Sorry for the wait guys. There you have a cute little comic about the boys.
Manly trip v2 has three more panels for me to color. I got demotivated, sorry fellas.
Also I am grieving because I lost my old Hoa folder. It is gone, I decided to look into the disappearance of it and turns out that a windows update deleted it. I mean i guess from my deduction, unfortunately I may not go back to before that update cos it was a long time ago and now I have the patched update. It seems other windows users had the same problem. I think it was version KB5063878. So i am sad but I am trying to make new Hoa art.
Take care guys, i wish u the best and please wait for my comic. It should appear soon i hope
Lending a jacket to keep your crush warm | Clarachel edition
Rachel makes sure to keep her "cool girl" persona under check, to impress Clarice, with meticulous planning.
Rachel's inner monologue [in full]:
Extra:
I want to draw my other favorite HoA ships, but in case that never happens here are some footnotes:
Kingkay - Nick exclaims he is cold. Eric starts taking off his jacket. But he keeps going until he is top-to-toe naked, exclaiming that "cuddling via skin-to-skin contact is the most efficient way to warm up". Nick is into this.
Jalim - Salim exclaims he is cold. Jason starts taking off his jacket. Before Salim can say "thank you", Jason throws the jacket on the ground and sets it on fire. Trying to be romantic, Jason pulls out the "I'd set myself on fire if it meant keeping you warm" line. Salim is not pleased.
in an unexpected turn of events I have written a oneshot within @ctrvpani's 'sword and shield investigation' au, taking place in the modern day and depicting a little of the less glamorous part the job, it alternates between Eric and Nick's povs and is kingkay adjacent(written intentionally to be read either romantic or platonic to respect the way they're written in the original au, mostly it depicts a 20yr bond in action)
It's largely a quiet bit of character work, coming to 3.2k words, warnings are: flashbacks, grief, a general sense of dread, mentions of death, canon typical depictions of death/atrocities, haunted by the past(other dark pictures titles will be tagged if mentioned)
[a sword and shield investigation]
It was Just another day in the office, filing paperwork, combing through reports. Eric was cross referencing eyewitness statements with some of the agency's younger members when a familiar signal came through, an erratic distressed buzzing from a retrofitted pager that he and the original members share.
Nick had been exploring a site a ways out of the city, again, they'd found nothing there that implicates the supernatural but Nick was certain something was missing, enough to go alone if he had to. Eric excuses himself to read the message:
[Urgent. Found something. Come to site]
He stares at the text scrolling across the small screen, they'd all gotten in over their heads before, it's how they came together and yet... He swallows down the part of him that worries as best as he can as he gathers his gear and heads out.
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Nick stood in front of the cellar door, the old house was overgrown, abandoned, some teens reported unusual sightings after exploring the area but investigation had deemed the more mundane explanation of jumpy kids with overactive imaginations rather than a legitimate haunting, but Nick couldn't ignore the chill that ran down the his spine as he'd spent any amount of time inside... and now light emanates from below. He takes a tentative step, testing the stairs, this area had been inaccessible previously, aged crates blocking both internal and external access to the basement level. He knew that his hunch had to be correct. He'd messaged Eric when he'd cleared the entrance, they'd be a little time to explore before he gets out to the site...
At the bottom of the stairs he gets a better view of the layout, it appeared to be a typical workshop, the type an old man could spend decades building up just the right organised chaos to tinker in, it would be unremarkable if not for the lights strung across the ceiling, the house was reported to have no access to electricity in it's derelict state. A slight hum fills the room, he looks around, focusing on the origin of the mechanical buzz, his hand falls to his holster, his heartrate picks up as he steps on an old rubber mat. Instinctively he stoops down to investigate, peeling back the corner he sees a brighter light pouring out around the edges of a hatch. Nick leaves something to point Eric in the right direction and enteres the unknown...
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Sargent Kay's feet hit the ground, gritty sand crunching under his boots, his radio screeched in his ear as he checked his weapons, heart racing he throws a flare to better see in the tunnels, he calls out as he carefully advances. The light on his rifle picks up movement at the edge of his vision but he can't quite make it out. He turns about to see who's there and hears an unnatural clicking, distant at first, easier to dismiss as the echoes of crumbling stone, but soon it clarified, unmistakably seared into his psyche... They were close.
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Eric arrived back at the old shack as quickly as he could, perhaps a little over prepared, something had gotten into Nick lately, he wasn't sure what but he was determined to find out. He found Nick's sword and shield pin next to a hatch in the basement, familiar fear swept him but he did his best to keep a level head, listening carefully he digs through his pack. "Nick?" He calls down the hatch as he checks for any unnsual readings, chemical, electrical or otherwise scientifically explainable.
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Nick is back there, decades ago, he hears his own name and he turns to see an ancient Sumerian warrior looming in a dark hallway, low rattling breaths pouring from its dry throat, eyes glowing with such intense thirst, fangs bared as it prepared to drink...
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Eric climbs down into the lower levels, gas mask secured as a precaution, this area seems far more recent than the shell of a building above, the space was sturdy, well lit and clean. Had someone built this under the old house? It must connect to a secondary location to have been constructed without disrupting the above site... Nothing good could come from this.
He continues searching through rooms, keeping an eye out for Nick, the chemical readings spike as he reaches a narrow hallway. Nick stands at the other end, frozen in place, "Nick?" It quickly becomes clear to Eric that the other man can't even see him, not truly... His eyes far away in an unmistakable hell, his breathing shallow and erratic, Eric feels for the backup mask as he carefully approaches...
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The creature comes slowly, reaching out it's gnarled hand towards him, long talon like nails extending towards his face as fear bubbles up inside him, it grabs at his gun before he can take aim, he manages to dodge as it swipes at his face, it hisses as it grabs at him, causing him to drop his weapon and pull him to the floor in the process, it attempts to pin him down but he smacks it's hand away from his face, taking advantage of the moment to pull the creature down, putting his full weight on it. He was running out of breath, his heart beating harder than it ever had as he looked into the monster's eyes.
Nick is taken off guard as it's hand clamps over his face. He tries to scream but his lungs are filled with four thousand years worth of dust. He screws his eyes shut for fear of what would come next and when he opens them-
It's over? He's on hard concrete flooring, bright lights above and Eric below him, turning red. He sits back and Eric scrambles to get a mask that had been knocked across the room, putting it on and taking a moment to recover gasping for air before he turns back, sitting on the floor across from him. Nick's heart rate began to slowly return to normal levels as he puts his head against the wall, breathing the filtered air. "You were right about missing something, good job Sargent." Eric uses his old rank as he gets to his feet, offering a hand to help Nick to stand. "What is this place?"
"It looks like some sort of lab but... There's been some sort of chemical leak," Eric holds up his scanner as Nick adjusts the straps on the mask to secure it more snugly to his face before picking up his gun, "a lot of these places have similar layouts." Eric added. "So what's the plan, Colonel?" Nick asks despite Eric not being his commanding officer for decades now, part of him is still reeling from being back there in his own head... Eric had saved him in that moment too, then with his old UV wand and now his careful planning pulls Nick from a tight spot yet again and so he defers, he'd gotten a foot in the door and now the two of them would get to the bottom of it.
"The readings spike further in, eyes wide, we don't know what we'll find down here."
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Past the long hallway there was a set of stairs and at the bottom of those stairs a heavy duty door sits half opened, the vertical sliding mechanism leaving a gap of a few feet where the door is stuck, the control panel displays an error message. "We should jam something in the gap before we crawl under there," Nick suggests as Eric attempts to override the controls, "I bet that metal shelf is sturdy enough."
"Are you doubting my abilities, Sargent Kay?" Eric turned to Nick, even with most of his face obscured Eric was certain Nick had rolled his eyes. "I'm doubting the door, even if you get it functional now we don't know that it'll stay fixed," Nick makes a valid point, "you keep tinkering and I'll be right back." He said before heading back up the stairs. Eric watches him for a second before following him. "So, back in the hall..." Eric starts, trying to broach the topic of the chemicals effects, "you seemed like you weren't... present." He chooses the word deliberately, having a pretty solid theory.
"Yeah I uh, it was like I was back there." Nick didn't have to explain where 'there' was and Eric didn't push for clarification. "Your heart rate was through the roof." Eric helps Nick with the other end of the shelf, it's relatively light but would be easier to guide down stairs with an extra set of hands. "You almost gave me a heart attack, I thought I was under attack." Nick laughed it off but Eric knew better. "The chemicals seem to have an effect on adrenaline, potentially a fear based hallucinogenic toxin?" Ever the scientist he tries to make sense of the situation, the 'why' was bound to be the hard part. "Sounds about right, at least it's not burning our skin." Nick shrugs as they wedge the shelf under the door, crawling through, Nick gives Eric a hand to help him through after and then they take in this new room.
"Jesus..." Nick uttered quietly and Eric was struck speechless at the sight. A half dozen people lay curled up on the floor, the level of decay suggests they had been dead for at least a year, Eric turned away only to be greeted with the disturbing sight of scratches in the metal door, he held out his hand for comparison. "These people fought to get out of here... and now the door's just... open?"
"Eric, come look at this," he turns to see Nick taking an ID clipped to the lab coat of one of the bodies handling it carefully with gloved hands, "Recognise her?" Eric takes the card and looks at the familiar face, it takes him a moment to place it with the added years. "Delilah Wiles, she was on the team studying everything that was pulled from the temple," Dr Wiles had been the one to interrogate him on that day, he hadn't expected to find her here, "...but that was over two decades ago, it can't be related, can it?"
"The effects sure as shit felt related," Nick gestured around, "I wouldn't put it past that team to try something like that." Eric turns over the card in his hands, if it's related than this is a far bigger problem than anticipated. "The past never stays burried, does it." He says checking the readings, the scanner is maxed out, he'd have to get one with a broader range, the two head further, the signs of violence building... more bodies, destroyed equipment, research papers scattered about, Eric notes that one of the more legible files displays a column of numbers. 1947... 2003... 2019... Codes? Dates? He continues building his theories before they find a functional computer. "What were you hiding?" Eric wonders aloud as he enters the late Dr's credentials, Nick keeps a look out as Eric sifts through documents, transfering information in case of power loss, he doesn't want to lose the chance to decrypt it. "MG recovered, project resurrected..." He reads aloud, scanning down an automated log, "they found something in 2019, it mentions tests, which is to be expected but it sounds like the people running this lab already knew what they were dealing with..." Nick shrugs, Eric leaves him to his thoughts, it took time to build this place, he scrolls past construction updates through to data entries at the start of the decade and finally a string of error reports...
The first error report is logged as failure to correctly follow protocol, perhaps personnel rushing home without proper measures to ensure security, maybe even in case of personal emergency... The second error report is logged as an obstruction preventing the sealing of lab doors, posing an exposure risk to volatile materials. The third, forth and fifth error report is logged as automated systems attempting to circumvent the blockage to seal the doors, shorting out systems and activating emergency shutdown, cutting the power and locking all the scientists inside, evidently the lab was to remain sealed until another team assisted but the signal never went out, the individual who caused the error likely didn't even make it out in time, the system sending code quicker than the human heart sends blood circulating through the body... The computer was programmed to count the days until the biochemical materials had dissipated if intervention had not occurred. "The whole place shutdown over a containment breach..." Eric explains, "a few months ago everything came back online, it appears a heavily diluted amount of the chemicals has been slowly seeping out through the house ever since."
"That solves things with those kids, but..." Nick looks back over towards Eric before returning his attention to a door they hadn't inspected yet, cracked barely half an inch, "whatever this is, it's just as dangerous to the public, our jurisdiction or not." Eric finishes copying down the files and pockets them as the computer begins to display an error screen, flickering off, before taking a step closer to Nick, placing a hand on his shoulder reassuring him. "Rachel will have a better judge of what channels to go through to handle this, I'll call her when we're done here." Nick nods, Eric let's silence hang for a moment, they aren't in active danger but discussions about what's on his mind would be better had where they could breathe freely without the aid of the masks.
"She'll make sure this stuff gets destroyed," Nick agrees before his attention is caught by something trapped in the track of the door, he crouches down, tugging the object free, "It's... a coin? wait..." He stands inspecting it, turn back to Eric, wordlessly he shows both sides and Eric takes a moment to process the irony. "All these people died because a trick coin fell out of someone's pocket," he sighs, brows furrowed behind the mask, "it's like dying to a juvenile metaphor, 'fate was rigged against them'." Eric says with a level of discomfort, even if these people were working on something nefarious. Nick closed the two headed coin in his hand, Eric could barely make out the way his face scrunched in response under the mask. "Joey used to have one of these," he says reflectively, Eric never had the chance to know the man personally, having spent just a few hours with him before everything that happened but he'd learnt a lot about him over the years and even now he was learning, Nick crosses his arms recalling the late corporal, "He'd say it was lucky, that it was a reminder that fate was out of our control, that it won him a lot of bets... I never saw him use it that way, I think he liked keeping people guessing, whatever his actual reason was got burried with him... I think he would have preferred it that way." Nick takes a deep breath, before gesturing back to the door. "We're deep in it now, shall we?"
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The two men pry the door open as far as it could go, again keeping the way blocked from shutting them in before squeezing through the narrow gap. This corridor on the other side led to the last place left to explore and Nick already felt dread unrelated to the chemicals. The final door was stuck in an open position, labelled viles and vats of sickly green lined the room. "I'm not sure how long our masks are equipped to handle this," Eric warns, "we better be in and out, I can't get an accurate reading on the toxicity levels."
"Start running a timer, Colonel, we can't risk it." Nick suggests, glancing over at Eric to see him tapping away, the blond holds up five fingers to communicate that he's not comfortable staying longer than five minutes, Nick nods to him and starts searching for anything that connects this lab to his hunch, already he feels his skin prickling under the intensity of the biochemical toxins, he can't think about how leathal this area must be without respiratory protection. It only takes a few minutes before he finds what he's looking for. A written reference to something he'd only heard about second hand and wondered about the eerie similarities to own experiences since. "Manchurian Gold." He reads the label on the largest vat out loud, Eric swears behind him, "That's enough, Nick we need to go." Eric urges, the timer hadn't finished but Nick knew Eric was right, they'd learnt everything they could and staying any longer was tempting fate...
The two of them made their way back to the surface, nerves fraying as the fear toxins started wearing out the air filters. That first breath of fresh air as they exited the cellar was as clear and beautiful as the sky had been after the end of that fateful day. He found a place to sit in the grass a moment, mask in hand as Eric called Rachel but his thoughts were elsewhere, he closes his eyes letting the sun's warmth soothe him until Eric approached. "It's out of our hands now," Nick says as Eric carefully sits next to him, he knows Eric can tell that somethings been troubling him, it comes with knowing each other as long as they have... So he starts to talk. "Natalie's birthday was last month, I keep thinking about how old she would be, how far through her studies she would be, how she would have celebrated her milestones... Then I wonder if it's possible to protect my family, experiences like ours? They aren't common and yet a statistically disproportionate amount of bullshit has happened to all the people I love," he looks down at the mask, taking deep breaths, Eric's hand settles on his back, "the first new years after the murders Brad confessed that he believed he'd cursed the family and that it was his fault, I told him it wasn't true but sometimes I wonder if we truly are cursed, those boys did everything we said not to get implicated in that mess from the diving trip and yet the same bullshit keeps coming back."
He tosses the mask in frustration, he doesn't know what he'll do if his nephews get caught up in this. Eric takes his hand to get his attention, holding up a data drive in his spare hand. "I got everything I could before it became unreachable, some of the files are going to take time to get into but I'll comb through the information personally to make sure there's nothing that could threaten your boys' safety, Rachel will know who to contact about the deceased without tipping off the wrong people, one word and Kolchek would be keeping an eye on them personally, Salim too, we're a team, the five of us. Semper Fi." Eric finishes with the old mantra.
"Semper Fi." Nick repeats, feeling slightly better, he stands brushing himself off before helping Eric to his feet. The grief still stung him and would remain a part of him, but the loyalty and support from Eric and the others is a balm to his soul...
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@delurkr @komfort-kollection-by-kassiopeia @conra @kindheartedgummybears head empty on tag list right now unfortunately 😅
It was an enjoyable side project to work within a friend's au frameworks and I hope readers enjoy the sword and shield investigations paranormal detective agency thing this au has going on as much as I do 😁
