You are being hunted

Jacob Seed RP from Far Cry 5 | Sideblog: sonofedensgate | written by Vers

[dreamskug]

Colonel Kurt Hansen

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

Don't re-upload or edit.

[takenbythebliss]

continued from (x)

if he managed to survive and do well, he might inspire others ... and we will prevent that ... wherever he is and whatever he does, preventing its success is your duty now.

jacob's words were ringing in her ears as she watched him pin enok to the dirt, hold him there like a rabbit in the mouth of a wolf. and that was how enok must have felt, because the boy writhed and wriggled, willing himself free and when that failed, he cried out.

a desperate crack in his voice as he screamed for the friends he'd made since parting ways with eden. and she stood there, stock still. like a fucking child on their first hunt who was unsure of what to do now that reality was happening in front of them. disconnected from the scene that was playing out before her, she felt like she was standing outside a glass wall, watching it all happen, yet still distinctly separate from it.

a glass wall that was shattered when enok's eyes found hers and he called her name, again and again, the words he'd spat at her all those weeks ago playing on a loop in her head.

you are in deep shit, just admit it ... you know no way forward or back ... you wish you could run too ... but you're a fucking coward. what are you gonna do?

what are you gonna do?

the crack of a gunshot cut through the air between them, sending splinters of wood dancing when the bullet buried itself in a tree trunk over jacob's shoulder.

' jacob, stop. '

the rifle was familiar in her hands, but it still felt wrong to brace the stock against her shoulder, levelling the crosshair of the faded red rifle at the herald.

' let him go. he is no threat to eden. he was never one of your chosen ... he's a boy. let him go. '

@enokvirkow & @only-we

[takenbythebliss]

only-we​:

There was fear in her voice. Faltering. She was weak. So, so very weak. She wasn’t sure in what she did here. She just acted and hoped for the best. But that wouldn’t be enough for the shit she had gotten herself into now.

No.

Someone who dared to raise a rifle to his head… well. They would find themselves in a trial.

Jacob noticed her little circle-walk and simply stepped to the side, cutting her path to the boy off, shaking his head with a tsk-tsk-tsk-noise, as if he was admonishing a child. She was nothing more to him.

“It’s not your job to fucking decide whether he has betrayed us or not. You’re not the judge.”

Tilting his head a little, Jacob’s arm suddenly shot forwards and grabbed the red rifle, pulling the weapon and Linny towards him. His other hand digging into her clothes, so he could hold her close to his face and whisper his words.

“I won’t demand you to shoot the boy… I know you’re too weak for that. You could never. You helped raise that little shit, right? Is it that? You are soft for him. You failed him, though. This is all your fault. If you had instilled our beliefs in him, he would have never doubted, never run. So… this is all on you. And he will die.”

There was no way around it.

“Now… remember who you are. You’re Faith, right?”

There was amusement in his voice, like a taunt. He was stronger than her, even in his age.

“I will kill him. You sealed his fate. But you get to make a choice… will he die like this? Feeling everything? Or will you give him some of your Bliss? Talk to him? Send him onto one of your lovely little drug-trips. He could die with a smile on his lips. Unaware it is even happening… I’d deem that a nicer death than when my men and I simply string him up like we did in the old days… but… since you seem to know everything about his path, since you are to blame for his path - you pick that last step, too.”

stopping still when jacob put himself between her and enok again, linny felt the heat of a blush setting her cheeks alight at the tutting noise he made - enok was hurt. his knee shattered beneath the other herald’s boot. he couldn’t run now ... and she couldn’t hold her own with jacob.

she couldn’t take back what she’d just done, but she couldn’t see a way forward in that moment.

a squeak escaped her lips when jacob lurched towards her, her fingers still clutching the rifle tightly as she jolted towards the older herald, his frame towering over her so all she could see was his face. dumbly nodding her head at his reminder of her being faith, linny wished for the ground to open up and swallow her ... she’d fucked up. she’d fucked up so badly, he’d surely kill her for this? and if not, then what were the other options - seek atonement from john, in front of the whole of eden?

what about aaron? 

he’d kill her for this. if jacob didn’t, aaron would.

‘ don’t make me choose, jacob, please don’t make me choose. ’ 

shutting her eyes, linny couldn’t stare into jacob’s face any longer, not when she could feel tears prickling at her own eyes. enok was a boy - a foolhardy teenager. she had been that teenager before, she had sought a life different from the one she’d been raised in - he was just going the opposite way than she did. he was going back to the folks of hope county, not away from them.

‘ let him go, i’ll take his place. he can ferry this message back to prosperity - that eden isn’t weak and it’s willing to cull its own. the whitetails are still there - eli is still alive. let enok be their warning. ’

[only-we]

She was begging. She was pleading for her own sake. And that life of the boy.

God.

It was so fucking pathetic. So weak. It annoyed the shit out of Jacob. She thought she had any ground to bargain upon. When in fact she already had to plead for her own safety after what she had done.

His fingers tightened harder into her clothes and for a moment he considered tossing her to the ground. But... no... she still was his sister officially. If seemingly only in name.

"So. No Bliss then."

It was as if her words hadn't even reached his ears. Because he had not asked her for that. Had not given her that option. Taking the boy's place... ridiculous. What the fuck was she thinking.

Putting two fingers in his mouth, Jacob gave a volley of sharp whistles - and soon a few Chosen emerged from the foliage. Silently and with weapons and tools in their hands.

One of them was Aaron.

He was carrying out his work. But his dark eyes bore into Linny all the way to the boy. He had heard what she had done. Witnessed it. She had marred her own reputation. She had dishonoured him.

The boy's screaming had dissipated into sobbing and begging, as the Chosen took out knives to cut the clothes from his upper body. There was a yelp when they yanked him around to tear the boots off of his feet. His shirt wrapped around his head to obscure his view - and muffle his words.

The names that he begged for, the people did not come. And Linny? She had not shot Jacob on the one and only chance she had gotten.

"Sh, sh, shhh...", Jacob hushed Lynette, his hand cupping her face, as if he was truly caring. His words had the same low murmur.

"Now, come on. You have to prove yourself, Faith. You have witnesses now... you want him to be Prosperity's warning? So? Where should we string him up? And what sin would you put in his skin? Come on, now. Don't be so weak."

[xbaebsae]

[only-we]

@justxsayxyes

[takenbythebliss]

continued from (x)

if he managed to survive and do well, he might inspire others ... and we will prevent that ... wherever he is and whatever he does, preventing its success is your duty now.

jacob's words were ringing in her ears as she watched him pin enok to the dirt, hold him there like a rabbit in the mouth of a wolf. and that was how enok must have felt, because the boy writhed and wriggled, willing himself free and when that failed, he cried out.

a desperate crack in his voice as he screamed for the friends he'd made since parting ways with eden. and she stood there, stock still. like a fucking child on their first hunt who was unsure of what to do now that reality was happening in front of them. disconnected from the scene that was playing out before her, she felt like she was standing outside a glass wall, watching it all happen, yet still distinctly separate from it.

a glass wall that was shattered when enok's eyes found hers and he called her name, again and again, the words he'd spat at her all those weeks ago playing on a loop in her head.

you are in deep shit, just admit it ... you know no way forward or back ... you wish you could run too ... but you're a fucking coward. what are you gonna do?

what are you gonna do?

the crack of a gunshot cut through the air between them, sending splinters of wood dancing when the bullet buried itself in a tree trunk over jacob's shoulder.

' jacob, stop. '

the rifle was familiar in her hands, but it still felt wrong to brace the stock against her shoulder, levelling the crosshair of the faded red rifle at the herald.

' let him go. he is no threat to eden. he was never one of your chosen ... he's a boy. let him go. '

@enokvirkow & @only-we

[takenbythebliss]

only-we​:

That. Could not be.

How did she dare.

How did she fucking dare. Shooting at him. Aiming his own damn rifle at him.

Oh.

A deep chuckle vibrated in the old herald’s chest.

“All these years…”

The grip around the boy’s head tightened for a moment, before Jacob bashed him back down onto the ground. His eyes were fixated on Linny, that familiar face behind the red rifle.

“All these years you act like my sister and now you aim my own fucking rifle at me?”

It was asked calm. Cold. Dangerous. A threat already in his voice. The warning that she had once more chance to somehow get alive out of this.

Jacob shook his head, chuckling again, as he slowly rose to his feet.

He could feel the boy trying to use that chance and scramble away. But Jacob wouldn’t let him. Grabbing one leg of the boy, he bend it before giving a swift stomp against the inner side of his knee. There was a loud snapping sound followed by the boy’s screaming. He wouldn’t flee anywhere until Jacob was done with Linny.

Rising up to his full height, Jacob had no fear approaching Linny with the rifle aimed at him. Would she shoot? Perhaps. But Jacob guessed she didn’t have it in her. If she had wanted to kill him, she would have done so with the first bullet.

She had lived under Aaron for years. The man had given her more than enough reasons to kill him. And yet? She hadn’t even raised a hand.

“Tell me… Lynette. What the fuck do you think you are doing? Telling me to let the boy go? After you shot at me? You need to think further - or have you blissed your brain out years ago? What will he tell Prosperity, when I let him go now? That one herald almost shot another to save his sorry ass?  Oh, Prosperity would lick that right up… no, Linny. If anything, you just signed his death sentence. What about yours, though…?”

in one sense, she preferred aaron’s anger. she knew how to read him - the tense line his shoulders made when she said something out of turn, the line that set in his brow when anger threatened to boil over and the booming echo of his voice when that anger erupted.

but jacob wasn’t so easily read.

his calm demeanor was unsettling and it chilled linny to her core, but as much as what he did next - the sickening snap and enok’s pained screams almost had her grip on the rifle faltering. all she could hope for now was that his voice drew the attention of the people he’d been shouting for before seeing her, because without others, they were up shit-creek without a paddle.

what did she do now?

what did she do now that enok couldn’t run and she sure as hell couldn’t hold her own against jacob ... she couldn’t shoot him. she couldn’t. if she did, there would be no coming back from this.

‘ i shot at you to get your attention, i did not shoot to hit you. ’ she wanted to cringe at her own words, mentally berating herself for the shake she could hear at that tail end of her voice. tightening her grip on the rifle, linny took a step back for each one jacob took towards her, angling her steps to her left, slowly moving closer to enok.

‘  i am seeing clearly - for the first time in a long time. the boy doesn’t deserve death, jacob. he may have left eden, but he has not betrayed us. he chose a different path, that is all. let the boy go. ’

[only-we]

There was fear in her voice. Faltering. She was weak. So, so very weak. She wasn't sure in what she did here. She just acted and hoped for the best. But that wouldn't be enough for the shit she had gotten herself into now.

No.

Someone who dared to raise a rifle to his head... well. They would find themselves in a trial.

Jacob noticed her little circle-walk and simply stepped to the side, cutting her path to the boy off, shaking his head with a tsk-tsk-tsk-noise, as if he was admonishing a child. She was nothing more to him.

"It's not your job to fucking decide whether he has betrayed us or not. You're not the judge."

Tilting his head a little, Jacob's arm suddenly shot forwards and grabbed the red rifle, pulling the weapon and Linny towards him. His other hand digging into her clothes, so he could hold her close to his face and whisper his words.

"I won't demand you to shoot the boy... I know you're too weak for that. You could never. You helped raise that little shit, right? Is it that? You are soft for him. You failed him, though. This is all your fault. If you had instilled our beliefs in him, he would have never doubted, never run. So... this is all on you. And he will die."

There was no way around it.

"Now... remember who you are. You're Faith, right?"

There was amusement in his voice, like a taunt. He was stronger than her, even in his age.

"I will kill him. You sealed his fate. But you get to make a choice... will he die like this? Feeling everything? Or will you give him some of your Bliss? Talk to him? Send him onto one of your lovely little drug-trips. He could die with a smile on his lips. Unaware it is even happening... I'd deem that a nicer death than when my men and I simply string him up like we did in the old days... but... since you seem to know everything about his path, since you are to blame for his path - you pick that last step, too."

[takenbythebliss]

continued from (x)

if he managed to survive and do well, he might inspire others ... and we will prevent that ... wherever he is and whatever he does, preventing its success is your duty now.

jacob's words were ringing in her ears as she watched him pin enok to the dirt, hold him there like a rabbit in the mouth of a wolf. and that was how enok must have felt, because the boy writhed and wriggled, willing himself free and when that failed, he cried out.

a desperate crack in his voice as he screamed for the friends he'd made since parting ways with eden. and she stood there, stock still. like a fucking child on their first hunt who was unsure of what to do now that reality was happening in front of them. disconnected from the scene that was playing out before her, she felt like she was standing outside a glass wall, watching it all happen, yet still distinctly separate from it.

a glass wall that was shattered when enok's eyes found hers and he called her name, again and again, the words he'd spat at her all those weeks ago playing on a loop in her head.

you are in deep shit, just admit it ... you know no way forward or back ... you wish you could run too ... but you're a fucking coward. what are you gonna do?

what are you gonna do?

the crack of a gunshot cut through the air between them, sending splinters of wood dancing when the bullet buried itself in a tree trunk over jacob's shoulder.

' jacob, stop. '

the rifle was familiar in her hands, but it still felt wrong to brace the stock against her shoulder, levelling the crosshair of the faded red rifle at the herald.

' let him go. he is no threat to eden. he was never one of your chosen ... he's a boy. let him go. '

@enokvirkow & @only-we

[only-we]

That. Could not be.

How did she dare.

How did she fucking dare. Shooting at him. Aiming his own damn rifle at him.

Oh.

A deep chuckle vibrated in the old herald's chest.

"All these years..."

The grip around the boy's head tightened for a moment, before Jacob bashed him back down onto the ground. His eyes were fixated on Linny, that familiar face behind the red rifle.

"All these years you act like my sister and now you aim my own fucking rifle at me?"

It was asked calm. Cold. Dangerous. A threat already in his voice. The warning that she had once more chance to somehow get alive out of this.

Jacob shook his head, chuckling again, as he slowly rose to his feet.

He could feel the boy trying to use that chance and scramble away. But Jacob wouldn't let him. Grabbing one leg of the boy, he bend it before giving a swift stomp against the inner side of his knee. There was a loud snapping sound followed by the boy's screaming. He wouldn't flee anywhere until Jacob was done with Linny.

Rising up to his full height, Jacob had no fear approaching Linny with the rifle aimed at him. Would she shoot? Perhaps. But Jacob guessed she didn't have it in her. If she had wanted to kill him, she would have done so with the first bullet.

She had lived under Aaron for years. The man had given her more than enough reasons to kill him. And yet? She hadn't even raised a hand.

"Tell me... Lynette. What the fuck do you think you are doing? Telling me to let the boy go? After you shot at me? You need to think further - or have you blissed your brain out years ago? What will he tell Prosperity, when I let him go now? That one herald almost shot another to save his sorry ass?  Oh, Prosperity would lick that right up... no, Linny. If anything, you just signed his death sentence. What about yours, though...?"

[rebelichor]

@only-we | X

There was a sense of pride on the line.

Ariadne was furious at being tailed like some damsel in distress. She had worked so fucking hard to get back to who she had once been. Were there areas she was lacking? Of course. But she was close enough to the girl she had once been to handle herself.

And some chromed up creep in the shadows of the alley wasn't about to shake up her confidence. He could be a big, mean fucker alright, but it wasn't the first time she had to get herself out of dodge against a larger opponent.

Though he hadn't exactly threatened her. He had a kind of presence that made her hair stand on end though, so she wasn't all relaxed with her guard down either.

"You're shit out of luck." Ariadne bluntly stated. "Unless the same underground slimeball of a ripperdoc chipped your person using stolen assets from Arasaka themselves. What happened to me was one freak accident after another. Wasn't the first time the chip had been used to hustle big money, and it's dumb fucking luck my soul happened to be on a fresh chip with no other passengers. Besides that, ten years back these chips were experimental at best. So, you'd need a lot of fucking luck on your side big guy, and I don't mean to offend but you don't look the lucky type."

[only-we]

"Well... in that case I'm more lucky than you believe.", he replied, his voice a low lilt of growls as he thought back to that time. Ten years ago. Longer. Way longer.

"It was the same underground slimeball of a ripperdoc. Sure... can't fucking tell whether he used teh same chip he used on your lil princess ass. But. He made a chip of a person very, very dear to me."

Miller.

It was him. He was on that chip. Jacob had no proof of it. But the chip he held up looked quite similar to the one stuck in the back of Ariadne's nape. Not that she could tell. The chip Jacob held up looked older, more damaged at the edges. Scratches. But the core was intact. It looked tiny in his fingers - enhanced by chrome gorilla arms.

Another step closer, as if he wanted her to see it. His eye looking as crazy as the red light of his chrome-eye. Fixating her. Her. The angel. The one who came back.

"I was close. very close. i even paid that fucker off. Unlike your boyfriend, who couldn't gather the eddies in time. Oh. But then your little darling snapped. And he shot the ripperdoc into pieces. Destroying my chances. He fucked up my deal with that ripperdoc and didn't give a flying shit about it... now, I know nothing in this city is fair. But, you also know the laws of the street... tell me, what happens when a third party fucks up a deal between two others, hm?"

[only-we]

"What do you want from me?"

The alley she had turned into was a lonesome one. She had fled, that much was clear. Fled in fucking anger. Had told her boyfriend off. Argued with him about his crew... how they followed after her every step. And she didn't want that.

Well.

Enok Virkow could call back his hounds all he wanted. Jacob wasn't one of them. And he had followed this girl for way longer than just today.

She was unique.

If all the rumours that crept through Nightcity like toxic waste through the sewage system... well. She was one of a kind. Resurrected. A soul come back. And she wasn't rich enough for that. Sure. She belonged to one of the most influential families here. Street and Corpo as parents. And her boyfriend was a the top, too.

But something like this little trick?

That was reserved for the elite. For Arasaka. At least until her...

Slowly, hands in his pockets, Jacob stepped towards her. The fumes of his cigarette clouding around his head. Though they couldn't dull the red light of where once his left eye had been. Now there was chrome reconstructing the machinery of a face. Roughly.

"Ah... I just want t'talk. That's all. Yer special. Very special. Not many manage to cheat death... you know?"

Breathing in, a grim smirk spread across his face. There was something unhinged in it. Something born from years of grief and insanity knocking on his door.

"I would like to know the details. Nothing more. Nothing less. Because, believe it or not: your sweetheart isn't the only one, who would like to drag someone back to life."

@rebelichor

[only-we]

@takenbythebliss | X

A youth of their own. One who had known nothing outside of New Eden. He had left - all silent and without any hint towards it whatsoever. Of course. Enok ad been one of the more silent ones. He wasn't top of his years either. He was strong enough, stocky in built. But he seemed to be uninterested in making his spot among the ranks. Weak in a strange way.

And now he was gone.

He would have never made a Chosen. But a good hunter to carry out a Chosen's orders? Sure.

Looking at Faith, Jacob was silent for a long time. He thought this through. Then he slowly leaned forward, propped on one elbow, his finger treading through his white beard.

"He was led from the Path. Lured, baited. I don't know and neither do I care. He is alone, he will die out there, if no one takes him in. Whether that be the Highwaymen or Prosperity... he will be a newbie to either. A stranger. They will only see an Edener in him. And that is when we place one small strike."

"If he is in danger, none of these groups will endanger their own to save him. He will die and they will let him. This should be enough of a demonstration to anyone here who thinks about following him."

Getting up, despite his age, Jacob still towered over Linny easily. And while he treated her well... like a sister... there were certain aspects he could not let slip. If one escaped boy led to more questioning from the others, they could lose a generation.

"And if all that is too uncertain... well. You are the one responsible to raise our children, Lynette. What happened? Why could he stray from the Path you swear you pray to them day in and day out? I would have thought, if one wagers... you know how to use the Bliss, still."

[takenbythebliss]

enok had never stood out as a rule breaker. he had never vocally disagreed with eden’s teachings or questioned their beliefs or ways, so this had thoroughly blindsided her. he had been born and raised in eden, it wasn’t that he had longed for something he’d lost before the collapse.

‘ one small strike? ’ linny repeated with a questioning lilt to her voice.

led from the path. that was the truth though, was it not? something had drawn the boy’s attention outwards and away from his home. and jacob’s words were apt - enok would be an outsider to any and all of the other settlements. prosperity would label him a peggie, that old term refusing to die with the collapse. the highwaymen would probably string him up or send him to fight in their pit - they’d been targeted by the chosen enough during to recognise an edener when they saw one.  

arms folded across her chest, the woman took a step back when the other herald stood to his full height, towering over her, ‘ i don’t know what happened, jacob. i’ve spent the last few hours going over it in my head and i can’t find any red flags. i don’t know what drew him away. ’

dipping her head in a shallow nod, linny red between the lines, a part of her not wanting to revert to their older tactics, but another part of her fully aware that if eden were to survive, it needed to keep its family intact.

‘ i’ve managed to grow some of the flowers here, but not enough for a lasting supply. i’ll need more resources if want me to start building a reserve? ’

[only-we]

"I don't particularly care about what drew him away. I care about what he will do now. If he managed to survive and do well, he might inspire others. And we will prevent that. Wherever he is and whatever he does, preventing its success is your duty now."

There was enough unrest as it was already. The Highwaymen like locusts. And Prosperity had something brewing. Rumours about a man and his crew that could come and save them. Delusional. Or desperate. And desperate people did crass things.

"What resources? Ask and you get all of them."

It was a simple trade. Growing the flowers in this new climate with the super bloom all around shouldn't be too hard. And this was a good enough reason to wake up sleeping traditions once more.

"With the bliss maybe we finally get the upper hand against what's left of Prosperity, too. They will remember it."

[only-we]

❛  why can’t you just let it go?  ❜

"Let what go?"

Was he pleading with him? Eli was fucked in the head, Jacob had been sure of that for a long while now. But it seemed to worsen with age. Now this could only pull a growling chuckle from the old Herald.

"I will tell you what I am willing to let go: the group of little hunters you all have sent out. They were quite far away from your beloved Prosperity. The only thing I want in return? That insane one. Captain, or however you want to call him."

@eli-whitetail

[strangebrews]

“Oh no, it’s no use. I am always like this.”

James Keziah Delaney, Taboo (2017-)

“They say this is how he is.”

Alfie Solomons, Peaky Blinders (2013-)

[poohsources]

🐝  *  ―  𝑨𝑵𝑮𝑺𝑻𝒀 𝑸𝑼𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑴𝑷𝑻𝑺.

❛  are we actually doing the right thing?  ❜ ❛  are you bleeding?  ❜ ❛  are you even sorry?  ❜ ❛  are you still mad at me?  ❜ ❛  are you sure you’re gonna be okay on your own?  ❜ ❛  can’t we just be friends again?  ❜ ❛  can we pretend this never happened?  ❜ ❛  can you help me with this?  ❜ ❛  didn’t you listen to what i just said?  ❜ ❛  did you ever even love me?  ❜ ❛  don’t you believe me?  ❜ ❛  do you trust me?  ❜ ❛  do you understand what that means?  ❜ ❛  do you want to talk about it?  ❜ ❛  haven’t you heard the news?  ❜ ❛  have you ever cared about anyone other than yourself?  ❜ ❛  how did you do that?  ❜ ❛  how will i ever be able to repay you?  ❜ ❛  is it my fault?  ❜ ❛  is there anything i can do for you?  ❜ ❛  was all of this just a lie?  ❜ ❛  we’re gonna survive this, right?  ❜ ❛  what are you doing here?  ❜ ❛  what do you want from me?  ❜ ❛  what have you done to them?  ❜ ❛  what makes you think i’m going to help you?  ❜ ❛  when was the last time you ate something?  ❜ ❛  when will it stop?  ❜ ❛  when will you ever grow up?  ❜ ❛  where were you last night?  ❜ ❛  who did this to you?  ❜ ❛  who the hell are you?  ❜ ❛  why can’t you just let it go?  ❜ ❛  why didn’t you tell me sooner?  ❜ ❛  why did you leave me?  ❜ ❛  why don’t you come home with me?  ❜ ❛  why would you do something like that?  ❜ ❛  will you call me when you got there safely?  ❜ ❛  will you please tell me what happened?  ❜ ❛  will you stop doing that?  ❜

[only-we]

The distance between them had always been a chasm, with Jacob firmly on the upper ground and Aerith easily overlooked. He didn't have simple walls, he was a fortress, armed with an open air of danger to all those who approached.

He often pulled away. Fell into his silences with his hard, fiery stares. There was something that burned inside, an anger that dug into his skin with claws, a rage against the world that left him untrusting and wary of people. Even her. A whisp of a woman at his side.

Because it must have been mistrust. The way he glared when she dared reach for him. Like she had done something that proved him right all along, like she was attacking him with how her hands firmly closed around his forearms. It hurt. She caused pain, and for that she was sorry.

Aerith felt the tug from him but a surge of her magic ravaged his arms. Tendrils of green wrapped around his skin like vines that coiled and seeped beneath his skin. The infection was deep, and the rot that expelled was unpleasant in every sense, to look at, to smell, to feel, all of it.

Slowly her hands eased off him. His long sleeves were coated with pus and weeping ichor, but that ever-present pain, that sharp stab when cloth rubbed over tender wounds was gone. If he pulled back his shirt he would witness scarred skin, it still looked an angry red, but it already looked... improved. By the time he washed clean he would feel like a new man.

"... your majesty." she stepped back, and back again, and then she turned and walked away. Better to widen the chasm again until he puzzled out what had just happened.

Jacob had been this short of growling at her. She was a walking enigma. A woman that had survived Emmanuel - and as a witch right under his nose on top of that. A healer. Small and frail. And yet she had fire in her soul. But never had Jacobe expected something like that from her.

And truly... in the first moment all his senses had told him to fight her off. Hold her. Hurt her. Get her to back away. Break her hands for touching him.

The pain had worsened. The pain had been incredible, there had been a suffocated roar dying in his throat - and then..... nothing.

She stepped away. Fled.

And still, Jacob thought she must have cursed him. His arms. His arms were full of blood and pus. It was revolting, more so than usual. And for a second he was sure she had worsened it. Had cursed him. Had pushed him towards death.

But...

Slowly, he got rid of his shirt. Disbelief trickling onto his face. The bandages around his arms, unwrapped slowly, then rapidly. Staring. Uttered thoughts. Fingers wiping off the last of the rot. Feeling over marred... but healed skin.

Jacob looked up - but she was gone already.

"HEALER!"

That word echoed like a thunder through the fortress' corridors. A shake that let every soldier and servant wince. Followed by heavy and hard steps from Jacob, hunting after Aerith.

"WOMAN?!"

Doors were slammed open and shut, scared servants and maids scattering and when barked at, they just pointed vaguely into a direction. The small court. The one with the ruined chapel, where the healer had started to make a place of her own.

One last door flew open... and Jacob stood in the archway leading to this court. Looking so peaceful. So calm. He was like a giant shadow waltzing towards it, towards where she stood. Staring back at him. Not scared. Firm.

His form towering over her, as he stood there, breathing harsh and his eyes with a deep seethed fire. But... his voice a low whisper. One that gave away a kind of... gentle wonder.

"...why?"

@holyguardian

[inafieldofdaisies]

Visit Original Link

Visit Original Link

Visit Original Link

Visit Original Link

Collapse (Far Cry 6 DLC) | Jacob’s Trial “Cull The Herd” + Audio files (part 2) | Scenery appreciation (vol. 18-?)

/ Happy to report Jacob behaved today and even showed off his "balancing on a roof" skill.

/ This set of gifs are probably my favorite so far, on the last picture he almost seems to be smiling.

[only-we]

@takenbythebliss | X

A youth of their own. One who had known nothing outside of New Eden. He had left - all silent and without any hint towards it whatsoever. Of course. Enok ad been one of the more silent ones. He wasn't top of his years either. He was strong enough, stocky in built. But he seemed to be uninterested in making his spot among the ranks. Weak in a strange way.

And now he was gone.

He would have never made a Chosen. But a good hunter to carry out a Chosen's orders? Sure.

Looking at Faith, Jacob was silent for a long time. He thought this through. Then he slowly leaned forward, propped on one elbow, his finger treading through his white beard.

"He was led from the Path. Lured, baited. I don't know and neither do I care. He is alone, he will die out there, if no one takes him in. Whether that be the Highwaymen or Prosperity... he will be a newbie to either. A stranger. They will only see an Edener in him. And that is when we place one small strike."

"If he is in danger, none of these groups will endanger their own to save him. He will die and they will let him. This should be enough of a demonstration to anyone here who thinks about following him."

Getting up, despite his age, Jacob still towered over Linny easily. And while he treated her well... like a sister... there were certain aspects he could not let slip. If one escaped boy led to more questioning from the others, they could lose a generation.

"And if all that is too uncertain... well. You are the one responsible to raise our children, Lynette. What happened? Why could he stray from the Path you swear you pray to them day in and day out? I would have thought, if one wagers... you know how to use the Bliss, still."

[only-we]

It was a cruel reality. A cruel new world, so perhaps just an expected reality within this new spectrum. To wait that many years in the Wolf's Den and scrounge out their hard-earned survival on the way down south out of the decimated Whitetail Mountains ... only to be almost destroyed by a hidden stash of Bliss. None of their intel had indicated Faith had caches this far north - the ground had given way and many had fallen into the small sinkhole.

The sounds of their screams would never leave Eli or looking at the aftermath as the blisters, burns and boils had risen and their breathing had shallowed. He was an educated man, but the chemistry behind the Bliss had always eluded him, let alone now years later when it had festered in a shallow hiding spot and been infected by the radiation that had poisoned the world. He had been lucky enough to grab a branch and not fallen in, and somehow grab Wheaty's arm. But the survivors were weak and hungry two weeks later, barley able to go on when these loud strangers with motorcycle helmets had surrounded them ... until whistles rang through the woods and arrows had struck the loud newcomers down. Now he was inside an encampment of leather and fur-clothed people, some striking faint bells of recognition and all of them glaring at him with distaste. Eli had been separated from surviving people and Wheaty, and he saw a young blond boy with striking blue eyes peek in at him through the draping fur that stood for a door; the wind blew it and the kid disappeared and next to appear was a man Eli knew too well; older but possibly more commanding - Jacob Seed still retained that tacit but undeniable air of authority.

"I'm not surprised you're still alive." Because he wasn't - if anyone would survive those bombs, it was Jacob. But Eli was in no position to say anything else; he knew his former employer thought him dead many, many years ago when the Deputy stormed the Wolf's Den.

What a coincidence this all was... maybe his brother was right after all. God worked in mysterious ways. At least this biblical all-explanation worked perfectly for what a party of hunters had come across and dragged back home.

Hitting the furs back, Jacob had not entirely believed the stuttered reports until now. But walking closer, this was unmistakeable. This was him.

"Eli Palmer.", he stated with a raspy chuckle, before he dragged a wooden chair closer, sitting down directly in front of the bound man.

"I gotta admit, I can't claim the same for you... thought the Deputy had done their part."

Apparently that was a No. No sacrifice. No trial done. Oh. That would be interesting later. The Judge had a lot to answer for. Even with a cut-out tongue.

Pulling his old hunting knife from his side, Jacob leaned forward, pointing it at Eli's face, only millimeters away from his eyeball.

"But not even hell wants ya, apparently."

The smile that split Jacob's paling beard was cold. Not reaching his eyes at all. It never had.

"Where's the rest of your little band, huh? We only found a handful. In a fucked up state. What is it? Forgot all your prepper-games?"

They must be hungry.

Just a moment later there was apiece of meat lanced to the end of the hunting knife, now dancing in front of Eli's face. Taunting him.

"Well... what am I supposed to do with you now, hm? Tell me, Eli. Because apparently you aren't surprised about this shitshow at all."

@eli-whitetail

[toptony]

TOM HARDY as ALFIE SOLOMONS ↳ PEAKY BLINDERS ★ Sn 2 Ep 2

[aamuusva]

Practicing painting with the oldest Seed