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Baby Fangs
Scylla rushed, not quite a full sprint but definitely there was urgency in the way she walked. No longer smoothly gliding across the ground like she normally does. Her normal gait has her moving like a sharp knife through fabric, smooth and deliberate, a tool in someone else’s hand. Tonight? She found out one of the hands she’d entrusted herself to had gone missing. Of course she’d do what had to be done to find the Matriarch.
Keep reading
Tractorpull Revenge Extravaganza Masterpost
Hi.
If you’re reading this, odds are you are perhaps interested in my 14 part plot concerning developments within the Tractorpull family. Here you will find a chapter by chapter guide:
Chapter 1 - Salvage Operation
Chapter 2 - A Reluctant Reconnoiter
Chapter 3 - Accounts Payable
Chapter 4 - You’ve Reached The Voice Mail Box of Vrixx Tractorpull
Chapter 5 - Non-Liquidated Assets
Chapter 6 - Back Pay
Chapter 7 - Lost Assets
Chapter 8 - Mineral Rights
Chapter 9 - Boom Economy
Chapter 10 - Run On The Banks
Chapter 11 - Consolidation Agreement
Chapter 12 - Housing Development Project
Chapter 13 - Matrimonial Property
Chapter 14 - Intestate Succession
Tractorpull Revenge Extravaganza Part 14 - Intestate Succession
The body of Grottz Tractorpull lay in repose atop his desk, a sickly grey colour rather than his usual lively green. Steamplate paces the room, thoughts run through his head a mile a minute. How could she do this? What would become of the family now? Does he inform the Baron and gather the guards, or is this all somehow… on the level?
He turns to the door as it creaks open.
The sharp knife drags through the soft supple flesh, juices leaking out of it as the cold metal slides effortlessly. It is sharper than it needs to be, sharper than it has any business being, but that makes her work easier. Pleased with the events of the day, Alibi Tractorpull takes her slices of tomato and lines them end on end across the sandwich she’s made for herself and returns to her now dead husband’s office.
Her eldest son, Steamplate, paces in the office, turning to her when she enters. He isn’t sure how to react. This is his mother, after all. On the other hand, she just murdered his father in front of him. He tenses.
“Steamplate, go join your siblings. I will be along shortly, I need to address the assembled.”
His eye twitches. She can’t presume to be ordering him now, can she? He looks her over, sizing her up. The knife is there. Tucked into her belt. But she is quite calm, eating a- does she have a sandwich?
“Fine. I’ll go find the brats.”
He leaves the office and the door closes behind him. He isn’t sure he trusts her with the body, given that she’s responsible for it, but what can he do? He doesn’t want to knife fight his mother for obvious reasons.
Staxxy is in the vestibule, he can hear her down the stairs, sobbing loudly as if this whole thing isn’t her fault. He decides to approach, as his mother requested, and as he descends the stairs he sees another member of the family has entered the manor.
“Boxcar, let me get your coat, sister.” He approaches her and offers to unfetter her. “Husband and kid not joining us today?”
“No, I thought, given what the courier had to say, that I’d best come alone. Is it true?”
He nods at her as she keeps her sable trimmed jacket rather than handing it over. Always about looking regal, this one. Dress to impress turned up to 11. “Yeah, he’s in the office, laid out on his desk. With her.”
“So she did it?”
“Had help. That one.” He gestures at Staxxy, still curled up on the bench, being hugged by Vrixx in an attempt to comfort her older sister. “She attacked him first.”
“Hm. Odds on that outcome were pretty good, actually.” She shrugs, seemingly expecting something like this. “He called, and the river dealt him a bad hand.”
Steamplate rolls his eyes and moves past, descending the rest of the staircase. “Good seeing you Boxcar. Don’t go too far, she wants to address those gathered.”
He doesn’t bother looking back to see where she’s headed or what sort of reference to dice she’s going to make next. Instead his eyes fixate on the remaining siblings on the ground level.
“Well I hope you’re happy. You came for this, and now he’s dead. You got your wish.”
Vrixx glares at her older brother, Staxxy is absolutely in no shape for this sort of confrontation, but before she can speak up, before she can object, her older sister turns to him.
“Th-this isn’t what I wanted!” She ripples, tears still streaming down her cheeks. Her eyes are a bright red from the crying she’s been doing. “H-he pushed me to it! I’m not a- I’m not a killer!”
“But he’s dead Staxxy. And you had a hand in it. You’re just as bloody as she is.”
“Steamplate! Fuck off! Leave her be!” Vrixx snaps at him. She’s tearful as well, but not nearly to the extent that Staxxy is. She’s never seen her like this before. It’s worrying.
“You aren’t even supposed to be here! He kicked you out!” Steamplate is having none of it from Vrixx. How dare she presume to lecture him, the heir apparent, when she was such a fuck up she got disowned.
“You didn’t- you didn’t even care how he treated your own sister!” Staxxy cries out through sobs, buried in Vrixx’s shirt. “You cannot lecture me on family when you’re clearly only a blind follower! Sycophant!”
Steamplate trembles with anger. He does what he does to continue the family. To safeguard their way of doing things. Now that their father is gone, it falls on him. He reaches into his breast pocket and draws a switchblade-
Then the water lands on him with a loud splash.
“C-calm down S-steamplate.”
The runt’s voice hits him. Howitt’s been holding out, if he’s got this level of control over the elements.He flips open the switchblade and, surprise, it’s a comb, which he now uses to sort out his now wet mess of hair atop his head. “Didn’t see you there.” He decides not to interact with the siblings on this floor after all.
Alibi Tractorpull draws the last remnants of energy from the corpse of her dead husband, faint wisps of green energy float up gently to her fingertips. Long has this day been coming, and now she claims the prize that was due her for two and a half decades. The green energy floats, directed by her fingers, into her open mouth, which is soon occupied by sandwich.
“Time to get this show on the road.”
The door opens, and she emerges, coming face to face with the eldest Tractorpull daughter, whom she ushers down the stairs with a wave of her hands. She doesn’t have time to deal with her analysis of the odds.
“Children! It’s good to see at least one of you could make it on such short notice.” She speaks, her voice booming with purpose. “As you know, Grottz is dead. The how and the why is unimportant. What is important is the unambiguous nature of inheritance.”
Steamplate looks up at her with suspicion, expecting her to grab power. Staxxy ignores her entirely, still sobbing. The room is honestly split.
“As his wife, ownership falls on me. But, we have a good family here. We have people with expertise. As such, the day to day operations of Tractorpull Incindiaries LLC will be headed by… my dear son Steamplate.”
The eldest son of clan Tractorpull looks at her with surprise. He had expected a coup, not to be given more power. This changes things. “I- th-thank you? You won’t regret this mother.”
She nods at him, certain of such. She doesn’t want that role. She doesn’t want that day to day nonsense. She has more pressing matters to attend to. “The direction the family has taken needs correcting. I am calling a truce with the Threespark family. We’ve wasted enough of our resources on a feud that gets us no profits. I know some of you have done good on your old role, and that’s fine, but times change.”
Boxcar smiles, knowing she’s still going to take her Threespark to the cleaners every Thursday at the casino. She’s not too concerned about the company, but she’s glad it doesn’t come down on her to run anything.
“The family trust fund will be divested fully from the business.” Alibi continues, once the running commentary is concluded. “And I’ve decided that I am putting my youngest daughter, Vrixx in charge of running the fiduciary interests of the family.”
This one is a surprise to the room. Steamplate blinks, wondering if she’s crazy not only bringing an exiled daughter back, but handing her the family vault. Boxcar didn’t see that one in the cards. Vrixx almost doesn’t hear her name being spoken.
“Pardon? What was that?”
“I said, you are now in charge of the family trust fund. You obviously are having your place in the family restored, and you will once again be afforded an allowance drawn from the fund.”
“I- what?”
Tractorpull Revenge Extravaganza Part 13 - Matrimonial Property
Staxxy dips her fingers into the water and the darkness swirls around her, drawing up her arm. “Hellscream was a fool, unable to control this power.” the black inky sha stuff erupts from her lips and settles on her chin. Her voice booms as she starts to rise into the air, propelled by the raw power of fear. Fear for her family, fear for her sister, fear of what her father might do.
“You must be stopped.” her voice booms with dark energy, reverberating through the parties assembled. “before you harm another.”
Steamplate scrambles out of the front door of the house and pulls a switchblade from his pocket, flicking it open and turning to his little brother.
“C'mon runt, we gotta stop her before she kills him!” He pulls the hatchet from his belt and dashes forward, only to find the ground beneath his feet coming loose.
“L-leave her alone!” Howitt cries as he grasps the air with a fist. A fist the ground mimics, grappling Steamplate and stopping him from interfering. Tears flow from the corners of his eyes as he adds, “s-she's right!”
Staxxy's eyes glow a pale white; her hair blackens and flows with the primal energy as she looks to her target. Masses of inky energy flow from her shadow, briefly taking the shape of the second youngest Tractorpull daughter before attaching to Grottz’ limbs, holding him in place. A sharpened black spear forms and levels with his eyes.
“This is for Vrixx!”
“What's for me?!” Vrixx finally arrives in the yard of her family manor for the first time since her father threw her out. “I- I don't want this Staxxy!”
The archmage stops, feeling the black ink rising in her throat. Her eyes well up and she speaks, ichor flowing from her maw, “you aren't real. You can't be real. You were gone!”
“I'm real!” Vrixx runs up and pulls her sister down to earth by the ankle. “I don't know what you saw but i'm real!”
Staxxy's shape ripples as her sister pulls her in close, arms wrapped around her in a hug. The black film retracts from her face, shimmering as she assays her sister for traces of illusion, subterfuge, obfuscation, anything. She’s the real deal.
“You were gone.”
“I’m fine! I’m-” Vrixx’s words are cut off by a boot to the chest as their father breaks free of the inky black grasp and strikes back.
“Not welcome in my house! I thought I kicked you out you whiny little failure!” Grottz strikes back, apparently more offended that Vrixx is back than that Staxxy tried to kill him.
“You leave her ALONE!” Staxxy lashes out, the black seeping back into her extremities. A wave of dark power bursts from her chest, throwing him across the yard and back toward the house. “I don’t CARE if she’s not gone. I cannot let you continue to hurt this family! To foment fear in our hearts! Do you think anyone cares about the vendetta? They fear your wrath! Well now you learn to fear MINE!”
Vrixx rolls on the ground, clutching her chest in pain; Staxxy takes to the air, blackened ichor drips from her maw as she floats, gathering her power for a decisive strike against her father, who by now has climbed to his feet and steadies himself against an incoming strike.
“STOP. FIGHTING. THE. CHILDREN!”
A sharp blade pulls across the throat of Grottz Tractorpull, taking him by surprise. His hands go up to his neck as blood pours from the wound. He turns to see his assailant and comes face to face with his wife. Alibi Tractorpull.
“Y-you!” Grottz manages to choke out between gurgles, thick with blood. “B-been waitin for this?”
Alibi licks the blood from her kitchen knife and smiles as Grottz drops to his knees and the life leaves his body. His skin drains of colour and he slumps backward, collapsing in a heap as his legs come out from beneath him.
Tractorpull Revenge Extravaganza Part 12 - Housing Development Project
The road back to Bogpaddle is a long one, with a couple of boat rides and a portal for good measure, but finally Vrixx has managed to get back to the Eastern Kingdoms. A few coins change hands and a boat ride from Booty Bay to her home is obtained.
“What do I even say?” she thinks to herself as the boat plods along through the south sea. Her eyes gaze out over the open water, spying the mountains in the distance that dotted the southern shore of the Eastern Kingdoms. It wouldn’t be long now. “Hey dad, I know you disowned me, but there’s a really good reason I should leave this guy alone! Ehn, doesn’t really roll off the tongue.”
There were days when this water would have been all the temptation she needed to jump off the boat and take a swim. Those days are a million miles away now. Even if she does talk to her father, would he even believe her? “No, he’s just going to yell at me to get out again. Or worse, he’ll take this as an affront and attack me.”
The ship pulls into port and the plank is extended for the passengers to disembark. There aren’t a lot of them, this being really a cargo vessel with a few cabins for rent, but beggars can’t be choosers. She walks down, feeling the wood slump under her weight. She wonders if it feels the heavy thoughts running through her head.
“Almost there now. Why am I walking straight into a fight?” She asks herself. A legitimate question, but not one she can really answer. She needs to see the home one last time maybe? She needs the closure? She needs to know she at least tried to tell him how wrong he’s been all along? Who can say? But she’s compelled.
She passes the shops of her youth. The town she grew up in, so much smaller now than she remembers, and yet it feels like it’s taking forever to get across it. Every step is heavy with methodical purpose, each step feels like it takes longer. She knows she’s heading toward irreversible change. She’s drawn home though. By what force she can’t say. Every fiber of her being says “confront him” while the voice in the back of her head screams “he’ll murder you and bury you in the swamp.”
She shakes her head, clearing it as best she can. That can’t be the outcome. It can’t be. She needs to get there quickly. She turns back for a moment and realizes while her mind raced and explored her possible future, she’d managed to walk clear across town. Off in the distance, the port lays, with its little ships readying themselves for their little journies. The beach of her youth. The cafe where she and Heff would waste their afternoons talking about machines and cool robots.
The plumes of smoke from the steamer’s furnace now far behind her, she faces the outskirts of town. The old family mansion that's been theirs for generations. Did they all participate in this absurd feud, or is this whole thing an invention of her father? She's not sure, but she thinks she's ready to give her father an explanation. Surely if she can lay things out, she can explain why it's okay that she hasn't bested Keygrin, then things will go back to normal-ish? Or at least they won’t come to blows. She hears- what is that, an explosion? She decides now is a great time to pick up the pace.
Tractorpull Revenge Extravaganza Part 11 - Consolidation Agreement
“Travelers? Welcome outsiders.” A large pandaren man ushers the two goblins in, welcoming them to the ground. “The Temple of the Red Crane welcomes all visitors in need. And you two look to be in need.”
Vrixx helps Keygrin across the threshold of the temple grounds, bringing him to the nearest bench and setting him down before dropping to the ground herself and breathing heavily. “Th- thank- thank you sir.” She tries to catch her breath while still being polite to the monk. “We- we almost didn’t make it!”
“Truly?” The pandaren gets a puzzled look on his face as Keygrin pops off his prosthetic and starts to eyeball the damage. “What troubles have you encountered on the roads?”
“Buddy, you ain’t even wanna know what’s goin on out there. We got chased by lizard folks pourin outta a collapsin mine like water comes outta a colander. You got a mogu problem out there.” Keygrin stops examining his leg because he knows it’s basically a lost cause at this point.
“Mogu? Heavens, what nefarious deeds are they conspiring to commit?” The pandaren waves to a colleague and speaks to them in an unfamiliar tongue, “Om nom nom nom om nom.”
“Yeah, they were after something called the Urn of someone or other. They had a dig going for it about ten clicks over- did you not hear the massive explosion?” Vrixx looks about as incredulous as one can while laying down on the cobblestones. “We ran from an explosion after they tried ta-”
“Get you to dig for the Urn of Zian of the Endless Shadow?”
“That’s the guy! You know about him?”
“I know his crypt was sealed away a hundred years ago during a mogu expedition when something went wrong, and for the best!”
“A hundred years ago? Geeze Louise fella, this was about 20 minutes ago at most! I- what time even is it?” Keygrin pulls out his pocket watch and checks it before starting to wind the mechanism. “Dang thing always runs out when stuff gets hairy. Seriously though, that don’t make a lick of sense.”
“Whether or not it makes sense makes no difference. That tomb collapsed a hundred years ago. Ah, your water is here. Please, drink. I can sense the dread magics of the mogu persisting on you. I will send out some men to see if they can locate a sign of the mogu operation resuming.” The pandaren takes two glasses of water from the monk he’d sent off prior.
Some time passes, and a pandaren monk manages to, with the aid of several acupuncture needles, some incense, and a well drawn rune, unstop Vrixx’s mana. The magical feeling runs back to her fingertips again, and her palms smoulder for a moment as she grins.
Keygrin’s situation is much harder to address for the Pandaren, and they instead simply bring him a crutch, shrugging their shoulders as he looks at it. He thanks them anyway, for more than he walked in with at least.
Finally, the two goblins are left alone for the time being.
“So… you uh, ain’t gonna try’n fry me, are ya?”
“... No. No I don’t think so.” The pair look down at the cobblestones before Vrixx continues, “You didn’t need to help stop the mogu. You could have bolted and left me alone to deal with it.”
“Well, ah don’t know about bolting, but either way, I couldn’t just leave them ta poison the pandaren!”
“That’s my problem! That’s- everything I’ve been told, you should be ambivalent toward that at best!”
“Well, then whoever you been listening to got me all wrong.”
“Exactly.” Vrixx swallows and has to come face to face with the hard truth. My father lied. Staxxy tried to warn me and I didn’t listen. “Far as I’m concerned. We’re square now.”
“Square? I’m still out a leg here sugar.”
She’d laugh if it wasn’t such a heavy moment in her head. “Fair enough. I’ll get a friend to whip you up a new one when we get back to the Eastern Kingdoms. I need to go to Bogpaddle. Fast.”
“Why Bogpaddle?”
“I need to speak to my father.”
Tractorpull Revenge Extravaganza Part 10 - Run On The Banks
Vrixx goes about putting the charges where he tells her, connecting things with lines of black powder, and setting a few grenades at the base of what Keygrin assures her is ‘basically th’ third leg on this shit hole cave’ before sitting down to concentrate on scrying. A wisp of an eye appears and starts off toward the cave exit. She quietly says to Keygrin, “You make sure none of those big guys interrupt me and stay close, and we’ll be out of this pickle and back to our arrangement.”
“Do we gotta? Ah really ain’t care for fightin, and ah’m sure you got better things ta do with your time than pester little old me.”
Vrixx’s scouting eye narrowly avoids some mogu as it travels down the tunnels. They’re very tall, and she stays close to the ground, far below their pretense for caring to look. Finally, she sees a light, and her eye emerges into the outside world. “Heck of a tunnel system. Was almost wondering if I’d ever find my way out.”
Keygrin draws his lighter and takes aim. “Just gimme the word and ah’ll light the fuse.”
Vrixx nods and mouths a few words of another spell. Eredun tongue basically jibberish to Keygrin, but he trusts her for some reason. “Light it.” She says, pausing only to hear the sound of a gunshot before speaking the last word, and pulling their forms from the stone chamber, and dumping them unceremoniously on the ground outside.
The pair collide with the sandy beach with some force, and Keygrin lands on something hard, but only with his broken prosthetic, so he remains uninjured. “Jeeze louise, that’s a landing. Can ah-”
He’s interrupted by a mogu guard spotting him from the cave entrance. “You there! You are supposed to be di-”
The mogu is now interrupted by the mine exploding behind him; a low steady rumble tells the story of a very big collapse, and he’s flabbergasted by this turn of events. Turning back to the pair, who have begun hobbling away as fast as their three short legs could carry them. “You will pay for tha-”
The mogu is once again interrupted, this time by saurok. Dozens of saurok, pouring out of the collapsing tunnels. A mogu is longwinded and can be stalled for time. A saurok gets right to business. A few of them pounce on him, already filled with hate for the mogu, while others simply run from the collapse.
The goblins decide this is perhaps the best time to flee. Vrixx shoulders Keygrin again and they run as fast as she can manage with him down the beach.
“Jeeze louise, we got incoming!” Keygrin spots saurok just as readily as they spot him, and he raises the waterspeaker’s rifle and lets him have it with a pellet of whisky. “Don’t stop now, we gotta move!”
Vrixx nods and does her best to hurry, but she’s just one small goblin. As the pair haphazardly make their way through the forested area, Keygrin lands more shots on more saurok, eventually just sort of letting Vrixx aim him when she sees them. They make quite the pair it seems. The saurok eventually thin out, just as well, as Keygrin’s recovered rifle is quickly depleting.
“Ah think we lost ‘em.”
“Yeah. Mind if I take a breather?”
Keygrin shakes his head. He could use the rest himself. The pair sit down, and he sets the gun across his lap. Vrixx eyeballs it for a moment before he just picks it up and drinks the remaining liquor from the magazine. “Guess this ain’t gonna be of much use now.”
Thoughts race through Vrixx’s head as she looks at him. “He’s defenseless, he’s out of rounds, he’s missing a leg, he’s sitting down, he trusts you, you could smash his head in with a rock and that would be it!”
Keygrin looks at her, and realizes she looks like she’s sizing him up. Maybe that drink could have waited.
In one fluid motion, Vrixx rises, rock in hand and freezes, ready to strike! But she relents. The stone hits the forest floor and she drops to her seat, wondering internally “Why can’t I do it?”
“Fel’s bells, would ya lookit that! We found civilization!” Keygrin points behind Vrixx, and sure enough, he’s spotted the spires of a temple, rising above the trees. “Come on sweetheart, let’s get outta these woods and inta… whatever that is.”
Vrixx nods reluctantly, letting him lean on her again, and heading toward the structure.
Tractorpull Revenge Extravaganza Part 9 - Boom Economy
“Yer sure you can teleport? Ah seen ya fling a fireball, but ah also seen ya with an imp earlier.”
“Yeah! I’ve seen my sister do it enough, it doesn’t seem overly complicated. I just… gotta scout out the destination first. And I can do that remotely while you get yer bomb set up. Gonna eat up what’s left of my mana reserves, but I should be able to do it.”
“Gonna take all the explosives I got on me ta bring the cave system down on itself. Ain’t likely the urn of whoever gonna survive all that.” Keygrin looks over the various supplies he has assembled on his person. The seaforium charges in his vest pockets, the grenades in the pant-leg near his stump, the black powder meant for additional rifle rounds if he ever gets around to making them, the small rockets he inexplicably had stashed in the peg leg that was now non-functional, there was indeed a lot.
“Sure you haven’t got any under your hat?” Vrixx looks at keygrin with the sort of bemusement that such a smuggled arsenal merits. If you could collect and distil the essence of incredulity that a man hasn’t blown himself up yet, Vrixx would have the patent.
“Nope, that’s where my noodle goes.” Keygrin braces himself against the pick he’d been armed with to assault the walls of the cave. With his leg out of commission, he needs the added help. “Ah can show you where the stuff’s gotta go in here, but ah ain’t gonna be able ta reach a lot of it because of the leg bein outta commission and all. Y’ever dealt with high explosives?”
“Who do you think built that robot that almost killed you back at the top of the waterfall?”
“If ah recall correctly most a that shit didn’t work proper.”
Vrixx lets that slide, mainly because it’s pretty true. “I suppose I’ll need you to point out exactly where I’m putting these bombs anyway. You might as well double check my work.” Normally a job only her best friend Hef is allowed to do. Vrixx does not respond well to criticism.
“First we’ll need ta scout around. There’s no real great place here fer it. Yeah, ah could set ‘em all off here, and it’d do some damage, but they’d just dig the place out in about a month.” Keygrin feels the cave wall, pausing to think. He needs to get a sense of what this place is like. “Ah sure wouldn’t mind a better crutch either.”
Vrixx rolls her eyes and lets him lean on her, taking his weight on her shoulders. “Where to?”
Keygrin points down the tunnel, through the section they’d been working on. “Over there. Ah got a feeling that’s where we’ll find the sweet spot.”
The pair go down the corridor, Keygrin’s fairly light frame not really weighing Vrixx down all that much. She really isn’t all that aware of him, though maybe that’s psychological. She is, after all, helping to carry her sworn nemesis. They come to, not quite the sweet spot, but something different altogether.
“Dead jinyu. Do you think they were being used to mine too?”
“Nah, these fellas don’t look like they were miners. Got no dirt under their nails or anythin. If I had ta guess, these guys tried ta bust in here and stop all this. Kinda like what we’re up to.” Keygrin examines the bodies. They’re not that old, but they’re not exactly fresh. He can’t find any wounds though.
“They look like they were killed with magic. Death magic. Oh I don’t care for these mogu at all. The sooner we take this place down, the better.”
Keygrin nods and notices something shiny among the bodies. “Well paint me pink and call me a dwarf, looks like them mogu are stupid as they are ugly.” He pulls a long tube-like object from the bodies and looks it over. Checking in places for who even knows what.
“What is is?”
He dumps the contents of his flask into the reservoir on the end with the handle before answering. “A gun. Ah’d recognize one anywhere.”
Tractorpull Revenge Extravaganza Part 8 - Mineral Rights
The sound of picks against rocks punctuated air as the goblins were roused from their magically induced haze. Chains hung from their ankles, put in place by their mogu captors.
“Your picks, slaves. We need stone to rebuild the empire, and you will provide.” he barked at them as he dropped some mining tools at their feet. He walked away chuckling, most likely to torment some other prisoners.
“Geeze Louise, I've seen enough of holes in the ground like this for a lifetime. Wanna put aside our differences long enough ta bust outta here miss?”
Vrixx looked at him suspiciously, like a canary looks at a cat offering a way out of a cage. She reluctantly acquiesced to his offer and nods. “I saw my fire bounce off that big rocky fella, I don't think I'd get too far on my own. You got a deal Threespark.”
Keygrin takes his pick and listens for the clanks coming from elsewhere in the mine, feeling their rhythm to time his strike.
“I could pick that lock you know.” Vrixx twists one of her skull clips in the lock on her ankle, smiling as it releases her leg. “Yeah, easy enough. These locks aren't exactly sophisticated.”
“Well shoot, I won't say no to that.” he keeps watch as Vrixx liberates his good leg from the rough iron shackle. “Thanks miss uh… ah can't just call ya ‘miss’ can ah?”
“Name's Vrixx. Wait, how do you not know that? I filed paperwork against you and everything!”
“Yeeeeah, most of th’ horde don't really care about goblin paperwork. We just sorta ignored it.”
“You can do that?!”
Keygrin shrugged his shoulders. “So, how d’we wa- oh hells bells, clam up a minute I hear ‘im coming!”
The pair take their picks and get to work on the wall, but not striking hard enough that they can’t overhear the mogu conversing behind them.
“I won’t be long now. The panderen in the valley will not know what struck them. With the farmlands surrounding Halfhill despoiled, their civilization will be easy pickings.”
“A stroke of luck, discovering the sealed tomb of Zian of the Endless Shadow.”
“Why did Chou abduct those goblins?”
“He said they are natural diggers. I suspect he simply does not want to dig himself.”
“That or he is afraid of the saurok in the caverns.”
“Saurok, don’t make me laugh. They will wind up like the Jinyu waterspeakers we dealt with last week.”
The mogu pair chuckle as they leave, meandering off through the tunnels to watch for more incursions.
“Geeze Louise, we gotta stop ‘em if that’s their plan.”
“Why should you care about what happens to the Pandaren, Threespark?
“Uh, why shouldn’t ah care? Ah ain’t want the Pandaren dead. Seems a real dick move ta not help.”
“... Well, you’re not wrong.”
Tractorpull Revenge Extravaganza part 7 - Lost Assets
“-ake up blast it, wake up!”
Vrixx startled awake as water rushed past her. A green hand held the collar of her shirt as the rapids threatened to pull her away. She looked up and she saw him: Keygrin Threespark, holding a branch with the other hand, keeping them both from being swept under.
“Well thank gold yer finally comin around. We're in a real pickle here-”
“What are you doin? I was just trying to kill you!” Vrixx all but thrashed in the water, not wanting to dignify her nemesis’ rescue attempt. “I'll never live this down!”
“Geeze Louise, that's some gratitude. Ah ain't gonna let you down if ah can h-" it was then that the branch he was holding snapped and the pair were swept away in the rapids.
Vrixx quickly wove a water breathing spell on herself, something someone as fond of swimming as she is obviously has memorized, just before they collided with some stones and became disoriented.
Vrixx was tossed violently but covered her head with her hands to protect it. She lost track of how long she was under or how far they drifted, but when the water broke around her and she found herself miraculously in one piece washed up on a beach she counted her lucky stars.
She looked about to get her bearings and tripped, still a little dizzy from the rapids.
“What the-"
She turned to see what she'd tripped on and saw the waterlogged body of one Keygrin Threespark.
She knelt and rolled him over, listening at his mouth. Not breathing. She checked his neck. No pulse. She should have been pleased. Instead, for some reason, she leapt into action.
She put her hands on his chest and started pressing down rhythmically. “1-2-3-4” she counted before breathing into the mouth of her enemy, pinching his oddly shaped nose.
Nothing.
“1-2-3-4.” She tried again, breathing life into the drowned gob to no avail.
“1-2-3-4.” She kept at it, showing her persistence.
“1-2-3-4.”
Keygrin sputtered to life, coughing up a lung full of water as Vrixx pulled back.
“Ah’m alive? But-" he saw Vrixx beside him on the beach with a look of concern. “Ah thought you were tryin ta kill me.”
“W-wellif ya drowned, that wouldn't be me killing you now would it?” Vrixx questioned herself. Questioned her resolve. “This way you go out on my terms.”
Keygrin tried not to roll his eyes too noticeably as he tried to get up from the ground before collapsing to the ground again.
“Thrall’s balls, my leg’s busted! Gonna take me…” Keygrin paused to assess the damage to his prosthetic leg, noting it was beyond repair, “aw heck, gonna have ta build a whole new one.”
“You must’ve banged it on a rock or somethin in the water. We can probably find a stick or something…” Vrixx froze up, realizing who she was talking about helping here.
“Got one!” Keygrin held up a roughly ‘Y' shaped branch before using it as a makeshift crutch. “Ah’m good ta go.”
“Neither of you are going anywhere.” A low gravelly voice boomed from the tree line as a giant stone man stepped out approached them. “You'll do in the pit.”
Keygrin threw a rock at the mogu, striking him in the head to little effect. Vrixx started to weave a spell, but the old stone creature simply raised a hand and her fire bounced off harmlessly.
“Little fools. The power of the mogu is more than a match for the likes of you.” He laughed as he waved a hand, causing arcane chains to bind them. Another wave and glyphs glowed above their heads momentarily before fading from view. “And that will take care of your feeble magics. Come, you have rocks to break.”
Zibeline Out *drops mic*
“Zibeline be reasonable! Where will you even go?”
She doesn't listen. She's stifled here with him long enough. She just keeps putting things into her pack.
“Zibeline I think i'm entitled to at least that much, I am your husband after all!. Batiste puts his hand on her shoulder to get her attention, and the agitated woman turns to face him, pushing him back against the wall.
“Husband?! You've been no kind of husband to me! I'd have loved a husband for all these years, but instead I had you!”
He's hurt by her words. They burn his ears as she goes back to packing. He doesn't know what to say, so he stands there watching her.
“i'm sorry I haven't been a good husband. I tried and you're right, it hasn't exactly worked. I still love you though.”
“Don't you dare!” she spits back at him without even slowing to turn. “What we are? This isn't a marriage. This is at best a friendship with one too few beds.”
She wants to tell him she needs some support. To say she wakes up in the middle of the night hearing centaur hooves. To say she needs some actual physical affection from someone who's attracted to her. She doesn't.
“I’m leaving. I might be back in a few months. Don't bother looking for me.”
“What do I tell our son?”
“Tell Cambric… if he asks, tell him I’m on a walkabout to clear my head.”
She isn’t sure where she’s going to wind up. She just knows she needs to put the ground underneath her feet and find something that needs protecting. Mulgore is as safe as can be, and she’s felt idle far too long.
How many years has she wasted, standing by a man who... she does love him. Just... not like that. They’ve grown accustomed to each other over the years, but she can’t stay shackled to him like this. Not anymore. Perched on the bow of the airship to Orgrimmar, she turns her sights to the horizon and readies herself to face the morning.
I’m a fucking sucker for “gentle giant” characters like theres nothing better than seeing a character who could crush you but is also a fucking sweatheart
An Interview With Staxxy Tractorpull
► Name ➔ “Archmage Staxxy Tractorpull.” ► Are you single? ➔ “Yes, by choice.” ► Are you happy? ➔ “Yes actually!” ► Are you angry? ➔ “Only sometimes.” ► Are your parents still married? ➔ “I- yes, there was never an annulment, but I suspect they share separate beds these days.”
NINE FACTS
► Birth Place ➔ “Bogpaddle. Easy answer.” ► Hair Color ➔ “It’s this lovely shade of blue.” ► Eye Color ➔ “Violet of course. Do you need a closer look darling?” ► Birthday ➔ "May 19th.” ► Mood ➔ "I am, as usual, fairly content and easy going.” ► Gender ➔ “Female.” ► Summer or winter? ➔ "Winter. I do enjoy the summer fairly well, but there’s a certain charm to snow everywhere.” ► Morning or afternoon? ➔ “Afternoon. I have a morning routine, it’s always the same, but the afternoons? That’s where the variety lies.”
EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE
► Are you in love? ➔ "I have friends that I love, but I do not have that romantic love that every hackneyed author claims as the be-all-end-all.” ► Do you believe in love at first sight? ➔ “No. I believe people can fall in love, and I believe they can have feelings upon first sight, but love? No.” ► Who ended your last relationship? ➔ “I don’t really have an answer to this. I don’t do ‘relationships’.” ► Have you ever broken someone’s heart? ➔ “Oh, almost certainly yes.” ► Are you afraid of commitments? ➔ "No. I commit all the time.” ► Have you hugged someone within the last week? ➔ "Yes. Though it’s been too long.” ► Have you ever had a secret admirer? ➔ "I can’t say for certain, but I can only expect so.” ► Have you ever broken your own heart? ➔ “I… perhaps? ”
FIVE CHOICES
► Love or lust? ➔ “I do like platonic love, but lust is definitely fun too. Sadly, it doesn’t last.” ► Cats or dogs? ➔ “Neither. They shed.” ► A few best friends or many regular friends? ➔ “Both of these have advantages. I have a preference for the latter though. I can still have secrets and privacy if friends don’t think they’re close enough to pry.” ► Wild night out or romantic night in? ➔ “I’ve had my share of both, and the former tend to be more memorable.” ► Day or night? ➔ “Absolutely night. This hair goes with the dark night sky so well.”
FOUR HAVE YOU EVERS
► Been caught sneaking out? ➔ “Caught? Only once. Don’t try to pull a fast one on a divination instructor, that’s all I can advise.” ► Fallen down/up the stairs? ➔ “I was caught once, unaware, of a staircase I was approaching. Nose in a book of course, and I walked right into the bottom step, tripping, effectively, up the stairs. Or at least the first few.” ► Wanted something/someone so badly it hurt? ➔ “Honestly, I’ve wanted for little my whole life. It’s hard to think of something I waned that badly.” ► Wanted to disappear? ➔ “A few times. Usually periods of considerable introspection.”
FOUR PREFERENCES
► Smile or eyes? ➔ “Oh smile. I’m a sucker for a good kisser.” ► Shorter or taller? ➔ “Either, honestly. Shorter usually involves other goblins or gnomes. They’re fun. Taller is… well taller comes with its own sort of fun.” ► Intelligence or attraction? ➔ “They’re both good, in their own ways. I know people I’ve made friends with because I enjoyed their intellect, and others because… well they’re easy on the eyes.” ► Hook-up or relationship? ➔ “Define relationship. Odds are, what I’m after falls more into your ‘hook-up’ category, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable.”
FAMILY
► Do you and your family get along? ➔ “Some of them, yes. Some of them very no.” ► Would you say you have a “messed up life”? ➔ “Well… I suppose yes, by some standards.” ► Have you ever ran away from home? ➔ “I traveled to Dalaran to study magic. Does that count?” ► Have you ever gotten kicked out? ➔ “Nooooo, no. I was the “child prodigy,” even if father usually lacked the decency to get my name right as a child.”
FRIENDS
► Do you secretly hate one of your friends? ➔ “N-no? I would be remiss to call them friend if I hated them.” ► Do you consider all of your friends good friends? ➔ “Pretty good I think, yes.” ► Who is your best friend? ➔ “Hard to say. I don’t exactly keep a numbered list, yes? Probably Betty at the moment.” ► Who knows everything about you? ➔ “Nobody but myself.”
Tagged by: @natharaiebonrook
Mentions: @empty-knight
Tagging: @starcevic @spectrerae @hornedfreak @end-song @glare-daggers @figgeryboo @plaguemd @keialaar @empty-knight @thefruitmonk and anyone else who wants in on this.
Art by: @dogslug
“The bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame.”
