Tommyinnit Oneshots

Between the gods and the abyss - Home can be as cold as the goddess' embrace

Tommy sat on the grass with a sword resting on his thigh and a whetstone pressing into his hand. He carefully maneuvered the whetstone against the edge of the blade, listening to the hissing noise as metal rubbed against heavy stone. It was easy work to do, a sort of mindless and numbing experience that allowed him to focus on a straining task without his thoughts getting in the way. If left unchecked, his thoughts were a shambling mess of rabid, starving dogs trying to fight each other for a scrap of food. Heavy labor was a high-frequency whistle that shot through the air like an arrow into the torn, half-deaf ears of the dogs, not quite taming them but certainly making them settle down.

"This should be the last of it," Eryn called out, dragging a huge axe behind him by the shaft. He tripped forward, releasing the hilt of the axe as he tumbled to the ground. Tommy laughed as he watched Eryn scramble off the ground, sand drifting out of his hair as he turned to glare at the axe. "Fuck this. This axe is too damn heavy for me. If Techno wants his weapons sharp, he'll have to do it himself."

"I'll do the axe if you finish the swords," Tommy bargained, his eyes flicking over to the pile of swords that still needed a turn with the whetstone. All the swords he had sharpened had been placed back in their scabbards or hung back on the walls. He had actually finished more than what was left. This technicality didn't make the task before him any less daunting.

"Your scrawny arms aren't going to be able to move these axes any better than I did," Eryn huffs, but he takes the sword out of Tommy's hand. Tommy rolls his eyes, walking over to the axe. The heavy blade pushed aside packed dirt, and there was a clear line in the ground following along the path that Eryn had taken to drag the weapon over. Tommy pushed the axe onto its side. It was as heavy as Eryn had implied it was, and Tommy felt a rush of pride run through his body as he remembered how easily Techno used his axe. He ran his fingers along the edge of the axe, feeling the indentations of a phrase. Something clicked in Tommy's head, and he was naturally able to identify the phrase even though he didn't know the language.

Sic semper tyrannis

Thus always to tyrants. It was supposedly the words the Blood God proclaimed when he pledged his allegiance to the pantheon. Although he was a god of war and violence, he saw no meaning in senseless slaughter. He reveled in war heroes and rebellions. He despised those who abused their power and spread cruelty, forcing children and farmers and those unfit for battle to die with their innocence ultimately tainted. He was one of the first deities to join that wasn't present in the initial formation. The stories painted his acceptance in many different ways- some describing more resistance than others- but he was ultimately given a place among the pantheon and a house within Origins.

"I hate chores. I thought being a child of the Blood God was about killing things. Instead, I'm having to sharpen weapons and clean up after the archery kids. Tubbo leaves his throwing knives everywhere. I'm going to strangle him in his sleep," Eryn snapped as he picked up an extra whetstone to finish off the swords.

"What was it like? Y'know, getting picked?" Tommy asked, trying to be as nonchalant about it as he could. He kept his vision pinned on the blade of the axe. He was horrified when he saw how disgustingly desperate his expression was, and he was grateful that Eryn couldn't see it.

"I think it was a few days after I arrived in Origins. I guess the Blood God picked me because in the outside world, I had been learning how to be a mercenary from my father. I already had some fighting skills," Eryn said with a shrug. He sounded as careless as Tommy wished he was about the subject. Eryn had been a half-demon living with his father, abandoned by his demonic mother, and he had been ready to fight the whole world if he was paid enough. He was the poster-child for a child of blood, and Tommy wished it was that simple for him. Would the Blood God see how Tommy's destiny was to fight and win? Would he see how hard Tommy had been fighting his entire life? Or was Tommy not bloodthirsty enough? Was his lack of skills against human opponents a deterrent?