsure of what to say.

“Tell him you were on a trade mission!” Pidge yelped. “From Balto! There was a sudden storm, and your ship was destroyed on some rocks!”

Hunk looked down and raised his eyebrows at the seal’s unexpected outburst. “Your little friend here seems kind of… agitated,” he said, trying to figure out what could have caused the seal to start barking. Meanwhile, Lance put together Pidge’s prompts and filled in the details as he worked out how to dress himself.

“We were on a trade mission, from Balto. We were supposed to meet Princess Allura,” he grinned as he realized how he could make the story work in his favor, “but a storm came out of nowhere while we were at sea.” He paused as he slipped the shirt over his head, and then figured out how his arms were supposed to go into the sleeves. “We tried to navigate through it, but the boat ran up against some rocks, and we sank.”

“Aw, man… I’m sorry. Wow, you were really lucky, though. From the looks of what used to be your boat, you could’ve gotten really hurt.”

“Thanks, but I’m only lucky Pidge was there.” Lance studied the trousers, looking at his legs and trying to decide how best to put the pants on while seated. He gave his legs a shake, focusing on bending one knee at a time, then leaned over and slipped his feet through the pant legs. “She’s the one that saved me! I don’t want to think about what would have happened if she hadn’t been with me…”

Hunk noticed the seal duck its head a little to the side as its whiskers twitched. Was the seal reacting to Lance’s words? He gave his head a little shake to brush off this ridiculous idea. Probably just a coincidence.

“Wait,” Hunk’s head popped up as something Lance had said registered. “I thought you said you were the only one on the boat? Who is Pidge?”

“Oh! Right! I forgot to introduce you.” Lance finished adjusting the drawstring on his borrowed pants, and straightened his shirt. “I’m done, you can turn around now.” The two both turned to find him sitting in the sand, knees now drawn up and arms loosely wrapped around them. He gestured at the two of them. “Hunk, this is Pidge. Pidge, Hunk.”

“Where…?” Hunk looked around the beach, confused.

“Here!” barked Pidge, turning her face upwards toward Hunk.

Hunk looked down and met her eyes, surprised again by the almost perfectly-timed response that made it seem like this animal was participating in their conversation. “Do you mean the seal? The seal is Pidge?” He pointed at her and looked, inquiring, at Lance.

“Yes, that’s her!”

“Sure is quick on the uptake, isn’t he.” she commented dryly.

“Oh!” Hunk exclaimed. “So, is she your pet, or something?”

“Uuh…” Lance cast a questioning look at Pidge.

“Sure, let’s say that. It’s the simplest explanation,” she reassured him.

“Yup!” Lance affirmed, giving Pidge what he hoped was an apologetic smile. He guessed that probably a human wouldn’t normally have a seal as a best friend.

“Aw! Neat! I’ve never met anyone who had a seal as a pet!” he beamed at Pidge. “She’s so cute! I’ve never seen a seal with golden fur before, either. She kind of sparkles a little doesn’t she?” He reached a tentative hand down to pat Pidge on the head, but she gave a little growl and a warning snap of her jaws; all this attention was making her squirm. Hunk withdrew his hand quickly and took a step back, holding both hands up. “Okay, whoa, that’s fine. Hands off, message received.” He turned to Lance. “Better be careful with her around the princess; Allura loves sparkly things and might be tempted to keep her!” he laughed.

Lance grinned at the mention of Allura’s name. “So, does that mean you can take us to the palace to see her?” he asked hopefully.

“Yeah, I was planning on it!” Hunk answered. He took one more look around the beach. “Is there anything else you need to grab to take with you?”

Lance shook his head. “I could probably use a hand to stand up, though.”

“Sure thing!” Hunk walked over and offered his hand. Lance grasped it, and Hunk easily helped him to his feet.

Lance felt extremely wobbly as he tried to support himself on his two legs. His knees and legs shook a little as he felt the unfamiliar weight of holding up the rest of his body.

“Feet apart!” Pidge exclaimed, watching helplessly as Lance, off-balance, began to tip sideways.

“Whoa!” Hunk reached out and grabbed Lance by the shoulders to steady him.

Lance sighed with relief. “Thanks,” he said.

“That shipwreck must have really taken it out of you!” Hunk let Lance lean on him as they began walking towards the cart. “I figured your seal- Pidge- could ride in the cart, but do you think you should, too?”

“No, no, I should be fine!” Lance said with more bravado than he felt, excited at the fact that he had just taken his (albeit assisted) first few steps. “Just need to get my feet under me.”

“Okay,” Hunk agreed skeptically, “but if you get tired or dizzy and change your mind, you can always hop in.”

Hunk led Lance to the cart, as Pidge followed behind, doing her best to keep up. She was thankful that Hunk had something for her to ride in, as she was sure galumphing down the road would not only be slow, but tiresome for everyone involved. She supposed she could have stayed behind, but… there was no way she was going to leave Lance.

Lance reached out and leaned against the cart as they came up next to it. Hunk turned to Pidge, and they regarded each other with mild apprehension.

“Do you think Pidge will let me lift her into the cart?” Hunk asked Lance. Pidge sighed deeply and heaved herself a little closer to where he stood.

“It looks like she’s willing to cooperate,” Lance replied, smiling at her. “Besides, I’m not sure I’m able to lift anything yet.”

Hunk leaned down and gently lifted her up and into the cart. “There you go! Just make yourself comfortable!” Pidge snorted and settled herself among the bags.

Hunk came around to the front of his cart and picked up the handles. Lance kept a hand on the side for balance, and Pidge shifted herself until her head was facing forward.

“Alright, let’s go to the castle!” _____________________________________________________________________

As it turned out, the Altean palace was only about an hour’s walk away from where Lance and Pidge had been found. The time had passed quickly, as Hunk and Lance had fallen into easy conversation. Pidge marveled at the ease with which Lance made friends; they had only met Hunk that morning, and already they were talking as though they had known each other for years. She had contented herself with listening to their chitchat, as her own participation was limited. Not that it wasn’t still interesting; as he had told them earlier, Hunk worked in the kitchen, assisting the chef. He wanted to learn everything he could about food, and from the sounds of it, Pidge thought he was well on his way. Just listening to him talk about what they might have for lunch when they reached the castle was enough to excite Lance, much to Pidge’s amusement. Lance had never even had food outside the sea, but the way he was reacting to Hunk’s descriptions would have fooled anybody.

Aside from this, their new friend was also something of a tinkerer. He told them about some of the projects he had taken on, helping his father with castle maintenance and improvements. Pidge found this topic very interesting, and was curious to hear more. However, as Hunk was describing an invention he was working on for the palace arsenal, a familiar name caught both Pidge’s and Lance’s attention.

“…so then Shiro and Keith were asking me about the safety ramifications, and I was telling them that we could only hypothesize, as the machine is still untested-”

“Did you say ‘Keith’?” Lance interrupted.

“Oh, yeah!” Hunk said, ignoring the interruption. “Do you know him?”

“Well, not exactly,” Lance rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess it’s more that I’ve heard of him? He’s a guard, right?”

“Yeah, that’s him,” Hunk confirmed, “except he’s not just a guard; he and Shiro are Princess Allura’s personal knights. You almost never see her without at least one of them, usually Keith.”

“Oh.” Lance frowned. It might be harder to get to Allura than he had been anticipating. He put that from his mind, though, and tried his best at nonchalance. “So, what’s the princess like?”

“Allura? Oh, she’s great!” Hunk smiled broadly. “She’s kind, she’s smart, and she does her best to rule fairly and treat people well. I don’t think I know of anyone who doesn’t like her! I’m sure she’ll be willing to help you.”

“She sounds really wonderful,” Lance sighed. “I can’t wait to meet her! Ever since I first saw-”

“Careful!” Pidge barked at Lance in warning.

“-Saw that we were going on a trade mission to Altea, I’ve looked forward to getting to talk to her,” he recovered.

“Well, you won’t have to wait much longer; we’re here!” Hunk said, gesturing just ahead of them, where they could see the spires of the castle emerging from the tree line.

“Whoa…” Lance whispered as more of the castle came into view. It was bigger than he had imagined, and much different than the royal palace of the merfolk. The white towers caught the sunlight and shimmered, and though its immensity was impressive, it still looked inviting.

He heard Pidge suck in her breath, and turned his head to look at her. She looked upon the castle with a mixture of wide-eyed wonder and insatiable curiosity. He couldn’t help smiling at her expression.

“I’ve only ever heard stories about the palace in Altea; the descriptions did not do it justice,” she murmured.

Something about her admission gave Lance a little unexpected thrill. She was usually the one answering his questions about the surface world, but in this case they were getting to share this new experience together.

Hunk paused briefly at the palace gate, conversing with the guards stationed there and explaining Lance’s situation. They nodded sympathetically, and allowed the three to continue their way into the courtyard.

“Alright; first, I need to take these things to the kitchens and check in with Sal- he’s the chef- and then we can have some lunch. After that, we’ll go see about finding you and Pidge a place to stay.” Hunk gave Lance an appraising look. “I’m guessing you would probably like to clean up a little and maybe get some clothes that fit properly before we go talk to Princess Allura?”

Lance glanced down at his borrowed shirt and pants, which billowed loosely around him. He nodded his head. "Yes, that would probably be a good idea."

 Hunk smirked and led them further into the courtyard, towards the palace keep and great hall. As they made their way across the bailey, a girl, appearing to be around Hunk's age, dressed in the garb of a scullery maid, came barreling toward them. Pidge noted Hunk's face flush a little as he caught sight of her.

 "Shay!" he exclaimed. "Hey! Are you, I mean, is everything alright?" He gave her a concerned look as she slowed her approach and stopped in front of them.

 "Hello, Hunk," she paused to catch her breath. "Everything is fine, but Sal has been shouting that you should have been back hours ago..." She dropped her gaze and played with the hem of her apron. "I was beginning to worry you had fallen into trouble..."

"Who, me? No, no trouble." Hunk grinned at her. “Actually, I was helping some people out of trouble. Well... person. Helping a person. And a seal." He looked over at Pidge, who was crouching down in the cart, seemingly trying to remain inconspicuous. "Although I don't guess I helped the seal that much..."

"Sorry we caused Hunk to be late!" Lance apologized, keeping a steadying hand on the cart as he stepped forward. "I'm Lance, by the way.” He smiled and gave a little bow.

“Oh!” Shay blushed, taken aback at his formality. “It is a pleasure to meet you.” She gave a little curtsy in return.

“We were actually on our way to the kitchens,” said Hunk, drawing her attention back to him.

“I thought so; I saw your arrival and thought I might come and see if you would like some help with your cart, since you’ve been walking all this way…” she trailed off, once again fiddling with her apron’s hem.

Hunk smiled warmly at her, but shook his head. “Thanks for the offer, Shay, but it’s not that much further, and I’m doing alright.”

“Oh…” disappointment colored her voice as she cast her eyes once more at the ground.

“But if you want to walk with us, I’d like to hear about what’s been going on while I’ve been gone,” he quickly offered. Lance, who had been following the conversation with interest, nodded his encouragement as Shay looked up and gave a bashful smile.

“Alright,” she agreed. “But only if you allow me to help you pull the cart. I can take one of the handles and share the load.”

In response, Hunk offered her a cart handle as he shifted over to the handle on Lance’s side of the cart. Shay took it, and they resumed their walk across the bailey, with Pidge, Lance, and Hunk listening to her recounting of what had been happening around the castle. Watching Hunk’s expression soften as Shay spoke, Lance cast a glance down at Pidge, who was also watching the two with a knowing smirk on her face. Lance couldn’t help smiling as well. _______________________________________________________________________

Lance felt a small gasp escape his lips as his eyes flew open in surprise.

Pidge did her best to hide behind Hunk’s and Lance’s legs.

“Um,” Hunk said in faint surprise. “Princess! I didn’t expect to see you here!”  The burly chef, Sal, gave him a small scowl. “There you are, Hunk! I was just telling the princess how worried I was that you hadn’t returned yet.”

“Oh… I thought Shay told you she saw me coming through the gate?” Hunk asked in mild confusion.

“Is that what that was supposed to be? All that girl did was look out the window and shout, ‘there he is!’, and then the next thing I know, she’s taken off. How was I supposed to know she was talking about you?” Sal asked in mild exasperation.

“Hunk, I’m so glad you’ve returned safely,” Allura interjected then, intending to cut off the potential argument before it began. “I had actually come to the kitchens to talk to you both about tomorrow night’s gala. I wanted to go over the menu and make sure we have everything we need for some of the more… exotic… dietary needs of our expected guests.”

“Who is this you have with you?” asked one of the guards who, by merit of not being Keith, Lance and Pidge assumed was Shiro. He had turned to Lance, and was smiling in a confident way that suggested he always had every situation under control. Keith, meanwhile, stood steadfastly next to the princess with his arms crossed in front of him, giving Lance a scrutinizing look, as though to discern the motive this stranger might have in accompanying the chef’s apprentice to the kitchens. Lance felt mildly irritated by the silent examination, but put on what he hoped was a confident smile and turned his attention toward Allura, as Hunk began his introductions.

“Right! I need to introduce you. This is-”

“The name’s Lance,” he interrupted Hunk. He made a deep bow toward the princess. “And may I just say, Princess, I have been so looking forward to meeting you.” He straightened up, then smirked, “But I do have a question for you…”

Oh no… thought Pidge, silently hoping he wasn’t about to do what she suspected, yet unable to stop him in time.

“…Has your father been thrown into the dungeon? Because he must have stolen the stars and put them in your eyes,” Lance finished, eyebrow raised in what he considered his best flirtatious expression.

Pidge slapped a fin to her face and sighed inwardly. She had thought this might be a problem, but had not the opportunity to address it before Hunk found them that morning. Lance around girls (girls that were not her, anyway), was unpredictable at best. At worst, he was incredibly smarmy when he was aiming for “charming”, and would often use whatever terrible line he had come up with that he thought was “brilliant” for breaking the ice. To be fair, these lines did manage to break the ice, but not in the way he had intended. Stealing a look at the faces of the princess, her guards, and even Hunk, Pidge could tell this time was no exception.

Hunk’s appearance held an expression of mingled surprise and distress. Shiro looked taken aback, while Keith’s expression had darkened into a scowl. Princess Allura, though…

Her face had shifted from surprise to mild amusement to anguished. “Oh… um…” she seemed lost for how to respond.

“Perhaps the news hasn’t reached your part of the kingdom yet,” Shiro began gently. “Princess Allura’s father, the late King Alfor, passed earlier this year.”

“Oh… OH.” Lance looked horrified. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean… I didn’t know…”

“You’re right, Shiro, he probably hadn’t heard!” Hunk quickly jumped in. “Lance has been traveling around by sea on trade missions. He probably missed the news.” Lance nodded dumbly, distress etched across his features. He was thankful Hunk had jumped in with a plausible explanation. “Actually, he is the reason I was delayed,” Hunk continued. “I found him washed up on a beach. His ship got caught in a storm and was destroyed on some rocks.”

“Oh, no! I’m sorry to hear that!” Allura exclaimed, seemingly relieved at the subject change. Her expression changed to one of sympathy.

Lance was also grateful for the change of subject. Maybe this would be a good opportunity to see if he could fix his first impression…

“I’d show you where it happened on a map, but you might think I was plotting something,” Lance quipped, hoping for a laugh. All he received in return, though, were a mixture of blank stares and raised eyebrows from the others, and a puzzled look from the princess.

Pidge, however, let out a short bark of laughter. Why must terrible puns constantly be my undoing? The brief outburst was enough to turn everyone’s attention to the little seal who, until then, had remained inconspicuous behind Hunk and Lance.

“Oh!” Allura gave a soft exclamation, catching sight of Pidge peeking out from behind Lance. “Is that your seal? She’s beautiful!”

“Who, Pidge?” asked Lance, turning to see his friend emerging from her hiding spot. “Yes, she’s my… uh… pet.”

“I’ve never seen a golden seal before!” Allura knelt, and extended a hand toward Pidge. “Will she let me pet her?”

“Um…” Lance glanced uncertainly at Pidge.

For her part, Pidge thought this might be an excellent moment to take the attention off Lance. She scooted forward toward Allura and gingerly bumped the princess’ outstretched hand with the top of her head.

A smile spread across Allura’s face as she gently stroked the silky fur on the seal’s head. “She’s so soft!” She gazed in wonder. “I’ve never been this close to a seal before, much less been able to touch one."

“Pidge saved Lance from his shipwreck!” Hunk interjected.

“Yes!” Lance quickly agreed, a feeling of warmth blossoming in his chest as he realized that, by distracting everyone from his initial awkwardness, Pidge was once again saving him. Well, almost everyone; Keith was still regarding him coolly. What was that guy’s problem?

“How remarkable!” Allura said, giving the seal one more pat before straightening up.

“Actually, Princess, we were coming to find you after checking in with Sal,” Hunk said. “Lance was on his way here when his ship wrecked, and could use a place to stay until he’s able to contact home.” He whispered conspiratorially, “He’s still pretty shaky on his legs, so he could probably use some time to recuperate.”

“Of course. I know just the room we can put you in; it should be perfectly suited to you and your charming companion.” Allura nodded decisively, smiling at Lance and Pidge. She raised an eyebrow as she took in Lance’s baggy, unkempt appearance. “I’ll also have the palace chamberlain bring you some clothes that might fit you better.”

“Thank you, Princess!” Lance smiled back gratefully.

“I am happy to be of help. Also, as our guest, I would be pleased if you would join us for dinner this evening. Perhaps I could send Hunk to fetch you?”

“Sure!” Lance answered quickly, then asked, “Is Pidge allowed to come, too?” Pidge did not miss the flash of concern that crossed his face as he asked about her. She felt a strange, fluttery feeling in her stomach, different from the oddly hollow sensation she had experienced from just the day before. She tried to shrug it off.

“I wouldn’t dream of excluding her,” the princess replied graciously. “We’ll have a spot prepared specially for her.” She glanced at Shiro and Keith. “Now, if that is all, we really must continue our errands for today. Hunk, after you have finished here, if you’ll show Lance to the Great Hall, I will let Coran know to expect him and Pidge, of course.”

Hunk agreed, and Allura, Keith, and Shiro took their leave. As soon as they had gone and Sal had excused himself back to his preparations for the day, Hunk turned to face Lance, an amused glint in his eyes and a sly smile stretching across his face.

“So… puns, huh?”

All Lance could respond with was a groan.

#vld fanfiction #plance #pidgance #flirtyrobot #little mermaid AU #kallura #shiro and hunk have joined the party!#i have been so excited to get hunk into the story #this chapter has some of my favorite dialogue #also GARRISON TRIIIIIIOOOOOOO #lance has absolutely no chill in his flirt game and you cannot convince me otherwise #fun fact: that line he used? backfired in EXACTLY THE SAME WAY for a friend of mine back in high school #it was painful to watch #but years later provided just the inspiration i needed for a bad pickup line #halloween ate my writing time #but now that i've unchained myself from my sewing machine my progress will hopefully improve #*crosses fingers*

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vomiting-out-words · 6 years

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Twilight Princess - Surprise Part Two

Session Two - May 30th, 2018

Lakebed Temple, Master Sword, Gerudo Desert, Arbiter’s Grounds, and Snowpeak Ruins.

Session One - Session Two - Session Three - Session Four

All cozy on a chair in the living room, let’s begin where Link has been left at, the bottom of Lakebed Temple; the third dungeon and the one I fucking hate the most due to really shitty controls when in the water with the Zora Armor; thanks a lot partly inverted controls. I try really hard to not wear the Zora Armor in this dungeon, mainly because there is no point for it until like the boss fight and like as your getting boss key. Other then that, it’s pointless, and Link’s regular tunic does better at protecting him then the armor. My suggestion is really only to wear the armor when you truly need it, even if you think Link looks cool, it’s terrible and you’ll eat through hearts like crazy, maybe even a few games over’s.

Another thing about this dungeon; there’s a lot of running back and forth, also all the falling if Link doesn’t grab the lever to turn the stairs. It’s time-consuming, and you get really turned around if you don’t pay attention. It’s too much after such simple dungeons, with a very straightforward layout. I think the only thing that was good about the Lakebed Temple is the design of it, the color palette suited the place. Some of the enemies seemed out of place due to their color design but it was perfect. And the puzzles could be too if there was more of them. The mini-boss fight was simple, made getting the Claw Shot worth it, but did nothing to help with getting the boss key, which was like fifteen minutes to get due to finding the right rock to blow up and not touch the jellyfish or get eaten by monstrous clams. That was when I was seriously finished with this dungeon due to its bullshit controls.

Thankfully, it was a straight shot to the boss room, where you think you might be fighting a jellyfish with an eye, but you get Morpheel; a giant lobster, eel which is easy to fight once you’re past the first stage. With final the Fused Shadows, Midna and Link head back to the Lanayru Spring… Only for Zant to show up, be a real prick by trying to kill Midna. You almost think you need to fucking do the Tears of Light again, but nope, just need to rush off to Hyrule Castle, and get to Zelda, while making sure Link doesn’t die due to shitty controls. Managing to get to Zelda with a few minor scares, Midna decides to give her dying wishes. The scene really drags out, losing whatever feeling it was going for, right up until Zelda magically disappearing to save Midna. The only thing you get out of that entire scene was Link needs to get the Master Sword to break the damn curse on him. The strangest thing out of that though is Midna’s personality did a 180, but near deaths like that can do that, and the revenge for Zelda. With that junk out of the way; pretty much just warp to the Forest Temple where you run into Flower Monkey, who is being chased by fucking puppets that could actually haunt my nightmares. So, as Link, you head over and behold the person you find is none other than Skull Kid. Not sure if this is Skull Kid from the previous games, but it is Skull Kid who fucks with you. All the player can do is follow the brat around. What makes it so interesting is the fact that they bring the mechanic from Ocarina of Time to listen to how loud the music is by each path. Though Skull Kid kind of acts like a boss in the way, but more of a puzzle and a key to the Master Sword. He’s easy, and makes the transition into the second half of the game smooth, along with the nostalgia boost of Skull Kid. Now actually in the Sacred Grove, you got to howl to awaken the two Guardian Statues; they look more organic than anything else in this game. Well, awakening these guys causes a puzzle.

This puzzle has Link in the middle of floating blocks, two of which are special, where you need to place the Guardian Statues, who are position at either end of the heart-shaped grid. I cheated and used a walkthrough for this part, considering it’s just a mess to figure it out on one's own and you can literally be doing it for three hours if you aren’t careful or tactful. With that mess out of the way, Link heads inside to retrieve the Master Sword, which literally could have been gotten at the beginning of the damn game. Now with the sword in hand, Link has the ability to change between "Beast” Wolf and human. At this point, you can do some serious running around if the player wishes to do so, if you think you're ready, then head to Telma’s bar where you meet these people that she mentioned before in Kakariko; There is Shad, Ashei and to everyone’s surprise; Rusl, Colin’s father. There’s another in Lake Hylia who head off to meet. Forgetting to mention before, Midna asks Link to help her find the Mirror of Twilight, the only way now to get to Zant. On this tower at Lake Hylia, you meet Auru, who tells you that he has a feeling that all the bad things that are currently happening in Hyrule are coming from Gerudo Desert; which holds a prison, which held the worst kinds of criminals. With a letter from Auru, Link goes down Fyer; who runs this canon to go back up to the Great Bridge of Hylia, but with Auru’s letter, Fyer sends Link to Gerudo Desert. Here, you can get the piece of Eldin Bridge that went missing back into place before heading back towards the prison. Before you can get in though, you need to deal with a Bulbin encampment. Either you can try to stealth it or can just go ham; normally I just stealth it because the Bow and Arrow is my jam, yet this time I bring pain and carnage. Get a key, open the gate to ride a hog, only to need to beat the shit out of big daddy Bulbin for a third time, because not getting knocked off a damn bridge, twice, isn’t enough. Jumping on the hog after the Bulbin decides to burn Link alive. Break gates and Link is at the entrance of the prison; Arbiter’s Grounds.

This is where my favorite dungeon comes in. Though Arbiter’s Grounds is my number one favorite out of this entire game, mainly due to the fact that it brings the “Beast” Wolf factor into these next few dungeons, making it an interesting component by adding it in now though it would have been better if it was brought into the game sooner than pass halfway through the game. Now, introducing this component, you have to steal back the flame to get into the main part of Arbiter’s Grounds. This takes some running around, but it can be done pretty quickly if you stay in beast mode for the majority of this part. A good tip for this dungeon is spending most of your time as a Wolf because Link doesn't sink into the sand as quickly. But getting to beat up huge Poes is really fun, kind of wish the other Poes were like this rather than their really childish imp design. Once done with this, you pretty much go to the mini-boss; which is the only fight you really get to do as a Wolf. The wonderful item you are gifted with is the Spinner, which takes you; the player, straight to the boss key and to the boss. All Link has to do is hit Stallord with the Spinner. The battle is pretty quick and fun. The cutscene after the fight with the Sages is really interesting due to the fact that the designs for them are different but very fitting for the design of the game. We also get the first look at Ganondorf; and the Sages somehow didn’t realize that Ganondorf had the Triforce of Power, also the fact that Zant broke the Mirror of Twilight, meaning Link and Midna need to run around Hyrule once again to get the three missing pieces. With this new information, head back to Zora’s Domain.

Link learns that there has been a monster going to the Domain rather a lot lately. Yet it always heads to Snowpeak with a Reekfish. If you go to the first bit of Snowpeak, Link runs into Ashei, who gives him her notes about the monster. Show some of the Zora’s the notes, then they point the player to Kakariko Village, where Prince Ralis is currently. The only person who knows how to catch Reekfish. Use Midna to warp to the Village.

Link finds Prince Ralis at the Zora’s Bartual Site, where Link got the Zora Armor. Show him the notes, and Ralis will give his earring to use as a hook. Return to Zora’s Domain and start fishing, which might take a bit due to the fact that fishing is an interesting pastime in this game. Just hold your arm really high up in the air. Once you catch a Reekfish, it’ll land on the floor, change into Wolf Link to learn the scent of the Reekfish. Follow the scent through the Domain and head to Snowpeak. With the scent Link will see a huge beast, triggering a small cutscene with Yeto, a very kind Yeti that invites you over. The best part of trying to get to the Snowpeak Ruins, you snowboard on ice. Adds just a nice little bit of fun from the questing. Yeto brings Link in to meet his wife; Yeta. Who hasn’t been feeling well lately due to a mirror that Yeto brought home for his darling Yeta. So, Yeto locked the mirror piece in their bedroom. Yeta goes out of her way to try and remember where the key was placed while Yeto cooks.

With Yeta trying to remember where the key is, Link ends up running around the ruins looking for this key, Link ends up with food items instead. His first food item ends up being an Ordon Pumpkin, you have to pass Yeto to get back to Yeta, and he smells it, shoving Link rather brutally to get it. Now, the soup is a little stronger, so Link can fill his bottles and gain more hearts from it. I’m kind of surprised that Link doesn’t lose hearts when Yeto shoves him, it would have been entertaining. Now, Link will travel around the ruins once more, gaining a rather slow, yet powerful weapon; the Ball and Chain. Like you can react quickly with it, but it’s kind of slow, especially when you need to defend yourself or move out of the way. After requiring this item from the mini-boss, behold, Link finds Ordon Goat Cheese. Bring that back to Yeto, once again shoved, with a stronger soup. On Link’s third attempt to get the bedroom key, Link actually finds it, after some really bullshit puzzles that make you want to pull your hair out or snap the game’s disk in half over your knee.

Returning to Yeta with the key in hand, she’s suddenly feeling a lot better and offers to take Link to the bedroom. The quickest way to deal with this is just to rush on ahead, and let Link chill at the door to wait on Yeta. Good time to go to the bathroom or anything else. Make sure that Link has full hearts, and your battles are filling with Yeto’s soup or have a couple of fairies on hand because this boss fight is actually pretty hard. Once in the bedroom, Yeta is looking into the mirror, admiring herself. And this is where shit gets really fucking creepy. Yeta gets all fucking Exorcist in the cutscene that makes this entire thing part just a fucking horror movie. Yeta transforms into Twilit Ice Mass: Blizzeta. Like mentioned before this boss fight is kind of hard due to the fact that Link must use the Ball and Chain for the entire battle, which is powerful, but since it’s slow on the return once thrown. So, timing is key and you gotta work quickly. When this battle is over Yeto comes rushing in, knocking Link out of the way to be really mushy with Yeta.

A perfect way to stop for the night, seeing as I knew that shit was about to come at me within the next couple of hours for the next day. I kind of needed to be mentally prepared or I would fucking scream all the curse words that I could think of.

#twilight princess #legend of zelda #legend of zelda twilight princess #review #words #post #review post #part two #sessions #long post #Link #Zelda #Midna #player #game #video game #game review #video game review #salty

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emospritelet · 6 years

Note

DC!Rumbelle prompt fest: 21. “You must be mad, coming here like this.” & 31. “I daren’t stay long. I just had to see you.”

Already did 21, so here’s 31:

Send me a prompt from this list and I’ll write DC!Rumbelle!

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10] [Part 11] [Part 12] [Part 13]

AO3 link

Belle tried to keep out of Rumplestiltskin’s way, other than taking him his tea at midday. She didn’t speak when she set it down, a plate of cookies to the side of the cup and saucer. Her reaction to his closeness in front of the mirror had confused and somewhat alarmed her, and she had decided that she needed time to herself to process it. For his part, he was acting as though she didn’t exist, responding to her hesitant question about lunch with a mere shake of his head, and she couldn’t decide whether to be relieved or irritated.

When she carried the empty tray down to the kitchens, she was amused to find that the laundry had been scrubbed and wrung out and piled into a basket. The castle seemed to be intent on saving her the worst of the chores, and she thanked the room aloud, smiling into the emptiness and wishing the castle could answer her. Someday, she intended to ask Rumplestiltskin how it was that the castle appeared to be sentient. But that day was not today.

Given that it was noon, she cut some bread and cheese for herself, eaten seated at the kitchen table with a cup of tea. The winter sun was out, and so when she was finished and her dishes washed, she carried the basket of laundry outside, looking around for where she might hang the sheets. She soon found a grassy area near the scullery with twine strung between wooden posts, and she began lifting out the wet sheets and draping them over the line, puffing a little with the weight. Wooden pegs were fastened over them to keep them in place, and she filled two lines with the laundry, dusting off her hands and picking up the empty basket when she was done. The day was crisp and cold, and she had a feeling they would not be dry for some time. Deciding to check on them before sundown, she turned on her heel and sauntered back to the kitchens.

The way back led her into the castle stable yard, and a flicker of movement caught her eye. Eyes narrowing, she peered down through the courtyard entrance and along the broad path that led to the front gates. A figure stood there, and she glanced around hurriedly before looking back. The figure was tall and lean, dark-haired and dressed in soft skins, a heavy fur cloak on its shoulders.

“Graham!” she whispered, and dropped the basket, running to the gate.

As she drew closer his features became clear, and a smile broke across his face.

“Lady Belle!” he exclaimed, as she slowed to a halt. “Thank the gods, you’re alive!”

“You found me!” she said excitedly, and he grinned.

“Told you I could,” he said. “I daren’t stay long, I just had to see you. I followed your trail a couple of days ago, but turned back when I got to the road. Gaston sent me out again.”

Belle’s mouth twisted at the mention of Gaston, but Graham reached behind him, sliding a pannier from his shoulders.

“I found your books, buried next to a tree,” he said. “Thought you might want them.”

“Oh!” she exclaimed, as he passed them through the bars of the gate. “Thank you!”

She set them down, reaching for his hand and squeezing it, and Graham’s expression grew sombre.

“My Lady, there’s something I need to tell you,” he began, and Belle squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

“I - I heard what happened,” she said, not wanting to hear him speak the words. “To my father, I mean. I know he was murdered.”

“You know?” Graham looked puzzled. “How?”

“Look, come inside,” she said, pulling open the gate and letting him step through. “I can explain everything.”

The wrought-iron gate creaked as she shut it behind him, and Graham looked around.

“What is this place?” he asked. “I thought it was deserted.”

“It’s kind of a long story,” said Belle. “You see, I’ve - I’ve made a deal. With the Dark One.”

Graham’s eyes widened, and he shook his head disbelievingly.

“No,” he whispered. “No, my Lady, you can’t!”

“It’s already done,” she said simply. “The end of the war, and the safety of our people, in exchange for four years of my service.”

“No!” Graham grasped at her arm. “Please, my Lady, come with me!”

The sudden appearance of Rumplestiltskin by her side made Belle squeak in fright. He was glaring at Graham, one gold-flecked hand raised, the fingers clenching, as though they were squeezing an invisible throat. Graham choked, clutching at his neck, and some unseen force lifted him into the air, legs kicking behind him as his face turned red.

“You think you can come here and take her from me?” spat Rumplestiltskin, his eyes flashing with rage, his voice a low growl. “No one breaks the deals I make, do you understand?”

“Rumplestiltskin, stop!” shouted Belle.

She clapped a hand to her mouth as Graham disappeared, and Rumplestiltskin turned to her, a grim look in his eyes, before he waved his hand and vanished in a plume of smoke.

Scared, her heart thumping, Belle looked around wildly before snatching up the bag of books Graham had brought and running back to the castle. She dropped the bag by one of the chairs in the kitchen, racing up the stairs to burst into the Great Hall. Rumplestiltskin was not there, and nor was Graham, and she bounced on her toes, panic making her brain grow blank. Where would he have taken Graham?

“Please!” she said aloud. “He’s taken my friend, I need to find them!”

A candle in its lampshade near the door guttered, and Belle’s head whipped around. She sprinted for the door, following a trail of lamps as their lights flickered. They took her down a set of stone steps that she hadn’t used before, spiralling down into the depths of the castle, and she suspected she was headed for the dungeons. A harsh cry of pain echoed around the stairwell, and she quickened her pace, her heart thudding loudly. The cry became a scream, and Belle almost fell down the few remaining steps, hand out to grasp the rough stone wall as she turned into the dungeons.

A gruesome sight met her eyes. Graham was hanging by his wrists from an iron ring in the ceiling, shirtless, blood running down from a shallow wound in his chest, and Rumplestiltskin was tossing a long-bladed knife from hand to hand.

“Perhaps I can do you in one long strip,” he said, with relish. “Weave something from your skin and send it back to that idiot knight who sent you, hmm?”

“No!”

She darted forward, getting in between him and Graham and throwing her arms wide, and Rumplestiltskin’s mouth flattened.

“Let him go!” she demanded. “He’s done nothing to you, or to me!”

“Oh, really?” Rumplestiltskin’s voice was snide. “Well, you really are ready to believe the best in everyone, aren’t you? Of course, you weren’t there when I heard that young lordling Gaston order him to find you and drag you back!”

“Graham’s the one that helped me escape in the first place!” snapped Belle. “If it wasn’t for him I’d probably be dead!”

Rumplestiltskin opened his mouth for what looked like an angry retort, but then snapped it shut.

“Well, why didn’t you say so?” he said impatiently, and waved a hand.

The rope binding Graham’s wrists disappeared, and he collapsed onto Belle with a groan. She tried to keep her balance, but his weight was too much, and they both toppled to the stone floor.

“Sorry!” gasped Graham, and then his weight was suddenly gone.

Belle rolled onto her back, breathing hard. Graham was slouching against the opposite wall, panting, and she gazed in surprise as the wound on his chest closed up, the blood drying and scattering in flakes, his skin unmarked and whole. A pile of clothing was thrown at him, and his hands scrabbled to keep hold of it as Rumplestiltskin stepped nearer, bending to look him in the eyes, leather pants stretching over his rear and shining in the dim light from the lamps.

“Leave this place,” he hissed.

“Not until I know the Lady Belle is safe,” said Graham, his voice trembling only a little.

“Oh!” Rumplestiltskin straightened up, tapping long fingers against his lips. “Foolishly brave, this one. You wish to make a deal with the Dark One?”

“Oh, stop it!” snapped Belle, tired of the posturing. “Graham, I told you, I’m fine! Please, just get out of here!”

“I’m not going anywhere, my Lady,” he said firmly. “I vowed to serve your father, and now he’s dead my service passes to you. I won’t serve Sir Gaston. I can’t, not after what he did!”

“I’m perfectly safe here!” Belle protested, but Rumplestiltskin had straightened up, mouth twisted a little.

“You would leave your homeland, your people, to ensure her safety?” he asked.

“He’s not making a deal with you,” said Belle, in a flat voice, but he flapped a hand at her, and she folded her arms, sighing in irritation.

“I’ve known Lady Belle since we were children,” said Graham, his gaze pleading, sincere. “I swore from the time I could shoot a bow that I would let no harm come to her.”

“Good,” said Rumplestiltskin, with a sniff. “Then you can stay. In exchange for food and whatever shelter you desire. As long as it’s outside these walls. You stink of dogs. Or is it - wolves?”

He grinned, showing discoloured teeth, and Graham met his eyes, expressionless.

“You’ll grant me food and shelter if I protect the Lady Belle?”

“Will both of you stop talking about me as though I’m not in the room?” snapped Belle, fists on hips. Both men ignored her.

“You’re offering me a place to stay?” asked Graham suspiciously.

“In exchange for your undoubtedly impressive skills,” said Rumplestiltskin, twirling his fingers. “I take it you can hunt? If I have two more mouths to feed, I’m going to need game.”

“I can hunt,” said Graham coolly.

“I don’t need protection!” insisted Belle, and threw up her hands as the two men looked each other over.

“What say you, Huntsman?” asked Rumplestiltskin, and Graham nodded.

“I agree,” he said, and Belle hissed in vexation.

“Good,” said Rumplestiltskin. “To the stable block with you.”

He flicked his fingers, and Graham disappeared, making Belle squeak. She rounded on Rumplestiltskin, mouth open.

“Well, I’m looking forward to that first haunch of venison,” he said, with a grin, and disappeared before she could speak.

#thespinningmeanie #fic: crystal tears #rumbelle fic #my fic #dark castle rumbelle #DC!rumbelle fic fest

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aanhthuuuu · 4 years

Text

“Maleficent – the untold story” by aanhthuuuu

This is our winning play at our school’s English Festival, and we also won Second prize at our District’s level with this play. Enjoy! This is a musical play but since posting here does not allow for a table, I will omit the music parts and only focuses on the lines parts.

SCENE 1: BROKEN WING (IN THE FOREST)

Narrator: (Walking out from a side of the stage) Once upon a time, in a far far away wonderland called Barbieland / peaceful forest kingdom, there was a powerful but pure-hearted fairy named Maleficent. One day, while Maleficent was hanging out, something terrible happened, which turned her heart into stone.

Maleficent (Appearing at the same time, enthusiastic): I believe

I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky, I think about it every night and day, spread my wings and fly away. (flip wings)

Stefan (laughing): Wow! What beautiful wings! If I brought it back to the King, I would be given the crown. (laughing loudly)

(While Stefan is speaking, Maleficent still dances until Stefan comes and cuts her wings)

Maleficent: Arghh, now I believe I can’t fly… (voice slowing down, gradually fall to the ground)

Why human? Whyyy…

Stefan: Because your wings are beautiful and the king wants them to be decorations for his castle.

Maleficent: WHAT? No, come back here human, wait, wait…

(Stefan running away proudly, leaving Maleficant crawling behind) Maleficent: (crying) I hate humans, I hate you..... I swear, I will revenge! I will! (shouting, then bowing down, collapsing to the ground)

SCENE 2: THE BIRTH OF THE NEW PRINCESS

Inside the castle, people are celebrating the birth of the new princess. The King and Queen sit in the middle with a craddle in front of them and knights to their sides.

Narrator: After cutting Maleficent’s wings, Stefan was crowned. He then got married to Leila, the King’s daughter, and soon their child was born. A grand celebration was held for a new-born baby. All fairies were invited except for Maleficent.

Three fairies walk in

Fairy 1: Your Majesty. We are fairies from the Barbieland. We want to give your princess some special gift.

Fairy 1: What a lovely baby! My gift for you is beauty.

Fairy 2: My dear Aurora, my gift for you is to never be blue. You will be happy every day in your life.

Fairy 3: Dear princess, I wish that you’ll be loved by everyone you meet. Every one.

Queen Leila: Thank you so much. We are very grateful.

King Stefan: Okay my people! Let’s dance! Let’s dance for the birth of my daughter!

Servant 1: Music. (Everyone dances to the music of “Ode to Joy”, pre-choreographed)

Out of a sudden, Maleficent appears

Maleficent: STOPPPPPP (tapping her stick)

Dance group: OMG, that’s Maleficent, the dark fairy.

Maleficent: Well well well. What a glittering party, King Stefan. I must say, I really felt quite distressed at not receiving an invitation.

King Stefan: You're not welcomed here.

Maleficent: Oh. [Maleficent Starts Laughing]. Oh dear! What an awkward situation. Anyway, I think I should give your child a gift too.

King Stefan: Don’t do this please, Maleficent, I’m begging you.

The Queen protects the craddle, King places his one arm around the Queen, one arm raising up to stop Maleficent.

Maleficent: No. You deserve this. She deserves it. Listen well. Before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, your daughter will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and fall into a deathlike sleep. And only true love’s kiss could revive her.

King Stefan and Queen: No, Maleficent, noooooooo….

Maleficent: Oh, the curse can only be broken only by true love’s kiss.

Maleficent laughing maglinantly before leaving the stage

Narrator: King Stefan was horrified. He ordered his servants to hide all the spinning wheels in the whole Kingdom. Then the king sent his daughter, Aurora, to live with the three good fairies / until the day after her sixteen birthday.

The King entrusts the princess to 3 fairies, 3 fairies carry the princess away SCENE 3: AURORA - IN THE FOREST

In the forest, Aurora dances happily to “The Show” by Lenka. Maleficent is reading book under a tree.

Narrator: Time passed by, Aurora grew up into a beautiful girl, just lovely and pure-hearted like Maleficent when she was young. One day, while she was playing in the forest, …………

Aurora: What a beautiful day! The sky is blue, the air is fresh and I can see flowers and birds everywhere. (and starts singing to the lyrics of “The Show”)

Aurora: Ohhhh

Aurora notices Maleficent and comes closer

Aurora: Whatcha doing? …….Oh, I know you.

Maleficent: You know me?

Aurora: Yes. You’re my fairy god-mother. I saw you in my dream.

Maleficent: What? Go away, beastie.

Maleficent continues to read, Aurora keeps peaking in and out, with Maleficent constantly pushing her away. After a few times, the two read together. Aurora rests on Maleficent’s shoulder and Maleficent fondles with her hair.

Narrator: Despite her initial dislike for Aurora, Maleficent began to have motherly feelings for the girl. And so did Aurora. She loved Maleficent as if she was her mother.

Maleficent: You’re such a lovely little creature. The two goes down to the backstage.

SCENE 4: MEETING THE PRINCE - IN THE FOREST

Aurora dances happily before bumping into the prince

Aurora: I must tell my aunties about my fairy god mother. I’m sure they will love her, too.

(Royal trumpet) Prince servant: Out of the way, prince Phillip of the Naight is coming.

(Aurora keeps running. The prince comes to her)

Prince: Hi gorgeous

Aurora: My pleasure. I have to go now, your Majesty…

Prince (plucks a wild flower and places on Aurora’s hair): Wait. This flower is for you. Though I know it is nothing compared to your beauty.

Aurora: Thank you for your kind words, my prince. But I have to go now… Farewell. SCENE 5: AT THE THREE FAIRIES’ HOUSE

Aurora: Hi aunties, I’ve got something to tell you. I’ve got a new friend. Her name is Maleficent.

The 3 fairies are frozen

Fairy 1: drops her broom

Fairy 2: (facial expression) drops her mirror

Fairy 3: drops her mop

Fairy 2: This is really bad.

Fairy 3: Oh my dear, are you ok? Did she hurt you?

Aurora: Oh, no. Why would she hurt me? She is so nice and kind to me.

Fairy 3: Don’t you know that she was the one who cursed you right on your birthday. (suddenly realizes and covers her mouth)

Aurora: You’re saying about the curse? I am sorry, can you pardon please… but what curse?

The 3 fairies look at each other and nod, aggering to tell the story to Aurora.

Fairy 1: You’d better sit down, dear. There’s sth you should know.

Narrator: The fairies told aurora the whole story, that she was actually a princess, and that she was cursed by Maleficent. But they forgot to tell her about the spinning wheel. Aurora was shocked. She ran into the woods to find the answer from Maleficent.

Aurora leaves, the 3 fairies follow behind

In the forest, Aurora meets Maleficent

Narrator: Aurora met Maleficent and asked her about the curse. Maleficent was broken hearted, telling Aurora that it was just a moment of hatred and anger but she was sorry about that now. She had tried to revoke the curse but it was impossible. Aurora was miserable. She had loved Maleficent so much. She left the forest and ran all the way back to the castle.

SCENE 6: THE CASTLE

Aurora rushes to the castle, meets Stefan and bows down.

Aurora: Your Majesty, I’m wondering if….

King Stefan: Aurora, why are you here? You are supposed to be in the forest, with the three fairies.

Aurora: Father, I know everything. I know everything now.

King Stefan: No, Aurora, you don’t know anything. It’s your sixteenth birthday today…. Aurora, listen to me. You must go to your room. Stay there for your own safety. OK. Guards. Close all the gates. Prepare your weapons. The dark fairy will be coming any time.

Narrator: Aurora ran to her room. However, the power of the curse drew her to the dungeon, where remnants of a spinning wheel pricks her finger. She fell into a deep sleep, fulfilling the curse.

Stefan: Oh, no, Aurora. Wake up. What am I supposed to do?

Phillip runs in, seeing Stefan by Aurora’s side.

Phillip: OMG, is that the beauty I met in the woods! What’s wrong with her?

Stefan: She was cursed into a deathlike sleep, maybe never-ending sleep and only a true love’s kiss can wake her up again.

Phillip: A true love kiss? My royal highness! I have met her before. To be honest, I’ve fallen for her from the sight. Let me try, what if I can wake her up.

The Prince bows down to kiss Aurora’s hand, then puzzled as to why Aurora hasn’t waken up (maybe do some more kisses on the hand in vain)

Phillip: Why? Am I not her true love?

Maleficent (sadly walking in): FREEZE

Everyone freezes.

Maleficent kneels by the princess, cries emotionally

Maleficent: Aurora. I’m not asking you for forgiveness. Because what I’ve done to you is unforgivable. I was so lost in hatred and revenge. Sweet Aurora, you stole the rest of my heart. And now, I’ve lost you forever. …. I swear no harm will come to you as long as I live. And not a day shall pass that I don’t miss your smile.

Maleficent slowly kisses on Aurora’s forehead.

The FREEZE spell ends, things return to normal.

Stefan (heading towards Maleficent): You, evil witch. Look at what you have done to her. I’ll kill you.

Stefan and Maleficent fights.

Aurora wakes up, the 3 fairies shout AURORA out loud.

Fairy 2: Maleficent is her true love.

Maleficent and Stefan both stops to say AURORA. Maleficent rushes towards Aurora, Stefan stops her.

Stefan: Stay away from my daughter.

The 2 continues to fight.

Aurora: Stop everyone, stop, please. An eye for an eye will only make the world blind. Hatred does not cease through hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule. You are the two persons I love the most. Can you please forget this revenge and we can live in peace together?

Maleficent and Stefan drops down their swords, coming over to hug Aurora.

Stefan returns the wings to Maleficent (I’m so sorry) From the backstage, all dancers come out and dance to the pre-choreographed dance. Narrator: That’s the end of the story. You all know what happens. They live happily together forever.

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sporadicbeepboops · 7 years

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20 Games I Loved in 2016

The Switch delay. Several big AAA duds. Another year without an official Mother 3 U.S. release. 2016 could have been a disappointing year. (Outside of video games, it certainly took its toll.) But at least from my perspective, the good far outweighed the bad. Virtual reality finally made it out of the gates, and despite some hiccups, it shows real promise. Long-delayed games like Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian somehow made it to store shelves AND surpassed expectations. And love it or hate it, Pokémon Go inspired a genuine pop culture craze the likes of which we’ve never seen before, at least as far as games go. I think all of that is worth celebrating.

Before we get to the list, some quick shout-outs and no-brainer caveats…

2016 was not kind to the Wii U, but the 3DS quietly had one of its best years ever. That’s partly reflected here, but I couldn’t make room for Dragon Quest VII, Fire Emblem Fates, BoxBoxBoy!, Metroid Prime: Federation Force and Gotta Protectors, to name a few. Sometimes it felt like Nintendo was just cleaning out its closet — how long ago was DQVII released in Japan? — but we benefited either way.

Overall, I played fewer games this year, but the ones I did play held my interest longer. Thanks to various microtransactions and DLC, 2016 probably hit my wallet just as hard.

What didn’t I play? Stardew Valley, SUPERHOT, Final Fantasy XV (at least past chapter 2), Frog Fractions 2, Hitman — oh, and I didn’t get to stuff from last year like Yakuza 5 or The Witcher 3, either. Yakuza 4 was pretty solid though.

I left off any new ports of games that came out last year or prior, unless there were substantial additions that changed the experience in a meaningful way. That meant The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD and Mini Metro weren’t in the running, while Rez Infinite technically was.

Love making lists, hate ranking items in said lists, just because I’m incredibly fickle. There’s a good chance that I’ll want to shuffle everything around the moment I publish this. But my podcasting buddies are counting on me here, so it’s time to be decisive.

Keeping all that in mind, here are the games I really loved in 2016…

20. The Witness - I’m already cheating because if I’m being honest, I didn’t actually love this game. The Witness takes a couple dozen hours to finish, and I spent at least half of them staring at a notebook, drawing grids, connecting dots, and having no idea how to pave forward. But even if I didn’t love the game, I respect it immensely. I admire Jonathan Blow’s commitment to this singular idea, of taking the kind of puzzle you might see on a restaurant placemat and coming up with every possible permutation of it. And there is of course a “meta” layer on top of that, where solutions to each component change the environment around you — tree top bridges that unfold based on the paths your lines take, or colored glass panels that create new puzzles on top of old ones. It might be cold and off-putting at times, but The Witness is still commendable as the ultimate puzzle box.

19. SuperHyperCube - I bought into PlayStation VR for games like Rez Infinite and RIGs — big, flashy, “immersive” experiences. And they delivered! I’m a very happy PS VR owner, and I hope Sony builds on its momentum this year. (I’m skeptical, but then being a virtual reality early adopter was always a leap of faith.) However, while I got exactly what I expected from most of the launch titles, it's the simple puzzle game seemingly modeled off of “Brain Wall” that I keep coming back to. I turn on the headset to play Job Simulator or Battlezone, but I always play a couple rounds of SuperHyperCube before I’m done. A solid case for virtual reality not as a thrilling roller coaster, but a hypnotic, relaxing voyage.

18. Headlander - The best game Double Fine has put out since Iron Brigade. Free-roaming Metroid-style exploration, a perfect 70s-synth sci-fi score and a fun body swapping gimmick at the heart of it all. I wish there were more vessels for your noggin to control, but there’s a strong foundation here.

17. Kirby: Planet Robobot - It’s easy to take Kirby games for granted, and that’s especially true of Robobot, which uses the same engine and many of the same powers as the recent Triple Deluxe. What does the former bring to the table then? Smart level designs that take advantage of the new mechs without letting them dominate the action. A novel mechanical world that feels distinct from the typical pastel meadows. New amiibo support. OK, so maybe it doesn’t add that much to the series, but it’s right up there with Super Star anyway.

16. Pokkén Tournament - This game is a fresher, more enjoyable fighting game than Street Fighter V. It doesn’t even matter (too much) that the single player is pretty thin or that the roster is small. When’s the last time you played a one-on-one fighting game that felt truly new? Pokkén is a great 3D fighter and a great 2D fighter at the same time, which is no small feat. And it’s also a gorgeously animated recreation of those battles we all imagined happening in our Game Boys 20 years ago.

15. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - The popular sentiment seems to be that Madagascar is when this final Uncharted entry really takes off. Slow drama and frequent cut scenes give way to island exploration and memorable shootouts. My take? The back half is fun and the epilogue is lovely, but I could spend an entire game in Nathan and Elena’s living room, or hopping around the globe for the next story sequence. Wherever you stand, this is a fine way to close out a reliable series.

14. Picross 3D: Round 2 - Seven Picross games — eight if you count the Twilight Princess freebie — on the eShop. That’s a lot of a perfectly fine thing. But none of them are Picross 3D. Thankfully, the real deal finally arrived this year, with hundreds of puzzles and a few extra gameplay wrinkles. Worth the premium price tag.

13. Titanfall 2 - The campaign didn’t need to be good. Multiplayer FPS games live and die by their multiplayer, and many developers seemingly write off the single player experience as an afterthought. That’s why Titanfall 2 is such an unexpected treat. The factory, the time hopping, the airborne carrier — all cleverly designed, with platforming gimmicks that would feel just as suited for a Metroid Prime game. I think the reason the new Mirror’s Edge fell flat for me was that this game featured the same parkour moves in a much more exciting package.

12. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE - This crossover game is Persona-lite, yes, but I think that sells the characters and world a bit short. While its inspiration focuses on the pressures of being a Japanese high schooler, #FE is all about the Tokyo show biz scene. Pop music, soap operas, microwave cooking shows — it’s all very goofy, but the game still takes its protagonists’ dreams and ambitions seriously. #FE also makes clever use of the Wii U GamePad, turning it into a tablet/social app that helps keeps the conversations going. Even if you’re not into this particular “scene,” #FE may still win you over.

11. Rhythm Heaven Megamix - I can’t get enough Rhythm Heaven. They could put 20 new musical minigames on a cart annually and it’d make my list every year. Sumo wrestlers, lumberjack bears, monkey slumber parties — all magic.

10. Severed - A Vita game! It’s great to see DrinkBox Studios stretch beyond sidescrollers with this first person dungeon crawler full of grotesque monsters and creepy, colorful mazes. Swiping and poking on the Vita’s touchscreen feels great. The controls are key to Severed’s success; if battles were menu-driven, the entire game would fall apart.

9. Pocket Card Jockey - I hope Nintendo keeps letting Game Freak be this weird. It’s not just that it’s horse racing plus solitaire. It’s your jockey biting the dust and being brought back from the dead to repay his debt to the angels. It’s the brassy, big band score that accompanies every race. It’s horses with luchador masks and cats hanging from their backsides. Pocket Card Jockey is a miracle of localization.

8. Pokémon Sun - Yes, another Pokémon game. The Alola region is the best thing to ever happen to this series. Previous games had regions based on cities like New York and Paris, but the results always felt half-hearted. In Sun (and Moon), the tropical island setting influences everything from the creatures you catch to the trials you complete. I’ve never demanded a believable world from this series, but that’s kind of what we get here, and it’s terrific.

7. Inside - This is the type of game where the less you know going in, the better. It’s Limbo — a previous Justin GotY — filtered through a twisted dream logic that I still can’t get out of my head months later.

6. Paper Mario: Color Splash - I know you don’t like Sticker Star. Rest assured: that 3DS oddity feels like a rough draft for Color Splash, which improves upon its predecessor in every way. A textured, vibrant world that rivals Tearaway in its papercraft. Thrilling scenarios like a train heist, an underwater game show and the throwback above. Hilarious dialogue that mostly makes up for the many, many identical toads. I miss the liberties Intelligent Systems used to take with the Mushroom Kingdom, but everything else about Color Splash restores this spin-off series to its former glory.

5. Overcooked - This year’s couch co-op champ. Cooking with a partner is all about communication, and that’s doubly true when the kitchen is split across two flatbed trucks or on an iceberg rocking back and forth. My friends and I love head-to-head games like Smash Bros. and Towerfall, but it’s nice to play a game that’s all about puzzle solving and careful planning together. And I love the wistful stage select music.

4. Dragon Quest Builders - Minecraft has always fascinated me, but I don’t do well without direction. That’s why I’m so grateful for Dragon Quest Builders, which breaks down the open world construction into small, manageable tasks. I started off just sticking to blueprints and keeping decorations to a minimum; now, I’m spending hours building up towns the way I want them to look, for no other reason than my own personal satisfaction. Even taking the crafting element out of the equation, Builders does a great job of capturing the adventuring spirit of its parent series.

3. Pokémon Go - I didn’t set out to put THREE Pokémon games on here, and in a vacuum, this is much less satisfying than Pokkén or Sun. But we don’t play video games in a vacuum, and certainly not this one. I played Pokémon Go in Central Park, talking to strangers to find out where the Ivysaur was hiding. Or I played on my lunch breaks, exploring parts of South Street Seaport with coworkers that I had ignored for years. Go’s peak came and went, but it remains one of my fondest experiences of the year.

2. The Last Guardian - Another game that’s more than the sum of its parts. The Last Guardian is finicky and sometimes frustrating. Trico is hard to climb. The camera doesn’t know what to do when you’re up against the wall. So what? How many games feature a creature this lifelike? He may be an illusion made up of A.I. routines, scripted animations and fur shaders, but all of those elements come together in a uniquely convincing way. His evolution from reluctant ally to friend has a subtlety I’ve never seen before. I’m glad Ueda spends as much time focusing on the inner struggles as he does the external ones. Hope it doesn’t take another decade for his next game.

1. Overwatch - I didn’t even know what Overwatch was until two weeks before its release, and even then, I didn’t expect much from it. I had played Team Fortress 2 and thought it was just fine. I knew what to expect. Medics, tanks, builders — that sounded familiar to me. But I was so wrong. Overwatch isn’t just a team-based shooter; it’s the superhero team-up game I’ve been longing for since “The Avengers” was in theaters.

All 23 (and counting!) heroes have their superpowers, and all of them have their jobs to do. What really sets Overwatch apart is when these heroes are bouncing off of each other. Any combination of six is going to have its own dynamics. Mei dropping ice walls to give Reinhardt time to recharge his shield. Junkrat dropping traps to help Bastion watch his back. Mercy gliding up to Pharah to give her rockets a little extra punch. Every battle brings new possibilities and strategies to the table. I’ve played over 100(!) hours and feel like there’s still so much to learn.

But it’s not all serious business either. The colorful personalities, animations, costume designs and more do so much to shape the world, even when I know next to nothing about the overall “lore.” Last year, Splatoon felt like the only shooter I’d ever need, but Overwatch has actually managed to supplant it in my heart. That’s something this Nintendo fanboy never thought he’d say. Can’t wait to see how Blizzard builds on their masterpiece in year two.

#video games #games of the year #games of 2016 #nintendo apologist

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operationrainfall · 5 years

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Title Creature in the Well Developer Flight School Studio Publisher Flight School Studio Release Date September 6th, 2019 Genre Action, Pinball, Puzzle Platform PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One Age Rating E for Everyone – Mild Language, Mild Fantasy Violence Official Website

It’s no exaggeration that Creature in the Well was on my radar from the first time I saw it in a Nintendo Direct. I’m easily drawn to unique art, and Creature in the Well had a quasi cel-shaded style that really got my attention. Since then, I’ve demoed it at two separate events, and my interest only grew. So of course I decided to review the game on the site. The question was, could my initial hype live up to the actual experience? Or was I dragged kicking and screaming into a pit of despair?