Five times Nocturne found Ink sleeping wherever they please, and one time Ink finds Nocturne
1.
The sun is just beginning to set when Nocturne lands at the entrance of the castle, shaking his wings out to rid them of dirt and grime from mining. “Ugh,” he gave another hard shake, dusting his clothes off and stomping his feet. Not that it did much, he could still feel the bits of rock between his feathers, but he didn’t want to go tracking dirt through the castle again. He wasn’t used to having someone else here, much less working on the interior, and had made a mess of the carpet last time. Ink had brushed it off with a laugh, but Nocturne had still felt guilty.
Leaving his shoes at the front, he made his way inside. “Ink?” he called, peering curiously up at the new light fixtures before looking around.
Ink was easy to find. A splotch of black on the golden throne, stretched out longways with her limbs tossed carelessly over the arm rests, head tilted so far back it was a wonder her head hadn’t snapped off. Nocturne quietly made his way over, wings shifting nervously as watched Ink snore away. Hesitantly he grabbed her shoulder, giving a gentle shake. “Ink? Hey-”
Ink’s head jerked up, “Whuh – ” looking around in confusion until his large, black eyes locked with red ones. “Oh, hey Nocturne,” he yawned, but made no move to get up, shifting instead further down into the seat. “What’s up, need anything?”
“No, no, just checking in,” Nocturne said, spine aching just looking at the awkward position, “uh, are you okay?”
Ink blinked. “Yeah? Why?”
“Isn’t that uncomfortable?” Nocturne asked, motioning towards Ink. “Wouldn’t you rather sleep in your bed.”
“Yeah, but it’s too far away,” Ink said with a little whine. Nocturne looked to the right, where a black bed sat not far from the throne, perfectly made and waiting to be used. “And I don’t have bones, so it’s fine.”
“…Well, if you’re comfortable!” Nocturne said, trying not to worry too much if Ink wasn’t.
Ink was staring downwards, tilting his head a little with a confused expression. “Where are your shoes? Did you fall in lava again?” he asked.
“No!” Nocturne said quickly, huffing when Ink continued to stare skeptically. “I didn’t want to track dirt in the castle again, so I left them at the door.”
Ink hummed, shifting to fold his arms behind his head. “…I did manage to get some magma cream a while ago, I can make you some fire res potions later.”
“Well, thank you, but I really do still have my shoes.”
“Hey, you don’t have to prove anything to me, I really don’t care if you did.”
“But I didn’t!”
2.
“Hmmmm.” Fingers skimming the backs of the book, Nocturne pursed his lips as he read the titles. Where was he supposed to even start? His hand paused over a book with a red cover, gold lettering on the spine. “Eret: The First King of Esempi?” Pulling it from the shelf, Nocturne turned it over and over, looking from it to the small pile of history books he’d collected. Compared to the others Eret was much thinner. “You’d think for the first king, you’d have several books here.” Opening to the first page revealed a picture of someone dressed in royal garb with a golden crown, curly brown hair falling over black glasses. “Eret, artist – ”
Nocturne screamed when a hand touched the top of his head, throwing the book as he tried to jump back. Slamming into the bookshelf behind, wings aching, his hand flew down to his sword –
Ink, stretched out on top of the bookshelf, howled with laughter, face buried into the crook of her arm as she trembled. She stopped briefly, gasping for breath, only to look down at Nocturne and burst into another spiel. “Your face!”
Nocturne sputtered, feeling heat rush to his cheeks as he let go of the sword. “Ink! What are you doing up there?”
“W-well I was sleeping – ”
“You have a bed!” Nocturne threw his hand in the direction of the front of the library. “We have couches here!”
Ink cackled, leaning over with a wide grin. “Y-yeah but – ” they cut themself off with a screech as they tipped too far and rolled off the top. Nocturne yelped, just barely managing to catch them, almost falling himself before managing to find his balance. Ink stared up at him in surprise, but immediately grinned. “Hey, nice save!”
Nocturne sighed, carefully letting them down. “You’re welcome, please be careful.”
3.
“Ink, do you have any – ” Nocturne paused when he saw the Brewing room empty. Weird, he could have sworn Ink was up here. Maybe she’d gone somewhere else when he wasn’t looking? Shrugging his shoulders, Nocturne pulled himself the rest of the way up and began to search through the chests. They had a pretty good supply of potions now, and Ink tended to keep them stocked well on fire and strength potions. Something he was becoming very grateful for the less he had to deal with lava. Why did the nether have to be so –
A snore interrupted his thoughts.
Sighing, Nocturne crouched down to find Ink sleeping under the desk, curled up into a ball so tightly it was a blessing she didn’t have to worry about snapping her spine. Shaking his head with a soft chuckle, he straightened up and quietly continued the search for fire resistance potions. With no luck. Frowning, he stole another glance below, wondering if he should just wake Ink up. But he looked so peaceful, he must be exhausted if decided to sleep here rather than head upstairs. It couldn’t be that hard to make a fire resistance potion anyway, Nocturne was sure he remembered the recipe.
…
“So,” Ink held the concoction up to the light, watching the thick purple glob slowly slide from one side to the other. “Fire resistance.”
“Yeah,” Nocturne said, rubbing the back of his neck as his wings shifted. Ink popped the top off and cautiously waved the odor towards her, face twisting as she recoiled from the stench. What he wouldn’t give to fly away right now. “It, uh, didn’t – whoa!” He grabbed Ink’s arm as they began to raise the bottle to their lips. “What are you doing?!”
Ink blinked, tilting his head. “Testing.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Nocturne asked, keeping an iron grip on Ink. “We don’t know what that’ll do.”
Ink shrugged, giving his arm a little shake to try to get Nocturne off. “Yeah, which is why I’m testing it,” he said, huffing when his attempts proved fruitless, “for all we know it could be something good, or it could do nothing. And if it does have any negative side effects, we’ll just go see Mordid, I’m sure they’d like some business. Or we’ll give Lichen a call, they have some odd magic vibes.”
Didn’t Mordid work mostly with enchantments though? And who was Lichen? Nocturne looked between Ink and the bottle, torn between trying to stop this likely terrible decision or avoid an argument. An indecision that Ink took quick advantage of, swapping the potion to his other hand and chugging it. “Ink!” Nocturne’s face twisted as he watched the purple liquid disappear, trying not to gag. Lowering the empty bottle, Ink stared at the wall with a blank expression, completely still. “Ink?” Nocturne asked, squeezing her arm when there was no response.
“…We should visit Mordid.”
4.
Nocturne hissed, shielding his eyes as he stepped out of the portal into the harsh light of day. How long had he been in the nether? Stretching his wings, he let out a sigh of relief as the warm sun washed over his feathers, a stark contrast from the suffocating heat. At least it had been a good trip this time, with plenty of gold and quartz, even a couple ancient debris. Keeping his wings out, Nocturne went to the newly made chest he’d placed down a while ago to dump the more useless materials. He wasn’t sure if they really needed the basalt or blackstone, much less netherrack, but at the same time it was always possible they could need them in the future. Better to have it now instead of worrying about it later.
Nocturne opened the supposed to be empty chest, staring blankly down at Ink snoring away inside. They groaned softly, curling up more as the light shined down on them but didn’t wake up. Looking between his bag and Ink, Nocturne wondered if he could get away with putting the items inside. Without bones, he almost bet Ink wouldn’t notice, they’d probably be more comfortable with a rock blanket.
Sighing, he quietly closed the lid and made his way to the crafting table, pulling some wood planks from his inventory.
5.
Nocturne, perched on top of a basalt pillar, wings stretched out for balance, clasped his hands and brought them to lips as if to say a prayer. Actually, he was debating if he needed to have an intervention, staring down into the one-by-one hole that went at least ten blocks down. Ink was curled up at the bottom, asleep.
“Ink!” Nocturne shouted finally, rubbing his sweaty face as Ink snapped awake with a yelp.
Staring up at him, the white face was a stark contrast against the gray pillar, black eyes blinking rapidly. “Nocturne!” she called back, making absolutely no move to get up.
“Why? Why the nether?”
“…we both know my answer.”
“The portal is literally right here!”
“Yeah, but I fell down here.”
Nocturne buried his face in his hands with a strained laugh, “oh my god.”
1.
Ink let out a low hum as it crouched down in front of Nocturne, curiously studying the others sleeping face. “And you say I sleep in weird places,” it said, glancing over its shoulder down the newly constructed strip mine. Nocturne’s response was a low murmur as he curled more into the wall, pickaxe clutched in his hands. It frowned, carefully prying the tool away before leaning it against the wall. Humming, it rested it’s chin on its knees, mulling over whether it should wake Nocturne up or let him continue sleeping. Ink wasn’t strong enough to carry anybody anywhere, much less up a bunch of stairs, across a bridge, and then up more stairs.
It didn’t like the idea of leaving Nocturne down here though, even if the tunnels had been lit up well along the way. Which meant there was only one option. Grinning devilishly, it took a deep breath and shouted “Nocturne!” then immediately “Fuck!” as a foot connected with its chin.
Nocturne jolted up, limbs flailing as he tried to gather himself. Heart pounding, he stared at Ink nursing her chin, face scrunched up in pain. “Oh! Are you, shit, are you okay?” Nocturne asked, hurriedly pushing himself from the wall towards Ink, hand’s hovering in the air.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay, fuck,” Ink said, waving the concern off with a grimace as she continued to massage the area. She began to laugh, smiling easily through the pain. “Good thing I took your pickaxe, you might of took my eye out.”
“Yeah,” Nocturne said softly, stomach rolling at the thought of hurting Ink even worse. “I” he started, but stopped as Ink got to their feet, dusting their pants off before offering Nocturne a hand. Hesitantly he took it, unable to help but stare at Ink’s chin. The paper white skin was turning gray and seemed almost like it was dented inwards, just a little. “I’m sorry.”
“Eh, don’t stress over it, I’ve had worse,” Ink said, waving off the apology as it began to cackle. “I was stabbed in an alley once, that was pretty intense.” Turning on its heel, it motioned for Nocturne to follow. “I can tell you about it on the way back up.”
“Back up?” Nocturne echoed in confusion, but still followed quickly after hooking his pickaxe to his belt.
“Well, I figure since you’re so fond of beds you’d rather sleep in one.”
“…You’re not going to let me forget this are you?”
hey guys! since theres a lot of new people here: i stream on twitch on a roleplay server! we're having a Big Fun Event at 6:30 eastern time tonight (abt half an hour from now) so come watch the stream! link in the reblogs so this post isn't hidden
Yes Mordid is married, yes they will die and kill for this and any Piglin, no they will not communicate this fact to anyone under any circumstances.
For Context, I’ve recently joined a MC rp server with the Origins mod enabled and I’m having a blast. Villain Arc ahem Faction Leader Arc go brrrr. Everyone who followed me for DSMP or other fandom content, don’t worry, I’ve still got art and projects (and maybe animatics? perhaps?) in the works! My output is just a lil slow right now bc time management.
AKA I am going ham on the characterization for this OC, and this is the cover art for a proper playlist for them. (The first one I posted doesn’t count it’s too Sofd and specific to their Piglin Spouse)
some short pawnduo fluff to make up for Bronstein-Larson (im not sorry):
li can tell that caro's struggling to keep her mouth shut; caro might be a chess genius, but her face has always been an open book, and li can tell.
"i'm about to make a terrible move, aren't i?"
caro, to her credit, says nothing. li sighs.
"well, if i die, i die." she sets down the queen, and in a flash, it's gone, replaced by a black piece and caro's smug smile.
"bishops can move diagonally."
"i noticed."
and then they're laughing, loud and bubbly and free, outside in the garden that smells like growing things and feels cool enough that they can almost forget the oppressive heat.
almost.
the giggles die down as the sun peeks out from behind the clouds, illuminating the board as li inspects it.
"you know the exact move i should make right now, don't you?"
there's a twinkle in caro's eye.
li's eyes narrow as she studies the board. it's almost the endgame now, and for once, despite having lost her queen, she thinks she might be able to claw out a victory.
she picks up a pawn and moves it forward.
caro's eyes widen, just for a second, and li smiles.
she can win this. she *will* win this.
it's a few more tense moves before she strikes.
"checkmate!" li crows. "it only took 341 games, but i *fucking* did it!"
"yeah!" caro holds her hand up for a high-five, but li just stands up and leans across the table, wrapping her arms around caro, pulling her into a hug.
she intends it to be short, quick, but caro grabs on and doesn't let go, and it's nice. it's really nice. li doesn't remember the last time she's had something this nice.
"best two out of three?" caro challenges as they let go, resetting the pieces.
