SlugTerra

The Western 99 are a considerably cooler climate than they’re used to. The warmth that permeated their being back home on the Eastern Wall is all but gone now, though they try not to show it. Horsemen are inhuman, so they have been taught, hardly avatars behind a ceramic mask. To the outside world, they do not feel something as seemingly insignificant as temperature change. It gets colder by night at this time of the year, more things they aren’t used to. There is risk of the hydraulic fluids and specialty greases for their antique mechs to freeze overnight, so they help Famine with blankets and heavy insulation, wrapping them ar

A breath is sighed as the box is opened carefully. It rests folded within the long flat rectangle, a concoction wrought by the finest leathersmiths on the Eastern Wall. Her concoction, an expression of her own freedom. Or so she tells herself; it will not hit until years later that this expression is merely a sliver of that individual rebellion she so seeks. After all, it is still made using a color palette that has been driven into her from infancy. Something she no longer thinks about and simply gravitates toward on little more than instinct. It is but the work of a minute to change from the plain clothing she has worn for training all th

Sweeping the palace floors. Was this really a job befitting a former underlord? Perhaps not, but it was one the few jobs that he had been entrusted with for now. When it wasn’t sweeping, it was peeling and cutting vegetables. Not terribly stimulating, but a much more lenient alternative to slaving away during the hours of the day mining for crystals. And yet, Holt felt as though his spirit was being smothered. When he was an Underlord, his ambitions were allowed to flourish with the knowledge that had the opportunity to attain a position of great power and affluence, but now it felt like he had been given the responsibility of menial t

Maybe she thinks he can’t hear her. No. She’s far too intelligent for that. She knows he can hear her. It’s why she speaks to that thing with a mock fondness. Is he hearing it through his ears or the golem’s, he wonders. Are these thoughts even passing through his own body’s head or its. “Poor boy. You showed such promise in the beginning. It’s too bad you were so disobedient.” He’s reminded now that she knows more than he thought. That sidewise glare in his body’s direction. He knows these are the eyes of the Warrior; he can see himself not too far away, set on the Emperor’

There was a time he would have fought alongside these monoliths of clay and stone. A time he would have thought nothing of it, a daily routine and occurrence in his life before. But that is in the past and this is in the present, with the soulless monoliths trailing after him, lumbering and stupid as they always were. He’s had better ideas in his life, and catching their attention to follow him away from those innocents asked to evacuate until the attack is over is certainly not one of them. But if it puts a kink in the Dai-Fu’s day, he’s all for a little bit of recklessness. He darts in front of a cluster of Stone Warrior

Manual labour. That was the punishment that former Underlord Holt had been sentenced to for his crimes against the Eastern Caverns. He thought he’d gotten off easy with a simple imprisonment in an Imperial Palace’s cells, but suddenly spending the rest of his days locked in a cell seemed a lot more appealing than having to mine Auroris crystals all day! Even when she was no longer under the Emperor’s influence, Master Lian continued to play the role of the one inflicting punishment on Holt. So rather than staying as a useless inmate in a cell, it was Master Lian’s idea to find a way for Holt to earn his keep. By maki

"Sixth Ranger, can you hear me? Come in, Sixth Ranger!" Junjie's finger whipped to his comm link. "Top Dog, this is Sixth Ranger, reporting!" he spluttered, and he heard a sharp intake of breath from Perry. "Junjie, thank god!" Eli could be heard sighing with relief. "Are you okay? Lenny's asking about Perry-" "We're alright, both of us are fine," said Junjie, and he could feel himself smiling. "Is Lenny okay?" Perry leaned forward. "OI! IS LENNY OKAY?!" "Blue, will you- just back- she's fine!" Junjie replied, trying to push the desperate woman and her loud voice away from his face. "Eli just said she was asking about you, so she's alri

"Douse your flame." Joo-joo eyed his slinger with confusion. "Joo-joo, put your flame out!" Junjie desperately repeated. "I don't know how much air we have left to breathe and we can't afford to burn it!" As soon as the realisation hit, the greying Infurnus ended his flame and jumped back into his slinger's bandoleer. Junjie would have sighed from relief were he not straining with effort, trying to hold up the weight on his back. He looked down at the woman he was shielding, who lay in the scrap with her eyes tightly closed. "Blu- Perry," he gasped, "are you-" "Lenny," she muttered. "I'm sorry-" "She's fine, I saw Eli grab her but Perr

At the sound of her voice, Junjie stood and looked to the door, where the woman he had just been speaking to closed her phone with a snap. "Uh..." Trixie said awkwardly, "...hi?" "Mornin'," Perry said cheerfully, and then leaned to look past her. Junjie didn't care how foolish he looked as he sprang forward, sprinted to the door and swept her up in a massive hug. "WhoAAAH!" she yelped, and laughed in delight as she returned the embrace. "Good to see you too, crivens!" "You had me worried sick!" Junjie said as he set her down. "And yes, it is good to see you're alright." "Uh, do you guys want some privacy?" asked Trixie. "Nah, lass, I di

"Shake it love, shake it shake it, shake it shake it love, naui mam-e deul-eowaseo-" The blaring pop song was cut off as Eli picked up the receiver. "Shane residence," was his greeting, as usual. "Hello!" said a masculine, obnoxiously cheerful voice from the other end. "Am I speaking to Mr Eli Shane?" "...yes?" Eli said hesitantly. "Mr Shane, my name is Gerald and I'm calling on behalf of Bullseye Cavern Ligh-" "We already have all the lighting we need for this place, thank you!" Eli snapped, and he slammed the receiver down with a sigh. "Are you kidding me?" asked Kord from the couch. "That's the third time they've called this week!"