Conflicting Lives - Blog Posts

Conflicting Lives- Chapter 3: Possible Collaboration

Word Count: 2354

Scythe was sat back down at the meeting table, as were the five district heads and Storyteller. Not many words had been said since they all sat back down, both to Scythe’s gratitude and dismay, the seedling of anxiety in the pit of his stomach only growing as more silent seconds passed by. his gaze moving between the 6 people in front of him. He only hoped that his eyes didn't show what was going through his head.

They were all looking at him, well- almost all of them. The only person who wasn't really looking at him was Storyteller. Of course, they were looking at him like Voidling, Tinkerer, Strawberry, Atlas, and CuteGuy were, but they were more so looking through him instead of actually at him. Whether that was better or worse, Scythe couldn't really decide.

“Storyteller requested that she be able to work along side you in this case, so long as the vote results in a yes.” Atlas spoke up first, breaking the slightly tense air. It made since that they spoke first, being the Survan Hero District head and therefore, Scythe’s boss. His voice was steady outwardly, but Scythe was able to see a the smallest hint of knowing in his eyes.

Storyteller - or rather Lunar - simply nodded along with Atlas’ words, their own eyes giving nothing away. Scythe locked eyes with her for just a moment before looking back at Atlas, the anxiety in his stomach both lessening and growing at the same time.

“I’m sure I’d be able to do that. If i mask ask though, is there any specific reason why Storyteller would like to work with me specifically?” Scythe responded, keeping his voice as calm and professional as he could. Of course, he was pretty sure that he already knew the reason why Lunar wanted to work with him specifically, but thought that it would only be polite to ask anyways.

Atlas simply turned to look at Lunar, gesturing his hand forwards just slightly so that she could say the reason herself. Lunar and Scythe knew Atlas outside of formalities as well, and all three for them being more than just what they appeared to be to the other 4 district heads.

“I believe that your access to all areas of Survas would be beneficial to my part of the.. investigation. I also think that our abilities could work well together in the event of anything unfortunate happening in the process.” Lunar responded, actually looking at Scythe rather than through him now, her voice steady, calm, and carrying a professional tone to it. She had an excellent poker face, and anyone that didnt know them wouldn't be able to tell that there was more to their words then she let on.

Scythe slowly and silently nodded as she spoke, listening to her words carefully. The reason was actually pretty close to what he guessed it would be when said in front of the district heads, surprisingly enough. One of his ears flicked slightly as he thought of how he would respond, though another voice spoke before he could. “So, would you be willing to assist Storyteller in their investigation then?” Voidling chimed in, looking at Scythe from behind his mask with a tone that did leave room for him to refuse if he wanted to, though Scythe was still able to tell that the Hermiton hero head was hoping that he would say yes.

Luckily, he hadn’t planned on saying no, and looked at Voidling with a nod. “Yes, I am.” Scythe said simply, keeping his response short and polite, the tip of his tail swaying from one side to the other before stilling once more.

“Well then, you’re free to go home Lux. Thank you for staying behind, and enjoy the rest of your day.” Voidling responded with a small nod himself, raising his arm to check his communicator for any new messages or alerts. “Of course” Scythe responded with a small and polite smile, standing up from the chair he stood in and walking out of the meeting room. As the door to the elevator closed, he let out a breath of relief that he hadn't even realized he had been holding, his tail flicking from side to side and his ears dropping just slightly.

That was… certainly something, to say the least. He wouldn’t even be surprised if he got a message from Lunar later asking to talk about what happened, that is, if he didn't message them first. Scythe’s eyes closed as he took a couple of deep breaths, the elevator dinging softly as it descended past each floor.

Once the sturdy metal mechanism came to a stop, Scythe’s eyes were open once more, his previous anxieties calmed and his mind focused on going home. He stepped out the elevator calmly once the door slid open, giving a small and friendly wave to employees he passed by on his way out of the building.

Once outside, Scythe opened his communicator that rested on his right forearm, opening his personal messages and finding Ella’s contact, named ‘Sunstone’, sending her a small and quick message.

Scythe: On my way home now, will probably be like 20 or 30 minutes.

He closed his communicator after sending the message, taking a breath of the crisp and cool autumn air before heading off in the direction of his apartment.

~~~~~~~~~~

Scythe fumbled more than he usually did to get the key into the door of his and Ella’s apartment, finally managing to turn the key and open the door after far more attempts than he was willing to admit to anyone.

On his way back, he had taking a tiny detour through a back alley, opening his inventory and retrieving his hoodie, slipping it back over its head and removing his eye mask from his face, letting it sit loosely around his neck like it had been just over an hour earlier. The sky blue cloth sleeve that covered the majority of his tail in uniform had been removed to stored in his inventory until he got changed out of said uniform.

“Hey Sunstone, I’m back!” Scythe said, his raised voice ringing through the small apartment as he closed the door behind him, re-locking it and taking his hoodie off.

Ella appeared from around the corner where the bedrooms were a few short moments later, her long, dark brown hair tied up in a half-loose ponytail, a soft and small smile adorning her face.

“Welcome back, how’d it go?” She asked as she walked towards him, having to tilt her head back quite a bit just to look up at him thanks to their significant height difference.

“It was good. Apparently Sam and I have been attracting so much attention that the heads want to hire reporters to try and get more info on us.” Scythe replied, a small smile appearing on his lips. “And do you, uh, mind if I invite Lunar over for a bit? Her and I need to talk about a few things. They’re one of the reporters that Voidling and the others picked out.”

Ella was quiet for a few seconds, before sighing and shaking her head slightly. She never did like his double, or rather triple life that he had, but she also knew there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it either.

“Yeah, sure, I don't really mind. I’ve got to get ready to go to my classes anyways.” Ella responded, reaching up and grabbing the collor of his hero uniform and pulling him down just enough to where she could plant a small kiss on his cheek.

“And maybe if you didn’t rob important places, you wouldn't be potentially under investigation.” She said, her voice a bit lower this time, not-so-subtly scolding him for his reckless actions. She let go of his collar and turned around, walking back towards her room. “I’m going to take a shower.”

Scythe was still for several seconds, still half-bent over from Ella pulling him downwards by the collar of his uniform, his cheeks dusted a soft pinkish-purple color. He did not expect that, to say the very least, and was left a bit flustered as she walked away, disappearing down the hallway once more.

He blanked several times and shook his slightly to re-compose himself, standing back up straight as his tail flicked to the side and curled slightly at the end. He took a small breath before walking down the previously mentioned hallway and into his own room, closing the door behind him and taking off his uniform into far more comfortable clothing.

When Scythe stepped out of his room a few minutes later he was wearing a simple light gray t-shirt and dark red sweatpants. He saw the bathroom door closed across the relatively small hallway from him with the light on, and the soft sound of water hitting the bathtub and walls met his ears. Ella must already be in the shower then.

He walked into the living room, plopping down on the couch and grabbing the tv remote, turning it on and flipping through channels until he landed on something that looked interesting enough. He then reached into the pocket of his sweatpants and pulled out his phone, unlocking it and going to his messages, clicking on the one named ‘Crystal’

Scythe: Hey, you able to come over? Scythe: We should probably talk about the meeting.

After hitting send, Scythe began to mindlessly run his fingers through the tuft of hair at the end of his tail. It was a small subconscious habit he had when he felt nervous or anxious about something, and it was a good few minutes of him just looking at his phone screen before three little dots appeared, signaling that Lunar was typing back.

Crystal: Yeah, I can but I might be a little bit. Just got back to my own place a couple of minutes ago and haven't really been able to eat anything yet today, so I’m going to do that first. Scythe: Alright, sounds good. Take your time.

He responded almost instantly, quickly reading over Lunar’s message before he hit send. He set his phone down next to him on the couch cushion, closing his eyes and taking a small breath. He felt a bit silly for getting so worked up over a conversation that was most likely just going to be like any other time him and Lunar talked about anything relating to villain or vigilante work, but its not like he could exactly change that very easily, so all he did was take another breath.

When he opened his eyes again, Scythe focused on whatever channel it was that he put on the tv, relaxing into the couch just a little more. It seemed to be some sort of cheesy old-time soap opera type movie, a woman dramatically swooning backwards over what was presumably her lovers arm, the latter bending down over her and trying to comfort her.

Scythe scoffed, amused at just how corny the movie really was. How and why he decided on this channel on all things, he didn't really know, and after what felt like no time at all, he heard a knock at the front door. He looked over his shoulder at the noise, his ears lifting slightly before he pushed himself off the couch with a small grunt.

He unlocked the door once he got to it, grabbing and twisting the handle to open the door, Lunar standing on the other side of it in a dark blue turtleneck sweater and black stockings. She seemed to be in her cat-like form, her ears and tail resembling that of a feline hybrid’s, more notably a tabby cat in particular.

Scythe offered a small smile as he stepped aside to let them in, closing the door behind her and walking back over to the couch, the both of them sitting down on it. Lunar looked over at the tv, their head tilting to the side slightly as she looked at what was playing.

“..what the hell are you watching Scythe?” They asked, their voice more curious than anything. Her eyes stuck to the tv screen for another moment before she turned her head to look at Scythe, on of their eyebrows raised.

“Honestly?” Scythe started, shrugging his shoulders and looking at the tv screen himself. “I have no fucking clue.”

Lunar scoffed, but it was more amused than anything, a small smile even appearing on her lips for a moment, her head shaking just slightly.

It was then quiet for a good while, both the enderman hybrid and the cristaline watching the terrible cheesy show on the television. They both knew that they had to talk about the meeting at some point, and the possibility of all too many different outcomes appearing scarily close on the not-so-distant horizon.

“So… about the meeting.” Scythe eventually said, his quieter-than-normal voice breaking the strangely tense air between him and Lunar. He looked away from the tv and at them, looking for any sort of reaction, kind of hoping for one that wasn't negative.

Lunar simply nodded in response, their own gaze remaining on the tv screen for a little while longer before she too turned her head to look at Scythe, her expression unreadable. “I’ve already thought of a couple of different ideas, if you want to hear them.”

His eyes widened just slightly in surprise. Not surprise from Lunar already having an idea already, he knew her well enough by now to know that she always had some sort of plan for anything that came across her plate, but instead surprise from her having multiple different alternatives. That, he had to admit, was something that he wasn't quite expecting.

“Oh, uh- yeah, sure. Might as well, I guess.” He responded after a moment, blinking a few times to re-compose himself, turning a bit more towards Lunar as he waited to hear their ideas.

Lunar nodded, turning towards Scythe as well, her tail curling into and resting in her lap. “So, here’s what I was thinking…”

Conflicting Lives- Chapter 2: Information Request

https://archiveofourown.org/works/60544732/chapters/161904352

Conflicting Lives (somewhat) returns! I apologize that's its been so long since I've done anything with this project. between life stuff amongst motivation for the story, its been hard to get as much progress done as I have hoped to. I will be trying to work on this more though!

Word Count: 1704

Scar and Scythe arrived at the Central Hero HQ with around 10 minutes to spare. As they walked out of the elevator that took them up to the meeting room, Spore was waiting to make sure everyone that had received the message did indeed show up. As they walked in, Scythe saw that each of the District Heads were gathered at the farthest point of the long meeting table, with the strongest heroes from each District taking their own spots in groups around the table.

Scar, with the help of his hero suit, walked over to Sumner and Ram, both Hermiton Heroes. Scythe nodded politely to the two heroes as they spotted him and Scar, but instead went over to stand with Archangel, his mentor when going through the Survan Hero Training course. Scythe was technically a Survan hero after all. 

“Hey kiddo! How have you been holding up?” Archangel said with a grin on his face that stretched from ear to ear as he wrapped his arms around Scythe for a hug. Scythe was never one to deny a hug, but Archangels hugs were like getting the air forced out of your lungs. Lovingly though, of course.

“I’m doing- good Archangel” Scythe said through gasping breaths, trying his best to put on a smile through his lack of oxygen.

Archangel put Scythe down, to Scythe’s untold gratitude, and looked at him, his white wings reflecting the light from the fluorescent lights above them. “Well that’s great to hear, Lux.” Archangel smiled genuinely at Scythe, and he couldn't help but smile back at his mentor and friend.

Right as he was about to reply however, Scythe heard Voidling speak from the head of the table, turning to see that the District's heads had sat down in their chairs. “Welcome everyone and thank you for coming on such short notice. I severely apologize for interrupting your schedules, but I believe that this is a matter of utter importance that must be discussed as soon as possible.”

All the gathered heroes took a seat. Scythe found himself in between Archangel and Stratos, an Empyrian Hero. He wasn't the closest to Stratos, but he had been assigned to missions with him that involved activity on the Survas-Empyria border. They didn't interact much outside of that, spare the occasional regular event (aka non-hero work) that Scar invites him to that Stratos was also invited to.

“There has been an increase in activity from villains around the Survas-Hermiton and Wynnra-Hermiton borders. Most of this activity seems to involve Nebula and Spindle.” CuteGuy, the Wynnran Hero District Head, said. The tip of Scythe’s tail flicked involuntarily in his lap as CuteGuy spoke, and he prayed that no one had seen it, especially other heroes with tails.

Thankfully, no one else had seemed to notice, and a different district head spoke, “The five of us had an idea of how to deal with the increase of activity in these areas, and wanted to call a meeting with all of you to get your opinions on the matter.” Tinkerer said, the Empyrian Hero District Head.

There were a few whispers between heroes as to what kind of matter would need the opinions of all of them, but Atlas, the Survas Hero District Head, spoke soon after, “We have each done some research, and have gathered a very short list of reporters who are the best in their field. Not only are these selected individuals highly credible, but they have each shown us their investigative abilities and the process in which they have found the information for each of their stories and reports.” “These factors lead us to believe that we can trust these individuals to gather the information we would be asking for. It would, however, be a high price to pay for such a task.” Strawberry, the Drimas Hero District Head, spoke next.

More whispers emerged after this, and the district heads let the heroes talk amongst themselves for a minute. A hero spoke up.

“How do we know we can trust the information that these individuals give us is completely fact?” Guardian, a well-known Empyrian Hero asked. “For commissions such as these, reporters often do it for the money right? Who’s to say they won’t give information to someone else who bids a higher price?” The room went silent after Guardian spoke, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Everyone stayed silent for a few moments longer before another person spoke up.

“Yes, and no.” Heads turned to Puppeteer as he spoke, but he didn't really seem phased by it. Instead, his gaze was focused on Guardian. “Yes, for larger commissions or asks such as what is being proposed, reporters are more likely to accept it because of the profit and the exposure to their business. No, it is very rare for a reporter to sell information to someone else for a better price.” Puppeteer looked around the table as he spoke next. “A few different names come to mind at what the district heads have proposed, and if the individuals are the names that I am thinking of, we have no reason to suspect that they will sell what they find to a higher bidder.”

The room went still for a moment as everyone processed what Puppeteer had said. He was well known for his ability to gather knowledge and intel on just about anything he was given and he knew how to work the system, so everyone trusted him in what he said, even if they didn't know the names of the individuals the heads had picked out.

“If I may ask,” Sting, a Wynnran Hero with a skillset similar to that of Puppeteer, spoke up, “who are the individuals you selected?” The district heads exchanged glances amongst each other, then towards a door to the side at the back of the room that led to a smaller meeting area. Voidling gave a small, almost unnoticeable sigh before speaking, “Come on in.”

The door opened slowly, and the first thing the heroes saw was translucent blue... hair? Three people walked out of the room, and they all stood semi-awkwardly at the end of the room behind the District Leaders. “This is Storyteller, Slime, and Snowfall” CuteGuy said, pointing each of them out as he said their names. Slime seemed to be a slime hybrid, but he was blue instead of the normal green. Snowfall seemed to be both Elven and Blaze; as well as just really stuck up in general. Storyteller was a lot more familiar to Scythe than the others, he did know them casually after all.

For a moment, Scythe and Storyteller even locked eyes with the other, but the both of them quickly looked away as to not draw any suspicion. Heroes started to quietly whisper between each other, wondering how much had been heard through the door before then. They quickly stopped though as Atlas spoke up, seemingly floating just above the ground as they tend to do, “We asked them to come here prior to summoning you all to lay out some ground rules and expectation in the case that you all agreed to this plan. If the majority vote is against this, then it won't happen.” The heroes from all districts looked at eachother, slowly realizing just how much was being left up to them. After all, it was usually the District Heads themselves who made decisions like these, and the last group vote like this had taken place long before any of them had even finished going through their respective training courses. Seeing the shock and tentativeness from the other heroes, Strawberry spoke up, “The decision doesn't have to be made today, but in a few days time we’ll send out another call to everyone to meet back here for the vote. Let's say 3 days from now at around 6:30pm we’ll all meet back here and make a final decision.” Shoulders relaxed and quiet sighs of relief were heard from around the table, nervous but relieved chuckles coming from a select few as well. “Well, that settles it then. We’ll see you all in a few days.” Voidling said as he stood up, nodding to the other District heads before turning around and talking with the reporters more. As he stood, so did everyone else, the room almost immediately bursting into chatter and talking. Scythe stood seated for a moment longer, looking towards the reports and subconsciously fiddling with the hair on the end of his tail. It wasn’t until he felt a hand gently touch his shoulder that he snapped out of it, jumping slightly and turning to look over his shoulder. “Sorry kiddo, didn;t mean to scare you” iWork said, a soft smile on his face, but a small bit of worry in his eyes. “You alright? You seemed pretty spaced out for a bit. The meeting’s over, we’re all going home.” he continued gently. “Oh- uh, right. Thanks I-dub – I mean iWork.” Scythe responded, silently cursing himself in his head. I-dub was what Archangel called iWork, that man had a silly nickname for everyone, Scythe swears it, and he was rubbing off onto him a lot more than Scythe was willing to admit right now. In response, iWork just chuckled and nodded, walking off to where Archangel was actually waiting for him outside of the meeting room doors.

Scythe took a deep breath before finally getting up himself, letting his tail fall back behind him from on top of his lap where it had been resting. Just before he reached the door to the room, he heard Tinkerer call his name, “Hey Lux, would you mind hanging back for an extra minute?”

As he turned around, Scythe saw that Slime and Snowfall were walking past him and out the door, and Scythe could have sworn that Snowfall glared at him as he passed a little too close by his arm. Only the District Heads and Storyteller remained in the room, other than himself. Scythe looked at the 6 of them, hoping the anxiety he felt in his stomach didn’t show outwardly, or as he responded. “Yeah of course, what can I help with?”

Conflicting Lives Character Design: Sam/Spindle

Sam's chaarcter reference/design sheet for Conflicting Lives!\

This art does not belong to me. It belongs to Moondropgrape2, who is also the owner of this character and a close friend of mine.

Name: Sam Age: 18 Pronouns: He/Him Species: Spider Role: Villain - Defense, Offense Hero/Villain Name or Alias: Spindle Abilities/Powers: Size Manipulation, Multiple Appendages, Enhanced Speed, Night Vision, Surface Scaling, Web Production Motivations: Sam went through his highschool years fascinated by the villain of Esempy. When a new, young, and seemingly incredible powerful villain emerged, his attention was immediately caught. Before long, the media decided that this new villain’s name would be Nebula, courtesy of their costumes' dark colors, speckled with white dots that looked like stars in a galaxy. Very quickly, Nebula became a hyperfixation of sorts of Sam’s. When he graduated highschool and went to college at Survan University, he met a kind man in his Junior year in his Biology class. This man’s name was Scythe, and about halfway through his first semester, Scythe had invited Sam over to his shared apartment-style dorm he lived in with his partner, Ella. During this visit, Sam went on a hyperfixation rant about villains, and mainly about Nebula. Partway through this ramble, Sam noticed Scythe and Ella looking at each other and back at Sam with amusement in their eyes. When Sam questioned the pair on what was wrong, Scythe simply stated: “I’m pretty sure I can trust you with this information, but I’m Nebula.” Sam stared in shock at Scythe, causing the pair to burst into laughter. After recovering from the shock, Sam asked Scythe if he would be willing to take him under his wing and teach him how to be a villain. The rest is history.

Extra Notes: - Sam has a cat named Spotts who lives with him in his dorm room - Sam does have 4 more arms on his back, he just always hides them under his cloak

I drew CL!Scythe on my college math class whiteboard lmao. (I promise I know what I'm doing in this class-)

Conflicting Lives Character Design: Scythe Cristaal

Scythe's reference/character design sheet for Conflicting Lives!

Without Text:

More below!

What the text says (top to bottom):

Casual

Gold horn rings Golden yellow embroidery Jean Material Wraps around middle toe to keep in place (all designs)

Lux

Blue Steel Horn Caps Can be taken off and separated to use as rope Coms(+Inv) device Golden leaf pattern on both sides Cloth sleeve, buttons at base of tail

Nebula

Rose Gold horn cuffs(?) Undershirt has extra fabric for mask Undershirt over finger for style points Cloth sleeve to cover tail

Name: Scythe Cristaal Age: 20 Pronouns: He/Him Species: Enderman, Wastes Blaze Role(s): Hero - Support, Defense; Villain - Support, Offense; Civilian - Student Hero/Villain Name or Alias: Lux; Nebula Abilities/Powers: Teleportation, Enhanced Vision, Quick Response, Enhanced Hearing, Illusions, Fire Manipulation, Fire Creation, Fall Resistance, Fire Immunity, Enhanced Strength Motivations: Scythe was just a normal Highschool kid, at least for the most part. In his Junior year of Highschool, he decided he wanted a new little hobby. He had been working at a coffee shop near the border between his home district, Survas, and a neighboring district, Wynnra, when he had met a close friend of his, Lunaris. They mostly go by Lunar, but Scythe gave them the nickname Crystal pretty early in their friendship, and that's what he calls her. Lunar opened up to Scythe about being a well-known Wynnran vigilante, Storyteller, after a long time of knowing each other, and helped introduce Scythe into the life of chaos and mischief, recommending Martian as someone to help get him trained in fighting. He often went out at night to go on these crazy and sometimes dangerous expeditions, often coming back home late at night and with a few cuts and scrapes. He got a costume before he started based on a recommendation from Lunar, and the media decided his name was Nebula. After he graduated highschool, he got a letter in the mail from the Survas Hero District, saying that he was selected to be a trainee hero in their new-and-improved training program. He was a bit hesitant at first given what he had already been up to, but he had kept his identity well-kept and no majorly identifying features exposed at all times. Scythe decided to accept the invitation and put in his two week notice for his job at the coffee shop, starting the training program just 3 weeks before his first semester at Survan University started. Needless to say, Scythe passed the trainee phase and became an official hero by winter break in his Freshman year of college, going by the name of Lux.

Silly extra art: 1 /

Edit: Have the reference images I used! I think I'm going to try and do this every character, just to show what and where I got my ideas from! I used to find the outfit refs :D (the bottom two I did just use for colors tho tbh-)

Here's what i was able to get done today! it feels like i got barely anything done in the 5-6 hours i streamed, but at the same time i didn't have much of a clue what i was doing with Scythe's design in any way so its also good progress! I do plan to stream more of this and even chapter writing in the future, so if you want to check that stuff out follow me on twitch!

I'm Live on Twitch!

I'm live on Twitch and drawing some new character designs for Conflicting Lives!! Everyone is welcome to come in and hang out!

https://www.twitch.tv/scythe_gameing

I'm Live on Twitch!

I'm live on Twitch and drawing some new character designs for Conflicting Lives!! Everyone is welcome to come in and hang out!

https://www.twitch.tv/scythe_gameing

Conflicting Lives- Chapter 9: Unlikely Friendship (NOT FINISHED)

Word Count: 1250

Scythe fumbled with his keys as he stood in front of the door to his dorm, Joel standing impatiently beside him.

“Does it really take you this long just to open your front door? I could’ve called Pearl and Cleo by now and they'd get here before you open that thing!” He said jokingly, though still definitely annoyed. Scythe just rolled his eyes as he put the dorm key in the door, twisting it and opening the door.

“Ladies first,” he said with a smirk, stepping aside to hold the door open for Joel. The blaze hybrid’s only response was a glare as he flipped imaginary hair, walking through the door with confidence.

Scythe chuckled as he followed into the apartment-dorm, closing the door behind him and pulling his phone back out. “Welcome back from patrol,” Ella said from the couch as Joel plopped down beside her. 

She looked expectantly at Scythe for an answer as to why Joel was here, even if it was a regular occurrence that the two would hang out. He sighed and responded, “I agreed to make dinner for him and invite Pearl and Cleo over for it as well since he took me home. Plus it wouldn't be bad to talk to them anyways after the patrol.”

Ella just nodded in understanding, curious about what happened, but not quite sure if she should ask. “Why? What happened during the patrol?” She asked a little hesitant after a moment. Scythe and Joel simply looked at eachother and simply sighed. “What happened?” Ella asked again, further confused by the reaction of the two men. “Was it really that bad?” 

Joel shook his head, “It's not that it was bad necessarily,” he paused, and Scythe finished the thought. “It's just something that we should probably talk about afterwards.” His gaze had drifted off to the side, and he looked hack at an evermore puzzled Ella, this time worry noticeable in her eyes. “It's nothing bad, I promise.” He measured her, walking over to where she sat on the couch and planting a small kiss on her forehead.

She visibly relaxed as soon as he did so, trusting Scythe that he knew what he was doing, or at the very least Joel and Scythe. “Alright I trust you, but don’t go too crazy. You still have classes in the morning and I don't want to have to clean up after you four.” Ella replied, a stern look in her eyes to both men infront of her. Scythe put his hands up defensively, and Joel replied “Yes ma’am. No messes are to be made.”

The phoenix hybrid nods approvingly before turning back to Scythe. “What are you planning to make?” she asked. Scythe thought for a moment before responding, “Spaghetti?” It was far more a question than it was a legitimate answer, but the pair on the couch nodded anyway. “Spaghetti is it then!” he said as he turned towards the kitchenette. As he rummaged through the cabinets to take out a pot and some noodles, Joel took his phone back out to call Pearl. He wasn’t on the phone for long before he updated the other two. “Pearl says she just has to finish cleaning a few small scrapes off Cleo and Ren then her and Cleo will head over. She was curious if you’d mind him coming over too since the three of them are at Pearl's place anyways.”

Scythe thought for a moment as the water was heating up, looking over at Ella to gauge her thoughts on an extra person coming to the apartment dorm. “I don’t think I would mind, but you guys would know Ren more than I would, so you could better judge.” she said, looking between Joel and Scythe. “I know Ren more than Scythe does, but even that's not super well either.” Joel replied, looking to the enderman in the kitchen for his opinion. After what felt like long hours, but really only a few seconds, Scythe responded, “I don’t really know Ren at all to be completely honest. The way I see it is this: I trust Pearl and Cleo. They seem to trust Ren. I think that if both of them trust him, then I can trust him for a night.”

He looked between Joel and Ella after he finished. They had yet to come to a conclusion, and Pearl was waiting for a response about Ren. “That makes sense” the two said in near-unison, and Scythe chuckled a little at it. As he turned back to pour the pasta in the now-boiling water, he said something to Joel. “Go ahead and tell Pearl that Ren can come along too. It won't be hard to feed everyone.”

“Will do,” Joel replied, and turned his phone back on, messaging Pearl the go-ahead. Ella leaned to the coffee table to get the TV remote, turning it on and browsing through shows before settling on a forging competition show.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a knock on the door just as Scythe finished mixing the sauce into the spaghetti. Walking the short distance from the stove to the door, he opened it and was greeted by a familiar, but clearly tired, face. “Pearl!” Joel said from behind him on the couch, getting up and walking to the door.

“Elo mate!” the moth hybrid responded, walking in as the two guys stepped aside. Cleo followed right in after, greeting Ella as she found a nearby chair to sit in. Ren was a little more hesitant to follow, but seemed to relax once Scythe welcomed him in.

While everyone got situated and started chatting, Scythe went back to the kitchen, grabbing bowls and silverware for everyone. “Foods ready!” he called behind him. Almost immediately he heard the shuffling of everyone standing up and walking to the small kitchenette. He grabbed a bowl of his own to eat before quickly stepping aside to let others get their share.

As he went to sit down at the table, Scythe looked up and saw Ren hesitating to grab some food. The wolf hybrid's ears were down to the side in worry, but uneven in confusion as well. “Is there something wrong with the noodles Ren?” he asked after a moment longer. Thinking he might have done something wrong as he saw Ren's ears perked up in panic, the taller responder, “Oh- no! No, not at all!” He brought his hand up to the back of his head nervously. “it’s just.. uh what’s in the pasta? being a wolf hybrid and all i have to be a bit more careful and all…” he tried to explain.

It took a minute for Scythe to process what he did, but as soon as he did he started laughing. “Are… are you alright,dude?” Rem\n asked him. “Yeah.. Yeah I’m good,” Scythe said in between laughs. When he was finally done, he answered his concerns, “Ella and I make all our food allergen and animal safe. Her being part phoenix and me being part endermen there's quite a lot of food specifications we have to meet, and so we just make it safe for everyone.”

After he finished explaining, Ren looked as though he had just noticed Ela having wings and Scythe having a tail, key traits to their hybrid species, face flushing red in embarrassment. “Oh, uh, right. That makes sense. Like, a lot of sense. T-thank you.” he said awkwardly, trying not to show just how embarrassed he really was.

Conflicting Lives- Update (NOT A CHAPTER)

So obviously this isn't a legitimate or normal chapter by basically any means. I wanted to give a little bit of an update as to the lack of really anything with this story, and some of the reasonings behind it

Why hasn’t anything been happening here on Tumblr, or over on A03 in regards to the story?

When I started writing this story, I was in my senior year of highschool. It was sort of a hyperfixation project, and by the time I started getting into writing chapter 9 (which I have some of, but not at all of), I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do to fill the time gap until the big fight with Martian/Martyn. Because of that, I ended up developing major writer's block and just a general creativity block in regards to this story, and haven’t been able to make any progress.

This led to me forgetting about it for a while. That is until recently. I am currently about a month into my first year of college, and one of my classes has sort of reminded me of this forgotten and neglected story with something we were assigned to make. As a result, i went back through my document I have of all of the chapters, and realized that though i like this story, I want to change it and make it a bit more accurate, both to my college life experience thus far, and just to make it a bit more accurate to what I want the story to be itself.

This doesn't mean I will be editing chapters in this project. Hell, I won't even be deleting this story itself in any way, just making a new one that will be more updated. Chapters 1-8 of Conflicting Lives will still be here, and will stay here. Instead, I think I'm going to be making a new story where all the changes will be made.

What changes are going to be made?

As time has passed, it feels odd to me to have one of the closest friends of my main persona, Scythe, being a large content creator. I don't really know how to describe it other than feeling very parasocial, and I've realized that I'm not very comfortable with it, let alone how the CCs would feel themselves if they ever stumbled across this.

Along with Scythe himself, he's recently gotten a major design change, and I want to implement that new design into the story. I had previously had him as a half human and half enderman hybrid, but have recently changed his design (with the help of a friend) to be more enderman focused in terms of physical looks. I haven't quite decided if he’s going to be completely enderman yet, but that's more character lore than it is story lore, so it may not even come into play.

Character designs in general are also going to probably change, as well as how I release them. If you’ve seen the tumblr side of things, you’ll know that I have previously used Gacha Club for showing my designs for each character. While I am still most likely going to do this, I want to try and incorporate a little bit of my own drawing skills back into it to make it feel a bit more mine in a sense. I keep learning more things about drawing and am still very much trying to find my own style, but with the help of others and just general experimentation, I feel a bit more confident in my ability to draw the designs how I see them in my mind. However, please do not get your hopes up at seeing no gacha at all. It is still going to be there, just hopefully not as prominent.

Not only character designs, but the powers, abilities, and species of most characters will also be changing as well. It feels a bit unbalanced right now looking at things, with some characters in my spreadsheet supposedly being super powerful or super weak, but being average or the other extreme. I want to kind of dumb it down a bit and bring it to basic powers as much as I can, just to make it a little bit easier for me when re-writing the story. I don't really plan on changing relationship dynamics much, but I can't guarantee anything. Honestly, go ahead and comment on what your favorite ships are of the characters so far and I can try and keep some of them in, or even add them if they weren't in before. If you do choose to do this though, be reminded that this story uses CCs from Hermitcraft, EmpiresSMP, and the Life Series. Any character you see that is not a CC from any of those servers/fandoms, please do not put into ships; those are the characters of myself and my close friends.

What is the new story going to be called?

I’m honestly not quite sure yet. I like the name Conflicting Lives for the essence of what the story itself is, but at the same time, a new name for a new and revitalized story seems right as well. If anything, I may just rename this one to have “old version” in the title or something similar, but i’ve still not completely decided. 

One thing that i can tell you for certain though is that When i do figure it out and post the first chapter of the re-written story, i will make a new chapter here, and a new post on tumblr with the link to the entire story so you can have that as well. When that will be though, I don't know. Admittedly, I'm still getting used to being at college and managing my time differently, so it’s probably going to be much longer in between chapters on the rewrite than there ever was on this one (not including this update). I will try to make some sort of schedule or dedication to working on the story, but again, I can't confirm anything right now.

I think that's all there is for now. Thank you all for being a part of this story as it is now, and I hope that, if you choose to, you enjoy the re-write or even re-reading this one!

Some awesome art of Hypno from Conflicting Lives!

This was made by Myde-Mero on ArtFight!

This piece of art is genuinely so adorable and I love to think that the flower is either absolutely gigantic or Hypno is very very smol but either way it is fantastic!

I do have all character reference sheets on my artfight page, and I've been trying to revenge on everyone that attacks me and I'm having a lot of fun doing some art again! So, for some spoilers on the rest of the conflicting lives characters that haven't been introduced head on over to my artfight and take a look at everyone! art of them is also very encouraged and appreciated and I will love you forever

Conflicting Lives Character Art

Hi there! Here are all the official (and some unofficial but really cool) art of my Hermitcraft/Life Series Hero and Villain AU, Conflicting Lives! All links are in order from when I originally posted, from top to bottom. Have fun looking at them all! Most are digital, but those that are traditional are marked in (parentheses)

Jealous Joel (Civilian Joel SmallishBeans, Traditional)

Chroma Charisma (Villain Scott Smajor)

Xelqua's Watch (Villain Grian)

Scythe's Many Lives (Civilian, Hero, and Villain Scythe)

Blocking Blaze (Villain TangoTek)

A little sneak peek for the next Conflicting Lives drawing of none other than the Tango of the Tek variety!

It's not long before 2am as I post this so I pray that I'll get a decent amount of sleep for work lol but enjoy the teaser!

Conflicting Lives masterpost Designs of each character below the cut vv

Conflicting Lives- Chapter 8: The ACTUAL Patrol, and a "Small" Conflict

Word Count: 3223

It was well into patrol, but Scythe and Joel could not get rid of the teasing comments of Voidling and iWork. It didn't help that they often did react very similarly (if not the same) to more than a few of them, only adding fuel to the fire. By now, neither Scythe nor Joel were saying anything to the other two in their patrol, and instead chatting with themselves.

They tried their best to ignore the two behind them, but when the four men heard a distant boom, the silence in the following moments spoke all that it needed to. With a simple nod amongst themselves, the four started rushing towards the area the sound came from, using iWork’s tech from Inventor to better help locate the origin point of it.

Without needing to say any words, Scythe ran over to Joel who easily picked him up and flew high into the air. iWork was close behind, helping Voidling in a similar way, the masked man instead holding onto a grapple-like rope that the winged man above him held onto.

The patrol made their way above and around buildings, the signs of what must have been an explosion become more apparent as they closed in on the source. The smaller and quieter explosion heard above the ever so faint laughter proved that, and she came into their view as they turned around the next building.

There she stood, in the middle of all of the chaos, living up to the name Wildfire as flames soared wildly in almost all directions. Her green skin illuminated with the orange of flames, Wildfire threw spears of flames towards smaller, lesser known heroes as they tried to land huts, to no avail. Luckily, she had her back turned to the patrol. Unluckily, a second villain was turned towards them, golden crown and crimson cloak glowing bright from the light of the flames.

As the cloaked villain leaned back to inform his partner of the incoming reinforcements, Scythe and Voidling dropped to the ground from the hold of Joel and iWork. As the four lined up and started to divide themselves into who would fight who, Wildfire’s voice rang through the air and over the sounds of the flames.

“Aren’t you glad I dragged you out here? Isn’t it just so fun to let it loose?”  Her voice was rimmed with mania, and when her partner in crime hadn’t responded, she continued. “Oh, is the great Red Winter too engrossed to respo--” she turned around, cutting herself off as her eyes seemed to sparkle with joy when she spotted the four heroes, “-- oh well just look at what we have here!

Four little heroes arriving just in the nick of time to save your friends!” She gestured to the scattered civilians, heroes, and police in the area as she spoke. “And here I thought that we wouldn't get the attention of the big guys, but I guess my little boom worked after all.”

Before she could continue, Voidling stepped forward, his armor helping to protect him from the small fires dotted around where the patrol landed. “That’s enough, Wildfire. You’ve done enough damage, and now it’s time for you and Red Winter to leave.” 

As he spoke, he drew his mace, the rest of the patrol pulling out their weapons and taking up fighting positions. iWork had his hammer out, but made sure to keep to a more covered and earthy area in case anyone needed healing. Scythe had a ryyk in each hand and had taken up a position of a straightforward and charge-like approach. Joel, with his battle axe in both hands, took up a position in the sky using his wings.

The expression on Wildfire and Red Winter's faces seemed to flip, a smirk growing on the cloaked wolf hybrid, a frown setting in on the zombie hybrid. “What a shame. I was just starting to have fun too!” Wildfire said in an annoyed tone.

Red Winter’s smirk only grew as he spoke, “I guess it's time to have some real fun then.” He turned to Wildfire. “Why not let loose on people who can actually put up a good fight?”

Wildfire found a smile returning to her face as she gleefully responded, “Oh, now that sounds wonderful!”

Red Winter charged towards Voidling, using his transformation abilities to become more wolf-like. Just as he reaches to swipe in a now werewolf form, Voidling raises his mace, blocking the attack and being pushed back.

In that same moment, Joel dives to where Wildfire is, dodging her spears of fire as they are thrown. Voidling starts to lose his traction on the ground from Red Winter’s continued blows, and iWork runs over to help him before Scythe can even fully react. iWork reached Voidling just as he is knocked backwards from the strongest attack against him, and Scythe comes up with a quick plan.

Slowly, he starts making his way towards where Joel is fighting Wildfire. He uses the light of the fires to his advantage, bending them slightly to help better conceal himself while also using his illusions to better blend into the ground and the flames around him.

Finally, he made it to where Wildfire and Joel were. He almost chuckled to himself as he realized the two were litterally playing with fire, then tapped Wildfire's shoulder, causing her to turn around. Seeing Joel get ready to launch yet another fireball, Scythe simply waved at Wildfire before jumping to the side. 

He had just barely missed the fireball as it came crashing down onto Wildfire. In the split second of quiet after the fireball landed, Scythe heard the clang of metal on armor as Voidling was pushed back as his mace hit his chestplate. Then as the flames fully clear, he decides to start up a conversation with Wildfire.

“Come on, you really chose to blow up a park instead of like, going to the gym or something?” He asked as he dodged one of her fire spears. She laughs as she responds, dodging a blow from Joel and reaching to attack Scythe, “Oh, don't be silly, you should know me by now!”

Scythe managed to dodge and grab Wildfire’s arm, but before he could do anything, she pulled him in, “I’m not one to shy from a bit of chaos.” A shiver ran down Scythe’s spine as she spoke, and he teleported away quickly as Joel dived towards her, axe in hand. 

Wildfire turned around just in time to see Joel diving towards her, and she quickly jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding getting hit. “You know,” Joel started as he dodged another spear of fire, “a certain someone visited recently bearing good will from you--” he moved to help Scythe as he prepared to throw a small ball of light at Wildfire “-- and it would be such a shame if she found out you injured Lux.”

Scythe threw the ball of light, but missed Wildfire as she dodged it, replying as Joel ran at her. “Oh, I won’t hurt him, “ she gestured towards Scythe, “but I don't mind hurting you.” She finishes just as Joel gets to her, ducking under his swing and pushing her elbow into his stomach.

Joel stumbles back and Scythe teleports behind him to help him regain his balance as Wildfire continues. “And besides, she was technically the one that suggested causing some chaos--” she threw a few more spears of fire at the pair of heroes “-- I just so happened to take it a bit literally, that’s all!”

Scythe took cover behind a nearby piece of debris, while Joel took to the skies once more to avoid the barrage of fiery spears. Scythe noticed that his flight was a little unbalanced, and that worried him more than he would ever admit, but he had to focus on what he needed to do next.

Wildfire and Joel kept fighting, and her voice rang through the air once more. “Besides, this gives a good opportunity to check in with you!” She stumbled a little as a ring of light began to encompass her vision.

It was working. When he was satisfied with the intensity of the light ring, strong enough to disorient her but weak enough as to not permanently harm her vision, Scythe came out of his hiding spot, running back to where Wildfire was standing. Joel sighed as he landed back on the ground, walking to a now slightly-stunned as he put his axe on his shoulder, admittedly a little amused at the stumbling state of the zombie hybrid in front of him.

“Why can’t you just let off steam like a normal person?” Scythe askes, delivering a light but firm blow to Wildfire’s shoulder with the handle of one of his ryyks. He stops the ring of light he made around her vision as she stumbled over, trying to be courteous as to let her catch herself.

She chuckles a little as she starts to stand back up. “Eh, it was worth it if I had a chance to annoy you guys. And if not I wouldn't have minded if I ended up with some other heroes showing up instead, just so i can beat their asses too.” She looked up at Scythe and Joel with a smile on her face, and Scythe felt something off as she spoke once more. “Plus, what’s the fun of doing something normal?”

Then Scythe noticed it, the sound of a large fireball falling towards the three of them. He jumped to the side just in time to look over and see the large ball of flame crashing down to where he just was. The heat was far more intense than he thought it would be, and he worried for a moment what shape Joel and Wildfire would be in after the flames died down. He wasn't really quite sure he saw them both dodge out the way before it hit.

“You never did answer my question either” a voice said behind him ,and before he could properly react he felt something push on his back and was shoved forward, barely managing to catch himself before face planting into the course and burnt dirt.

Quickly recovering, he turned around and saw Wildfire giggling to herself. Joel landed between the two, his clothes almost burnt off and his hair littered with small embers and ash, though he himself seemed to be completely unharmed. He looked behind himself to check to see if Scythe was ok before turning back towards the smaller zombie hybrid.

“I’m doing great, thanks for asking,” Scythe said sarcastically, walking forward to stand beside Joel. Just then, Red Winter appeared once more by Wildfire’s side, Voidling and iWork both taking up positions on each side of their patrol partners.

Apparently, Voidling and iWork had managed to push Red Winter far enough back to make him retreat, and he re-joined his partner in crime. “Are you alright, m’lady?” the cloaked villain asked, and Wildfire simply nodded, a smile growing on her face once more.

Scythe sensed something was about to happen, and looked over to Voidling only to find the masked hero looking back at him with the same confused and apprehension-filled look. He then turned to look at iWork beside him, who seemed to be focused on the gap between the two villains. In the same moment that he seems to see something, Scythe turns back to look at Wildfire and Red Winter, only to find a third villain standing between them.

“Well, well, well. Look what we have here!” Scarlet Moon giggled, her red moth wings fluttering behind her, eyes matching in color and almost glowing with excitement. “It seems this time I've been called in for the rescue, and how could I deny the pleasure of seeing four of my favorite heroes?”

Voidling stopped forward, keeping his mace firmly in his hands and speaking with a steady voice. “It is time for you three to leave. You’ve done enough damage, and you don't need to be causing any more.” iWork braced himself in case another battle broke out, and Joel started to stretch his wings in preparation to fly.

Scythe simply looked at Scarlet Moon, or rather Pearl, and she looked back. They held each other's gaze for a moment longer, then she looked back at Voidling. “I suppose so.” She put a hand on each shoulder of the two in front of her, and bright light started to emit from the trio. “I do wish I could have stayed longer though. Until next time, heroes.” She said, and a blinding light flashed, the patrol closing their eyes out of instinct.

When Scythe re-opened his eyes, the three villains were gone, and the surrounding fires were starting to lose their strength in Wildfire’s absence. He looked around at his fellow patrol members. Joel was rubbing his eyes from the bright light, Voidling was looking around and surveying the damage, and iWork was turned to Scythe. 

“Do you have any major injuries, Lux?” he said, reaching out towards his arm where he hadn’t quite realized he had a large scrape. “This doesn’t look horrible, but you should definitely get it cleaned before trying to heal it.” iWork continued, looking at the scrape closer through the dirt and dust stuck to it.

“Oh, uh, yeah I’ll do that.” Scythe responded, a little confused on how he didn’t see the wound before. The phantom hybrid looked at him with uncertainty. “I will, I promise! I’m just a little shocked that I didn't notice it, I guess.” he quickly added, and iWork looked a little more relaxed, though obviously not completely relieved.

He walked away from Scythe and to Joel, checking him over as well. Miraculously, he didn't have any damage to his person, but his uniform definitely needed to be replaced. Scythe could swear he heard iWork “lightly” scolding Joel. “You didn’t think to get your uniform in fire-proof materials? Come on, Stratos! Aren’t you a Blaze hybrid? You need a fire-proof uniform!”

Those were among the most tamed words of the scolding, but Joel did eventually manage to avoid the full-length of a scold by casually bringing up that Voidling might still be injured. iWork almost instantly stopped what he was saying, and begrudgingly walked away from Joel towards Voidling to make sure he wasn't badly hurt.

“Jeez, I almost couldn’t get rid of him.” Joel said as he walked towards Scythe, rubbing in the back of his head in slight embarrassment. Scythe chuckled and replied with a smile “I mean it is your fault for not getting fire-proof fabric, as someone with fire magic. That’s your own damn fault if you ask me”

“Oh, come on! You’re supposed to be on my side!” Joel pouted playfully, crossing his arm and looking away. Scythe laughed even harder, failing to apologize through all the giggling. Thankfully he was able to compose himself by the time Voidling walked over with iWork by his side.

“I want us to help where we can while we’re still in the area.” He said. Looking at Scythe and iWork, he continued” Lux, iWork, the two of you have Healing abilities, so I want you to check all of the citizens and bystanders to see if they need any help.” iWork opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again once Voidling put up his hand to stop him.

“Yes, I know I can heal too, but I want Stratos to come with me to clear the larger debris in the area to help clear up any major roads or paths that may be blocked.” He turned to Joel as he spoke, “Are you alright with helping clear, Stratos?”

Joel nodded, “Yeah sure. I can help lift and push stuff.” Voidling replied with an “Alright” before telling them all to split up and do what they need to do. Voidling and Joel went to the police and firemen that had arrived to check and see which areas needed to be cleared first, and iWork turned to Scythe.

“So here’s what I’m thinking. I have more disinfectant and cleaning things than you do for healing, I know that much, so I can start by cleaning any wounds, and you can then come in after and heal them with your ability.” He said. Scythe wondered how he thought of that so quickly, but he knew that iWork was a quick thinker, and the plan made sense anyways.

So he nodded, “That sounds good. What if it's a deep or large wound? Do we want to try and do anything different or extra?” He asked. He was genuinely curious, and didn’t quite know how much he could heal without running out of stamina, or risking his illusion fading, but he didn't really want to say that aloud and just hoped iWork understood.

He thought for a moment before responding. “If it's deep or large enough, I can do some initial healing after cleaning it. I understand your concerns, and if you think you’re getting too tired feel free to come and tell me or to step away for a moment.” He looked at the surrounding civilians before continuing. “There doesn’t seem to be many injuries, but still let me know if anything happens.”

Scythe nodded, appreciative of iWork’s concern. The phantom hybrid started walking towards the civilians, taking out his cleaning supplies and checking in with everyone. Scythe simply followed behind, stopping at anyone that iWork cleaned the wounds of, and made small talk while healing them, trying to be as kind as possible even when he did feel tired and ready to be home.

After about 45 minutes, everyone who needed assistance was helped, and enough debris was cleared to make the necessary roads and paths accessible to citizens. Voiding called iWork and Scythe over to where he and Joel were standing.

“Great work today guys. Go home, and rest. I’ll get a patrol with some of the other heroes to come and survey the area to make sure everything is still alright, but we all need some rest.” Scythe felt himself relax, and he took a deep breath as the masked hero continued. “You all did amazing today, both on the clean up, and in the fighting.”

The three younger men nodded, and iWork and Voidling walked in one direction, Joel and Scythe in the other. Joel didn’t even need to wait for Scythe to look at him before he knew what the enderman hybrid was going to ask.

“Yes, I'll take you back to your dorm. But you’re feeding me dinner and calling Cleo and Pearl to hang out too.” the winged man said, spreading his wings and holding his hands out for Scythe to hold onto.

Scythe laughed and grabbed his arms, still laughing as he replied, “Deal, and thank you, Stratos.” Joel rolled his eyes and flew into the air. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Also, it is so weird for you to call me Stratos, even if we’ve been on countless missions together.”

Scythe laughed and looked at the cityscape in front of him. “It is weird calling you Stratos, but we were still around the public eye so I didn't really have a choice.” Joel muttered a “Fair enough,” and flew back towards Cursia.

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