Soulless Fawn

🖤 I go by she / her

💙 I own a ao3 Account by the user Soulless_Fawn

🖤 I am LGBTQ+ friendly. I will not tolerate hate on this page.

💙 I’m totally fine with art / stories that are inspired by my own. If you do make something, please credit me accordingly.

🌙 Fandoms I’m heavily into right now: Criminal Minds, Last life/3rd Life/Double Life/Limited Life, Hermitcraft, FNAF, Avatar / The Legend Of Korra, Avatar (blue people), Percy Jackson, Supernatural, QSMP and Generation Loss.

“Tango’s tied up in the basement.” Etho announces as he walks into the room. He lowers his respiratory from his face, red marks outlining where the equipment sat. His eyes were watery, but weren’t they all? Pearl looks up from where she’s reloading her postal, eyes flicking from Etho’s to his.

Grian stands at the kitchen table, maps sprawled out with etchings all over. Towns no longer livable, cities that have been ransacked. Potential safe havens. Jimmy and Scar stand with him, all trying to think of what to do next.

What happened to Tango happened too quickly. One moment Etho was leading them to an outpost BDubs had told them about over the radio, the next Mobs were chasing them. Having come out of a nearby sewer drain. It was a hoard not any of them could face. So they ran. Grian doesn’t want to say it was everyone for themselves but…

Jimmy fell behind, due to an old injury. He couldn’t keep up. Tango, of course, got in between him and the hoard. He got bitten. Now he’s turning.

Jimmy squeezes his eyes shut. “It’s all my fault—“

“It’s no one’s fault.” Scar cuts him off, looking over. He’s holding a red marker, taking note of potential Mob sites on their path. “And Tango might be a hybrid, like Grian.” He flinches at the word. Like Scar shot him in the chest. It feels like it, the way the sentence hangs heavy in the air.

Hybrids weren’t immune to a Mob bite, no one was. They kept their minds, though. Becoming something no longer human, but not feral either. He hugs his arms around himself, hand gripping the teeth imprints he knew laid out across his forearm. Red, blue and yellow feathers sit unkept down his spine. Claws he can’t seem to keep clipped pressing into his sleeves.

“Let’s hope.” Pearl says, drawing him from his thoughts.

There’s a lot of things to hope for, really. Hope Tango’s a hybrid, hope he’s peaceful or a neutral Mob type, hope Tango’s turning isn’t as painful as his own. Hope that even if all else fails, Grian isn’t the one who’ll have to kill him. Because he’s a cowered and he knows he wouldn’t be able to do it.

“I’ll take the first watch.” Grian says, turning to grab his shotgun from the kitchen counter. “You guys get some sleep.”

It’s the next day that the screaming starts. Tango’s voice reverberated through the aging house they took as their own. It doesn’t last long. Not because he’s no longer in pain but because his vocal cords fry out. On day two, Scar tries to bring him some water. Scar ends up coming back saying a simple “He threw it at me.” Before fleeing outside for some fresh air.

On day three the house burns down. Him and Scar have to drag Jimmy by the shoulders out of the house. The man is screaming about not leaving Tango in there to burn. All alone. He tries to block out the man’s sobs when they pin him to the ground outside. The flames were licking at the windows. Grain doesn’t even understand what started the fire until he sees movement in the rubble.

Out from the ashes he sees Tango, or at least what was his friend, in a raging ball of flames.

“Blaze!” Pearl screams, eyes wide.

And Grian's cowered, so when his friends drew out their guns the only thing he could do was hold onto Jimmy. Hope his eyes were closed and wonder if given the chance, would Tango have been a hybrid? Would he have smiled at them and said he was fine? Or would he have burned them all, found a Nether hoard to roam with and be a Mob?

How am I supposed to explain this to him. He already calls be weird. >.<

Okay so I’m at my grandpas house and he wants a blueberry cheesecake. Great, I can do that. I bring some stuff from home and once it’s the second day, I start making the cheesecake. No vanilla. Now I’m like, wtf do I do this guy has nothing pertaining to baking. I see maple syrup. Boom, idea, I use maple syrup to flavour the cheesecake base. Now I’m making the crust. I melt 260g of butter for 300g of gram crackers…I don’t know what’s up with me because instead of adding the butter slowly to a bowl of gram crackers until it’s perfect and saving the rest, I dump the whole bag of crumbs into the butter and mix. I must be fucking crazy because that’s WAY TOO MUCH BUTTER. AND I KNOW THIS. And I don’t have any extra gram cracker crumbs. It won’t bake out, the butter is just in there now. I try adding cornstarch, you know, because apparently I’m insane now, to the crumbs. My thoguht process is to thicken it up, so the butter isn’t soup in there. I’m fucking doomed. This abomination is in the oven now and I’m waiting for my timer to go off like a bomb. He’s going to think I’m an idiot. Wtf have I done.

The dogs were howling. Pearl runs her hands through Tilly’s fur as her sisters tried to ravage the moon. Of course they didn’t get very far, barking at the night sky that was in their eyes just out of reach.

“Tomorrow everything changes.” Pearl says to herself. A chilling wind pushes past and she shivers. Her holed covered cloak a stark red against the forestry.

Tilly licks at her hands, nuzzling her. Scars run like rivers across her skin, breaking up her fur. Her daughter looks more like a mosaic put back together than anything. She nips at her ring finger and Pearl looks down. A bright green string swings loosely in the wind.

It never tugs, never hums. Occasionally it burns, racking her body with a pain not hers. Reminding her who she’s tied to. Scott didn’t want her. She was too wild for a man like him. But in a world like this doesn’t it advantage you to be a little crazy? Willing to do the worst?

People kill each other here and yet he finds a problem with her.

“Maybe I’m not worth it.” Pearl says, eyes welling up with tears. Curling in on herself she hugs her hand close to her chest.

Across the map, Scott feels the burn of pain through his string. He readies himself to hurt, but instead he’s met with tears sliding down his cheeks.

.

The hunt has started. Her pack is smaller now, red staining white. Pearl moves through the forest swiftly, cloak bellowing behind her. She doesn’t trip or falter.

“Where are you?” She grins, eyes scanning the ever blurring trees.

Players were dropping off the board faster than she expected. Though she doesn’t mind. More deaths mean a higher chance of surviving.

In the back of her mind, her subconscious reminds her that she’s living not only for herself. The longer she makes it, the more people fall off the edge, the higher chance Scott survives.

Tilly growls, head snapping to the side. With her the other dogs whirl left. Pearl skids to a stop and dawns her diamond sword. The bush shifts and out tumbles Grian.

The avian lets out an ‘oof’ as he lands face first in the grass. “Grian?” She voices, knuckles turning white with a harder grip.

Grian jolts to his feet, unsheathing his weapon. Her dogs growl in warning. “Pearl.” He voices back, head on a swivel. His iris was red, like her own, both speckled with blue. A reminder of the kinder eyes they both once had. “Have you seen Scar?” He asks hesitantly.

The question plunges her into cold water, shocking her for a second. No ‘please get out of my way’ or ‘are we doing this?’ Just…concern fid his soulmate.

Out of everyone she expects Grian to care about his soulmate the least. He was a cheater. Everyone knew it, it was no secret. Yet here he in asking her where Scar is.

“I haven’t seen him.” She says, eyes darting over Grian’s armor. Only half is enchanted. Not that hers is much better. Still with her pack she’s fair better then him in a fight.

Grian’s wings shake out a little. “Okay. I’ll uh, I’ll get going then.” He says, shuffling to the side. Pearl lets him.

They keep looking at each other until he’s past lunging distance. Once far enough he turns on his heels and runs off further into the forests.

Standing there for a moment she tries to regain her bloodlust. It doesn’t show, sitting lowly in her chest. It twists into something ugly and mellow.

Villy pokes at her hand with her nose and Pearl continues moving.

.

She finds Scott last. Everyone else is dead. Bodies being slowly reclaimed by the dirt. Soul ties broken. It’s just her and Scott.

Her soulmate.

“Pearl.” He says. She can’t tell if it’s a greeting or a warning. His eyes flick to her blade then back to her eyes.

Villy stands next to her, panting. They’ve been through a lot in the past hour. Her wild pack was now down to one. That hurt more than killing her friends, as rude as that may sound.

“It’s just us now.” She notes.

“It is.” Scott replies.

Pearl looks at the way the sunset dances across his face. Orange and yellow hues dancing in his red eyes. She was meant to love him, or at least care. For a while now she thought she didn't. At least until last night. Pearl doesn’t want to not care, she just wished he did.

“There can only be one winner.” Pearl says as she raises her sword. Scott raises his own sword, feet getting into a fighting stance. He’s willing to kill her.

She barks a laugh, a smile spreading across her face. Scott narrows his eyes on her, shifting his stance once more. “What’s so funny?” He asks.

“You really think that I’d let you hurt me more?” Pearl questions back. Confusion crosses his face right before she turns her sword in on herself. “Peal wait—“

“Enjoy your win Scott. You finally got what you wanted from the start. A life without me.” Pearl announces. Scott drops his sword, eyes wide as he rushes towards her.

She plunges the sword into her chest.

.

It’s been…weird.

Pearl doesn’t have many friends off server. But after the last Life Games she’s started hanging out with Scott. Scott and her usually only interact during MCC or cross server events.

With the last Life Game everyone involved realized they can’t remember what happens after. Only the winner. Scott won Double Life.

Maybe she did something during Double Life that made him want to hang out with her? They probably teamed up. Or were at least allys. Either way, having him around was nice. It feels like…

Like he’s filling something in her that’s been missing.

“Hi Pearl!” Scott greets. He has a shopping bag on his arm and a pride shirt on. They were going to hit the shops before entering the MCC Pride event later that week.

“Hey Scott.” She smiles back. Jogging over to his side, they queue up for the portal train. “Nice of you to invite me. What is this, like the fourth time we’ve hung out this month?”

Scott looks away for a second, then back at her. Something changes in his eyes and his smile saddens slightly. “This is what I want.” He says with a sincerity she doesn’t quite understand. “You my best friend.”

“Thanks, you're my friend too.” She replies, tilting her head to the side. Scott’s been weird, yes, but she doesn’t mind it. She actually kind of likes their days out.

Would you like to see a turtle?

Turtle you say? 🐢

Getting his captain license was a long time coming. Xisuma’s been through schooling, sat through the slide shows and WHMIS training. He has his cpr certification for over five different alien species. Currently working on his sixth, but that’s more so because he wants to, not because he needs it.

Heck, he can drive through an asteroid field with minimal damage to a ship haul! He’s done it before! Xisuma even went as far as to get a recommendation from Grian, who’s a captain of his own space vessel, the EVO. Yet he doesn’t have his license, all because of one stupid rule!

Xisuma needs at least three other people to agree to be crewmates of his vessel. They need the appropriate training and certification and be legally tied to him for the next year. It should be easy, a lot of people love being a part of spaceship crews.

However, not many people want to be part of a ship where the captain is a Void Stalker.

“I’m sure you’ll find your crew!” Keralis says, patting him in the shoulder. The man’s hand is cold against him, though Xisuma knows the other runs hot. It’s just one of those Void Stalker things.

“I’ve put out applications months ago! My ship has everything a crew would need! And I even said I’m willing to change the rooms to fit certain species if need be. I think…Maybe people don’t trust me as a captain?” He rambles. His body jitters inside his Netherite suit, pressing against it. As if his frozen core wanted to escape.

Keralis gives him a look before sighing. “You're a new almost-captain, it’ll give anyone a pause! If I weren't already signed to work on a vacation vessel for the next three months, I’d be a part of your crew.” He says. Smiling in that off putting human way of his.

“I know.” He nods. Because he does know. Keralis was the best ship engineer he knew! He made things efficient and beautiful. Pipes were always hidden out of sight, writes were tucked in, and everything was colour coded. Down to the light switches. The man had even taken a look at Xisuma’s new ship after he bought it. Fixing up anything he deemed ‘not good enough for my best friend’.

Standing up, he stretches out his limbs. His suit creeks with the action. “Going so soon?” Keralis asks, also standing up. They were at a cafe on the planet Trender. Having already finished their orders, they spent most of their time here chatting. Or complaining, in his case.

“It’s been two hours.” He chuckles, pointing at the paid bill. “The waiters are probably going to shoo us off themselves if we don’t leave. Or buy something else.” And Xisuma can’t afford much else on a not-yet-a-captain salary.

“Okay okay. I have business to get to anyways.” The man stands, making sure to check his oxygen mask. Once he makes sure it’s secure, they walk out. The gravity shifts slightly once they exit the cafe and Keralis grabs onto his arm. His knees bend a little with the higher gravity. He lets the other steady himself as they continue to his mini saucer.

Once inside the vehicle Xisuma starts it up with a flick of a switch. The gravity changes to something more closer to Earth gravity and Keralis sighs. “I love your new ride, Suma. The old one never had gravity settings.”

Xisuma rolls his eyes, driving over to where he parked his main ship. “You're the one who bugged me to spend a small fortune on it! All because you can’t handle a little extra gravity…”

“My bones hurt man, my bones.” Keralis complains. Laughing, he pokes at the man’s side.

It doesn’t take long for them to reach their destination, The Hirmit. It’s a large travel ship. Built for long excursions and many crewmates. Xisuma hopes to get a full crew one day of builders and creatives. Helping underdeveloped planets, fixing houses and overall covering the galaxy with his artistry,

He needs to be a captain first, but a man can dream.

Once in the hanger Xisuma closes the Hirmit’s hatch and opens up his saucer's doors. He’ll need to drop Keralis off at a station, but he can do that on his way off the planet. “I’ll need to fuel up before I can drop you off—“

He’s cut off by a beep on his communicator. Looking down, Xisuma is met with a notification from his job posting. He gasps, clicking on it. A small hologram pops up above his device.

“Hello, uh, is this thing on?” A human man says. His hologram flickers, and his cheeks rise underneath his mouth covering. He must be smiling. “My name is Etho Slab, and I’m a chef. I know a chef isn’t really, ah, important to have as an early higher. But! I’m trained in over two hundred species specialties and have every certification! I’m also trained in basic CPR. I hope to hear from you.”

“You got one!” Keralis jumps over to his side, staring at the now reset hologram. “And he’s a chef! Now you can actually taste real food.”

“My food is real…” Xisuma frowns, though it doesn’t stay long. His body ripples eagerly underneath his suit.

“Your food looks like black slime.” Keralis counters.

He goes to counter how it’s not slime, its hydrated obsidian crystals, when another beep catches his attention. Then another. The two men turn back to his communicator, two more recordings showing up. Clicking on them, he can’t help but feel his heart thump against his chestplate with glee.

The first one is by a groven man, his body covered in bright green moss and an assortment of sticks and flowers. “My name is Bdubs! I’m a botanist with a minor in herbology.” The groven, Bdubs, opens up with.

The second is a golem. His skin cracked and sealed shut with gold. His eyes were two sparkling diamond-like in colour. He introduces himself as Welsknight and is applying for the position of security. Of course, Xisuma immediately starts setting up a face to face meeting with every single one of them.

“You're going to be a captain!” Keralis says.

For once his friend's smile doesn’t unnerve him. “I’m going to be a captain.” He breaths. After all these years…