#cipher writing

Said containment breach was a small, bizarre creature completely obscured by long strands of thick, hair-long fronds. Moving at rapid speeds it made a straight beeline for the only troll in the room, Cheran, and launched itself at him. Cheran yelped in surprise, having only had time to do so much as look up at Cipher before being possibly mauled.

“Don’t tou--”

Cheran’s fingers twitched, and razor-sharp threads like spider’s silk formed at various angles around him, slicing the odd creature to bits. It had been too close to his face, he didn’t know what it was or what was going on, he panicked-

Cipher had also been in the process of reaching for the creature. A singular thread sliced clear through their forearm with perfect ease.

Both trolls froze. Cipher twitched backwards first, a soft exhale escaping them as they cradled the severed stump of their arm towards their chest.

“Jesus-” Wheezed Cheran, releasing his psionics and reaching out towards Cipher, who flinched further away. “I’m--”

The apology died on Cheran’s lips when he saw something...Bubbling, blossoming at the stump of Cipher’s arm. This pale white fungus erupted outwards, forming a new limb, ghastly white with nearly translucent skin revealing Cipher’s watery cyan-colored blood.

Cipher twitched their newly formed fingers, and then their gaze flickered up to Cheran. “....I wasn’t expecting that ei--”

“What the fuck?” Cheran wheezed.

“Sh, sh, don’t...Don’t tell Ullane. Uh, here, c’mon.” Cipher tugged off their lab coat and gathered up their removed limb and the parts of the dismembered creature in the coat, and then grabbed Cheran’s arm to drag him into their lab.

After the door closed, Cheran nearly collapsed, leaning against the door while Cipher haphazardly dumped their coat on an operation table. They were jittery; Cheran got the impression that they were just barely trying to keep it together, but so was he--

“Don’t tell Ullane?” Cheran suddenly realized that was what Cipher had asked of him.

“I said I wasn’t expecting this! I don’t want her asking questions and I don’t even know the answer! She will ask questions!” Cipher hissed, pointing at their freshly formed hand. They waved both hands anxiously and then turned to pace a circle around their lab.

Cheran dragged his hands down his face. He could understand, having not wanted Ullane to find out he was a zombie.

“Wh...So you don’t have any idea why that happened??”

“Well, nothing concrete. Just, please, don’t mention this at all. As far as anyone else is concerned I’m normal! I’ll pay you for your trouble, okay??”

“I- Fine, I get it, you don’t have to pay me, I’ll...I’ll just forget I saw anything.” Cheran waved his hands, brushing off Cipher’s offer.

“You’re sure? Five grand?”

“Don’t...Don’t tempt me. I’m just going to go.”

Cipher drummed their fingers on the counter in their lab.

Nervous laughter bubbled out of Cipher's mouth. The corner of their mouth twitched upwards involuntarily, even though their teeth were nearly chattering from fear.

The highblood pinning them to the wall raised a brow in confusion. "You're a twisted freak, you know that?"

In better circumstances, Cipher would've taken that as a compliment. At the moment, they were being threatened with murder by the quadrant of one of their 'patients'.

Instead Cipher responded with a stifled giggle. The highblood punched them in the gut, hard. Cipher wheezed as the breath was knocked clear out of their chest and some thin blue liquid dripped from their mouth. The troll grabbed a fistful of their hair and jerked their head back up.

Cipher was still grinning. They couldn't help it. The highblood's face contorted in disgust.

"You fucking touch my moirail again, I'll leave you in fucking pieces next time. You hear me?"

They hastily nodded their head, swallowing hard and trying not to be sick, another tiny laugh escaping through their closed mouth.

A sweep after his death, she still thought about Lazena often, more than she felt she should. She wanted to move on, but she knew well enough to let herself grieve. Even though she’d had another full sweep, marked with perigees of steady decline to prepare.

Lazena had given up. He refused to stay at the hospitals, given up seeing doctors and specialists. He didn’t even like to see Macene often, because he could see it pained her to see him so sick. He’d warned her, at least, that when he felt he was breathing his last, he’d go off into the woods to be picked away by the animals.

Several nights had trickled by with no answer to anyone’s texts or calls until eventually they didn’t go through at all. She and some mutual friends of Lazena’s had elected to go by his hive together to try to find some last trace of him. They found his dead phone in his room, the life support systems detached and left running. Nothing in the woods, but they were sprawling and the beasts there were large enough to eat someone whole. No doubt the easy meal had been snapped up in a moment.

They distributed his more personal items amongst themselves, and that was all. Sometimes Macene went back to walk the halls of his hive and sit in his room like she had so many times throughout her life.

Macene’s phone buzzed and she ignored it in favor of sipping her cocoa. After several long moments she decided she’d ignored the text long enough, and flipped her phone over.

Her heart leapt into her throat seeing Lazena’s name on the text notification. Her first thought was anger. Someone had surely hacked his phone, somehow got his number. She glanced at the text body, just two words.

L: -Hi Macene!!)

Macene scowled and set down her mug to text back.

M: This isn’t funny. You’re a piece of shit, impersonating someone who’s died. Texting their matesprit to boot. You’re not even bothering to use his quirk.

L: -Oh, are we still matesprits? I mean, I know I didn’t break up with you officially, but I figured you’d moved on.)

M: I’m not Lazena’s matesprit anymore, no, and I’m sure as hell not yours. Former or current. Asshole.

L: -It is actually me you know. :P)

L: -I’d send a picture but you probably wouldn’t recognize me.)

M: Uh huh. Sure.

L: -You have a mole behind your left ear. You like(d?) the marshmallow in rocky road ice cream but not the walnuts so you eat around them.)

M: This has got to be a joke.

L: [Picture Message]