Thank You!

Thank you!

Some more:

Phil has been going to Techno’s grave because he was worried that Techno would be lonely, and often slept there.

Maybe Phil was trying to make up for leaving Techno when he asked Phil to stay.

On the night Phil died, he’d gone to bring Techno some blankets because it was cold out, but couldn’t leave Techno alone, so Phil stayed the night with him.

Phil only used one of the blankets for himself, and he froze to death.

Phil didn’t really feel it though, because unconscious, so I guess his death was kind of peaceful?

Okay, so, (mcd)

Osmp. Techno is a human who lives in the valley of hybrids. He’s living life.

Do people sometimes make comments about humans? About how selfish and cruel and terrible they are? Yeah, but they were hunted, makes sense. Can’t blame them, really. (They’re kind enough to pretend they don’t know he’s human.)

(They forget that he’s human, most of the time)

Things are mostly harmonious until the magical barrier protecting their valley is broken by hunters. Everyone evacuates to the bunker, which is actually really nice. Light is provided by glowy blue crystals in the corridors, there’s public areas like the kitchen, dining area, library, and there’s even private bedrooms.

But everyone is stuck, and there’s a LOT of hunters outside. Sooner or later, they’ll be found, and the bunker will be cracked.

So they look for a solution. In the armory, there’s a few magical tomes, and one of them seems to have the perfect solution (the book is black magic, and black magic always has a price)

Phil and Nikki look over the book as the two who know things about magic. They find the best way to mitigate the risks of the spell, which requires some careful wording about who the target is.

Philza does rounds updating everyone, and meets Techno in his room to tell him about the spell. They’ve selected the words so that it will only target humans. Nikki is setting up the spell now, and she’ll cast it as soon as it’s ready.

Phil is a little confused by Techno’s subdued reaction. But Phil is busy. He doesn’t think about it too hard.

Techno knows this kind of thing, how could he not? In the arena, so long ago, sacrifices happened every day.

Techno remembers the first time he saw Phil, thrown into his cell in the underside of the arena. He’d explained to the winged man the basics of how it worked, the fight for survival.

Only a couple months later, Techno is hurt, the wound infected, and Techno has to explain how the title of arena champion is passed down.

Techno has been champion for a few years, an unusually long time. But that starts to get boring for the audience after a while. So the arena organizers wait until the champion is, hurt, and face them off in a death match against the next best fighter.

Techno knows the next best fighter is Philza. Knows he can’t beat Phil in his current state. He’s glad that someone he knows will be the one there with him. That’s more than he thought he’d have, when the time came.

Philza refuses to accept it, and plans an escape for the championship dual.

It’s not easy, especially with Techno injured and feverish, but they escape and eventually make it to the valley.

So Techno understands sacrifice.

And he’s had a few years of freedom here. The best years of his life.

More than a human like him deserved, really.

Techno asks Phil to stay with him, just until the spell is over.

Phil says no, that as soon as Nikki finishes the spell, he’ll need to scout the area to make sure that it worked. Phil should get back as soon as possible.

Techno tells Phil that he understands, and Phil leaves to go find Nikki.

Techno collapses. He knew it was selfish to ask Phil to stay, but… he didn’t want to be alone. He knew something like this would happen eventually, and everyone had been so kind to let a cruel thing like him live among them.

Huddled in a corner of his room, Techno clutches one of Phil’s feathers close to his chest, and pretends that he’s not alone.

Soon enough, the spell settles over the valley, and Techno can’t seem to breathe. His chest burns, he fights for air, but it’s like the air doesn’t exist anymore.

Blackness encroaches on Techno’s vision. Things feel far away. He’s fallen on his side, now.

The lack of oxygen causes a hallucination. And for a time, Techno’s not there in the bunker. He’s in a bed after he and Phil escaped the arena, Phil is tending to the infected wound, promises of care and safety makes the room cozy, Phil’s gentle touch soothing.

And then Techno is gone.

Phil’s back from scouting, with amazing news. All the hunters are dead.

Now Phil makes his way to Techno’s room, knocks on the door, calling out to let Techno know that he’s back.

No answer. Weird.

Phil gets a bad feeling.

The door’s unlocked, though, so Phil lets himself in. Techno’s kerosene lantern is burning on low, and Phil turns it up to get a good view of the room. Freezes.

Alarm bells go off inside Phil’s head.

Techno is laying in the corner, and his face looks kind of blue, and this isn’t right.

Phil runs over to check on him, but Techno is stiff and cold. It’s too late.

And then it hits Phil. Techno looks the same as those hunters, with the blue tinge of magical asphyxiation. The spell targeted humans. Techno was human. How could Phil have been so stupid? Why didn’t Techno say anything?

The funeral is a couple days later, in a beautiful clearing framed by old oak and willow trees.

Phil remembered when he first brought Techno to this community. He had sworn to Techno that he would be safe here.

Phil was a liar.

Phil never seemed quite right after Techno died. He seemed to forget, sometimes, that Techno was gone.

Often, community members would look for him in the morning only to be unable to find him until later, dirty as though he had been lying on the ground.

One day after a particularly cold night with snow on the ground, Phil didn’t show up.

They found him later that day, Phil had fallen asleep on Techno’s grave, and never woke up.

Wow, friend. I give you permission to send me AU's and you send me something HEARTBREAKING AND BEAUTIFUL..Holy SHIT. That hurts so much. They think of him so much as "one of them" that they don't even realize they have chosen to hurt and abandon him. Holy shit. Damn.

So good, but OW.

Just wait until other people start paying Techno in teeth. Or just giving them to him.

Any time an animal dies they take the teeth just in case the weird godling with a dental obsession comes around.

Techno goes to a bakery and gets teeth sprinkled on top of his cupcake.

Silly fic AU where Techno is a godling who sheds tusks which are super magical (think unicorn horns) and Kristin is the tooth fairy desperately trying to work out how much money to put under his pillow

We need to bring back the athletics body type post

Meanwhile, in the city of angst:

A knock on a door, a boy answers, anxiously awaiting his father’s return.

Bad news is shared. Guilty. Eaten.

A tragic loss, a preventable loss.

A loss brought on by a boy’s lie, a false claim of innocence.

Accusations fly, and brother turns against brother.

It’s your fault he’s gone, it should have been you.

Words that can’t be taken back.

Grief for a father that they will never see again in the mortal world.

And now, the loss of a brother to betrayal.

Gods au

Phil lives in a city with his kids.

One day, his eldest child is accused of big boy crimes, the kind of crimes that get you executed.

So Phil asks for a trial in the eyes of the god of justice, with Phil being a stand in for a trial by proxy, which he can do because his eldest is still a minor.

If the god finds his child committed no crime, Phil will go free. But if Phil’s kid is found guilty, the god will kill Phil, but his kid goes free.

So off Phil is dragged to the high temple of the god of justice and blood.

Cut to Techno.

He’s doing his godly duties, visiting his high temple in the form he usually uses for these kinds of things.

He’s a giant hog about 3 carts long, absolutely massive.

The last thing he has to do is pass Judgement in the main temple hall.

The accused or their proxies are lined up on either side of the center of the main hall, awaiting judgment. Techno walks past most, the innocent, few are foolish enough to try to fool the god of justice. Those who do try to fool him, he kills painfully.

There are also the proxies of the guilty, though. Those who committed no crime, and only seek to protect their children. There are a few, and their deaths are swift, almost painless.

Techno comes to the last to be judged. Now here is a dilemma. He’s a proxy for the guilty, but he’s also been marked by the goddess of death for protection, so he can’t kill him. But Techno can’t let him go.

Techno panics a little. What does he do?

He has to serve justice, but he can’t kill him.

An idea pops into Techno’s head, and he goes with it.

Techno lunges forward and snatches the man from the ground with his mouth, pulling him inside completely, and makes a swift exit.

With any luck, everyone at the temple will think the man was killed.

Now Techno has to figure out what to do with the rather squirmy proxy in his mouth, though.

The man obviously can’t go back home, that would violate the whole god of justice thing Techno has going on.

Maybe Techno… could take him home? Just until Techno can figure out what to do with him?

Yeah, that works.

Just take the terrified man back to the god’s home. It’s fine. Maybe he can call the goddess of death to come pick him up or something. No big deal.

I adore this. Assigned Friendship at Death Penalty is such a fun idea. Especially when one friend is a giant terrifying diefic piggie. Does Philza know the god hog can speak? Will Techno's introversion lead to silly charade hijinks. Will Kristin find the whole thing hilarious because she was telling Philza that he needed more friends anyway? So much fun to be had!

Elizabeth Moon in the prelude to the first book in her three book series, The Deed of Paksenarrion.

I think my favorite genre of fanfiction is when the author says something like "this was meant to be 3 chapters but it's actually going to be 5" in the notes at the end of a chapter and you can look up at the chapter count and it's like 15 or something

The stonks meme, but the guy is Kronk and it says stronks