#c!spine

She was finally comfortable in her angel form, and the ceiling was the most convenient place to keep all of her eyes and observe the busy workings of the base. The rooms were spacious and the ceilings high enough to fit several fully-grown adults, but the girl still didn’t know they would be such a popular hang out spot. She hadn’t met most of the people up there and wasn’t yet mentally ready to meet them face to face, so Spine preferred waiting for most of them to leave before settling comfortably on the surface above and enjoying the chaos beneath.

Today was one of the free days, with most of the people that usually hang at the ceiling having scattered off to different rooms. One of the writer’s seemed to have finished their new story and the members gathered to read and discuss it together. Spine didn’t have eyes in the room the improvised book club meeting was held as she was too lazy today to tune into complex and rich stories so the nephilim joined the library where Caro and Kiki were playing chess, the confusion of the latter quite entertaining to witness, and kept some of her eyes in the main room to keep track of people coming in and out.

There was an especially tense moment in the game, which Spine could see even though she didn’t know anything about chess, and she devoted most of her consciousness to keep up with the siblings. So it came as an unpleasant surprise when she felt sharp pain in another part of her form that she stuck to the ceiling above the big table.

”What the hell..?” Spine asked incredulously, her voice reverberating and rumbling out of shock more than anything else.

She coughed awkwardly and fixed up the tone, asking calmer and quieter, “What'd just happened?”

She blinked with all of the 30 eyes currently composing her form and looked around. The nephilim didn’t have to search for long: right at her eye level she notices the smallest person she’d ever seen, looking up at the girl with a mischievous smirk. But to Spine that mischief suddenly started looking much more like blood thirst, as the stranger had a butter knife in their one of their hands. Her little horns also seemed extremely sharp. If Spine was in her humanoid form, she would’ve gulped in fear.

”Why did you poke my eye..?” The girl asked cautiously, trying to sound as non-threatening as possible.

The stranger’s smile grew wider.

”Kill.”

Spine heard someone laugh from beneath her and finally notices Aelyn who was holding the short scary person on her shoulders to help them reach the top. She gasped in mock betrayal.

”Aelyn! I trusted you!”

She laughed again, now looking slightly more apologetic, but not overly so.

“I’m sorry, but I had no choice. The knife is blunt, don’t worry.” She shrugged a bit, trying not to shake the stranger off and added, “I was also curious if you would feel it.”

”You could’ve just asked..!”

”Yeah, but it’s more fun that way.”

Spine huffed – just a regular day at the Syndicate base, how could she think she could avoid troubles by sticking to the ceiling and being silent. The girl wasn’t angry, just… really confused.

The stranger decided to broaden their explanation.

”I can’t join the ceiling gang, so violence is the only solution to that problem I could think of. It’s nothing personal though, you seem okay. You’re Spine, right? I’m Pink!”

”Ceiling gang..?” Spine wondered to herself silently.

“It’s a name for all the people that like to hang out on the ceiling, it’s nothing that serious.” The nephilim thought, and she scanned the room in search of the one she knew was actually behind that thought. As the girl suspected, she spotted a familiar dirt block in the corner of the room, the grass on top of them bright and freshly watered.

”You were thinking too loud again, you gotta stop doing that,” Mcpe explained with no actual malice behind their thoughts.

”Oh, sorry. I’ll try. What do you..?”

Spine didn’t have the time to finish the thought as she noticed out of the corner of one of her eyes a quickly approaching knife. The girl didn’t spend any time to think it through – she never did, so that was normal – and lifted Mcpe in the air to put them in front of her. The knife when right into the soft dirt, getting stuck in there instantly.

”Well that was just rude.” Spine thought and felt guilty after experiencing that thought.

”Sorry, you were the only thing I could lift to do that. You didn’t feel that, did you?”

”Of course not, you think I possess nerve endings?”

”Fair,” the nephilim thought and shrugged mentally.

Pink didn’t seem deterred by the lack of reaction. Instead, they giggled and pulled the knife out before stabbing the dirt a couple of times more, before some of it started crumbling and fell onto her face. Pink sneezed, her eyes closing involuntarily, causing them to lose balance and slip off Aelyn’s shoulders. The girl gasped and flew down to catch her shorter partner in crime, leaving Mcpe to regenerate with ease and Spine finally getting to calm down. She knew these were just games, but that wasn’t enough to let her guard down completely.

Now that the girl was relatively safe, she put the dirt block down on the table carefully and got ready to return to her humanoid form, which she couldn’t do before due to stress. But that wasn’t the end of today’s troubles, as suddenly Spine heard a suspicious noise come from above her. Not even a minute after the noise started, a small circular hole appeared right next to the nephilim, and she caught glimpse of an eye that was definitely not hers.

”Hey there, neighbor! How is the ceiling gang doing this fine afternoon?”

Spine couldn’t take it anymore: her eyes fell down next to Mcpe one by one and scuttled next to the block in one big pile. She could see more holes appear on the ceiling, as well as hear Pink still sneezing somewhere to the side, and thought as loudly as she could,

”This place is the wildest thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been here for a week.”

”You’ll get used to it,” Spine thought in a way that was unmistakably not hers, “or you won’t. But isn’t it more fun that way?”

Amazing characters belong to:

Mcpe - @minecraftpocketedition

Aelyn - @midnattheir

Pink - @whatiisanartblogname

Spine: Yes

Spider: Okay...may I know what you create?

The nightmares were simple and ordinary in their horrors – hoards of zombies, falling, explosions and withers on her tail, the standard things that children got told before bed by the clueless parents to get them to behave. Sometimes a bit too detailed, the elements burning themselves into Spine’s brain and refusing to leave her mind for weeks after seeing the scary dreams. After one particularly graphic nightmare the girl couldn’t look at any pickaxes for weeks, terrible visions flooding her consciousness at a mere mention of one.

But there was this one nightmare she could never shake off: a sound of voices straight in her head, calls of violence she refused to commit but that still seemed so tempting and appealing, vines that surrounded and crawled as she struggled to get free…

”You think too loud.” Spine thought to herself and for a moment the girl was frightened of that extra thought.

”Nights to humans are for sleeping, not for screaming,” she thought again.

The room was dark and way too cold. She noticed a black square silhouette in the corner of her room, a shadowy object blocking the light from a small window close to the ceiling by standing on one of the shelves. Spine sighed deeply, her heart beat way too fast to be normal.

”But I’m not really human, Mcpe,” the girl thought, opening an eye that appeared suddenly on the back of her hand and looking at it like it was a mirror.

”Aren’t you?”

Spine stood up from the bed and tried to light up a candle, but her hands were still shaky from the adrenaline and refused to cooperate.

”Stupid physical limbs, telekinesis is so much more convenient,” the nephilim muttered and threw the flint and steel back on the table. She turned around to look at the block of dirt which she knew the shadowy object was. Another member of the Syndicate she’d come to think of as a friend, if you could consider that an unhealthily wise cube with grass growing on top of it.

”Humanoid, human – what’s the difference?” Spine – no, Mcpe thought at the girl.

"Nature? Heritage? History?” Spine listed in her mind, not quite convinced by her own examples.

”Very well. So what is your nature? Do you remember your history, Spine? Do you?” Mcpe’s tone may have seemed harsh, almost cruel – but Spine knew that was just her projection of emotions. She was the one thinking, after all.

”I know what my heritage is,” the girl thought back stubbornly and touched a sheathed sword that once belonged to her mother strapped to the back of her bed.

”No, but that heritage is human. And what makes you not one?”

Scenes from her nightmare flooded in – violent screeches of thousands of voices, her own being one of them, prophesysing blood and destruction to anyone who dared to cross their vessel’s path…

”I’m the Voice,” she thought, or Mcpe thought, or someone else entirely thought – Spine didn’t have time to figure it out as her eyelids turned heavy and the only thing she could do was crawl back into her bed and watch the ceiling in a desperate attempt to not succumb to sleep.

”Do you remember your history?” she thought once more, and that thought was clearer than any others of her own.

”But what if I don’t want to? What if those memories are bad? Evil..?”

”Our entire existence is a memory, Spine,” Mcpe thought, “and I, as the oldest memory of all, am capable of both evil and good in equal measures.”

The eye on the nepihilim’s palm was crying. She didn’t know it could do that. She blinked.

The room was dark and way too cold. She noticed nothing our of the ordinary, until she glanced at the patch of light from a small window close to the ceiling which wasn’t blocked by anything at all and saw a dirty print on one of the shelves. Spine laughed, amused by her friend’s antics, her dream half-forgotten and too messy to dwell on.

“Mcpe, you ancient bastard, if you took my lapis again, we’re gonna have a talk!” the nephilim thought, not really trying to sound mad even in her head and knowing Mcpe would hear.

Mcpe always heard.

Spine is a nephilim – her mother was human and her other parent is a barely physical being of light. She has two forms: humanoid (has started growing gray wings after joining the Syndicate) -

and metaphysical angel one (has hundreds of eyes, can divide them to be at several places at once and choose to show only some of them).

Some facts and character traits:

- Spine is canonically stupid. She doesn’t like to think, but she’s trying her best.

- Her mother passed away and only thing of hers she has is a sword.

- Spine is extremely bad at sword fighting and physical activities in general.

- Searched for the base for months before meeting Aelyn in a tavern by accident.

- Has nightmares about the time she was one of Techno's voices.

- Has adhd which becomes easier to deal with when she’s in the angel form.

- Her halo starts glowing dimmer or brighter depending on her mood, the stronger the emotion – the more noticeable it is.

- Is 6’3.

- She/her pronouns.

Spooce entered the base through one of the smaller, more hidden passages deeper into the mountain to avoid the usual chaos of the Syndicate. They mostly didn’t mind the noise and the strange debates – often enjoyed them, even; it was a home, the only one Spooce knew in quite a while, and the people that screamed nonsense at each other on a daily basis were familiar and safe. They were using “safe” in the loose sense if the word, but as long as no one was hurt too bad, especially his enderman child, Spooce was content. But today didn’t seem like a good day for them to spend in the company of uncontrollable Syndicate members – they spent the whole day outside in the cold and were now extremely tired, wishing only for some warm tea, a cigarette and a dry spot near the fireplace.

Spooce had to go out in the morning to chop down some trees – almost all the wood at the base was gone, as the fragile furniture there was thrown around way too often and needed constant repairs. Also, although the furnaces that kept the base warm from top to bottom were fueled by far more durable coal, many still preferred to use firewood for fireplaces in their respective rooms, Spooce being one of those people.

They took off the heavy and warm clothing, sighing in relief as their folded beetle wings sprung to life after being covered for so long. Spooce flapped them slowly to bring them in their usual state while they walked down the hall towards their bedroom. Before coming into his own, they knocked on the door of the one right next to them and after getting no answer tried the handle. As expected, the door opened easily, revealing a space devoid of life. Spooce smiled to themselves – Li was probably running around the base again, causing mischief everywhere she went. Hopefully, without any arson – chopping all that wood was hard work, and spending half of it on the first day to hide the consequences of a recreational fire wasn’t something Spooce was willing to do.

They finally got to their room, put the kettle on and lit up a cigarette, enjoying the way their muscles ached as they half-lied down on the armchair. It was nice to finally be back. After giving themselves a moment to relax and not think about chores, Spooce got up with a disappointed groan to grab the axe they had used that day to work to clean and check it for any flaws. They knew the importance of keeping both your instruments and your weapons in good shape and taking care of them, and that’s why their tools lasted longer than most others. As they looked the ax over and noticed a spot of resin they decided to clean off, Spooce heard a quiet knock on the door and grumbled something that resembled “yes, come in”.

The door opened and a girl came in, an apologetic smile on her face. It took Spooce a moment to remember who she was – a lot of new people were joining, and this particular member didn’t do much to be memorable or attract much attention to herself. They knew who Spine was solely because of her second form – it was hard not to notice dozens of eyes hanging on the ceiling near you or watching meetings from their usual spots on walls and furniture.

”Good evening,” Spine greeted with a small wave, “I’m really sorry for bothering you, but Pink said you could help me with something.”

Spooce chuckled despite themselves – of course it was Pink. It was flattering to be known as someone helpful, and they had a soft spot for the other. But Spooce had a reputation to uphold, and so they frowned slightly and asked in a serious tone,

”What is it? And it better be quick: I’m pretty tired.”

Spine nodded hastily and went inside the room, tripping on the porch and nearly falling on the floor, but regaining her balance at the last moment. She was fiddling with a strap hanging over her shoulder, and after coming closer to the armchair the girl threw it off to reveal a sheath of a sword the strap was holding.

”I wanted to start training with a sword, but it hasn’t been used in months, so I wondered if you could look it over and maybe tell me how to take care of it…”

She thrust the sword forward, handle first, her eyes wondering, and Spooce took the sheathed weapon carefully. They had respect for the blade, even the most ordinary one, and judging by the expression on Spine’s face, this particular one was important in at least some way.

Spooce unsheathed the sword slowly and their mouth fell open in surprise: the weapon was intricately made, its creator a master of their craft who put their soul into this work. Even after months of disuse and no proper care the blade was in a decent condition, writings on each side of it still bright and visible. The words carved onto it did raise some questions, one of which Spooce asked immediately.

”Where did you get this?”

Spine rubbed the back of her neck and replied, “It was my mother’s. She was an excellent sword-wielder, but she passed away right before I began my search for the base from a sickness, and that blade was the only thing I took with me. I haven’t touched it since.”

Then were the words “Sic semper tyrannis” always there? Spooce wanted to ask that, but decided to keep their guesses to themselves and instead just grabbed the cleaning supplies that they had readied to take care of their own tools and got to work. Spine tried to protest and say that she would write down some tips and be on her way, but Spooce wanted to study the sword closer. There was no way they would let such a weapon suffer from bad handling, so at least a demonstration was in order.

They cleaned, polished and oiled the sword while its owner watched. The procedure that would usually be comparatively quick this time took much more, as Spooce did everything slower on purpose to explain every step. They could tell Spine was trying hard to pay attention but was constantly distracted, so they had to bring her back from time to time, but that was nothing out of the ordinary in the Syndicate.

After everything was finished, the sword was wrapped in a soft cloth to not be touched for some time and given back to Spine. She smiled brightly and gave Spooce a one-armed hug that lasted barely a second before jerking back, a guilty look on her face.

”I’m sorry, I mean… thank you, that was really nice of you! Sorry for… that, I know some people don’t like hugs. I- I think I’ll go, yeah. Good night!”

With that the girl ran out of the room, tripping on the same porch, and Spooce yawned openly before taking care of their axe absent-mindedly and getting ready for bed. It really was a long day.

Aaron: Second? Who's the first?

It was Spine’s second day in the Syndicate base, and she was caught up in the middle of an angry discussion. The main room was filled with people, all buzzing with energy and shouting things out to yells of approval from other members. Ancient books and scripts were lying all over the table, everyone referring to them for proof on their points, and although Spine couldn’t understand half of the things everyone was saying, she couldn’t be happier being here and listening as the members discussed the newest article by the nearest village’s famous journalist.

The article was an essay on the barbaric nature of the supporters and followers of the godly entities, best known by the grand names of The Blood God and The Angel of Death. The writer criticized the gods' violent tendencies and their uncaring nature, calling them “cold-bloodied and power-hungry tyrants.” The Syndicate members were clearly displeased with the essay’s contents, to put it lightly, and were destroying every point of it while continuing to complain about incorrect and outright lacking sources. The rage in their “Take a look at this and tell me in my face Techno’s uncaring” as they pointed to a paragraph in a centuries old book was palpable, and the nephilim, while being reasonably scared of all the noise, was enjoying the passion in everyone’s actions and words.

Spine took a look at the article itself: she wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but the bias in the text was obvious and definitely not in favor of the ones the author was writing about.

”But isn’t almost every hero from their time extremely violent? I don’t know much about those gods, but it seems really hypocritical to not mention it.”

Someone to her right whose name Spine hadn’t yet memorized clapped her on the shoulder in agreement and spiraled a whole rant out of her words, discussing it with another person at the table, but the girl got distracted by something he hadn’t seen in the base before. A beautiful bird like nothing Spine’d ever encountered, made out of shiny metal gears and screws, flew out of nowhere and landed on her shoulder. Its golden wings flapped a couple more times before folding, before the bird touched the nephilim’s temple almost… gently with its equally golden beak.

The moment the bird showed up, Spine heard two people shout "Tatsu, my beloved" and "Fuck off, Tatsu" at the same time before going back to their discussion. Seeing the perplexed expression on the nephilim's face, Aelyn, who was sitting across from her, explained,

"Oh, that's Tatsu, our inexplicable pet. Don't mind them: no one knows where they're from and what they're doing most of the time, but they show up sometimes when they like something a member says. They'll go away soon, don't worry."

Spine was fascinated by the way Tatsu looked: they were light despite the material they were made of and they moved like a real bird would, which delighted the girl to no end.

"Thank you, Tatsu" she whispered warmly, and the bird let out a whistle before taking off.

It was then that Spine felt that something was off with her; her back was itching, not painfully, but still making sitting at the table uncomfortable. She exited the room silently and came up to the nearest mirror before lifting up her shirt to check. To her surprise, a small pair of gray feathered wings appeared on her back. She tried to move them experimentally, and the feathers shuffled compliantly, making Spine laugh in delight. For some reason, the nephilim wasn't scared or worried at all - she wondered if other winged people in the Syndicate also got their wings only after joining.

She felt someone's gaze on her and turned around: Tatsu was sitting on a protruding stone on the wall, their head tilted in curiosity. Spine smiled brightly.

"You're amazing, Tatsu. Hope I see you again soon."