Made a necklace! It’s fool’s gold (sparklier in person) and imperfect quartz crystals. They suit each other, both in looks and in being considered worthless.

This looks way better in person, it’s too shiny for my phone camera.

Made myself some earrings to match the necklace earlier. Dime-sized split ammonite, a couple of beads, some copper wire, a pair of bronze-colored earring hooks, and about 10 minutes.

The mat under them is this cool silicone-esque mat that’s gently sticky, so you can put beads and stuff on it and nothing rolls bounces off of or rolls away from you.

I made a necklace!
The pendant at the bottom is a fossilized tooth from the rostrum (saw) of a giant sawfish. The necklace is strung on thin wire instead of string, and it’s in segments, so each section can move a bit.

Slightly over a thousand words of Alzu waking up with a boner and using it as a teaching opportunity for a living suit of armor. No warnings, there’s just a werewolf jerking off for an audience of one. A knot is present but is not put to proper use due to lack of somewhere to put it.

I don’t know, it’s past midnight and I thought this might be cute.

“Nnh- hm, eh, Almul. ‘Lo. ‘s up?”

Alzu panted a lazy grin up at the suit of armor sitting on his
legs, head lolling to the side, then blinked and glanced down at his crotch. “Ah.
‘s me. I’m up.” He cackled, tail wagging absently as he got a look at his own
crotch, and glanced up at Almul after a moment. “Eh- oh, right. Ya ain’t got
tha’, wouldn’- yeah, m’kay, y’ wann’ see?”

Almul had already been tugging on Alzu’s waistband with a
clawtip, and they responded to the question by nodding and pulling a bit harder.
Clearly, something was going on, and they wanted to know what. There was, what-
okay, right, people had things in their pants, but- this was something a bit more than usual, wasn’t it?

“Yeah- a’ight. ‘ere- okay. So- I tol’ ya ‘bout masturbatin’,
yeah? M’kay- that iiis-“

Alzu wriggled around until he was comfortable on his back
again, now with Almul sitting between his legs, and worked his shorts down off
of his hips until Almul could see properly. “Yeah. Tha’ is wha’ we call an
erection. Mos’ people jus’ say ‘boner’, though, slang term’n’all. So- ‘ere.
Real careful, ya got sharp bits, bu’ touch.”

Well.

Almul tilted their head to the side, slowly reaching out
with one hand, and pressed the side of their finger against the tip of Alzu’s
shaft- trying to touch without bringing any sharp bits too close. They didn’t
like the texture, though, and withdrew with an unhappy squawk of metal on
metal. Too smooth, no thank you- too much like the sort of skin they didn’t
like.

“Ah, eh- yeah, ‘s all- ain’t got fur there. Sorry. Bu’, tha’
aside- ya wanna demonstration? Yeah?” Alzu rumbled, tail thumping happily, and
slowly wrapped a hand around his cock. He’d explained sex to Almul earlier, as
much as possible without overwhelming them, but- nothing better than a
practical demonstration. “M’kay. So- sometimes this ‘appens. People wi’ bits
jus’ wake up wi’ their bits goin’. Sometimes it’s cos’a sexy dreams, sometimes
cos’a nothin’. Me, t’day, nothin’. Jus’woke up like this. Sit back- ya watch.”

Hey, he didn’t have anything to do right now, he could
indulge. Especially since it would be educational for his very curious friend.

Tail waving softly, Alzu grinned up at Almul, offering a
good look at his body language, then ran a fingertip softly over the six narrow
slits at the very tip of his cock. “Now… these’re only on th’ Lyca. Lookit-
drip slick stuff, see? ‘Cos it ain’t any fun I’ everythin’s dry, y’gotta have slippery,
so. ‘s usually th’ females o’ whatever species tha’ got the slippery, bu’ Lyca,
‘s both. So- rub m’self real soft an’ gentle ‘till th’ drippin’ gets down
further, rub th’ slick ‘round a bit. Then, mmr- then th’ fun happens.”

Alzu stroked lightly at his own length for a minute or two,
enough time to demonstrate that the dripping from the slits increased greatly
as his arousal built, then quickly slid a hand around himself to spread the
lube before squeezing around his shaft.

Intrigued, Almul settled a bit to watch, listening intently
as Alzu’s breathing sped up. It almost sounded like distress, but Alzu had his
tongue lolling and the rest of his face relaxed, so he clearly wasn’t upset or
in pain. Excited, then. Which fit, from what they’d been told about how this
sort of thing worked. But- the fluid was interesting. Not a good texture, but-
good to look at. Shiny. Shame it was more like skin than Almul liked, or they
would have been much more interested in touching.

As Alzu’s breathing sped further, Almul leaned in further to
watch until they were just about looking down at him, watching his hands and
the shiny fluid between his fingers. Interesting sight, very interesting
sounds- quiet moans, whines, noises they’d never heard from Alzu before.

Alzu didn’t bother to take his time once he saw that Almul
was fully intrigued. He rocked his hips nice and slowly, thrust up into his
hand, paused to rub around the tip of his cock now and then, and that was it.
As his arousal built, he added in the occasional squeeze around his knot, tilting
his head to look up at his companion. “Yeah- th’ knot’s made t’ lock in, so-
only does its thing if th’ dick thinks there’s somethin’ ‘round all o’ it tha’s
worth knottin’ in. Gotta –hhah- fool ‘im.”

Hindpaws twitching lightly, Alzu aimed a happy grin up at
his observer, shamelessly showing himself off.

When he came, it was with a soft, panting whine, tail thumping
furiously on the ground, and he tightened one hand firmly around his knot.

He was awake now, and it was a very nice awakening.

Almul chirped quietly in interest and reached, rubbing a fingertip
through the silvery fluid spattered lightly up Alzu’s stomach, then lifted that
hand to taste. Interesting. And- the sounds, also interesting. Really, this
whole thing was very interesting, and they rather wanted to see what happened
when two people got up to this sort
of thing. It wasn’t as if Almul could get involved. Nor did they want to, urgh. fluids everywhere and fur-less bits, but maybe
they could watch? Did people do that sometimes?

Alzu propped himself up on his elbows for long enough to
lick his own stomach clean, “Yeah- c’mere. Now ‘s f’ warm.” Alzu declared, reaching
up to pull Almul down for snuggles, then grinned and glanced down at himself. “Lookit.
Usually- th’ whole thing goes back all soft, like here, bu’ I got a knot an’
that part stays all hard f’ awhile. Tha’ expands, see? Wants t’ be locked
inside. So- gotta sit f’ a li’l while, be comfy, ‘cos pants ain’t gonna fit
real good yet.”

Okay. Almul allowed themselves to be pulled down to cuddle
alongside Alzu, happy to share the warmth of their life-flame, and slowly
reached to touch again- this time on the knot. Now that they were prepared, it
wasn’t actually as bad as they had thought at first. Strange, slick, but hard
underneath and not quite the texture of skin. Not that they were going to get
grabby, these parts were delicate and Almul was not made for delicate. So they
settled in, flopped on top of Alzu, and relaxed, resigning themselves to a bit
more rest before Alzu wanted to get up and eat something.

Brother

I have you.

One thought, running through their minds and EM fields and
sparks, pulsing between them with everything that they had.

I have you. I am here.
I have you.

Slender frames pressed tighter together, plating scraping
and paint transferring, and they sobbed out
a delighted note as they slowly moved to lay down.

They’d driven until they were exhausted, then found a
relatively intact building, slammed every door they could find between
themselves and the outdoors, and wedged a cabinet against the door of the room
they were in. It wasn’t wedged very well, though, because they’d noticed a
berth and they only had one thought between them.

Touch.

They’d taken a moment to cling to each other before,
watching the security camera feed of their captor’s already-lifeless optics
outright dissolving before the feed fizzled out as the toxic gases ate into the
camera, but that hadn’t exactly been intimate.

This? This was desperate, the twins practically tackling
each other into the berth, but they were pressed so tightly together that they
might as well be-

The same thought flashed through their minds, and their
chassis armor parted in unison, outer and inner plating sliding aside until
their spark chambers met. They stayed like that for a long moment, panting at
the onslaught of sensation, arms wrapped tightly around each other as they
tried to adjust, and then-

They were split-spark
twins, after all. Inner plating whirred softly as it transformed, forming an
air-tight seal between the both of them, and outer plating clicked into place
to lock them together. Once it was safe, the final, inner barrier slid aside,
and energy leapt between them as their sparks trembled, reached-

And fused.

A complete merge was the most intimate act possible for the
Cybertronian species. The combination of two sparks, two beings, into one. Potentially dangerous – but not for them, never
for them. They had been born from the same spark, had been one for the first part of their lives. That was not true now, they
were two separate beings, but-

Their sparks remembered. It was nigh-impossible to
differentiate the two of them on scans, needing a sensitive enough scan to pick
out the tiny differences in frequency, which was why it was safe for them to do
this. To merge so completely, with so
little preparation, and stay locked together.

They were together again,
truly, truly together, as they hadn’t been for centuries. And they could feel each other, feel familiar plating
under servos and thigh plating rubbing as they clung, feel each other’s
thoughts as if they were one. Because they were-
their combined spark was pulsing steadily as one, their field had always been one unit, and their thoughts
were in unison as nowhere else.

They were together.

They were one.

They couldn’t stay that way. As good as it felt, they weren’t
one person, not really. They were one, but it was still them. Not him or her or xi or they, them. They were different, after all, in tiny places. And that-
that was good, too. They’d dreamed about being just one being, before, when it was
the most appealing thing in the world to be impossible to separate. But now,
well-

They were together. That was all they needed. So they stayed
together for a long time, rocking slowly together and holding each other close,
and then… withdrew. Slowly. Their sparks separated, their chassis plating
shifted to keep them covered as they arched away a short distance, and their
innermost plating slid back into place to protect their sparks. Their inner
plating also closed, but they kept themselves locked together by their outer
plating, purring quietly at the soft rubs between their inner chassis armor.
Slick, smooth- pleasurable. More than that, familiar. Incredibly familiar. It
was them. That was the only thing
that felt like this, was them, together,
safe.

It took them some deep venting to settle back into their
frames, as always. They had to collect their identities again. Scissors and Syringe.
Duo. Two as one.

Together.

When their optics finally opened, they were both grinning as
widely as physically possible, pushing their faces into each other’s shoulders
and biting softly. Affectionate, as always- tasting each other, dentae scraping
lightly over scratched paint, getting as close to each other’s throats as they
could without one of them letting go. Their arms were still locked around each
other, as well, a hug that blended the two of them together until it was
near-impossible to see where their frames separated.

Brother.

I am here.

You are here.

We are here.

I love you.

Touch

No matter what, touch came first. Being together came first.

No matter how urgent the situation, no matter what they
needed to do or who was in the way or how much energon was on the floor, touch
always came first. A full-body press, at least, contact of plating against
plating, and more if they had even the slightest chance.

Touch and stroke and run
fingertips along each other’s frames, soothe hurts, re-familiarize themselves
with each other in the wake of everything that left new scars. Touch was all
they had- not their freedom, not safety, not respect, nothing else. Just touch,
when they were allowed it, and each other.

It wasn’t always something they were allowed. If they hadn’t
done well enough, if they gave in to exhaustion, they were kept apart. Primus
forbid one of them actually make a mistake,
because then the other would be locked away and hurt, and they wouldn’t be allowed together again to try to make it
better until the mistake had been wiped away and the project vastly improved.

They spent a long time terrified of making mistakes.

And then… they were free. Their captor lay dissolving in the
bottom of a closet filled with enough toxin to down a legion, and they were
off, together, and free.

Touch.

That was, as always, their first priority. Find a safe place
and touch, merge, press together into
one and hold each other close for as
long as they could.

Then, after that-

Raid a ruined mine. Find the massive drills, machinery meant
to carve out tunnels in rock, and take the laser emitters. The lasers had to be
downsized considerably for their purposes, but, eventually, they had a supply
of servo-held lasers that could cut through just about any barrier between them.
Sure, it would overheat, but that didn’t matter. The tool just needed to last
long enough to do its job, and its job was to cut down anything in their way.

Because nothing was
ever going to separate them again.

And they proved that, to themselves and to the world. The
first mech to try, a former guard of theirs, died messily as acid ate through
his spark chamber. The first wall to be placed between them crumbled and fell
under an onslaught of lasers meant to carve through miles of solid metal. The
same went for the next, and the next. Mechs who tried to order them apart were
threatened, those who tried to enforce it paid,
those who kept trying died. Walls and doors and air vent covers alike caved
before them, and they stayed together.

Until finally, finally,
they could stand not to be touching. Until they could stand on either side
of a table, not in reach of each other, and not start panicking. Until they
stopped flinching and reaching for each other if one of them made a mistake or
an experiment didn’t work out.

Because they were safe.

They were together.

They could touch, no
matter what, no matter what happened or how badly something failed.

Because nothing, absolutely
nothing, could stand between them.

Because they were together.

Drew a collar for @taestfulsins ‘ Oc Bundle.

Batter Up

fortheloveofsinkind:

This was not how sex usually went for The Batter. People who got a look at his equipment usually wanted to try it out, and- well, he generally ended up topping, for one reason or another.

But the creature he’d ended up propositioning tonight had made a very inviting offer, enough that he’d decided to give it a try, and he was not regretting his decision.

The position he’d taken was one he usually saw others in, but it earned him an appreciative growl and a long, slow lick up the full length of his spine, his partner panting against the scruff of his neck as he was mounted. And the frustratingly long foreplay suddenly made much more sense as he felt the tips of his partner’s twin shafts press against him, but the first careful thrust had slid easily, and-

At first, he’d been snarling every few thrusts, a wordless challenge to the lanky thing holding him down. Was there even enough power in those skinny hips to give him what he wanted here? But, well-

Turned out it wasn’t a question of core strength so much as leg strength. Which his partner had in abundance.

Which explained what he was doing here, bent over a desk, panting softly as he was railed by something with seven eyes, four arms, and a wonderfully long tongue- and enough flexibility to put said tongue against the small of his back while fucking him. Not what he was used to, but Hell yes. The Batter’s clawed hands tightened around the opposite edge of the deck and he hissed up at his partner, pushing back hard against Gravescratch, and stifled a moan as he was pushed back down. There were probably going to be bruises across the fronts of his thighs after this, but it was worth it.

A long tongue with a split tip ran up his back, then sharp teeth nipped at the back of his neck and his partner snarled down at him, panting hot air against the scruff of his neck. Four sets of claws dug into his skin from two hands wrapped around his ribcage and two locked onto his hips, and a particularly hard thrust drew a shaky growl of pleasure from him, plus an attempt to push himself back into his partner again.

A low, breathy chuckle hit his ears, and the jaws on the back of his neck released long enough for their owner to purr “not so cocky now, hmm?” down at him, grinding firmly into him and hitting some very nice spots. And he really didn’t have the coherence to answer that- but he tried anyway, opening his mouth to respond, and just… got stuck. Mouth hanging open, tongue lolling, fangs bared in the closest thing he could manage to defiance. The effect was entirely outweighed by the sounds he kept making, though, growls that were more like moans every time Gravescratch hit a good spot. Which was often, given how fast he was thrusting, and he was not going to last long if this pace was kept up. Not that he minded.

A pause gave The Batter enough time to push himself up a bit and glance over his shoulder, watching in confusion as his partner contorted to place one clawed foot against his hip. That shifted the lanky thing’s twin shafts rather nicely inside him, but the positioning was a bit odd, so what-

And then Gravescratch started thrusting again, hard, trading speed for power at an angle that was very strange but felt-

–oh-

All four of his eyes opened very, very wide, and The Batter’s back arched in pleasure, a shaky cry escaping him, then he shuddered and hissed softly as clawed hands cupped his face. His partner’s friend. Presumptuous. But the odd white eyes were nice, the cocky grin was promising, and it was very hard to feel even slightly indignant with two very nice dicks stuffed up his ass.

Especially not as Gravescratch shifted his hips and hit the perfect spot, drawing a cry of pleasure from him, and all four sets of claws dragged against his skin-

The Batter came undone with an unearthly shriek, lanky frame shuddering, claws putting long gouges in the wood of the desk.

Gravescratch held on for just a few moments longer, for one,, two, three thrusts, then bit down on the back of The Batter’s neck and came, keening quietly in pleasure as the two small knots at the bases of his shafts expanded. Not enough to be a considerable additional stretch, but enough to hold him in place as long as he made no real effort to pull out.

Blackspark grinned at the shocked-slash-pleased look on The Batter’s face, then purred gently, one hand sliding back to ease Gravescratch’s teeth off their handsome find’s neck. “Oh, look at you…” he murmured, taking in The Batter’s expression, and not even pretending not to be turned on by that particular face. Eyes wide and rolled back slightly, mouth open slightly, tonguetip lolling out, too blissful to be cocky any more. Perfect picture. “You like those knots, hm? Good way t’ stretch you out a li’l bit more. An’ you’re gonna need it, ‘cos I’m getting’ my turn wi’ you soon as he can pull out, an’… hm. What d’you think? S’pose you can take th’ both of us a’ once?”

…how was he supposed to respond to that?

The Batter blinked a couple of times, shifting slightly and pulling his claws out of the desk, and found his answer as he felt Gravescratch shift in him.

Teeth clicking together as he shut his mouth, The Batter took a deep breath and pushed himself up off the desk with both hands, getting his face as close to Blackspark’s as he could with Gravescratch still buried in his ass.

“Game on.”

Blue Zircon continues to be extremely confused, Gravescratch attempts to remedy this. Also, nature happens rather loudly. Part 2 of https://bettsplendens.tumblr.com/post/161343231179/an-experimental-weapon-noodle-obtains-a-very.

3281 words, warning for a “I am property” mindset.

Zircon woke slowly, confused, but couldn’t bring herself to
be frightened of whatever this was.
She had been… unconscious? Which should be concerning, but she was fine. Just… waking up. No pain, none of
that lingering unpleasantness that came with re-forming, body still where she’d
put it.

Uncurling a bit, Zircon rubbed her eyes in an effort to
reboot her brain, then shook her head and looked up at-

Oh, right, this thing with way too many eyes. Which… hadn’t
eaten her yet, apparently didn’t intend to, and was currently reading a… thing.
A small object, made of extremely thin pieces of something moderately flexible,
that had what looked like some sort of writing on each piece.

“That looks inefficient.” Was her first thought, and not one
she quite managed to contain. It did look
inefficient!

“Yes, well, I do not keep data storage devices over my face.
Besides- the locals here are only just beginning to migrate all reading data to
digital form, it is a rather recent invention. This is what they use instead,
it is called a ‘book’. Perfectly serviceable, albeit inefficient compared to
the tech you are used to.”

Having calmly explained himself, Gravescratch set the book
aside and looked down at his lap full of public defender, taking in the utterly
confused expression. “And you were
just asleep. Sleep is a state of mind and body, mandatory for the physical and
mental health of many organic creatures, which Gems also benefit from despite
not being organic. It is not necessary, but it is helpful for mental health, particularly
among those under high stress. Homeworld discourages it and hides the knowledge
due to it being seen as unproductive. It is something like meditation- the mind
relaxes, all conscious thought ceasing, and the body largely relaxes. Consider
it a reboot. You were terribly confused and upset, but now- better, yes?”

Zircon elected not to answer. Mostly because she did not
want to admit that, yes, she was feeling better now. Or… comment on her
emotions and what had just happened.

Except, actually-

What exactly, had-

Zircon had several questions, but they were all derailed by
something… chiming? Chirping?

The chirping turned out to be coming from a small, blue,
fluttering creature, something that was perched on the back of her former
hiding place. It would have fit in her palm, its coloration was startlingly
close to hers, and it kept making rather pleasant sounds as it bounced around
on two tiny limbs.

New question.

“…what is that?”

“Ah, there it is. That, little one, is a ‘bluebird’. Birds
are small, avian, organic creatures found across this planet. There are several
thousand different species, ranging from the size of your finger to about the
size of your torso, in many different colors. That is a small local species. It
is supposed to be outside, but it found its way inside earlier and I did not
wish to pursue it for fear of harming it. They are very fragile. I would like
to put it outside, as that is where it belongs, so, if you will pardon me…”

Gravescratch gently tipped Zircon out of his lap and stood
up, circling around the wall of the room until he was near a section of a soft
wall hanging. Pulling it aside, he revealed a transparent section of the wall,
which he opened- letting in a good deal of humidity, a gust of moving wind, and
more sounds similar to the first creature’s sound. “Yes, yes, here you are- you
can leave now, bird.” Gravescratch declared, turning to look at the bird- and
blinked all seven eyes in mild surprise as another bluebird flew in.

Both Gems stared at the new invader for a moment, then
Gravescratch shook his head, sighed, and turned back towards the window. “That
was exactly the opposite effect I had intended this to have, so- little one,
please stay in here, I am going to encourage them to leave.”

Zircon wasn’t watching the “birds” any more. Her attention
was now on the opening in the wall through which her kidnapper had just left. Slowly
standing up, she carefully approached the opening, staying to the side so the
strange thing might not see her looking out.

That was… a lot of green. A lot of bright, bright green. The
sky was a bizarre soft blue with moving patches of white, and the ground was a
fuzzy green that her eyes couldn’t properly focus on. This was far too large to
be another room, so- apparently that was what the planet looked like. Now-
which one was this? Had she seen any images of a planet like this?

She had not.

That was a bad sign. So was the lack of anything even resembling
Homeworld tech. Or anything coherent, everything
was fuzziness and rounded edges and-

Apparently the ground came apart. Her captor was scraping
away the green, revealing a layer of dark brown, and he did it with no visible
effort.

Gravescratch cleared away a patch of the green, then sat
back and stared up at the sky, waiting until-

After a short time, another few bluebirds came fluttering
down, landing on the exposed patch of brown. Making sounds very loud compared
to their tiny frames, they bounced around in the brown and plucked at it as if
searching for something, completely ignoring the lanky thing standing near
them.

A few moments later, the birds inside seemingly heard the
sounds, chirped in response, and flew outside, joining the others in the
exposed patch.

Gravescratch gave a satisfied hum, but didn’t come back
inside, just sat down and watched the birds- especially as more, of differing
colors and sizes, appeared.

Her captor was distracted. Distracted, and facing away from
her. With an opening to the outside still available.

But her captor looked very fast, wasn’t far away, and was
familiar with the local area. She was not made to be fast, and she didn’t even know
what planet she was on.

Running was a bad idea. It was a very bad idea.

So… was staying here a better idea?

She didn’t trust the strange thing that had captured her,
and she still had no doubt that it was going to hurt her. It seemed calm now,
though, whereas running would risk making it angry with her.

But… if it was angry, it might just get whatever it was
planning over with. Which, given that she had no hope of rescue, would probably
be better than it toying with her for however long it intended.

And this might actually work.

Staying here, she had no hope of escape.

Trying to run would give her the tiniest scrap of hope.

Which was something that she needed.

So, shakily, Zircon crept over to the opening in the wall.
One last check to be sure the creature wasn’t watching, then she clambered
outside, dropping to the ground.

She didn’t stop to look around. Partly because she couldn’t, her eyes couldn’t focus
properly on all the incoherent shapes around her. She just set off in one
direction, as quietly as possible, heading towards what looked like cover. A
series of objects much larger than her, blobs of nonsensical green patterns
supported by relatively straight grey-brown columns. Hopefully she could hide
among some of those. She just had to get there.

Zircon tried to be quiet, at least until she was away from
the building, but the ground kept making sounds.
Unpleasant squishing noises from everything she stepped on, urgh. Worse
than that, she ended up yelping as a small, bullet-shaped creature leapt out of
the ground and hit her in the face, and there was no way her captor hadn’t
heard-!

Time to run. Zircon abandoned all attempts at secrecy and
just bolted, panic fueling her as she ran for cover. Maybe if she just got a
head start, got ahead of it far enough, she could escape-!

Unbelievably, it seemed to be working. When she finally risked
a glance over her shoulder from between the columns, nothing was following her.
It wasn’t there. Maybe it- could she
have escaped its notice?

Maybe it hadn’t been watching because it hadn’t expected her
to run.

Well, she’d showed it!

Zircon had time for a moment of satisfaction before a crashing sound registered. Slow,
powerful, and repetitive- coming from somewhere in front of her.

Was that good? It might provide an opportunity to escape a potential
tracker’s hearing, but it might also present another threat. Except that it
almost sounded like… water.

She was a Gem of Blue Diamond’s court. Water was a good thing for her.

And she was too tired to run.

So she kept walking in a straight line, slowly, cautiously,
as the blue of the sky started to show up again and the crashing grew louder,
and she kept walking until she ran out of ground to walk on.

The ground fell away. Not even in a sensible fashion, with
hovercraft docks or any sort of transport, it just stopped being ground and
turned into open air. “Of course. Because nothing here makes any sense.” Zircon
muttered, staring out at the sky in front of her that seemed to somehow stretch
below the horizon, and-

Wait. There was a
line. But the ground was almost the same color as the sky out near the horizon,
except that it was moving, white
lines rippling across it towards her.

Oh, her eyes were not made for this. She was made to operate
in well-constructed buildings that made
sense, to process data at high speeds, not to stare out at messily shaped
things that someone had put far away.

But, squinting, she managed to make out what was in front of
her.

Water.

More water than she’d seen in her entire life, stretching
from horizon to horizon around the outcropping she was standing on. There were
waves rippling across the surface of the water towards her, crashing against
the base of the outcropping far below her. As she watched, a massive grey
creature broke the surface of the water, sent a white spout from its back, and
sank again, and more birds –these larger and grey- drifted across her
view.

“What in Blue Diamond’s name…”

“Oh, she had nothing to do with this.”

Zircon gave a very undignified yelp and jolted in place,
very nearly jumping right off of the outcropping. Whirling around with her arms
up as a futile shield, she backed up until she was right at the edge, trying to
escape the punishment she was certain was coming for her escape attempt-

But nothing happened. Her captor twitched towards her, as if
about to grab, but didn’t touch her. Just- waited. Staring. And did nothing.

It unnerveed her enough that she ended up blurting out “well?!”
up at the thing, then immediately regretted it and covers her gem with both arms,
which unfortunately left her with no good way to hide her face.

“I am not going to grab you.” Gravescratch rumbled, taking
one long step back, and sat down- out of reach of her. “Unless I feel that you
are in danger otherwise, I am going to respect your bodily autonomy as much as
I can. And I am not going to harm you for running, understand? You are not in
trouble. I do not blame you for running, either, although I do need you to
return. And, preferably step away from the cliff before you fall off.”

Bodily autonomy?

She knew what those words meant, separately, but- together,
and in this context?

And why didn’t her captor intend to punish her for this? She
ran, which is precisely what she was
told not to do- it would make sense for her to be punished, why wouldn’t-
not that she’s complaining, of course, but-

The only logical part of that was the suggestion that she should
move away from the cliff. She did so, forcing herself to walk closer to the thing that so effortlessly found her,
and tried to draw herself up as she spoke to it.

“You make no sense. Explain yourself at- at once! You have kidnapped me, why- why wouldn’t you- and- ‘bodily autonomy’,
what do-“

She didn’t want to get closer, but she did, moving slowly towards the thing as if drawn by a magnet. “And
what did- did you do to me? How are you
making me feel like- nnh-“

“I did not do anything to you. As I said before, little one-
you are a member of a social species, in a society that forbids affection. You
are terribly touch-starved. That contact earlier helped, and now, whether or
not you intend to, you are searching for more. Easy… I am not going to hurt
you.” Gravescratch rumbled, leaning in slightly, and pressed his muzzle to her
forehead when she was close enough. “I am sorry- I do not mean to upset you,
but, as I am not causing this, I have no way to stop it.”

Eyes shutting, Zircon took the final step closer, hands
curling into fists as she tried to fight the urge to get closer. She did not
succeed. The best she could manage was not hugging
the thing that had brought her to this planet against her will, the thing
that could shatter and eat her if it
so chose, the thing that-

That was explaining again. She should listen. Explanations
were good.

“You are not in trouble because your reaction is
understandable. You are frightened of me, and for good reason. I would have
been shocked if you did not make some escape attempt. Now… bodily autonomy. A
concept that is going to seem very strange to you, because it goes against
everything that the Diamonds encourage. It is, to put it simply, the idea that
you have the right to decide what happens to your body. You have the right to
decide who is allowed to touch you, what they are allowed to do, and when they stop.
You have the right to decide what you are comfortable doing and what you are
not, and no one, even the Diamonds,
can change that.”

Gravescratch lowered his head just enough to meet Zircon’s
eyes, or, at least, enough to meet her eyes if she would open them. “No one has
the right to manipulate or control you in any way, save only what is necessary
to prevent serious harm to you or someone else. Why I refrained from grabbing
you away from the cliff just now, for example- you were not in serious enough
danger to warrant me capturing you in such an alarming fashion. I am trying to
respect your autonomy as much as I can. Which is why I am not holding you- I am
concerned that it would distress you further.”

Explanations were still good. Except when they only made things more confusing.

The Diamonds were entitled to whatever they wanted of her.
Anything and everything- theirs.

Or… maybe not so much the Diamonds any more.

She’d been taken, removed to another planet, and there was
no one en route to rescue her. Which meant, legally, she belonged to… this.

So, instead of faceplanting into its front, she probably
ought to show the proper respect.

Drawing herself up as much as possible, Zircon took a step
back and squared her shoulders, looking up at the being who towered over her. “Ma’am.
With all due respect- in accordance with Right of Conquest laws, you literally own me. What you are saying
makes absolutely no sense. You have every right to do- literally whatever you
want. I- there are- there are some things I would not recommend, and things I would
not prefer, but- I have no rights
here.”

“That again.”
Gravescratch rumbled, eyes narrowing, and leaned down to properly meet her
gaze. “Listen to me. I do not have any right to control you. I did not earn the
right to manipulate you by having the skills to capture you, and the Diamonds
did not earn the right to manipulate anyone
simply by being born as a certain variety of Gem. No matter what they
claim, that does not give them any right to anything
they are doing. But that is unimportant for now. What I need you to
understand is that you have rights. You
have the right to tell me to stop anything
that you do not like. And I am not inclined to take orders, but you may make
requests. Go on- try it out.”

…what?

Zircon didn’t manage to restrain
her expression of bewilderment, mostly because all of her brainpower was going
into trying to puzzle this out. First of all- the Diamonds had every right to
do whatever they wanted, with everything that they owned, and they owned an
extremely large number of things. Second, her captor –owner- had every right to- again, anything. This made no sense, but-

There was an order near the end of
that confusing paragraph. Probably another part of this twisted game, but… an
order. “Try it out”, referring to, presumably, her hypothetical ability to make
requests of her owner.

So… she tried it out.

Stared up at whatever this was,
tried to stay steady, and spoke as clearly as she could. Which… wasn’t very,
given her request. “Hold me. Ma’am. I- I still
think something happened to cause
this, but- I want- hold me.”

“There we are. Good. Assert
yourself- I promise I will not be angry with you.” Gravescratch rumbled, all
seven eyes shutting momentarily in a gesture of approval, and wrapped his arms
gently around Zircon’s frame. Pulling her just a bit closer, he rumbled gently
and hugged her with all four arms, giving quiet approving sounds every time she
moved to increase the area of contact.

Zircon slumped limp in her owner’s
hold, shutting her eyes for just a few seconds so that she could properly bask
in the sensation of touch, and…
stayed like that for far longer than she meant to. Oh. Intimidating or not,
this thing was warm, and it was
supporting her oh-so-well, and she wanted-

She wanted to curl in close and
get comfortable and never move away, wanted
to stay like this and hold this creature and
never let go, and it scared her that
she wanted anything so strongly-

She wanted more, but she wanted to stop,
and the twisting desires escaped as a soft whimper before she started to
claw at her owner’s front- trying to get away, trying to hide somewhere so she
could figure this out on her own without being touched in a way that made her
mind want to short out. “Stop, stop-“

To her shock, the creature did. It let go, it stepped back
slightly, and it crouched, making no effort to get closer to her again.

“Yes, like that- good!”
Gravescratch crooned, looking genuinely pleased, and took a step away. “Come
on- away from the cliff, please. And, preferably, back to the building- come
inside and sit, enjoy the electric blanket, sit somewhere away from all the
nature so you can think.”

Her owner obeyed when she tried to make a situation stop. Now that… that had to be part of a game, some kind of
trick, some kind of trap, but-

But the ground kept making noises,
and little things flung themselves out of it at her, and she wanted to be
somewhere that did not have anywhere near this many living creatures. So… she’d
obey. She’d go back inside.

And she was going to use every
step of the way back to try and puzzle this out.

Reality in Gotham

Hello to all watching!
I have a very important announcement, but first, I’m going to have to explain a
few things.

First, you must
understand that reality is fluid, and it is greatly influenced by how it is perceived.
Portions of reality only inhabited by nonsapient creatures rarely undergo
considerable change, for example, and-

Oh, I should define “change”,
shouldn’t I?

Well- I don’t mean that everything in them stays the same when
they don’t change. Things change. I mean that what is possible changes. Not what could eventually be possible, through
improved technology- what will ever be possible, according to the laws of that
reality. In addition, the laws of probability are an important part of that-
and they are the first to shift.

Anyway- portions of
reality only inhabited by nonsapient creatures rarely shift because nonsapient
creatures have no imagination. With very few exceptions, they perceive reality
as it is, and only as it is.

Nonsapient creatures,
well- they get interesting. They have imaginations! They come up with things
that don’t exist. Now, usually, those don’t turn into anything. Either they’re
too much like reality, or they’re too far away for what human minds can
accidentally accomplish. But, sometimes, they hint.

Like those, oh, what
do you call them- cryptids. By and large, those don’t exist. The collective
belief isn’t enough to bring them into reality, but it is enough to continue producing what seems like proof. Because it
almost is proof- stories, tiny scraps of hints, strange things that don’t quite
fit. That’s what belief produces- those little hints.

And there are outside
factors that can influence probability, and therefore reality. Anything
improbable enough has some influence. My being here, for example, or the
continued existence of people who’ve survived things that should really be
impossible- people with things through their brains are a good example.
Normally that’s not a concern, though, please don’t go and kill improbable
folks. It takes a great deal of extremely improbable things in one place to
alter reality, and, usually, you can’t get that many improbable things without
there already being altered reality involved.

But, hm, I should get
back to my point.

I’m sure you know of
the gap in time, between 2 and 4 am, where nothing seems quite right. Now- this
is mostly due to the effects of a lack of sleep on humans, plus all the various
little things that are different when almost no one is awake. Reality seems
just a bit off. And that’s because it is! In that space in time, but only in
the parts of the world currently experiencing that space in time, reality is
askew. And it is that way entirely because of how sleep-deprived human brains perceive
the world, and because of how strange it seems to your brain to see normally
public areas empty of people. Because reality feels askew, it is askew.

Now, as I’m sure you
can imagine, this is where things can be dangerous.

Take this city, for
example. It’s absurd! Look at these buildings. It’s as if no one has updated
most of the city in a few hundred years. Everything is falling apart, it’s
crumbling and dark, and, oh, I can smell
the lead, that can’t be helping. And it’s full of crime. More than that, it’s
full of people who are extraordinarily improbable. Your hero is a man dressed
as a large version of a small flying mammal, accompanied by an entourage of
children in brightly colored outfits! This city has been held hostage by birds!
Actual birds! There is a man dressed as a clown riding a large robotic teddy
bear outside of- oh, my friend, your nemesis is here, you should deal with
that.

Nothing in this city
makes any sense, by the laws of reality that govern everything around it. And
that is because this city operates on a slightly askew version of reality. I have
checked the city myself- there are at least two creatures hiding here who take
advantage of that, but they did not cause this.

So do you know what
did?

Ask your neighbor why
all these things happen. They will probably tell you “because this is Gotham”
and then look at you like you are a simpleton for not understanding how reality
works.

And that is because something
happened. Something that can be termed a “mass belief event”. Now, it may have
been an intentional attack, or it may have been accidental- probably a poison,
a hallucinogen. The lead levels around us are not helping that. Or, maybe even
a serial killer- one with seemingly mystical powers who frightened everyone
living here. It’s difficult to tell, and probably irrelevant.

But, whatever
happened, everyone’s perception of the city changed. Gotham City became a dark
and frightening place, full of crumbling ruins, creeping scavengers, and
threatening figures with strange abilities.

Now, whatever did that
to everyone would have worn off eventually. But the city, well-

Look around you.

The city remembered.

Yes, places remember!
Patches of reality remember! They aren’t usually conscious, but things,
especially things made by other creatures, know how they ought to be. And how
they ought to be is heavily defined by how it is thought that they ought to be.
It’s why children can build things startlingly well from cardboard before they
realize they shouldn’t be able to- because children, and any other beings who
can imagine but don’t yet know what they shouldn’t be able to do, have the
power to alter reality. Just a fraction. Please, please do not try to weaponized
that, it has been attempted, it fails every time and it goes terribly wrong,
but that is a fact.

Places remember what
they ought to be. And reality shifts around them to help that. Cities left to
fall into ruins regrow nature more easily because they remember that they ought
to be full of plants. And Gotham, well- Gotham remained the frightening place
that its inhabitants perceived it as.

Gotham remembered what
its inhabitants thought it ought to be, and it shifted to accommodate. People didn’t
repair things as often as they ought to, scavengers moved in, and… the loosened
reality allowed for certain defiances in places. Such as your “supervillains”.

Now- if I lived here, I
would want to change that.

Do you?

Well, good news! You can!

And it’s really very
simple.

Stop believing. Start
questioning. Start asking “why has no one repaired this building yet? Why is
this man in a suit covered with punctuation marks still around? Why are these
people who are clearly mentally ill being allowed to escape time and again from
the same place?”

Start refusing to
believe!

If you are new to the
city- stop accepting it! Yes, the city is strange to you, and your perception
of it as strange can help to bolster the altered reality, but you have insights
into what other cities are like! Start questioning all the differences this one
has.

If it works, you will
start to see change, but it will not be as if by magic. People will start
refusing to accept situations, start trying to rebuild. Maybe… stop putting the
“villains” back into the place they keep escaping from. You cannot change the
past, but you can change the future, can push this city’s reality into
something a bit less Gothic.

Your perception of
reality is more powerful than you understand.

Use it.

Refuse to believe that
which should be unbelievable.

Refuse to accept this.