#azurecake16

Right, he'd forgotten. It wasn't in his throat, it was in Jimmy's. In the crumpled form at his feet, already cold by the time Scott knelt and touched his cheek with a trembling hand. Because he hadn't been there to protect his husband. Because he had been pierced by an arrow, just not through the neck. Because he'd stupidly gotten shot so early, and been torn away from Jimmy's side by the respawn, and by the time he returned it was too late. The bunker hadn't been enough to protect him.

Scott hadn't been enough to protect him.

He slumped over the body as he sobbed, blanketing Jimmy as if he could still shield him from a war that was long over. It wasn't right for the bundle lying there to be so cold and stiff, when Jimmy's warmth had always been so pliable in his arms.

Where was his husband? This glassy-eyed mannequin wasn't him. Scott's breath came in forced gasps, and his stomach churned. He needed to find Jimmy. He staggered to his feet and looked around, but there was only darkness. He needed to find Jimmy. He was in danger without him.

Scott's stomach lurched again, and he tripped as he stepped forward, falling into wakefulness. Unfortunately, the nausea followed him out of the dream, and he barely had a moment to comprehend that he was awake now before he stumbled to the bathroom. Just as his convulsions slowed, a bleary-eyed fWhip came in, handed Scott a cup of water to rinse his mouth, and smoothed a cool hand over the fae's sweaty brow.

By the time Scott finished brushing his teeth, it occurred to him that his partner hadn't been in bed when he woke up. "Are you okay?" he croaked, turning off the tap.

His throat still burned, and he pressed a hand against it with a grimace.

fWhip's mouth twitched into what could almost be a smile if he didn't look so tired. "Shouldn't I be the one asking that? If your ears droop any lower you'll trip over them." He pressed a kiss to the side of Scott's head. "I'm all right. Just couldn't sleep."

"I'll trade you," muttered Scott as fWhip led him to the couch. "I'll take your insomnia, you can have my nightmares."

"I'd take you up on that, but I doubt it would do either of us much good." fWhip poured them both a glass of wine. "We both have nightmares. I just see them while I'm awake, that's all."

Scott took the offered glass. Now that he was fully awake, he recognized the haunted look in fWhip's eyes. "Want to talk about it?" he asked softly.

"Not really." fWhip sat next to him and lifted an arm, and Scott snuggled into his side. He glanced at his communicator as he sipped his drink. Jimmy was still off-world, as he'd expected, on his private skyblock world instead of at the Hub. His local time wasn't exactly the same as theirs at the moment, but it was still late, and his status indicator glowed yellow.

At least it wasn't red. Scott didn't think he could stomach that right now.

But now that he thought about it, when had Jimmy started letting his status go to idle instead of setting it to 'do not disturb' as he slept?

"Gem and I were the ones who found you."

"Hm?" Scott looked up. fWhip was staring through his wine glass.

"On the mountain," he clarified. "Half buried in the snow, with the Rune Blade preventing your respawn. I - " He took a sudden, sharp breath, as if he'd just stepped out into a blizzard. "We pulled it out, but it had been too long. Maybe if we'd flown overhead sooner - "

"It wouldn't have changed anything," said Scott softly. "It was a special item that initiated a sort of...hardcore mode on anyone who died from it. No respawn."

fWhip held out his hand palm up, and Scott slid his own over it. "We found Jimmy, too. I don't even know what happened. He was just...on the side of the road. I think since he was a godling, once his empire was destroyed, he...At least Pearl had someone with her, you know? But you and Jimmy died alone. I should have - "

"It wasn't your fault." Scott brought the back of fWhip's hand to his lips, interrupting the crack in fWhip's voice that worsened the cracks in his own heart. "Gods, how long have you been beating yourself up over this? I'm glad we ended our stories on a lighter note the second time."

fWhip snorted. "Nuh uh, you have no room to talk, mister 'recurring nightmares about something from ages ago that wasn't your fault either.' I made a stupid decision and got thousands of people killed."

"NPCs," said Scott.

"Semantics," said fWhip.

They stared at each other for a moment, then Scott chuckled, and within moments they were both leaning against one another as they dissolved into a fit of giggles.

When the laughter subsided, Scott drained his glass in one long gulp, then patted fWhip's knee as he stood up. "Finish your wine, love. I'll get us something stronger."

Morning came and went, and by the time they fell asleep, both fWhip and Scott slept soundly in the shelter of each other's arms. One of Scott's ears twitched as the front door clicked shut, then again when Jimmy's warm chuckle sounded from the bedroom doorway.

"Having fun without me, were you?" Jimmy picked his way around the clothes and empty bottles that littered the floor, then bent to kiss Scott's forehead. "It's mid afternoon, sleepyheads."

"Hmm. Still plenty of time for you to take a nap with us then." Scott wound his arms around Jimmy's neck and kissed him. "The mess is because fWhip couldn't sleep."

"Don't pin this on me," said fWhip groggily, "it was your idea." He hadn't opened his eyes yet, but he felt around for the front of Jimmy's shirt and tugged at him. Jimmy obliged the unspoken request, and fWhip hummed happily into the kiss. "You gonna lay down, or keep looming?"

"Wha - I'm not looming!" Jimmy crawled into bed between them, and he was barely settled before they were both clinging to him. "Gosh, I was only gone a week. Maybe I should stay away longer if it means you'll miss me this much."

"No," said fWhip sharply.

"Absolutely not," said Scott at the same time.

Jimmy blinked at their vehement reaction, then his eyes softened as he took in the dark circles under their eyes. "Okay," he said gently. "Get a little more sleep, yeah? I'm home now."

anyway so I'll start with the easy one. techno's outfit description in ch 4 is this

and by 'long thick coat that fell to his calves and was belted at the waist' I always imagined kind of a kefta from shadow and bone?

pretty similar to this, but the embroidery is far more subtle

then we have phil's. here's his outfit description from ch 4

now if you are having a hard time understanding what that looks like, don't worry, a lot of other people didn't understand it either. but that's the best way I could describe phil's cloak because it's so hyper specific in my head. the closest thing I could find to it was

the shape is basically like this,but obviously the cloak itself is a very dark blue and he doesn't wear the hood up ever. also the hood itself doesn't have any decoration on it and is just black. it's kind of just there to help support the weight of the fabric and all that.

the front of the cloak looks like this in terms of shape

(ignore the dress obviously I'm only talking about the cloak) with the chain across the front of Phil's chest just being a thin silver chain without a ton of embellishment