This is a week for fans to make bunches and oodles of awesome art and fics for everyone's favorite guy, Skizz Le'man!
This event will run from March 17 through March 23, mark your calendars! :)
PROMPTS:
S 3/17: Silent / Shout
M 3/18: Hybrid / AU
T 3/19: Ghost / Omen
W 3/20: Friend / Enemy
T 3/21: Stars / Hearts
F 3/22: Sweet / Sour
S 3/23: Free Day!
Each day has two prompts you can pick one from! You by no means have to do something for every day. Make sure to tag this blog in your posts for this week (and if you'd like to, use the tag "#skizzweek1" on your post as well)!
Yall this is my favorite day so far. Get ready for @skizzlemanweek day 5!
Prompt 5: Stars/Hearts - Double Life AU!
(Also inspired by this art by @fence-time )
Gathered together in a large forest in a small/bordered world, fourteen people woke up.
As they woke up, they knew exactly where they were: another death game.
Skizz hovered above them on a cloud, watching as they wandered the world, looking for who they were destined to find: their soulmates.
And it was up to Skizz to pair them together.
As an Angel, Skizz had the unique ability to read people’s souls. Not explicitly, like words on a page, but rather implicitly, like palm reading.
He could read people’s souls, and he was tasked with pairing them up.
He had been mining in his single player world when two masked beings with elaborate wings appeared in front of him. Skizz recognized them as The Watchers.
Skizz had been participating in the Death Games for a while, but he wanted to take a break.
The watchers promised that he could skip the next round of the games, as long as he helped them in return.
And well, here he is.
Floating on a cloud over the server of Double Life.
He was only required to be there for the first day, to make sure that everyone found their partners and that nothing went wrong.
The watchers gave him free reign to pair up whoever he wanted, and Skizz did his best to make sure his friends would be in happy relationships.
He paired his best friend Impulse with Bdubs - because he knew, (from conversations behind closed doors,) that Impulse already had a thing for him, but was too shy to say anything.
Skizz didn’t pride himself on much, but he was one hell of a wingman!
For his buddy Tango, he had much less to go off of. He ended up choosing someone whose soul looked most compatible - Jimmy.
Grian and Scar had teamed up before, and their souls seemed like a decent match, so he figured, why not?
(The watchers seemed particularly happy when he paired Grian with Scar, for some reason.)
He had made sure to read each of his friends' souls carefully before selecting their partners. He wanted to make sure that they would be as happy as could be while on this server.
And after submitting all his choices to the watchers, they told him they would call him when the game began.
And here he is, watching his friends wake up, confused, with sudden knowledge in their heads that they had a soulmate, but with no idea of who.
Skizz decided to keep his eyes on Impulse, since he had the highest expectations for how he’d react to finding his soulmate.
Impulse broke away from the main group, going on a brief mining trip before returning to the surface.
Skizz grinned as he approached a nearby group of people. One of them just so happened to be Bdubs.
Skizz was way too high up to hear what they were saying, but he saw Impulse give Bdubs a shield, and then give one to Etho and Scar as well.
Skizz was nearly twitching with anticipation. At any moment now, someone could fall off a cliff or get punched, and then, boom! It’ll be raining hearts and their souls will be touched with love’s swift embrace.
Literally. It’s something only visible to an angel, but it’s true! When meeting one’s true love, their souls are tied together with an invisible thread of love!
Or, well, at least that’s what he’s heard. The other angels back home always told him that, but they also said it doesn’t happen for everyone. They also said the term “true love” is outdated, as people can have multiple true loves, or different types of true lovers.
The soul-embrace that occurs only signifies that the two people have high potential with each other, or have a high likelihood of getting along. The soul embrace can also happen between multiple people, from what he’s heard!
But, according to the Watchers, in this world people are limited to one soulmate, whom they will share their health with.
And the soul-bonds are temporary and will be removed immediately upon exit of this world.
Which is a bummer. But hey! At least he has the opportunity to create long-lasting friendships through means of a death game!
Skizz shook his head to get his thoughts back and focused his attention back to the group on the ground.
Scar had just come running from a cave, several arrows stuck in the end of his shield. He spoke with the others for a bit before Etho handed Impulse a sword, nudging him in the direction of the cave.
Impulse peered over the edge, clutching his shield and sword tight.
Then he toppled forward as Scar pushed him, arms pinwheeling as he fell into the cave.
Skizz watched a pain signal hit Impulse’s soul, then watched with wide eyes as it trailed along a thread that wasn’t there before, all the way to Bdubs.
Bdubs jumped as Impulse fell, turning around to yell at the person who pushed him, but stopped when he saw no one there.
He grabbed Etho's shoulder, presumably asking if he pushed him. Etho was too distracted by laughing at Impulse to notice.
Scar jumped in the cave after him, and Etho followed, leaving Bdubs behind looking very confused.
Skizz giggled as Bdubs followed behind them. He flopped down onto his stomach, kicking his feet behind him like a girl at a sleepover.
Now he only had to wait for Impulse to notice, and then sparks would fly!
A few minutes later, Scar left the cave with Bdubs, and for a moment Skizz was worried he’d missed the big moment. But when Impulse left with Etho, his soul was the same as when he’d entered, and Skizz knew he hadn’t missed his chance.
They reunited later in the day outside the pillager outpost. Everyone decided to attack the pillagers and rescue the allays, and Impulse and Bdubs were both part of the fight.
Skizz thought they had figured it out when Bdubs was getting shot, but Impulse just shared his food with Bdubs before continuing to fight the pillagers.
They ended up cooking mutton together, and Skizz simultaneously wanted to strangle Impulse out of frustration and hug him with excitement.
“Your soulmate is right there!” Skizz strained. “Cmon, why can’t you see it?”
At one point, Bdubs took damage directly in front of Impulse, and he still didn’t notice!
And Skizz could tell. He wouldn’t see the full effect of the soul-embrace unless both parties were aware of it.
So it’s not like Impulse was just pretending not to notice. He was just that oblivious.
Which Skizz really should’ve known by now. He’d seen how Bdubs acted around him without a soul bond and still couldn’t tell he was into him.
They followed Scar to the ravine to look for resources when Bdubs got hit by a skeleton.
Impulse shouted and grabbed his shoulder, whipping around to face the empty air behind him.
He looked confused for a moment before turning to look at Bdubs.
He had an arrow in his shoulder.
Bdubs ran past Impulse to kill a zombie that tried to sneak up on him, and Impulse stared as he passed.
The zombie hit Bdubs in the leg, and Impulse winced as he felt the hit as well.
Skizz was on the edge of his seat, watching as Impulse slowly walked up behind him.
As Bdubs slayed the zombie, he turned to face Impulse. The goofy grin he was wearing faltered as he looked at Impulse’s face.
Skizz frowned. He wished he could hear them, but he’d have to settle for reading lips.
“Bdubs,” Impulse said, “I think we’re soulmates.”
“Oh.” He said, jaw relaxed and stars in his eyes.
Skizz held his hands to his mouth. The anticipation was killing him!
Bdubs’ face broke out in a grin. “This is amazing!” He held out his hands. “This is us!”
Impulse smiled, taking Bdubs’ hands with his own. “This is us.”
A green thread slowly tied itself around their hearts as they linked hands. It circled around their arms before connecting at their conjoined hands.
Skizz watched in awe as the green light from their souls rippled outward from their chests like waves, each one taking the shape of a heart.
This is everything I’d ever imagined it’d be.
Impulse glanced up from their conjoined hands. “So. If we’re soulmates now, there’s something I should ask…”
Bdubs grinned even wider.
“I, um. Would you. Do you… are we, like… dating? Would you like to? Uh, date. I mean.”
Bdubs threw his head back with a cheer. “Finally! Yes, Impulse, I’d love to date you.”
Impulse ducked his head and grinned. “Great. So, now what do we-“
Impulse was cut off as Bdubs lifted his head and kissed him.
Skizz leaped up from his spot on the cloud and cheered. “Yeah, baby!” He gave himself a high five. “That’s what I’m talkin’ bout!”
The soul bond glowed a brighter green as they embraced, even long after the kiss ended.
They finally broke apart when Scar came up to them, loudly congratulating the cute couple.
They walked away side by side, already discussing plans for their shared house.
Skizz spent another moment celebrating to himself. He always knew he was a great wingman!
He might just stick around and see how the other soulmates will do!
Skizz wasn’t normally the kind of guy to get self conscious. He was the one who put a smile on everyone else’s face, who showed insecurities who’s boss. But every once and a while, Skizz would stand in front of the mirror. He only had one that he kept covered with a sheet. If he didn’t look, he could pretend, he could forget, even if just for a few moments.
Now, he forced himself to look, to run his eyes over his reflection. Peering at the thick black scales that covered the outside of his arms and peppered his chest, poking out at his neck. His eyes kept going upwards, to the deep purple horns that barely stuck out of his thick hair, only the bottom half of the right one remained, the left little more than a nub. Skizz turned around, craning his neck to look at his back, at the two long and messy scars that still hurt when he thought about them too much. A tail that was dotted with far too many scrapes and faded bruises hung limp and numb against his leg. He turned back around, opening his mouth and running a finger along his teeth, along the pointed tips he used to spend nights trying to file down before giving up and going to bed with bleeding gums.
A deep sigh escaped him, a soft shudder working its way through his bones. He was in a better place now, he didn’t have to hide anymore. He reached for a pair of shears, putting the hair covering his horns between the blades. He took a sharp breath, he used to like to keep his hair shorter, why was it so hard to cut it? The shears fell to the floor, slipping through his shaking fingers.
Skizz burst open the door to his shared cabin, startling all his cabin mates into jumping out of their skin.
“Dude! Why are you running in here all crazy?” Impulse yelled. Grian glared over the screen of his laptop at Skizz while Scar picked himself up from the ground where he’d fallen off his bed.
“I just found the coolest thing ever! You guys are gonna love it, you gotta come see!” Skizz cheered. He picked up each of their jackets and threw them at each of his friends. “C’mon, get up! Let’s go!”
“Oh, you found something cool, Skizz? Whadja find?” Scar asked, taking his jacket and zipping it up.
“You gotta see for yourself, now cmon!” Skizz urged, gesturing frantically for Grian and Impulse to get up.
Impulse rolled his eyes and sighed deeply, like standing up was a burden on him, but did get up and put his jacket on.
Grian still hadn’t moved, having gone back to watching whatever video was playing on his laptop.
“C’mon, G! Get up already.”
Grian waved him off. “I’ll catch up, go on without me.”
“You always say that, man.” Skizz groaned.
“Yeah, Grian, we always go when you find something cool, or learn a new trick. You should do the same for Skizzy.” Scar commented.
“Ugh, fine.” Grian whined, closing his laptop. “This better be worth it.”
Scar shot him a grin, and Skizz made a silent promise to do something nice for him later. “It will be worth it, you can trust me on that, G-Sharp.”
As they were walking across the campground, Impulse perked up with a sudden question. “Wait, this isn’t gonna get us in trouble, is it?”
Skizz gave a cheeky grin. “Probably not. But who knows!”
Skizz knew that the storage area the ghost was in would likely go unused for the rest of the trip, but what fun is that?
It’s more fun to let them think they could get caught. It adds an extra sense of fear!
When they finally got to the storage area, the door was shut. Skizz firmly remembered leaving it open, and a giddy smile came over his face.
“It’s in here,” he said, and pushed open the door.
Everything was just as he left it; spirit box on the floor, EMF reader on the table, and all other supplies where they belonged.
Scar walked in ahead of him. “Oh, you found a storage area! This is cool!” He said, looking at all the various summer items strewn about. He wandered over to a shelf stacked with tennis balls, picking one up and attempting to juggle it.
“Uh huh, yeah. Great… storage.” Impulse muttered, flicking disdainfully at the table.
“You shut up! There’s more to it than that.” Skizz yelled.
“Can we maybe not yell in the place we’re not supposed to be?” Grian asked sarcastically. He stood in the doorway, arms crossed. “What’d you wanna show us, Skizz?”
With his attention brought back to the reason they’re here, Skizz noticed that the storage area was empty of activity. “Just wait,” he said, holding a finger up. “It’ll happen soon.”
A cricket chirped a tune. Scar fumbled the tennis ball and it rolled past his feet. A bird flew overhead, landing on the wall and calling down at them. It flew away again, leaving behind still air.
“So… is something going to happen?” Impulse asked.
“Well it did it before!” Skizz said incredulously. “Do something, already!” Skizz shouted to the open air.
“Oh my gosh!” Scar yelped, jumping back from the shelf. “Th-the the balls! The b-b-balls moved on their own!” He pointed to the ground where a few tennis balls were scattered.
“Scar, you dropped those trying to juggle.” Grian stated, unmoving.
“N-n-no, I didn’t! I swear! I swear I only touched one!”
Skizz picked up the EMF reader and darted over to Scar. When he pointed it at the offending objects, the clicking started again, and the gage went all the way up to five.
“I knew it! This place is haunted, homies!” He tapped the back of his hand against the reader.
Impulse came by and looked over his shoulder, brows raising when he saw what Skizz had.
“Whoa,” Impulse breathed. “Where’d you find an EMF reader, bro?”
“What’s an EMF reader?” Scar asked.
“On the table over there,” Skizz gestured to the entrance, where Grian was still standing in the doorway. Impulse went over to investigate. “They’ve got all kinds of stuff, and I think it’s used for detecting ghosts!”
“That’s stupid,” Grian blurted, tightening his grip on his sleeves.
Skizz blinked. “It’s not! Scar believes it”
Grian glanced at Scar, at the very real fear in his eyes and the barely-there tremble in his body. He looked back at Skizz and continued trying to disprove this. “No, ghosts aren’t real. They’re not. You’re just messing with me.”
Skizz sighed. “Alright. You don’t believe me. Before you write this whole thing off as a waste of time, can you do one thing for me?”
Grian seemed hesitant, but eventually agreed. “Fine. One thing.”
Skizz shoved the spirit box into his hands with an evil grin. “Talk to it.”
Grian gulped. “What?”
“Talk to the ghost.”
Grian shook his head. “I don’t- what do I even say?”
“Ask where it is! Or if it’s friendly, or angry, or wants us to leave.” Skizz put his hands on Grian’s shoulders, pushing him into the storage area. “I wanna test how this thing works!”
“Then why can’t you do it yourself?” Grian resisted, trying to plant his feet to stop Skizz from moving him. Alas, Skizz was too strong, and Grian ended up in the middle of the room anyway.
“Because this is more fun!” Skizz left Grian alone, grabbing Scar by the hand and pulling him from the room.
Impulse put down the thermometer he was looking at and followed. “Yeah, you got this Grian! Be brave!” Impulse called as he left.
Scar hesitated outside the door. “Are you sure we should leave him alone in there?”
Skizz pulled him the rest of the way out the door. “He‘ll be fine! He’s Grian!” Then he slammed the door shut.
Grian inhaled shakily, then turned his attention to the spirit box. A button on the side was labeled “power”, so he clicked it. He twitched when a static sound came from the machine.
“This is stupid!” He called out to his mean friends who abandoned him.
“Do it anyway!” Skizz called back.
“Do it anyway,” he mocked, turning to look at the spirit box again. It’s still making that horrid sound, and Grian knows Skizz won’t leave him alone until this gets done. With any luck, nothing will even happen. It’ll be fine.
Cautiously, Grian began to speak. “…are you there?”
The spirit box did not respond, simply continuing to emit bone-chilling static.
“Are you friendly?” He tried again. “Are you a ghost?”
Nothing.
This isn’t working. He smacked the box a couple times, and the noise droned on. “Hello??”
“I’m here.”
Grian screamed, dropping the spirit box and running as fast as he could out of the room.
Skizz and the others broke out in laughter as Grian bolted from the room, slamming the door open and panting like he’d just run a marathon.
“I hate this place, I’m never coming back here again. Skizz this is all your fault and I’m never trusting you ever again for the rest of both of our lives.”
Impulse wiped a tear from his eye as Skizz leaned his weight on his shoulder to keep from falling down.
Grian shoved the door open, whacking Skizz on the shoulder in his haste to escape the ghost.
“Ow-uh!” Skizz whined through his laughter.
“That’s what you get!” Grian spit out angrily, though he was smiling through the remark. “I hope you’ve learned your lesson, buddy!”
A lesson? This whole experience only taught Skizz one thing:
He’s definitely taking these guys ghost hunting again. For real, this time.
This was fun, at least, it was supposed to be. The whole thing was a joke, let's go find some ghosts. It was a goofy little bonding experience, they were going to wander around an old house for an hour, scare each other a few times and then laugh about it for a week or two before the whole experience was relegated to the absurd scrapbook that was their lives.
Now Skizz stood clutching a flashlight with shaking hands like it was the only thing keeping his heart beating. In a way, it was. He wandered through the hall, forcing his gaze away from the bodies of his friends that sat slumped against the wall, covered in… strawberry jam. Yes, that was it, yummy innocent jam. He wanted to curse Impulse for bringing them here, for suggesting this idea in the first place, but he couldn’t bring himself to blame someone who was now…taking a nap.
The door was now mere feet away, he could do this. Then the light went out. Skizz slammed the flashlight against his palm, begging the universe to turn it back on. Everything was pitch black, the dark silence squeezing him and stealing his breath. Skizz forced himself to remain calm, well as calm as he could manage. The door was in front of him, it was a straight shot to freedom. He walked slowly with his hands out ahead of him, not wanting to trip or bump into anything. Just a little further, he could see the crack of moonlight under the door.
Then the silence broke. A piercing and blood curdling shriek echoed through the hall, startling Skizz so bad he fell backwards. His back was now soaked with something warm and sticky, must have just been a puddle of jam. Skizz crawled on his hands and knees, not having the time or the courage to bother trying to stand again. He bumped into something solid, the door, it had to be. Skizz reached up, feeling blindly for the handle. There. He yanked hard, pushing his whole body weight into opening the door.
Nothing.
Skizz jiggled and jiggled but the handle wouldn’t budge. The screaming was getting louder now, if that was even possible. He pounded against the wood, willing it to swing open wide.
In one swift and frozen sensation, all his fear left him, as did his gasping breath, and his racing heartbeat.
