Chosen Stories From The War

Stay positive

Cry when you need to

“You. Me. In private. Now.”

Senuna’s words had not left much need for interpretation. Kon-Mai had no choice but to obey as she followed the Commander to the nearby tent, away from Drakaina and Aisha who stood staring after her. She wanted to turn back and look at them, but even with her back to her, Kon-Mai could feel Senuna watching her every move.

Content Warning: This chapter contains mentions of blood, mutation and psychological torture

“She’s not usually this quiet.” Annette muttered, playing with her own earpiece that was noticeably free of static. 

“Yes she is. Her callsign is literally ‘Quiet’.” Zhang barely lifted his head from the pillow as he stared out the window of the hotel room. The familiar lights of Hong Kong flashed like comets below.

“For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings, That then I scorn to change my state with kings.”

Since I’ve been slacking on writing (I’m working on it I swear) have more art done by the fabulous @haunterelle! Kon-Mai receives a rose from a very special someone, because by god that girl deserves SO much love!

Featuring Possum-Rai because we know he would.

(Content Warning: This chapter contains descriptions of blood and emotional manipulation)

Things didn’t always come naturally to Gur-Rai, as much as he liked to pretend that they did. He’d really had to put in the work for this, and Tyche was not making it easy on him. Parysatis was a…decent teacher, but a lot of her instructions fell back into “it just works” territory, and that led to some frustration as he sat out there in the snowy steppe at half-passed fuck in the morning, shaking his arm to try and get Tyche to fly off him.

“You can’t force her.” Parysatis said, once again. “You need to coax her.”

Tea time with Mom!

How easy is it for your character to feel sadness? What’s usually a good tip-off that they’re experiencing this emotion? (Physical reactions, movements of appendages, etc.)

I’m gonna do this for a character we really haven’t seen much sadness from: Senuna.

(Content Warning: This chapter contains brief mentions of abuse)

Camazotz’s cold heart didn’t hold much room in it for anyone. He had already relegated far too much space for Abyzou, and Bhandasura had stolen a chunk of it too, and the remains of it were far too dry and cold to make anything else out of it.

(I know this is a couple days late, but happy belated anniversary to @grace-kohai and her wonderful story! Inspired by a year of happenings over at the SFTD Discord, thank you for giving my Gur-Rai an even bigger family!)

Content Warning: This story has mentions of relationship/parental abuse

The station was quiet. The radio was silent for once. Malinalli was busy, working an emergency late shift after one of the soldiers came back with a Chryssalid barb in the last place you’d want a Chryssalid barb to be.

Dhar-Mon sat in front of the projection screens, staring at the map of the world and watching little red and blue dots blink. He picked at his nails, a bad habit he was starting to adopt from Gur-Rai, and stretched his muscular arms above his head to try and relieve some of the tension.

He didn’t like being alone with his thoughts like this. Usually it led to unpleasant things, nightmares and cruel memories resurfacing. But now, now he was just bored. Without his lover or any of his siblings there to provide conversation, the room was entirely too quiet.

Until he heard scratching.

Dhar-Mon stopped, briefly, listening for a repeat of the sound and heard nothing. He turned, and went back to work staring at the blinking screen absently.

Until he heard it again.

Dhar-Mon stood up, certain he was about to be overrun by Chryssalid hatchlings (or worse), looking around frantically. He did not need to look far, because something heavy pressed onto his shoe, and he yelped and jumped away, causing the furry thing to startle as well.

“Damned Jupiter.” He muttered, reaching down for his brother’s possum. “Pangu, don’t do that.”

The creature stared up at him, blinking at him with an expression completely devoid of understanding. Then Pangu shook out his grey fur as Dhar-Mon picked him up, holding him under his arm as he sat down in the chair again, positioning Pangu on his lap and waiting for the possum to settle.

“You must be quite lonely here.” Dhar-Mon muttered. “For all we know, you are the last of your kind.”

Pangu stuck his tongue out and began licking Dhar-Mon’s hand.

Dhar-Mon chuckled. “You’re quite a curious thing.” He picked up Pangu under the arms and lifted him up to his face, staring into his blank eyes. “What horrors has such a weak little possum seen?”

Pangu blinked again, and then again, and within his eyes, Dhar-Mon saw something. He leaned back, wary of the emerging light, but he didn’t even have time to drop the creature before those black eyes swallowed him.

At once, he was falling, wind rushing past despite nothing around him on either side. The chasm below him grew closer and closer, even though in the blackness, all was one, he could feel the ground approaching fast, too fast to stop. 

Then he was walking, once again on solid ground, strolling through the lit streets of an old city. Brick houses opened to lights and color, and to men and women laughing and talking in what sounded like French. On the corner, a young woman, black hair pulled into long box braids, stood bathed in the light of the ancient street lamps. Across the street, a tall man leaned back and blew into a saxophone, the instrument singing through the air.

The streets disintegrated, and suddenly he was within stardust–no. He was the stardust, his body falling to pieces and scattering across time and space and dimensions. The dust dissolves, atoms vibrating as they drifted apart, but still so close together. Heat and light came apart, and time faded into a grey mush that had no meaning, no reality. It was all there and yet it was not.

Dhar-Mon watched the atoms, glowing yellow and green and blue and red, and he could see them drifting towards a bright yellow light, where the quarks and atoms were all coming together, fusing, morphing into a singular shape.

The shape of a long-tailed marsupial. 

In the last moment before the explosion of dense matter sent him rocketing into space, Dhar-Mon realized the truth behind Pangu’s gaze.

.

.

“-Mon! Dhar-Mon!” The sound of a familiar voice pulled him from the blackness, and he jumped to his feet, dropping Pangu and almost falling over himself, had his sister not caught him with one hand and lifted her foot to catch Pangu.

“What happened?” He demanded. “Kon-Mai? How long was I…was I gone?”

“You tell me.” She lifted Pangu into her arms. “Are you alright? I came to ask if you wanted anything to eat and you were completely dissociating.

“I…” Dhar-Mon looked back at Pangu, the possum’s black eyes as vacant as before. “…I am fine.”

“You look pale.” She furrowed her brow. “No, you should go to bed. I shall take the rest of your shift.”

“I can stay.” He insisted. “It gets lonely in here, you will need company to keep you awake.”

“I will have Pangu.” Kon-Mai assured him, bouncing the marsupial in her arms. “And you look absolutely horrendous. I’ll not have you putting your health at risk. Go get some sleep.”

“I do not look any different than the usual.”

“I cannot tell if you’re making a self-deprecating joke or not. Regardless. Go.” She sat down in his seat and put her hands on the controls, ready to get to work.

Making his way slowly from the dimly lit room, Dhar-Mon spared one last look back at Pangu. The creature licked his pink nose and blinked, obliviously.

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Inspired by the SFTD Discord server.

“She felt a familiar pang in her heart, on top of the joy and warmth and safety that encircled her right now. And so, instead of answering, Kon-Mai buried her face in Dhar-Mon’s shoulder and let the fragrant wind surrounding them lull her to sleep.”

Chosen Stories From the War, Chapter 20.

This was made a while ago but I could never find a good time to post it until now. Sometimes, you just have to strong-arm your friends into drawing the Chosen siblings being cuddly~

The ice on the ground created a blanket of glass that broke and splintered as they stepped over it. Parysatis led the way, sure-footed after years of hiking these treacherous trails. Gur-Rai followed, almost as confident but with the dexterity of a child taking their first steps. He watched the girl in front of him with silent curiosity as she raised her arm and let Tyche land.