#iron ore line
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Rainbow iron ore car 🌈
#LKAB trains drive past here several times a day#the train station is pretty close so I also hear announcements of train departures#a signal and then a faint sound of a voice#it’s oddly comforting. little things that you get accustomed to when you move to a new apartment#malmbanan#iron ore line#LKAB#trains#boden#norrbotten#suttes#spring winter#more like full on winter lol#it’s snowed a lot the past couple days ❄️
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reasons going to an ancient city is a great thing to do as soon as you have a little food upon starting a new minecraft world:
moving mobs around sucks, just go harvest wool and planks from the city to make a bed instead of messing around with sheep!
don't have to worry about being attacked by hostile mobs at all
can harvest materials for picks, very easy to go from iron -> diamonds due to all the exposed ores, way easier than strip mining
lava and water usually accessible if you want a nether portal
one million experience for breaking sculk !! plus silk touch + mending loot
free books for enchanting
if you run out of food u get glowberries (renewable) and even gapples
it's a little known fact that it's actually impossible to build anything in 1.18+ without swift sneak 3. you'll never go back you have to have it right now
start off with sick armor trims to decorate all those pants you'll be getting
oh, the warden? you mean my girlfriend? she's fine just know your exit vectors (long straight line you can navigate in the dark) and don't make noise, just sneak straight. you'll be fine
this isn't even a joke ive basically started 3 minecraft worlds this way. i have literally dug down to ancient cities because i don't want to look for a sheep. it's so good try it i promise
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Hi please ignore this if you aren't taking requests but I have this very specific idea if you could do it:
Sae cheating on Model S/O with their rival model right before a big modeling competition which the now ex S/O wins and to kinda take revenge the now Ex S/O saying to the rival model "say hello to Sae for me"
I know this is super specific and it's up to you if you would like to take this request or not I'm currently looking for a modelling agency IRL
i took some creative liberties with this one. it was heavily inspired by yasmeen khan's 1001 nights. i do not know much about professional modeling, so most of the actual references are obscure. hopefully, this works for you though:
instead of a heart, you were born with a wound, a three-by-five inch gash that allowed the light to pass through.
doubt festers like an aperture, a brief shutter of the lens before your eyes blink away all uncertainty. in the confines of your dressing room, the mirror replaces your face with sloshing light, the silver streams of your reflection dripping down through stained fingers. it's nothing compared to the brightness of your screen, the damning evidence of a murder scene splattered across dry text.
who the hell is she?
what do you mean?
are you fucking cheating on me sae?
there's a knock on your door. it's alessandro, the stylist. his voice cuts through the silence, reedy and skin-tight. he wants to know why you've walked off mid-shoot, when you'll be back to rejoin the other girls on set. you think twice before you respond to his call, taking a deep breath before you face your interrogation.
there's blood on your gown, right above where your heart used to be. a fist-sized prism flashes within your chest, shot through with the hue of your arteries. crimson for the knife-thin glint in your eyes. poppy for the withered petals of your lips. scarlet for the salt encrusting your mouth. ruby for the iron ore of your tongue. red was always your color.
the photographers line up before you, judgement painted on their faces, both sets of eyes unblinking. tears with mascara make a good cover shoot, but a scornful lover with his other woman make for an even better story. you've long run out of tears to cry, tried your hand in the art of storytelling. the only way you know how to love is to angle your face towards a crowd, to bite your lip until it bleeds. your smile never wavers in its sharpness, every confession clasped tightly between white teeth.
snap, snap: once upon a time, there was a boy who weaved lies.
click, click: once upon a time, there was a girl who fell for them.
flash, flash: once upon a time, this could have been a love story.
there are harder things to hold than a pose, and your resolve becomes nigh unbreakable. in front of every shattering bulb, you hold strong against the impact force of time. your body is sanctified in the golden light, a yellowed blade across the horizon.
perhaps the next girl would be softer, bleeding flowers into aching mouths. perhaps the next girl would be beautiful.
but for now, you remain cold and hard and bright. you stare directly at the sun. you crush every bud beneath your fingertips, cut your flesh on its thorns. down to its very bone, every wound becomes a scar, every smile becomes a story.
when the shoot wraps up and the other woman steps in, you grin with enough light to cut shadows into her body.
"you're his new girl, right? say hello to sae for me."
#asks#fics#blue lock#bllk drabbles#bllk imagines#bllk x you#bllk x reader#bllk angst#sae itoshi#sae itoshi x reader#sae itoshi x y/n#sae itoshi x you#bllk#blue lock x reader#blue lock x you#blue lock x y/n#blue lock x female reader
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Cut the Line
OR: Tango comes home to find Jimmy holding a golden apple...but not everything is as it seems.
[A/N: I told myself I would ever write full Rancher angst...]
[This work can also be read on Archive of our Own]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Tango’s stomach dropped, a dread building in his chest that he hadn’t been expecting when he’d come home with iron and food for his soulmate. His eyes were locked on the shining golden apple sitting in Jimmy’s outstretched hand.
“...where’d you find that?” he breathed, tension straining the soulbond.
“Pearl,” Jimmy told him. His voice was calm, even, unfazed - as though it was just another normal day and he wasn’t holding the potential end of their bond in the palm of his hand. “She was saving it for herself, but when I asked for it, apparently she thought I needed it more.”
Oh. Tango slowly closed the front door behind him with a quiet click. He cleared his throat, his eyes still lingering on the golden apple. His tail coiled around one of his legs and he forced himself to turn away, crouching in front of their chests so he could put away the iron he’d mined. He could pretend to be normal, maybe, for a little while longer. Just for a few seconds. Iron went in, tucked away in the corner, then what little gold he’d managed to find…gold he’d been intending to use for a courting gift. (Might not get to use at all, now. His fingers lingered on the unrefined ore, sooty fingerprints clinging to the half-shiny surface.)
“Why?” he asked finally, standing and letting the lid fall softly shut. He turned around and sat on its edge, fiddling with a chunk of undusted redstone he hadn’t put away. “Why’d you ask for it?”
Jimmy blinked, looking confused.
“For…you?” he said slowly, his head tipping to the side. “So you don’t have to be stuck with me and my curse anymore.”
Tango’s blood ran cold, an impressive feat for a blazeborn. His eyes went wide and he stared at Jimmy, waiting for him to laugh, or crack a smile, say he was joking. But he didn’t. He looked so innocently serious about it, as though he actually expected Tango to just be okay with what he was suggesting.
“I’m not - I don’t–” Tango choked out, shaking his head slowly, and he pushed himself to his feet since Jimmy wasn’t moving. He dragged a hand over his face and tried to compose himself. “Jimmy, I’m not stuck with you. I’m with you, willingly. Soulmates, teammates, partners - ranchers. I’ve got your back.” Jimmy still looked lost, confused, as if he didn’t quite understand, and Tango closed some of the gap between them. “Buddy, I’m not going anywhere.”
“But you could,” Jimmy blurted out, holding the apple higher for Tango to take. “You could, if you wanted, and–”
“But I don’t want,” Tango cut him off. Jimmy was still holding the apple between them so Tango took it gingerly from him, barely giving it a look before tossing it toward the bed. Jimmy let out a startled chirp and went to follow it, but Tango caught his arm in one gentle hand. He drew Jimmy’s wide eyes back to him. “I want you, Jimmy. I like who the game chose for me, and if I had my choice I’d pick you again in a heartbeat.”
Jimmy shook his head slowly, his lips tugging into a frown and his brow scrunching up in a quiet distress that Tango could feel in the bond.
“You shouldn’t,” he said, sounding unsteady for the first time since Tango had arrived home. “Tango, you shouldn’t, I’m - I’m bad luck. I’m cursed. It’s not worth staying for if–”
“Jimmy.” Tango shook his head, at a loss for what to say to convince Jimmy that he was so very wrong. “Jim, you’re so worth it. You’re worth–” He was worth everything. Tango stepped closer, stepping forward into the light filtering in through the window and meeting his soulmate’s eyes beseechingly. “Jimmy, tell me you want me gone, and I’ll go. If you can tell me honestly that you don’t want me for a soulmate I’ll - I’ll talk to Grian, okay?” Jimmy’s eyes had turned shining and his jaw had gone tense, his wings puffed behind him. “But I don’t think–”
Jimmy snorted.
Tango blinked and trailed off, watching as Jimmy’s confused and conflicted expression gave way to barely restrained amusement.
“...what?” Tango asked, and Jimmy snickered.
“Sorry, sorry, you have–” He reached up, his thumb brushing over the end of Tango’s nose, and when he turned his hand to let the light hit it, there was a red shining dust clinging to Jimmy’s skin. Redstone. “I didn’t notice until you stepped into the light, but it’s–”
“CUT!”
There was a splattering of laughter and groans from the gathered cast and crew on set, and Tango glanced toward the front door when Cleo shouldered her way in.
“You and Mumbo, I swear–” she grumbled, fishing a compact mirror from her back pocket and holding it out for Tango to take. “How you even manage to get redstone on you in a scene without redstone as a focus will never cease to amaze me.”
Tango smiled sheepishly and glanced at his reflection, chuckling weakly when he spotted smudges of red dust along his right cheek and his nose.
“It blended in with your freckles for a while,” Jimmy commented, taking the cloth from Cleo before she could do anything, leaning in close to get a good look. “Here, let me–”
“Thanks rancher,” Tango winked, and Jimmy went a soft pink as he carefully dabbed at his scene partner’s face. (He did a very good job of pretending he wasn’t affected by Tango’s comment, but the flutter of his wings betrayed him. Just a little.)
A few more people spilled in through the open ranch door, resetting props and fetching the fake golden apple from where it had tumbled across the floor. Grian was among them, a tousled script in hand that Tango knew was covered in red and blue scribbled notes and comments.
“Why don’t you two take twenty?” he suggested in a low voice once he was close enough. He tugged off his glasses and tucked them into his shirt. “That was a really good take, by the way…until Tim broke character.”
“Hey!”
“Yeah? Really good?” Tango repeated, hoping Grian was being honest. It had felt like a good read, and he and Jimmy had seemed to play off each other really well with emotions and timing and everything. But he knew it always looked different from the outside.
Grian grinned lopsidedly.
“Really really good,” he insisted. “Considering we’ve been running this one for almost an hour, I’m impressed neither of you have fallen into muscle memory yet. It still feels real and spontaneous, and you’re getting comfortable enough with the lines that I’m starting to really feel it as an audience member.” He patted Tango on the shoulder and rocked back on his heels, heading back for the door. “You’re doing great! Take a break, you deserve it. We’ll take it from your entrance when you get back.”
“Don’t mess up your hair before we get back or I will kill you,” Cleo drawled, and Tango snickered when Jimmy actually went a little pale at the threat.
“I’m…just gonna go check on Norman,” he mumbled, slipping past Cleo and vanishing off the set.
A passing crew member took the chunk of redstone from Tango as he passed and Tango wiped his hands on the cloth Jimmy had left with him, not wanting to end up with more dust in places it wasn’t meant to be. Cleo took it from him the moment he was done.
“You know he’s terrified of you, right?” Tango teased as he trailed after Cleo, both of them leaving the ranch behind so the crew could finish their reset. He snatched a water from the snack table as they passed. “You could be a little nicer to him.”
“I’ll be nicer to Jimmy when he stops wiping his hands on his costume jeans,” she muttered. “Honestly, you’d think he’d remember they’re not his. You all go for lunch, and he ends up with crumbs and little stains that I have to get out before the next shoot.”
“He’s a bit forgetful,” Tango shrugged, though there was an affectionate tone to his words that he couldn’t hide if he tried. “But he always apologizes. It ain’t like he’s doing it on purpose.”
Cleo huffed and tossed the redstone-tinged cloth into a bin near her makeup station.
“Go find your boytoy,” Cleo snipped at him, making Tango choke on the water he was sipping.
“Wh– ngah, hah, um–” He let out a light, nervous laugh. “My what?”
“Your soulmate,” Cleo sing-songed, dropping gracefully into the comfortable chair she’d all but demanded be brought in for her corner of the set. “Go on. We both know he’s waiting at his trailer for you.”
Tango felt his face warm, and he was sure there were tiny sparking flames dancing in his hair beneath Cleo’s knowing gaze.
“How…?”
“Oh my giddy aunt, you’re obvious,” she drawled. “Have you seen you two? Pearl an’ I have a bet going to see how long it’ll take Grian to notice, because - well - it’s Jimmy, and Grian has a hard time picturing Jimmy as anything but his Adorable Baby Brother. Took ‘im two months to realize Scott kept coming around because he and Jimmy were dating.” She grabbed a magazine off the makeup table and flipped through it idly. “‘Course, almost everyone else knows by now. It’s hard to miss.”
What.
“Go kiss your damn boyfriend already, he’ll probably cry if you don’t show up,” Cleo teased. She prodded Tango away with her foot. “Go on. Go get ‘im, tiger.”
If Tango happened to walk just a little too fast to get away from Cleo’s smirking stare, that was his business and nobody else’s. (And maybe Joel’s, since Tango almost ran the poor guy over in his hurry to get to Jimmy’s trailer. But Joel wouldn’t ask. Probably.)
Tango didn’t bother knocking when he arrived at Jimmy’s trailer. They visited each other often enough that there weren’t many boundaries anymore, and it wasn’t as if Jimmy wasn’t already expecting him. So Tango let himself into the small and cozy space, smiling softly when he spotted his partner near the far window, gently misting the few plants sitting on the small table there. They didn’t have a ton of room because of the limited space a trailer provided, but Jimmy always managed to make his feel homely anyway.
Tango crept up behind him on soft feet, enjoying the way Jimmy’s feathers fluffed in pleased surprise when Tango’s arms wound their way around his waist from behind. He chuckled lightly and pressed a kiss to Jimmy’s cheek.
“Hey sweetheart,” he sing-songed. Jimmy melted against his chest with a soft twitter.
“Tango,” he huffed, though he sounded more amused than anything. “You scared me!”
“Who, little ol’ me?” Tango squeezed him once before letting him go, giving Jimmy space to turn around and face him properly. There was a sparkle of mirth in his grin and his tail danced lazily behind him in a teasing sort of way.
Jimmy rolled his eyes adoringly. He set the plant mister aside and let Tango reel him back in, folding into Tango’s hold like he belonged there. He was kissing Tango before the netherborn had a chance to make another quip, his eyes falling shut and a pleased little hum muffling itself against Jimmy’s smiling lips.
“Took you long enough,” Jimmy murmured softly between kisses, his hands trailing over Tango’s costume vest aimlessly. “Thought you weren’t gonna come.”
“Cleo,” Tango told him. “Got sidetracked.” He guided Jimmy away from the window so they wouldn’t bump into the plants, not minding a bit when his legs collided with the couch. He sat down when Jimmy nudged at his shoulders, unsurprised when he immediately found himself with a lapful of cuddly soulmate. They’d ended up here dozens of times before, and by now it was comfortable and familiar, these small precious moments of closeness stolen between scenes or long after filming had finished for the night. He and Jimmy just fit together so naturally…he couldn’t fathom a life or universe where they hadn’t found each other.
Jimmy picked up where they left off as seamlessly as if they’d never stopped. It was all slow, lazy kisses and warm affection, Jimmy’s hands barely stopping themselves from tangling in Tango’s hair (they still had a shoot to finish, afterall), and Tango’s thumbs tracing gentle circles against Jimmy’s hips where his grip had loosely fallen.
“How long do we have?” Tango asked breathlessly, and he felt Jimmy’s arm shift against his shoulder to check.
“...twelve minutes.”
“I can work with that.”
Jimmy let out a soft giggle and pressed his forehead to Tango’s, their noses barely brushing.
“We’ve done more with less,” he teased, and Tango grinned.
“Damn right we have.”
It was still a damn miracle Etho hadn’t found them in that closet.
Jimmy kissed him again, his mouth migrating away from Tango’s, pressing his lips along Tango’s jawline in a slow and gentle trail, mouthing lazily at the spot below his ear and nuzzling his face into the crook of his partner’s neck. He settled there for a moment, seeming comfortable and content, and Tango was smiling adoringly when he pressed a lopsided kiss against Jimmy’s hair.
“Comfy?” he teased quietly, and Jimmy let out a warbled little chirp of affirmation. His wings went lax at his back, draping across the couch on either side of Tango, and a low rumble arose in Tango’s chest at the coziness of it all. “Not gonna lie, twelve minutes of cuddle-actions sounds awesome right now.”
“Just wanna be close to you,” Jimmy murmured, snuggling in just that little bit closer, and–
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Tango jolted, and so did Jimmy, his wings afluffed and his head jerking up to stare at the door.
“Grian!” Jimmy squeaked. “Hi! We - er–”
“What?!” Grian sounded flabbergasted and he looked it too. If his jaw was any lower it would’ve hit the floor, his eyes nearly bugging out of his skull. “You - he–”
“Do you need something?” Tango asked casually, much to Jimmy’s amusement if the choked-back laugh he stifled in Tango’s shoulder was anything to go by. “We still have eleven minutes before we need to be on set.”
Grian gaped at him, his mouth opening and shutting like a fish.
“No,” he said finally, sounding a little hysterical. “Nope. It can - you know what, it can wait. It can - yeah. Ten minutes. On set in - yes. Okay. Right.” He floundered for the doorknob, missing once or twice before he finally dragged his gobsmacked stare away from the couple on the couch. He yanked it open and paused, his wings an agitated mess of red and yellow and blue.
“…how long–”
“Two months,” Jimmy told him sheepishly. He was peeking out at his brother past golden feathers, his wings having curved forward slightly in a half-hearted effort to hide. “We wanted to enjoy it without the attention for a while, ‘cause it was new an’ all. Kept it quiet, you know?”
“Fat lot o’ good that did, lad,” Joel said bluntly, sticking his head through the open doorway and earning startled reactions from all involved. “Just about everyone knows. ‘Cept you, Grian.”
Grian squawked and Tango felt his face warm, his hair sparking alongside Jimmy’s resulting spluttering.
“E-Everyone?” he stammered, and Joel shrugged.
“Most everyone.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t snog in closets on set, idiot.”
Jimmy went pink and Tango sank into the couch. Oh. Oh, geez. Maybe Etho wasn’t as oblivious as Tango had assumed.
He cleared his throat.
“…mind giving us those last five minutes?” he asked, his voice a little high-pitched. At Joel’s smirk-lined snickering, he let out an inhuman strangled wheeze. “NO, not - we were just cuddling! C’mon, man–”
“Mhm. Suuuure,” Joel drawled. He hooked Grian’s elbow and dragged him out, letting the door fall shut. From outside the trailer, Tango heard his last quippy remark: “Use protection, lads!”
Jimmy’s embarrassed twittering was muffled in Tango’s shoulder, his wings almost entirely cocooning them now. Tango ran a soothing hand through his partner’s hair, catching slightly on the light gel that kept it looking so adorable during filming.
“Do you want me to fix your feathers, sweetheart?” he asked, earning a grumble from the avian in his lap.
“…no,” he said finally, sounding a bit defeated. “They’re meant to be a little messy for the scene anyway.”
“Mm.” Tango nodded, trailing his claws against Jimmy’s scalp. Jimmy melted under his ministrations, snuggling into Tango’s chest like he had been before they had been so rudely interrupted. “How about tonight, when we’re done filming?”
Jimmy pressed a lazy kiss to the side of Tango’s neck, and Tango could only assume that was a nonverbal yes. Then Jimmy sighed. He dragged himself upright and glanced at his watch, sending a weary smile in Tango’s direction.
“Almost showtime,” he told him. “Ready to go stop me from breaking up with you again?”
“I’d do it a million times if it means I get to keep you,” Tango grinned, tugging Jimmy down into one last kiss before letting his partner go. Jimmy pretended to be unfazed but Tango could see the way his wings barely fluttered and his cheeks warmed, the nonchalant mask near-transparent to someone who knew him as well as Tango did. He was far more affected by how affectionate Tango could be than he let most people know.
A million times, Tango had told him. And it was true. A million and more, if it was ever needed, he’d fight for Jimmy again and again. In any world.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
[A/N - ...and I still haven't! Written full Rancher angst, that is. I might be physically incapable. Oops! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
ALSO HAPPY BELATED APRIL FOOLS! Sorry for the heart attack at the beginning there, I don't know WHAT came over me! 🤪 Craaaazy! This was ALWAYS meant to be an Actors AU! Obviously! Totally! I definitely didn't start writing proper angst and then make a left turn to keep myself happy!!!
(I actually didn't do that either lol. The original plan was to write an entire angsty Rancher break up fic with the WORST grammar and spelling and OOC-ness you've ever seen in your life, but I couldn't force myself to write badly. It wasn't happening, folks. So you get fluff and sillies instead lol. Hope you had fun!)]
#Team Rancher#Solidaritek#TrafficShipping#April Fool's Day#April Fools#Pixiemage Writes#Jimmy Solidarity#TangoTek#SolidarityGaming
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Pouring a nice tall glass of molten glass taking a sip and being like oowch too hot I’ll wait for it to cool waiting until it’s solid and being left with a clear cylinder of glass realizing my mistake getting out my glass cleaner cleaning the glass yet the glass is still the same shape so I get out my drill and start drilling down right next to the glass until finally the drillbit is near the ground which looks rocky and full of iron ore so I drill down into it completely ignoring the ore and just keep drilling deeper until I drill into an ancient underground temple I open up the obsidian sarcophagus and retrieve strange seeds from the corpses hands then I return to the surface and plant them and water them and then go to sleep for 100000 years humanity goes to space evolves into cyborgs then nearly destroys itself in a nuclear war followed by nature overtaking everything until eventually they relearn agriculture and go through the industrial revolution again and I wake up and everything is exactly the same as before but my tree hasn’t quite grown yet so I take a nap for an hour and then it’s still not grown so I get mad and start kicking it and calling it names the tree gets upset and slaps me with it’s roots runs away to canada where it runs for mayor and wins but ultimately realizes the futility of meddling in human affairs so it comes back to me and I understand it on a deep emotional and spiritual level so much so that the tree bursts into fire and I hug it and it disintegrates into dust which I gather into a small pile then I cut a line from the pile and snort it and then invent time travel and go back in time and stop myself from attempting to drink molten glass but in doing so I set in course a different series of events which results in my timeline starting to disintegrate from the main one but I realize this happening and prepared for the possibility so I activate my timeline cohesion belt and then kidnap myself and then travel back to when I first was about to invent time travel and threaten myself not to (this makes sense considering other extenuating circumstances regarding time travel and timelines trust me) and then I decided not to therefore collapsing my new self into my old pre time-travel self and I’m still kinda coming down from the high of sniffing the tree powder and I’m kinda thirsty so I throw out the glass cylinder and get a nice tall glass of regular water
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Train fact: the longest* train ever
like all things to do with railways, you can get pretty granular and pedantic with this one, so this is likely to also be the longest post ever. Sorry, but actual facts (and pretty pictures) under the cut!
The longest passenger train in regular service is Australia's 'Ghan, a luxury tourist train that runs between Adelaide and Darwin, and averages 774 m/2,539ft in length. that's twice as long as the Empire State building is tall.
(id in alt)
The reason I say "in regular service" is because the longest passenger train EVER was run by the Rhaetian Railway in Switzerland, to celebrate 175 years of Swiss railways, and that was more than twice that long at 1,910m/6266.4ft. Almost an entire Kentucky Derby worth of train! It had to go incredibly slowly, maxing out at 35km/h, to avoid overloading the electric systems of the railway and local power grids.
youtube
[Video desc: a youtube video from CBS news of the recordbreaking passenger train. The train is made up of several red electric trains coupled together, and moves through alpine landscapes of mountainds and coniferous forest. It is so long that it is visible only in coils, like a snake. Some shots show the train leaving one tunnel while entering another, or driving under a viaduct while the tail end crosses it, and several shots show people watching and taking photographs.]
But, the thing with passenger trains is that they have a lot of rules and regulations applied to them that freight doesn't have to follow. So freight trains get HYUGE.
The average American freight train (I consider the USA to be freight trains' natural habitat because there is a whole bunch of wide open space for for them to crawl around) is 5400 feet long, and the standard in Europe is around 3000ft. That's a 10-20 minute walk at average adult walking speed, just to go from end to end. You know when you stop at a level crossing, and a train goes by, and it seems like it's going by forever? That was probably one of these.
But the average frieght train is peanuts to mining trains. Trains came from the mines, and they still dominate there. The biggest trains in the world are consists of ore and coal, run by tiny crews from extraction point to export. This has always been true.
For example, the Datong–Qinhuangdao railway in China runs coal trains daily that are 2.614 km/8576 ft long. That's more than 1.5 miles, or three times as long as the burj khalifa is tall. And that's the standard for that line.
(id in alt)
But that doesn't break any records.
The longest production train, running regularly, is the Sishen–Saldanha railway line's maganese/iron ore train. These trains are four kilometers long. 4,000 meters, almost half the height of the highest peak on earth, in wagons full of metals. Too long to be seen in a single photograph- the one below was stitched together from four separate pictures, taken from the air:
(id in alt)
and that's still not the record!
The record for longest frieght train is held by BHP, an Australian mining company. It was made for the record, but the capacity is still there. This train ran on june 21st 2011, and was 682 wagons long, over seven kilometers. Almost twice the length of the Sishen–Saldanha's, and a quarter the height of Olympus mons. If you stood this train on its end, it would be taller than Mt Denali. If you started at the front of the lead locomotive, and ran as fast as you physically could, you wouldn't reach the last wagon for an hour.
There are entire branch lines shorter than this train.
Unfortunately, there are no good photos, because nobody in space had time for railfanning that day, but there are plenty of pictures of other BHP trains!
(id in alt)
#mod note#bhp#trains#Sishen–Saldanha railway line#Datong–Qinhuangdao railway#the ghan#Rhaetian Railway#irl trains#train facts!
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(KNY) YANDERE PLATONIC! KOKUSHIBO x SISTER READER: You, Shibou. I, Kokoro (CHAPTER THIRTEEN)
Previous Chapter ☆♡☆ Masterlist ☆♡☆ Next Chapter
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN: "You will not be more than a rat in the gutter"
Child abuse can come in many forms including Physical, Emotional, Psychological and Sexual. It happens to more than one in ten people according to local statistics.
The morning rays shone through the window, The disgusting mould building up on the glass making dots in the spotlight.
The room the light had hit was clustered and tossed over, All furniture either broken or tipped over onto the ground. Shattered vases and hives of insects were plentiful in nature, Thriving in the filth of the abandoned house.
It was horrid, Looking like no-one had dared to step foot into the derelict surroundings of the rotted structure. Walls near falling apart and doors barely clicking place into their doorframes.
Larvae gathered around on the decaying wood floor, All from the corpse laying atop it.
It had been there for days, Maggots already crawling in and out of the pores in her skin. She was old, Dying of old age. But that was perfect for the gathering flies and vermin starting to make their young out of the nutritious flesh of her decaying face.
Her figure was as gout as an English king, Her spindly grey hair was scattered across the floor and already falling out of her scalp. It was disgusting, The smell was like spoiled eggs and sulphur from the mould.
But it didn't bother the girl peaking out from the nook in the door that was slightly open, Her little face was shrouded in shadow with the only thing visible being the vivid colour of her eyes staring out at the corpse.
She could of only been about seven or eight, But she looked at the corpse like it was her everyday life, Like she was just observing people passing by on the streets.
Her overgrown hair was matted and tangled into that of a thorn bush, Dirt was displayed on her face and her eyes were wide and vigilant like a bird of prey. It wasn't fit on her and her skeletal complexion, A girl that looked so young.
Her brows lowered as she looked at the corpse, It wasn't of disgust or horror as it should've been but instead it was akin to annoyance or perhaps irritation. It was a mature face, One she should've never been able to make at her age.
The thin bony hands that lain on the other side of the door started to quiver. Even though there was a faint warmth in the air, Her body was still chilled to the bones from the ravenous hunger that laid inside her stomach.
She pushed her fingers forward, The door starting to close. [F/N] took one last look at the infestation gathering on the corpse before huffing.
The door shut softly with a click, Leaving nothing but dead silence to fill the room.
☆♡☆
[F/N] sat upon her futon, Head drooped down to look at her knees.
Her futon was small compared to [F/N]'s already tiny body. The sheets looked like they hadn't been measured to her size in years as it could barely fit over her tiny little feet and provide much needed warmth in the high altitude of the mountain.
The cold air from the atmosphere outside left a lasting chill within the air. The snow-capped peaks above were not too far from where her grand house sat within the rocky terrain, Nestled at the head of the village facing below.
It was lively to say the least. Men with heavy pickaxes slung over their shoulders were waltzing about streets, Most likely on their way to work. Women with baskets of shining ore headed in the other direction from the way, Ready to haul them to the exporting wagons.
Kids ran around the adults, Grinning as they chased each other throughout the plentiful streets and tall buildings lining them. They were having fun, [F/N] could tell from the loud muffled laughs coming from below.
The sunlight village, The place where the sun never went down and where the entire village was eternally basked within the grace of Amaterasu. The only place where scarlet iron ore was cultivated for the demon slayer corps.
For a small village it was a hotspot for both the mining and swordsmithing industry, Never having a quiet moment. It was also a place constructed by the Ubuyashiki family for the sole purpose of collecting and exporting the scarlet ore for the swordsmith village.
The grand house bigger than all the others sat atop a hill overlooking the rest of the village and the entire drop of the mountain miles below them. It was beautiful, Always clean and pristine as it was an example for the rest.
It was gorgeous, At least from the outside view that is.
Screaming erupted from somewhere deep within the house, [F/N] flinched at the high-pitched hollering coming from further within the rooms of the house. It was a constant back and forth of a man and a woman yelling at each other.
"YOU'RE DEFECTIVE! I SHOULD'VE PICKED A DIFFERENT FUCKING WIFE THAT COULD MAKE ME A RIGHTFUL HEIR!"
"I'M DEFECTIVE?! HAVE YOU EVER STOPPED TO THINK THAT MAYBE IT'S YOU THAT'S GOT SOMETHING WRONG WITH HIM?!. IT FUCKING FIGURES, YOU CAN NEVER GET IT UP!"
"YOU WHORE!"
Then the woman's screaming would turn into yells of pain and anger, The sound of a hand connecting with the skin of the face being the cause. Though despite the intensity and the structure-shaking yells that they made, It wasn't the sound of the adults that made [F/N] flinch.
Instead, It was the baby's.
It was horrifying, The shrill crying of a recently born child was mixing in with the roaring of the adults. It made [F/N] ball up and press her knees against her chest, Shutting her eyes and whispering to herself.
She sniffled, A futile attempt to wipe the oncoming tears off her face was made to no avail. [F/N] rocked back and forth, Whispering little confirmations to try and convince herself that it would be okay.
Though she was only a toddler, She was fully aware of what's happening.
Another one of her siblings failed the test, They hadn't been born with the proper hands. An annual occurrence with no deviation from it's result, Again and again she would hear the cries of a child from the other room and the adults screaming would kick up again.
Her family lineage had been blessed by the gods, That's what the villagers said anyways. Sometimes they even claimed that they were the descendants of gods far above them, Gifting them their power.
The Hands of Kagutsuchi, That's what they were called. Named after the kami of fire and the patron of blacksmiths. It was a bloodborne power that gave the blessing of being able to identify any material by the touch of a hand.
It could tell the density of the finest of threats, The way it was woven or the exact touch of the person it belonged to. It could even tell if a glass of sake was poisoned just from a simple graze of the liquid.
It was especially useful here due to the nature of scarlet iron ore, The mining village's sole export. Despite the assumption of the colour in the name, It was impossible to tell what was the scarlet ore or just regular iron.
It would usually take a few hours, Only being able to tell once it was cut into. However with The Hands of Kagutsuchi it would be able to be identified within a second, Saving countless resources and hours of work.
Though there was an is-
"DEFECTIVE.. ANOTHER DEFECTIVE BASTARD- CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT?!"
Sudden thumps of storming footsteps started to make their way down the halls of the house, Though what terrified [F/N] is that the cries of her baby sibling followed with it. Screaming wildly in distress.
[F/N]'s breath hitched within her throat, Eyes going wide.
It was happening again, He was going to take another one-!
[F/N] wasted no time in stumbling to her feet and rushing over to the window on the far side of the room. Hopping up onto the soles of her feet, She was barely able to peer over and look out at the valley in front of her.
[F/N]'s eyes landed on the river, Almost second-nature to her by now.
It was the running water sourced from the top of the snow-caps, It was long and winding as it flowed throughout the entire village. It provided hydration and irrigation to the fields of crops growing on the outskirts.
It also had a private part flowing on the hill their house sat on, Separated from the rest of the village a good bit away. It was only a few metre's away, Giving [F/N] a place to run around in if she was lucky.
However [F/N] wasn't bothered by that as she heard the sound of a door being roughly slammed open.
It made her yelp, But her eyes never wavered as she watched the bulking figure of the man storm out into the field facing her house. Her eyes widened, Her vision focusing on what he held high above his head.
It was her baby sibling hung up by the raging grip of the man, They were screaming and wailing with their little face scrunched up in pain. They had only just been born, Still covered in the blood of their mother and freshly cut from the placenta.
Their little fingers were balled up, Their mouth open to let out their high-pitched wails of discomfort as they were hung upside down. They weren't even given the gift of clothing to warm their growing body.
The man marched onwards however, Ignoring the screams of the child as he stormed over to the place where [F/N] feared the most. Her mouth going dry at the sight.
The river.
He had reached the edge by now, [F/N] tried harder and harder to extend the soles of her feet to try and get a better look at what was happening. What was going to happen to her little sibling.
The man stood, Hanging his child like they were meat on a hook. Dangling over the river their cries only grew louder and louder, [F/N]'s breath only picked up once more as she looked on helplessly.
The river water ran cold, The rushing waves speeding down the slope of the mountain in waves. Rocks below it bashed into the water, Hard edges making the water sway and swim in different directions.
The man raised his child higher and higher, The screaming of the child becoming unbearable to [F/N] as her eyes landed on the object gripped tightly in his other hand.
She had been so focused, So attentive to the fate of the little boy that she had failed to notice what he was holding. But as he raised it higher and higher, Dangled his child further and further over the side of the river-
[F/N] knew what it was.
The cold blade of the knife was pressed against the little neck of her baby sibling, The sharp end barely grazing their throat. It was barely developed, Their chubby little cheeks covering what little neck they had.
The blade drew forward, Momentum starting to build.
[F/N] cried out from behind the wall, Hands slamming against the glass to try and stop this. Anything, To try and stop what was going to happen. Tears of her own starting to build up and burst down her face.
SILSH!
The shrill cries of the baby stopped.
[F/N]'s eyes widened.
Unable to pry her eyes off the sudden splash of red dripping down from across the field.
☆♡☆
The cold summer morning's air brushed over the high mountain, A cool breeze tickling at the skin and soaking into the bone.
The sun was still on the horizon, By normal time it would be the very break of dawn but for the sunlight village it stayed eternally light within the closed off confines of it's walls. The ferns flourished with the constant nourishment along with all the other wildlife accustomed to the bright atmosphere.
[F/N] slowly opened the wooden door, Careful to dim the noise of the creak it let out. As soon as she stepped out into the wide open plain of their estate she was hit with the cold spring breeze.
It made her shiver as her little legs hopped down the accompanying steps, Careful not to trip over on her own feet.
The timber-built bucket she had held under her arm was throwing off her balance by a bit, Making her stumble slightly in her step as she trotted over to the accompanying river. It was rushing as usual, Spurts of water foam bursting up and falling back into the stream.
[F/N] waddled onto the edge of the river, Peering over she looked once. Then back towards the house, Left to right before lowering down onto her knees and starting to scoop up the river water.
While the water was chilling it wasn't anything a small fire couldn't heat up, [F/N] learning the tricks of it from running her own baths for years. The few servants employed within her family weren't up at this time, Leaving [F/N] to her own devices.
However she preferred it that way, Not having to worry about interactions with the mean adults living in her house. Nor did she have to deal with the stuffy air flowing about in there, The crisp breeze of the outdoors being a highlight of her eternal day.
She had always felt more mature than the other kids in the village, Always like she was retaking a lesson she had done before. She didn't know why, But sometimes she could swear like she was an adult in a kids body.
Besides, With the upcoming birth of the next child it's been more and more hectic. The woman's pregnancy hitting nine months, The baby due to be born any day now and making both the man and the servants more stressed.
The yelling had gotten louder too, With the man promising and threatening the woman with something [F/N] couldn't make out.
The woman.
The woman was a sorrowful spindly figure, One with bony hands and a slim waist. She was beautiful but in a similar way that you would call a dark tragedy beautiful. Her fuzzy face always facing away from [F/N], Never letting her get a good look at her.
She never talked either, Not in person. Always such a silent and unreactive person whenever [F/N] had been around her, [F/N] only knowing her shrill voice from the screaming.
The man.
The man was a dark hulking figure, His limbs too big on his wide body and he heaved his arms like paperweights. He had horns, Tall winding talons and angry luminescent eyes that seemed to follow in a room.
But his appearance wasn't what sprung to mind when [F/N] thought of him, No. Instead it was his footsteps.
How heavy and thundering they were, How her ears had trained to pick them up from the furthest corner of her house. The way the floorboards decreased under his boot as well as the way she would wait on baited breath, Begging silently for them to pass by on her room.
He wasn't someone that [F/N] liked all that much, Despite the little contact she had with him. He had killed several of her siblings, Even [F/N]'s young mind recognising so.
The only reason she had survived is because she had falsely passed the test when she was born, The test to prove whether she had the divine power of the hands or not.
The test was done as soon as the baby born had fell into a soundless sleep, When it had stilled and calmed down. That was when the feather was brought out, A primary golden feather with a shine that rivalled the sun.
It was a feather said to have been left behind from the bird of the gods, Hou-Ou. One given to her families ancestors long ago. It had been combed several times, Preened and prepped until the touch was ironically featherlight and unfeeling.
The feather would be grazed across the child's hands, For only a second. If the baby awoke and started crying then that would mean that they had been born with the hands, The only thing being able to feel the pristine brush of the plume.
However, If they failed..
[F/N] shook off the jolting chill running down her back as the wooden bucket in her hands finally filled up with enough water to fill her shallow bath. She didn't want to remember the last loss a year ago, No matter how much it filled her head every night.
It appeared in the corners of her eyes, The splash of red. As soon as she snapped her head around to catch a glimpse, It would be gone.
It also appeared in her dreams, The visions of the blade wringing the neck of another child. She had issues sleeping because of it, Keeping her eyes wide open in the middle of the night.
The worst part is it had happened every year, The keyword being had as the number of children being slaughtered had risen. The man, Deciding that the woman was not good enough had turned to others within the village for what he called a proper heir.
However, None were good enough. None were born with the hands that would finally appease the mans hunger for blessed blood. The splash of red appearing every three or four months by now.
She remembered the woman's voice, What few words were ever spoken directly to [F/N] herself.
"Some are just made wrong, Don't cry over someone you haven't met."
[F/N] pulled up the bucket of water, Droplets running down the side of the bark and dropping onto the lush grass of the mountain. It sloshed around inside as she tried hauling it in her tiny hands.
[F/N] didn't know why she was still alive, A trick of fate perhaps. When the feather was brushed over her hands as a baby she had woken up and started crying, Making it seem as if she was born with the hands.
However when she had grown up it had become obviously apparent that she hadn't been born with such hands, Just waking up at the right time to avoid her demise. And by then the man couldn't kill her, Already having paraded her around the village.
Her father had tossed her aside after that, Just like leftovers. Thrown her into a cage to call her own and the servants were to raise her however distant they liked. He never talked or acknowledged her other than commands, But [F/N] could tell he thought of her like a rat in the gutter.
A disgrace and a failure of a child he was stuck with until he could find a proper husband to throw her away to. A child born without the conditions met to gain his love, The touch just out of her grasp.
But as her hands were graced with the tiny chill of cold droplets running down her fingers, The splintering wood pricking at her little hands. [F/N] was reminded very well that she wasn't of divine blood or of blessed heritage.
She lugged the bucket of limber wood by her side, Careful not to spill anymore of the river water down the sides of the bark. Her feet tapped against the overgrown grass, Wandering towards the main door.
Why she was the one to survive, Why she was the one destined to outlive all the children who didn't even get their chance. Her siblings, The ones that had been tossed away and the one's of whose blood flowed within the river.
They were her siblings, They were her blood and her only family. Each one of them had been given a name, Not by the man or the woman, But by her. Mariko, Amane, Eito and Tarou. The first four off the top of her head.
They hadn't even survived a day outside the womb yet [F/N] made sure to name every single one, Mark every little name into the corner wall of her room. They hadn't lived through breath but instead through their names, That's the least she thought she could do for them.
She loved them, Every single one of them.
Their little hands and their tiny feet, Their chubby little cheeks and their adorable mimicry of human speech. She adored it, Never getting to see what was of her sibling before they were slaughtered like all the others.
She couldn't bare it, Though she was only six she knew how wrong it was. How much pain she felt every time another was killed.
[F/N] tried to smile however. It wasn't all that bad, At least that's what she told herself. Today marked the day of the solstice festival, The one thrown in favour of The Sun Goddess Amaterasu for their eternal brightness.
It had always been fun for the few times she had remembered it, She was only six after all. [F/N] always had fun running about and handed out free food samples, Often partaking in some of the games and watching Shinto-based plays, They were her favourite.
So as she lugged along the bucket back to her house, She tried to keep a big smile on her face in thought of all the fun she was going to have today. What goldfish she was going to try and catch, What plays she would go see.
It was exciting, Fun and ex-
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH-!"
A muffled scream echoed out from within the house, One that made [F/N] yelp and surprise and drop the bucket towards the ground.
It clattered on the foot of the steps, Water flying out and splashing against the andesite stairway as she stumbled forward yelping. She fell to her knees and tipped up the bucket, Exclaiming once she saw the emptiness.
But the screaming didn't stop, It kept up on a higher notch. Wailing louder and louder as [F/N] snapped her head up towards the shrieks, Recognising the high-pitch of them very well.
It was the woman, The pain of her yelling was felt in [F/N]'s bone marrow. It was a string of unintelligible curses and proclamations of agony, For no doubt waking up the entirety of the previously slumbering house as she heard frantic shuffling come from inside.
The screams.
[F/N] knew it well.
Her water had broken.
Her tongue had dropped to her throat, Suddenly feeling limp in her mouth. Sweat started to rise up on the palms of her hands and trickle down her forehead as her lungs started going in and out at a much quicker pace.
Another would be killed.
Another.
Another.
And Another.
That was enough for [F/N] to push herself up from the stone steps and yank the door open with what strength her young body had, Abandoning the bucket and running into the labyrinth of her house to seek cover in her room.
Already knowing of the storm that would be approaching as she heard the thundering voice of her father kick up.
☆♡☆
The whines of the woman echoed throughout the house, The soundwaves bouncing off the walls.
It had been a few hours now and [F/N] had barricaded herself within her room. She had to, The man would've kept her inside for preparation of the next child. The hopes of this one finally having the hands he so craved.
He had come around once, Peeking inside her room and barking at her to stay put before leaving once more. All the servants had ran to the woman's side too, Leaving her completely alone.
To keep her mind occupied out of the oncoming demise of another child, She had sat atop a desk next to the windowsill, Longingly staring out into the festival just gracing the borders of her house so closely.
The colourful streamers were shot into the air, Laughing and yells of pleasure were there to cover up the sounds of muffled agony coming from deep within the house. All the lights, What few of them were were lit up in celebration of the goddess.
[F/N] imagined herself running around with the other kids, Envisioned herself catching goldfish with a bag of sweet treats in her other hand as she did. The way her face would light up in favour of the sun deity above.
But instead she was caged within the walls of her house, Forced to listen to the wails of the woman and the yelling of the man. The servants storming footsteps chattering past her door every so often to grab something new for the woman.
The one day when she was going to have an escape, If only for a few hours. Taken away from her.
It was a distraction from her everyday life, Every time she ran through the streets and bit into a piece of mochi she felt as if she was like everyone else. Like she was never trapped in the first place.
But it's not like she could ever get out.
[F/N] closed her eyes, Arms around her chest cuddling herself closer as the screams reached a peak. It was compelling, A siren's shriek that made her want to throwaway all her orders to stay in the room and run to see the face of her sibling.
She never got to see them, She just wanted to see one.
Only one, The glimpses she got of the previous just wasn't enough. She never got to hold their hand or even commit their face to memory. That's all she wanted, All she's ever wanted for herself.
She didn't even have control over her body when she hopped down from the desk, Her bare feet hitting the floor and starting to patter against the floorboards as she quickly made her way to the door of her room.
The door clicking open, She peered out to check if the coast was clear.
Left then right, Before snaking out the crack in the doorway and running towards the room.
☆♡☆
The child had been born.
Hours after labour had started, The woman had finally given birth to a young boy. A child smaller than usual, One that had taken forever to calm down and lulled into a deep sleep. But the servants had managed, Swaddling him in an earth-coloured cloth.
The room that they were in was the main bedroom of the house. It was dark, The blinds shut over to prevent any of the worshipped sun flooding into the room. Candles were lit in it's place, Surrounding the woman who lain strewn on the bed.
Her spindly, Starving figure was exhausted. Long limbs stretched out across the entire surface of the bed with the child placed firmly on her hollow chest as a part of the so-called imprinting.
A wet cloth was placed upon her forehead. What bloody mess of fluids she had made while giving birth were quickly cleaned up, A blanket thrown over the lower half of her body for little warmth.
[F/N] could see through the peek of the door she looked through that the servants had left, Assumedly to give privacy for the ceremony. She had tried peeking over the top side of the bed, Her height a hinderance as she tried to get a good look at her new sibling.
She finally caught a glimpse of them, A faint smile appearing on her face as she saw his young face. The way they slept without noise in their sleep. Their little nose and their big eyes shut down to sleep.
They were adorable.
However it wasn't just the woman in the room. The man had remained too, His back facing the blinded windows with a box gripped tightly in his hands.
[F/N] watched as he turned, Unlatching the box and flipping open the lid. Rummaging around, It didn't take him long to fish out the idolized plume from inside. The candlelight reflecting of the glistening surface of the feather.
He held it up high, [F/N]'s eyes lighting up at the view of it as he presented it up. It was beautiful, The box it was contained in kept it in very good condition. Looking freshly plucked from the crest of Hou-Ou.
Beautiful, The first time she had ever seen it so close.
This was the test, The one that would decide if this would be the child that would end her siblings deaths. [F/N]'s eyes landed on the sleeping face of her new younger brother, His closed eyes and the way he was tightly wrapped within the cloth.
The baby still swaddled lay against the woman's chest, Resting within a post-born sleep. It didn't take long for the man to lower the flower towards the boy, The fluff of the feather dancing in the wind as it lowered ever so slightly.
Would he pass? Would they be the one to finally end all of this, So her and the adults could finally live happily without anymore death? Only the feather would tell, Only the graze of the lightest touch would be the one to determine that fate.
It fell down even further, The baby babbling something incoherent in it's sleep. [F/N] felt as if her little heart had stopped beating entirely, Her body frozen in anticipation of the outcome.
"Please.. Please.. You can do this..!" [F/N] breathed out, It was so quiet and carried no weight in the indoor wind. But it held such pleading tone, A silent prayer to whatever god would listen to her.
This would be the one, This would be the one! She could have a sibling and a family, She would have it. Her!
The feather was only inches away from their hands, Mere millimetres apart as every second ticked by with an audible tock. All until the sunrise plume completed its descent, The very tips of the feather grazing the baby's hand.
Time froze along with [F/N]'s body.
The feather stood still, Brushed up against the tips of his fingers.
The baby did nothing, Made no sound nor stir.
The man's eyes lit up. His mouth opening to bare his fangs and the talon dangling the feather was yanked away from the baby's hands, His luminescent angry eyes lit up. A glow burning brighter and brighter.
[F/N]'s eyes expanded, Her mouth going dry.
cry.. Cry- Please cry or anything-! H-He'll kill you! Do something-! SOMETHING, ANYTHING!
The yelling started up once more, Animalistic cries beginning to kick up once more as it shook the room with the sheer magnitude. So loud that the woman jolted up from her position on the bed, Predatory eyes shaking up in surprise.
"ANOTHER ONE! ANOTHER FUCKING FAILURE- "
The woman who was freshly awoken got up onto a sitting position as if doing this a hundred times before, The baby nudged down to the side and abandoned. Her blurry face seeming to get more static as she started to scream right back at him.
"FOR FUCK'S SAKE DO YOU THINK I'M TRYING TO DO TH-"
[F/N] stumbled back, Her feet barely landing their mark as she covered her mouth.
The screams turning into nothing but white noise as the darkness of the hallway started to envelop her more and more, Each step she took back was one more closer to her inevitable cries.
By now, The baby had woken up and had started wailing. Shrill cries mixing in with the wrath of the adults, Confused and helpless with no prior experience to this world. It was screaming, It was screaming so goddamn loud.
[F/N] whined, The hot spill already dripping down her face. Turning her back to the door she turned and ran, Her instincts kicking in. That need to escape pumping through her blood as she sprinted back towards her room.
Feet thumping against the floorboards as she ran through the door to her room, Instantly falling to the floor.
Another one.. Another one would be taken.
Again and again.
Hands bathed in the blood of the monster who took them all from her.
☆♡☆
"B-But- Can't you keep this one? J-Just this one? You don't even need to care for him, I-I'll do it!"
[F/N]'s shrill voice called out, Her discordant voice cried as she watched the man's hulking body stop just beside her doorway.
He had come in, Not even a few minutes ago to command her to stay inside for the next week or so. Bursting into her doorway to find [F/N] huddled under the sheets of her futon, Proceeding to ignore that and hiss at her to obey his orders.
The festival outside still roared with life, People dancing and laughing as they played along the riverbank. [F/N] was thankful that they were, It was the only thing preventing the death of her little sibling.
Due to the copious amounts of people surrounding the riverbank, It was made impossible to kill and dispose of the baby and it's corpse as if he did then the village people would see the blood running in the water and get alarmed.
[F/N] had heard the yell come from him a few minutes after she had ducked into the safety of her room. He would be killed tomorrow when the festival clears, When the people have dispersed and the water made private once more.
It gave [F/N] time as she stood below the figure of the man, Her little body was an ant compared to the mountain of his pitch-black body. His talons and horns reflecting the light of the window parallel.
[F/N] had somehow found the confidence to stand up to him, Though under his height she didn't stand that tall. But she had to try, There was an opportunity to save him, To save her little brother.
She tried to look big, Similar to a cat would as she raised her shaky shoulders and bared her baby teeth. Tears brimming in her eyes with horror as the horrifying man turned around to look at her, Wrathful irises staring death into her.
His needled teeth bore, Maw opening wide.
"No, For fucks sake just stay in your goddamn room and pipe down like a good little girl. Stop arguing back and stay quiet, Don't talk back to me." He rumbled, Voice like thunder in the distant as it struck [F/N] through the heart.
His neck cracked and his limbs settled within there sockets as he moved, Lunging forward as if to pounce. [F/N] flinched, But he pulled himself back at the last second to turn back around towards the door. His claws encircling the knob as he started to yank it open.
[F/N] regained her footing, Heart drumming in her chest as she opened her mouth.
"I-I'll tell the village what you're doing! They'll save him!" She exclaimed as her palms grew clammy at her words.
The man stopped in his tracks.
He turned around, His face revealing the angry glow of his eyes that pierced into her. What little [F/N] could make out of his face seemed to get angrier, His muscles pushing back to reveal a burning rage upon him.
[F/N]'s tears started to spill now, Raising over the brink and piling over the edge.
She backed up, What balance she had seemed to vanish as she watched the man turn around fully now. Baring his shoulders and pushing out his chest as he took a step towards her.
"W-Wait.. No- I'm sorry-!" [F/N] cried out but she was cut short by the icy cold grip of a clawed hand on her cheek.
The man had lowered onto a single knee now, The floorboards decreasing under the weight of his body and almost breaking them in half. What angry expression he had before seemed to have changed now.
It almost looked friendly, Almost as if there was a heart buried within the empty void of his body. But it also looked as if he wanted something, Like he was sucking up to someone just to get something out of them.
[F/N] froze as the grip on her cheek tightened.
"Sweetheart.. You know this is just a family tradition, Right? It's not wrong to get rid of some deficient children." His bestial voice seemed to have been tamed, If only a little bit as he over-emphasised his words. Talking down to her as his facial muscles turned upwards.
Her mouth was dry. [F/N] didn't know what to do, This was the first time he had ever lain a hand on her in such a way. Though it wasn't warm or comforting, It was cold like the hand of a rotting corpse.
It made her want to cry and run away.
"N-No..?" She coughed out, Lip trembling as she tried not to invoke his anger any further. Confused as to why he was acting so nice all of a sudden, So friendly as if he was her friend with well meaning intentions.
But [F/N] knew better as he smiled further, Exposing the pointed bone lodging out his gums.
"Well it is. This is completely natural." The man answered. His faux smile stayed strong, Though [F/N] could almost see it falter as he saw the continued confused look on her face. "You know what? How about I tell you a story.."
It wasn't something [F/N] was meant to answer as his hand moved down to her shoulder, Almost as if he was trying to hold her in place as he talked.
"So.. Once upon a time there was a.. A farmer and his livestock. The farmer was the best in all of the land, He especially had these prized sheep. Beautiful fleeces, Their meat was the most delicious and everyone in his village loved the farmer for making it." He started.
[F/N] blinked, Nodding slightly as he spoke. She was still puzzled, Still lost within the mist of her mind as she tried to follow along with what he was saying. Wait, What was he saying? [F/N] didn't know just yet as he continued.
"One day one of the prized sheep gave birth to her lambs, The farmer had been waiting months for them to arrive… But when they did, They came out wrong." The man said, His voice lowering an octave as he got closer to her.
"Wrong.. Wrong how?" [F/N] said slowly. The story he was telling about the lambs and their so-told unfortunate birth still hadn't weighed in on her. Though she was curious, How could something be born wrong.
The man took a second to think.
"..Well their fleeces were dirty and all their limbs were thin and bony. The weren't like the prized sheep that the farmer had raised, And their meat would be dry and tasteless if he decided to make his next batch of sheep with them." The man answered, Looking over [F/N] as she hummed.
The lambs he was describing sounded nothing like the ones she had seen in the village, The ones that were kept in livestock were always floundering about within their pens. They looked healthy and happy.
Though ones that he told of sounded rather sad, [F/N] imagined the little stubs of the usual lamb as the ones he described and how unhappy the lambs would be. She also remembered how the villagers would favour the nicer looking lambs while feeding them, The ones with fluffier coats or the ones that were friendlier.
"The villagers wouldn't like it.." [F/N] mumbled to herself, Deep within the thralls of her mind as she considered his tale. The man's eyes lowered in contentment, Seeing that his point was being told.
"Exactly, [F/N]. The villagers wouldn't like it if the meat turned tasteless, They wouldn't like it if the fleeces became dirty. Now, The farmer didn't know what to do.. These were the only lambs born this season." The man told, Nodding along.
[F/N] blinked, Bringing her hand to her chin in thought.
"..What did he do?" She asked slowly, Her little self looking up towards him. Her eyes still scared and on guard as she stared into the intense shine of his eyes, Though curiosity was laced in within her eyes.
The man's hyenic grin widened, Sickeningly so.
"Well it just so happened that the village was being terrorized by a mountain lion for a few months now, And the lion was there to see the lambs. So it told the farmer that if he gave the lion the lambs, It would stop terrorizing the village.." The man started.
"And..?" [F/N] queried.
"And the farmer gave the lion the lambs. It meant that the village would be peaceful and the genes of the prized sheep would be spared, Though he wouldn't be able to provide the village with any meat: It would mean that future lambs would be much better in quality." The man finished. The hand on her shoulder dropping to his side.
[F/N] paused for a moment, Slowly nodding to the story in understanding. The lambs were sacrificed to the lion in order to keep peace in the village as well as the quality of the stock. For the greater good, Was that the moral of the story?
[F/N] didn't quite understand the roles in the story. The lambs she knew, They were the babies: Her siblings. The farmer was the man, The poor man who was tasked with producing quality meat.
But the lion?
"Then.. Whose the lion?" [F/N] asked as she looked up at him, Tilting her head and blinking in confusion. The man just looked at her through the void of his face, Contemplating over his words before speaking.
"The lion is The God Kagutsuchi, [F/N]." The man answered. "He's our ancestor, He's the man who gave this clan the hands in the first place. He wouldn't want it to go to waste, Would he?"
"..No.. He wouldn't." [F/N] concluded as she watched the man get up from his position. Pushing himself up with a hand and getting up onto his feet, Back to his entire height now as he smiled at her.
"Good. You understand now. This is all for the greater good, [F/N]. Telling the villagers would be wrong, You wouldn't want to upset your ancestor." He said as he turned around towards the door.
His claws wrapped around the knob on the door, His claws encircling the silver in-between his palms as he started to open it.
Though, He looked back. His smile completely gone from his face and replaced with that familiar anger painted across his visage.
"Now stay inside the house, Don't dare try to leave."
That was all he said before the door yanked open, The cold air of the outside hallway blowing against her face before it was gone. The door slammed shut and the man gone from within her room.
[F/N] just stood there, Feet fixed in place for several minutes. She just thought over his words as they reeled within her mind and went back over and over again, It was strange.
He said it was for the greater good, That was what he was trying to convey in his story. But something in her gut argued with that sentiment will all their might, Something that just felt so wrong.
Maybe it was the question mixed in with the thoughts in her mind.
If the lambs were the siblings that were sacrificed to the lion, Then why was she the one that the lion turned over?
☆♡☆
Feet pitter pattered against the wooden floorboards, The lumber hard against the soles of her toes as she moved along the hallway.
An occasional servant passed her as she wandered down the passage, Barely paying her any mind in favour of getting to their next tasks. Some with plates of food and others with cleaning equipment overflowing in their arms.
[F/N] didn't pay attention to them either as they passed by, Too enveloped within her own thoughts to care about who they were or where they were going. Her shoulders dropped to their low, Her head fallen with them.
Though the story told to her eased her nerves if not a little bit, The build-up of years of seeing her siblings die was not easily broken down. It was still hard to forget the splatter of red across the grass, The blood mixing in with the river water.
The way the body was just wrapped in cloth and tossed away into the river, How their curled fingers went limp and the body turning cold within the freezing chill of the mountains stream.
It was horrifying.
But the man said it was for the greater good, Did he not? The Hands were of the utmost sacred abilities, A rite of passage into the clan. The lambs that were born needed the hands and the lion that had beginned them needed them to be passed on.
She wouldn't want to disrespect the gods, She wouldn't want to go against them in the slightest so why was she still feeling this way? [F/N] still didn't know, Her young mind still not made to handle this stress.
She stopped in her tracks, A sudden light entering her vision.
It broke her out of her wandering trance, The warming light dancing off the floorboards came from the crack in the door beside her. Only noticing it now, She peered over towards the tall frame.
She saw it, And recognised it instantly.
It was that woman's room, The same one she had peered into earlier. Where she witnessed the birth of her sibling and the subsequent fight that had broken out over his birth, Just like the others again and again.
She stared through the crack in the doorway, The small glimpse of the inside showed nothing but a slice of the bed. Curiosity killed the cat, But that notion didn't move [F/N] as she moved a little closer to the doorway.
Could he still be there?
Maybe. Maybe he could still be laying within the chambers, From what sliver she saw of the inside she could tell that the woman wasn't present within. She had never cared for who she had made, Never held them consciously for any reason.
She could've left him within her chambers, Left him out and waited for him to be slaughtered in the coming morning. Not that there was any tell of daybreak, But what if..
[F/N] looked left then right, Making sure nobody was watching her as she pushed open the door to the chambers. It opened with an audible creak, Making [F/N] jolt as she once again checked to make sure nobody was watching her.
Once she made sure of it, She quickly stepped a guilty foot inside and close the door behind her to cover her actions. Leaving her inside the walls of the room.
The blinds were still shut together, Blocking out the natural light of the outside world and leaving the burning embers of the half-melted candles to do the job instead. The shadows long and thick due to the result.
It also made it humid as [F/N] scanned her eyes over the room. Everything was basically the same. The side table, The half-done bed, The nightstands and the closet off to the side. It was all the same as normal.
Except there was something placed upon the table, [F/N] squinted her eyes to get a better look at it. Once her vision cleared she had realised it was a basket, Woven of thatch and twine laying upon the table.
[F/N] stumbled closer to it, Understanding what it was as she rested her hands on the accompanying chair. Pushing herself up onto it she sat on her knees, Peering over into the contents of the basket.
Her pursed lips turned into a soft smile at the sight.
It was her baby brother swaddled in the same earth-coloured cloth. He was awake now, Babbling out incoherent speech from within his makeshift cradle. He looked so precious, [F/N] couldn't help but lean over further.
"Hello, Nii-san..!" [F/N] called out in a hushed whisper, Speaking to the baby with a fondness like no other and saying it with such a burning love in her eyes. The baby in turn giggled at her speech, A giddy smile appearing upon his face.
[F/N] gasped as he responded to her words.
"You're so cutee.. My name is [F/N], You're my brother..!" [F/N] told him lightly as she lifted a hand towards him, Holding out her pinky as she peered at her brother.
The baby laughed again. His chubby little hand reached out towards her hand, Grabbing and clenching his hands before it finally grasped onto her pinky finger. [F/N]'s jaw dropped as she felt his hand wrap around hers.
"Ohmygosh-" She breathed out as she watched him rock around within his cradle, The grasp on her pinky finger never letting down. [F/N] in that moment looked at him and saw the world, The candlelight shining in her eyes.
She smiled, Pondering to herself for a moment.
"I should probably name you, You know! What sounds good to you..?" [F/N] asked him, Leaning over the side just a little bit more. She understood that he couldn't answer so she brought a hand to her chin in thought.
"How about.. Kaito? No.. Aito? No.. Akai? Denji? Enmei?" She listed off, Going off the few names off the top of her head and striking a line through the ones she had already used. Her lips pursed back up in thought, Her eyebrows furrowing.
[F/N] gasped, Suddenly snapping her fingers.
"How about Shizuko? I don't know if it's a girl or a boy name.. But I think it's really cute!" [F/N] exclaimed, Eyes sparkling as the now named 'Shizuko' babbled out what [F/N] took as confirmation.
He liked it, Shizuko liked it and that made [F/N] happy. Her other hand reached into the basket, Carefully lifting him up and making sure to support the head like the women in the village carried their own children.
She brought him down into her chest, Making sure his head was held up by her shoulder and her hands keeping him steady. Her smile was like the sun in that moment, The sheer joy she felt from holding Shizuko was coursing through her veins.
"You're not even crying.. It's just.. Amazing.." [F/N] trailed off as her hand rubbed over the cloth covering his back. Her smile dimmed ever so slightly, Turning down until it reached a frown.
This was the first time she's ever got to held her siblings, All been killed before she could. She remembered the mans tale of the lion and the lamb, How to sacrifice the few meant the purification of the future's many.
But how could sacrificing such a child be so good, How could killing him just because he wasn't born with the proper hands such a righteous thing to do? It didn't make sense, The story becoming much more grey as she thought about it more and more.
The hand holding his back made sure the cloth was covering him, Though the grasp she had started to harden. Gripping him and holding him closer towards her, Leaning over and almost protecting him with her body.
The light in her eyes fell. He would be killed in the morning, That was to be sure of. The lion would be provoked and the farmer would need to sacrifice another lamb. But the way the man spoke of it wasn't like sacrifice but instead disposal.
[F/N]'s hand moved down to his midsection, The hands holding him tight as she held him up towards the ceiling above. As if presenting him to the whole world which she saw in him, The tears bubbling in her eyes starting to spill over.
"You don't deserve to die.. Do you?" [F/N] whispered to him. Shizuko giggled once more, His little arms flailing about and treating this like a game of upsies. [F/N] smiled forlornly at him, He looked so happy.
[F/N] saw his face and tried to smile back as happily as she could, Trying to wash away the sadness in her smile to put on appearances for him. It just wasn't fair, Kagutsuchi didn't deserve Shizuko's life. He didn't even deserve to ask for it in the first place.
But what could she do? She was nothing, She couldn't stop the god's will. She was nothing but a mortal soul going throughout the motions. She couldn't even get out the house, The servants were there by the door, Most likely put there for precaution due to her outburst earlier.
Nothing, There was no esca-
"Aaah… Ahh.."
Shizuko babbled out once more, Snapping [F/N] out of her thoughts. His babbling was no more different from what she had heard before but she understood it well along with the hand motions he made. She lowered him down to her eye level, Meeting the dark ebony of his eyes.
[F/N] sniffled, Trying to dry her tears to a fruitless result.
"What is it..? Are you hungry?" [F/N] asked.
Shizuko made no verbal response, Instead [F/N] felt the sensation of a tiny palm hitting her cheek.
It was a suprise, Her body jolting at the sudden touch from him. His hand resting on her cheek and grabbing at it, The tears beneath them subsequently blocked from going any further.
Her eyes widened, Jaw dropping only slightly as her shoulders tensed. Her arm raised up towards him, A hand of her own resting over his own and taking it within her warm grasp and cradling it close to her face.
Was he.. Was he trying to dry her tears?
No way, He was too young to even understand that sort of thing. But as he lightly tried to hit at her face over and over again, Specifically towards the warm spillage going down her cheeks. She could only interpret it as such.
"I.. I.. Shizuko.. You don't need to do that.." [F/N] choked out. The action made striking the chords of her heartstrings, Resonating something deep inside her. Something warm and something she thought long lost.
Shizuko only responded in babbles, Repeatedly trying to rub his hands over her cheeks as more tears spilled out of her ducts. She couldn't stop crying anymore, She brought him close, Hugging him tight.
"I-I can't let you die.. I don't want you to die. Y-You.. I don't want another to leave me.. Y-You just can't die." [F/N] choked out as she sniffled hard, Taking her little brother into her arms and cradling him close.
Though as her blurry vision raised she met the doorway of the room. Sniffling once she dried the tears and snot off her face, Trying to steady herself.
"I.. I won't let you die. N-Not another one.." [F/N] mumbled to him, Settling him back down into the woven cot and positioning him to be as comfortable as he could. She picked up the cot into her hands, All before scampering over to the doorway.
A free hand lightly pushed the door open, Her head poking out to make sure no one was there. But hearing the sounds of footsteps approaching rapidly she hid back inside the room, Watching as another servant passed by through the crack before making a break for it.
She moved quickly and as silently as she could. Her ears perking up at any little sound, The settling of the house or the sound of faraway footsteps. Begging them not to come any closer to where she was.
Shizuko babbled out, But [F/N] quickly moved a finger over her lips.
"Sssh! We gotta be quiet now.. Shizuko. We need to be quiet.." She hushed to him. Sweat starting to gather on her skin and the grip she had on his woven cot was grasped harder. She gulped, The implications of what she was doing starting to soak in.
As she made her way throughout the labyrinth of her house she found her way back to her room.
Shoving open the door with her shoulder she quickly shut it with a swift kick to the other side. She didn't bother listening to the slam as she ran over to her futon and set Shizuko down ontop of it.
"O-Okay.. Uhm.. You stay there, Shizuko! Give me a minute okay?" [F/N] told him, Leaning over to make sure he was okay before jerking around and stumbling over towards her closet. Opening it, She could feel the sheer weight of what she was about to do.
What was she about to do? [F/N] didn't know. She wasn't thinking nor did she have a plan. All she knew was the thundering of her heart was directing her every movement as she started scavenging through what she had inside the closet.
Messes of old baby clothes she kept in there, Formal clothes she put on for show. Both were left behind in favour of an old leather rucksack being tossed to the floor behind her. Both followed by a few kimonos and other assorted necessities from inside.
[F/N] could feel the sweat pooling in on her skin. How was she going to get out? There was a servant guarding the door and there was no way she would be able to sneak out Shizuko and a rucksack full of incriminating evidence.
Damnit.. She had no time to think as she started stuffing the rucksack full of clothes. At any moment a servant or god forbid the adults walk into that bedroom, Find that he's gone and start a manhunt.
Any moment they could burst through her door, Any moment they could catch her in the act.
If they did.. If they did then she was sure she'd be seeing the rest of her siblings soon.
[F/N] gulped. Shizuko let out a few more babbles from within his cot, Still not understanding the risk of the situation. She shook it off however, While the main door was completely guarded that didn't mean that there was no way out.
The light from the window shown in on her face, The ethereal light dancing on the smooth of her skin giving her an idea. The way the wooden frame of the window was built, It was a blessing it was able to open.
[F/N] pulled up the leather strap of the rucksack, Throwing it over her shoulder before running back over to the side of her futon.
Shizuko looked up at her, Not understanding what she was doing when she picked up the cot into both her arms. [F/N] smiled as best as she could, Trying to keep him calm and quiet as she made her way over to the window.
"Okay.. We're gonna go on a adventure now. Okay, Shizuko..?" [F/N] whispered to him, Pushing the cot up onto the mahogany desk with her following closely behind on the chair. Shizuko let out a few more noises, And [F/N] didn't hesitate to take them as his confirmation.
[F/N] got up onto the desk quickly afterwards. The latch on the door was stiff as her hands went to open it, Hardened in place from years of no use.
"Gh-!" [F/N] exclaimed lightly as her hands pulled at the latch. Her other hand joining the first as she tried with all her might to push it open. It dug into her palms, It didn't matter as she just tried harder and harde-
SLT!
The latch finally pushed forward, Opening so suddenly it made [F/N] yelp out .
She could feel the sudden gush of cold mountain air hit her knees, A breeze pushing into her hair and blowing it back. It felt glowing, It felt like the key to the door she had went mad looking for her entire life.
[F/N] was near distracted by it, She had felt it many times in her life but this one felt more freeing. An opportunity relished and ready for the taking. Though it was broken when she heard the terrified scream from one of the servants.
"THE BABY IS GONE!"
It was one of the adults personal servants, Loyal like a dog.
[F/N]'s body jolted up in fear, The cold breeze turning into a terrifying chill running down her spine like ocean water. Her hands lunged to the cot, The uproar of muffled footsteps starting to fill the house.
"We've got to go-! We've got to go!" [F/N] shrieked, Her arms wrapping around the cot and her legs throwing themselves out of the window with it in her lap. Thank the gods she was on the first floor.
The footsteps started to drum at the structure, [F/N] could feel it in her bones as they rapidly approached her room.
But by then she had already slipped out the window with the cot in her arms. The chill only fueling her newfound courage, The one that was determined to make sure that this child would survive.
The only one that would survive.
As soon as the grass brushed at the sides of her sandals she didn't waste time on the sensation, Already running down the slope of the hill her house was set on. Shizuko babbled.
The wind rushing in the opposite direction, The sun in the other. Neither bothered her any longer, Her mind was one track and she was determined to get to her destination of who knows where.
The yelling picked up from behind her as she ran, Now the sounds of the man mixed in with the servants. But it grew distant the further she went, As the house grew smaller and smaller atop the hill until it was nothing but a speck anymore.
The village was no option for her to travel through. The people there would question why she had a baby and if they did that would only give the adults time to catch up to her, They'd figure out where Shizuko went eventually.
So instead she diverted through the forest beside the village, Running behind the houses with the sweat flying off her face. Her legs picking up in speed, Going so quick like they never had before.
The alleyways she passed shone the street markets and the people laundering about their days, Flashes of happy smiles she would never see again. While she never had any good friends here, There were still people she would miss dearly.
Hopping over the rocks jutting out the river, Barely missing the sloshing sea foam bursting out the rush of the river. She made it to the other side with Shizuko still untouched and in her grasped.
"Come on.. You can do this.." [F/N] mumbled, Not knowing whether it was dedicated to herself or Shizuko. But it didn't matter anymore as she ran down the mountain, The outskirts of the village growing small just like it did her house.
As the tall acres of tree's rushed by her, As the rocks scattered throughout the forest floor were barely dodged. The freedom grew more and more along with the darkening of the clear blue above.
Liberty, That's what she felt. The emancipation of her and her little brother, She had escaped. But she didn't stop to savour that moment, Running quicker and quicker to make sure that the chains were untethered entirely.
She was out, She had escaped The Sunlight Village.
☆♡☆
The moon hung over the speckled ebony of the night.
The grace of the pale blue moonlight shone down onto the streets below, The air much colder now yet it was comforting to the village it was sired under.
The streets were barren, Most of the residents either huddled in the pubs or the drinking taverns. Loud laughter could be heard from inside and it echoed out into the quiet roads harboured outside.
It was much less developed than The Sunlight village. The houses made not out of stone and manufactured wood but instead crafted from unprocessed lumber and thatch. The lanterns lining the streets illuminating that glow, The warm light providing heat in the chilling night.
[F/N] however didn't care about the people bustling inside the buildings, Nor did she care about how quiet the streets outside were. Instead her head was locked to look straight up, Eyes reflecting the serenity of the moon above.
It glowed in her irises, Her eyes widening to capture all of it. The first time she had ever seen the beauty of the moon, What it was described as in the books was nothing compared to seeing it in person.
"Shizuko.. Look at it, Can you really believe it?!" [F/N] squealed with the biggest smile crossing her face. After running for hours and hours throughout the dangerous wild she finally had time to admire it.
Shizuko by now was fast asleep. His big eyes were shut as he was tucked carefully into the earthy cloth, Warming him up in the brisk of the night. It was nothing like the harsh wintry gales on the mountainside.
This was comforting, It was a cold she let sink into her skin no matter how much she shivered.
She had travelled for hours down the mountain, Then some over unfamiliar flatlands. She had felt hungry, Vulnerable and dehydrated. But she had somehow made it hours later to this village, Assumedly miles upon miles away from where she started off from.
In that time her kimono had gotten ragged, Dirt staining the edges and tiny holes were ripped into the fabric. It didn't bother her however, The mere fact that she was free was more than enough to overpower that.
[F/N] smiled as she looked down upon the sleeping face of her little brother, The hands still holding his cot setting him down onto the stone pavement she stood beside. The noise from the tavern she was leaning against not even waking him.
[F/N] kneeled down, Looming over the cot as she looked at him. She smiled softly, Running a hand over his little face. She wasn't sure what she was going to do next, She had gotten out. But what now.
[F/N] hummed.
"You must be hungry.. We've been running for hours without stop so.. I guess I should get you something, Huh?" She spoke to him softly. Watching him rock back and forth within his sleep she pulled the cloth over him.
She hoisted the cot back up into her arms before standing back to her full height of only a few feet. Taking in the deep breath of the night's air her eyes sparked, The moonlight dancing within her vivid colours.
[F/N] took off. Now that she was outside of The Sunlight Village, She wasn't quite sure how she was able to get food. Back then she'd get it every so often delivered to her room while the adults ate in the dining room, But now?
She wasn't quite sure how people got food. She knew how it was made from animals and plants, But where to get it was another story entirely. The shops here all smelled of the stuff she'd catch the man drinking on occasion, She had tried it once and it was nasty meaning it was no good for Shizuko.
So as she passed by the welcoming lights of the pubs and taverns, She tried to keep her eyes out for something else.
Maybe a food stand, But for some reason there was none around in the dead of night. There was no one on the streets she could ask help from, So as she examined all the comparatively tall walls she started to get antsy.
The hopeful smile she had on her face started to dim, The way she fiddled with her ruined kimono sleeves didn't help to soothe her nerves. She bit her lip as her eyes went back and forth again and again to try and find some sense of familiarity or shelter.
"Ehm.. I.. I don't think there's much around.." [F/N] mumbled under her breath, Coming to a halt within the streets. The barren wasteland of the urban landscape yielding no hope to her, Though glancing down at Shizuko she smiled once more.
"..It's fine, We'll keep going.." [F/N] said as she started to pick up her footsteps, Pattering against the stone wood she held her head high and decided to k-
"Hey.. Kid."
A low voice called out from beside her.
[F/N] stopped in her tracks from the sudden voice. The only noise before was the chirping of crickets and the faraway chatter of drunken festivities, So hearing something so close was rather surprising to say the least.
[F/N] turned her head to the side, Blinking as she came face to face with an dark alleyway. It was lodged between two tall fences and combined with their shadows and the night it made it nigh impossible to see a few feet into it.
But she heard the voice of an older man from within it, She couldn't deny it.
"Hello..?" [F/N] called out back into the alleyway, Her voice reverberating against the wooden fences as it went. No one answered, Not for a few dragging moments before the voice spoke out again.
But now with an associated body.
"Heyyyy~…" The man drawled as his body emerged from within the shadows.
His body was tall, Taller than the usual person. He seemed lean or rather thin, But [F/N] could see the muscles hiding under his loose yukata. He stood high with no hunch and had a half-empty bottle of sake swinging within his vulture-like hands.
His face too, It was like the mentioned bird's as well. Skin drooping and furrowed into a point with his nose and chapped lips. But his appearance didn't put-off [F/N], Too innocent to sense the vileness coming off of him.
"What'cha looking for there, Girlie..? Ain't you too young to be out this late..~?" The man drawled as he took a swig from the sake bottle, Liquor dribbling down his chin without care. [F/N] blinked as she looked at him.
"I'm just looking for any places I can get some food.. Do you know where I can get it?" [F/N] asked, Putting on the best smile that she could. The man smiled as he stalked a few steps closer to her in the dead night.
"Well I mean maybe~ Your parents about..? Oh.. What'cha got in there..?" He asked, Now looming over her to create a new shadow. [F/N] held Shizuko tighter in her arms yet her happy demeanour dropped.
She took a moment to think however.
"..No, My parents aren't really here right now. And this is my little brother, He's hungry, That's why I'm trying to find food." [F/N] told him. She watched as his crooked smile grew wider to expose his gums.
"..Well, You're in luck then..~" The man said.
"I am?" [F/N] asked, Tilting her head.
"Mhmm.. I got food back at my place~ How'sa bout I bring you and ya' brother back with me..? How'sa bout that?" The man said, Taking a final swig of his bottle before tossing it aside far into the alleyway with an audible clatter.
[F/N] hummed. Her first time talking with someone outside the village, She had been told how different it was down here but in person she could see what they meant. He was an adult, Adult's were meant to be trusted if you excluded the ones in her house.
The one's in the village were always nice to her, Giving her free food during festival times and always fawning over her lineage. Even so they were always cordial, How different could this one be? Plus he was offering food, That was something she couldn't give up.
[F/N] smiled bigger.
"Okay then! As long as you reall-" [F/N] stopped in the middle of her speech, Jaw left open as she froze in place.
The man raised an eyebrow, His drunken grin turning into a tight-lipped grimace.
"What..? What's wrong..?" He asked, But [F/N] couldn't hear him as she was invested within her own thoughts.
Mid-way through her sentence, Through her acceptance of his offer. She had suddenly been hit with a disgusting sense striking through her heart like a spear, A sudden jolt of concentrated fear radiating within her heart.
It wasn't like anything she had felt before, Nothing at all. But where could it be coming from? What did it mean. It smelt like rotten eggs and the pungent smell of liquor doused on top of it.
[F/N] looked back up at him, Her question answered by the look on his face.
It was coming from him.
"I.. N-Nevermind, I think I'll just continue searching on my own now.." [F/N] said as she backed away. What safety she had felt before gone in an instant, Replaced with an overwhelming terror pumping through her blood stream.
She had went to turn, But the cold hand that lunged out onto her shoulder stopped her motion.
"No, No.. You better come with me if you're hungry~ Come on.. I'll take good care of you.." The man said but the overly-friendly charade had started to break down more and more. The tug of his hand more insistent.
[F/N] started to tremble, The hold on Shizuko's cot becoming that of steel as she tried to shake off his hand.
"Please.. I don't wanna go with you.. Let me go.." [F/N] whispered out with a pleading look on her face. Something was wrong, Something was really wrong and it was confirmed how she was yanked back by his hand.
His grin now gone with the night's wind. Angry eyes reflecting his true intentions as [F/N] yelped out in terror.
"No, No.. Come on now.. You're comin' with me.." He hissed out lowly as he started to drag her out of the alleyway by the wrist, Near sweeping her off her feet and dropping Shizuko as he lugged her along with him.
"N-No! Get off me, Get off!" [F/N] screamed but there was no one to hear. The streets still empty and barren, No soul around but the stars to hear her cries of helplessness. Shizuko woke up too, Sensing the situation he started to cry.
"Shut up-!" The man snapped at her as Shizuko's cries grew louder.
"Let go- L-Let go!" [F/N] cried out.
"Shut it, You little bitch!" The man spat.
[F/N] didn't know what she was doing. But one moment she was being pulled out the alleyway by the wrist, The next her foot connected with the start of his bare knee. Slamming her soles into them as hard as her little body could.
The man screamed in agony as his leg near toppled on itself.
"You bitch- You little whore- YOU GET BACK HERE YOU-!" [F/N] didn't wait any longer to hear what words he would call her next.
Instead grasping onto the cot harder and turning towards the alleyway, Eyes brimming with tears as she sprinted into the darkness.
She ran. Feet thundering against the textured stone of the alleyway.
Shizuko crying and firmly within her grasp as she passed by piles of trash and unpolished wood laying around. The scenery was filthy and infested with grime, But she had no time to smell the roses as she heard the man start to run behind her.
He was yelling.
Yelling obscenities she just couldn't make out nor could understand.
She ran and ran, Her little legs trying their best to make distance but it was no matter anymore. Turning a corner her feet skittered to a halt.
A wall.
There was a wall.
There was no exit, There was just the end of the alleyway. A single wooden fence with dirt and rubbish piling up against it, Rats and mice scavenging the leftovers. There was no detour or route she could run for.
No.. This can't be-! This can't be it- No- No- NO!
[F/N] felt her heart drop.
Her body started to shake even harder as she took a step back, Looking at the sight with disbelief. The fences were too high to climb for someone of her height, Too tall to scale and her
The feet behind her came to halt, Only a metre away.
[F/N] wanted her bed right then and there.
"Alright.. Fucking slut-!" He wheezed out as she turned around in horror to face the monster so close to her and her little brother. He took a few more steps closer, Further and further towards her as she backed up into the alleyway.
"I- I'm sorry-! Please let me go, Pleas- I won't tell no one! J-Just let us go okay, We won't tell-" [F/N] felt her back slam against the wall, Her body collapsing down into a ball. Shizuko's cot in the centre, His cries echoing out in the alleyway.
The man sneered. His body almost doubling in size as he approached closer and closer. A mixture of saliva and booze trailing down his chin, A horrid stench made very clear now. [F/N]'s heart thumped harder and harder, Her hands growing sweaty.
"Fucking ungrateful little shit.. I offer you food and a place to stay- And this is how you act? Not very respecting of your elders, Eh? Ya' mommy and daddy never teach you that?" He rumbled. A tone just dripping with mockery and he grew closer and closer.
What could she do? What would she do? There was nothing, No exit or place to run was made available. Was this really what the world was like?
The green grass fields that were illustrated in the books, Dandelions and bustling cities full of friendly people to talk with. Would she ever get to see that now? Were they real in the first place?
She would never know, Not now. Not by the way she sensed him.
Her shaky hand brushed up against cold glass, Dragging her eyes away from him for only a moment.
"Fucking bitch.. You know what..? Pass the little boy you got in there, Teach you a little lesson.. Eh?" His hands lunged out, Time slowing with it as he reached down towards the woven cot.
Towards Shizuko.
In that moment, Looking back. [F/N] wasn't sure what came over her in that single second, She didn't know what divine force drove her actions as her hand wrapped around the sake bottle he had tossed earlier.
She lunged it upwards, Forgetting Shizuko for only a moment as her body turned within the air.
But it was over soon. The hands that were ready to grab her little brother were soon a pallete of red, Fallen to the floor.
His body twitched, Garbled speech dying on his tounge.
The broken bottle was stuck dead within his throat, Shards broken off and splintering into the skin of his shoulders. It was over in an instant, [F/N] somehow striking a vital point within him.
He had fallen to the floor, Covering her with his blood.
What.. What happened?
She sat there wide eyed. Her body didn't move a single inch, Petrified about what had happened. Shizuko tucked in beside her.
The man was easily ten times bigger than him, His muscles toned for a drunkard could've easily overpowered her.
But somehow she was able to overpower him, Somehow knew where to puncture and made a perfect move to lodge it in. Like a blood-borne ability it came off naturally, Like she had done it ten times before.
But she sat there for what felt like hours. Her mouth open and her grey kimono drowned in the intoxicated blood of the man she had slain by her hands.
As her eyes drifted down the corpse only a few feet away, She raised a hand.
The blood dripping down her fingertips, The iron stench flooding the alleyway.
It brought her back to all those times before, How the man dragged all of her siblings to the river and that splash of red would burst from their little necks. How it would fall into the river, Iron flowing in the water.
Did.. Did she do that?
"Woah.. Looks like someone already got him.."
Another voice called out from down the alleyway.
[F/N]'s body tensed up, The primal glint in her eyes stiffening as she pulled Shizuko closer to her. Her eyes wild and ready for the next one, Locking in on a trio of men walking down the alleyway and stopping at the sight.
One of the men looked to the side, Spotting her crouched form deeper within the passage. Tapping his comrades on the shoulder he pointed towards her, Which only made her back further into the shadows.
"Hey- Hey kid, You good there?" One of the men called out. A gruff voice like a smoker, One that seemed scarred as he looked at the young girl hiding within the darkness.
[F/N] didn't respond, Only looked at them with vigilant eyes.
Another man took the opportunity to speak.
"Hey.. Did you do this?" The other man spoke, Daring to take a few steps closer as he pointed at the bloody cadaver. The man's body muscular and marked, Tattoo's running all throughout his body.
[F/N] blinked. Scanning over him before nodding.
The man took a few steps back towards the group, Tapping them on the shoulder and whispering a few things that [F/N] just couldn't make out. They seemed to be in some sort of debate.
She tried to take a few cautious steps forward, Trying to get a better listen to what they were saying. Only understanding a few phrases like "She took him down" "Suzuki? Seriously? That little girl?"
But by the time she could make out the rest they were already done. Turning back to her.
"How about you come with us? You must be starving right? You live out on these streets, Kid? Need some money?" The first man offered as he stepped closer to her. Instinctively she pulled Shizuko closer.
As the man crouched down, [F/N] felt that same sense perk up again. His feel.. No, His soul maybe. His soul was disgusting and torn, It was horrid and it felt like nails on a chalkboard to her.
But it didn't feel dangerous.
Not like the dead man, This one had no intention of harming her or her brother. Not physically at least. It should've deterred her by all means but the promise of money.. That was what she could tell.
So she picked Shizuko up, Hoisting him over her bloody shoulder making sure to support his head as she stumbled over to him. Still petrified and muddled from what had happened but it didn't stop her as she walked over to him.
The man lain a hand on her back and her forward towards the group, Signalling them with some kind of hand gesture. They turned and started to walk out of the alleyway, Marching towards the moonlight shining on the outside.
She followed them, Too confused to understand what was happening as she cradled Shizuko close. Her only sense of comfort as she made her way forward with the man behind her leading the way.
The blood stayed stained on her kimono, Dripping down her head and in her hair. The lifeblood of the man she had slaughtered drenched her, But not just her body now.
That one single scene from the river, The sword against the throat of her siblings. The way she had felt for every single one of them.
The way she could no longer see the face of the man behind the blade, But instead her very own.
Next Chapter
#yandere#yandere x reader#tw yandere#yandere x you#demon slayer#moodboard#kny#kimetsu no yaiba#demon slayer kimetsu no yaiba#demon slayer fanfic#demon slayer x child reader#kokushibo x you#yandere kokushibo x reader#yandere kokushibo#kokushibo x reader#kokushibo#Kokushibo#kimestu no yaiba#kny x reader#demon slayer x reader#yandere platonic kokushibo#yandere platonic#upper moons#kokushibo x y/n#kokushibo headcanons#demon slayer shinobu#kny x you#michikatsu tsugikuni#michikatsu x reader#kny michikatsu
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Could you write a warden x reader (platonic) where Reader tries to befriend the warden? Like their first meeting? I really like the warden :D
Note: Hi!!! First request!! And thank u sm for requesting for the warden i love u anon :} May have expanded this juuuuust a bit AAHAUAHA i hope thats ok
~ Ancient Encounter ~
Minecraft - The Warden x Reader (Platonic)
Summary: A cave explorer stumbles upon an ancient city and meets an unlikely friend.
Likes & reblogs appreciated!
Trekking down the tight cave tunnel with your iron sword strapped to your side and backpack slung over your back, you held a bright torch in your hand to light the way through the dark caves. A noticeable dim light shone in the distance at the end of the tunnel, contrasting against the darkness that surrounded you from just how deep you were into the earth. You continued on, curiosity filling you.
As you approached the opening, it seemed that the tunnel opened up into a huge cavern below, where giant dripstone stalactites and stalagmites spiked up from the ceiling and ground. Natural platforms of stone jutting out from the walls held large pools of glowing lava that poured down from each other like waterfalls, creating the dim light that lit up the cave. Your mouth curled into a smile of awe at the odd beauty of the cavern.
You carefully make your way down into the cavern below, nearly slipping on a few loose pebbles of gravel, but steadying yourself. You reach the solid deepslate floor and place down your torch as a makeshift waypoint, since the lava gave you all the light you needed now.
You journeyed forward through the cave, iron pickaxe held in hand as you searched for the ores that the cavern would expose. You spotted a bit of lapis lazuli peeking out of one of the pillars of stone, and you continued to mine it up and shove the dusty blue stones into your bag.
You realize it has been a... while since your last monster encounter. You would expect at least one skeleton or creeper to be lurking in this big cavern, but there were none to be seen at all; not even so much as a bat. It struck as odd to you, but you thought nothing else of it once you spotted the glimmer of diamond all the way at the end of the cavern. Your own eyes light up and you trot over, boots scraping against the deepslate as you ready your pickaxe.
You raise the slightly-dull tool and swing at the stone to start freeing the gems from the wall with a sharp clang, when you hear a strange sound to your right. An odd and deep clicking noise, nothing you've heard before.
You turn your head to spot a small and dark tunnel leading out of the cavern. You leave the diamonds behind and approach slowly, getting a closer look.
The walls of the tunnel were lined with a strange dark moss-like substance with glowing bits of teal-blue. You reach your hand out to touch the weird mass, and quickly flinch back once it squished around your fingers. Then you hear that sound again.
You reluctantly move through the dark tunnel, regretting leaving your last torch behind, merely the odd blue glow of the moss lighting the walls up.
The tunnel gets wider, and once again you hear that unusual clicking noise, and something glowed a bright blue right in front of you before going into darkness once again. You froze, and from what you saw, it was a block of that same moss jutting up from the ground, and it had peculiar tendrils that shook when the sound was made. You went to move past it, and it lit up the tunnel again with the clicking as you went by. You really had never seen anything like that in any cave you've been in before...
You barely notice when the tunnel opens up in the darkness, and another large cavern, much bigger than the dripstone cave from earlier, revealed itself. Stepping out from the tunnel, it seems nearly every inch of this cavern was coated in the dark moss, and it squished underneath as you walked.
And in the distance, there seemed to be a structure of some sort. Blue lights glowed near it, but you couldn't quite make out what it all was in the dark.
You get closer and screw up your eyes to see, and to you it looks like a giant underground... city.
You've heard of ancient civilizations that would make buildings underground, such as the old caved-in ruins that would litter parts of the overworld, but you never imagined that they would build this far down.
More clicking sounds were heard as you walked, and you approached an opening into the deepslate paths of the city. Old, unlit candles were littered to the sides, and a strip of wool carpet led through the middle. Dark, mossy vines clung to parts of the stone persistently. It gave you an unsettling feeling. Just what had happened to this ancient city?
Stepping down the carpeted path, you turn left to cut through to the other side. The moment your boots landed off the carpet however, the clicking sound was heard again—and it seemed to trigger another noise nearby—a horrible ghastly shrieking. You instinctively flinch and take a step forward to try and find where it came from.
Then, a rumbling from below, reminiscent of a small earthquake... and something pushes its way out of the very stone in the ground a few paces in front of you. It raises to its full towering height, revealing its appearance. Its huge, gaping mouth was the first thing that caught your eye, nearly ignoring the fact that it was eyeless itself. Glowing cyan antlers flicked and made the same clicking sound heard before. In fact, its body seemed to be made of the very dark moss that surrounded the place.
It makes a low noise, and you take a quiet step back. Something glows briefly from its torso as a sound similar to a heartbeat was heard, and you notice its exposed ribcage... and the souls held inside.
Your back hits one of the deepslate pillars of the path as the hulking monster steps ever closer. You knew it must be blind, but it was sniffing loudly and clearly knew where you were.
You had a feeling that your mere sword wouldn't do much against this beast, and it was now directly in front of you, peering down at you while you shrunk back. You knew its huge fists could easily be able to crush you to bits.
As a last ditch effort (and a show of mindless fear,) you let out a small and quiet 'hi..' at the monster, not even knowing if it would understand you. Knowing all of the other mobs you've come across, you assumed it would ignore you and go for the kill.
Its antlers flicked once again as if responding to your voice, and instead of attacking, the creature made another low groaning noise and leaned further towards your face. Its hand lifted and prodded lightly at your shoulder, causing a slight flinch from you, but otherwise you stayed still. It seemed to be examining you, if anything.
You gingerly reach out to touch its arm in return; the feeling of its skin was odd and indescribable. It groaned once more and its loud "heart" beat once as it eventually lifted its hand off of you, continuing to stare eyelessly.
"Uh... h-hey," you whisper to it again, still wary, and unsure if it could suddenly snap or not. It tilted its head very slightly.
Suddenly, the sound of a skeleton's boney rattles echoed across the cave from somewhere, and the beast grunted irritably as its antlers clicked, causing you to flinch again. It turned its head away from you and stepped away, giving you room to breathe once again—and off it went, trudging away from you and leaving you unscathed, presumably trying to search for the skeleton that made the sound.
You realize that you're breathing somewhat heavily and you try to calm yourself as you try to make sense of what just happened. Everything about that monster told you that it should have been aggressive, but all it did was poke at you for a bit. Oddly, it even intrigued you slightly.
Still shaking a little, you step carefully back onto the carpeted path and retrace your steps... you would come back later.
~
Upon reaching the surface, you immediately start for the village you've visited many times before, intent on learning more about the ancient city, and perhaps even the overgrown dark moss... and the monster.
Luckily the village's library has never let you down, and you picked up two books of interest. One covered various things about the land's ancient builders, and the second was one titled "Mourner's Growth". The librarian did give you a concerned look as you brought the books to be checked out, but he said nothing else.
And, by the time you got home to your little wooded cabin, you were already flipping through the first book. Unfortunately, nothing about that ancient city you stumbled upon was written and you quickly pushed the book aside for the second one, which already looked more promising.
You discovered that the dark moss you saw was called sculk, and it fed off of decaying matter to grow... but apparently, myths say that it feeds off of souls instead. The clicking sound that came from the tendrils in mounds of the sculk were odd sensors, and they respond from vibrations and sound.
Then you read about the sculk shrieker, which apparently produced the horrible noise you heard before the monster crawled up from the ground. They react from vibrations collected from the sculk sensors... and a beast known as the warden responds to its calls. That must have been what you encountered.
You went on to read about the monster, but it seems that not much was written about it. Anything of value just states its aggression and blindness. But wardens are so aggressive, why did that one not attack?
Curiosity kept calling you, and you had the urge to return to the ancient city... oddly, mainly to discover more about that warden.
So, in the morning, you packed your bag with the necessities of another caving expedition (food, and extra torches this time,) and set off—and before you knew it, you were going back through that tunnel of sculk and into the opening of the ancient city's cavern. You went in the same direction that you did last, and reached the spot you had encountered the warden yesterday. You spotted the sculk sensor that must have triggered the hidden shrieker that could have been nearby, and you approached it with quiet steps. Taking a deep breath, you stomped the ground right next to it with your boot, and you waited with clenched teeth as the familiar shrieking sound echoed through the cave once again.
You nearly stumbled to the ground as the stone below you shook with force, and the warden crawled intimidatingly out of the earth, closer this time, just as it did before. It groaned and sniffed, turning towards you, and you panicked slightly before regaining your sense.
"It— it's me again!.." you shakily say to the monster towering above you, waving gingerly—only to remember again that it was blind and couldn't even see the gesture. It flicked its sensor-like antlers in response and leaned its head down to you, though its stance was unthreatening. Maybe it did recognize you from yesterday..?
"I, uh... just—... wanted to give you this..?" You slowly reach into your bag, careful to keep your eyes slightly on the beast in front of you, and you take out a piece of uncooked beef and quickly set it on the ground in front of the warden before backing up and giving it space. You were actually unsure of what this thing ate, or if it even did eat, but you wanted to try to make peace anyways.
It sniffed briefly and leaned its head down before groaning in its usual ambient tone. It was strange—you were already getting used to its... rather terrifying noises.
To your surprise, it ignored and stepped over the meat to approach you further. You took a step back in return, though you wanted to stand your ground just to see what it was going to do. You were less afraid than when you first encountered this warden, though still uneasy, and you really wanted to gain this monster's favor so you could learn more about it... knowing it was still a killing-machine in the process. You were willing to try.
It was nearly twice your own height as it stood before you, and it grunted and tilted its head, "staring" at you as if you were entertaining to it. The warden then raised its giant hand and proceeded to place it roughly atop your head, as if it were patting you affectionately.
You couldn't bring yourself to speak anything, but to say you were surprised and confused was an understatement. It groaned quietly and its hand finally slipped off your head, its heart beating rhythmically. Does this mean it... appreciated the gesture? You hoped so.
"A-alright, buddy, I'm gonna go and, uh... explore around here now, I hope you like the... gift," you say quietly to the monster as you back up from it after giving its arm a weak pat. It groaned and flicked its antlers, tilting its head once again and listening to your footsteps as you walked slowly away from it.
You were slightly relieved when it didn't follow, but you knew at this point you couldn't resist not coming back here to visit your odd warden 'friend'.
By the time you were finished exploring and returned to the spot you had met the warden earlier, you found that the beast was gone by now, along with the beef you had tried to offer it. You smiled slightly as you journeyed your way home once again.
~
And you did visit the ancient city, many times after. Each time you would pat the ground near that same sculk sensor, and the warden would emerge from the deepslate. It oddly seemed to grow more accustomed to your visits over time, and you even brought it more gifts, even some diamonds you would find in the caves.
You never did figure out where it would take them, but you hoped that it made the beast happy.
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butt?
I had to substitute it for arse, sorry. Exploratory fic I began to explore some character dynamics and what the lifestyle of 4 growing nations and their mother in their last real time together would be like in a slightly Post-Roman Iron Age estate as the Migration period picks up and Germanic peoples cross the North Sea to make a home. I believe of these earlier themes have their origin with @balladofthewhitehorse.
5th Century AD, Cumbria
"Rhys," Alasdair appeared at the fence line, his face gloomy. Rhys had stopped here for his mid-day meal halfway between where the shepherds had herded the sheep in the northernmost glen and their home behind on the hill. It'd been a long two days in the hills. He offered the cider flask to his brother as Alasdair approached, his frown deepening. It wasn't raining, and the day's work wouldn't have been hard. Bad news, then. It was always bad news.
"What is it this time?"
"Rot in the south store."
"Oats, rye or wheat?" Rhys asked. The rye they might go without, but the rain hadn't come so early that anything else should rot.
"Oats,"
"Fuck." Rhys sat on the low wall of flagstones and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fuck,"
He glanced up. His brother looked even more dour. "Gods, what else?"
"Seven horses," Alasdair said, sitting beside Rhys, boneless and upset.
Rhys gaped at him. "Seven? That's three more than were sick yesterday!"
"It's spreading." Alasdair shrugged helplessly. "I took the healthy ones into the third stables, and it didn't help."
"Is it distemper?"
"I didn't think so," Alasdair said. "They weren't so feverish, and there wasn't pus, but now I don't know.
"So, no horses to sell this year. At least half the oats are gone."
"Rhys." Alasdair's ingot grey gaze fell heavily, and Rhys glanced at his brother.
"I know," He said, and Alasdair didn't look convinced. He looked at his elder brother with a firm look. "I know."
"If we can't pay the tributes…"
He thought of the mustached helmets of the German kings and exhaled. "We don't know that we can't pay. There's plenty to sell."
"It's not just a lack of goods I'm worried about. It's been a bad year for everyone. There might not be anyone to sell to."
"There must be," Rhys said, pulling his cloak tighter over his shoulders. "There will be. We'll figure it out."
"I suppose all we can do is pray," Alasdair said.
Rhys frowned. Alasdair was the one with a mind for numbers, but he always worried, and they always managed before. So what if the horses would not fetch the total price if they were ill come market day? There was still the wool, the fine worked saddles he and Alasdair had made the year before, and plenty of cattle, sheep, honey and mead to sell. There were options. They had options.
"I'll see to the horses; if none of them die, we'll be fine," Alasdair said. "We have ore too. I might get a good price for my boar spears."
"Maybe," Rhys said. His hope was teetering precariously on the assumption that his brother was overly worried.
There was an unspoken sense of doom between them, both praying their worries were unfounded. Rhys grimaced after they parted ways at the outer gate, Alasdair marching off to the stables and Rhys to the poultry yard and the hives. One of the women in his mother's service alerted him to the fact that another of the hives had gone dark with rot. Honey was expensive, and now there wouldn't be enough to sell and use themselves over the long winter. Rhys waved her off with a pinched-off smile.
He stood in the poultry yard for a long moment, leaning against the half gate that kept the hens, quail, and ducks safe in their enclosure and away from the hounds. He watched Arthur tumble after a goose, laughing as it squawked and ducked him. Their dinner pail of scraps and grain was sitting neglected as he played, but Rhys looked on, letting him play. They'd have to keep more honey than what he'd wanted to sell, if only for Arthur's sake. Honey cakes with stored apples and cheese or on bread were one of those precious things that would cheer him when the worst of the winter gloom gripped him worse than any of them. Arthur rolled to a halt, cackling as the goose bobbed angrily and finally noticed him.
"Rhys!" He grinned, leaping to his feet and making a beeline for him. He exhaled a loud "oomph" as Arthur knocked into him, throwing his arms around him. "You're back!"
"I was only gone a night," He laughed. "How is Mother? And where is your cloak? Have you lost it again?"
"The same," Arthur said. "Maybe a little better. She laughed this morning when I fell right on my arse out of bed. Bridgie pushed me."
"Good! And you probably deserved it. You kick in your sleep." He replied, and his smile was genuine. Mother had at least made an effort to shake her recent gloom then. She'd been thinner, paler, and sadder than he'd ever seen her in the last few years, and it hadn't gotten any better as the days became shorter. "And your cloak?"
"I forgot it!"
"You'll catch your death." Rhys ruffled his hair. "Hurry and feed the birds and come in for dinner."
#the ask box || probis pateo#my writing || cacoethes scribendi#Britannia and her children || they made a desert and called it peace#hws scotland#hws wales#hws england
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@selkiewife it's admittedly a little vague (i don't want to make it seem like this is an iron clad theory like r+l=j or something alsdjf). BUT. we know a little bit about the ship:
The Myraham was a fat-bellied southron merchanter up from Oldtown, carrying wine and cloth and seed to trade for iron ore. Her captain was a fat-bellied southron merchanter as well, and the stony sea that foamed at the feet of the castle made his plump lips quiver, so he stayed well out, farther than Theon would have liked. An ironborn captain in a longship would have taken them along the cliffs and under the high bridge that spanned the gap between the gatehouse and the Great Keep, but this plump Oldtowner had neither the craft, the crew, nor the courage to attempt such a thing. So they sailed past at a safe distance, and Theon must content himself with seeing Pyke from afar. Even so, the Myraham had to struggle mightily to keep itself off those rocks.
In ASOS, Catelyn V, we see the ship again:
Robb waited for Ser Raynald to close the tent flap. "The gods have heard our prayers, my lords. Lord Jason has brought us the captain of the Myraham, a merchanter out of Oldtown. Captain, tell them what you told me."
"Aye, Your Grace." He licked his thick lips nervously. "My last port of call afore Seagard, that was Lordsport on Pyke. The ironmen kept me there more'n half a year, they did. King Balon's command. Only, well, the long and the short of it is, he's dead."
Then in Samwell V in AFFC, we get literally a one off line here:
At the Weeping Dock, he watched two acolytes help an old man into a boat for the short voyage to the Bloody Isle. A young mother climbed in after him, a babe not much older than Gilly's squalling in her arms.
So....
We know the Myraham is a merchanter who works out of Oldtown
We know the captain's daughter is like, young ish, and that he himself is old (and fat)
We know they were kept in the Iron Islands for about six months
We know Gilly has her baby/Dalla has Aemon like beginning to middle of ASOS. Timeline wise, if the Myraham was kept at the Iron Islands for six months, then went to Seaguard and back to Oldtown once again, any baby the girl has would be roughly the same age as monster and Aemon Steelsong.
Sam makes sure to note that the mother is young, the baby is around the age of aemon steelsong, and that the old man needs help getting into the boat
IT'S JUST A LITTLE THING. Maybe even what you'd call a reach lmaoooo BUT unlike the other big "theon has a bastard theory" (being the miller's sons), the timeline actually fits here. I keep wondering if it's here as way to make the world seem bigger - ie, this woman theon doesn't see as a person, who he just kinda offhandedly fucks over without even trying, is still moving about the world, still attempting to live her life as best as she can - OR if it's there for a specific reason, with the reason being she/her baby are going to be plot relevant to Theon's emotional arc or perhaps even theoretical upcoming kingsmoot that I'm almost positive Asha is going to push for, with Theon - or his bastard? - as her proxy.
#i was specifically paying attention for sam's chapters and arya's as well in braavos then oldtown for familair faces#once i had read the lanna/tysha/sailor's wife theory#which was why i was thinking about this one being plausible#that's also why i'm worried the body arya sees is alessander frey :(((((((((#getting on my soap box#theon greyjoy#rani attempts meta
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it is my greatest honor, loving you
ღ life may not be eternal, but your love for him surely is
ღ pairing: percy jackson x gn! reader
ღ warnings: very much angst, unrequited love obviously, major character death, graphic descriptions of wounds/blood
now playing ⇝ cardigan by taylor swift
my masterlist ♡
"why are you so reckless? you could've hurt yourself out there!" his voice sounded hoarse and tired, as if grains of sand ran through his throat as he attempted to calmly reprimand you. huh, that was ironic coming from percy. coming from a boy who'd sacrifice his own self for the sake of saving the people he loved.
now one might wonder how exactly you got into this situation, barely holding up while you clutched yourself, staring at the boy you came to love, arguing with him.
the battle of the labyrinth had been a tough and devastating one, annihilating a large number of demigods in the camp. it seemed that no one left the battle unscarred, whether physically or mentally.
perhaps one of the biggest losses was dionysus' son, castor, your fellow campmate. he was your friend,—a kind and fiercely loving one—often laughing and joking around together with him and pollux in the pavilion whenever you got the chance to. the earth had cried for him the moment he fell limp to the ground, soul whisked away in the arms of thanatos while the wine god's rage casted a mass of serpentine vines where he lay, the oblique, verdant greeneries prodding at his cold figure.
there were too many precious souls who were lost—among them being the ever-bright lee fletcher, who's light died when a giant brought his cruel demise—and the list only seemed to get longer the more you thought about it. you too, would be lining up for judgment soon enough, you predicted.
it was all too fast for you to fully remember, but one moment you were fighting off a giant and the next you had thrown yourself at a demigod from kronos' army intending to hurt an unaware percy. suddenly you were gripped so tightly on the shoulders, eyes widening with a quivering gasp while you looked down, only to see scarlet liquor leaking out of an obtrusive hole in your stomach, the twisted grin of your enemy patronizing your defenseless figure as you staggered back and clutched the liquid that flowed relentlessly. maybe if they didn't shuck it out as fast as it came in, maybe you would've lasted a lot longer. all you could do was choke out an amalgamation of incoherent sounds, knotting the flannel outer you wore around your midriff; the coil only flared the excruciating agony you were in.
you heard him crying out for you somewhere in the middle of it all, rough-hewn and distinctive among the clashing ores and shouts of rage and defeat. your stubborn head proved itself defiant when you'd ignored his pleas, his voice already fading away as he was dragged into another fight in the chaos. percy didn't see the folk puncturing you, only the aftermath when you stumbled back, your aghast reaction unmistakable to him. and maybe it was a good thing that he didn't know the severity of your condition. that only meant that he would bear much less of a burden than what he was already dealing with.
as dumb as it was, you kept fighting even after being heavily injured. your stab wound wasn't that bad, was it? if you could still stand—barely, that is—then you could still fight. the ringing in your ears only grew worse as adrenaline slowly numbed the pain, your vision turning into dizzy kaleidoscopes with every movement of your weapon.
you hoped your effort contributed something in the battle. somewhere in your mind you knew you'd end up at death's door sooner or later; there was no way you'd reach help in time before the immense blood loss took you away. but if there was one thing you knew, you wanted to be a hero before you died. you wanted to be able to leave a legacy behind, imagining an echoing battle cry before you fell with your dear sword beside you, or to die by protecting someone else so they could live a life fuller than yours. and you wanted to love someone completely, love someone so much that it leaves a searing inferno in your heart, to have a love that makes you go mad, a love that makes you feel alive. even if the one person you gave yourself to didn't want you.
it was something you'd never regret: being percy jackson's friend; loving him along the way, too. it has been your greatest adventure and your greatest honor to know him in this life, from the moment you stumbled upon his lonely figure near the muted docks of the traversing lake to the second you knew you cared for him in a way
that transcended your own being. it was one of the most shattering experiences in your life: finding out that he didn't feel the same way about you. that intimate moment when he confessed his feelings about someone else right in front of your eyes; that would haunt you forever. if you could, you would erase that recollection from the depths of your mind, but you cared for him too much to forget that rare vulnerability shared between the two of you. you don't even think you have the will to erase any memory of percy jackson.
you'd cried yourself to sleep that night, wishing that it was all a dream when you woke up the next dawn. but fate has a funny way of working. each passing of her name on his lips chipped your heart away bit by bit, till it turned into a dilapidated mess that barely resembled what it looked like when the youth of discovering your first love coursed through its veins.
but no matter how much heartbreak hurt, loving someone is never a waste.
the two of you would never happen, no, not in a million years you thought. he had already given his heart away to someone else a long time ago, someone who you knew couldn't accept his love right now. it was just agonizing too see the way he would continue to pine after her and end up in the dust when reality came crushing in. still, he never gave up on her. because you simply don't give up on love.
that undying loyalty of his—the one you grew to despise and admire at the same time. you watched the way he chose her over you. every, single, time.
you understood it to a certain degree; you can't choose who you fall in love with. but that didn't make it hurt any less. so here you were now, left with a barren heart while you helped him pick up the pieces of his own.
percy's cry broke you out of your miserable thoughts, befuddled at how you were so accepting of your predicament. of course he would be. he didn't know you did it for him. "σκατά, y/n, you can't just- you can't risk your life for someone else!"
"but i did it for you." the silence became a little too loud, ringing in your ears like a haunted pendulum.
"what?" was his breathless response. his jaw was slowly opening, moving without a sound as if he didn't know what to say. you saw the way his brows scrunched up together, the way his jaw clenched and unclenched.
you repeated it again. "i did it for you."
your face looked soulless, blotches of crimson blooming in petalled coteries on the ivory ribbons wrapped around your body. you had a cut on the vermillion border of your lips, blood slowly seeping back out the more you talked. it was becoming more difficult to open your eyes. your body was screaming at you to lay down, aching with a heaviness in your bones that could not be salvaged. you just wanted to rest, but you wouldn't leave him hanging like that. even if the closure was a painful one, it would be cruel to leave percy without telling him the truth of your heart. at least, that's what you thought. if you were going to die, then you were going to take one last chance of happiness than conceal it and close your eyes with only the memory of sorrow long lasting.
it was almost pitiful, really, the way you were still willing to entertain him even in your detrimental state. your eyes were sunken in deep exhaustion, still laden with mist that glinted as it caught the effulgent flicker lighting up the back of a cabin you could not bother to recognize.
he raised his voice at first, utter confusion and frustration unfurling in his tone until it dimmed out to something much softer, like the barely contained hurt was still lingering. "why?!.. why me?" his timbre earned a softer edge to it, fading into a sotto voce and if you let your hopes get a little too high you might've thought there was a hint of care in it.
you knew if you tilted your gaze the slightest bit at his direction you'd cave into the look in his eyes. it was too easy, too easy for percy to worm his way into your heart no matter how much he hurt you.
..why him?
why not him. it was the easiest thing in the world to do anything for percy jackson. you didn't understand why it was so hard for him to acknowledge the fact that you would actually walk to the ends of the earth for him and retrieve the stars from the sky if he wished. it was him who taught you that love was just as fragile and destructive as it was wonderful and invaluable, him who helped you open your eyes to a world much beautiful than what you'd made of it. and that in itself was worth far more than any materialistic attainment you've ever received. was it because he was questioning his place in your heart? how much you cherished him?
anger and sadness were a dangerous pair, and the pain you felt turned into something that blazed the walls of your heart, burning a path through your line of thought until frustration marred each corner of your mind. why couldn't he understand what your heart was trying to say? was it not obvious the way you were so painfully enamored by him? how dare he question his worth to you?
they say the eyes are the windows to the soul, bearing the deepest and obscure feelings one could have.
if percy wanted to know and wanted to see what you felt so badly, then you would show him exactly that. you looked up to him, arms clenched around your midriff with eyes carrying the heaviest spectacle of sorrow and longing; eyes that bared the weight of a burden held far too long and at that moment he finally understood. understood the utter pain and hopelessness you had repressed, understood why you were so willing to give your own life for him.
"because i love you, goddamit! i love you.."
the tension was more than palpable after your passion-filled declaration. you saw the way he faltered, staggering back almost with the brunt of what you just said. his breaths grew ragged and his eyes moved wildly as if he was searching for any bit of a lie in you.
"take that back.. please we can't- i can't-"
and then finally the words you've dreaded were spoken out of his mouth. a defeated breathe was knocked out of you the second he finished that sentence, burning through your nostrils while it flared the fountain threatening to cascade from your heavy waterline. no amount of mental preparation could've supported you in this moment. you already knew what he was going to say, unfortunately. you saw it in the way he refused let go of her despite the tribulations he faced. it just hurt knowing that your heart thought if the uncertainty of tomorrow was looming above, there might have been hope somewhere in there.
"cant what, percy? accept the love someone has for you when the person you're chasing after so clearly does not give one shit about you!" for a moment you watched the pain morph onto his face, and you knew you'd hit a nerve when you said that. it felt wrong.. so wrong to hurt him, but your anger and desperation got the best of you this time.
"i love you so much that it hurts," you pointed at your chest, borderline hurting yourself as your fists bunched up and tugged on the bloodied orange shirt that sheathed your wounded skin. "it hurts to see you in pain, to see your heart breaking apart when i can't even do anything about it. and i would.. i would do anything for you, but you-.. you don't want me.. and that's okay!" you laughed humorlessly, the sound so harrowingly hollow that it almost made him flinch.
"i'm okay.." you whispered and it sounded as if you were trying to convince yourself that you were not already crumbling.
"but that will never stop making me care about you. that's what love does to a person, percy, and i cant just take it back.." you wiped away the defiant tears that managed to flow down the planes of your face, sniffing the waver in your voice away and trying to look strong so he wouldn't feel so guilty over something he couldn't control.
"no, i wont take it back. because for me.. for me it's enough to know that i've made a change in your life—big or small. i could never regret loving you, percy."
and for the first time percy jackson truly felt like a coward. a coward to walk away, a coward to leave you with a broken heart, only shattering it more when he stepped out of that damn balcony. he felt like a coward for pushing away the unimaginable.
he didn't know that a few minutes later you'd collapsed from excessive blood loss, clutching that untreated wound on your stomach in a last attempt to get to the infirmary. he didn't know that this would be the last words he would hear from you—words that were so incredibly impassioned and sincere. he didn't know the exhaustion the apollo kids felt the minute you were carried in,—battered, mangled and barely pulling through—knowing there was yet another valiant soul they could not save. he did not know that till your last tattered breath you'd thought of him, a serene smile soothing your face as you surrendered to the familiar arms of reclamation that cradled your weightless body while the light slowly faded away.
percy jackson didn't know many things that night. he didn't understand how something so important to one could be snatched away so easily like that, didn't understand why everything always happened the way fate planned it to be. but he knew he'd just lost the one constant love he's ever known; the one that was right in front of him the whole time, offering their heart on a silver platter only to be left decaying the moment you finally decided to choose your own happiness over the resolute of resignation.
FINALLY going back to my roots and writing unrequited love my beloved 🥰
imagine the disbelief and elation i was in when i found this in my wip files.. i don't know why i suddenly abandoned it??
σκατά : shit
#i love readers who are self sacrificial bitches#CUZ I KNEW YOUU#STEPPIN ON THE LAST TRAIN#MARKED ME LIKE A BLOODSTAIN 🥹🫠#percy jackson x reader#percy jackson#percy jackson imagine#percy jackson scenario#percy jackon and the olympians#pjo#percy jackson angst#percy jackson x reader angst#percy jackson x you#percy jackson x y/n#you drew stars around my scars#but now im bleeding 💔#angst#death#major character death#no happy ending#unfortunately#super unedited btw#but i hope it hurt your heart reading this 😈
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Ancient Gold Coin Hoard Found Under Kitchen Floorboards in Britain
A house refurbishment in northern England has uncovered a trove of gold coins, which could be worth up to £250,000 ($290,000) at auction next month.
The discovery is one of the biggest hoards of 18th century English gold coins ever uncovered in Britain, according to auction house Spink & Son in a press release.
While renovating their kitchen in July 2019, residents unearthed a salt-glazed earthenware cup burrowed underneath the concrete and floorboards of their home in Ellerby, North Yorkshire.
The cup, described as being no larger than a soft-drink can, contained more than 260 gold coins dating from 1610 to 1727. The stash of coins has an estimated value of £100,000 ($116,00) in today's spending power, auctioneers said.
Gregory Edmund, an auctioneer with Spink & Son, said the remarkable trove is unlike any find in British archaeology or like any coin auction in living memory.
"It is a wonderful and truly unexpected discovery from so unassuming a find location," Edmund said in the press release.
"This find of over 260 coins is also one of the largest on archaeological record from Britain, and certainly for the 18th century period," he added.
"The coins almost certainly belonged to the Fernley-Maisters, Joseph and Sarah who married in 1694," reads the press release.
According to Spink & Son, the Maisters were an influential mercantile family from the 16th century to the 18th century. They traded iron ore, timber and coal from the Baltic states and several generations took up posts as lawmakers in the early 1700s.
Their family line dwindled soon after the couple died, which is presumably why the coins were never retrieved, the auction house added.
Meanwhile, Edmund said the findings reflect the £50 and £100 coins that were used at the time.
"Joseph and Sarah clearly distrusted the newly-formed Bank of England, the 'banknote' and even the gold coinage of their day because they (chose) to hold onto so many coins dating to the English Civil War and beforehand," he added.
"Why they never recovered the coins when they were really easy to find just beneath original 18th century floorboards is an even bigger mystery, but it is one hell of a piggy bank."
By Sana Noor Haq.
#Ancient Gold Coin Hoard Found Under Kitchen Floorboards in Britain#Ellerby hoard#archeology#archeolgst#gold#gold coins#collectable coins#ancient artifacts#history#history news#ancient history#treasure#treasure load
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Based on last episode of SL.
The last thunder struck, crashing down to the earth and announcing that Pearl had died.
Everyone was leaving one by one. There was nothing much to do, the winner is known, everyone’s dead. That’s it, that’s the end.
Bodies were lying on the ground, some died fast death, some were teared and cut trough as if there was no tomorrow, and there wasn’t. Maybe that’s why Scar didn’t feel bad. Maybe that’s why he still tried to find Pearl to finish her off, there was no point in fighting. If not today, then when?
Come to think of it, did he go over the line? Had he been too harsh on everyone with their deaths, no mercy had been shown. Surely anyone who will be able to, will look at him with unease for the next few weeks.
Whatever, honestly he couldn’t care less, that’s what they get for leaving him for death when some kind of sanity was still on this server left. They wanted him dead? Oh how the tables had turned, and they had turned quick.
Not being able to find Pearl started to get on his nerves, if that dammed zombie would have just stayed away-
Suddenly he jumped. Feeling a pair of hands on his shoulders.Grian had never left, he had to see who would end up winning. Kind of ironic how his own sister and Scar were the last two standing.
Everyone was slowly leaving, getting either bored or returning back to their home. He will soon too do it. Just a bit more.
Grian had been watching for a while now, since he died a rather unfair death. And he would be lying if seeing Scar tear everyone apart and lie his way to alliance didn’t entertain him. Always the villain, wasn’t he?
Only after he was the last one left, watching the back and forth bettering between Pearl and Scar of who should rather win. (Grian never missed how Scars eyes shone with pure bloodlust and insanity when he was tearing trough Gems body at any angle he could get. He never missed how quickly Scar jumped on Pearl, not letting her even have one last talk with him, he was just going for it, he had no morals left. Grian would never admit how much comfort that crazed look gave him).
Grian had been too deep into thought when a loud crack and a shout pulled him out of it. Pearl popped right besides him. Groaning when realising she died of falling off a cliff, what a lame way, she had grumbled, waving her hand is swift motion at Grian as a ‘’See you later on the server’’ and left.
Man. Not even a hello, or how are you.
Grian looked back at Scar. That man was truly something else. He could eat someone alive, and has, but will get scared of tiny spiders and basically powerless mobs. That zombie had taken his attention off of Pearl dying, he guessed. As the said maniac was now looking for her.
No one was here anymore.
Sighing, Grian floated behind Scar and put his transparent hands on Scars shoulders making the man jump. Leaning closer to the side of his head Grian whispered the final words:
‘’She’s dead, you won.’’
Now full hugging the man, ignoring the blood dripping from his hands and just everything in general, Grian tried to get some peace.
It didn’t last long, Scar wanted to turn in his task, he had done it, why shouldn’t he, let the watchers have their favourite have the final say.
That’s when Grian realised that the heart of the secret keeper was empty, it was a hollow corpse of a dead watcher, he could easily take its body and morph it into who he was. So that’s what he did, as soon as Scar signed it in, Grian pulled his soul into the depths of its heart.
It took a moment for anything to happen, once it did, the thin layer of stone that had formed around the corpse started to crack and fall off. If Scar didn’t know any better, he’d think he had completely lost it.
Finally after getting all the dust, moss and ores off of himself, Grian took the mask with the symbol off too.
They were now looking at each other, Grian sat up, looking down on Scar now with a dumbfounded look.
‘’Forgot you could do that.’’ Scar sighed and relaxed, walking over to now the giant that his Sun was.
Grian put his palm down, spreading it so Scar could easily step on it. They didn’t say a word after that, Grian only took his hand to his heart and teleported back to Hermitcraft.
Scar could barely register his surrounding after it, but before he could focus, Grian crashed into him, clinging onto him for dear life.
‘’You did it.’’ Grian giggled in a whisper, he looked at Scar, seeing the greenish-blue fade back into his eyes, and wiped the blood off of his face. He didn’t care how metallic it all felt, how every touch created a new stain on his own clothes. ‘’How do you feel? Got it out of your system?’’
Grian asked, he knows how much Scar wants to sometimes go out and slice everyone in his way, this must have defused that ticking bomb for a while now.
Scar stretched out his wings. The blue hue of vex magic finally getting a chance to breathe, it had been a while, since the Life games ban any types of wings. And his especially ever since the watchers found out he can use them to chop anyone to shreads. Scar put them around both of them, making the sun less brighter to their eyes and making it cast a blueish light on their faces.
‘’Better than ever, well, I feel uncomfortable, but mentally, it’s great.’’
He looked back at Grian and huffed, placing his forehead on Grian, ‘’Do you think I went overboard?’’
‘’Scar-‘’
‘’I feel like I was a bit obvious with it, I mea-‘’
‘’Scar! I don’t know why, but they love you, if anything you did what they wanted-‘’
‘’Love is a strong word after the bullshit they made me do, Grian.’’ Scars face fell, voice becoming deadpan.
Grian giggled, it was true, not once did the watchers give the man a break from violence. ‘’I mean, it lined up perfectly? Take it as a ‘’love’’ sign from them, y’know, a gift.’’
‘’Everyone wanted me dead Grian.’’ Scar tried to reason, he would lie if he said everything was dandy for the past months, but Grian saw what he couldn’t, he knew how it worked, and he for sure knew Scar, so making everyone against him was the only right move so the man would not get attached and end up dead again. Again.
‘’And that’s why it works! It’s a fifty-fifty, they can’t be mad at you, you never had anyone to begin with! So you got rid of ‘em all!’’
‘’Yeah, real sweet-‘’
Honestly it was going in loops, Grian pulled Scar to his eye level and kissed the man to shut him up. Honestly it was the only way he could have the last word. It always felt like arguing with a wall.
If he won, then he won. Grian knew the watchers plan, he knew that everything would be evened out so their entertainment wouldn’t end up dumped by everyone.
Grian wouldn’t let that slide anyways.
Scar was his favourite.
Even if he was a bit messed up morally.
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Coral Island Farmer Questionnaire!
I wanna hear y'all Coral Island fans infodump about your Coral Island farmers!! Tag a friend, start your own post, gimme that sweet sweet lore!
How does your farmer feel about:
Farming:
Mining:
Foraging:
Catching:
Fishing:
Ranching:
Combat:
Diving:
Interacting with the Islanders:
Other:
What is their favorite building material?
What is their decor style?
Who's their love interest?
What's their favorite thing to grow?
What's their favorite animal?
Bonus! What do you associate with your farmer in these categories:
Color:
Season:
Metal:
@cheeryconspiracy I'm excited to see what your questionnaire is!!
Putting my own farmer infodumps under the cut for Length purposes XD
Farming:
Morimiya: His second favorite thing in the world! His wife complimented the way he looks while working the land, and he immediately threw out every other activity to tend crops. His main goal is to have 100% FARM on his land.
Maya: It’s cool, she guesses. Tedious, but brings in the cash and that’s the main thing. She likes that she can ignore the plants for the most part.
Clementine: Ideally, she would plant exclusively flowers and let them decorate the farm for the full season. Until then, she’s stuck with the weeds -ahem- crops that will bring in enough money to live her dreams. Mermaid farming will be an entirely different matter!
Mining:
Morimiya: It’s another task to do to keep the farm running. Pretty relaxing, and nice to do in bad weather, but he wouldn’t do it for fun.
Maya: She LOVES it!! She gets to pound away at rocks with a sharp weapon for as long as she wants, and no one will say she has anger issues! Mining is where she feels the most powerful, even if it’s not skill-based. There’s practically no better thing for her to do.
Clementine: She doesn’t like being underground. Or the dark. Honestly the dream is to have enough money to just buy ores instead of going down there. But back when she was freeing the giants, you couldn’t keep Clementine out of the mines! She was determined to free them. Busted down 3 of the mines with a bronze pick-axe, she got so single-mindedly focused.
Foraging:
Morimiya: He really enjoys it! Getting to explore the island in full, talk to locals, enjoy the natural bounty of the earth… what’s not to love! Especially when he can race around with his horse. Morimiya will devote full days to just wandering the island and picking stuff up. He used to enjoy the underwater bounty, but then... the Incident...
Maya: Hate is a strong word, but she really doesn’t enjoy it. Trudging all around, crossing paths with people, ugh. Or even worse, being in the boring underwater world!
Clementine: On land, she totally forgets foraging is an option. Literally never occurs to her that things exist and she can pick them up. But underwater, no one can compete with how much she’ll pick up in a day.
Catching:
Morimiya: As long as it fills up the museum and temple offerings, he’s happy to do it! He did once get himself unconscious catching exclusively soldier beetles, so there are definitely preferred bugs!
Maya: Bug catching is possibly the most thrilling thing she could ever do! The chance to use some real skill, finesse, cunning! She barely pays attention to what she’s getting, since the fun is in managing the catches.
Clementine: She HATES bugs. Absolutely terrified of bugs. Especially wasps and praying mantises. Her net is basically a fly-swatter to her; gets the bugs away. Screw the museum and offerings, nuh-uh she ain’t touching that! Although ironically, her avoiding bugs as much as she can means they stick around longer, since she’s not startling them off.
Fishing:
Morimiya: His favorite thing in the whole world! It’s so relaxing! Any free moment is spent picking a fishing spot for the day and just losing himself to the line and the pattern of the pull.
Maya: Hates it hates it hates it. Literal torture for her! Just sitting there, doing nothing, with a guaranteed bite on the line?? What could be worse! Why does the cruel god keep making her do it! Although, she does get the chance to defeat sharks and keep the trophies of that on her farm… and it makes good money…
Clementine: She feels bad for the poor little fishies- ack ew ew ew slimy cross, dead things EW- But luckily she gets so one-track minded that when she gets focused on money-making she can do it for literally a whole day. But mostly she’s trying not to think of the implications of fishing for merfolk.
Ranching:
Morimiya: He kinda got into it, but in the end all the noise and upkeep got a bit much for him. Besides, he wants to focus on the crops anyway. He did shed a few tears when he eventually got rid of the animals though, and he’ll always be grateful they helped him heal the island.
Maya: She will never ever ever admit this, but ranching is secretly her favorite thing. It may not be much of a power-showcase, but the animals are just so cute… and maybe it’s nice to take care of something other than herself. Plus they bring in SO much money!
Clementine: Animals are loud and messy and smelly, it’s such a pain. But if she wants her flower garden and mermaid themed farm, they’re a good way to earn enough to accomplish that. Ideally she would exclusively raise llamas, because they’re so fluffy!!
Combat:
Morimiya: It breaks his heart when he does it. He did it only to fulfill the offering bundle, and once during his depressed era he went on a rampage to enter the Band of Smiles. He still deeply regrets doing that. As far as he’s concerned, the “monsters” are just fellow creatures of the island, all beings beloved by the goddess, trying to survive just like he is. He seems to have a magical protection from them, so he’s never seen them as a threat.
Maya: She doesn’t feel any particular way about it. If it involved more skill, she’d probably enjoy doing it. As it stands, the monsters are nothing but an obstacle to her goals, and will be removed as such. She does think the Band of Smiles is weird for apparently viewing the monsters as actual threats.
Clementine: If she ever knew there were monsters, she would literally never go to the caverns. She’s already so scared of bugs, you think she could handle giant caterpillars and wasps?? She would 100% throw up at the sight of an ogre with a giant meat stick. So the goddess basically went, you know what? Let’s just skip that offering for now. And magically, Clementine can’t see any monsters!
Diving:
Morimiya: He used to view it about the same as mining, but with the satisfaction of healing the island. Then he got trapped in the merfolk kingdom for half a season and got severe PTSD, so now he’ll only go down there if Absolutely necessary for the farm, or island improvement.
Maya: Underwater is so weird. Land-legs are better. It was great when there was the challenge of clearing up all that trash, but now it’s just. Meh.
Clementine: UNDERWATER IS THE BEST THING EVER!!! Clementine never feels more herself than when she’s completely submerged. She totally cried when she got her tail, and if the merfolk would just talk to her she’d never ever leave. But until then, she’s going to make her farm as much like underwater as she can.
Interacting with the Islanders:
Morimiya: He is genuinely interested in every single person on the island, and wants to know their whole life stories. He'll go out of his way to get people gifts and talk to them, and remembers every birthday.
Maya: Doesn't give a single bother about the townsfolk. They're all so weird, and take up her precious skill-building time. No, she is absolutely Not warming up to them!! She just Happens to occasionally have the perfect birthday gifts, and why wouldn't she give anyone who asks her opinion! Not her fault she has level 8 hearts with half the island...
Clementine: Islanders? Who? What? Anyway, when will the merfolk and underwater creatures finally talk to her-
Special mention
Tokori, all of the above: head empty, no thoughts, vibin' and having a good time. Are they even fully aware of what they’re doing? Who knows, but they’re having fun doing whatever! Everything is beautiful!
Associations:
Color:
Morimiya: Brown
Maya: Purple
Clementine: Pink
Tokori: Green
Season:
Morimiya: Spring
Maya: Fall
Clementine: Winter
Tokori: Summer
Metal:
Morimiya: Gold
Maya: Osmium
Clementine: Silver
Tokori: Bronze
Favorite building material:
Morimiya: Wood
Maya: Stone
Clementine: Scrap
Tokori: Grass (not hay. Just. Grass.)
Favorite thing to grow:
Morimiya: EVERYTHING
Maya: Cacti
Clementine: Pink flowers!
Tokori: The green one
Favorite animal:
Morimiya: Ducks are pretty cool.
Maya: How dare you ask her to pick favorites. ... Goats.
Clementine: Llamas! So fluffy! But peacocks and quail are so beautiful...
Tokori: baby chicks!!! baby cows!!! ...what was the question?
Decor style:
Morimiya: Javanese
Maya: Art-deco
Clementine: Mermaid
Tokori: Cabin
Love interest:
Morimiya: Macy
Maya: Zarah
Clementine: Princess Miranjani
Tokori: Grass
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The Disney Dreamlight Valley Livestream had SO MUCH INFORMATION.
Seriously, whoa!
There's stuff I couldn't even write fast enough or at all.
I highly recommend watching. It's about 30 minutes long.
Some highlights:
Disney Dreamlight Valley game soundtrack
Huge update later this year (December basically)
Winter Star Path with new outfits for the princesses.
Jack Skellington is coming to the Valley.
Valleyverse with the start of multiplayer with features like exchanging items like iron ore and visiting each other's McDuck stores
Biggest amount of fixes.
We then got shown a roadmap for 2024
Hello!!!!?!
Monster's Inc realm with Mike and Sully.
New Star Path with each update.
Tiana in the summer!
Then:
The expansion pass that is huge!!!
Secret places in a map just as big as the Valley!
Jafar messed this place up big time!
A story line with characters you can bring back to the Valley.
Old experiments
Royal hourglass (staff looking thing) can help find treasures lost in time too.
EVE was watching over the Hourglass
Gaston was shipwrecked.
Rapunzel is alone and painting.
New biomes: Ancient's Landing was a port town with experiments and stuff. Then a biome the was ripped in two with desert and jungle.
New animal companions, veggies, fruits, meals like arepas, and cinnamon (exclusive to this expansion)
Friendship quests and rewards like an archery set.
New mechanics. Old Ruler (s) had more tools. A board game to play to collect coins. Ancient Machines to craft and bring to the Valley. Like an Auto-Cooker and something to water your garden.
It looks so cool!!! Those visuals and what the developers were hinting at!!!
Also:
DDVBALLOON
DDVHEADBAND
(but some are saying the codes aren't there.)
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ODESA, Ukraine—In his office overlooking Odesa’s Pivdennyi Port on the Black Sea, Viktor Berestenko smiled contentedly at the half-dozen large international cargo ships just beyond the harbor. “It’s as beautiful as your first kiss,” said the grinning president of the Association of International Freight Forwarders of Ukraine. Speaking to Foreign Policy in late March Berestenko was only too happy to inform me that Ukraine’s three free ports—all in and around Odesa—are operating 24/7, and that the country’s grain exports are back to prewar levels.
The restoration of Black Sea trade is a major breakthrough for Ukraine, in stark contrast to the losses it has endured this year on the eastern fronts. In the Black Sea theater, Ukraine has pulled off the unthinkable: beating back the esteemed Russian Navy even though it has next to no naval force of its own.
From the tiny swath of coastline around Odesa, Ukraine has stymied Moscow’s attempt to landlock and hobble its economy by rendering it unable to market its voluminous agricultural exports. In the spring of 2022, the Russian military barricaded Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and brought exports to a standstill. This forced Ukraine to shift to land routes to market its goods and caused worldwide grain prices to spike, which raised concerns about famine in the Middle East and Africa. Today, Russia still occupies 16 Ukrainian ports. But the Black Sea front looks more hopeful for Ukraine than at any time since the war’s onset more than two years ago.
The Ukrainian fleet lost 80 percent of its vessels after the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014. But, relying a combination of missile systems and unmanned drone boats guided by advanced GPS and cameras, Ukraine’s armed forces claim to have crippled a third of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. They have also upended the Russian supply lines that serve thousands of troops in the occupied areas of southern Ukraine.
On March 24, Ukraine landed another blow, reportedly using U.K.- or French-made air-to-surface missiles, taking out two large Russian landing ships and other infrastructure near the occupied Crimean port city of Sevastopol. Russia’s fleet has suffered such a drubbing that it prompted the firing of its top admiral, Nikolai Yevmenov, in mid-March. Today, Russia’s remaining ships are in docked in berths along the far side of the Crimean Peninsula, out of sight but not entirely out of Ukraine’s reach.
“Russia wanted to turn the Black Sea into a big Russian lake. But Ukraine reversed it,” said Volodymyr Dubovyk, the director of the Center for International Studies at the Odesa Mechnikov National University. “Russian ships today don’t venture into the northwest of the Black Sea.”
This cover has enabled Ukraine to improvise a sea corridor that begins in Odesa and hugs the safe shores of NATO members Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey as ships travel southwest en route to the Bosphorus Strait, through which most Black Sea trade passes. Exploiting a bumper crop, Ukraine is now exporting as much grain—corn, wheat, and barley—as it did before the war, as well as other goods, and has opened its Odesan ports for nighttime business to handle yet more. Prior to the war, Ukraine traded more grain than the entire European Union and supplied half of the globally traded sunflower oil, as well as iron ore and fertilizer, according to Bloomberg.
“This is enormously important for Ukraine’s economy, for the Odesa region, and for our future,” said Sergey Yakubovskiy, an economist at Odesa National University. “We have to do everything to keep this route open and reliable.”
Ukraine’s asymmetric Black Sea strategy relies ever more upon Ukraine-made drone boats—known as uncrewed surface vessels (USVs)—that speed across the water beneath Russian radar carrying up to 800 kilograms (1,760 pounds) of explosives. These projectiles have sunk or disabled some of the 24 lost Russian warships, evidence that Ukraine’s domestic arms production has been stepped up and is increasingly consequential in the absence of anticipated U.S. and European assistance. According to the Guardian, there are currently 200 drone manufacturing companies in Ukraine, some of them bankrolled by crowdfunding campaigns. In December 2023, they delivered 50 times as many robotic explosives as in the entire year of 2022, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation.
Ukraine’s strategy is to maintain its presence in the Black Sea with the prospect of soon acquiring the longer-range missiles that it needs to hit Crimea itself and Russia proper beyond it, Dubovyk said. For Ukraine, he explained, the pressing issue is what comes next. “Crimea is in play, and if Ukraine can put more pressure on Russia there, it can make the occupation untenable. It would change the war’s logic if Russia couldn’t supply the eastern fronts from Crimea,” he said.
Russia’s response has been to target Odesa’s ports, energy infrastructure, and housing blocks with ballistic missiles. Seldom does a day pass without air raid sirens in the port city, which send its residents scrambling into their cellars. In March alone, Russian attacks killed 32 civilians.
One would think that the new coastal sea route would obviate Ukraine’s need to access EU markets via land, namely through Central Europe, and thus ameliorate the friction it has caused between the Central Europeans and Ukraine. Following Russia’s invasion, the EU allowed Ukraine tariff-free access to its markets, which had the effect of undermining the Visegrad Group states’ own grain trade and prompting farmers to take to the streets in anger, above all in Poland. Now, logically, trade could revert to its previous routes and the injurious tiff come to an end.
Not so quickly, explained Yakubovskiy, the economist. He pointed out that Ukraine’s new sea corridor is a temporary and unsanctioned byway, possible now only as a result of Russia’s naval weakness and an informal agreement between Russia and Ukraine not to target civilian shipping. It could end at any moment, he said.
As for Russia, it is not likely to improve its Black Sea positions soon. This is because Turkey controls the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, and Ankara has chosen to adhere to the letter of the 1936 Montreux Convention, which prohibits the passage of warships through the straights into the Black Sea in a time of war. Russia thus has no way of getting reinforcements to its ports.
The upshot of Russia’s retreat from Black Sea waters and Turkey’s control of the straits has put Ankara in the driver’s seat. Whether Ukraine maintains its new trade route thus depends, to some extent, on Turkey.
In the past, Ankara has shown itself deft at using leverage to promote its own interests, whatever they may be. It could turn Viktor Berestenko’s bliss into a short-lived fling.
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