Seriously and genuinely read at your own risk this is somehow more devastating than the entire rest of the fic
Preamble: this scene was initially going to be the Christmas scene, but then I wrote the scene that was supposed to lead into it and realized there was a mismatch. Plus, I really didn't have ideas for how to end the fic from here.
So it got cut. It is, however, one of my favourite scenes I've ever written and I refuse to live in a world where it never sees the light of day.
âźď¸CW: Drug and alcohol abuse, overdose, graphic vomiting, self-harm
¡ ¡ â ¡âśÂˇ â ¡ ¡
Gonna have to skip out on dinner sorry
Julien jolts awake on the bathroom floor an hour or two or maybe even six later, when her phone buzzes in her hand. She brings it up to her face, stares at the black screen for a second, and when it doesnât automatically show her lock screen, she clicks it on. She has a notification from an app she never uses - which mustâve been what woke her - and a grand total of ten missed messages from Lucy, the latest of which makes Julienâs heart sink.Â
Iâm coming over
The timestamp tells her it was sent half an hour ago, which means Lucy could be there at any second. âFuck,â Julien grunts. She glances around the bathroom, tries to get her vision to focus on the mess sheâs made. Empty beer cans and evidence of her temper tantrum litter the bathroom floor like a crime scene, and she sniffles a little as she notices the pills sheâd dumped onto the floor. If Lucy finds them, sheâll never see them again. And Julien isnât willing to let that happen.Â
Sheâd never finished her research into the effects of combining medications, but she doesnât have time to do any now. Not if she wants them gone before Lucy gets there. So Julien scrapes a handful into her palm and downs them with the last swig of beer from the can next to her on the floor. Itâs warm and it makes her nauseous. She reaches for another can, pops the tab with trembling fingers and scoops more pills up, presses them to cracked and dry lips. Distantly, Julien can hear the beeping of the keypad being unlocked, and her heart jackhammers against her sternum. She downs another handful of pills. Lucyâs footsteps are fast on the stairs, and her voice rings out in the eerie quiet of the house.Â
âJulien?â
Julien scoops up more pills as her brain urges her to hurry, but sheâs still drunk and her hands donât want to cooperate, and she can hear Lucy getting closer. She shoves the last handful of meds into her mouth a split second before the bathroom door slides open.Â
Julien freezes, and the second of silence in which Lucy stares her down feels like an eternity.Â
Lucy breaks it first. âWhat did you put in your mouth?â Her voice is low and measured, the same way it had been when she first said I need to leave all those weeks ago.Â
Julien lowers her chin, hoping itâll hide the six-or-so pills dissolving into bitter sludge against her tongue. âNuffin-â Her face burns at the muffled nature of her words - not because sheâs embarrassed at being caught in a lie; sheâs not embarrassed, but because she knows that Lucy will find a way to stop the meds from dragging her into a sweet oblivion. She blushes because sheâs furious.Â
âDonât lie.â Lucy looks hurt. âWhat the fuck did you put in your mouth, JB?âÂ
Julien shrugs, and Lucy takes a deep breath. She steps closer. Julien shies away. She brings the beer up to her lips, downs the remnants of the pills as Lucyâs eyes widen.Â
âStop,â she pleads, reaching for the can, and Julien doesnât have the energy to fight as she tugs it from her grasp, sets it above her on the counter. When she looks back at Julien, Lucyâs eyes are glassy with tears. âFuck, what did you take?â
Julien shrugs, the picture of nonchalance. âDoesnât matter,â she slurs, blinking up at Lucy through heavy eyelids. âIt probably wonât kill me anyway.âÂ
Her head drops back against the counter with a dull thunk that reverberates pleasantly down her spine. The pills will probably take at least ten minutes to kick in, but sheâs still hazy from the alcohol and it feels nice to drift.Â
Lucyâs incessant worrying interrupts the floatiness. âIâm calling poison control. Please, JB. Just tell me what you took so I can help you.â She looks dead serious.Â
Julien sighs, long and low. âI dunno,â she sniffs. âA buncha things. Some Tylenol.â
Lucy nods. âOkay. Thatâs⌠Okay.â Julien lets herself drift back into the floaty space that feels so good, but sheâs interrupted once more by a voice from Lucyâs phone.Â
â911, whatâs your emergency?âÂ
Lucy starts talking, fast, and Julien stops listening, tuning Lucy out by humming a song that she makes up as she goes. She tries to reach up above her head for the beer Lucy had confiscated, but Lucy notices and reaches for it too, and one of them - Julienâs not sure who - knocks into it. Amber liquid splashes across the floor as the can clatters against the tile, and Lucy glares at Julien as she tugs the two full cans out of her reach.Â
Julien blinks at the wet tile, and swallows against the sour taste of grain alcohol that lingers on her tongue. Sheâs suddenly nauseous as fuck.Â
âJulien.â Lucy manhandles her into looking her in the eye. âAre you good? Are you awake?â Julien nods, the sudden intensity of Lucyâs voice sobering her up a little. Lucy nods. âOkay. We gotta make you throw it up, okay?âÂ
Julien frowns. âNo.â She shakes her head.Â
Lucyâs eyes spark with anger, and Julien notices the shimmering tracks of tears down her cheeks. âYou have to, Julien. Come on.â She lunges and they both go crashing to the floor, Lucy on top and gripping Julienâs jaw before Julien can even try to fight back.Â
âGet off,â Julien grunts, trying to push her away, but Lucy holds fast.Â
âYou gotta throw up, JB,â she pleads, her fingers digging into Julienâs jaw as they wrestle. Julien can feel the spilled beer soaking her t-shirt, and itâs sticky.Â
âStop,â she begs, tears pricking in her own eyes as panic rises like bile in her throat. âJust let me die!â She twists her head as Lucy presses, and she feels her mouth open against her will. âStop, please, Luce-â sheâs cut off by Lucyâs fingers jabbing into her throat.Â
Lucy presses hard against the back of Julienâs tongue, and Julien gags. âCome on,â Lucy grunts, pressing again, and this time sheâs rewarded with a thin jet of bile spraying up from around her fingers and splattering onto her shirt. Julien whimpers, tears flowing steadily as relief colours Lucyâs expression.Â
âOkay,â she says shakily, âOkay, good.â Her voice is muffled by the ringing in Julienâs ears and the guttural noises drawn from her throat as she retches again. Lucy pulls her hand away, nose wrinkling, but her fingers have done more than their job, and Julien twists towards the toilet, gagging up more bitter fluid. She manages to pant a raspy, âfuck youâ as Lucy updates the 911 dispatcher before her stomach contracts again and sheâs forced back over the porcelain.Â
It goes on like that the entire time they wait for the ambulance, and when it finally arrives, Julienâs carted off to the ER with a blue bag clutched to her chest, because apparently drinking on an empty stomach makes it almost impossible to stop throwing up once youâve started.Â
Writing out a companion piece to the Cerberus fight. I was looking at my writing stats last year and felt as though I hadn't done as much as usual, but then I realized I have also been doing this shit as well. Part of me wants to be embarrassed and yet this game is peak 'mashing my action figures together' and it's kind of fun in its absurdity so that makes it easier to write
Plus it's just fun to make Baiken stuff
-
The three of them shared gazes only on the rarest of instances. Each time had never grown less uncomfortable and awkward. They had hoped (well, two of the three, at least) that it would after long enough, but no such luck. Not out of any sort of malice, or hatred, or anything of the sort. Joe, Blue, and Baiken simply didnât talk to one another very much. None of them were friends. They didnât really consider themselves as such. Why would they? Sure, they all knew Phoenix, but they had never met one another until recently, Baiken especially.Â
It was a thought sheâd had running through her head quite clearly, especially when Joe decided the first time to lay his hands on her would be to shove her forward until they both nearly landed on their faces.
In any other scenario, that wouldâve been a death sentence- or, at least, cause for a severe mauling- if it werenât for the fact that he had just saved her skull from being stomped in.
âWhat the hell are in those things??â She shouted, stumbling out of the way immediately after the last push. Hooves thundered past, right where she had been standing. Fluttershy was being driven in mad circles, her reins being tugged without any kind of care or sense. The human perched upon her saddle looked no more certain of where she was going, and was quite happy about it.
Even Jirachi looked befuddled. âI- Iâve never heard of a guardianâs boon like this!â
Their party had made plenty of use from the strange, sparkling fragments their guild leader would procure from seemingly nowhere. âBoons from a guardian spirit,â heâd called them, or âmagic sprinkles.â Truthfully, everyone had though the name was stupid, but theyâd kept it to themselves. Quite powerful things, though, restoring their health and mana in dire situations.
Those had been the only two theyâd known about. Phoenix had never mentioned anything else. Not five minutes ago, though, he had started staring off into space and talking to nobody. Upon turning around, there was a new vial in his hands, a different color than health and mana. âHyper sprinkles.â The supposed spirit hadnât explained in full what they did, only that it would help them deal more damage.
âIâll try it,â he had said. âI donât know what they do, so I donât want anything bad to happen to you guys.â
Nobody had the time to interrupt. The moment it had dissolved against his skin, Phoenix had taken on a distant look in his eyes. Then came the smiling. And the smiling had not stopped.
âYEEEEEEE-HAW!â Was the closest he had gotten to a coherent sentence. The guy was completely out of his mind. Even if the sprinkles *were* helpful, he couldnât muster up enough focus to actually try for an attack. Unless trying to trample his own teammates counted. Right now, their leader was almost as much of a hazard as the boss that they were actually supposed to be fighting!
âŚAh. Somehow theyâd forgotten that.
Cerberus roared, knocking Joe over from the force of the sound. It appeared as though Jirachi had been the one holding the beat back for the time being, but his hold was faltering. Baiken instinctively flung a shot in the thingâs direction, but at such a distance, the wind drag pulled the shell off of its target and into the nearby wall.
âShit! Were any of us this goddamn huge?â
âNon, nowhere near this!â Joe replied, before being pulled out of horse-harmâs way again by Blue.
Baiken grit her teeth. She raised her weapon toward the monster, only to have a horse dart in her path. âSonuva- forget the damn dog, weâre gonna kill *each other* at this rate!â She sent the mage a sharp scowl. âWizard! Make sure the idiot doesnât go running into a lava lake, capische? The rest of usâll juggle this, just keep him under control!â
Jirachi appeared to object to the idea, but knew better than to argue with that glare. His feet left the ground as he zipped after their runaway leader, coaxing the horse away with a few well-placed flashes of magic.
With one problem closer to managed, the three could focus more on not being eviscerated by a giant dog. They darted back and forth with no real rhythm, no real sense of coordination. At several points, they nearly crashed into each other or struck one another with their weapons. Baiken fired off several more shots, but most were too distant and fell, and the few that were close enough were dodged.
âGoddamn thingâs got almost as many heads as legs, and itâs still better at dodging!â She covered her ears with a hand, sending a glare at Blue for her ill-timed feedback screech.Â
âOh- ! Oh, sorry, so sorry- !â Amid her apologies, the woman nearly tripped over Joe like he was a rock underfoot. All three were forced to jump back in different directions as the center head released a gout of fire.
âShit! Shooting one at a time isnât enough, we have to overwhelm it so the damn thing so it canât fight back!â
âBut we have so little range!â Replied Joe. If he wasnât already red and sweating from the heat, the exertion would have had the same result. â*You* can aim at a distance, but Mademoiselle Blue and I have nothing of the sort!â
âAiming at a distanceâŚâ She thought. âHey Frenchie.â Baiken said, looking up at the beastâs three heads. âYou got baseball where youâre from?â
âWe do, yes? WhyâŚâ His eyes fell to the pan in his grasp. âOhhh, I think I see where you are going.â
âGotta make sure we can get a steady shot first. We could try ân get closer, but that means the damn dogâll be able to- â A realization struck her, and she grinned. âThree heads means three times the amount of ears.â She snapped her fingers. âHowâs about we put on a concert for this mutt?â
Blue cast a wave of noise that made the cavern shake. The pitch made everyone wince, but the dog in particular shied back with a still-vicious whine. They bared their teeth, but the sound had disoriented them, making their six stolen eyes fall out of focus.
Baiken grinned in approval, ducking ahead for a better shot. âHeh. Not bad, princess.â
âI do my best,â Blue curtsied.
âAlright, hold off on the noise until the dog starts acting up again.â She gestured to the chef on her other side. âAlright, gingersnap, hereâs hoping you got decent aim!â
While Cerberus attempted to reorient itself, Joe held his frying pan like a bat. Baiken fired a shell in his direction. The moment she heard the sound of metal slamming against metal, she twisted her turret to fire straight ahead. With two shots simultaneously, the dog couldnât react as quickly. One missed, but the other struck the I-no head squarely in the cheek.
âThatâs a hit!â She barked. âKeep your swinging arm loose!â
Joe managed to hit most of the shells she fired at him. Blackened patches already decorated the back of his pan. Her plan was doing the job though, as their opponent struggled to get its bearings and offer a counterattack.
âYou know- â he panted âperhaps- I should have- rethought my career-â another swing nearly singed his hair â-and pursed this sport instead-â
He missed its head, but the shell still managed to find a landing spot between the dogâs necks, making it yowl in pain. With the moment of respite, he slouched forward, trying to catch his breath.
âItâs gonna get up soon! We need to throw it off again!â The tank yelled.Â
Blue stumbled, putting a hand to her neck. âMy- my throatâs dry- the heat- I canât scream anymore, not right nowâŚâ
Cerberus was reorienting itself, still with vicious snarls on all of its heads.
They werenât quite sure where the idea was going, but any plan was a good plan right now. Blue thrust her microphone skyward. Though the cave was enclosed, the light of magic and the nearby lava made the starlike head of the device twinkle and gleam.
âCome âere, puppy,â she goaded, though audibly rattled. âPuppy, puppy, over âere!â
Just as planned, Amaneâs head began to pull away from the others. The remaining pair yanked it back, with the Romeo head snarling something to it. The Amane head snarled back, and within moments, the two had begun to argue with one another, while I-no was pulled along for the ride.
With the monster distracted again, Baiken rolled even closer. âA few more shots, just a few more shots should- â
Her weapon clicked to the sound of an empty chamber.
âAre you *serious??â*
âMiss Baiken?!â A frantic Jirachi interrupted. âAh, M- miss Baiken, Iâm afraid I couldnât- â
The end to that sentence was interrupted, but that didnât matter. The hoofbeats told her what she needed to know. She dove out of the way to avoid a trampling, and a shout from Joe said that heâd done the same.Â
Fluttershy was driven straight toward the monster theyâd been fighting, still driven by a drug-addled lunatic. At the last moment before crashing headfirst into Cerbusâ ribs, Phoenix yanked the reins and guided Fluttershy into a sharp turn. The poor horse, miraculously, kept up with the maneuver, swerving around almost perfectly backwards in one long drag. Her back hooves left the ground and smashed directly into the center headâs jaw.
âPHOENIX! Are you absolutelyâŚinâŚsaneâŚ?â
As Baiken looked on, Cerberus tottered forward, then crashed to the ground, miraculously missing crushing any of them underfoot. The force of its landing was enough to throw Phoenix from the saddle, though, and he was sent head-over-heels to the stone as well.
âWheeeee~â He trilled, rolling to a stop several feet away.
The manâs exhausted, bedraggled party stumbled to his side. Even Jirachi was winded. They converged over his supine body, and watched how his spinning eyes started to slow.
âPhoenix?â Joe asked.
As soon as any lucidity came back to his face, the man pinched his eyes shut and covered his face. âUghâŚâ He moaned. âI feel awful.â
âDonât doubt it.â âAnd Iâm gonna make you feel worseâ was Baikenâs unspoken addition, though sheâd at least make sure he wasnât dying first. Itâd be a shame if he died before she could properly kill him for what theyâd just been put through.
Barely mustering the ability to sit up, Phoenix put a hand to his head and winced. âAh- I donât- nh- remember everything hurting.â He paused. âActually, I donât remember much of anythingâŚwhat exactly did I miss? How long have we been here?â
âPhoenix, cherie...you are absolutely hopeless.â Joe shook his head and sighed.
This is gonna sound REALLY weird but I fucking daydream about your characters and the plot everytime I remember that your game effing exists! Which is...most of the time xD
Every morning while I eat breakfast I always go to Tumblr and just look at the blogs I follow and then BOOM I see your username and all of the sudden I remember some random scenarios from your blog and the possible outcome/s lmao
I just love your characters and everything about your WIP! I just want u to know that there's someone that often thinks about your game :'D
I'm both sorry and loving the fact your mind is filled with my game. XD So as a little special thing to add, just to add to your breakfast:
Zeus: "Surely, [Name], you are aware of your tardiness to work/school/appointment, aren't you?" Despite the seriousness of the context, Zeus has an amused smile hinting at the corner of their lips.
Hermes: They reach out a hand to gently nudge you by the cheek. "Careful, you're going to go bonkers at this rate." A playful smirk skims along their lips. "Perhaps a check-up is needed before you head off to your daily routine, hm?"
Dionysus: A small giggle erupts from Dionysus and they move their hands to cup your cheeks, adorably squeezing them together. "You're so cute, [Name]! Now I won't be able to stop thinking about this." Clearly, from their tone, it is not an issue for them.
Ares: A scoff escapes them, a wide smirk coming along their lips before their eyes gleam upon glancing on your doe-eyed expression. They lift a hand up, gently tapping your forehead in an attempt to bring you back. "Oi, don't forget that you got a lot of work to do." Their smirk widens to the point of baring their teeth. "Try not to get too distracted, cadet."
???: "Hm, hm, hm!" ??? playfully hums, elbows on the table and face in their hands. A wicked smile appears on their face and soon, they purr out like a cat who caught a canary, "Be careful, tweety bird," a fiendish smile comes along their smile and a sultry whisper leaves their lips, "you wouldn't want to miss a whole day because of me, would you?"
A merry band of mysterious idiots who will be appearing in The Decline eventually
All of them fully prepared to protect themselves from vampires but none of them know how to properly kill them
I was tired of Van Helsing being the only thing popping up whenever you typed in "Vampire hunter" so i went in and did something new
Practical armor. Ample neck protection. Those are called "Bevors" (I had fun learning about this lol)
Each one has a different helmet. Percy has a Cabasset, Keely has a Sallet, Wesley and Sage both have different styled Kettle hats
Every piece of metal is either made of or coated in silver.
Each one all specialize in specific things. Percy is the Scouter (Only because they can see the best out of their helmet), Keely is the Muscle/Tank (Only because they were the only one who could afford a full armor set), Wesley is the supplier and the "sneaky" type who usually does the banishing, and Sage is the "Brains" (but in reality they're massive snob).
They all came together because vampires hurt them in certain ways and like Kevin, are tired of their shit.