The SSSS Scriptorium

[OwlsG0]

45: Illusion http://archiveofourown.org/works/6445972/chapters/15296860

Very long fill, here, where Sigrun decides she is sick of human life and tries her hand at being a badger. Or: I'm under a lot of stress and my luonto is trying to fix me.

[Lazy8]

Yep, I've definitely been going silly-serious-silly-serious. Here, have some more whiplash.

28. Sorrow

[Regolith247]

45: Illusion http://archiveofourown.org/works/6445972/chapters/15296860

Very long fill, here, where Sigrun decides she is sick of human life and tries her hand at being a badger. Or: I'm under a lot of stress and my luonto is trying to fix me.

One of your best stories so far! Best parts in my opinion: "I'm a gods-da--ed badger!", and the vague references that Lalli makes to having had similar episodes in the past.

[OwlsG0]

One of your best stories so far! Best parts in my opinion: "I'm a gods-da--ed badger!", and the vague references that Lalli makes to having had similar episodes in the past.

Thanks! I'll admit I had a little bit too much fun writing this one. Hence, the length.

[Lin]

  I read through the entire thread over a course of three days, and I saw something that someone (I'm not sure who, I think it was OwlsG0?) posted a short fic about how Lalli thinks that Hel has to take someone from the team, and it's not going to be him, Tuuri or Emil.

Spoiler: show

  Coming up with a plan was easy. Actually doing the deed was hard.
  Reynir stood in front of him, just glad to be a part of the solution for whatever Lalli needed to do. As quietly as he could, he unsheathed his knife and hesitated. He was dead weight, and he was annoying, but he was still human. Half of his mind wanted to just do what needed to be done, but another part told him that he was no killer.
  I’m not the one killing him, Lalli told himself. Hel is.
  No, Lalli. Grandmother had walked up behind him without being noticed. Her brow was furrowed. Hel is a giver - she takes back what she has lent to us. Who are you to take from others?
  Perhaps Hel works through me, Lalli argued. Grandmother seems to have no answer to this and turns to gaze at the trees. Deers galloped - trolls were nearby. If Lalli was to do it, he had to do it now.
  His grip on knife tightened, and he walked behind Reynir, taking care not to step on a pine cone or a branch. His braid flew in the wind, and he could hear snatches of whistling from him, and his resolve failed for a moment. No. It’s either him or Emil, or gods forbid, Tuuri.
  Reynir turned around, suddenly alert. “Lalli?”
  The knife slid through his heart and he fell to his knees. He stared in shock at the blade protruding from his chest, and at Lalli. Hurt and confusion were present in his eyes, and Lalli looked away. Reynir tried to speak, but his punctured lungs wouldn’t let him. Crimson blood fell onto the fresh snow, and once more he looked at Lalli. And this time he couldn’t look away, and what he saw made him shiver.
  Hate and confusion had departed. Only anger was left.
  Reynir fell face-first into a puddle of his own blood, clearly dead. His braid brushed the ground aside his knees, as if reaching for Lalli. He stared at his bloody right hand, unable to believe that he had just killed Reynir.
  No - It wasn’t me. It wasn’t me. It was Hel.
  He repeated this line like a mantra as he dragged the deer corpse over to the clearing and put a bullet in its head. Any time now, the rest of the team would be coming over. Sure enough, Tuuri was the first one here, and she looked at Reynir’s unmoving form and Lalli’s shell-shocked face.
  “”Lalli? What happened?”
  “A beast came through.” He gestured to the deer. “It bit Reynir before I could do anything, and I stabbed Reynir.” His voice was emotionless and uninflected, but deep down he felt like screaming.
  Now Sigrun and Mikkel ran around and Tuuri started sobbing into her sleeve. Lalli didn’t touch her. Mikkel asked Tuuri what happened and she told them. Sigrun looked sombre and kicked the deer carcass away. She picked up the Icelander with both arms and shouted something to Mikkel and Emil, who was just arriving. They nodded and ran back to the tank.
  Tuuri was still weeping, and Lalli stood up. He was shivering.

---
  After burying Reynir, Sigrun was sitting next to Lalli. Everytime she looked at him, he felt like someone was gazing into his soul. Judging him. Damning him. At last, he muttered a muffled “good night” to the crying Tuuri and crawled under the bed.
  He tossed and turned, but couldn’t get to sleep. After a while, he stood up and broke the frozen surface of the pond behind them. The knife went into the pond.
  He slept restlessly.

---
  In his dream, he was sitting in the raft, surrounded by water. It was the same place he spent his time every night, except it wasn’t. The trees seemed just a bit too dark, the gaps between the leaves a bit too small, the water a bit too restless. A lynx padded out between two trees, and Lalli reached for him. Without warning, he hissed and turned to flee. Lalli stared in shock, then in resignment.
  He stood up and looked past the trees to where Reynir usually was. He wasn’t there, and neither was his dog. The sheep looked lost, and his crook was laid upon the rock that he sat on. Lalli swallowed and sat back down, looking at the canopy atop of him.
  It wasn’t me, It was Hel.
  He wished he could make himself believe it.
  He was a killer.
  He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, Reynir was standing in front of him, smiling. Although it looked genuine, it didn’t reach the eyes.
  Lalli stood up and backed against the rock wall behind him.
  “Reynir! Aren’t you - aren’t you -”
  “Dead?”
  Lalli nodded. His lips were dry and his fingers drummed nervously against stone.
  “I don’t think I’m dead. At least, I don’t feel dead, and he certainly doesn’t seem dead.” He pointed at the dog with his crook, who was growling at Lalli. Was it his imagination, or did the dog seem bigger?
  “Listen - Reynir. I didn’t want to do it. But Hel - you know who is Hel, right? - Hel always takes one soul to the underworld with her. But Emil and Tuuri can’t - die, right? And - Mikkel - is - well - the medic, and if Hel took his soul it would be bad for all of you, right? Right? - And Sigrun is the leader, so she can’t die either, right? Right?” As he talked, he was acutely aware of how their roles seemed reversed. Usually Reynir talked while Lalli listened, and now he talked while Reynir listened. The sheepdog growled at him, a deep throaty gurgle that sounded more like a wolf.
  “So you killed me because one of us would die anyways?” Reynir’s eyes burned into him. Blood spilled out of the front of his chest and stained his tunic. The crook on his back twisted and snapped. As he spoke, a maggot crawled out of a decaying spot on his arm and down towards his hand. The dog’s teeth sharpened and its fur darkened until Lalli found himself looking at a full-grown grey wolf.
  Lalli backed up until a sharp outgrowth of rock pushed against his back.
  “No, Reynir, don’t - don’t do this.”
  Reynir looked at him and grinned. His teeth were those of a wolf. He put one hand on Lalli’s chest and pushed. Lalli raised a fist and waited for the vines behind Reynir to do the same. Nothing happened, and he thought about the lynx running away from him with a sinking feeling. Reynir pushed him harder onto the rock and gritted his teeth. The wolf bit at his knee and a large chunk of meat came off in its mouth. Lalli screamed towards the sky. “Onni!”
  Reynir looked up apprehensively, then with glee. “Looks like Onni’s not coming.” With his remaining hand, he pulled the crook over his shoulder and held it against Lalli’s ribs. With a grunt, he pulled it back and slammed it into his chest. Bones cracked and embedded themselves in fleshy organs, and Lalli slumped over. Reynir threw the crook down onto the floor and left, the wolf following.
  After a few hours, Lalli hung there still.
  After a few days, Lalli hung there still.
  After a few years, Lalli hung there still.
  After an eternity, Lalli hung there still.

---
  He’s been sleeping for days now.

Spoiler: show

  I'm sorry my summary does not do whoever wrote the fic I'm thinking of justice. Also, first fic - It's not very good, and I've never been good at Gothic writing anyways, but it's been sitting at the back of my head for an eternity already and it's starting to be hard to concentrate in lectures.
  I think time in the dreamspace is dislocated, or you can read the last few paragraphs however you like.

[OwlsG0]

  I read through the entire thread over a course of three days, and I saw something that someone (I'm not sure who, I think it was OwlsG0?) posted a short fic about how Lalli thinks that Hel has to take someone from the team, and it's not going to be him, Tuuri or Emil.

Spoiler: show

  Coming up with a plan was easy. Actually doing the deed was hard.
  Reynir stood in front of him, just glad to be a part of the solution for whatever Lalli needed to do. As quietly as he could, he unsheathed his knife and hesitated. He was dead weight, and he was annoying, but he was still human. Half of his mind wanted to just do what needed to be done, but another part told him that he was no killer.
  I’m not the one killing him, Lalli told himself. Hel is.
  No, Lalli. Grandmother had walked up behind him without being noticed. Her brow was furrowed. Hel is a giver - she takes back what she has lent to us. Who are you to take from others?
  Perhaps Hel works through me, Lalli argued. Grandmother seems to have no answer to this and turns to gaze at the trees. Deers galloped - trolls were nearby. If Lalli was to do it, he had to do it now.
  His grip on knife tightened, and he walked behind Reynir, taking care not to step on a pine cone or a branch. His braid flew in the wind, and he could hear snatches of whistling from him, and his resolve failed for a moment. No. It’s either him or Emil, or gods forbid, Tuuri.
  Reynir turned around, suddenly alert. “Lalli?”
  The knife slid through his heart and he fell to his knees. He stared in shock at the blade protruding from his chest, and at Lalli. Hurt and confusion were present in his eyes, and Lalli looked away. Reynir tried to speak, but his punctured lungs wouldn’t let him. Crimson blood fell onto the fresh snow, and once more he looked at Lalli. And this time he couldn’t look away, and what he saw made him shiver.
  Hate and confusion had departed. Only anger was left.
  Reynir fell face-first into a puddle of his own blood, clearly dead. His braid brushed the ground aside his knees, as if reaching for Lalli. He stared at his bloody right hand, unable to believe that he had just killed Reynir.
  No - It wasn’t me. It wasn’t me. It was Hel.
  He repeated this line like a mantra as he dragged the deer corpse over to the clearing and put a bullet in its head. Any time now, the rest of the team would be coming over. Sure enough, Tuuri was the first one here, and she looked at Reynir’s unmoving form and Lalli’s shell-shocked face.
  “”Lalli? What happened?”
  “A beast came through.” He gestured to the deer. “It bit Reynir before I could do anything, and I stabbed Reynir.” His voice was emotionless and uninflected, but deep down he felt like screaming.
  Now Sigrun and Mikkel ran around and Tuuri started sobbing into her sleeve. Lalli didn’t touch her. Mikkel asked Tuuri what happened and she told them. Sigrun looked sombre and kicked the deer carcass away. She picked up the Icelander with both arms and shouted something to Mikkel and Emil, who was just arriving. They nodded and ran back to the tank.
  Tuuri was still weeping, and Lalli stood up. He was shivering.

---
  After burying Reynir, Sigrun was sitting next to Lalli. Everytime she looked at him, he felt like someone was gazing into his soul. Judging him. Damning him. At last, he muttered a muffled “good night” to the crying Tuuri and crawled under the bed.
  He tossed and turned, but couldn’t get to sleep. After a while, he stood up and broke the frozen surface of the pond behind them. The knife went into the pond.
  He slept restlessly.

---
  In his dream, he was sitting in the raft, surrounded by water. It was the same place he spent his time every night, except it wasn’t. The trees seemed just a bit too dark, the gaps between the leaves a bit too small, the water a bit too restless. A lynx padded out between two trees, and Lalli reached for him. Without warning, he hissed and turned to flee. Lalli stared in shock, then in resignment.
  He stood up and looked past the trees to where Reynir usually was. He wasn’t there, and neither was his dog. The sheep looked lost, and his crook was laid upon the rock that he sat on. Lalli swallowed and sat back down, looking at the canopy atop of him.
  It wasn’t me, It was Hel.
  He wished he could make himself believe it.
  He was a killer.
  He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, Reynir was standing in front of him, smiling. Although it looked genuine, it didn’t reach the eyes.
  Lalli stood up and backed against the rock wall behind him.
  “Reynir! Aren’t you - aren’t you -”
  “Dead?”
  Lalli nodded. His lips were dry and his fingers drummed nervously against stone.
  “I don’t think I’m dead. At least, I don’t feel dead, and he certainly doesn’t seem dead.” He pointed at the dog with his crook, who was growling at Lalli. Was it his imagination, or did the dog seem bigger?
  “Listen - Reynir. I didn’t want to do it. But Hel - you know who is Hel, right? - Hel always takes one soul to the underworld with her. But Emil and Tuuri can’t - die, right? And - Mikkel - is - well - the medic, and if Hel took his soul it would be bad for all of you, right? Right? - And Sigrun is the leader, so she can’t die either, right? Right?” As he talked, he was acutely aware of how their roles seemed reversed. Usually Reynir talked while Lalli listened, and now he talked while Reynir listened. The sheepdog growled at him, a deep throaty gurgle that sounded more like a wolf.
  “So you killed me because one of us would die anyways?” Reynir’s eyes burned into him. Blood spilled out of the front of his chest and stained his tunic. The crook on his back twisted and snapped. As he spoke, a maggot crawled out of a decaying spot on his arm and down towards his hand. The dog’s teeth sharpened and its fur darkened until Lalli found himself looking at a full-grown grey wolf.
  Lalli backed up until a sharp outgrowth of rock pushed against his back.
  “No, Reynir, don’t - don’t do this.”
  Reynir looked at him and grinned. His teeth were those of a wolf. He put one hand on Lalli’s chest and pushed. Lalli raised a fist and waited for the vines behind Reynir to do the same. Nothing happened, and he thought about the lynx running away from him with a sinking feeling. Reynir pushed him harder onto the rock and gritted his teeth. The wolf bit at his knee and a large chunk of meat came off in its mouth. Lalli screamed towards the sky. “Onni!”
  Reynir looked up apprehensively, then with glee. “Looks like Onni’s not coming.” With his remaining hand, he pulled the crook over his shoulder and held it against Lalli’s ribs. With a grunt, he pulled it back and slammed it into his chest. Bones cracked and embedded themselves in fleshy organs, and Lalli slumped over. Reynir threw the crook down onto the floor and left, the wolf following.
  After a few hours, Lalli hung there still.
  After a few days, Lalli hung there still.
  After a few years, Lalli hung there still.
  After an eternity, Lalli hung there still.

---
  He’s been sleeping for days now.

Spoiler: show

  I'm sorry my summary does not do whoever wrote the fic I'm thinking of justice. Also, first fic - It's not very good, and I've never been good at Gothic writing anyways, but it's been sitting at the back of my head for an eternity already and it's starting to be hard to concentrate in lectures.
  I think time in the dreamspace is dislocated, or you can read the last few paragraphs however you like.

Nope, not me. I did something like that a while back where Hel gets into Lalli's haven, but that went out the window when exam season rolled around. I don't know who did this, but I understand the confusion. I'm usually the one doing the weird and the creepy fics.

Anyway, welcome to the thread! Have you moseyed (I cannot believe that's how you spell that) on over to the intro thread to make yourself known? There will be welcome moose and cookies and possibly mead.

[Lazy8]

Aaaaaaaand I'm back to philosophical rambling. Short early one, because I woke up early.

29. Happiness

[Aansero]

Hello poking my head in nervously to say that I've joined the 100 prompt challenge, first chapter here:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/6688255

Emil takes an opportunity to introduce himself. Again.

[Yuuago]

Hello poking my head in nervously to say that I've joined the 100 prompt challenge, first chapter here:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/6688255

Emil takes an opportunity to introduce himself. Again.

< 3 Thanks for posting! Commented over there.

I haven't been able to read most of the challenge fics yet, so it's nice to be able to jump in and read one right when someone is starting. : D

[OwlsG0]

25: Trouble lurking http://archiveofourown.org/works/6445972/chapters/15326152

41: Teamwork http://archiveofourown.org/works/6445972/chapters/15326176

How Lalli's luonto got back to him. And, yes, I am shipping Emilalli through the proxy of their luontos. Spiritual fluff, I suppose?

[wavewright62]

Hello poking my head in nervously to say that I've joined the 100 prompt challenge, first chapter here:

http://archiveofourown.org/works/6688255

Emil takes an opportunity to introduce himself. Again.

Great start, looking forward to reading more from you!

[LooNEY_DAC]

Bent and Twisted
A “Stand Still. Stay Silent”/“Avatar: the Last Airbender” crossover fanfic
Part 4
Prior part

Spoiler: show

Numbers

One was the cat-tank, roving cross the land
Two were the non-immunes in the little band
Three were warriors brave and bold
Four were the Nations in times of old

Five were their origins
Six were their number
So many souls within
That crept up in their slumber

Ready to devour these intruders now
Ready to devour these intruders now

It was, of course, Reynir the Life-Bender who saw the Death-Shades coming first.

He had just turned to try to gently chide Emil (as much as you could chide someone whose language you don’t know) for lighting the tip of Reynir’s braid afire (though Lalli had immediately extinguished it, and there were times when Reynir himself would have gladly burned the whole thing off) when his attention was caught by something moving in the ever-deepening shadows.

The team of Exiles had had many close calls and even some injuries since Reynir had joined them, mostly through fighting off Reaving-Bent Horrors while trying to find more provender or in transit between campsites; but even so, they had been very lucky so far.

Reynir privately thought that most of their good fortune was due to the Spirits’ guidance, as invoked by Onni, the Air-Bending brother of Tuuri who’d communed with Reynir and Lalli in a dream when Reynir first joined the team.

In any case, all of them were predisposed to notice anything moving in their camp’s vicinity, so Reynir turned to give the stray motion his full attention. It was at this point that fear briefly paralyzed him; even his heart seemed to stop at the sight before him.

The approaching figures were tall, slender and utterly black--but they were also figures Reynir recognized from a dream he’d had just the night before. He’d been afraid then, but had tried to greet the shades politely enough.

In return, they’d sucked the life from him until he shattered like a porcelain figurine. This kind of thing tended to stick in one’s memory.

Tuuri had noticed his paralysis by now, and was trying to talk to him. With a supreme effort of will, Reynir made his frozen lips move. “We need to go... now!”

Tuuri didn’t believe him, of course, though he tried ever harder as the Death-Shades slowly advanced. It took Lalli’s scream as they struck him and the collapse of Sigrun and Mikkel for her to realize, “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!” (which was what Reynir had been trying to tell her all this time) and get their vehicle moving.

While Lalli screamed and pulled Emil by the hair into the relative safety of the light, Reynir turned to face the Death-Shades that were in their midst and attacking his friends. “G-go away!”

They turned their attention to him. “Please go away!”

Reynir could feel the life ebbing from his friends, and he instinctively started to Life-Bend, shoring up their vitality with his own, but it wasn’t enough. As the Death-Shades, sensing triumph at hand, pressed their attack home, Reynir cried out in desperation, “I need help! HELP!”

Just as Reynir was about to fall, everything seemed to pause.

“Air is the Element of Spirit; thus, to Air-Benders shall Spirits fall.” The ‘speaker’ was a vast and magnificent owl, crackling with power and both menacing and reassuring simultaneously in Reynir’s dazzled eyes.

The apparition hovered over the smothering sable bulk of the specter and told it, “You have no place here.

“Were you sired in Evil’s homeland
Or by words of corrupt person?

“Still by my word you shall collapse
Bend now to my will dark being
Out from this place go ye cruel one
Flee a-running evil creature!”

Power surged from the avian, rocking the vehicle and knocking the Death-Shade out from it, leaving it free of the ebony menace.

Reynir watched the owl fly away, in awe at its majesty.

Unobserved by any of its putative victims, the shreds of the Death-Shade slowly came to a stop and reformed. When its fellows joined it, they began the Stalking anew...

Spoiler: Authorial Notes • show

Again, why am I doing this?

Oy.

[Buteo]

Bent and Twisted
A “Stand Still. Stay Silent”/“Avatar: the Last Airbender” crossover fanfic
Part 4
Prior part

Spoiler: show

snip

Spoiler: Authorial Notes • show

Again, why am I doing this?

Oy.

Because it needs to be done! And it needs you to do it!

[Lazy8]

Aaaaaaand I go from happy to sad. Again. I think this is becoming a pattern.

30. Under the Rain

[Talimee]

Aaaaaaand I go from happy to sad. Again. I think this is becoming a pattern.

30. Under the Rain

*happy sigh* Such a nice little story. But I have to respectfully disagree with your pattern. I find pensive Reynir, thinking about the sorrow and anxiety he is causing his parents (and the conclusion that nothing we do can change how we are made) way sadder than Emil realizing that he can help making things better in small ways.
Still, awesome stories! And many thanks for writing and sharing them. =)